Boko Haram: Senator to stay with SSS

Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume was arraigned yesterday on a four-count charge before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of an Abuja Federal High Court.

Ndume is accused of hoarding information on planned terror attacks and providing logistics to convicted Boko Haram spokesman, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman AI- Zawahiri).

He is also charged with allegedly giving telephone numbers of certain public officers to Boko Haram for the purpose of communicating terrorist messages.

The alleged offences are contrary to and punishable under Sections 3(b), 4(1) (a) and 7(1) (b) of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011.

Ndume, a Senator representing Borno South, pleaded not guilty to the charge after it was read to him. Clad in a white Babariga with a white cap to match, the senator smiled occasionally as his plea was being taken.
Plea taking over, the prosecution counsel, Mrs. Olufemi Omotunde, applied for a hearing date to enable the prosecution adduce evidence to the charge.

Omotunde, who is the Director of Public Prosecution at the Federal Ministry of Justice, said the prosecution will call eight witnesses to prove the charge against Ndume.
She said witnesses’ statements and extract of relevant text messages had been attached as proof of evidence.
Efforts by Ndume’s counsel, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN), to move a bail application filed on behalf of Ndume since December 5, was resisted by the prosecution.

Mrs Omotunde argued that it was premature to move the bail application, which, she said, was filed before the case was assigned to a judge.
But Tarfa submitted that the prosecution had already filed a counter-affidavit to the bail application, making the protest unnecessary.

 Mrs Omotunde, who insisted on having five days to prepare the written address, said: “My lord, we were served prematurely because the court was not seized of the matter as at that time. We have not filed our written address.”
Intervening, Justice Kolawole said “I’m disposed to granting them opportunity to file a written address. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Tarfa replied: “My lord, we have filed the application since December 5. The accused has been in their custody since November 21. Ordinarily, they (prosecution) ought to reply to the motion within two days.”
 Justice Kolawole, who reduced the five days requested by the prosecution to three days directed that the written address against the bail application must be filed within 72 hours. He gave the defence counsel 24 hours to reply before adjourning till December 16 for hearing of the bail application.

The Judge, who observed that the defence counsel did not protest against Ndume’s continuous detention in the SSS custody, however, pointed out that he will review the situation at the next sitting.

He said: “Once an accused is duly charged before the court of competent jurisdiction, the only proper place for him to be remanded is prison, which is the only facility where people standing trial are to be reminded.”

Consequently, he ordered that the accused person should remain in the custody of the SSS and must be allowed reasonable access to his lawyer.

Ndume had earlier been arraigned with Konduga over a two-count charge of criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation criminal and anonymous calls.
The charges were terminated by Chief Magistrate Oyewumi Oyebola, following the withdrawal of the First Information Report (FIR) by the State Security Service (SSS).
The prosecution counsel, Cliff Osagie, told the court that a fresh charge had been filed against Ndume. He should not be tried in two courts over same allegations, he said.
Owing to the development, the ruling on Ndume’s bail application scheduled for the day was arrested.
The new charges against Ndume are:

•”That you, Mohammed Ali Ndume (m) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja, being in possession of the mobile phone number of Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman AI- Zawahiri), a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect which you know to be of material assistance in securing the apprehension of the said Ali Umar Konduga, did fail to disclose same information to a law officer as soon as reasonably practicable and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 7(1)(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 and punishable under Section 7( 1) of the same Act.

•”That you, Mohammed Ali Ndume (m) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja, having received information from Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect regarding planned attacks on judges of the Borno State Election Tribunal and the National Assembly, which you know to be of material assistance in securing the prosecution of members of the said Boko Haram Sect for an offence under the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 did fail to disclose same information to a law enforcement officer as soon as reasonably practicable and you thereby committed and offence contrary to section 7(1)(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and punishable under Section 7(1) of the same Act.

•”That you, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (rn) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja, being the operator of MTN GSM telephone number 08035998045, did provide logistics to wit: telephone numbers of certain public officers including the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation, to Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman Al-Zawahiri), a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, for the activity of sending terrorist text messages to them, which you know is connected with an act of terrorism and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and punishable under Section 3 of the same Act.

•”That you, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (m) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja did knowingly render support for an act of terrorism by supplying the telephone numbers of certain public officers, including the Hon. Attorney-General of the  Federation, to Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman AI-Zawahiri), a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, for the purpose of communicating terrorist messages to the said public officers and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 4(1)(a) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and punishable under Section 4 of the same Act.”


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We must cut recurrent budget, Okonjo-Iweala insists

 Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has announced plans by government to shrink the number of government agencies and commissions in its bid to bring down recurrent expenditure, beginning from next year.

Okonjo-Iweala

Okonjo-Iweala, who delivered a keynote address at the 3rd Economic Policy and Fiscal Strategy Seminar, organised by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, CSEA, in Abuja, expressed shock that the previous government had let the level of recurrent spending to spiral against capital budgeting.

She said: “When I left the administration last time (2006), we left a recurrent expenditure level of about 66 per cent, which was even considered to be too high back then. However, upon my second coming this year, I was surprised to find that recurrent expenditure in the budget has risen to more than 74 per cent. This is unacceptable.”

According to her, the increase in the recurrent expenditure was made worse by the unreasonable increase in the number of Federal Government agencies and parastatals, even as she noted that the first step to cut down the recurrent budget was to drastically trim the number of government agencies and departments.

She said: “This government is resolved to reduce the level of recurrent spending to a reasonable degree, starting from the next budget. And we will do that by collapsing government agencies because we have so many of them, so many parastatals, commissions, committees, agencies, each one eating up a chunk of the budget, some duplicating each other.

“We are also doing biometrics which is yielding some interesting results where we’ve done it. This is the only country where ghost workers retire and become ghost pensioners and that’s what we are seeing. So, we are weeding that out and creating quite a bit of money in the process.

“When we reduce the recurrent expenditure, we want to increase capital because the phenomenon where our capital budget is so low, 24 per cent of the whole budget, it means we are not investing in the critical infrastructure that we need.

“We want to take the capital budget back on the trajectory it used to be back to 33 per cent by the end of this administration.”

The Minister pointed out that the nation’s overall debt to GDP ratio is quite reasonable. “We are about 20 percent which is very good but of that 16.4 is domestic debt and we want to watch that because its building up at an alarming rate and at high interest rate and people in the country don’t seem to worry.

“If it is external debt, everybody keeps screaming without looking at whether this is concessional or not but when its domestic there is a big complacency that you can just float bonds and all will be well. Well my message is no, all will not be well because when you rack up domestic debt you actually have to service it. It’s not like having external and you tell them I can’t pay in your own economy if you don’t pay, institutions, pensions fund all that they will suffer, the individuals and it will create a crisis of confidence in the government so we can’t afford that.

“So we want to keep the stock of domestic debt at a reasonable level around 16 to 17 percent of GDP going forward. It means we will still borrow but we are going to borrow at a declining rate.”

Okonjo-Iweala criticized the previous administration for its excessive borrowing and spending, which had little impact on the economy

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U.S. Senate legalises sex with animals

THE United States Senate yesterday approved a defence authorisation bill legalising sodomy with humans and sex with animals or bestiality. 

Only a week ago, Nigeria’s Senate passed a bill banning same-sex marriages and recommended a 14-year sentence for anyone convicted of homosexuality, defying a threat from Britain and the United States to withhold aid from nations violating gay rights.

But voting 93-7, the United States Senate not only repealed the military law on sodomy, it also repealed the military ban on sex with animals-or bestiality.

On November 15, the Senate Armed Services Committee was said to have unanimously approved S. 1867, the National Defence Authorisation Act, which includes a provision to repeal Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). 

Article 125 of the UCMJ is said to have made it illegal to engage in sodomy with humans and sex with animals. Specifically, it states: 

(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however, slight, is sufficient to complete the offence. 

(b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. 

Expectedly, reactions have continued to trail the decision by the United States’ lawmakers in the country and other parts of the world, including Nigeria. 

In the United Sates, Family Research Council President, Tony Perkins, said the effort to remove sodomy from military law stems from liberal Senate Democrats' and President Obama’s support for removing the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.

‘It’s all about using the military to advance this administration’s radical social agenda,’ Perkins told CNSNews.com. ‘Not only did they overturn ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ but they had another problem, and that is, under military law sodomy is illegal, just as adultery is illegal, so they had to remove that prohibition against sodomy.’ Perkins said removing the bestiality provision may have been intentional-or just ‘collateral damage.’

Well, whether it was inadvertent or not, they have also taken out the provision against bestiality,’ he said. ‘So now, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), there’s nothing there to prosecute bestiality.’
 

Former United States Army Col. Bob Maginnis also reportedly said some military lawyers have indicated that bestiality may be prosecutable under another section of the military code of justice – the ‘catch-all’ Article 134 for offences against ‘good military order and discipline.’

But don't count on that, he said. ‘If we have a soldier who engages in sodomy with an animal, whether a government animal or a non-government animal, is it, in fact, a chargeable offence under the Uniform Code? I think that’s in question,’ Maginnis was quoted as saying. 

‘When the reader stops laughing, the reader needs to ask the question whether or not this is in the best interests of the government, in the best interests of the military and the best interests of the country? I think not,’ he said. 

He added: ‘Soldiers, unfortunately, like it or not, have engaged in this type of behavior in the past. Will they in the future, if they remove this statute? I don’t know.’

Perkins said there was no attempt to remove the UCMJ repeal provision from the bill, which Perkins had expected the Senate to approve.

Now that it has passed, however, the Senate version will have to go to a conference committee, and Perkins predicts there will be several sticking points with the House.

‘The House in their version of the defence authorisation, reinforced the Defence of Marriage Act, saying that there is a military DOMA as well, prohibiting same-sex marriage on military bases. This is something the Department of Defence is pushing for,’ he said. 

‘And now this is an added concern, that sodomy has been removed, and as we have discovered, that bestiality-the prohibition against it-has been removed from the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So yes, the House will have problems with this bill,’ he stated.

In Nigeria’s anti-gay bill, anyone who aids or ‘abets’ same-sex unions faces 10 years in prison, a provision that is believed to be targeted at rights groups. 

The bill, passed last Tuesday, comes nearly a month after British Prime Minister, David Cameron, threatened to withhold aid from nations violating gays rights, sparking outrage in Africa where leaders interpreted it as ‘colonial’ display of power.

Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries based on remnants of sodomy laws introduced during the British colonial era and perpetuated by cultural beliefs.

In Nigeria, the anti-gay bill has been widely applauded, while the sex with animals has been condemned. The Catholic Bishop of Jalingo Diocese, Taraba State, Most Rev Dr Charles Hammawa, said it ‘is human insanity; it is unacceptable, that bill is improper. It is strange and outrageous. This is the same society that condemns crime and bad leadership. It is a pity. 

‘I don’t know what the world is turning into. The return to God is necessary. It is very sad news to hear. I pray Nigeria doesn’t copy such.’

For Pastor Wale Adefarasin, General Overseer of the Guiding Light Assembly, Lagos, he could not imagine that anyone or country would think of such a law. ‘Are you serious?’ he retorted, adding, ‘My comment is that I dey laugh.’  

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Niger Delta militants block Abuja-Lokoja highway

NIGER Delta militants, numbering about 1,600, yesterday blocked the busy Abuja-Lokoja Highway, protesting non-implementation of the Federal Government amnesty programme. 

The blockage brought vehicular and pedestrian traffic to a grinding halt for over eight hours before a combined team of Nigerian Army and Police Force dispersed the protesters.

It was learnt that the militants, who came in about 300 vehicles, were on their way to Abuja to register their grievances with President Goodluck Jonathan, but were stopped by the Kogi State Police Command at Jimeta Tollgate near the Murtala Muhammed bridge.

The Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta Development Kingsley Kuku, told The Moment that the action of militants on Abuja – Lokoja ‘is a breach of order.’

The militants, however, insisted that they were protesting the Federal Government’s failure to keep to its terms of agreement between the two parties and warned that they would go back to the creeks to fight the government if there was no change in the situation. 

A man, who called himself as one of the militants’ leaders, General Ramsey, confirmed to journalists that the militants were on their way to Abuja to meet with the president to register their displeasure and also give four days ultimatum to the Federal Government over their ill-handling of the amnesty programme.

‘The government asked us to come out of the creeks and lay down our arms which we did, but since then, the government has not fulfilled their own part of it, but kept promising us.  While we have embraced the amnesty programme, the Federal Government is frustrating it by refusing to pay us and we don’t want to go back to the creeks or pick up arms,’ he said.

The 1,600 millitants were said to be all generals and commanders of their respective units who have foot soldiers under them, but have laid down their arms.

They said their foot soldiers are skeptical of their excuses and explanations given to them without tangible results, adding that the boys are alleging connivance with the authority. 

According to Ramsey, the militants had graduated from the rehabilitation training in December last year without being paid, adding that the government is fond of empty promises.  

‘We are giving four days ultimatum to the Federal Government to fulfill their side of the bargain. Our boys are angry and they want to go back to the creeks; we are tired of holding them back. So, we want Nigerians and the whole world to know that the Federal Government is frustrating the amnesty programme and the militants,’ he stated.

He stated that the police intercepted them at about 4 a.m. and were directed to go back to where they were coming from, saying their number was too much for a protest to Abuja. 

Ramsey, who spoke even while they defied the security to leave the highway, maintained, ‘we did not block the road; it was the police that blocked the road and prevented travellers from moving freely on the road. We are not armed; we were going to Abuja to register our grievances.’ 

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Amanam  Abakasaga, who confirmed the incident, said it was the police that intercepted the militants at the Jemeta toll gate.

The commissioner said the militants claimed they were going to Abuja to protest the non-implementation of the amnesty programme, but ‘we had to stop them because of the security implication and their large number,’ adding that he has succeeded in appealing to them to retreat.  

The blockage affected travellers coming from eastern and western parts of the country, as well as those leaving the Federal Capital Territory. 

The incident, however, attracted brisk business for traders living around the place as a satchet of pure water was sold for between N30 and N50 as against the normal N5 to N10.

Motorcycle operators, popularly known as Okada riders, had a field day, charging between N3000 and N5000 to carry stranded commuters to Lokoja, a journey that ought to have cost less than N100 on a normal day. 

The food vendors at under the bridge were not left out of the business boom as they called their colleagues at Kotonkarfe, a neighboring community, to rush to the scene with available foods for sale as the price had tripled.

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Lagos ports expect 77 more ships in November

Seventy-seven ships laden with various items are expected to sail into Lagos ports between Nov.17 and Nov 30.


This is contained in the shipping position made available to newsmen on Thursday in Lagos by the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).

The NPA said the information was, however, subject to change on daily basis.

It said the ships were expected to berth at the following terms: Ibafon, Obat ,Capital, Bovas, Jdam, GDNL and APM terminals, 5 Stars, Ports and Terminal Multiservices Ltd. and Tin-Can Island Container Terminal Ltd..

According to the shipping position, 13 ships are loaded with vehicles, two with kerosene, three contain petroleum products while 33 ships are carrying containers.

The report said that two ships are laden with rice, three with bulk wheat, two with diesel, three with cement while five are carrying general cargoes.

The remaining 19 ships are carrying bulk salt, sugar, and cement, bitumen, steel and aviation fuel.
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NYSC FCT Orientation Camp to be Relocated

FCT Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, yesterday said that plans are underway to relocate the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Camp at Kubwa due to lack of space and over stretched facilities.

She gave the hint in an address, during the swearing in ceremony of about 3,978 corps member deployed to serve in the FCT.



The minister urged the corps members to conduct themselves in disciplined manners, adding that the orientation programme is designed to prepare them for challenges, which they are bound to encounter during the course of their service year.

While assuring corps members of adequate security measures put in place at the camp to guarantee their safety, she advised them to be security conscious and report cases of threat to security agents as well as the NYSC management.

Earlier in her welcome address, NYSC FCT Co-ordinator, Mrs Linda O. Amugo, advised the corps members to shun tribalism and other anti-social behaviours that would be detrimental to the unity of the country.

She disclosed that of 3,978 corps members deployed to serve in the territory, 2,128 are females while 1,850 are males.

Highlight of the event was the administration of oath of allegiance on the corps members by the FCT Chief Judge, represented by Justice Ufot A. Inyang.

The Chief Judge urged the corps members to abide by the tenets of the oath of allegiance taken as well as urged them to shun corruption.


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NLC cautions FG against review of Minimum Wage Act

Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President Abduwaheed Omar has advised the Federal Government to shun any attempt to review the new National Minimum Wage Act.


Speaking in Ilorin, on Thursday at the 7th National Labour Relations Summit of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Omar warned that the union would resist any attempt to review the Act.

Omar alleged that there was an unconfirmed report that state governors were pushing for the review of the law.

He expressed the fear that any such amendment would lead to the end of the Act.

Omar said that the alleged plan to amend the Act was obnoxious and not what the government should consider at all.

He argued that fixing of the minimum wage was not done merely for the sake of fixing but to ensure protection of the workers' wage.

He said if there was no nationally binding law on the minimum wage it would give the state governments the leeway to execute a wage policy that suited their interest but detrimental to the interest of their employees.

"I call on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, forget about the issue of amending the minimum wage law. If there is a process in the implementation of the law that needed correction let us correct the process.

"The essence of the law is to ensure the protection of the workers on their wage so that they are not denied their due wage. We should try to sustain this," he declared.

The Ondo State Governor, Mr Olusegun Mimiko who was at the ceremony as the chairman of the occasion in his reaction, said that governors had yet to take a position on the issue.

Mimiko explained that the governors were of the opinion that the Act as enacted and made binding on the states was offensive to the principle of federalism.

He said that the governors were not against fixing a benchmark as minimum wage payable to the workers.

According to him, the government of the states which are their employers should have the opportunity of negotiating the agreement with their workers.


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SEC lauds court’s ruling on Okereke-Onyuike

The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, yesterday, commended  the decision of a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere, that the court can neither be deterred nor prevented from exercising powers conferred on it by law in discharging its duties of capital market regulation and development.

Trial judge, Justice Ayotunde Philips, had in a  judgment in the fundamental rights enforcement suit by Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, weekend, restrained the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Inspector-General of Police from arresting her,  without first establishing that she has committed a crime.

Counsel to SEC,  Mr Babatunde Fagbohunolu, SAN, who spoke, yesterday, commended the judge for acknowledging that as a regulatory body, it was not precluded alongside other security agencies from investigating Okereke-Onyuike,  to obtain redress, if  they were suspicius that she had breached any law or committed infractions of capital market regulations.

The court had held that it was imperative that security agencies must first establish reasonable suspicion against a suspect before arresting him or her.

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FG creates investment ministry, targets creation of 3m jobs annually

THE Federal Government, yesterday, created the Ministry of Trade and Investment in line with its promise to transform the economy within the next four years.

It also announced the setting up of $500million capital for small and medium scale companies at single digit interest rate.
The fund which will be administered by the new ministry in collaboration with Lagos Business School is aimed at breaking the country’s vicious circle of poverty through aggressive and productive investment drive.

It will be headed by former Minister of Finance, Dr. Olusegun Aganga.

The Presidency said that with the creation of the new ministry, the Federal Government was targeting sustained double_digit growth, a private sector led investment flow of about N15 trillion in the next four years and the creation of adequate jobs to plug the country’s huge unemployment hole. The target is the creation of three million jobs annually.

According to the Vision 2020 document, the country needs to invest N34 trillion in growth oriented sectors in the next four years if it is to become one of the twenty largest economies of the world. Of the amount, the Federal Government is to provide investment outlay of N10trillion; state governments, N9trillion; and private sector (both local and international) N15trillion.

Presidency sources said the choice of Aganga to head the new ministry was based on his outstanding private sector background, result-oriented growth initiatives in his one year as Nigeria’s finance minister and experience as managing director of the world’s biggest investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

Under the new ministry, the small and medium enterprises which are the bedrock of growth in advanced economies, will enjoy the special attention that will enable them to perform their roles efficiently, thus providing the foundation for enhanced non-oil growth.

The new model was conceived based on the economic transformation achieved by the Department of Trade and Investment in the United Kingdom; the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Investment of Japan; and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Competitiveness of Cape Verde, among others.

Historically, the UK’s trade and investment department, which is now known as the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, is headed by senior ministers with first_rate experience in investment matters.

BIS’ mission is to drive economic growth by enhancing business productivity, deepening private sector investment/involvement and developing the relevant skills for sustained growth.

For Nigeria, the functions of the former Ministry of Commerce and Industry will be accommodated under the Investment and Trade ministry, while the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission and the Bank of Industry will be strengthened to keep pace with the new drive.

Aganga, during his term as finance minister, started the campaign for the creation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund and got the bill passed under five months. The SWF is not only a tool for strengthening Nigeria’s fiscal framework, but also a vehicle for infrastructure development and wealth creation for the nation.

He successfully launched the first Nigerian Eurobond in the international capital market, which attracted credible investors from more than 14 countries across the continents. That the Eurobond was over_subscribed in an election year was also remarkable.

The new Minister of Investment and Trade was the driver behind the job creation initiative of the Federal Government, including the provision of N50bn for public works.

He pioneered the struggle for the reduction of Nigeria’s recurrent expenditure, developed the funding plan and strategy for the development of SMEs and set up a consumer credit scheme for made_in_Nigeria products to boost consumption and local production.

Under him, a $500m capital was provided at single_digit interest rates for SMEs, a feat that endeared him to the organised Private Sector.

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