The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Monday, said that the violent attack by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on its embattled National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, has further confirmed that the dysfunctional APC has finally disintegrated.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party pointed out that the fact that APC members openly took up arms against its leadership was a huge demonstration of their eternal rejection of the APC and the Buhari Presidency, particularly for the ruins they have caused our nation.

According to the statement, “for APC members to publicly call their National Chairman a “thief,” as reported in the open media, amply captures the mood of the majority of Nigerians, including APC members, that the APC and its government are havens for thieves, criminal gangs and corrupt persons.

“The indisputable fact among Nigerians is that the APC has become torn apart within its core. The manifest greed and ravenousness of its leaders, particularly, in the Presidential Villa, in addition to endless infighting over positions and looted resources has further exposed the party as a soulless mob.

“The APC has never been a genuine platform for governance. It has neither the predisposition nor the design for operable people-oriented policy and programmes. If anything, it has remained a special purpose vehicle, for power-grabbing, hijacked by an oppressive and exploitative cabal, who has no iota of interest in the welfare of Nigerians.

Onyema-Orakwusi said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja. According to her, the international community has the market and capability to effectively monitor all activities that take place in the waterways. She said:

I have always said this, any crime that takes place out there in the sea, the planning is done ashore; they go there, execute and come ashore with their bounty. “So, with good intelligence, right from ashore, you can arrest what goes on there.

You can also trace the movement of the fund through financial institutions. “We are underplaying the activities of the financial institutions especially the international banks because that is where the poachers find markets for their products, which shouldn’t be. “

The poachers have easy market in Asia, in Europe and in America and they pass their money through their financial institutions. “Some of us who export, we know that for your payment to be received through the bank, you need to furnish documentation to show how you earned that money.

So seriously speaking, if we really want to arrest the issue of poaching in Africa, we need the cooperation of Europe, Asia and America. Also read: Ekweremadu charges environmental MDAs on early defence, passage of budget

This is because it is easy for them to monitor these things. Also, sanctions should be placed on the financial institutions and on the big buyers.” Onyema-Orakwusi however, urged the federal government to deploy relevant personnel to adequately monitor the territorial waters to ensure the security of the waterways.

She also urged the government to be at the fore of all the partnerships going into the sector to ensure that its full benefits were maximised. “We need to secure our domain; we need to tap on the resources; we need to let it provide employment and earn foreign exchange, it is our own.

We have also recognised how difficult it is to fight international organised crime and that is why it is important that all hands must be on deck,” she said. The SOAN boss expressed optimism that the recently concluded Global Maritime Security conference would ensure a more secure environment in the country’s maritime sector. She reiterated the importance of safety to enable the country to harness all available resources, to engender growth and development of Nigeria and the continent at large.

On indigenous criminal activities in the country’s maritime domain, Onyema-Orakwusi said resolving it was beyond the amnesty programme. According to her, rather than give fish to the people, it is important to teach them how to fish so they can be useful to themselves, their family and the nation.

I believe that hunger can drive an innocent man to steal in order to eat. “If you look at the Niger Delta area, you will find out that a lot has happened, a lot is still happening and people’s livelihood has been taken from them.

The environment has been abused; there is a lot of pollution which means you have taken from them what they are traditionally good at doing and that is farming and fishing.

And what have we replaced with that. I have never been to the amnesty programme. We need to train these young boys and girls, find some other means for them to earn an income. “So we really need to equip them more and create an environment for them to be able to earn income and improve on themselves,’’ she added.

In a time Nigerian carriers are shouting themselves hoarse to cut down on multiple designations to foreign airlines, the carriers are clandestinely lobbying the Ministry of Aviation for more flights into the country, New Telegraph has learnt.

Besides, the carriers are lobbying influential people in government and some state governors for help to extend flight operations to many states in Nigeria, a situation that has far more implications for the growth of domestic airlines.
Not a few have lamented that foreign airlines are now designated to multiple routes within Nigeria, but this development threatens the survival of local airlines.

This newspaper gathered from a source close to some European carriers that they, in conjunction with their home countries, are mounting so much pressure to expand their operations in the country; a situation that defeats the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) Nigeria has with many of the countries.

BASAs are treaties signed between Countries to allow international commercial air transport services between territories.

BASAs promote international air link between countries, which supports and enables movement of persons, cargo, trade and tourism. These agreements provide the framework under which identified airlines from the two countries fly into designated ports in each other’s country.

Nigeria loses over N500 billion in capital flight yearly due to the lopsided air pact the country has with many countries. Nigeria’s carriers do not have the capacity to compete with their foreign counterpart. They are equally not protected by government policy, leaving predator foreign carriers that are having a field day in the country.

There are indications that the ticket sales of foreign airlines out of Nigeria could rise to N600 billion in no distant time, as more foreign airlines have been granted permission to operate to Nigeria, while many are taking away the domestic market from local airlines.

Nigerian airlines have been muscled, as they only make less than two per cent from the huge sales in the country.

For example, Ethiopia Airlines operates in five cities namely Enugu, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos. Turkish Airlines operates in four cities: Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt, while Emirates Airlines operates two frequencies daily into Lagos and one to Abuja.

For instance, Turkish Airlines has just started Istanbul to Abuja, Abuja to Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt to Abuja, then Abuja to Istanbul. Lufthansa and Air France are also doing the same, thereby running indigenous airlines out of business.

While Emirates has two frequencies into Lagos and one to Abuja, it has announced plans to introduce a third flight in and out of Lagos to commence very soon, making it three flights daily to Lagos.

Indigenous airlines have the capacity to cover all the domestic routes being operated now by these foreign airlines. The practice in international aviation is for foreign airlines to partner with local airlines to help them distribute their passengers within the domestic routes.

Besides multiple designations, foreign airlines are being encouraged to do multiple frequencies into the country and within the country, a practice not allowed in other countries.

A few days ago, Rivers State Government and Ethiopian Airlines were said to have reached an agreement for the operation of permanent international flights from the Port Harcourt International airport subject to the approval of the relevant federal authorities.

The two parties reached the pact at the headquarters of Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa after a meeting attended by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Dr Tewolde Gebremariam and other top managers.

Aviation safety consultant, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (Rtd), said Wike’s position is at variance with the position of the National Assembly on the matter.

He stated that while the National Assembly is planning to curtail foreign airlines’ incursion into “our domestic routes and reduce their multiple destinations in Nigeria, the state governors are thinking differently.

Amnesty International (AI) has identified 119 Nigerians among a total of 1,281 persons sentenced to death in Malaysia. AI gave the figure in its report titled, “Fatally flawed: Why Malaysia must abolish the death penalty.”

It said the 1,281 death row inmates were being kept in 26 detention facilities across Malaysia. In Malaysia, 33 offences are punished with a death sentence.

The AI report said the 119 Nigerians were convicted of hard drug-related offences. “As of 22 February 2019, 1,281 people were under sentence of death in Malaysia, held in 26 detention facilities across the country.

A startling 44 per cent (568) of all those under sentence of death were foreign nationals, from 43 countries.

“Nationals from Nigeria made up 21 per cent of this group, with those from Indonesia (16 per cent), Iran (15 per cent), India (10 per cent), Philippines (eight per cent) and Thailand (six per cent) following suit.

“A significant 73 per cent of all those under sentence of death have been convicted of drug trafficking under Section 39(b) of the Dangerous of Drugs Act, 1952 — an extremely high figure for an offence that does not even meet the threshold of the ‘most serious crimes’ under international law and standards and for which the death penalty must not be imposed,” AI said in the report.

In its report, Amnesty documented many violations of international human rights law and standards associated with the use of the death penalty in Malaysia.

“Our research found a pattern of unfair trials and secretive hangings that itself spoke volumes. From allegations of torture and other ill-treatment to an opaque pardons process, it’s clear the death penalty is a stain on Malaysia’s criminal justice system,” said Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, Executive Director of Amnesty International Malaysia.

In July 2018, the Malaysian government established a moratorium on executions, a temporary prohibition that means the convicts won’t have their sentences carried out.

Even though the government previously committed to full abolition of the death penalty, it is expected to soon table legislation in the Malaysian Parliament that’ll remove the mandatory death penalty for only 11 offences.

Amnesty called on the government to completely abolish the death penalty for all crimes and review all cases where people have been sentenced to death, with a view to commuting the sentences.

The embattled former chairman of the Pension Reforms Task Team, Faisal Abdulrasheed Maina “has started speaking up on how he spent the N24 billion”, Vanguard can confirm.

A top EFCC official conversant with the matter told Vanguard that Maina had started speaking up on how he spent the N24 billion, which the federal government handed over to him in ten commercial banks to use and pay off millions of its retirees across the world.

But in a twist that rattles the government and those who brought Maina to the top job, the team under him merely embarked on globe-trotting, sharing the cash with top government officials, under the guise of going round the world to verify the biometric of Nigerian workers.

According to documents at the disposal of the EFCC, which Maina signed off as approved expenditures and receipts for overseas and local trips by the Pension Reforms Task Team, no fewer than 200 top federal government officials were captured as ‘beneficiaries’ of travelling allowances for trips they did not embark on.

According to the documents, which the embattled official wants to rely on as his evidence of utilizing the huge cash of N24 billion released in 2011 to his team, a former Inspector General of Police, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, a Permanent Secretary in the Presidency, a controversial Head of Service of the Federation, Director of Budget of the Federation, two ex-chairmen of the EFCC and ICPC and hordes of officials have been listed along with their bank details and the amount collected by each for phantom biometric trips.

It was learned that Maina was ready to defend the expenditure by calling some or most of the beneficiaries as his witnesses although he has reportedly denied many of the payments and ownership of most of the houses traced to him.

It was learnt that many of the top government officials who are listed as beneficiaries were aware that Maina’s team had been making payments into their accounts even though they did not make the purported trips. It did not also summon the courage to reject and return the millions paid into their accounts by the PRTT.

It was gathered that most of them had since left public service might still be summoned to account for the public funds.

In a similar development, Maina’s son has been reportedly handed over to the Nigeria Police Force to prosecute over illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, Vanguard learnt.

The DSS in its report while transferring father and son to the EFCC last week, accused Faisal of pulling a gun against its operatives and threatening to shoot them.

The service listed items it arrested the father and son with to include: a pistol with live ammunition, bulletproof Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicle, foreign currencies and seven drones.

Vanguard gathered that the police would press charges against junior Maina, who was actually caught with the pistol firearms unless he produces appropriate licenses to operate same in Nigeria.

A source confirmed to Vanguard the 20-year-old student in the American University of Dubai had been transferred to the police, leaving his embattled father alone with EFCC operatives.

Shehu Sani, a former lawmaker representing the Kaduna Central senatorial district has called for the prosecution of the kidnappers of nine children from Kano State.

The State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Iliyasu, who confirmed the incident had said it arrested one Paul Owne, 37, Mercy Paul, 38, Emmanuel Igwe, 34, Ebere Ogbodo, 45, Louis Duru, 30, and Monica Oracha, 50, while trying to take one of the kidnapped victims, Haruna Bako to Anambra State.

“The victim was kidnapped on Sept. 11 on his way back from Islamiyya School at Yankaba Quarters Kano.”

He noted that the eight abducted children were rescued in Anambra State from the hands of the buyers.

“The children included, Umar Ibrahim, 10, renamed as Onyedika Ogbodo, Aisha Mohd Abdullahi 9 renamed as Ozioma Ogbodo, Usman Mohammed 5 years, Amira Auwalu, 4, Husna Salisu, 4 years.

Reacting, Shehu Sani on his Twitter page wrote, ”To ‘steal’ children from Kano or anywhere & forcefully convert them to another faith is unreservedly condemnable.

”The perpetrators must be prosecuted.There’s the need for Govt to beam the searchlights on bogus orphanages engaged in children trafficking & forceful conversions.”

Sequel to the ‘Sex For grade’ issue that has made rounds on social media, a Lecturer in the Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State, Aliyu Maigodo University of Gombe has challenged his students to come expose him if he had ever extorted money or harassed anyone sexually.

Mr Aliyu shared this on facebook, as he wrote:

CHALLENGE
“I am Aliyu Maigado, a lecturer with Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State.
Over the years, I taught several courses and interacted with many students, both male and female.
If as my student, I ever extort money from you; demanded for or sexually harassed you, between you and your God, kindly report and expose me. Thank you”.

The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has declared that any elected governor in the country who steals public funds needs deliverance from God.

The need for deliverance of such a governor, as according to him, was because governors are well provided for such that only a diabolical person would resort to stealing.

He stated this at weekend during the closing ceremony of the 23rd National Quranic Recitation Competition organised by the Jamaatul Izalatul Bid’ah Wa Ikamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS) in Lafia, the state capital.

According to him, “Any person elected as governor of a state has no justification to steal public funds. So anyone elected as governor and is found stealing public funds requires deliverance from God.

“When I assumed office as governor, I realised that only those who have no true knowledge about God or those whose major preoccupation is to steal public funds, could steal. Any person who is a governor and still steals public funds, such a person is in need of deliverance from God.”

Sule used the occasion to call on scholars and educated elites to join politics as a way of bringing sanity to the system.

He, therefore, dismissed insinuations that one must be wealthy before joining politics, stressing that as long as religious scholars avoid politics, then they should be prepared to elect leaders who will betray their trust.

The governor equally called on Islamic scholars not to relent in telling the people the truth, even at the risk of rejection, urging them to aspire for leadership positions.

Speaking also, the National Chairman of the council of Ulamau of JIBWIS, Sheik Sani Yahaya Jingir, charged Muslim faithful on the need to be law-abiding, stressing the importance of seeking both Islamic and Western education.

The Muslim cleric also decried the level of moral decadence in the country’s educational system, especially with recent reports of sexual harassment of female students in some universities.

Jingir, therefore, called on university lecturers to put the fear of God in their work, and henceforth desist from molesting their students.