Buhari orders military to crush new Niger Delta militant group

President Muhammadu Buhari has given a fresh order to the military to crack down on a new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, which has been attacking oil installations.

It was gathered on Saturday that the President gave the directive on Friday, following the group’s attack on Chevron’s platform in Warri, Delta State, on Thursday and its blowing up of pipelines linking Warri and Kaduna refineries on Friday.

Following the attack on the Okan offshore production platform on Wednesday by the militants, Chevron said it had lost about 105,000 barrels of oil production in three days.

The oil major said the incident had affected about 35,000 barrels per day of its own net crude production, or about 15 per cent of its output in the country.

“Approximately 35,000 bpd of Chevron’s net crude oil production in Nigeria are impacted,” AFP quoted a Chevron’s spokeswoman, Isabel Ordonez, as saying in a statement.

The General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Deji Haastrup, confirmed the figure.

He said, “This is a very difficult time for the country because it needs the revenue it can get from oil production. Incidents such as this have the potential to impact that. We do hope that it does not seriously affect the country.”

Workers on the pipelines told one of our correspondents that before the attack, they had pumped 28,000 barrels from the Escravos terminal on Thursday.

“Both Warri and Kaduna refineries also got a delivery rate of 903,000 barrels just before the attacks,” the workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

The workers said following the attacks, they counted about 10 military air patrols over the pipelines on Saturday.

They also added that it had been difficult for fire fighters to quench the fire from the bombed pipelines.

“The fire is still on and it’s going to be hard to stop it because it’s huge,” the workers said on Saturday night.

It was learnt that following the attacks, which has the potential of adversely affecting the revenue of the country,  the President instructed the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force to stop the activities of the new group.

A presidential aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The President gave special instruction to the military, especially to the Chief of Naval Staff, that this ugly development of vandals in the Niger Delta should end immediately.”

It was learnt that the President also ordered the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, to ensure that all waterways and platforms were protected against further attacks by the militants.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. -Gen. Rabe Abubakar, in an interview with one of our correspondents on Saturday, confirmed that the military had gotten the directive.

He said, “We have the order from the President and we are monitoring the activities of the new group.  All efforts will be made to bring out those behind it.

“The suspects who perpetrated the first vandalism were apprehended and paraded the day before yesterday (Thursday).

“These ones are not going to be different. We are going out on our operation to stop and apprehend them in accordance with the presidential directive.”

Abubakar was not specific about what measures would be taken to address the current situation.

“We are not deterred; nobody is happy about it but we are not deterred from doing what we are doing. And more proactive measures would be put in place.

“What they are doing is complete economic sabotage; it is economic terrorism,” he said.

Buhari had in April threatened that his administration would descend heavily on oil and gas pipelines vandals as well as other saboteurs the same way the nation’s Armed Forces were dealing with members of the Boko Haram sect.

The President who spoke in Beijing during a meeting he had with members of the Nigerian community in China, warned vandals and saboteurs blowing up oil and gas installations in Nigeria to desist immediately or face the  same drastic action being taken against Boko Haram  by the Armed Forces.

Army arrests young female B’Haram suspect

Source: DHQ

The Army on Saturday said during the ongoing clearance and rescue operations carried out by the troops of 28 Task Force Brigade, they were able to clear the enclaves of Boko Haram terrorists along Galtha Baba, Galtha Musa, Bulakurma, Shatimari, Chukruk, Bulangaje, and Disa villages.

Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, said during the operation, a young female Boko Haram terrorist was captured alive while motorcycles, bags of grains, their flags and uniforms were recovered.

“Other items included the suicide bomber’s hijab, a mobile phone and one dane gun and cooking utensils. The troops also rescued 15 persons that were held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists in the area.

“Unfortunately, two Armoured Fighting Vehicles entered an Improvised Explosive Device. However, the formation did not sustain any human casualty and the damage to the AFVs was minimal.

“The captured terrorist is being interrogated and would soon be taken to the relevant agencies for prosecution,” Usman said.

Fani Kayode: EFCC acting irresponsibly under Buhari, says Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose

The governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose has criticized the persistent harassment of Nigerians by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under President Muhammadu Buhari, stressing that, the continued detention without trial of Warimopei Dudafa, a former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and invasion of the Abuja residence of former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode were irresponsible, barbaric and undemocratic.

Fayose said it was the height of executive rascality for the EFCC to have held occupants of Fani-Kayode’s residence hostage for eight hours having only invited him to the EFCC office on Monday (2 May), adding that, there was no evidence that Fani-Kayode refused to honour the invitation.

In a statement issued by Fayose’s Special Assistant on public communications and new media, Lere Olayinka, “EFCC under President Mohammadu Buhari is acting as if it is above the law and Nigerians and the international community must remind the commission that we are in a democracy where rule of law is sacrosanct.”

The governor said actions of the EFCC has shown clearly that it is an instrument of victimisation against the opposition, adding that, the anti-graft agency should go and study how other anti-corruption agencies in other countries behave.

Femi Fani-Kayode home was ransacked by EFCC

“The EFCC must be reminded of the judgement delivered in March, this year by Justice Yusuf Haliru of the Federal High Court in Nicholas Arinse Vs EFCC & Nigerian Army where the judge held that the EFCC did not behave as if we were in a civilised society and that the anti-graft commission was behaving as if we were in a military dictatorship, where they arrest and release person at will.

“In the case of the former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Jonathan, no one is saying those suspected of corrupt practices should not be investigated and tried, but it is wrong for Warimopei Dudafa to have been kept in EFCC custody for over two weeks without trial.

“Also, it is a demonstration of barbarism for the same EFCC that invited Fani-Kayode to its office on Monday to have invaded his house yesterday, holding the occupants hostage for eight hours when there is no evidence that Fani-Kayode refused to honour EFCC invitation.

President Muhammadu Buhari

“Why the show of barbarism by the EFCC as if Nigeria is now back to 1984 when Buhari was a military dictator?”
While calling on the international community to pay attention to the abuse of rights of Nigerians and threat to democracy under President Buhari, Fayose said; “It is obvious that democracy in Nigeria is becoming unsafe in the hands of Buhari’s government.”

He said Nigerians must begin to ask the EFCC what happened to the several petitions written against APC leaders and financiers of President Buhari’s election, including former governors, adding that it was worrisome that the EFCC and the Department of State Services (DSS) have become President Buhari’s instrument of political victimisation.

$3.8m AIDS money stolen at NACA, Global Fund blacklists Nigeria

A person living with HIV/AIDS:Money to help him stolen by Nigerian officials

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria says it is suspending aid to Nigeria’s AIDS agency over evidence that $3.8 million was stolen by its workers and consultants.

Spokesman Seth Faison said Friday that Nigeria’s government has promised to repay the money to the Geneva-based agency and to prosecute suspects.

A report by the fund’s inspector general says seven government workers and three consultants stole the money over five years between 2010 and 2014.

The report said the fraud continued because the National Agency for the Control of AIDS did not have proper audits.

The missing money is 95 percent of the amount budgeted to implement, administer and train users of a web-based reporting platform but a fraction of the $1.4 billion the fund has spent in Nigeria.

Summary of the Audit by Global Fund:

An Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audit of Global Fund grants in Nigeria has identified significant problems in procurement, supply chain, financial and program management. The auditors found discrepancies of over US$4 million between drugs ordered and delivered; US$20 million paid to suppliers without confirmation of delivery; stock-outs of eight months for critical medicines; and a total of US$7.65 million in unsupported expenditures. The Global Fund is reviewing corrective measures, particularly with regard to risk management, identified by the OIG as the root cause of many of the issues.

With more than US$1.4 billion invested since 2003, Nigeria represents the Global Fund’s largest portfolio. Programs to date have contributed to 750,000 people living with HIV/AIDS currently on antiretroviral therapy, 310,000 new smear-positive tuberculosis cases detected and treated and 93.4 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets distributed to prevent the spread of malaria.

Regarding procurement, the OIG found that Principal Recipients, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS and the National Malaria Elimination Program do not monitor the deliveries to the central medical store in Lagos of drugs arriving through the Global Fund’s Pooled Procurement Mechanism (a system that allows the Global Fund to bulk order health commodities at favorable prices). This resulted in discrepancies in antiretroviral drugs deliveries of US$3.7 million from 2013 to September 2015 and US$0.5 million in artemisinin-based combination therapy drugs. The OIG also identified payments amounting to US$20 million made to a procurement agent without confirmation of services rendered or goods delivered.

The auditors found major weaknesses in supply chain management including ineffective controls over inventory management and distribution directly affecting service delivery to patients in Nigeria. Stock-outs lasting 8 months of critical medicines such as antiretroviral drugs and artemisinin-based combination therapies were found in 42 health facilities visited by the OIG. In addition, HIV commodities worth US$5.4 million had expired in the last two years.

Although the OIG noted minor improvements since the introduction of a fiduciary agent in May 2015, financial management controls were found to be inadequate and ineffective. For example, the auditors identified a total of US$7.65 million of unsupported expenses linked to human resources, payment approval processes and advances management.

Significant weaknesses exist in the internal controls around data collection and reporting processes. This resulted in more than 10% of errors between the data recorded at the facility level and data reported to the state coordinator and the Global Fund. The issues identified were mainly for the HIV and malaria programs. Good practice, however, was observed on data recorded for the tuberculosis programs.

The OIG concluded that the Global Fund’s risk management framework in Nigeria is ineffective. The organization is unable to identify, mitigate and monitor the risks effectively. This explains many of the problems identified by the OIG audit. For example, although the Secretariat introduced the Pooled Procurement Mechanism to the Nigeria portfolio, limited preventative controls are in place to ensure that drugs procured through the mechanism are actually delivered and then distributed.

The Secretariat is currently reviewing a number of corrective actions including assessing potential recoverable funds, internal control deficiencies and the grant recipients’ ability to deliver key Global Fund objectives in Nigeria.

Sadiq Khan: Muslim, Pakistani parents, now London Mayor

Sadiq Khan: trail blazing newly elected London Mayor

London (AFP) – London’s new mayor Sadiq Khan has gone from a public housing estate in the British capital to running the city, a remarkable rise for the Pakistani immigrant bus driver’s son.

The 45-year-old human rights lawyer-turned-politician swept to victory on Friday, becoming the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital in the process.

After a campaign that saw his main rival try to establish links between Khan and Islamist extremists, the Labour Party candidate now faces the task of bringing London’s diverse communities together to keep it on its perch as a top world city.

“I’m a Londoner, I’m British, I’m of Islamic faith, of course I am a proud Muslim. I’m of Asian origin, of Pakistani heritage,” he told AFP on Wednesday.

“But the great thing about this city is you can be a Londoner of any faith or none and we don’t simply tolerate each other: we respect, we embrace and we celebrate each other.”

– Street fighting man –

Khan’s journey to City Hall is like a modern fairytale.

Born in London in 1970 to parents who had recently arrived from Pakistan, Khan was the fifth child out of seven brothers and one sister.

He grew up in public housing in Tooting, an ethnically mixed residential area in south London, and slept in a bunkbed until he was 24.

His modest background plays well in a city that is proud of its diversity and loves a self-made success story.

Khan regularly recalls how his late father drove London’s famous red buses, and his mother was a seamstress. One of his brothers is a motor mechanic.

He is a handy boxer, having learnt the sport to defend himself in the streets against those who hurled racist abuse at him. Two of his brothers are boxing coaches.

He remains sporting and ran the 2014 London Marathon.

Khan joined the Labour Party aged 15 when Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher was in her pomp.

At school, he wanted to study science and become a dentist. But a teacher spotted his gift for verbal sparring and directed him towards law.

He gained a law degree from the University of North London and started out as a trainee lawyer in 1994 at the Christian Fisher legal firm.

He specialised in human rights, and spent three years chairing the civil liberties campaign group Liberty.

He represented Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Babar Ahmad, a mosque acquaintance who was jailed in the United States after admitting providing support to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

– Death threats –

He became a partner in the law firm but left to become the member of parliament for Tooting in the 2005.

He had been a local councillor for Tooting in the Conservative-dominated Wandsworth local borough since 1994.

He still lives in Tooting with his lawyer wife Saadiya and their two teenage daughters.

Prime minister Gordon Brown made him the communities minister in 2008 and he later served as transport minister, becoming the first Muslim minister to attend cabinet meetings.

In parliament, he voted for gay marriage — which earned him death threats.

His London mayoral election campaign focused on providing affordable homes for Londoners and freezing transport fares.

Khan is London’s third mayor after Labour’s Ken Livingstone (2000-2008) and Conservative Boris Johnson (2008-2016).

Khan told AFP one of the “great things about London” was that “if you work hard, you get a helping hand and you can achieve anything”.

“I’ve gone from a council estate to being a lawyer, to running a succesful business to being a minister in the cabinet” — and now London mayor.

He ran for City Hall because “there are too many Londoners who don’t get the helping hand that I received”.