Controversy over Turkish Airlines arms shipment to Nigeria

Coordinating General Manager (Communications) for Aviation Parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati
| credits: http://citizensplatform.net

THERE was controversy on Wednesday over reported arms shipment to Nigeria by two Turkish Airlines. The airline allegedly shipped weapons to unknown groups in the country, a development that AFP reports said was exposed by an incriminating phone call.

But the airline, with operations in the country, has denied the claim though it confirmed that it carried arms into Nigeria in accordance with international laws.

According to the French news agency, however, an Assistant Executive of the Turkish Airlines, Mehmet Karatas, in the leaked conversation allegedly told an advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mustafa Varank, that he felt guilty over the national flag carrier’s arms shipment to Nigeria.

AFP described the leaked conversation as the latest blow to Erdogan, who has been hit by a corruption probe ensnaring his key allies and a widening phone-tapping scandal.

“I do not know whether these (weapons) will kill Muslims or Christians. I feel sinful,” Karatas allegedly said in the tape, which was posted on YouTube.

Jonathan warns ministers, cancels NIS recruitment

President Goodluck Jonathan
| credits: File copy

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday read the Riot Act to ministers and heads of government departments and agencies to desist from organising fatal exercises similar to the one conducted by the Nigeria Immigration Service on Saturday, under the guise of recruiting staff.

The President said any sloppy minister, whose carelessness caused the death of citizens, would henceforth be arrested and prosecuted for manslaughter.

Jonathan reportedly issued the threat during the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja. Sources at the meeting said discussion centred mainly on the tragic NIS recruitment during which 19 applicants died.

One of the sources told our correspondent that the President spoke after he had asked the embattled Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, to brief the council on the circumstances that led to the death of the applicants.

The source said that while Jonathan was silent on whether Moro was culpable and would be punished or not, he warned that all government officials must ensure that such unfortunate incident did not occur again in the country.

Jonathan sacks NNPC director, appoints five new GEDs

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday sacked the Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Abiye Membere, and appointed five new ones to fill existing vacancies.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the new appointees and their portfolios are Mr. Ian Udoh, Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals; Dr. Dan Efebo, Group Executive Director, Corporate Services; and Ms. Aisha Abdurrahman, Group Executive Director, Business Development.

Others are Mr. Adebayo Ibirogba, Group Executive Director, Engineering and Technical; and Dr. Joseph Dawha, Acting Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production.

Abati said the appointments took immediate effect.

Among the GEDs, the one in charge of the Exploration and Production is one of the most influential in the hierarchy of the NNPC because the department is responsible for producing the crude oil that is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.

It was gathered that some of the old GEDs had retired from the corporation without the government filling their positions, while some served in acting capacities.

For instance, the former GED, Refining and Petrochemicals, Mr. Anthony Ogbuigwe, and GED, Business Development, Mr. Aminu Babakusa, were said to have retired from the services of the NNPC.

The former acting GEDs, Corporate Services and Engineering and Technical were replaced with substantive directors.

2015 Igbo Presidency: Orji Uzo Kalu,

 Ohaneze Jokers – Chekwas

Nsukka – Chief Chekwas Okorie has lampooned ex -governor of Abia State, Orji Uzo Kalu over his recent comment that the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the Igbo apex social cultural group, has pleaded with him not to contest the presidency in 2015 general election.

Okorie, the National Chairman of United Progressive Party, UPP, queried the political value of the former Abia State governor at the just concluded Igbo International Colloquium in Enugu.

Chief Okorie

He noted that there is no country in the world where a cultural group can persuade
anyone from pursuing his political ambition,  added that both Orji Uzo Kalu and Ohaneze should watch their political calculations and know whether they were not embarrassing themselves.

He said ‘I don’t want to join issues with Kalu and Ohaneze on Ndigbo ceding the presidency to Jonathan, I have never seen anywhere in the world where a cultural group will decide whether to go for the highest political office in the country or not. ‘Orji Uzo Kalu should access his political value to Ndigbo for which he will come and tell us that a cultural group said he should not run and therefore that is why he is not running.

Immigration tragedy: Jonathan queries Interior Minister

TRAGEDY: Interior Minister, Abba Moro, with one of the victims of Nigeria Immigration Service aptitude test tragedy, at the National Hospital, Abuja, yesterday.

Following the outrage  that continued to trail the death of 15 job applicants including a pregnant women at the various centres across the country during the recruitment exercise by the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday issued a query to the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro to explain within 24 hours the poor handling of the exercise even as he rejected calls for him to resign over the incident saying “I will not resign”.

One of the survivors of the stampede at the Minna centre, has also recounted her experience just as the Nigerian Labour Congress staged a protest in Kaduna asking the government to probe the incident.

Obiano sworn in as Anambra gov

Vows to tackle power, security challenges

Obi ‘ll soon become FEC member —President

As CJ denies getting court action to stop swearing in

AWKA—Dr. Willie Obiano and Dr. Nkamakonam Okeke were yesterday, sworn in as governor and deputy governor of Anambra State respectively with a pledge to tackle headlong the perennial problems of power failure and insecurity which they identified as the biggest constraints to the full manifestation of the ingenuity for which Anambra people were known.

Chief Judge on court order
This was even as the state Chief Judge, Justice Peter Umeadi, denied ever flouting any court order by swearing them into office.

However, the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Matters, Chief Ben Obihas announced the appointment of former Governor Obi,  as the honourary Adviser on Finance to President Goodluck Jonathan and would soon become a member of the Federal Executive Council, FEC.

Society’s enduring virtues of love, unity and brotherhood were some of the central themes that dominated the inaugural address of the new Governor, Obiano after taking the oath of office, in an elaborate ceremony in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

Tackling challenges
At the colourful ceremony held at Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka and attended by eminent personalities from Anambra and beyond, Obiano said  that the realisation of his dreams for Anambra State depends on how well these two challenges were tackled.

He said: “The good news is that there is hope for Anambra State.  We shall aggressively address the challenge of power supply with the proposed citing of ultra-modern Independent Power Plants, IPP, in the three industrial hubs in the state, especially, in Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka.  When fully operational, these plants will generate enough electricity to power the entrepreneurial dreams of our people.”

On security

Unemployment: Embrace agriculture, monarch urges youths

Malam Aminu Malami, the District Head of Udubo, Gamawa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, on Monday called on youths to embrace agriculture as a way of tackling unemployment in the country.
Malami, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Bauchi, also said that venturing into agriculture would help to tackle food insecurity in the state and the country.
According to him, governments at all levels have prioritised agriculture as one of the key sectors that needs urgent attention and currently receiving serious intervention.
“Both federal and the state governments are currently investing hugely in agriculture with inputs support both for dry season farming and rainy season farming.
“There is therefore the need for our youths to embrace agriculture and tap from its many opportunities because it is the only area they can be gainfully employed.
“Our youths must stop roaming the streets doing nothing, while others travel as far as the southern part of the country in search of jobs that are not available.
“This idleness must stop and agriculture is the way out. It is the only practise that will bring us out of poverty,” he said.