21 Killed In Attacks On Benue Communities By Suspected Fulani Herdsmen

Separate attacks on Benue communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen claimed 21 lives over the weekend.

The Benue communities that were attacked include Apera, Gberija, Tse Pilla, Uchagh, Ukaha, Atenger, Agema and Agule in Guma where six persons were killed while another 15 were killed at Oguchi-Ankpa in Agatu local government area by the invaders.

A source from Guma local government council said, “They marched into our villages from Awe in Nasarawa State and passed through Damko before invading and burning down eight villages in Guma local government.

“Unfortunately, the herdsmen stormed the affected villages when most men had gone to their farms and since we thought that the persistent crisis had been settled by both the Benue and Nasarawa state governments, we were not prepared for the surprise attack.

“They killed six of our people who were mostly women, because they were at home preparing meals for their husbands and children who had gone to their farms at the time of the attack.

“Several persons were seriously injured while many are still missing as at today and no one has a clue as to their whereabouts.

“In fact this latest attack has brought to the fore the need for both the Benue and Nasarawa state governments to take a closer look at overhauling the security apparatus operating on the border between the two states,” he said.

Meanwhile, Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam has charged the people of the state to be vigilant and report suspicious movements in the communities to security agencies, following the weekend invasion of Benue communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

Speaking yesterday at the Catholic Church, Oshigbudu after inspecting the damage at Enogaje, one of the communities earlier attacked by the marauders, Suswam urged the people to “be security conscious and report suspicious movements to the relevant security agencies”.

Reps Set To Probe Presidency Over Service-Wide Votes

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) has disclosed that it would launch an investigation into the disbursement and expenditure of service-wide votes from 2008 to date to agencies under the Presidency by the Budget Office later this week.


Rep. Adeola Solomon Olamilekan (APC, Lagos), who is chairman of the committee made this known at the weekend.

According to the lawmaker, the investigation has become necessary in order to find out how the funds were disbursed and utilized.

It would be recalled that the national budgets from 2008 to date under late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua down to President Goodluck Jonathan, were at over N4 trillion annually with service-wide votes accounting for about 40 per cent of the budget every year.

But the Public Accounts Committee chairman expressed surprise that the Auditor General’s office was still experiencing paucity of funds to carry out audit of government accounts, pointing out that there have been abundant sums of money extracted from the budget every year to cover for such services.


“We are going to investigate the Budget Office on Service-wide votes for 5 years especially the year 2011; how much was spent, how much was the expenditure for that year and all these years.

“40 per cent of the nation’s budgets which amounted to about N1.6trillion went for service-wide votes and nothing went to the Auditor General of the Federation. Rather, the budget office has been paying hired auditors to audit the service-wide vote accounts,” Mr. Olamilekan said.

Strike: NANS Talking Out Of Ignorance, Says ASUU

ASUU MEETING WITH VICE PRESIDENT NAMADI SAMBO IN ABUJA RECENTLY

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has been asked to get its facts right concerning the lingering strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).


The students’ body had condemned ASUU for prolonging the strike despite certain concessions made by the Federal Government and had threatened to drag the varsity lecturers to court for keeping students at home for more than three months.

The chairman of ASUU, Kogi State University chapter, Sylvester Ukwuteno weekend said NANS was ignorant and insisted that the strike will not be called off until all the decisions contained in the 2009 agreement are implemented.

“We want people to know that the Federal Government is deceiving Nigerians and that ASUU will not go back to the classroom until public universities across the country are revitalized. NANS members are talking based on ignorance because the strike is not just about welfare. We are poor people like other Nigerians, who do not have money to send their children to private universities, but infrastructure in public schools are dilapidated. We have resolved that until our agreement is honoured, the strike would not be called off. We have to fight now to save the future of children of the poor,” he said.

Mr. Ukwuteno added: “It is better to delay the system than to allow public education system in the country to collapse. We believe posterity will not forgive us if we fail to act now. Agreement is a covenant that must be honoured”.

Nobody can harm me as long as my mum lives –Gov Aliyu

Niger State Governor, Muazu Babangida Aliyu has dropped a bombshell on why his perceived enemies cannot disgrace him out of public office.
He disclosed that his aging mother has every spiritual power to protect him and put his enemies to shame.
Aliyu, who is also the chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF), spoke at the weekend when he commissioned the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio station.
He said there is the need for Nigerians to respect their mothers and women in general because according to him,women are more responsible for the upbringing of children than men.
He beat his chest and challenged whoever wanted his downfall either politically or otherwise, to try his mother’s power.
He also disclosed how at his tender age, his father discovered his oratory ingenuity, saying that his vocal ability at public functions had proved that his father had a good foresight about some of his talents.
He said that he was his father’s pet till the age of 40.
“My mother is still escorting me, so, go and do whatever thing you want to do against me, my mother is behind me. She is praying for me.
“We must protect our mothers because they are the only ones who can put their hands up and God will answer quickly.
“We must respect our women because they are really the ones who make sure that our children behave and learn to obey promises made.
“Since I was a small boy, till today, I have never eaten alone.
“I would come from school to my family house with over 12 children and till today I wonder how a plate of food was enough for all of till we grew up. Some of the people in our house would say I am a troublemaker, but my father would look and smile, and he would say leave him alone.
“He compared me to one of my brothers and said they should leave me alone to have my own way and my brother his own way.
“When I started talking, the other children would say I had started making noise again and my old man would say they should leave me, believing that talking is my gift.
“Lo and behold, when I see people trying to listen to me today, I say oh, my father was right. And I am happy that he had escorted me until I was 40 something years old,” Aliyu said.

Omo Omoruyi, Former Associate of Ibrahim Babangida, Dies

                     Professor Omo Omoruyi
                     By SaharaReporters, New York

Omo Omoruyi, a political scientist who advised former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida, has died. Mr. Omoruyi reportedly died earlier today in Benin City, the capital of Edo State. A family friend who sought anonymity told our correspondent, “Professor Omo Omoruyi died today after battling cancer for the past few years.”

A professor of political science at the University of Benin, Mr. Omoruyi came to national limelight when he served as the Director-General of the Center for Democratic Studies during the regime of Mr. Babangida. Known as a confidante and advisor to the former military general, Mr. Omoruyi wrote a book chronicling an account of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential polls won by the late business tycoon, Moshood Kashimawo Abiola. The book also named some of the players who, in Mr. Omoruyi’s view, played significant roles in the cancellation of the polls, an event that triggered protests against the military and led to Mr. Babangida’s exit from power.

Our source said that Mr. Omoruyi died in a local hospital in Benin City. He had received treatment abroad for his cancer, reportedly under the sponsorship of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

A controversial player in Nigeria’s fledging democratic politics, Mr. Omoruyi had at various times flip-flopped on his political positions. After opposing former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s reelection campaign in 2003, Mr. Omoruyi turned around to support the then president. He also took several contradictory positions on Mr. Obasanjo’s third term ambition.

In his last years, Mr. Omoruyi had a public parting of ways with his former friend, Mr. Babangida. As he traveled between Nigeria and the US for cancer treatment, he told the media that Mr. Babangida had failed to help him in his moment of sickness, adding that the former dictator should not come to his funeral.

In the early 1980s, the late professor served as a director for the Satellite group of newspapers owned by former Governor Jim Nwobodo of Enugu. He also wrote a column for the newspaper.

Air disaster averted today as IRS aircraft makes emergency landing

Another air disaster was averted this afternoon when an IRS Aircraft made an emergency landing in Kaduna. A Fokker 28 plane, carrying 89 passengers from Lagos to Kaduna, developed hydraulic problems few minutes before landing at the Kaduna airport.

The aircraft's front tyres refused to come out during landing, forcing the pilot to land without them. Fortunately no one was injured.

The Managing Director of IRS, Yemi Dada, later explained what happened to reporters. He said:

"The pilots received a low hydraulic warning minutes before landing, and this affected the landing gear, nose wheel steering, brakes, cargo doors, thrust reverser and the flight controls."
“On final approach to Kaduna today on our flight 3390 with 89 passengers, our cockpit crew got a low hydraulic in system 1 warning and decided to take precautionary measures to ask for ground confirmation that all gears were down and locked."
“The crew proceeded to land but followed procedure to disembark on the runway and not taxi in accordance with the procedure.”

He said all passengers disembarked with the assistance of a crane before the aircraft was towed to ramp. He also said the airline's maintenance crew is checking the aircraft to see what happened.

Jay-Z, Chris Martin, Timbaland take public transport to gig at O2

    

Jay Z, Timbaland, and Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin surprised commuters by taking London commuter train to their gig at the 02 arena in London on Saturday night. His manager Ty Ty and Atlanta Records executive Michael Kyser were also with the group. See more photos after the cut...