BREAKING: Finally President Buhari Moves Into Aso Villa (PHOTO)

News just reaching us informs that President Muhammadu Buhari has finally moved into his official residence in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to the Nation, Buhari moved in on Sunday evening.

Buhari and the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo have been living outside the Villa and used the Defence House, Abuja as their offices since their inauguration three weeks ago as the official residence was being renovated.

Meanwhile, first lady, Aisha Buhari had moved into the official residence since last Thursday.

Buhari, returned to Abuja from Katsina State where he went to inspect his farm on Saturday. He supposedly began moving his properties to the seat of power on Sunday evening.

There had been much speculation on why the new president did not move to the Aso Rock. Rumours suggested that “a spiritual cleansing” was being carrid out.

However, presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu debunked those claims saying: “As far as the president is concerned, the place (his official residence) is not ready yet. Workers are cleaning and refurbishing the place. Once the exercise is completed, the president will move in.”

Pipeline contract: FG must pay ex-militants, says Asari-Dokubo

Former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has called on the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to pay contractors of the oil pipeline surveillance project in the country.

Asari-Dokubo, who is one of the former Niger Delta agitators awarded pipeline surveillance contract by the Federal Government, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the three-month deal elapsed on June 15.

He said that the ex-minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, did not sign for the payment of the pipeline surveillance contract before she left office.

The pipeline protection project, which cut across Lagos, Ogun, Bayelsa, Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States, was executed from March 15, 2015 to June 15.

Asari-Dokubo urged President Buhari to pay the contractors their money if he was truly committed to the rule of law.

“Diezani (Allison-Madueke) did not sign payment for the contract before she left. All across the six states (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa) where the contract was awarded none of us were paid; none of the companies were paid. The Federal Government should do what is needful by paying the money they owe. The same mandate that was given to Buhari to become President was the same mandate that was given to us in a legal and binding contract.

“If Buhari is law-abiding and if his government respects the rule of law, the contractual obligations will be followed. The contract was awarded to corporate entities by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We did not go in as individuals and the corporate entities are regarded as individuals under the law. No contract was awarded to any specific individual,” he said.

BREAKING: Dual Suicide Bomb Attacks In Maiduguri, At Least 30 Killed

The first blast occurred in a mosque, and has killed at least 30 people according to eyewitnesses and sources who spoke with our Sahara Reporters correspondent.

Two separate suicide bombs rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has killed at least 30 people and injuring scores of others, according to sources at the scene who spoke with SaharaReporters.

The total tally of dead and injured is not known at the time of publication but is believed to be at least 30 people dead. It is known that the suicide bombings took place at the mosque and market this evening.

The first blast occurred in a mosque, and has killed at least 30 people according to eyewitnesses and sources who spoke with our SaharaReporters correspondent.

The second blast occurred at Baga market area of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, at about 4pm, killing scores of people and injuring many others, according to reports. There are no confirmed death tolls from the market bomb attack.

Sources at the scene said that two vehicles of policemen rode to State Specialist Hospital, followed by CJTF vehicles bringing some injured people from the Baga market blast.

SaharaReporters also observed some police utilities vehicles and CJTF entering State Specialists Hospital with injured people.

A local trader Usman Kaka told SaharaReporters that ''many people may have dead and that blood stains everywhere, I saw dead bodies in policemen van.'' he told SaharaReporters by phone.

Buhari to remove oil subsidy

ABUJA—President Muhammadu BuhariPLANS to totally remove fuel subsidy and use the proceeds for the provision of free and compulsory primary/secondary education across the country.

The administration is also said to be working on unbundling the Nigerian National PetroleumCORPORATION, NNPC, to make it more efficient in the production and delivery of products to Nigerians.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI

These proposalsFORM part of the strong recommendations made by the transition committee raised by Buhari to work out a blueprint for his administration.

Asked if the proposal forTOTAL subsidy removal had been discussed with labour, the source said that members of organized labour in the country were consulted by the committee and they made presentations on what should be done over the matter.

The source said: “ Labour is part of the decision; they have accepted the proposal of fuel subsidy removal.

“A committee is likely to be set up by the federal government to work out the modalities of what is to be done in that respect.

“But the truth is that total removal of fuel subsidy has been recommended with adequate provisions for palliatives on free education andSOCIAL WELFARE for the unemployed”, a member of the transition committee said.

The source pointed out that unlike in the past, the Buhari administration is considering the provision of free meals for students to serve as incentives for them to enroll in school.

The source explained that the committee also recommended the unbundling of NNPC to reposition theAGENCY to serve the needs of Nigerians better.

According to him, all refineries in Nigeria are to be made to work at maximum capacity by the federal government to be able to deliver adequate products to the consumers.

Corruption

He said that the era of allocating more crude than any refinery in Nigeria can process was over, as it was discovered that the policy encouraged corruption and diversion of FUNDS.

In a tone that suggested that the Buhari administration might probe the operations of the NNPC, the committee member further disclosed that the federal government was set to block all channels of FUND leakages in the corporation.

He said: “The federal government is keen on plugging all areas of leakages in the corporation and whoever must have caused them must be made to account for such unpatriotic wastages. We don’t know whether that is what you call probe or not”, he said.

It could not be established as at last night whether such decisions of the officials were influenced by the PLANNED beaming of search light on the operations of the government agency.

FG to pay the controversial N160 billion subsidy claims

Meanwhile, hopes for resolution of outstanding subsidy issues hampering normal supply of petroleum products across the country appear kindled as the special investigation team on subsidy claims verification recommends payment of the controversial N160 billion claimed byOIL MARKETERS.

As a result, bankers have resumed credit lines to the sector while importation by marketers have resumed though it is still on cautious notes.

The supply shortages witnessed across the country since last month was as a result of a disagreement between the federal government andOIL MARKETERS over the subsidy claims resulting in the marketers’ refusal to import more products under the subsidy programme.

In the last week of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the FINANCE ministry had paid a part of the subsidy claims totalling about N131 billion in the wake of the supply crises arising from this disagreement.

The former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had doubted the additional N160 billion claims ascribed to EXCHANGE RATE differential and interest rate charges on banks’ funding for the petroleum products imports.

She had subsequently set up a special investigative team made of representatives of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Committee (PPPRC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the DebtMANAGEMENT Office (DMO) and the finance ministry to investigate the claims before she can approve the payment.

The team couldn’t conclude their assignments before the expiration of ex-president Jonathan’s government and exit of the minister, hence validating the allegation of some of the marketers that the investigative team was designed to provide escape for the ministry from the agreement they had reached on subsidy payment. The marketers had also wondered why the setting up of the team whereas this assignment has always been done by PPPRC without any issues.

Return of confidence

Bankers who spoke to Vanguard last week said that their confidence was gradually returning to theOIL MARKETING sector which they had classified as ‘high-risk’ in the wake of the subsidy claims disagreement, indicating that some of them have resumed granting loans to the sector.

The disagreement had put about N300 billion banks’ risk assets (loans) in danger of default, escalating the industry non-performing loan ratio to almost 4.0 per cent with the worst performing banks hitting above 8.5 per cent aggregate and over 40 per cent on the oil sector. The industry red line is 5.0 per cent at which any bank’s exposure would be dangerous and unacceptable.

Top executives of the oil marketers’ associations told Vanguard that they have information that the investigative team has validated the marketers’ claims in their report to the finance ministry two weeks ago.

However, they said that actual payment is waiting for the settling down of President Mohammadu Buhari’s government, a situation which they also said cannot last for too long otherwise the renewed confidence of theirFUNDING banks may wane.

One of theMARKETERS informed that following a meeting with the permanent secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources two weeks ago, some of them have begun importation of products on a low scale while helping the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to distribute its stock to lessen the supply crises. The focused cities are Abuja and Lagos which according to him has been very successful.

He added that the agreement reached with the ministry was just a palliative to welcome the new government of Mohammadu Buhari, adding that eventually they will have to address the issue in a more lasting policy.

Okoroji loses N750m libel suit against Onyeka Onwenu

Onyeka Onwenu

A Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has dismissed a N750m libel suit filed by the Chairman, Board of COPYRIGHT Society of Nigeria, Chief Tony Okoroji, against a popular Nigerian musician, Mrs. Onyeka Onwenu.

Okoroji had approached the court claiming that Onwenu was responsible for an article in the Vanguard Newspapers of October 14, 2011 which Okoroji considered to be a deliberate attempt to malign or defame him.

In the said publication which Okoroji described as “unjustified, unwarranted, malicious, wicked, reckless and libellous”, it was claimed that he diverted N3m donated by the Cross Rivers State Government towards the final burial of the late Nigerian musician, Essien Igbokwe.

The said article had been published after Onwenu sent an e-mail to members of the late Igbokwe burial committee, accusing Okoroji of diverting N3m donation into his private bank ACCOUNT.

Both Okoroji and Onwenu served on the committee for the final burial of Igbokwe.

Okoroji, in the suit, asked for an ORDER directing Onwenu to pay him N750m as general damages and to tender a full page “unreserved apology to be published in every edition of The Vanguard, The Guardian and www.vanguardngr for seven consecutive days.”

But Onwenu, through her lawyer, Mr. Fred Agbaje, in response to Okoroji’s claims, argued that Okoroji failed to link Onwenu to the said Vanguard Newspapers publication.

Agbaje, who pointed out that the e-mail SENT by Onwenu was to members of the late Igbokwe’s burial committee and not to Vanguard Newspapers, maintained that Onwenu “was duty-bound to comment on issues affecting the well-being and smooth-running of the committee, and this she did by complaining to the claimant and other members of the committee.”

The trial judge, Justice I.O. Kasali, in her judgment, said though she had noDOUBT that “the words complained of, in their ordinary meaning, and also with reference to the circumstances in which they were written, were libellous of the claimant”, but Okoroji failed to show the evidence that the words had negatively altered a third person’s perception of him.

The judge held, “For words to be defamatory of a party, the said words must have lowered that party in the estimation of right-thinking members of the public and there must be evidence of this from a person whose views of that person have been so adversely affected.

“In the absence of any evidence of what CW2, CW3 and CW4 think about the claimant upon reading the publication, which has affected the good name,REPUTATION and estimation in which the claimant stands in the society of their fellow citizens, it cannot therefore be said that the claimant has been defamed.

“After a careful consideration of all the materials before me, I have come to the conclusion that the claimant has not been able toESTABLISH that the e-mail alleged to have been sent to members of the of the committee by the defendant defamed him.”

NNPC slashes Nigeria’s crude oil prices over supply glut

ABUJA — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, weekend, reduced the prices of Nigeria’s crude oil grades — Bonny Light and Qua Iboe — to their lowest points in over a decade.

The decline, according to reports, was due to declining demand for the country’s crude oil in the international market. The action, according to oil traders, was engendered by the need for the country to join in the fight for market share.

Specifically, the NNPC in a statement, weekend, said it will sell July supplies of Bonny Light crude at 23 cents more than Dated Brent. This, according to oil trading sources, was the smallest differential since 2005 and compares with a 50 cent premium in June and $2.55 a year earlier.

The NNPC also lowered the official selling price for Nigeria’s largest crude oil stream, Qua Iboe, to dated Brent plus 35 cents per barrel, the lowest differential since May 2005.

Dated cargoes

Dated Brent is a market term for a cargo of North Sea Brent blend crude oil that has been assigned a date when it will be loaded onto a tanker. Cargoes that have been assigned loading dates are referred to as dated cargoes, wet cargoes or wet barrels. Dated Brent prices are used, directly and indirectly, as a benchmark for a large proportion of the crude oil that is traded internationally.

The drop follows North Sea crude, which hit a 10-year low earlier this week as all Atlantic Basin sellers, particularly those with light, sweet oil, struggle to place cargoes.

Rising output from US shale formations had over the last couple of months contributed to a market glut that drove crude down almost 50 per cent last year, roiling global markets as producer nations lost revenue and foreign-exchange reserves.

Speaking on the development, Hong Sung Ki, a commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Incorporated said: “Nigeria has no choice but to cut their price differential to fight for market share. The US was its key oil buyer in the past but imports have been shrinking with more shale output in an already oversupplied market.”

Also speaking, Kash Kamal, senior research analyst with Sucden, said: “They’re playing along now, towing the line with other OPEC members to try and capture market share.

“It’s a really messy situation. Saudi Arabia, with a marginal cost per barrel at around $30 and substantial cash reserves, can afford to stick it out with crude at these levels. But Nigeria needs crude around $115-120 to balance their budget.”

Data obtained from Bloomberg showed that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, that unlocked supplies in shale formations in North Dakota, Texas and other states has boosted US output to the highest in more than three decades, forcing overseas producers, whose exports to the US are shrinking, to find new markets for their crude.

The report noted that the US has bought an average 30,000 barrels a day of Nigerian crude this year, shipping almost one million barrels a day from the country in 2010.

In addition, the US Energy Information Administration noted that w hile the United States once absorbed more than a third of Nigeria’s nearly two million barrels per day (bpd) of exports, this slumped to close to 60,000 barrels per day on average for the first three months of this year.

Nigeria having particularly hard time

Energy sources stated that Nigeria is having a particularly hard time with the glut, as the shale boom in its once-key market the United States has all but shut out its exports.

According to oil traders, sellers of Nigerian crudes have aggressively pushed into new markets from Uruguay to China, but are coming up against other crude producers, including fellow members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as new refineries that are geared towards heavier oil.

As a result, the traders said, as much as 10 million barrels of Nigerian grades that have already loaded are floating in vessels, taking months in some cases to find buyers.

James Ackerman: Sunshine Coast Falcons player dies after injury

A rugby league player seriously injured during a Queensland Cup match in Australia has died in hospital.

James Ackerman, 25, was playing for the Sunshine Coast Falcons when he suffered a head injury in a tackle five minutes into a game against Norths Devils.

The father-of-two was treated on the field at Bishop Park, before being taken to hospital in Brisbane, and the game on Saturday was then abandoned.

Queensland Rugby League (QRL) said on Monday that Ackerman had passed away.

A minute's silence was held for Ackerman prior to Monday's NRL game between St George-Illawarra Dragons and Sydney Roosters.

Both sets of players also wore black arm bands.

According to Australian newspaper the Courier-Mail, Francis Molo, 20, who made the tackle on Ackerman, is "struggling to cope".

Sunshine Coast Falcons chief executive officer Chris Flannery described Ackerman as a "champion guy" and "one of our leaders".

Flannery added: "He lived for rugby league. He was a tough competitor and a fine player who in many ways was the heart and soul of our team."





Sunshine Coast Falcons tweeted their condolences after the death of forward James Ackerman

QRL managing director Robert Moore said it was a "very difficult and traumatic time".

He added: "We send our deepest condolences to James's family and friends, and the Sunshine Coast club.

"One of the strengths of rugby league is the game's ability to rally behind its own - and I have no doubt this will happen throughout this challenging period."

Moore also said it was not an appropriate time to comment further on the incident itself.

A statement from Ackerman's family, including wife Saraa, children Olliver and Milly, brothers Andrew and Thomas and parents Michael and Sonya, thanked the medical staff at both clubs, paramedics, the hospital and the "overwhelming" support from his current and former team-mates.

It said: "James loved the game of rugby league, he always played the game with his heart on his sleeve. We will miss you."

The Falcons are a feeder team for NRL side Melbourne Storm, as are Norths Devils for Brisbane Broncos.

NRL chief executive Dave Smith said: "This is such a tragedy and we send our sympathies to everyone who knew and loved James."