NIGERIAN ARMY REPORTS GENERALS

The Chief of Army Staff, Major General Tukur Yusufu Buratai today approved the postings and appointments of 334 officers of the Nigerian Army officers with various effective dates.

These include some Principal Staff Officers at Defence and Army Headquarters, Corps Commanders and General Officers Commanding as well as other commanders. They include 37 Major Generals, 57 Brigadier Generals, 128 Colonels, several Lieutenants Colonels and others. 

Some of those affected were the General Officers Commanding 1, 2, 3, 81 and 82 Divisions, Operations Pulo Shield and Safe Haven of Niger Delta and Plateau States.

Some those affected includes:

Major General MA Koleoso who is now Commander TRADOC

Major General SN Muazu who moved from 2 Division to the Headquarters Infantry Corps and appointed Commander

Major General MT Ibrahim, from Department of Army Standard and Evaluation to Nigerian Defence Academy and appointed Commandant.

Major General LKJ Ogunewe is now the Chief of Policy and Plans

Major General FO Alli, is now Chief of Training and Operations and Major General AA Salihu, Chief of Logistics.

Others includes Major General AG Okunola, who now Commander of Operation PULO SHIELD (JTF) and

Major General TC Ude, Commander, OPERATIONS SAFE HAVEN (STF Jos).

Others are Major General LW Wiwa now Deputy Commandant of Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre.

Major General A Oyebade is now the General Officer Commanding 1 Division

Major General LC Ilo, General Officer Commanding 2 Division

Major General H Umaru, General Officer Commanding 3 Division

Major General IH Edet, General Officer Commanding 81 Division and Brigadier General I Attahiru is now the Acting General Officer Commanding 82 Division.

While Brigadier General AT Hamman is now the Acting Provost  Marshal,

Brigadier General LF Abdullahi, Acting Commander, Nigerian Army Education Corps and

Colonel R Abubakar, Acting Director Defence Information, amongst others.

 
Please disseminate this information to the public through your medium. 
Thank you.

Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman 
Acting Director Army Public Relations

SUICIDE BOMBERS NOW CONVEY IED IN FASHION HANDBAGS.

Suicide bombers have now device the use of fashion bags to convey improvised explosive device (IED). People in and around Yobe State as well as the entire country should watch out for excessive and gorgeous dressing bag carrying young girls/older women.

This bag is one of such recent discovery in Yobe State by Police EoD Personnel.

POLICE CONFIRM SENATE FORGERY

Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu

The Nigeria Police have concluded their probe into the forgery of the Senate Standing Order and given a copy of the report to President Muhammadu Buhari,SUNDAY PUNCH can authoritatively report.

The President received a copy of the report last week, a highly reliable source in the presidency told one of our correspondents on Saturday.

The Police report confirmed that the Standing Rules used to inaugurate the 8th Assembly were forged, our source said.

In the report, the Police recommended the prosecution of those found culpable of forging the orders, which had been used in the controversial election of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on June 9, 2015.

The report was said to have indicted the management of the National Assembly, especially the Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa and recommended the prosecution of the suspects.

Acting on a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi (All Progressives Congress, Kaduna State), the Police had on July 6 quizzed Ekweremadu and Maikasuwa over an alleged forgery of the standing orders.

The petition alleged that some parts of the 2015 Senate Orders were different from the one ratified by the 6th Senate in 2010, which was used by the 7th Senate, as Standing Orders 2011.

The Police, on the strength of the petition, had subsequently quizzed the leadership of the 7th Senate, including former Senate President, Senator David Mark; his deputy (now Saraki’s deputy), Ike Ekweremadu; former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba; and the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang.

The Clerk to the National Assembly, Maikasuwa, who is the custodian of the Senate Standing Order was also invited for questioning by the police.

According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, handed over copy of the investigative report to Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja last Sunday.

The source said, “I can confirm to you that the President has a copy of the Police’s investigation report on the Senate forgery and I can also authoritatively tell you that the report confirmed that the Senate rules were forged. Notable among those recommended for prosecution in the National Assembly is the Clerk because he is the one that keeps the Standing Orders.”

When asked if the Directorate of Public Prosecution had received a copy of the Police report, the source said he couldn’t confirm that.

SUNDAY PUNCH’s study of the controversial 2015 Senate Standing Orders, Rule 3, as contained on page four of the document, which has to do with the election of presiding officers, had shown that it is different from the 2011 Senate Order.

Rules 3(e) (i) and (ii) have been included in the 2015 document to accommodate electronic voting and secret ballot, whereas secret ballot and ballot papers were not specifically mentioned in the 2011 Standing Orders.

The Senate Order 3 (e) (ii) of 2011 states, “Voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the Table, using the Division List of the Senate with the Tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly.

“(iii) The Clerk shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the greater number of votes, elected as President of the Senate.”

The same section in the 2015 Senate Order however reads, “Voting by secret ballot which shall be conducted by the Clerk-at-Table using the list of the Senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote with the proposers and seconder as Teller. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall then declare Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes as Senate President-elect.”

Apart from the ‘alteration’ to the procedure for election, Order 95 of the 2011 rule on the chairmanship and membership of the committees is also different in the 2015 version.

In the 2011 document, provisions in Order 95 read, “The membership of all committees shall not be less than 11 and not more than 13 senators. (2) No senator shall serve in more than three committees (3) No committee chairman shall serve in more than one other committee.”

However, a new insertion in the amended version reads, “The appointment of Senators as Chairmen and members of committees shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the six geopolitical zones of the country and there shall be no predominance of senators from a few geo-political zones.”

In SUNDAY PUNCH’s exclusive report on the scandal, which was published on July 19, some senators who served in the 7th Senate had disowned the 2015 edition of the Senate Standing Orders (as amended).

Similarly, members of the current 8th Senate across parties had also denied being part of any amendment process.

The senators, who were from both the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, said they were not aware of any amendments to the 2011 Senate Standing Orders.

For instance, Senator Victor Lar (PDP, Plateau-South) had declared, “As of the time we left the (7th) Senate, there were no alterations (to the Senate Standing Orders).”

Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business in 7th Senate, Senator Ita Enang, stated that the Standing Orders that was used and closed within the 7th Senate was the Standing Orders that should have been used for the inauguration of the 8th Senate.

Enang, who was in the PDP when he was in the Senate but later defected to the APC, had stated, “I made proposal for amendments between 2011 and 2015, I laid the report on the floor, but we did not consider the report. We did not amend the Standing Orders.

“Before we left, I had approved the reprinting of the Standing Orders and the reprinting did not include inserting anything which was not in the old one. Reprinting is, simply reproduce what we have because there are no more copies.”

Some senior legal practitioners had told SUNDAY PUNCH that forging a document like the Standing Rule of the Senate was a felony, which, according to them, is a criminal offence against the state that attracts a penalty of three years jail term, a fine or both.

However, when contacted on Saturday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, did not confirm if the President had received a copy of the report.

“The Police are still working on the report. Investigation is still going on,” he said.

Director (Information), Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Charles Nwodo, responding to an inquiry by one of our correspondents on Saturday night also said he was not aware of the if the DPP had received a copy of the report.

Culled from the Punch

THE MINISTER AND THE DEVIL

By Emman Usman Shehu

It all started in that garden with its beautiful trees and delicious fruits. An earthly paradise for the couple, they had just one rule to contend with. They were not to eat the fruit of a particular tree. It sounded so simple and straightforward. Keep to that one rule and enjoy an eternity of bliss. Then came the intruder who encouraged them to discountenance the rule. The couple did exactly what they were told not to do. Faced with the reality of their decision, the couple began the blame game. Adam blamed Eve and she in turn passed the proverbial buck to the intruder, the Devil. Since then, blaming the devil has become a convenient excuse for wrong decisions, especially those with catastrophic consequences for which we do not want to take responsibility.

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior reached for the same buck passing strategy last week, as he faced the Senate Committee on Interior. On March 15, 2014, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), one of the parastatals under the Ministry of Interior, conducted a nationwide recruitment exercise that ended with fatalities. At least not less than 15 participants died as a result of the stampede that ensued at some of the venues.

Until he made his appearance at the two-day public hearing, the Minister had conducted himself with a sickening arrogance. He kept blaming the deceased and would not apologise for the shoddy arrangement and scandalous self-serving scam associated with the ill-fated exercise. The public had hoped that a closed-door meeting with the President would get all involved in the outrageous mess, including the Minister, to tow the path of honour. It turned out to be a misplaced hope. So it was a surprise that on appearing at the public hearing, there seemed to be a change of attitude on the part of the Minister.

It is not unlikely that at this point, it had dawned on him that the decibels of public outage were not receding. The President’s promise to set up a committee to investigate the unwholesome incident, the bribery-like offer of employment to three members of each family of the deceased, offer of appointment to those injured, and cancellation of the exercise, did not douse public anger. The President’s actions seemed more like another opportunity for political mileage than taking far-reaching transformational decisions. The Minister’s rear-guard action of discreetly monetising some journalists to give him a good press also backfired as it became public knowledge.
Perhaps the reality sank in when the sordid revelations of an entrenched manipulative process far-removed from the established conduct poured out like a river of dross at the public hearing. The Immigration Service Boss, the Secretary of the Immigration Service Board, and some Immigration officials opened the dam of nasty and shocking revelations with the Minister as the Culprit-In-Chief.
Thus when he took his turn, for once he appeared to have shed his toga of shameless arrogance. His family, in what can now be perceived as an orchestrated move, cued him in by offering a public apology. He then spoke of taking responsibility for the disastrous recruitment scam: “As the Minister of Interior, under whose purview this unfortunate exercise took place, I cannot abdicate my responsibility. The buck stops at my table.” Almost in the same breath, without as much as a pause, he then blamed the Devil. Even then he has failed to do the next honourable thing, which is to resign from office.

It really is no surprise that he has not resigned. The Minister obviously has no plan to do the honourable thing. Clearly what he did at the public-hearing was simply to reach into the bag of political tricks and continue with the deviousness that has become an entrenched habit with public office holders in Nigeria. In one breath he was claiming the buck stops at his table, but at the same time he was craftily passing responsibility for all that had happened to the Devil. A classic sleight-of-hand of insincerity and deception.

This is what leadership and public service have degenerated to in the country. Leadership demands several strong positive qualities including accountability, integrity, vision and honour. The Minister’s actions thus far, consistently provide further proof that our leaders desperately lack all of the aforementioned qualities.

Accountability implies being responsible for outcomes of actions, whether good or bad, because the buck stops at the leader’s table. These decisions most times are based on a vision to make things better for society, and propped on the pillars of integrity to ensure every decision is all about public service and not self-service. In the words of Michael Ray Hopkins: “Integrity is one of the top attributes of a great leader. It is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, reasons, principles, expectations and outcomes. It connotes a deep commitment to do the right thing for the right reason, regardless of the circumstances. People who live with integrity are incorruptible and incapable of breaking the trust of those who have confided in them. Every human is born with a conscience and therefore the ability to know the right from wrong. Choosing the right, regardless of the consequence, is the hallmark of integrity.”

It is not only the dead applicants and their families that the Minister has betrayed by proving to be untrustworthy. It is not only those who took part in the recruitment exercise that he has betrayed. He has betrayed the generality of Nigerians for dismally failing to uphold the trust that comes with his office as a leader, in this case a Minister.

Whether in public or private service, whether as leaders or followers and even as individuals, a single standard of behavior cuts across board. It is not one standard for some, and another standard for others. It is not one standard for the leaders and another for the followers. A society that encourages double standards can only nurture crass behavior. This mutating culture of crassness is evidence of how low we are sinking. 

The Minister’s shameless arrogance and manipulation is not unexpected given what our society has become. Allegedly a long time political enforcer (read thug) for the Senate President in their home state, and most recently the President’s campaign manager in the same state, he has been rewarded for all his loyalty with a ministerial appointment. In keeping with our perverted reward system, he is unperturbed about public outcry, the rule of law, or even the decency that is the foundation of public service. 

He knows too that our descent into clannish sentimentalism over objective reasoning will work to his advantage. A fellow clansman and former Minister of Education has already rushed to his support, stating that the Interior Minister’s resignation will not bring back the dead. A brazen insult to enlightenment, decency and accountability.

For the Interior Minister, all that matters is his political ambition. Having become an expert political enforcer, he has graduated to minister and sees on the horizon the possibilities of being a governor and subsequently a senator. This is the choice career cycle. A cycle that refuses to take into consideration the public service capabilities of the so-called leaders. In saner societies, the best cream rises to the top, here it is those spreading the virus of dishonour.

Whatever the Minister’s religious persuasion, the truth is that like Adam and Eve, he is directly responsible for his distasteful actions. It had nothing to do with the Devil. However he may get away with it because the nation has sold its soul to the Devil.



Culled from newtelegraphonline.com

NSCDC BOSS ADVOCATES SPECIAL COURTS FOR VANDALS.

The Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Dr. Ade Abolurin has called for special courts to try vandals and all those who involve in sabotaging facilities and equipment in the power, telecommunications, oil and gas, and the transport sector.

Mr Abolurin via a press release yesterday said that the spate of vandalism of critical infrastructure nationwide are taking a heavy toll on the country.

He called for public support for the war against vandalism and said the high number of vandals recently arrested by the Corps anti-vandal squad is shocking, thus the need for Special Courts for their speedy prosecution.

Mr Abolurin also said he wants Nigerians to support the Corps with information and blames the incessant fuel shortage experienced in the country as being the sole fault of vandals.

APC WARD CONGRESSES FAIL TO HOLD IN ADAMAWA STATE.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa state has postponed Saturday's ward congress of the party due to late arrival of materials.

The Interim Committee Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Salihu Baba-Ahmed who spoke to some journalists said the materials arrived on Friday which is late thus the congresses could not hold today.

Mr Baba-Ahmed said the APC stakeholders will be meeting by 4p.m today to fix a new date for the congress and calls on party faithfulls to remain calm as the party is doing everything possible to ensure the new congress is hitch free.

Another member of the APC Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri said the the congress was not feasible as some members who paid for forms to participate in the congress were yet to obtain their forms.

Mr Waziri said the members need a minimum of 2 or 3 days to fill the forms and return them before the congress.

POLICE CONFIRM KIDNAPPED BAUCHI BUSINESSMAN HAS BEEN RELEASED

The Bauchi State Police Public Relations Officer DSP Haruna Mohammed has confirmed that Kidnapped Businessman Alhaji Manu Soro, has been released.

Mr Mohammed via a text message sent to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) today in Bauchi said Mr Soro was released around 7a.m this morning.

He said investigation is in progress to arrest abductors and the police is working round the clock to acghieve this.

Mr Soro was kidnapped by unknown gunmen about two weeks ago in his home town of Soro in Darazo Local Government Area and is the 6th person recently kidnapped in the state.