Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Jonathan Wades Into Ebonyi crisis, summons Elechi, Anyim, Umahi
Abuja, By George Agba — Mar 3, 2015
The impasse crippling political activities in
the Ebonyi State chapter of the ruling
People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) took a
deeper crisis dimension on Tuesday, as a
meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan
and the warring parties was inconclusive. The president, LEADERSHIP gathered had
summoned the state Governor, Martins Elechi;
Secretary to Government of the Federation,
Anyim Pius Anyim and the PDP governorship
candidate for Ebonyi state, David Umahi as
well as some PDP leaders to the meeting with a view to addressing the political rancor once
and for all. The meeting, which lasted for over five hours
in the President’s office at the presidential
villa Abuja was also attended by Vice
President Namadi Sambo and some PDP
governors led by chairman of their forum and
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio. Also in attendance were Governors Sule
Lamido of Jigawa State and his Benue
counterpart, Gabriel Suswam. After the December governorship primary in
which former Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi
Chukwu who was Elechi’s candidate lost to the
governor’s deputy said to be the preferred
candidate of the SGF, the state has been
embroiled in a serious crisis. The embattled governor who also failed to
scale through his own senatorial primary is at
the moment facing impeachment threat from
the Ebonyi State House of Assembly on
allegations of misappropriation of funds, gross
misconduct and anti party activities, as he is said to have shifted his support to the Labour
Party governorship candidate in the state. It became apparent that yesterday’s meeting
could not resolve the impasse in Ebonyi when
the Elechi stormed out of the president’s
office looking rather angry. He was very hostile to State House
correspondents who had approached him for
the outcome of the meeting, just as he
threatened to brake a tape recorder belonging
to one of the reporters. The governor who said he was not in Aso Rock
to answer questions from journalists raised his
walking stick, threatening angrily to smash the
tape recorder of the correspondent who was
adamant on getting answers from him. Benue State Governor, Suswam who spoke to
journalists acknowledged the fact that the
political crisis in Ebonyi was one of the major
issues discussed at the meeting,even as he
said the impasse in the south east state would
soon be over. Suswam who came out of the meeting few
minutes after his Ebonyi counterpart had left
denied, however that Elechi did not storm out
of the meeting, contrary to the impression
created by his body language. He argued that the meeting went well and
that Elechi only rushed out IOC the meeting
the way he did to meet up with his flight. He said, “I don’t think he (Elechi) stormed out
of the meeting. We ended the meeting
properly, and I believe he had a flight to catch
and so, he was rushing. “Yes, Ebonyi problem was one of the issues
discussed in the meeting, but we are almost at
the solution to that problem. So I think the
governor was rushing to catch a flight”. On the allegation that some PDP candidates
were not campaigning for other candidates of
the ruling party, especially the party’s
presidential candidate, Jonathan, the governor
dismissed the claim as near impossible. He explained that all candidates of the party
were duty bound to campaign for the party
which implied that every single candidate was
campaigning for all others of the party
platform, not excluding the presidential ticket
bearer. He said: “I don’t think that is true. People have
different ways of campaining, and as a
senatorial candidate there’s no way I can be
campaigning for my seat alone without
campaignong for the president. “You know in political parties we have issues.
Different candidates have different issuses.
There are no universal issues across the
lenght and breadth of the parties. So it is not
true that people are not campaigning for the
president. “There are minor issues here and there and
those issues like I said since yesterday, you
will observe that between yesterday and
today, we’ve been meeting. We are meeting
because we want to be in charge, we want to
be abreast. PDP is going to win this election landslide, there’s no two ways about it. Forget
about the noise and propaganda. We are
ready and willing, and nothing is going to stop
it. “So there’s no issue of not campaigning for
the president. We are all campaigning for the
PDP. and all the PDP candidates across, even
if no names are mentioned.” Suswam further explained that the series of
convened by President Jonathan with PDP
governors, candidates and party leaders in the
last few days were targeted at calibrating the
ruling party as safe guard for victory in the
forthcoming general poll
Source Leadership newspaper
Finally, APC Media partners admit Buhari is in for other reasons
Scannews
Finally, APC Media partners admit Buhari is in
UK for other reasons
Sahara Reporters, APC official media partner
has reported that the APC presidential
candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari was in
United Kingdom to rest. They have been one of
the two online media working for APC
interests. This is the first time the opposition will admit
that the Chatham House arrangement was
simply a fallout of intense pressure from Ekiti
State Governor, Ayo Fayose. The APC needed
desperately to organise an event to divert
attention from the real reason Buhari visited UK. The APC official partners further declared that
Buhari will return to the country on Friday
Jonathan Orders Payment to Marketers, Buhari Blames Moribund Refineries
04 Mar 2015
President Goodluck Jonathan
Ndubuisi Francis, Omololu Ogunmade and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja with agency report
With the debilitating fuel scarcity taking its toll on Nigerians nationwide, President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a directive to the Ministry of FINANCE to pay with immediate effect all outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers.
This came as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday expressed outrage at the energy crisis, and blamed Jonathan and past Nigerian leaders for failing to fix the refineries.
However, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of FINANCE, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, rejected claims that the long queues at petrol stations across the country were caused by the non-payment of outstanding subsidy claims to marketers, stating that the Debt Management Office (DMO) has issued N100 billion in Sovereign Debt Notes (SDNs) out of the outstanding N185 billion agreed upon with marketers as the next payment due to them.
She added that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also given approval to the banks to open letters of credit (LCs) for oil marketers to facilitate the importation of petroleum products.
Sending out tweets from his Twitter handle, Buhari said present and past administrations had left Nigerians at the mercy of fuel importers by failing to fix the refineries.
He recalled that two of the four refineries in the country were built when he was petroleum minister in the late 1970s.
“The countless man
hours that will be spent at petrol stations today, will reduce our productivity as a nation. This should not be so,” Buhari tweeted.
“In my time as NNPC chairman and Petroleum Minister in the late 70s, two of our four refineries were built, and domestic consumption catered for.
“But over the last several years our refineries have declined, and we are at the mercy of imports.
“We must reject a system that has turned one of world’s largest crude exporters into an importer of petrol. Things must change,” he said.
Joining Buhari in his criticism of the federal government, his party APC, blamed the fuel scarcity across the country on the administration’s failure to pay outstanding fuel subsidy claims and the cost of interest on bank loans to oil marketers, thus making it impossible for them to import refined products.
The party also alleged that the crisis in the energy sector could be traced to the looting of the $12 billion domestic gas fund under Jonathan's watch.
In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP and the Jonathan administration decided to divert attention from those problems by accusing the opposition of being responsible for the scarcity, describing it as “a most laughable and irresponsible statement by a sitting government that is always so eager to blame everyone but itself for the nation's woes”.
It recalled that the “self-styled Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance” had in February promised to pay all subsidies owed to the marketers then in the sum of N264 billion, along with the accrued interest.
APC said the failure to meet this obligation has made it impossible for the oil marketers, who are being owed heavily, to finance another round of products imports.
“The truth is that this profligate government has run Nigeria aground, and the oil sector, whether upstream or downstream, has particularly suffered hugely. The quantity of petroleum products that was imported has almost been fully consumed, without fresh products being brought in to augment supplies that have now fallen well below re-order level.
“The implication is that in addition to worsening power supply, crumbling prices of oil at the international market, weakening naira and unprecedented corruption, Nigerians - who routinely provide their own electricity to power their homes and business - now have to face another round of government-imposed hardship with the ongoing fuel
scarcity,” the party said.
It said the fuel crisis would not have reached this stage had the $12 billion domestic gas project fund not been looted under Jonathan's watch.
“This is because, with the project being executed, many vehicles, cooking stoves and generators would have been converted to use gas to reduce the importation of petrol, diesel and kerosene, and gas would have been available to fire the gas turbines at power stations while more power would have been delivered to the national grid,” the party added.
APC accused Jonathan of sabotaging the domestic gas project started by the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, with the $12 billion cash call provisions for gas development for domestic power generation looted under his (President Jonathan) watch.
However, Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday rejected the position of the APC, stating that long queues at petrol stations across the country were caused by the non-payment of outstanding subsidy claims to marketers.
The clarification came following claims by APC that marketers had held back supplies of petrol due to outstanding payment issues.
The minister, who spoke with journalists in her office, noted that contrary to some unfounded speculations, the queues were not related to payment issues.
According to her, the federal government was very concerned about the fuel queues, which have appeared in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country.
“As Nigerians can attest, the Petroleum Ministry and NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) have worked very hard to reduce them to the barest minimum fuel shortages.
“We sympathise with Nigerians whose lives are being disrupted by the queues and assure them that we are working hard to end them as quickly as possible.
“The situation is due to a mix of factors, including disruption of pipelines and logistical issues and they are being attended to urgently,” he minister said.
She recalled that the marketers were paid a total of N320.8 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) in two installments last December, underscoring the fact that the government is taking the payment of marketers very seriously.
The minister said she held a meeting with the marketers last week where assurances and commitments were made to pay the outstanding N185 billion.
According to her, an agreement was reached with the marketers’ union to the effect that government will pay not only the costs they have incurred and their fees but also interest and FOREIGN EXCHANGE differentials.
She added that DMO has issued SDNs to cover N100 billion out of the outstanding N185 billion agreed with oil marketers as the next payment due to them, even as the central bank has also given approval to the banks to open LCs for oil marketers.
The minister thanked the marketers who had already cued into the opening of LCs and have been supportive of the government’s commitment to ensure the availability of petrol and other petroleum products.
“It is clear that while the union and most members have been cooperative, some of their members are not. Some of these people have even refused to open LCs to facilitate their payments.
“We salute the union and the members who are working hard to end this unfortunate situation. As for those who are working in the other direction, Nigerians should ask them what their motives are,” she said.
Okonjo-Iweala stated that to end the unfortunate situation as quickly as possible, the Petroleum Ministry and NNPC were taking strong action to improve supplies in the election season.
“I’ve been speaking with MOMAN (Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria) and they've assured me that they are working hard to increase supplies and more vessels are on the way,” she said.
She disclosed that 40 million litres of petrol was distributed in Lagos yesterday, adding that as at Monday, 86 trucks came into Lagos and another 86 trucks headed to Abuja.
“Other parts of the country are also included in the plans. So the situation should improve soon. Once again, we wish to express our sympathy with Nigerians for this very unsatisfactory situation and salute their patience as we work hard to end the situation as soon as possible,” the minister said.
Also, providing further insight into the causes of the fuels queues in the country, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday blamed the fuel shortage on the CBN’s devaluation of the naira between November and February.
Speaking while defending the agency's budget before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, told the committee that the devaluation caused huge confusion in the oil sector as the petroleum agency did not know the EXCHANGE RATE to be used for the importation of fuel.
In this regard, he said the marketers could not deliver the cargoes of fuel expected from them because they were not sure of the exact delivery cost as a result of the devaluation, explaining that the old template used for paying the marketers had been overtaken by events.
However, Ahmed who explained that PPPRA had to seek the advice of the CBN before it could eventually draw up a new template added that the crisis had eventually been resolved, as the Budget Office on Monday approved payment for outstanding bills that the marketers are being owed.
He also said the truce was brokered after a meeting of the Ministry of Finance, PPPRA and other relevant agencies.
“The recent events had to do with delay in the arrival of cargoes. Non-arrival of cargoes made it difficult for petrol to be delivered. What actually complicated it was the devaluation of naira - two times.
“The first one that took place on November 28 devalued the naira from N155 to N168 to $1. The second one that took place on February 18 brought the EXCHANGE RATE to N198 to $1.
“These two developments brought a lot of confusion into the oil sector. Marketers were not sure of the actual delivery cost. We had to draw a new template as advised by the CBN. The delay we have now is caused by the November devaluation. But the reality is that the policy is clear now.
“The Minister of Finance, PPPRA and other agencies are working closely to ensure that outstanding bills are paid. And that one has been done now. Yesterday, we got an approval from the Budget Office for payment of all outstanding bills. We have adjusted the template now. We have to put the EXCHANGE RATE at the interbank rate. Now, we have a direction,” he said.
However, NNPC failed to appear before the committee to give its own side of the fuel scarcity story, prompting the committee chairman, Senator Magnus Abe, to read a riot act to the corporation.
He said: “We invited NNPC to come and defend their budget. They didn't show up. They don’t even have the respect to give any response to the invitation.
“We are directing the clerk to re-invite the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Pipelines, Products and Marketing Company (PPMC) and all refineries.
“All of them must appear before this committee on Thursday. All of us have our roles in constitution. The letter should contain a strong warning that NNPC must never repeat this before the committee.
“NNPC has never agreed to bring their budget for discussion. This is the same problem we have every year. I’m disappointed that after we agreed on this issue last year, we are still back to it,” Abe lamented.
Echoing Abe, Senator Danjuma Goje, said it was ridiculous that NNPC still had the audacity to ignore the committee’s invitation despite “this acute shortage we have throughout this country. We know that NNPC has been spending money without appropriation.
“But then, courtesy demands that they honour our invitation. They are doing their work. We are also doing ours. With all the sad story of NNPC, they still have the guts to treat us with disrespect”.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-orders-payment-to-marketers-buhari-blames-moribund-refineries/203283/
Ndubuisi Francis, Omololu Ogunmade and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja with agency report
With the debilitating fuel scarcity taking its toll on Nigerians nationwide, President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a directive to the Ministry of FINANCE to pay with immediate effect all outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers.
This came as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday expressed outrage at the energy crisis, and blamed Jonathan and past Nigerian leaders for failing to fix the refineries.
However, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of FINANCE, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, rejected claims that the long queues at petrol stations across the country were caused by the non-payment of outstanding subsidy claims to marketers, stating that the Debt Management Office (DMO) has issued N100 billion in Sovereign Debt Notes (SDNs) out of the outstanding N185 billion agreed upon with marketers as the next payment due to them.
She added that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also given approval to the banks to open letters of credit (LCs) for oil marketers to facilitate the importation of petroleum products.
Sending out tweets from his Twitter handle, Buhari said present and past administrations had left Nigerians at the mercy of fuel importers by failing to fix the refineries.
He recalled that two of the four refineries in the country were built when he was petroleum minister in the late 1970s.
“The countless man
hours that will be spent at petrol stations today, will reduce our productivity as a nation. This should not be so,” Buhari tweeted.
“In my time as NNPC chairman and Petroleum Minister in the late 70s, two of our four refineries were built, and domestic consumption catered for.
“But over the last several years our refineries have declined, and we are at the mercy of imports.
“We must reject a system that has turned one of world’s largest crude exporters into an importer of petrol. Things must change,” he said.
Joining Buhari in his criticism of the federal government, his party APC, blamed the fuel scarcity across the country on the administration’s failure to pay outstanding fuel subsidy claims and the cost of interest on bank loans to oil marketers, thus making it impossible for them to import refined products.
The party also alleged that the crisis in the energy sector could be traced to the looting of the $12 billion domestic gas fund under Jonathan's watch.
In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP and the Jonathan administration decided to divert attention from those problems by accusing the opposition of being responsible for the scarcity, describing it as “a most laughable and irresponsible statement by a sitting government that is always so eager to blame everyone but itself for the nation's woes”.
It recalled that the “self-styled Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance” had in February promised to pay all subsidies owed to the marketers then in the sum of N264 billion, along with the accrued interest.
APC said the failure to meet this obligation has made it impossible for the oil marketers, who are being owed heavily, to finance another round of products imports.
“The truth is that this profligate government has run Nigeria aground, and the oil sector, whether upstream or downstream, has particularly suffered hugely. The quantity of petroleum products that was imported has almost been fully consumed, without fresh products being brought in to augment supplies that have now fallen well below re-order level.
“The implication is that in addition to worsening power supply, crumbling prices of oil at the international market, weakening naira and unprecedented corruption, Nigerians - who routinely provide their own electricity to power their homes and business - now have to face another round of government-imposed hardship with the ongoing fuel
scarcity,” the party said.
It said the fuel crisis would not have reached this stage had the $12 billion domestic gas project fund not been looted under Jonathan's watch.
“This is because, with the project being executed, many vehicles, cooking stoves and generators would have been converted to use gas to reduce the importation of petrol, diesel and kerosene, and gas would have been available to fire the gas turbines at power stations while more power would have been delivered to the national grid,” the party added.
APC accused Jonathan of sabotaging the domestic gas project started by the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, with the $12 billion cash call provisions for gas development for domestic power generation looted under his (President Jonathan) watch.
However, Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday rejected the position of the APC, stating that long queues at petrol stations across the country were caused by the non-payment of outstanding subsidy claims to marketers.
The clarification came following claims by APC that marketers had held back supplies of petrol due to outstanding payment issues.
The minister, who spoke with journalists in her office, noted that contrary to some unfounded speculations, the queues were not related to payment issues.
According to her, the federal government was very concerned about the fuel queues, which have appeared in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country.
“As Nigerians can attest, the Petroleum Ministry and NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) have worked very hard to reduce them to the barest minimum fuel shortages.
“We sympathise with Nigerians whose lives are being disrupted by the queues and assure them that we are working hard to end them as quickly as possible.
“The situation is due to a mix of factors, including disruption of pipelines and logistical issues and they are being attended to urgently,” he minister said.
She recalled that the marketers were paid a total of N320.8 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) in two installments last December, underscoring the fact that the government is taking the payment of marketers very seriously.
The minister said she held a meeting with the marketers last week where assurances and commitments were made to pay the outstanding N185 billion.
According to her, an agreement was reached with the marketers’ union to the effect that government will pay not only the costs they have incurred and their fees but also interest and FOREIGN EXCHANGE differentials.
She added that DMO has issued SDNs to cover N100 billion out of the outstanding N185 billion agreed with oil marketers as the next payment due to them, even as the central bank has also given approval to the banks to open LCs for oil marketers.
The minister thanked the marketers who had already cued into the opening of LCs and have been supportive of the government’s commitment to ensure the availability of petrol and other petroleum products.
“It is clear that while the union and most members have been cooperative, some of their members are not. Some of these people have even refused to open LCs to facilitate their payments.
“We salute the union and the members who are working hard to end this unfortunate situation. As for those who are working in the other direction, Nigerians should ask them what their motives are,” she said.
Okonjo-Iweala stated that to end the unfortunate situation as quickly as possible, the Petroleum Ministry and NNPC were taking strong action to improve supplies in the election season.
“I’ve been speaking with MOMAN (Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria) and they've assured me that they are working hard to increase supplies and more vessels are on the way,” she said.
She disclosed that 40 million litres of petrol was distributed in Lagos yesterday, adding that as at Monday, 86 trucks came into Lagos and another 86 trucks headed to Abuja.
“Other parts of the country are also included in the plans. So the situation should improve soon. Once again, we wish to express our sympathy with Nigerians for this very unsatisfactory situation and salute their patience as we work hard to end the situation as soon as possible,” the minister said.
Also, providing further insight into the causes of the fuels queues in the country, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday blamed the fuel shortage on the CBN’s devaluation of the naira between November and February.
Speaking while defending the agency's budget before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, told the committee that the devaluation caused huge confusion in the oil sector as the petroleum agency did not know the EXCHANGE RATE to be used for the importation of fuel.
In this regard, he said the marketers could not deliver the cargoes of fuel expected from them because they were not sure of the exact delivery cost as a result of the devaluation, explaining that the old template used for paying the marketers had been overtaken by events.
However, Ahmed who explained that PPPRA had to seek the advice of the CBN before it could eventually draw up a new template added that the crisis had eventually been resolved, as the Budget Office on Monday approved payment for outstanding bills that the marketers are being owed.
He also said the truce was brokered after a meeting of the Ministry of Finance, PPPRA and other relevant agencies.
“The recent events had to do with delay in the arrival of cargoes. Non-arrival of cargoes made it difficult for petrol to be delivered. What actually complicated it was the devaluation of naira - two times.
“The first one that took place on November 28 devalued the naira from N155 to N168 to $1. The second one that took place on February 18 brought the EXCHANGE RATE to N198 to $1.
“These two developments brought a lot of confusion into the oil sector. Marketers were not sure of the actual delivery cost. We had to draw a new template as advised by the CBN. The delay we have now is caused by the November devaluation. But the reality is that the policy is clear now.
“The Minister of Finance, PPPRA and other agencies are working closely to ensure that outstanding bills are paid. And that one has been done now. Yesterday, we got an approval from the Budget Office for payment of all outstanding bills. We have adjusted the template now. We have to put the EXCHANGE RATE at the interbank rate. Now, we have a direction,” he said.
However, NNPC failed to appear before the committee to give its own side of the fuel scarcity story, prompting the committee chairman, Senator Magnus Abe, to read a riot act to the corporation.
He said: “We invited NNPC to come and defend their budget. They didn't show up. They don’t even have the respect to give any response to the invitation.
“We are directing the clerk to re-invite the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Pipelines, Products and Marketing Company (PPMC) and all refineries.
“All of them must appear before this committee on Thursday. All of us have our roles in constitution. The letter should contain a strong warning that NNPC must never repeat this before the committee.
“NNPC has never agreed to bring their budget for discussion. This is the same problem we have every year. I’m disappointed that after we agreed on this issue last year, we are still back to it,” Abe lamented.
Echoing Abe, Senator Danjuma Goje, said it was ridiculous that NNPC still had the audacity to ignore the committee’s invitation despite “this acute shortage we have throughout this country. We know that NNPC has been spending money without appropriation.
“But then, courtesy demands that they honour our invitation. They are doing their work. We are also doing ours. With all the sad story of NNPC, they still have the guts to treat us with disrespect”.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-orders-payment-to-marketers-buhari-blames-moribund-refineries/203283/
73 Insurgents Killed In Failed Boko Haram Konduga Attack
Abdullahi Umar, Agency Report, By CHIKA OTUCHIKERE, By Kareem Haruna
— Mar 3, 2015
No fewer than 73 Boko Haram terrorists yesterday fell to the superior firepower of the Nigerian troops during a failed attempt by the insurgents’ bid to retake Konduga town in Borno State.
One Nigerian soldier was reportedly killed in the attack which lasted over five hours, security sources said.
The terrorists attempted to retake Konduga, a town 35km south-west of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, when they stormed the town with a herd of cows and a Volkswagen golf car filled with explosives.
A soldier that participated in the Konduga counter-operation said the terrorists tried to carry out a suicide bomb attack after which they would attack the town from different angles, but a military sniper was able to gun down the driver of the explosives-laden car before he came close.
“Even before they came we had a pre-information about them and we laid an ambush after securing our territory” said a top ranked officer who spoke to LEADERSHIP on phone.
“Initially they flocked a herd of cows into Konduga in order to create some kind of diversion and confuse us to enable the suicide bomber attack from another side, but we were able to gun the vehicle from afar before it got near and the car exploded. After that, the terrorists came in their large numbers and we engaged in several hours of shooting with them.”
The soldier said the terrorists, just like the previous attacks on Konduga, had again failed with many of them killed and several others seriously injured.
“We counted about 73 of them that were killed and many others who got injured escaped. But we lost a soldier during the shootout,” he said.
The soldier added that it took the support from the fighter jets of the Nigeria Air Force to defeat the terrorists who eventually gave up and fled at about 1pm.
A top security chief in Maiduguri confirmed the incident, but was not forthcoming on the death toll given by the soldiers in the field.
Konduga has repeatedly been attacked for over 15 times in the last 10 months as Boko Haram terrorists are bent on capturing the town as part of their strategy to launch an attack on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, but they have been bloodied in each attempt.
Soldiers on Patrol
Soldiers liberate more towns in Yobe
Meanwhile, Nigerian troops battling to recapture seized towns from Boko Haram insurgents ahead of the deadline for the general elections yesterday recorded more victories as they liberated three major towns in Yobe State, including Geri, Kukawa, Gujba.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the rampaging troops combed the towns infested by the insurgents, determined to flush them out from their remaining hideouts.
A Nigerian defence headquarters tweet yesterday said the troops were in hot pursuit of the insurgents.
Fear grips Gombi residents as military drops expired bombs
Residents of Gombi town in Gombi LGA, Adamawa State, were yesterday thrown into fear and confusion when a hovercraft in military colours were seen dropping bombs in the surrounding bushes.
Residents of the area said they became suspicious of the said hovercraft as it kept encircling the town for a very long time which raised their suspicion.
Shekau posts new video of two men beheaded for spying
The latest video posted by the leader of outlawed Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, shows two beheaded men, who were accused of spying, a parody of the modus operadi Islamic State group.
The SITE intelligence group said the video, called “Harvest of Spies,” was posted on the sect’s twitter handle, the group’s new media arm.
According to it, the video is much slicker than previous ones, saying it borrows certain elements from IS productions, such as the sound of a beating heart and heavy breathing immediately before the execution.
Boko Haram had said, in social media messages last month, that it was considering swearing allegiance to IS.
Speaking before the execution, the two victims on their knees said that they went to Baga, Borno State to witness what was going there when the Boko Haram captured them.
Other media reported that a man identified as Dawoud Muhammad of Baga town, in response to questions, said that a police officer paid him N5,000 to spy and promised to make him so rich he would never have to farm again.
The video which was delivered in Hausa, written in English, French and Arabic, does not show the actual beheadings but the two bodies after the executions, with heads on the chests.
Boko Haram previously published only one beheading of a pilot whose plane went missing in September.
The Boko Haram began emulating the Islamic State group last August, declaring it had established an Islamic caliphate in territory it controls in north-eastern Nigeria.
http://leadership.ng/news/414909/73-insurgents-killed-in-failed-boko-haram-konduga-attack
Photos from the inauguration of Biafran Embassy today 28th of February 2015 in Spain. We thank God for his kindness, may the name of Chukwu Abiama be praised.
Photos from the inauguration of Biafran Embassy today 28th of February 2015 in Spain. We thank God for his kindness, may the name of Chukwu Abiama be praised.
‘Alliance Between Israel & US Must Always Remain Above Politics’
"Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate..." to wipe out Israel, PM Netanyahu told Congress.
By: Hana Levi Julian
Published: March 3rd, 2015
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of the US Congress on March 3, 2015.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of the US Congress on March 3, 2015.
Photo Credit: Screenshot
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s historic speech to the joint session of Congress lasted about 40 minutes Tuesday morning, was interrupted 40 times and brought the chamber to its feet nearly every time.
Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, however, was seen in tears, distraught over its content. More than 30 other Democratic members of the Congress actually boycotted the address; U.S. President Barack Obama didn’t even watch, nor did any member of his staff attend the session, completing the total boycott from the Obama White House and his administration.
As promised, Israel’s prime minister focused solely on substance and no politics after first addressing, as he did at the AIPAC convention a day earlier, the “controversy” over his appearance at the direct invitation by GOP House Speaker John Boehner months earlier.
“It was never my intention,” Netanyahu said. “Thank you for your support for Israel, year after year, decade after decade… The remarkable alliance between Israel and the United States has always been above politics and must always remain above politics,” he said.
“Israel is grateful for the support of America’s people and its presidents, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.”
Some of what Obama has done for Israel is widely known, he commented, and some is not known, and “may never be known.”
But while Netanyahu was praising the American president, Obama made sure that every media outlet carried the news that neither he nor his staff watched the speech. Nor was any member of his staff present in the chamber during Netanyahu’s address. That point was repeated by every American media outlet; one has to wonder why.
“Israel is grateful to you, the American Congress, for supporting us in so many ways,” Netanyahu continued. “Thank you, America, thank you for everything you have done for Israel.”
The Message Netanyahu Came to Deliver Netanyahu then turned to the reason he had come to speak to the joint session of America’s lawmakers so close to Israeli elections, risking his own position to do so.
“We are an ancient people,” he began. “In our nearly four thousand years of history many have tried to destroy” us. The Israeli leader went on to briefly summarize the story of Purim, how 2500 years ago, a Persian potentate named Haman nearly succeeded in his genocidal attempt to wipe out the Jews.
“Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate, Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who spews the oldest hatred, anti-Semitism, with the newest technology. He tweets – in English – that Israel must be destroyed.”
Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah has been coordinating with Iran, as has been clear from recent speeches; Netanyahu noted Nasrallah has urged the “ingathering” of Jews to Israel “so we can destroy them all.”
Netanyahu also pointed out that Israel is now surrounded by Iran on three borders: “Iran’s goons in Gaza, its lackeys in Lebanon, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Golan Heights are clutching Israel with three tentacles of terror.”
Iran also currently “dominates four Arab capitals” in the Middle East – Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sana’a — and if left unchecked “more will surely follow.” So while the major nations led by the U.S. are trying to reach an agreement with Tehran over its nuclear program and bring them into the family of nations, “Iran is busy gobbling up the nations,” he said.
ISIS and Iran As frightening, Netanyahu told the Congress that the battle between Iran and ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria terror organization, or Daesh), “does not turn Iran into a friend of America.
“Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam… first in the region, and then on the entire world. They just disagree among themselves who will be the ruler of that empire.
MILITARY HARDWARE: Nigeria Turns To Biafra For Help in Weapons Production.
Information from: #Freedom_for_IPOB:::]
A presidential committee on the review of Nigeria's defence policy visited Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) in Nnewi, Anambra, with the aim of inspecting facilities at the plant and see how the company could help Nigeria's defence sector.
The visiting committee chaired by Major General A. Adewuyi had Professor Isaac Olawale Albert as the team leader. He told Daily Sun that the basic reason for the visit was for the committee to see the facilities available at the company and see the extent to which the defence policy could draw some lessons.
Prof Albert said the idea was for Nigeria to begin to look inwards for the procurement of some military hard and soft wares “ how we can procure our vehicles, how do we procure our armoured vehicles locally, how do we manufacture some of the things we need in the defence industry. That is what brought us to Nnewi.”
Professor Albert explained that what the presidential committee had seen at the factory site suggested to them that without doubt, IVM had the capacity to supply the Nigerian military with many of its requirements in terms of military vehicles.
A presidential committee on the review of Nigeria's defence policy visited Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) in Nnewi, Anambra, with the aim of inspecting facilities at the plant and see how the company could help Nigeria's defence sector.
The visiting committee chaired by Major General A. Adewuyi had Professor Isaac Olawale Albert as the team leader. He told Daily Sun that the basic reason for the visit was for the committee to see the facilities available at the company and see the extent to which the defence policy could draw some lessons.
Prof Albert said the idea was for Nigeria to begin to look inwards for the procurement of some military hard and soft wares “ how we can procure our vehicles, how do we procure our armoured vehicles locally, how do we manufacture some of the things we need in the defence industry. That is what brought us to Nnewi.”
Professor Albert explained that what the presidential committee had seen at the factory site suggested to them that without doubt, IVM had the capacity to supply the Nigerian military with many of its requirements in terms of military vehicles.
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