EFCC Chairman,Farida Waziri removed by President Jonathan

President Goodluck  Jonathan has removed the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri.
Her removal was contained in a three-paragraph statement signed by Jonathan’s spokesperson, Dr. Reuben Abati in Abuja on Wednesday morning.
 Jonathan named Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde as the Acting Chairman/Chief Executive of the lame duck commission.
 Larmode was among the effective team of the former chairman of the commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu.
 FULL TEXT OF GOVERNMENT's statement as released today by Reuben Abati, Presidential spokesman below:
 'PRESIDENT JONATHAN APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF NEW EFCC CHAIRMAN
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has approved the appointment of Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde  as the Acting Chairman/Chief Executive of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The appointment takes immediate effect, and effectively relieves Mrs. Farida Waziri of her position as EFCC Chairman. Mrs. Waziri was appointed EFCC Chairman by Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on May 18, 2008 and confirmed by the Senate on May 27, 2008.
Mr. Lamorde, an officer of the Nigeria Police, was, until this appointment the Director of Operations of the EFCC. He was also Ag. Chairman of the EFCC before Mrs. Waziri assumed duty at the Commission."

BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS' THREAT: Governor Akpabio charges President Jonathan to be firm in dealing with culprits

Posted by Lateef Lawal

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to remain fearless in his fight again the dread Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Akpabio, while speaking with journalists yesterday at Caverton Helicopter hangar near the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos explained that the news of the unveiling of the sponsorship of Boko Haram, the arrest of the big shot, automatically shows “that we are beginning to solve the problem”.

He stated that the arrests of the spokesman of the group and a senator allegedly involved in the sponsorship of the sect was a major set back for them, hinting, “I see the end to Boko Haram and a major thing coming with this development”.

“I will urge the President to ensure that no matter who is involved, no matter the person’s status in the society, any Nigerian that sponsors criminality must be brought to book and that is the way I run my state”.

He added that every single individual, no matter his status that is linked with sponsorship of criminality must be brought to book, stressing that it was pleasing that for the first time, the veil of secrecy is being lifted with the unveiling of sponsors of criminality in Nigeria.

His words, “For me, it is not worrisome. It is pleasing news that for the first time we are now having the cloak, the veil of secrecy is been lifted and sponsors of criminality in Nigeria are been unveiled and as far as I am concerned, this is the beginning of the cure for the problem”.

 “This is the first time we are touching the real issue, because if you are able to get the sponsors to face justice, it means those who are being sponsored will no longer be available. Most of these young people are unemployed and some of them are quite young, they can’t actually distinguish right from wrong”.

He chided politicians and their likes for unjustifiably using the youths and put them in a situation where they will be a menace to the society, noting that the news of the unveiling of the sponsorship of Boko Haram, the arrest of the big shot, automatically shows that Nigerians are beginning to solve the issue of terrorism.

According to him, “Last year if you are aware, there was a very big fish that was involved in sending terror text messages to individuals under different guises that the governor has promised to kill them that they should bring money. Eventually when he was arrested by the State Security Service who came in a team from Abuja, inspite the fact that he was the man who had been driving around town with Rolls Royce over 20 years, they charged him to court and the case is in court”.

LATE IBRU, A JOURNALISM COLOSUS,says Governor Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State

The late Publisher of The Guardian Newspaper, Dr. Alex Uruemu Ibru has been described as a colossus particularly in the media profession.
Speaking to reporters at Caverton Helicopter hangar at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, yesterday afternoon,  Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio said he was heading to the Ikoyi home of the Ibrus on a condolence visit, disclosed that the formation of The Guardian by the late business mogul was a major step in terms of truthful journalism and distinction in unbiased information dissemination.
He noted that the seriousness of the newspaper on national and international issues stand the newspaper out as one that can be trusted by Nigerians and one used by the international community as a reference point, stressing that the newspaper focuses on serious minded issues devoid of frivolities.
He lauded the late publisher for his contribution to nation building with the establishment of The Guardian in 1983, adding that the contribution of the newspaper could not be underestimated.
His words, “You know he was a colossus in all respect, particularly within the media profession. You know the formation of The Guardian was a major step in terms of truthful journalism, in terms of a paper of distinction, the paper Nigerians can trust and the paper the international community can also use as a reference point because that is what it is”.
“It was the first major, fearless paper of distinction. Let us be honest, the paper focuses on serious minded issues, not on frivolities. So, its contribution to nation building cannot be underestimated, so it’s a very sad development, it’s quite an unfortunate situation and I think it touches on all parts of Nigeria. That is why I flew into Lagos to pay my last respect to the departed on behalf of millions of people of Akwa Ibom who also benefited from his industry and his contribution to nation building”.

Libyan Fighters Captures Qaddafi’s Son

Libyan militia fighters on Saturday captured Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the last fugitive son and onetime heir apparent of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, setting off nationwide celebrations but also exposing a potential power struggle between former-rebel factions over his handling.
Militia leaders based in Zintan, a western mountain town and stronghold of resistance to Colonel Qaddafi’s regime, said they captured Seif al-Islam early Saturday in the southwestern desert near Awbari, along with a small entourage.
But while transitional government leaders in the capital, Tripoli, promised that Mr. Qaddafi would be closely guarded and turned over to the International Criminal Court to be tried on war crimes charges, leaders in Zintan insisted that they would not hand him over until a formal national government was formed — a process that is in the works but at least a day or two away.
Such insistence on factional power is at the heart of international concerns about Libya’s future. And after Colonel Qaddafi’s capture and killing at the hands of militiamen a month ago, his son’s case will be an important test of Libya’s commitment to the rule of law.
On Saturday, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said he would head to Libya in the next few days to discuss how and where Mr. Qaddafi would be tried. “We are coordinating with the Justice Ministry to ensure that any solution is in accordance with the law,” said the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
Leaders in Zintan promised that they would protect Mr. Qaddafi and that justice would take its course.
“We are arranging a very safe place for him,” said Mussa Grife, a member of the Zintan revolutionary movement’s political committee. “The people of Zintan want to leave a good impression for the world and treat Seif according to human rights and according to Islamic values.”
Tellingly, the Transitional National Council’s prime minister, Abdel Rahim el-Keeb, came to Zintan with an entourage of officials to celebrate the capture. “Congratulations to all Libya, all men, women and children,” he said at a news conference here. “Now we can build a new Libya.”
Mr. Keeb emphasized that the government in Tripoli was in no rush to take direct custody of Mr. Qaddafi and that it would accept Zintan’s demands to hold him.
“We trust their ability to take care of this,” he said. “They will keep him in peace, and take care of him, unlike how he treated our people.”
In scenes of celebration outstripped only by news of Colonel Qaddafi’s capture and death last month, Tripoli’s streets erupted in revelry at the news that Mr. Qaddafi had been seized. Vehicles clogged intersections, horns blaring, and militiamen shot their rifles into the sky. In Zintan, thousands of people poured into the streets amid a carnival of fireworks and gunfire.
The capture eliminates perhaps the best hope that loyalists had of rallying a new revolution around the remnants of the Qaddafi family. It also represents a personal transformation that turned Seif al-Islam from the most prominent advocate of changing his father’s Libya into one of the chief architects of the regime’s deadly crackdown on dissent in its final days.
Mr. Grife said Zintan fighters had been following Mr. Qaddafi through the desert using local sources for intelligence about his whereabouts in the past few weeks. When they learned he and a small entourage would try to make a break to leave the country, perhaps bound for Tunisia, they laid a trap for him on Saturday morning along a valley road outside Awbari, an oasis town.
When Zintan fighters blocked the caravan, Mr. Qaddafi broke from his vehicle and was captured on foot. “They tried to fight,” Mr. Grife said. A few shots were fired, but there were no reports of any wounded.
A reporter for Reuters was on the plane with Seif al-Islam as the fighters flew him from Awbari to Zintan. The reporter said that although Mr. Qaddafi appeared very frightened, he was in decent condition. He wore an uncharacteristically heavy beard, and showed the reporter his heavily bandaged right hand, which he said was wounded in a NATO airstrike about a month ago.
As Mr. Qaddafi was driven from the Zintan airport to an undisclosed place for detention, residents who had gathered to see him threw shoes and sandals at the vehicle, a sign of extreme contempt in the Muslim world.
For years, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi cultivated an image at home and abroad as the face of change in Libya. An international playboy in his youth, he went on to earn a doctoral degree at the London School of Economics. He wrote a thesis on the importance of democracy and civil society groups, although accusations later emerged that it had been ghostwritten by consultants working for his father’s government.
He publicly championed the cause of modernizing and liberalizing Libya, including loosening the tight restrictions on political speech his father had maintained for decades, opening up free enterprise and adopting a constitution.
In the staged drama that passed for public political life under Colonel Qaddafi, Seif al-Islam, who is 39, was often portrayed as standing up to an authoritarian old guard around his father, who seemed to push back against his ideas. Some Libyans who dreamed of a freer future pinned their hopes on him and the young clique he led.
Western consultants say Seif al-Islam managed to parlay partial control of Libya’s oil assets and investments to help induce Western businesses and governments to ease Libya’s isolation under his father.
His success helped him emerge as the pre-eminent son and heir apparent among Colonel Qaddafi’s many children, although his brother Muatassim, his father’s national security adviser, was always considered a rival.
But when the revolt against Colonel Qaddafi broke out in late February — taking over the eastern city of Benghazi and for a few days the streets of Tripoli as well — it was Seif al-Islam who delivered the Qaddafi government’s first public response, warning in a long and rambling speech that the government would crush the “rats” who challenged his father’s rule.
Libya, he said, would slide into civil war. To opponents of the Qaddafi government, the son now sounded very much like his father.
During the rebellion and NATO bombing campaign against the Qaddafi government, Seif al Islam was said to propose to the Western governments a truce centered on the idea that he would lead a transition to electoral democracy. But in public interviews he always insisted that his father should retain a figurehead role, which he sometimes compared to that of the queen of England, and the Western powers never bit.
In his last interview — in early August, less than three weeks before he fled as rebels took Tripoli — Seif al-Islam appeared a changed man, nervous and agitated, wearing a newly grown beard and fingering prayer beads. He had always been a religious Muslim, he said, though his previous image was decidedly secular.
Casting aside any pretense of negotiating peace with the Western-supported rebel leadership, Mr. Qaddafi said in the interview that his father’s government was negotiating a secret deal with a faction of Islamists among the rebels. Together, he said, Qaddafi loyalists and Islamists would turn on the liberals among the rebels, who would be killed or driven into exile, and Libya would become an Islamic state relying on the Koran instead of a constitution. “Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?”
He added, chuckling, “It is a funny story.”
Libyan Islamists denied the report immediately. Officials of his father’s government denied it the next day. And at least one person close to the Qaddafi family later said that Mr. Qaddafi appeared to be losing his grip.



source:The New York Times

LEGISLATORS,PRESIDENT JONATHAN MEETING DEADLOCKED

** President told to Forget Subsidy and Tackle Insecurity

** Sources Say President Was ‘Incoherent and Unconvincing.’

The meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the National Assembly at the presidential villa yesterday could not produce results as the lawmakers rejected overtures from the executive to support the planned removal of oil subsidy.
With this development, the National Assembly and President Goodluck Jonathan may be headed for a major showdown.
Senate President, Senator David Mark and House Speaker, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal at the parley which lasted a little over an hour told the President in plain terms that the nation was not ready to accept subsidy removal at this time when insecurity has taken the centre stage.
The lawmakers rather advised him to concentrate and even double his effort at tackling the worsening security situation in the country.
It was from sources at the meeting that "The President said the main reason for calling the members of the Parliament is to appeal to them for support in the government’s bid to remove the fuel subsidy in 2012.
A lawmaker who was at the meeting told our correspondent that Jonathan had pleaded with the lawmakers that the government could no longer support the huge cost of subsidizing petroleum products. According to him, "the country may not be able to hold together in the next 15 years."
He said the President told lawmakers that his administration was doing everything possible to arrest the growing insecurity in the country but the peculiar nature of the situation was not helping matters.
In his words, "The President said before it was the issue of militancy, then kidnapping and armed robbery. He said now it has escalated to suicide bombing in which people are willing to die in order to wreck havoc on the country. He appealed to the National Assembly members for cooperation in order to succeed in the fight against the menace."
Nigeria is presently faced with the task of tackling members of the extremist group Boko Haram which has claimed responsibility for several deadly bomb attacks in northern Nigeria.
According to sources, after President Jonathan had finished talking, he invited the Senate President who openly told him that the present state of the country does not call for oil subsidy removal.
A source said "Mark told the President that the Nigerian people are against the removal of Petroleum subsidy. He said that if the subsidy is removed, what else can the masses say they are enjoying or benefitting from government? He said in a situation where there is widespread poverty, lack of proper infrastructure, no adequate power, overwhelming unemployment, the issue of deregulating petroleum will cause more harm than good at this point in time.
"Since you know who the cabal that is sabotaging the subsidy on petroleum products is, you can deal with them by having them arrested and prosecuted. What will the Nigerian people benefit from the government if you remove the subsidy," Mark allegedly asked Jonathan.
The lawmaker said Mark clearly told the President that it was better for the President to address the current insecurity in the country by squarely facing Boko Haram before contemplating deregulation in the oil sector.
According to the source, the President was shocked when after the Senate President had spoken and he asked if members of the House of Representatives had anything to say.
He said "about 20 hands were raised. But the Speaker stood up and said: ‘Today is not a day for debate. You have called us here and spoken to us and we have heard what you have said. We cannot be stampeded into a decision right now. We will return to the chamber and consider the import of it and make our decision known to you. But our decision will be what is best for the Nigerian people."
One source described the President as incoherent and unconvincing adding,"nobody bought his reasons."
Another said, "His message was disappointing and we did not take it.
"He was made to know that his facts and documents were sketchy and blurred and failed to address certain fundamental economic indices in such circumstance as subsidy removal."
It is however unclear when the leaders would deliberate again on the contentious issue.
Meanwhile, the Senate through its spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has debunked reports that senators moved to pass a vote of no confidence on the President.
He said there was no iota of truth in the report; and "come to think of it, a no confidence vote tradition only applies in a parliamentary system of government and not in a presidential system as practiced in Nigeria."



source:THEWILL

FIVE DEAD IN NURTW FACTIONAL GUN DUEL IN SANGO-OTA,OGUN STATE

By Lateef Lawal

Not less than five persons have been reported dead during a factional fight between members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW) in Sango-Ota, Ogun State in the early hours of today.

In addition, several others sustained various degrees of injuries from gun shots and other dangerous weapons used during the free-for-all,which according to eyewitness accounts began mid-night Monday.

Many workers were stranded at various bus stops while others including school children remained in-doors and shops and markets closed to avoid stray bullets.

It was not immediately known what led to the mayhem, but it was gathered that members of the union loyal to a popular leader of the group were trying to resist the leader of a rival group and his gang from the control of motor parks especially in the Sango axis including the areas around the over-head bridge.

Due to the intensity of the fire power exchanged by the rival groups, inhabitants of Sango and its environs stayed awake till day break waiting for the intervention of the law enforcement agents to stem the tide of criminality exhibited by the groups.

The men of the Nigeria Police however came in in the early hours of the day to bring the situation under control and remove the dead bodies from the main road linking the Idi-Iroko road.

As at 12 noon today, mobile policemen in armoured vehicles were still patrolling the major roads and link roads in Sango-Ota Ado-Odo Local Government Council of Ogun State, the Police is yet to confirm arrest of any suspect from either group.

Censored! There are no poor people in Saudi Arabia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_2PTKlz2lw&feature=player_embedded

Two young Saudi bloggers were sent to jail for fifteen days after uploading a ten-minute documentary on poverty in Riyadh, the capital of one of the richest petro-states in the Gulf.
 Firas Buqna and Hussam Al-Darwish posted the video on YouTube on October 10. The fifth episode of their Web TV show “Mal’oub Alen” (“we’re being duped” in Arabic) touched on the living conditions of people in the poor neighbourhood of Al Jaradiya, on the outskirts of Riyadh.
In the report, Buqna is shocked by the relative poverty of the neighbourhood, where he comes across children “who are barefoot and don’t own any shoes.” Of the three neighbourhood residents that Buqna interviews, one “earns only 1,300 dollars (945 euros) to support his two wives and 11 children. Another resident supports 20 people with just 666 dollars (484 euros) a month.
 Buqna and Al-Darwish denounce the stereotype of the wealthy, SUV-driving Saudi, explaining that 89% of the country’s citizens live in debt. The bloggers question why residents of such a wealthy country are slipping through the net and living in poverty. They point out that over the past 27 years Saudi Arabia has donated 56 billion euros to developing countries, while 22% the the country's own citizens were reportedly living in relative poverty in 2009 (local media put the number at 30% in 2008).
 The young bloggers’ video did not go down well with authorities. Six days after they posted the video online, Buqna and Al-Darwish were arrested and interrogated by the police. They were released two weeks later, on October 31. The exact reasons behind their arrest remain unclear.
However, the controversy generated by their arrest has drawn over a million viewers to their online video.
“Poverty is an open secret in Saudi Arabia”
Rachid M. (not his real name) is a blogger; he lives in eastern Saudi Arabia.
 There are more and more poor people in Saudi Arabia, and the middle class has all but disappeared. It’s an open secret in the kingdom.
 I don’t live in Riyadh and have never visited the neighbourhood of Al Jaradiya, but in the east of the country where I live, there are far poorer neighbourhoods than what Firas Buqna showed in his video.
The fact that there are a lot of oil wells in the area changes nothing. Comparing the poorest areas of Saudi Arabia with Somalia, as Buqna does at the beginning of his documentary, makes sense. There are people who live in terrible conditions, on the streets or under makeshift tents.
 Poverty was officially recognised for the first time during a visit by Ali Al-Namia, the former minister of social affairs, in the neighbourhood of Al Shamishi in Riyadh in November 2002. He went with King Abdullah, who was still crown prince at the time.
The footage was aired on state television. At the time, authorities decided to create a national solidarity fund. But that wasn’t enough to stop poverty from spreading.
Wealth is very badly distributed in our country, and corruption is also rife [in 2010, Saudi Arabia ranked 50th in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index list].
 Official media outlets have addressed the problem in a very superficial way. They present poverty as if it affected only an isolated few and not entire swaths of the population, in one of the richest oil nations of the world.
 Poor families do get government aid, but they receive symbolic amounts which absolutely don’t allow these people to meet all their needs. Not to mention the maze of bureaucratic red tape they have to go through to receive this aid. What’s more, this aid is granted only to people who have no other source of income. Low-income working families aren’t entitled to it.
 “We think they were arrested because they caricatured a commonly-used phrase that honours the King”
 There are several reasons for which the two bloggers may have been arrested. According to another famous blogger, nicknamed Saudi Jeans, authorities may not have liked the fact that their video was picked up by a foreign-based opposition TV network.
Others think authorities were angered by the videos’ direct, defiant tone. But most people think that what got them into trouble was the fact that they caricatured a commonly-used phrase that honours the King (‘We are fine, we hope you are too’ in Arabic).
The beginning of the video shows several wealthy Saudis in a large, elegant car saying ‘We are fine ,’ then a small boy from the neighbourhood of Al Jaradiya saying ‘We are not fine’.
 Others think the motive of their arrest was to scare young Saudis, who increasingly use social media and new technologies to express themselves and voice criticism of the government and the country, sometimes beyond the limits imposed by authorities.”
Firas Buqna posted this photo of himself on Twitter after he was freed from prison.

Source:observers.france24/by By Rachid M.

British Airways, others receive 2011 World Tourism Awards At World Travel Market, London

British Airways, Jonathan M. Tisch and National Geographic Traveler were presented with the 2011 World Tourism Awards in a ceremony at World Travel Market, Excel Centre, London.
The World Tourism Awards, celebrating its 14th Anniversary, are co-sponsored by American Express, Corinthia Hotels, International Herald Tribune and Reed Travel Exhibitions. Inaugurated in 1997, the World Tourism Award was established to recognise “the extraordinary initiatives by individuals, companies, organisations, destinations and attractions for outstanding accomplishments in the travel industry”.
This year the three Award recipients were honoured for their dedication to sustainable tourism, preservation of natural and cultural heritage, as well as forging tourism partnerships to overcome challenging times.
Presenting the Awards on behalf of the sponsors were Sheila Heustess, VP, Travel Industry Relations, American Express; Alfred Pisani, Founder and Chairman, Corinthia Group; Patrick M. Falconer, Managing Director – UK, Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, the New York Times/International Herald Tribune; and Fiona Jeffery, Chairman, World Travel Market for Reed Travel Exhibitions.
The first award went to British Airways in recognition of "its investment of £5-6M annually to support its Global Community Programs, in direct and in-kind donations, to more than 100 community and conservation focused charities around the world as well as in the UK.” Mary Barry, Manager, Community Investment, British Airways accepted the Award.
The second award honoured Jonathan M. Tisch, Chairman and CEO, Loews Hotels, in recognition for “his leadership role to help rebuild New York City in the aftermath of September 11, by reviving the local travel and tourism industry and for securing major funding for NYC & Company to expand its global marketing initiatives, resulting in record tourism for New York City.” Accepting the award on behalf of Jonathan Tisch was George Fertitta, CEO, NYC & Company.




source:Business Wire