BOKO HARM HIDE OUT DISCOVERED

 Mrs. Hannatu Zira, one of the women abducted by Boko Haram from Grata village in Michika Local Government Area in Adamawa State, has revealed that some of the insurgents are living inside the cave of a huge rock popularly known as “Bekin Dose”, situated between Michika and Madagali close to Sambisa forest.

Mrs Zira in Yola, the state capital, taking hiding in one of her relatives’ house.
She explained about her escape from the terrorist  last week with the aid of one of the insurgents who still had some human feeling left in him.

She thanked God’s for uniting her with her family and prayed for other women abducted with her on the same day by the insurgents during their recent deadly attack in Adamawa villages.

She said some women and children are still suffering in the hands of the killers and urged the government to espeed up action to rescue them from the hands of the insurgents.
“You need to be there to see how wicked these people are, they are inhuman and merciless when they want to commit any havoc on a person.

“If you don’t cooperate with them, they will kill you straight away,”
She implore  that when she was held captive by the insurgents inside the cave, she observed that the insurgents hid in the caves when there was any serious counter-attack against them by Nigerian troops.
“It is a very big cave which can contain more than three thousand persons. What the insurgents do is to rush into the cave whenever there is any serious attack on them.

“If you are a stranger you will not know that there is a cave like that, unless the military bombards the rock completely or smokes them out of the cave for the sake of other women and children still in their custody,” she said.
She disclose that the captives were well fed by the insurgents with at least two square meals daily, adding that their captives only denied the hostages food or were beaten as punishment for minor offences, but that the death penalty was applied to major offences.

“The death penalty is applicable if you were caught trying to escape or a member of the insurgents was caught trying to divulge useful information to the military.

“I watched with my own two eyes when some people were executed for disobeying their laws and regulations because as soon as you are brought into their enclave the (leader) reads their laws to you.
“That is why l have told my husband to leave the north completely and we would not want anybody to know our whereabouts so that these people will not come after me and family again and he has agreed to my request,” she said.
Her husband expressed gratitude to God for returning his wife to him from the hands of insurgents.

He said it was a week ago when one of his friends saw his wife at Jabi-Lamba in Song Local Government Area about 40 kilometres away from the state capital by the roadside looking tired and weak, and decided to bring her to him in one of his relatives’ homes where he was taking refuge with his children praying that one day their mother will return home.
“I am moving my family to a place far from here to hide them because the insurgent that helped my wife to escape advised her to go very far from the north.
“In fact, we are leaving between tomorrow or next. I managed to raise money from relatives and friends, and with my savings in the bank, l think we can start a business somewhere,” he said.
 We also learnt that many people especially the Igbos have fled Adamawa State because of the forthcoming elections. This has been propelled by the rumours in the town that if Buhari does not win the election there might be violence in the north.

Shops and business have been shut down by their owners and some have departed never to return again.

Mr. Emeka, who operates a supermarket on Bauchi Street in Yola said that he was fleeing the city because he expects post-election violence if Buhari does not win the election.

He said many people like him will be disenfranchised because they registered as voters in Yola, arguing that there was no use collecting the permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) being distributed by the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) because they will not participate in the general election.

He said except INEC registers them at their present locations, most people, especially Igbos who have fled without collecting their PVCs will not be allowed to vote.
Meanwhile, the onslaught by the terror group picked up a notch yesterday when Boko Haram members attacked Chadian army positions in Gamborou in Borno, but were beaten back, Chadian military sources said.

“We knew they were going to attack us. We were waiting. The battle didn’t last long. They fled,” one military source told Reuters.
The source said eight Chadian soldiers were wounded, three out of 14 Boko Haram vehicles were destroyed, and one was seized. There was no word on whether any Boko Haram fighters had been killed or wounded.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent fighting in Cameroun, Niger and Chad as well as in Nigeria, according to military sources from the different countries. There is no independent verification of the casualty toll.
Mortars and machine-gun fire were heard in N’Guigmi on Niger’s border with Nigeria late on Tuesday, as fighting raged, between Boko Haram and the army, a Niger military source said.
The town lies near Lake Chad, around 100 km (60 miles) east of Diffa.

NIGERIA REFINERIES TO WORK AGAIN

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said it had engaged the services of local engineers to rehabilitate the country’s three refineries at a cost of $550m (N99bn), better figure compared to foreign contractors

The refineries are Port Harcourt Refining  and the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited.Company, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited.

The Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals, NNPC, Mr. Ian Udoh, stated that the corporation resolved to use indigenous engineers because it could not pay the bills of foreign contractors who were nominated by the original builders of the refineries.

The project will not be funded by government.

 

Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals, NNPC, Mr. Ian Udoh

“NNPC have examined the work scope and picked up the essential things that we must do to get these refineries to operate optimally at around 90 per cent of capacity. That was done and we did the pricing template; not the international rates, we used the local rates. And everything for the three refineries combined came to around $550m, which is significant, maybe up to 70 per cent reduction.

“Even the $550m is quite much. So, we amortised it over 18 months so that we will be able to swallow it in bits more easily. The 18 months started since last October and this means that early next year, the refineries should be in shape.”

He continued by saying original builders of the refineries were not willing to come to Nigeria but nominated their partners to handle the turnaround maintenance of the facilities.

The partners, are not willing to give post rehabilitation performance guarantee, adding that their prices were exceedingly high.

“So, a new pact had to be taken, which is more affordable for the NNPC, that is, to rehabilitate all the refineries simultaneously, resorting more to what is locally available. And these include the in-house engineers and such contractors that have been working with us all these years who are familiar with the plant.

“Part of that plan is that if there is any challenging big equipment, we resort to the original manufacturers to send a representative to join our engineers on the ground to carry out whatever is needed to be done.”

Earlier in his address, the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Joseph Dawha, had explained that the $1.48bn, which PwC directed it to remit to the Federation Account, was the balance of the book value of the divested assets that were transferred to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, excluding taxes and royalties.

“This value is still being reconciled with the Department of Petroleum Resources,

He added that what the DPR sent to the corporation as the estimated value of the assets was $1.847bn, out of which the NNPC paid over $300m as a token to indicate its commitment to acquiring the assets pending resolution and reconciliation by both organisations.

NNPC inablity to tackle pipeline vandalism despite installing electronic monitoring gadgets on them, the corporation’s Group Executive Director, Engineering and Technical, Mr. Adebayo Ibirogba, stated that the technology might detect immediately where a pipeline had been blown up, but the ability to respond speedily was an issue.

FAZE IS NOW THE PUBLIC COMMENTATOR OF OUR TIME

faze the Kolomental crooner, is back with a new song titled Common Sense. The song is a conscious Afro-beat inspired tune laced with contemporary instrumentation. Faze on the song implored Nigerians to use their common sense instead of waiting for the government that is very slow in acting.

The former platation boy further explains further explained in a chat with Showtime:” I think what’s happening in the environment inspired the song Basically, issues   that has to do with the government and the people.
The people always place blames on the government, exonerating themselves, we have ours to deal with too. All I   am actually saying is that we the people should play our part and the government too should play theirs.

On his new album he said: “The Faze brand still remains. I’m done with the album, it’ll be out sometime this year but before then I’ll be dropping two new singles. I Just dropped one called ‘Common Sense’.

JEGA ON THE MUD

THE DIRECTOR- General,Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, PDPPCO, Dr. Ahmadu Ali

Has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to allow the electorate, who participated in the 2011 elections, use their temporary voters’ cards in case they could not get their permanent voters cards.

REASONS FOR  TVCs  by Ali
In his statement he said that the  need to allow voters use TVCs cannot be over emphasised, the commission was introducing a new methodology in the entire process which wasn't used to Nigerians.

He said INEC was not prepared for the election, adding that the problems were monumental and would have made the commission fail monumentally.

He said yesterday that the PDP and its Presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, were querying the INEC for the manipulations in the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, with Borno State having more than Lagos State.

He said: “We are querying the INEC for some aberration in the distribution of PVCs. How can Borno State which is under siege register more PVC collections than Lagos State? The INEC might have allowed its distribution of these cards to be tampered with.

In his address to Journalists in Abuja, Ali, who noted that the shift in the dates of the general elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11 had saved the INEC from monumental embarrassment, asked the electoral umpire to explain the rational behind insurgency-ravaged Borno State registering more PVC collections than Lagos State that is peaceful and more populous.

“We hope that INEC will now use the extra time it has given itself to perfect its methodology. For example, the card readers need to be tried and tested during training of its operators.

“I gave an interview over two weeks ago and I said the problem we are facing is monumental and INEC may fail monumentally. My suggestion was that if you have your TVC they should allow you to use your TVC. If you voted in 2011 and you have the old voters’ card they should allow you to use it because this is the first time they are introducing this methodology and we have not mastered it.”

Blames INEC for poor voters education.

He said: “In terms of voters education, INEC should be blamed. There is none of you here that has seen the card reader demonstrated publicly. That is where the problem lies. If you the elite who are covering the election have not seen where they trained their personnel and show you how this thing is going to operate, how do we and other Nigerians know how it is going to operate?

“This is what they should have tried out at local government level in one of the states and know what the problems are. By the way, the battery life of the card reader works for only eight hours. In remote parts where there is no light, by the time people line up, you accredit them and the eight hours is over and people are still on the queue that means you will disenfranchise them.
“These are things that he Prof. Jega should have tried out but because they have introduced it and we don’t want to prevent progress, they should have mastered it. You and I still don’t know how it is going to work.”

INEC IS NOT PARED FOR THE ELECTIONS
“From all indications, INEC is not fully prepared for the elections. There are issues with the PVCs. Almost 30 million people are yet to get their PVCs despite the fact that the date of distribution was extended. Will it be possible to have a credible election when millions of Nigerians are disenfranchised because of lack of permanent voter’s cards?
“There are also reports that the PVC readers are not fully distributed and tested. How can INEC handle cases of faulty card readers? Do they have a credible Plan B in situations where voters are lined up and the card readers refuse to work?
“Ballot boxes are reportedly inadequate, training of staff for the election had not been concluded and there are other problems facing INEC. Quite clearly the shift in election date is meant to save INEC from monumental embarrassment. I would like to reiterate that the PDP is ready for the election any day.”

On the issue if security, Ali said: “Soldiers were mobilized for the election in Edo, Osun and Ekiti states and these elections were adjudged as free and fair by local and foreign observers.
“With the general election, more military personnel are needed to be on ground to forestall any breakdown of law and order as well as prevent political miscreants from tarnishing the electoral process.
“Nigeria in conjunction with sub-regional forces have recorded a tremendous success in the fight against Boko Haram in the recent well-coordinated repel attacks from all flanks around North-East bloc of the country.
“This joint effort started about two weeks ago and has gathered momentum, therefore, aborting this process because officers are needed to monitor the elections would be counter-productive and could be more deadly for the nation, as it may reverse the gains we have made so far.

APC ALSO WANT THE USE OF  TVCs
On the other hannd, the APC, yesterday, approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, praying to be joined as a co-defendant in a suit seeking for an order compelling the INEC to make use of both the permanent and temporary voters cards for the polls.

 French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in peace talk

French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were expected in Russia’s capital Moscow on Friday, a day after Ukraine gave its tentative support for a peace plan aimed at ending the country’s ongoing crisis.

In a statement Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said talks with Hollande and merkel late Thursday raised “hope for a ceasefire” after the pair flew to the capital Kiev in the most serious push yet to resolve the ten-month conflict.

The two European leaders are set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin – who the West sees as the mastermind behind Ukraine’s pro-Russia rebellion – to try to get him to sign up to their peace plan.

US support for Ukraine is not hidden after US secretary visited and supplied arms to Ukraine

The recent attacks by pro Russian rebels left hundreds of civilians dead over recent in east Ukraine after officially dropping peace talk

Before setting off on the surprise diplomatic push, Hollande said in Paris that he and Merkel would “propose a new solution to the conflict based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Few details have been gathered of what exactly the new peace proposal contains

 “President Putin can make the choices that could end this war,” Kerry said after meeting Ukrainian leaders, voicing support for the “helpful” Franco-German plan to be put to the Russian leader on Friday.

The plan appears to have come from a back-and-forth between Putin, Merkel and Hollande and, according to a report in German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, would give separatists greater autonomy and territory they have captured in recent days, although German officials have denied this.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk insisted Moscow should just stick to a disobeyed accord agreed in Minsk last September.

 THE NAME CAMP NOU TO BE CHANGE

CEO Qatar Airways Akbar Al Baker said that the company's name could be added to Camp Nou following negotiations with Barcelona over a new deal.

Their current contract expires in 2016 and they are ready to step up their sponsorship an inch higher
"Everything is a possibility for our company, we’re open to surprises and one of these could be connected to the name of Camp Nou, the CEO said
"Qatar Airways and Barcelona have the same values. It is possible that our name is added to Camp Nou."
Barcelona vice-president Javier Faus, meanwhile, has confirmed that both parties are set to discuss a new contract.
"Barcelona have nothing but gratitude for Qatar Airways. We are extremely satisfied with Qatar Airways and I can assure you there are zero problems with Qatar Airways, zero with Qatar and we definitely hope that this partnership lasts many, many, more years.
"We are set to negotiate a new deal with them. A final decision will be made this year."

INEC IS MANIPULATING THE DISTRIBUTION OF PVC TO FAVOUR BUHARI

A political interest organization, Credible Alternative Alliance (CAA) led by former Kaduna state Governor, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is manipulating the distribution of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to favour areas believed to be strongholds of All Progressives Congress’ candidate, General Muhammed Buhari.

(CAA) presented a statistically approved analysis of the distribution of PVCs which showed the number of registered voters yet to collect their PVCs in various zones.

According to CAA, South-East has (3,287, 530) , South West (7,411,205), South-South (3,844,370) , North-East (2,429,763), North West (4,835,556), North Central (3,907,849) and FCT(421,559).


The group insists that all the 68.8 million registered voters must be given fair access to freely collect their PVCs and cast their vote as provided for in the constitution, adding that it would be forced to take INEC to court if that condition was not met.

"Let us call a spade, a spade. There are two main contenders for the Presidency in this election. The analyzed data above depicts a worrying trend. Voters in the zones that tend to support President Goodluck Jonathan are massively disenfranchised by the application of the so-called PVCs debacle, 40% to 50% of voters in the these regions who are lawfully and duly registered to vote will be denied their right to vote by INEC.

"That is nearly half of the support base of the President, simply nullified by administrative (failure) prior to the election. By comparison, the zones that tend to support Buhari are handed a massive voter advantage, nearly 80% of his support base will be allowed to cast their votes by INEC.

"INEC cannot meet up with the issuing voters card to all registered voters, even the PVCs is not being realistic because of the past failures in the past. For instance, INEC is talking about distributing permanent voters cards. Let us assume that sufficient PVCs have been produced the commission, how is the PVC is still being distributed.
In an election, which many say will be won or lost by a small margin, to now disenfranchise 26million voters through a questionable and unlawful rule by INEC is not acceptable by any measure.

" CAA condemns this urgly incident totally. This attempt by INEC to undermine our pleasant democracy through this criminal enterprise to determine the outcome of this electioneer before the ballot is cast.
While speaking on the controversy raging over the coming election, Balarabe Musa said there is no way INEC can be able to distribute the outstanding PVCs within the remaining two weeks.

" We have credible information stressing that in some places in the rural areas, INEC staffs take the PVCs for distribution and because of the  disappointments of the past refuse to come out for collection of PVC. The commission staff  then leave the PVCs to community leaders to distribute. I believe that should not be the responsibility of the village heads to do that but INEC