Burning man grabs politician during live TV debate in India

A man in India set himself on fire and then grabbed a politician during a live television debate this week in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, authorities said.Police said Durgesh Kumar Singh came out of the crowd Monday as India's state-owned television station Doordarshan recorded the debate at a park in Sultanpur, about 100 miles from the city of Lucknow.He set himself ablaze with gasoline and threw himself on Kamruzzama Fauji, a local politician from the Bahujan Samaj Party. Singh died in the hospital a day later. Fauji is in critical condition with burns over 80% of his body, police said."People were just too shocked to know what was happening," local photographer Pankaj Kumar Gupta told reporters.The superintendent of police for Sultanpur district, Pratibha Ambedkar, was preparing for a visit by state Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav when she got a call from her office about a man threatening to set himself on fire. "By the time we reached there, he had already set himself ablaze," Ambedkar told CNN., 35, had previously worked at a flour mill in Amethi, a neighboring district.motives have yet to be confirmed, but authorities said the man's family claims he was being treated for mental instability. "Before the incident, the man also made a call to the local police control room complaining of harassment from his family," said Ambedkar  India is in the midst of its nationwide parliamentary elections, which conclude May 12. During elections, several news channels often stage shows in villages and towns across the country, engaging politicians with local voters.Voting in Uttar Pradesh, one of the country's most populous states, began Wednesday morning.

Police arrest vice-principal for raping pupil

The police in Ekiti State have arrested a 57-year-old Vice-Principal of St. Mary Girls College, Ikole Ekiti, Mr. Ayo Ajayi, for allegedly raping a 12-year-old pupil of the school inside his office.

Our correspondent gathered that the pupil had gone to the office of the vice-principal on March 18 and she did not come out as quickly as expected. This was said to have fueled the suspicion of some teachers.

One of the teachers, who reported the case to the police, was said to have moved closer to the door to open it but discovered that the door had been locked from inside.

She was said to have knocked on the door and the pupil and the suspect allegedly hurriedly stopped what they were busy doing inside.

The demeanour of the VP and the pupil was said to have given them away and one of the teachers reported the case to the police.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Victor Babayemi, confirmed the incident in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the vice principal was arrested and investigation into the case had begun.

The statement read, “Operatives of the Command arrested one Ayo Ajayi, aged 57 years, the Vice-Principal of St. Mary Girls College, Ikole-Ekiti, for allegedly defiling a 12-year-old pupil.

“The incident, which allegedly took place on  March 18, 2014, inside the vice-principal’s office, was reported to the police by a teacher in the school, who noticed the suspicious entry of the pupil into the VP’s office.

“Investigation revealed that the suspect had a similar case in the past which was not reported. The victim also admitted that the suspect laid her on his table and had carnal knowledge of her.

“The report of the medical examination confirmed that the victim’s hymen was not intact. Although, the suspect denied the allegation, but with the evidence against him, he will soon be arraigned in court for defilement.”

I didn’t stop Diezani’s probe –Judge

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja  on Tuesday denied claims by the House of Representatives that he issued an order stopping investigations into the  allegations that Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, spent N10bn to charter a private jet  for her trips in the last two years.

 The  judge therefore summoned the House   to appear before the court on May 5 to “clear the air” on the  issue.

 The spokesman  for  the House of Representatives,   Zakari Mohammed, had at a news conference  on Monday, announced that the House had received a court order  stopping  the Public Accounts Committee from going ahead with the probe.

However, when the case came up for hearing on Tuesday, the obviously angry judge  expressed shock at media reports that he had issued an interim injunction  stopping  the investigation.

 Mohammed initially blamed journalists for the ‘misinformation’ before he was informed that it  emanated from Mohammed.

 To set the records straight, the judge adjourned the hearing and ordered the House to appear before the court on May 5 to explain where such order came from.

 The  House which is the 2nd defendant in the suit  was not represented by any lawyer during Tuesday’s proceedings.

But the  counsel  for  the National Assembly,   Y. C. Maikyau (SAN),   was present in court, alongside Etigwe Uwa (SAN), the   counsel  for  the plaintiffs – Alison-Madueke  and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

 In a short ruling after both counsel had exonerated themselves from the report on the court order, the judge   said, “I have seen a press release in the media said to have been issued by the House of Representatives that this court has made an order restraining the House   from continuing with the probe.

“As far as I am concerned, and as the judge presiding over this case, no such order was made.”

 Mohammed  also noted that he only ordered the defendants – the National Assembly and the House – to be put on notice after the plaintiffs’ counsel moved an ex parte motion praying for an order of interim injunction to restrain the House from summoning the minister.

 He said, “This court in a ruling directed the defendants to appear in this court on  April 17 and show cause why the interim order should not be made.

 “On  April 17, the  plaintiffs’ counsel informed the court that processes have not been served on the defendants owing to the Nyanya bomb blast and the court adjourned till today (Tuesday,  April 29).

 “As the press release was issued by the House which is the 2nd defendant in this suit, and as the House is not represented in court today, the only fair thing to do is to adjourn this matter and issue the House with a hearing notice to appear before the court and clear the air on whether it had been served with a restraining order issued by this court.”

The Director, Legal Services  of the House of Representatives, is expected to appear before the court on May 5 to shed light on the false court order.

 Earlier, counsel  for  the plaintiffs  had washed his hands off  the development.

 The judge had wondered whether the plaintiffs’ counsel was behind the misinformation but Uwa spiritedly professed his innocence, laying the blame on the House.

 “The press release was circulated to media houses by the House ,” he said.

 Maikyau also  distanced himself from the alleged restraining order but went ahead  to apologise on behalf of the Director of Legal Services.

 “There is no report that it was the Director of Legal Services of the National Assembly that was behind such information – I apologise,” he said.

 He noted that it was strange that the report on the order was released on Monday, several days after the court   directed the defendants to appear before it to show cause why the relief sought by the plaintiffs should not be granted.

“I knew that something was wrong because that order (to appear before the court) has been subsisting since April 14 and if any other order was made on April 17,  it would have been published since,” Maikyau added.

 In the suit, Alison-Madueke wants the court to make an order of interim injunction restraining the National Assembly and the House   “whether by themselves, their members, committees or agents from summoning or directing the appearance of the applicants before any committee particularly the Public Accounts Committee set up by the House  …”

 The minister also asked  the court to stop the committee from asking her or any official of the ministry or the NNPC to produce any papers, notes or other documents or give any evidence in line with a letter from the House   dated March 26, 2014, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

She  also asked for an order of interim injunction restraining the National Assembly and the House   from issuing a warrant to compel her attendance, or the attendance of any official of the ministry or the NNPC, with regard to the investigation.

Meanwhile, the  Speaker,   Aminu Tambuwal,  has said   that the House had resolved to seek a legal opinion on Madueke’s  decision  to sue the legislature over the investigation.

Tambuwal clarified the stance of the House  shortly after the judge  denied issuing the reported order.

He said when he was briefed on the issue on Monday, his first reaction was to advise the Committee on Public Accounts to tarry awhile to enable the House to get the true picture of things.

Tambuwal spoke at Tuesday’s pleanary as some members complained that the Judiciary was interfering with the work of the legislature.

They had  observed that this conflicted with the provisions of Sections 88/89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers  the National Assembly to investigate any official or agency of government for the purpose of exposing corruption.

Tambuwal said, “My attention was drawn to the matter that the minister, the NNPC and other stakeholders had gone to court.

“I immediately sought for consultations. The result of my consultations is to seek formal legal opinion on the status of the action, not necessarily because as a lawyer myself, I do not know the position of the law.”

Kill public official who steals above N1m – TUC

The Trade Union Congress has recommended death  penalty for public officials who embezzle beyond N1m in order to reduce corruption in the country.

The President of the TUC, Bobboi Kaigama, said this during the fourth lecture series of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on Tuesday.

While speaking on the theme, ‘Corruption and challenges in nation-building’, Kaigama noted that Nigeria needed to go tougher in its war against corruption.

He said that leaders had no reason not to declare their assets.

He said, “If the governments and legislators are truly sincere about the fight against corruption in the country, they must go tougher. Any public official, whether at the state or federal level, should be executed. Killing them after confirmation of any embezzlement allegation of more than N1m will lead us to the right path.

“I sincerely recommend an active process of legislation that would support that. It would also serve the nation well to have a law which not only provides for every public office holder to declare his assets on assuming office, but also stipulate that he must repeat the exercise each subsequent year that he is in office and not later than one month after vacating the office. Such declaration should be in at least three newspapers and not just to the Code of Conduct Bureau.”

The TUC boss also advocated that corrupt leaders should be banned from occupying public offices.

He lamented that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission were not strengthened.

Vice-Chancellor of OAU, Prof. Bamitale Omole, said the war against corruption required a collective effort, saying, “countries all over the world have different times along their developmental journeys stared this behemoth squarely and fought it (not to talk to it) with their might collectively.

President Jonathan Sacks Political Adviser, Ahmed Gulak

President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, with immediate effect, presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, has said.
No reason was given for the removal of Mr. Gulak, a man well known for complementing another presidential aide, Doyin Okupe, in launching verbal attacks on critics and opponents of President Jonathan.
However, Mr. Abati, in a statement posted via his twitter handle @abati1990, quoted President Jonathan as thanking Mr. Gulak for his services to the present administration and wishing him success in his future endeavors”.
“A replacement for Alhaji Gulak will be announced in due course,” Mr. Abati said.
PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately ascertain why the presidential adviser was fired.
But Mr. Gulak recently got into a bitter political fight with Akwa Ibom state Governor, Godswill Akpabio, as well as the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party.
At the end of a recent party meeting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, Mr. Akpabio and the state executive of the party criticised Mr. Gulak’s visit “to inaugurate a sectional and unknown Support Group in favour of our dear President without bothering to pay any courtesies to the state leadership of the party.”
The party accused the politician of playing “ignoble and contemptuous role” in the affairs of the party in the state and warned him to desist from further interfering in the affairs of the PDP in Akwa Ibom.
In November 2013, Mr. Gulak threatened to resign if Mr. Jonathan failed to make himself available for the forthcoming 2015 election.
He claimed at the time that there was no alternative to Mr. Jonathan in 2015 as far as the Nigerian presidency is concerned.
A PREMIUM TIMES investigation had in 2013 listed Mr. Gulak among a growing list of Nigerian business and political elites who ran or still run secret offshore companies and accounts where they either hide their wealth to evade taxes, launder money or commit fraud.
Mr. Gulak, who dealt in the supply of fast boats, radial systems and naval communication equipment as well as military hardware to the Nigerian government, was linked to a secret shell company in the British Virgin Islands, one of the world’s most notorious tax havens.
Taking advantage of the loose laws in several jurisdictions, shell companies like Mr. Gulak’s are easy to form and owners can remain anonymous while using nominee directors as fronts and deploying the corporations to hide ill-gotten assets, launder funds, dodge litigations or evade tax.
The sacked presidential adviser declined to respond to the allegation at the time, and the Nigerian government failed to open an investigation.

Death toll rises as twisters rock Mississippi, Alabama

People in northern Mississippi and Alabama huddled in hallways and basements as a string of tornadoes ripped through their states Monday, a day after another line of storms killed 16 people to their west.

Two people were killed at a trailer park west of Athens, Alabama, on Monday, according to a post on the City of Athens Facebook page. Another person died in Richland, Mississippi, said Rankin County Emergency Management Director Bob Wedgeworth, bringing the storms' overall death toll to 19.

That toll is expected to rise. William McCully, spokesman for Mississippi's Winston County, told CNN there have been "multiple fatalities" in his county.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency for all counties.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said the twisters inflicted "severe damage" around the town of Louisville, about 90 miles northeast of Jackson, and more around Tupelo. Winston Medical Center, Louisville's major hospital, was among the buildings hit, Bryant told reporters.

"We have had early reports that the Winston Medical Center has received damage from a tornado. Walls are down. Some gas leak is occurring," he said.

State emergency management chief Robert Latham said authorities were grappling with "multiple events over a wide part of the state," and that more tornado warnings were expected.

"This is not over. It's going to last on into the night," he said.

State Health Director Jim Craig said hospitals in Winston County and in Tupelo had asked for assistance treating what were potentially a large number of injuries, but no numbers were available. There were no confirmed fatalities as of Monday evening, he said.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency warning for the area around Athens, Alabama, near the Tennessee state line, on Monday evening: "This is an extremely dangerous tornado. You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter," the warning stated.

A tornado emergency also was declared in southeastern Tennessee for east central Lincoln, Moore and northwest Franklin counties. Storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado seven miles east of Fayetteville, Tennessee, the weather service.

In Tupelo, several buildings were destroyed or damaged. Buildings near a major commercial district on the city's north side were "wiped away," Scott Morris, a reporter for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, told CNN's "The Lead."

Numerous trees and power lines were down, and "quite a few buildings are destroyed up there," Morris said.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center declared tornado emergencies for several counties in northern Mississippi on Monday afternoon as the line of storms moved through the state from southwest to northeast.

Basement. Now ... let's go," Matt Laubhan, the chief meteorologist at Tupelo television station WTVA, ordered station staff before walking off the set himself.

Sarah Robinson, a spokeswoman for the city, said several hotels and restaurants were damaged, but no fatalities or injuries had been reported in the immediate aftermath.

Another "large, violent and extremely dangerous" tornado had been confirmed near Zama, Mississippi, between Jackson and Tupelo. A twister possibly a mile wide was reported outside nearby Louisville about an hour later. Another tornado was spotted near Richland, south of Jackson. And yet one more was reported near Yazoo City, northwest of Jackson, four years after an April 2010 tornado that killed four people there and 10 across the state, said Joey Ward, Yazoo City's emergency management director.

"It's still hopefully very fresh on people's minds, and that they take all of the warnings that we've been putting out all day very seriously," Ward said.

Nearly 5 million people were at moderate risk of severe weather late Monday, while 31 million people were at slight risk, including those in Atlanta and Nashville.

'There were cars flipped everywhere'

Monday's storms were Act II of a powerful weather system that brought punishing thunderstorms to the central United States. Tornadoes spawned by those storms killed 14 people in Arkansas and one each in Oklahoma and Iowa, authorities in those states reported.

The hardest-hit area was Faulkner County, Arkansas, where a suspected tornado shattered homes, tossed tractor-trailers and killed 10 people in the towns of Vilonia and Mayflower. Two children were among the dead.

"There were cars flipped everywhere, there were people screaming," James Bryant, a Mississippi State University meteorology student, told CNN's "New Day" on Monday. "It was a tough scene."

CNN iReporter Logan Pierce spoke of being awakened by booming thunder that "shook our whole house," while iReporter Brianna Davis saw devastated homes, snapped trees and widespread debrisMonday morning.

Another meteorology student, Cotton Rohrscheib, described how the storm picked up his truck and skidded it about 120 feet down a highway.

"We were all hunkered down inside of the truck, and praying," he said. None of the truck's occupants was seriously hurt, he said.

Holly Rose rode out the tornado in a closet and a hallway at her home in Mayflower and said she and her family were "very blessed" to be safe.

"Most of our roof is gone," she said. "We had a separate structure -- the pool house -- that is completely gone. There are homes around us, two doors down, that are completely gone."

Monday's storms were forecast to stretch into the Midwest and Ohio River Valley, with much of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky at a lesser risk of severe weather, forecasters said. In Alabama, numerous school districts announced plans to dismiss early Monday afternoon in advance of the worst weather.

Faulkner County government spokesman David Hogue said it was "entirely possible" the death toll would rise as emergency crews search the wreckage of destroyed homes, including some only recently rebuilt after being flattened three years ago by another tornado.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said the storm was one of the worst to hit the state in recent memory.

"It's devastating for the people who have lost property," he said. "It's even more devastating for those who have lost loved ones."

'Tremendous' damage in Arkansas town

Vilonia Mayor James Firestone described a scene of chaos in his town hours after the storm.

"There's a few buildings partially standing, but the amount of damage is tremendous," he said Sunday. "There's gas lines spewing. Of course, power lines down. Houses are just a pile of brick."

It was much the same in Mayflower, a town of 1,600 about 20 miles to the southwest.

Authorities shut down a section of Interstate 40 after a tornado "as much as a half-mile wide" roared through the area, according to the National Weather Service.

The heavily used road was littered with crushed and overturned trucks and cars. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, who was in Mayflower, estimated the winds from the storm were at 130 to 150 mph.

Emergency workers tended to the scene throughout the night. Shelters were set up at a high school and local church. Nearly 18,000 homes and businesses were without power Monday in Arkansas, more than 10,000 of them in Faulkner County, Entergy Arkansas reported.

The Arkansas governor issued a disaster declaration for Faulkner, Pulaski and White counties, and President Barack Obama offered his condolences and promised storm aid to victims while on a four-nation tour of Asia.

Boko Haram: Politicians stoking insurgency, says Okonjo-Iweala

FINANCE minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that the insurgency by the violent Islamic sect, BokoHaram, is being stoked by politicians, who “will use anything to win election.”

“We tend to notice when the electoral cycle comes in, all these things heat up. What we are going through now is democracy in raw form, because people are fighting for power and they will use anything to get there … and to win the election,” the minister said in an interview reported by Reuters on Monday.

 While assuring that “Nigeriaas a nation will overcome this,” Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped thepoliticians would heed President Goodluck Jonathan’s appeal at a meeting lastweek for all to be united to curb insurgency.

Jonathan Thursday last week met with the 36 state governors, security chiefs and top cabinet members in Abuja to discuss the way forward in combating the menace of the insurgents in the North-East.

The insurgents have killed hundreds in the past two years as they attack worship houses, schools, and military and police facilities.

They  currently  have  in  their custody about 100female pupils of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, whom they kidnapped from their school two weeks ago.

Okonjo-Iweala said the Federal Government was capable of handling the Boko Haram insurgents though she admitted that the sect had shown that it had the capability to strike “further south.”

 But she said Nigeria had halted insurgencies before, citing the government’s achievement in halting attacks against oil facilities by Niger Delta militants.

She added that Boko Haram had not pose the same threat as the Biafran War that split the country from 1967-1970.

The minister said Nigeria was not in a war situation.

“There is no war; there is an insurgency. We are not in a Columbia situation,” she told Reuters in the interview said to have been conducted on Sunday in her car in Abuja as she headed to the airport to fly to New York.

Columbia is a Latin American energy producer, which has battled for decades with a major left-wing insurgency that often affected large swathes of its national territory.

The minister said the government was preparing a special development plan for the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe to counter the Boko Haram violence though she did not outline the details of the plan.

“We recognise that this is an inclusion problem … the fact that the human development indicators in that part of the country are among the lowest,” she said, adding that the government was working to obtain backing from donors for the programme.

 Okonjo-Iweala said Boko Haram was receiving” cross-border” backing from supporters in neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

“We need to look at the source of this financing,” she said, adding that Jonathan had been working to obtain regional cooperation to remove Boko Haram’s support from jihadi groups in the Sahel.

The minister denied that the insurgency in the country had been turning away investors.

She said that investors looking more closely at Nigeria since a GDP rebasing last month made it the continent’s largest  economy, ahead of South Africa, did not appear to be turned off by the security challenges.

“Nobody who is making an investment has so far said they will not make one that we know of,” she said.

Nyanya blast: Experts identify bodies of two bombers

Forensic  experts  have successfully established the identities of two men that  participated in  the bombing  of  Nyanya, a satellite community bordering the Federal Capital Territory and Nasarawa State  on  April 14, 2014.

Security sources told one of our correspondents in Abuja  on Monday  that the experts   identified  their  bodies  using certain scientific variables, including body tissues.

It was learnt that they also   identified the third suicide bomber, who managed to escape from the scene before the explosion.

One of the  sources said,  “The third terror suspect has also been positively identified and we are working to arrest him; but the identities of his two accomplices have  been established through forensic analysis.

 “Through the assistance of experts,  we now know those who carried out the attack. Although two of them are dead, we are on the trail of the one who is  alive.”

When contacted on the progress  so far made by the team, the  Police spokesman,    Frank Mba, said  he would speak “at the appropriate time.”

He said, “As much as we want to give information to the public on the progress of the investigation, I won’t comment on it now because we don’t want to be distracted.

“We don’t want anything to jeopardise the investigation. I will speak at the appropriate time.”

Meanwhile, 29 victims of the bomb blast are still receiving treatment at hospitals in the  FCT.

It was learnt that 30  others were discharged last Thursday from the National Hospital  and the Maitama District Hospital, Abuja.

The Chief Press Secretary to the FCT minister, Mohammed Sule,   said  the medical bills of all the survivors   were   paid by the FCT Administration.

Sule dismissed reports that the administration had neglected the blast victims . He however said that a   victim who discharged himself from the Maitama District Hospital and  checked into a private hospital was  not covered.

He  said, “As of  Thursday last week, we had 29 blast victims still receiving treatment in various government and private hospitals in the FCT and all their medical bills are being paid  by the FCT Administration.

“The FCT Minister and the Health Minister both promised to take care of the bills  . We have records of all the patients and everything that is being done for them as directed by the ministers.”

Meanwhile, the  Nigeria Labour Congress has attributed the security challenge in the country to   poverty.

Its   Vice-president, Lucy Offiong, who briefed  journalists  on the plans for  the 2014 May Day celebrations, therefore urged the government to urgently end  poverty and the insurgency in the North-East.

She challenged security agencies to ensure that the girls abducted by insurgents in Chibok, Borno State were rescued and returned to their parents.

Offiong said, “We hope to use the May Day to reiterate our position that there is an intrinsic link                between prevailing insecurity and poverty which has been engendered by corruption, mismanagement of the economy by rapacious greed of the ruling class who have continued to churn out policies in the interest of capital to the detriment    of the working people and other poor Nigerians.

“There is a need to recognise the significance of shared prosperity as a basis for enduring peace and sustainable national development.”

Offiong, who is the chairperson of the 2014 May Day committee, said the theme for the celebration is  “Building enduring peace and unity: panacea for sustainable national development.”

 “We intend to use this occasion to recommit the labour movement in Nigeria to our collective desire for peace and unity without which our search for sustainable development will remain elusive,” she added.

N10bn jet scandal: Diezani sues House of Representatives

The Minister of  Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,  has   halted the investigation by the House of Representatives into the N10bn she allegedly spent on a chartered private jet, Challenger 850, in the last two years for her trips.

 The House Committee on Public Accounts investigating the expenditure was set to conduct a public hearing on Monday, but it was stalled by an Abuja  Federal High Court order.

 Alison- Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation   listed the National Assembly  and the House   of Representatives as the defendants in the suit with reference number  FHC/ABJ/CS/295/2014 and dated April 11, 2014.

 The PUNCH had reported exclusively on Monday that the hearing might  not take place, as the minister had already flouted a deadline the committee gave to her to make submissions before April 28.

It was gathered  that a “surprised” Tambuwal was served the restraining order on Monday morning.

 “This has never happened before in this country that a serving minister is asking a court to stop the parliament from doing its work,” a committee source told The PUNCH on Monday.

 “These are indeed, no ordinary times. I am seriously disturbed about the way we want to run this country”, he added.

 The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed the development to journalists.

 “The court processes were served on us today (Monday); the speaker has been served.

 “Simply put, it is to notify us that, this matter which you want to investigate, we have gone to court”, Mohammed stated.

 Mohammed described Alison-Madueke’s  action as a “temporary setback”? for the House, but assured the public that the legislature would fight to the finish.

 According to him, being a “law-abiding House”, the first reaction was to put the hearing on hold until legal opinions were sought.

 He spoke further, “We expected the minister to be here today(Monday) for the hearing.

 “Instead, we have been served with court processes. As law-abiding citizens, we have decided to wait. We will tarry awhile, take some legal opinions and move on  from there.

 “What has happened   tells you the kind of frustration that the House is facing. A matter of public importance is under investigation and a minister is telling us that she has gone to court.

 “However, our job is to expose corruption. We will study the court papers and take it up from there.”

 The  PAC Chairman, Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, expressed shock over the minister’s decision to “rush to court.”

 He asked, “Is this to say there is something to hide? What was she afraid of that she went to court?

 “The restraining order was served on the Office of the Speaker, stopping us from going ahead with the investigation.

“As a committee, we have not seen a copy, but since the speaker was served, we cannot pretend not to be aware.”

The PUNCH gathered that, while the original mandate of the committee was to investigate the alleged N10bn expenditure on the Challenger 850, the committee stumbled on additional information indicating that Alison-Madueke chartered two other jets.

One of them, a Global Express XRS, was said to have cost €600,000 in a return charter trip to London.

Olamilekan claimed that all was set for the probe on Monday (yesterday) only for members to be confronted with the news on the court order.

He stated that two aviation firms, Visa Jets and Jet Hanger, had already made submissions to the committee.

On the part of the NNPC, Olamilekan said the committee received a letter from the corporation asking for an extension of the deadline.

However, he admitted that, with the minister’s decision to go to court, the committee had been compelled to await the outcome of the court processes.

But, findings by The PUNCH showed that the committee members were in a dilemma long before  the court order  reached the House on Monday.

Alison-Madueke had twice failed to respond to letters the committee wrote, asking her to state her side of the allegation preparatory to the public hearing.

A further directive to make the submissions before April 28, was again ignored.

When contacted on Monday, an official at the Petroleum ministry, who pleaded not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the subject, said, “I can confirm to you that there has been some leads as to why the minister   decided to stop answering the House.

“In fact, the court order is one of such leads and it has restrained the House from probing her.”

Another official said the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, and the  minister decided not to honour the House panel’s  request “because they’ve been very busy lately.

“The minister is a very busy woman, so also is the GMD. They can’t be answering to every call at the detriment of their duties at the ministry and the NNPC and we hope that with this court order, these things will be adequately addressed.”

The FHC will on Tuesday (Tuesday) begin hearing in the   suit by the minister and the NNPC.

In the suit, they  asked the  FHC   for an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents “whether by themselves, their members, committees or agents from summoning or directing” their  appearance “before any committee, particularly the PAC  set up by the House of Representatives”  to conduct the investigation.

They also want  the court to stop the committee from asking  any official of the ministry or the NNPC to produce any papers, notes or other documents or give any evidence in line with a letter from the House   dated March 26, 2014, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

In the same vein, they   asked for an order of interim injunction restraining the  defendants  from issuing a warrant to compel   the  minister’s  attendance, or the attendance of any official of the ministry or the NNPC, with regard to the investigation.

In the alternative, the plaintiffs want the court to make an order of status quo, directing the parties to maintain the current position with regard to the investigation, as of  the date of filing of the suit.

The  court order   which was made available to our correspondent, indicated that after hearing an ex parte motion moved by Alison-Madueke’s counsel, Etigwe Uwa (SAN), Justice Ahmed Mohammed   made an order directing the defendants  to appear before the court to show cause why the interim orders sought by the plaintiffs should not be made by the court.

Ribadu probed me, my late wife ­– Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has  said that the pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, investigated him and his late wife, Stella, even when he was  in charge as the nation’s leader.

Obasanjo, whose administration created the anti-graft agency, also alleged that the manner Ribadu carried out the  war against corruption created enemies for him (Obasanjo).

He  made the claims after  the former EFCC boss  presented a paper titled,   “Illicit Financial Flow and Governance of Natural Resources,” at the 3rd Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa in Badir Dar, Ethiopia at the weekend.

The former President   said that rather than being afraid of the  enemies Ribadu created for him, “it is rather them that fear me.”Obasanjo, who acknowledged that the fight against corruption “comes with enemies,”    did not tell the audience about  the outcome of the investigations against him,  Stella, and his close associates. He also did not name the enemies that Ribadu created for him.

But the  former President   disclosed that Ribadu  almost lost his life when he was poisoned in the course of his duty. He described the incident as  a serious case that was “a matter of life and death.” He  told the gathering   how a serving minister in his administration, who was his senior in   secondary school, was  found wanting by the EFCC  and  “there was no issue of senior again.”

Obasanjo, who   is also the chairman  of the Tana Forum, agreed with  Ribadu’s submission that  a  willing political leadership  was the epicentre   of  any anti-corruption campaign.

Stating that  leadership   needed  relevant laws  to work with, he recalled how the bill establishing the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences  Commission   was whittled down by  the National Assembly  members who felt they could be victims  if it became a law.

 Ribadu had in his presentation offered  strategies  that  African countries  could follow to  check  illicit financial flow and repatriate  looted  funds  stashed away in other countries.

He said  that  African countries  needed  honest and committed leadership. examples.

B’Haram: Army to begin mass recruitment in May

The Federal Government has given  the armed forces and other security agencies the nod  to embark on mass recruitment.

The PUNCH gathered in Abuja on Sunday that the directive was to give fillip to the war against terrorism in the country.

It was also learnt that those who attended the expanded National Security Council meeting in Abuja on Thursday emphasised the need for the recruitment.

 A highly placed military source said that   President  Goodluck Jonathan  issued the  directive for more recruitment into the army in March after the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Kenneth Minimah,  had briefed him about the operations of the army.

 The source, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the  matter,  said   the army did not  begin   the recruitment immediately because of the need to expand training facilities in parts of the country.

 It was learnt that the army would commence  the recruitment in May 2014.

 Our source said,  “We have in  the pipeline, the plan to recruit. We are holding it because we want to upgrade our facilities.

 “The presidential  directive  to us to recruit was given  in March when the COAS briefed the President. But the  excercise would start next month (May)”

 The source added that  because of  Boko Haram and other security challenges,   the recruitment    would now hold  twice a year unlike in the past when it was done once.

Another source said, “It is true that recruitment has to be beefed up. The Federal Government has granted that request but recruitment is not just the number.

 “You must note that you cannot produce a soldier in three days or  weeks; this is a  serious business involving the requisite facilities for training.

 “If you want to raise your recruitment for instance, from 1,000 recruits to 2, 000 per annum, you must increase the facilities for their training.

 “And I can tell you that it takes time for you to increase such facilities. You see, the issue is that the country has neglected the Army for so long; several public commentators have questioned why public funds should be spent to maintain a large army when there is no war.

 “But is it wise for you to start screaming where are the soldiers when you did not make arrangement for training just because there is a threat now?

 “For you to increase the number of those being recruited, you have to increase the structures for recruitment because as you are recruiting, you are training.

 According to him, the structures  on the ground can only accommodate a   particular number of recruits.

He said that the best the army did last year  was to increase the timing for recruitment.

 “It used to be annual but it  is now going to be  twice a year,” the source added.

 He said that the  recruitment issue was being taken  more seriously because   the  about 150,000 men and officers of the army had come under stress due to the   involvement of some of them  in  internal security operations.

 The source  explained  that the army had assumed some traditional responsibilities of the   Nigerian Police Force,  especially in the North –East  where many  police facilities   had been destroyed by insurgents.

The National Security Adviser, Col.  Sambo Dasuki, had at  a recent  international seminar on the Observance of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in Internal Security Operations  on February 25, 2014  said that  the Nigerian Armed Forces were engaged in internal operations in 32 states.

 Dasuki  had said, “As you are well aware, our great country has been grappling with a plethora of security challenges occasioning the loss of lives and property.

 “These civil disturbances, ethnic tensions and recently, terrorism and insurgency in the North-East   have engaged the attention of the government and security agencies as concerted efforts are being made to contain the situation and restore normalcy to the affected parts of the country.”

 It was  further gathered that the expanded National Security Council meeting on Thursday discussed extensively, the need to boost the capacity of other security agencies like the police, the State Security Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

 The council was said to have expressed concern that the “army was being unnecessary overstreched,”  through its involvement in internal security operations.

When our correspondent contacted the Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen Chris Olukolade, he replied , “I am sorry I can’t speak on that without contacting the relevant authorities .”

 He however  promised to   speak with one of our correspondents on the issue on Monday (today).

But a security consultant, Ben Okezie, criticised the planned recruitment, saying it was late in coming.

He  noted  that the process might  be hijacked by politicians who were always waiting with a list of candidates.

Okezie said the government should rather recruit ex-service men and other retired security officers into the army, stressing that the nation could not afford to wait for the time it would take to train the fresh recruit while the insurgency rages on.

He said, “This government is like a patient in the hospital whose psyche is disturbed by the drugs given to him. How can government recruit civilians into the Army? How long will it take to train them  with many northern youths willing to join Boko Haram?

“Whenever there is recruitment, politicians will bring a long list of thugs and those they want to use during elections. Is this not what happened in the Niger Delta during the Amnesty programme?

“Recruiting civilians into the Army now is like going to the World Cup and you are now going to the village to recruit footballers.  Boko Haram has trained its fighters long ago.”

Okezie advised the government to constitute a special operation task force made up of serving and retired security personnel who are indigenes of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states to provide intelligence on Boko Haram, since they are conversant with their states of origin.

According to him, the task force members should be well paid and should be made to know that their mission was to save their states.

Another security expert, Max Gbanite, observed that increasing the numbers of soldiers would not help to win the war against terrorism.

He argued  that  what the government needed to  do was to declare that the nation was at war and to assess what it would take to prosecute it.

Gbanite  also advised  the government to  mobilise the vigilante groups and   consider the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle known as drones in the campaign against the insurgents.

He said, “The government must consider the use of human and electronic equipment for intelligence gathering.  We  must localise the war by using vigilance groups or civilian JTF. There is also  a need for geo-spatial intelligence. We need to know whether Boko Haram has underground tunnels like Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

“If they have underground tunnels, drones can’t see them;so we will need human intelligence. I am disturbed that the sect is mimicking The Lord Resistance Army of Uganda by kidnapping children.”

Meanwhile,  the   Defence Headquarters said on Sunday that the military was satisfied with the ongoing operations against insurgents  in Borno. State.

Its spokesman, Olukolade made this known  during an interview with journalists  on the sidelines of a media tour of military operations in Maiduguri, that  the troops had been able to sustain momentum in terms of the offensive against the terrorists.

He  said,” The bases we visited are part of the responses to the terrorist offensive and that is an achievement; the military had moved close to where the insurgents are.‘’

The defence spokesman added  that the morale of the soldiers was high, adding that ‘’we are expecting to see more successes from the troops’’.

The  News Agency of Nigeria  reported  that the  journalists  visited military camps in and around Maiduguri.

The journalists were also taken on night patrols by the troops which lasted from 9pm to 12.30am . around Maiduguri and its environs.

The essence of the tour, according to Olukolade, is to have a first-hand information on the operations of the troops.

Policeman abducts, brutalises eight-year-old girl

Residents of Olufowobi Street, Ketu, Lagos, were thrown into confusion after an eight-year-old girl, Amarachi Abakwam, was found tied up and brutalised under the bed of a policeman attached to Police Mobile Force 22.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the policeman, Augustine Gbuchenge, with Force number 400823, lived in the same compound with Amarachi’s family.

The father of the victim, Patrick, toldPUNCH Metro that on the fateful day he had been looking everywhere for his daughter until they discovered her under Gbuchenge’s bed.

Patrick said, “Last Thursday, I returned from work around 7.30pm and met my children and wife outside. There was power failure on that day so everywhere was dark. I asked after Amarachi but my wife said she was probably in our apartment sleeping.

“I was not satisfied with this explanation because my children don’t usually sleep early. When I went up, I did not see my daughter so we started asking around. Some little children in the compound then told me that Gbuchenge had called my daughter earlier to help him buy akara.

“I went to the policeman’s room to challenge him but he denied seeing my daughter so we continued looking everywhere. After sometime, the whole compound got involved in the search and all clues pointed to the policeman.”

Patrick told PUNCH Metro that he and the other neighbours challenged Gbuchenge again and an argument ensued.

He said Gbuchenge immediately stood up and threatened to go and tell his colleagues at the Ketu Police Division that he was being wrongly accused of abduction.

“Some moments later, I also stood up and headed for the police station to go and report the matter thinking I would meet the policeman there as well but I did not. After reporting the matter, a police corporal accompanied me back to my house,” Patrick said.

It was learnt that when they returned to the house, Gbuchenge was nowhere to be found and his room was locked.

“We were able to beam a torchlight through his window where we saw my daughter’s legs pointing out from under the bed,” Patrick said.

Neighbours were said to have rallied around and broken Gbuchenge’s door open.

PUNCH Metro learnt that when the little girl was finally pulled out from under the bed, she was bound by her hands and feet while a piece of cloth had been stuffed in her mouth.

Amarachi was said to have been bleeding profusely as she had sustained a broken skull.

She was subsequently taken to Gbagada General Hospital but due to the severity of her wound, she was referred to the Lagos Island General Hospital.

When our correspondent visited the victim at the hospital, she was seen wearing a neck brace while her head had been bandaged.

Narrating her ordeal, Amarachi said, “On that day, he (Gbuchenge) asked me to buy akara for him. After I returned, my mum asked me to go upstairs to do the dishes. As I was going, the man pulled me from behind and took me into his room.

“He then tied me up. He did not rape me. After sometime, my parents started shouting my name and calling me, the policeman used an iron to hit me in the head repeatedly and then pushed me under the bed and used clothes to cover me. Under the bed, I saw little children’s clothes.

“He then turned on his generator so that even if I tried to shout, no one would hear. After sometime, he left. I continued to hear my father’s voice and I struggled to push my leg from under the bed. That was how they saw me and rescued me.”

Amara described the policeman as a very friendly person who usually bought sweets and biscuits for children in the compound. She said she was surprised that he would do such a thing.

A neighbour, who did not identify himself, described Gbuchenge as a very strange person who usually carried a large bag around.

“The man (Gbuchenge) has been living in this compound for over three years. He is married with children but his family lives in Alapere, Ketu. He has two buses but on the day of the incident, he did not bring his vehicles home, it seems he had planned to escape on that day.

“We believe he wanted to use the girl for ritual. What were little children’s clothes doing under the bed?”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident in a text message sent to our correspondent. She said efforts were on to determine if the suspect was indeed a policeman.

She said, “I heard of the wicked act. MOPOL 22, which is where the complainant claims the suspect works has been contacted. However, the commander in charge of MOPOL 22 said there was no person with such a name or identity in his squadron.

“Meanwhile, we have sent signals to other police departments and stations to ascertain if the man is actually a serving policeman. The act is inhuman and the suspect will never go unpunished.”