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The four gunmen who
invaded Gbemisola Saraki’s Maitama home in the early hours of Sunday
are armed robbers and not assassins, the police have said.

Richard Ciroma, the
deputy commissioner of police in charge of investigation in the Federal
Capital Territory, made the claim yesterday in an interview.

He said police
investigators arrived at the conclusion after speaking with occupants
of the house who witnessed the incident. The police had taken Ms
Saraki’s aides present at the time of the attack into custody at the
Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) office in Abuja for interrogation.

Mr. Ciroma
explained that information gathered from their interrogation revealed
that the alleged armed robber entered into the compound when one of the
cooks “opened the gate to pick the phone he claimed to have left behind
in the car.”

He also pointed out
that the gunmen went away with five laptops and one Nissan vehicle
which the police recovered after it was abandoned within the city of
Abuja.

The position of the
FCT police buttresses the argument of Emmanuel Ojukwu, the national
spokesperson of the police. He too claimed it was a burglary attempt.

According to Mr.
Ciroma, the investigation into the matter is ongoing. He added that the
cook who had opened the gate has been detained but other aides have
been released.

Mr. Ciroma added
that the detained cook had aided the robbers after they gained entry
into the compound. He said that when the “assailants asked for the keys
to Ms Saraki’s room, the senior cook did not want to cooperate with the
robbers but the suspect revealed to the robbers that the key was with
the senior cook.”

Ms. Saraki who reportedly travelled out of Abuja some days before the attack remained silent on the issue throughout Monday.

Colleagues and other visitors were seen visiting her Maitama home but most were turned away.

The shallow water
channel of the Calabar seaport is preventing bigger vessels from
sailing into the port, and also hindering the Navy from effectively
policing pirates in the high seas, the Eastern Command of the Nigerian
Navy has said. Benjamin Acholonu, a Rear Admiral and flag officer
commanding the Eastern Naval Command, called on the federal government
to award contract for the dredging of the Calabar River as that will
enable large ships with heavy cargo get to the port. During the regime
of the late Sani Abacha, the Calabar port was dredged by a foreign
company to encourage heavy vessels to sail through and facilitate
economic and commercial activities at the Calabar Export Free Trade
Zone, constructed by the federal government in 1991. But the job was
poorly done forcing large ships to continue avoiding the port.

Low water level

“Some of the
problems or challenges we encounter in the Calabar area are criminal
activities of pirates and the low water level of the channel. The
Calabar channel is not safe for navigation. Calabar port has a sandy
shore, mud and wreck along its channel. This wreck is visible during
low water season,” Mr. Acholonu said.

“But during high
water level, water covers the wreck. This is dangerous for ships coming
in. Naval ships like to manoeuvre freely, but if you have restricted
water, it is difficult for them to operate”, he said.

According to Mr Acholonu, the Navy is having difficulties patrolling the area to check the activities of pirates.

He however
explained that the strategies put in place by his command has helped to
keep pirates at bay, noting that though Calabar is off the Atlantic
Ocean, his men have it as a patrol beat to check oil bunkering and
smuggling.

Only recently, the
Eastern Naval Command arrested and paraded two men who specialise in
perforating oil pipes linking the Calabar jetty with the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation Tank Farm at Esuk Utan, in Calabar
Municipal Council to siphon petroleum products.

“More is expected from the federal government for the provision of
platforms. These platforms help the navy to operate. With them, we
perform to expectations and compete favourably with our counterparts
from other countries,” he added.

Independent candidacy is a major way for more women to be elected into political offices, a former minister has said.

Olufunke Adedoyin,
a former minister of state on Youth Development, said this in a paper
she delivered at the Annual Press Week organised by the Ogun State
Chapter of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, in Abeokuta on
Monday.

Titled ‘Role of
Women in Stabilizing Democracy in Nigeria 2011 and Beyond’ Ms. Adedoyin
at the Iwe Irohin Press Centre further noted that economic power is
also critical to the ability of women to participate in democratic
governance.

She said from the
statistics available over the years, women and the youth represent more
than 70 to 80 per cent of committed voters in every election, lamenting
that, “with this compelling figure women have ended up holding the
short end of the stick when the elections are concluded and political
offices and political patronage are being dispensed”.

According to her,
this may have been influenced by culture and traditions which have
always kept women queuing behind the men in almost everything.

“Women at all levels must brace up to the challenges and demands that these opportunities will create,” she said.

“Women must
therefore break out of the cocoon of subservience and/or relegation
they have been consigned either unconsciously or by design and brace up
to save the Nigerian nation from the present day political oppressors”
Adedoyin stated.

The former minister urged that women “must begin to build war
chests, which we can deploy to advance our own agenda and we must be
ready to support party activities and fund women who are actively
seeking political office”.

Farida Waziri, the
Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the
commission has recovered over $6.5 billion from fraudsters since its
inception in 2003.

Mrs. Waziri made
the statement in Minna on Monday at a two-day “Train the Trainers
Workshop” organised by the commission for secondary school teachers in
the North Central Zone.

“So far, the EFCC
has recovered over 6.5 billion dollars and delisted Nigeria from the
list of non-cooperating countries amongst other notable achievements,”
she said.

The official said
that the commission handled a myriad of cases out of which over 700
accused persons were prosecuted and more than 400 accused persons
convicted.

Mrs. Waziri, who
was represented by her principal staff officer, Bala Sanga, noted that
the country has had a prolonged period of economic stagnation, rising
poverty levels and many years of mismanagement by its rulers.

She pointed out
that corruption in the country had made it difficult for government at
all levels to deliver services to the people.

She also said that
the commission was working hard to create an enabling environment for
local and foreign investors and that youths and students were important
to the anti-corruption crusade.

“We have taken
steps to involve them in the fight through various programmes that have
been initiated by the commission, one of which is the Integrity Club”,
she said.

Mrs Waziri said
that the goal of the club was to build great future leaders with
integrity and produce youths and students with high moral and ethical
standards in the society.

She said that the
workshop would ensure that teachers have adequate information on
corruption and economic and financial crimes that would empower them to
tutor and guide students on the path of integrity.

Babangida Aliyu,
the Niger State governor, on the occasion, urged society to assist the
youth to live better lives and described them as “our future leaders.”

“Let us do more to help the young people coming behind because they will definitely be the future of our country,” he said.

Mr. Aliyu, who was
also represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Kuta Yahaya,
advised teachers and students to take the workshop seriously.

Earlier, Asmau
Usman, the state’s Commissioner for Basic Education, who was
represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mahmud Ndatsu,
said 20 secondary schools in the state had registered with the
Integrity Club.

The
choice of Okwesilieze Nwodo, by the Peoples’ Democratic Party Board of
Trustees, as the next national chairman is an indication that the party
now places merit and integrity in the choice of its leaders, a former
national publicity secretary of the party, Emmanuel Ibeshi has said.

Mr Ibeshi said in
Abuja at the weekend that Mr Nwodo, who was the pioneer secretary of
the party, stands out among other contenders for the chairmanship
position and (Nwodo) will reposition the party.

“There couldn’t
have been a better choice of chairman at this redefining moment of our
national psyche for the ruling party, he said, adding “It is obvious
that the ruling party is on the road to charting a clear road map
towards a lasting legacy of making merit and integrity the fulcrum of
leadership choice. I congratulate the BOT for this bold step in
settling for Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo whose antecedents in medical
practice stand him out. His brief reign over Enugu State as governor in
the botched Third Republic is another testimony. His pioneering effort
as first elected National Secretary of our great party can be attested
to by those of us who worked closely with him as colleagues in the
Gemade-led National working Committee (NWC).”

Mr Ibeshi noted
that the 50th year in the life of a nation, “is too precious to allow
for gaffes that mutate mediocrity and produce a hopeless future for our
younger generations that are by all means in a hurry for self and
national rediscovery.”

A new era

The former party
spokesperson also said that an the party’s current leadership would
reposition it in the part to healing, rediscovery, and repositioning
for expected democratic deliverables whose dearth, according to him had
left voters confidence badly shaken in the political experience that
has lasted the nation 10 years with unbroken military support.

He appealed to the
supporters of the other contenders to join Mr Nwodo when he eventually
assumes office in moving the party forward.

“May I will use
this opportunity to advise our teeming members who had supported other
candidates who failed to emerge as Dr. Nwodo to please sheath their
swords and rather join hands to support the new spirit being injected
by the President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP
Board of Trustees to move our party and nation forward,” he said.

Nine of the lawmakers rooting for the
impeachment of the speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Olawale
Atilola, at the weekend, petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan to
intervene in the crisis rocking the state legislature to forestall
bloodletting.

Other senior government officials
equally petitioned over the invasion of the state house of Assembly
last Tuesday are: the senate president David Mark, speaker of the House
of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, inspector-general of Police,
Ogbonna Onovo, and the director-general of the State Security Services
(SSS).

Thuggery and intimidation

Miffed by the level of desecration that
occurred at the chambers of the state legislature on the fateful day as
hoodlums from the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport
Workers (NURTW) unleashed terror on some lawmakers, as well as caused
pandemonium at the premises of the state House of Assembly complex, the
petitioners are asking the relevant authorities to come to the rescue
of the state and preserve the sanctity of its legislative house.

Specifically, Samuel Ademola Adejumobi
(majority-leader); Nafiu Lamidi Baale (deputy-chief whip); Mohammed
Inakoju (chairman, Parliamentary Caucus); Taoreed Abiola, Kazeem
Ayilara, Bamidele Ajibola, Tijani Ademola, Kayode Animashaun, and
Michael Okunlade, who jointly signed the petition wanted full
investigation to the incident and bring all connected to it to book
without further delay. The aggrieved lawmakers particularly called on
the president, and heads of the petitioned security agencies to effect
immediate arrest of the state NURTW chairman, Lateef Salako (a.k.a.
Eleweomo) and his deputy, Mukaila Lamidi (a.k.a. Auxiliary), who led
thugs to the chambers and assaulted some members of the house, stripped
three others naked and injured two others.

Recalling how they had earlier in the
day approached the state police commissioner, Baba Adisa Bolanta, on
the need to beef up security around the chambers to prevent the crisis,
the petitioners said they had got information beforehand that the
speaker had instructed the thugs to “deal with us on sighting us in the
premises of the house.”

Political backing for thugs

The lawmakers, who wanted the speaker
removed over sundry allegations of incompetence and high-handedness,
were suspended same day by the speaker and 15 others members of the 32
member-house. They alleged that despite the assurance on their live
after the earlier report, the policemen deployed by the CP to maintain
law and order around the house, looked the other way when they were
being attacked and chased away by thugs on the order of the speaker.

Accompanied with pictorial evidences,
the three-page petition equally alleged that some lawmakers, who are in
support of the speaker, including Messrs Lekan Ganiyu, Mathew Abioye
and Idowu Akanbi, as well as the state’s deputy governor, Taofeek
Arapaja, the secretary to state government, Olayiwola Olakojo, some
serving commissioners and local government council chairmen, directed
the weapon-wielding thugs to deal with the petitioners mercilessly.

The disgruntled lawmakers said they had
moved out of the state since the attack for personal safety, adding
that the mentioned hoodlums and others like one Sarafa (a.k.a. Oye
Olorun) and Sola Layiwola “are the usual thugs that have been
terrorizing the political elites in Ibadan such as Lekan Balogun and
Alhaji Akinbola of recent.”

Wondering why the police would continue to allow the like of
Elewe-Omo and Auxiliary to continue roaming the state with guns and
other dangerous weapons, the petitioners said, “all efforts to make the
commissioner of police, Alhaji Adisa Bolanta to arrest these thugs have
proved abortive, these thugs now have serious police coverage which is
not safe for the peace of Oyo State.”

The federal
government has concluded plans to develop a database of all unemployed
persons in Nigeria, the minister of labour and productivity,
Chukwuemeka Wogu, has said.

The minister said
registering the unemployed in the country is necessary because nobody
knows the number of Nigerians that are unemployed, and planning
activity has been based on extrapolation. He said when this is
completed, employers will have easy access to labour while the platform
will be very useful for all activities in economic planning.

“Unemployment has
been a major problem in the country and has impeded on economic growth
of the nation,” he said. “It is a global problem now since both
emerging and established economies are battling with problems of
unemployment which has been worsened by the fact of global recession
which has been there for some time now. Inasmuch as we agree that there
is a high incidence of unemployment; nobody has been able to have an
approximate knowledge of the figure not to talk about exactitude though
you cannot have the exact figure. We do not have that. It is only
recently that the minister of finance said it is 19 per cent based on
National Bureau of Statistics information. So because of this
inaccurate data, we now went into registration of unemployed people and
to have a data base on it.”

Mr. Wogu explained
that an implementation committee, which comprises members from
government ministries, private sector and technical experts on ICT, was
set up to articulate this project and had submitted a report which
indicates that the first stage of the project will involve the
designing of an architectural platform that would be the basis for the
data base.

“The essence of the
data base is to capture at least 90 per cent of the unemployed people
through various means of data capturing using facilities that are
already in existence, which are state offices of the labour ministry
and National Directorate of Employment,” he said.

Abuja pilot project

When the
architectural platform is established, the next step will be the
development and deployment of publicity modules, followed by the
recruitment and training of frontline operators and monitoring officers
who do the registration and also help determine the situation of the
unemployed persons.

“The last issues
are output and analysis of the data and issuing of reports. Tied to
this is an outline of major deliverables we intend to achieve. After
this is the major activity which now has a timeline,” he said.

The minister equally said that a pilot of this project will start
off soon in FCT, after which other states will be covered. To avoid
double registration, the ministry said it plans to introduce some
biometrics in the process, even as it indicated its determination to
collaborate with the National Planning Commission and the National
Bureau of Statistics in this project.

The National Drug
Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Sunday, announced the arrest of a
traditional doctor, Longe Adewale, and six others for peddling illegal
substances tested to be hard drugs.

According to the
agency, the suspects, who were all apprehended at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, included an “unrepentant drug
convict,” Uzoaru Oliver, who tested positive for drug ingestion on
Thursday, June 3, during screening of passengers on Iberia flight to
Madrid, Spain.

Mitchell Ofoyeju,
spokesperson for the agency, disclosed that the native doctor was
caught on June 8, attempting to board Iberia flight to Paris with 77
pieces of cocaine, which he is still expelling.

The suspect, Mr. Adewale, who fortified himself with charms, disclosed that he was surprised that he was found with drugs.

“I am a
traditional doctor and I prepared myself before the trip, so it is
shocking that they were able to detect me,” said the suspect, who hails
from Iperu, Ogun State.

Commenting on the
arrest of the ex-convict, the agency’s spokesperson disclosed that
while on observation, Uzoaru expelled 60 pieces of powdery substance
that tested positive for cocaine, weighing 915g.

“Uzoaru was first
arrested April 9, 2009 while about to board a KLM flight to Holland
with 1.27kg of cocaine in his stomach. He was charged to court and
sentenced to eight months imprisonment after which he regained his
freedom on Friday December 11, 2009,” he said.

The suspect, in a
statement from the agency, blamed his involvement in drug trafficking
on human error and frustration, adding that after leaving detention he
had nothing else to do.

“It is not a good thing to be in this condition, but I was frustrated and could not explain how it happened again.”

One of the lawyers employed by Ondo State governor,
Olusegun Mimiko, to defend him before the election petition tribunal
was quizzed at the weekend by men of the State Security Service (SSS)
over the source of the security report he tendered during the election
petitions tribunal proceedings.

Mr Mimiko, the candidate of the Labour Party,
challenged the declaration of former governor, Olusegun Agagu of the
PDP as winner of the 2007 polls at the tribunal, and successfully had
his victory at the polls affirmed by the tribunal. The lawyer, Remi
Olatubora, who is the chairman of Ondo State Sports Council, was one of
the notable legal practitioners contracted by Mr. Mimiko to plead his
case at both the tribunal and the Appeal Court.

Mr. Olatobora, who confirmed to reporters in Akure
that he was invited by the director of SSS to his office at the
Alagbaka during the weekend, said he was drilled for several hours. He
said he was denied access to his phone immediately he entered the
agency’s offices.

“Straight away, as I got to the SSS office, I was
stripped off my phones and I was quizzed by a team of interrogators
from Abuja, headquarters of the security agency,” he said.

Some members of the PDP in the state had called for
the evaluation of the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal
delivered in the case to test the authenticity of security reports
tendered during the proceedings at the tribunals.

Questions about exhibits

They further argued that the security reports
tendered by Mr Mimiko’s counsel during the course of the litigation
were either forged or fake. Mr. Olatubora, who noted that he was
questioned by the SSS team led by one Mohammed Garba, said he was asked
to disclose the source of the security reports tendered during
proceedings.

“I told them that I was not in the position to know where the
litigant got his SSS reports from, but I admitted that it was parts of
the exhibits tendered at the Tribunal,” he said. “I told my
interrogators that I was not the lead counsel of Mimiko’s legal team
and could not have known.”

The
Speakers of the 36 state Houses of Assembly are scheduled to meet with
members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review
(JCCR) tomorrow, in Abuja, as part of efforts to fast track the
endorsement of the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, disclosed this to journalists at the weekend.

The meeting, according to Mr. Nafada, will take a closer look at the amended sections of the Constitution by the 88-member JCCR.

Both the Senate
and the House had, two weeks ago, endorsed the amendment of a total of
78 sections of the Constitution, as recommended by the 14-member
conference committee of both chambers that harmonised reports earlier
tabled by their ad-hoc committees.

The amended
sections will, however, become law if at least two-third (about 24
states) of the state Houses of Assembly approve them.

Mr. Nafada, who
heads the 44-member House ad-hoc committee, said the leadership of the
National Assembly convened the meeting to x-ray the merits and high
points of the harmonised document in order to facilitate speedy
resolution by the 36 state Assemblies in the country.

The Deputy Speaker
said he, alongside the Senate President, David Mark; Speaker of the
House, Dimeji Bankole; as well as the chairman of the Senate ad-hoc
committee on the review of the constitution, Ike Ekweremadu, will lead
the National Assembly delegation to the meeting.

The Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bello Adoke, is
expected to lead the Federal Government delegation to the meeting.

Fast track the passage

The Deputy Speaker
said himself (Nafada) will present the opening remarks detailing the
various stages of the amendment process, to provide a clearer
understanding of how the exercise started and why it took the various
resolutions on all the issues in the amendment; while Mr. Ekweremadu
will give a step by step account of the various clauses in the
amendment.

“The time between
now and the next general election is short, hence the need for the
meeting to fast track the passage of the amendment in order to
strengthen the democratic process,” he added.

He said there was
need to conclude the passage of the harmonised Constitution so that the
National Assembly can concentrate properly on the resolution of all the
issues in the Electoral Act on which work is over 80 percent complete.

Mr. Nafada also explained that since the National Assembly has
resolved to create additional states, the speedy passage of the
Constitution and the Electoral Act will provide enough allowance to
give proper attention to the issue of state creation.