Emir of Gusau, Zamfara State, Alhaji Kabir Danbaba, has raised the alarm over the discovery of fresh lead poisoning cases in four wards in the area, appealing for a response from the state government.
 
Danbaba said on a local radio station on Wednesday he had received reports of the strange illness, believed to be caused by lead poisoning in parts of Gusau Local Government, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
 
He said, “We have confirmed that what happened in Anka and Bukkuyum two years back where many people died from a strange disease confirmed as lead poisoning is discovered in Gusau Emirate as result of the processing of gold ore within some communities.
 
“We have also received reports from Magami ward that some children were reported to have been affected by a disease which doctors confirmed as lead poison.”
 
The Emir condemned the processing of gold ore in Gusau metropolis, despite several warnings by the state government that such processing centres should stop operation.
 
The secretary to the Emirate Council, Alhaji Nura Kabir, gave the names of the affected communities as Samaru, Tsunami and Polo field wards in Gusau, and Maitsoshi village in Magami.
 
He said two children died in Maitoshi village while some cases were under investigation in other affected communities.
 
Kabir said the emirate had notified the ministries of health, environment and local government affairs and the Gusau local council for action.
 
Chairman of Gusau local council, Alhaji Lawali Mada, said the council had commenced investigation to determine the nature of the disease.
http://www.punchng.com/news/zamfara-monarch-fears-fresh-lead-poisoning/

The police in Ogun on Tuesday paraded Pastor Michael Oyewole (29) and Mathew Akiode (30) at the command’s headquarters Eleweran, for allegedly exhuming human skull in Sabo, Abeokuta.
 
The state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, told journalists that Akiode was caught committing the offence in the midnight.
 


Okoye added that after Akiode’s arrest, the suspect confessed that he was sent to get the skull by the pastor.
 
He said, “We got information about somebody who was digging a grave and we swung into action. He did not know he was being watched while removing the corpse.
 
“We apprehended him immediately he severed the head from the body. He told us that it was one Pastor Oyewole that sent him.“
 
The police commissioner said Oyewole was subsequently arrested.
 
Okoye said the two suspects would be charged to court after the conclusion of investigations.
 
Akiode, who confessed to committing the crime said he was pushed into it by economic hardship.
 
“I used to work on his (pastor’s) site but he said I would make more money if I could get him human skull. So, I felt it was an easy way of making money and that was why I did it.
 
“I’m surprised at his denial. He taught me how to go about it,” Akiode said.
 
But Oyewole denied sending the suspect on such a mission.
 
“I am a man of God and pastor. I heal people in God’s name and not with human skull. He is just telling lies and I don’t know what I have done to him. Only God can save me now,” Oyewole said.
 
Meanwhile, the FCT police command has recovered 17 exotic cars from two car-snatching syndicates in Abuja.
 
Parading 11 suspects for involvement in the car theft in Abuja on Tuesday, FCT Commissioner of Police, Adenrele Shinaba, listed Honda Accord, Nissan Sunny, Toyota Corolla, Infinity jeep, Toyota Prado jeep, Honda Pilot, Honda CRV Sport Utility Van and Toyota Camry among the snatched vehicles.
 
Shinaba advised car owners to be wary of car thieves and to be conscious of where they parked their vehicles.
 
Fourteen cars were recovered from one Promise Okafor,who claimed to be a lawyer and car dealer.
 
Paraded along Okafor were Michael Nweke, Chimezie Emanini, Amarachi Eneh and John Nuhu.
 
Okafor claimed he did not know the vehicles were stolen, insisting that he bought them from Emanini when he was convinced that they were genuine.
 
He said, “I am a lawyer and also a car dealer. I import cars and also sell.I bought a Honda Accord from Chimezie when he showed me documents which proved that the car was genuine.”
 
Okafor however failed to respond to questions on how he came about the other vehicles that were recovered from him.
 
via Punch


http://www.punchng.com/?s=Police+parade+Ogun+pastor+over+human+skull

Professor Bart Nnaji
 
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku, Ejiofor Alike and Chineme Okafor
 
In a move aimed at salvaging the reform and privatisation programme of the power sector, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday in Abuja accepted the resignation of one of the key members of his cabinet, Professor Bart Nnaji as Minister of Power, with immediate effect.
 
The president, who in a press statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, thanked the former minister for his services to the country and wished him well in his future endeavour, was said to have decided to accept the resignation, following Nnaji’s admission that companies linked to him had submitted bids for one of the successor companies created from the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
 
However, speaking to THISDAY Tuesday night on his decision to leave the cabinet, Nnaji said he opted to resign in order to save the privatisation and reform programme from those who might want to use ulterior motives to bring down the programme.
 
Nnaji said he had met with the president Tuesday afternoon, during which he (president) informed him (Nnaji) that he was using his company as a proxy to buy shares on behalf of the president in Afam power station through the privatisation process.
 
On hearing this, he informed the president that rather than drag him (Jonathan) and the entire process through the mud, he would prefer to resign but reminded the president that he had brought it to his attention two weeks ago that a company he owned was part of a bidding consortium that had submitted bids for Enugu Distribution Company.
 
Nnaji explained that there have been all sorts of efforts to bring him down since his appointment as Special Adviser to the President on Power and later power minister, but decided Tuesday that it was best to leave rather that allow fourth columnists to mar the entire process.
 
“It is a huge conspiracy to scuttle the programme, but rather than drag the president and the programme down, I decided to tender my resignation,” he said.
 
On what would become of the reform process on which he had worked so hard, the former minister said he had managed to put the power sector on track and all key reforms in place, adding “it would be difficult to derail it right now and I hope it would proceed as planned.”
 
When asked if the independent power company he owns, Gemetric Power, would withdraw from the consortium bidding for Enugu Disco, Nnaji said: “As far as I am concerned, the bid is still alive.
 
“I know that they set up a new committee to re-evaluate the bids, but I don’t know if the process will still be fair after what has happened.”
 
However, sources in the presidency told THISDAY last night that Nnaji had no choice than to resign, because had he failed to do so, he would have been sacked by the president.
 
The president, THISDAY learnt, was said to have been very disappointed that his power minister, who should have known better, had gone ahead to bid for Enugu Distribution Company, despite the Code of Ethics of the privatisation process which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and members of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) from buying shares in companies being privatised.
 
“The president had made up his mind by this morning, so if Nnaji had not resigned, he would have been sacked,” explained sources in the presidency.
 
Participation by two companies linked to Nnaji in the power privatisation process had compelled the NCP to cancel the technical bid evaluation process conducted for Afam and Enugu Disco last week.
 
The NCP, after its meeting last Friday, had announced the results of the technical evaluation conducted for the 25 bids it received last month for the six generation companies (Gencos).
 
From that process, seven bidders were said to have successfully met the cut-off mark of 750 and above during the technical evaluation process and were prequalified to have their financial bids opened on September 25.
 
However, the NCP was silent on the bidders that were prequalified for Afam Power Station owing to the potential conflict of interest that had arisen during the privatisation process.
 
An NCP source said that before the consideration of the report of the evaluation, Nnaji, who was a member of the NCP by virtue of his position as Minister of Power, had brought it to the attention of the council that O & M Solutions of Pakistan, a member of one of the consortia bidding for Afam, had worked as a contractor for Geometric Power.
 
The consortium, in which O & M Solutions has a stake, is Skipper Nigeria Limited, which had submitted technical and financial bids for Afam on July 17, the deadline set by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) for the submission of bids for the Gencos.
 
The minister also notified the NCP that Geometric Power has a minority stake in Eastern Electric Nigeria Limited, which had submitted technical and financial bids for Enugu Distribution Company Limited on July 31.
 
He went on to inform the council that owing to his position, he had notified the president of his company’s bid for Enugu Disco, and brought it to their attention that although he has an interest in Geometric Power, he had resigned from its board and transferred his shares to a blind trust.
 
Having been informed of Nnaji’s direct and indirect interest in two companies being privatised, the council decided to cancel the technical evaluation that had been conducted for Afam and disbanded the evaluation team.
 
It also decided to stop the evaluation of the Enugu Disco, which is still ongoing, and would likewise disband the evaluation team.
 
The decision to cancel the evaluation for both companies was premised on the fact that all major stakeholders, including the former power minister, had been asked to send nominees to participate in the evaluation process.
 
Coincidentally, Nnaji Tuesday afternoon had welcomed the NCP’s decision to disband the evaluation teams and re-evaluate the technical bids submitted for Afam and Enugu Discos in the wake of his admission that some members of the bidding consortia has links to a company he owns.
 
Nnaji said the NCP’s decision to re-evaluate the bids submitted by potential investors for Afam and Enugu Discos was necessary considering that justice should not only be done but also seen to have been done by all and sundry.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said he was the most criticised President in the whole world and vowed to become the most praised before he left office.
 
Jonathan however absolved himself of any blame for the country’s problems for which he said he had become an object of criticism.
 
“I think I am the most criticised President in the whole world, but I want to tell this audience that before I leave I will be the most praised President,” he said at the opening of the 52nd Annual General of the Nigerian Bar Association at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.
 
He added, “Sometimes, I ask, were there roads in this country and Jonathan brought flood to destroy the roads?
 
“Was there power and Jonathan brought hurricane to wipe it out?
 
“If Boko Haram is that of poverty in the North, were there farms and Jonathan brought tsunami and drought to destroy them? Within two years – is that possible?
 
“But what I can tell Nigerians is, ‘let those talking keep talking, time will tell.’”
 
The keynote speaker at the event, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese, had earlier picked holes in the 1999 Constitution and said the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was the most powerful President in the world.
 
Kukah also said a messiah was needed in the country, but he emphasised that the identity of the messiah was still unknown.
 
The President’s spokesman, Reuben Abati, had in an article in The Guardian newspaper on Sunday defended Jonathan against insinuations that he was a drunk and glutton.
 
Abati wrote, “We are not allowed to touch alcohol. Alcohol is not served during official duties. Yes, when there is an international function, wine is served, but nobody gets drunk around here (Presidency). That will amount to an act of indiscipline.
 
“The President himself does not allow alcohol to be served at his table. But when you go to social network media, they tell you something else. Lies. Lies. Lies.”
 
Meanwhile, Jonathan also joined the controversy over the propriety or otherwise of the creation of state police in the country. He called for restraint in the debate on the creation of state police, although he admitted that the National Council of State welcomed the proposal when it was raised at one of its meetings.
 
He said, “On the issue of state police, everybody knows I have been Deputy Governor and Governor in Bayelsa State, there was a time we were frustrated and we felt that we should have our police, that we would be able to manage criminality in our state better because of our local environment.
 
“Police from other parts of the country find it difficult to go into the waters, but for us who were born inside the water, even in the night we can enter ordinary canoe to go anywhere and we feel that if we have our local police it will be better for us because our police can reach everywhere in our state.
 
“But when I discussed the issue of state police with former presidents before a state council meeting, they said it is a good idea, which probably one day we will get there.
 
“And that is the emphasis I want to make, one day we’ll get to that point. But presently we have to be careful on how we go about it.”
 
He added, “Experiments have been made, there was a time when the police came up with a policy that police officers from the rank of inspector and below should be posted to their states of origin as a way of testing whether police familiar with the environment will make changes. But it was realised that when police officers from the rank of inspector down were posted to their state of origin, things became worse. So the police had to discontinue that policy.
 
“We also feel that looking at the federal level and the way the governors are handling elections in their states with the state electoral commission, where opposition parties hardly win even councillorship elections.
 
“So, if there is state police and the governors manipulate their state police the way they are manipulating their state electoral commissions, the instability that it will create, even what we are witnessing will be a child’s play.”
 
President of the NBA, Joseph Daudu, SAN, had in his address backed calls for the creation of state police in the country.
 
The NBA also condemned the level of insecurity and corruption in the country, and told the President that he would go down in history as the architect of a modern Nigeria if he revived the anti-corruption campaign.
 
The theme of the conference was ‘Nigeria as an emerging market: Redefining our laws and politics for growth’.
 
In apparent response to calls for the convocation of Sovereign National Conference, the President said in his address that democratic structures were already in place in the country.
 
“It is important to appreciate the existence of a democratic structure in the country, which, no matter our opinion, cannot be wished away,” he said.
 
Kukah, in a paper titled, ‘Nigeria as an emerging democracy: The dilemma and the promise,’ had said that due to the nature of the country’s constitution, the President of Nigeria was the most powerful in the world.
 
“The President of Nigeria is more powerful than any President anywhere in the world, even more powerful than the American President.
 
“The President of Nigeria can, as I am standing here now, decide to allocate an oil well to me,” the cleric said, drawing laughter from the audience.
 
“To be the President of Nigeria, you have to have the capacity to do well and that is where motive becomes important,” he added.
 
Noting that Nigerians were looking for a messiah, Kukah said only a Nigerian could lead the country to the Promised Land.
 
He added, “Nigerians are looking for a messiah, but a messiah is not going to come from another planet.
 
“The Nigerian messiah is among us – we were not told that a Ghanaian could be the President of Nigeria. The only qualification to being the President of Nigeria is being a Nigerian.
 
“The messiah is among us, but who the messiah is, we don’t know.”
 
He noted that all the Presidents since the country’s independence came to power by accident.
 
“There is no President of Nigeria till date that did not come to power by accident.
 
“This should teach us to be more modest because God always finds a way of bringing somebody who was heading somewhere else – who has no ambition,” he said.
 
Kukah went ahead to stress that “the Constitution as it is does not have the capacity to deal with the fine issues of a complex country like Nigeria.”
 
The cleric noted that calls for state creation are largely selfish.
 
He emphasised the need to address difficult questions in the country, like the country’s membership of the Organisation of Islamic Countries, the implementation of Sharia law in parts of the country, and the need for state police.
 
“When Shagari became the President of Nigeria, not a single Muslim in Nigeria mentioned Sharia law, because we were all busy eating,” he said.
 
via Punch


http://www.punchng.com/news/i-am-the-worlds-most-criticised-president-jonathan/

Gov. Peter Obi sealing buildings used to keep kidnapped victims at Uruorji Village, Nri,
 

GOVERNOR Peter Obi’s administration in Anambra State has adopted a new approach to the fight against kidnapping with the policy of sealing off any hotel or house where suspected kidnappers operate from.
 
Already, one hotel located at Nkpor near Onitsha and two houses at Nri in Anaocha local government area have been sealed by the governor.
 
It all began when security operatives, after a long period of investigation, traced some people to the hotel and on interrogation, discovered that they were using the hotel as a base where they kept their victims while negotiating with members of the families. The police promptly arrested four suspected kidnappers there and went after its owner, who was traced to Enugu where he was also arrested. They are still helping the police in their investigations. The police gave the names of the four persons suspected to be kidnappers as Chinedu Eze, Obumneme Madugha, Okezue Chukwuemeka and John Okoro.
 
According to the police, the arrested persons made confessional statements that helped the police to rescue two kidnapped victims whose names were given as Mr. Augustine Emeka, operations manager of Zenith Bank at Nkpor and Sir Vincent Ohiagwu from Uga in Aguata local government area. Both men were kidnapped on July 29, 2012.
 
As news on the arrest filtered into Government House in Awka, Governor Obi led security operatives to the area where he announced the sealing up of the hotel and stressed, during the operation, that his government would continue to work round the clock to prevent the resurgence of kidnapping and other violent crimes in the state.
 
Mansion under construction
 
Barely six days after the hotel was sealed, the governor again took off with his security aides and destination was Nri in Anaocha local government area. The first port of call was an expansive, but a lonely compound housing a bungalow and a one-storey mansion under construction. The only occupants of the house were a security guard, Mr. Banarbas Nasamu, from Adamawa State and his wife with their only child. Last year, security operatives had raided the compound during which suspected kidnappers and their victims were found.
 
Obi said the decision to visit the house was because there were reports that it was still serving as a base for kidnappers after last year’s incident and he promptly announced that the compound had been sealed. He again moved to another village in the community where another bungalow just being completed was fingered as another base for kidnappers and equally announced that it would also be sealed off.
 
According to the governor, the houses and the hotel suspected to be a hide out for suspected kidnappers in the state would be demolished and the land converted to government use if investigations proved that kidnappers were actually using them. The one-storey mansion, with a pent house under construction belonging to one Jude Asuzu said to be residing in Lagos and the bungalow belonging to Patrick Okoye, said to be working in Awka, had one thing in common as nobody was residing in them at the time of the visit.
 
He said he decided to personally lead security agencies to seal the hotel and the houses to drive the message home to all those engaged in, or aiding and abetting kidnapping, that Anambra was no longer a safe place for them. He also gave an indication that the exercise would continue until the state was rid of kidnappers.
 
The owners of the houses were not available during the visit, but a security guard at the one-storey mansion, Mr. Barnabas Nasamu, who lives in the large compound with his wife and a child, said his boss had not returned home for the past three months. The parents of the owner of the house were also said to be residing in Enugu and had not come home for a long time.
 
A neighbour, who is a retired Railway staff and an uncle of the owner of the building, Chief Christian Obidike, who came into the compound on noticing the presence of the governor and security operatives, confirmed that kidnap suspects were arrested last year in the compound by a joint police and military team, but said that no such incident had repeated. According to him, one of the kidnap suspects was identified as a trader occupying a shop close to the compound.
 
Obeagu village
 
At the bungalow at Obeagu village, also in Nri, a cousin of the owner of the house and a native doctor, Mr. Sunday Okoye said a nephew of the owner of the house; one Mr. Okwudili Okoye had been on the run since security operatives visited the house on the suspicion that he was involved in kidnapping. He, however, said that the owner of the house which was under lock when the governor visited, resides in Awka and returns to the village once in a while.
 
Obi said security reports confirmed that the two buildings were linked to the heinous crime of kidnapping and announced that they would henceforth remain sealed in line with the policy of the state government on kidnapping, which provided that any building used for the purpose of kidnapping would be sealed off and, if the allegation was proved, the affected house would be demolished.
 
via Vanguard

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/gov-obi-goes-tough-on-kidnappers-in-anambra/

August 28, 2012 by Tunde Odesola
 
A hunter in Ipetu-Ijesa, Osun State, Igere Segun, who caught his friend and his wife making love in his bedroom, has killed her.
 


PUNCH Metro learnt that Segun raged at the sight of the two lovers in his bedroom, got hold of an iron and aimed a strike at the head of his friend.
 
The friend, however, dodged but the iron hit his wife, Aina, on the head.
 
It was learnt that the friend bolted from the room while the wife, who was bleeding profusely, was rushed to Olujobi Hospital in Ikeji Arakeji, where she died on the third day.
 
Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, Mrs. Kalafite Adeyemi, who confirmed the incident, on Monday, said the police were on the trail of Segun’s friend, whose name he gave as Abiodun.
 
Adeyemi said, “The incident happened last Thursday in Ipetu-Ijesa. It occurred between 10:50pm and 11pm. The husband had gone out, but unexpectedly came back late in the night.
 
“Ostensibly, he caught them red-handed and in an attempt to hit the man with an iron rod, he hit the wife, who was rushed to Olujobi Hospital in Ikeji Arakeji.
 
“She died the third day. The man is in custody while we are on the trail of the runaway lover. The case is being investigated.”
 
via Punch


http://www.punchng.com/?s=Hunter+kills+wife+for+having+sex+with+friend

Bolorunduro village in Ondo State was thrown into mourning last Wednesday when a family of five died after eating amala (yam flour). The names of the deceased were given as Michael Onoja,56; his wife, Comfort 42, Monday, 24; Patience, 21; and the eight-year-old grandchild, Joy Odoh.
 
A police source told our correspondent that when Onoja returned from his farm on the fateful day, he instructed his daughter, Patience, to prepare amala for the family to eat.
 
The source said, “Some hours after the meal, Joy, who was spending the holidays with the family started complaining of stomach pain and shortly after, slumped. She died later at a nearby government hospital.”
 
It was learnt that the little girl was buried the following day.
 
The source said, “Few hours after Joy was buried, other members of the family started having stomach pains and were rushed to the hospital. It was at the hospital that Onoja told his neighbours that the family ate amala, and that they had not eaten any other food after that. He and the family members died one after the other shortly after that.”
 
The source said the corpse of the deceased had been deposited at the mortuary of the state Specialist Hospital, Akure while autopsy had yet to be conducted.
 
Meanwhile, Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Mr, Aremu Adeniran, said the police had commenced investigation into the incident.
 
He said, “The matter had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in order to ensure proper investigation.”
 

via Punch

http://www.punchng.com/?s=Five+die+after+eating+amala

Published on August 27, 2012 by pmnews
 

A man in his late 20s, Yusuf Ogbe, has been arraigned before an Ikorodu Magistrate’s Court for unlawfully assaulting his father, Isiaka Ogbe.
 
He allegedly battered his father on 20 August, 2012.
 
According to the police, the incident happened at 29, Olubi Street, Ikorodu, Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria. P.M.NEWS gathered that the timely intervention of their neighbours save Isiaka from being killed.
 
But Yusuf denied the charge and said, “He slapped me. About 20 people gathered to beat me up because they thought I was beating him. I was not beating him.”
 
When the court asked Yusuf’s father to narrate his ordeal, Pa Ogbe said his son had beaten him up several times. He said the last one that led to his arrest almost cost him his life.
 
He said: “He came back home at about 11.30 p.m. and I did not know where he was coming from. He asked me for food. I said there was none and asked him where he expected me to get the food at that odd hour and that was it.
 
“Yusuf jumped at me, grabbed me by the neck and assaulted me. I started shouting for help. But for the timely intervention of our neighbours, maybe I would have been dead by now.”
 
The trial magistrate, Mr. A. A. Adesanya admitted him to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties each in like sum.
 
Adesanya also ordered that one of the sureties must be Yusuf’s relation who would vouch for him that he will not repeat such act again.
 
—Damilare Okunola
 

via PM News


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/27/son-charged-with-battering-father/

From ADETUTU FOLASADE-KOYI, Abuja
 
Senate yesterday ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop any action on the issuance of N5, 000 note and its proposed restructuring of other currencies. The CBN said last Thursday, that the new note would come into effect next January while the N5, N10 and N20 notes would be turned into coins. But the Upper House said that the CBN has not “properly briefed” the Senate and by extension, the National Assembly over the new notes and the proposed restructuring.
 
The Senate’s decision was conveyed through its Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions. Senator Bassey Otu chairs the committee. The Upper Legislative Chamber’s position sharply contradicts the Presidency’s which reportedly approved of CBN’s restructuring of the naira in 2011.
 
National Assembly sources told Daily Sun that the CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, may have briefed President Goodluck Jonathan about the new notes and plans to restructure the others. Sanusi reportedly secured the President’s approval before going public with the new move last week. Regardless, Senate yesterday ordered CBN to stop the process and recalled that moves to re-denominate the naira in 2008/2009 failed and wondered reasons behind the policy sommersault.
 
His words: “There’s need for us as a committee to comment on this topical issue. I chair the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions. We’ve read in the papers, just like you did about the currency restructuring the CBN wants to embark on. “I believe that a projector of this nature requires parliamentary approval because there are numerous monetary and fiscal implications on the economy.
 
This type of action is only taken where there is a major currency crisis and the CBN must be careful in order not to send a wrong signal or message to households or the domestic sector or even the external economies that the Nigerian currency is valueless which I believe is definitely not and that for every unit of value, they need to carry a large quantity of cash.
 
“The CBN in 2008 and 2009 came up with a proposal to re-denominate the currency; that was even to remove the zeros. This was just in 2008/2009. Here we are in 2012, and we are seeing a kind of policy sommersault, even though we understand the dynamics of the sector very well. “I believe we have to be well briefed on this and also, in 2005, the CBN undertook a major currency restructuring which ran into billions of naira.
 
Till date, the proper value assessment has not been done to know its cost to the Nigerian taxpayer and the extent of the benefits and in that 2005 coinage, I think it did not work at all because both the goldsmith and the blacksmith converted the coins to moulding bangles and earrings and so on and so forth.
 
“So, we believe that the coinage works very well where there are infrastructure and we’ve not developed that basic infrastructure and even now, the coins are nowhere to be found now. “So, the CBN would have to prove that the policy is not a clear contradiction or at variance with the cashless society which they are even yet to justify and whether this is the popular economic way to go. “We are asking, and we will be sending a letter to them to stop all further actions until the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is properly briefed.”
 
“Well, we’ve not been properly briefed and we don’t know the reason for it, even though at the moment, we do know that inflation is really a problem, but I don’t think we’ve used all the mechanisms we have to tackle it and it’s not really out of hand. Asked if the committee or the Senate was in the know at the conception stage, Otu reiterated that the introduction of the new note is news to the Senate as well as other Nigerians.
 
“There was no meeting in any form to that effect. As I told you earlier, we got the news just like other Nigerians; in fact, we read it on the pages of newspapers as well.” Otu also dismissed comments that the CBN Act may not have compelled the apex bank to brief the Senate or the National Assembly before embarking on the exercise.
 
“This is a major, major policy issue and there’s no way this kind of a thing can go on without us not knowing anything about it. We must know the detail in order to know how it would affect the Nigerian people. To those moments, we don’t need to be bothered about any Act at this point. “We are not going to rely on laws per se. What we mean to do here is what is best for the Nigerian people.
 
The Senate is not really against the independence of the CBN but what we want in place is proper checks and there should be checks and balances in all the things we do. At some point, we would be able to sit down together to look at the merits and demerits of this policy. “But till date, we don’t know anything about it and we don’t know what people stand to gain. Until that is properly put through, everything about the N5,000 note issuance must stop,” Otu said.
 
via Daily Sun


http://sunnewsonline.com/new/cover/senate-stops-new-n5000-note/

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni made his son a one-star general and appointed him overall commander of the country's special forces, leading some Ugandans to conclude that the son is being groomed to succeed his father.
 
In changes announced on Monday, Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba was made a brigadier-general, the latest promotion in the 38-year-old's quick rise through the ranks. Some Ugandans have long believed that Museveni, who took power by force in 1986, is nurturing his son to eventually take over from him when he retires.
 
Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a political historian at Uganda's Makerere University, said the promotion gives that credence.
 
"Museveni might now be confirming the rumors that he is preparing his son for succession," Ndebesa said. "It's just unimaginable that this is happening."
 
In his new role Kainerugaba, who received some military training at the elite Sandhurst British academy, will be the chief protector of his father and resources such as oil wells. While he previously reported to the chief army commander, it appears that now he will answer directly to his father.
 
Some analysts say that Kainerugaba's rise through the army has been a source of resentment for the more senior army officers who see the first son as being shamelessly fast-tracked toward the point when he will assume firm control of the Ugandan military. Uganda's most senior army officers are veterans of the bush war that brought Museveni to power in January 1986, when Kainerugaba was not yet a teenager.
 
Nicholas Sengoba, a political analyst based in Kampala, said Kainerugaba's promotion had made it clearer that Museveni wants his son to have more say in the military going forward.
 
"It's been quite obvious that Muhoozi is headed for big things," Sengoba said. "This vindicates those who have been critical of Museveni. The doubts are being removed slowly."
 
Throughout his political career Museveni has been dogged by accusations that he practices nepotism. His wife is a Cabinet minister and his brother used to be one.
 
Museveni, who was reelected last year, has not said if he will run again when his current term expires in 2016. But he faces pressure within and outside the ruling party to quit and preside over what would be the first peaceful transfer of power in Uganda's history.