n~~_v~s~________________________________________Ja_nu_a~~'_21_.2_0_12___~ ~
'How Boko Haram suspect escaped' Our COrre5pt.'mlenl Bill, the police :OI·IIll IIiSIOner. who •Wall fingered m the escape of Knbir So# o/a, acluall) ~t to '" her' the suspect was being ~ JI and asked that he I lilt suspect) ~ handed o~r In him, an investipbon Ja. shown. SotOlo is the prime suspect ,n thl! Madalla Christ~ DlY bombing in which 43 l\'(lr;hlPJl'en ~~ killed Acompf'ter I policesource told SltTUR;>AY PUNCH on Frida\ tht when the suspect "lIS arrested last SaturdaV,lt II e 8omo State liaison tUn. e 111 Ahuja. he was tak~ to the police station at Alx ji Thepol~ ten,whowere on nighl dut} subsequently took him 11 thl.' cell of the Spet-iaJ Anti-robbery "'luod He~;uiai{ tobeawailing intenogat~n when Biu suddenly • merged on Monday 11 oming and asked timl t It' suspect be handed oller to him, as he daiml!'d that hp was undeY' an in.'itrul tio I to search thl!' suspect's bot 51!' in Ahuja. The $OlU1 e said. '"We Wl!R' on dl I}' when the susJ)«l l,as brought here and bamled over to the most senior I ffirer on dUly. We took hilll 10 SARS for lka i
debnefin\~
-But c:aJlK'
'uf} ·risingl}", Biu
8..0<1 s: HI he wanted
take him 8"-"a)' for interrogabOi and as a senior olliCfr, ....-e had no reason to dellY him.
10
-But ~ we~ surprised when ~ beard that he (suspect) had I'SClIped from police custody. The pertinent questIOns are: wbo authorUed Biu to take the suspect away and how did the mob that attacked
the police suddenly appea r? !'he woolI:' thing is shrouded in mystery because such a high profile suspect should not have been esror1ed Just like that and we don't know whether his handcuff was removed
Akure
(
ndo State has presented N5Bm in cheque!! to
52 £Onnen from tbl' Vl'rious Fadama
Commutil) Associations 10 till!' 17 lor 11 goremmenl Ilreasofthf' ·Inte under the FADMoIA IIJ proJect. 1he development brought the total amount so far disln'buted under the schl: me by the state gO\~enl to N224m. (kn.-emor Olusegun Mimiko WfllI represen ted 3n tit<' OL'Casion by the Q}mLlissioner for AgrirultlLfe:, Mr. AdemoJa Olonmfi mi Ninet:'o-seven Fadama Community Associauoos and Fad.-.ml Users Groups, who met the necessary conditions (. Irnccessing the fund, had ...rlier received Nt66.sm f om the state
~pod,
It was learnt that the in\'estigators had gol some useful lead, especially from lbose connecled to the alleged mob attack On the convoy colI\~ng the suspect to his house for the !laid search_
EmmanueJ Addeh, Warn e Niger Ddla Indi ge n o u s
Tt
Movement
fo r
Radical Change , an oil monito ring g roup in the region , hlUl wanu:tl Ule Economir; lind Financial Crimes Commission against ha ndling tJle probe of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in a shoddy mannu. The group urged the FedernJ Government to disbaJldlhema nagement of the NNPC to disallo .... it f:rom Interfering in the probe of the corporation's ac:thities. In
a statement in
warri, the group hailed
.AfaullY trw:*ar the WareWll end uft/II'. Lagos·Jbadan EXpressway ... 011 Friday. Photo: Cklutayo Odusanyo
Tension mounts in Onitsha over market elections Emmanuel Obe, Awka here is growing ·tension in the (:omme r ciai city of Onitsha be'Cause of the impendiD& election of market leadea. Manytradersha . . ~alleged a plot by the outgoing leadership of tilt' ma rket, III conni\'anc:e with tile
offiol!'oftheSpecial Adviser on Parks and Markets to scuttle the ek>ction of new officen;. The trader;., who htl\·e written to the police abou t the Situation, ha\-esaKi they ~in resist th- mO\-e and won't mind ~oing to any length to p~ thetr pomt In a petilion to the Commissioner of Police, Anam bra SIBle Comma nd,
Ondo presents additional Ns8m to farmers for FADAMA III Sund.ll) Abo risade,
to aid his escape.PUNCH SA.11IRDAY learnt thai based on the instruction from police high command, in\'l5tigalors ha\~ iJ,uncl!ed a full-scale inquiry on how the detainee
NNPCprohe: Gr ou p warns EFCC against s h o ddy job
go\-e.mmenL About N7fIl out of the latest fund disbur.red was committed to the developlTH!nt of Fadama Empowennent Youth vllia&e at lsanlu in the Akure North LGA of the state, 1'he gaveMlor, who s.-.id his admmlstrallon had never defaulted in tile payment of the state's counterpart fund under the scheme, expressed his delennination to do CV1!rything that would ensure adequate (ood 5CClIril) in the country, He explained that no fewer than 45 small· community-owned scale infrastructure like markets, stalls, boreholes and culvcts had been completed Ul the state under Ihe programme. Headdootbat 1,2570Sl!ets such all battery cages, lYater pumping machines, canoes.
goat pens and fish ponds had either been procured or constructed. The gmt·mor statoo that 248 llsers groups under the srheme and 14 community a.ssociations had at one penod. or the other benefitted from the projecL Mimiko apl)Caloo to the. be.neficinnes to make judicious use of the fund. while be ImpLored the groups that were yet to benefil to step up efforts to access the fund He madl:' a n appeal to women and youths to make use of the opportunity the programme offered them. Aid. ''he He establishment of Fadama youths empowernlent \ilJages in all the local govemment areas in the slate would he gi....-en the ullpennost priority in the impleme ntation of the activities of the project.
Mr Muhtarl Ibrahim. 1 former chainnan of the market and one-tim~ consultalll 10 the state gO\'t:rnmenl on market admlnistralion anJ union matters, Mr Erneb Asoanya, called on the police to a\'ert an imminent hloodshed in the market. He $Bid the Onitsha Main Markel Amalpmated Traders Association conducted a free, fair and peaceful election that produced Mr. Noamdi Uoobuaghaas!hechainnan. witl)()Ut the inter.....ention of the SlI1le gO\"1!mment. but now, he was conniving with the office ofiM Special Advi5ler on Ma rkets and Parks to screen OUI some candidates. lie said pte\ious elections had been conducted according to the constitution of the market under the watchful eyes of seeunty agents witham any interference from the gm-ernmenL But reacting to Ihe a1leptions, Uoobuagha saKi thai duri ng hIS time, he was screened by the SlBte Serurity Service, wondering why the present aspirants would nol lYallt to be scn!ened. He saKi NIoanya and the aspirants he was supporting had skeleton in their cupboards., making them to he RPIl1SI screen'"g. He added that lhe election committee had not heell constituted. HGWe'\-er, Asoanya, in
his petition, said the th~ year tenure of the outgolllg chainnan expired on Jan 3t, 2012RccorWngto thentarket conslitution and by·laWl! and Iherefore, the chliirnUln was not supposed 10 extend his tenure by one day because the chainnanship position of the market was belng rotated among the three zones orthe market. lie said Unobuagba W'<l!I from zone three of Ihe market and tlleref"ore, the next chainnan is to be produced by wne one. Asoanya said. "The attem"t to dra& the gO\'emment into lhe election of lIle market has reached a point that if nol dll_'(;ked. there may be bloodshed in the market. as the zone thai is 10 pruduc:e the chainnan is feeling betrayed Ind abandoned. this will surely lead to a breakdown of In"" And order. "Onitsha Main Market was peaceful before the clandestine move by Ihe incumbent 10 drag the gO\-emlTH!f]l into its elect.,n mallen via the office of lhe Special Adviser to the GO\-emor on Markets and I'arks. One wonders what those trying 10 cause trouble in the market stand to pin, considering lIle tension and Ihe crisis brewing in the market now "What happened before the 1997 crisis in the market is set to happen agam as people are seen meeting in different locations in and around the markeL-
President Goodluclt Jonatha n for dircrting the EFCC to immt!ililltely commt';nCC! an enquiry inlo Ule utUl. ",tiun of the Ol' U N t .3trn subsidy funru: , which it described as bogus. Thll!' s t a tt'.m l!n t, which \\'1lS s igned by the NDlf'oLRC president. Nelly Emma ; secretary, John Sailor; and public. relations-officer , Mukoro Slaul e )" noted tha i the probe of the NNPC ...."1tS 10 llg on~_nlue. TIU! group said, "We have al .....ys s a id tha t the NNPC b rotten and all the ro tte n eggs in the corpora tion must be sacked. \Ve welcome tile dirt':cti\'e that tile EFCC s hould probe the ruel s ubsid)' paymen ts; hut befo re th is is done, the NNPC le adership mu.'> t be shown the "'''yout." It claimed that tllC~ NNPC had been working with tile 'subsidy CIIbaJ' to f-rustrate tile efforts o f the Jonathan administration, sa};ng that il wo uld f-ruslrate the EI-'CC iflheleadership of tile corporation " 'lUi aUowed 10 s tay. It added. "'The NNPC lead ership, rep~nted by Mr. Auste n Oluwon, has an tile records of the corporation; we do not want • situation where they will set the NNPC Headqua rters o n fire to con~:r up $Orne illegalities. " We plead tbat the EFCC s hould do a cle a n job in the probe of the corpora tion and not allow Itself to be intimim.ted o r used by a ny of the acto rs in tile COrTUptio n bedevilling theNNPC" The group laudl!'d the decis ion of the Ministry of Petrole um 1.0 Invite the EFcc, sayi ng that it wag the righl tiling 10
do,
" \Ve ..... nt to commend the Ministe r of Petrole um Resourc:es, rotrs.
Oieu.ni
AJison-
Madueke fo r Inviting the commwlon to inten'ene in the maUer. 8 y this, tile cubal shou1d know that time l!i run.n1ng out on them," it said.