Peoples Daily Newspaper, Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Page 1

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Vol. 9 No. 8

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

. . . putting the people first

Shawwal 4, 1433 AH

N150

Jonathan in dilemma over Service Chiefs By Julius Ogar

D

elicate geo-political balancing is believed to be the main reason why President Goodluck Jonathan has not named replacements for the nation's Defence and Service Chiefs which have become necessary because the incumbent holder of the office of Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petirin, is due for retirement soon. Peoples Daily learnt authoritatively last night that the current Chief of Army Staff

(COAS), Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, is President Jonathan's favourite to replace Petirin as CDS but he has not been named because getting his own replacement as COAS is proving a hard nut to crack for the President. This is because the position is very sensitive, a source said, as the Army is the largest of the three armed services - bigger than the other two (Navy and Air Force) combined. For the position of COAS, we gathered there are three prospective candidates. These are

Major General Kenneth K. J. Minimah, presently General Officer Commanding (GOC), 81 Division of the Nigeria Army; Maj. Gen. Babagana Mongunu, Chief of Logistics, Defence Headquarters; and Maj. Gen. Sarki-Yaki Bello, National Coordinator of Counter-terrorism in the Office of National Security Adviser (NSA). However, picking the right man from this shortlist is the horn of dilemma President Jonathan sits on right now. Peoples Daily has learnt that Gen. Minimah's candidacy for

COAS was aggressively pushed by the former NSA, Gen. Andrew Owoeye Azazi, because he wanted a fellow south-south officer in charge of an Army he feared the President had no control over. However, what may count against him is that he is a member of Regular Cadet Course 25 of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), commissioned on December 18, 1981, along with six others. An infantry officer, Minimah was promoted to Maj. Gen on January 3, 2010, and so were the Contd on Page 2

Strike: FG, NUPENG meet today

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

he Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has said it is ready to dialogue with the federal government on the issues surrounding the subsidy pay out for which it has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike tomorrow. President of the union, Comrade Achese Igwe, said yesterday in Lagos that their door is open for dialogue and promised that the union will attend a meeting with government officials today in Abuja. Stakeholders and other workers unions have condemned the strike action and have dissociated themselves from it with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) describing it as blackmail against the government and the nation and urging government not to yield. However, expressing the willingness of his union to Contd on Page 2

PD INDEX

21st Aug, 2012

CBN RATES $ £ • CFA RIYAL

BUYING 154.8 242.9586 191.0387 0.2704 41.2778

S ELLING 155.8 244.5281 192.2728 0.2904 41.5445

PARALLEL RATES

Governor Kashim Shettima (middle) defies heavy downpour to inspect construction works in Gajiganna in Nganze Local Government Area of Borno, during the Sallah break on Monday.

Sokoto to explore crude oil deposit >> PAGE 2

STF, police deny 95% of fed allocations rumour of Riyom- spent on wages Abuja road crises in Nasarawa >> PAGE 3

>> PAGE 5

• £ RIYAL $

BUYING 201 256 40 162

S ELLING 203 258 42 163

Robber shot dead in crossfire >> PAGE 7


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