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News Lagos ejects 120 tankers from Apapa-Oshodi Expressway P8 Sport Yobo, Odemwingie to arrive early for Battle of Kigali P24 Business NNPC, PPPRA, others blame fuel scarcity on probes P11 www.thenationonlineng.net
VOL. 7, NO. 2045 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2012
TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH
N150.00
EMEKA ODUMEGWU- OJUKWU (1933-2011)
•From left: Senator Obi, Asiwaju Tinubu, Governor Okorocha, Governor Fashola, Dr Baithwaite, Governor Obi and his wife, Margaret at the Odumegwu-Ojukwu funeral at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos ... yesterday. See also pages 4&5. PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES
Lagos bids Ojukwu farewell
Fayemi’s lawyer petitions CJN
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From Yusuf Alli, Abuja
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KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has urged Chief Justice of Nigeria Dahiru Musdapher to disband the panel set up to review the Court of Appeal judgment that brought him to office. According to Dr. Fayemi, the grounds of the call for review cannot stand because suspended Court of Appeal President Isa Ayo Salami has been cleared of allegations of misconduct made against him. Continued on page 2
•The late Ojukwu
ARKETS were shut and traffic grinded to a halt as eminent Nigerians gathered yesterday at the Tafawa Balewa Square for the Lagos leg of the multiple funeral programme for the late Biafra leader, Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Governors Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Peter Obi (Anambra) and Rochas Okorocha (Imo) led the exciting farewell.
They were joined by Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Military Governor of Western Region Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo, former Chief of General Staff Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (rtd), former military administrator of Lagos Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd), Senators Ben Obi, Uche Chukwumerije, Chris Ngige and Ike Nwachukwu, to honour Ojukwu.
Fashola, Obi and Okorocha preached peace. Tinubu said Ojukwu, who led the then Eastern Region’s secession war between 1967 and 1970, was forced to defend his people. Elder statesman Dr Tunji Braithwaite said Ojukwu did not declare a war against Nigeria, but against “corruption, lies and injustice, so that we can have a one and better Nigeria”.
US, Nigeria to join forces against Boko Haram Sect kills six policemen in Kano, Minna T
•Mr McCulley
HE United States will support Nigeria’s battle against Boko Haram but will not send troops, its Ambassador, Terrence P. McCulley, said yesterday. McCulley said the U.S. encourages Nigeria to reach out to residents in the North, especially the poor, while using security forces to target and apprehend terrorists. He said the U.S. is also
considering opening a consulate in Kano to burnish America’s own image among a people still suspicious about Western influence. “That’s not on the table,” McCulley said. “No; absolutely not,” when asked about the possibility of US’ troops deployment in Nigeria by the Associated Press (AP). Nigeria has been under increasing attack from members of Boko Haram.
This year, the sect is blamed for killing at least 304 people, according to an AP count. At least 185 people died in Kano last month in the group’s deadliest assault yet. Six policemen were reported to have been killed yesterday in Kano and Minna, Niger State. “It’s of a great concern to us,” McCulley said. “We’ve seen an increase in sophistication, we’ve seen
increased lethality. We saw at least a part of the group has decided it’s in their interest to attack the international community.” The U.S. is working with the police to help them learn how to carry out forensic investigations, while a bomb expert from the FBI has been working with authorities on how to detect explosives planted by the group before they detonate, McCulley
said. The U.S. also would be open to training Nigeria’s military in counter-terror techniques, though the country hasn’t asked for that assistance, the ambassador said. “It’s not going to be solved exclusively by treating it as a security issue,” McCulley said. “It needs a holistic solution. Continued on page 2
•SPORTS P23 •NEWS EXTRA P25 •SOCIETY P29 •POLITICS P43