19 girls rescued from baby factory
NEWS
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•Civil Defence raids home
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News 12 in battle for Oyo PDP ticket P7 Sports Osaze’s club chases Babatunde P24 Business N200m fake phones seized P12
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VOL. 9, NO. 2908 TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2014
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TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH
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•INEC denies APC members voter cards, says party •U.S. Consul General, 30 others to monitor poll •Good times await workers, says LP • AND MORE ON PAGE 8
sack governor
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From Yusuf Alli, Abuja and Johny Danjuma, Lafia
FTER a 13-minute session, Nasarawa lawmakers resolved yesterday to go ahead with impeachment proceedings against Governor Umar Tanko Al-Makura for alleged mismanagement of N13billion in three years. President Goodluck Jonathan landed in a helicopter in the state a few minutes after the impeachment motion was hastily passed by the lawmakers. Jonathan was in the state to inaugurate a farm established by a foreign investor, Olam Nigeria Limited, in Ondorie-Rukubi, Doma Local Government Area. The Assembly, which was on recess, convened an emergency session, recalling its members. The one-item motion, which centred on the impeachment of the governor, was brought under “Matters of Public Interest” after an executive session. Continued on page 4
Lawmakers consider report on Nyako today
T
HE Adamawa State House of Assembly will consider today the report of the panel that investigated the allegations of misconduct it levelled against Governor Murtala Nyako. The Buba Kaigama-led seven-man panel set up on July 8, submitted yesterday a four-volume report to Speaker Ahmadu Fintiri. The panelists informed the speaker that both Governor Nyako and his Deputy Bala Ngilari failed to appear before them after being duly invited. The chairman said, however, that did not stop its investigation into the allegations. Fintiri promised that the House would consider the report during today’s plenary. Though the content of the report was not made public, it is unlikely that Governor Murtala Nyako may have been cleared. Continued on page 4
•Malala (third left) with five of the Chibok schoolgirls, who escaped from Boko Haram’s captivity after her speech…yesterday.
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PHOTO: NAN
Jonathan: Chibok girls ’ll be rescued alive
OR the umpteenth time, President Goodluck Jonathan promised yesterday to rescue the 219 Chibok schoolgirls in Boko Haram’s custody —more than 90 days after their abduction. Dr. Jonathan also dismissed the insinuation that the government had done little to rescue the girls. The President spoke during the visit of Malala Yousafzai, the
•Malala meets President From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja
teenage Pakistani girl-child education campaigner, to the Aso Villa, Abuja. The President explained to Malala, who was accompanied by her father and other members of her Foundation, that the Federal Government’s efforts were con-
strained by the overriding imperative of ensuring that the girls’ lives are not endangered in any rescue attempt. He said: “Terror is relatively new here and dealing with it has its challenges. The great challenge in rescuing the Chibok girls is the need to ensure that they are rescued alive.”
According to him, the Federal Government and its security agencies are very mindful of the need to avoid the scenario in rescue attempts in other parts of the world where lives of abductees were lost in the effort to rescue them. “The time it is taking to achieve that objective is not a question of Continued on page 4
Conference ends abruptly No agreement on resource control
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WHERE ARE THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15?
M
ONTHS of screaming, shouting and swearing ended yesterday at the National Conference, with delegates failing to agree on key issues. The plenary ended abruptly, leaving the resource control controversy hanging. Conference Chairman Justice Idris Kutigi (rtd) announced that plenary would resume on August 4 when delegates are required to consider and ap-
Delegates demand N2.6tr for Biafra victims
From Onyedi Ojaibor and Dele Anofi, Abuja
prove the draft reports of the conference for presentation to the Federal Government. Signs that the conference might end without a compromise on resource control emerged immediately delegates settled for the business of the day. Justice Kutigi said the “50 wise men”— chairmen, co-chairmen and
deputy chairmen of committees who were scheduled to meet on Friday to resolve some knotty issues in the recommendations of the Committee on Devolution of Power could not meet. He blamed the inability of the select group to meet on the closure of the Abuja Airport, which he said prevented those invited for the meeting from attending. Insiders, however, said that northern delegates shunned the
meeting“because of their opposition to the 18 per cent derivation principle proposed for the oil producing states of the Niger Delta”. Justice Kutigi told delegates that he was still of the view that the group should be given some time to resolve the controversy surrounding the proposed 18 per cent derivation principle, five per cent solid mineral fund and five per cent insurgency fund. Continued on page 4
•NOBEL LAUREATE NADINE GORDIMER DIES AT 90 P60 •MADUKA’S BROTHER RESCUED P58