March 20, 2015

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Newspaper of the Year

...71 D AYS TO GO DA

•SEE •Vote for Buhari, Ajimobi, says Olubadan at summit PAGES •Mu’azu: landslide victory no longer feasible for PDP 5-7 •’PDP plans to discredit APC chiefs with imported dollars’ •Alleged N7b CAN bribe: DSS after my life, claims pastor

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3159 FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

•www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

•INSIDE: CBN SETS N100B CAPITAL BASE FOR DFIS P11 $16B EPZ PROJECTS FOR INAUGURATION P11

Boko Haram men kill own wives •Sect kills 20 in attack

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OZENS of women who were forced to marry Boko Haram fighters were killed by their “husbands” before a battle with troops in Bama, Borno State, witnesses said yesterday. Five witnesses who recounted the massacres to French News Agency AFP said the Islamist militants feared they would be killed by advancing soldiers or separated from their wives when they fled the town. They killed the women to prevent them from subsequently marrying soldiers or other so-called non-believers, they added. “The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels,” said Sharifatu Bakura, 39, a mother of three. According to Bakura’s account, which was supported by others, Boko Haram fighters received word of a military assault on Bama, formerly an Islamist stronghold. The insurgents had decided to flee to the nearby town of Gwoza before the troops’ arrival but first decided “to kill their wives so that nobody will remarry them”, she said. Bukara’s husband was killed by the insurgents

Continued on page 4

U.S. to Jonathan, Buhari: respect Abuja peace pact •INEC praised for Card Reader From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

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NITED States Vice-President Joe Biden has told President Goodluck Jonathan and his main opponent in the March 28 presidential poll, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, that violence has no place in a democracy. Biden, who spoke with both candidates yesterday, urged them to remain committed to the peace accord they signed. He also supported the deployment of card readers in the March 28th and April 11th elections. He praised the candidates for signing the Continued on page 4

•AREW A’S TURN: Part of the huge crowd of supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a rally for the Arewa community in Agege, Lagos...yesterday. •AREWA

Buhari promises to revamp economy •STORY ON PAGE 58

•Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu speaking at the rally...yesterday. With him (from left) are: APC presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, APC governorship candidate Akinwumi Ambode and Kabiru Mohammed, an Arewa leader. PHOTOS: ADEJO DAVID

Polls: Yoruba leaders reject Jonathan’s endorsement •SEE ALSO PAGE 55

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WILL THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15, LAST YEAR EVER RETURN?

Akinrinade, governors, others denounce interim govt plot

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ORUBA leaders have rejected the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for second term by some leaders of Afenifere, the Southwest’s socio-political organisation. The leaders, who converged on the Parliament Building, Oyo State Secretariat, Ibadan, yesterday to present the common aspirations of the Yoruba na-

From Leke Salaudeen, Ibadan

tion for the future, also condemned Monday’s violence perpetrated by Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) in Lagos. A faction of the Afenifere, a forthnight ago, met in Akure, the Ondo State capital, to endorse Dr. Jonathan for a second term, saying he plans to

restructure the country through his convocation of a national conference. Critics of this point of view insist that all Yoruba demands at the conference were turned down. In a tacit rejection of the endorsement, Yoruba Assembly Convener Gen. Alani Akinrinade, a one-time Chief of Defence Staff, in his welcome address, enumerated the qualities of

the leadership the Yoruba desired. He said: “We, the Yoruba are too sophisticated to follow one leader or adopt one political belief. What is required of us is to share a common developmental aspiration and values much more than what obtains now in the present Nigeria. “We cannot afford a leadership that Continued on page 4

•250,000 EKITI ‘MIRACLE ELECTION’ AUDIO, VIDEO CDS IN CIRCULATION P7


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