“We are not ready for any negotiation or dialogue with the Federal govt” – Niger Delta Avengers reacts

In a statement released today by the supposed spokesman for the dialogue group, Ballantyne Agiri, Militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, reportedly agreed to dialogue with the Federal government to find a solution to the lingering crisis in the Niger Delta region. (Read here)
Niger Delta Avengers spokesperson, Brig.Gen Mudoch Agbinibo, has now debunked the report via his Twitter account, insisting that the militant group is not ready for any negotiation or dialogue with the Federal Government. He also encouraged the Nigerian Army and DSS to declared the supposed spokesperson for the ‘dialogue group’, Ballantyne Agiri, wanted.

S/Arabian Authorities Arrest 3 Nigerian Pilgrims For Drug Trafficking

Saudi Arabian authorities have arrested three pilgrims from Kwara for alleged possession of substance suspected to be cocaine.
Hajia Fatima Abolore-Jimoh, the Executive Secretary, Kwara Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, confirmed the arrest on Wednesday from Saudi Arabia in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

She said the three pilgrims, who were among the first batch of 505 Pilgrims from Kwara, were arrested in Medinah by Saudi Arabia security operatives.
The executive secretary, who did not disclose the identities of the three suspects, said they were still in the custody of Saudi Arabian authorities.
Abolore-Jimoh said the Saudi Arabian law would certainly take its course on the three suspected drug traffickers.
She described the arrest as unfortunate and painful in spite of several appeals to them to be good ambassadors of Kwara and Nigeria.
The executive secretary said that other pilgrims from the state were still inMedinahh, hale, healthy and in good spirit in spite of the unfortunate incident.
NAN reports that 1,978 pilgrims from the state are performing the 2016 pilgrimage exercise. (NAN)

FG Reportedly Probes Jonathan Over Bombings In Niger Delta

The federal government has launched an investigation on the possible involvement of former President Goodluck Jonathan with the spate of bombings that have crippled the country’s oil industry and affected itspower generation capabilities.
Credible intelligence sources have told Daily Trust that a hushed up investigation is already underway to establish the level of involvement of Mr Jonathan in the series of explosions affecting the country’s oil producing infrastructure that has left the country unable to produce nearly a third of its 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day.

This situation has left the government unable to implement its budget of 6 trillion Naira that was predicated on its agreed quota level and is further confounded by low crude oil price.
Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun has since declared that Nigeria is technically in recession.
There has been an earlier allegation by the militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that the former President is complicit in the bombing of oil installations but which he denied.
Daily Trust gathered that suspicion of the former President’s involvement with activities of militants in the oil producing Niger Delta region was further strengthened after it emerged that one of the groups that threatened to declare a Niger Delta republic was dissuaded from doing so by Mr Jonathan.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the sabotage of oil and power installations was part of what he called the former President’s plan B after he lost the last general elections to President Muhammadu Buhari and is meant to discredit the present administration.
The source added that the ultimate aim of Mr Jonathan is to use his possible intercession with those responsible for the disruptions in the oil and power installations to stop investigations and possible trial of himself and his wife over corruption matters.
Speaking to Daily Trust on phone last night, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said he was not aware that the former president was being investigated by security agencies over allegations linking him to the spate of bombings by militants in the Niger Delta region.
He however said that “these allegations have refused to go away, and those making the allegations are not backing out. So I will not be surprised if the security agencies show interest in it, but I am not aware.”
The former president could not be reached for comment on the matter yesterday, neither was his media aide, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze.
However, one of Mr. Jonatan’s former aides who preferred not to be named said the former president had earlier this month denied such allegation when it was made by MEND.
Jonathan’s statement issued by Mr Eze in Abuja on August 7, denied he was a sponsor of NDA [Niger Delta Avengers].
He rather countered that the group’s hidden agenda was to kill him.
It will be recalled that Niger Delta militants had at various times before the elections vowed that they would make Nigeria ungovernable if Mr. Jonathan lost his party’s nomination or if he was defeated by Buhari.
The most publicised threat was made by top militant leaders at a meeting in Bayelsa Government House. At that meeting militants leaders such as Asari Dokubo and Tompolo threatened to declare war on Nigeria if Jonathan should lose the election.
They took the decision at a meeting attended by the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, and chairman of Amnesty Implementation Committee, Kingsley Kuku; Bayelsa state Governor, Seriake Dickson; President General of Ijaw Youth Council, Udengs Eradiri and Victor Ben Ebikabowei, aka, Boy Loaf.

Germany can’t stop Nigeria – Mikel

Team Nigeria captain Mikel Obi has said the national U-23 team will go into Wednesday’s semi-final game against Germany with a winning mentality, like they have done in their previous games at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
African champions Nigeria defeated Denmark 2-0 to advance to the last four stage, while the Germans hammered Portugal 4-0 to seal a clash with the Atlanta 1996 Olympic champions.
Mikel, who is also the U-23 team captain, maintained his stance of picking a medal before returning to join his English Premier League side Chelsea.
“For every game we want to play, we prepare to win. Not one match is different and our focus remains the same,” Mikel, who grabbed the opener against the Danes, said in Rio.

However, it is doubtful if forward Oghenekaro Etebo, who scored four goals in the team’s opening game versus Japan in Manaus, will be fit for the crucial game against the Germans.
The Portugal-based player copped an injury during the final Group B 2-0 defeat to Colombia and missed the quarter-final clash against Denmark.
The Nigerians are pitted against a free-scoring German side who have scored 19 goals in four games.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation President Amaju Pinnick believes coach Samson Siasia can come up with the right strategy to steer the Nigeria U-23 team past their European opponents.
Pinnick, who arrived in Sao Paulo on Tuesday, said, “As a federation, we have always had confidence in Samson Siasia. We believed in him enough to appoint him to head the U-23 team and gave him all the support, including organising several friendlies and invitational tournaments for the team over the past 18 months.
“I have confidence in Siasia to take the team to the final match on Saturday.”
Nigeria edged Japan 5-4; beat Sweden 1-0 before then dispatching Denmark 2-0 in the quarter-finals to set up a clash with Germany.
On a personal note, Siasia will aim to equal his record of playing in the Olympics final after losing the final match to Argentina in Beijing 2008.
Brazil will take on Honduras in the first semi-final at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro also on Wednesday. The Nigeria/Germany match starts at 4pm (8pm Nigeria time).

I will report corrupt judges to NJC, CJN – Sheriff

Factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator ‎Ali Modu Sheriff, has said that he will send a petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmoud Mohammed and the National Judicial Council against some judges of the Federal High Court in the country.
He alleged that some of the judges had demonstrated what he described as unethical behaviour.
He further alleged that the unnamed judges ought to be removed from the system in order to restore sanity to Nigeria’s judiciary.
‎Sheriff, who is currently contesting the national leadership of the party, spoke at an emergency press conference in Abuja‎ on Tuesday.

He said that he was shocked by the order issued by the Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt in which Justice Watila Mohammed validated tomorrow’s national convention in the state on the ground that the July 4 2016 which upheld the decision taken at the May 21, 2016 convention was still subsisting.
Sheriff was full of praises for President Muhammadu Buhari, who he said was able to identify the key problems with Nigeria’s Judiciary.
‎He expressed his frustration and disappointment on the ruling of the Port Harcourt division of the Federal high court.
Sheriff said, “‎We are shocked even with that ruling. All the judges in Nigeria are on annual vacation.
“We have been in court with all of them for the past one month on an issue that a judge went into in Port Harcourt which started on Friday; people went and filed court cases on Thursday and got an exparte motion, which has been frowned at by the judiciary for now.
“Most stakeholders in the judiciary don’t want exparte motion because it denies justice to others.
“But let’s accept that the judge decided to do that. The life span of the exparte motion is 14 days, which means you have time to serve the other people to respond.
“On that Thursday, the judge gave exparte motion. The next day he converted that exparte motion to interlocutory order. On Monday, he sat and heard the main case to give a ruling or judgement today at 2pm without allowing us as defendants to defend ourselves.”‎
Sheriff further alleged that “This morning, when our lawyers went to court, the judge authorised all the registry staff to run away.
“It took our lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria to call everybody in Nigeria that this judiciary should not be destroyed. From 9am till now (4pm), they are receiving our own response to the application.

Pogba’s Agent, Mino Raiola Buys Legendary Gangster Al Capone’s £7m Miami Home

Mino Raiola has dipped into his massive earnings from brokering major transfer deals which include – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba’s world-record £89m transfer to Manchester United, by splashing £7m on a breathtaking Miami villa, once owned by notorious gangster Al Capone. ​

The south Florida property has seven bedrooms, a mini private beach and a seven-foot wall to protect the entire property. There is also a large swimming pool with stunning views of Biscayne Bay. Al Capone bought the property back in 1928 and remained within the family after his death in 1947.

The super agent has enjoyed a fruitful summer so far representing some of the most high-profile footballers on the planet.

Defiant Makarfi Declares PDP Convention Open At Rivers Govt House

In spite of a court order and sealing off of the Sharks Stadium, Port Harcourt, the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee has gone ahead with the National Convention of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at Rivers State Government House.
Senator Makarfi declared the convention opened on Wednesday at the Government House amid cheers from party chieftains in attendance.

Edo gov: I’m PDP’s candidate, says Sheriff’s man

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Ahead of the September 10, 2016 governorship election in Edo State, Mr. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen has said he, and not Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Iduoriyekemwen, at a world press conference on Tuesday, reportedly accused the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the PDP of misinforming the people of Edo State and destroying the party in the state.
He also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of being partisan, claiming that the commission had deliberately refused to obey court orders given in favour of the Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the PDP, which produced him as the party’s governorship candidate in Edo.
Iduoriyekemwen said, “The INEC has been behaving in a manner that has shown clear partisanship in the internal affairs of the PDP, openly making comments that tend to rubbish the court process.

“You will be surprised that when we were busy campaigning, reaching out to voters, to show INEC’s bias, on June 20, one Deputy Director of Public Affairs in INEC said they won’t monitor the Sheriff primaries.
“In another event the same man said INEC had yet to take a decision since Sheriff had gone to court. And some people said INEC did not monitor our primaries.
According to Ideuoriyekemwen, the Electoral Act is very clear and does not make it mandatory for INEC to be present in a primary as it only says INEC may or may not attend.
He said, “I read the other day (that) INEC published 19 candidates for Edo governorship poll and my question is: when did INEC monitor the primaries of other parties because I am in Edo State? And in that publication, with the intent to mislead the Edo people not to vote for the PDP, because you could see that recently a lot of the PDP leaders are moving to the APC because they know that the candidate that is supposedly being paraded by the party is not the candidate that they know can deliver the party in the next election.
“And when it got to the party, they wrote Ize-Iyamu’s name, they said court order. I am here to challenge INEC to tell us what they meant by that court order. Which court order are they obeying? Because there are a lot of court orders which said INEC should only deal with the Modu Sheriff faction. But INEC has continued to play politics to deceive the Edo people. But we are determined to get justice.
“I remain the candidate of the party and sooner or later the courts will pronounce the truth.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Imam of the Benin Central Mosque, Alhaji Abdul-Fatai Enabulele, on Tuesday called on political parties to caution their young supporters against disrupting the poll.
Enabulele made the call during a Town Hall meeting, organised by a German non-governmental organisation, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, in Benin, the state capital.
The event was attended by security chiefs and other personnel of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Prisons Service, Nigerian Immigration Service and the Nigerian Fire Service.
Also present were representatives of different political parties.
The Muslim cleric said, “The politicians will tell you that there will be peace and tranquility, but almost all the political parties have foot soldiers. Those are the youth who commit havoc (and) violence; those are the thugs.
“This, I want to appeal to them to caution their foot soldiers. If you do not win today, you can win tomorrow. It is not a do-or-die affair.”

PDP convention: Our decision remains valid, court insists

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has declared that July 4, 2016 ruling of Justice M. Liman on the decision of the National Convention that removed the former acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic People, Ali Modu Sheriff, remains valid.
Delivering a judgment on Suit Number FHC/PH /CS /585/2016, filed by Senator Ben Obi for himself and other members of the National Planning Committee of the PDP, against the Inspector-General of Police, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, the Department of State Services and the Independent National Electoral Commission, Justice Ibrahim Watila insisted that since the July 4 judgement had not been set aside by a higher court, its judgement remained effective.
Justice Watila specifically said that the 1st, 3rd and 5th defendants in the matter; Inspector General of Police, Department of State Services and the Independent National Electoral Commission were also bound by the July ruling.
Senator Ben Obi had asked the court to rule on whether the July 4, 2016 judgement was binding on the 1st, 3rd and 5th defendants in the matter.

The trial judge explained that the court was always jealous of its ruling until it was set aside by a higher court, maintaining that, “Every authority expected to carry out a court judgement should not assist in flouting such court orders.”
“This court will not shy away from protecting the sanctity of its judgment. The court has held that the appointment of the PDP National Caretaker Committee is valid,” he added.

BREAKING: Police seal off PDP convention venue

The Force headquarters said it has sealed off the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt, the venue of the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party.
It was learnt that policemen stormed the venue of the convention around 4am on Wednesday.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Donald Awunah, disclosed this during a programme on Channels Television titled, ‘Sunrise Daily’.
Awunah said the primary responsibility of the police was to protect life and prevent crisis. He added that due to the tension surrounding the convention and the conflicting court rulings, the police thought it best to seal off the venue.

He said, “The warring parties need to follow due process to end their crisis through the courts and as a law enforcement agency what do you do? You ensure that there is a superior court order. It is not about taking sides.
“If in the next one hour or two, we get another court order, we will take action. We are there for every Nigerian but when you are the first responder, you have to take action, you have to be proactive.”

Court stops PDP convention, warns INEC

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Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday re-affirmed his Monday’s interim order stopping the Peoples Docratic Party from going ahead with its plan to conduct its national convention slated for Wednesday.
The judge on Tuesday turned the interim order into an interlocutory injunction that will subsist till the time the substantive suit is heard and determined.
He adjourned the hearing of the case till September 7, and gave a stern warning to the Chairman and Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission, not to monitor the planned convention.
The judge, who faulted the decision of the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court to assume jurisdiction on the case relating to the PDP convention, also directed that his order be endorsed with Form 48 (Notice of disobedience of court order) and served on the INEC chairman and secretary.

He said failure by INEC or any of the defendants to comply with his order “will attract disciplinary action” provided “the plaintiffs ‎know what to do.”
He made the order after the plaintiffs, comprising the factional National Chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff and others, moved their motion praying for the interlocutory order on ‎Tuesday.
The judge held that the motion was not opposed as the respondents, including members of Ahmed Makarfi-led ‎caretaker committee of the party, failed to file a counter-affidavit opposing the motion.
He said the Makarfi-led caretaker committee members who were only on Tuesday joined as the third to the ninth respondents adopted strategy of not filing counter-affidavit but other processes that were not found in the court file.
“They must sink and float with their legal strategy,” the judge ruled.
Justice Abang said the request for an adjournment by their counsel, Mr. Yunus Ustaz (SAN) and Chief Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), asking for an adjournment after the plaintiffs’ counsel, Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), had moved his motion was an afterthought.
Counsel for the PDP, Mr. Olagoke Fakule (SAN) and that of INEC, Alhassan Umar, did not oppose the application.
The judge ruled, “In any case, the plaintiffs’ application ‎is not opposed by any of the parties. The law must take its course. The facts placed before this court are unchallenged by the respondents when they had the opportunity to do so. The facts deposed to by the plaintiffs are credible.”
The judge blamed the Port Harcourt division of the Federal High Court for the conflicting orders that had so far been issued by him and from Port Harcourt.
Justice Abang said the Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta, having first assigned the case relating to PDP convention to him as far back as July 4, the Port Harcourt division ought to have drawn the CJ’s attention to the a case later filed with respect to the same subject matter.