NASS to impeach Dogara, as govt discovers firm supplying arms to militants – Paper Review

The battle between legislators in the lower chamber has continued to rage, even as there are reports that over 200 members of the House are poised to see that Speaker Yakubu Dogara steps down.

Nigerian Dailies for today, August 5 have their headlines wrapped around the war within the National Assembly and the issues regarding militancy.

The Punch reports that former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Mr.Abdulmumin Jibrin, says at least 250 out of the 360 members of the House have signed a petition calling for the probe and removal of the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

He added that the Department of State Services had beefed up security around him due to threats he had been receiving.

Jibrin said this on Thursday during a programme on Africa Independent Television, titled,‘Focus Nigeria.’

The lawmaker claimed that some of his colleagues even demanded that they marched down to the secretariat of the appropriations committee, but he told them that it was not yet time to do so.

Jibrin said part of the demands of the lawmakers was that Dogara should immediately reconvene the House, which is on holiday, and then step down and allow a thorough probe of the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

He, also, said Dogara had become jittery and had refused to give in to their demands.

He said the intention of Dogara was to ensure that the House remained on recess until September when the tension would have been doused.

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He said: “I am not alone, I am with many members. Yesterday (Wednesday), a lot of them said they wanted to go to the secretariat with me, but I said no. I didn’t want us to make the thing to look like a movie.

“We have the transparency group and it did not just start now; so no one can say Jibrin initiated it. It was formed even before we went on holiday. Anyone that says we are lying must be a joker because there were about 200 signatures before we left for holiday.

“Now, they have increased to about 250. Another group has emerged aside the integrity group and these groups have come together and all they are asking Mr. Speaker to do is to reconvene the House immediately and step down, but the body language of Mr. Speaker and a few corrupt people around him is that the issue would have died down when we resume in September and Nigerians would have forgotten.

“You are corrupt and you are talking about September. What we are asking for is that Mr. Speaker should reconvene the House immediately and step down so that internal and external investigations can go on concurrently.”

Vanguard takes a look at events unfolding with regards to the fight against militancy and terrorism, reporting that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), Thursday, disclosed that explosives experts dispatched to conduct investigations into the incessant bombing of oil facilities in Niger Delta, have uncovered the diversion of about 9,000kg of high explosives and 16,420 pieces of detonators for illegal use.

Monguno made the startling revelation at a meeting with local manufacturers of fertilizers and read the riot act to two fertilizer companies, Notore Petrochemical and Indorama Eleme Petrochemical companies, for allegedly shortchanging Nigerians by causing fertilizer shortages through illegal export of the product outside the country.

Throwing more light on the explosives and detonators in Abuja, a visibly angry NSA said: “The major actors, including the store man of a major explosives distribution company in Nigeria, an accomplice and five security operatives have been arrested and handed over to appropriate authorities.

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“Right now, investigations are being conducted and I can assure you that they are deeply culpable and necessary actions will be taken on conclusion of investigation. “Let me also reiterate that any individual or company that operates outside the confines of legitimacy will have itself to blame.

“We also want to add that the government of the day will not want to listen to any influence peddler in the society on behalf of any company that decides to sabotage national security.”

In the same vein, The Nation reports that the federal government has uncovered a firm which supplies militants the explosives with which they have been bombing oil installations in the Niger Delta.

The firm was said to have diverted 9,000 kilogrammes of nitro-glycerine explosives and 16,420 pieces of detonators to the militants for “illegal use”.

National Security Adviser (NSA) Maj.-Gen. Muhammed Babagana Monguno yesterday said investigation revealed that the explosives allegedly diverted by Nigerian Development and Construction Company (NDCC) based in Koko, Delta State, were being used by militants to bomb oil installations and facilities.

According to him, an inventory of the records of explosive magazines and quarries in the region, revealed the diversion of a large quantity of explosives and pieces of detonators.

NDCC, an importer and seller of explosives, has been sealed off, and its explosive’s licence withdrawn.

The company has also been blacklisted.

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Six people –  a store officer and five security operatives – have been arrested and are being interrogated, Gen. Monguno said.

He added: “Right now investigations have been conducted and I can assure you they are deeply culpable and appropriate actions will be taken. Let me once again reiterate that  any individual or company that operates outside the confines of legitimacy and legality will find himself or itself to blame.  I also want to add that the government  of the day will not listen to any influence peddler  in the society on behalf of any company that decides to sabotage national security.”

Further explaining the development, Minister of Solid Minerals Development Dr Kayode Fayemi, in a statement by his media aide, Yinka Oyebode, said: “This is in addition to the blacklisting of the company and withdrawal of its explosive licences.

“The development is sequel to investigations by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), which revealed that the company was involved in illegal diversion of about 9,000 kg of Nitro-glycerine explosives and 16,420 pieces of electrical detonators from its magazines between 2015 and 2016.”

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that the expected oil-related N820 billion revenue to finance the 2016 budget is being threatened by the recent reduction of prices for Arab light by the world’s highest producer of crude oil, Saudi Arabia.

The federal government had pegged the 2016 budget on crude oil benchmark of $38 a barrel and 2.2 million barrels per day production, which would have earned the country N840 billion this year.

Besides the low oil prices, the country’s production output has been brought down to 1.4 million barrels daily on account of attacks on oil facilities by the militants, thereby making the anticipated crude oil revenue unrealistic.

At 1.4 million barrels, Nigeria is already having a shortfall of 800,000 barrels daily, representing 25 per cent of the 2.2 million barrels per day targeted output.

Using the current price of $40 a barrel, the country is losing about $32 million (N10 billion) daily and N300 billion monthly to production shut-in.

The recent decision by Saudi Arabia to cut its crude oil prices for United States (U.S.) and Asian markets is already putting pressure on Nigeria to follow suit.

As such, Nigeria will experience even higher losses if it succumbed to pressure to join the global price war for market share by also slashing the prices of its oil grades.

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Some industry experts are warning that if Nigeria delayed in cutting price, it may lose its crude oil buyers to Saudi Arabia.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has reduced the prices of its premium oil grades, Bonny Light and Qua Iboe, to arrest declining demand. The NNPC also lowered the official selling price last year for Nigeria’s largest crude oil stream, Qua Iboe and Dated Brent.

But other industry experts argued that whether the country slashed prices or not, the ability of crude oil revenue meeting set targets in the 2016 budget remained a mirage, with less than six months into the end of the year. They stressed the need for the Federal Government to address the challenges facing its oil production, including militancy in the Niger Delta and lack of transparency.

Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, the Head of Energy Research, Ecobank Capital, Dolapo Oni, argued that Nigeria would have to offer more discounts to enable it to secure its market share, which translates to lower revenue for the government.

“Lower prices just mean that Nigeria too will have to sell at a discount because the bulk of our oil is going to Asia and Europe. So, it means for us to be able to sell our crude oil, we have to offer massive discounts in Asia, especially. It is not a good thing for Nigeria.”

He called on the new Secretary-General of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Muhammed Barkindo, to prevail on member-countries to reach an agreement to curb price reduction in order to tackle the current challenges.

According to him, OPEC needs to work together to influence prices positively as slashing by Saudi Arabia will greatly affect the market share of member-countries apart from Nigeria.

Daily Sun reports that outrage and condemnations yesterday trailed  Justice Dahiru Saleh’s comment that he, not former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election. The election has been acclaimed the freest and fairest in the nation’s political annal.

The controversial former judge who broke his 23-year studied silence when he spoke with The Interview magazine, absolved Babangida of any blame, even when the retired army general had severally accepted responsibility for the annulment of the election won by the late businessman, Chief MKO Abiola.

Saleh maintained he had no regrets whatsoever cancelling the June 12 polls. “And I have no regrets, none whatever. No regrets. I would repeat the same thing now.

“The former president did nothing of the sort,” he said when asked if Babangida forced the judgment on him.
The cancellation of the election prior to the final announcement of results threw the country into months of chaos as angry Nigerians resisted the decision.

But Saleh, who was the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court at the time, blamed the late Abiola and the defunct Social Democratic Party on which platform he vied for not challenging the judgment.

“If Abiola wasn’t happy with the case, he could have appealed it to the Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court,” he said .

“The judicial system was still open but he chose not to follow it. Why no one followed up the annulment of the election in the higher courts is best known to members of Abiola’s party at that time.

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“If he, as an individual, was not interested, there must have been other people who would be interested to see the end of the story but they didn’t appeal.”

But reaction to the statement, Ijeje James told Saleh  to tell his tales to the wind. “You will pay for the confusion you and your group caused,” he added.

Leading lawyers and Senior Advocate, Emeka Ngige Emeka Ngige and Femi Falana also reacted.

“Some people would do something grievously wrong, they would be remorseful thereafter; others may do worse and remain brazenly defiance.  So, the issue of the role he played in the annulment of that election and what he was reportedly said is matter conscience,” Ngige who said Saleh had already been punished by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for official misconduct said.

According to Ngige, when the report of Justice Eso panel was revisited, although he had retired from the bench, his retirement was committed to compulsory retirement, having been indicted for misconduct on the bench.

As far as Falana is concerned, “it is grossly incorrect to say that it was not the Babangida junta which annulled the June 12 election and that Chief  Abiola and his party did not file an appeal against the ruling.”

He cautioned Saleh against giving the “dangerous impression that it was the judiciary which annulled the election. More so, that it has since been confirmed that the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) was set up and funded by the military junta to sabotage the political transition programme and thereby prolong military rule in Nigeria.

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