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Friday, 30 June 2017
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Gunmen shoot detective probing judges, others
EFCC investigator receives treatment for gunshot wounds
Gunmen have shot a top Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator, Mr. Austin Okwor.
The victim was said to be handling some “sensitive” cases, including those of some judicial officers.
But the EFCC said Okwor, who escaped death by the whiskers, was responding to treatment. He had been receiving threat messages before the incident.
A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of the anti-graft agency, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said the incident had been reported to the police for investigation.
The statement said: “A top investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on June 24, 2017 escaped death by the whiskers when gunmen opened fire on him in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
“Mr. Austin Okwor, an operative in the Property Fraud Section of the EFCC Zonal office in Port Harcourt, had closed late for the day and as he left office, he was suddenly accosted by a gang of daredevil hoodlums who opened fire on him.
“Luckily for him, he was able to shake off his assailants but not without sustaining some bullet wounds as they kept firing at him. He was rushed to a private hospital in Port Harcourt where he is receiving treatment.
“According to Ishaq Salihu, Head of the Zonal office, the incident has already been reported to the Police in Port Harcourt.
“Okwor is one of the operatives investigating some sensitive cases, including that pertaining to corrupt judicial officials
“Before the incident, the officer had been receiving threat messages. One of such messages, which he received sometime in May 2017, was reported to the Police.
“This incident underlines the hazards which operatives of the Commission are daily exposed to in the discharge of their duties.
“In 2010, precisely September 14, the head of the Commission’s Forensic Unit, Abdullahi Muazu, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Kaduna.
“Six months earlier, a team of prosecutors returning to Enugu after a court appearance in Owerri, Imo State was attacked by gunmen who opened fire on them. Sergeant Eze Edoga, the police escort, was cut down while a senior counsel with the Commission, Joseph Uzor, was critically wounded but survived.”
Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Our refinery‘ll transform economy, says Dangote
Dangote Group’s investment in oil and gas will transform the economy from a single commodity market to a sustainable diversified economy, Chief Executive Aliko Dangote has said.
His mission is to reverse Nigeria’s import-dependency to self-sufficiency in commodities it has spent its earnings to import, the frontline businessman said.
Dangote told a forum of international business leaders and Nigerian business from the Lagos Business School (LBS) at his multi-billion dollars refinery site in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, that on completion of the projects next year, 60,000 direct jobs and millions of indirect jobs would have been created.
He said the landscape on which the refinery project was being built is six times bigger than the size of Victoria Island in Lagos. The site of Dangote Petrochemical Project is 10 times bigger than Eleme Petrochemical Industry in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Describing the refinery as the largest single-train petrochemical facility in the world, Dangote said the crude oil processing factory is designed to refine 650,000 barrels per day. He said the facility is completely designed for Nigerian crude oil, with flexibility to process products from other countries. He added that he is building Africa’s largest urea plant to produce three million tons of fertilizers yearly.
He said: “Everything we are doing here is basically to transform the Nigerian economy. And it is not only to transform, but to also diversify our economy from single commodity market. We are taking a bold step through this petrochemical project to create values that would help us to achieve this aim.”
Noting that his business had grown from a commodity trading company to a diversified global conglomerate in the last two decades, Dangote said he was pumping huge resources into energy production and agriculture across West Africa to close the deficit in food production and export.
The businessman said his company’s EWOGGS Pipeline Project would unlock significant gas supply to address the country’s energy needs, which he said required billion of dollars annual investment.
Dangote lamented the high cost of electricity supplied to industries, saying his businesses depended wholly on the energy generated by his company, which, he said, is cheaper than public electricity.
He said his company made the greatest impact on the Nigerian economy on investment in cement, which, he said, made the country to move out of import-dependency to self-sufficiency. He said his firm had mapped out strategies to re-create similar feats in agriculture, energy, construction, fertilizer and petrochemical sectors to drive economic growth.
The objective, he said, is to make Nigeria have multiple sources of revenue generation and create a platform for irreversible growth in diverse sectors of the economy.
Dangote said: “What made Nigeria to go into recession was lack of growth. Unless growth is happening in different sectors of the economy, it would be very difficult for the economy to sustain itself. I believe that until Nigeria diversifies its economy, we would be coming out of one problem to the other, because the economy cannot rely on oil alone.
“We are investing heavily in agriculture and this is one area people don’t understand, the impact of farming on the economy. Ethiopia, as a country, depends largely on agriculture and grows its economy. Its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) did not collapse unlike what we experience in Nigeria, which largely depends on oil. This is a lesson for us. Agriculture is expanding and we have no choice than to implement major restructuring and diversification of the economy.”
Dangote said the success of his company in the last two decades rested on five pillars: investment strategy, which includes identifying where to play, efficient execution of business plans, effective personnel, integration and driving of efficiency across value chain, and local sourcing of raw materials.
He added that he had the habit of taking the risk of investing at the period when investors are afraid of venturing into investment.
Dangote hailed the Federal Government’s FOREX policy, saying there had been over $2.3 billion fresh capital inflow since the reforms were carried out in the FOREX market. He said more capital inflow would be experienced if the government further relaxed the FX policy.
On his expansion across Africa, Dangote said his brand had moved from commodity trading to energy production in Senegal. The company makes extra profit by selling excess energy it generated to Senegalese communities at cheap rate.
Despite improved political stability, settled macro-economic environment and rapidly expanding middle-class in Africa, Dangote said the collapse of commodity prices, huge infrastructure deficit, corruption and low intra-trade agreements remained the bane of the continent’s growth.
He called on African leaders to abolish restrictive visa procedures and tariff regimes, noting that the continent would be shut against foreign investments if its borders were not easily accessible. He cited Angola as an example of countries into which investors might find difficult to venture, because of stringent visa procedure.
The forum featured an interactive session during which the billionaire answered questions from the business executives. There was also a tour of the refinery.
Evans: Our lives in danger, say victims
•Dunu attacks police over worker’s release
Some victims of suspected kingpin, Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike aka Evans, are worried that they may be harmed by yet-to-be arrested members of his gang.
One of them, Chief Donatus Dunu whose escape led to Evans arreste, decried the release by the court of his worker, Emeka Egbulugha who he claimed facilitated his kidnap.
Another victim, who refused to be named, said he was freed after six months in the gang’s den, adding that he has since kept a low profile
He said it took him two months after his release to recollect how to sign his cheque.
He said: “I am yet to get over the shock of my kidnap. Honestly, I am afraid to talk about it because I believe a lot of his members are still walking free. The police have done well by arresting him but they should round up all his other gang members.
“I was detained for six months until my family paid the last dime demanded. I have been hiding since my release. I know the trauma Evans and his members put me through. Till this day, I get scared when his name is mentioned. It took me two months before I could sign my cheque.
“Now, I heard that criminal is begging for forgiveness and that people are even campaigning for his release. Has he forgotten the damage he did to my family and many others? The police should please ensure his other members walking free are caught. That’s the only way I can feel safe.”
Dunu, said the release of Emeka and others has placed his life and those of his family members under threat. He insisted that he heard Emeka’s voice and also saw him at the Igando den, where he was detained for more than two months.
He said: “Nobody should have allowed those suspected workers in my company to be granted bail in any guise because I have evidence of the active participation of, particularly, Emeka, my pharmacist. Releasing him has worsened my plight and that of my family.
“Why should police release Emeka, the chief accomplice in my kidnap? I not only heard his voice while in captivity, but saw him there few days after my kidnap. He came asking them where I was kept. When they showed him, he opened the door where they kept me in chains and our eyes met. Though I was blindfolded, I was about eating when I heard his voice and I normally remove the blind. That was how I saw him and I had the greatest shock of my life.
“He was always there with my abductors. His voice is unmistakable to me having stayed with him since 2003. The man in charge of the den, Uche, whom he claimed he does not know, speaks the same dialect with him. He is the person Emeka met each time he visited. There was also another member of the gang who spoke the Abakaliki dialect of Yoruba and I don’t know whether those arrested have confessed about his whereabouts to the police.
“I have a strong feeling that Uche and Emeka are from the same town because they speak the same dialect. Those guarding me were initially two. When the Abakaliki man travelled on Easter Monday, they brought another person to replace him. That one is very sick because he was coughing constantly. I knew that the Abakaliki man travelled because I heard Emeka discussing with Uche, asking whether he had travelled and Uche said, yes.
“That same Easter Monday, I overheard Emeka and Uche saying “We will kill him. We have no alternative until chairman comes back.”
“Two weeks after, chairman came back and I knew whenever he visited because they shut all the doors and switch on the generator perhaps, to stifle their discussions. His visit did not last more than 10 minutes and that was the first and only time he came to the den while I was there. That same night, the Abakaliki man brought noodle for my dinner.
“He told me to eat so that I will have enough energy to face ‘us at the canal.’ They later told me that canal is where they use to ‘bath’ their captives and I concluded that it means where they killed their victims. I was made to understand that the Abakaliki man is the one that would kill me if chairman gives the order.
“That was when I realised the killing they were discussing with Emeka was about to take place. Earlier, I thought that the killing they were discussing must be probably another person. But after this canal; discussion, I now knew that I was their target. After that, I overheard Emeka again, about two weeks later, discussing with Uche saying ‘If they want to kill him, they should kill him. In fact, kill him.’
“Then, their last discussion was on Wednesday before my escape on Friday. I heard Emeka again asking whether they had killed me. They said no, it was going to be Friday night. That was when I concluded that it was all over.”
Asked if he had any disagreement with Emeka before his kidnap, Dunu said the only thing he remembered was making some adjustments after he suspected Emeka was fleecing him.
He said: “I suspected that he and some of my boys were stealing goods from my warehouse and I made changes, which I suspect did not favour him. I strongly suspect that this must be his motive to connive with those kidnappers. In fact, before my abduction, we had a meeting with a foreign partner and I remember vividly that during one of my telephone conversations with their chairman whom I suspect is Evans, he asked me who the two ladies in my office were the same day I was kidnapped.
“Emeka came to the office that same day and those ladies were with me. Why did the chairman ask that question? Who told him that I was with two ladies in my office? These are the unanswered questions police should have asked.
“Secondly, my kidnappers told me that they have a group picture of my staff which we took last January. We use to meet every January and all the sales representatives including Emeka attended. They also claimed they went to take inventory of the goods in my warehouse. Yes, they did but we are still auditing to know whether goods were missing or not.
“Even, an account opening document was found in Emeka’s official car before he was taken to the anti-kidnapping unit after his arrest. Emeka was the only visitor that came to the den while I was there. He was not an ordinary friend to those that guarded me.
“I feel so bad that the police allowed the court to set him free thereby endangering my life. I don’t think the police carried out a thorough investigation after the so-called identification parade which was simply a charade. I am calling on the police authorities to do the needful by re-arresting Emeka and investigating him thoroughly.”
Why suspect got bail, by police
The police have explained how Emeka was released.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Administration, Dansuki Galandashi, said Emeka and two others, Kingsley and Tochukwu, were arrested and charged to court on May 17. The suspects, he said, were remanded in prison custody before court granted them bail on June 23.
“Before they were granted bail, Evans was arrested. We did an identification parade and they said they did not know Evans. Evans also claimed not to know any of them. “Since the Inspector-General of Police (IGP’s) creed is to inspire openness, we had no choice than to charge the case to court. The court looked at the evidences and released the suspects. The police did not release them, the court did,” Galandashi said.
Dad dumps three-year-old son in hospital
The case was one of several explosions reported earlier this year, when adulterated kerosene flooded Calabar.
Ozillia’s mother and brother, who were also affected by, died of severe burns.
A Good Samaritan, Mrs. Theresa Etido-Umoren, who had gone to visit her relation in the Intensive Care Unit of the UCTH noticed Ozillia’s situation took it upon herself to bring the situation to the public.
Her outcry had attracted the attention of members of the Calabar-Municipal branch of the National Association of Seadogs (NAS), which intervened with a donation of N20, 000 and a follow up of another N50, 000 yesterday.
Etido-Umoren said, “I noticed her when I went to the ICU to visit my cousin who later died. I noticed this little girl, Ozillia, and I made inquiries about her. In the course of my inquiries I found out that nobody was caring for her.
“The hospital staff had taken her like their project. I had to go and see the head of Anaesthesia department and told her what I could do and they gave the go-ahead. The staff at the Anaesthesia department had taken up the responsibility of caring for her when they discovered that her father had stopped coming to see her.
“The child had been in the hospital for about two months without the father. The child’s mother and brother had died in the fire incident. So, I had to reach out to people and the first donation came from Seadogs.
“From what I understand, the father is from Benin Republic and the mother was from Akwa Ibom State but they were not legally married before this incident. In addition to the grief of losing his family, he was made to marry the corpse of the mother before the burial.”
Etido-Umoren urged members of the public to support the victim in order to complete the remaining surgeries.
The Head of Department of Anaesthesia, Prof. Stella Eguma, who manages the ICU, said the three-year-old girl had just undergone her first major surgery.
She said, “We have been taking care of her for some time now, while public spirited human beings like you have just stepped in now. She just had the first surgery. She will need a lot of grafting because the skin was not enough. It is going to be a long recovery process and we are happy that she is responding.”
President of the Calabar Municipal branch of NAS, Mr. John Nya, said the association felt touched by the development and had to intervene immediately.
“This matter was brought to our attention just three days ago and we instantly swung into action by sending in N20, 000 through the lady that brought up the matter. We have again brought another N50, 000 and it will not stop there. In fact, in the next two days we would have given N100, 000 for a start.
“The situation of this little Ozillia is very traumatic. We will drum support for her treatment. It is a worthy cause. We, as an organization, have always identified with the less privileged and we will continue to do that within our resources,” he said.
In March this year 17 persons were admitted to the UCTH following severe degrees of burns meted on them as a result of an explosion linked to kerosene adulteration. One of them had died then.
Commissioner for Health Dr. Asibong Inyang who had visited the victims at the hospital had promised that State Government would investigate the occurrence and bring to justice those behind the adulteration.
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Monday, 26 June 2017
Sunday, 25 June 2017
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