Nigeria News De Jour - Thursday 22 May 1997
Mobolaji E. Aluko
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Nigeria News De Jour - Thursday 22 May 1997
A Selection of Public and Private News on Nigeria
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ABACHA SAYS DELAY IN LIBERIA POLL MUST BE SHORT
General Sani Abacha yesterday told West African heads of state meeting in
Abuja to fix a new date for general elections in Liberia not to delay the
polls too long. Liberian parties want the presidential and general
elections, originally scheduled for May 30, to be postponed for logistic
and security reasons. ``It should be borne in our minds that while a
reasonable extension is inevitable, a long extension may have serious
consequences for the Liberian peace process,'' Abacha told the opening
session of the one-day West African summit. But opposition groups reacted
sharply saying ''charity begins at home''. Foreign Minister, Chief Tom
Ikimi said a new date for the poll, crucial to consolidating the end of
Liberia's seven year civil war, will be announced at the end of the
meeting. Among those attending are the presidents of Ghana, Burkina Faso,
Mali, Niger and Benin. Others sent representatives. The May date was part
of a peace plan brokered in Abuja last August by ECOWAS, of which Abacha
is chairman, and backed by the Nigerian-led African peacekeeping force
ECOMOG. Abacha said ECOMOG troops could not be in Liberia forever. He said
the costs put forward for the polls had been scaled down by half to $4.1
million and Taiwan had donated $1 million ``without strings attached''
while Ghana gave ballot boxes. Most of the Liberian leaders have called
for a postponement of the vote until August or September for security
reasons, logistics and lack of voter education. But Liberian leaders who
have been meeting in Abuja for the past week said the polls were likely to
be held in July, going by proposals put forward by the independent
electoral commission which sought a delay of 50 days to allow for more
preparations. The Liberian leaders, including former warlords, tribal
chiefs, politicians and representatives of the electoral commission, met
Abacha last Friday ahead of Wednesday's talks. ``It is important that we
do not do anything to dislocate the progress made so far,'' Ghana's
President Jerry Rawlings told the Abuja summit. The meeting will also
decide whether there should be separate ballots for the presidential and
legislative elections or whether they should be held at the same time.
Freed American slaves founded Liberia in 1847. The war has killed more
than 150,000 people and displaced half the pre-war population of 2.5
million. Hundreds of thousands of Liberians are refugees in neighbouring
Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria.
WOLE SOYINKA APPLAUDS NEW DEMOCRATIC COALITION
Nobel Prize winner Professor Wole Soyinka has applauded the decision of 22
prodemocracy groups in the country for forming a coalition. In a statement
issued on behalf of the United Democratic Front of Nigeria (UDFN), Soyinka
said the UDFN pledged its solidarity to the common struggle against the
military. ''As long as one Nigerian, however lowly, is in chains, the
entire nation is enslaved'' he said. '' As long as any individual is
deprived of a voice, deprived of unfettered participation in the shaping
of his or her nation's destiny, we all are no better than a collection of
zombies, manipulated by sinister puppeteurs towards our collective doom''
he added. Another grand alliance of pro-democracy groups in the country
was formed last weekend with the aim of wrestling power from the military.
The alliance, known as United Action for Democracy (UAD), is a coalition
of 22 existing pro-democracy groups.
FELA'S CASE ADJOURNED
A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday adjourned till June 2, the 100
million naira suit instituted by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, against the National
Drug Enforcement Agency chairman, Major General Musa Bamaiyi.
GOVERNMENT BANS CALL-BACK TELEPHONE SYSTEM
Communications minister, Major-General Tajudeen Olarenwaju, said yesterday
that call-back telephone system was illegal in the country and operators
risked tough sanctions if caught. Under the system subscribers call
overseas numbers and are connected internationally and the cost of the
phone call is settled abroad. In a statement in the capital Abuja,
Major-General Olarenwaju said the system was inimical to the growth of
telecommunications network in developing countries. ``Nigeria is not alone
in declaring the call-back system illegal,'' he said, adding most
developing countries had done so in the interest of their
telecommunications industry. "Anyone caught operating it would be charged
under a decree on telecommunications offences which prescribes long jail
terms", he added. Telephone operators said the ban was a big blow to the
call-back system which was just beginning to take root in Nigeria.
MOBIL SACKS 2,000 WORKERS
A gale of retrenchment in the nation's oil sector has claimed 2,000
employees of Mobil Producing, Nigeria Limited. The down sizing was
effected along with the dismantling of three oil drilling fields. The
retrenchment was as a result of the government's indebtedness to oil
producing companies and the 40% cut in the funding of joint venture
operations as contained in this year's budget. Other oil producing
companies are expected to follow suit.
DEFENCE SPOKESMAN SAYS TRANSITION ON COURSE
Military authorities in Nigeria yesterday assured that the 1998 hand-over
date will still remain unaltered despite the insecurity and panic caused
by bomb attacks on its personnel. "The government is moving ahead with its
transition plan and the bomb blasts won't derail it," Col Godwin Ugbo told
defence correspondents in Lagos. Ugbo said experience had shown that
terrorism as practised in other parts of the world had failed to yield
positive results and would not help Nigeria, adding that "the military
condemn such acts of terrorism in its totality." While refusing to indict
any group, he said investigations were still on to unmask those behind the
three recent bomb explosions in the country. "Investigations are going on,
although it falls within the jurisdiction of the police, we only
complement their efforts, he added.
SECURITY CHIEFS MEET IN KADUNA
Federal and state security administrators began a two-day meeting in
Kaduna yesterday against the backdrop of growing insecurity in the
country, heightened by bomb blasts in major cities. Participating in the
discussions are senior security chiefs of the Directorate of Military
Intelligence, police, prison services, immigration, customs and directors
general of security.
STUDENTS CAUGHT WITH HUMAN SKULL
A police statement issued yesterday said law enforcement agents have
arrested 69 students in Port Harcourt suspected to be members of various
secret cults. Twenty of those arrested were identified as members of the
National Association of Seadogs. Various items, such as human skulls,
charms, axes, cutlasses and knives were recovered from them.
KARIBI-WHYTE LOSES ELECTION INTO INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL
The former chairman of the National Constitutional Conference, Justice
Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, who served as a judge of the international tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia since 1993, yesterday lost a re-election bid.
Nigeria withdrew his name from the ballot after he failed to garner the
required majority of votes in the five rounds of keenly contested election
conducted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The assembly
has selected 11 judges to a four year term each at the tribunal.
BANK'S BID TO BUY PINNACLE COMMERCIAL BANK FAILS
Moves by interested banks to acquire ailing Pinnacle Commercial Bank have
proved unsuccessful after prospective buyers failed to meet the demands of
the regulatory authorities. Sources at Fidelity Union Merchant Bank said
N300 million was offered against N800 million needed to return the bank to
a sound financial base.
FASHEHUN AND OTHERS SUE ABACHA
Chairman of Campaign for Democracy, CD, Dr Frederick Fasheun and ten
others who are being prosecuted for ''waging war against the federal
government through the use of bombs'', yesterday, filed an action against
General Abacha asking the court to compel him to effect immediate repairs
to the damaged NEPA cable and generator at the court of appeal for their
case to be heard. Others named as respondents in the case before the
federal high court, Lagos are, former head of state and now chairman of
the presidential task force, PTF, General Mohammadu Buhari and the finance
minister, Chief Anthony Ani. The plaintiffs, among others, want a
declaration that the inability or the failure of the court of appeal to
hear the applicants' claims and the continued inability to do so till
electricity is supplied amount to a denial of applicant's fundamental
human rights.
REFERENDUM GROUP TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN
A group claiming to be spearheading a national referendum with the hope of
endorsing Abacha's presidential ambition says it will reveal its campaign
next month. The president of the National Referendum movement, Dr. Babs
Hussain said the exact date and time of the launching would be known this
weekend. In a statement titled: "Referendum as imperative of Abacha's
continuity after 1998," Hussain said the referendum would spare Nigeria
"the agony of the usual hasty attitude to societal programmes which often
result in indiscernible solutions''. "if issues are made the centre point
around which General Abacha should continue or not after October 1998, the
political spectrum of Nigeria would be more meaningful and purposeful
rather than making the person of Abacha an issue." He hinted that as part
of the campaign, a book titled: "General Abacha on Nigeria's Threshold to
21st Century" would be launched later this month to give adequate reasons
why he should continue in office after October 1998.
NATIONAL OIL APPOINTS NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR
Orlando Ojo has been appointed by the Board of Directors of National Oil
and Chemical Marketing Company as the new Managing Director of the
company. He replaces Sylvester Okoli who retired after 32 years with the
company.
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IN BRIEF
More than 300 passengers were rescued when two engines of a ferry they
were travelling in failed midway between two jetties on either side of the
Lagos lagoon.
Arrangements have commenced for the next national census due to be held in
2001, says the chairman of the population commission Chris Ugokwe.
Air transport workers association praises Nigeria for its retaliatory
action in banning British Airways flights following a similar ban on
Nigeria Airways flights by Britain.
Political parties and agencies have resolved to recommend that the
military government should shift state governorship elections scheduled
for this year to next year.
A new law which will compel public enterprises to keep yearly accounting
records is in the works, according to a government source, who says the
aim is to instil transparency.
Snail rearers in Nigeria will soon form an association to facilitate
export of the commodity, says agriculturist Adeniyi Akinlade in the
southwestern city of Ibadan.
Banks and their customers found to have illegally acquired forex from
weekly auction are to refund the amounts with five percent interest and
will be blacklisted from taking part in future.
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