Nigerian News De Jour - Tuesday, March 11, 1997

[Mobolaji E. Aluko]

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Nigerian News De Jour - Tuesday 11 March 1997

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COURT ORDERS FASHEUN TO BE RELEASED
A Lagos high court yesterday, ordered the military government to free a
pro-democracy activist detained since December. Security authorities said
he was being held for a series of bombings that have rocked Lagos. It was
the second time the Lagos high court had ordered the release of Dr
Frederick Fasheun, who took over the chairmanship of the Campaign for
Democracy after its leader Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti was jailed for alleged
complicity in a coup plot. Government lawyers had objected to the release
order in January but Justice Mutiu Bioshogun said they had not shown enough
cause for him to rescind his order. Nigerian police have blamed the
umbrella opposition group Nadeco for the bombings. Nadeco denies any
involvement.

NIGERIA AIRWAYS DISMISSES MANAGING DIRECTOR
Crisis-ridden Nigeria Airways' managing director Group Captain Peter Gana
and seven senior management staff have been sacked, officials said. A
statement issued by the aviation ministry in Abuja yesterday said Gana
had been replaced by Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, managing director of a property
company in Lagos, Stallion Property and Development Company, Victoria
Island. Others relieved of their appointments are: Mr G.O. Jibodu, Mrs
Soetan-Ozah, Mr O.O. Idowu, Mr C. Iloeje, Mr A. Dunkwu and Mr I K Bruce.
Three new directors have been appointed. They are: Mallam Mohammed Buba,
(Administration), Dr I. Kbor, (Engineering Services) and Capt W.W. Atabor,
(Operations). The changes take effect from last Friday. No reasons were
given for the changes which heavily affected the engineering division of
the national carrier. Gana was appointed to the job in 1995 and had been
widely credited with attempts to revamp Nigeria Airways but recently the
airline has been enmeshed in scandal over maintenance of its DC-10 plane in
Miami, United States. Local newspapers allege that the cost of the
transaction skyrocketed to $6 million from the original estimate of $1.4
million and took six months to complete. Four Nigeria Airways engineers
who accompanied the aircraft to Miami were queried and suspended before
being sacked in the gale that swept the airline yesterday The national
carrier plunged into new controversy last week when the British authorities
barred its aircraft from flying into Britain over alleged lack of insurance
cover. The cash-strapped airline has since last year been shedding
hundreds of workers to stay afloat. Once a strong airline flying to
Europe, America and to other African nations, Nigeria Airways has shrunk to
a fleet of only three aircraft.

GOVT DEFENDS ITS HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
The federal government, yesterday, dismissed international criticism and
told a visiting African mission that it had an excellent human rights
record. "In comparison to other parts of the world, particularly the
developed countries, Nigeria's record on human rights is good if not
better,'' secretary to the government Alhaji Gidado Idris said. But local
rights campaigners say the team from the Gambia-based African Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rights, an Organisation of African Unity agency, is not
in a position to be objective. Some decided not to meet it. The visitors
have met officials overseeing the military government's transition to
democracy and visited the cities of Kaduna and Kano in the north and is
expected to head to Lagos today to meet opposition groups most of whom have
declined to meet the visitors saying the trip was meant to cover up for the
aborted United Nations mission.

UNHCR MEETING NOW IN SESSION
The golden jubilee meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission,
UNHCR, opened yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the resolutions
tabled before the world body, is a demand by Amnesty International for a
special country rapporteur to be appointed for Nigeria. At a news
conference last Thursday in Geneva, Nicholas Howen, Amnesty director of
legal programmes, disclosed that the special rapporteur would ensure that
previous recommendations by the commission to the Abacha regime, are
implemented. Howen also warned that the commission must act decisively
against those regimes, like Nigeria, which suppress human rights, or risk
becoming irrelevant to the problems of the real world. The meeting will
last six weeks.

NADECO ABROAD CALLS ON MILITARY TO OVERTHROW ABACHA
Nadeco Abroad, the external wing of the National Democratic Coalition, has
called on officers and men of the Nigerian Army to overthrow General
Abacha and invite "Chief MKO Abiola who won the 1993 presidential elections
to head a national government". In the March issue of its monthly
newsletter titled: Nadeco, Nigeria News Alert, the opposition group said
that the Nigerian military have now been openly brought into the centre
stage of the current political imbroglio by their commander-in-chief,
General Sani Abacha. Abacha had declared publicly that it is they, the
Nigerian military, which he called his constituency, that will decide
whether he succeeds himself as head of state in 1998. Nadeco gave
instances of countries in recent past, where their armed forces had
intervened into the chaos into which their countries were drifting adding
that their interference did not lead to the setting up of a military
government. Nadeco urged the military to respond now and insist on
respecting the wishes of the people as demonstrated in the 1993
presidential elections.

AMBASSADOR TO FACE FAILED CONTRACT TRIBUNAL
The former Chairman of the Hajj Presidential Task Force, Ambassador Jafaru
Koguna, who has been detained for alleged sabotage of the 1996 Muslim
pilgrimage to Mecca, is to appear before the Failed Contract Tribunal.
Reports said the ambassador who has been relieved of his duties as Nigerian
High Commissioner to the country of Niger had pledged to sell all his
properties to offset an estimated $16 million, originally scheduled for the
Saudi Aviation Authority which had gone missing.

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IN BRIEF

Chief Anthony Enahoro remains the undisputed leader of Nadeco Abroad, says
Chief Michael Ajasin.

Seven parents detained by the police in place of their children/wards, who
protested hike in fees at the Immaculate Conception College, Benin city,
have been released on bail after 2 days behind bars.

Guidelines for March 15 council elections released. Disqualified candidates
have been notified through various party secretariats. Federal government
cautions electoral commission against unnecessary disqualification of
candidates for March 15 local council polls.

Chairman of committee supervising the transition to civil rule programme
Justice Mamman Nasir says 1998 hand over to an elected president is
irrevocable.

Central bank raises interest rates on treasury bills to 6.3 percent from
around three percent previously to attract investments in debt instruments.

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