PDP INAUGURATES DIKKO DISCIPLINARY C’TTEE
After over three months of procrastination, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday inaugurated its disciplinary committee, with former minister of transport in the Second Republic, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, appearing in person to accept the responsibility of heading the committee.
Dikko was named chairman of the commit-tee since July but was not able to show up for the committee to be inaugurated as he was out of the country for medical treatment.
But the former minister came back to the country three weeks ago and doused appre-hensions over his capacity to take up the respon-sibility on health grounds, saying he was ready to take up the responsibility.
The former minister made good his pro-mise yesterday when he appeared for the inau-guration though he appeared frail and spoke with a voice that was just above whisper.
National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who inaugurated the seven-man committee that has another former minister, Ebenezer Babatope as vice chairman, said members of the committee were selected because of their track record and love for discipline.
Tukur who recalled the attempt to abduct Dikko during the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, said the attempt was because the military felt Dikko was championing the cause of democracy even outside Nigeria. He said the choice of Dikko as the chairman of the committee was informed by his readiness to defend democracy.
“You were chosen for this important com-mittee based on your past record and love for democracy. The members were well selected and they cannot be bought,” he stated.
The PDP national chairman said the com-mittee would not witch-hunt anyone, but would apply disciplinary measures on erring members of the party. Dikko, who spoke on behalf of the committee members, assured the party that they would do whatever is necessary to move the party forward.
Other members of the committee include Chief Ebenezer Babatope, deputy chairman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Shuaibu Oye-dokun, Hajiya Nana Aisha Quadir, Hussaini Kazaer and Onwe Solomon Onwe as secretary.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, who spoke with newsmen after the inauguration, explained that the committee is not about G-7 governors as nobody has filed any petition against any of them.
He explained that no disciplinary measure has been contemplated against the governors but said the party leadership has rather been meeting on how to reconcile them with the party stressing that some of the aggrieved members and the governors were founding members of the party.
In the case of Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is currently on suspension from the party, Metuh exonerated the party from his predicament, saying it was not the party that took the Rivers governor to court.
But the former minister came back to the country three weeks ago and doused appre-hensions over his capacity to take up the respon-sibility on health grounds, saying he was ready to take up the responsibility.
The former minister made good his pro-mise yesterday when he appeared for the inau-guration though he appeared frail and spoke with a voice that was just above whisper.
National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who inaugurated the seven-man committee that has another former minister, Ebenezer Babatope as vice chairman, said members of the committee were selected because of their track record and love for discipline.
Tukur who recalled the attempt to abduct Dikko during the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, said the attempt was because the military felt Dikko was championing the cause of democracy even outside Nigeria. He said the choice of Dikko as the chairman of the committee was informed by his readiness to defend democracy.
“You were chosen for this important com-mittee based on your past record and love for democracy. The members were well selected and they cannot be bought,” he stated.
The PDP national chairman said the com-mittee would not witch-hunt anyone, but would apply disciplinary measures on erring members of the party. Dikko, who spoke on behalf of the committee members, assured the party that they would do whatever is necessary to move the party forward.
Other members of the committee include Chief Ebenezer Babatope, deputy chairman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Shuaibu Oye-dokun, Hajiya Nana Aisha Quadir, Hussaini Kazaer and Onwe Solomon Onwe as secretary.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, who spoke with newsmen after the inauguration, explained that the committee is not about G-7 governors as nobody has filed any petition against any of them.
He explained that no disciplinary measure has been contemplated against the governors but said the party leadership has rather been meeting on how to reconcile them with the party stressing that some of the aggrieved members and the governors were founding members of the party.
In the case of Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is currently on suspension from the party, Metuh exonerated the party from his predicament, saying it was not the party that took the Rivers governor to court.
Boko Haram Militants In Kaduna Kill Policeman, Take Away His Rifle
Unknown gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram militants struck in Kaduna metropolis tonight along Western By-Pass Express Way killing a policeman, after they laid an ambush on scores of police officers as they made their way to duty posts in the city.
A police source said the sect members came on motorbikes and lay siege on the policeman plying the route after River Kaduna Bridge.
The source said the incident happened at Ungwan Muazu, the same area rocked by two bomb explosions last year.
"The policemen were passing on their way to commercial banks along the express, when the men appeared on bike shot him several times. They instantly killed and took his gun away. I saw his body, it was mutilated and ridden with bullets." stated our police source
"The policemen were passing on their way to commercial banks along the express, when the men appeared on bike shot him several times. They instantly killed and took his gun away. I saw his body, it was mutilated and ridden with bullets." stated our police source
The particular cop, our source added was almost close to his destination of his duty post for the night at an Ecobank branch, which was about 300 meters to the bank when the sect struck.
A top security officer within the Joint Task Force in the city also confirmed the attack claiming the army was aware of reports indicating presence of the suspected sect members in Kaduna city.
Pirates seize US sailors off Nigeria
Pirates have seized two US sailors from an oil supply ship off the coast of Nigeria, officials say.
The captain and chief engineer of the US-flagged C-Retriever were taken on Wednesday by armed men who stormed the boat, they said.
US officials said it was not a terrorist act, but were concerned about the rise in piracy off West Africa.
In kidnaps in the region, crew members are normally freed unharmed after any oil on board the ships is stolen.
US State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf Wednesday's incident was being treated as "an act of piracy" rather than terrorism.
Gunmen attacked the C Retriever, an oil supply vessel, near the coastal town of Brass in Nigeria's oil rich Bayelsa State.
The chief engineer and the captain, both American citizens, were kidnapped. The vessel and 11 other members of the crew were reportedly released.
Multi-national force launches attack in Mali
French, United Nations and Malian forces have launched a joint operation against fighters across northern Mali, a day after a suicide attack killed two Chadian peacekeepers in the desert zone.
The major operation is aimed at preventing a resurgence of Islamist rebels in Mali, the French military said on Thursday.
"We have engaged, with the Malian army and (UN mission) MINUSMA, in a large-scale operation" in the so-called Niger Loop, an area hugging a curve of the Niger River between Timbuktu and Gao, French general staff spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said.
"It is the first time we have seen forces of significant size working together," Jaron said.
About 1,500 troops arre involved, including some 600 French, 600 Malians and 300 UN soldiers. The goal of the mission -- dubbed "Hydra" -- was "to put pressure on any terrorist movements to avoid their resurgence," he said.
"This is one of those operations that are conducted regularly... to participate in the stabilisation of the country," Jaron said.
UN troops killed in Mali suicide attack
A suicide attack has left two Chadian troops from the UN peacekeeping mission and a civilian dead in northern Mali, a UN spokesman said.
A bomber exploded himself up in an explosive-laden vehicle at a checkpoint at the entry to the town of Tessalit on Wednesday, wounding six others.
The unnamed military source told AFP news agency that the number of attackers was higher.
"Jihadists attacked the positions of the Chadian army in Tessalit with heavy arms and car bombs. Two Chadian troops have been killed. The four suicide bombers were also killed on the spot and a civilian also died," the source told AFP.
No group has claimed the attack.
| The United Nations has urged the the DR Congo government to prosecute soldiers for dozens of sexual assaults committed against women last year in the country's east. "Congolese officials should fulfil their obligations ... towards the victims of such atrocious acts and their families to whom justice must be rendered," the head of the UN mission in the country, MONUSCO, said in a statement on Sunday. Its joint investigation with the UN human rights agency recorded 135 cases of sexual violence committed by the regular army in and around the city of Minova in November 2012, MONUSCO chief Martin Kobler noted. According to Human Rights Watch, soldiers went on a 10-day raping and looting rampage in the area while they were fleeing an offensive by rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) on the main city of Goma, further north. "Almost a year after these incidents, none of the presumed perpetrators of these human rights violations has been brought to justice ... in spite of the Congolese authorities' commitment to prosecute the perpetrators," the MONUSCO statement said. The DR Congo government signed an accord with the UN in April to step up the fight against sexual abuse by armed groups and soldiers, which remains rampant mainly in the volatile east of the country. The feeble DR Congo army has been much criticised for its brutality against civilians and corruption. UN officials said it "melted away" during the M23 advance on Goma, which the rebels took over on November 20 and held for nearly two weeks. MONUSCO also recalled in the statement that the investigation identified 59 cases of sexual violence committed by M23 fighters in the Goma area during the same period. The DR Congo army is heavily reliant on UN equipment and military support in its efforts to control the armed groups that hold sway in the resource-rich region. |
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