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One person is dead and an alleged attacker is critical after an incident in Melbourne, Australia.

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A BTS member has caused controversy in Japan after wearing a shirt depicting an atomic bomb.

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Hauwa Ojeifo set up a mental health helpline for women after suffering from depression herself.

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Imelda Marcos, wife of late Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, earned notoriety for her shoe collection.

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Victor Mallet's Hong Kong work visa was not renewed in October, and he is now barred from entering.

The Nigeria Air project will gulp an estimated $300million between now and 2020, Hadi Sirika, Minister of State for Aviation, revealed on Thursday.

According to NAN, Sirika made the revelation in Abuja while speaking at the Fifth Aviation Stakeholders’ Forum.

He said the Nigeria Air project is currently at the procurement stage, awaiting the approval of the Federal Executive Council.

Sirika also discredited claims that the government spent $600,000 on the design of the logo after the carrier was unveiled at the Farnborough Airshow in London in July.

“In recent months, misinformation, factual errors, insinuations and fabrications have been peddled in both social and print media on the Nigeria Air project,” he said.

“These include desirability, inadequate planning, non-consultation with stakeholders, lack of transparency and publications of fictitious amounts allegedly spent by the government on the project, among others.”

Sirika explained that the current effort to establish the national carrier predated the composition of the present FEC and even his own appointment as a Minister.

“Mr. President directed the then Ministry of Aviation to commence the process for the establishment of a national carrier during the ministerial briefing on the aviation sector,” he continued.

“The ministry set up a committee, which came up with the modalities for the establishment of a national carrier. 

“The committee, in its report submitted in September 2015, recommended a private sector-led national carrier with 10 per cent government ownership and non-involvement of government in the management of the airline, but the provision of enabling environment for its operation.”

The Minister said that following approval by the FEC, a consortium of Transaction Advisers comprising Airline Management Group Ltd., Avia Solutions Ltd and Tianaero FZE, was appointed in line with best practices.

He said the TAs completed the Outline Business Case Report, which was reviewed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, which subsequently issued the OBC Certificate of Compliance.

He added that the report has been presented to FEC for consideration to move to the procurement phase and then Full Business Case, where it will be opened for bidding by investors, including ordinary Nigerians.

On the financial implications, he said the estimated funding requirement for the establishment of the project is $300m spread between 2018 and 2020.

He added that the expected initial start–up capital of $55m comprises $25m for deposit for new aircraft and $30m for working capital from June to December 2018, while the estimated working capital for 2019 is $100m and $145m for 2020 to be provided by the Strategic Equity Partners who are expected to manage the project.

"Certain media publications that $8.8m was expended at the Farnborough Air show are unfounded, malicious, misleading, mischievous and baseless,” he said.

"The TAs for national carrier coordinated the campaign and provided the additional services that included the development of the brand strategy and the media activities relating to the unveiling of the airline.

"Due process was followed in the branding, which included obtaining ‘No Objection’ Certificate with Ref. No. BPP/RPT/18/VOL.1/075 from the Bureau of Public Procurement for payment of N50.8m for these services is yet to be made. No foreign company was paid $600,000 for the design of the logo as speculated.”

Sirika maintained that the Nigeria Air project does not lack investors, as institutions and airlines such as the African Development Bank, AFREXIM, US-EXIM, Standard Chartered Bank, Boeing, Airbus and China-Exim Bank, had already expressed interest.

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The Nigeria Air project will gulp an estimated $300million between now and 2020, Hadi Sirika, Minister of State for Aviation, revealed on Thursday.

According to NAN, Sirika made the revelation in Abuja while speaking at the Fifth Aviation Stakeholders’ Forum.

He said the Nigeria Air project is currently at the procurement stage, awaiting the approval of the Federal Executive Council.

Sirika also discredited claims that the government spent $600,000 on the design of the logo after the carrier was unveiled at the Farnborough Airshow in London in July.

“In recent months, misinformation, factual errors, insinuations and fabrications have been peddled in both social and print media on the Nigeria Air project,” he said.

“These include desirability, inadequate planning, non-consultation with stakeholders, lack of transparency and publications of fictitious amounts allegedly spent by the government on the project, among others.”

Sirika explained that the current effort to establish the national carrier predated the composition of the present FEC and even his own appointment as a Minister.

“Mr. President directed the then Ministry of Aviation to commence the process for the establishment of a national carrier during the ministerial briefing on the aviation sector,” he continued.

“The ministry set up a committee, which came up with the modalities for the establishment of a national carrier. 

“The committee, in its report submitted in September 2015, recommended a private sector-led national carrier with 10 per cent government ownership and non-involvement of government in the management of the airline, but the provision of enabling environment for its operation.”

The Minister said that following approval by the FEC, a consortium of Transaction Advisers comprising Airline Management Group Ltd., Avia Solutions Ltd and Tianaero FZE, was appointed in line with best practices.

He said the TAs completed the Outline Business Case Report, which was reviewed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, which subsequently issued the OBC Certificate of Compliance.

He added that the report has been presented to FEC for consideration to move to the procurement phase and then Full Business Case, where it will be opened for bidding by investors, including ordinary Nigerians.

On the financial implications, he said the estimated funding requirement for the establishment of the project is $300m spread between 2018 and 2020.

He added that the expected initial start–up capital of $55m comprises $25m for deposit for new aircraft and $30m for working capital from June to December 2018, while the estimated working capital for 2019 is $100m and $145m for 2020 to be provided by the Strategic Equity Partners who are expected to manage the project.

"Certain media publications that $8.8m was expended at the Farnborough Air show are unfounded, malicious, misleading, mischievous and baseless,” he said.

"The TAs for national carrier coordinated the campaign and provided the additional services that included the development of the brand strategy and the media activities relating to the unveiling of the airline.

"Due process was followed in the branding, which included obtaining ‘No Objection’ Certificate with Ref. No. BPP/RPT/18/VOL.1/075 from the Bureau of Public Procurement for payment of N50.8m for these services is yet to be made. No foreign company was paid $600,000 for the design of the logo as speculated.”

Sirika maintained that the Nigeria Air project does not lack investors, as institutions and airlines such as the African Development Bank, AFREXIM, US-EXIM, Standard Chartered Bank, Boeing, Airbus and China-Exim Bank, had already expressed interest.

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_“They continue to say that we are armed. This is a blatant lie. If we are armed, Nigeria Army cannot face us. If we have weapons with us, Nigeria Army is too small to face us. With our courage, braveness and bare hands, they are running away, talk more of when we have arms. They are cowards.”.” - Abdullahi Zango IMN Leader, November 5, 2018_

_"A stone-thrower is a terrorist and only a fitting punishment can serve as a deterrent and just punishment." - Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Minister of Justice_

Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) is definitely being buoyed by a misreading of the situation surrounding its running confrontations with the military and police without reading between the lines to appreciate the enormity of the suicide mission on which its members have embarked. Abdullahi Zango, IMN leader, held a press briefing on Monday to harangue the military and police. The drift of that event is that his group is seeking weapons to defeat Nigeria’s security forces – IMN does not recognize the jurisdiction of the Nigerian state.

During the briefing, Zango attempted to perpetrate the myth that stones, slingshots, catapults and petrol bombs do not qualify as weapons. These to him are merely the “courage, braveness and bare hands” from which military and security are running. The disinformation that these items do not constitute weapons is being promoted by neocon establishments like Amnesty International, nanny western countries, an opposition that is in need of political capital and a section of the media that have an axe to grind with the government of the day and yet another section that is out to milk any sensational value that will rivet the audience.

If it should have its wish of becoming a full blown terror group, which would be the case if its members lay their hands on more sophisticated weapons of their dream, the IMN would end up the greatest loser. First, even if it should succeed in using security containment of the Shiite group to blackmail the incumbent government out of office, the present day opposition will have no option but to clamp down on an IMN that is armed and certainly the intention will be to crush the group as quickly as possible so that whoever is the opposition at that future date does not get to use the group as leverage. Even the paid critics of today would have gotten higher offer from elsewhere and they will paint IMN into a pariah same way they are currently painting it into victimhood. 

The western nations that are presently all about criticizing the Nigerian state for not allowing IMN members run riot will protect their own interests. They will not even need to declare IMN a terror group. All they have to do is to keep a database of its members and refuse them visas under any pretext possible. No one willfully brings an ants infested firewood home for that is what allowing members of a radicalized group like IMN would mean for these countries. From the trends monitored informally, several countries are already implementing this unspoken policy by not allowing IMN members visas to visit especially with their touted link to Iran. Zango will perhaps want to find out how these countries that are speaking for his group view those that throw stones at their security agents.

The only factor that would be left to support an armed IMN would be the likes of Amnesty International, which has such track record of humanizing killer groups and placing their interests and rights over those of victims. But any support from Amnesty International would not be worth much given its declining credibility across the globe on account of its penchant for peddling falsehood. It claimed for instance that the military was “firing live ammunition to disperse a peaceful gathering without warning.” It is interesting how a stone throwing mob of IMN members qualified as “peaceful gathering”. It is a tragedy that Zango and his followers do not realize from such bared face lies that they are no more than a means to an end in Amnesty International’s obsession with playing whack-a-mole with the military. A detached observer will see a pattern of Amnesty International manipulating IMN members into confrontation with the military so that it has something to accuse the military about violating human rights. The only problem? IMN members kill themselves while Amnesty International’s staffers get paid their bonuses. 

The fact is that Zango and IMN have to face the reality as one must necessarily burst their bubble. Sorry guys, stones and petrol bombs are weapons, at least in countries that take the safety of their citizens seriously. Israel takes things serious on such level, it has in place a harsh law, passed in 2015, that criminalizes stone throwing. As reported by TheNewArab, “The bill allows for a sentence of up to 20 years in jail for throwing stones or other objects at a civilian vehicle in motion, with the intent of causing harm, and 10 years in prison if intent to endanger was not proven. Stone-throwers who target police vehicles face five years in prison.”

Aside Israel, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States, Turkey and Vietnam have legislation that criminalize stone throwing with sentences as high as 20 years jail term with fines. According to spiveylaw.com, “Under Florida State Law, Statute Section 790:19, shooting or throwing a deadly missile, hurling or projecting a stone or other hard substance which would produce death or great bodily harm at a public or private vehicle is a second degree felony. The crime is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.”

IMN members will therefore be wise to realize that the fact there is no permit required to carry stones and slingshots, unlike guns, does not mean they will not be classified and treated as weapons when the chips are down. They are welcome to extrapolate for the petrol bombs they have added to the equation. IMN members should further note the number of laws they will be breaking if they ever embrace the glaring madness of adding guns and explosives to their already lethal cache of crude weaponry. It is doubtful there is any nation on earth that will accept that level of provocation tepidly.

Those urging on members of the group to break the law must realize they are not helping them by misleading them to break the law and place themselves in harm’s way. If at all these people, organizations or countries love IMN as much as they claim they should invest their efforts rehabilitating those that have been radicalized by the group’s teaching perchance they can be re-oriented to fit into the contemporary secular Nigeria.

The bigger responsibility is for the Nigerian security circle. Now that IMN has officially made it known that it is desirous of defeating the military “If we (they) have weapons” it is expedient that the necessary steps are taken to prevent the birth of another terrorist group by ensuring that no shipment of weapons arrive from Iran for the group to use. Efforts must similarly continue to mop up illegal firearms across the country.

The federal Government must on it part explore how to deal with the IMN aggression with legislation that give military and law enforcement agencies the legal framework to deal with the menace once and for all time. Lines must be drawn since there are peaceful protests, violent stone throwing protests and terrorist acquisition of firearms.

Agbese is a researcher in Human Rights Law based in the United Kingdom.

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Ayodele Fayose, immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, says Nigerians will be running to other neighboring countries to feed if President Muhammadu Buhari wins a second term in office.

Fayose also urged the President to "face governance and stop complaining".

According to the former Governor, "the President’s time is almost up".

A statement on Thursday by Fayose's media aide, Lere Olayinka, accused the president of spending "three and a half years blaming his predecessors and inflicting both security and economic crises on the country".

The statement read: “When he was seeking the votes of Nigerians, he never said he was coming to complain. Rather, he promised to fix what he claimed to have identified as the problems. It is no longer funny that a President who assumed office three and a half years ago is still complaining about how he met the country, instead of Nigerians having feelings of how well he has solved the problems he claimed that he had the capacity to solve.

“He should stop singing the same song of lamentation that he has been singing since 2015 and learn from his colleague in Ghana, who hit the ground running immediately he assumed office. Only a leader who lacks competence and is challenged by knowledge and exposure will blame his predecessors for over three years.

“Nigerians of mostly below forty years who voted for the President in 2015, did so because they never experienced him as a Military Head of State. Now that they have seen that he does not have the required capacity to govern a country like Nigeria, they are eager to vote him out.”

The former Governor charged leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to "put everything into the 2019 elections, so as to rescue Nigerians from the present state of anguish occasioned by the directionless All Progressives Congress (APC) government".

He continued: “Today, Nigeria has become the ‘Poverty Capital’ of the world. God forbid, a Buhari’s second term will turn Nigeria to a republic of poverty where people will be running to other neighboring countries to feed. PDP must therefore work very hard to save the country from going down completely."

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Ayodele Fayose, immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, says Nigerians will be running to other neighboring countries to feed if President Muhammadu Buhari wins a second term in office.

Fayose also urged the President to "face governance and stop complaining".

According to the former Governor, "the President’s time is almost up".

A statement on Thursday by Fayose's media aide, Lere Olayinka, accused the president of spending "three and a half years blaming his predecessors and inflicting both security and economic crises on the country".

The statement read: “When he was seeking the votes of Nigerians, he never said he was coming to complain. Rather, he promised to fix what he claimed to have identified as the problems. It is no longer funny that a President who assumed office three and a half years ago is still complaining about how he met the country, instead of Nigerians having feelings of how well he has solved the problems he claimed that he had the capacity to solve.

“He should stop singing the same song of lamentation that he has been singing since 2015 and learn from his colleague in Ghana, who hit the ground running immediately he assumed office. Only a leader who lacks competence and is challenged by knowledge and exposure will blame his predecessors for over three years.

“Nigerians of mostly below forty years who voted for the President in 2015, did so because they never experienced him as a Military Head of State. Now that they have seen that he does not have the required capacity to govern a country like Nigeria, they are eager to vote him out.”

The former Governor charged leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to "put everything into the 2019 elections, so as to rescue Nigerians from the present state of anguish occasioned by the directionless All Progressives Congress (APC) government".

He continued: “Today, Nigeria has become the ‘Poverty Capital’ of the world. God forbid, a Buhari’s second term will turn Nigeria to a republic of poverty where people will be running to other neighboring countries to feed. PDP must therefore work very hard to save the country from going down completely."

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Ayodele Fayose, immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, says Nigerians will be running to other neighboring countries to feed if President Muhammadu Buhari wins a second term in office.

Fayose also urged the President to "face governance and stop complaining".

According to the former Governor, "the President’s time is almost up".

A statement on Thursday by Fayose's media aide, Lere Olayinka, accused the president of spending "three and a half years blaming his predecessors and inflicting both security and economic crises on the country".

The statement read: “When he was seeking the votes of Nigerians, he never said he was coming to complain. Rather, he promised to fix what he claimed to have identified as the problems. It is no longer funny that a President who assumed office three and a half years ago is still complaining about how he met the country, instead of Nigerians having feelings of how well he has solved the problems he claimed that he had the capacity to solve.

“He should stop singing the same song of lamentation that he has been singing since 2015 and learn from his colleague in Ghana, who hit the ground running immediately he assumed office. Only a leader who lacks competence and is challenged by knowledge and exposure will blame his predecessors for over three years.

“Nigerians of mostly below forty years who voted for the President in 2015, did so because they never experienced him as a Military Head of State. Now that they have seen that he does not have the required capacity to govern a country like Nigeria, they are eager to vote him out.”

The former Governor charged leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to "put everything into the 2019 elections, so as to rescue Nigerians from the present state of anguish occasioned by the directionless All Progressives Congress (APC) government".

He continued: “Today, Nigeria has become the ‘Poverty Capital’ of the world. God forbid, a Buhari’s second term will turn Nigeria to a republic of poverty where people will be running to other neighboring countries to feed. PDP must therefore work very hard to save the country from going down completely."

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Residents of Ogidigben community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have urged Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, to complete the abandoned 2.193km reinforced concrete at Obitobon-Elolo-Ajakrougbo-Urubo road.

The contract was awarded in April 2017, and has since been abandoned. 

Although the government had initiated the project in line with its S.M.A.R.T. agenda, the people of Ogidigben have lamented the condition of the project.

They appealed to the government to re-mobilise the contactor, METSAN Services Limited, to resume work on the road project urgently.

A visit to the community showed that members of the community were already cut off from the rest of the state, as the only connecting road has been rendered impassable due to the abandoned construction works on the road. 

Speaking with our correspondent, one of the residents said: "We have not benefited anything from the present administration. Are we no longer part of this state?”

The community has also threatened to to take "drastic steps in the 2019 polls if efforts are not made by the government of the day to effect the completion of the road".

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Residents of Ogidigben community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have urged Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, to complete the abandoned 2.193km reinforced concrete at Obitobon-Elolo-Ajakrougbo-Urubo road.

The contract was awarded in April 2017, and has since been abandoned. 

Although the government had initiated the project in line with its S.M.A.R.T. agenda, the people of Ogidigben have lamented the condition of the project.

They appealed to the government to re-mobilise the contactor, METSAN Services Limited, to resume work on the road project urgently.

A visit to the community showed that members of the community were already cut off from the rest of the state, as the only connecting road has been rendered impassable due to the abandoned construction works on the road. 

Speaking with our correspondent, one of the residents said: "We have not benefited anything from the present administration. Are we no longer part of this state?”

The community has also threatened to to take "drastic steps in the 2019 polls if efforts are not made by the government of the day to effect the completion of the road".

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Ambassador Dickson Akoh, the National Commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, is again the subject of allegations of benefitting from fraudulent activities tabled before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

A group, Good Governance Agenda (GGA), that petitioned the anti-graft agency is seeking an investigation into a "job scam" amounting to the sum of N54 million, involving Gombe State Commandant of the Corps, Ambore Enoch, who is under investigation by the agency.

In a petition obtained by SaharaReporters, the group alleged that the crime was committed in conivance with Akoh. They stated in the petition that the Peace Corps boss had taken the sum of N18.7 million out of the N54 million, as his own share.

According to the petition signed by its President, Bitrus Auta, "the same scam has been replicated nationwide with the Commandant’s consent".

The petition read: “As already established by the diligent investigation carried out by professionals in the Commission, N18.7 million of the amount taken from applicants was transferred to Peace Corps headquarters in Abuja.

"It is therefore our firm belief that Amb. (Dr) Dickson A.O. Akoh has questions to answer in this regard. We have been in touch with our colleagues in other states and the same pattern of fraud was repeated, with the state commandants making similar remittances to Dr. Akoh’s account."

“He complicated the crimes of extortion and obtaining funds through fraudulent presentation, adding the crime of bribery to it as he has repeatedly bragged about how he has 'sorted' members of the National Assembly (House of Representatives and Senate), who should have held public hearings to expose how unemployed youth were swindled with the promise of jobs with the Peace Corps of Nigeria.

"His position is that the lawmakers on his payroll cannot initiate motions to stop your Commission from successfully investigating and prosecuting him."

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Ambassador Dickson Akoh, the National Commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, is again the subject of allegations of benefitting from fraudulent activities tabled before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

A group, Good Governance Agenda (GGA), that petitioned the anti-graft agency is seeking an investigation into a "job scam" amounting to the sum of N54 million, involving Gombe State Commandant of the Corps, Ambore Enoch, who is under investigation by the agency.

In a petition obtained by SaharaReporters, the group alleged that the crime was committed in conivance with Akoh. They stated in the petition that the Peace Corps boss had taken the sum of N18.7 million out of the N54 million, as his own share.

According to the petition signed by its President, Bitrus Auta, "the same scam has been replicated nationwide with the Commandant’s consent".

The petition read: “As already established by the diligent investigation carried out by professionals in the Commission, N18.7 million of the amount taken from applicants was transferred to Peace Corps headquarters in Abuja.

"It is therefore our firm belief that Amb. (Dr) Dickson A.O. Akoh has questions to answer in this regard. We have been in touch with our colleagues in other states and the same pattern of fraud was repeated, with the state commandants making similar remittances to Dr. Akoh’s account."

“He complicated the crimes of extortion and obtaining funds through fraudulent presentation, adding the crime of bribery to it as he has repeatedly bragged about how he has 'sorted' members of the National Assembly (House of Representatives and Senate), who should have held public hearings to expose how unemployed youth were swindled with the promise of jobs with the Peace Corps of Nigeria.

"His position is that the lawmakers on his payroll cannot initiate motions to stop your Commission from successfully investigating and prosecuting him."

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There are strong indications that aviation unions may in the next few weeks embark on an industrial action following the reluctance of the National Wages and Salaries Commission in releasing workers Condition of Services (CoS) for all the five federal pararstatals.

The agencies are Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).

A source close to one of the agencies told our correspondents on Thursday that there was no reason for the commission to be lackadaisical with the approvals over seven years agreements that were reached separately among the agencies.

The source further noted that this situation had brought grievous harm to the spirit and law of collective bargaining, public service rules guiding such process and the rules of natural justice.

The source added that it was therefore unjustifiable for the Commission to hold down the process and well-being of thousands of workers in the sector for such an indefinite time on account of a phantom harmonisation exercise.

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There are strong indications that aviation unions may in the next few weeks embark on an industrial action following the reluctance of the National Wages and Salaries Commission in releasing workers Condition of Services (CoS) for all the five federal pararstatals.

The agencies are Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).

A source close to one of the agencies told our correspondents on Thursday that there was no reason for the commission to be lackadaisical with the approvals over seven years agreements that were reached separately among the agencies.

The source further noted that this situation had brought grievous harm to the spirit and law of collective bargaining, public service rules guiding such process and the rules of natural justice.

The source added that it was therefore unjustifiable for the Commission to hold down the process and well-being of thousands of workers in the sector for such an indefinite time on account of a phantom harmonisation exercise.

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Former militants and youth from the 111 communities under OML 30, Delta State, have stormed the Delta State Government House, Asaba, to protest the "violent infringement and deliberate attempt" to render thousands of Delta State youth jobless.

The youth, who are under the Federal Government Amnesty Phase One to Three, marched out in their thousands bearing different inscriptions and barricaded the Government House, while chanting solidarity songs.

Speaking during the protest, leader of the youth and ex-militants, Lord Tennyson, stated that the surveillance and protection of Trans-Forcados Pipeline making crude oil from their communities to the Forcados Terminal has been their duty, which has put food on the tables of thousands of homes and ensured peace in many communities of the state in the last two years. 

He added: "However, Captain Hosa Okunbo, who is notorious for hijacking oil and gas security jobs in communities causing bloody communal crisis, doing haphazard works and using his political connections to muzzle discontented youth, has been employed by APC dirty rigging machine to snatch our surveillance jobs from us.

"We have learnt from very reliable sources that the intent of Captain Okunbo, his company, Ocean Marine and his presidency backers is to use the surveillance job as a mere front to siphon millions of dollars for the purpose of executing the 2019 elections in Delta State and rig their party, the APC, to power in the state. To achieve this, we gathered that the corrupt gang in the presidency has corruptly and unilaterally awarded the surveillance contract to Ocean Marine at the rate of almost five to six times of the contract award rate of the previous contractor company.

"Your Excellency, we feel that this is the point at which you, as the chief security officer of our dear state, must rise up to take steps to nip this madness in the bud to avert the impending danger that this greedy set of 'soldiers of fortune' is about to impose on not just our communities, but also our dear state. You may wonder how this is our concern. It has become our concern because we have sat down to imagine what the picture will look like when Ocean Marine successfully takes our jobs away from us, using either traditional rulers or president generals of our communities as fronts, how many youths with bustling capacities and abilities will be rendered jobless. 

PHOTONEWS: Ex-Militants, Youths Protest In Delta Over Pipeline Surveillance Jobs

"We imagine what other uses can hitherto busy, but now idle youth can engage their abilities and capabilities in. We are imagining the level of confrontations and conflicts we might start to have to witness and how much work the security agencies might have to be dealing with by the time these thousands of jobless, able-bodied youth start engaging those they will inevitably blame for their new, unpleasant status and how much more chaos the state government might have to be grappling with, having to add the problems of the restive youths from an area that had hitherto maintained its peaceful calm all along.

"We hope you know these might eventually be the least of the problems you may expect to come out of the 111 communities under OML 30. We are urging the state governor to rise up with us and resist this nightmare, prevent it from ever taking roots in your state, because they already have perfect contract papers, as we have reliably learned. Investigate this aberration and cut it with speed. 

"Captain Hosa Okunbo is their merchant of fraud and destabilisation, who has his hand in many abysmally managed security contracts, he hold the PPMC-Kaduna Crude Line, which has one of the highest oil theft records in the country. He is obviously not a good hand in the business, but he is definitely good at money laundering."

The ex-militants called on Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, to call the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to the "potential damaging business that his men are executing because from what we gathered, he is not informed of this sleaze".

Addressing the ex-militants on behalf of the state governor, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Peter Mrakpor, thanked the ex-militants for their coordinated and peaceful protest and noted that their grievances would be presented to the state governor.

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Former militants and youth from the 111 communities under OML 30, Delta State, have stormed the Delta State Government House, Asaba, to protest the "violent infringement and deliberate attempt" to render thousands of Delta State youth jobless.

The youth, who are under the Federal Government Amnesty Phase One to Three, marched out in their thousands bearing different inscriptions and barricaded the Government House, while chanting solidarity songs.

Speaking during the protest, leader of the youth and ex-militants, Lord Tennyson, stated that the surveillance and protection of Trans-Forcados Pipeline making crude oil from their communities to the Forcados Terminal has been their duty, which has put food on the tables of thousands of homes and ensured peace in many communities of the state in the last two years. 

He added: "However, Captain Hosa Okunbo, who is notorious for hijacking oil and gas security jobs in communities causing bloody communal crisis, doing haphazard works and using his political connections to muzzle discontented youth, has been employed by APC dirty rigging machine to snatch our surveillance jobs from us.

"We have learnt from very reliable sources that the intent of Captain Okunbo, his company, Ocean Marine and his presidency backers is to use the surveillance job as a mere front to siphon millions of dollars for the purpose of executing the 2019 elections in Delta State and rig their party, the APC, to power in the state. To achieve this, we gathered that the corrupt gang in the presidency has corruptly and unilaterally awarded the surveillance contract to Ocean Marine at the rate of almost five to six times of the contract award rate of the previous contractor company.

"Your Excellency, we feel that this is the point at which you, as the chief security officer of our dear state, must rise up to take steps to nip this madness in the bud to avert the impending danger that this greedy set of 'soldiers of fortune' is about to impose on not just our communities, but also our dear state. You may wonder how this is our concern. It has become our concern because we have sat down to imagine what the picture will look like when Ocean Marine successfully takes our jobs away from us, using either traditional rulers or president generals of our communities as fronts, how many youths with bustling capacities and abilities will be rendered jobless. 

PHOTONEWS: Ex-Militants, Youths Protest In Delta Over Pipeline Surveillance Jobs

"We imagine what other uses can hitherto busy, but now idle youth can engage their abilities and capabilities in. We are imagining the level of confrontations and conflicts we might start to have to witness and how much work the security agencies might have to be dealing with by the time these thousands of jobless, able-bodied youth start engaging those they will inevitably blame for their new, unpleasant status and how much more chaos the state government might have to be grappling with, having to add the problems of the restive youths from an area that had hitherto maintained its peaceful calm all along.

"We hope you know these might eventually be the least of the problems you may expect to come out of the 111 communities under OML 30. We are urging the state governor to rise up with us and resist this nightmare, prevent it from ever taking roots in your state, because they already have perfect contract papers, as we have reliably learned. Investigate this aberration and cut it with speed. 

"Captain Hosa Okunbo is their merchant of fraud and destabilisation, who has his hand in many abysmally managed security contracts, he hold the PPMC-Kaduna Crude Line, which has one of the highest oil theft records in the country. He is obviously not a good hand in the business, but he is definitely good at money laundering."

The ex-militants called on Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, to call the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to the "potential damaging business that his men are executing because from what we gathered, he is not informed of this sleaze".

Addressing the ex-militants on behalf of the state governor, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Peter Mrakpor, thanked the ex-militants for their coordinated and peaceful protest and noted that their grievances would be presented to the state governor.

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