President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, inaugurated the Governing Council and Board of Trustees for Implementation of the UNEP Report on Ogoniland.
The Minister of Environment who is also the Chairman of the Governing Council, Amina Mohammed said that the President chose the members on the basis of their experience and integrity.
See photo for the list of the members.
One time Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau has spoken out from hiding after a year of silence following news of the appointment of a new leader for the terrorist group by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS.
After the news broke on Wednesday that ISIS had installed Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new leader of Boko Haram in West Africa, here is what Shekau said.
“All blessings be to Almighty Allah, and his His Prophet SAW. I am Imam Abubakar Shekau.
“This is the message to the world, to those who can understand Hausa and any other languages it can be translated for a clear understanding of the message, which is why we are sending this message to the world.
“The content of my message goes thus. We have heard news going round and attributed to people we had earlier pledge allegiance to. Even though we are not against them base on the message we heard in the world radio but we are still on our ideology.
“We know those we differ with, and I have written on this long ago. All we wrote have been documented with me, some eight pages and some nine pages stating their kind of ideology.
“Because I stated it clear that I am against the principle where someone will dwell in the society with the infidels without making public his opposition or anger against infidels publicly as it is stated in the Quran. Anyone doing such can’t be a real Muslim thick and thin. This is what our ideology proved. And that is where I am, to them, a Muslim can dwell in the society and do his marketing compromising core foundations.
“I want the world to know that we are still holding our ideology and tied with the Quran, we will not derail and will not revolt but will continue to remain in the cause of Allah. Following Prophet SAW is compulsory for us, and we will follow it to the end.
“This is our stand, and we are still in the cause of Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da’awati wal-Jihad and Allah will help us. May Allah strengthen us to remain in this cause.
“We are still members of Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da’awati wal-Jihad, no matter what they call us, we remain what we are. No matter what we have our basis in Quran. No matter what they call us, what we aspire is to justify our ideology in the Quran which is ultimate because we have not derailed. We are on and in the future, we will not accept any emissary except the one we can attest he is sincere and truthful for Allah and His cause.
“In the first place, we sat and I was deceived, they said I should write my ideology to be taken if there is a mistake they will point out and bring back. They now deceive me, and it is base on some authorities and today I found out that there is one who is following principles of infidel which they want me to follow, and Prophet has stopped us against such. We are still in the cause of Allah and will never depart in the struggle to establish an Islamic caliphate and standing by Islam. We will continue to work for the cause of Allah no going back.
“Anyone that caused this, no problem, if it’s possible may Allah show him the correct path and if it is not so may Allah protect us from his mischief.”
The immediate past governor of Lagos State and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has denied promising to improve power supply in the country.
The minister issued the disclaimer during a chat with Channels Television. He said that his plans for the sector did not factor in the vandalization of pipelines because he was always focused on power generation.
“Let us be careful when you claim that I made promises because I am ever so conscious of the things that I say and I believe that if I recollect correctly, it was when I was unveiling my ministries, probably sometime late December last year, and it is unlike me to make promises on things I don’t control.
“If you check the words I used, I shared with you our plans if it worked and where we will be. Those promises don’t factor in vandalisation. You know when they teach you how to generate power in school, they don’t teach you how to deal with vandalization.
“When they teach you how to do banking, they don’t teach you about round-tripping, so those are the assumptions that things would remain normal. There is no nation in the world that wants electricity that vandalizes the assets that produce electricity; it doesn’t make any sense.
“I can control what my team does, I can promise you what my team efforts will produce but I can’t control behaviour that is counterproductive. Those pipelines are national assets; they were built with our common wealth, the people whose territories it passes are custodians of it.
“Let us assume that the people who are also custodians of Jebba, Kainji and Shiroro dams go to break them down because they are angry, then who gets power?”
Former President Goodluck Jonathan was at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
After their closed-door meeting, Jonathan told State House correspondents that he was at the Presidential Villa to brief President Buhari on his recent international engagements, including his emergence as the leader of the African Union, AU, elections monitoring team to Zambia.
His words:
“You asked why I came to see the president today. One key thing is that having been a head of government, a former President, you become state property. That’s the privilege you have but every privilege has its corresponding responsibility, and once you become state property, most of your international engagements, that have to do with public addresses and some international assignments become national assignments, you brief the President.
“Even when I was here, former Presidents used to do that and see me. I have been coming. Most times, I come in the night, that’s why you don’t see me. I came to brief the President about some of my engagements.
"As you are aware, I will be leading the AU elections monitoring team to Zambia. I came to brief the President about some of these external engagements. It is the tradition.”
Armed men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded two communities in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Monday and Tuesday, burning down homes and killing people.
The rampaging herdsmen were said to have killed nine personsincluding six men and three women in Gida Biyu village and another two men in Akwa’a village.
Reacting to the attacks on Wednesday, Gov Nasir El-Rufai condoled the families of the victims, saying that killing under any guise remained to be condemned.
“The Kaduna State Government condemns the murders that were perpetrated by criminal elements that attacked our communities in Gida Biyu, Akwa’a and Angwan Anjo in Jema’a Local Government Area. The Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, extends his condolence to the survivors and the families of the victims.”
The governor sent his message through a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan.
The Kaduna State Police Command Spokesman, Aliyu Usman, while confirming the attacks said that the police were fully on ground and had restored law and order in the affected communities.
The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has a 5 man gang of kidnappers who abducted a lady in Maitama, Abuja, and held her hostage at their hideout in Sokoto State.
The suspects were paraded by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mohammad Mustafa, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The suspects who were identified as Ifeanyi Paul, 34; Chukwuemeka Michael, 28; Matthew Obi, 29; Husseini Abdullahi, 35; and Musa Lawan, 27 had allegedly collected a ransom of N7m before their arrest at a police checkpoint in Talata-Mafara, Zamfara State.
Mustapha disclosed that eagle-eyed operatives of the FCT and Zamfara State police commands had mounted a manhunt for the kidnappers.
“On July 27, 2016, the gang waylaid and kidnapped a lady from Maitama in Abuja and took her to a guest inn in Sokoto where she was held hostage and locked up in a toilet.
“The culprits then contacted the victim’s family and demanded N15m as ransom, which was later reduced to N7m after much negotiation with her family. While this was going on, a team of eagle-eyed police detectives kept vigil as the suspects made frantic efforts to pick up the ransom at a location in Zamfara State. Suffice to say that the ransom was, in this case, a bait by the police to lure the suspects out of their hideout.”
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