News Desk Sunday, November 11, 2007

Nigeria’s military might a hoax

The self acclaimed su periority of Nigeria’s military in Africa has been described as a hoax by a university don and military strategist, Dr Osisioma Bazil Chinedu Nwolise. Dr. Nwolise, of the Political Science Department, University of Ibadan, in an exclusive interview with Sunday Tribune in Ibadan at the weekend, claimed that Nigeria cannot stand up to countries like France in a serious war for two months without capitulating. MORE>>>

Five ex-governors to return N50bn

Five former governors may have given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission undertakings to return more than N50bn looted public funds within the next two weeks.A top source in the EFCC told our correspondent that they risked arraignment before the courts if they reneged on the mutual agreement or failed to honour it within the stipulated period. It was learnt that the mutual agreement informed the decision of the commission to put on hold its plan to commence the prosecution of two of the former governors last week. MORE>>>

MASSOB: Tension Over Uwazuruike’ Life

The crisis within the ranks of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has heightened, with fears that majority of those occupying Freedom House, the official residence of its founder and leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, were hired to do him in. The MASSOB leader and founder, who arrived Imo State on Tuesday, is said to be studying the situation at his residence in Okwe against the backdrop of information he got while in detention and since his bail two weeks ago. MORE>>>

NUT Tackles Imo Govt Over Sacked Teachers

Imo State government and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) are on collision course over the estimated 3,500 teachers under the Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) axed by a government White Paper, which the present administration is bent on implementing. According to the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chuma Nnaji, the affected teachers are to leave the state’s secondary education system, following an audit report which had been released by the government of Ikedi Ohakim. MORE>>>

PDP: Ali Hands Over to Convention C’ttee Dec 8

With the shift in the date of the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Jan 5, 2008, the National Working Commit-tee (NWC) headed by Dr. Ahmadu Ali, may hand over to the National Convention Committee to be set up in the next two weeks. The Ali's NWC tenure expires on December 8 after the 60 days notice of resignation it filed on September 8. MORE>>>

CBN To Enact Law Prohibiting Foreigners From Acquiring Local B

In its efforts to secure a firm, sound and sustainable banking sector, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN is to enact a law prohibiting foreigners from taking over local banks in Nigeria before the end of the year. The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, who stated this during a workshop in Enugu however said the policy does not stop them from participating in banking activities in Nigeria. MORE>>>

AEPB Thugs, Ex-police Officer Manhandle Publisher

In what appeared to be its continued show of notoriety, thugs of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) at the weekend beat up Mr. Inyang Edet, the publisher of National Dictative, on the orders of a former police officer, (Rt) ASP Titus Supro. According to an eye witness, the AEPB staff had arrested a newspaper vendor, and taken him to their office at Area 3. The vendor put a call to his colleagues who then stormed the AEPB office in company of Edet. MORE>>>

Tension as Gov Obi battles Awka elite

Lingering face-off between Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and prominent indigenous union in Awka, the state capital, worsened yesterday, as the governor alleged that the union was planning to carry out another mayhem in the state. Consequently, the police disrupted a scheduled meeting of all the branches of his perceived dread-Awka Development Union (ADU)-thereby throwing panic into the capital city. MORE>>>

Georgian Leader Says Emergency Rule to Last as Needed

TBILISI, Georgia, Nov. 10 — Anticipating demands from a senior American diplomat that he immediately lift a state of emergency, President Mikheil Saakashvili said Saturday that the emergency decree would remain in effect as long as the Georgian government deemed it necessary. MORE>>>

Oil Price Rise Causes Global Shift in Wealth

High oil prices are fueling one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history. Oil consumers are paying $4 billion to $5 billion more for crude oil every day than they did just five years ago, pumping more than $2 trillion into the coffers of oil companies and oil-producing nations this year alone. The consequences are evident in minds and mortar: anger at Chinese motor-fuel pumps and inflated confidence in the Kremlin; new weapons in Chad and new petrochemical plants in Saudi Arabia; no-driving campaigns in South Korea and bigger sales for Toyota hybrid cars; a fiscal burden in Senegal and a bonanza in Brazil. In Burma, recent demonstrations were triggered by a government decision to raise fuel prices. MORE>>>

Ghana to UK: the new trail of misery

With the trial of two British girls accused of smuggling drugs set to resume this week, Dan McDougall in Prampram reveals how cartels move their cocaine to Europe by exploiting the vulnerable and the poor. THE condoms are smeared in margarine or local vegetable oil, 'to help them slip down', says Kawko, holding out the white grains of pure cocaine in his scarred palm. Behind him, on the palm-tree fringed beach of Prampram village, dozens of colourfully painted longboats make land; the bulky wooden vessels heaved and roped out of the roaring West Atlantic by slender teenage boys. MORE>>>