Fire Guts Ministry of Defence

Fire suspected to have been caused either by bush fire or by a passerby who dropped a stick of cigarette on the ground,  yesterday consumed the store house of the Ministry of Defence.
Director of the Ministry's  Intelligence Department confirmed to THISDAY that the fire which started  about 2p.m. affected just the store house of the ministry; he also said a committee would immediately be set up to investigate the remote cause of the fire.
Another source who will not want his name mentioned, said the cost of properties lost could not be confirmed as at press time but said the store had some computers, funiures and old documents considered to be highly valuable.
He said it started behind the fence of the Ministry of
Defence but ruled out any form of sabotage until investigations were concluded.
He said timely assistance came from the fire service of  the FCT, Julius Berger Plc, NEMA, Army and Air Force and members of the Civil Defence. He said the Chief of Defence Intelligence Major Gen Said and principal officers of the ministries witnessed  the inferno.
"The damage is serious. All the things in the store room are gone and the store house can be considered gone as well."

 

 

 

Nnamani, Masari in fresh offensive against OBJ
There appears no end in sight for former President Olusegun Obasanjo's political travails, as some prominent members of the PDP under the aegis of the G21 have moved to have him removed as chairman of the party's Board of Trustees [BOT].
Among the leaders of the new offensive are Senator Ken Nnamani and Aminu Bello Masari, both former Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives when Obasanjo was President.
Other members of the offensive, operating under the aegis of G21 and calling for the removal of Obasanjo as chairman of the Board of Trustees [BOT] of the Peoples Democratic Party include Chief Alani Bankole, Senator Bode Olajumoke, Architect Ibrahim Bunu, Abdullahi Gumel, Esther Audu, Bawa Bwari.
Others include former House of Representatives leader, Abdul Ningi, Fanta Baba Shehu, Senator Abubakar Girei, Senator John Branbaifa, Margaret Icheen, Alhaji Musa Elayo, Senator Musa Adede as well as Leader of the Integrity Group during the Etteh saga, Alhaji Faruk Lawal.
Already they are signatories to a letter addressed to the National Secretary of the PDP giving notice of Proposed Amendment of the PDP Constitution 2006 [As Amended], Pursuant to Articles 12.87[1] and 2 of the PDP Constitution.
The two-page document made available to Sunday Sun is proposing that all amendments adopted by the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] outside the its 1998 constitution should be deleted.
In its place, all articles deleted from the 1998 constitution of the party, by the proposal should be added as well as adopting the 1998 defunct constitution as the party's constitution.
"All amendment introduced in the 2006 constitution were made to strengthen the internal democracy of the party, but self serving," the letter noted.
Although the document did not explicitly mention names but should the group's proposal sail through, then former President Obasanjo would have lost his seat as BOT chairman of the PDP.
The proposal is expected to form part of the agenda for discussion at the national convention of the party, but as at the time of this report no definite date had been fixed for the convention.
The party is, however, expected to announce a date for the national convention after its National Executive Committee [NEC] meeting tomorrow.
It will be recalled that the party's convention had been shifted twice due to the party's inability to meet the requirements of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] as set by the Electoral Act.

Senate Approves New Salaries for President, VP, Others

The Senate yesterday passed a bill approving new salaries for the President, Vice President, Chief Justice of Nigeria and certain other political, public and judicial office holders in the country.
The bill, passed by the Senate at the end of the clause-by-clause consideration in the Committee of the Whole, was for an Act to Amend the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (salaries and Allowances, Etc.) Act 2002 and for other related Matters Therein.
When it becomes an Act of Parliament, it is will be cited as “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (salaries and Allowances, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2008 and will be deemed to take effect from February 2007.
The Bill is awaiting the concurrence of the House of Representatives consequent upon which it would be sent to President Umar Yar’ Adua for his assent.
Those covered by the Bill as passed by the Senate, include the President, Vice President, Chief of Staff to the President, Minister, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Civil Service of the Federation.It also cover Chairmen of Code of Conduct Bureau, Independent Electoral Commission, Federal Civil Service Commission, National Population Commission, Federal Judicial Service Commission, Nigeria Police Council, Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal commission, Federal Character Commission, National Judicial Council, Code of Conduct Tribunal, Independent Corrupt Practices and related Offences Commission, Police Service Commission, National Assembly Service Commission, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Public Complaints Commission, National Human Rights Commission and such other Commissions as may be established by an Act of the Assembly.
Also covered by the Bill are members of the commissions named in the paragraph preceding this, including members of the Judicial Service Commission of the Federal Capital Territory and such other Commissions as may be established by an Act of the Assembly.
Special Advisers to the President, Speech Writer to the President, Auditor-General, Permanent Secretaries, Directors-general, Executive Secretaries, Chief Executives of Parastatals, Agencies and Government Companies.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners and such other Commissions as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly also fall under the purview of the Bill.Details of the salaries are as follows: President is to receive N3, 514, 705. 00 as against N1, 405, 882. 00 prescribed in the 2002 Act; Vice President is to receive N3, 031, 572. 50, as against N1, 212, 629. 00 provided for in the amended Act; while the Chief of Staff to the President, Ministers, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) and Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOSF) are to receive annual basic salary of N2, 026, 400. 00.In the amended 2002 Act, N794, 085.00 was provided for the SGF; N783, 032. 00 was provided for Minister of State while N777, 150. 00 was provided for Special Advisers to the President.Chairmen of the listed Commissions and the members received N777, 150 and N771, 752. 00 respectively under the Act of 2002, but they are now to receive N2, 026, 400. 00 and N1, 957, 580. 00 respectively in the 2008 Bill.Special Advisers to the President and Speech Writers to the President are to receive N1, 942, 875. 00 as annual basic salary under the Bill.In the 2002 Act, Auditor General of the Federation was paid N770, 346. 00 while in the new Bill, the occupant of the office is to receive N1, 925, 865. 00 along with Permanent Secretaries, Directors-General, Executive Secretaries, Chief executive of Parastatals, Agencies and Government Companies, and INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners, among others.The Bill retains allowances of 300 percent for severance gratuity, 10 percent for leave, 250 percent for constituency for the President and Vice President while other fringe benefits such as accommodation, utilities, domestic staff, entertainment, medical allowances, security, furniture, personal assistant, duty tour allowances, among others are to be provided by the State.Members of the Council of State are to be paid N500,000 per sitting (but not exceeding six sittings in a year) consistent with Section 153 (1) (b) paragraph 5 (c and d) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.The Amendment Bill was processed by the Senate Committee on National Planning headed by Senator Zaynab Kure.Presenting the Committee report to the Senate yesterday, Senator Kure reminded the Senate: “Distinguished colleagues, you may respectfully recall that when the Leader of the senate led this distinguished Senate in a debate on the general principles of the Bill in question, he did say that ‘on 22nd May, 2007, the Senate approved vide resolution (S. Res. 01/21/07), remuneration package for political, public and judicial office holders in Nigeria.”However, this is enjoyed only by elected members of the National Assembly and State Assemblies. In a way, the Bill, which is now the subject matter seeks only to legalize that resolution, so that it can apply to all political office holders.”She said that Committee observed that salary matter was dynamic and must be reviewed from time to time, at least every five years, adding that legislators’ pay was at par with that of the Minister “which is in contrast with the Order of Precedence Act 2003, where a senator appears before a minister.”Kure continued: “Monitoring allowances recommended for Commissions should also be extended to Legislative houses to enable them perform their constitutional responsibilities of oversight function.”

Gunmen Kidnap Mother of Six, Abandon Children

Gunmen again struck in Port Harcourt yesterday morning as a mother of six, one Mrs. Ezike, was at the Agip roundabout, kidnapped.
The gunmen, who blocked her 306 Peugeot salon car with her six children inside, took her away to an unknown destination.
Prior the incident at about 7 a.m., the hoodlums who had been trailing her started shooting sporadically into the air to scare away people.
Ezike’s children aged between three and 10 years watched helplessly as their mother was forced out of her vehicle into a waiting jeep and drove away.
Confirming the story to THISDAY, the Commissioner of Police, River State Command, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, said the kidnappers left her children in the car and took her away.
He said the command had mounted manhunt for the hoodlums.
According to him, “Yes, one Mrs. Ezike was taking her children to school in the morning when at Agip junction, some unidentified men in a jeep blocked her and took her into their vehicle. They left her six children in her Peugeot 306 car and fled.
“After the incident, we sent our men to comb all the waterfronts in the state to see whether they would want to take her through there into the creeks, but there was no sign of the woman and those holding her.
“We further gathered that the kidnappers had also driven the Peugeot 306 car with the children inside to a point on the East-West road where they abandoned the vehicle with the children inside and left with their mother.”
On the brand of the jeep the kidnappers used, he said the children were too young to know.
As at press time, Ogbaudu was unable to supply the full name of the woman.
He also could not confirm whether the woman’s husband is an Assistant Commissioner of Police, serving in Awka, Anambra State but asked THISDAY to “wait while I verify that right away”.
Sources within the security circles who confirmed the kidnap said the husband of the woman, one Chris, was serving either in Awka or Abuja but said he was indeed in service.

Ojukwu, Mark and others recieve pension cheques

Many years after the war, Leader of the defunct BIAFRAN state, dim ojukwu, received his pension cheque from the military pensions board.
Ojukwu was paid on the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was grateful but later stated that he was a general and not lt colonel.
Senate president, David Mark who retired as a major general was also paid.
the board said it would be paying biafran soldiers also as part of an integration process begun after the civil war