Aondoakaa demoted

Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, sat for the first time on the seat of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in the council chamber yesterday.

He carried out a minor cabinet reshuffle which saw the controversial Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Chief Mike Aondoakaa (SAN), redeployed to the Special Duties ministry.

No reason was given for Aondoakaa's demotion from the high-profile Attorney-General position to the Special Duties Ministry.

In a brief announcement that was said to have taken everyone present at the weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) by surprise, Jonathan was said to have dropped the bombshell just before the closing prayers were said.

"Aondoakaa looked like a battered man," a minister told THISDAY.

To replace him is Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN), who was the Minister of Labour and Productivity until yesterday. He was the first Minister of Culture and Tourism in the Yar'Adua administration. Senator Ibrahim Musa Kazaure was moved from Special Duties to become Minister of Labour and Productivity.

Yesterday's EXCOF meeting was said to have started on a charged note as some ministers who had hoped Jonathan would not be made Acting President were said to be on the edge.

Jonathan became Acting President on Tuesday following resolutions by the two chambers of the National Assembly asking him to fill the vacuum left by Yar'Adua who has been out of the country since November 23 last year for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

At last week's EXCOF, the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, had circulated a memo asking that Jonathan be made Acting President but it was shot down by ministers believed to be loyalists of the President.

This week's meeting was also said to have been kick-started by Akunyili who said she was recognising Jonathan as Acting President and defended her decision to send in a memo, having come under criticism from some ministers for her action.

"She said the council was wrong not to have discussed her memo because in the past, some memos had been discussed the same day they were submitted," another minister told THISDAY. "The interesting thing is that many ministers were too afraid to talk even when they seemed to agree with Akunyili's position. It was only the Minister of State for the Niger Delta, Chief Godsday Orubebe, who said he supported Akunyili's position."

After the lengthy deliberations and a resolution recognising Jonathan as Acting President, Akunyili annou-nced the changes.

To demonstrate the transfer of full presidential powers, Jonathan sat on the presidential seat as he chaired the council meeting, which lasted for over six hours. The meeting saw an unprecedented attendance in recent times as all the ministers were present.

Jonathan still retained his Aide-de-Camp (ADC), Chief Superi-ntendent of Police (CSP) Moses Jitoboh.

According to Presidential protocols, the President and Commander-in-Chief usually has an army officer, usually the rank of Colonel as his ADC.

Akunyili disclosed: "Federal Executive Council accepts the resolution of the National Assembly that the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, becomes an Acting President, Comm-ander-in-Chief.

"Council commends the National Assembly for their action and pledges to support the Acting President in his onerous responsibility of steering the ship of the nation."

Asked why the Acting President had to embark on a cabinet reshuffle in his first day at work, Akunyili replied: "It is the decision of the Acting President to remove people not the decision of the Federal Executive Council. He has the presidential powers to move any of us."

Asked how he felt about his removal as Attorney-General, Aondoaka said: "First, I had a discussion with the Vice-President this morning and he informed me about the changes. I have taken a position and in this life when you take a position and there is a change in the position you allow another person who will have a free atmosphere to defend the new position.

"I think what we did was a collective decision. First he told me, it's a cordial arrangement. Well I am in the government, in the cabinet and I pledge my loyalty to the Vice-President. I'm the Minister of Special Duties. No single action I've taken that I have regretted. Every single action I took was in the interest of this country. No country will say there is a [power] vacuum. No attorney-general worth his salt will go to the pages of papers and say there is a vacuum.

"We have to preserve the executive powers until a leader is selected. A leader has been given by the National Assembly. We have recognised him. Do you reject the job you have been given?"

Asked what would be his approach to his new portfolio, the minister replied: "When I go there the permanent secretary will brief me on what the special duties are and I will do the job."

About 40 policemen had taken over the Ministry of Justice at the Central Area of Abuja, fuelling the speculation that Aondoakaa was about to be sacked while more than 20 armed policemen were at his Apo quarters residence.

As early as 8 a.m. before workers arrived for work, policemen were already at the ministry and denied entrance into the premises even to staff without identification.

The former AGF, however, did not appear in the office as at 12.37pm as he was said to have gone for EXCOF meeting where the decision to redeploy him was taken. At about 2.19 p.m, when the policemen had left the ministry, one of Aondoakaa's personal assistants came into the office but refused to talk to journalists who had laid siege for the minister.

The heavy police presence both in the office and house further fuelled the rumour that police were actually looking for documents needed to prosecute the former AGF. But that rumour diffused into thin air when the news of his redeployment filtered out.

Aondoakaa had personally appeared in all the cases filed by interested persons in the course of Yar'Adua's absence from the country. He always had ready-made answers for journalists on any issues relating to the president's absence.

This Day

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Nigerian vice-president to take over from absent president

The Nigerian parliament today voted to transfer power to vice-president Goodluck Jonathan in the prolonged absence of the president, Umaru Yar'Adua, who has been receiving hospital treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Both the house of representatives and senate passed motions enabling Jonathan to act as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces until Yar'Adua, who left Nigeria in November last year, is fit enough to resume his duties.

"The vice-president … shall henceforth discharge the functions of the office of the president, commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federation, as acting president," the senate motion said.

The motions would allow Yar'Adua to reassume the presidency if he returns healthy enough to lead the country of 150 million people. However, many think he is too ill to serve again, casting doubt on the leadership of the ruling party in the run-up to next year's presidential election.

Pressure to transfer power to the vice-president has grown in recent weeks. Nigeria's influential state governors backed plans last week for Jonathan to be appointed acting president to fill the political vacuum and urged parliament to act. Jonathan could be immediately sworn in as president, if the lower house passes a similar measure.

Yar'Adua, who has suffered from kidney ailments, left the country several times for what his advisers said were medical checkups before going to Saudi Arabia in November. He was admitted to a hospital the next day and has remained there, leaving Nigerian in political limbo.

Amid rumours about the president's health – some reports said he was dead – his doctor released a statement saying he had acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.

While the government says Jonathan has been acting in Yar'Adua's place, protesters have taken to the street warning the country will remain rudderless until the situation is clarified. In Yar'Adua's absence more than 300 people have died and thousands displaced in religious violence between Christians and Muslims, a major kidnapping and a pipeline attack have occurred in the oil-rich Niger delta and a young Nigerian attempted to bring down an airliner over Detroit, prompting the introduction of new security regulations for those travelling from Nigeria.

Giving power to the vice-president creates its own problems as it would disrupt an unwritten power-sharing agreement between Nigeria's Christian south and Muslim north. Jonathan, a Christian, would be taking over from Yar'Adua, a Muslim, before the president's appointed time was up.

Until he took over as Nigeria's president in May 2007, Yar'Adua, 58, was governor of his northern Katsina home state for eight years.

He has given one interview since being out of the country. In January, he told the BBC he hoped to recover and return to power. The senate president, David Mark, said that telephone interview served as the notification needed to allow Jonathan to take power. "The BBC interview is as good as the letter envisioned by the constitution," Mark said.

Guardian

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Nigeria's oil reserve to dry up in 2040

The oil reserves in the Niger Delta currently in the region of 30 billion barrels will dry and disappear by the year 2040.

Activities of militant groups in the region, ineptitude leadership and rapid depletion of ore, a major component for the exploration are contributory factors that may see the end of Nigeria's oil.

Regulatory and monitoring organs in the country including the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) are concerned about the development.

A source in one of the agencies confirms that some of the agencies especially NNPC and RMAFC have undertaken visitations and mounted various campaigns on need for the diversification of the economy to other sectors and on the necessity for passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law.

The RMAFC had toured some states to verify existing and abandoned oil wells and other prospective areas for exploration. It also provided each state in the federation with lists of abundant mineral and natural resources in its location which could be tapped for more revenue to their Internally Generated Revenue and the Federation Accounts.

Minerals and hydrocarbon deposits have life-span and can be negatively affected if there are fewer activities to extend the life indices through intensive exploration to augment the resource base, Economic Confidential reports.

Members of the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), which comprises commissioners of finance, accountants general of states, NNPC, Customs and Federal Inland Revenue Service are being told on the need for new investment and diversifications of the economy because they would soon run out of oil for export and local consumption.

The campaigns have also gone to Governors and federal legislators on the need for early passage of PIB because the future of Nigeria's oil, according to the campaigners, depends largely on new oil bill that would promote continued investment in new oils and security of facilities in the Niger Delta region.

At another forum in Abuja recently, a General Manager, Planning, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) Victor Briggs stated that that Nigeria is not investing in new oil discoveries whereby all the revenues from oil goes to the Federation Account directly without reinvesting into oil fields.

The disbursement figures made in January 2010 from the Federation Account shows that while Bayelsa and Edo States received the sum of N4.29billion and N3.48billion respectively the non-oil states of Lagos and Kano States received N9.16billion and N6.49billion respectively.

Daily Trust

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NDLEA foils plot to smuggle drugs in compact discs

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized 2.4 kg of cocaine concealed in compact discs (CDs) by a drug suspect who wanted to smuggle the illicit substance to London, England.

The suspect, Ngozi Monye-Cole, 48, was apprehended at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The anti-narcotic agents have also arrested Nnadebe Henry Abuchi, 27, who allegedly swallowed 1.433 kg of cocaine while returning from Brazil.

NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar, who confirmed the seizure of 3.483 kg of cocaine, said the drug was discovered during routine check at the airport's baggage desk.

Monye-Cole was nabbed on January 30, 2010, for concealing 2.050 kg of substance that tested positive to cocaine inside CDs while Abuchi, who ingested 50 wraps of substance found to be cocaine weighing 1.433kg, was detected by the scanning machine.

Meanwhile, Osun State Command of the NDLEA has destroyed over 155 hectres of Indian hemp farms worth N5 billion at different locations in the state.

Also in a separate operation, the agency patrol, in collaboration with other security agents, have discovered a fresh cannabis farm where 600kgs of Indian hemp worth about N150m were recovered from one Steven Enenwe.

In a statement yesterday in Osogbo, the state Commander of the NDLEA, Mrs. Wosilat Audu, said 208 suspects were arrested last year in connection with cultivation and possession of cannabis, comprising 190 men and 18 women. Twenty of the suspects were youths.

Of the 208 suspects, 45 had been prosecuted and convicted while 33 cases are pending in court.

Also, the Kwara State Command of the NDLEA at the weekend disclosed that it arrested 84 suspected drug traffickers between January and December last year.

Besides, it seized 556.887 kilogrammes of hard drugs and destroyed 1.8 acre of Indian Hemp farm in Kawo Village, Edu Local Council, in the year under review.

The state Commander of the NDLEA, Mr. Nse Jack Inam, disclosed these at the weekend in Ilorin, the state capital.

Monye-Cole, a mother of four, who is a caterer, was arrested during screening of passengers on British Airways flight to London Heathrow Airport.

She was alleged to have cleverly arranged the discs in four sets, drilled a hole in the centre and inserted a pipe in each set which she filled up with cocaine using two undrilled discs at both ends as a cover to avoid detection.

Notwithstanding her creativity in packing the drugs, the NDLEA operatives found her out during routine search at the baggage check-in desk.

In her statement, Monye-Cole said that her sponsors gave her the discs containing the cocaine to deliver in London.

Her words: "It was my childhood friend that lured me into this mess. I met her at Asaba my hometown and she invited me to an eatery. She asked me to eat anything I like. In fact, I was carried away by her hospitality, particularly when she is a fellow woman.

"My friend told me that she does her business in Abuja where she is based. I demanded that she introduce me to her business but she said it was capital-intensive. That was how I told her of my husband's death and how I am struggling to take care of my four children.

"She convinced me to traffic drugs to raise capital for her kind of business with the promise of paying me 3,000 pounds. Unfortunately, I was caught at the airport by NDLEA. I was astonished when the officer detected the drugs weighing 2.050 kg because they told me it was only 500 grammes".

Abuchi, a trader was arrested during the inward screening of passengers on South Africa Airways flight from Brazil.

He was detected to have drugs with the aid of the scanner and was placed under observation to excrete the drugs, weighing 1.433 kg.

Abuchi, a Nigerian, is married to a South African woman and has dual citizenship of both countries.

He lives in South Africa with his wife and child but visits Nigeria regularly.

His words: "I swallowed 50 wraps of cocaine for a fee of $3,000. I agreed to do it because I needed money. It has happened and I believe I have learnt my lesson".

 The Guardian

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