Jonathan sacks NNPC director, appoints five new GEDs

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday sacked the Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Abiye Membere, and appointed five new ones to fill existing vacancies.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the new appointees and their portfolios are Mr. Ian Udoh, Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals; Dr. Dan Efebo, Group Executive Director, Corporate Services; and Ms. Aisha Abdurrahman, Group Executive Director, Business Development.

Others are Mr. Adebayo Ibirogba, Group Executive Director, Engineering and Technical; and Dr. Joseph Dawha, Acting Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production.

Abati said the appointments took immediate effect.

Among the GEDs, the one in charge of the Exploration and Production is one of the most influential in the hierarchy of the NNPC because the department is responsible for producing the crude oil that is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.

It was gathered that some of the old GEDs had retired from the corporation without the government filling their positions, while some served in acting capacities.

For instance, the former GED, Refining and Petrochemicals, Mr. Anthony Ogbuigwe, and GED, Business Development, Mr. Aminu Babakusa, were said to have retired from the services of the NNPC.

The former acting GEDs, Corporate Services and Engineering and Technical were replaced with substantive directors.

Those that retained their portfolios are the GEDs, Commerce and Investment, Dr. Attahir Yusuf; Finance and Accounts, Mr. Bernard Otti; Gas and Power, Dr. David Ige; and Comapny Secretary/Legal Adviser, Anthony Madichie.

Udoh, according to the statement, is a native of Akwa Ibom State and has been the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining and Petrochemicals Company Limited since November 2012.

He has considerable experience of managing the nation’s refineries, having previously held the position of Executive Director, Operations, at both the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company Limited and the PHRPC.

In addition, Udoh had previously served as a general manager in the Refining and Petrochemicals Directorate of NNPC.

Efebo, who hails from Bayelsa State, was until the latest appointment the Group General Manager in charge of the NNPC’s Human Resources Division. He was previously General Manager, Human Resources, Brass LNG.

Abdurrahman is a native of Kogi State and was the Managing Director, Nikorma, NNPC’s shipping subsidiary.

She also served as Managing Director of Hyson, an NNPC trading subsidiary; and as Executive Director (Services), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company.

Ibirogba, a chemical engineer, until now was the Group General Manager, Engineering, NNPC’s Engineering and Technology Directorate, and hails from Ogun State.

He served at various times as General Manager (New Business), General Manager (Gas Development), and Group General Manager, Greenfield Refineries.

In 2010, Ibirogba became the first African to be elected to the Board of Directors of the World LP Gas Association.

Dawha, who replaces Membere as Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, was previously the Managing Director of Integrated Data Services Limited.

He is an indigene of Borno State and has served the corporation over the years in various capacities in the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, Mr. Babs Omotowa, on Wednesday said the firm paid N220bn as tax on its operational profit in 2013.

According to him, the firm prides itself as the biggest tax payer and gas income earner in the country.

Omotowa said this in Abuja at the inauguration of the company’s university support programme.

“Our corporate income tax will exceed N220bn per annum, which is by far the highest in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

He added that the NLNG had also commercialised over four trillion cubic feet of natural gas to lead the country’s aspiration for flare reduction at oil production sites.

Forget Kwara, APC tells Jonathan

The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Wednesday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to face governance, adding that his claim that the Peoples Democratic Party would reclaim Kwara State was not realistic.

Jonathan had on Tuesday while granting audience to a delegation of Kwara State chapter of the PDP in Abuja, said all the mandates of the party allegedly stolen in the state by virtue of recent defection by the state governor and others would be returned to the PDP. The Presidency had made similar comment in the past.

But  the Interim Publicity Secretary, APC, Kwara State, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, stated that there was no stolen mandate in the state.   He said Jonathan’s comment was suspect and wondered whether Jonathan would adopt unorthodox and unconstitutional means to upstage the political leadership in the state.

It remains a mirage how a party without leadership and structure, with no councillor in any of the 193 wards;  a party with no chairman in any of the 16 local governments  councils of the state and with just two members out of 24 members in the House of Assembly, will win any election in Kwara State.

“Or is Mr. President thinking of announcing election results from Abuja? This will certainly attract uprising from Kwarans and it should best remain in his imagination,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kwara South Senatorial District has said that it is not opposed to the nomination of a former Senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District, Gbemi Saraki, as a minister by President Jonathan.

In a statement signed by the representatives of the  three blocks  of the district, the party said the appointment of Saraki as a minister had never been an issue of concern.

Sacking: FG asks court to dismiss Olotu’s suit

President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, have asked an Abuja Federal High Court to strike out a suit filed by Justice Gladys Olotu to challenge her dismissal.

Justice Olotu, a former judge of the Abuja Federal House Court, who was dismissed by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, had approached the court in a bid to set aside her compulsory retirement.

She sued President Jonathan and the AGF, alongside the NJC, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Mukhtar, and the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta.

But in a notice of preliminary objection filed by their counsel, Taiwo Abidogun, the President and the AGF asked the court, presided by Justice Adeniyi Ademola, to dismiss Justice Olotu’s suit.

They argued that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Stating the grounds upon which they asked the court to strike out the matter, the President and the AGF noted that, “The substantive matter relates to and is connected with the employment of the applicant, an erstwhile employee of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

They insisted that the suit should not have been filed at the FHC as Section 254 (c) of the Constitution vested jurisdiction on employment matters on the National Industrial Court.

“The Federal High Court has no jurisdiction over employment matters by virtue of sections 251 and 254 of the 1999 Constitution.

“We are of the humble opinion that this matter is best struck out to save time and cost of both the court and the parties.

“We submit that this matter be struck out for want of jurisdiction and humbly urge your Lordship to so hold,” they argued.

Justice Ademola on Wednesday fixed April 28 to hear the suit.

Justice Olotu was relieved of her duties after the NJC found her guilty of gross misconduct, following investigations into petitions that were brought against her.

However, following the development, she filed a motion, through her counsel, S. I. Ameh, SAN, seeking a judicial review of her suspension and recommendation for retirement by the NJC.

The former judge also asked the court to restrain the President, AGF, NJC and the other defendants from tampering with any benefit or privilege that is due to her as a judge of the Abuja FHC, pending the hearing and determination of her application for a judicial review of her sack.

She was dismissed alongside Justice U. A. Inyang of the Federal Capital Territory High Court.

It would be recalled that on February 27, the Acting Director of Information in the NJC, Soji Oye, had explained in a statement that the Council, headed by the CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar, suspended the two judges and forwarded the recommendation for their dismissal to the President at a meeting on February 26.

The recommendation for the compulsory retirement of the two judges was based on findings made by the NJC after investigations into allegations contained in the petitions brought against them.

According to the NJC, Justice Olotu “failed to deliver judgment only to deliver same in Suit No. FHC/UY/250/2003, 18 months after the final address by all the counsel in the suit, contrary to the constitutional provisions that judgments should be delivered within a period of 90 days.”

The Council added that Justice Olotu “admitted before the Fact Finding Committee of the Council that investigated the allegations that she forgot she had a pending ruling to deliver in an application for joinder.”

The NJC equally found that she “entertained a post Judgment matter in Suit No. FHC/UY/CS/250/2003 in Port Harcourt after delivering judgment, which made her functus officio.”

It was also established that “in another case, Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/505/2012, Justice Olotu failed to deliver judgment twice.”

However, Justice Olotu has debunked the allegations, describing the petition which warranted her suspension and subsequent dismissal as malicious and in bad faith.

Ekiti gov aspirant asks PDP to disqualify Fayose

A Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Mr. Deji Ajayi, has asked the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, to disqualify a fellow aspirant, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, from taking part in the PDP primaries scheduled for Saturday.

Ajayi, in a petition, which he also sent to President Goodluck Jonathan, threatened to seek legal redress if Fayose was not barred from the primaries to produce the PDP candidate in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti.

He said that Fayose had ceased from being a member of the party, having defected to the Labour Party in the past and that there was no constitutional recommendation to the National Working Committee of the PDP for Fayose’s readmission to the party.

Ajayi’s letter read in part, “Sir, the subject person, Mr. Ayo Fayose, who is not a party member has been parading himself as an aspirant on the platform of the party for some time without going through and/or fulfilling the constitutional prerequisites to becoming a member of the party.

“It may be apposite to state the facts of how Mr. Fayose, who was once a member of the party lost his membership and has never been re-admitted to full membership of the party to confer the status of participating in the electoral process leading to emergence of the party candidate.

“Sir, the subject person was the Governor of Ekiti State between 2003 and 2006 when he was impeached by the State House of Assembly and went on a self-imposed exile. Upon his return, he left the party and joined the All Nigerian Peoples Party and campaigned across the state for that party’s candidate in the 2007 gubernatorial election.

“In 2013, he did not only join the Labour Party, he was also the candidate of that party for the Ekiti Central Senatorial seat which he lost with a wide margin to the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Sir, it is a fact that cannot be denied that the subject person, with these antecedents lost his membership of the party.

“It is conceded that the subject person has, to the general knowledge and to the personal knowledge of our client, taken the initial steps towards becoming a member of the party (PDP) in line with the provision of section 8(17) of the Constitution of the party, however, no recommendation has been made to the National Working Committee for his readmission to the party.”

Vietnam jails blogger for critical posts

A Vietnamese court sentenced a dissident blogger to 15 months in prison for posting online criticism of the government, the latest case in an intensifying crackdown against dissent in the one-party communist country.

At a two-hour trial at the Hanoi People’s Court, Judge Ngo Tu Hoc said on Wednesday that Pham Viet Dao was guilty of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe the interests of the state” by posting dozens of articles that “distorted, vilified and smeared the senior leaders”.

Dao, 61, confessed to the court and apologised for the “erroneous” details in some of his posts, but said he did not do that on purpose.

“I don’t think that my articles have had bad impact on society,” said Dao, who refused a lawyer and defended himself at the trial.

‘Sincere confession’

“The defendant’s acts are dangerous to the society, causing anxiety among the public and reducing people’s trust in the leadership of the (Communist) Party and the state,” the judge said.

Hoc said the court handed down a light sentence because of Dao’s “sincere confession,” clean criminal record and contribution to the country.

Several Western diplomats and foreign reporters followed the court proceedings via a closed circuit television screen in a separate room.

Dao, a former Cultural Ministry official and member of the Vietnam Writers Association, was arrested at his Hanoi home last June. His membership to the Communist Party was suspended after his arrest.

Earlier this month, a court in the central city of Danang sentenced a well-known blogger, Truong Duy Nhat, to two years in jail on the same charges.

New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement on Tuesday calling for Dao’s “immediate and unconditional” release.

“The Vietnamese authorities are shaming themselves before domestic and international public opinion by staging yet another political trial of a peaceful critic,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch says that the number of people sentenced in political trials in Vietnam has increased every year since 2010, and that at least 63 people were imprisoned for peaceful political expression last year.

Protesters occupy Taiwan’s Legislature over China pact

Hundreds of students remained barricaded in Taiwan’s Legislature early Wednesday in protest of the ruling party’s push for a trade pact with China, which demonstrators claim will hurt the island.
The protesters, mostly university students, entered the main assembly hall inside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday night and blocked the entrances with chairs, according to images and accounts filed from the scene with CNN iReport.
Police responded but had not dispersed the protesters, who also filled the streets around the Legislature in the center of Taipei.
The students said they plan to occupy the Legislature until Friday’s session, when the pact was to be deliberated.
Taiwan’s state news agency reported that 38 police officers were injured when more than 400 protesters took over the Legislature.
Four protesters were arrested in two unsuccessful attempts to evict them, the news agency reported. Police said there were more than 2,000 protesters both inside and outside the building, with a equal number of officers on the scene.

S’Africa’s Zuma criticised for home upgrade

South African President Jacob Zuma “benefited unduly” from a $23m state-funded security upgrade to his private home that included a swimming pool, cattle enclosure and an amphitheatre, the public protector said.

In a report released on Wednesday, just six weeks before an election, South Africa’s top anti-corruption watchdog accused Zuma of conduct “inconsistent with his office” and said he should repay a reasonable part of the cost of the unnecessary renovations.

“The president tacitly accepted the implementation of all measures at his residence and has unduly benefitted from the enormous capital investment in the non-security installations at his private residence,” Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said in her report.

The improvements included a visitors’ lounge, amphitheatre, cattle enclosure and swimming pool, referred to in official documents as a “fire pool” on the pretext it could double up as a water reservoir for fire-fighters, the paper said.

Zuma’s spokesman declined to comment, but the ruling African National Congress (ANC) immediately threw its weight behind its leader, saying it believed he had done nothing wrong.

As the report’s formal release day approached, several senior party officials have appeared in the media questioning the integrity and independence of Madonsela, whose office is enshrined in South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution.

The newspaper said Madonsela’s draft report, entitled “Opulence on a Grand Scale”, found Zuma had derived “substantial” personal gain from the home improvements paid for by the state and recommended he should repay some of the money.

The report, which was leaked early in November, provoked derisive cartoons of Zuma sipping cocktails and relaxing in his “fire pool”, and reinforced the perception of runaway corruption in Africa’s biggest economy during Zuma’s first term in office.

Despite voter concerns about corruption and shoddy public services, the ANC is almost certain to win the May 7 election, handing the 71-year-old Zuma another five years at the helm.

Before the leak, the government had gone to court to try to prevent Madonsela releasing her findings on the grounds that they might jeopardise Zuma’s security. The challenge was dropped after Madonsela made clear there was no threat.

The paper also said Madonsela accused Zuma of misleading parliament by telling it in 2011 that all the buildings in the sprawling compound had been built “by ourselves as family, and not by the government”.

Zuma, a polygamous Zulu traditionalist, has been beset by scandal throughout his political career.

The extent of Zuma’s unpopularity in urban areas was highlighted by the boos that greeted him at a memorial to Nelson Mandela at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium in December, although he still enjoys huge support in the countryside.

Malaysia plane: Australia sees possible debris

Australia is investigating two objects seen on satellite images that could potentially be linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, officials say.

Planes and ships from Australia, New Zealand and the US were heading to the area 2,500km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth to search for the objects.

The largest appeared to be 24m in size, maritime authorities said, but warned they could be unrelated to the plane.

Australia has been searching in the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 when it lost contact with air traffic controllers. A total of 239 people were on board.

Twenty-six nations have been involved in a major search for the missing plane, which Malaysia says was intentionally diverted.

Investigators have been scrutinising the backgrounds of both the crew and the passengers, but have so far identified no evidence of terror or other potentially relevant links.

A number of sightings of possible debris have been investigated in the course of the search but so far none have proved to be linked.

Lebanese army deploys in restive border town

Lebanese army deployed in the town of Arsal along the border with Syria, reopening the main road linking the town to the rest of Lebanon after a night of violent protests.

The mainly Sunni town had been sealed off by residents from the mostly-Shia neighbouring town of Labweh, where one person was killed last week by rocket fire.

The closure of the main road out of Arsal prompted fury among Sunnis in other parts of Lebanon, and many took to streets across the country on Tuesday night to burn tires in protest.

In the wake of the tensions, President Michel Sleiman was meeting on Wednesday with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and top security officials, the official National News Agency reported.

Residents of Labweh blame Sunni Arsal for the rocket fire, although it was reported to have originated across the border in Syria.

Rising tensions

Tensions between residents of the two towns have increased since the fall of the Syrian rebel bastion Yabroud, just across the frontier, on Sunday.

Yaborud’s capture prompted an exodus of hundreds of Syrians to Arsal, where residents are sympathetic towards the Syrian uprising.

Angry Sunnis during the night blocked roads in Beirut, along the coast and in the Beqaa valley to protest what they called a “siege” of Arsal by Labweh residents.

The unrest led to the death of one man and the injury of four others in a Beirut suburb.

The army reacted on Tuesday night by announcing it would deploy in the northern Beqaa border area, “particularly in the areas of Arsal and Labweh and inside them”.

It said it would open the roads between the towns and work to “maintain security and stability in the region”.

Aerial bombardment

The deployment began deploying in the early hours of Wednesday, Arsal municipal council member Bakr Houjairi told AFP news agency.

“The army arrived around 5:00am, they have deployed in Arsal and they have opened the road leading out of the town towards Labweh,” he said.

“So far the situation is very calm, we will see what will happen later, but we are happy to see the army here and opening the road up.”

The conflict in neighbouring Syria has exacerbated existing sectarian tensions in Lebanon, particularly between Sunni and Shia residents.

Many Sunni Lebanese back the Sunni-dominated Syrian uprising, while many Shia support Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement, which is allied with Syria’s government and fighting alongside it.

The border region has become particularly fragile, with Arsal hosting some 51,000 civilian refugees and facing accusations that it allows rebel fighters to establish bases in the area around it.

On Wednesday, Syrian air force launched strikes on the outskirts of Arsal, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported.

Warplanes belonging to President Bashar al-Assad’s army have frequently bombarded the mountainous border region.

Canada gets new finance minister

Former natural resources minister and investment banker Joe Oliver has been sworn in as Canada’s finance minister, a day after Jim Flaherty resigned.

Mr Oliver was chosen by PM Stephen Harper to assume the role on Wednesday.

Mr Flaherty, 64, said he planned to return to the private sector after eight years as finance minister.

Mr Oliver, 73, served as the government’s point man on the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, currently under review in the US.

“I’m honored that Prime Minister Harper has appointed me to continue on our low-tax plan for jobs and growth,” Mr Oliver wrote in a statement.

Mr Harper wrote on Twitter that Mr Oliver, a Conservative MP from Ontario, “will continue to strengthen the economy and balance the budget by 2015″.

But the Canadian prime minister, also a Conservative, is said to have accepted Mr Flaherty’s resignation “with great reluctance”.

He had been the third-longest serving finance minister in Canada’s history.

Mr Flaherty has said his decision is not related to his health – he has been treated for a rare skin disease over the past year.

Ukraine proposes demilitarised zone in Crimea

Ukraine has proposed that Crimea, scene of a Russian-backed armed takeover, be declared a demilitarised zone by the United Nations with a pull-out by both Russian and Ukrainian forces.

“The Ukrainian government will immediately appeal to the United Nations to recognise Crimea as a demilitarised zone and take necessary measures for Russian forces to leave Crimea and prepare conditions for redeployment of Ukrainian forces,” security chief Andriy Parubiy said on Wednesday.

Earlier, several men in civilian clothing, later joined by military-looking personnel believed to be Russian, had seized the Ukrainian naval headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

Parubiy told journalists that in the face of the growing likelihood of military confrontation with Russia, the Ukrainian foreign ministry had been given the task of introducing visas for Russians visiting the former Soviet republic.

Referring to his demilitarisation proposal, Parubiy, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, said he hoped the UN would support the idea.

“This formula is the best for de-escalation … We hope that common sense will prevail,” he said.

‘Self-defence’ units

A naval spokesman on Wednesday said there had been no violence during the takeover of the base and that he believed the men belonged to so-called “self-defence” units, mainly made up of volunteers who have supported Crimea’s transition from Ukrainian to Russian control, the Reuters news agency reported.

Dozens of despondent Ukrainian soldiers, one of them in tears, filed out of the base.

“We have been temporarily disbanded,” a Ukrainian lieutenant who identified himself only as Vlad told the AFP news agency.

“I was born here and I grew up here and I have been serving for 20 years,” he said as a Russian flag went up over the base without a single shot being fired in its defence. Where am I going to go?”

Sergiy Gayduk, the Ukraine navy commander appointed after his predecessor switched allegiance in favour of Crimea’s pro-Kremlin authorities at the start of the month, was detained.

Three Russian flags were later seen flying at one of the entrances to the base.

Ukraine’s acting president on Wednesday said Crimea’s separatist leaders had three hours to release Gayduk or face “an adequate response”.

Oleksandr Turchynov said in a statement that “unless Admiral Gayduk and all the other hostages – both military and civilians ones – are released, the authorities will carry out an adequate response … of a technical and technological nature.”

As tensions continued to rise, the AP news agency reported that Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh had been denied entry to Crimea.

Earlier, at a cabinet meeting in the capital Kiev, acting Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had asked his first vice PM Vitaliy Yarema and Tenyukh to fly to Crimea immediately to de-escalate the crisis and try to prevent the conflict from turning into a military one. The officials immediately left for the airport.

Govt. closes College of Health Technology, Ningi over protest

The Bauchi State Government on Wednesday closed the School of Health Technology, Ninigi, due to students’ protest over the death of their colleague.

Dr Sani Malami, the Commissioner for Health, told newsmen in Bauchi that the school had to be closed to forestall breakdown of law and order in the institution.

“I have directed the indefinite closure of the college to forestall a complete breakdown of law and order.

“This has become necessary following a riot orchestrated by a handful of the students, protesting against the death of their fellow student, allegedly of cholera.

“Unfortunately, what began as a peaceful protest was hijacked by miscreants who seized the opportunity to molest and terrorise law abiding commuters on the Bauchi-Ningi-Kano highway.

“This is totally unacceptable and we condemn the abominable act in the strongest terms,” he said.

Malami said the authorities of the institution have been directed to conduct a thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the incident.

He expressed surprise that the institution, with three functional boreholes, best school clinic in the state, adequate WC and VIP toilets and a very hygienic environment, could be said to harbour cholera virus.

“With these facilities on ground, how could the students have acquired cholera?

“As matter of fact, up till this moment, there is no laboratory confirmation that we are dealing with an outbreak of cholera in the school,” he said.

The commissioner said that “nevertheless, we have strengthened our surveillance and epidemiological processes in and around Ningi town to ascertain and arrest the situation.”

He added that Gov. Isa Yuguda had directed that additional sources of water and sanitary disposal of waste be provided in the institution.

The commissioner condoled with the family of the deceased, and prayed that God almighty may grant him eternal rest.

The commissioner also called for understanding of the members of the public, stressing that government would do everything necessary to safeguard the lives of the people.