PRESIDENCY WADES INTO POLICE, SSS RIFT

The Presidency has begun moves to resolve a growing rivalry between the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the State Security Service (SSS), Daily Sun has learnt. A top official of government who did not want his name in print disclosed at the weekend that the Presidency was worried about the rivalry between both agencies and the security implications for the country.

The official listed the controversial escape and re-arrest of suspected terrorist, Kabiru Sokoto and the murder of Olaitan Oyerinde, private secretary to Edo State governor, as two events that had fuelled mistrust between the police and SSS. Last week, the House of Representatives summoned the SSS Director General, Mr. Ita Ekpeyong, on how his men paraded a set of suspects different from the ones earlier paraded by the police in Oyerinde’s murder investigations.

PENSION THIEVES ARE AFTER ME, MAINA CRIES OUT •PROMISES TO REAPPEAR AFTER SORTING OUT PERSONAL SECURITY

WANTED Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina has said he had nothing to hide from the Senate on the allegations levelled against him and would only resurface after sorting out the issue of threats to his life and that of his family members by those he described as agents of pension thieves.

Maina said his non-appearance before the Senate was a deliberate ploy to avoid being pinned to a corner by some Senators who he said have been calling him names and were never prepared to give him a fair hearing, notwithstanding that many of them knew that he did not steal a penny from the pension funds he had so far recovered.

BOMB KILLS ONE IN LAGOS

Twenty-seven years after the death of Publisher of Newswatch, Dele Giwa, through a letter bomb, a similar incident occurred Monday under the Festac link bridge in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos, which left  chairman of the local Dredgers  Association dead.

JONATHAN ORDERS RESCUE OF KIDNAPPED FOREIGN WORKERS

President Jonathan, Monday, has ordered security agencies in th country to rescue the kidnapped foreign workers.

FRESH CRISIS LOOMS IN HOUSE OF REPS OVER MEMBERS’ PAY

As the National Assembly tries to wriggle out of the budget padding feud with the Presidency, a fresh round of crisis is looming in the House of Representatives following allegation by some aggrieved members that the leadership has short-changed them in the payment of their salaries and allowances.

The aggrieved members of the House of Representatives,  who spoke to Vanguard last night, accused the leadership of trading with their salaries and allowances since the inception of the current 7^th session of the NASS.

EFCC OPERATIVES PROTEST OVER ALLOWANCES, PROMOTIONS

Some operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have protested the non-payment of allowances and wrongful deductions.

The staff, who describe themselves as Regular operatives (detectives that are not police officers), in a petition to the Chairman of the Commission Ibrahim Lamorde, claimed that the management has failed to pay them their 2012 hazard and incentives allowances.

They also alluded to a fraudulent deduction of 2011 upfront allowances paid by the past administration as well as lack of promotion.

The petitions claims: “the 2012 hazard and incentives allowances were not paid to the staff of the commission based on the claims that the two allowances were used to upset the 2011 upfront allowances paid to the commission by the past administration, which is fraudulent because up till now there is no explanation from management with regards to how the deducted money was retired to the Federation Account.”

PRESIDENT MADE NO SINGLE-TERM PROMISE –EX-SENATE WHIP

Former Senate Whip, Senator Kanti Bello, has accused the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, of telling a lie over his claim that President Goodluck Jonathan agreed to a single term in 2011.

Bello said, as a principal officer of the Senate in 2011, he attended a meeting of governors and lawmakers where the issue of Jonathan’s single term was raised.

The former Senate Whip told our one of correspondents in a telephone interview on Sunday that he personally raised the matter during the said meeting and that Jonathan did not make any promise of serving just one term.

Aliyu had in an interview aired on Liberty Radio, Kaduna, claimed that President Jonathan had agreed to serve for only one term of four years beginning from 2011.

But Bello, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party, who defected to the Congress for Progressive Change, dismissed Aliyu’s claims.

Bello said, “He (Aliyu) is being economical with the truth. You see, I will explain clearly what happened.

SAMBO HEADS JONATHAN’S RE-ELECTION TEAM

Amidst intrigues and unending crises rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan appears set to roll out his campaign for the 2015 Presidential election, as his inner caucus members have decided that “silence for too long” will be inimical to their principal’s ambition.

Against this backdrop, Daily Independent learnt that the President’s men, led by Vice President Namadi Sambo, have set up a “closely-guarded team” with only trusted associates of the President in the know.

Other members of the team, it was gathered, include former Works Minister and the President’s favourite for the position of PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Tony Anenih, former Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Bode George, and four PDP Governors, two of whom are from the South-South, and one each from the North East and North Central.

GUNMEN KIDNAP BRITON, ITALIAN, FIVE OTHER FOREIGNERS IN BAUCHI

Unknown gunmen kidnapped seven foreigners and killed a security guard when they stormed the compound of Lebanese construction company SETRACO in Bauchi yesterday morning.

Among those abducted were a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers, including two women, Local Government Chairman Adamu Aliyu and security sources said.

It was the worst case of foreigners being kidnapped in the North since an insurgency by Islamist militants intensified nearly two years ago.

No one took responsibility for the attacks and kidnappings have been linked to Boko Haram and another Islamist group – Al Qaeda-aligned group Ansaru – which rose to prominence recently. The group claimed responsibility for the kidnap in December of a French national, who is still missing.

OBAMA TO VISIT NIGERIA, KENYA, OTHERS IN JULY

United States President Barack Obama will be visiting Nigeria, Kenya and some other African countries before the end of July, this year if the information from the Presidential travel trends is anything to go by.

It would be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan and other Africa’s leaders have been some of Barack Obama’s fiercest critics, and alleged that he had not prioritised the continent since he became the US president in January, 2009.

During his first term in office, President Obama’s only visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president was a stopover of less than 24 hours in Ghana out of the 51 country visits he made.

JAJI BOMBING: I ALERTED ARMY HQRS AHEAD OF TIME – GEN ISA

The retired Commander of the Army Infantry School Jaji, Major-General Mohammed Isa, yesterday, disclosed how he tried in vain to avert the terrorists’ attacks in the institution.

The Chief of Army Staff had alleged that the General Isa had all the information about the attacks, but refused to act until the attacks were successfully executed.

The Army General who was forcefully retired from active service denied the allegation that he had prior knowledge of the bomb blast.

POLICE NAB PROPHET, ACCOMPLICE OVER FRESH HUMAN PARTS

 Two persons, one of them said to be a prophet with a white garment church, have been arrested by the Police in Lagos, following  the discovery of fresh human parts in their custody. 

Vanguard gathered that policemen attached to Ikotun division on patrol accosted two men at about 12: 30 p.m, Friday, with a Ghana-must-go bag. When they requested to know the content of the bag, one of the men bolted.