Ascon Oil Fire Outbreak: No Life Lost. Fire Contained
The fire incident at Ascon Oil filling station at Lekki Phase 1 this afternoon has been contained. Contrary to earlier speculations, the main building and the reservoirs are unaffected. The incident emanated from a discharge at the point of offloading product from a tanker, engulfing two tankers and some vehicles parked by the road side.
Al Jazeera demands the release of their two Nigerian journalists who have been detained in Maiduguri by Nigerian forces since Tuesday morning. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris and producer Ali Mustafa were detained in their hotel room after they were returning from covering a story on the Nigerian forces fighting Boko Haram in Borno State. The story was part of Al Jazeera’s special coverage on the Nigerian elections.After military officials questioned the men in their hotel rooms their camera equipment was confiscated. Both men have been kept in their hotel rooms and are officially detained until further notice.
According to a reported military statement, both men were questioned and restrained in their room because they were operating without “protection, accreditation or due clearance” - despite having just completed filming with the cooperation of the military. Additionally, both Ahmed and Mustafa are officially accredited by the Independent Electoral Commission in Abuja with the clearance to report from anywhere in Nigeria during the entire election period.
“President Jonathan is tired of governance because he is overwhelmed. His government has no focus. As of today, Nigeria is the most corrupt in the world. “That is why they are afraid of Buhari’s presidency because they are afraid of being jailed . They know there won’t be room for corrupt practices. We are promising you that wonders shall happen again in this country if Buhari wins this election.
“President Jonathan has failed Nigerians in all aspects and deserves to be rejected by Nigerians. If you look at our programme, all we emphasized is how to provide jobs for our unemployed youths. Whether Jonathan likes it or not, the dream of Nigeria becoming a liberated state shall come to pass on Saturday”.Despite the inspector general, Suleiman Abba’s assurance that the police will protect the votes of Nigerians, Patience Jonathan’s and Professor Yemi Osinabjo’s advice to supporters contradicts last week’s directive by Abba for voters to go home after voting.
He said though the process was awash with money, he was going into Saturday’s election with hope, “because if I could win the primaries without spending money, I will certainly win on Saturday”.Gen. Buhari admitted that this election is his first genuine attempt to aspire to becoming the president, alluding to the possibility that the journey would end at the State House.
He said: “In the previous attempts, I only ended up at the Supreme Court.”
Gen. Buhari said the APC had come to stay and that the party owes its success so far to Tinubu and former Interim Chairman Chief Bisi Akande.The APC standard bearer poured encomiums on Tinubu at whose instance the APC family and others was gathered yesterday, saying it was his selflessness and commitment to the cause that led to the successful merger and the formation of the APC.
Gen. Buhari said: “I have great respect for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; he does not consider himself; he is a selfless person who made a lot of sacrifice and commitment to ensure the merger was successful.”In Tinubu’s view, Saturday’s election will determine Nigeria’s fate in the years to come. He enjoined Nigerians to decide between positive change and continuing with the way the country has been governed in the last 16 years.
He said: “There should be no sitting on the fence; do not try to avoid it. This is the time to believe in the need for change. I am filled with the expectation of a more just and prosperous future.”Quoting from a speech he made during the last National Convention of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), where the decision to go ahead with the merger was reached, Tinubu said: “I see the need for change. If you have consideration for this nation that gave birth to you, you will equally see the need for change.”
He said before last year’s APC presidential primary, they had derided Buhari, “saying he would never subject himself to a primary. But, he did and won.”
Tinubu said President Goodluck Jonathan had already seen the handwriting on the wall; “that is why he and his party were rejecting the use of card readers”. He said this is evident in the several desperate efforts to hold on to power. In the process, he added, the President is destroying the country’s national institutions.
The APC leader said the time for “common sense revolution” had come. But, in calling for common sense revolution, he said, “I cannot advocate violence”. He said the kind of revolution he is calling for is a revolution to repair and restructure the nation “with our vote” .
He added: “We must move forward to mold a better Nigeria, out of the clay we have in our hands, the PVC, which means, please vote for change.”The event was attended by leaders of the party from far and near and friends and associates of Tinubu.
Gen. Buhari’s running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, denied that there was any oath between him and Tinubu to step down for the former Lagos State governor six months after becoming the vice president.
He said after the PDP campaign council made the allegation, Tinubu jocularly asked him whether he swore to the oath at Okija Shrine.
Osinbajo described Tinubu as a team player and astute leader who allowed robust debate by his executive council members when he was governor, adding that he never knew the former governor before he chose him as his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in 1999.He also denied the allegations in the hate documentary run against Tinubu by the PDP that “he owns the whole of Lagos – including Oriental Hotel in Lekki. “I know surely that he does not own the hotel because I know the owners and if he owns it, everybody will have a room there.”
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola described Tinubu as “an icon through whom many great leaders had risen”.
He condemned “declining federal allocation” to states saying it had made it difficult for them to meet most of their obligations, including workers’ salary.
“I have found it hard to pay the wage bills owing to the declining federal allocation which has reduced by 40 per cent since 2013, making it difficult for government to meet up its responsibilities.”Aregbesola said the situation became so bad at a time that he resorted to the state’s reserves and exhausted it on payment of salaries.
The governor added that the government went ahead to accumulate N12 billion debts in its bid to ensure that salaries were paid.
He said that he would not mind to borrow more “just to ensure that workers are paid, but the banks would not grant more loans.”
Aregbesola said: “Osun is next to Lagos in the sheer size of its civil service.
“In fact, the state inherited 50 per cent of all the workers in the old Western State and more than 75 per cent in the old Oyo State.
“I was meeting my wage bill of over N3.6 billion with N4.6 billion federal allocation until July, 2013 when the Federal Government announced a decline of about 40 per cent allocation to states.
“This reduced the state’s allocation from N4.6 billion with which I was meeting my bills to N2.6 billion.
“Since then, Osun has had to augment salaries by sometimes N1 billion, sometimes N1.6 billion.
“Before the last time I paid salaries in November, 2014, I have had to either spend the state’s reserves on salaries or borrow money.
“Today, I have a loan of N12 billion that we spent on salaries and I could not go to the banks anymore.”The governor said that his administration remained pro-workers, in spite of the tight corner it had found itself, pledging to pay the salary arrears as soon as possible.
“There can be no more fence-sitting because that fence has been torn down by the vast disparity between our current reality and our desired future.
“We have a decision to make. We must decide whether wisdom is better than cunning, if bravery is sounder than bribe, if compassion speaks more than corruption, if patriotism is a more worthy vocation than pillage and if love of the nation and its people can overcome the love of power and stolen privilege.
“I am filled with the expectation of a more just and rightful future. My conviction has always been this day would come.”
“To save his post, Jonathan and his team would eagerly corrupt every national institution within reach. Everything is for sale and nothing is left sacred.
“Although the nation suffers an economic downswing that will require astute policy to overcome, Jonathan has raided the national coffers as if money were as plentiful as sand. There is no dollar in this nation that his hand has not tried to grab. No naira that his underlings have not tried to pinch.
“They have thrown money at Christian and Muslim clerics, attempting to buy two great faiths as if they were two cheap commodities. As such, they have attempted to turn our houses of worship into open dens of corruption.
“They have dangled money in the face of our traditional fathers believing their conscience is for sale. Many have been brave enough to cohere to the nobility of their office more than worry about the expansion of their bank accounts.
“They have corrupted some civil society groups and organizations to engage in violent protest against the electoral process and the use of the card readers. They oppose the card reading machine because the instruments foil their customary avenues of vote rigging.
“Jonathan‘s team has already read the writing on the wall. They would be handed a defeat so resounding that they would begin to fight among themselves believing that each betrayed the other.”
Kieran called his bank, Natwest, and told them about it. The bank investigated and told him the money was deposited by mistake in his account by a huge investment company via their bank and it was up to the bank to retrieve the money.“I checked my online banking and immediately I noticed I had £1.25million in the bank. I was a bit fazed at first. It was such a copious amount of money to be in my bank.”
I didn’t know what to do, except just wait and think about all the things I could have spent it on. I thought ‘oh God, what has happened’ I was a bit shocked more than anything else.“It was very strange and quite scary when you are in that position, checking your bank to see if £1.25 million is in there.
“I called the bank and they said they would look into it. I was kind of tempted [to spend the money] but I had read stories about people spending money mistakenly placed in their accounts and getting in trouble. I spoke to my partner and she said to just leave it there and don’t touch it.
“I was buying a new car the next day and I could have paid for it in cash – and bought quite a few more with the money in my account. The bank wasn’t really playing ball. It was a bit crazy really.
They said it was up to them to sort it.”“I had all this money in my account and they said they had made the request [to the payee’s bank] and I just had to wait.
“The interest was pretty good really and they haven’t asked for it back,” said Kieran.
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Suleiman Abba, CFR, NPM, NPOM, mni has ordered that on no account should uniformed private/government security agencies and voluntary organisations such as Boys Scout, Vigilante Group, Boys Brigade, Peace Ambassador, Man’O War etc, be seen in uniform within 300metres of a Polling unit. Again, the Police High Command has restated the restriction of vehicular movement during the general elections on 28th March, 2015 and 11th April, 2015, respectively.
The restriction will be from 8.00am to 5.00pm on both election days. While warning politicians and VIPs not to go to polling units on the day of the election with armed orderlies, the IGP said the use of siren, revolving lights, tinted glasses by unauthorised citizens would not be allowed.
The Inspector-General of Police wishes to reassure the public of the commitment of the Force to the provision of round-the-clock security before, during and after the general elections for the teeming citizens of the country.
In the same vein, citizens are reminded of their civic responsibility of obedience to all laws of the State and thus advised to conduct themselves for free, fair and violence-free elections.
Ag. CP EMMANUEL C. S. OJUKWU, psc
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER, FORCE HEADQUARTERS, ABUJA.
"The Yoruba's need to have a rethink. Some Yoruba leaders have betrayed us the Yorubas because of money. This election is for freedom. And this was how it happened in the past which prompted the late Hubert Ogunde to sing one of his songs titled ‘Yoruba rethink,’. The money is blood money. And posterity will judge them for that action,” he said.
