Nigerian bank announces early closing due to fuel crisis

One of Nigeria’s biggest banks on Monday announced it was shutting branches early due to a lack of fuel, in the latest sign of shortages hitting businesses.

“The current shortage of petroleum products in the country has limited our ability to supply diesel to all our branches in order to continue normal branch operations,” GT Bank said in a statement on Twitter.
 
“Due to this we unavoidably have to close our branches nationwide at 1pm (1200 GMT) from Monday 25th May, 2015.”
Guaranty Trust Bank plc has branches across Nigeria, as well as Anglophone and Francophone West Africa, East Africa and Britain, with an overall staff of more than 10,000.

Nigeria has been brought to a virtual standstill by fuel shortages, caused by a row between the outgoing government and importers, as well as strikes by petrol tanker drivers and oil and gas workers.

Despite being Africa’s biggest oil producer, petroleum products have to be imported to Nigeria because of a lack of functioning domestic refineries.

The government keeps the price at the pumps below the market rate for consumers and pays the difference to importers and marketers.

But they say they are owed $2 billion in arrears and have shut fuel depots until the balance is paid.
The government maintains the money has been paid and the importers are holding the country to ransom by demanding losses from the slump in the naira currency caused by the global drop in oil prices.

Telecoms operators said at the weekend they may be forced to shut down networks if no fuel supplies are found for generators that power base stations and switches.

Nigerian homes and businesses are forced to use generators because of poor to non-existent grid supply.

Spanish local election shakes up political landscape

 Spain faced a changed political landscape Monday after the “Indignado” protest movement gave the ruling conservative rivals a battering in local elections, topping the vote in Barcelona and shattering the governing party’s majority in Madrid.

In a dramatic shakeup of Spanish politics, an upstart group backed by the anti-austerity protest party Podemos could now govern in the capital, a longtime conservative stronghold.

The new political groups Barcelona En Comu and Ahora Madrid were formally launched just a few months ago, but the results of the vote show they are already loosening the grip of the two big parties that have run Spain for nearly four decades.

The new parties were born out of the “Indignado” (“Outraged”) protests that swamped Spanish streets during recent years of economic crisis, campaigning against corruption and unemployment.

Ahora Madrid, led by 71-year-old retired judge Manuela Carmena, came second behind Spain’s governing Popular Party (PP) — but it could govern the capital if it joins forces with the main opposition Socialists, who came third.
That would mark a stunning blow to the PP, which has governed Madrid for 23 years, and to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he braces for a general election due around November.

“We will remember this as something special and extraordinary,” Carmena told supporters in the city centre.

Barcelona En Comu, which gained just one more seat than its nearest competitors in the city council, is led by 41-year-old activist Ada Colau, who rose to prominence defending poor homeowners from eviction.
– ‘David and Goliath’ –

“This will go down in history,” she told supporters.

“In this titanic struggle of David versus Goliath, we have won because we did incredible things with scarce resources and the power of the people.”
Thousands of supporters of both parties rallied in the streets of Madrid and Barcelona, cheering and yelling “Yes we can!”
“This result in Spain’s two biggest cities was the most demonstrative symptom of the political and social transformation which the country faces,” El Mundo wrote in an editorial on Monday.
Spain’s two mainstream parties, the Popular Party and the main opposition Socialists which have alternated in government for nearly four decades, captured a combined 52 percent of the vote, down from 65 percent four years ago.
The PP won 12 of the 13 regional government votes but lost its absolute majorities.
It won the most votes overall across the cities but saw its support plunge to 27 percent from 37 percent in 2011.
– Podemos eyes general election –
Podemos, an ally of Greece’s left-wing ruling party Syriza, did not run itself in the town elections but placed third in voting for several regional governments.

The PP and Socialists “have had one of the worst results in their history”, Podemos’ pony-tailed leader Pablo Iglesias told supporters after polls closed on Sunday.

“This spring of change is irreversible and will take us all the way to November. We will take up the challenge of winning the elections against the Popular Party.”

Alongside the left-wing protest groups is the economically liberal centrist party Ciudadanos, which came in fourth place in Madrid and Barcelona.

Like Podemos, it has pledged to fight corruption and heal a country stricken by unemployment and spending cuts.
Ciudadanos is luring voters from right and left, promising more moderate, market-friendly reforms seen as less alarming for foreign investors.

In Barcelona, Colau faces a tricky job forging a coalition among a mixture of small rival parties who could unite to block her.
To her supporters, however, her topping the vote felt like a triumph.

“I am not used to winning, it feels strange,” said one of followers, 63-year-old Fernando Ramo, who retired last month after a long time unemployed.

“Today is different. The losers have won and it is a great victory.”
Top-selling daily El Pais said the results “confirm the beginning of a political upheaval in Spain”.

Taliban truck bomber wounds dozens in southern Afghanistan

 Pakistani Taliban

A Taliban truck bomber detonated around a tonne of explosives outside a government complex in southern Afghanistan on Monday, wounding at least 40 people as the summer fighting season sends civilian casualties surging.
Women and children were among those injured in the attack at the gate of the complex in Zabul province, which includes several government buildings including the provincial council.

The attack comes as the Taliban step up attacks on government and foreign targets despite Kabul’s repeated overtures to the insurgent group to reopen peace negotiations.

“Around 40 people were wounded in the suicide attack on the complex” in the provincial capital Qalat, local police chief Mirwais Noorzai told AFP.

“Around 1,000 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack,” he added.

Deputy police chief Ghulam Jailani Farahi confirmed the casualties, adding that the wounded were all civilians and some were in critical condition.

But provincial council chief Atta Jan Haqbayan gave a higher toll, saying 67 people were wounded, including 17 women.
The Taliban, waging a 13-year war against the US-backed Afghan government, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“As part of the Azm operation, this afternoon a martyrdom seeker… conducted an attack on the provincial council, where cruel and unjust decisions against Muslims and Islam were being taken,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement.
The Afghan Taliban launched their annual spring-summer offensive — titled ‘Azm’ (Determination) — in late April, vowing nationwide attacks in what is expected to be the bloodiest fighting season in a decade

The insurgents have launched a series of attacks in the capital and around the country as NATO forces pull back from the frontlines.
– Surge in attacks –

A blast triggered by a Taliban car bomber ripped through the parking lot of the justice ministry in Kabul on May 19, killing four people and wounding dozens of others.
Also this month, 14 people — mostly foreigners — were killed in a Taliban attack on a Kabul guest house that trapped dozens attending a concert.

Official efforts to bring the Taliban, who have waged a 13-year war to topple the US-backed government, to the negotiating table have so far borne little fruit.
The surge in attacks has taken a heavy toll on civilians, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan.

In the first four months of 2015, civilian casualties jumped 16 percent over the same period last year, it said.
The Afghan government has drawn public criticism for its inability to end insurgent attacks — a fact partly attributed by critics to political infighting and a lengthy delay in finalising a cabinet.

President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday nominated Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top official in the government body overseeing the country’s peace process, for the crucial position of defence minister.

The post had been left vacant for months due to disagreements between Ghani and his chief executive officer and former presidential election rival, Abdullah Abdullah.
Public criticism over the failure to appoint a defence minister has been especially fierce.

Afghan forces are now solely responsible for security after NATO’s combat mission formally ended in December, with a small follow-up force staying on to train and support local personnel.

Earlier this month NATO formally announced plans to retain a small military presence in Afghanistan after 2016 to help strengthen local security forces.

China executes patient who killed doctor over nose operation: report

China on Monday executed a man who stabbed a doctor to death over what he considered a botched nose operation, media reported, in a case that spotlighted the country’s overburdened health system.

Lian Enqing was sentenced to death last year for a fatal attack on an an ear, nose and throat specialist in Wenling, in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

Lian attacked the doctor because he “felt displeased with his nose and claimed to be suffering respiratory problems”, the official news agency Xinhua said.

The death sentence was carried out on Monday, the Chengdu Business Daily newspaper reported, citing family members who said they had met the condemned man briefly before his execution.
The attack last October prompted dozens of the doctor’s colleagues to protest outside the hospital in Wenling, urging stronger safety measures to deal with violent patients.

Doctors in China, the world’s most populous nation, are often poorly paid and overburdened with too many cases. Taking bribes for better care is reportedly a widespread practice.

Authorities have introduced security guards at some hospitals to protect staff from attacks.

Senate Presidency: APC Senators Bicker Over Choice

 Buhari and Jonathan

Race Narrows Down To Saraki, Ahmed
• Akume Steps Down For Ahmed
• Tough Days Ahead, Oyegun Warns Senators-elect
TENSION in the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the choice of the next President of the Senate heightened, yesterday, as APC senators failed for the umpteenth time to agree on a single candidate.
Senators Bukola Saraki, Ahmed Lawan and George Akume are vying for the plum Number Three job.
After hours of politicking behind closed doors at the Ibeto Hotel in Abuja, during a retreat organised by the APC, many senators stormed out of the conference room, sticking to their guns.
‎
First was the group of senators, which styled itself as ‘Senate Unity Forum’. It declared that all its members had endorsed the candidature of Ahmed Lawan (Yobe) for the Presidency.

Spokesperson, for the group, Senator Barnabas Gemade, disclosed that ‎Senator George Akume (Benue) had stepped down for Ahmed. However, he did not make open the numerical strength of the forum.
Then ‎came the group of senators, which called itself ‘Senators Of Like Minds’. It adopted Saraki as sole candidate for Senate President.

Dino Melaye, who spoke on behalf of the group, claimed that they were 35 in number, maintaining that the North Central geopolitical zone, from where Saraki hails, deserves the seat.

Explaining why Saraki has the wherewithal to lead the 8th session of the National Assembly, he said: “The issue of National Assembly leadership is about integrity, competence, discipline and leadership skills and not about fixing of candidates just for mere horse trading. Our stand is about highlighting a senator who eventually becomes the Chairman of the National Assembly and relates with the executive on behalf of Nigerians, fellow senators and the National Assembly as an institution.

“Furthermore, leadership of the National Assembly is about the senator that has the wherewithal to stabilise the legislative institution, working with the executive and judicial arm of government to be effective and perform to optimal capacity.

“In addition, we are all aware of the fact that all senators from the North Central zone have taken a firm position that they are only interested in the office of the Senate President, which has been earlier zoned to it by the National Working Committee (NWC) of our party and we are also aware that North Central Senators have resolved to abide by the resolution of the zone on a single candidate and anything short of this is an attempt to jeopardise the collective interest of the zone.

“Of the 59 senators of the APC, 35 of us present here, today, hereby, reaffirm our collective commitment and resolution to ensure Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki succeeds as Senate President of the 8th Assembly. We have also resolved that the office of the Deputy Senate President be zoned to the North East.”
Melaye, however, failed to mention the person his group is considering for the office of Deputy Senate president, just as he brandished a sheet of paper containing all 35 senators who had signed to support Saraki.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie Oyegun, has urged APC Senators-elect to prepare for challenging times.
At the retreat, yesterday, Oyegun said: “Make no mistake about it, the days ahead will be tough, and this is not crying wolf…There is no magic wand to make our economy better overnight. Against the realities on the ground, some of which I listed earlier, reviving our economy will be a long and tortuous process. Bold decisions will need to be taken, and this can only be possible if there is a synergy among our party, the National Assembly and the President.”

Delivering his welcome address, the APC Chairman said: “From the first day of this government, a total of 4.1 trillion Naira will be required for sundry expenses, including oil subsidy payment, arrears of salaries at federal and state levels and debt servicing, just to mention a few.

“Put this against the background of the falling oil prices, the unprecedented 60-billion-dollar debt which the outgoing government has left for the incoming one, the largely depleted Excess Crude Account (ECA), the 60 billion dollars that have been lost in the last four years to crude oil theft (and which are perhaps still being lost as we speak), the need to rapidly create jobs for our teeming army of unemployed youths, enhance the security of the citizenry and improve the economy, and you will begin to understand the enormity of the challenges ahead.”

Oyegun noted that while the event is not a “lamentation forum,” it was necessary that “we tell ourselves the truth about the state of the nation, and the expectations of our people.”
According to him, “to a number of our compatriots, by May 30th, a day after the swearing-in of our President-elect, all the streets in Nigeria will be air conditioned while electricity will become stable and fuel scarcity will be a thing of the past. Yes, we will get there, but it won’t happen overnight.”

“You may be required to pass important bills at very short notices. This will not be unprecedented but will require a buy-in to the programmes of the President and the Party and a willingness to work with him and the party for the benefit of all Nigerians. The demands on you will be tasking, but you are up to the task!” Oyegun added.

Rivers CPs, military commanders reporting to Patience Jonathan –Amaechi

 Governor Rotimi Amaechi

The Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, on Sunday said his disagreement with President Goodluck Jonathan, was due in part to Mrs. Jonathan’s meddlesomeness.

He said this after the premiere of a documentary on the Amaechi years, at the Silver Bird Galleria, Abuja.

According to him, the President and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, would have taken him to the cleaners, if they had found anything incriminating against him.

Amaechi said, “We had a disagreement in principle between me and the President. Have you seen a country where the Commissioner of Police is reporting to the wife of the President? It’s in Rivers State.

“Have you seen a country where the Brigade Commander or the Navy Commander or Air force Commander is reporting to the Wife of the President? It’s in Rivers State.”

He explained that he was convinced that such conduct would not help in the development of any nation and he took a stand against it.

Amaechi stressed that Nigeria must never again go back to such dark days, stressing that public officers should learn to lead by the rule so as to avoid abuse of office by their spouses.

He pointed out that it was the husband who was elected. The governor revealed that in his own case, he ensured that his wife knew her limits and he always told her she had no right to call any of his commissioners for anything, because the people voted him into office as governor not her.

Amaechi challenged anyone who had doubts about his performance in office to go to Rivers State and see for himself.

He also said all he did in the state were not for self-glorification but were done to bequeath a legacy for successive administrations in the state to sustain but added that 90 per cent of the people who worked with him betrayed him.

He further showcased his achievements spanning all sectors of the state economy, wondering why the Federal Government was desperate about casting his administration in bad light even when he spent N105bn on federal roads.

He also pointed out that he kept a proper account of his stewardship and the books were open for all to see. This, he said, gave him the courage to sustain the struggle, expressing joy that history will vindicate him in the end.

In the documentary which featured some of his projects in the areas of security, agriculture, education, transportation, health and social development, Amaechi’s said the documentary left out some projects he would love to see documented.

Senator Magnus Abbe, who also featured in the documentary, explained how Amaechi pioneered the amnesty programme through which insecurity in the state was drastically reduced.

Get ready for extradition hearing, NDLEA tells Kashamu

 Buruji Kashamu

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has advised the Senator-elect for Ogun-East senatorial district, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, to concentrate his effort on defending himself before the Federal High Court where he is expected to appear on Monday (today).

The agency reiterated that the decision to drag him before the court followed a formal request for his extradition by the United States.

In a statement by its Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Ofoyeju Mitchell, on Sunday, the NDLEA urged Kashamu to save his energy for the hearing of the extradition application.

Kashamu is the Chairman, Organisastion and Mobilisation Committee of the PDP in the South-West and he was a staunch supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid.

He fell out with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and teamed up with President Goodluck Jonathan during the battle for the control of the party in Ogun State.

The agency said it was wrong of Kashamu to finger Obasanjo and a leader of the PDP in Lagos State, Chief Bode George, as being behind his present travails.

According to the NDLEA, Kashamu had been on the wanted list of both the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security.

The statement read in part, “According to an official report, Kashamu has been on the wanted list of both the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security.

“Kashamu was indicted in the Northern District of Illinois, United States, on charges brought against him by ICE.

“According to the United States court documents, Kashamu in his days as the leader of a prolific heroin-trafficking ring based in Chicago, Illinois, was known as ‘god,’ ‘Daddy, and ‘Kasmal.’ He is wanted to stand trial for charges of conspiracy and importation of controlled substances, namely heroin, into the United States dating back to 1994.

“Kashamu, who holds dual Nigerian/Beninoise citizenship, has taken multiple pre-emptive actions to thwart US extradition efforts such as claiming that he was being mistaken for his deceased brother whom he claimed committed the alleged offences in the US.”

The statement also said that Kashamu had filed injunctions at courts in the Northern District of Illinois, United States, and in Nigeria to prevent his arrest and prosecution.

The NDLEA said, “These are issues that Kashamu should prepare to address rather than point accusing fingers at eminent elder statesmen who have no connection with the ongoing investigative process. The senator who was placed on house arrest at the weekend is expected to appear in court in less than 24 hours.

“We expect Kashamu, as a distinguished senator-elect, to demonstrate ample confidence in the Nigerian judicial system and stop the blame game.”

Meanwhile, armed NDLEA operatives have gained access into the residence of the embattled politician, where he has been confined to his bedroom.

His lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, who spoke with our correspondent near the residence, on Sunday, said Kashamu had not been allowed to leave his bedroom since Saturday.

Oluyede said, “He has been locked inside the room while about 15 armed operatives are in the house. As I speak to you, I have not even seen him. We have only been talking through the door.

This is disheartening because his little children and his pregnant wife are all in the house with him.”

When asked to comment on the allegation that Kashamu threatened suicide, the lawyer said, “He is obviously traumatised but I wouldn’t say he is suicidal.”

Oluyede alleged that the NDLEA had no plan of taking Kashamu to court on Monday (today) but only later decided to do so because the media got involved.

“Their plan was to get him as early as 4am and put him on the plane to the United States. It was never their plan to take him to court. It was when the media reported the incident that they decided to take him to court,” he said.

About 15 patrol vehicles were seen blocking all entries that lead to Kashamu’s home while over 20 security agents were seen patrolling the street.

Residents of the estate were made to take alternative routes as all roads leading to Kashamu’s home were blocked.

In his reaction, the media aide to Kashamu, Austin Oniyokor, however, berated the drug agency, accusing it of being the mouthpiece of Obasanjo and George.

The statement said, “We do not know when the NDLEA becomes the spokespersons for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Bode George. We do not need them to tell us to address our issues.

“We are addressing our issues. We had told the court of the planned abduction of Kashamu and the NDLEA was represented. The court had given an order asking all the parties to stay action, pending the determination of the suit which had been fixed for Wednesday.”

Oniyokor explained that Kashamu refused to hand himself over to the NDLEA operatives, who stormed his Lagos residence on Ladipo Street, Lekki Phase 1, on Saturday, because they could not produce a warrant of arrest.

He said if the NDLEA provides a warrant of arrest against Kashamu, the PDP chieftain would “hand himself over to them but if not, he will not.”

But a member of PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, described the allegation by Kashamu that George was behind his travails as sad and ridiculous.

A statement by Babatope on Sunday said, “It is sad and ridiculous of Senator-elect, Chief Buruji Kashamu, to accuse Chief Bode George of being behind his current ordeal with the men of the NDLEA.

“This allegation is not true. I have known George for over 46 years and I know him never to go on a witch-hunt of anyone as a result of personal differences or disagreements. Though the wife of George is the Director-General of the NDLEA, he can never attack the person of Kashamu.

“I call on Kashamu to look somewhere else in locating those who might have been involved in his travails.”