Niger Delta Leaders Demand End to Militancy, Troops Withdrawal Call for restructuring
Sylvester Idowu in Warri Niger Delta Stakeholders have called for immediate stop to the vandalism of oil installations in the region, while also demanding for the withdrawal of the military from the area.
Suspected militants blow-up NPDC gas pipeline in Warri
In a related development, suspected militants, in the early hours of yesterday, blew up another gas pipeline operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) at Owhrode and Orhuwhorun in Udu Local Government Area
of Delta State. The stakeholders, which included traditional rulers, elders and leaders of thought, youth and women leaders of the Niger Delta Coastal States said in a communiqué issued at the end of meeting in Warri yesterday,
that stoppage of further deployment of military hardware and resources in the Niger Delta region would ensure the confidence of the people and enhance opportunity for peace and order. After an exhaustive delibera-
tion on matters that affect the Niger Delta Region and the Nigerian Nation generally, with particular reference to the resurgence of militant agitations in the Niger Delta region, the meeting, which held at the Petroleum Training Institute
Conference Centre, Effurun, Delta State, noted the situation of threat to peace in the region. It noted further that the federal government had deployed military resources in the area, Continued on page 6
UN Expresses Dissatisfaction with Volume of Assistance to Bama IDPs ... Page 6 Saturday 20 August, 2016 Vol 21. No 7786 Price: N250
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Terrorism: Kerry to Hold Talks with Sultan, Northern Governors Alex Enumah in Abuja The United States Secretary of State, Senator John Kerry is expected in Nigeria on a two-day official visit, August 23-24. While in the country, Kerry is billed to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, state
governors and religious leaders from the northern part of the country. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador, Sola Enikonolaiye, who confirmed the proposed visit in a press statement yesterday, said Kerry would also hold bilateral talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Geoffrey Onyeama. Enikonolaiye said the planned meetings were in the context of government’s counter-terrorism efforts “with a view to deepening collaboration with the Nigerian government with particular regard to humanitarian assistance to victims of terrorism, and Internally Displaced Persons
(IDPs) in the North-east.” He added that apart from Abuja, the US Secretary of State will also be in Sokoto where he would be received by the Sultan, His Eminence Saad Abubakar ll before delivering a lecture at the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto. A similar statement from
the Information Office of the Embassy of the United States of America, in Abuja, disclosed that Senator Kerry would be speaking on the importance of resilient communities and religious tolerance in countering violent extremism. The embassy’s statement added that Kerry would also be in Abuja; meet with
a group of adolescent girls working to change community perceptions that devalue the role of girls in society. The statement adds that he will have the opportunity to meet with participants of the Young African Leaders Initiative and the Mandela Washington Fellows programme.
I Can’t Guarantee Conclusive Polls in 2019, Says INEC Chairman Seeks prosecution of electoral offenders
Davidson Iriekpen, Olawale Olaleye and Charles Ajunwa
UDOKA ONYEKA
The National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday said he was not in a position to guarantee conclusive polls in 2019 because he would not be pressured to step outside the lines of the Constitution, the Electoral Act and the Guidelines to impress anyone. The INEC boss, who said this last night during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, noted that the conclusiveness or otherwise of any election owes greatly to the behavioural pattern of voters, of which he has zero control, adding that he would not dare second-guess any election. He, however, frowned at the non-existence of any law prosecuting electoral offenders, saying the absence of such a provision or law has allowed for an abiding culture of electoral Continued on page 6
My Parents Stopped Me from Music but Couldn’t Stop Me from Movies
SuperSaturday pg. 8-9
ARA OLAMUYIWA TENIOLA
Some People Consider Me Spiritual, Powerful
Plus pg. 17
PEACE ON THEIR MINDS
A cross section of Delta State traditional rulers at the Stakeholders Consultative Forum which held in Warri .…yesterday
Obasanjo Tasks Buhari on Mambilla Hydro Power Project... Page 55