Presidency Warns Of “Dire Consequences” In Niger Delta If Jonathan Is Not Re-elected

A presidential aide has warned of “dire consequences” in the oil rich Niger Delta should President Goodluck Jonathan fail to secure a fresh term in 2015.

In a startling remark to U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday, Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta, and chairman, presidential amnesty programme, Kingsley Kuku, said current relative peace in the Niger Delta is tied to the continued stay in office of Mr. Jonathan, and strongly urged the American government to back his presidency.
Mr. Kuku, who spoke at a session with officials of the U.S. State Department led by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of African Affairs), Donald Teitelbaum, told the Americans that only Mr. Jonathan can guarantee peace in the restive region and hence, the compelling need to persuade him to seek re-election in 2015.
“It is true that the presidential amnesty programme has engendered peace, safety and security in the sensitive and strategic Niger Delta. Permit me to add that the peace that currently prevails in the zone is largely because Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who is from that same place, is the President of Nigeria. That is the truth.
“It is only a Jonathan presidency that can guarantee continued peace and energy security in the Niger Delta,” Mr. Kuku said.
The presidential aide said the consequences would be dire if the U.S. gets distracted by the activities of terror cells in parts of northern Nigeria, and takes its attention off the Niger Delta.
“Terrorism is a global phenomenon. President Jonathan inherited the situation in northern Nigeria and he has adopted a multifaceted approach to tackle this unfortunate situation. So far, profound results are being achieved,” he said. “But I insist that this must not distract the U.S. and the international community from giving the Niger Delta region of Nigeria the requisite attention.”
“I hope the U.S. is aware that with peace and stability in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will remain buoyant enough to empower the Federal Government to contend with terrorism and other forms of insecurity in other parts of the country.
“However if we allow anything to hurt the peace in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will be endangered and energy security in Nigeria and even America will not be guaranteed. The attention and interest of the U.S. in Nigeria must remain the stability of the Niger Delta and the easiest way to ensure this is to encourage President Jonathan to complete an eight-year term,” he said.
Mr. Kuku, who has pushed for talks with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, after the group warned of restarting fighting in the region, told the session that the Niger Delta continues to yearn for attention and development.
More“In spite of the peace that prevails in the Niger Delta now, the issues that led to militancy in the first place are yet to be properly addressed. The issues of development, greater say in the control of the resource that comes from the place, issues of environmental remediation, youth unemployment among others are still there,” he said.
“However, the agitators are prepared to patiently await development as long as one of their own, Dr. Jonathan remains the President, and I think this is one thing the American government should reflect seriously on.”
In response, Mr. Teitelbaum acknowledged his country was worried about the activities of terror cells in northern Nigeria, but said the U.S remains committed to deepening of the peace in the Niger Delta.
He said that the U.S. views the Niger Delta amnesty programme as a huge success, and pledged that the State Department will brief other organs of the U.S. Government on possible ways of offering technical support to the amnesty programme.
At a separate meeting with members of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) in Washington DC on Thursday, Mr. Kuku challenged investors, particularly Americans, to leverage on the relative peace that the amnesty programme has engendered in the Niger Delta to invest in the region.
He told the members that following the proclamation and the acceptance of amnesty by former agitators in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy witnessed astronomical growth as crude oil production, which had declined to as low as 700,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2009, has been rising steadily and currently stands about 2.6 million barrels per day.
Mr. Kuku however warned that unless the thousands of youths being offered skills and vocational training by the Amnesty Office become gainfully employed, peace may once again elude the Niger Delta.
“We were given the mandate to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate these ex-agitators. We are doing just that and peace has returned to the Niger Delta as several of the ex-agitators are now very busy in schools and vocational centres across the world. But what becomes of them after their training is our biggest challenge now.
"On our part, we have done our best but we now need the practical support of all persons and nations who truly seek and want peace in the Niger Delta, to join efforts to create employment opportunities for our youths,” Mr. Kuku told the American investors.
The CCA President and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Hayes, said the Council was irrevocably committed to attracting American investors to Africa.

Source: Premium Times

Boko Haram Got $3.15 million to Free French Hostages

Boko Haram was paid an equivalent of around $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators before freeing seven French hostages this month, a confidential Nigerian government report obtained by Reuters said.

The memo does not say who paid the ransom for the family of seven, who were all released on April 19, although it says Cameroon freed some Boko Haram detainees as part of the deal.

France and Cameroon reiterated denials that any ransom was paid. Nigerian authorities declined to comment.

 

Armed men on motorcycles snatched Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, his wife, brother and the couple's four young children, the youngest of whom was four years old, on February 19 while they were on holiday near the Waza national park in north Cameroon, some 10 km (six miles) from the Nigerian border. They were believed to have been held in northeast Nigeria.

Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed the capture of the family of Moulin-Fournier, who worked in Cameroon for French utility firm GDF Suez.

 

French President Francois Hollande at the time denied any money was paid when the family was released on April 19.

The Nigerian report suggests that 1.6 billion CFA francs ($3.15 million) was paid, but that right up until the last minute Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had insisted on double that, before agreeing to reduce it if some Boko Haram members in Cameroonian jails were freed.

 

Reacting to the report, a French foreign ministry official said that France has passed a clear message that it does not pay ransoms. Cameroon government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said "Cameroon did not pay any ransom".

A spokesman for Nigeria's government declined to comment.

 

The report suggests Nigerian security forces decided not to try to rescue the hostages so as not to endanger their lives. A botched rescue attempt of a British and an Italian hostage believed to have been held by Islamist sect Ansaru in March last year resulted in both hostages being killed.

 

French news network i-tele reported earlier on Friday that a ransom had of $7 million had been paid, suggesting either Cameroon President Paul Biya or GDF-Suez had paid it.

 

Eight French hostages are being held in the Sahel region, although the fate of one of them is unclear after al-Qaeda's north African arm last month said it had beheaded Philippe Verdon.

 

Hollande has said Paris has ended a policy of paying ransoms for hostages, but suspicion that the country still does despite official denials has been a source of tension with the United States.

 

France brushed off an allegation by a former U.S. diplomat that it paid a $17 million ransom in vain for the release of four hostages abducted in 2010 from Niger.

 

Hollande told the family of the Sahel hostages in January that the new policy also meant that he had told companies and insurance firms to not pay ransoms.

 

 

Source: Reuters

Give Amnesty Committee A Chance -David Mark Tells Nigerians

Senate President, Senator David Mark has called on Nigerians to give the Federal Government Committee on Amnesty for Boko Haram members a chance, saying that the job of the panel is a delicate one that requires patience.

He also noted that the present attempts at amending the 1999 constitution would not be the last, adding that the National Assembly is committed to providing an acceptable constitution.
Mark, who said this yesterday in Lagos at a Working Retreat convened by Senate Committee on Constitution Review, urged Nigerians to refrain from condemning the move to constitute an amnesty committee on Boko Haram.
His words:” Why don’t we  give the committee a chance  now, because we have got to a situation where people don’t just make comments anyhow. This is a very delicate situation and it’s even better for you the media men not to ask any question on that because the committee is in charge and the issue is delicate.
‘’When the matter  on Baga came up, I allowed the Senator who is from Baga to inform us and there was no further comment from anybody because we don’t know the facts and we cannot begin to make comments when  we don’t know the facts. All we are saying is that for all those human beings to be killed, something has to be done.”
He further said, ‘’It is not the military that handed over the constitution, there was a constitution drafting committee that prepared the document and the drafters were not military men. There are areas we need to make amendment on and this is not going to be the last constitution amendment because as democracy develops and improves there   will be grey areas that people will continue to agitate for amendment. ‘’
Also speaking, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu   said the constitution review committee, had not taken any position on any of the issues for amendment.
He said, “I want to restate that the committee has not taken position on any issue. The committee has no such powers. Senate’s   position on any matter on proposed amendment can only come by way of voting and resolution in plenary. There will be exhaustive debate to dissect all sides to each proposed amendment.
Senators will continue to be in touch with their constituents to ensure that they continue to resonate their views on every issue. Live broadcast and online streaming will be encouraged as much as possible to enable Nigerians from all parts to follow the development.”
In addition, Ekweremadu said, “In keeping faith with our timelines, our mission at this retreat, therefore, is essentially to review all the bills refer to the Senate Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution by the senate as well as the thematic areas we have been working on in relation to the inputs by Nigerians.
We are working to dissect the reports of  various public hearings and other channels of inputs by Nigerians and  articulate a bill to cover especially those issues we appear to have achieved public consensus.”
Continuing, he said, “The committee is mindful of the self- sacrifice and support by Nigerians, which have helped nurture the process to this stage.
The people of this nation have demonstrated great enthusiasm and commitment to addressing our perceived constitutional deficits through the instrument of constitution amendment.”

Source: Vanguard

Notorious Boko Haram Operative, Mohammed Chad, Shot Dead

The notorious Boko Haram operative, Mohammed Chad, was yesterday evening killed in a gun battle with JTF.
The fight occurred at Ruwan-Zafi area of Maiduguri metropolis when the officers of the JTF’s Operation Restore Order and operatives of the State Security Service confronted Boko Haram fighters.
Mohammed has been on the top list of the most wanted Boko Haram leaders. Intelligence sources told Saharareporters  that Mohammed was involved in the planning and execution of various terrorists attacks in and outside Borno state.
He was allegedly the mastermind of the March 18th Boko Haram’s attack on Sanda Karami Secondary School at Ruwan-Zafi in which a teacher and three female students were killed.
Mr. Mohammed is believed to be the successor to Ba'ana Assalafi , a Boko Haram commander who was killed in a gun battle with security agencies in Sokoto.

Source: Sahara Reporters

Boko Haram: The Confessions Of Ahmad Salkida By Gimba Kakanda

Let’s face it; Nigeria can’t, and is structurally unfit to, fight terrorism. A people who cannot run a democracy long thirsted for are only qualified to be the yes-men of colonial governments, which is what the so-called heroes of our past had done, for which they even earned their Queen’s medals
 

Long before we realised that the foundations that hold our mud-built nationhood is badly done—bad is not irreparable. But how reparable are our security lapses, since the coming of the militants? Amnesty, yes amnesty I agree, is the easiest way to hamper our exploding mortality rate.

As I reflected on the state of our despair in the rough hands of Boko Haram insurgents, especially the killings in Baga town in northern Borno when two elephants, the task force and the terrorists, fought, I was attracted to the misadventures of the Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida.
He remains the only Nigerian reporter, as far as I know, who has reported extensively on the psyche and ideology and militancy of the sect. In a sane country, with brains for security and intelligence, our bogus security votes may be invested in this journalist.
Unfortunately, Nigeria couldn't protect him, hence he fled the country. Just like that!
Of course, I too wouldn’t have given exile a second thought if I were in his dilemma. 185 citizens killed and our world is still the same. NTA is still airing pro-government propagandas only the imbecile watch.
The Nasir El-Rufais are still tweeting some useless budget statistics to their ego-massaging crowds. And the Dino Melayes, drama queens, are still screaming that assassins had come for them and that everybody is just their antagonist. And the Femi Fani-Kayodes are still writing some poems of the semi-literate and bragging over these intellectual delusions.
And the activists of past student unionism days are here boasting over who spent the most days in General Babangida’s prison. These are the activists who have chosen to fight for these people, yet all they could offer are tweets and status updates.
None makes an attempt to ensure media coverage and exacting of the massacres; none bothers to really task the government with upholding the sanctity of our lives; and, perhaps, none bothers to call the attention of international human rights bodies, which is what we are good at, to Baga; just a few taps on keyboards and keypads from their air-conditioned rooms and offices… dazall!
Their brand of activism is only to tweet an insult on the presidency and how their absence in this cabinet, whereas they were no better in their days, seems to be a loss. How we embrace their Out-of-Office syndrome as solidarity with our kind I don’t know!
Ahmad Salkida’s latest interview with blogger Abang Mercy takes us on a soul-depressing journey down the precipice of a misfortune initiated by an armed circus that calls itself Nigerian security organisation.
The uncontrollable storm that is now Boko Haram militancy was, according to Salkida, born with the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the sect, alongside “hundreds of sect members and other innocent bystanders” under a seeming conspiracy championed by the then Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, and taken over by the Federal Government.
“I guess that crisis in July 2009 was never meant to be prevented by the government of President Umar Yar’adua,” says Salkida, who also says he had unrestricted access to Mohammed Yusuf and was even to meet him on the day he was executed but for unjustified detention by agents of our security circus.
That was the beginning of a war for which the sect reacted the wrong way, with reckless monstrosity; the killings of innocent Nigerians, churchgoers, social development workers, dissenting Muslims and other non-aligned citizens, all in retaliation of the extra-judicial killings of their leader and members. They have carried out evils which have outdone the jackboot attempts by the Federal Government to stamp them out.
I think the Nigerian security circus must be regretting the unfortunate day they provoked a downpour whereas they had no umbrellas. The rain, however, has beaten us enough, and, yes, we need to find a way to resolve our differences and unscrew the lids off our egos.
You can never fight a man who is ready to die! It is a good thing that the Federal Government hides its inability to crush who it earlier branded “ghosts” under a bogus amnesty. But is Boko Haram being approached the right way?
Hear Abang Mercy and Ahmad Salkida:
Abang: Do you agree for Amnesty to Boko Haram as proposed by some politicians and religious leaders?
Salkida: If you read my last interviews with Abul Qaqa, he has always said that if amnesty means forgiveness then they are the ones that should forgive government for the wrong done to them in 2009. According to them many Nigerians don’t see what they undergo instead it is only what they do that is easily shown in the media.
And I think issues as sensitive as amnesty suppose to have been tabled first through a trusted mediator who has access to the leadership of the sect before you take it to the media. The sect as I understand heard about the amnesty on the pages of newspapers.
Abang, how would you feel if you heard about your marriage proposition with a man from a third party and not from the man?
I think you will feel irritated at best. These past years I have been struggling to really understand the brand of marijuana smoked by the occupants of Aso Rock.
Everything from them has been flawed and logically dumb, from their proposed (sorry, partial) removal of fuel subsidy to the imposition of Cassava Bread project on uninterested citizens.
How can anyone organise a wedding fanfare without the consent of the groom—which in this scary case is Boko Haram?
While it’s morally impossible for me to sympathise with Boko Haram, counting the deaths it recorded in its rash of retaliation, we must remind the members of our security circus to be wary of the manner they kill innocent citizens.
Extra-judicial killings, and the enjoyed impunity, are the reasons we are in this mess. This is not the time for expressive prose; this is the time to resist having our intelligences turned into volley balls. First, which Boko Haram is the government offering amnesty? Second, Ahmad Salkida has declared that any other, including the so-called Abdulaziz’s, aside from Mallam Shekau-led group is a fraud. Third, if the government proposes a genuine amnesty, what happened in Baga? Fourth, if Boko Haram was in the know of amnesty, and has agreed to be part of it, we need an explanation for the Baga massacre!
I feel that Ahmad Salkida knows more than he can ever express in an interview. And being a victim of our police/military brutalities, it’s understandable that he does not trust our gun-toting men anymore.
So long as the soldiers and the policemen treat every innocent citizen as suspects and those killed as collateral damages, for so long is our fight against terrorism lost. The boy who lost his mother is already an enemy of the state, and his aunties and sisters his supporters. That is what ill-planned counter-terrorism showoffs cause.
Let whoever labels Ahmad Salkida a Boko Haram member do so, but this mess can only be redeemed by the Ahmad Salkidas, not by a Cabal tasked with doing what they are good at—arguing in air-conditioned conference rooms and hiring small boys like us to ghostwrite their exchanges of "exotic" grammars. May God save us from us!

By Gimba Kakanda

Source: Sahara Reporters

Aluu 4: Trial Judge Hands Off Case

The ongoing trial of the alleged killers of four students of University of Port Harcourt, Choba, on October 5, 2012, which happened in Aluu community near the institution, suffered a setback yesterday after the High Court Judge, Justice T. S. Oji, withdrew from the case.

Her decision to return the case file to the chief judge was sequel to the observation she made that the third accused person, Ikechukwu Louis Amadi, out of the 11 accused persons, did not have a lawyer to defend him.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr. I. Otorubio, who led the state’s team for prosecution announced their appearance in the matter but no legal representation for the accused. The judge who was not happy with the development said she would rather return the case to the chief judge than try it because she would not take side in the matter.
“It is safer to send the matter back to the chief judge for re-assignment than favour any party in this matter,” she said. The trial judge said her hands were tied in the case because she had close relationship with the two parties (accused persons and victims) in the matter. The victims are Ugonna Obuzor, Lloyd Toku Mike, Tekenah Elkanah and Chiadika Biringa.
The accused were Lawal Segun, Ex-Sergeant Lucky Orji, Ikechukwu Louis Amadi, David Chinasa Ogbada, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe, Abang Cyril, Alhaji Hassan Welewa, Okoghiroh Endurance, Ozioma Abajuo and Chigozie Evans Samuel. “The accused persons, I know them.
The victims I know. My hands are tied in this matter. I am sitting between the devil and deep sea,” she stated, saying her decision to return the case to the chief judge was not because she lacked the competence to handle it but because of the sensitive nature of the case.
Justice Oji pointed out that the case had received widespread publicity and had attracted much attention, adding that the image of the judiciary should be protected. “It is a matter of widespread publication.
The judiciary wants to maintain its image. It is not a matter of incompetence but because of its sensitive nature.” She expressed confidence in the Rivers State judiciary to try every case, stressing that the vital point in the Aluu case was not that justice was done but it must be seen.
“I will not satisfy anybody. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to have been done.
The Rivers State judiciary has very capable hands to try all matters.” However, the case had been at the Port Harcourt Magistrate Court but due to the fact that it lacked jurisdiction to try the matter, the case was transferred to the High Court, which commenced yesterday.

Source: The Sun

Glo Ambassador, Odun Adekola Allegedly Beats, Detains Students In Ogun Over Generator

Nigeriafilms.com has exclusively gathered from good authorities that Yoruba ‘thuggery’ actor and Glo brand ambassador, Odunlade Adekola, as he acted in ‘Sunday Dagboru’, recently threw caution into the air when he and his thugs allegedly beat up and eventually detained some students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, Ogun State.
We scooped that the incident, which happened on Sunday, April 21, 2013, at about 8pm, around Adigbe area of the city, psychologically destroyed the affected students who were before then preparing for their exams on Monday.
Investigation by Nigeriafilms.com indicates that not only four students were mercilessly beaten by the popular actor, a civil defence officer was also pounced on by Odun and his thugs who he ordered to ruthlessly deal with. He also ordered the beating of the students for daring to talk when he was talking.
Trouble reportedly started on Sunday when the students protested that Odun and his crew; Fausat Balogun, Ebun Oloyede known as Olaiya Igwe and some others, should put-off a ‘noisy’ generator because it was disturbing their reading for an exam the next day.
Odun then reportedly told the students, whose building was next to where Odun and his crew were using for a movie shoot, that if they dare talk again and get a bitter reward for that. He also allegedly threatened to deal with anyone who violates his order.
Not intimidated by Odun’s order, the students insisted the generator must be put-off because it was constituting a nuisance to them. But rather than be a gentleman, Odun allegedly ordered his thugs to beat life out of the ‘defiant’ students.
Even a civil defence officer, who reportedly tried to restore peace, was not left out of Odun’s ‘largesse’ as he was beaten black and blue by Odun.
At about 10pm on Sunday, some police from Adigbe Police Station allegedly arrested the students after Odun had begged them to teach the students a lesson for disobeying the ‘orders of a popular movie star’.
They were later released after landlords association of the area intervened.
As we now hear, Odun and the students have been summoned for a meeting by the landlords body on Saturday.
Effort by Nigeriafilms.com to get Odun to react to the allegations were frustrated by him as he didn’t pick our calls or reply to our text message sent to him on the matter.
Some of the students in the area confirmed the story to Nigeriafilms.com. They said it was not the first time Odun was involving in such a shameful act.
“He keeps saying none of us can attain the heights he has reached,” one of the aggrieved students told Nigeriafilms.com.
Our investigation is still ongoing as we promise to bring report of the meeting with the landlords later.

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Source: Nigeriafilms.com

Daughter Says Mandela Feeling 'Good', 'Recovering Well'

Nelson Mandela is feeling "good" and "recovering well" following his release from hospital early this month where he was treated for pneumonia, his daughter said Friday.

"He is good for a 94-year-old," Makaziwe Mandela told AFP. "He is recovering well."
The ailing anti-apartheid hero was released from hospital on April 6 after a 10-day stay. He has since been convalescing at his Johannesburg home.
Asked if the family was happy with her father's current condition, Mandela's oldest surviving child replied "yes".
South Africa's first black president was rushed to hospital before midnight on March 27, suffering from a recurrence of a lung infection.
As part of the treatment, doctors drained a build-up of fluid, known as a pleural effusion or "water on the lungs", that had developed.
His hospitalisation sparked widespread concern about the increasingly frail health of a man who is seen as the father of modern South Africa.
It was the third time in five months that the Nobel Peace Prize winner had been hospitalised.
In March he was admitted for a day for a scheduled check-up and in December he was hospitalised for 18 days for a lung infection and for gallstones surgery.
That stint was his longest since he walked free from 27 years in jail in 1990.
While Mandela's health is a topic of national conversation, many South Africans have come to accept the ageing icon's mortality.
Nearly 20 years after he came to power he remains the unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

Source: AFP

Survivors Of Baga Massacre Still In Hiding

 

Many survivors of brutal clashes last week in a remote Nigerian town are still in hiding and rescue workers are trying to convince them to return to a home ravaged by sweeping fires, an emergency official said Friday.
Nearly half the town of Baga was razed during the violence between soldiers and suspected members of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram, which killed 187 people.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has set up 10 camps for those displaced and is trying to distribute relief materials, but the work has been complicated in a community traumatised by the carnage, NEMA spokesman Manzo Ezekiel told AFP.
“The people were initially sceptical,” he said.
“They weren’t sceptical because of NEMA but at first they ran away because NEMA came with soldiers,” Ezekiel added. “Many people are still in hiding.”
Soldiers have been accused of firing indiscriminately on civilians while setting fires to scores of homes and a market after gun battles with Islamists broke out.
Thousands of people were reported to have fled to the bush outside of Baga while trying to escape the bloodshed.
The military has fiercely denied any wrongdoing and has claimed that only 37 people died in the fighting last Friday.
“Part of our work there is to build confidence,” the NEMA spokesman said. “We need to show people that what we have now in Baga is assistance, not any more attacks.”
The violence in the town near Lake Chad was likely the deadliest-ever episode in the Boko Haram insurgency, which has cost more than 3,000 lives since 2009, including killings by the security forces.
The regional Governor Kashim Shettima has called the events in Baga “barbaric.”
Northeast Nigeria has been the epicentre of the insurgency, which Boka Haram says is aimed at creating an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, where most people are Muslim.
The southern half of the country, Africa’s most populous and top oil producer, is mainly Christian.

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Source: PM News

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Jonathan Approves N5.7bn For Post-Election Violence Victims

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday approved N5.7bn as compensation for victims of the 2011 post-presidential election violence that rocked some states of the federation.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said this while addressing State House correspondents in Abuja.
Abati however said victims from only nine out of the 14 states affected in the violence would benefit from the first phase of the  gesture as inspection and assessment of damages and losses suffered had yet to be carried out in Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna and Nasarawa States.
The breakdown of benefitting states and the amount accruing to them are: Bauchi  -  N1,574,879,000.00; Sokoto – N55,888,506.00;  Zamfara         – N93,253,485.00;  Niger  – N433,375,875.00;  Jigawa -N208,667,634.00;  Katsina – N1,973,209,440.00; Kano -N944,827,000.00;  Adamawa   – N420,089,840.00 and  Akwa Ibom  -  N43,504,000.00.
Abati said the President’s decision to compensate the victims for their losses formed part of the report of the panel of enquiry headed by Sheik Ahmed Lemu which he set up shortly after the violence.
He said, “President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the release of a total sum of N5,747,694,780.00 to nine states of the federation for direct disbursement to those who suffered losses of properties, means of livelihood and places of worship in the post election violence of 2011.
“It will be recalled that following the post election violence and civil disturbances in some states after the April 2011 elections President Jonathan set up a Panel of Enquiry headed by Sheik Ahmed Lemu to among other things, identify the spread and extent of losses suffered across the country.
“Following the submission of the Lemu Panel’s report and its adoption by the Federal Executive Council, the Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing was mandated to assess the reported losses and damage to properties in all affected states.
“Based on the Ministry’s report, President Jonathan has approved the release of funds to nine of the 14 affected states.”
Abati added that Jonathan had also directed that an Implementation Committee for the disbursement of the funds to beneficiaries in  the nine states be constituted.
The committee, which will be chaired by the state governor or his deputy, will have a representative of the state government,  Secretary of the Sheik Lemu Panel, representative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the representative of the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development as members.
Abati said funds to cover the losses sustained by victims of the post election violence in the five states not yet captured would be approved and released at the conclusion of the assessment exercise.

Source: Punch Nigeria