Aggrieved SURE-P staff protest over N4.9bn fraud

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George among other Nigerians have been accused of embezzlement to the tune of N4.947billion from 51,000 jobless Nigerians recruited as Federal Task Force officers for the protection of Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme,SURE-P/Federal Road Maintenance Agency,FER MA projects in Nigeria.

The aggrieved staff who almost barricaded the complex, petitioned the House of Representatives via the Chairman, House Adhoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Sani Zoro (APC, Jigawa); a copy of which was made available to newsmen, stated in the petition that the PDP chieftains among who is a former minister made them to purchase the Federal Task Force forms which were supposed to be free at the rate N30,000 each, despite their impoverished situation, only to be employed, used and abandoned.

The petition read in part: “We wish to cry out and seek for your urgent help over the fraudulent extortion from us and dehumanization of our lives under the SURE-P/FERMA employment programme named Federal Task Force by the above listed names and other officers (Directors) under the following pretence and tricks. Hence we were recruited and employed for the past three years without any training allowances, no salary and other allowances were paid to us.

“We were mandated to pay for the Presidency SURE-P/FERMA Task Force forms. We bought the forms with inscription ‘NOT FOR SALE’ boldly written on it at an average amount of Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000) each.”

It further alleged that several other payments were made for different reasons such as “loyalty” by the 51,000 recruited officers and petitioners.

The petition was jointly signed by the 51,000 aggrieved officers who laid siege on the National Assembly complex in their full operational gears yesterday. Oluremi Adeniji as Director of Administration.

Bode George reacts
Efforts to reach Chief George proved abortive but one of his aides, who pleaded anonymity said “Chief Bode George never collected a kobo from anybody, he was never part of the SURE-P or FERMA programme, nobody knows those who were there. They mentioned names of their officials, let them go and meet those officials.

The people that were mentioned are those controlling the programme, let the officials tell them those who collected money and what they did with the money. He (George) had never, at any particular time identified with those boys, we don’t know what they were doing. We don’t know who collected money from those boys.”

Football: English Premier League table

English Premier League table after Saturday’s early match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points:

Man Utd         7  5  1  1 12  5 16

Man City        7  5  0  2 13  6 15

Crystal Palace  8  5  0  3 11  7 15

West Ham        7  4  1  2 15  9 13

Arsenal         7  4  1  2 10  7 13

Everton         7  3  3  1 11  7 12

Tottenham       7  3  3  1  9  5 12

Leicester       7  3  3  1 15 14 12

Liverpool       7  3  2  2  7  9 11

Southampton     7  2  3  2 10  9  9

Swansea         7  2  3  2  8  8  9

Norwich         7  2  3  2 11 12  9

Watford         7  2  3  2  5  6  9

Chelsea         7  2  2  3 11 14  8

West Brom       8  2  2  4  6 11  8

Bournemouth     7  2  1  4  9 11  7

Stoke           7  1  3  3  7 10  6

Aston Villa     7  1  1  5  8 12  4

Newcastle       7  0  3  4  5 11  3

Sunderland      7  0  2  5  6 16  2

Victor Navarro dead: Colombia kills most wanted drug lord

Image copyrightAFP

One of Colombia's most wanted drug lords has been killed in government air strikes.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Victor Navarro, also known as "Megateo", died in bombing attacks on the mountain jungle region of Catatumbo.

The US had offered a $5m reward for his capture.

Navarro was also the leader of a remnant faction of the leftist guerrilla group the EPL.

The EPL disbanded 16 years ago but Navarro is believed to have pushed the band into cocaine trafficking so that they could procure weapons.

In a magazine interview more than a year ago, he denied he was a drug trafficker but he admitted that he had collected "a tax on cocaine" so as to "finance the war".

Navarro was also known for his fondness for garish weapons-themed jewellery and the branding of underage young lovers with a tattoo of his face.

His brash behaviour had drawn comparisons to an earlier generation of drug traffickers in Colombia such as Pablo Escobar, who had kept a zoo of wild animals including lions and hippos in his rural estate.

Identity of the Oregin University shooter.

The gunman who asked for his victims' faiths before shooting them at a Oregon college on Thursday appeared to be sympathetic to Irish Republican Army — but also posted online that he was "not religious."

Former acquaintances and social-media postings paint a picture of 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer — who was killed in a firefight with police at Umpqua Community College — as a withdrawn young man who spent a lot of time on the Internet.

Public records show that one person of that name was born in Los Angeles County in 1989. Police declined to confirm the shooter's identity late Thursday, in an attempt to not "glorify" the actions of the gunman behind a rampage that left 10 dead and seven others wounded.

Investigators said it was too soon to identify a motive, though Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin told NBC's TODAY he wasn't aware of any "specific red flags" for the shooter.

"He is a local resident and I know personally I haven't heard of any warning signs coming from this person," Hanlon said.

Christopher Harper Mercer, 26. Myspace.com

A MySpace page that appeared to be linked to the shooter featured Mercer holding what appeared to be a rifle while several other postings were sympathetic to theIrish Republican Army and featured masked gunmen and logos.

The IRA is a predominantly Catholic paramilitary group which waged a bloody three-decade campaign to make Northern Ireland an independent republic separate from Great Britain. It was responsible for terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland and England, including an attempt to assassinate British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by bombing a hotel in 1984. More than 3,600 people were killed in the armed conflict.

The MySpace account — which is listed under Chris Harper-Mercer — also featured a formal photo with a caption reading "me in a tuxedo on the day of my sister's wedding."

A man listing the same birthday — and whose profile picture strongly resembles Mercer — also held a listing on a dating and penpal site for "spiritual singles" that listed Los Angeles as his location.

 Sheriff: 'You Will Never Hear Me Mention His Name' 3:28

"Looking for someone who shares my beliefs, and is similar to me," the profile says, listing "Internet, killing zombies, movies, music" and reading among hobbies and interests.

The profile describes "not religious, but spiritual" beliefs and was linked to a group called "doesn't like organized religion."

Survivors of the Umpqua shooting old relatives that Harper Mercer asked people whether they were Christian or not. Anyone who responded "yes" was shot in the head and those who said "other" or didn't answer were shot elsewhere in the body, said Autumn Vicari, whose brother was in the classroom.

Sci-fi and horror were listed as favorite types of movies on the MySpace profile — along with romantic comedies.

The profile described the poster as "shy at first, but warm up quickly" and "better in small groups" — consistent with what Mercer's acquaintances said.

Christopher Harper Mercer, 26. Myspace.com

Former neighbors in the Los Angeles-suburb of Torrance confirmed that Mercer lived with his mother in a downstairs apartment before moving to Oregon about four years ago.

Bryan Clay said he'd encounter the shooter "every day" when he'd come home from school — and that Mercer kept to himself.

"I'd see Chris, shaved head, combat boots, camo pants and a plain brown or white shirt," Clay told NBC Los Angeles. "He would really just walk really fast, avoid anybody who came towards him."

Mercer's father, though, told NBC Los Angeleshis son was a "nice guy" who "put everyone before himself."

An online public records search for Chris Harper Mercer shows one man by that name having lived in Torrance before moving to an apartment in Winchester, Oregon — just 2.1 miles from Umpqua Community College. NBC News could not immediately verify whether it referred to the gunman.

Presidency: Boko Haram May Fall Before Deadline

Presidential aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, has expressed confidence that the wave of Boko Haram attacks could end before the three months given by President Muhammadu Buhari to end the insurgency.

He also said that hope was not yet lost on the efforts by Nigeria’s security forces to secure the freedom of the Chibok school girls taken hostage by Boko Haram more than a year ago.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja yesterday, Shehu said the terrorists were now in disarray, having lost their central command and had been broken into splinters due to the efforts of the Nigerian troops under the new leadership.

Responding to the criticism that the President Buhari-led administration had not done enough to stop the insurgency as promised during the election campaigns, Shehu said on the contrary, the administration had been working hard to cripple the terror organisation, adding that due to intensive military bombardments, Sambisa Forest, their stronghold, was now being degraded.

“From my conversation with these commanders, what they are saying to themselves is that they are not going to wait for three months, but do their best to beat the target given by the president.

“So there is so much going on and I can assure you that spirits are very high. The army chief was there with the soldiers for about nine days. That is leadership because you see him leading the soldiers from the front.

“If the chief himself is there, who are you to drop your gun?  A lot is happening and Boko Haram has been degraded, they have lost central command and are now in splinters.

“What you have now is bits and pieces carrying out distractive action because they don't want to go down alone. So they are looking for very soft targets such as churches, mosques and markets.

“The air force is clearing this place for the ground troops to move in. They are looking for bomb making structures and moving convoys of these insurgents. But they are being careful about certain locations with the hope not to harm the Chibok girls in those locations,” he said.

Shehu, who spoke on the expectation that the administration will do something to free the Chibok girls, said the troops were being careful about certain locations so as not to harm the Chibok girls taken hostage by the terrorist group.

He explained that the bombings were being carried out in a careful manner to avoid certain locations of interest as far as the Chibok girls were concerned.

According to the president's spokesman, Sambisa Forest was under observation 24 hours day in the event somebody decides to move the girls and if there was any movement that is suspicious, there are drones that fly around the place at night and during the day.

“To be fair to President Buhari, did he ever say he will bring back the girls on the second day of his administration?  What he has always said is that we don’t even know where the girls are and that we need to go in there and get the intelligence and the situation of things and then act.

“Without meaning to endanger what is left of those girls, you know that the Sambisa Forest is being degraded right now.
“In the last few days, you even saw the Chief of Army Staff leading the troops and I am aware that in the last few weeks, very interesting pictures have been shown to the president on the basis of which we will say to Nigerians, don’t lose hope on the Chibok girls. I am not saying they have been found or that they have been seen. But it is not yet time for Nigerians to say we have lost them,” he added.