The Federal Government has warned the President-elect,   Muhammadu Buhari, against utterances and actions   capable of portraying him as running a parallel government at a time President Goodluck Jonathan is still fully in charge.

The Minister of National Planning,   Abubakar Sulaiman, disclosed this at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

Sulaiman told State House correspondents that FEC considered the state of the transition programme and took exception to some utterances and terms of reference of the committee set up by Buhari.

The President-elect inaugurated   a 19-member committee with a charge to members not to engage in a witch-hunt or fault finding.

One of the assignments of the Buhari transition committee is to review and make preliminary assessment of the balance sheet of the Federal Government with particular emphasis on the status of assets and liabilities; cash flow position and the   quantum of domestic and external debts.

But Sulaiman, who is the chairman of the Technical Subcommittee of the outgoing government’s transition committee, said such utterances by Buhari and his team were suggestive that the current government was either being stampeded or   intimidated.

He said, “We did receive from the incoming government’s transition committee some terms of reference which we looked at critically and council did agree that the President remains the current head of government of this country.

“The incoming government should avoid creating a parallel government while the government is still on.

“We take exception to some utterances and some of the terms of reference that look as if the current government is being stampeded or intimidated.

“Council frowned on most of the statements, most of the provocations and council members are advised to work in line with the terms of reference of the current government.

“Council members are also told that the terms of reference as formatted by our transition committee should be strictly complied with.

“When the incoming government takes over government, they can come out with their programmes; they can come out with their own agenda and they can decide to come out with policies in the way they feel like.

“This government remains resolute to the various programmes and projects it is pursuing and it   will continue to do that until the morning of May 29.”

When   asked to mention some of the terms of reference of the incoming government’s transition committee that the outgoing government felt uncomfortable with, Sulaiman asked journalists to go and do their investigation.

He warned that Jonathan’s “magnanimity should not be taken as a sign of cowardice.”

The minister said the   President and the council members “enjoined Nigerians to see the olive branch extended to Nigerians and the international community as a way of keeping this country intact and as a way of ensuring peace in Nigeria.

“As such, whatever the outcome of the elections, what is important is Nigeria’s national interest. And that national interest should be protected, enhanced and promoted at whatever level we are.

“These are issues that bordered on transition programme discussed in council.”

He said while the council enjoined its members to be steadfast, Jonathan also asked them to come out with projects to be inaugurated.

He added that the President asked government officials to continue to perform their duties without fear and intimidation.

The minister further quoted Jonathan as saying that civil servants should see his government as the current government and avoid doing anything   capable of rocking the boat.

Sulaiman disclosed that Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who heads Jonathan’s transition committee   had a robust discussion with   the chairman of the Buhari’s transition committee, Ahmed Joda, on Tuesday.

He also said that   as of Tuesday, almost all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies that were directed to submit briefs and hand- over notes to the Sambo-led committee had complied, except for one or two ministries.

The minister said the committee was currently in possession of the executive summaries of all the MDAs handover notes and the entire handover notes from almost all the MDAs.

“The transition process is on course in terms of handover notes and briefs, we have covered almost 80 per cent of our assignments,” he said.

One of the top contenders for the Senate presidency, Senator George Akume, and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday met at the Lagos home of Tinubu.

Our correspondent learnt that at the meeting which took place around 3pm, Tinubu told Akume to shelve his ambition and support Senator Ahmed Lawan, who represents Yobe-North senatorial district in the 8th Senate.

The battle for the Senate presidency was between the North-East and the North-Central. Akume, who is currently the Senate Minority Leader, represents Benue-North senatorial district in the Senate.

Senator Bukola Saraki, who represents Kwara-Central senatorial district in the North-Central geopolitical zone, had also openly expressed his intention to contest the number three seat in the country.

However, it was learnt that the leadership of the APC finally decided to zone the Senate presidency to the North-East following ‘fresh developments’.

A reliable source in the APC told our correspondent that Lawan had already been backed by the current Senate President, David Mark, and other members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He said, “Tinubu explained to Akume that Lawan and Senator Mark are very close and already, some members of the PDP support him. Lawan has a good track record in the Senate and has been backed by almost all the senators in the North-East who feel the zone has been seriously marginalised.

“The catch there is that if the APC members in the Senate do not support Lawan and he wins the Senate presidency with bloc votes from the PDP and his friends in the North-East, he will be loyal to the PDP and may sideline us just as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, attributed his victory to the APC back in 2011 even though he was a member of the PDP.

“Mark will definitely do everything possible to ensure that Akume does not emerge Senate President if we pick Akume because they are not on good terms. Tinubu told Akume that he sacrificed his presidential ambition for the sake of the party.

“Tinubu, therefore, urged Akume to settle for the Deputy Senate presidency or Senate Majority Leader.”

The 8th Senate will have 60 APC members while the PDP will have 48. The number of senators in the North-East is 18.

The source said Akume was also asked to step down because the North-Central, where he hails from, had been holding the Senate presidency since 2007 while the North-East had never presided over the upper chamber of the National Assembly since independence.

He added that giving the North-East the seat would also be a way of rewarding them for giving the APC the second highest number of votes during the presidential election.

He said, “The current Senate president is from Benue State and has been in charge for eight years. Would it be fair to also handover the Senate presidency to another person from Benue?

“The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, got more than 2.5 million votes from the North-East and this should be rewarded.”

It was learnt that Lawan, who just won a third term in office, had already been accepted by those close to the President-elect because he was among those who led Buhari’s presidential campaign in the then All Nigeria Peoples Party in 2007 in Yobe State.

The source told our correspondent that a committee comprising Tinubu’s wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Senator Gbenga Ashafa and Senator Ajayi Boroffice had been set up to meet with the aggrieved parties.

The Federal Government has condemned the execution of four Nigerians by the Indonesian authorities over drug-related offences, despite pleas for clemency by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The government, while commiserating with the families of the deceased, demanded the repatriation of the corpses of the executed Nigerians.

It explained that they would be given decent burials by their various communities.

A terse statement on Wednesday from the Public Communications Division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, gave the names of the executed Nigerians as Martin Anderson, Okwudili Oyatanze, Jaminu Abashin and Sylvester Obiekwe.

The government warned Nigerians to desist from drug trafficking and other offences.

The statement read in part, “The Federal Government of Nigeria has received with deep disappointment, news of the execution of four Nigerians ─ Martin Anderson, Okwudili Oyatanze, Jaminu Abashin and Sylvester Obiekwe ─ by the government of Indonesia for drug-related offences.

“These executions have taken place despite spirited pleas for clemency made at the highest level by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and more recently by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali.

“The Federal Government wishes to express its condolences to the families of the deceased.

“It has asked the Indonesian government for the repatriation of the remains of the executed persons so that they can be accorded decent burials by their various communities.

“Furthermore, government is committed to engage the government of Indonesia and other friendly countries regarding the conclusion of Prisoner Transfer Agreements and other bilateral means of safeguarding the interest and welfare of Nigerians.”

The convicts were reportedly taken to the Nusakambangan Island where they were executed by firing squad on Tuesday.

…Indonesia defends executions

Indonesia on Wednesday staunchly defended its execution of seven foreigners including two Australians as a vital front of its “war” on drugs as testimony emerged of how they went singing to their deaths, The Times of India reports.

Australia withdrew its ambassador in protest at the midnight executions, but Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, said he was merely applying “the rule of law” against narcotics traffickers.

The seven convicts – two from Australia, one from Brazil and four from Africa – were shot by firing squad along with one Indonesian, despite strident foreign appeals and pleas from family members.

Brazil expressed “deep regret” at the execution of its national, who is mentally ill according to his family, and said it was weighing its next move.

The condemned men reportedly all refused blindfolds and sang hymns, among them “Amazing Grace”, as they went to face the firing squad in a jungle clearing, according to a pastor who was with them.

As the clock ticked down to midnight, a group of tearful supporters also sang hymns, embraced and held candles aloft during a vigil at the port in Cilacap, the gateway to the prison island of Nusakambangan.

After the executions, family members could be seen crying as they were ushered away by friends and supporters, an AFP reporter saw.

A Filipina originally set to be executed was given an 11th hour reprieve after a woman who allegedly duped her into ferrying drugs to Indonesia came forward to police in the Philippines.

The reprieve for Mary Jane Veloso was hailed in the Philippines as a miracle and a gift from God, but Indonesian Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo stressed it was only a “postponement” to allow time for police investigations.

The dollar sank to its lowest level in more than two months as the currency market adopted a markedly dovish view on the United States monetary policy after data showed the economy virtually stagnating in the first three months of the year.

But as the market awaited the outcome of a meeting of the Federal Reserve policy makers, government bonds and equities on both sides of the Atlantic also came under pressure, according to Financial Times.

This was particularly so in Europe as the euro broke above key resistance levels, further aided by more signs that the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme was helping to ease deflation pressures and improve credit conditions.

By midday in New York, the dollar index — a gauge of the currency’s value against a weighted basket of peers — was down 1.1 per cent at 95.09, the lowest since the end of February. In mid-March, the measure reached a 12-year high above 100.

An analyst at Afrinvest West Africa Limited, a research firm, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, said the drop in dollar might not impact the naira immediately.

He, however, said that if the fall persisted, it might affect foreign portfolio inflow.

He said, “The fall in dollar’s value may affect the FPI if it persists; it may not have direct impact on the naira immediately. However, it may have a very little impact if it persists for a long time.”

The US economy grew at an annualised pace of 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, according to the preliminary estimate from the Department of Commerce — well short of the expected one per cent expansion and down sharply from the 2.2 per cent rate seen in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Analysts highlighted that the data — at least to some degree — reflected temporary factors such as port closings and bad weather, and suggested there could be a repeat of the pattern of recent years of a soft first quarter followed by a rebound.

“Since 2010, the average rate of first-quarter real GDP growth has been 0.6 per cent, versus an average of 2.9 per cent in the remaining three quarters,” noted Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays.

“We expect a bounce back in growth to 3.0 per cent in the second quarter, driven by a solid 3.5 per cent rise in personal consumption. However, some of the weakness in structures investment and net trade is likely to persist as the effects of a stronger dollar and lower oil prices constrain activity in these sectors of the economy over time.”

The move in the dollar contrasted sharply with the action in government bond markets, where the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond jumped by nine basis points to 2.06 per cent and that on the equivalent-maturity German Bund leapt 11bp to 0.28 per cent.

The euro was up 1.8 per cent at $1.1171 — a factor that contributed to a hefty 2.2 per cent slide for the FTSE Eurofirst 300. The equity index has now fallen 3.7 per cent in the past two days. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was down 0.8 per cent.

Data on Wednesday showed that German consumer prices fell 0.1 per cent in April, for a year-on-year increase of 0.4 per cent — up from 0.3 per cent in March.

“German headline inflation should gradually continue to increase,” said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at the ING.

“However, as long as even the largest and strongest eurozone economy does not show any signs of inflationary overheating, the ECB will continue QE and hush any tapering discussion.”

Other figures showed that private sector loans in the eurozone had risen in March for the first time since May 2012.

“Improved bank lending supports the recovery and we continue to look for GDP growth of 1.6 per cent in 2015, compared to the consensus of 1.4 per cent,” said Pernille Bomholdt Nielsen, senior analyst at Danske Bank.

Divyang Shah, global strategist at IFR Markets, noted the US and eurozone data releases but added that his preferred explanation for the action in currency and fixed income markets was simply that positioning had once again become stretched.

“The two favoured core positions over the last few months were to be long eurozone bonds and long the dollar,” he said. “Since 10-year Bund yields hit a low just under 5bp [last week] both of these trends had come under pressure with little in the way of further upside.”

The Fed was not the only central bank in action on Wednesday. Sweden’s Riksbank unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged, although it did announce a SKr40-50bn expansion of asset purchases.

“We regard the Riksbank’s move as warranted, given that ECB’s QE continues to put upward pressure on the krona and, as a consequence, downward pressure on the Swedish inflation outlook,” said Chiara Silvestre, an economist at UniCredit.

Brent oil was up 2.2 per cent at a 2015 high of $66.09 a barrel, helped by some bullish US inventories data.

But the sharp drop in the dollar failed to provide a boost for gold, with the metal down $2 at $1,209 an ounce.

The Federal Government has declared Friday May 1 as public holiday to commemorate the 2015 Workers’ Day.

Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, who made the announcement, according to a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by the Permanent Secretary, Abubakar Magaji, congratulated all Nigerians on their resilience and commitment in the face of the challenges of daily living.

He enjoined them to sustain their support for President Goodluck Jonathan in his efforts to build a stable, peaceful and economically vibrant nation.

The Minister wished all Nigerian workers a joyous and peaceful celebration.

While we all will be at home on Friday why don't we have join in the May 1st seminar at City Haverst Church Click here for more

The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has said the claim by the Boko Haram sect that it is a religious group is a fraud.

He also said the sect would be denied a recruitment base the moment people in local communities realised that its claim of being a religious group was nothing but a fraud.

Buhari said this while receiving a delegation from Nasarawa State which was led by the state Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, at the Defence House, on Monday.

In a statement signed by the Director of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari was quoted as saying, “The fraud called Boko Haram can be defeated by denying it a recruitment base.

“No religion allows for the killing of children in school dormitory, in markets and places of worship. They have nothing to do with religion. They are terrorists and we are going to deal with them as they deal with terrorists anywhere.”

The President-elect also said he was greatly pained by the destruction of schools in the north-eastern part of the country.

This, he noted, could deny thousands of children access to education and a better future unless something was done urgently to avert “this tragedy.”

“The worst thing anybody can do is to deny children access to education. That will be destructive to their lives and we are not going to allow that to happen,” the President-elect said.

He also said that his government would help the states to get more money to improve infrastructure by ensuring that all federally-collectible revenues were paid directly into the Federation Account and each tier of government given its due share.

Buhari was also quoted as saying, “As at now, the government does not even know how many revenue accounts it has. We will give all the tiers of government what is due to them but we will hold them accountable as we would the Federal Government.”

Buhari while describing Nasarawa State as his own “political laboratory,” meaning the only CPC-controlled state out of the 36 others. He adjudged the experiment as a success.

He said, “From one state, I now have 22 political laboratories.”

He commended Al-Makura for surviving many impeachment plots saying, “Without Nasarawa, there would not have been the APC.”

Earlier, Al-Makura had said he led the delegation to congratulate Buhari on his victory which was not only a victory for him but a victory for Nigerians.

Commercial banks have sent marketers, mostly females after newly-elected senators and members of the House of Representatives in Abuja to open discussions on investments and other business deals.

The energetic, sweet-talking and mostly female marketers, flooded the International Conference Centre, venue of an ongoing induction course for the new arrivals on Monday.

Investigations by The PUNCH showed that the target of the banks largely was to woo the lawmakers to open accounts with them.

Some of the smartly dressed marketers also offered loan opportunities they claimed their banks could guarantee with “friendly repayment terms.”

Over 290 members of the House for example, are newcomers, out of the total of 360.

In the Senate, about 69 senators are also newcomers, out of 109.

Findings showed that the marketers started tracing the lawmakers since Sunday night when Senate President, David Mark, declared the induction programme open at the Transcorps Hotel, Abuja.

“They flooded the Congress Hall of the hotel Sunday night.

“They didn’t give the lawmakers breathing space, as they offered all sorts of facilities (loans) and seeking to maintain their accounts,” a senior legislative aide confided in The PUNCH on Monday.

A member of the House earns around N27.9m every quarter as official allowance.

Presiding officers and other principal officers receive higher figures.

This excludes a monthly salary of N1m.

Senators collect over N30m as quarterly allowance and receive higher salaries than their House counterparts.

The PUNCH gathered that the practice over time was for the banks to compete among themselves to attract as many of the lawmakers as possible to maintain the lawmakers’ accounts.

“In the end, many lawmakers get loans in amounts ranging from N50m to upward of N200m.

“They will be here for four years and it is understandable that the banks see this as a window for quick returns,” one National Assembly official told The PUNCH.

However, investigations indicated that there were several cases of lawmakers who failed to repay the loans before the expiration of their tenure, leading to disputes between the two sides.

In 2011, a particular new generation bank withheld the severance packages of many members and also seized their assets, owing to failure to meet up with their loan obligations.

One marketer, who gave her name simply as Elina, told The PUNCH that there was nothing wrong with seeking for “investment opportunities.”

She argued that being new in Abuja, most of the members needed information on sources of funding to assist them in settling down for the business of legislation.

“We know how it is; there will be accommodation challenges.

“Some need funding for transportation even before they get their official votes for vehicles and other support services.

“So, the banks are there to provide these support services by way of funding,” she added.

The National Assembly and its bureaucracy, including the National Assembly Service Commission, has a total budget of N120bn this year.

The figure was a drop from the N150bn it had enjoyed since 2007.

The Kano State Police Command said that it had started investigation into the cause of the collapsed bridge that killed seven persons in Kano on Sunday.

Also, the state Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, said the government would force the contractor handling the project to pay for the medical bills of the injured victims.

The contractor, the governor added, would also be forced to pay compensation to families of those who died in the incident.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Magaji Majiya, who spoke with our correspondent on Monday, said that the police was interested in knowing the cause of the collapse in order to stop recurrence of such a tragic incident.

He explained that initial reports showed that the driver of the ill-fated cab driver’s disobedience to an instruction by workers at the site not to drive under the bridge was responsible for the tragedy.

Asked whether the contractor handling the project would be invited for questioning, the PPRO said further probe would determine that.

While sympathising with the families of those who lost their lives, the state governor also prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured, who were receiving medical attention at the hospital.

In a press statement, signed by Ibrahim Dantiye, who is the Director of Press to the Governor, Kwankwaso, vowed to ensure that the company handling the project adequately compensated the victims and their immediate families.

The governor also called on the public to be patient and continue to obey law and order so as to avoid disasters.

Kwankwaso also called on other companies handling construction works in the state to execute their projects in such a manner that would ensure minimum discomfort to road users.

The Kano Police Command had on Sunday confirmed the death of not less than seven persons, following the collapse of a pedestrian bridge at Dorayi quarters in Kano metropolis.

Majiya, who confirmed the collapse of the pedestrian bridge, disclosed that the incident happened around 4.45 pm on Sunday when the bridge, still under construction, caved in and collapsed on the ill-fated taxi.

“It should be noted that the workers on site forewarned motorists not to use the bridge as construction work was ongoing but the driver of the taxi was said to have ignored the warning,” he said.

Source: Punch

To prove this, he said he had directed that the full report by PriceWaterHouse which was commissioned to carry out a detailed investigation into the activities of the NNPC be made public immediately.

Jonathan, in a statement in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity,   Reuben Abati,   also described   the allegation by the All Progressives Congress that his officials were embarking on last minute illegal actions as “unfortunate and uncharitable.”

Buhari had while receiving an APC delegation from Adamawa State on Sunday, expressed surprise that instead of probing the allegation by Sanusi ,who is now the Emir of Kano, the Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party administration chose to fire him.

He stated that since Sanusi’s claim was documented, his administration would take a look at it after the May 29 handover date.

Buhari said, “On the issue of corruption, I heard that some people have started returning money. I will not believe it until I see for myself.

“You all remember what the Emir of Kano talked about when he was the governor of the CBN. He said $20bn, not N20bn, was unaccounted for; they said it was a lie. Instead of investigating it, they sacked him. And God in his infinite mercy made him the Emir of Kano. In any case, that is what he wanted. And since this was documented, our administration will take a look at it.”

Sanusi had written a letter to Jonathan that $49bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

But following the controversy which the letter generated, a committee was set up to reconcile the account.

Sanusi later recanted and said the unremitted fund was $12bn. He later changed the figure to $20bn.

But Abati, in his   statement, said Jonathan was concerned by the continuing suggestions that his administration had anything to hide on the allegation.

The statement read in part, “President Jonathan is also deeply concerned by the continuing suggestions that his administration still has anything to hide about the unproven allegation that about $20bn is unaccounted for by the NNPC during his tenure.

“To lay the matter to rest, President Jonathan in line with Section 7(2) of the NNPC Act, has directed that the full report of the PWC Forensic Audit of the NNPC accounts be released immediately to the public so that all Nigerians will be properly informed on the matter.”

The Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mosimi, Ogun State, Mr. Adeleke Bada, has agreed with the former Minister of Petroleum, Prof. Tam David-West, that petroleum pump price can sell for N40 per litre.

He added that this could only be possible, if the country refined all crude oil in the nation’s refineries.

Bada said this in an interview with journalists shortly after the association’s Annual General Meeting in Abeokuta, the state capital.

Bada, who was flanked by other members of the executive of the association, reacted to the advice given by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, David-West, to the President-elect to reduce the pump price to N40.

He said “Reducing the pump price of a litre of fuel to N40 is possible only if the refineries are working. If you look at the nature of the market presently, that isn’t realistic. Do we have the refineries?

“The only reason that it can be possible is when we have our own refineries and we do not export our crude oil for processing. If the processing is done in Nigeria, then it can be sold at the rate of N40, but not until all the refineries are fixed.”

He, however, blamed the non-compliance of sale of petrol at the N87 per litre by some petroleum marketers on the expenses incurred by the marketers while trying to get the fuel available for the use of the masses.

He said the levies being paid by the marketers to various regulatory associations and unions had made the marketers to increase the prices of fuel to their desired amount.

He said, “The government has not increased the price of fuel; it is still N87 per litre.

“But by the time you get to the depot, after paying around N2.6m for your ticket, a lot of levies are still to be paid.

“Levies from PTD, IPMAN and all others, adding them all together with the cost of transporting your trucks to the station, no one is ready to run at a loss.”

ABOUT 100 suspected Fulani mercenaries late on Saturday and Sunday morning attacked and killed 30 people, mostly women and children, in Guma, Kwande, respecively in Buruku and Keana local government areas of Benue and Nasarawa states.

The PUNCH gathered that the mercenaries attacked Tse-Uosu, Tse-Gbudu Taraka and Branch Umenger villages, all in Mbadwem council ward in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

In Keana, Iornungun village was attacked while in Kwande the attackers terrorised Jato/Aka and environs just as the villagers at Mbatie, Mbatsease and Mbaatungu Aji, all in the Buruku Local Government Area, were displaced by the invaders.

It was learnt that apart from the 19 persons said to have been killed, several others also sustained injuries even as many others in the area had been rendered homeless.

A fleeing native of Guma, identified simply as Suunen, told one of our correspondents that the gunmen stormed the communities “while the villagers were having their rest after the day’s hard work and started shooting at innocent and defenceless people of the area.”

Suunen added that even members of the neighbouring communities had started fleeing their homes because of the fear that the suspected Fulani militias might decide to attack their communities too.

The Benue State police command’s spokesman, Austin Ezeani, confirmed the attacks but said the police were yet to ascertain the number of people that were killed.

Ezeani said the various divisions were yet to give the casualty figures and promised to release the details as they come in.

Another victim, Terungwa, said his mother narrowly escaped from Mbatie and that the woman had been taking refuge in Yandev in the Gboko Local Government Area.

IN Nasarawa State, 11persons were killed on Sunday during an invasion on Uoosu village in the Keana Local Government Area by the suspected Fulani mercenaries.

Apart from killing the 11, the herdsmen also razed Uoosu village and laid ambushed on the Keana-Korta Road, where they shot at people on sight.

Investigations indicated that the problem began when two Fulani herdsmen were allegedly murdered while grazing on a cassava farm belonging to a Tiv man in a village along the Udei-Daudu Road in Benue State.

The PUNCH also learnt that the deceased herdsmen had been nabbed by the local farmers in an attempt to kill the farmers with cutlass.

It was learnt that the attack on Uoosu village by the Fulani was to avenge the death of two of their kinsmen.

The Nasarawa State Police Public Relations Officer, Ismaila Numan, said only three people were killed and that the command had commenced investigation into the incident.

President-Elect Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said his administration would probe the claim by a former   Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and now the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failed to remit $20bn oil money to the federation account.

Buhari gave the hint while receiving a delegation of the All Progressives Congress elected officials and supporters from Adamawa State at his campaign office in Abuja.

The President-elect, who spoke in Hausa expressed surprise that instead of probing the allegations by the former CBN governor, the Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party administration chose to fire him.

He stated that since Sanusi’s claim was documented, his administration would take a look at it after the May 29 handover date.

Buhari said, “On the issue of corruption, I heard that some people have started returning money. I will not believe it until I see for myself.

“You all remember what the Emir of Kano talked about when he was the governor of the CBN. He said $20bn not N20bn was unaccounted for; they said it was a lie. Instead of investigating it, they sacked him. And God in his infinite mercy made him the Emir of Kano. In any case, that is what he wanted. And since this was documented, our administration will take a look at it.”

A management and accounting consultancy firm, PriceWaterHouse, was last year hired by the Federal Government to carry out a forensic audit of the NNPC following Sanusi’s allegation.

Sanusi had written a letter to Jonathan in September 2013 that $49bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

But following the controversy generated by the letter, a committee was set up by the government to reconcile the accounts of the corporation.

Sanusi later recanted and said the unremitted fund was $12bn. He later   changed the figure to $20bn.

PwC, in its report stated that while the total gross revenues generated from crude oil liftings amounted to $69.34bn between January 2012 and July 2013 and not $67bn as earlier stated by the Senate Reconciliation Committee, what was remitted to the federation account was $50.81bn and not $47bn.

Within the $69.34bn, the audit report revealed that $28.22bn was the value of domestic crude oil allocated to NNPC, adding that the total amount spent on subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit amounted to $5.32bn.

The PwC report read in part, “Signature bonus, Petroleum Profit Tax and Royalty yet to be paid by NPDC is $2.22bn. Total cash remitted into the federation accounts in relation to crude oil liftings was $50.81bn and not $47bn as earlier stated by the Senate Reconciliation Committee for the period January 2012 to July 2013.

“Based on the information available to PwC, and from the above analysis, the firm submitted that NNPC and NPDC should refund to the federation accounts a minimum of $1.48bn.”

Last week, the   Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke,   disclosed that the NNPC had started refunding the unremitted $1.48bn into the federation account.

But while expressing gratitude to the visiting delegation, Buhari said his administration would work in tandem with the manifesto of the APC.

He listed priority areas to include security of lives and property, the economy and job creation as well as the war against corruption.

On the issue of security, he described the menace of Boko Haram as purely the evil of terrorism which has no link to religion.

Buhari said, “ We thank God that   it is now evident that this problem of Boko Haram is not a religious problem. It is purely terrorism. I said it earlier that all the religions we practise,especially   Islam and Christianity, do not support terrorism.

“So,anyone who goes and kills people   in the mosque,     church, market, motor park or school either does not know what Allahuakbar (God is great) means or does not believe in it. This is terrorism. It is our hope that God gives us the power to end this.”

The former Head of State said that unemployment must be urgently tackled because it constituted a threat to Nigeria’s survival.

He explained that from his campaign stops in 35 out of the nation’s 36 states, the sheer number of jobless youths they saw signposted clearly that there was a serious crisis at hand.

Buhari said, “From the airports to the streets, we saw youths running after our vehicles sweating. Some were walking the whole distance to wherever we were driving to. Whether they went to school or did not go to school, it was evident that they don’t have jobs. This is one of the biggest problems we have in Nigeria today.

“Most of our youths,who form 60 per cent of our population in Nigeria are without jobs. These people who are still bubbling with energy will constitute a danger to this nation if they don’t get jobs.”

The President-elect took a swipe at the outgoing Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government for ‘‘inflicting a lot of pains on Nigerians with its misrule.’’

He however said that the military deserved commendation for regaining many   territories it hitherto lost to Boko Haram in the North-East.

Buhari said, “Among the worst atrocities committed against Nigeria by the PDP is what it has done to our military.

“It is our military that went to Burma; the same army that when I was commissioned second lieutenant, I did not spend three weeks before I found myself in Kinshasa (in Congo), then (the civil war) in Nigeria and Sierra Leone and did well. Now to say Nigerian soldiers failed to retake 14 local government areas out of 774 is unbelievable.

“For me who served in the military, I find it incomprehensible except if I go there to find out what happened. The kind of leadership brought upon us by the PDP whether it is documented or not, it can never be forgotten in our history.”

Buhari also decried the attitude of some   Nigerian elite to the suffering of the masses.

He noted that Some of them “have built houses outside their states so that when trouble starts, they don’t even bother to take their bags before fleeing on Achaba (motorcycle).’’

Buhari   lamented the fate of some Nigerians from the North-East who   “do not know where their parents and children are because their houses have been burnt in cities like Bama, Michika, Mubi, Madagali and other places ” by Boko Haram insurgents.

The President-elect appealed to members of the legislature at the federal and state levels to give attention to matters that would benefit the nation and its people in all their deliberations.

He promised that the incoming APC-led Federal administration was determined to ensure that   roads, schools and hospitals were   built and made   functional.

Buhari   described Adamawa State as one of the few states in the North- East which still has arable land.

This, he said, was unlike his home state of Katsina where   desertification has condemned a lot of people without formal education to a life of servitude.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and governor-elect of Adamawa State, Jibrilla Bindow, appealed to the President-Elect to     help the state rebuild its institutions and reduce poverty and youth unemployment.