Police arrest anti-president protesters

Zimbabwean police arrested 15 people, including a journalist and the brother of a missing political activist, during a public protest against President Robert Mugabe, their lawyer said Friday. Opposition is mounting against the 92-year-old Mugabe, whose decades in office have been marked by economic decline, repression of dissent, claims of vote-rigging, mass unemployment and emigration. Lawyer Obey Shava said police rounded up the activists while they were holding a vigil in Africa Unity Square in central Harare calling upon Mugabe, in power since 1980, to step down. “Some were arrested last night. Some, earlier,” he told AFP. “The charges are robbery and obstructing or defeating the course of justice.” Police claimed the protesters had robbed a woman passing by, he said. “These are trumped up charges to instill fear and discourage people from occupying Africa Unity Square,” Shava said. The square has been the venue of a series of protests over the disappearance of political activist Itai Dzamara who was abducted in March last year, allegedly by military intelligence agents. His brother Patson, who was among those arrested, last week released a picture he said showed the missing man being held at an undisclosed location. The army has denied responsibility for Dzamara’s abduction. The journalist arrested at the protest was Paidamoyo Muzulu of NewsDay. Shava said all those detained at the protest were likely to appear in court on Saturday. “I am at the police station right now. They (police) are recording statements,” Shava said. A group of churches, including the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, the Prayer Network of Zimbabwe and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, on Thursday joined a chorus of demands that Mugabe should quit. “There is a clear indication and consensus that President Robert Mugabe has failed us. We feel very strongly that he too old to continue,” the convenor of the meeting, Pastor Ancelimo Magaya, told local media.

SOURCE: VANGUARD

Buhari not in London for talks with Jonathan, NDA—UK

The United Kingdom, UK, last night, cleared the air on reports suggesting that President Muhammadu Buhari was in London to meet with his predecessor for a secret meeting to stave off ongoing militants’ attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta. The position of the British Government was contained in a statement made available to Vanguard in Abuja, Wednesday night. In the statement by the Press Officer in the British High Commission in Abuja, Mr. Joe Abuku, London said there was no truth whatsoever in the several reports claiming that Buhari was attending the meeting with former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in London under the guise of seeking medical attention. Buhari Abuku said: “Reports suggesting that the British Government has set up a meeting with President Buhari, former President, Jonathan, and representatives of Niger Delta groups to discuss a solution to recent violence in the Niger Delta region are incorrect. “We are aware that President Buhari is currently in London seeking medical attention. We are not aware of any meetings on the Niger Delta while he is there.” Some of the reports had claimed that it was in preparation of the secret meeting in London that Buhari ordered the Nigerian military to observe a two-week ceasefire with the militants before travelling out. The Presidency, in a statement, said Buhari would be away for 10 days to seek medical attention over an ear-related ailment. The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in an interview with Vanguard, acknowledge the letter sent to the National Assembly by Buhari to travel to London for medical attention, saying that it was in order. Saraki said: “The letter clearly stated that the President will be away for 10 working days to attend to his health. If a doctor that attended to you can refer you to another doctor. “That happens to an ordinary person not to talk of the President of a country. I do not blame the doctor that attended to him. He needs to be careful. He wants to share responsibility. He is also being over cautious.”

SOURCE: VANGUARD

The United Kingdom, UK, last night, cleared the air on reports suggesting that President Muhammadu Buhari was in London to meet with his predecessor for a secret meeting to stave off ongoing militants’ attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta. The position of the British Government was contained in a statement made available to Vanguard in Abuja, Wednesday night. In the statement by the Press Officer in the British High Commission in Abuja, Mr. Joe Abuku, London said there was no truth whatsoever in the several reports claiming that Buhari was attending the meeting with former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in London under the guise of seeking medical attention. Buhari Buhari Abuku said: “Reports suggesting that the British Government has set up a meeting with President Buhari, former President, Jonathan, and representatives of Niger Delta groups to discuss a solution to recent violence in the Niger Delta region are incorrect. “We are aware that President Buhari is currently in London seeking medical attention. We are not aware of any meetings on the Niger Delta while he is there.” Some of the reports had claimed that it was in preparation of the secret meeting in London that Buhari ordered the Nigerian military to observe a two-week ceasefire with the militants before travelling out. The Presidency, in a statement, said Buhari would be away for 10 days to seek medical attention over an ear-related ailment. The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in an interview with Vanguard, acknowledge the letter sent to the National Assembly by Buhari to travel to London for medical attention, saying that it was in order. Saraki said: “The letter clearly stated that the President will be away for 10 working days to attend to his health. If a doctor that attended to you can refer you to another doctor. “That happens to an ordinary person not to talk of the President of a country. I do not blame the doctor that attended to him. He needs to be careful. He wants to share responsibility. He is also being over cautious.

Reps to visit 130 plants in Asia over imports of substandard tomato pastes

TOMATO Pastes manufacturers in the country, including Dangote Farms, Erisco Foods Limited and Savanna Farms, yesterday told the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Health Care Services and Drugs and Narcotics that over 91.1 per cent of the product in the country were fake and substandard. This is just as the House condemned alleged importation of dangerous killer tomato pastes into the country and promised to carry out investigations into the matter.

NAFDAC fines Erisco N1 million over unauthorised advert

 This came on a day the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, fined the Erisco Foods an administrative charge of N1 million for alleged unauthorised advertisement of Erisco range of products without clearance and approval from the agency. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, in his address at the one day investigative public hearing, stated that the House should not treat lightly allegations injurious to public health. Dogara, who was represented by the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, stated that the public hearing centred primarily on importation of fake, substandard and cancer-causing tomato paste into the country. He said what was worrisome was the unpatriotic attitude of some companies and individuals importing fake, substandard and cancer-causing tomato paste into the country, at the expense of the health and wellbeing of Nigerians.

 Tomoto pastes containing carcinogens

 Chairman, House Committee on Healthcare Services, Chike John Okafor, stated that there was allegation of tomato pastes from some Asian countries by some importers which were found to contain carcinogens and other contaminants hazardous, injurious to health and unfit for human consumption. The lawmaker said: “This allegation created panic, mistrust, fear and is suspected to be responsible for high death rate and the probable cause of the current cause of scarcity of tomatoes, and its attendant high cost in the country. “Let me state in clear terms that this committee has a responsibility to protect the lives of numerous Nigerian consumers who could be the victims of this alleged importation.

 Condemning killer tomato pastes

 “We totally condemn these alleged dangerous killer tomato pastes imported into Nigeria and we will carry out a comprehensive investigation into this matter, even if it will take us beyond the borders of Nigeria, including visiting the factories in Asia and other parts of the world to inspect the processing factories of NAFDAC approved Nigeria importers to get to the bottom of this allegation and bring the perpetrators to book.” Expressing confidence that NAFDAC understood its responsibility, in accordance with the Act establishing it, Chike said: “I want to believe that this allegation is not true. However, if proven to be true, that means NAFDAC would be seen to have done a great disservice to this country and compromised representatives/staff of NAFDAC would be dealt with, in line with the laws of the land.” The public hearing was temporarily halted because of the inability of the representatives of the Minister of Health, and NAFDAC to make available copies of their submissions to the committee members, which made some to accuse them of alleged collusion. Specifically, Austin Chukwukere told the committee that it did not make sense for them to watch the representatives of the ministry and the agency read their submissions without making them available. “It gives us serious cause for concern that you (Health Ministry) are not ready, NAFDAC is not ready,” chairman of the committee said. The legal Adviser of Erisco Foods and former member of the House of Representatives, Abdulraham Kadri, told the committee that the company, Dangote and Savanna Farms, were not at the public hearing because of the financial damage and job losses substandard and fake tomato pastes had caused the country.

SOURCE:  Vanguard

Johnbosco Agbakwuru

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/reps-to-visit-130-plants-in-asia-over-imports-of-substandard-tomato-pastes/

Nigeria loses 130,000bpd, N1.3bn daily as Shell shuts TNP

Nigeria’s crude oil export dipped further by 130,000 barrels per day, as operators yesterday said the Trans Niger Pipeline, TNP, operated by Shell Nigeria, has been shut down after a leak was discovered on the pipeline. The operator, who chose not to be named, said a memo was sent out to participants in the TNP, that the pipeline was expected to be shut down for at least a week. The shutdown would see a deferment of about 130,000 barrels per day crude oil export, which would cost Nigeria about $6.716 million, an equivalent of N1.343 billion daily. This was even as another operator said the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, NCTL, carrying Bonny Light crude oil to the export terminal has been reopened. The operator said the pipeline which was shut down last month by the operator, Aiteo, has been repaired and is operating again. Sources said that Bonny Light production from the Aiteo field was also ramping up after the pipeline restart. The Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), according to Shell, transports around 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day to the Bonny Export Terminal and is part of the gas liquids evacuation infrastructure, critical for continued domestic power generation (Afam VI power plant) and liquefied gas exports. Shell said the TNP loopline project created an alternative route to avoid sabotage, bypassing areas where theft and illegal refining was common.