We have reduced Boko Haram to wanderers, says ex- Army Commander

Major Generals Sarduarna and Obi at the handing over ceremony.

The former Commander, Army Corps of Engineers, Major General Sarduarna Davies has said that the Nigerian Army (NA) has reduced the terrorist group, Boko Haram to wanderers and bandits.
Davis stated this on Friday at the corps headquarters in Bonny Camp, Lagos, while handing over to his successor, Major General Edmund Obi.
The ex-corps Commander reminded his personnel that the ongoing war against the terrorists was an engineering and logistics war, and urged them to ensure that only trained personnel are deployed to the area.
“I am very certain that we are winning the war in the northeast. I am just in from there and I can tell you that they are just bunch of marauders who are just acting like bandits now.
“They don’t act as a formidable force, we can’t say this is where they are, they are just roving around and I know that the Chief of Army staff is putting troops in place to comb the whole of northeast and push them to a place where they can be annihilated.
“I’ve been in and out of that place as many times as I can so I exactly know what I am talking about.”
Although Sarduarna confirmed that the NA was suffering from dearth of equipments, he however stated that the army headquarters was on top of the situation and would soon deliver the necessary tools to conclude the war.
Also speaking at the occasion, the incumbent Commander the corps assured that the army was doing everything within its power to uncover and destroy the source of IEDs for the terrorists.

Chief of Army staff escapes Boko Haram ambush

•Five insurgents killed •One soldier too

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai ,almost ran into a Boko Haram ambush yesterday on the Maiduguri-Dikwa road,Borno State.

But his advance team did and lost one soldier.

Five of the terrorists were killed by the advance team in the gun fire exchange.

The soldiers  were on their  way to Dikwa ahead of Gen.Buratai who is currently visiting troops in towns and villages recently liberated from terrorists in the state.

Four terrorists surrendered.

Also during the trip,the Chief of Army arrested four other suspected Boko Haram members after picking them from the midst of herdsmen.

As Buratai’s  convoy was made its way to Dikwa, eagle eyed soldiers grew suspicious of  some men among the herdsmen and their cattle.

The COAS ordered the convoy to stop and got four men and an elderly Fulani man arrested.

The Fulani man confessed during interrogation that he met the suspects   just before their arrest and had actually forced themselves on his party.

The four  confessed that they were indeed  members of the terror sect.

They were there and then whisked off to Maiduguri.

The Army Chief visited Dikwa,  Mafa and Gamboru-Ngala.

At Mafa, General Buratai commended soldiers of  the 7 Division of the army for a job well done.

He  assured them of  improved welfare and allowances.

He however told the  soldiers that  “there is still more job to be done and we have to do this once and for all so that all of us can go back to our respective barracks and continue with our normal jobs as soldiers”.

In Dikwa  the COAS  was welcome with cheers by over 4000 internally displaced persons from Gamboru and neighbouring towns, who were full of praises and prayers for him and his soldiers.

Buratai who addressed them  in Kanuri pledged that  that they would soon be resettled as his troops are working round the clock  to rid the area of terrorists.

In Ngala town, the Army chief met jubilant troops   celebrating the liberation of the area.

He was accompanied by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Baba Abubakar who made the trip by air.

Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Barcelona: Luis Suarez seals the points in Liga opener

The Uruguayan striker made the difference after Lionel Messi missed a penalty as the Catalans began their defence of the league title

An exquisite Luis Suarez volley sealed a hard-fought 1-0 win for champions Barcelona at Athletic Bilbao in their Liga opener as Luis Enrique's men gained a measure of revenge for their 5-1 aggregate loss in the Supercopa de Espana.

Despite Athletic's stubborn defending in the third encounter between the sides this month, Barca took the lead early in the second half through Suarez's venomous strike.

A combative but lacklustre first half was punctuated by Lionel Messi's penalty miss just after the half-hour mark, the spot-kick having been awarded in dubious fashion after Suarez took a tumble in the area.

Defending champions Barca grew into the game in the second half, controlling much of proceedings after taking the lead, though their bad luck with injuries continued as Sergio Busquets had to be carried off on a stretcher and Dani Alves was also substituted with a knock.   

Athletic struggled to pose a threat as the match wore on, with Messi almost adding a second in the closing stages.

The contest got off to a sluggish start as depleted Barca, shorn of key players Neymar and Gerard Pique, struggled to penetrate Athletic's well-organised defence.

Barca's injury woes increased inside of 20 minutes, with Alves having to be replaced by Sergi Roberto after picking up an apparent ankle problem.

Aritz Aduriz – who bagged a hat-trick in the first leg of the Supercopa de Espana – did go close for the hosts soon after, flicking a header just wide of the upright from Benat's free-kick.

But it was Barca who were given a glorious opportunity to take the lead when Suarez was clipped in the box by Gorka Elustondo, although the decision to award a penalty did seem harsh.

However, Messi's tame spot-kick, aimed towards the bottom-left corner, was easily parried away by Gorka Iraizoz, who was in action again moments later to prevent Suarez's cross-come-shot finding the net before Rafinha fired the rebound wide.

Messi was given a chance to make amends before half-time as Barca were awarded two free-kicks in quick succession, but both the Argentine's efforts were blocked by the wall.

Barca came out strong after the interval and finally made their possession count in the 54th minute – Jordi Alba latching onto an incisive pass from deep before picking out Suarez, who volleyed in with aplomb from six yards.

Luis Enrique's side suddenly looked more like their usual selves and went close to adding a second when Roberto rattled the crossbar with a fierce effort from the edge of the box.

Ernesto Valverde soon introduced winger Ibai Gomez in the aim of testing the out-of-position Roberto, while Luis Enrique was forced into another substitution as Busquets went down after a collision with Aduriz.

Iraizoz had to prevent Messi netting after a fantastic run from the Argentine, but the one goal proved to be enough for Barca.

West Brom 2-3 Chelsea

The new arrival from Barcelona scored one and assisted another in the first half, while James Morrison scored twice after missing a penalty in a tight affair at the Hawthorns

Pedro played a starring role but John Terry was sent off as Chelsea claimed their first win of the Premier League season with a thrilling 3-2 victory at West Brom on Sunday.

Chelsea signed Pedro from Barcelona on Thursday and the Spain forward made an instant impact at The Hawthorns.

The 28-year-old opened his account for the champions with a deflected 20th-minute strike, but only after the returning Thibaut Courtois had saved James Morrison's penalty six minutes earlier.

Jose Mourinho's men made it 2-0 on the half-hour mark when Pedro set up Diego Costa for his first goal of the campaign, before Morrison redeemed himself by pulling one back.

Cesar Azpilicueta's maiden Premier League goal then re-established Chelsea's command of the match as they went in 3-1 to the good at half-time.

However, Chelsea captain Terry - who was substituted at half-time of last week's chastening 3-0 loss at Manchester City - saw red early in the second period for hauling down Salomon Rondon.

West Brom, without Saido Berahino amid talk of an impending move to Tottenham, took advantage soon after through a superb Morrison header, but could not complete the comeback as 10-man Chelsea held on.
Costa dragged an early effort wide but Chelsea looked set to fall behind when Nemanja Matic tripped Callum McManaman just inside the area.
 
Morrison stepped up, but Courtois was equal to the midfielder's low spot-kick and turned the ball over the bar with his legs.
 
And West Brom were punished six minutes later as Eden Hazard flicked the ball into Pedro, whose left-footed shot from the edge of the area took a deflection off Jonas Olsson and into Boaz Myhill's bottom-left corner.
 
Chelsea then doubled their advantage with a superb counter-attack rounded off by Costa.

Willian fed the ball to Pedro and his shot across goal was turned in by international team-mate Costa from point-blank range.
 
A sloppy spell of Chelsea possession presented the hosts with a way back into the game as Rondon acrobatically turned James McClean's deep cross into the path of Morrison to lash a shot past Courtois.
 
More good work from Pedro was wasted as Willian spurned a glaring chance for 3-1, but Chelsea did restore their two-goal advantage through Azpilicueta's composed 42nd-minute finish after Costa had cushioned a ball over the top to the onrushing full-back.

Any hope of a comfortable second half for Chelsea evaporated with Terry's dismissal, and Tony Pulis' men capitalised five minutes later.

Morrison rose highest to head McManaman's excellent cross from the left in off the crossbar and set up a frantic finish.

Costa and Rondon went close at either end before McManaman spurned the best chance to earn a share of the spoils as Chelsea held firm to collect a hard-earned three points.

CYNTHIA MORGAN PAYS HISTORIC VISIT TO BENIN

Cynthia Morgan

IT was a triumphant return to Benin city for female dancehall artiste, Cyhthia Morgan, who had been teased by friends hitherto over her burgeoning music career.

The singer shared that experience recently during the #MySuperstarStory series, saying, “When I left Benin for Lagos a few years ago, my friends mocked my dream of making it as a singer in Lagos. They told me “You know how many people don go that Lagos to sing wey no see anything do? You go come back to this Benin.”

However, last Saturday, she proved to those friends that indeed her music career has indeed blossomed, to have come on the invitation of Nigerian Breweries Plc., organisers of the Star Music Trek, in which she joined other A-list artistes to perform in Benin.

The energetic red-haired artiste made her triumphant return to Benin as the biggest female dancehall music artiste in Nigeria, perrming at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium tagged BeninRocks alongside A-list Nigerian artistes such as Wande Coal, Burna Boy, MI, Jesse Jagz, Seyi Shay, Do2dtun, DJ Neptune and DJ Switch.

Ooni final rites: Residents warned to stay indoors as Oro sweeps Ile Ife

OBA OKUNADE SIJUWADE, OONI OF IFE

Residents of Ile-Ife have been warned to remain indoors as traditionalists wrap up the funeral rites for the immediate past Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade.

The final rites are to be performed by the Oro deity.

Town criers went from street to street on Friday asking residents especially commercial drivers and motorcyclists to keep off the roads between 7am and 6pm.

Head of the Oro cult in the town and the Awara of Iwara, Oba Layi Adereti, warned that anyone who flouts the order irrespective of age or gender would face its consequences.

Many residents rushed to the few available markets to get essentials that would last them for the day.

Major markets in the town have been shut since penultimate Friday when the burial rites started.

As a result of the curfew, some Heads of Departments at the Obafemi Awolowo University located in the town, cancelled the continuous assessment tests for their students scheduled for yesterday.

Some students, who reside off campus, were advised to remain indoors in compliance with the Oro cult order.

Also, hundreds of commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada, were seen on Friday distributing a handbill to their colleagues, warning them against operating in Ife yesterday.

Saraki eats humble pie, reaches out to Tinubu

The battle of wills rocking the leadership of the All Progressives Congress may soon be over.

Multiple sources told SUNDAY PUNCHthat contrary to his public posturing of defiance, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had started reaching out to some of the aggrieved leaders of the party.

Saraki is one of the gladiators in the clash of egos and wills that followed the Senate leadership election on June 9 and subsequent appointment of principal officers.

The Senate President had earlier visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo to help him beg President Muhammadu Buhari.

He also reportedly met with the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, on the same matter.

During the week, some emissaries sent by Saraki met with President Buhari and sought forgiveness for the Senate President for acting contrary to the dictates of the party.

The emissaries included Senate Leader Ali Ndume, Senator Kabiru Gaya, Senator Adamu Aliero, Senator Danjuma Goje, and Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

A report in a national daily on Saturday also said the emissaries apologised to the President for the individual roles they played in the crisis.

However, sources in the party told SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday that the emissaries also had a brief to meet with the party’s national leader and former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu.

Many within the party see the crisis as a battle of wills with Buhari, Tinubu and some party leaders on one side of the ring and the Senate President and his backers on the other side. One of the prominent APC leaders that is believed to have backed Saraki is former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

But sources told our correspondent that Saraki, of recent, had made strenuous efforts to meet and appeal to Tinubu to sheathe his sword.

Our correspondents report that Saraki’s olive branch to Tinubu may mark a turning point in the crisis as the Senate President, before now, had insisted that he would not ‘beg’ the APC leader.

But the sources added that Saraki might have changed his position when all his efforts to get President Buhari to forgive him for his defiance to the party and move on.

It has been widely reported that Buhari has refused all entreaties to host the Senate President at the Presidential Villa since the controversial election in the senate. The President had also said the leadership of the senate should tow the party line.

Two APC officials who spoke to our correspondent yesterday shed light on Saraki’s last two attempts to reach out to the APC national leader. They said that one attempt occurred three weeks ago while the other took place on Thursday in Abuja.

“Three weeks ago he tried to get across to Tinubu through one of his aides. Of course, the aide couldn’t have arranged the meeting. Tinubu’s disposition to the matter is well known,” the source said.

The APC national leader, sources said, had told some of Saraki’s emissaries in the past that the senate leadership should toe the party line.

Another source said the last attempt took place during the week when the APC senators, who met with the President at the behest of Saraki, also tried to get across to Tinubu. A source close to Tinubu said while the former Lagos governor was aware of the move, his position on the matter had not changed.

The source stated that Saraki needed a long-term strategy to pacify the aggrieved party leaders, adding that the Senate President’s is perceived as haughty by some of these leaders.

“It is a surprise that he is reaching out to Tinubu. Saraki has no respect for Tinubu. He is contemptuous of him. During meetings he refers to him contemptuously as “Bola”. In fact there was a time that Tinubu wanted to explain a point to him and he shut him up,” the source said.

The source may have alluded to the cultural norm in Tinubu and Saraki’s Yoruba ethnic group where an elder is not addressed by his first name. Tinubu is 63 while Saraki is 52.

But the source close to the APC leader insisted that the national leader had no ‘ego problem’ with Saraki.

“Tinubu’s take is that the senate should toe the party line. It is not a personal problem at all. If it were a personal problem, the President won’t be reacting the same way.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Lai Mohammed told one of our correspondents on Saturday that the APC believes in party supremacy.

He said, “I can’t comment on the story you are asking me about. However, the APC has made its position on party supremacy known.”

The spokesman for the Senate President, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, could not be reached on Saturday night. Calls and a text message sent to his line were not responded to.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, stated that there was no alternative to democracy, as he almost lost his life to a dictator under a military rule.

He said this on Friday at his Presidential Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, when officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students and some students union leaders from various institutions paid him a visit.

Obasanjo and some other retired military officers and civilians were jailed in 1995 by the military government of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, after he was found guilty by a military tribunal of allegedly plotting to overthrow Abacha’s administration.

They were released after the dictator’s death in 1998.

Narrating his near-death experience under Abacha’s regime, the former President said he would support the current democratic dispensation led by President Muhammadu Buhari to succeed.

He said, “I will work for the success of this current dispensation. There is no excuse, because there is no alternative to democracy.

“The alternative to democracy is worse than democracy. I experienced that. Abacha put me in prison and I was about to be killed. If it was under democracy (democratic rule), that would not happen.”

Obasanjo further said no matter what critics of President Buhari might be saying, Nigerians had started to witness a Nigeria of their dreams in the last two and half months.

He noted that the country had tottered toward the precipice so many times, but God had not allowed it to tumble.

Obasanjo said, “When one takes a look at everything, the most crucial and vital conclusion is that God loves Nigeria. The nation has gone towards the precipice many times and Nigeria did not tumble, this shows God is a Nigerian.

“Many had thought after the 2015 general elections Nigeria will be no more. Some had sent their families abroad. Some know the National Democratic Coalition route; I don’t know the NADECO route.

“I don’t have anywhere to go. But to the surprise of many of them, God did it in a miraculous way. The election took place, though some did not want it to take place. But let us thank God it took place. We must also thank those who conducted the elections.

“We thank God for peace even after the election. No single individual is a paragon of perfection. There is no Messiah except Jesus Christ. But there are people who still stick out their necks for the good of Nigerians.

“Thank God we have such as a leader now. What we have witnessed in the last two and a half months is that our dreams are coming true. We must give unalloyed support to the government. Criticisms that are objective and positive are welcome where necessary.”

Responding to a question on whether President Buhari took a right decision by giving the military a November deadline to end Boko Haram insurgency, the former president said it was a right decision.

He said setting a target was part of military war strategy to measure the success or failure of a particular operation.

Obasanjo said, “President Muhammadu Buhari took a right decision by telling the military to quash the Boko Haram insurgents by November.

“It is not good to just leave everything open-ended. It is a strategy in the military to set a target for any operation. This will enable those concerned to work hard. Having a target is necessary. Even if that target was not met, the people concerned would have something to work with.”

Obasanjo cited the Nigerian Civil War as an example, saying the military had set a six-month target to crush the Biafran renegades, but the war extended to 30 months.

Dangote gains N15.6bn in 24 hours, now worth N3tn

While some of the world’s richest people lost a sum of $182bn (N35.85tn) over the past week, Nigerian billionaire, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and 10 others made money amid deepening global market rout.

Dangote, who is President of Dangote Group, posted a $79.2m (N15.6bn) gain from Thursday to Friday, according toBloomberg’s Billionaires Index. He was one of six billionaires who saw their fortunes increase in 24 hours to Friday.

The world’s 400 richest people lost $182bn last week from their collective fortunes as weak manufacturing data from China and a rout in commodities sent global markets plunging.

Dangote is Africa’s richest man, with a net worth of $15.4bn, according to the Index.

The other three Africans on the Index are South Africans: Nicky Oppenheimer formerly of the De Beers diamond company (net worth $6.7bn) suffered a $27.9m loss between Thursday and Friday; luxury goods magnate Johann Rupert (net worth $7bn) saw his money shrink by $87m, and retailing baron Christo Wiese (net worth $7bn), lost $220m over the same period.

The weekly drop for the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a group that includes Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, was the biggest since tracking of the expanded list began in September 2014.

The combined net worth of the index members fell by $76bn on Friday alone, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of United States’ stocks ended its worst week since 2011.

“For them, that’s a fractional percentage, even though $182bn is a big number.

“A week like this feels really bad, but when you take a step back, in a big picture view it’s not a disaster by any means,” said John Collins, director of investment advisory at Aspiriant, which oversees more than $8bn for high net-worth clients.

Friday’s losses put the world’s richest 400 into the red for the year to date. They’re now down $74bn in 2015, with a collective net worth of $3.98tn.

The week’s largest setback in dollar terms was experienced by Warren Buffett, who saw his fortune drop by $3.6bn, as Berkshire Hathaway Inc. slipped more than five per cent. The investor is the world’s third wealthiest person, with a fortune of $63.4bn, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The slump in oil, which had its longest weekly losing streak since 1986, amid signs of an extended supply glut, contributed to $15.2bn in losses for the world’s wealthiest energy billionaires.

Continental Resources Inc. Chairman, Harold Hamm, saw $895m, or nine per cent of his net worth, vanish last week.

The Chief Executive Officer, Glencore Plc, a mining company, Ivan Glasenberg,   lost $237m during the week, as commodity prices slid to their lowest levels in 13 years.

Glencore reached a record low in London on Friday, down more than 8 per cent from a week earlier, after the trading house reported its profit sank 56 per cent in the first half of the year. Glasenberg’s fortune has decreased more than 40 per cent in 2015, to $3.1bn.

China’s 26 wealthiest people, pummelled by Hong Kong’s bear market and a weaker yen, lost $18.8bn during the week. Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Company was hit hardest, losing $3.5bn.

Eleven billionaires added to their fortunes, in spite of the market turmoil. The week’s biggest dollar gainer was Sun Pharmaceuticals’ Dilip Shanghvi. The world’s 39th-richest person became $467m wealthier, elevating his net worth to $18.9bn.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index takes measure of the world’s wealthiest people based on market and economic changes and Bloomberg News reporting. Each net-worth figure is updated every business day at 5:30 p.m. in New York and listed in US dollars.