Buhari Not Sure If Chibok Girls Are Still Alive

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that there is no credible evidence
if the Chibok Girls are still alive.

He stated this while answering questions during his maiden
Presidential Media Chat in Aso Villa, Abuja, Nigeria's capital.

He said security agencies are trying to get credible intelligence
about the fate of the over 200 schoolgirls who were kidnapped in April
2014.

Buhari said neighbouring countries were also being contacted to
determine whether they are in those countries.
He said his government wouldn't mind negotiating with credible Boko
Haram leaders to free the girls if it could be ascertained that they
were still alive.

At the time of this report, the President was till fielding questions
from journalists.

-PMNews

Soldiers Molesting S-East, S-South Travellers At Onitsha Bridge – Ohanaeze

OHANAEZE Youth Council has condemned what it called molesting of
Easterners travelling home for Christmas and new year celebrations at
Onitsha Head Bridge, Anambra State allegedly by soldiers from the 302
Battalion of the Nigerian army in Onitsha.

Army
In a statement by the National President of the Council, Mazi
Okechukwu, the council said: "The officers and men of the 302
Battalion of the Nigerian Army at Onitsha appear to have a different
agenda in that town. They appear to be there for [alleged] ethnic
cleansing.
"In the past one month, these raw soldiers have [allegedly] killed
more than 20 unarmed Igbo youths. This time around, they waylay Igbos
returning home for Christmas and New Year holidays and rough-handle a
lot of them.
"We can no longer tolerate this brazen act on our own land. We are
neither at war nor a conquered people. Mr. President should intervene
in this matter before it turns into another thing. We have the right
to protect the dignity of our people.
"The army is provoking us by their brazen acts in the South East and
South South. We hope there is no cabal in the Nigerian Army that is
pursuing an ethnic agenda and cleansing against Ndigbo."

-Vanguard

Nnamdi Kanu Didn’t Apologise To Buhari -- Lawyer

It is impossible that Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB) and director of Radio Biafra, tendered an apology to
President Muhammadu Buhari, his lawyer, Vincent Obetta, has said.

Speaking with TheCable on Wednesday, Obetta said reports of Kanu's
apology were proof that government was trying to use all instruments
at its disposal to "puncture" the Biaffra campaigner's defence. "It is
not true," he said. "The government is using every instrument to
puncture what we are doing."

The
Department of State Services (DSS) arraigned Kanu in court in October.

Shuaibu Usman, presiding over the chief magistrate court, Wuse zone 2,
Abuja, had earlier discharged him on all counts of criminal conspiracy
and ownership of an unlawful society brought against him by the
federal government. The federal government then filed a fresh
five-count charge of treasonable felony against Kanu, after Adeniyi
Ademola, a justice of the federal high court, Abuja, ordered the DSS
to release him "unconditionally".

In his ruling, Ademola held that the continued detention of Kanu by
the DSS was unlawful, since the accused was yet to be charged on
suspicion of terrorism. Speaking before the federal high court the
following day, Kanu said he has lost confidence in the court's
abilities to give an order and have the authorities follow it, asking
the court to leave him in detention. "I will rather remain in
detention than subject myself to a trial that I know amounts to
perversion of justice," he had said.

TheCable

Imo Budgets N102.2bn For 2016 Fiscal Year

Imo State Governor has presented a proposed budget of N102,208,328,832
for the 2016 fiscal year, to the state House of Assembly, tagged
"Budget of consolidation and continuity."

Making the presentation, yesterday, Governor Rochas Okorocha said that
this was lower than the 2015 budget by N41.11 billion, which
translates to 28.7 percent.

"The budget consists of N44.043 billion capital expenditure,
representing 43.1 percent of the total budget and N58.165 billion
recurrent expenditure, which represents 56.9 percent of the total
budget," Okorocha said.

The governor put the projected recurrent revenue at N76,074,165,612,
while the capital receipts was put at N26,134,316,419.
Okorocha said that outside normal taxes and fees, government intends
to collect over N522.55 million through the Imo Geographic Information
Services, IGIS, from the Ministry of Lands, Survey, Housing and Urban
Planning, as well as over N2.5 billion from anticipated interest and
bond proceeds from government investment within the second quarter of
2016.

"N5 billion is expected to be generated through the Environmental
Transformation Commission, ENTRACO, and other revenue consultants set
up by government," Okorocha said.
Saying that his administration will endeavour to enforce all the
existing revenue laws through revenue courts and effective use of
Alternative Dispute Resolution methods, Okorocha noted that government
remains committed to reducing incidences of tax evasion to the barest
minimum in the new fiscal year.

-Vanguard

Bloody Christmas In Borno As Boko Haram Kills 14, Burns Entire Village

At least 14 people were killed and several others injured by Boko
Haram gunmen in a Christmas Day attack on a village in northeastern
Nigeria, vigilantes said Saturday.

Attacking astride bicycles, the jihadists invaded Kimba village in
flashpoint Borno state around 10:00 pm on Friday, opening fire on
residents and torching their homes.

"The gunmen killed 14 people and burnt the whole village before they
fled," Mustapha Karimbe, a civilian assisting the military in fighting
Boko Haram, told AFP.

"Not a single house was spared in the arson," another vigilante, Musa
Suleiman, said after visiting the razed village.
Hundreds of Kimba residents fled to Biu nearby, where they were put up
in a refugee camp already brimming with people running from Boko
Haram.

The attack comes just days before Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari's self-imposed deadline to stamp out the group expires on
December 31 and in the same week he said that Nigeria has
"technically" defeated the jihadists.

Buhari took office in May vowing to end the six-year insurgency that
has killed over 17,000 people and spooked much-needed investors in
Africa's largest economy and foremost oil producer.

Nigerian troops have won back territory from Boko Haram, but in
response the jihadists have increasingly resorted to suicide bombers —
many of them young children — to wage war for an independent Islamic
state.

The militants have damaged what little infrastructure existed in the
country's underdeveloped north at a time when the government is facing
a cash crunch as a result of the free-falling oil price.

According to the Global Terrorism Index, a report released by the New
York-based Institute for Economics and Peace, it "has become the most
deadly terrorist group in the world".

The UN children's agency said this week that over one million Nigerian
schoolchildren have been kept out of school because of the conflict,
warning that the lack of education will fuel radicalisation in and
around Nigeria.

The jihadists have allied themselves with the Islamic State group, but
experts doubt the scale and scope of the collaboration.
Still, there are growing fears that a once localised hardline Muslim
movement is morphing into a regional jihadist threat as Boko Haram
launches attacks on Nigeria's neighbours Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

-Vanguard