Thieves embarass Buhari, steal handset of visiting World Muslim League scribe

Barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari declared the international conference on peace and stability open in Abuja, thieves reportedly stole the handset of the Executive Secretary of the World Muslim League Saudi Arabia, Dr. Abdullahi Bin Abdul.Security agencies which are said to be hugely embarrassed by the development, are currently probing the alleged security breach which led to the theft.

President Buhari

The victim himself is said to be worried by the incident.

Investigation showed that Bin Abdul had been accorded the honour of leading the Jumat prayer at the National Mosque on Friday.

A heavy security ring was therefore formed around him and his entourage by the relevant agencies.

After the Jumat service, many dignitaries and worshippers tried to move closer to Abdul which led to the alleged security breach.

It was gathered that the Secretary of World Muslim League later discovered that his handset had been stolen.

A top source said: “Despite tight security for him, some thieves made away with the handset of the Executive Secretary of the World Muslim League.

“The theft occurred after the Jumat prayer session suggesting that there was breach of the security wall at the National Mosque. Some smart guys took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere to strike.

“This incident created an embarrassment for the cleric, diplomats and most of the dignitaries that accompanied him to the service.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “The visitor from Saudi Arabia was shocked and embarrassed. No one could explain how it happened.”

Sources told The Nation last night that the matter was being investigated.

Another source added: “All the agencies have swung into action to arrest those who perpetrated the act. They will get the brains behind the incident. I cannot confirm whether or not any arrest has been made but we will crack this case to correct any misgivings.”

It was not immediately clear if the CCTV system at the National Mosque was working as at the time of the incident.

“The security agencies will determine the efficiency of the CCTV,” the source said.

Prior to the theft on Friday, the Secretariat of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), within the premises of the mosque, was recently burgled with hard discs of some sensitive computers carted away by unknown thieves.

The development made the NSCIA to eject some tenant organizations from the main secretariat.

Thieves embarass Buhari, steal handset of visiting World Muslim League scribe

Buhari concludes lesser Hajj, departs for Qatar

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday concluded the lesser Hajj to end his visit to Saudi Arabia.

President Muhammadu Buhari departs on a 3-day official visit to Kenya

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the President and his entourage performed the final Dawaf, which is the circumambulation of the Holy Ka’aba seven times, and offered supplications Allah to round off the pilgrimage.

Buhari and members of the delegation have since left Saudi Arabia for Qatar to attend the meeting of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), before returning to Nigeria on Monday.

NAN reports that the President departed for Doha, the Qatari capital from Jeddah International Airport at about 3:00 pm local time.

Before his departure, Buhari was received at the King Abdulaziz International Airport by a high delegation of Saudi officials led by the Governor of Jeddah, Prince Mishaal Bin Majed Bin Abdulaziz.

Others at the airport to bid farewell to the president included the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II; Emir of Maradun in Zamfara, Alhaji Garba Tambari, Oba of Lagos, Alhaji Rilwan Akiola and the Otaru of Auchi, Alhaji Haliru Momoh.

Nigerian diplomatic officials in Riyadh, Madina and Jeddah were also at the airport to bid farewell to the president.

Buhari concludes lesser Hajj, departs for Qatar

Crude prices rise amid output freeze talks

World oil prices nudged higher Tuesday as OPEC producers met to discuss a possible freeze to crude output levels in a bid to tackle a supply glut.

OIL

Around 1300 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in April was up one cent at $33.40 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for April rose 18 cents to $34.87 compared with Monday’s close.

US crude had rebounded above $30 a barrel and European benchmark Brent climbed well over $34 Monday on hopes that discussions among key producers would lead to concrete action to stabilise the battered market.’

“Yesterday’s increase could have come mainly from OPEC trying to rally the market into thinking that there will be action to come between OPEC and non-OPEC producers” over production, Phillip Futures analyst Daniel Ang told AFP.

The leader of Nigeria, Africa’s number one oil producer, was in Saudi Arabia Tuesday, with analysts forecasting that his country will offer its support for an output freeze.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is to meet King Salman in the biggest producer in the 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, before travelling on to fellow OPEC member Qatar.

Poorer OPEC members like Nigeria and Ecuador have been clamouring for a cut in production to support prices, which have plunged to near 13-year lows this month.

But OPEC’s richer members led by the Gulf states have refused to budge, preferring to fight for market share against rivals like the US.

However there is now talk of a freeze to current levels of output should OPEC, whose members together pump out about one-third of the world’s oil, convince major non-OPEC producers such as Russia and the US to also maintain their own production levels.

Analysts said traders will this week be monitoring also US growth data for a gauge on the economic health of the world’s top oil consumer.

Before Friday’s data, the US energy department will Wednesday release its inventory on commercial crude stockpiles for last week — a closely watched index measuring energy demand in the United States.

AFP

Crude prices rise amid output freeze talks

Buhari to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar

President Muhammadu Buhari will begin a week-long official visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar from Monday.

Buhari, according to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, will be accompanied by a high-powered Federal Government delegation, including the Minister of State (Petroleum) and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

The President will first fly to Riyadyh for talks on Tuesday with King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and senior officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The statement said that ongoing efforts by Nigeria and other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to achieve greater stability in the price of crude oil exports are expected to be high on the agenda of discussions between President Buhari and the Saudi Monarch.

Crude oil prices and market stability will also be top when President Buhari goes on to Doha on Saturday for talks on Sunday with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The President is also scheduled to meet with leading Saudi and Qatari businessmen in Riyadh and Doha, and invite them to support his administration’s efforts to revamp the Nigerian economy by taking advantage of the great investment opportunities currently available in Nigeria’s mining, agriculture, power supply, infrastructure, transportation, communications and other sectors.

President Buhari’s other engagements in Saudi Arabia include meetings with heads of international financial organisations and multilateral associations.

Before going on to Doha, the President will also visit Medina and Mecca to pray for greater peace, prosperity and progress in Nigeria.

Buhari to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar

Nigeria ‘yet to decide’ on anti-IS alliance

Nigeria has yet to decide whether to join a Saudi-led alliance to fight the Islamic State, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday.

President Buhari

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia announced a 34-nation Islamic military coalition, a move welcomed by the United States, which has been urging greater regional efforts to push back Islamic State, now in control of large parts of Iraq and Syria.

However, there has been confusion over the initiative, with some of the countries named as members of the coalition caught unawares by the announcement.

A list published by the Saudi state news agency included Nigeria, which, with other West African states, is battling homegrown militants in the form of Boko Haram, a group that like Islamic State wants to carve out a territory ruled by Islamic law.

“Nigeria has been formally invited to be a member of the alliance and President Buhari is looking into it,” the President’s spokesman, Garuba Shehu, told Reuters, in the first official comment from Abuja.

“A decision to join has not been taken yet. Nigeria is not in or out.”

Nigeria ‘yet to decide’ on anti-IS alliance

CAN protests moves to list Nigeria among Arab nations to fight ISIS

UMBRELLA body of Christians in Nigeria, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, last night protested the attempt by the current All Progressives Congress, APC, government to subtly enlist Nigeria among Arab nations to fight ISIS.

It was reported on foreign news last night that Saudi Arabia was building a coalition of 34 Muslim/Arab countries to fight ISIS and Nigeria was named among the 34.

A statement late last night by the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Asake, said: “This singular gesture of the Buhari government betrays so much, and tends to confirm our fears that underneath everything this government is doing, there is an agenda with strong Islamic undertones, aimed at undermining Nigeria’s pluralistic character and neutrality regarding government’s affiliation to any one religion.

“While joining hands with other countries to fight ISIS is something good, our country must not be tagged as a Muslim or Arab nation. Christians must make a public statement showing their discontent on this development which portends great danger to national unity and integration.”

CAN protests moves to list Nigeria among Arab nations to fight ISIS

Nigeria Joins 34-Member ‘Islamic Military Alliance’ Led by Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has formed a coalition of 34 mainly Muslim countries – including powers such as Egypt and Turkey – to coordinate a fight against “terrorist organisations”.

President Buhari

The alliance was announced by Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s defence minister and deputy crown prince, on Tuesday.

Arab countries such as Qatar and the UAE will join the coalition, as well as Middle Eastern, Asian and African states including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Nigeria.

Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran and its allies Syria and Iraq were excluded from the alliance, despite the states sharing a common enemy in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Bin Salman said the states would work together to target  “any terrorist organisation, not just ISIL” in countries including Iraq, Syria. Libya, Egypt, and Afghanistan.

Military operations would work in accordance with local laws and in cooperation with the international community, he added.

In an earlier press statement issued by the Saudi Press Agency, officials said the group would be led by Saudi Arabia, which would host a “joint operations centre to coordinate” efforts.

ISIL threat

The United States welcomed the announcement of the anti-terrorism alliance.

“We look forward to learning more about what Saudi Arabia has in mind in terms of this coalition,” Defence Secretary Ashton Carter told journalists in Turkey.

“But in general, it appears it is very much in line with something we’ve been urging for quite some time, which is greater involvement in the campaign to combat ISIL by Sunni Arab countries.”

Turkey said it was set to assist any time, anywhere. 

“Turkey is ready to contribute by all its means to all gatherings that aim to fight terrorism, no matter where or by whom they are organised,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara.

Most of the countries in the coalition are currently involved in military operations against ISIL or have been targeted by the group.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have carried out air strikes against the fighters in Syria and were targeted by the group in Yemen, where they are involved in a separate war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

In August, an ISIL suicide bomber killed 15 people, mainly special forces soldiers, at a mosque in Asir province, bordering Yemen.

ISIL has also targeted Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority, killing dozens in bomb attacks on mosques.

Saudi authorities have carried out raids detaining hundreds of suspected ISIL members and sympathisers in response.

The Nigerian government has made no official statement regarding the involvement of a secular state like Nigeria in a military alliance whose membership comprises 34 mainly Muslim states.

SIGNAL exclusively reported on November 9, 2015 news about a 10-member ‘secret’ delegation from Nigeria to Pakistan. The purpose of the Nigerian delegation’s visit was shrouded in mystery. The Associated Press of Pakistan confirmed the visit but the Nigerian government refrained from making any statements about the purpose and those involved in the visit on behalf of the Nigerian government.

Government sources who did not want to be named disclosed to SIGNAL on Tuesday that the reported visit to Pakistan may not have been unconnected to plans to concretise this Islamic military alliance.

SIGNAL contacted Nigeria’s presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu when the news broke in November, but Mr. Shehu denied knowledge of the visit, promised to confirm and revert, but never did.

Nigeria Joins 34-Member ‘Islamic Military Alliance’ Led by Saudi Arabia

10 more bodies of Nigerians recovered in Mecca

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria on Tuesday said 10 more corpses of deceased Nigerian pilgrims had been identified, bringing the number of pilgrims who died at Mina stampede, to 64.

Giving newsmen an update on the incident in Mecca, Alhaji Uba Mana, the Director, Public Affairs of the commission, said 244 pilgrims had been declared missing.

Mana said 71 pilgrims were injured as against the 61 pilgrims earlier announced by the commission.

He said of the 64 deceased pilgrims, 46 were transported to Saudi Arabia by state pilgrims’ welfare agencies and 18 by private tour operators.

Mana also said that 12 of the 71 injured pilgrims were transported to Saudi Arabia by tour operators and 59 by state pilgrims’ welfare agencies.

He said the deceased were from Adamawa,Bauchi, Borno, Ekiti, Jigawa, FCT, Cross Rivers, Gombe, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kwara, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers Sokoto, Yobe, Taraba, and Zamfara states.

NAN recalls that more than 749 pilgrims were reported to have died, and 805 others injured, during Thursday’s stampede on the way to the Jamrat complex (stoning site) in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

10 more bodies of Nigerians recovered in Mecca

Jega’s brother, Taraba emir, others die in Mecca stampede

A brother of the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Justice Abdulkadir Jega; another Justice of the Ilorin Division of the Court of Appeal, Justice Musa Hassan Alkali; the Emir of Zing and Ameerul-hajj of Taraba State to 2015’s hajj exercise, Abbas Ibrahim and two of his wives have been identified as being among those that died in Thursday’s stampede in Saudi Arabia,SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt

Prof Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman

Abdulkadir Jega was a judge of the Court of Appeal and also a brother to the Editor-In-Chief of Daily Trust Newspaper, Mahmud Jega.

A family source told one of our correspondents that the body of the judge, who was a member of the Kebbi State Government delegation to the 2015 Hajj, was found in a mortuary in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

This is as the death toll from the stampede has risen to 769.

The Emir’s death was confirmed to journalists by the Chairman of the state Pilgrims Board, Hamman Tukur, who added that some pilgrims from the state were still missing.

It was reliably gathered on Saturday that about 100 Nigerians might have died in the stampede that occurred when pilgrims were going to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

An official of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, who confided in Sunday PUNCH, said more Nigerian victims were discovered when the commission’s officials joined their colleagues from other countries’ in Mina morgue to identify their nationalities.

The Nigerian hajj officials are still compiling the list of Nigerians affected.

Other prominent Nigerians, who have been confirmed to have died in the stampede, included the Deputy Secretary General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs Professor Tijjani Abubakar El-Miskin and a veteran female journalist, Bilkisu Yusuf.

Meanwhile, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has begun a census of the country’s pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

SUNDAY PUNCH reliably learnt that the commission started the census on Saturday following reports that some Nigerians pilgrims were still missing.

The commission had on Thursday sent its medical team to hospitals in Saudi Arabia to ascertain the number of the dead and the injured.

It was gathered that the commission embarked on the head count when it could not account for some pilgrims.

Findings showed that the NHCN was conducting the census state by state and that the figure of the dead and the injured would be released officially on or before Monday.

An official of the commission, who confided in Sunday PUNCH, said, “You will recall that on Thursday, our medical team went round hospitals. We are still collating the figures, but some pilgrims are still missing.”

The News Agency of Nigeria reported on Saturday that five pilgrims from Gombe State had been declared missing.

This is as the Sokoto State Government announced that nine pilgrims from the state were among those who died in the stampede.

In a statement in Sokoto on Saturday, the government said that its officials, led by the Amirul Hajj and leader of its delegation, the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu, who was still in Saudi Arabia, confirmed the tragedy.

The Executive Secretary, Gombe State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Usman Gurama, in an interview with journalists   in Mina, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday said the board had not located the pilgrims since Thursday.

Gurama, however, said that seven pilgrims from the state were injured at the scene of the incident and were responding to treatment.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Saturday expressed sorrow over the incident.

Atiku said this in a statement by his Media Office in Abuja. The former Vice President described the incident as one of the saddest accidents to have befallen Muslims in recent times.

The state quoted him as saying “we are bound by our common humanity.” It also quoted Atiku as saying that “we learn lessons from these tragic incidents, and take precautionary measures to ward off future disasters.”

Also, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, on Saturday in Sokoto, urged Saudi authorities to henceforth provide improved safety measures during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Sultan spoke on the sidelines of the presentation of the report of a technical committee set up by him to look into the state of the education sector in Sokoto State.

“The tragedy affected several countries of the world, Nigeria in general and Sokoto state in particular.

“Some local governments in Sokoto state like Illela, Binji, Gwadabawa and others were affected by the tragedy, although the actual casualty figures are still being ascertained by Saudi Arabian and Nigerian authorities,” he said.

Jega’s brother, Taraba emir, others die in Mecca stampede

Saudi Official: Oil Price Unlikely to Rebound

The oil price is unlikely to reach again the record levels seen in the past few years, according to Saudi Arabia’s representative at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Mohammed al-Madi, Saudi’s OPEC governor, told an energy conference that hitting the $100 to $120-a-barrel mark again would be “difficult,” according to Reuters.

Al-Madi also told the meeting in Riyadh that his country’s oil policy had no “political dimension.”

Saudi is OPEC’s biggest producer and the dominant voice in the group.

On Friday, Brent crude closed at $55.2 a barrel, while US oil was $46.5.

Asked if the price could return to previous highs, al-Madi said: “$100-$120 – I think it’s difficult to reach $120 another time.”

He also rejected suggestions that Saudi Arabia was letting the oil price fall for political and competitive reasons. Iran has criticised Saudi Arabia’s refusal to support the oil price by cutting production.

Meanwhile, some analysts have speculated that Saudi Arabia’s willingness to see the price slump is because it will hurt America’s booming  but high cost  shale gas industry.

“There isn’t any political dimension in what we do at the oil ministry – our vision is commercial and economic… We are not against anybody or against the (production of US shale gas). On the contrary, we welcome it, as it balances the market in the long run,” analysts said.

He said the halving of oil prices since the middle of last year was because of fundamental supply and demand factors, not any non-economic policies.

Saudi Official: Oil Price Unlikely to Rebound

Saudi executes Syrian drug trafficker

Saudi authorities beheaded a Syrian national today after he was convicted of trafficking drugs into the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, the interior ministry announced.

Safwan Hindawi was arrested as he was smuggling a “large amount of narcotic pills into the kingdom,” said the ministry in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

His beheading in the northern Jawf region raised to 24 the number of executions so far this year in the Gulf state, according to an AFP count based on official reports.

Last year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced a “sharp increase in the use of capital punishment” in Saudi Arabia.

In 2013, there were 78 executions.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Islamic sharia law.

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Saudi executes Syrian drug trafficker

Saudi Arabia’s top cleric says Nigeria’s Boko Haram smears Islam

Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti, the top religious authority in the birthplace of Islam, yesterday condemned  Boko Haram as a group “set up to smear the image of Islam” and deplored  its kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls.

Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh dismissed  the movement, which says it wants to establish a “pure” Islamic state in Nigeria, as “misguided” and should be “shown their wrong path and be made to reject it.”

His remarks came as religious leaders in the Muslim world, who often do not comment on militant violence, joined in denouncing Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau for saying Allah had told him to sell off the kidnapped girls as forced brides.

“This is a group that has been set up to smear the image of Islam and must be offered advice, shown their wrong path and be made to reject it,” he told the Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat in an interview published  yesterday.

“These groups are not on the right path because Islam is against kidnapping, killing and aggression,” he said. “Marrying kidnapped girls is not permitted.”

On Thursday, Islamic scholars and human rights officials of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest Muslim body representing 57 countries, denounced the kidnapping as “a gross misinterpretation of Islam”.

This week, Al-Azhar, the prestigious Cairo-based seat of Sunni learning, also said that the kidnapping “has nothing to do with the tolerant and noble teachings of Islam.”

Saudi Arabia’s top cleric says Nigeria’s Boko Haram smears Islam

Dispatches: Saudi Arabia’s Unrelenting Assault on Free Expression

By Adam Coogle

The latest episode of Saudi Arabia’s unrelenting assault on freedom of expression is the Jeddah Criminal Court’s May 7, 2014 conviction of liberal activist Raif Badawi. The court sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment and 1000 lashes for setting up a liberal website and allegedly insulting Islam and religious authorities.

Badawi can appeal the verdict, but unfortunately he’ll have to do so without the help of his lawyer, human rights activist Waleed Abu al-Khair. Abu al-Khair is currently in Riyadh’s Malaz Prison awaiting the resumption of his own criminal trial before Saudi Arabia’s terrorism tribunal, the Specialized Criminal Court, on charges that include “breaking allegiance with the king,” “making international organizations hostile to the kingdom,” and “setting up an unlicensed organization.” A judge jailed Abu al-Khair on April 15 without allowing him to notify his family, and until now authorities have not disclosed the basis of his detention.

Saudi Arabia has a long history of suppressing free expression. What is different with these cases is the long prison terms imposed by the terrorism court on activists, sometimes ranging between 10 to 15 years.

Fadhil al-Manasif is a case in point. A human rights activist from the Eastern Province city of Qatif, al-Manasif received a harsh 15-year sentence from the Specialized Criminal Court on April 17, plus a 15-year travel ban after his prison sentence and a fine of 1 million Saudi Riyals (US$266,600) – for charges that included “breaking allegiance with the king” and “being in contact with foreign news agencies in order to exaggerate news and harm the reputation of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people.”

Making matters worse, new terrorism regulations promulgated by Saudi authorities in 2014 criminalize, as terrorism-related offenses, acts such as “contact or correspondence with any groups [that are] hostile to the kingdom,” “making countries, committees, or international organizations antagonistic to the kingdom,” and “calling, participating, promoting, or inciting sit-ins [or] protests.”

As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Saudi Arabia has pledged to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,” but ongoing repression against peaceful dissidents and activists makes a mockery of this pledge and calls into question the willingness of Saudi Arabia to improve its record.

Dispatches: Saudi Arabia’s Unrelenting Assault on Free Expression