TheNewsGuru

Tag: Cameroon

  • FG investigates importation of 140 snakes, 660 other animals from Cameroon

    FG investigates importation of 140 snakes, 660 other animals from Cameroon

    The Federal Government says it has commenced investigation to uncover the importers of three consignments containing 140 species of snakes and 660 other animals imported into Nigeria from Cameroon.

    The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the Nigeria Customs Service on July 26 intercepted three consignments containing 140 species of snakes and 660 other animals in Calabar, Cross River State.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, told journalists in Abuja on Friday that the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) had been directed to commence the investigation immediately.

    Mr. Ogbeh reiterated the need for officials of the NAQS to be stationed at the country’s ports to enable them to address such issues before they escalated.

    The minister who expressed the fear that if the quality of agricultural produce imported into Nigeria was not checked, a sort of biological warfare could also be launched against the country’s agricultural sector.

    “It is very important to know the tendencies of saying that the quarantine service should not be kept away from the ports.

    “It is a threat and a danger because the other day, somebody attempted to smuggle kolanuts to Saudi Arabia.

    “The Saudis have told us not to bring kolanuts into their country.

    “The Quarantine Service had to go into the aircraft and stop the plane from leaving; it then brought the kolanuts down and now, it is snakes.

    “Our ambition is to become a major agricultural nation, if the quality of what we take out and that of the materials coming in are not known to us, anything can happen.

    “The dangers include biological warfare, which can be launched against our agriculture industry.

    “These are reasons why the quarantine service must be allowed to play its roles without necessarily disrupting the ports’ routine functions,” Mr. Ogbeh said.

    NAN reports the containers were brought in aboard a Cameroonian vessel, ‘MV Flesh’, through the Calabar waterway.

    The containers reportedly contained snakes and other animals such as geckos, millipedes, hairy frogs and spiders.

     

  • Customs confiscate 140 imported snakes, 660 other animals

    Nigeria Customs Service on Wednesday intercepted three consignments containing 140 species of snakes and 660 other animals imported into Nigeria from Cameroon.

    The containers were brought in aboard a Cameroonian vessel, MV Flesh, through the Calabar waterways to the National Inland Waterways Authority jetty in Calabar, Cross River State.

    The other animals which were identified as geckos, millipedes, hairy frogs and spiders, were said to be worth about N6.9m.

    The Customs Area Comptroller in charge of Calabar Free Trade Zone – Cross River and Akwa Ibom commands – Mrs. Nanbyen Burromvyat, said the consignments were intercepted by vigilant officers on July 24, 2017.

    She said the consignments, which were Lagos-bound, were prohibited items under the Schedule 3 of the Revised Import Prohibition List (Trade) in the Common External Tariff.

    A packaging list of the items made available to our correspondent identified the species of snakes to include Atheris squamigera, Bitis gobanica, Dasypeltis ssp and Boiga pulverinata, while the geckos were Hemidactylus frenatus and Hemidactylus fasciatus.

    The millipede, hairy frogs and spiders were of the Architreptulus, Trichobatrachus robustus and Arachnidae species respectively.

    Without opening the containers to prevent the escape of the animals, Burromvyat handed over the items and the two suspects arrested to the authorities of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services for further investigation.

    She said, “These containers have animals of different sizes. They were brought in on July 24, 2017, through the Calabar waterways.

    “There is no permit to bring live animals into the country. We have seized and we are handing the animals over to the Nigerian Quarantine Services for further action.

    “I do not know what they want to do with them, but I think that the animals are dangerous because they include snakes, spiders, geckos and other creatures. We have enough snakes around Nigeria already.”

    The officer in charge of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services in Cross River State, Mr. Sunday Ukut, said the animals would be properly scrutinised after which they might be destroyed.

    He said, “We will take them to the office and conduct further investigations. These animals came in without the necessary import papers and these are highly prohibited animals. So, we are going to carry out our own screening on them and possibly destroy them. They came in from Cameroon.”

    The suspect who allegedly brought in the consignments from Cameroon, Mr. Julius Novigana, said they were given to him by a friend to deliver to someone in Lagos.

    Novigana, a Cameroonian agent, claimed that he did not know what were in the three containers, adding that his friend only asked him to deliver the consignments to an unidentified person in Lagos.

    “A friend gave them to me in Cameroon to deliver to someone in Lagos. I only have the man’s number in Lagos. I have called him and he said he would send someone to pick them from me in Calabar,” he said.

    The Captain of the vessel that brought the consignment, Victor Agbor, also a Cameroonian, said he did not spot the containers when he was about leaving his country.

    “I did not see these containers on the vessel when I left Cameroon. The name of my vessel is MV Flesh and we bring in passengers and general cargo from Cameroon to Nigeria.

    “I never saw these containers on board before leaving.

    “I was informed in Nigeria that there were some containers without manifestoes in the vessel. I do not have any idea about them,” he said.

  • No proof to show Cameroon killed 97 Nigerians – FG

    The Federal Government has said there was no evidence of 97 Nigerians being killed by Cameroonian Gendarmes.

    This was revealed on Wednesday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama.

    Onyeama said the 97 deaths represented the accumulation of all the Nigerians that had been killed in previous events in the Bakassi region since 2008.

    He made the clarification before the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, headed by Rep. Nnena Elendu-Ukeje‎, which is probing the incident.

    The minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Olusola Enikanolaye, revealed that independent investigation had shown that such killings did not occur.

    He further explained that the incident started following the deployment in July 2017 of a new Divisional Officer (DO) to Idabato sub- division of Cameroon to administer the Bakassi General Area.

    “On assumption of office, the new DO commenced the imposition of new taxes on the residents after a meeting with all the chiefs.

    “Accordingly, all men engaged in fishing and other business activities in the area were to pay N55,000, women 30,000 and churches N50,000 per annum.

    “Furthermore, taxes on packets of fish were raised from N200 to N1,000. Butchers were to pay N1,000 per head for goats slaughtered by them.

    “The sanctions placed on the residents for violation of the tax rules include seizure of their boats and payment of 200 per cent of the initial tax.

    “This accounts for the N100,000 which was hitherto heralded in the news and initial reports as the amount of the tax to be paid by Nigerians”, he said.

    He said by the records of the Nigerian Mission, the deaths recorded were not caused by the Gendarmes.

    He added that some Nigerians fled their homes and headed for the Ikang Jetty “when the new DO threatened to use force. It was while they were on their way that some of them reportedly drowned”.

    “Unfortunately, the leaders who confirmed these assertions to the team had no corpse of persons drowned in the incident as proof of the manner of death,” he said.

  • Boko Haram: Cameroon repatriates 887 Nigerian refugees

    About 887 Nigerian refugees from Cameroon on Tuesday arrived in Banki, Borno following a request from the Cameroonian government to Nigeria to facilitate their return.

    Mr Hanson Tamfu, the External Relations Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Nigeria, made known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

    Tamfu said that the request was prompted by fear and suspicions of the Cameroonian authorities that among the refugees might include some elements of Boko Haram.

    “The returnees arrived in six trucks sent by Nigerian authorities following the meeting with the governor of the far north region of Cameroon on June 19.

    “During the meeting, Nigeria was requested to cause the return of refugees, which the Cameroonian authority suspects may also compromise some elements of Boko Haram whose activities have increased tremendously in recent times.

    “Consequently, the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on June 26 dispatched the buses to transport the refugees,’’ Tamfu said.

    Tamfu said that the latest group of returnees comprises 233 females, 187 males, 236 girls, and 231 boys who were living in host communities in Kolofata, a far north region of Cameroon.

    He said it was reported that most of them do not have much in terms of personal effects but a few items in plastic sacks while some returned completely empty handed.

    Tamfu said that UNHCR responded immediately by providing wet feeding, adding that it also would contact the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Borno SEMA to continue with food provision.

    He said that more returnees had indicated interest to leave Minawowa Camp in Cameroon, adding that they were anxious to return following the media reports about improved security back home.

    He said they were also eager to return on hearing the government’s decision to distribute food to all the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno.

    TheNewsGuru reports that the official registered returnees from Cameroon through Banki now stood at 19,257.

     

     

     

    NAN

  • Archbishop commits suicide

    The Archbishop of Bafia, Cameroon, Mgr Jean Marie Benoît Balla has reportedly taken his own life by jumping into the Sanaga River around the Ebebda Bridge in Cameroon.

    The Catholic community launched a search for the clergyman after his Land Cruiser SUV with registration plate number CE 9503V was found on the Ebebda bridge Wednesday afternoon- about 90km from Yaounde.

    A search of the vehicle revealed his ID card, drivers license and car documents.

    However, a handwritten note on the letter head of the diocese simply read “Je suis dans l’eau”, which translated into English as “I am in the water” was also found in the car, local news website, cameroon-info.net reported.

    Naseri Paul Bea, Governor of the Centre region, the Divisional Officer of the locality and other administrative authorities were reported to have rushed to the scene with security forces.

    The Divisional Officer, D.O, of Ebebda, told journalists that a Reverend Father informed him about the incident at about 1pm.

    “I immediately ran to the scene and saw for myself. The car is truly here on the bridge and the note the Bishop left suggests he jumped into the river”, said the DO.

    He also said no damage had been done to the car which indicates there was no violence.

  • Boko Haram releases video, threatens to behead Cameroonian President, Biya

    The deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram has released a new video threatening to cause mayhem and behead Cameroonian President Paul Biya.

    “I would behead you Paul Biya, it’s me that would behead you with the left hand, be ready,” a Boko Haram commander said in French displaying Biya’s picture in a news magazine.

    The man later drops the magazine and crushes Biya’s face with his leg, saying “I would behead you, imbecile, sluggard!”.

    He said he would decapitate Biya with the left hand, and called him a bigger Christian.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Biya is a catholic who regularly attends church service in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.

    The terrorist warns residents of other parts of Cameroon that the Boko Haram members were on their way to invade the country.

    He warned residents of Maroua, Cameroon’s far north capital, and those in the northern region capital of Garoua, and Ngaoundere that fighters were coming.

    Shooting could be heard in the background of the 6-minute clip.

    The Boko Haram commander shows shoes, helmets and other military items he claimed belonged to Cameroonian soldiers.

    “These are their shoes they left behind, these are their helmets they left behind, these are their mats for prayers they left behind.


    “We are ready to arrive. We are on our way to Maroua, Garoua and Ngaoundere,” he said, naming three capital in northern Cameroon.

    “We are on our way to Ebolowa, Yaounde, we will arrive in God’s name,” he added, mentioning the capital of President Paul Biya’s region in the South and the country’s capital itself in Yaounde.

    The man displayed identity cards belonging to Cameroonian citizens.

    One of the identity cards he placed closer to the camera, in his words, belongs to the minister of defence.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that no fewer than 150 Cameroonian soldiers and policemen have been killed by Boko Haram while over 2000 civilians have lost their lives since 2014 in several attacks, including suicide bombings.

    In Nigeria, more than 30,000 people have been murdered by members of Boko Haram and over 2million civilians in Northeastern region displaced.

     

  • Super Eagles coach to watch Cameroon, Algeria in Gabon

    Super Eagles’ Coach, Gernot Rohr, will be present at the 2017 Africa Nations Cup slated to commence in Gabon on January 14, to monitor Nigeria’s Group B opponents in the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Cameroun and Algeria.

    Officials of the team said yesterday that the German decided to be at the African championship because most of the best players in their various teams would be present at the tournament.

    Super Eagles’ Media Officer, Toyin Ibitoye, disclosed that Rohr wanted to be in Gabon to see for himself how the teams would play given that most of them would have at least two weeks training before playing their first games in the competition.

    He added: “Watching the two teams and other African sides in the tournament would also give the Eagles’ boss a clear view on how to build his team for future continental engagements. But he would return to Nigeria for the Glo CAF awards.’’

    Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick, has disclosed that a concrete sponsorship package for Rohr will be finalised by April.

    Pinnick admitted it has been difficult to pay Franco-German Rohr his $47,000-a-month salary, but the NFF remain up to date on the payment.“We are not owing him (Rohr). We are struggling but we are paying,” he said on a television programme yesterday.

    “By April, March we will have something concrete (sponsorship) for the Eagles and other national coaches.”

    Questions are still being asked how the cash-strapped NFF have been paying the coach, particularly as the identity of the current sponsors remain shrouded in mystery.

    Former Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso coach Rohr has posted a perfect record with Nigeria after his first three matches in charge of the Super Eagles.

    The Eagles are now top of the 2018 World Cup qualifying group with six points from two matches, ahead of Cameroun (two points), Zambia (one point) and Algeria (one point).