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Henry Okah, the detained leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday accused aides of President Goodluck Jonathan of trying to falsely persuade him to blame the Independence Day bombing in Abuja on northern politicians.

The MEND leader made this allegation Tuesday in an interview with Al Jazeera, the United Arab Emirates-based television station, conducted by telephone from the South African prison where he is being held on terrorism charges. He said that a “close aide” of the president had prevailed on him to urge the militant group to withdraw its claim that it was responsible for the bombings in which 16 people were killed and several others injured. “On Saturday morning, just a day after the attack, a very close associate of President Jonathan called me and explained to me that there had been a bombing in Nigeria and that President Jonathan wanted me to reach out to the group, MEND, and get them to retract the earlier statement they had issued claiming the attacks.”

According to him, “They wanted to blame the attacks on northerners who are trying to fight against him [Jonathan] to come back as president and if this was done, I was not going to have any problems with the South African government.”

Mr. Okah alleged that despite the promised reprieve, “I declined to do this and a few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that Jonathan issued a statement saying that MEND did not carry out the attack.”

The presidency moved quickly to deny the politically damaging and potentially incriminating allegation, saying it was all made up by the militant leader. “This of course is an outright lie, and we challenge Okah to name the President’s aide that spoke to him on the subject. There is an ongoing investigation on Okah’s alleged involvement in the bombings in Nigeria. In South Africa, he has already been charged to court. He should face the charges, and stop making frivolous claims,” presidential spokesman Ima Niboro said in a statement.

He asked Mr. Okah to name the aide who spoke to him. “There is no question that Okah is a drowning man determined to pull others down with him, and there is hardly any purpose to be served by joining issues with an accused mass murderer. Okah is a man who has been known to say one thing and do another, and we are not at all surprised by his diversionary rhetoric.”

The allegation, which is certain to generate controversy, is lent some credence by Mr. Jonathan’s statement shortly after the blasts that MEND was not responsible for the dastardly act. He had said the bomb blasts were the work of a terrorist group hiding under the umbrella of the movement.

Mr. Jonathan had said, “We have contacted other members of MEND and they say they know nothing about it. Anybody that hides under the umbrella of MEND to carry out those acts will be exposed.” It is however unclear how the president came to this conclusion because at the time he cleared the group of responsibility investigations by security agencies were still ongoing..

The president’s statement also ran contrary to that of the group which claimed it was responsible and blamed the loss of lives on security agents. It said, ‘‘The irresponsible attitude of the government security forces is to blame for the loss of lives. They were given five days prior notice which led to the harassment of Henry Okah on Thursday (September 30) in South Africa.’’

There was panic in Abuja on Tuesday following rumours that bombs had been planted by unknown persons at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation headquarters, the National Assembly, and the Federal Secretariat.

Workers at the NNPC Towers, the National Assembly and the secretariat rushed out of their offices as the rumours spread.

The incident generated tension in other parts of the city as residents exchanged text messages warning their friends, relatives and associates not to go near or drive near the affected places.

But the police on Tuesday, denied the rumours and advised members of the public to go about their lawful businesses without fear.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, and the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Capital Territory Command, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, said that the Police Anti-Bomb Squad, Police Anti-Terrorist Squad and other experts had visited various buildings in Abuja and did not find any bombs.

At the NNPC towers on Herbert Macaulay Way in the Central Business District where the rumours first broke, a detachment of policemen and the Anti-terrorist Squad were deployed in the building. The building also accommodates the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and a few allied organisations, including banks.

The panic, which caused a traffic gridlock along the road, started when the workers were directed by the NNPC management to move out of their offices as a result of smoke that was noticed in one of the buildings within the complex.

The situation, however, normalised after safety officials attached to the corporation told the workers, who were seen by our correspondents milling around the premises, that the fire was due to a “routine security drill.”

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, later issued a statement which attributed the panic to a security drill.

According to him, the security department was directed to carry out the security drill at the headquarters and the corporation’s strategic business units across the country to raise security consciousness among the members of staff and all visitors to the NNPC installations.

He said, “There is no cause for alarm. The drill is a regular exercise that the corporation carries out from time to time to assure our staff and all our visitors that we are on top of our security situation and to heighten our security alertness.

“The NNPC Towers is well secured and there is no threat of bomb scare anywhere.”

Ajuonuma also dispelled the rumour of a bomb in the towers as the figment of the imagination of those who did not mean well for the nation.

The Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejokun, confirmed the bomb scare as many workers abandoned their offices.

Adejokun, who went round strategic departments in the premises to brief members of staff on the development, said new security measures had been put in place.

According to him, there had been security alerts that key government institutions, including the National Assembly were likely to be attacked on Tuesday.

He added that because the management did not want to be taken unawares, it had introduced the security measures as a safeguard.

Part of the measures are that visitors to the National Assembly will be thoroughly screened, while members of staff without identity cards are to be turned back.

The open air public browsing of the Internet at the lobby of the National Assembly was also suspended temporarily.

This measure also applied to shuttle bus services by private operators within the National Assembly.

In place of the shuttle services, the management said that it would provide buses to convey members of staff in the interim.

On Monday, security was slack at the National Assembly for most part of the day. Vehicles drove into the complex easily, while there was no heavy presence of security operatives.

Adejokun said, “We have received text messages and security reports that have indicated that the National Assembly is a possible target.

“We have also come to the conclusion and are making arrangement to restrict visitors who come to see senators and honourable members.”

“We are going to take measures that will restrict the movement of shuttle buses into the National Assembly as well as to thoroughly screen all those who come into the complex.’’

Adejokun said that measures would also be taken to introduce tags that would give visitors access to the different quarters of the complex.

He urged members of the National Assembly press corps to endeavour to comply with these directives to avoid embarrassment from members of the security department.

“We have concluded arrangement to install surveillance cameras in places before the end of the year,’’ he said and added that “we are not going to take this issue lying low.’’

At the Federal Secretariat, THE PUNCH learnt that officials at the secretariat were alerted to a warning to evacuate civil servants.

The over 1,000 workers, including policemen who ran away from their duty posts, refused to go back to their offices even when they were assured that the rumours were false.

A middle level worker in the Ministry of Aviation, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said he had to run when he saw his colleagues leaving their offices in fear.

“ When we came to work this morning, there was serious rumour that some people had planted bombs around the Federal Secretariat,” he told one of our correspondents.

Another worker with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, who pleaded anonymity , said, “ You see, nobody wants to die. We heard that some people had planted bombs around the Federal Secretariat.”

The Federal Secretariat, which is located along the Shehu Shagari Way in Maitama, is in the same area as Eagle Square, the venue of the October 1 Independence Anniversary festivities.

Last Friday‘s twin bomb blasts, which claimed 14 lives and injured 66 others, occurred about 500 metres from the secretariat.

Our correspondent in Lagos noticed on Tuesday that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria officials had started using the anti-bomb car scanners installed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport a few months ago.

The scanners were installed at the airport after the botched attempt by a Nigerian, Mr. Farouk AbdulMutallab, to bomb a US airliner in December 2009.

Meanwhile, the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Harold Demuren, said that the NCAA had issued directives for the installation of anti-ramp security barrier system at the nation’s airports.

This, according to him, is expected to check unauthorised entries through access-controlled security gates.

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If the authorities of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Orumba North Council Area of Anambra State can sustain the tempo of the on-going war against campus cultism, then in no distant time cultism would be flushed out of the system completely.

And with about 51 students of the institution who were members of various cult groups stepping out pemultimate Tuesday at the matriculation arena of the poly campus to denounce their membership of the cults publicly, there is no doubt that a great landmark has been achieved in the war against campus cultism.

As if they were not satisfied with the public renunciation alone, the students who constituted the membership of the five major cult groups on campus, including the Eiye Confraternity, Buccaneers, Black Berets (22), Supreme Vikings and Black Axe also destroyed their supreme temples publicly, after brief prayers.

The renunciation and destruction ceremony was witnessed by the Rector of the Polytechnic, Professor Godwin Onu, while the Chaplain of St. Augustine’s Catholic Chaplaincy, Rev. Fr. Anthony Ezeoke; the Vicar- in-charge of the Anglican Chapel of the Light, Venerable Chukwudi Osondu, and Rev. Paul Ede of the Chapel of Transfiguration Pentecostal church offered prayers at the ceremony.

The Director of Anti-Cult Squad on campus, Abdullahi Khaki, in his brief speech, disclosed that his squad was constituted in 2001, under the then Rectorship of Professor Uba Nwuba, adding that the squad was responsible for fishing out cult members during their initiations and other cult activities on campus.

In their separate speeches, Rev. Fr. Ezeoke, Venerable Osondu and Rev. Ede praised the cultists for their courage in renouncing the cultism activities, adding that other students who are still members of the various cult groups should toe the footsteps of the repentant students, particularly now that the school authorities have agreed to forgive them.

The clergymen described cultism as a devilish act which usually ends up in jeopardizing the lives and careers of the cultists and their victims, adding that once anybody shed blood in the act of cultism, the blood must continue to hunt such person until he or she renounced membership and repented.

In his remarks, the Rector of the institution, Professor Onu noted that all the students have been forgiven by the school authorities, adding the now that they have confessed their sins and renounced their cultism, God will equally forgive them, provided they do not go back to cultism.

Onu observed that there are two deadly female cult groups operating on campus, adding that it is better for them to also renounce their own membership, face their studies squarely, graduate in flying colours, secure a gainful employment, get married and settle down in a happy family or they will be exposed and punished at the appropriate time, since the school authority is keeping a tab on their activities.

The Rector who restated the institution’s zero tolerance to cultism and other forms of corrupt practices on campus, both on the part of students and the lecturers, warned that once this opportunity given to all the cultists to renounce their membership elapsed, those found would be flushed out of the system.

Highlight of the activities included the exposure of all the materials being used by the cultist, including four guns, unexpended ammunitions, cutlasses, coloured candles, cult regalia of different colours, charms and amulets.

All the candles and regalia were set ablaze in public glare, while the arms, ammunitions and the cutlasses were recovered by the anti-cult squad.

In another development, the management of the institution has promoted no fewer than 147 staff in its 2009 annual promotion exercise. The breakdown of the promotion contained in a statement signed by the institution’s Registrar, Mr Olih Nwaokolobia and made available to newsmen showed that 11 principal lecturers were promoted to Chief Lecturers while 9 senior lecturers were elevated to the status of principal lecturers.

According to the statement, six lecturer II staffers were promoted to lecturer 1, just as two lecturer III rose to the rank of Lecturer II.

Other categories of staffers that benefitted from the promotion exercise, according to the statement, included Chief Instructors, Assistant Chief Instructors, Principal Instructors, Chief Technologists, Principal Technologists, amongst others.

About 111 junior staff were equally affected in the exercise which came into force with immediate effect and which attracted wide jubilations.

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) and Non- Academic Staff Unions of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) welcomed the development with the suspension on Monday of their week-long sit-down industrial action embarked upon to agitate the release of the promotion list.

In his reaction, the Chairman of NASU, Comrade Luke Nweke expressed his profound gratitude to the incumbent administration of Professor Godwin Onu, the Rector of the institution for his friendly policy to better the lots of workers.

According to Nweke, “Workers are happy with the development and we are convinced that it will encourage productivity. We are not here to fight the management but we were not happy over the delay in communicating to us the outcome of council meetings where some issues were ratified”.

“We don’t want to have friction with the management because it pays to work cordially because we are in control of over 60 percent of the staff population and as such we can give them maximum support. We have all learnt our lessons and we are happy with the management,” he stated.

Also reacting to the development, ASUP Chairman, Dr. Onyeka Uwakwe commended efforts of the management over the welfare of staff and expressed the hope that the current administration would leave no stone unturned in its quest to turn around the institution.

Earlier in his remarks, the Rector of the institute, Onu told newsmen that his administration was sensitive to the plight of workers and had no reason to delay their welfare packages.

“I have the welfare of workers in mind and that explains why I paid them government approved new salary structure from our internally generated revenue (IGR) to keep their spirit on”.

“This is the first time an administration is doing about eight projects at a time and at the same time carrying along welfare of workers. The slight delay in the release of their promotion emanated from Heads of Departments that delayed submission of their appraisal forms”, Onu further explained.

The Rector disclosed that the management had already distributed to all the departments fresh appraisal forms ahead of next year’s 2010 promotional exercise, to avoid another round of delay, adding that they are also making efforts to liquidate seven percent allowance owed academic staff to encourage productivity.

He however noted that they are very strict on their disciplinary measures to ensure that quality education is delivered to the students, adding that the staff already have the message that corrupt officers on campus would not be spared for any reason now that the institution cherishes its staff and wants to make the best out of them.

Murat Yilmaz is the author of our recently published OpenX Ad Server: Beginner's Guide which helps you in building and maintaining professional advertising solutions for your web sites with OpenX Ad Server.

Murat Yilmaz is a software developer and online entrepreneur who lives in Moscow. He has over 10 years of experience in different IT fields including development of web-driven solutions, databases, and OLAP systems. He has worked at various international companies in Istanbul (Turkey), Anchorage (Alaska), and Moscow (Russia) as a consultant. He currently runs his own blog and online advertising network. He holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Marmara University at Istanbul.

He spends his free time playing progressive rock songs on a guitar and enjoys writing for his gadgets and technology blog at http://www.vubx.com

Packt: Your book is published now. How is the feeling of being a published author?

Murat: It is great feeling! I am very happy! Its great to see my book being available in so many bookstores worldwide. It feels so good to hold it in hands. Knowing the fact that my book on this very popular subject, OpenX, will be read by thousands and will help people in increasing the efficiency of their online businesses makes me proud of myself. In brief, this is a reward for years of knowledge and experience..

Packt: What benefits did writing a book bring to your specialist area?

Murat: Obviously, it is a great contribution to a person's professional career. After the publication of the book, I have got many paid projects, which include things from simple configuration, management of an ad inventory to customized coding of OpenX environment.

It projects my profile as an OpenX expert in the industry.

Packt: Our authors usually have full-time jobs whilst writing for us. Was this the case for you and how did you approach managing your time?

Murat: I own my own network of websites, blogs and earn my living solely by online advertising and affiliate network income which is generated by these sites. Apart from these, I take up coding tasks time to time. So, I don't have a full time job and was very flexible while writing the book. This position allowed me to dedicate enough time for the book. At times, I had to ignore my websites a bit to write difficult chapters.

Packt: Whilst writing your book, did you find that it overshadowed personal life in any way? How did you deal with this?

Murat: The process of writing the book with full concentration was full of enjoyment. At times, I declined my wife's offer to watch new episodes of our favourite shows such as Lost or Desperate Housewives. It did not overshadow my life at all! The process of writing a book filled new colours in our lives. Overall, it was a unique experience.

Packt: Do you have any advice for other authors who may be interested in writing for Packt, but are still unsure?

Murat: If a potential author believes that her/his subject knowledge and skills on a particular subject are good, there is no reason to be scared. Packt’s team provides full support to the author. The key is to provide high quality content which will really help people to do things and solve their problems.

As you write your first few chapters you will notice that your writing abilities keep on improving. Self-confidence helps you fight the fears.

Packt: Do you have any tips for other authors, or tricks that you learnt whilst writing, that you'd like to share?

Murat: I would suggest writing small notes whenever a new idea comes before it flies away! Second tip is about trying to follow the draft chapters from the reader's point of view. The chapter should build from simple to more advance step by step while maintaining the reader's interest intact! Finally, I first placed all screenshots, diagrams to word file which I would need in the chapter and then wrote the content under them. It is easier to manage and concentrate on writing.

Packt: How did you find the overall experience of writing your book for Packt?

Murat: Packt is the place where highly qualified employees really enjoy their jobs with common aim to create a perfect book with the author. Besides the professionalism, I have seen encouragement, friendship and motivation here.

Packt: During the writing process, did you come across any issues/ difficulties that affected your writing and how did you overcome these?

Murat: At first, I had difficulties about arranging layout and correct styles in Word file. Also, I had issues with writing the chapter contents in a logical, developmental way. Development and technical editors identified such issues and provided very useful comments to correct them.

Packt: Was there anything interesting that happened during the writing of the book?

Murat: Writing a book also requires extensive search on the topic. I have felt that my knowledge on OpenX has increased even more and I noticed the details which I had missed before.

Packt: How did Packt’s Acquisition Editors help you - what kind of things did they help you with and how did they support you throughout the writing process?

Murat: First of all, they show how to write a nicely organized table of contents and bring new suggestions for the content. By brainstorming, we created a final table of contents which clearly reflected what the book will look like at the end. My questions on content development also were replied by Packt specialists in detail, very swiftly.

Packt: What projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

Murat: I am currently authoring my second beginner's guide book for Packt. It is about one of the most popular shopping cart solutions, OpenCart. I continue to develop my websites both in SEO and marketing sides. Besides, I currently write a custom CMS in .Net platform for a famous French furniture company, Roche Bobois Moscow branch.

I have a future plan of offering a book to Packt about developing database driven applications using latest .Net technology with full source code. I believe that it will be very useful for .net developers who need to see the codes, database design of a complete database driven desktop solution.

The police in Australia have been told how the Nigerian currency notes, the naira, were printed illegally by a firm in that country during the era of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as the Central Bank Governor. Soludo was replaced last year by Lamido Sanusi.

An Australian newspaper, The Age, reports that three former workers at The Reserve Bank of Australia’s currency firm, Securency, told the police that the firm produced millions of partly made Nigerian banknotes without authorisation from the Nigerian authorities, a practice former staff of the firm described as effective counterfeiting.

The newspaper reports that the Australian Federal Police, AFP, have been investigating Securency for the past 17 months over its alleged bribery of foreign officials, including Nigerian and Vietnamese officials, to win contracts in these countries.

The Australian Federal Police were told by three former staff members that the RBA company produced banknote substrate – the unique base material used to make banknotes - belonging to at least three countries, including Nigeria and Vietnam, without formal orders from their central banks.

Government sources have said that among the potentially explosive evidence uncovered by the AFP are documents suggesting a senior trade official engaged in highly unethical behaviour to help win Securency contracts overseas.

Ministers, including Treasurer Wayne Swan, and RBA governor Glenn Stevens have repeatedly refused to comment on the scandal. Securency’s board is chaired by an assistant bank governor.

The AFP has been told by former Securency employees that the unauthorised banknote substrate was stored at the company’s Craigieburn headquarters or off-site – including at a facility with poor security – in the hope that it would eventually be ordered.

Three former Securency employees aware of the practice, and who have all given statements or been debriefed by the AFP, said the practice was highly improper but was done so the company could falsely claim it was meeting production and sales targets.

When P.M.NEWS contacted the Coporate Affairs Head of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mohammed Abdullahi, this morning, he said “it was impossible,” adding that the report “is sheer balderdash.” He declined to speak further.

Due to fears of counterfeiting and currency manipulation, firms that make banknotes can usually only do so after receiving an order from a central bank.

The unauthorised substrate production also suggests that the senior company executives who ordered it did so because they may have been aware of corrupt back-room deals struck with foreign officials who had promised to make future orders.

In an AFP witness statement, one of the former employees stated that they had been told by Securency managers that doing an unauthorised print run ”would constitute counterfeiting”.

Despite this, the witness said that they were told in 2008 to begin the unauthorised Nigerian substrate production using an expired production order number.

The AFP statement says: ”Substrate was never produced without a valid customer order. However, on one occasion during August or September 2008, production received a direction from (chief executive) Myles Curtis to produce substrate for Nigerian currency, the 20 naira denomination, in the absence of a customer order.”

The employee said that staff protested several times about doing the unauthorised print run on the basis that it was highly unethical and potentially illegal. But they said that Securency management told them that ”the production would go ahead regardless”.

In the police statement, the witness says they believed that the unauthorised print run was ordered so the firm’s board – which includes senior RBA officials, including deputy governor Bob Rankin – could be told the company was meeting sales and production targets.

”I believe that the decision by management to produce substrate without an order was made on the basis that the second production line was operating below capacity,” the AFP statement says.

The witness statement also reveals that Securency stored the Nigerian substrate in a facility with poor security, a concern shared by two other Securency employees.

”On several occasions, I raised concerns about what I regarded as the lack of security at the storage facility where the Nigerian substrate was stored. I also had concerns about the transporting of the substrate.”

The witness states that dissent was not tolerated at Securency. ”Securency was tightly controlled by a clique of senior managers. If an employee was outside of this clique and questioned company practices, he or she would likely be quickly terminated.”

Two other former Securency employees told The Age they had spoken to the federal police about their concerns that the company had engaged in quasi counterfeiting.

The AFP refused to comment on its inquiry into Securency, which features 20 full-time officers and spans several continents. It has previously stated it is examining whether the firm’s executives engaged in foreign bribery by paying multimillion-dollar commissions to middlemen Securency hired to influence foreign officials to give the firm banknote contracts.

Securency managing director Mr. Curtis and company secretary John Ellery departed earlier this year after the RBA conducted an audit of Securency’s activities that found almost $50 million had been paid between 2003 and 2009 to overseas middlemen.