Nigeria political

Oil climbs back above $142 on supply worries edited by Femi Aderupatan

Oil climbs above $142 a barrel on concerns about tight global supplies, Mideast conflict

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices pushed back above $142 a barrel Tuesday on worries about tight supply and possible armed conflict between Iran and Israel. In the U.S., gasoline edged to a new record high.

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Prices resumed their advance as the International Energy Agency issued a report cautioning that worldwide crude supplies are unlikely to ease despite record prices and falling demand in industrialized countries. The world is experiencing "the third oil price shock," the head of the Paris-based body said, comparing the effects of today's pricey petroleum to times of soaring prices in the 1970s and 1980s.

"OPEC production is at record highs and non-OPEC producers are working at full throttle, but stocks show no unusual build," IEA chief Nobuo Tanaka said at the report's presentation in Madrid. "These factors demonstrate that it is mainly fundamentals pushing up the price."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson echoed those concerns in Berlin, saying that there were no "obvious short-term solutions" to soaring oil prices.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $2.22 to trade at $142.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Monday, the contract soared to a record $143.67 a barrel. It later fell back to close at $140 as traders took profits and settled their positions at the end of the quarter.

In the U.S., gas station operators nudged the record for a gallon of regular a tenth of a penny higher, to an average of $4.087 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

Concerns about ongoing tension in the Middle East -- a factor that has helped fuel oil's recent rise -- continued to weigh on traders' minds Tuesday.

ABC News quoted an unnamed senior Pentagon official as saying there is an "increasing likelihood" that Israel will strike Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of the year. Such an attack could prompt Iran to retaliate, potentially disrupting oil supplies in the strategically vital Persian Gulf.

Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill., called the report "more of the same" but acknowledged it was having an effect on energy market psychology.

"The market's forced to insert some type of risk premium on geopolitical developments," he said.

Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and OPEC's second-largest exporter. About 40 percent of world oil export tanker traffic passes through the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.

In its Medium-Term Oil Market Report on Tuesday, the Paris-based IEA said demand would rise most in developing countries, with Asia, the Middle East and Latin America accounting for nearly 90 percent of demand growth over the next five years.

As oil entered the second half of the year just shy of record levels, trader Stephen Schorck and other analysts predicted that prices could soon reach $150 a barrel. Crude shot up nearly 50 percent in the first six months of 2008 in part because investors turned to commodities as a hedge against the falling greenback.

"As we look ahead to the third quarter the story remains, as long as the (dollar) fails to appreciate, energy will fail to depreciate," he wrote in a daily market newsletter.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures were up 4.76 cents to $3.9576 a gallon, while gasoline futures rose 3.29 cents to $3.532 a gallon. Natural gas futures jumped 14.2 cents to $13.61 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude futures rose $2.09 to $141.92 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Associated Press writers George Jahn in Madrid, Spain, and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary contributed to this report

Oil slips from record $143 on U.S. demand worries edited by Femi Aderupatan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil slipped from a record high above $143 a barrel on Monday as weak U.S. demand countered mounting tensions between OPEC nation Iran and Israel.

U.S. crude (CLc1) settled 21 cents lower at $140.00 a barrel, after hitting an all-time high of $143.67 earlier. London Brent crude (LCOc1) settled 48 cents lower at $139.83.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration revised downward U.S. April oil demand by 863,000 barrels per day to 19.77 million bpd -- 3.9 percent below year-ago levels -- as surging fuel costs erode demand in the world's top consumer.

The revision showed April demand was the lowest for the month since April 2002, and came even before gasoline prices scaled to new highs in June. (ID:nWBT009313)

"This revision of the U.S. oil demand for April has certainly put pressure on crude futures. This is demand destruction before our very eyes," said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading. "This is a huge revision, and it happened when (fuel) prices were still lower, so you can expect that there could be more future downgrades in demand data."

Earlier, crude prices rushed to a fresh high on the weaker dollar and escalating tensions between Iran and Israel over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Saturday Tehran would impose controls on shipping in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, if it were attacked. Roughly 40 percent of the world's traded oil flows though the narrow waterway separating Iran from the Arabian Peninsula.

The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said on Monday the United States and its allies would not allow Iran to hamper shipping in the Gulf. Iran's foreign minister said Sunday he did not believe Israel was in a position to attack.

Tehran's dispute with the West over its nuclear development program has supported the 40 percent rise in oil prices this year, as has an influx of cash from investors seeking to hedge against inflation and the slumping U.S. dollar.

Oil prices have jumped nearly seven-fold since 2002 as part of a broader commodities rally sparked by surging demand from emerging economies like China and India.

Inflation in the euro zone rose to a record high of 4 percent in June, data showed Monday.

High fuel prices have hit the economies of some consuming nations, prompting some countries including the United States to call on OPEC to increase output.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi reiterated his country's position that oil prices were being driven mostly by speculation and said the OPEC kingpin was prepared to supply all the oil its customers needed.

The heads of some of the biggest oil companies, gathered at an oil conference in Madrid, said fundamentals, not investor flows, were the main driver of prices.

"This is a fundamental signal. This is not about speculation," said Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP (LSE:BP.L - News).

A Reuters poll of analysts forecast weekly government data due out on Wednesday will show a drop in U.S. crude inventories and a build in distillates and gasoline for the week ending June

Obama and Bill Clinton finally speak edited by Femi Aderupatan

WASHINGTON - The silence between Barack Obama and Bill Clinton has been broken, with the Democratic White House hopeful on Monday asking the former president to campaign for him during their first conversation since the heated primary.

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Bill Clinton was often Obama's harshest Democratic critic, trying to bring down the Illinois senator as his candidacy surpassed former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's. While Hillary Clinton has begun to help Obama by encouraging her supporters and fundraisers to back his campaign, a chill remained between the last Democratic president and the man running to be the next one.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Obama is honored to have the former president's support.

"He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come," Burton said.

Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said the former president renewed his offer — expressed in a one-sentence statement last week — to do whatever he can to ensure Obama wins the presidency.

"President Clinton continues to be impressed by Senator Obama and the campaign he has run, and looks forward to campaigning for and with him in the months to come," McKenna said. "The president believes that Senator Obama has been a great inspiration for millions of people around the country and he knows that he will bring the change America needs as our next president."

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the senator called Clinton after Obama landed in Missouri Monday morning, and they spoke for about 20 minutes. Gibbs said Obama asked Clinton to campaign with him and on his own.

Bill Clinton was in Europe last week and did not attend last Friday's rally with his wife and Obama in the symbolic town of Unity, N.H. Obama said it was appropriate that he appear alone with his former rival since they waged a historic race between a black man and a woman.

Bill Clinton was an outspoken critic of Obama during the primaries. He said Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale" and raised questions about whether the first-term Illinois senator had the experience to lead the country. During one debate Obama snapped at Hillary Clinton, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

Restructuring of ministries delays cabinet change edited by Femi Aderupatan

The ongoing restructuring of ministries by the Federal Government has been cited as the reason for the delay in the planned cabinet shakeup by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The ongoing restructuring of ministries by the Federal Government has been cited as the reason for the delay in the planned cabinet shakeup by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The president had during a chat with senior media executives to mark his first year in office in May hinted of a plan to re-jig his executive council. The president’s pronouncement had fuelled speculations in the media on who may be affected in the planned shakeup.

A senior presidency source told Business Day over the weekend that President Yar’Adua had already given directives to top aides including the acting chief of staff, the secretary to the government of the federation, the head of service and some other key aides to work out the new format the restructuring of ministries would take.

The ministries slated for restructuring, according to the source, include information and communications with both arms standing as separate ministries; transport which is expected to be split into transport, works and aviation as well as environment, housing and urban development which will be restructured with environment standing on its own while housing and urban development standing will be one ministry.

Others are energy which is expected to have petroleum, gas and power standing separately as independent ministries. It was gathered that the government also intends to restructure tourism, education and youth development and even mines and steel development.

Besides, the source said the government is also working on reorganizing the existing structure of the ministries’ staff that would be saddled with the responsibility of manning the new ministries as the collapsing of the ministries by former President Olusegun Obasanjo seriously affected the staff arrangements.

With the new development, most of the ministers of state would become substantive ministers thus reducing the bickering between ministers and ministers of state in the affected ministries.

Business Day gathered that the head of service in collaboration with relevant departments have begun the selection of top civil servants who would supervise the ministries.

"The delay is primarily because of the need for the president to re-jig the present structure of the ministries. There is the belief that there are some ministries that are supposed to be standing alone but because of the way things were designed, you have two or three ministries merged into one," the source said.

The dependable source added that "those who designed the present structure were of the view that the smaller the number of ministries the less financial burden on the government. But what the president has come to find out is that the size of the ministries are creating room for inefficiencies."

"So, something has to be done to bring back sanity to the system. President Yar’Adua is a man who believes in result and the way things are structured, there is no way that he can achieve the desired results," the source added.

Information available to Business Day revealed that the work of the restructuring has reached advanced stage and maybe presented to the president before the end of June.

Power probe: Obasanjo squandered $13.5bn –Speaker edited by Femi Aderupatan

Ahead of the release of the probe panel’s report on the power sector, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, has given an insight into the report, saying that instead of $16 billion as stated earlier, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration squandered $13.5 billion. The speaker dropped the hint when members of the House met with some business leaders in Abuja on Wednesday. According to Bankole, the full details of the report would soon be out. He added that the bank consolidation that was carried out in 2005 has left Nigerians poorer and has inflicted much pains on them. Furthermore, he told the meeting that for a fact, $16 billion was appropriated for the Obasanjo administration but $13.5 billion was eventually released for the power project regretting that the immediate past administration could not account for the large sum of money spent on the project. He attributed infrastructural deficiencies to the low development of the steel sector while reasoning that Ajaokuta Steel Company could have been used to exploit the steel sector. To this end, he accused Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Federal Government for fraudulently selling Ajaokuta Steel Company for $300 million even though the actual worth is $4.7 billion. More so, he claimed that the core-investor did not commit itself with a down payment before taking over the company. “The payment arrangement is just like you don’t put any money down. Those things cannot work,” he said, insisting that Ajaokuta Steel Company was vital to the implementation of the seven-point agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Having said that, he mandated the House of Representatives Committee on Privatization and Transportation to revisit the sale of the enterprise. “Some companies, under the guise of core investors cannot come to Nigeria, buy our assets and begin to cannibalise them. We sold these companies to them so that they can be improved upon,” Bankole said. The speaker also picked holes on the banking consolidation. According to him, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, canvassed the idea, he gave the impression that banks would be bigger and serve the ordinary Nigerians better but regretted that the project has left Nigerians poorer through high interest rate and other high bank charges.

Anenih blames bad roads on Obasanjo edited by Femi Aderupatan

FORMER Minister of Works, Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday blamed the poor state of Nigerian roads on lack of funding by the Obasanjo administration which he accused of turning down his proposals for workable initiatives to boost the state of Nigerian roads. ObasanjoAppearing before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee, Anenih decried the spate of attacks on his person on the allegation that he expended N125 billion. Anenih also blamed National Assembly members for importing road projects into the budget but exonerated himself and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from blame in the demolition of toll gates by the Obasanjo administration. He regretted that the demolition of the toll gates denied the Federal Government a viable means of revenue. Anenih who testified for two hours and twenty six minutes submitted that the solution to the poor state of the nation’s highways was in allowing private sector participation in the building and running of the roadways. Besides Anenih, his successors in office including Colonel Garba Ali Madaki and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe also testified before the Senate Committee. Anenih was supported in his appearance by several of his political associates including Senators Odion Ugbesia and Yisa Braimah. Also present were former Senators Ifeanyi Araraume and Isaiah Balat and serving members of the House of Representatives from Edo State including Mr. Patrick Obahiagbon (PDP, Oredo Federal Constituency). Following the presentation of his written submission, panel members challenged Anenih who they repeatedly adored as leader. “You know I don’t talk, I don’t talk. If I am with somebody who talks, maybe I would have said more nasty things which an elderly person like me should not say, but I have blood running through my veins. You heard me saying that even highly educated people, people who are Governors, they talk nonsense at times without verifying their sources of information. The anger is not against the Committee and not against the Senate, but I expressed my anger generally up to the point of me taking a Governor to the court. He knew he was telling lies. Why did he go to the Oba of Benin to beg?” Anenih said in reference to the allegation by former Governor Orji Kalu of Abia State that he expended N300 billion as Minister. On the problems of Nigerian roads, Anenih said: “The government must be ready for proper planning. Before a road is awarded, the money is there, the contractor knows when to start, the ministry knows when to pay.” Anenih who admitted that the Benin-Ore road was due for proper reconstruction, in decrying allegations of misappropriation levelled at him, cited the 2001 report of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) which he claimed was written for the Auditor-General by the then Anambra State Secretary of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). “I want to put on record that either 2001 or 2002 there was an audit report on the Ministry of Works and some other ministries, incidentally prepared by somebody from Anambra State, and we later found out when a minister from the eastern state wanted to know the name of the Auditor that prepared the report we found that it was the state secretary of the ANPP and that report was rejected in totality. Maybe, that is the one the new Auditor found in his file and he came here to start writing about. “Historically in Nigeria, past administrations relied upon development plans spanning over a number of years to achieve planned road programmes. This ensured that road programmes once admitted into the rolling plan were executed to completion. “However, the rolling plan concept was replaced with a Presidential Policy Advisory Committee Report during Obasanjo’s administration. The main thrust of the report was to rehabilitate and maintain all federal highways to ensure an all-year-round usability. It also advocated a road reform programme that would have created a National Road Board and the establishment of a sustainable road fund, whose sources of funding were from highway tolls, vehicle taxes, trucks weigh-bridge and parking fees, and petroleum tax element (as collected by the defunct PTF). “All these were to be put in place within 100 days of the coming into being of the administration. However, this was not done.” Denies spending N400bn on roads “I have said that I will not engage in frivolous diversions and that I would concentrate on those issues that are relevant to the success of your all-important assignment. I am committed to this line of thought but let me quickly state that the celebrated N300 billion or N400 billion, alleged by some individuals to have been spent by me while I was in the Ministry, is not only a figment of their imagination but deliberate mischief. “It is simply a case of falsehood being perceived as reality when frequently repeated. The facts, which are available both in my past presentation and subsequent records from the Ministry, are public documents which a serious minded individual can obtain if only to satisfy his curiosity. Unfortunately, these unverified figures have formed the basis of various media attacks on my person by agents of anarchy and disunity, whose stock in trade is to denigrate the noble and pervert the cause of justice. “Instead of considering a properly articulated budgetary proposal placed before them and which would have addressed the condition of the federal highways, political consideration took the upper hand in budgeting. For instance, the National Assembly introduced new roads, federal, state or even local government that were not in the original budget submitted by the ministry. “For year 2001, I had cause to write to the then Senate President on the distortions in the Budget, which I highlighted. As a result of these distortions, project durations were unnecessarily extended, resulting in inflation claims and cost-over-runs by contractors. “Projects that were to last two or three years took up to five years because of delayed payments to Contractors. Projects that were so dear to the people were abandoned because contractors were not paid and such contracts were re-awarded at a higher cost. An example is the dualisation of the Abuja-Keffi road awarded with an initial contract sum of N10.497 billion with a completion period of two years. The project was, eventually, completed in 2007 (six years after) with the sum of N13.213 billion. “I must say that I did not expect the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to put on its records claims that were not authenticated. I am told that Senators also have limitless privilege of saying anything on the floor of the Senate. As Distinguished Senators, I advise that sentiments should not be the order of the day when matters affecting citizens are being considered. “No matter our personal and political interests, many of us have served Nigeria with sweat and blood. We worked hard to build and nurture our family names. Such efforts must not be contaminated or denigrated on the basis of emotions or diabolical designs when we are all working to build a better nation. “It will interest you to know that when in 2004 the former Governor of Abia State made wild and totally baseless allegations against me about N300 billion and that I wanted to kill him, I took him to a High Court in Abuja to give him the opportunity to prove his allegations. He led a delegation of traditional rulers from Abia State to the Oba of Benin, my royal father, who also invited me to the palace for a meeting. In that meeting, the said former Governor apologised and also followed it up with a written apology on the receipt of which I instructed my team of lawyers to withdraw the case against the former Abia State Governor. Most Nigerian newspapers reported this story at the time. “In my statement of claim before the High Court, I admitted that the Ministry of Works received N123 billion during my tenure. But the Senate said I admitted N200 billion, plus. That statement was false. I do hope that the Senate will be kind enough to amend its records,” he said. Write Comment Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security

By Femi Aderupatan: N86.3bn spent on railway project - During Obasanjo’s administration

THE government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo spent N86.29 billion on the moribund railway project, it has been revealed. However, the country’s railway system, despite this huge sum, has continued to be in comatose. The Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Robert Ejevami, said on Tuesday in Abuja that there were discrepancies in the N86.29 billion railway modernisation project, adding that while it was awarded for $250 million, $175 million was paid into the company’s foreign account while the balance of $75 million was paid into its Nigerian account. The AGF made the revelations while appearing at the public hearing into the management of funds allocated to the Transport and Works Ministries between 1999 and 2007. He said that another $250 million and N13 billion were also paid to the same contractor from the excess crude oil account, adding that the Federal Road Management Agency (FERMA) got N442.229 billion out of a budget of N566 billion. The AGF further said: “From the record from FERMA, it conceived 245 projects out of which 114 contracts have been completed at the cost of N415 billion. From the audit query by the FERMA internal auditors, N22 million was withdrawn in December 2007 without voucher backing it up. Such practice was against extant financial regulation.” The AGF said that another N67 million loan was approved by the last administration. The loan was yet to be paid. He stated that in view of the anticipatory approvals, the government placed an embargo of N50 billion on the Ministry of Works. He, however, stated that he did not know whether the N35 billion had been returned to the Natural Resources Development Fund. Ejenavi also added that a total of N2.2 billion had been spent on the Rehabilitation Project of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) between 1999 and 2008, adding that the shoddiness of the award process ensured that even the NRC on which behalf the contract was being executed was not aware of the payments. He said: “The office of the Auditor General has no power to audit parastatals which made it very difficult to ascertain the level of compliance with extant financial regulations.”  back   top  Across The Nation Teachers to commence strike next week if ... Death toll in Bayelsa clash now 16 - Militant leader on danger list Cement price will crash by 2010 - Dangote PDP asks court to stop elections in Lagos LCDAs NSE to sell N34.7bn NNPC holdings in AP Across The Nation Driving schools to come under FRSC control Bankole warns trouble makers in the House Shell resumes operations after militants’ attack Germany pledges support for EFCC 285m packets of condoms distributed in 2007 - Osotimehin Mantu’s days in Senate are over - Plateau AC Across The Nation Kwara rehabilitated 388.7km roads in 5 yrs - Commissioner Ogun to pay salaries of civil servants through e-payment 70% of drug sold in Nigeria are fake - Experts Nigerian faces life imprisonment in Britain - Over murder

Dangote Cement borrows $1.85 billion from GTB, UBA, edited by Femi Aderupatan

 

I

n an audacious move to bridge the supply-gap in cement production in the country, Dangote Cement has obtained $1.85 billion loan to build four cement plants.

A consortium of ten Nigerian banks, led by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, will provide the loan, whose agreement was signed yesterday.

United Bank for Africa Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Afribank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, PlatinumHabib Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, a unit of Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Ltd., are the other banks involved in the deal.

Dangote Cement said in a statement in Lagos that China National Materials Co., or Sinoma, the world’s largest provider of cement-making equipment, would build three of the plants in Nigeria and the fourth in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

According to the statement, other three facilities to be located at Obajana, in Kogi state, where Dangote already has a plant, and at Ibese and Shagamu in Ogun state will be completed in 26 months.

The plants will complement Dangote’s Obajana and Benue facilities and "provide the company with 26 million tonnes of manufactured cement production in Nigeria, and 2.5 million tonnes in Senegal by 2010," making the company the largest producer of the building material in Africa, the company’s Chairman, Aliko Dangote, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The company said it would, in partnership with Sephaku Holding Ltd.’s Sephaku Cement, establish a new plant in South Africa in 2010.

Dangote Cement, from its plants at Obajana and Benue Cement Plc, currently produces 8 million metric tonnes per annum. The cement group, however, is planning to expand capacity from both plants to 9.5 million metric tonnes per annum by 2009.

Dangote had earlier said the aim of the cement group was to ensure the price of cement, which has peaked at N2,000 a bag in spite of the provisional licences awarded 13 firms by the Federal Government to import bulk cement early this year, come down to less than N1,000 per bag by the time the new plants start production in 2010.

Dangote Group also controls Dangote Sugar Refining Co. Plc, the country’s sole sugar refiner, and Dangote Flour Mills Plc, which produces flour, pasta and polypropylene bags

Martins, Dumuje, others docked, remanded in EFCC custody-edited by Femi Aderupatan

An Abuja High Court on Monday ordered that the coordinator of the Police Equipment Fund (PEF), Chief Kenny Martins, his deputy, Ibrahim Dumuje and Dr. Yaro Gella be kept in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) pending when their formal application for bail would be filed and pronounced upon.

They were arraigned before the court by the EFCC on a three-count charge for allegedly stealing the sum of N740 million.
The amount was part of the N7. 740billion entrusted in their custody by the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and the Federal Government meant for the procurement of equipment for the Nigerian Police.

Justice Abubakar Talba made the order after refusing their oral application for bail that was argued by their counsels, Chief Mike Ozekhome and Dr. Tunji Abayomi.

Also charged with the offence that is punishable under section 312 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 1990 is a limited liability company, NIGEL-STAG.
The offence carries seven years imprisonment upon conviction.

Martins and others are to remain in EFCC custody till July 14 when the case was adjourned for hearing.
Justice Talba said they are at liberty to file and argue their written application for bail even before the adjourned date.

While delivering his ruling on their oral bail application, Justice Talba held that the accused did not place before him sufficient materials to enable him exercise his discretion judicially and judiciously, as required by law.

The accused were brought in court at exactly 1.25pm by operatives of the EFCC and mobile policemen in a white Toyota Hiace bus with Abuja registration number, AU 29 YAB.
Decked in traditional attire, the accused were handed a copy of the charge sheet each by their lawyers, while still seated in the bus.

At 1.30pm, they steeped out of the bus and walked into the courtroom, where they took their seats on the left hand side of the court, close to the dock.
They were moved into the dock to take their plea of not guilty 15 minutes later when the clerk of the court called the case.

The prosecution counsel, Mr. Chile Okoroma, applied that the charge be read to the accused persons. After that, their plea was taken, Chief Ozekhome moved an oral application for their bail, citing a plethora of legal authorities to support his submissions. He told the court that if released on bail, his clients would be available to stand trial and that they would not interfere with further investigation of the case.

Ozekhome said:“The accused persons have been in detention since last Wednesday. They will not jump bail as they are distinguished Nigerians and will come to court for their trial. One of the reasons that we are asking the court to grant bail is to enable the accused persons to come forward and stand trial. The court has powers under Section 342 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to direct that the accused persons be admitted to bail.

“That section has emphasized the potency of Section 341 of the CPC. Section 342 emphasized the enormous powers of your lordship to do justice and give liberty to individuals. The law, in section 34 and 35 of the 1999 constitution, holds that my lord should presume the innocence of an accused person until found guilty.

“The onus now shifts to the prosecution to show that the applicants should not be granted bail. On the issue of the severity of the offence, I submit that counts one and two are the same. One is misuse and the other is conversion. It is tantamount to trying to play Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. I urge the court to look from justice to law rather than from law to justice and grant them bail in liberal terms.”
In opposition to the application, EFCC counsel, Okoroma, informed the court of the likelihood of bringing additional charges against the accused person.

He told the court to refuse the oral application on the grounds that there were no sufficient materials placed before the court to enable it take a decision on the application in either way.
He said: “We are vehemently opposing the application. The power of the court to grant bail is as contained in Section 35(4) of the constitution and is further enhance by section 341 of the CPC. My lord, the power of the court to grant bail is discretional and has to be exercised judiciously and judicially.
“Bail is not automatic. The accused are standing trial under section 312 of the penal code act and it prescribes a term of seven years on conviction. It is the responsibilities of the accused persons to place before the court sufficient material that will make it exercise its discretion. Rather than do that, more emphasis was placed on the case of Abiola and the State, which was at the Federal High Court and trials at the Federal High Court are summarily trails.”

Martins and Dumuje are also standing trial before an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court over charges of forgery.

The charges against them at the magistrate court read:
 That you, Joni Icheka, Cosmas Okpara, Kenny Martins and Ibrahim Dumuje (now at large) on or about the 31st day of March, 2006 at Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, within the Abuja Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit: forge documents relating to Corporate Affairs Commission and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 96(1) the Penal Code, Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1999 (Abuja).

 That you, Joni Icheka, Cosmas Okpara, Kenny Martins and Ibrahim Dumuje (now at large) on or about the 31st day of March 2006 at same place within the Abuja Magisterial District did forge form CAC.7 of NIGERSTALG LIMITED with intent to defraud the Police Equipment Fund and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 364 of Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 (Abuja).

Oil prices waver on dollar, supply concerns edited by Femi Aderupatan

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil futures fluctuated Tuesday as traders awaited significant news that could help the market break out of a trading range that has lasted for more than two weeks. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, slid below a national average of $4.07 a gallon.

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Some investors were buying in response to another drop in the dollar. When the dollar loses ground, crude and other commodities tend to rise on their appeal as a hedge against inflation. Also, a weaker dollar makes oil less expensive to investors dealing in other currencies. Many analysts believe the dollar's protracted decline has been one of the main reasons oil has nearly doubled in value over the past year.

But any gains Tuesday were being limited by concerns about the impact high prices are having on demand, and worries about Congress' increasing scrutiny of the oil market.

In a weekly report, MasterCard's SpendingPulse survey found that demand for gasoline fell 2.7 percent last week compared to the same week last year, and is off by an average of 3.6 over the last four weeks compared to the same period in 2007.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 55 cents to $136.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but occasionally rose into positive territory.

Prices drew some support from recent production outages in Nigeria. But reports of an oil workers strike, which helped push prices higher on Monday, were denied by Babatunde Ogun, president of Pengassan, Nigeria's white-collar oil union.

"There's no strike," Ogun said. "We're trying to settle the matter."

Ogun said talks continued Tuesday among his union, Chevron Corp. and government mediators in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer and a major U.S. supplier.

Separately, a government-appointed mediator charged with leading a peace conference on Nigeria's oil region called Tuesday for a 90-day truce in the area. On Sunday, the region's main militant group has said it will not attend the conference, but announced a unilateral cease-fire.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil insisted Tuesday that oil producers saw no need to raise supply, blaming high prices on factors such as U.S. pressure on Iran over its nuclear program and the weak dollar. Khelil's comments came days after Saudi Arabia disappointed the crude futures market by saying it would boost production less than many had hoped.

Another support for prices came from new sanctions against Iran approved by European Union nations, imposing additional financial and travel restrictions on a list of Iranian companies and experts including the country's largest bank. The 27-nation bloc stopped short of banning oil and gas exports from Iran, OPEC's second-largest producer, in response to its nuclear program plans.

A litany of recent reports from the Energy and Transportation departments has offered concrete evidence American consumers are driving less in response to high prices. At the pump, the average price of a gallon of regular gas slipped 0.3 cent overnight to $4.069 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Still, prices are $1.09 higher than a year ago.

"We're seeing demand deterioration in the U.S.," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

Vienna-based JBC Energy predicted U.S. gasoline demand will fall 1.7 percent this year compared to 2007, citing Department of Transportation reports showing that U.S. vehicular traffic fell by 2.1 percent between January and April of this year compared to the same period last year.

Increased scrutiny of oil trading practices is keeping some potential investors on the sidelines, analysts said. At least nine bills aimed at curbing speculation in oil contracts have been introduced in Congress in recent weeks. Michael Masters, managing member of hedge fund Masters Capital Management told Congress Tuesday that eliminating excessive speculation could lower oil prices to around $65. But pension fund managers testifying Tuesday said high prices are not their fault, arguing that pension funds place less than 1 percent of their assets in commodities.

In other Nymex trading Tuesday, July gasoline futures rose 0.09 cent to $3.456 a gallon, and July heating oil futures rose 1.54 cent to $3.8118 a gallon. July natural gas futures fell 25.2 cents to $12.951 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, August Brent crude futures fell 12 cents to $135.80 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

AP Business Writer Matthew Perrone in Washington, Associated Press writers Edward Harris in Lagos, Nigeria, Bashir Adigun, in Abuja, Nigeria, Aoife White in Brussels, Belgium, George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report