Gunmen believed to be from the Boko Haram group opened fire on the pupils, who were in school uniform, at a school on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

Boko Haram said the attack was to punish youngsters for helping the army.

Some survivors said it was a response to the emergence of vigilante groups in the town.

North-eastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency as the government tries to defeat an Islamist insurgency.

Witness Ibrahim Mohammed said he was taking exams in a classroom at Ansarudeen School when gunmen stormed the building.

“I saw five students sitting the exams killed on the spot,” he said.

“Four others were killed as they were entering the school premises.”

Hospital workers confirmed that the bodies of nine children, still in their uniforms, had been taken to the mortuary in Maiduguri.

A spokesman for Boko Haram handed a message to local journalists saying that the attack was to punish youngsters for assisting the army.

The  Will Ross in Lagos says vigilante groups have been springing up in Maiduguri with young men wielding metal pipes, clubs and machetes handing suspected militants over to the army.

A military spokesman said all those handed over would be given a fair hearing.

However, with hundreds of people being held in detention and few ever coming to court, there is a danger that the vigilante groups could be used to settle scores, our correspondent says.

On Sunday, a school in Damaturu was attacked by suspected Boko Haram gunmen and 13 people including students and teachers were killed.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency on north-east Nigeria last month and thousands more troops were sent to fight the Islamist militants.

So far there is no evidence to suggest that large numbers of Boko Haram fighters have been killed, our correspondent adds.

In a separate attack by the group, a farming village of Alau Dam was also overrun where 13 persons comprising fishermen and tea vendors were gunned down. Monday’s attacks were the third in a space of five days.

The sect had laid siege on Gwoza hill in Borno State where they killed a clergyman and burnt down four churches on Thursday, while on Sunday the terrorists attacked a school in Damaturu, Yobe State where they killed seven students and two teachers.
It was gathered that five of the students killed on Monday were sitting for the ongoing NECO exam at Ansarudeen Primary/Secondary School, a private school in the Jajeri ward of Maiduguri metropolis.

Eyewitness accounts revealed that after storming the school, the suspected sect members opened fire on the hall, moments after the examination started.
One of the eyewitnesses, who spoke anonymously with journalists, said the gunmen attacked the school at about 3 pm, forcing other students and invigilators to take to their heels.

On the same Monday, it was gathered that some Boko Haram sect members attacked Alau Dam, on the outskirts of Maiduguri killing a total of 13 persons.

An eyewitness said the gunmen ambushed the people around the dam and sporadically opened fire on them. The gunmen were said to have continuously shouted at their victims: “You are those exposing our activities to security agencies, today your days are over, as we will kill all of you.”
A few weeks ago, some groups of youths on a volunteer mission arrested several members of the sect in Hausari and Gwange, among other areas of Maiduguri and handed them over to the JTF.

Alau Dam is one of the biggest dams in the state and operates a treatment plant that supplies water to the people of Maiduguri and its environs.
It also supplies water to vast areas of agricultural land through irrigation to farmers living around the riverine areas.

It was learnt that among those killed were youths of Gwange ward of Maiduguri metropolis who had gone to Alau Dam to buy fish.
A resident of Gwange and a neighbour of one of the slain victims, Mallam Mohammed Musa, told journalists, “One of my neighbours was among the 13 people killed by suspected Boko Haram members in Alau Dam on Monday.
“It was yesterday after Magrib (evening) prayers that the news of the killings filtered to our community.”

Meanwhile, the deadly Boko Haram sect yesterday declared war on youths from Borno and Yobe States for exposing their hideouts to security agents and killing some of their members in recent weeks.

The fundamentalist group said that in addition to their targets: the police, soldiers, all security operatives, politicians and other symbols of authority, the youths of the two states have now been added to the assassination list.

Angered by the lingering crises that had crippled social and economic activities in both states, some youths had organised themselves into vigilante groups, captured scores of insurgents and handed them over to security operatives.

But in a statement e-mailed to some Maiduguri-based journalists, Abu Zinnira, the spokesman of the Boko Haram, said they had decided to also launch a manhunt for their hunters (youths) who go by the name “Civilian JTF”.

According to him, “We have established that youths in Borno and Yobe States are now against our course. They have connived with security operatives and are actively supporting the government of Nigeria in its war against us. We have also resolved to fight back,” Zinnira said.

However, some of the youths who promised to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in Maiduguri said they would not be deterred from carrying out their mission and there would be no going back on the course they had started so as to bring sanity back to their beloved states.

ABUJA—Intense horse trading was on last night to determine the fate of embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

While Tukur was adamant last night that he would not step down, his adversaries in the party closed ranks to push him out.

Tukur and members of his National Working Committee, NWC, last night launched desperate moves to counter the overwhelming pressure for their resignation from major party stakeholders.

PDP National Chairman, Dr Bamanga Tukur

Their efforts, including a meeting with the President was remarkably being countered from intense lobby by the second ring of national officers of the party, who themselves, yesterday, launched their campaign to replace embattled national officers of the party.

A defiant Tukur at the end of a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan said he would not resign tomorrow, insisting that only the eight national officers affected by the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, would leave office.

Fate still hanging

His fate, Vanguard learnt, was still to be considered in a series of official and unofficial party meetings to be held ahead of tomorrow’s NEC meeting.

The leadership of the National Assembly, who also forms a powerful bloc within the party’s NEC, also met the President yesterday. At the end of the meeting, Deputy President of  Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu said the legislators were still consulting on the fate of Tukur and his officials.

The national caucus meeting was on-going last night, while the Board of Trustees, BoT meeting, is to hold today. It is expected that Tukur’s fate could be decided at the end of the two meetings.

The latest crisis in the party was sparked after the Senator Anyim Pius Anyim-led Presidential Committee on the crises in the PDP submitted a report Monday night recommending the resignation of Tukur and all members of the NWC. The recommendation was based on fallouts from the report of the INEC on the PDP National Convention of March 2012 which was faulted by the electoral umpire as irregular. The INEC report had alleged that eight of the NWC officers were improperly elected. Upon the INEC report, some members of the party had gone to court to seek dismissal of the affected officers from office.

The Anyim committee, it was learnt, had recommended that members of the NWC step down not only to avert possible negative political consequences of allowing them to conduct a future presidential convention that could be legally defective. But yesterday, Tukur was defiant as he affirmed his determination to weather the storm after leading members of the NWC to a meeting with the President.

Tukur said his position as chairman of the party was not affected by the Anyim committee report upon which the news reports were based.

Affirming that there is no vacancy in the position of PDP National Chairman, he said the meeting with the President dwelt on rectifying the positions of the eight NWC members who were not properly elected.

Resign for what?

“It is not true that I am resigning. Resign for what? It is not true at all. We are here to run the PDP and we have done so and we will continue to run the PDP. We are going to have our caucus tonight, we are going to have BoT tomorrow (today); we are going to have our NEC on Thursday.

“It is not true, Chairman is there dam dam. The chairman is not only in office, he is in power. In PDP, there is no vacancy in the national chairmanship. The meeting is about regularising the family of PDP because there was an INEC observation, some of the members of the NWC were not properly elected so it has to be regularized.

“Those who have not been elected will resign and they will go back, they will have opportunity to regularize. About eight people are affected. There are three people that are not affected; they, the National Chairman, the National Financial Secretary, National Auditor and of course National Secretary which is vacant now.

“The other eight people- all the deputies, and ex-officios and the rest of them whose elections in the convention were considered irregular, by INEC, would resign,” Tukur stated.

His assertion nonetheless, it was learnt, yesterday, that plans were already on the way to nominate Professor Jerry Gana to lead a caretaker committee that will oversee affairs of the party pending the coming of a new set of NWC officials.

A source also revealed that Senator Stella Omu from South-South would also serve as a member of the Committee with other members drawn from the BoT to represent the geo-political zones of the country.

Vanguard also gathered that the Secretary of BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin and the Political Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak were last night locked in a meeting at Legacy House, Maitama drawing the final list of the caretaker committee preparatory to presenting them before the BoT today.

Vanguard also gathered that the Gana-led Committee would oversee party affairs pending when zonal and mini congresses are held in July for the purpose of electing a new NWC.

PDP’s 2nd eleven gears up

Also yesterday, elected deputy national officers of the party who are the second ring of national officers after the NWC members launched a campaign to replace the embattled NWC members.

The officers who went as a group in a white Coaster bus first met with Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State at the Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja from where they proceeded with the governor to meet with the President. The outcome of their meeting could not be ascertained last night.

The deputies are campaigning that since there are no provisions for a caretaker committee in the constitution of the party and that based on Section 45 of the 2012 PDP constitution as amended, they should take over.

According to Section 45 (1) of the constitution, “:if a National Officer of the Party is removed or resigns from office, he shall immediately hand over to the National Secretary all records, files and other properties of the Party in his or possession.

(2) In the case of the National Chairman, he shall hand over to the Deputy National Chairman who shall, without prejudice to Section 45(6) of this Constitution, act as the National Chairman pending the election of a replacement.

(3) In the case of National Secretary, he shall hand over to the Deputy National Secretary.

(4) This provision shall apply mutatis mutandis to other levels of the Party structure.”

The National Deputy officers of party are Senator Umaru Tsauri, Deputy National Auditor; Mrs Hannatu Ullam, Deputy National Women Leader; Dr. Okey Nnaedozie, Deputy National Organising Secretary; Binta Masi Garba, Deputy National Publicity Secretary; Awwalu Gwadabe, Deputy National Financial Secretary; Barrister Mohammed Doho, Deputy National Legal Adviser; Dennis Alonge-Niyi, Deputy National Youth Leader and Clafius Enegesi, Deputy National Treasurer.

Appointees, aides mull situation

At the National Secretariat of PDP yesterday, dozens of political appointees and personal aides to the affected NWC members as well as staff of the party were seen in clusters outside their offices discussing in very low tone over the developments.

Some of the NWC members including the National Woman Leader, Kema Chikwe; National Financial Secretary, Elder Bolaji Anani; National Youth Leader, Umar Chiza; the National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha and the National Auditor, Adewale Adeyanju came into their respective offices briefly.

The Anyim-led presidential committee set up by President Jonathan to X-ray the lingering crises rocking the PDP recommended that the Tukur-led NWC should resign as a solution to the problems that have engulfed the party since the emergence of Tukur as National Chairman last year.

President Goodluck Jonathan had on June 8, set up a committee, with Anyim Pius Anyim, as Chairman, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe; governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom; Ibrahim Shema of Katsina; Theodore Orji of Abia; Isa Yuguda of Bauchi; Gabriel Suswam of Benue and Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and the Political Adviser to the President, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak as members to recommend ways of arresting the worsening crisis in the PDP.

Anyim’s report had recommended that though Tukur and former National Secretary and National Auditor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Elder Bolaji Anani and Bode Mustapha respectively were the only officers duly elected, the committee nevertheless called for Tukur’s resignation on the grounds that it would be untidy to allow him remain in office.

Besides the National Chairman, other members of the NWC whose resignation are being demanded are the Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja; the Acting National Secretary, Solomon Onwe; National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha; National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh; National Auditor, Adewale Adeyanju; National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon; National Woman Leader, Kema Chikwe; National Financial Secretary, Elder Bolaji Anani; National Youth leader, Garba Umar Chiza; and  National Treasurer, Bala Kaoje.

We are still consulting – Ekweremadu

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ekweremadu who led the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Leader of the Senate, Abdul Ningi and the Deputy House Leader, Hon Leo Ogor told State House correspondents that the meeting was part of consultations with the President on how to resolve the crises in the party. Ekweremadu was hopeful that despite the crises in the party, it will come out stronger.

“It is a routine consultation between the President and the leadership of the National Assembly. But this one has to do with our party’s issues because we are of the same political party. It is essentially a party affair,” he said.

On media reports that the chairman and some members of  the National Executive Committee would  resign, Ekweremadu  said “we are still consulting. In the evening (yesterday) we are going to have a national caucus of the party to look at all the options available to the party.

This is a party of consultation so that by tomorrow (today) or later this evening we will have a position of the PDP on these issues,” he said.

The congress, in a statement by its President, Abdulwaheed Omar, said there was no assurance that the cost of governance would reduce if government should carry out  the rationalisation exercise as recommended by the committee, headed by a former Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Steve Oronsaye.
According to him, this is because there is no ”commitment to a noble philosophy or objectives capable of transforming the public service”.

He noted that a perfunctory audit would reveal that workers’ salaries in the civil service  constitute a negligible percentage of government’s  running costs.

He explained that high cost of governance is caused by grossly over bloated contracts, ridiculously high numbers of political appointees whose duties add little or no value to the system, weak internal governance structure and poor accountability.

He  urged the federal government to fight  corruption and invest in human capital development, adding that this would help in realising one of the government’s objectives of having a functional and effective civil service.

Omar, however, expressed the readiness of the congress to  support the establishment of a functional and dynamic bureaucracy  capable of making the nation proud, stressing that this process can be achieved without  creating a labour crisis .

The statement reads:  “The Nigeria Labour Congress wishes to call for utmost care  and sense of responsibility as the Federal  Executive Council (FEC) commences the comprehensive review of the draft White Paper on the Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, otherwise known as the Oronsaye Committee. While government’s overriding interest is how much money it could save from this exercise, the NLC  would have the government focus on the enthronement of transparency, competency and other time-honoured values of service.

“It will therefore frown at, and even resist any attempt to make workers victims of the exercise.
“Congress gives its unwavering support to the establishment of a functional and dynamic bureaucracy, capable of making the nation proud and believes this process can be achieved not through the mindless creation of a labour market crisis. A perfunctory audit will certainly reveal that workers’ salaries in these establishments constitute a negligible percentage of their running costs. High cost of governance is made inevitable by grossly over bloated contracts, ridiculously high numbers of political appointees whose duties add little or no value to the system, weak internal governance structure and poor accountability.

“In our view therefore, that getting rid of corruption and investing in human capital development will help in no small way in realising this objective instead of “saving costs” as the primary objective.

“For the purpose of emphasis, there is no assurance that even if the parastatals were reduced  to 10 without demonstrable commitment to a noble philosophy or objectives capable of transforming the public service,  that there would  be a reduction in the running cost of  government. Government, we believe, should also note that unlike the private sector, its primary objective is not profit. Its penchant for ‘ad-hocism’ without regard for due process created the situation it has found itself. This exercise avails it the opportunity of redressing this wrong and restoring powers, resources, rhythm and functionality to ministries.”

“Similarly, this exercise, the ongoing constitutional review  and specific efforts at remodelling the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation and Fiscal Commission all provide the needed opportunity to abrogate the offensive disparity in wages between civil servants and political office holders who in spite of their advantages, always manage to arrange for themselves gratuity and pension  when they are not deserving of any. They eat their cake and have it. In the end, we shall hold government by its promise that this exercise “is not targeted at pushing anybody out of work…” or “…in  making life difficult for anybody.”

THISDAY sources at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the decision was taken to “save the party from imminent collapse”.

The directive to Tukur and other NWC members to step down came on the heels of the decision to lift the suspension slammed on the Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, by the PDP for insubordination.
THISDAY had exclusively reported last week that the president had set up a committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, to resolve the crises in the party.

Other members of the committee included the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, the President’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, Governors Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi) and Theodore Orji (Abia).
All members of the committee were present at their inaugural meeting last Saturday night except Suswam.

Part of the recommendations that were to be made by the committee, THISDAY had learnt, was for the resignation of the four NWC members whose election had been recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Although other members of the NWC may be considered collateral damage, the real target, THISDAY learnt, was Tukur, who had been blamed by several governors and other party chieftains for most of the crises in the party.

The presidential directive was said to have been conveyed to Tukur at a meeting at the Legacy House, Abuja, attended by Anyim and four PDP governors.

According to party sources, “The president directed that the entire NWC members should resign and that the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting be convened immediately.

“The directive was as a result of the seemingly rudderless leadership headed by Alhaji Tukur, which had been taking unilateral actions, including the suspension of its top members.

“The president is unhappy with the inability of Tukur to contain the growing level of indiscipline and discontent among members of the party.
“Also, the presidency is worried about the number of court cases pending in the various courts, even against the NWC members.

“The president has told them that if nothing urgent is done to save the party, it will get to an embarrassing point which is why he directed the resignation of the NWC members to stave off future embarrassment.
“The president believes that once the NWC is out of place and a mid-term convention holds to elect a new set of executives, the trouble and legal works will fizzle out.”

However, before the presidential directive had reached Tukur Monday, the party’s national chairman had earlier in the day announced the lifting of the suspension slammed on Wamakko by the party.

But he was silent on Wamakko’s Rivers State counterpart, Chibuike Amaechi, who was also suspended by the party for anti-party activities about a month ago.

He also announced that the party would hold its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday, June 20, 2013 by 12 noon. The last NEC meeting of the PDP was held a year ago in July.

THISDAY had also exclusively reported yesterday that the Anyim-led committee was scheduled to meet with the NWC yesterday, during which a recommendation for Wamakko’s recall from suspension was going to be made.

The Anyim-led committee, which met during the weekend, had resolved to push for Wamakko’s immediate recall, as his suspension was considered a costly mistake on the part of the party.

However, providing clarification on the decision not to rescind the suspension of Amaechi, Akpabio told journalists yesterday shortly after the decision on Wamakko was taken that the party could not have lifted Amaechi’s suspension because he was already in court.

“The matter is in court and doing anything on it would be prejudicial. He is in court,” Akpabio explained.
Wamakko was suspended by the NWC on June 5 for allegedly disrespecting Tukur.

Following his suspension, the PDP crises had taken a turn for the worse, especially coming on the heels of Amaechi’s suspension.

Addressing reporters after a two-hour meeting the NWC members held with the presidential committee, Tukur said: “NWC has rescinded the suspension of the Sokoto State governor on the appeal of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

“Secondly, the national chairman is inviting PDP statutory members to the meeting of National Executive Committee holding on Thursday, 20 at 12 noon.”

Speaking further on Wamakko’s suspension, Tukur added: “I hope this issue will never come again. It is a great party and we believe in our nation. We need a party as a platform to stand on, but it must be based on unity, discipline and commitment.

“We are also going to have the NEC meeting, and we have the support to rescind the suspension, which is a very important thing. We rescind the suspension of our governor of Sokoto.

“With that, we are ready for further business because the NEC meeting is the requirement of our own party, which is a way to get in touch with the people to tell them of our programmes like the state of the nation and also state of the party.
“So we are going to have our NEC meeting on Thursday the 20th of this month by 12 noon.”
Speaking shortly after Tukur had addressed the press, Akpabio said: “I want to thank the national chairman and members of the working committee for granting us the privilege of this meeting today.

“We came as a select committee of the Peoples Democratic Party to discuss the state of affairs of our great party, particularly the relationship between the working committee and the PDP governors and I want to say that we made a very strong appeal to the working committee on behalf of our colleague, the governor of Sokoto State, Governor Wamakko.

“Our appeal was very simple that the working committee should reconsider the suspension, the decision suspending the governor and we said as guarantors that we will be of good conduct and will do everything possible to continue to show respect to our party and to ensure that a cordial relationship is maintained between the working committee and the PDP governors.”

Akpabio explained that their decision to appeal on behalf of Wamakko was based on numerous media reports, some of which, he said, were misleading and did not reflect the true relationship that exists between the PDP governors and NWC.

“We are mindful of the fact that we are governors today because the PDP gave us the opportunity to fly its flag. Therefore, we will not do anything to undermine the party.

“Our appeal was very simple to the working committee that the working committee should reconsider the suspension of our colleague and just like they say both in the Koran and in the Bible: ‘When your child offends you, you chastise the child but you call him back.’

“Yes, indeed, the suspension is a clear indication that the party does not like indiscipline but we appealed that the decision should be rescinded and we gave an undertaking to ensure that our colleague, the governor of Sokoto would come with us to meet with the NWC.
“After that, whatever the issue of contention is, will be definitely resolved. That was our appeal and that was our mission,” he said.

On the other aspect of the committee’s meeting with the NWC, Akpabio added: “The working committee has also acceded to the request by the PDP governors that there is a need for us to have a meeting of the National Executive Committee.

“We have not had it for quite some time. But when we meet, we can look at the status of our party and discuss issues affecting us, and so that we can sit down as a strong party Nigerians have confidence in.”
On the decision by the party not to rescind Amaechi’s suspension, Akpabio maintained, “The matter is in court and it would be prejudicial to discuss any matter in court.”

In the meantime, THISDAY learnt that at the NEC meeting of the party on Thursday, the party would consider the appointment of an interim national chairman who would hold forth until the mid-term convention.

Names that were thrown up last night included the former governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Mu’azu, and former national secretary of the party, Musa Babayo, among others.

However, THISDAY gathered that Mu’azu’s chances may be slim due to the opposition he may face from his governor and the state chapter of the party.
Since the 2007 general election, there has been no love lost between Yuguda and Mu’azu.