 |
| Quadri Adesina |
Azeez reportedly wanted to wrest the gun from the suspect when a bullet hit him in the thigh. He was rushed to a hospital in the area, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Friday, November 11, 2016
|
| OPEC Headquarters |
OPEC said Friday that it pumped oil at record levels last month even though the cartel aims to agree a production cut in less than three weeks in an effort to boost prices.
The Oorganisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in September in Algiers to trim production but the accord still has to be finalised on November 30 in Vienna.
The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company said on Friday it lost N2.2bn in revenue to unpaid bills and electricity wastage by consumers.
The Managing Director of 4Power, owners of PHED, Mr. Matthew Edevbie, said that 90 per cent of meters in homes were by-passed which was partly responsible for the revenue loss.
|
| Simon |
A woman, Biola Simon, has been arrested by the police in Lagos State for allegedly defrauding bank customers after giving them fake prophecies in the Dopemu area.
Our correspondent learnt that Simon, who came from Ibadan, Oyo State, was arrested on Thursday by the Dopemu Police Division, after one of her victims reported her to the police.
While the suspect was arrested, it was learnt that other suspected accomplices fled.
|
| Suspected kidnappers and armed robbers, File copy |
Kidnapping is like a business to me- suspect
Godwin Udoh, Asaba
A suspected kidnapper has said that he earned money running into several millions of naira while he engaged in the criminal act.
He confessed that he bought cars with his earnings and that he was proposing to establish a private business before he was caught.
The suspect, Joshua Okoh, disclosed this when he was paraded by Police in Asaba, Delta State.
|
| File: Buhari and Saraki |
Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari and the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Friday met behind closed door again in continuation of consultations on the President’s $30bn loan request which was rejected by the Senate recently.
That was the third time the two leaders will be meeting within one week on the issue.
|
| Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris |
Robbers invaded the rustic town of Otun-Ekiti in Moba Local Government Area of Ekiti State on Thursday and killed four persons in simultaneous attacks that included two banks.
It was learnt that policemen at the scene fled from the firepower of the armed robbers who laid siege to the entire town for about an hour.
The victims of the attacks were the manager and cashier of a commercial bank, a security man at another commercial bank and the night guard to the town’s monarch, Oba Adedapo Popoola.
|
| Oba Goriola Oseni, Suspects |
“My abductors demanded N500m ransom but my family paid N15.1m to free me” the traditional ruler of Iba Town, Oba Goriola Oseni, told a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere.
Oseni said this on Friday while giving evidence at the commencement of trial of the four men accused of kidnapping him.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday met behind closed doors with Deputy President of Kenya, Mr. Williams Ruto, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The president also met with the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
|
| Arsenal’s midfielder Mesut Özil celebrates after scoring a goal during the UEFA Champions League Group A football match between PFC Ludogorets and Arsenal, on November 1, 2016 at the Vassil Levski stadium in Sofia. / AFP PHOTO / NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV |
Manchester United will try to take advantage of a stand-off between Mesut Ozil’s advisers and Arsenal chiefs over his wage demands.
An investigation into whether Brad Pitt was abusive toward
his son on a private flight in September says the case has
been closed with no finding of abuse by the actor, a source
familiar with the inquiry said Wednesday.
Jolie And Pitt
his son on a private flight in September says the case has
been closed with no finding of abuse by the actor, a source
familiar with the inquiry said Wednesday.
Jolie And Pitt
A billionaire Saudi prince has congratulated US president-elect Donald Trump after previously calling him a disgrace who should have pulled out of the race.
“President elect @realDonaldTrump whatever the past differences, America has spoken, congratulations & best wishes for your presidency,” Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said on his official
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Prof. Wole Soyinka
We cannot claim to be weeping more than the bereaved.
The 2016 American presidential election is over and the major gladiators have pledged to work towards the future of their great nation. The best candidate may not always win in an election, not least in one where diverse sentiments compete and contend.
There may be those aggrieved by the election of Donald Trump, but the transparency of the
electoral process has not been questioned.
I understand Prof Wole Soyinka is plotting to tear his Green Card because of the outcome of an election in a nation that is not his. I will advise the eminent Professor, as one of his numerous admirers, that not to tear his card if he thinks he may still have need for it.
Come January 20, 2017, Trump will be President of the USA and Soyinka’s protest may not even be documented in the history books.
Let us all work towards a better and great future for Nigeria, and moderate our obsession with America. Let our religious leaders work towards the eradication of corruption and stop faking predictions on who will win an election in a foreign nation.
Anthony Akinola,
Oxford, United Kingdom
Ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed
Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
The immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, on Thursday appealed to Nigerians to help fish out corrupt elements in the judiciary.
He said corruption was present in all spheres of the country and the judiciary is not an exception.
Mohammed spoke with State House correspondents shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated Justice Walter Onnoghen as the acting CJN at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The ex-CJN retired on Thursday on the attainment of the mandatory 70 year’s retirement age.
He said with the support of all Nigerians, the judiciary would be put in a better stead to help revamp the nation’s economy.
He said, “We agree, corruption is everywhere, but you see we are all Nigerians.
“In the judiciary, it is there we need the assistance of all Nigerians to help fish out those corrupt elements within us so that we could fight with vigour to deliver a clean judiciary for the nation to fight against corruption and to assist in revamping the economy for the interest of this nation in order to secure economy all over.
“This is because the judiciary has a big role to play in every aspect of our lives.”
Some judges and justices of the Supreme Court were recently arrested and questioned over alleged corrupt practices.
The raids on the affected judicial officers’ homes by officials of the Department of State Services were said to have led to the recovery of huge amounts of money in different currency.
US President-elect Donald Trump flanked by members of his family / AFP PHOTO / Timothy A. CLARY
The newly elected President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, has things in common with President Muhammadu Buhari. In fact, the US elections produced several interesting parallels between Nigeria and America; one is the divisiveness occasioned by some of the most virulent rhetoric ever traded during a campaign. In the age of social media, it is uncertain the practice of democracy will ever retain any display of civility. In Nigeria last year and in the US this year, I witnessed much bad blood pumped by people who would have to reformat their relationships after the elections. It is interesting how Americans, like Nigerians, also voted “change.” Both also clamoured for an anti-establishment candidate.
Recently, Buhari admitted that after he had been elected, and he saw the depth of rot in Nigeria’s government, he felt like running away. I believe after the initial euphoria of winning, and Trump settles down to work, he will have his own “Buhari Moment” even though he may not be tactless enough to admit it publicly. Buhari’s confession, incidentally, did not elicit much shock from the nation; I guess it was because we are used to his jeremiad. Such admissions only reiterate what we have known by now: he was never quite prepared for the Presidency, he only wanted to be President.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Buhari, shortly after he won the election, panicked and started saying he had no magic wand to correct Nigeria’s problems. To think that only weeks earlier, he had been campaigning like he had one. He became President only to find he had a real job, one he could not do by standing on the sidelines and griping about “corruption” all day. Sometime after, he also claimed he would have been a much better performer if he had age on his side. Trump is another unprepared president who made it this far largely because he had a celebrity reputation that preceded both him or his abilities. I do not think when he declared his interest to run he imagined he would actually win but along the line he successfully keyed into racist, sexist, nativist, and extreme rightist sentiment pervading a section of American demographics. His demagoguery and bigotry might be shocking to folks who expect better of America but it resonated with Americans who fear a white genocide: That liberal ideologies that permit immigrants, terrorism and refugees threaten whiteness.
Trump that has no serious idea how a nation works in the 21st century garnered attention because he ramped up denigrating rhetoric. There are, of course, Americans who genuinely believed in Trump and (naively, I think) assume if he would run the nation like his businesses (at least the ones that succeeded), America may emerge “great” again. There are others who wanted an outsider, someone who does not typify the rot and corruption of Washington. It remains to be seen how that works out for the US; at least it has not worked for Nigeria. Trump will soon realise it takes more than personal charisma, “body language,” braggadocio, and ranting about the incumbent to run a complex society.
I look back at the 2015 elections and still marvel how Buhari’s handlers shielded him from the cerebral aspect of the contest. He shunned debates and his supporters were too enamoured with his mystique to press him for an agenda. He went all over the country with an unrealistic manifesto. The few times he granted an interview, we were alarmed at his moldiness. When he said he would stabilise the oil market and make naira equal to a dollar, it was obvious he was an economic virgin. On the campaign trail, Trump has made equally laughable comments about the economy. During the three debates he had with his opponent, Hillary Clinton, he was out of his depth on any issue and only managed to bluster through.
Some of Trump’s brightest economic ideas have been about protectionism, most of which does not take into account the reality of how trade policies have actually benefited the US. If he tries to execute some of the ideas he has been flaunting for months, he would be shocked how it would backfire. Some of the arguments made for Buhari was also made for Trump – that he would employ hands far more capable than him to help steer the country. From afar, it seems like a feasible idea but a leader with only an elementary knowledge of governance will find himself reeling at the complexity of his job and soon begin to falter. Buhari took almost a year to form a cabinet and when he eventually did, nobody was wowed. Trump, a narcissist, may even be less rigorous and instead build the government around himself just like he did his campaigns.
The fear of what Trump portends, however, is much more than whether he will tank the US economy or not. Trump also happens to be one of the most divisive human beings to run an election in contemporary times. Because he receives support from white nationalists such as the Ku Klux Klan, they will now be emboldened to crawl out of the woodwork and declare an open season of racism. For Muslims, ethnic and racial minorities, women, and the disabled, and all the groups that have been a target for white supremacist vitriol under President Barack Obama, the next four years will be a fight to retain their dignity in Trump’s America. Trump already described himself as the “law and order” candidate and anyone who knows the history of America understands what kind of dog whistle that is. These are interesting times.
We can argue that America has strong democratic institutions but no matter how entrenched the habits of democracy, no system can survive abuses by despots and dictators. Trump boasted that if he won he would tweak current libel laws against the media. A presidential candidate threatening what is tantamount to Decree 4 is almost unthinkable. When a leader says he will toy with mechanisms of checks and balances, and still gets a majority backing, it is only a matter of time before they begin to weaken their supposedly strong institutions. Also, for a man whose “make America great again” slogan was premised on nostalgia of a time when minorities were excluded from national patrimony, I am anxious about acts of violence and oppression this newly empowered majority will wreak on minorities; and which the majority will condone as part of the project of “making America great again”. Under Adolf Hitler’s Germany, that was part of how evil became banal.
For Trump who acts unhinged, and lacks self-control, it also remains to be seen how America will use its instruments of democracy to reel him in. The European philosopher, Slavoj Zizek, said it was better Trump won because it would implode the system and from there something new might emerge. Zizek is a thinker I respect but such Dadaist approach to political philosophy ignores that there are material consequences to democratic choices. Like I told some of my American friends who found the idea of Trump as an anti-establishment revolt tempting, change is not always useful. Nigerians faced a similar dilemma last year and we allowed ourselves to be seduced by the idea that we were voting a man who would pull down the corrupt establishment. Just look at how it has worked for us so far.
Meanwhile, I congratulate Clinton for her valiant efforts. With Trump’s emergence both the Democratic and Republican parties will rethink their disconnect from voters. Clinton worked hard for the presidency and for a country that prides itself on meritocracy, she ought to have won. Anyway, it was not meant to be but I am proud of her for putting up a brave fight.
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All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from NIJAGIST.
After Super Tuesday, March 1, 2016, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney said these words about a man we now know as America’s President-elect, Donald John Trump: “If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished…Donald Trump is a phoney, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”
Last Tuesday, November 8 swinging into the wee-hours of Wednesday, November 9, the man who was and remains a scarecrow to many Americans and nations around the world won the presidential election in a close contest where 46.6 per cent of registered voters refused to vote. He defeated experienced former Secretary of State and a former US First Lady, Hillary Rodham Cllinton, standing in for the Democratic Party. Clinton was chosen by more Americans in the popular vote, but Trump clinched the ticket in the Electoral College. That victory now begs the question: Did Americans just elect a conman?
Whichever way you choose to describe what happened last Tuesday, in about 70 days from today, Trump will become the 45th President of the United States.
The outcome of the election was not only a rattler to members of the Trump campaign themselves, it was to the whole world. Heading into the election, the wind was behind Hillary in almost all opinion polls all around the world. The big guns in her party including incumbent Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, dug deep into their campaign arsenals firing shots from all vantage positions. Trump was hammered on all issues; from temperament to character and present and past shady business deals.
He had no support of all living former presidents from both parties. Governors ran away from him and politicians kept their distances. But he could boast of a hardcore support of adherents who saw in him what everyone else refused to see. These tub-thumpers could shout. They could fight. They could punch and kick on behalf of the man they now see as their deliverer from the hands of Washington D.C. political elite. They were white people lurked in rural areas across America. From my home state of Wisconsin stretching to Minnesota and Iowa, they are embedded in and around small towns and villages in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. They were voices that felt deprived of the American Dream of prosperity for all. They were uneducated, blue collar workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas during the economic meltdown of the 2000s. They have lost their homes and jobs and struggling to make ends meet.
If you call them racist and bigoted, that is your own indaba. But they are Americans who feel like their country was being taken away from them before their eyes by “others’, who don’t look like them. Seventy eight per cent of those who voted for Trump feared that their financial situations might get worse under a Clinton Presidency. About 80 per cent of those who voted for Trump feared an upsurge of terrorist attacks that may occur with the influx of refugees from ISIS-riddled Islamic nations. They trust Trump will defeat ISIS.
Well ahead of everybody, Trump identified the angry white group and spoke to them. His messages resonated without a doubt. For a man who never held any public office, Trump has become a suave, strong and intense voice in America’s political process with his showings on Tuesday. It is true that God enthrones and dethrones kings. He rules in the affairs of men.
During the campaigns, Trump called Hispanics murderers, rapists, and drug lords; and he promised to build a wall around the Southern border to ward off illegal immigration. Yet, about 30 per cent of Hispanics voted for the man who called them names. He raked in more votes than Mitt Romney did in 2012. These quiet voices were more interested in pocket-book issues than deportation threats. Trump’s business experience and background convinced millions that he is savvy about financial matters.
When he spoke about massively increasing jobs, wages, incomes and opportunities for them, they believed him. When he promised to change the ugly picture of 92 million Americans outside the workforce, and not part of the economy, they believed him. During his visit to Flint, Michigan, he reminded these people that in 1970, there were more than 80,000 people in Flint working for General Motors, but today, it’s less than 8,000. Trump spoke a lot about jobs amidst his sporadic invectives and verbal assaults on opponents and anyone who was not ready to agree with his stance on issues:
“Everything that is broken today can be fixed, and every failure can be turned into a great success. Jobs can stop leaving our country, and start pouring in. Failing schools can become flourishing schools. Crumbling roads and bridges can become gleaming new infrastructure. Inner cities can experience a flood of new jobs and investment. And rising crime can give way to safe and prosperous communities”.
There are many factors swirling around Trump’s victory, but the summary is that a man whose human flaws are obvious to all, who harassed women and assaulted them, who mocked the physically challenged and is considered a crooked, fraudulent conman, will be America’s next president.
On Friday, January 20, he will be sworn in. Millions of legal and illegal immigrants who are apprehensive of a possible Trump mass deportation must not ferret. But America will no longer be a haven for criminal aliens. If you work hard and play by the rules, you will not be bothered by the law or Presdient Trump. America has an entrenched process of governance and the rule of law that will not change.
If you thought that Trump is not a politician, you may be right. But you are wrong if you believe that the New York billionaire does not know the game of politics better than politicians. Although he has not held any public office in the past, Trump had hob-nobbed with politicians’ activities since his teenage years as a business apprentice with his father in New York. Trump knows politicians. He knows they are all about money all over the world. He has what they need; MONEY and now he’s got what they have always monopolized, POWER!
What about his promises? Most of them ran on empty gas. The country is waiting to see what he will do with the over 20 million Americans who have signed up with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Obama’s signature health care programme he has vowed to scrap first day in office. This requires an Act of the Congress; it will not be easy to undo. Building a wall along the US-Mexico border is a capital intensive venture that will also require the nod of the Congress. Trump cannot force Mexico to pay for it.
If con artists have successfully pulled off their debaucheries in the church of the Living God as pastors lying to the people who also sheepishly celebrate conmen, it is not an outlier to have them also as politicians anywhere in the world. And it will also not be surprising that America may now have one as President.
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All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from NIJAGIST.
The Indigenous People of Biafra on Wednesday congratulated the President -elect of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump, on his electoral victory.
The group, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Awka and signed by the IPOB Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, urged Trump to fulfil his campaign promises to Americans and others around the world.
The statement read in part, “The IPOB under the command structure of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu congratulates Donald Trump.
“Trump passed through so many trials and so many odds from the leadership of the party but God Almighty made it possible for him to become the President of United States of America.
“He should also remember his promises to the people of America and other peoples across the globe because USA is going to be great again by the power of God Almighty who selected him from the midst of millions in America”.
Similarly, Niger Delta youths on Wednesday expressed their readiness to work with the United States’ President-elect, describing his electoral victory as unprecedented in the country’s political history.
Their message is contained in a statement jointly issued on Wednesday by the Niger Delta Youth Forum and the Niger Delta Izon Youth Forum and signed by Mr. Kemeizonpoumokumor Ayuba.
The statement said the people of the oil-rich Niger Delta were counting on Trump’s government to prevail on the Nigerian government to enable them to enjoy their God-given resources through restructuring and ownership of such resources.
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Operatives of the Department of State Security on Thursday arrested some unregistered Bureau De Change operators in Lagos and Abuja.
Also raided by the DSS operatives were registered BDCs operators who were accused of selling the dollar above N400.
The development, forex dealers said, forced some of the BDC operators to seek means of selling foreign currencies in their possession, especially dollars, pounds and euros at stipulated rates.
A licensed BDC operator in Abuja, Alhaji Yusuf Rabiu, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the raid on the registered operators made some of them to reach an agreement on how much the various foreign currencies should be sold for.
On Wednesday, the DSS had raided the offices of some BDC in Lagos and Abuja, arresting operators selling above the stipulated exchange rate.
The DSS operatives posed as end-users who came to purchase dollars from the BDCs. After surveying the market for exchange rate offerings, they arrested some BDC operators who sold above the Central Bank of Nigeria’s stipulated rates.
Rabiu said, “On Monday, the EFCC called so many licensed BDC operators. The issue is that they feel we are unnecessarily hiking the rates. But it’s not our fault.
“Right now, their focus is on our business; they have been calling us one by one and we don’t want problems. That is why we have agreed to have a fixed rate for now. After the raid in Lagos, the Abuja operators met and agreed on a fixed rate.”
Another trader told Reuters that security agents visiting the BDC operators told dealers not to sell dollars for more than N395.
“We’ve stopped buying dollars from just anybody that walks into our shops due to the harassment from security agents and a directive from our association,” said a dealer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the association had this week inaugurated committees to ensure that members complied with its regulations on exchange rates.
He said ABCON was working with the CBN to ensure that speculators, illegal operators and errant members were dealt with.
Gwadabe added that licensed dealers had agreed with the central bank and the security agencies to enforce a rate of N390 to N400 to the dollar.
“The issue of naira depreciation has been narrowed to the activities of speculators and we have decided, with the cooperation of both the central bank and the security agents, to enforce a new rule on pricing,” he said.
But economic and financial experts said the approach of arresting the operators would not work.
A currency analyst at Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Ezun said, “We cannot control the naira value or exchange rate by fiat. It is beyond that. Until there is enough liquidity in the foreign exchange market, we cannot do that. The DSS raiding the BDCs will only add to the problem. That is not how to stabilise or bring down the exchange rate.
“Exchange rate control cannot come by fiat. When the CBN began the flexible exchange rate policy in June, a lot of things were done. We need to look into this clearly. The issue at the market now is lack of liquidity and this cannot be addressed in the short-term. We should allow a full-fledged interbank rate; transparency and price discovery are key elements of the market.”
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Wednesday, November 9, 2016
|
| Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko |
The governor stated this in Akure on Wednesday at a programme in honour of the Founder, Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun.
Toluwani Eniola
The Association of Lagos Title Chiefs on Wednesday appealed to the Senate to reconsider the bill seeking a special status for Lagos State.
The chiefs said they were convinced that the passage of the bill would translate to economic prosperity and boost wellbeing of Nigerians.
Adelani Adepegba, Abuja
The United States of America has offered to assist Nigeria to improve its disaster management capabilities.
The US Bilateral Affairs Officer, US Embassy in Abuja, Major Chidi Adighije, said this in an interview with journalists at a one-day seminar on Disaster Response and Emergency Management, organised by the US Embassy in conjunction with the Ministry of Interior in Abuja on Wednesday.
|
| Abimbola Adelakun |
Abimbola Adelakun
The newly elected President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, has things in common with President Muhammadu Buhari. In fact, the US elections produced several interesting parallels between Nigeria and America; one is the divisiveness occasioned by some of the most virulent rhetoric ever traded during a campaign. In the age of social media, it is uncertain the practice of
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
|
| Trump, Clinton |
The following is a running tally of states claimed by presidential hopefuls Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday in their race for the White House, according to network projections.
Candidates are racing to hit the magic number of 270 electoral votes, an absolute majority of the 538
A mother of three, Kudirat Ajoke, on Tuesday pleaded with an Ilorin Area Court to dissolve her marriage to Baba Mutairu over persistent battering and lack of care.
According to the petitioner, a resident of Asalapa compound in Alore, Ilorin, her husband beats her every time she is pregnant.
“He beats me and forces me to travel whenever I’m pregnant; he also does not allow me to return home until I deliver.
“He is highly irresponsible and was never involved in the maintenance of the house,” she said.
Ajoke urged the court to grant her divorce in order to enable her begin a new life.
In his response, Mutairu objected to the relief being sought by the plaintiff, saying he was still in love with her.
He also denied the allegation of battery and irresponsibility levelled against him by his wife.
Mutairu urged the court to grant him an adjournment to seek settlement with the aggrieved wife.
The presiding judge, AbdulQuadir Ibrahim, adjourned the case till Nov. 30 for report of settlement. (NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all security agencies to work hard and ensure violence-free governorship election in Ondo State and the rerun in Rivers State.
According to a statement on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke at a state dinner organised in his honour on Monday in Benin, the Edo state capital, as part of his two-day visit to the state.
The President said the forthcoming governorship elections in Ondo and National and State Assembly rerun elections in Rivers will serve as a litmus test for the general elections in 2019.
He said, “What happened in [the last elections] Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers State disturbs me a lot.
“I think we should go beyond these actions. Why do we kill each other? Putting tyres on people and setting them ablaze.
“I have told the law enforcement agencies, if we can’t conduct an election in one state then we should forget about 2019.”
Acknowledging the role played by outgoing Governor Adams Oshiomhole in ensuring the success of the All Progressives Congress in the last governorship elections in the state, Buhari challenged the Governor-elect, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to continue in Oshiomhole’s footsteps of providing purposeful leadership in terms of quality infrastructure, education and social services.
“The publicity your predecessor has given his performance is going to stretch you to the limit.
“Considering what he has down, you have to continue in his footsteps. We wish you the best of luck and will do our best to support you,” the President said.
Ex-NAMA boss, Ibrahim-Abdulsalam
A Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday fixed Dec. 2 for continued trial of a former Managing Director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, Ibrahim Abdulsalam.
Abdulsalam was charged alongside six others over alleged stealing and conversion of NAMA’s N6.8bn.
The other accused are: Adegorite Olumuyiwa, Agbolade Segun, Clara Aliche, Joy Adegorite and two companies – Randville Investment Ltd. and Multeng Travels and Tours Ltd.
The accused are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Justice Babs Kuewumi adjourned the case following the absence of prosecution counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, who informed the court of his non-availability, in a letter.
Oyedepo informed the court that he was before an appellate court for another case.
The EFCC had on April 7 arraigned Abdulsalam, three directors of the agency and the wife of one of the directors.
They, however, pleaded not guilty.
The charge was later amended to include the other accused.
Voters in a New Hampshire hamlet, Dixville Notch have kicked off voting in the US presidential election.
Residents of the hamlet cast their votes at midnight. Out of the six votes cast, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump four votes to two, a result that may foreshadow voting trends hours later in the rest of polling stations across America.
Libertarian Gary Johnson received one vote, and Mitt Romney received a surprise write-in ballot, USA Today reported.
According to New Hampshire law, communities with fewer than 100 voters can open their polls at midnight and close them as soon as all registered voters have cast their ballots.
The best known of these three towns, Dixville Notch has been voting at midnight every election since 1960. Neil Tillotson, the former owner of the Balsams Grant Resort Hotel, which closed in 2011, started midnight voting in Dixville in 1960 to stir up publicity for the resort. Almost all of the Dixville voters are employees of the resort.
This could be Dixville’s last year in the election spotlight, however.
Les Otten, a New England businessman, bought the Balsams and plans to redevelop it into a massive ski resort. That could bring the population in Dixville over 100 people, thereby ending its midnight voting tradition.
Trump wins Millsfield
Millsfield, located just over 12 miles down the road from Dixville Notch, is the newest town to get in on the act. Millsfield began midnight voting as early as 1952 (no one seems certain exactly when) and stopped the practice in the 1960s (again, no one seems certain exactly when). The town was invited to take the tradition back up last year by New Hampshire’s secretary of State, in honour of the 100th anniversary of the New Hampshire primary.
In other results, Clinton also beat Trump in Hart’s Location 17-14, but Trump was the overwhelming favourite in Millsfield, with a 16-4 edge. Overall, in the three tiny towns, Trump won 32 votes, while Clinton got 25.
Libertarian Gary Johnson picked up three votes. Bernie Sanders, John Kasich and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got write-in votes.
Meanwhile both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump raced through several battleground states on Monday in a last-ditch attempt to encourage their supporters to show up and vote on Tuesday.
Clinton sought to capture more support from Latinos, African-Americans and young people, while Trump looked to win over disaffected Democrats and rev up a middle class that he said has been side-lined by the political establishment.
Clinton held the biggest rally of her campaign in Philadelphia on Monday night, drawing a crowd that the city’s Fire Department put at 33,000 to hear her and President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and rockers Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi.
“Tomorrow we face the test of our time,” Clinton told supporters, saying they could decide what sort of country they wanted to live in. “We choose to believe in a hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America.”
Obama, who campaigned earlier in the day for Clinton in Ann Arbor, Michigan, reiterated his charge that Trump is “temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief,” and said Clinton offered an experienced and accomplished alternative.
“You don’t just have to vote against someone, you have someone extraordinary to vote for,” Obama said. “She will work and she will deliver, she won’t just tweet.”
Trump told voters at an evening rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, they had one question facing them at the ballot box on Tuesday.
“Do you want America to be ruled by the corrupt political class or do you want America to be ruled again by the people?” he asked. “Tomorrow the American working class will strike back.”
With only hours left before Election Day, the Clinton campaign was boosted by Sunday’s unexpected announcement by FBI Director James Comey that the agency stood by its July decision not to press any criminal charges in an investigation of Clinton’s email practices while she was secretary of state.
The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project gave Clinton a 90 percent chance of defeating Trump, seeing her on track to win 303 Electoral College votes out of the 270 needed, to Trump’s 235.
With surveys indicating a tight race in Michigan, which Democrats have long counted on winning, both candidates made campaign appearances there. Pennsylvania, another vote-rich state, was also seen as fertile ground by both camps in the closing hours of their campaigns.
Nigerian militants on Tuesday bombed a state-run oil pipeline near the southern port city of Warri, the second attack within a week, a community leader and army officer said.
“The line which was undergoing repair after the previous attack … was billed for commissioning either today or tomorrow,” before the latest attack, chairman of Batan community Dickson Ogugu told AFP.
He said four surveillance guards deployed to protect the Trans Forcados export line narrowly escaped death after the militants opened fire on them.
“The hoodlums after chasing them from the spot came down from their speedboat, planted dynamite on swamp boogie, barge, crane and on the line,” he said.
“Unfortunately, only the dynamite on the barge exploded and immediately sank into the water. As I speak to you, the military are at the scene of the incident trying to dismantle the other dynamites.”
An army officer, who did not want to be named, confirmed the incident.
“We heard the shots in the middle of the night, but as you know, we do not patrol the area at night, so there was nothing we could do,” he said.
The line has been previously targeted by rebels.
Last week, the line was bombed just hours after President Muhammadu Buhari met with representatives of militant groups in the Niger delta to discuss how to end the unrest wracking the region.
The state-owned Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) operates the pipeline which receives crude from the Batan flowstation and feeds the Forcados export terminal.
Since the start of the year, several militant groups have attacked oil facilities, slashing the nation’s output and hammering revenues.
The militants claim to be seeking a fair share of the nation’s oil wealth for local residents as well as political autonomy for the region.
The government has launched peace talks with the rebels to end the violence.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Hillary Clinton pledged if elected to unify a country divided by one of the bitterest presidential campaigns in American history, as she began making her closing arguments to millions of voters on Monday.
“I have some work to bring the country together,” the Democratic nominee told reporters as she boarded a plane for the first of four final-day rallies before Tuesday’s election.
“I really do want to be the president for everybody — people who vote for me, people who vote against me,” she said, criticizing her Republican rival Donald Trump for “these splits, these divides that have been not only exposed but exacerbated by the campaign on the other side.”
On the frenzied final day of their historic fight, the two candidates are holding blow-out rallies in the handful of swing states that will decide who leads the United States.
Clinton held just a 2.2 percent lead over Trump early on Monday in a four-way race including third-party candidates, according to a RealClearPolitics.com average of polls.
Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro
A former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has been fingered in a new N400m scam..
Impeccable sources in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission told our correspondent on Sunday that Obanikoro, who was released last Friday, might be invited again soon to explain his alleged role in the scam.
The ex-minister, who returned from the United States on October 17, spent three weeks at the Abuja office of the EFCC for allegedly receiving N4.7bn from the Office of the National Security Adviser and distributing over N3bn to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and Senator Iyiola Omisore, who were the governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti and Osun states respectively in 2014.
Obanikoro subsequently returned N100m to the EFCC with a promise to return another N480m.
His American and Nigerian passports were subsequently seized before his release last Friday.
An EFCC detective on Sunday told our correspondent that recent investigations showed that Obanikoro allegedly received N400m from a former Minister of Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, who was the Director of Finance of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation during the build-up to the 2015 elections.
The source said sometime in 2015, Usman sent the money to Obanikoro through a proxy.
The detective said, “As part of investigations into the billions disbursed by Nenadi Usman during the build-up to the 2015 elections, we interrogated a suspect at our office. The suspect told us that he handed over N400m to Obanikoro in the presence of some PDP members.
“So, Obanikoro will be invited to the Lagos office of the EFCC to tell his own side of the story.”
The EFCC had alleged in March that about N3.145bn was mysteriously transferred from the account of the ONSA, domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria, to the account of Joint Trust Dimensions Limited, a company allegedly owned by Usman.
Usman was said to have transferred N840m to the account of the Director of Publicity of the organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in Zenith Bank on February 19, 2015, while she allegedly gave a former finance minister, Chief Olu Falae, N100m on the instruction of a PDP stalwart, Chief Anthony Anenih.
A former Governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa, and a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri, according to the documents, got N350m in two tranches.
The first tranche of N150m was allegedly paid into their joint account with Zenith Bank on January 13, 2015. The second tranche of N200m was credited into their account with Diamond bank.
Usman and Fani-Kayode have since been arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos and their accounts frozen while Udenwa and Falae may be arraigned soon.
Apart from the ONSA fund, Usman allegedly disbursed a separate N23bn to various states during the build-up to the elections.
The money Usman disbursed allegedly emanated from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The money, which was $115m but converted to N23bn, was alleged to have been kickbacks from some dubious oil contractors involved in oil theft.
The EFCC has, so far, grilled about 16 former governors and ministers over the alleged N23bn Diezani sleaze.
Some of them include the immediate past Governor of Kebbi State, Saidu Dakin Garin; former Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State; former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State; former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State; former Governor James Ngilari of Adamawa State; and a former Governor of Zamfara State, Mamuda Shinkafi.
Among the others are a former Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke; a former Minister of State for FCT, Jumoke Akinjide; and a former Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda.
During the elections, each state was said to have received at least N450m from the fund, which was handled by ministers or governors, who were members of the PDP.
All attempts to speak with Obanikoro’s media aide, Jonathan Eze, proved abortive on Sunday
as his phone indicated that it was switched off.
A source close to Obanikoro, however, told our correspondent that the ex-minister was not in charge of former President’s Goodluck Jonathan’s Lagos campaign and therefore could not have received such money.
He said, “I am aware that the EFCC has interrogated the person who collected money for the Jonathan campaign organisation. However, Senator Obanikoro never collected N400m from him.
“Those who collected money at Federal Palace Hotel know themselves and they should please leave Senator Obanikoro out of it.”
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Judges are likely to be queried and sanctioned if they fail to conclude criminal cases assigned to them within set time.
This is contained in the new National Judicial Policy inaugurated by the National Judicial Council in Abuja on October 24.
The NJP came into force earlier in April, 2016.
There have been instances before the advent of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, when criminal cases, involving politically-exposed persons or other influential Nigerians, dragged on for over a decade.
But the new NJP requests federal and state judiciaries to set targets for the completion of various categories of cases, including criminal matters.
Sub-section 2.5.2 of the policy provides that judges must be made to provide reasons for failure to dispose of criminal cases within the target time.
This directive, captured under the policy on judicial performance in section 2.5 of the NJP, seeks to focus on “strategies to strengthen judicial performance through constant monitoring and evaluation and through continuous monitoring and assessment of the adequacy of the facilities available to judges for efficient performance.”
The policy categorises cases as small claims, fast-track cases, complex criminal cases, and normal civil cases, but goes ahead to impose duties on judiciary authorities to demand explanation from judges who fail to conclude criminal cases within time.
It seeks to strengthen the quarterly evaluation mechanisms already put in place and introduce new measures to ensure “improved performance of judicial officers.”
The policy reads in part, “Such measures will include measures to:
“Promote self-evaluation by judges and by state and federal judiciaries;
“Request each judiciary to devise time utilisation and management and monitoring mechanisms and guidelines by judges;
“Request state and federal judiciaries to set targets for completion of cases classified as: small claims, fast-track cases, complex cases, criminal cases and normal civil cases and monitor compliance.
“Demand that reason be given for criminal cases not disposed of within the set target period.”
The policy also makes it mandatory for each judiciary to submit action plan on how to clear backlog of civil cases.
It adds that the measures for improved performance of judicial will “require each judiciary to submit action plan and strategies for clearing backlog of civil cases pending for more than three months and criminal cases pending for more than 18 months;
“Require each judiciary to submit to an annual judicial system audit and survey of the effectiveness and efficiency of its judicial system.”
The NJP covers other issues such as judicial appointment policy, judicial discipline policy, judicial code of conduct policy, judicial education and training policy, case flow management policy, judicial administration and court management policy and transparency and anti-corruption policy, among others.
The NJP deals with Judicial Discipline Policy under Section 2.2, where it makes provisions for the Judicial Discipline Regulations.
It states in its Section 2.2.3 that the Judicial Discipline Regulations may specify among other 16 items, the procedure of investigation of a judge, powers of council to order a review and composition of review body, and powers of interim suspension by NJC.
But the NJC had said, acting in line with NBA’s suggestion, by suspending judges under probe without receiving petitions against them and probing the petitions, would violate Section 158 of the Constitution.
The NJP, also among others, directs that any petition filed against a judge that is leaked or discussed in the media before or after it is submitted for investigation, will not be entertained.
It also reiterates the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers barring judges from accepting gifts.
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Security has been beefed up in and around Benin, the capital of Edo, ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari two-days official visit to the state.
The President who commences the visit on Monday, is expected to inaugurate a number of projects executed by Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who is vacating office by November 12.
The men and officers of Police, Army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, have taken up strategic positions in the areas the President is expected to pass through and the project sites in the capital city.
There is heavy presence of security personnel at the Airport and environs, Golf Course Road and Government House area.
Heavy security was also noticed in adjoining streets close to the airport, while security patrol vehicles, manned by the police and army, were seen patrolling airport road.
The presidential visit created traffic challenges in the city on Monday morning, especially Airport road and Siloko road, a road constructed by the current administration which the President is also expected to inaugurate during the visit.
Part of activities lined up for the visit, is the planned courtesy call by the President to the new Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II, after which he is expected to inaugurate the new central hospital, Siloko road and 2nd East Circular road among others.
On Tuesday, Buhari is expected to inaugurate some projects, including the new Edo University, Iyamoh, in Edo North and Central Senatorial Districts of the state.
Oshiomhole, who was first inaugurated on November 12, 2008 and won his second term in 2012, is expected to hand over to the governor-elect, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Saturday
Ade Adesomoju, Abuja
Prosecution witness, Mr. Michael Wetkas, in the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, said on Monday that the claim by Saraki that he bought a property in Lagos with proceeds of sale of rice and sugar was false.
Wetkas, who was being cross-examined for the 13th day by the defence, told the Danladi Umar-led CCT that the Senate President actually bought the properties at 17A and B, McDonald Street, Ikoyi, Lagos, in 2006 with proceeds of loans he obtained from the Guaranty Trust Bank.
Saraki is being prosecuted by the Federal Government before the CCT on 16 counts, including false and anticipatory asset declaration, which he allegedly made as governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, Wetkas was asked by the defence lawyer, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), to read from the various asset declaration forms completed by the Senate President and earlier admitted by the CCT as exhibits.
In his asset declaration form of June 3, 2011 which he submitted at the end of his second term as governor, Saraki, declared that he acquired the property in 2006, and five others in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996 and 2000 with proceeds of sales of rice and sugar.
Meanwhile, he earlier declared in his asset declaration form dated July 11, 2007 for his end of first term as governor, and at the beginning of his second term as governor, that he acquired the properties through loan worth N497m.
The witness explained that the loan initially obtained was structured to be paid quarterly in five tranches but that as the then Kwara State governor, he was obtaining additional loans from the bank which led to the subsequent restructuring of the loan.
Wetkas, as directed by the defence lawyer, also read from the GT Bank statement of the Senate President covering the period 2005 to 2015.
The bank statement was earlier admitted by the CCT as Exhibit 7.
Wetkas confirmed that Saraki obtained three loans in the sums of N380m, N380m and N400m in connection with the properties acquired by Saraki.
He said, “In 2006, the balance was N9,779,109. 79m before the loan was credited. This first loan taken was used to pay the one before. The loan amount was N380m.
“The property it was used to buy was worth N256.3m. There was five per cent charge translated into N12,815,000. It was liquidated on February 5, 2007.
“When the loan was liquidated, it took the balance to a debit balance of N231,552,804.93. Then another loan was taken of N380m on the same February 5, 2007. The second loan was taken to defray the debit. It now gave a credit balance of N98m.
“As of the 2007 declaration, there was debit outstanding of the loan of up to N300m, which was not declared in 2007 declaration. There were other inflows into account the purposes of paying.
“On August 27, 2009, the balance on the account shows an inflow into the account of N100m through banker’s cheque. On July 31, 2009, it shows that the account was in debit of about N93,933,654.15.
“After the inflow of N100m on August 27, it went into credit balance of N6,066,345.6. On April 30, 2009, the account was in debit position of N17m. The on the same date, there was loan disbursement of N400m.”
At least eight people were killed when an unknown gunmen fired on football fans in a bar in the South Sudan capital Juba at the weekend, the government said Monday.
“Eight young men were killed,” said deputy information minister Paul Akol Kordit adding that others were “in critical condition” after the attack on a bar where football fans were watching an English Premier League match on Saturday night.
The brother of the late Sam Okwaraji, an ex-Super Eagles attacker, Pat Okwaraji, has said that the Nigerian government had not proven that the country was worth dying for by its heroes.
Okwaraji, who spoke during the opening of Sam Okwaraji Memorial Football Competition at the Sam Okwaraji Stadium, Orlu in Imo, said Nigerian heroes who died for the nation, including his brother, were not properly honoured by the government.
Sam slumped and died in 1989 during a World Cup qualifier against Angola in Lagos.
But the family of the late player decided to break the silence after 26 years the incident happened.
He said, “We did not expect the Nigerian government to give Okwaraji’s family gold and silver.
“What we expected from the country is to immortalise our son who died for the nation.”
He added that his brother who was pursuing his doctorate in law as at the time he died was forgotten after his death.
He said, “Nigeria should learn how to inspire young talents by celebrating them.
“When heroes are celebrated and immortalised, it will go a long way to inspire young talents.”
He, however, commended the sponsor of the competition, adding that it was a big honour to the entire family.
He said, “We are happy that our son is being honoured and remembered through this competition; I want to encourage athletes to see it as an opportunity to excel in their career.”
The competition is organised by Okey Eze, an APGA governorship aspirant in the 2015 general election in Imo
A 31-year-old trader, Oluwatoyin Ibikunle, on Monday pleaded with an Agege Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve her 14-year-old marriage over constant beating by her husband.
Oluwatoyin, an indigene of Osun and a mother of four who resides at Fagba, a Lagos suburb, said her husband Okiki Ibikunle was irresponsible.
She said, “My husband is irresponsible; he has turned me into a punching bag, I am no longer interested in the marriage.
“He keeps threatening my life, embarrassing and harassing me.
“He is so abusive, always raining curses on me and accusing me of having illicit affairs with different men.
“He made the police to arrest me and l slept in the cell for two days before l was released,” she said.
The petitioner said her husband was not taking proper care of her and their four children.
Oluwatoyin pleaded with the court to separate them, saying: “I am no longer interested in the union; the love I have for him has faded.
“l also want my husband to give me custody of the children for good and proper upbringing”.
She debunked all her husband’s allegations, saying that there were fabricated stories.
She told the court that she moved out of their matrimonial home due to constant beating and sometimes with injuries.
Ibikunle, a 44-year-old driver from Oyo State, denied the allegations and described his wife as wayward.
He said, “My wife is not submissive and she is wayward; she is not a good wife.
“She enjoys doing things l do not like and she moved out of our house two years ago.”
The respondent said that his wife used to be honest, faithful and straightforward, but suddenly changed after he lost his job and she started keeping bad friends.
He further alleged that the petitioner started keeping late nights and received strange calls late at night.
“I couldn’t talk much because l was not working and couldn’t provide for the house financially.
The respondent accused the wife of infidelity having caught her on several occasions with different men at different hotels.
He said, “On several occasions my wife lied that she was going for parties and left the house for days.
“There was a time she went for a party and did not return claiming she slept over at her sister’s house which l later discovered were all lies.”
He said that he confronted her on a particular day when he saw her with one of her male friends.
“She told me to my face not to disturb her that the man has been of immense help to her”.
The respondent told the court that he made efforts to resolve the issues between both of them which were fruitless.
“I later realised her family were supporting her because she credits her father and family member accounts with money she gets from her male friends”.
He also said his wife did not care about the welfare of the children as all she was good at was her business and relationship with men.
During mediation the children did not want their parents to live separately.
The Court’s President, Mr. Philip Williams, then admonished the estranged couple and told them that they did not love their children.
He said, “If care is not taken, you will ruin the life of these children and turn them to societal nuisance.”
The case was adjourned to Dec. 1 for judgment.
