Tension has gripped the village of Kantoma
in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau
State as gunmen, suspected to be Fulani
herdsmen, beheaded a young man in the
early hours of Wednesday.
The gunmen were also said to have shot
another person dead within the same time.
The villagers were said to have woken up to
behold the gory body of the victim along the
road.
Executive Director of Stefanos Foundation,
Mr. Mark Lipdo, said in a text message to
our correspondent that sporadic gunshots
were heard all through the morning and the
locals stayed indoors to avoid being caught
up in the crossfire.
He said he received distress calls from the
villagers, asking that security men be
drafted to the area to avoid further
bloodshed.
Spokesman for the state police command,
Emmanuel Abuh, confirmed the incident.
He said two people were killed, adding that
the command had deployed more men to
ensure law and order and stop the
escalation of violence.
Defense attorneys in Pakistan have alleged
the government rearrested the suspected
leader of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on “fake”
charges to appease India. Authorities in
Pakistan appear to have a problem because
the release of the man could further raise
tensions with India and attempting to
influence the judiciary could draw massive
criticism at home.
The accused, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, is one
of seven suspects being tried in Pakistan
on charges of planning the Mumbai attacks
that killed 166 people.
The men were arrested shortly after the
deadly 2008 militant raid in the Indian
commercial capital, and New Delhi has since
been demanding Islamabad prosecute and
punish them.
However, earlier this month the anti-
terrorism court trying the suspects ordered
Lakhvi be released on bail, citing a “lack of
evidence” and “flaws in the prosecution’s
case. The ruling outraged India but tensions
eased after Pakistani authorities ordered
Lakhvi to remain in custody under a public
order law.
Defense attorneys successfully contested
the detention order in a higher court that
ruled on Monday that the suspected
militant leader could be freed on bail. But
hours after Lakhvi won the appeal, police
rearrested him on new kidnapping charges.
Defense lawyer Rizwan Abbasi said he has
launched new challenges against what he
criticized as “fake” charges and the “ghost”
complainant. Abassi said his client has been
in jail for more than six years so how could
someone in custody have kidnapped
anybody.
“It is alleged against my client that he has
abducted one person who is in custody since
more than six-and-a-half year. How is it
possible that a person who was in jail since
last six years he can retain someone in his
custody? From the face of it this allegation
is ridiculous,” he said.
Attorney Abbasi said that Pakistani
authorities were reluctant to release his
client because they did not want to upset
India.
“It is very clear that on Indian pressure my
client has been put in custody just to
deprive him from the right of liberty,” he
said.
India summoned the Pakistani envoy in New
Delhi to the foreign ministry to protest
Monday’s first ruling that appeared to free
Lakhvi.
He is expected to appear before the court
on Thursday when a report detailing the
police investigation into the kidnapping
charges is submitted.
The suspects on trial in Pakistan are
allegedly members of the outlawed militant
group Lashkar-e-Taiba that India accuses of
being behind the 2008 Mumbai carnage.
The latest “back and forth” in the high
profile case comes as relations between
Pakistan and India have plunged to new
lows in the wake of recent border clashes.
However, Pakistani officials maintain the
country’s judiciary is independent and the
government cannot interfere in the legal
proceedings.
Both the rival countries reported fresh
clashes on Wednesday along the disputed
border in Kashmir. The cross-border firing is
said to have killed two Pakistani soldiers
and an India soldier. It is unclear who
initiated the fire.
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The outgoing Resident Electoral
Commissioner in Osun State, Ambassador
Rufus Akeju, has said that all the
allegations of bias leveled against him are
spurious.
According to a statement made available to
our correspondent in Osogbo on Tuesday by
the media aide to the governor, Akeju said
this when he paid a farewell visit to
Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
The REC said that he was accused of being
a card-carrying member of a particular party
but he said that those accusing him had
failed to provide evidence to back up their
claims.
The Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State
had, on many occasions, accused Akeju of
being a member of the APC but the INEC
redeployed the REC in Kogi State to conduct
the August 9 governorship poll in the state
about a month to the election date.
Akeju stated that it took divine
intervention and his forthrightness to have
stayed on the job than expected due to
attempt by some alleged desperate
politicians who wanted to discredit him at all
cost.
He said, “There was nothing that they did
not say to make sure that our image and
reputation were tarnished. But I thank God
for his mercies. They alleged that I am a
card-carrying member of a particular party.
“We thank God that at the end of the day,
all their allegations were unfounded and
false. We are happy that we have come and
served meritoriously. We wish Osun the best
among the committee of states, and long
live Nigeria.”
Aregbesola had used the opportunity to
task the Independent National Electoral
Commission to ensure that the next year’s
general election was credible.
The governor admonished the electoral
umpire not to be biased and fall short of the
expectations of the teeming masses of the
country who are looking forward to an
election where the majority of votes will
count.
The governor also urged the electoral
commission to use electronic card reader for
the conduct of the 2015 elections. He said
this would further enhance the credibility of
the poll.
Chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance
Trust Fund, Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, on Tuesday
advised authorities of the three tiers of
government in Nigeria to fashion out a blue
print on how to diversify the economy.
She said, looking for an alternative means of
boosting the revenue base, instead of
depending solely on the prevailing dwindling
fortunes of oil revenue, remained the best
way to avoid unnecessary hardships for
Nigerians in the new year.
Olejeme, who stated this in a statement in
Abuja, explained that such proactive
strategy, would help create jobs for the
unemployed Nigerians and ultimately
salvage the economic crisis.
Olejeme believed that Nigeria was endowed
with enough human and natural resources to
tackle whatever challenges “if we harness
our potentials for good.”
She therefore asked all tiers of government
to as of a necessity, put on their thinking
caps in order to ensure smooth running of
the economy without oil revenue next year.
She also urged Nigerians to face the new
year with renewed hope and faith in Nigeria
in spite of the economic and security
challenges .
Olejeme, who was a governorship aspirant in
the just concluded Peoples Democratic
Party primary in Delta State, said the
economic downturn notwithstanding, Nigeria
could over come her difficulties “if only we
face the challenges with a common mission
and purpose.”
The police in Delta State on Tuesday said
their men killed two armed robbery suspects
in Warri during a shootout.
The state Police Public Relations Officer,
Celestina Kalu, who confirmed the incident,
said two other suspects were arrested
during the operation.
She said, “The patrol team from Quick
Response Squad, Warri, on a stop-and-
search duty along Ogunu road, by Zenith
Bank, Warri, had an encounter with four
armed robbers, operating in a tricycle
marked AK 027 QB.
“In the process, two of the armed robbers
were fatally wounded while the rest two,
one Oghenero Eghagbere and Michael
Aguwaneshe, were arrested.
“Items recovered from them included one cut-
to-size locally made barrel gun, one live
cartridge, one battle axe and one tricycle.”
She said the suspects were undergoing
investigation at the Area Commander’s
Office, Warri, while the corpses of the
suspected bandits had been deposited in
the morgue.”
Defender Mathieu Debuchy believes Arsenal
must keep calm and remain focused if they are
to drag themselves back into the top four of
the Premier League.
The Gunners survived the sending off of striker
Olivier Giroud for a rash headbutt on Nedum
Onuoha to beat QPR 2-1 at the Emirates
Stadium on Boxing Day.
There is little time for the squad to regroup
ahead of the trip to West Ham on Sunday,
where another victory would see them leapfrog
the fifth-placed Irons and possibly
Southampton, who are at home to leaders
Chelsea.
Wenger confirmed Giroud has already
apologised for his moment of red mist at the
start of the second half, which will now see the
France striker serve a three-match suspension
for violent conduct.
Debuchy can sympathise with his team-mate,
but is confident if Arsenal can hold it together,
they can head into 2015 in a strong position.
"Olivier did not speak in the dressing room. It is
a hard moment for him," said Debuchy. "I know
that from before, when I was at Newcastle, I
was sent off, so have been in the same
moment.
"It is difficult, but we are professionals and we
need to keep calm. However, everybody has a
temper, so it is not always easy, but we need
to keep calm."
Arsenal showed good character to dig in and
get the result against QPR, with Tomas Rosicky
adding the cushion of a second goal just after
the hour, although a late penalty from Charlie
Austin led to some desperate defending during
the closing stages.
Debuchy said: "It was a great win for us, so
important for the next game against West Ham.
"The finish to the match was harder, because 10
against 11 is not easy.
"It will be difficult at West Ham, they have a lot
of players with quality and have had a very
good start to the season, but we need to win,
so we have to be 100 percent.
"We need a run of wins, that is what has been
missing so far this season. It is so important to
win against West Ham and then Southampton
[on New Year's Day], in every game now we
need to go on.
"We have great confidence and the belief that
we can do it."
Fernando Torres' Chelsea career is officially
over after the Premier League leaders
announced he will make his loan move to AC
Milan permanent next month.
Torres, 30, won the Champions League, the
Europa League and the FA Cup in three-and-a-
half years at Stamford Bridge, but he never
lived up to expectations after a 50 million-
pound transfer from Liverpool, failing to
replicate his once-prolific scoring record in
London.
He moved to Milan on a two-year loan in
August and, although he has been strongly
linked with a return to his first club Atletico
Madrid in recent days, on Saturday Chelsea
announced a deal had been reached for him to
join Milan permanently from Jan. 5.
A statement said: "Fernando Torres is to join
AC Milan on a permanent basis. The striker
moved to the San Siro on a two-year loan deal
in August and on January 5 he will complete a
permanent transfer to the Serie A side.
"Chelsea Football Club thanks Fernando for his
service during the past four seasons and
wishes him the very best for the future."
The deal does not rule out a return to Atletico
in the upcoming transfer window. The Spanish
champions have indicated they do not have the
funds for a permanent deal themselves, but
may yet sign him on another loan deal from
Milan once he has left Chelsea, or complete a
swap deal with Alessio Cerci going the other
way.
A return home could be what Torres needs to
reignite a once-sparkling career. The World Cup
winner and double European champion scored
46 goals in 172 Chelsea appearances, but only
20 of those came in 110 league outings -- a poor
return when compared with the 65 Premier
League goals he scored in 102 appearances for
Liverpool.
Torres moved to Stamford Bridge late on
January transfer deadline day in 2011 for a
then-record British fee, but initial struggles
soon appeared to be a crisis of confidence as
he managed just one goal in 18 appearances
before the end of the season.
The following season he scored 11 goals,
including a hat trick against QPR and a vital
breakaway goal against Barcelona in the
Champions League semifinal, but still looked a
shadow of himself.
His best season in a Chelsea shirt came in the
following campaign as he scored 22 goals
across seven competitions, including the winner
in the Europa League final against Benfica. Yet
he managed only 11 goals the following season,
after which Jose Mourinho broke up his
misfiring striking trio of Torres, Samuel Eto'o
and Demba Ba, all of whom left the club.
Torres' move to Milan has not exactly seen his
form ignite, with only one goal in 10
appearances, but that has not prevented a
deal being done.
credits: File copy
The Federal Government has described as
untrue the allegation made by the Governor
of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, that the
sum of $30bn (N5.04trn) was missing from
the Excess Crude Account.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala, said in a statement issued on
Saturday by her Special Adviser on
Communications, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, that
the allegation was “shocking.”
Oshiomhole had on Thursday accused the
Federal Government of failing to account for
about $30bn that accrued to the ECA in the
last three years.
The governor had said Nigeria’s budgets for
the past three years had been based on an
oil benchmark of $77 and $79, while the
average price of the country’s crude had
been $108 per barrel.
This, according to the governor, gives an
average surplus of $30 per barrel.
“Ideally, we ought to be saving $36 per
barrel on the 2.3 million barrel a day over
the past three years and if you look at
these numbers, you will find that what we
have in our excess crude oil account should
be over $30bn but as we speak, we have
barely $3bn in our excess crude account.
“Over the past 18 months, we have not
shared the excess crude account and yet
the account is empty. Sometimes, we are
told they have taken money from it to fund
subsidies, including subsidy on kerosene,”
he said.
But Okonjo-Iweala described the allegation
as “totally untrue.” saying, “the comments
reflect once again, the unfortunate
tendency of some political players to
politicise the management of the economy
on the basis of half-truths and sundry
distortions.”
The statement read in part, “The widely
published comment by Governor Adams
Oshiomhole alleging that $30bn is missing
from the Excess Crude Account is shocking
and totally untrue.
“This is not good for the country. There
should be a limit to negative politics, even
during an election season such as this.
“Governor Oshiomhole’s sweeping comments
give the impression that the Federal
Government sits alone in secret and doles
out whatever it wishes to the states from
the Federation Account.
“But anyone who is familiar with the
Federation Accounts Allocation Committee
process knows that this is simply not true.
The meetings are held every month and
commissioners of finance and other officials
represent their states and agreements are
reached on issues, including the sharing of
proceeds from the Account.”
The minister wondered why the government
of Edo State did not table the allegation
before the FAAC committee for
investigation before “going public with a
sweeping, political allegation based on
casual, back of the envelop calculations.”
Okonjo-Iweala stated that the Governor of
River State, Rotimi Amaechi, made a similar
allegation in November 2013 when he raised
the alarm that $5bn was missing from the
same account.
The statement added that the ministry
subsequently showed, with facts, that not
only was the money not missing, the Rivers
State Government got N257.6bn from the
account between January and October 2013.
Oshiomhole’s allegation, Okonjo-Iweala
added, “seems to be cut from a similar
political fabric.”
“Governor Oshiomhole correctly observed
that the economy would be in better shape
today if we had saved more for the rainy
day. But he failed to recall that the Federal
Government’s strong advocacy for a low
budget benchmark and greater savings in
the ECA articulated by the Coordinating
Minister was repulsed by some governors.
“There is no doubt that oil theft is a
challenge but this too would have helped.
We do not share Governor Oshiomhole’s
overly bleak view of the country’s economic
prospects,” the statement added.
The ministry added that while the challenges
were great and could not be wished away,
an international rating agency, Moody, and
the International Monetary Fund had
confirmed that the economy was resilient
despite the oil price crash.
A highly sought after al-Shabab leader with
a $3m bounty on his head has surrendered
to government and African Union forces, a
Somali intelligence officer has said.
Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi surrendered to
Somali police in the Geddo region where
Somalia borders Kenya and Ethiopia, the
officer said.
“Zakariya Ahmed was a very senior person
who worked with Godane,” said regional
military official Jama Muse, referring to
former al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane,
who was killed by a US air strike in
September.
“He was in charge of intelligence and
finances. He was one of the senior al-
Shabab commanders who the Americans put
a lot of money on their head,” he added.
An al-Shabab media spokesman told Al
Jazeera that Hersi had left the group two
years ago and that he was then a mid-level
commander – not an intelligence chief as
claimed by Somali officials..
Military official Mohamed Osmail said Hersi
was hiding in a house in a border town, and
made contact with government officials in
order to hand himself in.
Another intelligence source said the
surrender was believed to have been
motivated by a series of recent bloody
splits and purges within the group, with
Godane having ruthlessly eliminated many of
his rivals and his successor, Ahmad Umar
Abu Ubaidah, continuing to maintain strict
internal security.
Hersi was one of eight top al-Shabab
officials whom the US administration offered
a total $33m in rewards for information
leading to their capture in 2012.
Despite suffering major losses such as
losing major cities, al-Shabab remains a
threat in Somalia and Kenya.
While the government offered an amnesty to
al-Shabab members in September, none of
the key leaders of the group has so far
taken up the offer.
Two Tunisian terror suspects were arrested
on Saturday near the border with Tunisia, a
security source said.
Tunisian security services informed their
Algerian counterparts about the intrusion of
two suspects into the Algerian territories,
the source told Xinhua on condition of
anonymity.
The two men serve as liaison between
Tunisia-based Okba Ibn Nafaa group and
Algeria-based Caliphate’s Soldiers group,
the source said, adding that they were on
board a vehicle carrying a big amount of
money, an automatic gun, and some secret
documents and letters.
Meanwhile, APS news agency reported that
security services arrested a university
professor and another man involved in a
specializing network of recruiting
youngsters to the fiefs of the so-called
Islamic State (IS).
These operations come after that Algerian
army killed Abdelmalek Gouri, the leader of
the Caliphate’s Soldiers, which claimed
responsibility for the beheading of French
national Herve Gourdel in September.
The French tourist Herve Gourdel was
abducted in Algeria on Sept. 21, and then
assassinated two days later.
The Caliphate Soldiers claimed this crime,
saying they did that to pay allegiance to IS
An AirAsia flight carrying 155 people from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control early Sunday morning, officials in the region and the low-cost airline said.
Reuters reported that the flight QZ 8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17 am local time (about 6: 17 pm (Saturday)Nigerian time), Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said.

According to NBC news, The plane carrying 162 aboard went missing on Sunday en route from Indonesia to Singapore after the pilot asked to change course due to weather. AirAsia said most on board were Indonesian and that there were six foreigners — three South Koreans and one each from Singapore, France and Malaysia.
It had 155 passengers and crew on board, another Indonesian Transport official said.
“Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. we must stay strong,” AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said on Twitter. He later announced he was traveling to Surabaya, saying most of the passengers are from there.
CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo questioned whether weather would have been a factor in what happened to the plane.
“Ordinarily, the pilots would get the updated weather from air traffic control and, of course, their onboard radar,” said Schiavo, a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation. “So whether there was (bad) weather in the area would not be a mystery,” she said.
CNN reports that AirAsia is a Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in several Asian countries.
Over the last few weeks, there’s been plenty of
fallout from recent Sony hacks and controversy
surrounding “The Interview” — from Sony pulling
the movie , to President Obama calling that move
a “mistake,” to the film now being released online
and in some theaters.
Much of what’s been said about the actual
content of “The Interview” has centered on the
story of characters played by James Franco and
Seth Rogen attempting to assassinate Kim Jong-
un. But it turns out there’s an equally, if not more,
surprising plot point: Eminem is gay.
Of course, anyone who’s followed his career and
listened to his music during his 15 years in the
mainstream knows that Em has often taken heat
for use of words like “f—-t” and other
homophobic content. But in this pretty hilarious
cameo, he explains where that all comes from.
“When I say things about gay people, or people
think my lyrics are homophobic — it’s because I’m
gay,” he says during an interview with Franco’s
character.
Naturally, he and Rogen’s character, who’s
producing the show, freak out. And then Slim
continues his shocking confession.
“I’m more shocked that people haven’t figured it
out yet; I mean, it’s kind of like I’ve been playing
gay peek-a-boo,” he says. Next, they read a
lyric from 2009′s “Medicine Ball,” to which he
reveals: “I’ve pretty much just been leaving a
breadcrumb trail of gayness.”
Say what you want about the Detroit rapper, but
it’s hard to say he’s not self-aware.
Check out the clip above, and then watch
Eminem respond to the controversy that surrounds
his lyrics in a (real) interview with MTV News
below.
Link:
www.mtv.com/news/2035220/eminem-comes-out-gay-the-interview-cameo/
The Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, on
Wednesday said that the Independent National
Electoral Commission had mismanaged the
collection of the Permanent Voter Cards, a major
requirement for voters to exercise their civic
responsibilities in the next year’s general
elections.
The collection of the PVC started in the state
last Friday and was to have ended on Monday
while registration of voters was to start on
Tuesday.
He said, “As a result, the governor told members
of the Niger State House of Assembly, during the
presentation of the state’s 2015 budget, that
majority of eligible voters will not be able to
vote during the election.
“As I speak to you, myself, former military
president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and
Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar have not collected
our voter cards.”
Painting a gory picture of developments in the
collection of the cards, Aliyu said only 11 out of
the 25 local government areas got materials,
even with a lot of problems. He insisted that not
more than 12 eligible voters out of 500
received their cards in most of the polling units
where the distribution took place.
He also said that in most of the collection
centres, it was either that the machines brought
for the exercise did not function well or the
officials of INEC abandoned their duty posts.
The governor added that the development was
meant to deliberately disenfranchise some voters
and give undue advantage to a certain
political party.
Aliyu, who is the Chairman of the Northern States
Governors Forum, therefore, advised INEC to
wake up to its responsibility and correct the
anomaly.
Aliyu advised that since everybody might not get
the PVC, INEC should consider allowing all
eligible voters to make use of the temporary
voter cards so that no one would complain of
being disallowed to vote.
The governor also said that all the states’ Houses
of Assembly and the National Assembly should
meet to take a common stand on the situation to
avoid a situation where the 2015 elections
would be declared not free and fair.
Vice President Namadi Sambo says many
residents of Lagos State have been fleeing the
state because of the high taxation being
imposed on the people by the state government.
Sambo said this at a reconciliation meeting of
the Peoples Democratic Party governorship
aspirants in Lagos on Wednesday.
He said the state government was misleading the
people of the state by laying claims to some
Federal Government projects, such as the deep
blue sea port.
The VP said he was surprised that with the large
revenue the state was generating, it was
unfortunate that the All Progressives Congress-led
government had failed to deliver the dividends
of democracy to the people.
He, therefore, stated that if the pdp candidate,
Mr. Jimi Agbaje, was elected governor next year,
he (Agbaje) would bring an end to the suffering
of the people.
The meeting came after the immediate Minister of
State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro,
took the party to court to compel it to cancel
the primary in which the number of votes
exceeded the number of voters.
He said, “Lagos has for years been yearning for
change from the burden of excessive taxation
and squandering, you all know about. Today,
people are leaving Lagos. The huge resources
accruing to the state are used to the detriment
of the good people of Lagos State. We are
poised more than ever before to rescue
Lagosians from the bondage and sufferings of
taking back with the left hand and then, taking
it away by the right hand.
“I will like to mention part of the tricks of the
opposition where some governors put their
pictures on projects in newspapers. In one of
them, I saw the Lekki Deep Sea port. This is a PPP
(Private-Public Partnership) programme where the
Federal Government has large shareholdings with
the Nigeria Ports Authority.
“The site of that Lekki Deep Sea port was the site
where the Federal Government was to build a
methanol plant. That methanol plant could not
continue because we had spent over $200m on
which has been converted to our share.
“Apart from that, the NPA is a 20 per cent
shareholder in that port and then the private
sector has the largest share. Some states are
claiming that it is their projects. Our own pictures
are there and we are confident that anything
that we print and show you can be verified. I
believe that with the coming of our new
governor, we will have realistic development in
Lagos State.”
Sambo added that all the aggrieved
participants had been appeased and they had
all agreed to work for the success of Agbaje in
next year’s elections.
Sambo said, “I am delighted to know that we
are more than ever before united to form a
common front in realising our objective of not
only capturing Lagos but winning all seats at all
levels in the forthcoming 2015 elections.
“The Lagos State PDP and indeed Senator
Musiliu Obanikoro, Mr. Deji Doherty, Ambassador
Tokunbo Kamson and Mr. Babatunde Gbadamosi
who were our governorship aspirants have
agreed to team up together and work to win
Lagos this time around in 2015.”
However, the Lagos State Commissioner for
Information, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, said he was
surprised by the claim of the VP that people
were fleeing Lagos because of high taxation.
He said he was disappointed that Sambo could
peddle lies when it was glaring that the state
government had performed better than the
Federal Government in all sectors.
He said, “Was it the Federal Government that did
the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge or the 10-lane
expressway in Badagry? Are they responsible for
the light rail? Are they the ones that have been
successfully running the economy of Lagos? I
really do not know what they want to lay claim
to except the bad Oshodi-Apapa expressway
which is a source of pain to all Lagos motorists.
“What have they ever done in Lagos? I am
happy that even Obanikoro has said Bode
George and Agbaje hired armed thugs to
disrupt the primary. Obanikoro also told us how
the federal task force was used to perpetuate
violence.
“Is that the kind of party that wants to rule
Lagos? Look at the conduct of their primary
where one of the aspirants even went there with
a bulletproof vest. Even a blind man knows that
Lagos is the benchmark of good governance.
“The PDP has not been able to successfully run
the Federal Government in 16 years and they
want to rule Lagos. They are just a bunch of
shameless people. I advise them (PDP) to start
packing their belongings from Aso Rock because
by next year, we will come to occupy the place.”
Earlier, Obanikoro had said he would work with
Agbaje to ensure victory for the PDP in 2015. He
said the success of the PDP was more important
than his political ambition.
He said the APC had put the people of the
state in bondage and only the PDP could free
the people.
He said, “Despite the inadequacies experienced
in our governorship primary, a lot has been said,
we have disagreed but we have agreed that
Jimi Agbaje is our candidate. I want to express
my appreciation to my supporters that stood by
us. There is time for everything and that is why I
want to implore all of you that yesterday
belongs to yesterday.”
Also, Agbaje said that through the intervention
of the Presidency, the PDP had become one big
happy family.
Agbaje promised President Goodluck Jonathan
that he would deliver Lagos to the PDP and also
garner votes for him next year.
He said, “Today, a new chapter is being written
in the annals of the PDP Lagos: A chapter of
unity, a chapter of power, chapter of hope, a
chapter of change, a chapter of victory. And
by the grace of God, in 2015, the PDP will
record resounding victory in Lagos.”
The Sierra Leone government has declared a
five-day lockdown in the country’s north to step
up efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic, while
making an exception for Christmas.
The lockdown is designed to intensify the
containment of the Ebola virus, the government
said on Wednesday.
“Muslims and Christians are not allowed to hold
services in mosques and churches throughout the
lockdown except for Christians on Christmas Day
[Thursday],” Alie Kamara, resident minister for the
Northern Region, told the AFP news agency.
“We are working to break the chain of
transmission,” he said.
Deputy Communication Minister Theo Nicol said
“the lockdown for five days… is meant for us to
get an accurate picture of the situation,”
adding: “Other districts will carry on with their
own individual lockdown after this if they deemed
it necessary.”
Ebola has killed more than 7,500 people, almost
all of them in West Africa. Sierra Leone, Liberia
and Guinea are the three countries worst-hit by
the epidemic.
Sierra Leone overtook Liberia recently as the
country with the highest number of Ebola
infections.
Kamara said shops and markets would be closed
throughout the period, and “no unauthorised
vehicles or motorcycle taxis” would be allowed
to circulate “except those officially assigned to
Ebola-related assignments.”
Among “key objectives” is to allow health workers
to identify patients, Kamara said.
President Goodluck Jonathan will inaugurate the 40 megawatts Kashimbila multipurpose dam in February next year, the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, has said.
According to her, the Federal Government would maximise opportunities such as potable water supply, agriculture, power, tourism, aviation, transport as well as trade and investment in the Kashimbila dam for the benefit of the host communities and the country in general.
Ochekpe disclosed this when she and her counterparts in the ministries of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo; Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Mr. Edem Duke; and State for Power, Mr. Muhammed Wakil; inspected the dam in Taraba State.
The minister, in a statement from her ministry on Tuesday, said the dam was a buffer designed to accommodate the poisonous gas and water that may come to Nigeria in case of breakdown of Lake Nyos in Cameroon.
She noted that, presently the dam had generated 40MW of hydro power, 2,000 hectares of land for irrigation, tourism potentials, aviation and transport opportunities, and would provide 60,000 cubic meters of water daily for 400,000 people.
Ochekpe reportedly said, “We are here at Kashimbila with three of my colleagues and we are happy with the level of work we see. As of 2010 the level of completion of this project was just 10 per cent but now you can see that the project is executed to its final stage.
“The President has been driving this project and we are happy that today the project is 95 per cent completed. We have already set in motion the process that will lead to the commissioning of the project in early February 2015.
“We want to maximise every opportunity that is available here. Next time we will come with our colleague from agriculture because of the irrigation component. Staple processing zone will be set up around this neighbourhood and this will not only open up the rural areas but will provide opportunities for further improvement in agriculture.”
Speaking on the 40MW hydro power from the dam, Nebo said the Federal Government had approved the contract for the erection of transmission lines that would evacuate the generated electricity.
“The transmission infrastructure that will be put in place here will strengthen the entire Taraba, Benue and Plateau states so that we can have more reliable and stable electricity in these parts of the country,” he said.
Duke, in his address, said his team had already developed a master plan to integrate tourism into the project, adding that the facilities on ground in the dam were enough to make the site a tourist attraction.
Pensioners in Abia State have told the state government to stop treating them as beggars by not paying their monthly pensions regularly and consequently issued an altimatum to government to clear all arrears by January 31, 2015 or face the wrath of senior citizens.
Chairman of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Abia State chapter, Comrade Chukwuma Udensi, who issued the ultimatum Tuesday at a press conference in Umuahia , said pensioners decided to make public their plights having endured much deprivations without any succour from government.
He lamented that pensioners in the state had no hope of celebrating the Christmas due to unpaid stipends, accusing the state’s Head of Service of insensitivity to the plights of pensioners.
His words: ” We are here to alert the public of the plights of Abia pensioners to see if they can help us make government look our way because we have explored the option of dialogue but it fell on deaf ears.”
” Pensioners are unfortunately subjected to begging for their rights, many of them have died out of abject poverty, neglect and frustration.”
He said, “pension is not a privilege but the right of a retiree ; pension is not salary but the savings kept for workers upon retirement.”
Udensi identified some of their grievances to include: unpaid gratuities accumulated over the years since 1999; non payment of harmonization arrears arising from 30%,150%, and 142% which have been computed since 2004, and delayed pay of retired Primary School Teachers and non- tutorial staff of local government education authorities.
“Monthly pensions have been allowed to fall in arrears from January 2014 till date.
“Monthly pensions have not been fully paid not to talk of arrears owed since 2012.” The NUP boss also alleged that the union was also being owed its check-off dues deducted from pensioners’ monthly stipends for the up-keep of the union.
But in a swift reaction, the state’s Commissioner for Information, Chief Anthony Agbazuere debunked claims by pensioners that they were being owed, dismissing their action as politically motivated.
Agbazuere noted that during political seasons, some people not grounded with the truth always ally with politicians to spread falsehood.
He said that pensioners as well as all workers in the state had been enjoying the best of treatments from the government, adding that upon assumption of office, Gov. Theodore Orji mapped out large chunk of money for payment of pensioners.
Agbazuere however blamed pensioners for making their agitations a media affair when they had not explored the necessary options for dialogue.”
The political differences inherent in the Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party may ruin the winning chances of President Goodluck Jonathan in the state in next year’s general elections, aggrieved politicians in the state have warned.
According to them, Jonathan should forget about winning in Ondo if the State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, fails to abide by court orders restraining him from carrying out activities that were counter-productive to the PDP.
The Chairman, Ondo PDP Candidates Forum and a contestant for the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Adekanmbi, told journalists on Tuesday in Abuja that members of the group were aggrieved with the manner in which Mimiko was going about the state’s political affairs in preparation for next year’s general elections.
He noted that although the group was not against Mimiko, the PDP would not garner the targeted one million votes for Jonathan if the state governor fails to work with the aggrieved candidates.
Adekanmbi said, “Dr. Mimiko can never solely win Ondo State for Mr. President. The President needs Chief Jimoh Ibrahim and other contestants for him to win. If he relies on Mimiko the PDP will lose in Ondo because right now salaries have not been paid for the past three months in our state.
“People are not happy with him (Mimiko) and he cannot even walk freely on the streets of Ondo State. So is he the one to canvass for votes for the President? We don’t think so. He is still our leader but has to work with candidates to succeed. We say this because he has failed to do the right thing, which is to bring everybody together.”
Adekanmbi said the party’s primaries had been concluded and candidates for elective positions elected, but wondered why the governor would present another set of candidates who were allegedly not elected by party delegates.
He said, “We are not fighting the person of Governor Mimiko who is the leader of the party in the state. What we are fighting is the system of how we do things in the PDP, particularly in Ondo, because our party is different from Labour Party.
“As of today we have a court judgment delivered by Justice Ademola and we have a court order which came in last Thursday. But unfortunately, for the past one week Mr. Mimiko has practically made the INEC office his government house, all in a bid to induce the commission and to make it publish the names of his candidates thereby flouting completely and disobeying court orders.”
He added that it was embarrassing for a governor not to respect court orders, but expressed the belief that INEC would do justice when it comes to publishing the names of eligible contestants in Ondo State.
The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme has said about 100,000 graduates across the country are currently engaged in its Graduate Internship Scheme.
The agency gave this figure at a training session for new inductees into the programme in Akure. The training comprised modules on micro-financing, communication skills, team work management, performance measurement, entrepreneurship, rule of work, company structure and Information and Communication Technology.
Also about 100 graduates drawn from the 18 local councils in Ondo State were recently engaged by the agency for the GIS programme.
The GIS is an initiative of the Federal Government aimed at creating a pool of highly trained graduates who, instead of, looking out for unavailable employment, can become self reliant.
Project Director of the GIS, Peter Papka, said in Akure that participants were already engaged with employers where they are gaining office experiences and undergoing entrepreneurial training.
According to him, SURE-P was conceived to expend surplus subsidy funds on human and infrastructural developments of the country through the instrumentality of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The Abia State University on Tuesday confirmed a 20 per cent reduction in its school fees, beginning from 2014/2015 academic session.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that an increase in the tuition in 2012/2013 session had put the university authority and the students on war path.
Mr Udo Nwokocha, the Dean of Student Affairs of the university, told NAN on telephone that the reduction cut across all the faculties.
The fees, which was raised in 2012, had forced the students to stage peaceful demonstrations.
The students had considered the hike in the tuition as government’s attempt to deny them of their right to education.
NAN reports that In the old fees regime, a student of Mass Communication pays N130,000 per session, while law and medical students paid N140,000.
Some students who spoke to NAN observed that there was low turn out of candidates who applied to write the post-JAMB UTME test because of the high fees.
A student, Chidinma Eleri told NAN that many prospective students, who could have chosen the university, applied elsewhere because of the high fees.
Reacting to the new development, Mr Isreal Ahamefula, the President of the university’s Student Union, said the reduction was a right step in the right direction.
He thanked the state government for listening to the plight of the students by bringing down the fees.
“On behalf of the students, I thank the state government and the school authorities for the reducing the fees.
“This has been a long awaited welcome development,” he said.
The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, says Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has not done too well to merit the praise he receives from residents of the state.
He said Fashola had not performed as well as his Akwa Ibom State counterpart, Mr. Godswill Akpabio.
Ogundipe said this at a forum of Local Government Area chairmen under the aegis of Goodluck Lagos Grassroots Project in Lagos on Monday.
He spoke alongside PDP leaders in the zone at the event themed, ‘Transformation Agenda: Continuity for National Progress’.
He said, “No one should say Fashola is doing well in Lagos. Go to Akwa Ibom and see what the governor is doing there. Look at the stadium in Akwa Ibom. How many stadiums has Fashola built? There are bad roads all over the state with heavy traffic every day.
“Instead of Fashola to fix the roads, he was busy repairing Federal Government roads and sending inflated bills to the Federal Government as the cost of repair.”
Ogundipe admitted that President Goodluck Jonathan had not been able to do much for the people of the South-West but said it was because Yorubas were not contributing to the success of Jonathan.
He, therefore, called on the people of the South-West especially Lagos, to ensure that the Peoples Democratic Party won most of the elective positions including federal legislative seats so that Yorubas would be able to get juicy positions.
He said, “If you take a look at the current structure of the Federal Government, you will see that the South-West has been shortchanged. The reason is clear; we did not contribute to the success of the President. We are not even in key positions at the National Assembly and we find it hard to get highly placed positions.
“We must ensure that we vote for the PDP in all positions so that we can have a National Assembly that will make life easy for the President.”
He said the political career of a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would come to an end next year after his party, the All Progressives Congress, would have lost the Lagos and the presidential elections.
Also speaking, the chairman of the state chapter of the PDP, Captain Tunji Shelle (retd.), said Jonathan would get 99 per cent of the votes in Lagos State.
“With a voting population of six million and counting, we have assured Mr. President that he will get 5.9 million votes in Lagos,” he said.
Chinese prosecutors have indicted the son of Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan on drug offences, more than four months after he was first detained.
The announcement on Monday did not mention when a trial would be held but if convicted, singer-actor Jaycee Chan could face up to three years in jail.
Beijing police detained the younger Chan at his Beijing apartment in August along with Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai. Police said Chan and Ko both tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug.
Jaycee Chan’s detention has been particularly embarrassing for his father, who was named by Beijing as an anti-drug ambassador in 2009.
Chan has never publicly contested the charge, and his father has openly apologised over his detention.
“Regarding this issue with my son Jaycee, I feel very angry and very shocked,” Jackie Chan wrote on his microblog in August. “As a public figure, I’m very ashamed. As a father, I’m heartbroken.”
In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that illegal drugs should be wiped out and that offenders should be severely punished. The crackdown has snared more than 7,800 people in Beijing alone, according to police, and celebrities were targeted because of their influence over the public.
(CNN) -- A police officer in Tarpon Springs, Florida, was shot and killed early Sunday, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama says he plans to push to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility during his final two years in office -- potentially fulfilling a major campaign promise that he hasn't yet accomplished.
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