#BiafraRise

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After a long wait, Buhari finnaly signed the new Minimum Wage Bill into law.

After a long wait, President Muhammadu Buhari has finnaly signed the National Minimum Wage Bill into law. The Senate had on March 19 passed the bill, approving N30,000 as the new national minimum wage. The House of Representatives had earlier passed the bill before the National Assembly went on recess to enable the lawmakers to participate in the 2019 general elections. Workers in the Federal Capital Territory had on Tuesday, begged President Buhari to sign the Minimum Wage Bill submitted to him by the National Assembly on March 27, into law before Workers Day on May 1. Read the full article

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CCT convicts Onnoghen of false assets declaration

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has convicted the embattled Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, after finding him guilty of false assets declaration. The tribunal headed by Danladi Umar ruled that Mr Onnoghen should forfeit the funds in the five accounts which he was accused of not disclosing. The tribunal said Mr Onnoghen evidently acquired the funds fraudulently since he failed to show how the huge amount was acquired. The tribunal invoked the full provision of Section 23 of the code of conduct law which allows it to remove Mr Onnoghen from office. It ordered that Mr Onnoghen should not return to the office in the next ten years. Mr Onnoghen had weeks earlier sent a notice of retirement to President Muhammadu Buhari in line with the recommendation of the National Judicial Council. The presidency is, however, yet to clarify Mr Onnoghen’s retirement. Earlier, PREMIUM TIMES reported how the CCT ruled it had jurisdiction to try Mr Onnoghen without clearance of the National Judicial Council. Details later.. Read the full article

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The north and poverty question

The Nigerian condition in terms of the depreciating living conditions of the people is common knowledge. Significantly, Nigeria is currently ranked 157th out of 189 countries on the human development index (HDI). Not long ago, Brookings Institution declared the country as the global headquarters of poverty. In spite of these glaring statistics, state actors have shied away from admitting their complicity in the deteriorating condition of the people they govern. Instead, they have often shifted blame to other actors – past leaders or those in the opposition. The blame was thrown back on them the other day by a key player in the national economy, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, a business mogul and Africa’s richest man. The Fourth Economic and Investment Summit in Kaduna provided the auspicious space for some straight and frank talk. Dangote blamed the poverty in the north on the irresponsibility of state actors in the northern quadrant to harness the region’s potentials. The neglect of the agricultural sector was particularly underscored. By his submission, which aligns with other statistics, about 60 per cent of people in the Northeast and Northwest live in extreme poverty. To augment the statistics, the Global Report on Food Crisis 2019 grouped Nigeria among seven other countries ravaged by hunger and Northern Nigeria is particularly singled out. The region’s poverty manifests in dire illiteracy, poor healthcare system, an alarming population of street urchins otherwise known as ‘Almajiris’, drug abuse and escalating banditry. This is indeed appalling. The oil delusion in terms of revenue has been disastrous and may have accounted for the contribution of a paltry 21 per cent to internally generated revenue (IGR) by the north accounting for about 54 per cent of the country’s population and 70 per cent of its landmass. The business mogul also warned that northern Nigeria would continue to lag behind the development ladder unless a conscious step was taken to close the development gap. It is pertinent to note that the federal authorities have in some way nurtured the oil delusion and the consequent leadership inertia by its waste of hard-earned resources on a fruitless prospecting for oil in the Chad basin and other parts of the north despite proven reports of ‘no oil’ by experts. Such misplaced priority has been part of the problem and constrained commitment to the diversification of the economy. Beyond lamentation, it is to be noted that Dangote also proffered solutions. One is to create an enabling environment for private investment with its potential to create jobs and alleviate poverty. Employment would for sure undermine the spiraling social vices in society. Furthermore, he advised the north, his birthplace to focus on agriculture where it has huge potential and a comparative advantage to turn around the economy and improve the wellbeing of the people. However, a synergy between the private and public sectors is required to drive development. This is compellingly so, because in the context of our national economy, the state remains the custodian of national resources. Interestingly, the United Nations’ report on food crisis has added its suggestion to the list of possible solution with its emphasis for children to be well nourished and educated, women truly empowered and rural infrastructure to be developed to end hunger. Much earlier, Bill Gates had also advised focus on investment in infrastructure and human development to achieve sustainable goals. These are not to be trivialised and state actors need to take them seriously. The Dangote sermon should be taken as a nation talking to itself. The message is not for the north only: it is for the entire country. The southern governors are not better than their northern counterparts, in this regard. As in previous republics, the governors are exhibiting rascality in governance; and they live off and run governmental business on the basis of revenue from the federation account and exhibit all the symptoms of a rentier state which runs on petro-dollars: misapplication of public funds, extravagant spending and lack of commitment to development. Efforts at generating resources internally are devoid of creativity and innovations. Truly, they are monetarist and take the form of imposition of taxation and other crude extortion on the poor and hapless citizens while agenda of development has been more of a rhetoric than practice. Northwest development agenda was hinted long ago and in the south, the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) was flagged off with a great deal of hype. But curiously, nothing in terms of concrete activities have been recorded with the DAWN document beyond setting up a bureaucracy that has been full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The net effect of the dearth of initiative and policy vacuum has been the aggravation of social misery and the consequent social vices that are threatening the existential peace of the populace. In the main, every part of the country has abundant resources to unleash development within. Will and commitment are however required to turn around the fortune of country. A time for prevarication is gone and those who have no solutions for the problems besetting the people have no business in governance. We will not be tired of reminding those in authorities that welfare and security of the people shall be the primary purpose of governance. Above all, leaders of northern extraction should reflect deeply on the words of wisdom from Dangote, a significant Nigerian. Read the full article

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6.1-magnitude quake hits Taiwan

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted Taiwan on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, shaking buildings and disrupting traffic. In the capital Taipei, highrises swayed while some panicked schoolchildren fled their classrooms in eastern Yilan county, according to reports. The quake was felt across the island and a highway connecting Yilan and Hualien was shut down due to falling rocks, authorities said. An official at the Hualien county fire department told AFP that two people, including a male Malaysian tourist, were injured by falling rocks and that the department was planning to send in medics by helicopter. Read the full article

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North Korea wants Pompeo out of nuclear talks, says he is reckless

North Korea on Thursday demanded the removal of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from talks over its banned nuclear programme, hours after it claimed to have tested a new kind of weapon. Describing Pompeo as “reckless” and immature, the foreign ministry said it wanted him replaced by another interlocutor, a demand that significantly ups the ante in a sensitive diplomatic standoff. Pyongyang and Washington have been at loggerheads since the collapse of a summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump earlier this year. “I am afraid that, if Pompeo engages in the talks again, the table will be lousy once again and the talks will become entangled,” Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the ministry’s Department of American Affairs said, according to the official KCNA news agency. “Therefore, even in the case of possible resumption of the dialogue with the US, I wish our dialogue counterpart would be not Pompeo but… (another) person who is more careful and mature in communicating with us.” It is not the first time North Korea has singled out Pompeo for special criticism. When the secretary of state met with North Korean officials in Pyongyang in July last year, he was condemned for his “gangster-like” insistence that the North move towards unilateral disarmament. Kwon, whom KCNA said was responding to a question from one of its journalists, said leader Kim had made clear that the US attitude has to change. He said Pompeo was standing in the way of a resumption of talks. “We cannot be aware of Pompeo’s ulterior motive behind his self-indulgence in reckless remarks; whether he is indeed unable to understand words properly or just pretending on purpose. “The US cannot move us one iota by its current way of thinking. In his previous visits to Pyongyang, Pompeo was granted audiences with our Chairman of the State Affairs Commission for several times and pleaded for the denuclearization. “However, after sitting the other way round, he spouted reckless remarks hurting the dignity of our supreme leadership at Congress hearings last week to unveil his mean character by himself, thus stunning the reasonable people.” In testimony to a Senate subcommittee last week, Pompeo, who flew to Pyongyang four times last year, was asked if he would agree with the characterisation of Kim as a “tyrant”. “Sure. I’m sure I’ve said that,” Pompeo replied. North Korea takes an exceedingly dim view of anything it sees as a personal attack on Kim, who enjoys a personality cult among a people who are fed a steady diet of propaganda about the founding family. Since the beginning of the thaw in relations between the US and North Korea, Pyongyang has been far happier to deal directly with Trump, who critics fear is too soft on the regime and is not sufficiently versed in diplomacy. The US president has made much of his personal relationship with Kim, musing on several occasions about their “love” for each other. Thursday’s extraordinary attack on Pompeo came hours after KCNA announced Kim had supervised the test-firing of a new tactical weapon with a “powerful warhead”. It also comes after satellite imagery suggested heightened activity at a nuclear test site. Wednesday’s test was “conducted in various modes of firing at different targets” KCNA reported, adding that Kim described its development as one “of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army”. The report gave no details of the weapon. South Korea had not detected anything on radar so it was unlikely to have been a missile, a military official told AFP. “The description makes whatever was tested sound like a missile, but that could be everything from a small anti-tank guided missile to a surface-to-air missile to a rocket artillery system,” said North Korea analyst Ankit Panda. Read the full article

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Oil prices slip to $71.43

Oil prices slip to $71.43 Oil markets fell on Thursday despite a surprise decline in U.S. inventories, but the price drops were tempered by a smaller-than-expected reduction in gasoline stocks and ongoing OPEC-led supply cuts. Brent crude futures were at 71.43 dollars a barrel at 0700 GMT, down 19 cents or 0.3 per cent from their last close and further away from Wednesday’s five-month high of 72.27 dollars a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at 63.62 dollars per barrel, down 14 cents or 0.2 per cent. Both contracts had traded slightly higher earlier in the day. U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels in the week to April 12 compared with analyst expectations for an increase of 1.7 million barrels, Department of Energy (DoE) data showed on Wednesday. “The unexpected drawdown in U.S. commercial crude oil stocks was balanced by lower-than-expected withdrawals in the country’s gasoline and distillate inventories,” said Abhishek Kumar, Head of Analytics at Interfax Energy in London. Gasoline stocks fell by 1.2 million barrels, less than analyst expectations in a Reuters’ poll for a 2.1 million-barrel drop. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 362,000 barrels, also not as much as forecasts for 846,000-barrel drawdown, the EIA data showed. Prices have been supported this year by an agreement reached by OPEC and its allies, including Russia, to limit their oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day. Global supply has also been tightened further by U.S. sanctions on OPEC members Venezuela and Iran. Iran’s crude exports have dropped in April to their lowest daily level this year, tanker data showed and industry sources said, suggesting a drawdown in buyer interest ahead of expected further pressure from Washington. Growing U.S. oil production and concerns over the U.S.-China trade dispute are keeping prices in check. “A persistent rise in U.S. oil output, together with lingering demand-side concerns emerging from the U.S.-China trade dispute, is limiting price gains,” Kumar said. U.S. crude oil output from seven major shale formations was expected to rise by about 80,000 bpd in May to a record 8.46 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly report on Monday. Surging U.S. production has filled some of the gap in supplies, although not all of the lost production can be immediately replaced by U.S. shale oil due to refinery configurations. (Reuters/NAN) Read the full article

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Buhari to Atiku: Produce your credentials

President Muhammadu Buhari has challenged Atiku Abubakar, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), candidate to produce and tender his educational certificates, indicating the schools attended by him, with dates. The challenge was one of the planks of Buhari’s response to Abubakar’s petition at the Presidential Election Tribunal. In the filing by a team of lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Buhari debunked Atiku’s and PDP’s claim that he was not qualified to run for President. The President said he was far more qualified than Atiku and on the contrary, it was Atiku that was not qualified to run for the office. Buhari said he did not, “at any time, provide any false information in Form CF00] submitted to the lst respondent, either in 2014 or 2018. “The affidavit of compliance to the 2019 Form CF001 was correct in every material particular. “In filling Form CF001 in 2014 and 2019, respondent was not oblivious of the constitutional qualifications stipulated in Section 131 of the Constitution and interpreted in Section 318 of the same Constitution. “Petitioners themselves are also not oblivious of the fact that respondent possesses far more than the constitutional threshold expected for a candidate contesting for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “The respondent avers that he is far more qualified, both constitutionally and educationally, to contest and occupy the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria than the 1st petitioner (Atiku); and that in terms of educational qualifications, trainings and courses attended, both within and outside Nigeria, he is head and shoulder above the 1st petitioner in terms of acquisition of knowledge, certificates, laurels, medals and experience. “Respondent states further that it is the 1st petitioner, who is not qualified to contest the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and challenges the educational credentials and certificates of the 1st petitioner. “1st petitioner is hereby given notice to produce and tender his educational certificates, indicating the schools attended by him, with dates.” The President gave his educational resume as: “Elementary School, Daura and Maid’adua (1948 – 1952), Middle School, Katsina (1953-1956, Katsina Provincial Secondary School (now Government College, Katsina (1956-1961).” Buhari faulted the entire petition filed by the PDP and Atiku,noting that they are more about pre-election issues, which the Court of Appeal, sitting as a tribunal lacked jurisdiction. He also argued that the petitioners told lies against themselves in the petition and made conflicting claims which the tribunal cannot grant. Buhari noted that while the petitioners claimed to have won the last presidential election and also won elections in many states in the Southsouth and Southeastern part of the country, they also urged the court to nullify the election and order a fresh presidential election. Buhari argued that by virtue of Section of 137of the Electoral Act, petitioners cannot question the results of elections in states where they claim to have won and still retain themselves as petitioners. Buhari faulted the petitioners’ claim that the election was marred by corrupt practices and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act. The President also faulted the petitioners’ claim that they won the election, insisting that, by the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the last presidential election election. He asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the reliefs the petitioners sought by the petitioners are frivolous. “The entire reliefs are not justifiable, as the petitioners, who claim to have scored majority of lawful votes in substantial number of states, are also questioning their own return in those states. “The petitioners cannot act as petitioners and respondents in the same petition. “The alternative relief sought is self-defeating, apart from being frivolous. “The election to the office of President on 23rd February, 2019, was conducted in substantial compliance with the provision of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended),” he said. Buhari, challenged the petitioners to produce “specifics of website: www.factsdontlien .com, including its domain owner, proprietor, lessee, lessor, etc., pleaded in paragraph 29 of the petition. “Details of the electronic data on the servers of the 1st respondent (Inec), including the time, the details were downloaded, the person who downloaded them and the means of downloading (paragraph 29 of the petition). Read the full article

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23 inmates sit for 2019 UTME at Ikoyi Prisons

No fewer than 23 inmates of the Ikoyi Prisons School on Wednesday participated in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who monitored the examination reports that the inmate who turned up early also showed enthusiasm on siting for the examiners The Principal of the facility’s school, ASP Ibikunle Idris, told NAN that a total of 25 of the inmates actually registered for the examination but that 23 sat for the examination. According to him, out of the 25 that registered, nine of them were however discharged before the date for the examination. Idris however stated that out of the nine that were discharged before the examination, seven of them came back to the facility to join others in taking the examination. “Two of the nine that were discharged did not show up for the examination. “But I must say the examination is a huge success. By our judgement, it was 100 per cent hitch free. “The systems and the backups were all working at their best and on our part, we ensured the candidates were well relaxed while they wrote the examination. “With the level of preparations we had for them prior to this examination, we will not expect anything short of 270 and above score. “We would want to commend some NGOs such as the Good News Baptist Church and other volunteers who joined hands with us in preparing the inmates, including our own staff and inmates. It was a joint effort,” he said. The Principal added that the Controller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, the former Controller of Prisons, Lagos Command, now Assistant Controller General of Prisons, Tunde Ladipo, had both showed great commitment in the overall welfare of the inmates. “One of their cardinal focus has been to give support in the general welfare, empowerment and reformation of the inmates. “The current Deputy Controller of the Ikoyi Prisons too, Tolu Ogunsakin on his own, has ensured that the inmates are given the best support in a bid to ensure that they carry on with their lives successfully whenever they regained freedom,” Idris told NAN (NAN) Read the full article

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Job creation: ECOWAS urges enhancement of private sector involvement

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has urged Member States to urgently implement policies on private sector participation to enhance job creation to encourage youth development. This formed part of recommendations at the close of the delocalised meeting of the Joint Committees organised by the ECOWAS Parliament in Conakry, Guinea. The committees are Communications and Information Technology; Education, Science and Technology; Labour, Employment, Youth, Sports and Culture. The parliamentarians urged the ECOWAS Commission to organise campaigns to sensitise youths on the economic goals of the region and understanding their role to play. Members of parliament also said it was pertinent for member states to intensify efforts to ensure projects in the region were geared toward sustainable regional integration. In his presentation, ECOWAS Commissioner, Industry and Private Sector Promotion, Mr Mamadou Traore assured that the commission was committed to strengthening Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through its regional capacity building programmes. Traore said the commission was ready to address some of the challenges experienced in the region through its “new investment policy” coming up in December. The commissioner said entrepreneurship and SMEs were the foundation of societies including ECOWAS and would provide inclusive development and decent jobs for the majority. He added that entrepreneurship and SMEs were opportunities to “turn our bourgeoning population into a dividend instead of a curse”. He, however, said that major challenges to the growth of entrepreneurship and SMEs in the region were due to insufficient capacity, poor business climate, general lack of access market and relevant finance, among others. The commission’s representative stressed that the parliamentarians could improve challenges experienced by ensuring the implementation of regional and national programmes. He added that the parliamentary committee responsible for matters of entrepreneurship and SMEs development should be strengthened to effectively monitor implementation of relevant regional policies and programmes. “This present meeting is evidence that parliament is determined to be more committed to supporting the implementation of entrepreneurship and SMEs development in ECOWAS. “I hope that our contributions will help parliament achieve its objectives in this regard fully,” he added. The lawmakers also visited the Souapiti Hydroelectric Dam Project in Guinea. The estimated cost of the dam was put at $1.6 billion and has an expected capacity of 450 megawatts and would be used to interconnect the power grids of Mali, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. The dam officials informed the delegation that the project was launched in 2016 and is located on the Kankoure River. They also visited the Kaleta Hydroelectric Dam with a reported 240 megawatts generating capacity and an estimated cost of 526 million dollars. Read the full article

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Thieves break into police station as officers watch UEFA match

Thieves broke into a Kenyan police station on Tuesday night as all officers on duty abandoned their post to watch a UEFA Champions League match at a nearby trading centre. Kenya Standard newspaper reported that the incident happened at Kobujoi Police Station, Nandi County. The thieves made away with three rifles and ammunitions. On returning to the post, the soccer-crazy policemen discovered that the room of the officer in-charge, which also serves as an armoury was open. They walked in to find the steel box, in which firearms are kept, broken. The thieves stole three rifles, with magazines of 20 rounds of ammunition each. They left behind only two magazines with 17 and 20 rounds. The scene was visited by the Nandi South OCPD, OCS and AP Commander. Search and investigations are underway to recover the stolen firearms and nab the suspects. Read the full article

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IPOB: I was right on Atiku’s Cameroonian connection

Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, said he has been vindicated over his claim that former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was born a Cameroonian. He spoke as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has also filed the claim in its response to Atiku’s petition before the election tribunal. Addressing his members through his broadcast on Radio Biafra, Kanu said: “The headline: ‘Atiku Is Not A Nigerian, APC Tells Tribunal’, is a vindication that everything I say on Radio Biafra is the truth. It may appear outlandish and unbelievable at first, but eventually history always vindicates me. “As everyone can see very clearly, it is unambiguously stated that for you to become the President of Nigeria, you must be born a Nigerian. Simply put, your birth certificate or any official notation must say clearly that you are a Nigerian. As at the time Atiku was born, the citizenship on his birth certificate read Cameroonian.” The fugitive IPOB leader described the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as clearly defective because those who crafted it were neither philosophers, social scientists, thinkers nor constitutional experts. According to him, the argument by some people that if Atiku was a Cameroonian, he could not have been the Comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Vice-President, will not hold water. He noted that Section 131(a) of the Constitution is clear on who should be the President of the country. Kanu said: “The incontrovertible truth is that His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice-President of Nigeria for eight years, became a Nigerian by virtue of the referendum of February 11, 1961. He was not born a Nigerian and as such he became a Nigerian as a result of the British organised plebiscite held in British Cameroons to give the people of Adamawa, where Atiku comes from, the opportunity to choose where they would like to belong. “When I first raised this issue, which incidentally has been ignored by all arms of government- including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), whose duty it is to ensure that candidates meet all stipulated constitutional requirements – it was not to insinuate or imply that Atiku is not a Nigerian. Rather, it is to highlight the very constitutionally critical point at the heart of IPOB agitation for Biafra independence, which is that asking for a referendum is never a crime in any law known to man…” He berated Atiku’s defence team for what he called their weak and porous argument that if the PDP chieftain was not a Nigerian, he wouldn’t have become Nigeria’s vice-president, lived, invested and paid tax in the country for years as a citizen. The proscribed IPOB leader noted that by virtue of relevant sections of Nigeria, anybody born in Adamawa between 1946, when Atiku was born, till 1960, was not qualified to contest election as President of Nigeria. “Atiku Abubakar was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, now Adamawa State, then in Northern Cameroon. He was a citizen of Cameroon but now a Nigerian by plebiscite. This information has always been in the public domain. What I did was just to flag it…” Read the full article

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Presidential poll: Atiku releases ‘evidence’ of election result from INEC website

Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has insisted the result from the server of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, shows that he defeated President Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election. In his submission to the presidential election tribunal, the former vice president gave the “unique MAC address and Microsoft product ID of the INEC server,” from where the results were obtained. According to the result declared by INEC from the 36 states and FCT, Buhari polled 15,191,847, while Atiku came second with 11,262,978 votes. Atiku Abubakar GCON But in his petition submitted at the tribunal, the PDP candidate claimed he garnered a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari, who, according to him, polled 16,741,430 votes. INEC, in response, said the results being paraded by Abubakar are fabricated and not from its website. But in their response to the INEC’s submission, a copy of which was obtained by The Cable, Abubakar and PDP said address of the server from which the results were obtained are unique to INEC. They said: “The servers from which the said figures were derived belong to the first respondent (INEC). The figures and votes were transmitted to the first respondent’s Presidential Result’s Server 1 and thereafter aggregated in INEC_PRES_RSLT_SRV2019, whose Physical Address or unique Mac Address is 94-57-A5-DC-64-B9 with Microsoft Product ID 00252-7000000000-AA535. The above descriptions are unique to the 1st respondent’s server. “There is no conjecture in the votes and scores in the table pleaded by the petitioners. The figures are factual. Spokesperson for the 2nd respondent’s Campaign Organisation openly admitted that the data in question was in the first respondent’s server when he wrote and submitted a petition to the Inspector General of Police and Director General of Department of State Services, DSS, asking the security agencies to investigate the 2nd petitioner herein for allegedly hacking into the server of the 1st respondent and obtaining the data in question. “Specifically, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, the spokesperson of the 2nd respondent, claimed in the said petition that it was the first petitioner who smuggled the data into the server.” Atiku and PDP also alleged the INEC chairman “committed grave errors in the final collation exercise” for the election by “falsely crediting” some persons with political parties, including “Okotie Christopher, Reverend Dr. Onwubuya and Ojinika Jeff Chinze. “The grave errors referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5 above were under the hands and signature of the first respondent’s chairman (who was also the Returning Officer) in the conduct of the final collation of the results of the presidential election. “The petitioners state that the final results as declared by the first respondent are those that were transmitted online to the website of the first respondent (www inecnigeria.org).” Read the full article

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Messi, Coutinho see off Manchester United

Lionel Messi pounced on two Manchester United mistakes to score twice and end their hopes of another Camp Nou comeback as Barcelona breezed into the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday. After an excellent start, United were undone twice in four minutes by Messi, who first nicked the ball off the careless Ashley Young and then watched as a weak shot from distance squirmed underneath David de Gea. Philippe Coutinho, in perhaps his best performance of the season, added a third with a curling effort into the top corner and by the end, an outclassed United might have been relieved the score was not more traumatic than 3-0, 4-0 on aggregate. A dizzying opening spell, in which Marcus Rashford had hit the crossbar, was long-forgotten, even if it could offer Barcelona’s next opponents some encouragement. Liverpool, who take a 2-0 lead to Porto on Wednesday, are the most likely obstacle between Barca and their first Champions League final since they last won this tournament in 2015. Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane might feel encouraged. Instead, United’s pair of early errors made this another night about Messi and ensured any faint hopes of repeating the comeback against Paris Saint-Germain, or even the famous 1999 rescue act against Bayern Munich, on this same pitch, were dashed. Messi now has his 109th and 110th Champions League goals and, potentially, three extra matches to reduce the gap on Cristiano Ronaldo’s 126, after Juventus were dumped out by Ajax. Barcelona’s fans celebrated that too. United’s coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had urged his strikers to be more lethal here but it felt ominous that even before kick-off, Rashford, Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez had hit 42 goals this season, while Messi on his own had 43. Around an hour before kick-off, Alex Ferguson was on the side of the pitch, shaking hands with Ryan Giggs and sharing words with Solskjaer, the scorer of that goal against Munich here 20 years ago. They could have hardly have asked for a better start. United were brilliant for eight minutes and could have been ahead within 30 seconds as Rashford raced onto a curving Paul Pogba pass and toed away a shot, which Marc-Andre ter Stegen bravely left to graze his own crossbar. Barca were flustered, so much so the crowd even cheered with relief when Arthur Melo played his team’s first convincing pass. Then, Barcelona had their own eight-minute flurry as United almost conceded a penalty, ruled out after Fred took the ball before bringing down Ivan Rakitic, and then did concede, twice, to Messi. Both could have been avoided, even if Young’s turn on the edge of his own box was punished in devastating fashion. Young lunged in to atone for his mistake but Messi skipped away from him, poked it through Fred’s legs and then whipped the ball past into the corner. Read the full article

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90 Boko Haram Fighters Met Their End As Nigerian, Cameroonian And Chadian Forces Unleash Attack On Them

In a fierce encounter at the weekend with Boko Haram terrorists, troops of Sector 1 Operation LAFIYA DOLE, along with the Cameroon Defence Force, killed no fewer than 27 of the terrorists. Chadian forces also killed 63 of the terrorists in a fight near Lake Chad also at the weekend, making a total of 90 terrorists terminated in two encounters. Although there was no casualty recorded on the side of the Nigerian-Cameroon forces, in the shootout on 13 April in the Northern part of Wulgo, Tumbuma, Chikun Gudu and Bukar Maryam villages of Borno State, Chad lost seven men. Many weapons and trucks were recovered from the rebels, according to Colonel Sagir Musa, acting director of army public relations. Among the items recovered were five AK47 rifles, one automatic revolver, three machine guns, one G3 rifle, one M21 rifle, five Rocket Propelled Gun Tubes, Bombs, assorted rounds of ammunitions. Also recovered were five Gun Trucks, several Motor Cycles, one Land Cruiser Buffalo, one Nissan GT and one Land Cruiser, which was destroyed. “Coordinated military operation is ongoing especially in the fringes of Gombaru – Ngala and surrounding areas to deal with the fleeing bandits running out from Multi National Joint Task Force (Op YANCIN TAFKI ) onslaught on their hideouts”, Sagir Musa said. As the Nigerian-Cameroonian forces recorded successes against the terrorists, the terrorists inflicted some harm of their own in Chad. Although 63 of them were killed by Chadian troops, they killed seven Chadian soldiers in an attack at Azem Bermendoa Agouna, a Chadian military spokesman said on Monday. The terrorists injured 15 others when they attacked an army position in Kaiga Kindjiria, in western Chad, on Sunday, according to Agouna. Read the full article

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FG moves to have Innoson boss arrested

FG moves to have Innoson boss arrested The Federal Government, on Monday urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to issue a bench warrant against Innoson Nigeria Limited’s chairman Mr. Innocent Chukwuma and some of his employees.They were charged in a fraud case before Justice Ayokunle Faji. The Police had earlier charged them with an alleged N2.4billion shipping fraud, but the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), later took over the case.Others named in the charge are Charles Chukwuma, Maximian Chukwura, Mitsui Osk Lines and Anajekwu Sunny. The prosecution is praying the court to order the arrest of Innoson Motors Chairman and his staff for failing to turn up to take their plea in the criminal charge. On Monday, Chukwuma and his staff were absent in court.Prosecuting Counsel Mr. Julius Ajakaiye moved an application urging the court to order the absent defendants’ arrested. He said the charge was served on them through a court-ordered February 8, 2016 substituted service following the AGF’s take-over of the case. Consequently, he said the defendants were yet to take their plea and should therefore be compelled to appear.He added that an April 12, 2016 amended charge could not be served on the absent defendants. Ajakaiye urged the court to grant his application by ordering their arrest. But defence counsel Chief George Uwechue (SAN) and Prof. C. Mbadugha prayed the court to dismiss the application.They argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to issue the warrant against the defendants “because they were not properly summoned before the court”. They said the application offends Order 6 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, adding that there was no proper service on their clients. Justice Faji adjourned until July 3 for ruling. Read the full article

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Nigeria: The Most Useless Youths In The Whole World Are Presently Found In Nigeria.

Between The Youths That Became Leaders And The Dormant Youths Of Today The most useless youths in the whole world are presently found in Nigeria. During independence, it was the young people of those days that led the fight for independence. They too were handed over the country, they led it and today, they are still leading as very old people. At 20s and 30s, these boys led coup upon coup, killing people and flushing out older people to appoint themselves leaders. They not only enjoyed immediate appointment after schooling, they became leaders themselves. Even the present Nigeria president, Muhammadu Buhari led a coup, yet today as an old man, useless Nigeria youths still elected him as a democratic President. Today, take a look at the youths and you would want to cry. They are paid to support those raping them in the name of party politics. They joke with things they should take serious. They justify every atrocities of the government and provide them with unbelievable excuses. Those of them in the secondary schools are coming out more useless than those at 30s. They completely know nothing. They become addicted to suffering and takes it as normal. They feel no pain and no anger at a country that has not only abandoned them, but has also mapped out many avenues to steal from them. Do you know that millions of secondary school children are working to keep themselves in school? These children pride in it, without anyone there to tell them that even though they are doing this as a necessity of survival, it is completely wrong for them to be working at that tender age. Rather, they are prepared as slaves who sees slavery as normal and can rally to kill anyone trying to save them from slavery. Pathetic, isn't it? The new age teachers have completely failed in their duty. I have met a Teacher who has resigned to fate. According to him, we have no choice in Nigeria. Whatever we see, we take. Tell me how such a Teacher can be able to prepare future minds that can confront the status quo? Have you found anything wrong with Jamb? I guess no? Do you know that jamb is a government tool of extorting young people? They have even made the process too difficult as to get more money for the political elites to live extravagant lifestyles. In Algeria, the people have protested and a sit-tight President gave way. In Sudan, a 22 year old lady led a protest that brought down a dictator. Useless Nigerian youths are flaunting it. Shouting up and down. Misguided people. Not too long ago, a certain Mazi Nnamdi Kanu led a massive protest in Nigeria. Soldiers were deployed and hundreds of his supporters were killed for peacefully protesting and demanding for referendum. The useless youths of Nigeria was so happy. They took to social Media to say that Nnamdi Kanu killed his supporters for calling them out to protest. According to this sons and daughters of idiots, no one should ever protest in Nigeria. Yet they keep talking about the protest in Sudan and Algeria. Shameless youths. The soulless Nigeria leaders heard them. And they have intensified the massacre and have been killing any body that comes out to protest. Shiite Muslims in protest blocked a Federal road, and Nigeria youths said it's right to murder more than 300 people, including women and children for blocking a road. "Why should they block a 'whole' army chief from making use of a Federal road? Infact they killed themselves," says a Nigerian youth. That's exactly an average Nigerian youth mentality. For a Nigerian youth, he is not even ready to protest. Protest means causing problem for him/herself. And demanding for referendum means causing war. With what has happened to Nigerian youths, they should have turned into arms struggle against the government. But the government have been exploring tribal and religious differences and using it against the people. The youths now fight themselves instead of the government raping them dry. But can there be any youth uprising by Nigerian youths? The answer is a very tragic No. The reason is because of the fragmented nature of Nigerians politically, religiously and culturally. Just as there is nothing like One Nigeria, there can never be oneness among the different youths entrapped in Nigeria. There is nothing like southern youths, as even in the South, Yoruba youths are completely different and have different and parallel world view compared to an Igbo or Ijaw. It is only when we understand this, that we can fight properly. The Biafra youths must stand on one thing and push for referendum. If Referendum can make Atiku Abubakar a Nigerian, it can still be given to Biafrans as to decide whom they truly are. Nigeria or Biafra? The choice is yours to make. Edited By Paul Ihechi Alagba. Read the full article