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Tuesday, 03 September 2019 06:00

Nigeria is a ‘pressure cooker of internal conflict’ that could destabilise other African countries - UN

Nigeria’s multiple security problems have created a crisis that requires urgent attention and could lead to instability in other African countries if it is not addressed, a United Nations rapporteur said on Monday. Security forces in Africa’s most populous country are trying to tackle a decade-long Islamist insurgency in the northeast, banditry in the northwest and bloody clashes between nomadic herdsmen and farming communities over dwindling arable land in central states. Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Nigeria was a “pressure cooker of internal conflict”. “The overall situation I have found is one of…

Tuesday, 03 September 2019 05:59

Supreme Court rebukes Buhari for using govt lawyer for private matter

Supreme Court on Monday criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for using a senior state counsel at the Ministry of Justice, Mr Abdullahi Abubakar, for his private election-related trial. The apex court made the observation while delivering a ruling in a suit accusing the president of lying on oath. Three appellants had filed the suit alleging that Mr Buhari lied on oath in a form he submitted to the electoral commission, INEC, for the 2019 election. Supreme Court dismissed the main suit against the president for being statute-barred. The judgement by the five-member panel was read by Mrs Mary Odili, but the…

Tuesday, 03 September 2019 05:58

Nigeria risks another $2.3bn fine over alleged contract breach in Mambilla project

Nigeria may face another $2.3bn fine in arbitration in France over an alleged breach of contract on Mambilla Hydroelectric project. This is coming after a British commercial court awarded $9.6bn against the country in favour of Process and Industrial Development Company in a botched gas processing deal. The Mambilla project is currently a subject of litigation instituted by Messrs Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited. The issue in dispute, according to a report by The Cable, is a claim by the plaintiffs that a $5.8bn contract for the construction of Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project on the basis of Build, Operate…

Tuesday, 03 September 2019 05:54

I’ll pay my N537m debt in 12 hours, ex-gov begs court

A former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke on Monday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that he would pay his N537, 334,360.77 debts to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in less than 12 hours. Mr Duke, through his counsel, Mr Edoigiawerie Omoruyi, told Mr Nicholas Oweibo that he had approached AMCON with a promise to liquidate the debt before the end of yesterday, September 2. He prayed for an adjournment to enable him settle the case out of court. AMCON, on August 8 through its counsel, Mrs Juliet Reeds obtained the court’s order to take interim possession…

Tuesday, 03 September 2019 05:51

FG talks tough over attacks in South Africa

Federal Government has frowned at the incessant harassment and killing of Nigerians in South Africa, and vowed to take decisive steps to curb it. This came as three persons were reportedly killed and their properties destroyed in a fresh wave of attacks on foreigners, including Nigerians, in South Africa. Following the unabated killing of Nigerians, Federal Government has declared that “enough is enough.” Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, while reacting to the development on his Twitter handle, described the wave of attacks on Nigerians as sickening. Onyeama said South African government must take definitive measures to put an…

Monday, 02 September 2019 05:04

‘Please, don’t quote me, quote my friend,’ Adeboye relates what his friend told him about the cattle issue

General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Mr E. A. Adeboye, at the Church leaders stakeholders’ summit, themed, ‘RUGA: The church’s response in the 21st century,’ which held at ShepherdHill Baptist Church, in Lagos on Saturday, spoke on the cattle controversy in the country. Adeboye urged stakeholders at the meeting to listen with anointed ears to his rather proverbial address at the event. He said he would relay an encounter he had with a close, mathematician friend of his, whom he said advised Christians to reduce or stop the consumption of beef. He said, “Please, do not quote…

Monday, 02 September 2019 05:03

Where’s the pope? Stuck in Vatican elevator until rescue

Where’s the pope? He’s stuck in a Vatican elevator. Thousands of people who were gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the traditional Sunday on-the-dot-of-noon appearance by Pope Francis were watching for the window of the Apostolic Palace to be thrown open so they could listen to the pope’s remarks and receive his blessing. But after seven minutes, people were looking at each other quizzically: no pope? Then Francis popped out and answered their question: “First of all I must excuse myself for being late. I was blocked in an elevator for 25 minutes.” Apparently referring to electrical power, Francis explained…

Monday, 02 September 2019 05:02

Protests on roads near Hong Kong airport disrupt air travel

Anti-government protesters blocked roads near Hong Kong’s airport with burning barricades and damaged a train station Sunday after a night of violent clashes with police. Train and some bus service to the airport on the outlying island of Chek Lap Kok were suspended. Some passengers walked to the airport, one of Asia’s busiest, carrying their luggage, but some flights were delayed. Hong Kong has been the scene of tense anti-government protests for nearly three months. The demonstrations began in response to a proposed extradition law and have expanded to include other grievances and demands for democracy in the semiautonomous Chinese…

Monday, 02 September 2019 04:58

Avoid Lagos-Ibadan expressway if in haste - TRACE

Motorists who are in a hurry to get to their destination on time have been asked to steer clear of Berger to Ogun River section of Lagos-Ibadan expressway due to rehabilitation works that might slow down traffic along the routes. According to a traffic advisory signed yesterday by spokesman of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi, motorists in a hurry can make use of alternative routes like the Iyana Ipaja/Ota/Ifo/Abeokuta/Sagamu-Benin Ore expressway; Victoria Island/ Lekki/ Epe/ Ijebu-Ode-Benin/Ore expressway or the Ikorodu/ Itoikin/ Ijebu-Ode-Benin/Ore expressway. According to the traffic advisory released yesterday, “in view of…

Sunday, 01 September 2019 04:59

Visa fees high for Americans despite FG’s reduction – Punch investigation

Americans seeking visa to visit Nigeria will continue to pay high visa fees despite the reduction announced by Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior Affairs on Wednesday. According to investigations, while Nigerians currently pay at least $160 for US visas, Americans are charged a minimum of $180 and an extra $100 for visa processing by visa service facilitation firms, amounting to $280 per applicant. Findings showed that two Nigerian firms, Online Integrated Services and Thebez Global Resources, had been generating windfall earning of at least $100 per visa application. An agent of TGR in New York informed our correspondent on Friday that…

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Sunday, 01 September 2019 04:58

US says it plans to create fake social media accounts to monitor immigrants

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers can now use fake social media accounts to monitor immigrants seeking visas, green cards and citizenship. The new plan is a policy change from July that reverses a Homeland Security Department ban that cited privacy issues. A statement from USCIS said the agency will use the fake accounts only “to access social media content that is publicly available to all users of the social media platform,” adding its personnel will respect users' privacy settings and won’t "friend" or "follow" users. USCIS said it doesn’t proactively monitor social media accounts. “We use social media…

Sunday, 01 September 2019 04:57

FG says still negotiating for Leah Sharibu’s release

Presidency has dismissed speculation that Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi schoolgirl still held by Boko Haram, is dead. It said Miss Sharibu was alive, while the Federal Government continue to negotiate her release from the terrorist group. Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, said this in a statement he issued on Saturday in Abuja. Shehu assured Nigerians that the government would not give up on Sharibu, a Christian, denied freedom by the terrorist group because of her faith. He stated, ‘‘Instead of giving up, the government is carrying forward processes that should hopefully…

Sunday, 01 September 2019 04:56

Russians demand free elections in Moscow, defying protest ban

A few thousand Russians took to the streets of central Moscow on Saturday to demand free elections to the capital’s city legislature on Sept. 8, defying a ban which has been enforced with violent detentions during previous protests. Participants stretch out a banner in support of Article 31 of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly, during a rally to demand authorities allow opposition candidates to run in the upcoming local election and release protesters, who were detained during recent demonstrations, near the monument to Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in Moscow, Russia August 31, 2019. Weeks of demonstrations…

Saturday, 31 August 2019 06:02

2019 presidential election results transmitted electronically but ... - INEC

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said it electronically transmitted results of this year’s presidential election, but that it was a pilot scheme not yet backed by law. INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Kogi, Kwara and Nasarawa states, Mr Mohammed Haruna, who represented chairman of INEC, Mr Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the public presentation of the YIAGA Africa Watching The Vote (WTV) General Elections Observation Report of 2019 elections. Haruna said: “The key word is pilot. We were piloting and you have to take that into consideration. In fact, it is not a done deal.…

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