2 Gun Wielding Young Men Kill 6 Students 2 Teachers, Commit Suicide In Brazil

March 13, 2019

Two young men wearing hoods and carrying guns, knives and crossbows opened fire at a school in southern Brazil today, Wednesday, killing six students and two teachers before taking their own lives.

Governor Joao Doria, who confirmed the incidence, said that several other people, who were hit by the bullets, have been hospitalized with injuries. He spoke a few blocks from the public school in Suzano, a suburb of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city.

The governor said that the attackers were in their early to mid-20s, and would not want to believe that they were former students.

Joao Doria said that students of the school had been evacuated and police were inspecting what appeared to be possible explosives left by the shooters.

“The school is on lockdown,” he said.

Students gathered outside the school recounted harrowing attacks and seeing several bodies lying in pools of blood.

“We were at recess and eating like normal and we heard three pops, then we tried to run to jump over the walls,” Rosni Marcelo Grotliwed, a 15-year-old student said.

She said the attackers had guns and knives, and when she ran to the principal’s office, she saw many dead people.

“My friend was stabbed in the shoulder and my other friend was shot,” she said. “I escaped with one friend and went home and then came back to look for another friend.”

Horacio Pereira Nunes, a retiree whose house is next to the school, said he began hearing shots around 10 a.m.

“Then a lot of kids started running out, all screaming,” he said. “It didn’t take long until police arrived.”

The public school, Raul Brasil Professor, has more than 1,600 students from elementary to high school grades.

Latin America’s most populous nation has the largest number of annual homicides in the world, but school shootings are rare.

In 2011, 12 students were killed by a gunman who roamed the halls of a school in Rio de Janeiro, shooting at them.

President Jair Bolsonaro ran on a platform that included promises to crack down on criminals, in part by expanding public access to guns. Soon after being inaugurated Jan. 1, Bolsonaro issued a decree making it easier for people wanting a gun to buy and possess one.

Standing outside the school, Claudio Cabral said he had been trying to reach his nephew, 17-year-old Douglas Mourinho, so far without luck.

“He is a smart kid. We heard many students jumped the wall,” Cabral said hopefully. “Maybe that’s what happened.”

INEC To Issue Certificates Of Return To 63 APC, 38 PDP Senators, Others

Editorial staff

March 13, 2019

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to, tomorrow, Thursday, issue certificates of return to 102 Senators, made up of 63 for the All Progressives Congress (APC), 38 for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and one for the YFP.

According to INEC, the 102 Senators- elect will be issued with their certificate at 10 am while the 338 Members of House of Representatives-elect will be issued theirs by 2 pm the same day.

Meanwhile, seven seats have been declared inconclusive and will be contested for on the 23rd March supplementary poll.

For the lower chamber, the ruling party, APC has 211 members-elect while the PDP has 111. APGA secured six seats, ADC three, Action Alliance two, Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), two, African Democratic Party (ADP) one and Allied Peoples Movement (APM), one and Social Democratic Party-one.

There are 22 seats that have been declared inconclusive and supplementary elections have been fixed for 23rd March except for Rivers state that the commission is yet to take action.

The two major parties will be slugging it out in Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kano, Plateau and Benue states where polls were inconclusive. In Sokoto state, where the PDP is leading with 3,413 votes, there are 75,493 votes to fight for.

In Adamawa, PDP with 367, 471 as against APC’s 334,995 is leading with 32,47

2019 Polls: INEC Commissioner Failed Us In Akwa Ibom, Akpabio, Ekere, Etiebet Allege

Editorial staff

March 13, 2019

Top contestants in the All Progressives Congress (APC) elective offices in Akwa Ibom State have blamed their defeat in the just concluded governorship and House of Assembly elections on the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the State, Mike Igini.

Speaking to news men yesterday, Tuesday, the contestants, Nsima Ekere, who contested for the governorship; Senator Godswill Akpabio and Don Etiebet, insisted that the fsilure on the part of INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu to redeploy Mike Igini, caused them to lose in the elections.

Ekere said that Mike Igini had, from the outset, shown through his utterances and actions that he was determined to frustrate APC from winning elections in the state.

“Now, interestingly, months before the elections, the APC family in Akwa Ibom State had expressed a lot of reservations about the character of Mr. Mike Igini. We had told the entire country and the world that Mr. Igini had shown the world that he was far from neutral in the way he was preparing for the elections and his utterances amongst his staff during training sessions and the things he said showed clearly that the man had a mindset that he had sworn severally that under his watch, the APC cannot win elections in Akwa Ibom state.

”All we wanted was for INEC to allow Akwa Ibom people decide for themselves who they wanted. It was not for INEC and the Resident Electoral Commissioner to come and decide for Akwa Ibom people which political party must win and which one must not win under his watch.

”He is supposed to be a neutral umpire. His (Igini) conduct and the things he has done both in the presidential and national assembly elections and the gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections have confirmed our fears. What we find so difficult to understand is why it was difficult for the INEC chairman and other authorities that be to listen to our pleas to change Mike Igini as the REC in Akwa Ibom.

”From 1999 when elections started again in this country, every election year, the REC and other staff of the INEC who have been resident in a state for a period of time were always moved around. That way, you are sure they will not allow their alliances and the friendships they have developed in the state within that period they have stayed to influence their conduct.

”Surprisingly INEC refused to do this. And this is the first time this is happening. They allowed Igini to frustrate the wishes of Akwa Ibom people. This is most unfortunate.”

Akpabio also attributed APC’s failure in the state to Igini, saying that he found it hard to understand why his local government, Essien Udim, with voting strength of 105,000 was allotted just a bit above 6,000 votes.

He said that the recent elections in the state were massively rigged by the PDP in connivance with INEC headed by Igini.

On his part, Etiebet accused INEC of changing the result before announcement and vowed that APC would challenge the result in court.

US Manufacturer Of Ill-Fated Boeing 737 Sends Black Box To Europe For Analysis

Editorial staff

March 13, 2019

Ethiopian Airlines has decided to send the black box from its crashed airplane to Europe for analysis, rather than to the United States where the Boeing 737 Max 8 was manufactured.
The decision, in defiance of U.S. requests, is the latest sign of the world’s growing distrust of the United States on aviation safety issues. While U.S. regulators and Boeing have continued to insist that the Max 8 is safe, most other countries have ordered the grounding of the aircraft, leaving the United States increasingly isolated on the safety issue.
Canadian Transport Minister, Marc Garneau announced today, Wednesday that while the exact cause of the crash remains unknown, Canada is ordering the grounding of all Max 8 planes. This means that the United States is the only major country still allowing the planes to fly.
The Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 crashed just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board, including 18 Canadians. Moments before the crash, its pilot had reported a flight-control problem, and there was no indication of any external cause for the problem, the airline said on Wednesday.
Several other pilots in the United States, China, Indonesia and elsewhere have complained of difficulties in controlling the airplane, according to a growing number of media reports from around the world this week.
Two separate Max 8 airplanes have crashed within minutes of takeoff over the past five months. In the previous incident, a Lion Air Max 8 in Indonesia crashed just 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board. Both were newly delivered planes. At a press conference in Ottawa Wednesday, Mr. Garneau said he made the decision after consulting with aviation experts who found similarities in the satellite-tracked flight paths of the two Max 8s that crashed.
Ethiopian Airlines officials told reporters on Wednesday that they have decided to send the voice and data recorders to European safety experts, although they have not yet chosen the country where the recorders will be analyzed. That decision is expected within the next day. The airline did not publicly explain the reasons for its decision.
In recent days, U.S. officials have been quietly pushing for the black box to be send to the United States for analysis, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. But the airline refused the request. The decision is unusual because the black box is not normally sent to a country that was uninvolved in a crash or in the crashed airplane.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration has insisted that there is no basis for grounding the Max 8 aircraft. It said a review had found “no systemic performance issues.” But most other regulators and airlines worldwide are taking a much different stance.
The chief executive officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, told reporters that all Max 8 aircraft globally should be grounded until their safety has been established. He noted the similarities between the Ethiopian and Lion Air crashes. In an interview with BBC, he said the airlines that grounded the airplane “have very good justification” for their decision.
Ethiopian Airlines also said it is reconsidering whether to proceed with an existing order to purchase more Max 8 aircraft, and it will decide after an investigation.
Other African airlines have taken a similar decision to ground the airplane or reconsider purchases. A South African airline, Comair, announced on Monday that it was removing its only Max 8 airplane from its flight schedule. It said it “remains confident” in the plane’s safety but it decided to halt the flights “while it consults with other operators, Boeing and technical experts.”
Kenya Airways, one of the biggest airlines in Africa, said this week that it might reconsider its earlier tentative plans to buy as many as 10 of the Max 8 jets for its fleet.
The Ethiopian Airlines flight on Sunday was headed from Addis Ababa to Nairobi when it crashed. The disaster killed 32 Kenyans – the largest number of victims from any country.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta by telephone on Tuesday, giving condolences for the Kenyan victims and offering Canadian assistance in the investigation of the crash.

Buhari’s Re-election Was Divine – Group Of Nigerian Ambassadors

Editorial staff

March 13, 2019

President Buhari raised his eight fingers in front of his enthusiastic supporters to signify two term of 8 years.

A group of Nigerian Ambassadors to other countries have described the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term of four years as Divine.
The ambassadors, who were at the Ask Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja today, Wednesday, to congratulate the President, said that President Buhari’s election in 2015, and his recent re-election, are divine interventions in the affairs of the country.
“You are God-sent. You have always come on stage at the critical moments of our national history to right the wrongs of the past.”
Ambassador Ashimiyu Olaniyi who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said that the President would be remembered as an astute political leader who does not interfere in the political affairs of states, adding that the singular quality has given credibility to all elections conducted since 2015.
The delegation said that apart from records of achievements in the three focal areas of securing the country, reviving the economy, and fighting corruption, “your integrity is responsible for your victory, which we are privileged to celebrate with you today.”
The Ambassadors appreciated the intervention funds that were released to various missions abroad, and pledged continued loyalty and support to the Buhari administration.
This was even as President Buhari said that his government is doing its best to correct and reverse the terrible mismanagement the country had experienced.
He said that the government is determined to upgrade the country’s profile, both locally and internationally.
President Buhari said it would be inexcusable for government not to take care of its Ambassadors in their various stations, hence the special attention being paid to the country’s foreign missions.

INEC Is Angry With PDP, Warns It To Stop ‘Libelous’ Allegations

Greenbarge Reporters

March 12, 2019

The Independent National Election (INEC) is obviously angry with the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its allegation on Monday that the commission was working with the Buhari Presidency ‘‘to aid the APC to alter the results and announce APC candidates as winners’’ in last Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections.

Responding to the allegations by the PDP that Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC had become overtly partisan, by surrendering its independence to the APC, the commission regretted that the PDP has embarked on making spurious and libelous allegations at a time that it is busy trying to conclude the 2019 general elections.

In a statement today, Tuesday by the Chief Press Secretary to its Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, INEC wondered why the PDP failed to accuse it of rigging in states where the party has won elections.

“So far, the PDP has won in Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Enugu, Oyo, Abia, Cross River and Delta states according to the results declared by INEC. Interestingly, the PDP has not accused INEC of rigging the elections in these states.”

“Sadly, the PDP has also not deemed it fit to commiserate with the families of our ad hoc staff and other Nigerians who lost their lives, including those who were injured in different parts of the country while trying to carry out their legitimate duties. This is rather unfortunate and regrettable.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission’s one and only interest in the 2019 general elections is to make votes count. It is to ensure free, fair and credible elections. When there is no interference with the electoral process and an election satisfies the provisions of the law, the Commission will always make a declaration of the results. But when there is interference or when an election fails to meet the requirements of the law, the Commission will not make a declaration.”

British Parliament Damns Theresa Mays Threat, Shoots Down Brexit Deal

Greenbarge Reporters

March 12, 2019

Members of the British Parliament have voted 391 to 242 to shoot down Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU withdrawal deal, for a second time, over her Brexit strategy.

The vote, this time showed a larger defeat than when they rejected it in January.

The Prime Minister had earlier warned the Parliamentarians that if they did not back her “improved deal” they risked “no Brexit at all.”

But she failed to convince enough of them those concessions she had agreed at the last minute with the EU were the “legally-binding” changes they had demanded when they rejected the deal by 230 votes in January.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which keeps her government in power, voted against the deal, along with Brexiteer Conservative backbenchers.

Source: BBC.

No Perfect Elections In The World – APC House Of Reps Caucus; Commends INEC

Greenbarge Reporters

March 12, 2019

The All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus, in the House of Representatives, has said that there are no perfect elections anywhere in the world, not even in advance democracy as was recently witnessed.

The House Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamlia, who spoke today, Tuesday, on behalf of the caucus at the National Assembly, against the background of the just concluded general elections in the country, said: “there are no perfect elections anywhere in the world; the most advanced democracy in America, we saw the issues.”

This is even as he promised that the ninth national assembly will strive to come up with proper legislation aimed at retooling the electoral law for a better process in the future.

He emphasized that legislative improvements in the Electoral Act would be made ahead of the 2023 General Elections, saying: “reform is a continuous process, until we get to that stage of perfection.

“So we will continue to reform, and there are reforms; things to be done. So we’ll look at it wholesale, so that by 2023 we present an even more perfect, if not completely perfect, at least a near perfect electoral law.”

Femi Gbajabiamlia commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for what he described as fairly credible elections, adding that the country must strive for perfection.

“We congratulate the INEC. Despite the hiccups, the umpire gave us fairly credible elections. But as a country, we must strive for perfection and try to do better. In this regard, the legislature is key in retooling the electoral process and perfecting it going forward.

“Most especially, we congratulate the Nigerian people for keeping faith with our democracy and electoral process which can only get better as we progress.

He asked INEC to do the needful and speedily re-conduct elections in those areas where the elections were declared inconclusive so that the nation could move forward.

Embattled Justice Onnoghen Suffers High Blood Pressure, Toothache; Can’t Attend Trial

Greenbarge Reporters

March 12, 2019

Suspended Chief Judge of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen is reported to have developed High Blood Pressure (HBP) and toothache, leading to his inability to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for the resumed hearing of a case against him.

His counsel, Adeboyega Awomolo,today, Tuesday, tendered a letter from him, explaining that he developed issues with his tooth and could not make it to court, even as the prosecutor, Aliyu Umar, said that he had also received a copy of the letter as well as a medical report indicating he had a high blood pressure.

Aliyu Umar said that the health of a defendant is as important as the case on the ground and in the light of that, he would concede that the absence is on medical grounds.

He, therefore, urged the court to consider the report and adjourn the case till next week Monday or another week for a day-to-day hearing.

According to the letter, Onnoghen was given a 72-hour bed rest as the case was adjourned.

Nigeria Has No Boeing 737 Max Plane, Minister Allays Fear Over Ethiopian Plane Crash

Greenbarge Reporters

March 12, 2019

Minister of state for aviation, Hadi Sirika

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Aviation Senator, Senator Hadi Sirika, has said that Nigeria has no Boeing 737 Max aircraft in its aviation register.

The minister made the statement today, Tuesday, against the backdrop of the unfortunate crash of the Ethiopian airline, Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, on Sunday, which killed the 157 people on board.

So far, no fewer than 12 countries have banned the aircraft from their fleets after witnessing th crash, twice in less than six months interval, on the similar planes belonging to the same Ethiopian airlines.

Senator Hadi Sirika acknowledged that any accident anywhere is a tragedy to the global aviation industry, stressing the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has issued the necessary advisory as it relates to the country.

“As we continue to mourn the ET crash in Addis, and pray for the victims, we wish to reassure Nigerians that we do not have any Boeing 737 Max on Nigeria’s register to worry about.”

The minister asked the Nigerian flying public not to entertain any fears, assuring them “of unflinching commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration to creating an environment that guarantees their safety and security in air transportation.”

Two Nigerians, an academic and popular columnist, Pius Adesanmi, and a retired ambassador on contract with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Abiodun Bashua, were among the 149 passengers on board the plane.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft crashed about six minutes after take-off from the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, en route the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Recall that vanguard reported that at least nationals of about 35 countries were involved in the disaster.

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