Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has congratulated the 774 Electoral Officers from across the country on the success recorded in the April 28 and May 11 general elections in the country, even as he asked them to reflect on the shortcomings of the Commission during exercise in order to improve on future elections.
Addressing the staff at a one-day post 2015 general election retreat for Electoral Officers, tagged “2015 General Elections: lessons and way forward,” held at NAF Conference Hall, Kado, Abuja, the INEC Chairman said: “Let us not waste time discussing what we did right; what we did right was good and it has helped us to have a good election in 2011 and 2015 but let us focus on what we did wrong. What were those things that we shouldn’t have done which you have observed as field officers that we did, which we need to correct or improve on as we move towards the future?”
Professor Jega made it clear that he was very happy with the role the electoral officers played, adding: “as we are all aware, not only Nigerians but friends of Nigeria all over the world have been appreciative of our efforts to deliver free fair and credible elections in our country. You have worked very hard, tirelessly under very difficult circumstances to get this outcome.”
The INEC Chairman stressed the need for the Commission to continue to do its best to improve the electoral process, asking them not to rest on their oars in a bid to continually raise the bar in the business of electioneering.
“There is no doubt that for our country to continue to develop, we need good elections.
Well conducted elections will result in the election of good people which can drive the process of governance very well and deliver good governance for our people in terms of satisfying the needs and aspirations of our people through the governance process.”
In his goodwill message, the Country Director of International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Shalva Kipshidze, congratulated the Commission for the successful conduct of the 2015 elections. He, however, pointed out that there was room for improvement.
“IFES is happy to support your Commission’s effort to review the conduct of the 2015 elections so as to build on the good practices and lessons learnt as we prepare for 2019 general elections.” [myad]
Donald Trump, an American estate tycoon has declared his intention to run for the American Presidency, saying: ‘I will be the greatest jobs president God ever created.’
Trump, it would be recalled, entertained the idea of a presidential run in 1988, mulled it over in 2000, seriously considered it in 2004 even as in 2014, he threatened, very briefly, to run for Governor of New York.
But, today, standing on the basement floor of the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in front of eight American flags, Trump promised the game of pretend is over: “I am officially running for President of the United States. And we are going to make our country great again.”
In a rambling hour-long stream-of-consciousness speech, The Donald vowed he would be “the greatest jobs President that God ever created.” He said he would “build a great wall on our southern border and have Mexico pay for that wall” and rebuild the country’s nuclear arsenal that “doesn’t work.”
He blasted the $5 billion price tag for Obamacare websites and said he could do better. “I hire people, they do a website, it costs $3,” he boasted.
And, of course, he reminded the crowd: “I’m really rich…that’s the kind of thinking you need for this country. It sounds crass, it’s not crass.”
A team of accountants, he said, has been toiling for months to calculate his total net worth of $8 billion, and assets of $9.24 billion.
“That’s the kind of thinking our country needs,” he said in apparent reference to his wealth. “We have the opposite thinking. We have losers. We have people that don’t have it. We have people that are morally corrupt.”
Trumpalooza was unlike any regular candidate’s announcement. Reporters from Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight and gossip reporters from Page Six filled the marble basement of Trump Tower.
Unlike the kick-off acts of the more deliberate candidates, where regular Americans are placed in closest proximity to the candidate, and the press is shunted to the back of the room, supporters were kept upstairs while area closest to Trump was reserved for hundreds of reporters and television cameras.
A crowd filled up three floors of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, leaning over the amber-colored mirrored walls, waving signs that said: “Donald, We need YOU!!!”
The soundtrack of the event was pure schmaltz, featuring pieces from Phantom of the Opera and Cats.
“This is beyond anybody’s expectations,” Trump crowed from the podium, after descending the escalator with his wife, Melania, dressed in stiletto heels and a strapless white dress. “There’s been no crowd like this. Some of the candidates they went in, they didn’t know the air conditioning didn’t work and they sweated like dogs…They didn’t know the room was too big because there was nobody was there. How are they going to beat ISIS?”
He vowed: “nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump.”
And he said America was currently losing to other world powers like China.
I’m not saying they’re stupid, I like China (…) I just sold an apartment for $15 million to someone from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?
“I’m not saying they’re stupid, I like China,” he said. “I just sold an apartment for $15 million to someone from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?”
Trump criticized President Obama for failing to be a cheerleader for the United States, and said as president he would immediately repeal Obama’s “illegal” executive action on immigration. But he said Obama would be welcome on his golf courses. “I have the best courses in the world,” he said. “If he’d like to play that’s fine. In fact, I want him to leave early and play, that would be a very good thing.”
Trump’s disgust was not just directed at the current administration. He said he was against the Common Core education standards that have been championed by rival Jeb Bush, who he also criticized for being too soft on immigration.
But in perhaps his clearest articulation of why he’s running, Trump declared, “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal’” a reference to his 1987 book.
Still, Federal Elections Commission records show that, as of noon on Tuesday, Trump has not yet filed any paperwork regarding his candidacy or finances. He has 15 days to do so.
Trump was introduced by his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who during the speech held hands with her husband, real estate mogul Jared Kushner, who owns the New York Observer.
“His legend has been built and his accomplishments are too many to name,” Ivanka Trump said. “Most people strive their entire lives to achieve great success in a single field. My father has succeeded at many, at the highest level and in a global scale….the common denominator is him.”
The campaigns of Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham, and Carly Fiorina all declined to comment on what Trump’s entry meant for the presidential race. Other campaigns couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer called Trump “a successful businessman” and said, “We’ve got a number of caliber candidates running in this cycle.”
He said Trump would be able to participate in the debates if he qualifies like any other candidate. “If he meets the requirements, he’s in.”
In a tongue-in-cheek statement, the Democratic National Committee welcomed Trump to the crowded Republican field: “Today, Donald Trump became the second major Republican candidate to announce for president in two days,” said spokeswoman Holly Shulman. “He adds some much-needed seriousness that has previously been lacking from the GOP field, and we look forward to hearing more about his ideas for the nation.” [myad]
United States of America has announced the killing of the Al-Qaida’s number two leader, Nasir al-Wahishi in airstrkes. Al-Wahishi was said to be the commander of the Al-Qaida’s powerful Yemeni affiliate which has been dealing the global network its biggest blow since the killing of Osama bin Laden and eliminating a charismatic leader.
According to the US, Nasir al-Wahishi is the latest in a series of senior figures from al-Qaida’s Yemen branch eliminated by US drone strikes in the past five months, including its top ideologue and a senior military commander.
The US activity against al-Qaida is also not limited to Yemen. Over the weekend, a US airstrike in Libya targeted an al-Qaida-linked militant commander, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who led a 2013 attack on an Algerian gas complex that killed 35 hostages including several Americans. US officials are still trying to confirm whether he was killed in the raid.
Al-Wahishi was a former aide to bin Laden who, after the al-Qaida affiliate in Saudi Arabia was crushed in the mid-2000s, rebuilt it in his homeland Yemen and turned it into the terror network’s most dangerous branch. He also served as deputy to Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded bin Laden in 2011 as the network’s leader. The US put a bounty of up to $10 million on al-Wahishi.
The Yemeni branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed responsibility for January’s attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people. It also attempted several direct attacks on the United States including the botched 2009 plot to bomb an American passenger jet.
A senior operative in the affiliate announced al-Wahishi’s death and said his deputy, Qassim al-Raimi, has been tapped to replace him.
“Our Muslim nation, one of your heroes and masters has departed to God,” Khaled Batrafi said in a video statement dated June 14 but released by the group online Tuesday. In a eulogy, he said al-Wahishi “took part with (al-Qaida’s) first generation in hurting America in different places of the world starting from the 1990’s.”
Batarfi vowed that the group’s war on the United States would continue, saying “the blood of these pioneers makes us more determined to sacrifice.” He said the US would “taste the bitter flavor of war and defeat until you stop supporting the Jews, the occupiers of Palestine, until you leave the lands of the Muslims and stop supporting apostate tyrants.”
Al-Wahishi’s death came in a US drone strike a week ago in the southern Yemeni port city of Mukalla, which al-Qaida captured in April. Yemeni security officials said two other militants were killed in the strike. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. US officials had said they were trying to verify whether al-Wahishi was killed.
Al-Raimi, the new leader of AQAP, is thought to have masterminded a 2010 plot in which bombs concealed in printers were shipped to the US on cargo planes before being detected and defused. He is believed to direct training camps in Yemen’s remote deserts and mountains, where he organizes cells and plans attacks.
AQAP’s master bomb-maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, is also believed to still be alive. He is thought to have designed the bombs used in the cargo planes plot and in the 2009 plane-bombing plot, in which the bomber hid explosives in his underwear but botched the detonation.
Al-Asiri also designed the explosives used by his own younger brother, who blew himself up in a failed 2009 attempt to assassinate Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, then head of Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism agency. Mohammed is now the crown prince. Al-Shihri is a Saudi national.
Al-Wahishi’s death is a major loss for al-Qaida as it struggles to compete with the Islamic State, a breakaway group that has seized vast swaths of Syria and Iraq and spawned its own affiliates elsewhere in the region. The Islamic State group has also gained loyalists in Yemen in competition with al-Qaida.
Both groups are dedicated to bringing about Islamic rule by force, but al-Qaida does not recognize the IS group’s self-styled caliphate and has maintained that the priority should be to wage jihad against America in order to drive it out of the Middle East.
Al-Qaida has been able to make major gains in Yemen the past months as the country is torn by war between Shiite rebels known as Houthis who have taken over much of the country and their opponents, a mix of local militias, southern separatists, Sunni tribesmen and backers of the president, Abed Rabbo Hadi Mansour, who was driven abroad by the fighting. Al-Qaida’s militants have allied with some of the anti-Houthi forces in fighting the rebels. Batarfi said his group is fighting rebels and allied forces in 11 fronts.
The capture of Mukalla was the group’s biggest victory. It freed a number of prisoners, including Batrafi. It then struck a power-sharing deal with local tribesmen.
But Mukalla has proved something of a death trap. Besides al-Wahishi, US drone strikes in and around the city have killed the group’s top military commander Nasr al-Ansi, its most senior religious ideologue Ibrahim al-Rubaish, and key operatives Mamoun Hatem and Khalwan al-Sanaani.
In recent years, US strikes have also killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-Yemeni militant preacher who was a major recruiter for the group, and Saeed al-Shihri, an ex-Guantanamo detainee from Saudi Arabia who was al-Wahishi’s deputy at the time.
The intensity of US drone strikes comes despite the withdrawal earlier this year of US counterterrorism personnel from the al-Annad air base in southern Yemen in addition to the closure of US embassy in the capital because of the country’s fighting. The Special Forces commandos at the base had played a key role in drone strikes and there had been major concerns that the withdrawal would undermine the fight against al-Qaida.
Al-Wahishi was known as bin Laden’s “black box,” keeping the al-Qaida leader’s secrets. It was not clear how much involvement al-Wahishi had in the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
During the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, al-Wahishi fought alongside bin Laden at Tora Bora before the al-Qaida leader slipped across the border into Pakistan. Al-Wahishi fled to Iran, where he was detained and deported to Yemen in 2003.
He was among 23 al-Qaida militants who broke out of a detention facility in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in February 2006. Three years later, al-Wahishi announced the creation of AQAP, which gathered together Yemeni and Saudi militants following a sweeping crackdown on the extremist group by Riyadh.
According to the US government’s “Wanted to Justice” program, al-Wahishi, “is responsible for approving targets, recruiting new members, allocating resources to training and attack planning, and tasking others to carry out attacks.” [myad]
A civil rights group, Centre for Social Justice, has sent a petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), asking it to investigate the appointment and activities of the Nigeria Export and Import (NEXIM) bank’s Executive Director for business Development, Mrs. Folake Itohan Oke Salami, which they claim is undeserving.
In a letter addressed to the ICPC, signed by Comrade Ikpa Isaac for the group, dated 5 June, 2015, the group said the appointment of the Executive Director, Mrs. Folake Itohan Oke Salami did not follow due process as she was not qualified to be appointed executive director in the Bank.
“As the situation stands, we have carried out private investigations on the credentials of the said Mrs. Folake Itohan Oke Salami and discovered that she committed fraud and told huge lies on oath in order to occupy the aforesaid position”. It read in part.
The group which is a coalition of civil rights groups addressed a press conference claiming, Mrs Salami had falsified her experience status in the banking sector to influence her appointment into that position, stating that her claim of working in a multipurpose cooperative Society did not fit the bill as stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In a press briefing held in Abuja and addressed by the Executive Coordinator, the group claimed the said Executive Director had used her claimed as owning a multi-purpose cooperative society to influence her appointment.
“In the light of the above, paragraph 3.2A of the said circular states that a Managing Director, Deputy Managing Director and Executive Director of a bank such as NEXIM Bank must have possess a minimum of fifteen(15) years post qualification experience out of which, at least, ten (10) must be in management and leadership positions…
“Sir, we make bold to state that a “Multipurpose Cooperative Society” does not qualify as a bank in the eyes of the Central Bank of Nigeria. It therefore follows that Mrs. Folake Itohan Oke Salami’s claim of having acted as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of her mushroom “Multipurpose Cooperative Society”, thereby fraudulently earning herself the prestigious position of Executive Director Business Development, Nigerian Export-Import Bank to the detriment of the other suitably qualified Nigerian citizens constitutes an offence punishable under Section 25 of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act No. 5, 2000,″ it stated.
They called on the ICPC to ignite full-fledged investigation into the records of Mrs. Salami to ascertain whether or not she is qualified ab initio to be considered and appointed as Executive Director Business Development of Nigerian Export-Import Bank.
They also demanded that upon confirmation, it was clear that she is not qualify and she lied on oath, and that criminal proceedings be initiated against her to ensure that she is not only removed from office and sent to jail but that the salaries, emoluments and allowances she had received while fraudulently occupying the office be returned to the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria to serve as deterrence to other Nigerians.
The group however warned that failure by the Commission to act on the petition within Seven working days will leave them with no other option than to mobilize the media and other concerned organizations to occupy the commission’s office until the attention of Mr. President and the international community is drawn to the matter. [myad]
The immediate past governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, has regretted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which would not allow anybody from another party to occupy any vital posts in its 16 years reign, has now shamelessly accepted the position of the deputy senate President, even as he swore that All Progressives Congress (APC) would not accept such abuse.
Kwankwaso, who spoke in an interview with the Nation in Abuja, said: “It (Deputy President of the Senate) does not belong to them. I have been in PDP from 1999 until 2014 or so. You see, it was unthinkable in PDP for you to allow any other party to take any of those positions. They have done it five times and they never allowed any member of any party to go near those positions, so I think it was unfair and not correct and they took it shamelessly and I am sure our party will look at it and take what belongs to our party back.
“As far as we are concerned, PDP was dead until recently when this ambition brought certain people to do what they should not do in democracy and party politics and how they are just about to create unnecessary life for them to the extent that some of them are servicing again and making all sorts of statements.”
Faulting Ekweremadu’s election and his assumption that the slot was meant to integrate the Southeast, Kwakwaso said that it is wrong, adding that he had just read (from media), that Ekwerenmadu was speaking ‘nonsense.’
“Just yesterday, I was reading, I don’t know whether it is true or not, that Ike Ekweremadu was talking rubbish, nonsense. It is like they have reasons to speak again and I think it is because of the mistakes of our members. I believe that at the end of the day, the party and members must get a way of coming together and behave well, I think that is the only way we can make progress.”
“I don’t think I should be in a hurry to say that he should resign but all I know is that many things have gone wrong to the extent that the party has to put its acts together to make sure that things that are done in that way are stopped and from there, we will build the party again.
He warned that the political romance between Senator Saraki and Ekwerenmadu will create inhibitions for the Buhari administration and that this happened because the APC leadership missed some vital steps and gave ample opportunity to Saraki’s group, which used it effectively.
“To the best of my knowledge, the Saraki group is yet to reach out to the Unity Forum of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Senator George Akume.”
Kwakwaso said that though the APC was divided, but that it is not too late to correct things, even as he said that Saraki became the President of the Senate because of some factors, including conspiracy against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the failure of the APC leadership to act on time, the plot by G-5/G-7 members who were interested in seeing one of them occupy a position; and some groups who believed that Saraki had given them so many things and it was pay-back time.
“On the issue of what went wrong, I think there were so many things having to do with time. This election had to do with time. We had so many weeks before the election to address this issue. This is not the time to say I told you or I told them, but many of us tried to tell our leaders to do the right thing at the right time.
“I think the party missed the crucial opportunity to address this challenge. I think time was crucial of which the party missed some important steps and therefore things went wrong. I told you the party missed some vital steps and gave an ample opportunity to Bukola Saraki’s group and they used it effectively and took all the advantages that had to do with the mistakes of our leaders.”
Kwankwaso said some forces in APC also contributed to the “sad” development in the Senate, especially those who conspired against Tinubu.
“I am aware that members of the G-5/G-7 group were interested in seeing one of us occupying one of the strategic positions. I am also aware that there are some people in the party who believed Tinubu had taken so many things and it was time to take a break. They had a perception that Tinubu was trying to take it all. There are other groups that believed that Saraki had given them so many things and they had to pay him back. Many senators believed that they were supported by Saraki.”
“You see, first of all, the President will face a lot of irritations in the sense that these people must be very angry with themselves, they must be very angry with Nigerians and, therefore, will do everything possible to put all sorts of hurdles on the way of Mr. President. That is obvious.
“I can always read their mind. I was one of them, I was part of them, I was part of the party but we had to leave the party because of this attitude. So, in some of the books that I read, especially Islamic books, there are things that we call Sadaqatuljariya (doing charitable deeds like building schools, hospital, throughout your life) and you will be getting reward and even after you die.
“These sorts of mistakes are what we call Musibatuljariya. It is so bad and it is a bad thing that will continue to occur until the system goes to end because they have their own agenda to tackle the APC, to tackle the APC government, they are angry with themselves, they are angry with the people and Nigeria because they feel Nigeria belongs to them and they wanted to take everything and Nigerians rejected them.”
Kwankwaso is also of the opinion that the President is not with the development in the Senate.
“I think the position of Buhari was that the party should handle it. I don’t think he wants to put his fingers there. I am not sure his fingers are in it but what I know is that I am not sure if he is happy that members of our party could not be loyal to it. They could not go by the dictates of the party. I am not sure if Buhari is a happy man even though he did not put his fingers but he was expecting that members of his party will be loyal to the party.
“I don’t know his mindset, I have not seen him since the election but I am sure that he cannot be a happy man with his party, where he is the national leader, has set up position and some members decided to go against it to the extent of bringing people who should not be in those positions.”
The former governor also said that Saraki’s alliance with the PDP might make reconciliation to be problematic.
“I believe the party is doing something that will bring back the members together and have good understanding but what complicated the whole situation now is that more than 50 percent of Saraki is in PDP, if you take the condition of the position of the Senate President. I don’t know which percentage he will give and, therefore, it becomes more difficult.
“And the implication of this now is that very soon, the leadership of the Senate will start Tambuwalising the party and, of course, the government as we have seen in 2011.”
“I think the party, unfortunately, is divided but it is not too late to correct many things but the party should take certain steps to ensure that such things will never happen again in the party and I am one of those who advised or tried to advise my brother, Saraki that he should not go too far with that ambition under this circumstance.
“At this level and his level, people should be more careful and cautious in what they do and what they don’t do and especially that the situation is even worse than the case of Tambuwal during the House of Representatives election of principal officers in 2011.
“Of course, Tambuwal’s case was a case of going out of zoning but all the positions went to members of the party. But this time around, because of the ambition of our members, I think they went and connived with people who are not only opponents of the party but enemies of the party to fight the party after the people of this country have discarded these people.
“And now because of ambition, these people were made in a way relevant and I don’t think that is the best way to go. Members of the party should have certain limitations, they should know when to start and when to stop and I think this is going too far in romancing members of the PDP.
“Maybe there are ways APC can accommodate the Southeast by way of appointment but certainly, we have not seen PDP in the five times that they had reasons to select leaders in the National Assembly, they never considered other parties in terms of giving them position but I am sure that our party had it in mind that it will carry the Southeast but not in the position of the Senate President.
“The Senate has Deputy Senate President; that position does not belong to the PDP and that is the mistake Ekweremadu is making. Now he said he was elected deputy Senate president, yet he reduced himself to a zone and a tribe, which is not good enough.
“We are not saying he should step down or stay; what I am saying is that what they have taken does not belong to them and all those who supported him and his party to get it have made a big mistake for themselves, the party and indeed for the country and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
On the way out of the logjam, Kwankwaso said the APC leadership has to enforce discipline.
“I don’t know, the party must be doing its own bit but if I were the national chairman, I would either write to these members individually a letter of displeasure or call them and tell them because there has to be discipline.
“It does not matter whether you are 10 or 20 or even 1,000, whatever your number is in a party, as long as there is no discipline, definitely there will be problem. I am one of the senior senators by any standard in this country but because of the consideration of the fact that Buhari is from the Northwest, of course not from Kano, you are not seeing me going round to say I want this position or that position.
“I have president in my zone and I have to be considerate in the sense that other zones should get it. It is not like you will come by all means and you must take it whether it favours the zoning, the party or not. So, all these things must be respected by the party and the members.
On the likelihood of the Saraki reaching out to Lawan’s Unity Forum for reconciliation, Kwankwaso said: “I think it is good to have reconciliation but I am not aware of it, nobody informed me.
“I am just watching the development and, in fact, on that very day immediately after the so called election, I had to travel to Paris to receive an award . . . I learnt that some members were sworn in; well I will wait till they come back from their break.” [myad]
Egypt’s first democratically-elected president Mohammed Morsi, 63, has been sentenced to life imprisonment having been found guilty of espionage. Morsi was ousted by the army in a coup in July 2013 following widespread protests against his divisive rule.
The Egyptian court found Morsi, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie and 15 other leaders guilty of the offence and committed them to life in prison.
Morsi is among a total of 36 defendants who were charged with conspiring with foreign organizations, including Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, to destabilise Egypt’s security by executing terrorist operations in the country.
Seventeen other defendants were sentenced to death, including leaders Khayrat el-Shater, Mohamed el-Beltagy and Ahmed Abdel Aty; 15 of the 17 defendants were sentenced in absentia while another three were sentenced to seven years in the same case.
The defendants were also accused of funding terrorism and jeopardizing national security.
Last month, the court sentenced Morsi, Badie and over 100 other Islamists to death in two separate cases – espionage and a mass jail break during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution that toppled long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak.
However, all the sentences in the two cases were referred to the Grand Mufti, who according to Egyptian law, must review all the death sentences though his decision is not binding.
In April, Morsi was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for inciting violence and ordering the arrest and torture of demonstrators during clashes in 2012 while he was president. [myad]
No fewer than 17 people died and 70 others injured when a train and a lorry collided southwest of Tunis, the Tunisian capital.
According to the transport and interior ministries, most of those who died were passengers on the train, which derailed. The accident happened at El Fahes, about 60 kilometres from Tunis, at around 6:30am.
Officials said the train was heading to the capital from the town of Gaafour, 120 kilometres southwest of Tunis.
“The death toll could rise,” Transport Minister, Mahmoud Ben Romdhane, said even as eyewitnesses said that they saw mangled wreckage at the scene and dead bodies on the tracks.
“This is horrible; there is blood and bits of flesh everywhere. There are people still trapped under the carriage, which overturned.”
Those injured in the collision were taken to hospitals in El Fahes and Zaghouan, and the ministers of interior and health visited the scene of the accident.
Train crashes are common in Tunisia, which has a dilapidated rail network featuring many unprotected crossings.
In July, a train came off the tracks in the northwest, killing five people and injuring around 40. [myad]
A fuel station located along Lagos/Abeokuta expressways has been found to be dispensing ordinary water to unsuspecting customers, even as the officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Lagos has moved quickly to seal-up.
It was gathered that the engines of no fewer than 12 vehicles which were filled with such water have been damaged before the long hand of the law could catch up with the station.
One of the affected motorists, Rotimi Dorujaiye, the immediate past Editor of the Daily Independent and presently the Executive Editor of the Nigerian NewsDirect, whose car, Nissan Sunny salon with registration number GGE 68 AR was knocked said that initially when the attention of the fuel attendants at the station was drawn to the fact that the substance pumped into their vehicle’s fuel tanks was water and not petrol, “the petrol attendants claimed I was lying, until when all the vehicles affected could no longer start.”
He said that a mechanic has to be brought in to assist in draining water out of their vehicle fuel tanks. “That took my whole day, throughout that day, I could not do anything else apart from trying to salvage my vehicle engine. As I am talking to you now, mechanics are still battling to rescue the car. It is a very sad development and I just hope the relevant authority would do something drastic about it before other innocent motorists would get their vehicles engines damaged too,” Dorujaiye stated.
Another victim, Boniface Isok, who is the National President of the Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees Union, got the engine of his Toyota Prado Jeep damaged too. The engine of the vehicle with registration number LAS 769 AY, is allegedly ‘knocked’.
Another vehicle, a Faragon commercial bus marked Lagos XU 884 AKD, was also damaged and the owner of the vehicle has vowed that except the station is sealed, “he may take law into his hands.”
The fuel station, as at today, had the seal and yellow tape of the DPR/NNPC on it. It was used to barricade the two entrance of the station.
None of the management staff of the station was available for comment. [myad]
The leader of Brazil’s World Cup-winning teams in 1958 and 1962, Zito , has died at the age of 82.
The Brazilian club Santos announced today that the cause of the former Santos midfielder’s death was not officially known, though he was said to have battled Alzheimer’s disease and last year suffered a stroke that left him hospitalized for more than a month.
Zito scored one of the goals when Brazil defeated Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the 1962 final.
Zito was considered by many a mentor to the young Pele, and was also known as the man who first saw the talent of Neymar, when the current Barcelona forward was only 11, telling Santos directors to sign him as quickly as possible.
Neymar, Brazil’s biggest star today, went on Twitter thanking Zito for “everything he did to me.” [myad]
The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has complained about how the loyalists of the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan deceived its members with multi-billion naira pipeline surveillance contract across the country but that no payment has been made up to the time the government handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari. This was even as it made it clear that its men would be withdrawn from all the pipelines across the country from today, Monday.
The spokesman of the group loyal to Gani Adams, Yinka Oguntimehin, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos today that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which awarded the surveillance contract on behalf of President Jonathan, had refused to start paying for the work its men have done.
He said that the corporation was, as part of the contractual agreement entered into, three months ago, expected to start the payment, adding that the OPC personnel had continued to guard the pipelines with the belief that the corporation would pay as promised.
“When we were given the contract on March 15, it was agreed that they will release money for the OPC personnel for effective protection of the NNPC pipelines nationwide.
“We lost one man last month because of the activities of the vandals here in Lagos, while some of our men were arrested in the course of protecting the pipeline.
“We had told them to release some of our money before the new administration took over, but they kept promising us.
“Enough is enough, three months have passed since our members started monitoring the pipeline, and we have fulfilled our part of the agreement.
“By 10p.m today, our personnel will move out of the NNPC pipelines nationwide and this applies to other groups in the country.”
The government of Jonathan had in March hurriedly awarded a multi-billion Naira contract to the OPC to secure NNPC pipelines in the South-West Zone of the country, the move that was seen as a way of wooing some chunk of Yoruba people into voting for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 28 and May 11 elections in the country. [myad]
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
