Togo Boils As 2 Presidents Emerge After Election, Protest Rocks The Country

May 16, 2015

Togo is boiling as two Presidents emerged in the Presidential election held on April 25, even as thousands of opposition supporters marched through the Togolese capital today to protest the results of the election that extended the Gnassingbe family’s nearly five decades in power.

Though national and international observers have called the April 25 election free and transparent even as the United Nations has approved of the conduct of the vote, but the opposition in the west African nation of some seven million people has labelled the results fraudulent.

President Faure Gnassingbe won a third term in office with 59 percent of the ballots while his closest rival, longtime opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre, finished with 35 percent.

“We need people to be aware of the seriousness of the situation and that, together, we are working to stop it,” Fabre, who has declared himself the elected president, said today.

Adele Wavisso, a 32-year-old bread seller among the protesters in Lome, said: “those in power know very well that we did not vote for Faure. Our president is Fabre, and we will not give up.”

The opposition has said it decided not to challenge the results at Togo’s Constitutional Court because it was biased in favour of the president.

Gnassingbe’s father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, seized power in a coup and ruled with an iron fist for 38 years over the former German- and French-administered colony until his death in 2005.

The military then installed his son as leader and elections later that year were marred by allegations of rigging as well as violence which left up to 500 people dead and thousands injured.

Gnassingbe then won 2010 elections that the opposition also declared fraudulent but which were judged acceptable by the international community. [myad]

Buhari Uncomfortable With His Admirers Trekking For Him, Asks Them To Stop It

Greenbarge Reporters

May 16, 2015

Duduwale, another treckker escorted by some of his kinsmen as he began the journey

Disturbed by the growing number of his supporters and admirers that have now taken to trekking in solidarity with his victory in the March Presidential election, the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari has cautioned them to stop it.
He particularly appealed to his supporters who are planning to either trek from far distance or hitch a ride to Abuja to witness his inauguration onMay 29 to put such plans on hold.
General Buhari was addressing a group of eleven youths who rode on bicycles from his hometown, Daura to Abuja to meet him.
The President-elect who took the health of such trekkers into consideration, also described the action as distractive as he needed quality time to concentrate on the task of fixing the nation from May 29.

[myad]

Re-Elected Borno Senator, Ahmed Zannah, Dies

Greenbarge Reporters

May 16, 2015

Senator Ahmed Zannah, who was re-elected in the April, 2015 election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to represent Borno Central Senatorial District, is dead. He died today at the age of 60 after a brief illness.
Zannah who is a ranking senator, was once quoted as saying that he knew where the the female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno were being kept by members of Boko Haram who abducted them last year. He is the fifth senator to die while still in the Senate.
Others who have died include Gyang Datung, representing Plateau North, Pius Ewherido, representing Delta Central, Awaisu Kuta, representing Niger East and Uche Chukwumerije, representing Abia North.
Zannah is a successful businessman, and a member of the board of many federal establishments.
In 2000, he was in the board of the National Electrical Power Authority (NEPA). In 2007, Zannah was one of the organisers of the Democratic Women Forum, an organisation that supported the political aspirations of former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida.
He was also a member of the Power Sector Reform Committee.

Man U Goalkeeper, de Gea, Set To Join Madrid, On 4 Million Pounds Per Annum

Greenbarge Reporters

May 16, 2015

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea is set to leave Old Trafford this summer after agreeing personal terms with Real Madrid.

Marca report that the 24-year-old star has reached an agreement with the La Liga giants for a deal worth around £4million a year after tax and believed to be between five and six years in length.

The Madrid-based newspaper also suggests that the only thing missing in the deal is for United and Madrid to agree a fee for the player. It could reach upwards of £30 Million.

De Gea was pictured on a flight to Madrid earlier this week as he took some time off, leading to reports that he was in fact on his way to sign for Los Blancos.

Louis van Gaal is targeting a move for Petr Cech after claims that David de Gea will join Real Madrid this summer.

The Manchester United manager admits he is already preparing for the Spanish goalkeeper’s potential exit. [myad]

Pope Describes Palestinian President Abbas ‘Angel Of Peace,’ Israel Angry

Greenbarge Reporters

May 16, 2015

Pope Francis has described the Palestinian President, Mahmud Abbas as “an angel of peace,” even as the Holy See has announced that it is preparing to sign its first treaty with Palestine, two years after officially recognising it as a state.

These developments are coming today; days after the Vatican said it was preparing to sign its first accord with Palestine, the pronouncement that angered Israel.

Pope Francis had met Mahmud Abbas today for about 20 minutes for a private audience, a meeting that comes a day before the pope is due to canonize two Palestinian nuns, who will become the first Palestinian Arabs to gain sainthood.

A bilateral commission is putting the final touches to the agreement, on the Catholic Church’s life and activities in Palestine, which then “will be submitted to the respective authorities for approval ahead of setting a debate in the near future for the signing,” the Vatican said.

Some observers speculated that the agreement could be signed during Abbas’s visit.

The news of the treaty immediately drew the anger of Israel with its foreign ministry official saying: “Israel heard with disappointment the decision of the Holy See to agree a final formulation of an agreement with the Palestinians including the use of the term ‘Palestinian State.

“Such a development does not further the peace process and distances the Palestinian leadership from returning to direct bilateral negotiations. Israel will study the agreement and consider its next step.”

The agreement, 15 years in the making, expresses the Vatican’s “hope for a solution to the Palestinian question and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians according to the Two-State Solution,” Antoine Camilleri, the Holy See’s deputy foreign minister, said in an interview earlier this week.

In an interview with the Vatican’s Osservatore Romano newspaper, Camilleri said he hoped “the accord could, even in an indirect way, help the Palestinians in the establishment and recognition of an independent, sovereign and democratic State of Palestine.”

The Palestinian Authority considers the Vatican one of 136 countries to have recognised Palestine as a state, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.

Abbas’s visit came a day before two nuns who lived in Ottoman Palestine during the 19th century will be made saints at a Vatican ceremony.

Marie Alphonsine Ghattas of Jerusalem and Mariam Bawardy of Galilee will become the first Palestinian Arabs to gain sainthood.

Ghattas was born in Jerusalem in 1847, and died there in 1927. She was beatified — the final step before canonisation — in 2009.

Bawardy was born in Galilee, now in northern Israel, in 1843. She became a nun in France and died in Bethlehem in 1878.

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1983.

Although there are several saints who lived in the region during Christianity’s early days, Bawardy and Ghattas are the first to be canonised from Ottoman-era Palestine.

The canonisation of a third Palestinian — a Salesian monk — is still under review by the Church. [myad]

Omotola Takes Trekkers To The Cleaner, Says They Are Silly Youths Trekking Their Future Away

Greenbarge Reporters

May 16, 2015

Renowned Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has taken young Nigerians who have embarked on trekking to honour politicians in the country in the wake of the 2015 general elections, saying that they are ‘silly youths trekking their future away.’

Omotola, in a post on her Twitter page, expressed displeasure with the actions of the youths who she said should rather have been trekking to bring awareness to their suffering instead of doing so to honour politicians.

“Silly youths trekking their futures away: you don’t trek to bring awareness to your suffering plights but trek to celebrate politicians? Smh!”

In 2014, she was honoured by the government as a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) for her contributions to Nigerian cinema

Since the end of the 2015 elections, more than seven Nigerians have trekked for either President Goodluck Jonathan or President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari. [myad]

Ogun, Lagos States Give Demolition Notices To 60,000 Houses, And Communities Cry Out

Greenbarge Reporters

May 15, 2015

Ogun and Lagos State governments have given a seven-day demolition ultimatum to landlords and occupants of the 60,000 houses, including mosques, churches and public schools within the Water Pipeline area in Akute, Baale Akin-Osin and Oke-Aro communities in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, even as elders and community leaders have sent a Save-Our-Souls appeal to the governors of the two states.

Among the affected buildings is the one housing the headquarters of News Express online newspaper.

Information reaching us showed that shock from the sudden notice by the Ogun State Urban and Regional Planning Board has already claimed the lives of two landlords while several others have taken ill.

The plight of the citizens, some of who have been residing in the area for over two decades, was the subject of a press conference held yesterday in Akute. It was addressed by leaders of the joint Community Development Councils (CDCs), who identified themselves as dual citizens of Lagos and Ogun states, controlled by the same All Progressives Congress (APC), which they claimed to have overwhelmingly voted for in the last general elections.

The community leaders and elders said that they are not against the Adiyan Water Project by the Lagos and Ogun State governments which is designed to benefit the public.

But, the grand patron of the CDCs, Alhaji Ganiyu Busari said that the communities want the Ogun State government agency to re-consider the measure of the specified area to be demolished instead of the expansive 50-metre “set-back” which could conveniently be reduced to 20 metres “set-back,” so that less houses would be affected.

“We wish to intimate the government that most of the affected house owners are aged and retirees who have no steady means of livelihood. Pulling down their homes will further aggravate their predicament. We also wish to call the attention of the government to the fact that any meaningful project should be people-driven.”

They said that accepting the 20 metres set-back would ensures effective synergy of the government water project as houses marked for demolition do not by any means constitute obstruction to the project.

The Community elders noted that most of the 50-metre expanse shall be reserved for machinery and equipment during construction work which, thereafter, may be abandoned, making it a hideout for hoodlums and social miscreants who constitute a burden for the law enforcement agents and threat to peace in the communities. [myad]

Enugu Court Threatens To Send Inspector-General Of Police To Prison For Contempt

Greenbarge Reporters

May 15, 2015

Federal High Court sitting in Enugu has threatened to commit the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to prison for allegedly flouting the court’s order in the enforcement of fundamental rights matter brought before the court by Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly. This is as the crisis in Enugu State House of Assembly which has pitched 15 lawmakers against Governor Sullivan Chime rages on.

The threat was contained in a Notice of Consequence of Disobedience of Court Order (Form 48), signed by the Registrar Federal High Court Enugu and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Force Headquarters Abuja.

A copy of the Form 48 obtained by reporters reads: “Take notice that unless you obey the directions contained in this Court order, you will be guilty of contempt of Court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”

The Court, presided over by Justice D.V. Agishi had on Monday, granted an ex-parte motion brought by Hon. Odo in suit number: FHC/EN/CS/99/2015, which has eight members of the House of Assembly, the Commissioner of Police and the IGP as 1st to 10 respondents respectively.
The motion included an interim injunction restraining the 9th and 10th respondents (Commissioner of Police and the IGP), whether acting by themselves or through their officers from inhibiting, curtailing or in any way imperiling the applicant’s right to personal liberty as enshrined in Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria pending the determination of the substantive motion.
The Court further restrained the 9th and 10threspondents from preventing the applicant from accessing the precint of the State House of Assembly, especially his chamber with 15 other members of the House, except the 1stand 8th respondents to carry on their lawful duties including the constitutional functions vested on them by the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, pending the determination of the substantive motion.
The Court also granted an order compelling the 9th and 10th respondents to withdraw all police officers deployed to the Enugu State House of Assembly, except the applicant (Odo) otherwise requests for their presence pending the determination of the substantive motion.
Notwithstanding the Court order, restraining the Police from curtailing the liberty of the Speaker, the State Police Command on Thursday invited him over the impeachment notice issued to Governor Sullivan Chime by 14 members of the House.

It was gathered that the invitation may not be unconnected with some of the allegations raised against the governor by the lawmakers in their impeachment notice.

Odo who confirmed the development to journalists said that the police extended an invitation to him and former National Auditor of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ray Nnaji and some members of the House.
Odo recalled that he had procured a court order directing police to restrain themselves from curtailing the liberty of his humble self and 14 other members of the House of Assembly.
“This order was served on Wednesday and Commissioner of Police has received same. I wish to formally bring to your notice that up till this morning, the Commissioner of Police has not obeyed the order.
“Instead, in the evening of yesterday, the Commissioner of Police through his office on account of a petition that was written by His Excellency, the Governor, invited me to appear at the State Police. [myad]

Federation Account Committee Accuses NNPC Of Foot-Dragging In Remitting $1.48 Billion Into Its Account

Greenbarge Reporters

May 15, 2015

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of failing to remit $1.48bn (over N200 Million) into the federation account as directed by PriceWaterHouse Coopers in its audit of the corporation’s accounts.

Chairman of the Forum of Finance Commissioners of FAAC, Timothy Odaah,who spoke on the matter during an interview with journalists after this month’s allocation committee meeting today, insisted that no amount had been transferred to the account.

“The most important thing is for the public to know that we campaign and demanded it because it is money meant for both the states and Federal Government as well as local government.

“Entirely, it is the nation and Mr. President that have directed that the money be paid to the federation, account, including the minister of petroleum, but it is important to know we have not seen anything.”

PwC was last year hired to carry out the exercise following an allegation by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, that $20bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

Sanusi, who is now the Emir of Kano, had written a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan that $49bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

But following the controversy which the letter generated, a committee was set up to reconcile the account. Sanusi later said the unremitted fund was $12bn. He later again changed the figure to $20bn.

PwC, in the report, had stated that while the total gross revenue, generated from crude oil lifting, was $69.34bn between January 2012 and July 2013 and not $67bn as earlier stated by the Senate Reconciliation Committee, what was remitted to the federation account was $50.81bn and not $47bn.

Within the $69.34bn, the audit report revealed that $28.22bn was the value of domestic crude oil allocated to NNPC, adding that total the amount spent on subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit amounted to $5.32bn.

FAAC had, at its last meeting, constituted a committee to find out the reasons for the delay in making the funds available to the three tiers of government.

Barely had the committee swung into action than the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, said that the NNPC had begun refunding the $1.48bn into the Federation Account as recommended by the audit firm.

“The PriceWaterHouse Coopers forensic audit that was done a few weeks ago, in its recommendation, mentioned that $1.48bn was owed by NPDC for a block that had hitherto been assigned from the NNPC to NPDC, which is its subsidiary.

“They felt that the right process would be that NPDC will refund that money to the Federation Account. NPDC has apparently started those refunds and it is also in discussion with NNPC and DPR on same. So the refund has actually begun,” she had said

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, today, said that N388 billion was shared among the federal, states and local governments as statutory allocation for the month of April, 2015.

Yuguda announced this in Abuja when he addressed newsmen on the outcome of this month’s FAAC meeting.

“The total revenue distributable for the month of April, including VAT of N75.1bn, is N388bn.”

Giving the breakdown of revenue among the three tiers of government, Yuguda said the Federal Government received N132.1bn, representing 52.68 per cent; while the 36 states got N67bn, representing 26.72 per cent.

The local governments, he said, received N51.6bn, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed.

He announced that N23.1bn, representing 13 per cent derivation was shared among the oil producing states. [myad]

‘Lagos Politician’ Gives AK-47 Guns To People To Kill Me, OPC Leader, Adams Alleges

Greenbarge Reporters

May 15, 2015

Leader of the O’dua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, has alleged that a top Lagos politician whose name he did not give, has distributed modern arms including AK-47 guns to kill him.

According to Adams, his close associates are also been targeted for elimination after the May 29 handover date from President Goodluck Jonathan to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari.

A statement signed by his Director of Media and Publicity, Barrister Yinka Oguntimeyin, said that Adams was worried that after a failed attempt to remove him as the leader of OPC by some expelled members of the Congress, the un-named politician has mobilised a group to create a chaos that would implicate him.

He said the group, which has been allegedly funded heavily planned to use the media to publish negative stories against Adams, adding: “tt is sad that despite the efforts of Otunba Adams to promote the culture and tradition of his race, and upgrade the status of the Odua Peoples Congress to a socially responsible one, and the formation of Odua Progressive Union (OPU) which is presently active in 57 countries, a platform for Yorubas in diaspora to interact and channel their energy towards the propagation of the culture and tradition of the Yoruba race and in turn build a clear cut tourism platform and image perception for Nigeria,” this dangerous plan is being put together by the politician. [myad]

1...2,2152,2162,217...2,506 Page 2,216 of 2,506