Neymar and Lionel Messi were on target as Barcelona eased their way to a 2-0 win at local rivals Espanyol to increase their grip on top spot in the Primera Division.
Brazilian Neymar struck after 16 minutes to put Barcelona on their way to victory, with Messi scoring from a tight angle nine minutes later to double the lead.
The only negative for Luis Enrique’s side was the sending off of Jordi Alba for earning two quick bookings, but the league leaders continued playing as though they had an extra man and could have extended their lead.
Atletico Madrid comfortably beat Elche 3-0 at home to resume normal service after being eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid in midweek.
The visitors came through the first half unscathed but fell behind to Antoine Griezmann’s header on 55 minutes. Raul Garcia doubled the lead before Griezmann pounced again, scoring a double for a third consecutive league game.
The win sees Atletico tighten their grip on third spot, while Elche remain in 14th place, six points above the relegation zone. [myad]
Nigeria’s government has taken a drastic step against South Africa over the continued attacks on foreigners in that country by recalling its High Commissioner, Martin Cobham, and his deputy, Uche Okeke.
In a statement today, the Minster of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Bashir Wali, said that the envoys had been summoned for consultation.
The statement read: “The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, has summoned for consultation, Nigeria’s senior diplomats on tour of duty in South Africa. These are the Acting High Commissioner in Pretoria, Ambassador Martin Cobham, and the Deputy High Commissioner in Johannesburg, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke.
“The invitation is in connection with the ongoing xenophobia in South Africa targeting foreigners, mainly African migrants.
“It will be recalled that the current spate of attacks began about three weeks ago, and have so far claimed some seven lives, destruction of property and created fear and uncertainty in the minds of African migrants in the former apartheid enclave.
“The South African President, Mr. Jacob Zuma, has condemned the attacks in a statement presented to the South African National Assembly. Ditto for the Zulu Monarch, Goodwill Zwelithini, whose alleged inciting comment provoked the attacks. Well meaning South Africans have also organised peace marches against xenophobia.” [myad]
Suspected Boko Haram insurgents were reported to have forced hundreds of soldiers to flee Marte, a border town along the shores of the Lake Chad.
A local official and witnesses said yesterday that the terrorists, numbering over 2,000, appeared from various directions and engaged the soldiers in Kirenowa town and adjoining communities in Marte.
Imamu Habeeb, a local community leader said: “They (Boko Haram members) fought with soldiers over the night and the fight continued today, forcing hundreds of soldiers to flee.
Another Local fighter, Shehu Dan Baiwa said the more than 2,000 fighters had been armed with bombs and tanks, adding: “they used the weapons without restraint and succeeded in killing several people.”
This is the third time Boko Haram has seized control of Marte in restive Borno state, a key battleground of their six-year insurgency, which has killed more than 13,000 and left 1.5 million homeless.
The city is among several retaken in recent weeks by Nigeria’s military, which has launched an offensive against the Islamists as part of a regional operation supported by Chad, Cameroon and Niger. But Boko Haram have been fighting back, and Nigerian troops were also forced to retreat from Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest stronghold this week after a landmine blast killed one soldier and three vigilantes.
A senior local politician confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that the insurgents had retaken Marte.
“We lost many (people) because some of our people that fled to Chad and Cameroon have return after Nigerian troops recovered the town recently,” he added. A senior military official confirmed the attack on Marte, but refused to say whether Boko Haram had retaken the town, describing the army’s retreat as “strategic.” [myad]
“Jonathan was the one who contested election, I didn’t. So, why should I die?”
These were the words of the former Nigeria Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, who campaigned vigorously for President Goodluck Jonathan for his second term bid as President of the country under Peoples Democratic Party.
President Jonathan lost to opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, General Muhammadu Buari in the March 28 presidential election.
Clark, who spoke to airport correspondents in Abuja yesterday on his way out of the country made it clear that his destiny was not tied to Jonathan’s government.
“I am alive. Today, I won’t talk about what happened before, during and after the election. That will come another day.
“I am talking to you now because I am travelling tomorrow and some people will go into the streets and say I was carried into air ambulance.
Clark was reacting to the rumour that he collapsed when he heard that General Buhari had won the presidential election, adding that he was on his way to London and had to address newsmen before another rumour crops up.
The Ijaw National leader said he was still in shock why some people could be thinking he would die when he was not the one that contested election, saying: “I am here today to tell you that I am not dead. Or am I dead? In every election, there would be winners and losers. The same thing happened during the last presidential election.
“President Jonathan that contested election had congratulated the winner and the whole world acclaimed him for conceding defeat.” [myad]
South Africa and Israel are set for diplomatic crisis over what the government of South Africa described as an outrageous decision of Israeli government to deny a visa to Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande.
Clayson Monyela, Deputy Director General of Department of International Relations and Cooperation said yesterday that the Israeli government needed to offer a reason for the snubbing, adding: “we are taking it up through the proper channels.
“We need to receive a proper explanation for the denial of a visa to a sitting cabinet minister,” Monyela said.
The minister was scheduled to travel to the occupied Palestinian territories from April 25-29. He was scheduled to secure further collaboration with the University of Johannesburg and institutions in Palestine.
Nzimande’s spokesperson told local media that the denial of the visa had caused a “serious diplomatic problem.”
Naeem Jeenah, Director of Afro-Middle East Centre, based in Johannesburg, described the snubbing as “surprising” considering the two countries’ growing trade relations.
Jeenah said the Palestinian solidarity movement in South Africa “would be thrilled” with Israel’s decision “because South Africa now has to respond to this matter.”
Arthur Lenk, the Israeli ambassador in Pretoria said that South African officials routinely visit the West Bank through Israel.
Lenk would not be drawn into discussing why specifically Nzimande’s visa application was denied, though he described the minister as being “very vocal on a range of issues connected to Israel, South Africa and my region.”
The ambassador said the decision to deny the visa was made in Israel.
“The decision came from Jerusalem,” Lenk said.
But Jeenah said anything the Israelis say on the matter “could really only make the situation worse.” [myad]
Oil majors in Nigeria, under the aegis of Oil Producer Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has warned that Nigeria is at risk of losing $10 billion (about N2 Trillion) of its revenue from oil and gas in 2015, unless a significant improvement is recorded in the prices of crude oil in the international market.
“We estimate that if crude oil prices average $53 per barrel in 2015, compared to $77.5 per barrel in 2014, the Federal Government of Nigeria’s oil and gas revenue will decline by an equivalent of $10 billion this year, or a gut-wrenching equivalent of 30 per cent,” said Elisabeth Proust, Chairperson of the OPTS.
Proust, who was speaking at the Society for Petroleum Engineers’ (SPE) 2015 Oloibiri Lecture Series in Abuja, noted that the country has already started feeling the impact of the low oil price, as evident in the slowing down or outright cancellation of a number of infrastructure projects across the country.
For the oil and gas industry to unlock its potentials and help position Nigeria to be able to attract the required investment, Proust maintained that the Federal Government has to create a conducive business environment, provide the necessary funding of joint ventures with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and ensure globally competitive fiscals and domestic gas process. [myad]
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has referred to President Goodluck Jonathan as a moving train who was providentially stopped from collapsing Nigeria with General Muhammadu Buhari unseating him at the March 28 Presidential election.
Obasanjo, who led the African Union Observation Mission to the April 2015 General Election in Sudan, spoke at a Washington DC event, saying that Nigeria has been obsessively playing “a dangerous game of moving close to the precipice.”
He said the country came close to disintegration in the run-up to the 2015 elections but switched swiftly to the path of redemption after the polls.
“I hope we will not fall over one of these days,” he said, adding that one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”
He made it clear that many countries across the African continent are happy over the outcome of the presidential election in Nigeria, adding that his checks in a number of African countries suggested they were as happy over the result of the election as majority of Nigerians are.
“I have visited six countries since the election, they are as happy about the results as we are in Nigeria. It is good not only for Nigeria, it is good for Africa and I believe it is good for the world.”
Describing his role in the election as that of a person standing on the track of a moving train, the former president said during the countdown to the elections, he faced the option of “jumping off” the tracks or “be crushed” if the train did not providentially get “derailed and stop.”
He said he did not jump and was not crushed adding that “at every stage, there must be leaders imbued with sufficient courage and will to stand firm when you have to stand firm.”
He described the results of the elections as what Nigerians “deserve” though some Nigerians “did not want it.” Obasanjo was the featured speaker at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) event titled What is Right with Africa: Reframing Africa’s Leadership Challenges.
He made these remarks in response to a question by Princeton Lyman, a former ambassador to Nigeria.
Obasanjo observed that Nigeria’s tendency to flirt with near-death experiences stretches back to colonial times when it almost cost the country the chance of gaining political independence from Britain.
Recalling colonial-era disagreements over self-rule, the former President said at a stage, advocates of self-rule from the Eastern and Western Regions decided to “let the North go” since their leaders were reluctant to accept regional autonomy back then.
“But reason prevailed,” he said, “East and West got internal autonomy in 1957, North got same in 1959 and the whole country got independence in 1960.”
Listing the 1964 post-election violence in the south west and the 1966 coup d’etats which led to “pogrom and civil war” as other self-destructive phases in the country’s history, the former president remarked that Nigeria emerged from all of these as “one entity” in spite of contrarian speculations.
“Not only did we survive the civil war but, within nine years, somebody from the rebel side, as we called them, and somebody from the vandal side, as they called us, became president and vice-president of Nigeria. Not many countries achieve that,” he said.
Obasanjo described the 2015 election as “almost in the same category” as other near-death experiences in Nigeria’s history.
He said one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”
“I think we are now building institutions that can withstand what we may see as danger to good governance in Africa. The election has moved Nigeria one very important step up in our democratic dispensation, process and practice.” [myad]
President Goodluck Jonathan today, played host to the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, with a promise to take General Buhari round the Villa at a later date.
Jonathan who spoke to newsmen shortly after a closed door meeting with General Buhari said the two of them have agreed to pick a date for the tour of the Villa, adding: “we will fix a date when the president will come and I will show him round the state house but today is not for that. Today is to continue with our conversation. So we don’t need to worry the President, we don’t need to worry the President.”
President Jonathan said that the meeting was very fruitful, saying: “You can see that we are smiling, it was a fruitful one. We are discussing for the interest of the country.”
Meanwhile, General Buhari has started operating from a government-owned complex following the allocation of the Defence House for his use. He is expected to use the facility till March 28. After his inauguration on May 29, he will relocate to Aso Rock Villa where the presidential residence is currently undergoing renovation.
General Buhari moved into the Defence House on Tuesday on his return to Abuja from Kaduna and his hometown Daura, where he stayed after the governorship election on April 11.
The Defence House in the Maitama District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is one of the President’s guest houses. It is located opposite the Legacy House, which has been serving as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign headquarters.
The President-elect hosted ECOWAS chairman and President of Ghana John Mahama on Tuesday at the Defence House before leaving for his campaign headquarters where he received delegations from Kogi and Kwara states.
He has also been receiving visitors at the All Progressives Congress (APC) headquarters.
Senate President David Mark visited the president-elect yesterday.
General Buhari returned to Abuja from Kaduna on Monday and held talks with Ivorian President Alhassan Quattara at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
A horde of security operatives have already been stationed at his new abode where visitors are screened before being allowed into the premises. This is even as the Defence House is wearing a new look.
APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu confirmed that the president-elect had been operating from the Defence House.
“Yes, the Defence House was handed over a few days ago after its renovation.”
After he was declared winner of the presidential election on March 30, General Buhari started receiving visitors from his private residence in Asokoro area, before leaving Abuja for Daura to vote in the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
He spent one week in Daura, receiving local and international guests before leaving for Kaduna where he received another set of guests, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo. [myad]
Embattled governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose has cause to laugh today when a Federal High Court in Abuja set aside, all actions and activities of the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr Adewale Omirin and the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers from November 21, 2014 till date, including the purported commencement of impeachment proceeding and notice alleging misconduct against him and his Deputy, Dr Olusola Eleka.
Justice E. Chukwu gave the ruling today on an Exparte Application in Suit Number FHC/ABJ/CS/361/15 filed by the factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Dele Olugbemi and six other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers.
The judge also granted plaintiffs in the suit, leave to serve the originating summons on the defendants through newspaper advertisements.
Olugbemi and six others had filed the suit, seeking an order of the court declaring the seats 19 lawmakers vacant having abdicated their functions since November 21, 2014 and also an order restraining the police from aiding, abetting or assisting the lawmakers from carrying out any illegal act.
Apart from Omirin and the APC legislators, also joined as defendants in the suit are the Inspector General of Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Hearing of the Motion on Notice has been adjourned till May 13. [myad]
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bello Mohammed Adoke has written a separate letters to both the Senate and the House of Representatives asking them to stop further moves to pass the ongoing constitution amendment which he said would be in clear violation of the rule of law and democracy.
Adoke advised both chambers of the National Assembly to halt the constitution amendment process in view of his fresh suit filed at the Supreme Court to challenge the passage of the 4th Alteration Bill to the constitution.
The minister of justice addressed the letter, signed by his lawyer, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) to the Senate President, David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.
President Goodluck Jonathan had refused to assent to the 4th Alteration Bill on the grounds of the alleged failure of the National Assembly to fulfill the mandatory requirement for the passage of the bill.
Through the AGF, the executive had filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the final passage of the bill following the amendment of the constitution by the National Assembly conferring on itself the power to pass an amendment of the constitution without the president’s consent.
Ojo maintained in the letters dated April 22, 2015, that to go ahead with the passage of the bill despite the pendency of the suit challenging the process “will be an affront to the rule of law and democracy.”
The letters titled, ‘RE: SUIT NO. SC 214/2015 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATIONAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, read in part: “In the said suit, the Plaintiff claims for determination of two questions on the constitutionality or otherwise of the procedure adopted by the National Assembly in passing the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015 particularly as it relates to Sections 3, 4, 12, 14, 21, 23, 36, 39, 40, 43 and 44 purporting to alter Sections 8, 9, 34, 35, 39, 40, 42, 45, 58, 84, 150, 174 and 211 of the extant 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and for an order nullifying and setting aside those Sections of the Fourth Alteration Act.
“A copy of the Court Process is attached to this correspondence for ease of reference.
“In view of this development and the dictates of the principles of the rule of law on which any democratic system thrives, we use this medium to urge that the Supreme Court be allowed to determine the suit under reference before any further step is taken by the National Assembly on the move to pass the Fourth Alteration Act alluded to earlier in this correspondence into law.
“May we add that adopting such attitude will not only commendably be in line with the decisions of the Supreme Court on the absolute need to avoid self-help by all persons and authorities in resolving disputes, but will also yield to the rule of law as espoused in the decisions of the Courts. One of such decisions is the case of OJUKWU V. MILITARY GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE (1986) 1 NWLR (pt. 18) 621.
“To proceed with the process of passage into law of the Fourth Alteration Act 2015 despite the pendency of this suit under reference will be an affront to the rule of law and democracy. We are convinced, particularly from the commendable record so far of the current National Assembly that it will not do that.
“May we also use this medium to thank your Excellency and all distinguished Senators for your anticipated cooperation in abiding by the rule of law and suspending the Constitution alteration process in the circumstance.”
The AGF, who is the only plaintiff in the suit, wants the apex court to declare the passage as unconstitutional as it was not passed by at least four-fifths majority of all members of each House of the National Assembly as specified in sections 48 and 49 of the Constitution. [myad]
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