₦airaland Forum

Some football fans in Nigeria have criticised Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, for what they termed the poor treatment of former Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo.

The 31-year-old striker took a pay cut in January to join United on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.

But despite his impressive performance for the Red Devils in the FA Cup and Europa League last season, where he scored five goals in eight matches, the former Watford man has often been overlooked by the manager and has made just four appearances for United this season, playing for just 157 minutes.


On Wednesday, Solskjaer gave Ighalo his Champions League debut, with few seconds to the end of the 3-1 defeat to Paris Saint-German at Old Trafford, which sparked reactions from the fans.

Ayoade Irelouwa said, “How do you explain such treatment? You took out Cavani (Edison) in the 69th minute and brought on Greenwood (Mason), leaving an experienced striker like Ighalo on the bench. And to add to the humiliation, he decided to introduce him with exactly 90 minutes on the clock. That is very unfair to Ighalo.”


Popoola Wole added, “I think Ighalo should move away from Manchester United in January. What I saw in the Champions League on Wednesday was one of the greatest humiliations a player could suffer.”

Whenu Sunday stated, “Maybe Ole expected Ighalo to perform a magic, because how do you justify the fact that you left a striker on the bench when you were just a goal down and brought him on late into the game. That’s totally unfair.”


“For a player that decided to take a pay cut to stay at his boyhood club, rather than smile to the bank with what his Chinese club offered, I think treating him that way was very harsh,” Alex Ebhodaghe, a Manchester United fan, said.

Bimpe Bakare added, “Ighalo is smart enough to know that he is no longer needed at Manchester United because he has spent more time on the bench than on the field. The arrival of Cavani hasn’t made his situation any better. If he was still having any hope of breaking into the team, I think what happened against PSG sums it up.”

Iceland Icelanders

The most peaceful country in the world.

Question to ask?

Does fighting prohibited there?

Ans; well I think they do fight and all their fight is for love and peace to reign.

Are they human being like us?

Ans; yes they are 100% human like us and one thing about them they always browse the future now and viewed the present later.

Is it because they were surrounded with water brings them peace?

Ans; no the reason is they know the value of water, e.g when there is fire outbreak water is used (2) when thirsty water is useful (3) when angry a cup of water is needed (4) when feel uncomfortable the body needs water. And in all water is life and water is free to all God is water and strength of the strengthened.

matters arising

The Federal Government has berated US-based Cable News Network for its coverage of the #EndSARS protest in Lekki area of Lagos saying “CNN breached the most basic of the core principles of journalism – balance and fairness.”

The goverment also demanded “an immediate and exhaustive investigation from CNN into its ‘investigative’ report on the Lekki Toll Gate incident to determine, among others, its authenticity.”


The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated this in his letter to Jonathan Hawkins, VP (Communications) in CNN Centre Atlanta, Georgia.

The letter dated November 23 2020 entitled ‘Re: How a bloody night of bullets quashed a young protest movement’, was obtained by THE PUNCH in Abuja on Monday.

The letter reads, “Our attention has been drawn to an ‘investigation’ by CNN, entitled ‘How a Bloody Night of Bullets Quashed a Young Protest Movement’ and aired on 18 Nov. 2020, in which the international news organization said it had ”uncovered that Nigerian security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters” at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, Nigeria, during the #EndSARS protest.


“We write to put on record that the report did not just fall short of journalistic standards, it reinforces the disinformation that is going around on the issue, it is blatantly irresponsible and it is a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organization.

“In the first instance, the report did not live up to the most basic of the core principles of journalism – balance and fairness. According to the website www.ethics.journalists.org, ”balance and fairness are classic buzzwords of journalism ethics: In objective journalism, stories must be balanced in the sense of attempting to present all sides of a story. Fairness means that a journalist should strive for accuracy and truth in reporting, and not slant a story so a reader draws the reporter’s desired conclusion.”

photo

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for partnership also you can call. 07030657245
or visit on Facebook Basoene Wokoma

(CNN)America has chosen Democrat Joe Biden as its 46th president, CNN projects, turning to a veteran voice who has projected calm and compassion, promised a more empathetic and scientific approach to the pandemic, and pledged to stabilize American politics after four years of Donald Trump's White House chaos.

Biden, who turns 78 at the end of this month, will become the oldest president when he is inaugurated in January in the midst of the worst public health crisis in 100 years, the deepest economic slump since the 1930s and a national reckoning on racism and police brutality that is still unresolved.
His election will end Trump's tumultuous hold on Washington and condemn the Republican, who has had a lifelong obsession with winning, to the ranks of chief executives who lost after a single term.
In a cinematic twist, it was Biden's boyhood state of Pennsylvania that put him over the 270 electoral vote threshold and delivered the White House. Trump had held a wide lead over Biden on the night of the election, but as election officials counted hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots, the race shifted dramatically in Biden's favor, infuriating Trump and his allies, who knew the President's path to the White House was over without the commonwealth.
That the Keystone State was the last hurdle in Biden's path to the White House was a fitting end to a hard-fought race given that the former vice president has long cultivated his image as "middle-class Joe" from Scranton. In a visit that now seems almost prophetic, he had made a final trip to his childhood home in the city on Election Day after spending much of the campaign promising to prioritize the livelihoods of the many working-class voters whom Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in her 2016 bid.
On one of the living room walls in the house where he grew up, he wrote: "From this House to the White House with the Grace of God," signing his name and the date,"11.3.2020."
In the final days of the race, Biden's team redoubled their efforts to rebuild the Democrats' "blue wall" -- and that gambit paid off with Biden winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to CNN projections, while holding Minnesota, which the President made a priority in his reelection push.
As he watched his hopes of reelection being strangled with each tranche of votes in Pennsylvania, Trump lashed out on Twitter during the tense vote count, attempting to undermine democratic institutions with demands like "STOP THE COUNT."
The President falsely claimed the election was being stolen from him as many mail-in ballots, which were often counted after Election Day votes, landed in the column of his opponent.
Facing a deeply polarized country, Biden had tried to project comity and patience, and his desire to unite America.
"There will not be blue states and red states when we win. Just the United States of America," Biden said Wednesday afternoon. "We are not enemies. What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart."
Biden again asked for patience from his supporters on Thursday afternoon. "Stay calm. The process is working," he said in Wilmington, Delaware. "Each ballot must be counted. ... Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience, as well. But that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years with a system of governance that is the envy of the world."
Part of Trump's frustration stemmed from the fact that his campaign's finely tuned ground game did in fact succeed in turning out many more of the so-called "hidden Trump voters" than expected, making the race a much tighter contest than pre-election polls suggested.
Ultimately, Biden carved out his route to 270 Electoral College votes by holding most of the states that Clinton won and adding Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to his column. Ballots are still being counted in the key states of Nevada and Arizona.
Trump continued to cast aspersions on the electoral process -- wrongly suggesting that there was something nefarious about the fact that the vote count in key states continued well after Tuesday night, as is customary in US elections. Meanwhile, his team mounted a series of lawsuits in several states, including Pennsylvania, looking to stop vote counting in some areas while challenging how closely observers can monitor officials counting the votes in others. The Trump campaign also said it would demand a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden led Trump by some 20,000 votes, even though historically a margin of that magnitude is unlikely to be reversed.
A career-long quest realized
The victory of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., who forged a 50-year career as senator and vice president from his Delaware homestead, is a full circle moment that comes more than 30 years after his first presidential campaign. His running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, will make history as the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of Southeast Asian descent to become vice president.
Biden's life of tragedy — he buried his first wife and his first daughter, and his adult son Beau, who died in 2015, survived two brain aneurysms and stayed in politics after two failed White House campaigns — shaped his image as a man of resilience and decency. Those qualities made him America's choice as a president who could shoulder the grief of a nation traumatized by the loss of more than 234,000 citizens to Covid-19, with millions unemployed in an environment of intense economic uncertainty.
Biden's victory means that Trump's rage-filled presidency — powered by his nationalism, toxic racial appeals, incessant lying and assault on democratic institutions — may come to be seen as a historical aberration rather than a new normal.
But Biden faces a huge task in uniting the country and addressing America's disillusionment with establishment figures like him, which led to the current President's political rise as an outsider who was elected on a wave of populism in 2016.
Biden is pledging to restore America's "soul," which he says was compromised by Trump's divisive approach, and to purge the President's "America First" foreign policy and rebuild Washington's traditional position of global leadership.
But Democrats dreaming of a "New Deal" style era of reform on health care, the economy, climate change, race and possibly even expanding the Supreme Court will see their ambitions tempered by their lack of gains in the balance of power in Congress and the need for the Biden administration to halt a pandemic that is getting worse. Health experts at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation project say the virus could claim nearly 400,000 Americans lives by the time Biden is sworn in.

I believed what I'm seeing right now my fellow Nigerians were also seen this tools I'm seeing right now.

Hmm?
Yes
It is only Nigeria camera that has the ability to snap and after then mistaken the pics to another one.
And because of the this camera type everyone is afraid to correct the wrong, because unknowingly to you, you will be charged to pay a damn of damned just because of your correction word.

Nigeria needs you and I ar big prayer to God Almighty.

And the first prayer is father disconnect every camera type of this in our nation and set your own best camera in Nigeria.

What is your opinion on this?

Writer; Basoene Wokoma

A Big birthday shout out to our own nollywood legend of our time.
Kenneth Okonkwo Happy birthday to you Sir' Have a blissful day

The money laundering trial of a former Minister of State for Power, Muhammad Wakil, has been adjourned by the Federal High Court sitting in Maiduguri, the Borno State capWakil is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with four others before Justice J.K. Dagad.

The other defendants are Garba Abacha, Ibrahim Birma, Dr Abubakar Kullima, and Muhammad Kachalla.

They are alleged to have received the sum of N450m being part of the $115m disbursed by the former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, for the 2015 presidential election.


One of the charges read, “That you, Muhammad Wakil, Garba Abacha, Ibrahim Shehu Birma, Dr. Abubakar Ali Kullima and Muhammad Baba Kachalla on or about the 26th day of March, 2015, at Maiduguri, Borno State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did agree among yourselves to do an illegal act to wit: conspiracy to commit money laundering, thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended)”.

The defendants were first arraigned before Justice M.T Salihu on July 2, 2018. But his retirement from the bench necessitated the re-assignment of the case to a new judge.



When the matter was called on Wednesday, the Court Registrar presented a letter from Nankham Ayuba Dammo, counsel for the first, second, and fourth defendants, asking for an adjournment on the grounds of ill-health.

Counsel for the fifth defendant Z. Hamza also sent a letter asking for an adjournment because he was appearing in another matter before the Appeal Court, Gombe.

Justice Dagad adjourned the case till February 4, 2021.

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, on Thursday, described the feat achieved by 31-year old Oye Owolewa in the 2020 United States election as national pride.

The minister tweeted, “Congrats are in place for the 31-year old Adeoye Owolewa for making Nigeria proud by being the first Nigerian to win a seat in the United States Congress.”

Owolewa was on Tuesday elected as a shadow member of the US House of Representatives from the District of Columbia, making him the first Nigerian-American to achieve the milestone.

According to election results on the website of the District of Columbia Board of Elections on Wednesday morning, Owolewa polled 81.59% of the votes, which represents 164,026 votes against Joyce Robinson-Paul, who scored 18,600 votes, and Sohaer Syed with 15,372 votes.

Owolewa, whose father is from Kwara State and mother is from Oyo State, was elected on the platform of the Democratic Party.

The PhD holder in Pharmacy from the Northeastern University, Boston, is one of the nine Nigerian-Americans on the ballot in Tuesday’s general elections.

Also, another Nigerian-American, 35-year-old Esther Agbaje, emerged victorious in the election when she won a legislative seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, congratulated both Owolewa and Agbaje in two separate statements on Wednesday, noting that “with dedication, hard work, resilience and prayer, one can achieve just about anything”.

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved N87.538bn for the construction of some roads in parts of the country.

The amount approved included the cost variation for two existing road contracts.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammed Bello; and the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed these to State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).


Bello told reporters that the contract for the road in the FCT was awarded to Messrs Gilmor Engineering Nigeria Limited in the sum of N30,686,609,298.68 with a completion period of 32 months.

He said the contract was about the full scope development of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Way to the Northern Express Way (Murtala Mohammed Way) popularly known as Kubwa Expressway.

He said the project area is within Phase II of the Federal Capital City, serving as a boundary road between the adjoining districts of Mabushi, Kado, Katampe, and Jabi.


Fashola, on his part, said the council approved a variation of N47.504bn for the completion of the 52 kilometers-Oyo-Ogbomosho Highway which is a part of the Ilorin-Ibadan 145 kilometers highway.

The variation, he explained, has increased the cost of the contract to N105.041 bn.

He said the variation was necessary because of the need to adjust the thickness of the pavement from 500mm to 560mm; to change the asphalt to polymer-modified bitumen and also change the shoulders from surface dressing to fully asphalted inside and outside shoulder.


“So, all these required changes in prices of N47.504bn. This was the revision that we presented which council approved. This road was awarded in 2010. As I said, Sections 1 and 3 were completed. We are trying to complete Section 2 which we also inherited,” the minister explained.


Fashola added that the council approved N9.348bn variation to complete Lokko-Oweto Bridge that links Nasarawa to Benue State, adding that the development has changed contract price from N51.621bn to N60.961bn.


He said, “That project was awarded in 2011 and it was awarded in three different sections – one section, the road to Benue to Oweto, was awarded to one contractor, we have completed that road.

“The bridge was awarded to another contractor. The bridge is essentially finished now. It is open to traffic. And then, Lokko to Nasarawa, 74 kilometers was awarded to another contractor. We are trying to sort out that problem and we will come back to it.


“So, the approval given today was a N9.348bn variation to complete the bridge component or remaining work on the bridge. If you go there now, it’s already opened to traffic, finishing and …work to link the existing road in the Benue side to the bridge is what we got this variation for.

“So, changes in contract price from N51.621bn to N60.961bn. As I said, though we haven’t finished the roadside on the Nasarawa side, the commuters are already using the road because it provides a huge detour going through Lafia, Keffi to come to Nasarawa and to Abuja.

basoenewokoma@Facebook

The Independent National Electoral Commission said, on Wednesday, that it is battling with over 1,700 cases in various courts across the country, 20 months after it conducted the 2019 general elections.

The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on INEC to defend the agency’s 2021 budget estimate.

The Chairman said INEC was spending between N3 million and N4.5 million to prosecute each pending case.

He said, “Each time anyone goes to court, INEC is joined, but we have to hire lawyers to defend us.

“We are not paying fantastic fee, we are applying the federal ministry of justice scale of fees.

“If for instance, you have a case for governorship election before the Supreme Court, it’s a maximum of N4.5 million but others could be as low as N3 million.

READ ALSO: Trump declares win, vows court action
Basoene Wokoma @gmail.com

“We are almost getting close to 1,700 pre-election and post-election cases in 2019 alone, and every day you hear people going to court and joining INEC.

“We will continue to do what we can within available resources.”

He said the legal department of the agency has about 860 pre-election and 807 post-election cases, adding that the figure is rising.



The chairman said the agency planned to take N5.2 billion from the INEC funds established in 2010, to augment the shortfall in its 2020 budget which was slashed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said, “The Commission cannot be independent unless it is financially independent.

“There are some activities that happen that are time bound or bound by some specific provisions of the constitution that the Commission has to undertake.

“The fund was established to allow the Commission to discharge those responsibilities.

“It was established in 2010 but there was no cause to spend from it, and from the last five years this Commission did not spend from it.

“What has happened now is our budget for 2020 dropped to N40 billion from N45.5 billion in 2019.”

The management of an online channel, Gboah TV, has confirmed the death of one its reporters, Onifade Pelumi, who has been missing since Saturday, October 24, 2020.

In a statement, the medium said young Onifade was covering the scene of a mob attack at a government facility in the Oko Oba axis of Agege Local Government Area when operatives of the Lagos State Task Force stormed the scene and engaged hoodlums who attempt to loot palliatives at the Ministry of Agriculture store in the Abattoir area of the state.


Pelumi, an intern with the online TV, was reportedly wounded during the task force duel with the miscreants who hijacked the #EndSARS protests against police brutality.

The TV station also claimed the wounded reporter was taken away by the men of the Lagos task force and “was later found dead at Ikorodu mortuary after days of searching all police stations and meeting with the Lagos State task force.”

The statement partly read, “It has been confirmed that the Gboah TV staff, ‘Onifade Pelumi’, arrested by the Lagos State Task Force at the Ministry of Agriculture, Abattoir, Agege, is dead.


“The Police are currently investigating the matter and have assured the management, the family and community that the investigation will be thorough and swift.

“Onifade Pelumi died while covering the scenes at the site of the palliative storage centre. He will be deeply missed.”


The Chairman, Lagos State Task Force, Yinka Egbeyemi, in an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, said the matter has been forwarded to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.


“Please contact the PPRO for insights on the matter. The case is under investigation and it has been transferred to the Commissioner of Police,” Egbeyemi said.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, asked for more time to seek information on the incident.

Singer Damini Ogulu aka Burna Boy, has bowed to pressure from fans and critics and officially joined the #EndSARS movement which seeks the scrapping of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force.

Burna Boy issued a statement on Saturday amid knocks from Nigerian youths who had expressed disappointment over the musician’s silence.

The self-acclaimed African giant said the protest should not be about him but about deeper issues.


He wrote, “I have taken the past week to gather my thoughts. I usually respond to these matters with my emotions and frustrations. This time I have chosen to ignore the attempts; well-meaning or derogatory to draw me out. This is not and should not be about me. It is about a fundamental problem that affects us all Nigerians, as Africans, and as human beings.

“The state of our country, Nigeria, is tricky; it has been from before I was born. My greatest concern in all of this is that SARS will end now as it allegedly has several times in the past (I recall giving calls to end SARS during my USA tour in April 2019 and morph into a different entity down the line with a different form or a different name. In my opinion, abolishing the unit is a definite first step but we cannot afford to stop there.”


The Grammy Award nominee applauded the protesters for exercising their right to demonstrate.

He also stated that he had created a fund that would be used in helping protesters that are wrongfully arrested by the police.

The singer added, “I have created a sub-fund under my charity- The Reach called (@ProjectProtectng) to help protesters that are wrongfully harmed/arrested by SARS during and after these protests. This is a fund for the people by the people.”



Thousands of Nigerian youths have been protesting police harassment and extrajudicial killing by SARS, a specialised unit that was created over a decade ago to tackle armed robbery.

Over the years, however, SARS operatives started extorting money from youths driving big cars, using expensive phones, laptops or wearing dreadlocks.

The harassment has on several occasions degenerated to killings.

The fresh protests which began on Thursday, has been endorsed by both local and international entertainers and several other prominent figures.

what are your opinion?

I think he was murdered because everything about his death appears suspicious. Everything that transpired appears to have been planned. It is suspicious that a police headquarters was attacked on the night he visited and he was the only one that was killed. There were no gunshots. Up till now, there is no information about how he was killed and the police authority is keeping mute. The death of my son is very painful to me and my wife.

How did you learn of his death?


It was through his fiancée. She was the one who broke the sad news to us.

We were told he was gruesomely killed on the premises of the Nigeria Police Force, New Heaven Divisional Police Headquarters in Enugu. He had gone to the place to see his fiancée who was sick. The fiancée is a senior police officer living in the officers’ quarters.

Around 10.30pm on Sunday, September 27, 2020, we were told Charles noticed strange movements close to the entrance of the apartment and he told his fiancée to go into the toilet and lock herself inside. We were told the entrance door was brought down and Charles was dragged out. She heard him screaming and later, people came out and saw him in a pool of blood. He had been cut in the head and legs with machetes.


What was the first thing that came into your mind?

I was highly disappointed. At first, I thought it was a joke. It dawned on me that it was not a joke when she was crying and insisting that my son had died. I thought it was a joke taken too far. The police ordinarily are supposed to be able to forestall any unrest, but unfortunately, the killing happened in the police quarters.

How disappointed were you that he was cut with machetes all over his body on the premises of the police headquarters?


The story is very strange, absurd and unconventional. For me, it is like a tale told by moonlight. They have not really told me what they did to my son. The version of the story looks like it was fabricated, just like a movie.

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Why don’t you believe the story?

It is inconceivable to believe that somebody was killed by hoodlums in a police quarters. It is quite unbelievable. I can’t believe such a story. My wife, children and kinsmen don’t believe the story as well. No sane person will believe that story.


It is an incredible story, seriously. It is unbelievable that a police division provides security to a citizen on its premises. This is annoying. The death of my son is very devastating. This is very unbelievable.

What do you think really happened?

The police officers in Enugu State where he was killed are in a better position to tell the world what really happened to my son. The version of the story they are telling us can’t fly. It is not believable.



Do you know anyone who hated him so much to have wanted him dead?

No! My son wasn’t troublesome. He maintained peace and was always for peace. He had no enemy I was aware of.

How old was he?

He was 38 years old. He was my first child. This is unbelievable. How can I be the one burying my own son when the reverse should be the case?



How is his fiancée?

She is still a young woman in her early 30s. That is all I can say about this.

What did she say about the killing?

She said that she saw the hoodlums holding machetes. So, he was murdered with machetes.

What kind of a person is she?

She is humble and quiet as she has identified with our family for over 10 years.



What kind of a person was your son?

He was truthful and easygoing. He was very calm and sociable.

What were his dreams and aspirations?

He wanted to be a very comfortable person and he wanted to raise a decent family and build a great society.

What was the last thing he said to you and what did you say to him?



He said he wanted to travel to see her fiancée in Enugu and I wished him well. I didn’t know I wouldn’t see him again in this life. I didn’t know he was going on a journey of no return. This is very painful. He told me that he would come back home after seeing her fiancée. His brothers and sisters are six. He was the oldest.

Where are his remains?

His remains are in Enugu where he was killed.



Have you seen his body?

No. I haven’t seen his remains yet because of the distance since I am from Imo State. Proximity and my poor health are my challenges.

When will he be buried?

The date has not yet been fixed. This loss is painful and it is very fresh in our hearts. Moreover, we have yet to get the right answers regarding how he was killed. Who killed him? Why was he killed in a police quarters? Why was it the night he visited that the killers attacked? The police in Enugu State where he was killed have a lot of questions to answer.



It is important to state that my family and I feel that my son was murdered by a mortal enemy. I strongly feel that the killing of my son was premeditated. The family of my son’s fiancée are very shocked. We have a very cordial relationship. They are not happy at all. As I speak with you, the father of his fiancée has yet to fully grasp the sad news.

second pics

I just decided to make this little construction and I hope it will blow off your mind.

most time you don't need to panic just because the government are not doing well, just take time and look around yourself and do something good with your hands and believe you me, one day can do better than what the government can do for you.

The idea behind the construction of the rail line from Kano to Maradin in Niger Republic was purely economic rather than political, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said on Friday.

Amaechi said people should stop politicising the project as it would create more employment opportunities and enhance imports and exports that would open up Nigeria through neighbouring countries.

Speaking in Abuja, he said, “The decision to invest in Kano-Maradin rail line is purely economical; no politics. People are the ones politicising it.

“I made that decision because there is a competition between the coastal states of Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana.”

He added, “The other three countries are able to move cargoes from this landlocked countries to their seaports for either export or import.

“They are able to do those businesses but we are not able to do them because the landlocked countries are complaining of crimes. The road are not safe in Nigeria; there is custom interference, police checkpoints here and there.”


According to Amaechi, to be able to attract those cargoes, the government decided to construct a rail line from Kano to Maradin, a village in Niger Republic.


He said there was also a plan to build warehouses there to be able to attract cargoes from neighbouring countries and transport them effectively to Tin-Can or Apapa seaport for onward movement or for export.

“Or we can make them import through our seaports and we drop it off at Maradin where they can use their cargoes,” the minister said.

A good marriage takes a lot of determination on the part of the couple to cultivate through the process of nurturing, strengthening, and encouraging each other to give their best. Nevertheless, you must also bear in mind that not everyone can give their best to the marriage as certain situations can make life more challenging for your loved one. However, when you have a secure, emotional connection in your marriage, you will be able to support each other every step of the way. A couple can become emotionally disconnected from each other for some of the reasons identified below:


Emotionally sensitive

In a situation where one person is constantly giving more of herself than the other, it can become exhausting especially if the giver is not being appreciated nor acknowledged because the spouse has become emotionally disconnected.

When your spouse is emotionally disconnected, he/she may start to exhibit insensitive behaviour towards you which can leave you feeling lonely and worthless in a home you once enjoyed comfort, love, and security.


Emotionally complacent

If your spouse finds it morally acceptable to continue to keep up his/her appearance in the interest of safeguarding the marriage from separation or divorce; this can also trigger an emotional affair outside the marriage especially if you both become complacent and unwilling to work things out. An emotional affair is triggered when a spouse is giving more affection to someone else outside the marriage and receiving love and attention in return because their relationship is fulfilling.


Emotionally rejected

Most emotional affairs happen because someone no longer finds their partner deserving of their love either due to loneliness, neglect, control or differences that made them incompatible.

The truth is that anyone can become a victim of emotional affair without intentionally setting out to make it happen. When love and communication break down in marriage, you may be left with no other choice than to find support and comfort in opening up your hearts out to an old friend outside your marriage who is always willing to listen and also give you reassurance too.


Emotionally spontaneous

Everyone’s desire is to experience the feeling of true love in marriage and this can be unrealistic and unattainable. What started as an amicable and supportive friendship can gradually blossom into an emotional connection as you begin to value the deep bond you share through honest communication. Emotional affair is a dark area in a relationship which might have started with good intention and the desire to build a valued friendship with someone but eventually became more intimate than intended.


Emotional escape

According to statistics, most emotional affairs start at work and men are more likely to engage in emotional affairs outside their marriage than women because they are more receptive and often disregard the signs of impending threat to their marital relationship. A man is more likely to devote his emotional strength and time into the affair if the relationship is beneficial and satisfying his needs and serves as an escape from confronting his failing marriage.



Women are not left out of emotional affairs in marriage but many are devoted in their role as the primary caregivers and too preoccupied with making the home a safe place for the family even if the spouse has found a safe place outside their home.

A total of 4,668 workers who lost their jobs and could not get another after four months withdrew N2.56bn from their Retirement Savings Accounts during the second quarter of 2020.

The National Pension Commission disclosed this in its 2020 second quarter report on ‘Withdrawal of 25 per cent of RSA balances’.

Part of the report read, “Approval was granted for payment of N2.56bn to 4,668 RSA holders who were under the age of 50 years and were disengaged from work but unable to secure another job within four months of disengagement during the second quarter.”


The workers comprised of 144 Federal Government employees, 261 state governments employees and 4,263 private sector employees.

Despite the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on different sectors of the economy, the total pension assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose to N11.08tn as of the end of June.

The statistics showed that the bulk of the funds, totalling N7.45tn, had been invested in Federal Government’s securities including FGN bonds, treasury bills, agency bonds, sukuk and green bonds.


Other investment portfolios where the operators invested the funds are real estate investment trusts, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, cash and other assets.

The spokesperson for the National Pension Commission, Mr Peter Aghahowa, said workers who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic would be able to get a quarter of the savings in their Retirement Savings Accounts to cushion their hardship after four months of job loss.

He said that it had been observed that there might be likely increase in job loss due to the effect of the pandemic.



According to him, the palliatives the sector would give to those who had been contributing into the scheme would be to allow them to access a quarter of the balance in their funds if they failed to get another job after four months.

He said, “The contributory pension is designed with in-built palliatives, which is being able to access 25 per cent of your Retirement Savings balance in a situation whereby you lose your job.

“So if you lose your job, after four months you can access 25 per cent of your RSA contribution.”

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The National Executive Council of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria on Saturday asked its members not to partake in the planned strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

The National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, Alhaji Yakubu Suleiman, said this in a statement issued in Lagos.

He said that the national body of the association had directed all IPMAN members to continue with their normal businesses while NLC goes ahead with the strike.


“We are calling on the NLC to realise that deregulation is inevitable. It remains the surest way to bring back our economy to normalcy.

“There is no country in the world that can sustain its economy without deregulating it.

“We urge Nigerians to cooperate with the government in ensuring that our economy grows,” Suleiman said.

The NLC and the Trade Union Congress had jointly declared their readiness to embark on a nationwide strike to compel the Federal Government to reverse the recent hikes in electricity tariffs and petrol pump price.



TUC had written to all its affiliates and state councils, urging them to take charge of the process.

The letter, signed by its Secretary-General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, stated that the TUC and NLC had jointly resolved to commence a national industrial action from September 28.

The South-West Youth Leadership of the All Progressives Congress has called on the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, and Governorship Candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, Mr Agboola Ajayi, to strip himself of official immunity and prepare to defend himself in court.

This is a development from the claim of Agboola that a son to the incumbent Governor of Ondo State, Mr Babajide Akeredolu, made N430 million as consultancy fees on the discovery of a N4.3billion naira belonging to the state in a secret account.

According to the South-West Youth Leader of the APC, Kolade Lawal, such claim is spurious and irresponsible.

“It is least expected of a man holding a position of responsibility. The information is untrue and deliberately misleading for the innocent members of the public.”

He called on Ajayi to prepare to present evidence for his claims in the court.



He said, “The South-West Youth Leadership has written a letter to Ondo State House of Assembly to inquire if there was any consultant involved in the process of the discovery of the #4.3 billion, and they were reliably informed that no consultant was involved.”

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The Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on Wednesday that the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), acted in contravention of the law when he sent the names of 11 candidates recommended to him by the National Judicial Council for appointment as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to the Senate for screening and confirmation.

Justice Inyang Ekwo made the pronouncement in a suit filed by an Abuja-based lawyer, Oladimeji Ekengba, contending that the forwarding of the names of the 11 nominees by Buhari to the Senate was in breach of section 256(2) of the Nigerian Constitution.


Buhari had, without explanation, picked 11 names from among the 33 recommended to him in April this year by the NJC for appointment as FCT High Court judges.

He forwarded the 11 names to the Senate for screening, but the upper legislative chamber had declined to act on the President’s list having admitted that it had no role to play in the appointment of FCT judges.

Ondo: Why I didn’t pick Akeredolu’s deputy as running mate –Jegede

The 11 judges have since been sworn in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad.

Aside from faulting the sending of the names of 11 of the candidates to the Senate, Ekengba, in his suit, also contended that the President lacked the power to pick and choose whom among the candidates to appoint as judges recommended by the NJC.

He sought among other prayers, an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Senate from screening and confirming the candidates as judges of the FCT High Court.


In his judgment on Wednesday, Justice Inyag Ekwo agreed with the plaintiff that Buhari acted in contravention of the provision of Section 256(2) of the Constitution by forwarding the 11 names to the Senate.


The judge also agreed with the plaintiff that only the appointment of a head of court, like the Chief Judge, required Senate confirmation.

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He, however, ruled that the contravention of the law by Buhari did not affect the judges’ inauguration.


The suit had the Senate and the Senate President joined as the 3rd and 4th defendants respectively.

Also joined as defendants are Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the Clerk of the Senate, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, and the National Judicial Council, as the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th defendants, respectively.

Details later…
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The Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, has died at the age of 84.

He was the 18th Emir of Zazzau and the Chairman of the Zazzau Emirate Council.

The monarch ascended the throne in 1975 at the age of 36.

The PUNCH gathered that Idris died at the 44 Military Hospital Kaduna on Sunday.

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, confirmed the Emir’s death.


While describing Idris’ death as “very sad”, the governor tweeted, “It is with great sadness that I confirm the passing of the father of our state, His Highness Emir of Zazzau, Alh (Dr.) Shehu Idris CFR.

“He died at the 44 Military Hospital Kaduna today after a brief illness. Janazah prayer in Zaria is scheduled for 5pm.”


Bashir Ahmad, Personal Assistant on New Media to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), also mourned the late Emir.


Ahmad tweeted, “President Muhammadu Buhari has been notified of the demise of Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji (Dr.) Shehu Idris, who died today at the age of 84 by Governor Mallam Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State.

“The Emir of Zazzau died at the age of 84, he had been on the throne for over 40 years. May Allah forgive all his shortcomings and grant him Jannah al-Firdaus.”

The Association of the Yoruba in Diaspora South Africa has called on the Federal Government to intervene in a case of a Nigerian pastor who was allegedly arrested without a warrant of arrest by the South African police for alleged rape, human trafficking, and racketeering.

Rev Timothy Omotoso, who is the founder of Jesus Dominion International based in Durban and other cities across South Africa, was reportedly arrested on April 20, 2017.

AYIDSA said Omotoso had been arraigned in court but denied bail, and had now spent about 1,230 days in detention.

AYIDSA President, Dr Olusola Agbeniyi, in a statement, said it was time for the Nigerian government to demand accountability from the South African government.

Agbeniyi noted that in May 2017, the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, facilitated a meeting comprising the then acting high commissioner, AYIDSA leadership, and Omotoso’s legal team and family.

Despite all the efforts, AYIDSA said it was saddened that Omotoso had not been considered for or granted bail.

Let us look into this idea's that have come up with, at least if Inec can buy this idea's it can help our nation ,

Scheduling the voting date;

at least we have 36 state and capital, now divide 36 into 6 will definitely give u 6 in each
now then you can scheduled six weeks for the election , week 1 six state week 2 six state and so on.
and I believe with all peace will abide,
remember everyone is fighting to lead and secure life's and property so then you conduct election in the mixed of election lives is perishing and property were damaging.

Setting The Military Standby;

let the oder goes like this,, to guard the civilians, officials and not the politicians in the day of election, is not fair that just one man packed two hundred military men in the day of election while the civilians were unsecured.

Let there be a penalty for rigging;

Let us not just speak peace with our mouth but let's also walk in it with action, at least seriousness of reactivating the law.

Camera;

Nigeria we are more than yesterday let's bring idea's of putting CCTV live streaming cameras everywhere that the voting is scheduled for.
not only news broadcaster's but with the supportive of cameras it will go far.

and I will say with this idea's of mine lives will be safety in a safe side, and let's forget about siding when there is time for us to pin on peace.

writer;
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Adams Oshiomhole voting at Polling Unit - 001, Ward 10, Iyamho, Etsako West LGA
Follow our Liveblog for more updates>>>https:///5YhnMUUfaG
#EdoDecides #Edo2020 https:///irQmkTdfa0

The governorship election in Edo State begins peacefully with impressive voters’ turnout in most wards across the state.

However, there was no social distancing at Oba Market polling unit, Oredo LGA as voters got ready to cast their votes.

Although the situation does not suggest the likelihood of violence, there is a massive security presence in cities, towns, and villages.

There is compliance with the restriction on movement across the state.

Asaimuede:
Fake pastor

ahahahah
how?

APC candidate, Ize-Iyamu votes

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has just cast his vote.

He voted at exactly 9:30am.

Follow our Liveblog for more updates>>>https:///5YhnMUUfaG

#EdoDecides #EdoElection https:///tMgWr4pnRQ