₦airaland Forum

A friend of mine needs to know if he can obtain a direct entry to pharmacy in uniben with his B.Sc in Animal science. Anybody with a hint?

DozieInc:
Let's do the math.

6,000,000 / 18months = 333,330 per month. He is already a convict anyway, so nothing to lose.
Who else thinks this guy is smart?

He get sense. He no go spend money for prison and after dem don release am him money go still dey wait. He too get sense abeg.

A suspected chemical attack in Syria has drawn international condemnation, with the United States, France and Britain all pointing the finger at President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
At least 58 people, including 11 children, were killed in the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Tuesday, doctors and a monitor said.
The United Nations said it would investigate the bombing raid as a possible war crime, and an emergency Security Council meeting was scheduled for Wednesday .
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some to foam from the mouth, citing medical sources who described the symptoms as signs that gas was used.
The Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group, accused government planes of carrying out the attack,
and said they used a gas similar to sarin.
Syria's military denied the accusation in a statement, saying the army "denies using any toxic or chemical agents in Khan Sheikhoun today, and it did not and never will use it anywhere".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "deeply disturbed" by the attack, his spokesman said, adding that the United Nations was "currently not in a position to independently verify these reports".
It would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near the capital in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for the 2013 attack. Damascus blamed rebels.
The Edlib Media Centre, a pro-opposition group, posted images on Tuesday's attack that were widely shared on social media, showing people being treated by medics and what appeared to be dead people, many of them children.
Locals said the attack began in the early morning, when they heard planes in the sky followed by a series of loud explosions, after which people very quickly began to show symptoms. They said they could not identify the planes. Both Syrian and Russian jets have bombed the area before.
Russia's defence ministry denied it was responsible, telling the state-run RIA news agency that it did not carry out bombing runs in the area on Tuesday.
Britain and France said they hoped to press demands at the Security Council for those behind the use of toxic gas in the war to be held accountable.
Such attempts have been repeatedly blocked by Russia, Syria's main ally and a veto-wielding council member.
"This is clearly a war crime," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.
"I call on the Security Council members who have previously used their vetoes to defend the indefensible to change their course."
The United States said Assad must be held accountable for chemical weapons attacks and demanded that Russia and Iran bring their ally to heel.
"While we continue to monitor the terrible situation, it is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump was "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack, which he called "reprehensible."
French President Francois Hollande accused the Syrian government of a "massacre".
"Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre," he said in a statement.
On three previous occasions , United Nations investigations have found the Syrian army guilty of using chemical weapons.
In a statement, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said the use of chemical weapons, as well as any deliberate targeting of medical facilities, "would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law".
"It is imperative for perpetrators of such attacks to be identified and held accountable," said the independent panel led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro.
The European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said: "Obviously there is a primary responsibility from the regime because it has the primary responsibility of protecting its people."
A member of the White Helmets, a rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, told Al Jazeera that up to 300 people had been injured.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President
Vladimir Putin that the "inhuman" attack could endanger peace talks, AFP reported, citing sources.



Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/chemical-attack-syria-170404195457304.html

A suspected chemical attack in Syria has drawn international condemnation, with the United States, France and Britain all pointing the finger at President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
At least 58 people, including 11 children, were killed in the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Tuesday, doctors and a monitor said.
The United Nations said it would investigate the bombing raid as a possible war crime, and an emergency Security Council meeting was scheduled for Wednesday .
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some to foam from the mouth, citing medical sources who described the symptoms as signs that gas was used.
The Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group, accused government planes of carrying out the attack,
and said they used a gas similar to sarin.
Syria's military denied the accusation in a statement, saying the army "denies using any toxic or chemical agents in Khan Sheikhoun today, and it did not and never will use it anywhere".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "deeply disturbed" by the attack, his spokesman said, adding that the United Nations was "currently not in a position to independently verify these reports".
It would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near the capital in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for the 2013 attack. Damascus blamed rebels.
The Edlib Media Centre, a pro-opposition group, posted images on Tuesday's attack that were widely shared on social media, showing people being treated by medics and what appeared to be dead people, many of them children.
Locals said the attack began in the early morning, when they heard planes in the sky followed by a series of loud explosions, after which people very quickly began to show symptoms. They said they could not identify the planes. Both Syrian and Russian jets have bombed the area before.
Russia's defence ministry denied it was responsible, telling the state-run RIA news agency that it did not carry out bombing runs in the area on Tuesday.
Britain and France said they hoped to press demands at the Security Council for those behind the use of toxic gas in the war to be held accountable.
Such attempts have been repeatedly blocked by Russia, Syria's main ally and a veto-wielding council member.
"This is clearly a war crime," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.
"I call on the Security Council members who have previously used their vetoes to defend the indefensible to change their course."
The United States said Assad must be held accountable for chemical weapons attacks and demanded that Russia and Iran bring their ally to heel.
"While we continue to monitor the terrible situation, it is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump was "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack, which he called "reprehensible."
French President Francois Hollande accused the Syrian government of a "massacre".
"Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre," he said in a statement.
On three previous occasions , United Nations investigations have found the Syrian army guilty of using chemical weapons.
In a statement, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said the use of chemical weapons, as well as any deliberate targeting of medical facilities, "would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law".
"It is imperative for perpetrators of such attacks to be identified and held accountable," said the independent panel led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro.
The European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said: "Obviously there is a primary responsibility from the regime because it has the primary responsibility of protecting its people."
A member of the White Helmets, a rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, told Al Jazeera that up to 300 people had been injured.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President
Vladimir Putin that the "inhuman" attack could endanger peace talks, AFP reported, citing sources.



Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/chemical-attack-syria-170404195457304.html

eph123:
Convocation but no guarantee of jobs. Each year the labour market keeps swelling, this country, smh.

make dem no come do convocation again abi?

mavinc4u:
what is fraud there? so challenging something now means fraud? I pity you. Any way he is the brain behind the computer we use today, you can do the needful.

Abeg make una see this b4 una go claim say feelips na genius!


http://saharareporters.com/2010/10/18/how-philip-emeagwali-lied-his-way-fame

Washington’s priorities in Syria have changed with the new administration, and the US will no longer focus on the removal of President Bashar Assad as a condition for ending the six-year civil war, a top official said.
"Our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out," Ambassador Nikki Haley told a small group of reporters on Thursday.
"Our priority is to really look at how do we get things done, who do we need to work with to really make a difference for the people in Syria."
Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the future of President Assad “will be decided by the Syrian people.”
Tillerson was in Ankara meeting with his Turkish colleague Mevlut Cavusoglu. Some of their discussion involved Turkey’s support for the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and Syria.
Since 2011, when the conflict in Syria began, Washington has
insisted that “Assad must go” as the only acceptable solution for peace in the country.
The US has provided weapons and training to what it called
“moderate rebels” in Syria, ostensibly so they could fight IS rather than the government.
Leaving the State Department in January, now former Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the Obama administration planned to oust Assad’s government by supporting the rebels, but “that whole ball game changed” when Russia intervened in September 2015.
Turkey also intervened in Syria, launching Operation "Euphrates Shield” in August 2016. Ankara officially announced the operation’s end on Wednesday, but did not say if and when the Turkish army will withdraw from the zone it occupied in northern Syria.



Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/382869-un-haley-assad-syria/

.

I respect ur lies!

Zoharariel:
Papa Gazzuzz, thank you for inviting me to this wonderful party.

Where's CSTR150, Valeriansteel & Missy89?

This is one of the reasons the whole world worship the Comptroller-General of The Irunmoles - Vladimirovich Putin

Putin is very nice with this approach! I love him soooo much!
He is unlike the ones killing civilians and lying that they are targeting ISIS.

Ivanka Trump will take an official government role as an unpaid adviser to her father US President Donald Trump, the White House announced on Wednesday.
The first daughter, whose husband Jared Kushner also works as a senior advisor to the president, will not receive a salary for her work as a federal employee. Kushner, a real estate developer, is also unpaid.
"We are pleased that Ivanka Trump has chosen to take this step in her unprecedented role as first daughter and in support of the president," a White House statement said.
"Ivanka's service as an unpaid employee furthers our commitment to ethics, transparency, and compliance and affords her increased opportunities to lead initiatives driving real policy benefits for the American public that would not have been available to her previously."
In the couple of months since her father became president Ivanka, 35, has been a regular presence at the White House, where she already has an office.
She was present when her father received Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe in January, and earlier this month took part in a round-table discussion with President Trump and Chancellor Angela Merkel during the German leader's visit to the White House.
Her involvement with her father's official duties has raised eyebrows in some quarters over possible conflicts of interest.
But Ivanka, who was part of her father's business empire and ran a fashion line, said those qualms are unfounded.
"I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the president in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees," she said in a statement.
"Throughout this process I have been working closely and in good faith with the White House Counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role."
Neither Kushner nor Ivanka Trump has any experience in elected office or public policy.
In addition to raising questions over possible conflicts of interest, the young couple's influence on the president has fueled broader debate on the absence of clear boundaries between the Trump family's business dealings and its member's political activities.
Ivanka Trump's lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, told the news website Politico last week that the president's daughter will have access to classified information and be bound by the same rules that apply to other White House advisers who are on the government payroll.
"Our view is that the conservative approach is for Ivanka to voluntarily comply with the rules that would apply if she were a government employee, even though she is not," Gorelick told the outlet.
"Having an adult child of the president who is actively engaged in the work of the administration is new ground."
Part of the novelty stems from the fact that relatives of elected officials cannot legally be hired for most federal jobs due to potential conflicts of interests.
Yet Trump succeeded in getting Kushner on board at the White House by arguing that the executive office of the president was not covered by federal anti-nepotism rules. Kushner said that by putting his interests in a trust, and not being paid for the job, he could avoid the rule.
Kushner's family business has invested some $7bn in property acquisitions in the past decade, often with overseas partners - and his father-in-law now is formally in charge of financial regulation.
Two Democratic senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tom Carper of Delaware, sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics on Wednesday saying that Ivanka Trump's "increasing, albeit unspecified, White House role ... (has) resulted in substantial confusion," and questioned how her ethics compliance would be ensured.




Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/ivanka-trump-president-adviser-170330043937842.html

Am in love with RUSSIA.
Up Putin! Hail Russia!
US will be like...

A doctor is facing trial in Switzerland after severing a four-year-old's penis during a circumcision operation and ‘wasting time’ before sending him to hospital. The medico is accused of inflicting serious bodily harm through negligence.
The tragic incident occurred on July 2014, when the boy's parents took him to the doctor's office in Geneva.
The parents had confidence in the physician, who had at the time performed 700 circumcisions, according to Le Matin newspaper.
Once the procedure was underway, the boy's father, an Algerian refugee, began taking photos of the event, which many families believe to be a ritual worthy of celebration.
However, when the boy's father raised his hand to take a photo and his son turned towards him, the child moved his pelvis. This reportedly caused the doctor to sever the penis, which subsequently fell to the floor.
The doctor then tried to reattach the penis, but did not have a catheter of the correct size, according to the prosecution.
Instead of sending the family to a hospital, the doctor simply told them to remain in his waiting room, according to prosecutor Judith Lévy Owczarczak.
The doctor then wasted time “running around Geneva trying to find a catheter” in an effort to cover up what he had done, the family's lawyer said, as cited by La Tribune de Genève.
Owczarczak also claimed the doctor had not taken enough precautions to ensure the boy did not move during the procedure.
However, defense lawyer Charles Joye says the doctor told the boy's father to take him to the hospital immediately. He added that his client should not be held responsible for the
“unforeseeable act” of the father taking photos.
It took several surgeries to reattach the penis, but a surgeon told the court that the boy will have to wait until he is 18 years old to know if any further procedures will be needed.
The surgeon responsible for the circumcision-turned-amputation continued practicing after the incident, and has since conducted an additional 1,800 circumcisions.
The court will give its verdict at a later date which has not yet been announced.




Source: https://www.rt.com/news/382693-swiss-doctor-circumcision-trial/

This is serious!!!

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, is backing a new company that seeks to explore the possibility of merging the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI) to help humans keep up with machines.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk has played an active role in launching the new a company called Neuralink, which seeks to create devices that can be implanted in the human brain.
The neuroscience startup is still in its infancy but aims to create cranial computers for treating diseases and, eventually, help humans merge with software, enabling mortals to keep pace with advancements in artificial intelligence.
Musk is on record as saying that AI poses a great threat to humanity.

The billionaire inventor recently told Vanity Fair that he believes the technology for "a meaningful partial-brain interface” is only "roughly four or five years away.”
The company plans to present a working prototype which will likely be a brain implant to help treat diseases like epilepsy, Parkinson's or depression.
Musk, who reportedly has an "active role" in the venture, has hinted at his interest in this area numerous times. He recently
told a crowd in Dubai, “Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence.”
Neuralink is registered in California as a medical research company and has reportedly already hired several high-profile academics from the field of neuroscience.

Musk has repeatedly warned about the perils of artificial intelligence previously describing it as potentially the greatest threat to the existence to human life.
“You know those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram, and the holy water, and he’s like — Yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon? Doesn’t work out,” he said at a symposium in October 2014.



Source: https://www.rt.com/viral/382503-musk-human-brain-ai-link/

Following pressure from environmental groups, tech giant Samsung has finally revealed its plans for all the Galaxy Note7s that were pulled from the market because of faulty, exploding batteries.
Samsung announced a voluntary recall of all Note7s in October last year after the device was found to “overheat" creating a
"safety risk.” The phones were completely scrapped a short time later, only about two months after they were launched with a price tag of nearly $900.
An investigation into the fault blamed two different suppliers, Samsung SDI Co Ltd and Amperex Technology Ltd, as some batteries were found to be irregularly sized, causing overheating, while others had manufacturing problems.
On Monday, the South Korean company hinted that it plans to sell refurbished versions of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that were pulled from stores. Samsung has yet to give specific details but a statement says that the phones may get a new lease of life “as refurbished phones or rental phones."
“Regarding the Galaxy Note 7 devices as refurbished phones or rental phones, applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand,” the statement read.
Samsung also hinted at proposals for recycling the devices, including retrieving the hardware's precious metals and recovering reusable components such as chips and cameras.
The news was welcomed by Greenpeace who had repeatedly lobbied the tech giant to recycle the devices by holding global protests, including at the Mobile World Congress, and launching petitions.
"While we welcome this news, Samsung must share as soon as possible more detailed timelines on when it will implement its promises, as well as how it intends to change its production system to make sure this never happens again,” Greenpeace’s Jude Lee said.


Source: https://www.rt.com/viral/382497-samsung-galaxy-note7-greenpeace/

A former Russian policeman, Mikhail Popkov, who is already serving a life sentence for killing 22 women, has been charged with an additional 60 murders. If the charges are proven, it will make Popkov Russia’s worst-ever serial killer.
“We have discovered the true motives of Popkov’s actions, and the circumstances under which he became a serial killer, working across our region for two decades,” a statement from the Investigative Committee of Irkutsk Region read, which asserted that police had “incontrovertible proof” of his guilt.
The deaths of women between the ages of 16 and 40 “of radically varying social status ” occurred in the period between 1992 and 2007, and were uncovered as a result of
“establishing psychological communication” with the killer, who admitted his guilt.
Investigators say they have interviewed 900 witnesses, conducted 200 forensic experiments, and exhumed 20 bodies, including several that had been hidden for up to two decades. The bodies had to be recovered from “forests, lakes, and swamps with the help of heavy machinery and divers” often using pointers from Popkov himself.
Although his actions “gave reason to doubt his sanity,” extended psychiatric testing in Moscow showed that Popkov did not suffer from any “permanent or temporary” forms of mental illness, and was “fully aware of the nature and social harm of his actions.”
“The forensic sexologist has concluded that Popkov suffers from homicidal mania with sadistic tendencies,” says the statement.

‘Punishing loose women’
53-year-old Popkov was a master skier in his youth and married with a daughter when he began working as a sergeant in the police department of Angarsk, a Siberian city of about 200,000 people in the early '90s.
Popkov’s killings followed a similar pattern. He would put on his uniform, then park his car outside nightclubs, restaurants, and other public places, waiting for drunk, unaccompanied women to emerge.
The killer would then lure the victim into his car, with a promise of help or fun, and then take them to the woods, rape them and then kill them, with an axe, knife, bat, awl or another hand-held weapon, which he sometimes took from the evidence locker.
Mostly, he attacked one woman at a time, though at one point managed to stalk down and kill two victims.
In media interviews given after his capture, Popkov said that his killing spree was trigged by his wife cheating on him with a colleague and that he sought to “punish loose women.”
There were several near-misses. One of his victims, attacked in 1998, survived and identified Popkov and his modus operandi to his colleagues. However, her testimony was dismissed when Popkov's wife provided an alibi. The wife and daughter, who have changed names and moved, have since gone on TV saying they had no suspicions of Popkov’s actions.
After several failed investigations, which have been widely criticized, the case was passed on to a new team, and it was DNA analysis that helped link Popkov to the crimes when he voluntarily came forward for questioning initially as a witness in 2012.
Although he attempted to escape to a different Russian city, Popkov was caught and was charged with a list of several crimes, which has since then expanded constantly. He admitted that when he began his spree, he never expected forensic technology to develop sufficiently to catch him.
Popkov was convicted of murdering 22 women in January 2015, as well as two attempted murder charges.
The new charges will be heard at a trial in November or December this year.
Sources in the Investigative Committee told the Russian portal Life News that Popkov expressed no reasons for his desire to reveal more murders. Two legal experts interviewed by the same outlet speculated that Popkov is trying to extend his time in pretrial detention, where his living conditions are easier, rather than being sent down to a penal colony.
Forensic psychiatrist Mihail Vinogradov suggests that Popkov could be driven by vanity in trying to raise his number of victims above that of other notorious serial killers.
-Andrei Chikatilo was proved to have murdered at least 53 people between 1978 and 1990, often grotesquely mutilating his mostly young male and female victims. He was executed in 1994.
-Alexander Pichushkin had been convicted of killing 49 people but says that he murdered 61 people, the vast majority of them in a large national park on the outskirts of Moscow. He was arrested in 2006 and remains in jail serving a life sentence.



Source: https://www.rt.com/news/382491-russia-cop-serial-killer/

Lone survivor moved me. New York(Bollywood movie) moved me to tears too.

Where is the boy?

bettercreature:
Exactly! the masses are the one paying for this.Fighting corruption will never succeed it will only lead us deeper and deeper into reccession

During Obasanjo's days, anti-corruption war was fought and it didn't affect the economy.
This recession of a thing is actually caused by Buhari's focus on corruption alone.

No matter how we see it, the Niger Delta militants are just terrorising this nation for their selfish interest.

I wish them goodluck!!!

.

Oyo, Ogun farmers lament deadly encounters with herdsmen
Pains of wasted efforts, damp squib of raped women and chilling cries of men cut down in their primes are events that have left farmers in some Ogun and Oyo communities sad and forlorn. HANNAH OJO, who visited some of the affected communities ravaged by herdsmen invasion, reports.
MARIAM POPOOLA, a 65-year-old farmer in Ibeku, one of the villages in Iselu community, Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, wept as she recalled the misery attacks Fulani herdsmen had foisted on inhabitants of the community. Some 500 herdsmen were using the Eggua border in the council area for grazing between December and April each year. Although they had been passing through the area for about two decades, friction between them and farmers in the community has been getting increasingly worse in the last 10 years.
According to her, it has become the habit of the herdsmen to rape women found to be alone on their farms while their cattle foul their sources of drinking water. “The herdsmen open up our barns while their cattle eat up the maize and cassava we keep in the barns. Even the planted ones are uprooted and trampled on in the process of grazing. If we ask questions, they draw their guns and shoot at us,” she said.
Such has been the plight of settled farmers in some South West communities, with the resultant tensions between them and Fulani pastoralists. The farmers accuse the herdsmen of damaging their crops because they fail to rein in their animals when they invade the farms. In worse case scenarios, they allege, the herdsmen are often involved in violent acts like rape, robbery and murder of residents of the host communities.
The herdsmen on their part say that they have no choice but to find pastures for their animals, arguing that they are the victims of unfounded prejudice. Local farmers say some villages including Asa, Agon-Ojodun, Ayetoro, Ogunpa, Kodera and Igbonla, are virtually deserted by their inhabitants.
Timothy Olasope, another Ibeku farmer, said his crops had been repeatedly destroyed in the last two years. He said the presence of Fulani herdsmen had left many of the remaining villagers so frightened that they keep themselves indoors in the evenings for fear of attack.
One attack too many
Violent acts of the herdsmen against the hapless inhabitants recorded by the various community leaders include the death of Yomi Alade, a teacher in the Area Community High School. He was killed in a fight with herdsmen on December 24, 2011. No arrest was made over the incident, much less a conviction.
Earlier, a female farmer, Ruth Oga, had died in a stand-off with herdsmen on her farmland at Asa village. A fellow villager was raped and killed as she tried to defend her farm from herdsmen. The bereaved father, who spoke with The Nation, expressed disappointment that no culprit had been brought to book since last year when the attack occurred.
A community leader Chief Samuel Edun, the Ashamu Apesin of Iselu, said he no longer believed the herdsmen were interested only in grazing their animals.
He said: “They don’t event eat grass anymore. They are after our farm crops. If they meet a couple in the farm, they will chain the husband and rape the wife in his presence. We tried to contain them but we are at our wits’ end. When God is ready, he will come and help us,” he said.

Oyo: A narrative of devastation and despair
Ayete, a sleepy town in Ibarapa North Local Government Area, Oyo State, bears a resemblance with that of Iselu people in Ogun State. As the generalissimo of Asawo, Ayete town, Chief Raheem Lawal Gbadegesin is, by tradition, the one that leads his town to war. But there appears to be a twist of role. He was caught in a clash with herdsmen on a cassava farm recently.
A prominent farmer in Oyo State said the herdsmen had caused a lot of havocs in the 10 local government areas in Oke-Ogun. Chief Amos Ajibesin, the chairman of All Farmers Associations, Oyo State, recounted a murder incident earlier in the year, which nearly resulted in a riot.
He said: “On February 18, this year, the pastoralists met a woman on the farm and beheaded her. I had to run there with the Commissioner of Police to avert crisis as the villagers were already set for a riot.”
There are about seven million Fulani people in Nigeria. While settled Fulani live permanently in towns and villages, many have kept itinerant lifestyle, moving with their livestocks from one part of the country to another. With the nation’s land resources depleted by development and desertification, there are often conflicts between these sedentary and pastoral communities.
Chief Rafiu Magbeje, a community leader in Afua, a village in Ayete town in Ibarapa North Local Government Area, Oyo State, accused the pastoralists of allowing their herds to invade their farmlands. He said the herdsmen often delegated the task of looking after their cattle to children who are unable to keep the animals on designated grazing paths.
“How can someone just place one man and some little children to look after 60 cows?” he wondered. “We have held meetings with their leaders to no avail. It has now got to the extent that our farmers can no longer get food to eat from their farms while the farmlands in Fulani settlements are booming.
“Our traders now buy cassava from Fulani people, which they usually buy from their farmers in the hamlets.
“Young farmers have been affected, as some of them who took loans from the bank have been sent into debt.”
Two-edged sword
Turaki Shehu Muhammad is the State Secretary of the Association of Fulani Chiefs of Nigeria, Ogun State chapter. He told The Nation that the current situation had made life difficult for farmers and the herdsmen alike.
“The government of the day has formed a committee in which Fulani people and the native farmers are represented. We have written a memorandum to the government of the day, telling them what to do. But knowing our political setting, it is the government that is delaying the implementation of these things. Really, it is both parties that are suffering. The Fulani community is suffering and the native community is suffering,” he said.
Yakubu Bello, the head of the Miyeti Allah association of Fulani herdsmen in Surulere, Oyo State, said that his group had met with farmers and begged them for an end to violence and reprisal attacks.
He added that the nomadic herdsmen were the ones who caused violence, insisting that there had always been a cordial relationship between the settled Fulanis and members of their host communities. He cited numerous intermarriages that have served in many instances to cement relationships.
Fulani leaders have called for grazing reserves to be set aside for their exclusive use, arguing that this would also help reduce friction with settled communities. Although there is such provision, it is far from being adequate for their needs.
All Farmers Association’s Ajibesin said they would not agree to the creation of a grazing reserve in Oyo State for herdsmen. He added that the association had written a proposal to the pastoralists to source readymade feeds for their cattle as is done by poultry farmers.
Some farmers are believed to have resorted to spraying chemicals on their farmlands or poisoning the streams where the herdsmen graze their cattle. Herdsmen have also threatened to sue any farmer on whose farm their cattle die.
Dele Raji is a farmer from Saki, one of the towns in Oke-Ogun area. He doubles as the chairman of the Oyo State chapter of the Maize Association of Nigeria. He said that herdsmen have no right to complain if their livestock fall ill while grazing on other people’s property.
“Is it the farm that went to meet the cow or the cow that went to meet the farm?” he asked. “That is our contention. Even if it is an open space, can an intruder just come into someone’s house without permission?”
Anger against the state
Farmers say that they have been betrayed by a police force incapable of protecting them from killer herdsmen. They complain that even when disputes are taken to the authorities, the compensation offered does not cover the cost of the farmlands destroyed. Raji said that farmers were often locked up unjustly while errant herdsmen, usually Fulani, brag about having the means to ‘take care’ of the police.
But the spokesman of the Oyo State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said that any allegation of partiality in the matter was baseless.
He said: “We are a federal security organisation and we work according to the constitution. The constitution guarantees freedom of association and movement, and when there is crisis between one ethnic group and the other, you do not expect us to begin to support one ethnic group against the other.”
He added that the police had been trying to mediate, using alternative conflict resolution methods.
Asked about arrests, Ajisebutu responded: “I can’t give you the number of arrests we have made now. But I can tell you that we have effected some arrests as regard skirmishes and crises emanating from those places, and they have been arraigned in court. Whether they are Fulani or they are farmers, I don’t know.”
In Ogun State, the command’s spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said that local forces had always taken action and called stakeholders’ meetings involving both groups. The herdsmen say they carry guns to protect their cattle.
But Oyeyemi said that insinuations that the herdsmen are better armed than the police are untrue. He added that herdsmen have been warned not to carry arms. All they need, he said, are the traditional staff used to direct cattle while grazing.
“Once we get any such information, we act swiftly to prevent violence,” he said.


source: http://thenationonlineng.net/pastures-of-blood/

7. Putin keeps America in the space race
Although the US continues to enforce a sanctions regime against Russia, which seems, incidentally, to be damaging Western interests far more than Russia’s, Putin continues to let America use Russian rockets to travel to outer space, keeping the US from being a landlocked superpower.
Needless to say, this is a rather embarrassing situation for NASA, which must rely on the Atlas V rocket, powered by a Russian rocket engine, to transport its satellite technology into the cosmos.
Senator John McCain, a perennial anti-Russia bugbear, recently stormed: “Today, Russia holds many of our most precious national security satellites at risk before they ever get off the ground."
Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin put the problem squarely on Washington’s shoulders, complaining that “Americans spend more annually on pizza ($27 billion USD) than on space.”
“Due to such changes NASA’s mission today is much weaker than several decades ago,” wrote Nenad Drca in Modern Diplomacy. “The United States, first to send men to the moon in 1969, now struggles in the 21st century to reach beyond low-earth orbit without expensive Russian assistance. How the mighty have fallen…”
All things considered, the United States – and the world - has far more to gain with better relations, not just with Vladimir Putin, but with Russia. If you don't believe it, put down that Western newspaper and come see the reality for yourself.

6. Putin protects children from overt sexual messages
Since many Westerners will never have an opportunity to visit Russia, their perceptions of this relatively distant country are largely shaped for them by journalists, the majority of whom are predisposed to a form of self-imposed censorship that is constantly whispering in their ear that Russia must never appear attractive to their readers, lest they want to lose their jobs.
Thus, whenever news travels from Russia across the ocean to Western audiences, it is inevitably tainted by misconceptions, misinformation and outright lies. A classic example of this is the Western media outcry following Putin’s so-called ‘anti-gay’ legislation, which is in fact ‘pro-children’ legislation.
Putin patiently explained the legislation in an interview with World Media: "[…] All people are absolutely equal regardless of their religion, sex, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Everybody is equal. We have recently only passed a law prohibiting propaganda, and not of homosexuality only, but of homosexuality and child abuse, child sexual abuse. But this has nothing in common with persecuting individuals for their sexual orientation. And there is a world of difference between these things."
Personally - and I’ve spoken with many people on this issue who feel the same way - this passage sounds like the Mount Everest of common sense. Why on earth should children be exposed to issues – whether they are of a homosexual, heterosexual, metrosexual or what-have-you-sexual content – at such an early age? There is an appropriate time for such considerations later in life and probably better after puberty.
Well, good luck trying to convince the Western media of that.
Harvey Fierstein, just prior to the Sochi Olympics, wrote in the New York Times that "Putin has declared war on homosexuals... allowing police officers to arrest tourists and foreign nationals they suspect of being homosexual, lesbian or “pro-gay” and detain them for up to 14 days."
Fierstein, an actor and playwright, not a lawyer, continued peddling absurdities that "the law could mean that any Olympic athlete, trainer, reporter, family member or fan who is gay — or suspected of being gay, or just accused of being gay — can go to jail."
To be honest, this ranks as some of the smelliest anti-Russia rubbish I have ever read (If I may, I would just like to assure readers, and especially the homosexuals, there are no anti-gay goon squads on patrol in Russia, so feel free to pack your rainbow-colored T-shirt).
Instead of quoting a Russian source (this may come as a surprise, but Russia does have lawyers) that might just have some insight as to what the law really says, Fierstein quoted the Huffington Post, who got their blotched information from an obscure Canadian travel site. So much for investigative journalism.
In any case, Putin’s actions on behalf of protecting children (not arresting homosexuals) offer a nice counterbalance to America’s disturbing desire to expose children to overt sexual messages at very young ages. And not just your traditional fireside chats with Dad about the birds and the bees. No, that would be too damm sensible.
Today, many American schoolchildren, before they are old enough to lace up their shoes, are being psychologically strip searched , with demands being made upon them to come to terms with their sexuality, with forays into the tall weeds of transgender.
Personally, I am grateful for Putin to present an alternative method for addressing such extremely sensitive issues to our children.