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The National leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Sunday, paid a condolence visit to to the home of the Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, over the killing of his daughter, Mrs Funke Olakunrin.

Tinubu, while speaking urged the people of the region not to allow the incident to divide Nigeria but to serve as a solution to the security challenges confronting the country.

With him were former APC Chairman, Bisi Akande and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu among others.

See photos below;
https://tribuneonlineng.com/226269/

The Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has just arrived at the residence of Chief Rueben  Fasoranti to commiserate with him over the death of his daughter, Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, who was killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen on Friday along the Benin/Ore expressway. 

Osinbajo who arrived at the Fasoranti residence at exactly 9:10 am was accompanied by the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.

See photos below;
https://tribuneonlineng.com/226253/

CLAIM: A series of posts on Whatsapp claim that Canada has begun registration for its visa lottery program

CONCLUSION: FALSE[color=#990000][/color]

Read why here https://dubawa.org/canada-does-not-have-a-visa-lottery-program/

Claims: Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, senator representing Bayelsa East Constituency recently took to his Twitter page to claim that:

Rwanda has e-bikes that are charged by solar panels on the streets.
Rwanda gets its electricity from 70% renewable energy.

CONCLUSION: For CLAIM 1, it is MOSTLY FALSE with a FALSE IMAGE; for CLAIM 2, it is totally FALSE.

FULL TEXT:

Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, senator representing Bayelsa East Constituency on May 18 in a series of tweets about renewable energy, claimed that Rwanda is making waves in renewable energy and that the country now has e-bikes that are charged by solar panels on the street, illustrating with a picture, Murray-Bruce tweeted that:

"This picture is not from Europe or America. This is Rwanda. They have e-bikes in the street that you locate with a mobile app. You use them abs return them. They are charged by solar panels. They are saving Rwandans both time and money. Rwanda is becoming a small giant of Africa.

This picture is not from Europe or America. This is Rwanda. They have e-bikes in the street that you locate with a mobile app. You use them abs return them. They are charged by solar panels. They are saving Rwandans both time and money. Rwanda is becoming a small giant of Africa. pic.twitter.com/QhLWHdvVzJ

— Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) May 16, 2019

He further twitted quoting @VolkswagenSA that:

A quote from @VolkswagenSA: "We did a grid check in Rwanda together with GRZ and Siemens last year and they are ready. They already get their electricity from 70% renewable energy and that will change to 100% in the next 10 years."

Imagine! Rwanda is "ready" and Nigeria is not?

A quote from @VolkswagenSA:

"We did a grid check in Rwanda together with GRZ and Siemens last year and they are ready. They already get their electricity from 70% renewable energy and that will change to 100% in the next 10 years."

Imagine! Rwanda is "ready" and Nigeria is not?

— Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) May 17, 2019

A message sent to Ben Murray-Bruce to clarify the claims was left unanswered.

VERIFYING THE CLAIMS

CLAIM 1: The picture used is false and the electric bike is yet to launch in Rwanda

Verification of the picture using Google reverse image search and Tineye reverse image search revealed that the picture of the solar panels tweeted by Sen Murray Bruce cannot be found in Rwanda but in North America, California to be precise.

A Rwandan journalist based in Kigali, Jonathan Bavuganeza, also disclosed to Tribune Online that such solar panels don’t exist on Rwanda streets.

Tribune Online gathered that although, Senator Ben Murray Bruce goofed about the picture he used in his tweet but the plan for Rwanda to enter the electric bike and scooter service is on top gear

Gura, a transportation company owned by a Nigerian, Tony Adesina, when contacted by  Tribune Online said, "the process to launch electric bikes and scooter services in Rwanda is still in the formative stage."

Although, Tosin Adesina, the Founder and CEO of Gura in an interview with Rwandadailybusiness in March, disclosed that the Electric Bike Ride Sharing will be launched in May but findings revealed that Gura is yet to kick-off in Rwanda but still at the testing stage.

Ike Erhabor, the President board of Gura team, in a telephone conversation with Tribune Online, disclosed that Gura is yet to officially launch in Rwanda but will kick off in a few weeks time after the completion of the test and other processes to kickoff

According to the information gathered from Gura, the mission of the company is to reduce carbon emission, improve air quality, and ease congestion in cities by providing an alternative means of green transportation (Green e-mobility) using advanced-innovative technology for a cleaner environment.

CLAIM 2: Rwanda doesn’t get 70% of electricity from renewable energy

The tweet from Senator Ben Murray-bruce quoting @VolkswagenSA is not traceable to the quoted Twitter account of the company, as such tweet cannot be found on the said Twitter page.

According to the World Development Indicators on Electricity production, sources and access by Worldbank, Denmark, the country with the highest percentage of renewable energy generates just 65% electricity renewably, while Kenya, the African country with the highest percentage of renewable energy generates 48.3% electricity renewably.

However, the Worldbank indicator couldn’t quantify the percentage of electricity being generated from renewable energy in Rwanda but says that 22.8% of the total population of Rwanda have access to electricity.

Also, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) fact sheet on Rwanda’s power, just 30% of the country’s population has access to electricity, unlike in Nigeria where USAID said 42% of the country’s population has access to electricity.

Although, the Rwanda Ministry of Infrastructure that is being overseen by Hon Claver Gatete, when contacted by Tribune Online, promised to collate the information on the country’s energy sector, particularly on the renewable energy and send when ready but the information gathered from the Ministry’s website revealed that Rwanda only generates 5% electricity from solar, which is the only major source of renewable energy in the country.

Rwanda’s energy generation chart

RENEWABLE ENERGY

According to Collins English Dictionary, renewable energy is energy from energy sources that are derived from the sun, wind, or other natural processes, and that is always available.

From the above context, it is easy to conclude that Rwanda only generates 5% of her electricity from renewable energy

OUR CONCLUSION:

Senator Ben Murray-Bruce’s tweet on Rwanda’s energy is a clear case of misleading content and it is not true.

SOURCE: https://tribuneonlineng.com/214157/

LATEST NEWS TOP NEWS

By Ifedayo Ogunyemi On Apr 1, 2019

The Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Police Force has stated that the team of policemen suspected to have killed one Kolade Johnson on Sunday have been arrested.

In a statement issued by the command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana on Monday, the command said the members of the team will be “subjected to internal disciplinary procedures” and “prosecuted” if found guilty.

Recall that there has been an outcry by Nigerians on social media and international organisations condemning the death of Johnson who was shot dead by Policemen while watching a Premier League match between Liverpool and Tottenham on Olu Aboderin Street, Lagos.

Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Zubairu Muazu has however called for calm adding that justice will prevail in the matter.

The statement reads: “On 31/03/2019 at about 5.05pm, the Command received a distress call that Lagos- Abeokuta Express Way has been blocked by some angry youths who were protesting the shooting of one Kolade Johnson m of No.1 Beco street, Onipetesi, Mangoro Bus Stop by a team of Policemen from Anti Cultism unit.

“A team of policemen from the Rapid Response Squads and Metro patrol were promptly drafted to the scene.

“The account of eyewitnesses helped in identifying the team which fled the scene immediately after the incident.

“Members of the team suspected to be involved in the shooting have since been arrested and are currently in Police custody undergoing interrogation.

“They will be subjected to internal disciplinary procedures and may be prosecuted in conventional Court if implicated by the ongoing investigation.

“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Zubairu Muazu calls for calm, assuring that justice will prevail in this case.

“The CP also condoles with the family, friends and well-wishers of Kolade Johnson. The CP has promised to initiate far-reaching reforms to help in repositioning the Anti-Cultism Squad for effective service delivery, particularly in areas of respect for Human Rights & proficiency in the use of firearms.

“Members of the Public who have complaints on the activities of Anti-Cultism Squad or any of our Police teams should call the following numbers 08063299264, 08065154338 and 08060357795,” it added.

SOURCE: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/200206/

By Sunday Ejike - Abuja On Mar 27, 2019

President Muhammadu Buhari, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have again been dragged before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) over alleged unlawful conduct of the February 23 Presidential election.

The petitioners, Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and its presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Owuru are challenging the legality of the election earlier slated for February 16 but later shifted to February 23.

The petition marked CA/EPT/PRE/001/2019 is praying the tribunal to nullify the purported election of February 23 and the subsequent declaration of Buhari as the winner on the grounds that INEC has no power under any law to shift the February 16 date to 23 of the same month.

The two petitioners who claimed to have been excluded from Participating in the February 23 poll averred that the election was invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act stipulating the conditions under which election can be lawfully postponed.
The main grouse of the petitioners was that they were validly nominated for the 2019 general election, but were unlawfully excluded from the said elections by INEC by delisting their names and party logo from the ballot papers.

The petitioners asserted that they will, at the trial lead evidence and rely on the laws in support of their petitions to establish that the shifting of the election from February 16 to 23 was without the force of law and powers to do so.

Another grouse of the petitioners was that INEC placed a false version of their registered party logo on the ballot papers for elections and that cost them the chances of realizing their political ambition in the 2019 general election.
Meanwhile, an ex-parte motion filed by the petitioners seeking to serve President Muhammadu Buhari with their petition and other processes is to be heard at the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday, March 28.
The ex-parte motion filed by their counsel, Yusuf Ibrahim, is seeking an order of the court to serve President Buhari by pasting their petition at the Aso Villa Presidential office, the National Secretariat of the APC and at the tribunal’s notice board.

The ex-parte motion followed an affidavit of non-service deposed to by one Abubakar Mohammed, Chief Bailiff of the Court of Appeal, where he claimed that securities at the reception of Aso Villa denied him access to enter and effect service on President Buhari on the grounds that there is no directive from the president’s office to that effect.

SOURCE: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/198898/

By Niyi Oyedeji On Mar 26, 2019

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THE CLAIM: INEC obeys Tribunal, issues Certificate of Return to Adeleke

Facebook, Twitter and some online media in Nigeria claimed that Senator Ademola Adeleke, the Senator representing Osun-West Senatorial district, who contested in the September 22, 2018, governorship election in the state, has been issued Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the Friday, March 22, 2019 Tribunal Court judgment.

On Friday, March 22, The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, declared Senator Ademola Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the September 22, 2018 election in the state.

Tribune Online had, also on Saturday, March 23, reported that Adeleke’s lawyers had commenced move to get Certificate of Return from INEC.

But people on Monday, March 25, woke up to the circulation of the picture above on social media, saying INEC has issued the Certificate of Return to Senator Ademola Adeleke.

Online media like Puoreports, aigmediapro and gallantmedia were among the platforms that reported the news.

The same claim was also posted on Facebook at exactly 4:02 pm on Monday by the Facebook page of an online media called Nigeria News Bulletin, the post gathered 217 likes, 137 comments and 563 shares.

Meanwhile, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, has debunked the claim.

“The commission has not issued any new certificate in relation to Osun State,” INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr Festus Okoye, told Leadership Newspaper while debunking rumours that Adeleke has been issued a certificate of return.

“Section 143(1) of the Electoral Act gives a candidate whose election is set aside a period of 21 days from the date of the decision to appeal against such a decision,” Okoye said, while explaining why the commission can’t issue a certificate of return to Adeleke.

“The person is entitled to remain in office pending the determination of the appeal. The commission will only issue the certificate if an appeal is not lodged within 21 days. The commission has not issued any new certificate in relation to Osun State,” Okoye added.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in Osun State, Hon Olasoji Adagunodo, who is one of the men captured in the picture being circulated also disclosed that the claim is false.

Adagunodo disclosed this via his Facebook page that although the Tribunal Court has declared the party’s candidate as the winner of the 2018 governorship election in the state, but he has not been issued the certificate of return because there is law process that need to be followed.

He said the picture being circulated on the social media was taken in the year 2017 when Ademola Adeleke emerged the Senator for the Osun-West Senatorial District and was issued the Certificate of Return.

TRIBUNE VERDICT: THE CLAIM IS FALSE

This claim is false; INEC has not issued certificate of return to Senator Ademola Adeleke as the Osun State governor-elect. The INEC national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education committee, Festus Okoye has debunked the claim.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS

A law practitioner, Barrister Kolawole Salami has said that it is impossible for INEC to issue a certificate of return when there is likely to be a subsisting appeal.

“The extant law is that when a judgment is being appeal, there will be stay of execution of the judgement until the final decision by the appellate courts,” he said.

He further said that the window for appeal is normally 21 days.

SOURCE: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/198683/

By Shola Adekola - Lagos On Mar 27, 2019

As intrigues and counter-intrigues continue amongst members of the National Assembly over the sharing of positions in the coming ninth Assembly, the Senator-Elect for Abia North Senatorial District, Orji Uzor Kalu on Wednesday declared that he would vie for the Senate President should the All Progressives Congress (APC) does not zone the deputy Senate President seat to South-East zone.

Kalu said the federal government cannot afford to edge out the South Eastern part of the country out of distribution of positions in the new dispensation.

Kalu while speaking with some journalists at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport yesterday, insisted that since the position of the Senate President (SP) had been allocated to the North West that the South East cannot settle for less than the Deputy Senate President (DSP) position.

According to Kalu, as a Senator representing a zone from South East, nothing will stop him from running for the position of the deputy senate president openly on the floor of the Senate.

“I want to respect the party’s wish on the Senate Presidency and the second position is what we are not going to allow to leave the South East. So as far as am concerned, in the South East, I am going to run openly on the floor of the House as Deputy Senate President. I am not going to listen to anybody. Nobody who is going to be the Deputy Senate President is more loyal than I am to the party.

“I learnt they ceded the DSP to the North West, but it is not right to do anything like that. We are going to contest this vehemently on the floor of the house. I have the backing of my colleagues. I am going to be withdrawing from the Senate Presidency to run for DSP because the party is supreme. Whether they gave it to an individual that is left for the party at the national assembly to decide, but for the DSP, I will contest with any candidate on the floor of the house.

“I know our Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is a listening Chairman and President Muhammadu Buhari is a man of justice. So, if justice must prevail, you bring the Senate President from the North East and DSP from the South East. The chairman is from the South-South, the President is from the North West, the Vice President is from South West, the President of Senate will come from the North East, whether it’s Lawan or Ndume, these people will decide that on the floor of the House.

“So, for me, Nigeria is tripod; Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa. So, we are going to get the DSP and I will fight on the floor of the House like no other person has fought. This is not challenging the party, rather, this is looking for justice.

“Buhari said he will be addressing issues of injustice. This is part of the issues. You cannot tell us to go and be Chief Whip. I don’t have a whip to whip anybody. So, we will be very willing to add values to the nation. I am loyal to the people, I am loyal to Nigeria, which is important. I am not going to be loyal to individuals. You don’t build loyalty to a section of people or individuals.

Vowing to contest the Senate president position if the position of the deputy senate presidency is not zoned to the South East, Kalu declared: “I believe there is a co-existence between the religious people. So, I am not going to be DSP for anybody. Otherwise, if they don’t listen, I will also contest for the Senate President on the floor of the House. I will join the race because it is going to be a shopping matter. I can shop than any other person they are putting there. I have the capacity and capability to shop because the whole thing will be shopping on the floor of the House. If the party continues this way, I will run for the SP.

“Positions are part of representations. I am saying if we have DSP, it gives a sense of belonging to everybody. I am not saying I am representing a section. If they go to a meeting, you have the President, Vice President, Senate President and Deputy Senate President but you don’t have anybody to represent the South East. That is unfair and that is what I am saying.

“I am not a tribalist, but someone who is fair. I want justice. If the party doesn’t want a crack, they should zone it properly through the geopolitical zones of the country. A man who has taken the presidency is not supposed to take the Deputy Senate President.

“We are not going to quarrel, but we will sort it out. We are not going to vote PDP, you should be rest assured of that. We are going to vote for APC members for SP and DSP. I have friends everywhere. It will be a shopping matter. I have over 56 Senators on my radar who have already signed for me for either SP or DSP. They believe in equity.”


SOURCE: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/198828/

HEALTH NEWS

By Sade Oguntola On Mar 25, 2019


Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Professor Abiodun Otegbayo has said cancer remains one of the top killer diseases in the hospital in the last three years.

Professor Otegbayo made the disclosure at the opening of a four-day workshop with the theme “Pharmaceutical Care in Oncology Practice” organised by the Pharmacy Department of the hospital in collaboration with Centre for Global Health, University of Chicago, USA.

The CMD, who was represented by the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Dr Victor Akinmoladun, said that the other two top causes of death and ill health were infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke and HIV/AIDS.

Professor Otegbayo, however, stated that the late presentation of patients with cancer to the hospital was contributing to increased deaths from cancer in Nigeria.

Professor Otegbayo, however, declared that the hospital had recently acquired new cancer treatment machines and was planning to buy more for use.

The completion of the hospital’s cancer centre, he assured will further ensure that the hospital can provide the best of cancer care, research and training for the betterment of the society.

“The hospital management is in full support of this workshop because we know that it will help us in addressing some of the challenges that our cancer patients face.

“Pharmaceutical oncology is a critical part of cancer care. The Department of Pharmacy has paid a lot of attention to oncology cases and we hope that the department will become the hub and the foremost in pharmaceutical oncology in the country.”

The Vice-Chancellor, Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Professor Chinedum Babalola, in an overview of the global burden of cancer said that cancer has a significant disease burden in low and middle-income countries.

According to her, cancer causes and outcomes are very different between more and less developed countries, suggesting that there would be different cancer prevention and control strategies in directing resources into cancer research.

Babalola, who called for increased funding for cancer research in the country, said that pharmacists play a critical role in increasing successful treatment and survival of cancer patients.

“Oncology pharmacists play a very crucial role in cancer patients’ care, diagnosis and therapy. As part of a multidisciplinary team, an oncology pharmacist has major roles in assuring safe and effective drug therapy.

“Cancer drugs are toxic with irreversible reactions, pharmacists are needed in cancer patients’ care to maximise benefits and reduce toxicity,” she said.

Registrar, Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, Mr Elijah Mohammed, speaking through Mrs Emily Olalere commended the hospital for taking a lead in pharmaceutical oncology, an area; he said the involvement of pharmacists was still low.

According to him, pharmaceutical oncology needs to be part of pharmacists’ mandatory continuing professional development course to ensure pharmacists are better trained.

Source: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/198404/

BREAKING: Woman Delivers Baby Girl At Ongoing Okowa’s Campaign In Delta

By Ebenezer Adurokiya - Warri On Jan 29, 2019

A woman was delivered of a baby girl at the campaign ground of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the Council Pavillion of Isiokolo in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.

The baby girl came at about 12:00 noon on Tuesday when it was announced to the uproarious, joyous shouts of party faithful and the mammoth crowd that a woman has been delivered of a baby girl.

An announcement had earlier come to the chagrin of the crowd that the attention of the medical team at the campaign ground was urgently needed.

It is speculated that the baby girl might be named after Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and his wife, Dame Edith.

TribuneOnline reports that mother and baby were seen be ferried to a nearby hospital for further medical care.

The lucky woman was identified as Odiri Benjamin, a PDP member from Ward 10, Unit 7, Ethiope East.

https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/187237/


Celebrate with NIGERIAN TRIBUNE AT 70
Tweet with #NigerianTribuneAt70 #NewLookTribuneAt70

By Tribune Online On Jan 27, 2019

The Acting Inspector- General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu has placed with immediate effect, an embargo on the issuance of new licences for designated arms throughout the country.

ACP Frank Mba, the spokesman of the force disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Mba who did not list the categories of the arms, called on Nigerians in unlawful possession of such weapons to return them to Police Stations or Public Armoury nearest to them.

Mba said the decision followed the proliferation of illicit weapons and the desire of some citizens to acquire more arms.

He said Adamu advised Nigerians to take advantage of the “voluntary arms return window” and do the right thing as there will be dire consequences for defaulters.

The spokesman said that the force has perfected plans to embark on a massive, nationwide Joint Arms Mopping-up Operations.

He said the operation which would be intelligent driven and target oriented, was designed to retrieve all illicit weapons in circulation.

Mba said that the excuse would halt the on-going proliferation of weapons, restore law and order and bring perpetrators to justice.

The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the immediate past I-G, Mr Ibrahim Idris had ordered a mop-up of illegal and unauthorised arms from across the country.

INEC to open situation room to observers

By Taiwo Adisa - Abuja On Jan 27, 2019

Information available to Tribune Online has revealed why the Independent National Electoral Commission has refused to remove it’s National Commissioner in charge of Welfare, Mrs Amina Zakari from being the head of the Collation Centre Committee.

According to an impeccable source close to the Commission, the Zakari had earlier been moved from a standing committee in charge of Logistics to the Welfare and Health Committee.

The source explained the situation thus: “That movement appeared to be in response to widespread protests among stakeholders. But there are no issues of integrity and misdeeds.

“They are just issues of perception and you know sometimes perception can be larger than life.

“Having moved from the initial position, the protests came up again when she was named the Chairman of Collation Centre, the thinking now is that since there are no questions about her capacity or integrity to serve, the Commission cannot keep moving her.

“If we keep moving her at the slightest excuse, it will get to a point when some people will call for the removal of INEC chairman.

“In any case, there are 15 Committees in INEC and the Collation Centre Committee is just an ad hoc committee. It is even different from the Collation Secretariat which the INEC chairman heads and which is responsible for results collation. Remember the INEC Chairman is the Chief Electoral Officer and the Returning Officer for the Presidential election.”

The source also revealed that the commission has agreed to throw open the processes that would take place at the Situation Room during the 2019 elections to enhance the integrity of the election.

ALSO READ: Lagos will be a walkover for APC —Lawmaker

Opening up of the Situation Room has been a key demand of opposition parties and election Monitors, especially from Western countries in the build-up to the 2019 elections.


But the source who spoke on condition of anonymity said since he was not permitted to speak officially on the matter said that the Commission was out to show it has nothing to hide.

“I can tell you that the Commission has decided to throw open the operations of the Situation Room during the 2019 elections. The management team has decided that will show the international and local observers, the media and the political parties that there is nothing special that happens there.

“The international observers, the parties and the media have written severally seeking the opening up of the Sitauoon Room. With the information at my disposal, I can confirm that the Commission has decided to give access to relevant stakeholders at the Situation Room during the elections.

“The Commission will grant access to groups and those accredited to go in and out of the Situation Room.”

The United States of America’s Embassy in Nigeria has expressed concerns over the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.

The US Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria according to a statement on its website on Saturday https://ng.usembassy.gov/statement-on-the-suspension-and-replacement-of-the-chief-justice/ said the suspension which was without the support of the legislative arm of government as ‘unconsitutional’.

The statement read: “The Embassy of the United States is deeply concerned by the impact of the executive branch’s decision to suspend and replace the Chief Justice and head of the judicial branch without the support of the legislative branch on the eve of national and state elections.

“We note widespread Nigerian criticism that this decision is unconstitutional and that it undermines the independence of the judicial branch.

ALSO READ: BREAKING: EU ‘very concerned’ over CJN Onnoghen’s suspension

"That undercuts the stated determination of the government, candidates, and political party leaders to ensure that the elections proceed in a way that is free, fair, transparent, and peaceful – leading to a credible result.

“We urge that the issues raised by this decision be resolved swiftly and peacefully in accordance with due process, full respect for the rule of law, and the spirit of the Constitution of Nigeria. Such action is needed urgently now to ensure that this decision does not cast a pall over the electoral process.”

READ HERE: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/186660/

The European Union has expressed deep concerns over the process and timing of the suspension of Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The European Union Election Observation Mission on the Nigeria 2019 General Elections in a statement on Saturday by Press and Public Outreach Officer, Sarah Fradgley said the suspension raises the question of ‘whether due process was followed’.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari suspended Onnoghen on Friday and appointed Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed as CJN in Onnoghen's stead.

The EU calls on all parties to follow all legal processes in line with the constitution of the country.

The statement read: “The European Union was invited by the Independent National Electoral Commission to observe the 2019 general elections.

“The EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) is very concerned about the process and timing of the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Walter Onnoghen, on 25 January.

ALSO READ: BREAKING: US embassy in Nigeria expresses concerns over Onnoghen's suspension

“With 20 days until the presidential and National Assembly elections, political parties, candidates and voters must be able to have confidence in the impartiality and independence of the judicial system.

“The decision to suspend the Chief Justice has led to many Nigerians, including lawyers and civil society observer groups, to question whether due process was followed. The timing, just before the swearing in of justices for Electoral Tribunals and the hearing of election-related cases, has also raised concerns about the opportunity for electoral justice.

“The EU EOM calls on all parties to follow the legal processes provided for in the Constitution and to respond calmly to any concerns they may have.

“The EU EOM will continue observing all aspects of the election, including the independence of the election administration, the neutrality of security agencies, and the extent to which the judiciary can and does fulfill its election-related responsibilities.”

READ HERE: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/186663/

Kamxin:
you will win something, but wait for moyes.

MOYES KO, MOYES NI. Try better next time bro

kuku kill them

yen yen yen. Mou you have done your best. its time to let go. we need to win more games and tittles

Editor's Note: This post was contributed by Gaetano DiNardi, Director of Demand Generation @ Nextiva.

SEO has gone from cryptic to crucial. Google alone processes more than 3.5 billion queries per day. Time and time again, I see it - yet another startup trying to make noise in the content arena. They start spewing out dozens of mediocre blog posts day after day, week after week, month after month. All they end up doing is adding more dead weight to the internet indexes. Why? Because they lack the ability to understand what it takes to build great content for both humans and search engines.

How SEO Used To Work
In the past, all you had to do was get an entry level blog editor to craft average quality content, (usually by means of managing a bunch of outsourced writers), then build a ton of mediocre backlinks to that content, and it would rank in the search engines.

Those days are gone. Dinosaur SEO tactics are long retired. You can no longer plan an SEO campaign without having a front seat to the entire content planning process. In every practical sense, content marketing involves SEO, and SEO involves content.

How SEO Works in 2018
Since Google’s infamous rankbrain algorithm shift, content that effectively meets a searcher’s expectations will have a higher chance of outperforming content that doesn’t align well to a searcher’s intent.

In the past, a well optimized page with tons of links and strong domain authority would likely be the victor, even if it did not meet a searcher’s intent.

Today, it’s all about the searcher’s experience when they land on a page. Brand authority can also heavily influence results. For example, if I search “sneaker cleaning tips” and I click on a result from Nike, I am likely going to trust the information on that page, more-so than information from an unknown vendor.

In short, you can add all the SEO you want to any piece of content, but if users don’t engage with it you pretty much have no chance of ranking highly in search engines.

Engagement metrics that Google looks at:

Average time on page
Scroll depth percentage
Click through rate
Pogo sticking or bounce rate (Do searchers press the “back” button on the browser and click on other results?)
With search engines — especially Google — giving more premium real estate to quality content, keeping SEO and content planning separate will likely lead to a debacle in two siloed departments.

Which brings us to the bottom line: only through shared goals and a unified strategy between SEO, content development, and user experience can businesses achieve sustainable and profitable headway into the digital economy.

Why I Can’t “Add SEO” to Your Crappy Content
While I was consulting for various clients, and even working in-house, content/editorial teams have come to me asking:

"Hey Gaetano, can you 'add SEO' to this landing page?"
I just shake my head. Here’s the problem:

It’s likely that this low-quality content has already spent weeks polluting the internet and making the few visitors duped into checking it out highly frustrated. Once a web page has a long history of malperformance, it’s difficult to turn it around.

Even more challenging though, is re-engineering a page to align with user intent. Too often I see pages that are pushing heavy sales driven messaging, meanwhile the search intent is higher up the funnel. Automatically, you’re building an experience that is uncomfortable for the visitor, which is likely skyrocketing your bounce rates and therefore hurting your overall page-level engagement.

That means SEO specialists, content creators, UX designers, and broader digital marketing teams must be aligned, aiming for a common goal. Otherwise, disparate strategies for content development and SEO will allow competitors with tighter integration and alignment to eventually win the war.

Lucky for you, I’m about to give a free lecture on how better to approach SEO and content planning.

Which begins here.

Content Quality + User Experience + SEO = Golden Trifecta
Businesses that are committed to ramping up their online reputation, customer experience, website traffic, and revenue should implement SEO as an indispensable part of their content planning and UX design processes.

As such, SEO campaigns, initiatives, and strategy should have the following foundational elements:

A strong understanding of your ideal customer profile, their pain points, and buyer journey
Clear goals and desired outcomes
Set of metrics for assessing SEO performance and success
Comprehensive website audit for UX quality, navigation, taxonomy, and mobile-readiness
Relevant keyword research and opportunity reviews
Roadmap on link building and influencer marketing
In particular, because keywords and content drive SEO as much as the sophisticated algorithms that govern search engines, effective keyword research done in advance should be a persistent element when it comes to content creation and subsequent content marketing efforts.

On-Page SEO Pre-Publishing Checklist
On-page optimization involves the alignment of content with keywords and user intent based on where the user might be in the buyer’s journey.

If you thought I’d really leave you in limbo about “adding SEO to weak content,” here’s my best (and free) shot at helping out.

Below is a checklist of how I would guide startups (and any business really) — from start to finish — on how to optimize a web page for search engines. This checklist forms part of a more comprehensive article on SEO for startups which I’ve published on LinkedIn. You can read the post to learn more about advanced SEO strategies and tactics.


Download this handy checklist to your desktop or print and hang within eyeshot.

Target Keyword: These are words and phrases in your content that make it easier for your target audience to find your site or web page via search engines. Have you identified the primary keyword?

SERP Analysis: Search Engine Results Page Analysis is a process that helps you evaluate search results for a given set of keywords. Among other things, it helps you gauge the level of difficulty and whether it is possible to rank high for a particular keyword. Can you even rank for this?

Title Tag

Front-load your target keyword by including it within the title tags. Have you done this?

The title should contain less than 60 characters so that it displays completely on the search results page.

Can you add buzzwords to increase click-through rate (CTR)?

Meta Description

The content’s meta description, which also appears on the SERP, should contain the target keyword articulated in the language your audience knows or expects.

In addition to keywords, reinforce the meta description with a compelling call to action (CTA) that will help ramp up CTR.

H1 Tag

Your primary heading (H1) tags should be keyword-optimized. Done this?

Populate your secondary and other minor tags with related, secondary keywords.

Body Copy

Ensure that the copy mentions the target keyword in the first 200 words. This is a must.

Craft the content in a way that it retains natural keyword density. Peppering content with too much keywords will compromise quality. On the other hand, very low keyword density won’t help search engines index your content the way you want.

Your content should also contain LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords. These refer to terms or phrases that are not necessarily synonyms of but are semantically related to the primary keyword.

Content Length: Does the copy comprehensively answer the searcher’s query?

Content Structure: Is the content easily scannable? Are there huge blocks of text that you should partition? Does it have a high degree of readability?

Content Assets: This is the fun part. Can you add videos, images, screenshots, slideshares, or other goodies?

Canonical Tag: Use the canonical tag to tell search engines that a page url is the correct one to prevent problems caused by duplicate content (plugins like Yoast do this automatically).

URL Structure

The url for the specific content should contain the target keyword. Does it?

Does the url have a clear or meaningful taxonomic organization?

Avoid including stop words (such as and, but, etc.) in the url to limit character count. There are reasonable exceptions though.

As recommended by Google, do not include underscores (_) in your url. To truncate phrases, use hyphens (-) instead.

Should be less than 100 characters. Have you done this?

Internal Linking

Your copy should contains at least one to two deep links to relevant content. Be sure to do this.

Use a relevant keyword as anchor text for the linked content.

Ensure that this is done in a natural context, neither spammy nor repetitive.

Outbound Linking: Your copy should acknowledge external authoritative or relevant sites via a link or two. Have you done this?

Image Optimization

Even images included in the copy should be optimized for SEO. Therefore, ensure that their file names contain the target keyword.

Alt tags should also contain the target keyword.

The appropriate image dimensions should be specified for proper indexing.

Social Metadata

Be sure to optimize Facebook Open Graph meta tags. Among other things, these are tags that allow you to control which content shows up on Facebook when a page is shared on the network.

In the same manner, optimize Twitter cards.

Conclusion
So how important is the alignment between content planning and search engine optimization? Extremely. Inseparable.

Google — which controls nearly 80% of the search engine market — continues to enhance its algorithms to reward higher quality content and orchestrate better experiences for online searchers.

Don’t forget: SEO creates many entry points for potential customers to discover your brand for the first time. That means brands have an opportunity to positively impact the customer experience from the very first interaction, all thanks to SEO.

Together, a unified and well-formulated strategy that combines SEO and content planning will drive more traffic, improve online reputation, ramp up conversion rates, and hike revenue.

Subscribe to the LinkedIn Marketing Blog for more in-depth insights to succeeding with SEO and content marketing.


https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/best-practices--content-marketing/2018/lms-blog-template--copy-this-page-

Ogun Set To Generate N95bn IGR In 2019
LATEST NEWSBUSINESS NEWS
By Ifedayo Ogunyemi On Dec 19, 2018

THE Ogun State government has revealed that it has perfected plans to increase it’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to N95bn in 2019 as part of plans to fund the N402bn state budget for the year.

This is an increase against the total sum of N84.63bn it proposed for 2018 fiscal year noting that the monthly average revenue of the state remained at N7bn.

https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/180008/

Chairman, Ogun State Internal Revenue Service, Adekunle Adeosun disclosed this before members of the State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation on Tuesday during the budget defence at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

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Adeosun noted that the revenue would be sourced from “personal income tax, road tax, capital gains, withholding taxes, tax investigation, pool betting/casino licence, motor vehicle and driver licences among others.

“The agency plans to improve tax revenue by 12% in 2019, 17.5% in 2020 and 22% in 2021.

ALSO READ: Ogun to spend N9.50bn on completion of model schools, others

He also stated that the agency in the outgoing year had generated a sum of N45.81bn representing 64.96% of its approved revenue target for the period.



Giving a breakdown of the 2019 estimate, Adeosun said the board proposed a total budget size of N5.550bn, out of which N500m would be spent on capital projects and the remaining N5.050bn would be set aside for recurrent expenditure.

Chairman of the committee, Hon Victor Fasanya charged the board to further widen its tax base and evolve more mechanisms to block revenue leakages.

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Fasanya said the revenue leakages has not allowed the state to “provide more financial resources for the delivery of more democratic dividends to the people.”

Bad Blood 2
New Amsterdam 1
Blindspot 4
SWAT 2
Berlin Station 3
FBI 1
Narcos 1
How to Get Away With Murder 5
Seal team 2
Press 1

Just as we are rounding off the year? what series do you suggest we see this Christmas holiday
Lets enjoy this holiday in great style^[/sup][sup]

see my list in the comment below

Sai Baba