₦airaland Forum

The suspended Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Timi Frank, has cautioned the party against repeating the same mistakes made by the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

He said the APC should avoid displaying the kind of arrogance which led to the rejection of the PDP by the Nigerian people during the 2015 general elections.

Frank said this in Abuja on Wednesday while reacting to an interview granted by the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in Benin on Tuesday.

The party’s National Chairman was quoted as saying the party was not threatened by the proposed mega party and that members of the APC, who were considering joining the party, were free to go.

Frank said such “arrogant” comments, coming from the party’s national chairman about a yet-to-be-formed political group was capable of inciting the Nigerian public against the APC.

Frank recalled that similar dismissive comments by a former PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, during the merger, which led to the formation of the APC, won over several Nigerians to the side of the APC.

He noted that what Odigie-Oyegun should concentrate on at the moment was to reconcile aggrieved members of the party, some of whom he claimed contributed immensely to the party instead of creating further division in the party.

Frank said, “I can say this emphatically that my national chairman has not met with any of the aggrieved national leaders of the APC.

“I think as a party, we should not undermine the strength of this much-talked-about mega party, whether it is a rumour or not. I think we should do everything possible to defeat the move through genuine reconciliation within us.

“We must remember that this is how the PDP took the APC for granted during the formation stage, and the likes of Bamanga Tukur were busy saying ‘no vacancy in Villa’, ‘PDP will rule for 60 years’; but where are they today?

“So, our national chairman should learn to reconcile aggrieved members instead of offending them the more. It has shown today that even ruling party could lose election; so, we should stop talking arrogantly because we are in power.”


source: www.punchng.com

Dr Abbas Tajuddeen, member representing Zaria Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday said more than N5 trillion government projects were abandoned across Nigeria.

Tajuddeen made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Zaria, Kaduna State.

Tajuddeen, who expressed “deep worry” over the situation said the country was incurring huge losses due to the abandonment.

He said that the Bill for the amendment of the Public Procurement Act which he sponsored was to address issues of abandoned projects among others.

“This is because, today Nigeria has more than N5 trillion worth of abandoned projects and if you trace the history of these projects, you will find out that they are predominantly caused by contractors’ neglect.

“We believe that by coming-up with an additional legislation to provide for additional fines and damages against contractors, issues of contracts abandonment will become history in Nigeria,” he said.

According to him, he has so far sponsored ten Bills, six motions and presented two petitions with a view to effect positive change and  improve the lives of citizens.

The bills included the one seeking to amend the National Universities Commission Act, to give the commission the power to regulate the conditions of service and procedure for engagement of academic staff.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/n5tr-projects-abandoned-across-nigeria-reps/

A 22-year-old man has abandoned his wife and married Asha Devi, who happens to be her his mother in-law.

Matho Suraj was said to have abandoned his 19-year-old wife, Latila, for the mother after she paid them a visit when he was unwell.

According to India Times, Asha left her husband who is a factory worker’s home in Delhi and started living with Suraj and had a court marriage and a formal temple wedding in June.

Mahto claimed to have fallen in love with his 42-year-old mother-in-law when she came to stay with him and his wife in the village of Puraini in Bihar, in the north-eastern part of India in 2015.

“The couple is madly in love and there is no reason to separate them,” the panchayat ruled.

However, Suraj is now pleading for the marriage bond to be broken so that he could return to his former wife, Latila. He said he had now realised his foolishness.

“I have come to realize my foolishness. I admit I have committed the mistake, but will never repeat in future. Now, I no longer treat her (Devi) as my wife, rather, I have started paying her regard as a mother and an in-law that she is.

“I am on my knees, I’m begging Lalita to take me back home for the sake of our son,” Mahto added.

source: www.punchng.com

The Federal Government said on Monday that the Nigerian Postal Service would start providing e-commerce and e-government services in 2017.

The Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said the e-commerce and e-government services would be in addition to its mandate of letter and parcel distribution.

He said it was popular knowledge that ICT was the way to go for all economies today, whether an economy under recession, under slow growth or a fast growing one.

He said, “ICT assists in making life better, it enables businesses to be run more efficiently and even enables governments to be run properly and more beneficially to the citizenry.

“That is why NIPOST wants to leverage on it to expand its scope of service delivery by engaging in e-commerce.

“Today in Nigeria and throughout the world, individuals have set up companies for purpose of e-commerce, NIPOST has better reputation and better logistic facilities to provide this e-commerce services.

“If you are in Abuja and you want to buy something in Kano, you simply go to a NIPOST facility, pay there and then the money is transmitted to the seller anywhere they are.

“NIPOST will assist in bringing those goods you have purchased to your doorstep. This will happen through NIPOST e-commerce services.”

The minister said that this would of great advantage to citizens, because NIPOST has a wide reach across the country so that distance or the weight of the goods would not be a hindrance.

On e-government services, Shittu said that technology would be used to ensure that everybody who needed government service got it and on time.

He said, “For instance, rather than go to the passport office, if you want to renew your passport, and you know that in most states there is only one passport office you have to go from wherever you are to the state capital to get your passport renewed.

“With our NIPOST e-government services, you don’t have to go there. You go to a postal agency or a post office you pay and fill the form online and the passport is renewed for you.”

Shittu said the ministry was prepared to make good use of technology to promote good governance and engage NIPOST optimally.

Top indigenous film-makers and actors that include Dele Odule, Jide Kosoko and Tunji Bamisigbin have opposed an alleged plan by a pay-TV provider, Star Times, to broadcast Chinese films dubbed into Yoruba and other indigenous languages.

According to them, the development is capable of destroying the indigenous film industry.

They spoke at a briefing held at the LTV complex, Ikeja, Lagos, last Wednesday.

At the event attended by actors, producers and marketers, including Yemi Solade, Yomi Fash-Lanso, Alhaji Abdullahi Abdurasak and Tunji Ojetola, they called on the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the National Assembly to stop the move that they described as one that can cause cultural erosion.

In his speech as the President of the Theatre Arts and Movie Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Odule said, as stakeholders, they had the responsibility to act as gate keepers to monitor and regulate practice in Nigeria.

He said it was also part of their duty to preserve cultural values and the economic gains that the industry was bringing to the country.

He said, “Today, the Nigerian film industry is enmeshed in problems of the misapplication of the almost endless possibilities provided by technology, which is devastating the not-so-strong structure on which the industry operates. Already it is overwhelmed by all manner of abuse ranging from the cankerworm of the Nigerian kind of piracy where pirates operate in the same market with right owners, to the selling of all manner of foreign films uncensored, and sales of hard copies of dubbed foreign films in the Yoruba Language, made in Alaba, with the connivance of unscrupulous Yoruba people, leaving practitioners worse for it.

“You may have observed, as you pass by some bus stops in Lagos, a convergence of youngsters watching some Chinese or Indian films that have been dubbed into distorted and uncouth dialogues in Yoruba.

“The more shocking development is that there is an attempt by the Chinese to institutionalise the trend, with Star Times to serve as a TV station dubbing thousands of Chinese films into  Yoruba and Hausa

“We hereby reject this development in its entirety and urge the Federal Government and our regulatory agencies to rise onto their feet and see the danger inherent in this practice and stop the trend. This is totally uncalled for at this time when the Federal Government is looking in the direction of the film industry as a viable alternative to oil in its economic diversification policy.”

Attempts to get Star Times’ reaction on the issue, including calls and text messages sent to the telephone line of the company’s Manager and Head, Public Relations, Mr. Israel Bolaji,  had not yielded fruits as of 7 pm production time on Tuesday.

http://punchng.com/film-makers-reject-dubbing-chinese-films-yoruba-hausa/

Medics attend to an injured person in an ambulance after a truck crashed into a christmas market at Gedächniskirche church in Berlin, on December 19, 2016 killing at least nine people and injuring at least 50 people. / AFP PHOTO / Odd ANDERSEN

German police said Tuesday they were treating as “a probable terrorist attack” the killing of 12 people when a speeding lorry cut a bloody swathe through a Berlin Christmas market.

At least 48 more were wounded when the truck tore through the crowd Monday, smashing wooden stalls and crushing victims, in scenes reminiscent of July’s deadly attack in the French Riviera city of Nice.

Images showed the mangled truck with its windscreen smashed and a trail of destruction in its wake, with Christmas trees toppled on their side and festive stalls obliterated into splinters.

One of the survivors, Australian Trisha O’Neill, recalled the horror of “this huge black truck speeding through the markets crushing so many people”, with “blood and bodies everywhere”.

“It wasn’t an accident,” said another visitor, Briton Emma Rushton, who was enjoying a glass of mulled wine when the festive scene was shattered by a loud crash and screams.

“We heard a really loud bang and saw some of the Christmas lights to our left starting to be pulled down,” she told Sky news.

“Then we saw the articulated vehicle going through people and through the stalls and just pulling everything down and then everything went dark.”

Police detained the man believed to have deliberately mowed the Scania truck loaded with steel beams for 80 metres (yards) into the popular tourist spot near the capital’s iconic Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

The suspect was an asylum seeker believed to be from Pakistan or Afghanistan who arrived in Germany via the so-called Balkans route in February, according to unnamed security sources cited by DPA news agency.

Local newspapers said that, after the truck driver left the cabin, a man followed him on foot and used his mobile phone to stay in touch with police, who arrested him about two kilometres away near Berlin’s Victory Column.

– Refugee shelter raid –

The suspect was believed to have stayed in a Berlin refugee shelter, DPA reported.

Overnight, police commandos raided Berlin’s largest such shelter, a hangar of the disused Nazi-era Tempelhof airport, famous because of the Cold War-era Berlin airlift, public broadcaster ZDF reported.

The daily Tagesspiegel said the man behind the wheel was known to police but for minor crimes, not links to terrorism.

A Polish man, thought to have been the truck’s registered driver, was found dead on the passenger seat, and police said he had not steered the vehicle.

The Polish owner of the lorry, Ariel Zurawski, had Monday confirmed his driver was missing, telling AFP: “We don’t know what happened to him”.

“He’s my cousin, I’ve known him since I was a kid. I can vouch for him,” he said.

Lukasz Wasik of the same company said contact was lost with the 37-year-old at around 3:00pm (1400 GMT).

Wasik said GPS data indicated that the truck was later started three times — “as if someone was practicing how to drive it” — before it drove off at 7:34 pm local time.

– ‘We mourn the dead’ –

World leaders expressed shock at the apparent latest attack to hit Europe, as social media users shared their grief on Twitter using the hashtag #prayforberlin.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted that “we mourn the dead and hope that the many people injured can be helped,” while President Joachim Gauck called it “a terrible evening for Berlin and our country”.

German flags flew at half-mast Tuesday and the church near the attack was planning a memorial service later Tuesday.

The suspected attack meant “our worst fears have come true,” said conservative lawmaker Stephan Mayer, who added that security will have to be reviewed for a all of Germany’s Christmas markets and asked “whether they can take place at all.”

More eyewitnesses meanwhile came forward to recall the horrific scenes.

One British visitor, Mike Fox from Birmingham, told how he helped rescue people trapped under collapsed market stalls.

“I saw one guy being dragged away with blood on his face. I helped several other people lift the side of one of the stalls up so that they could pull two other people from underneath.”

– High alert –

Europe has been on high alert for most of 2016, with jihadist attacks striking Paris and Brussels, while Germany has been hit by several assaults claimed by the Islamic State group and carried out by asylum-seekers.

An axe rampage on a train in Bavaria state in July wounded five people, and a suicide bombing left 15 people injured in the same state six days later.

The arrival of 890,000 refugees last year has polarised Germany, with critics calling the influx a serious security threat.

Marcus Pretzell of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party labelled the Christmas market victims “Merkel’s dead”.

The attack in Berlin comes five months after Tunisian extremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd on the Nice seafront, killing 86 people.

President Francois Hollande said “the French share in the mourning of the Germans in the face of this tragedy”.

The United States condemned an apparent “terrorist attack”, while President-elect Donald Trump blamed “Islamist terrorists” for a “slaughter” of Christians.


source : www.punchng.com

Access into the National Assembly this morning is an Herculean task as all three entry gates have been shut by security operatives.

The action is preparatory to President Muhammadu Buhari’s anticipated visit to the National Assembly today to present the estimates of the 2017 budget to senators and members of the House of Representatives.

Members of staff have been denied access and all other organisations rendering services within the complex have been shut out.

Long queues of vehicles and crowds of anxious people are noticed along the entry points.

http://punchng.com/breaking-11-4/

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has assured  Nigerian workers of a pay rise next year.

Ngige stated this in Awka, the Anambra  State capital in an interactive session with journalists on Tuesday.

He said the various committees handling the minimum wage issue were working to arrive at something.

He said the minimum wage under Buhari would not be like any pay rise in the country.

The Minister said, “minimum wage is a constitutional issue and is in the exclusive list.

“The Nigerian workers are entitled to a review of their pay under the constitution of the Federal  Republic of Nigeria.

“The various committees handling this matter are all working hard to realise the objective. Some are at the final stages of their work.”

He said the kind of minimum wage being worked out by the Buhari administration, would be enforceable by workers in both private and public sectors.

Ngige said that the new minimum wage would be couched  in such a way that any employer of Labour in the country who would pay his workers below the minimum wage would be held liable.

www.punchng.com

Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh has rejected the result of the presidential election held earlier this month, a week after admitting defeat. He said he now recommends fresh and transparent elections which will be officiated by a God-fearing and independent electoral commission Speaking on state TV, Mr Jammeh cited “abnormalities” in the vote and called for fresh […]


www.punchng.com

A compound found in marijuana could help in treating people with certain types of epilepsy that are difficult to treat, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham say.

The researchers, in two new studies, found that cannabidiol oil (CBD), a compound found in cannabis, has reduced the frequency and severity of seizures in children and adults with severe, intractable epilepsy.

According to Live Science, while CBD affects the brain, it does not produce euphoria or intoxication.

CBD oil was associated with an improvement in mood, which is independent of the extent of seizure reduction, the researchers said, adding that CBD may be able to help treat patients with epilepsy who haven’t benefited from standard epilepsy medications.

The CBD medicine “is not a silver bullet, but there are children who benefit from this more than they have from other treatments,” Dr. Elizabeth Thiele, who worked on both studies and is the director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a statement.

The new medicine, called Epidiolex and manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals, is not yet approved by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration, and is also not yet available for sale.

source : www.punchng.com

The Lagos State Police Command has declared a suspected drug addict, Babalola Rotimi (jnr.), wanted, for allegedly killing his father, Babalola Rotimi, and stabbing his mother, Adijat, in  Magodo Phase 2.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the suspect, who was deported from the United Kingdom, fled the scene of the crime and had remained elusive.

The mother, it was gathered, had been in a coma since the attack on Sunday and was receiving treatment in a general hospital in the state.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Babalola, popularly called Junior, had been living with his parents on Ibitayo Street, Magodo, Shangisha, after returning from the UK.

His parents reportedly got him an apartment in the Ketu, Ikosi area, where he relocated to.

However, the suspect reportedly paid a visit to his parents on Saturday and stayed over till Sunday. He reportedly attacked them after a disagreement.

A security guard on the estate explained that Junior left his mother for dead.

He said, “Most of the security guards on the estate were not around and many residents had gone to church. By the time we returned, we heard a noise from the woman’s room as she cried out for help.

“We rushed there and met her in a pool of blood. She had been stabbed in the cheek and even in the eye area. There was a lot of blood in the house. We took her to the emergency centre in the Ojota area.”

Another source on the estate said the suspect had arrived in the house on Saturday.

He said, “The man just returned from the United Kingdom and we observed that he was always alone. He was living with his parents until recently when they got him an apartment in Ikosi, Ketu.

“But on Saturday, he came to pay them a visit and he slept over. He had an argument with the father that morning and he stabbed him to death. When the mother tried to intervene, he also stabbed her.

“Afterwards, he left the house. However, some minutes later, he returned to check if they were completely dead. He then shut the door against them before fleeing the area.”

Our correspondent learnt that the security guard in the house did not suspect anything until Adijat started screaming for help.

It was gathered that the guard would have been arrested and detained, but for the testimony of the woman, who before passing out, told the police that her son committed the crime.

“She is in a critical condition now at the hospital and she has not been able to throw more light on what transpired that night. Another person that can reveal what happened is the suspect, who is at large. But we are working on the theory that the man was mentally unstable due to his addiction to drug,” a police source said.

The police spokesperson, Badmos, said the police were trailing the suspect, adding that the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.

“The father is dead, but the mother is responding to treatment. The suspect is at large, while effort is on to arrest him,” she said.

Several people were on Thursday reportedly killed when two bullion vans loaded with cash went ablaze after a head-on collision with a tanker, suspected to be conveying petrol at Abudu, in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State.

It was gathered that ‎two commercial buses were also caught in the accident.

Although the casualty figure could not be ascertained as of the time of filing the report, a source said many lives were involved in the accident.

The source said while thick smoke billowed from the fire, the smell of new naira notes could be perceived by onlookers.

It was, however, learnt that security operatives were mobilised to the scene from nearby security formations  to forestall any invasion by hoodlums.

The incident was also said to have led to a diversion of traffic and a gridlock with many passengers stranded as the dual carriageway was converted to a single lane.

‎When contacted, the spokesman for the state command of the Federal Road Safety Corps, George Otoaviokhai, told our correspondent that while an accident was recorded in the area, he was yet to get the details.

But the Delta Sector Commander, Rindom Kumven, explained that multiple vehicles were involved in the accident.

Kumven said though the accident did not occur  within his jurisdiction, officials from the Issele-Uku unit were mobilised to join in the rescue operation.

He also added that the number of human casualties was yet to be ascertained from the operation.

Kumven said, “Multiple vehicles were involved in the crash and, actually, there was loss of lives. But I cannot give you the figure right now.

“The tanker was carrying a product, and that was why it went up in flames.

“For now, I cannot give you a comprehensive report about the cause of the accident. But even though it occurred in Edo State, I called men at Issele-Uku to mobilise to the scene for rescue operation.”

The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu, said he only received the report of a ‎fatal accident in Abudu.

Gwandu who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday evening, said, “Well, I have not received that situation report.

“I have not received any information about bullion vans. But I know I received a report about a fatal accident. The same Abudu DPO told‎ me about a fatal accident, not bullion vans containing millions of naira or dollar.”

Access Bank Nigeria Plc has warned its customers to avoid dealing with Mavrodi Mondial Movement, a Ponzi scheme, which has been declared illegal by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

READ ALSO: CBN warns against patronage of ‘wonder banks’

The bank in an emailed statement to its customers said it had come to its attention “that some customers are engaged in the Ponzi scheme called ‘MMM’”.

“Please be advised that this scheme is not in line with any applicable or known investment product and may ultimately lead to loss of funds in the long run,” the bank warned.

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“We advise that customers avail themselves of genuine and approved investments and products in the Nigerian banking environment.”

Despite the warning by the Federal Government, thousands of Nigerians have continued to patronise the scheme with its website ranking as one of the five most visited in the country, ahead of Facebook.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said members of the Boko Haram sect caused their downfall themselves when they gave their activities a religious connotation by killing children and slaughtering people in worship centers.

He described it as a major contradiction, saying no religion allows the killing of innocent persons.

Buhari spoke at a Panel of Heads of State at the 3rd Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa held in Senegal.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President, while highlighting the gains of the cooperation among the Lake Chad Basin Commission countries comprising Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Benin Republic and Nigeria, told the gathering that Boko Haram is no longer holding any territory or Local Government Area in his country.

He said, “Those who live in the North East know that Boko Haram is no longer holding a single territory in the 774 LGAs in Nigeria. But they have a system of using IEDs and they indoctrinate mostly teenage girls and send them to soft targets to churches, mosques and market places. That too is becoming very rear.

“I think Boko Haram shot themselves in the foot when they gave their ideology a religious connotation by killing children in their schools, people in the mosque and churches and shouting Allahu Akbar.

“This is a major contradiction as no religion advocates hurting the innocent. You can’t kill people and say Allahu Akbar. You either do not know what you are saying or you don’t believe it.”

The President assured the international community that the end of Boko Haram terrorists was in sight, even as he hailed the increased cooperation between Nigeria and its neighbours in the fight against terrorism.

He also assured the international community that the security situation in Nigeria had improved significantly.

‘‘About a month ago, I spoke with the President of Chad and I was pleased that a number of Chadians and Nigerians that were Boko Haram members are surrendering to him en-masse.

A Ghanaian bishop claims he is able to enlarge men’s joysticks by massaging their groins with his hands.

Daniel Obinim, who has also offered to massage women’s breasts in order to make them larger too was filmed performing a ritual where he moves around a room full of men, grabbing them each by the crotch.

In some cases, he would keep hold of their joysticks and give them a little shake.

Obinim said, “What do you want that I can’t offer? If you want big buttocks I can do it for you. If you want big breasts, I can help. If you have a small manhood, I can change them all when I come to the spiritual realm.”

Bishop Obinim, who founded the International God’s Way Church in the Ashanti region of Ghana, has been criticised for his controversial practices before.

In August he was filmed whipping teenagers while accusing them of being sexually promiscuous. He is now facing charges over the incident.

The controversial Bishop was, at a time, accused of fraud, arrested and put in handcuffs and transferred to the Accra Police Headquarters.

A former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and his ex-aide, Mr. Oyebode Atoyebi, have approached the Supreme Court to challenge the judgment of the Court of Appeal that ordered their retrial for an alleged fraud of N600m.

Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos had in a September 2014 ruling set Ikuforiji and Atoyebi free of the 56 charges filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

But the ruling was reversed penultimate week by a three-man appellate court panel, comprising Justices Justices Biobela Georgewill, Side Bage and Ugochukwu Ogakwu.

The panel, after setting Justice Buba’s ruling aside, ordered the return of the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for re-assignment to another judge where Ikuforiji and Atoyebi would be tried after.

However, not pleased with the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ikuforiji and Atoyebi have, through their lawyer, Mr. Abiodun Onidare, proceeded to the Supreme Court to challenge the appellate court’s verdict.

While describing the judgment of the Court of Appeal that ordered their retrial as unreasonable, unwarranted and baseless in law, Ikuforiji and Atoyebi begged the Supreme Court to uphold the decision of Justice Buba, who earlier set them free.

http://punchng.com/ikuforiji-takes-n600m-money-laundering-case-supreme-court/

if he try that for my country, na midnight DSS go raid I'm house

President-elect Donald Trump sent a dismissive tweet in response to a comedy sketch that mocked his penchant for sending tweets.

Trump again lambasted the show “Saturday Night Live,” on which he is played by actor Alec Baldwin.

Just tried watching Saturday Night Live – unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can’t get any worse. Sad

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)December 4, 2016

But whereas on other occasions Trump has tweeted his criticism the next morning, this time he fired away before the show ended.

“Just tried watching Saturday Night Live – unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can’t get any worse. Sad,” Trump wrote.

In the latest sketch, Trump is gently chided by aides for sending retweets, one from a high school student, during a national security briefing.

Actress Kate McKinnon’s Kellyanne Conway, a Trump strategist, said the president-elect tweets a lot to “to distract the media from his business conflicts and all the very scary people in his cabinet.”

But Trump as played by Baldwin said, “actually that’s not why I do it. I do it because my brain is bad.”

The sketch ended with Trump calling for his chief strategist Steve Bannon who then enters in the guise of the Grim Reaper. Bannon used to run Breitbart News, which has been criticized as a platform for white supremacists and anti-Semitism.

After Trump’s tweet, Baldwin himself tweeted: “Release your tax returns and I’ll stop. Ha.”

AFP

Seven-year-old Zainab Okin was playing outside her parents’ one-room apartment around 9am on a Monday.  The norm is to have her age-mates immersed in learning at school at that time. But Zainab’s parents cannot afford the N1,000 registration fee in the nearest public school.

Lagos State has a free education policy but making registration fee compulsory by school administrators in some public schools has left the likes of Zainab on the threshold of illiteracy.

The registration fee ranges from N1,000 to N2,500, apart from other sundry levies like payment for whiteboards which must be made upon the admission of a child.

Zainab is at home not only because her parents cannot afford the N1,000 registration fee but they also cannot afford to buy her school uniform and other learning materials she will need in school; the Okins live from hand to mouth.  From the frontage of a dilapidating bungalow to the inside of their small, unfurnished, rented single-room apartment, the family’s harsh social condition is discernible.

Zainab’s mother, 39-year-old Aina Okin, told our correspondent as she sat on the bare floor with her back leaned on a worn mattress at a corner of their room that what she made could only send one of her children to school.

She said, “I hawk sachet water and my husband was a vigilante. He quit because he was not paid. I have four children. It is the little gain I make from my sales that we use for feeding and sending one of them, Sulyman, to school. He is in Primary 3.

“She (Zainab) had attended kindergarten at Best Assurance, a private school. We withdrew her when we could no longer afford the school fee. Things are harder for me now than before. When the 2016 registration began, I took her to Alaworo Primary School. I was asked to pay N2,500 for registration.

“I explained to a teacher I met that day that I didn’t have money. I left when she didn’t attend to me. Registration fee is N1,000 at St. Michael Primary School I. But even at that, it is difficult for me to raise the sum.  We also have to get her a school uniform, textbooks and some other items.”

St. Michael Nursery and Primary School (I and II) and Alaworo Primary School are government schools located in Ojo, a suburb of Lagos State.

Not far from the Okins are the Daodus. Basit Daodu, 12 and 10-year-old Muiz Daodu have also remained at home while their peers are at school because their parents cannot pay the N1,000 registration fee.

Their mother, 44-year-old Iyabo, said she had been jobless since her herb business collapsed while her husband, Adekunle, is a herbalist. Adekunle and the two children were not around when our correspondent visited the family at about 11am on Saturday, November 5.

Asked about the children’s whereabouts, Iyabo said, “They just went to my younger sister’s house about 30 minutes ago to have breakfast. I have not eaten as I speak but I am more concerned about them.

“When we were in Ajegunle, they attended Early Birds School in Amukoko. Muiz was in Class 4 while Basit was in Class 3. When we got here, I took them to Alaworo Primary School to continue their education. The woman I took them to said I would pay N2,500 for each of them to register.

“I told her the registration is N1,000 at St. Michael Primary School and that I couldn’t afford it for now, let alone N2,500. I explained my situation to her but she insisted I must pay for the registration. The economy is really bad now and my business was affected. I keep them indoors when their friends have gone to school so that people will not be sending them on errands. I will be happy if the government can assist me so that they can also go to school.’’

Like the Okins, the Daodus live in a single, unlit room without any electronics. Their apartment is smaller than Okins.

“The only grace we have here is that we don’t pay rent. This room is my husband’s share of his father’s inheritance,” Iyabo added in hushed tone.

According to a 2015 United Nations Children Fund’s report, Nigeria has the world’s highest number of out-of-school children, estimated at 10.5 million.

One of the reasons advanced for the mass illiteracy by UNICEF is that “many families cannot afford the associated costs of sending their children to school such as uniforms and textbooks.”

Nigeria’s recession has made matters worse as parents, like the Okins and Daodus, who could pay school fees in the past, can no longer afford such.

A cross-section of parents had earlier told SUNDAY PUNCH that they have started withdrawing their children from private to public schools due to the current economic recession. They said they took the decision when they discovered that their income could no longer meet their needs.

Of pupils that completed primary school education, the UNICEF stated that “only 54 per cent transit to junior secondary schools.”

Out of school

Taofiq Okin is among the 46 per cent that are unable to proceed to secondary school.  In 2015, 13-year-old Tofiq finished from St. Michael Primary School and his name reportedly came out on the provisional admission list of Awori College. Rather than proceeding to junior secondary school, he headed for Saki, Oyo State, to acquire Islamic and Arabic knowledge as his parents could not raise N6,000.

His mother, Aina, said, “At the Awori College, where his name came out last year, we were told to pay N2,500 for registration and buy a uniform, a desk, hoe, cutlass and textbooks for him. The expenses were over N6,000 altogether apart from textbooks. I could not afford it. We decided to send him to Saki for Quranic study so that he would not be idle at home. His Islamic teacher died a few months ago; so, I had to bring him back home.

“I took him back to Awori College early this session. They said I would pay N10,000 before he could be admitted. Having Islamic knowledge only is not enough; I want him to have formal education as well. But I don’t have money.”

Taofiq fought back tears as he recounted the embarrassment his educational setback brought on him while he was playing football on a pitch with his friends in the neighbourhood.

“It pains me when I see my friends going to school. Damola and I had a disagreement on the pitch one day and we abused each other. He said shame on me for not going to school. He said my mother did not have money to send me to school. I started crying,” the teenager recounted, looking downcast.

Similarly, a widow, Mrs. Janet Akinyemi, said her 12-year-old son, Femi, had become an apprentice plumber because she could not afford to send him to Awori College. Forty-two-year-old Janet, whose husband died two years ago, is a tailor. But her sewing machine, which is stationed at a corner of her mundane room, has gathered dust.

“I barely get work these days. I packed out from my shop in Igbede because I could not pay rent.  Femi finished from Jovi Private School. I took him to Awori College myself. A teacher told me to go get about N11,000 for the registration fee and some other items. But things are very difficult now. Instead of playing around, I advised him to be following my neighbour, a plumber, to work,” she said.

Not too far from Awori College is Ojo Community High School. Elizabeth Idowu and her brother, Jacob, are eager to resume there.  Elizabeth, 12, and 14-year-old Jacob have bought the uniforms and desks they would use in their classrooms. However, the N2,960 registration fee is the cog that shut them off the school, eight weeks after the college resumed for the 2015/2016 session.

Their mother, Rukayat, said, “I closed the provision shop recently. I have run around to raise some money from my relatives. I used it to get them two chairs and the school uniform. I am still looking for a means to get their registration fee, which is N1,480 each. I would have paid the fee before buying the chairs. But a teacher advised me to get them chairs first because there are no enough chairs in the school to accommodate them.”

Education is not free

On November 7, our correspondent disguised as a guardian and visited St. Michael Primary School I in company with Zainab Okin.

On the door to the head teacher’s office was a notice from the State Universal Basic Education Board, with the inscription ‘Registration is Free.’ But the authenticity of the message ends there.

The head teacher, identified simply as Mrs. Adepoju, requested the sum of N1,000 from our correspondent to enrol Zainab into class 1.

After this reporter paid the N1,000 without a receipt being issued, the head teacher gave him a registration form and a small paper, which contained a list of items required to cement Zainab’s studentship. The list read, “School bag, brown sandals, Lazra (sic) – The Lagos State Residents Registration Agency – copy, one liquid soap, a toilet roll, broom, Izal and N250 for a white board.”

Our correspondent also paid the sum of N100 to the head teacher for a school badge which would be affixed to Zainab’s uniform.

Adepoju subsequently directed our correspondent to a teacher in Class 1. The instructor, who identified herself as Mrs. Ajibola, described Zainab as “sharp and bold” after she wrote the English alphabets as well as numerals from 1 to 20 on the blackboard.

Ajibola said she was busy to write out another list of items Zainab would need to bring to the class. She, however, called out the items for our correspondent.

“She will bring three 80-leaf exercise books, a pack of crayons, a pack of razor blades and a pack of pencils. She will also buy Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning textbooks and Queen Premier Book 1. We don’t sell the textbooks in the school,” she dictated.

Our correspondent also went undercover to Awori College with Femi Akinyemi. The Principal, Awori College, Junior School, initially said registration had closed when our correspondent presented Femi before him. The principal, who was identified only as Mr. Inlo, said, “His (Femi) name is not on the list unless you know somebody at the top who can help him out.  Besides, registration has closed. Let him go learn a vocation for now. He can go to school later.”

Inlo subsequently told our correspondent to wait outside while he had a short meeting with a woman believed to be the school’s secretary in his office.

After about 10 minutes, the woman, whose seat was at the entrance to the principal’s office, asked our correspondent in a low tone to pay N10,000 for Femi to be included on the list of admitted pupils. She claimed the money would be sent to SUBEB office in Maryland, where the process would be perfected.

She said, “The process is done at SUBEB office in Maryland. You will write his name down and pay N10,000. In two weeks’ time, his name will be out. You can pay to me or him (the principal). Just come here directly. When his name is out, you will pay N1,500 for his registration. You will also buy a school uniform and a chair for him.”

Other irregularities

Aside the registration fee, investigations showed that there were other payments teachers usually demanded from pupils in the course of learning. These include payments for missing school property, practical as well as examination fee.

A resident of Mapowo Street in Ojo, Mr. Saadu Amosa, said constant demand for one fee or the other made his 10-year-old son, Abeeb, to quit Alaworo Primary School at Class 3. Abeeb is now learning to be a tailor. Sixty-year-old Amosa, a driver at a sawmill in the community, lamented that the payments had become a burden to him due to his meagre income.

He said, “I have six children and all of them are under my care. In a month, he (Abeeb) alone may be asked to bring N300 on three occasions, for different reasons. Drivers are many in the sawmill. I may not get work for two weeks. I realise N1,500 from a trip after buying fuel. It is my wife that feeds the children most times.”

Abeeb’s elder sister, Rukayat, told our correspondent that she also dropped out of Ojo Community High School because her parents could not afford to pay the sum of N2,000 “resit fee” so she could retake papers she failed in the Basic Education Certificate Examination.

“But I am ready to go back to school if my parents can find a means,” she added.

Parents of pupils of the Ojodu Primary School II, also accused some teachers in the school of extorting money from them.

One of the parents, who spoke toSUNDAY PUNCH on condition of anonymity to save her child from being victimised, said her daughter was compelled to buy textbooks, which were supposed to be given out free as directed by the state government.

She said a list given to her child, who is in primary 4, included Verbal and Quantitative, N800; Macmillan Champion Primary Mathematics, N1,200; lesson fee, N1,000 (every month); padlock, N500.

She said, “Not for sale is written on the textbooks, but the teachers insisted that pupils must pay to get them. They keep giving them the list every term. And if we refuse, they will flog our children. Last term, N300 was collected from each of the pupil to repair the school gate.

“I kept quiet all these while thinking things would change. However, my daughter brought another list home which got me angry. I bought the recommended textbooks, but she said her teacher insisted she would not use them because she did not buy them from the school.”

The daughter said her teacher distributed the textbooks to them when government officials were on inspection.

“It is our class teacher that collects the fees. On September 29, some inspectors visited our school. Before they came, our teacher gave us textbooks and asked us to tell the inspectors that we did not buy them. When the inspectors left, they collected the books from us,” she said.

The head teacher of the school, who refused to give her name, refuted the allegations when our correspondent approached her.

“We don’t collect any fee from any pupil. It is not true. No pupil pays for textbooks or any other thing. Thank you,” she said.

The head teacher, however, declined our correspondent’s request to visit some classrooms and make inquiries about the allegations from the pupils.

Govt commitment to free education policy

The Director, Standard Mandate International, Dr. Nelson Ayodele, said the future of indigent children would remain uncertain if government, private bodies and privileged individuals failed to come to their aid.

“To say the truth, the future of these children is precarious. I believe citizens, who have means, can come to their rescue and bail them out.

“This is the time that clubs and associations can rally round to ensure that no child is left behind in formal education. There should also be a programme whereby private schools can absorb one or two children into their stream. This will also go a long way in reducing the number of indigent children on the street,” he said.

The educationist lamented that public schools were ill-equipped, noting that the government was not fully committed to free education policy, calling on the government to stop illegal collection of fees in public schools.

Also, the Chief Executive Officer, Edumark Consultant, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, urged the state government to do more in making education accessible to indigent children. She recommended punitive measures to address the abuse of the free education policy by school administrators.

Ogunde stated, “If the state government says education is free and the schools are charging, it means we must ask a question – who is lying? If it is the state government that is allowing them to charge money, then there is insincerity somewhere. If the schools are the ones collecting the money, then somebody must be held responsible for going contrary to the government policy.

“Where is the money going to? What is it for? Is it for the government or otherwise? We really need to get to the root of this. It is an illegal operation that must be addressed quickly. We have no right to deprive children of education because of N1,000 or N2,000. If there is a case of having to pay a fee and because of that, children cannot access free education meant for them, it means their future is being sabotaged. We have to make sure that those who collect this money are fished out so that they will serve as a deterrent to others.’’

Reacting to the development, spokesman for SUBEB, Mr. Seyi Akintoye, stated that the state government operates a total free education preventing school administrators or teachers from collecting fee from parents under any guise.

Akintoye added, “There is nothing like sundry fees. Lagos State runs free education. Chairs, textbooks and other instructional materials are provided by the government. Please, report teachers that collect money to SUBEB and the schools where they teach. We have a department that investigates such.

“We will investigate to find out the truth. If it true, it is gross misconduct and they will face the full wrath of the law. The SUBEB chairman monitors at least two schools every day in order to discover things like this. Pupils, who finished from private schools, do not need to pay to get admitted to public junior secondary schools. We do placement tests for them. So, the N10,000 admission fee is a fraud.”

A former minister of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi, 80, is reportedly dead.

She was said to have died, Saturday morning in Lagos.

An online platform, The Elitesreported that she died at 11:30am.

The banker, recently visitedPresident Muhammadu Buhari to thank him for his contribution to her success. She said that it was Buhari as a military Head of State that appointed her the first female Chairman of United Bank for Africa.

She said, “Having turned 80, I looked at my life and made a list of those who contributed to what I have become in my life and the name of President Muhammadu Buhari came topmost on the list.

“This is why I am here to pay my respect and thank him,” she said. 

Dr. Olubi  was born September 28, 1936. The former ICAN president graduated from the University of London in 1963. She was appointed the first female chairman of the United Bank for Africa, UBA in 1984.

A former chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, on Saturday, challenged her predecessor and 2015 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Adamawa State, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to “explain to Nigerians what happened to billions of funds and assets recovered from suspects under him, with no records or documentation.”

While cautioning him to stop using her name ‘anytime he needs public attention or sympathy’, she also described as lies, recent comments by Ribadu accusing her of ‘being part of his imaginary enemies who frustrated the nation’s anti-graft war.’

Waziri in a statement by her Personal Assistant in Brookfield Chambers, Ms. Omolara Oluremi, obtained by the PUNCH in Abuja, advised Nuhu Ribadu to stop weeping because garrulity does not heal frustration or depression.

According to her, the former EFCC chairman has always been obsessed with dropping her name into his script anytime he needs public pity or political relevance.

She said, “My attention has been drawn to a reckless and irresponsible statement credited to Nuhu Ribadu at a function on Wednesday in Abuja, where he, as has been his rhetoric since 2008 when I succeeded him as the EFCC Chairman, attempted to malign me by accusing me of being part of his imaginary enemies who frustrated the nation’s anti-graft war.

“There is also the need to remind Ribadu that before he succumbs to another logorrhea, he should avail himself a copy of the investigative report on recovered assets during his tenure as EFCC Chairman and use the opportunity of the next naming ceremony or birthday party, to explain to Nigerians what happened to billions of funds and assets recovered from suspects under him, with no records or documentation. He should be grateful to me that I cleaned his mess by creating an Assets Forfeiture Unit to put the records straight and do things rightly.

“If Nuhu Ribadu is yet to face the reality that EFCC is a Federal Government agency and not a personal estate of anybody eight years after, I find it compelling to remind him, otherwise one day he would wake up to blame me for his defeat in the 2011 presidential election and even his pathetic outing in the 2015 governorship election in Adamawa state despite the slush funds deployed to ensure his victory at the polls.”

if he like let him "chuko" we don't care. no meaningful contributions except being deceptive

left to me it was the fault of the president he came on board unprepared and second quota of his first term he has not settled down, I wonder what they are going to use in campaigning for his second term because people are even tired of hearing about corruption.

rip

Veteran actress, Mulikat Adegbola, popularly known as Ashabi Iya Adinni is reportedly dead. She was said to have died after a brief illness.

Top Nollywood actor, Muyiwa Ademola, confirmed her death.

He said, “This is quite sad but who are we to question the Almighty? Sleep on Iya Adinni. May the Almighty forgive your sins.”

source www.punchng.com

President Yahya Jammeh, who has ruled The Gambia for 22 years, has conceded defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow, the chairman of the independent electoral commission said Friday.

“It’s really unique that someone who has been ruling this country for so long has accepted defeat,” Alieu Momar Njie told reporters ahead of the release of the results of Thursday’s presidential election.

Gambian state television told AFP that the 51-year-old head of state, who seized power in a coup in 1994, would make a statement later in the day to congratulate Barrow.

Jammeh was running for a fifth term with his Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), while Barrow ran for eight political groups who united for the first time to field a single candidate.

The Ondo State governor-elect, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu has said his victory in last Saturday’s governorship election in the state was not only for himself nor his party, the All Progressives Congress but for the people of the state.

He also promised to carry along everybody in his incoming administration including all those who did not vote for him during the election .

The governor-elect stated this after receiving his Certificate of Return at the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Tuesday .

He said, ” Today’s victory is of God through the good people of Ondo State. It is not for me or APC alone. It is a victory for the people of Ondo state, irrespective of which side of the divide you stood during the election. For me it is a call to service and a challenge to perform.

“Although we all had different points of view before the election but today, as members of one strong, vibrant and indivisible Ondo State family, we are all united and resolute with one single objective to save our beloved Ondo State.

“With this new dawn, it is now time to rediscover and reinvent ourselves. It is time to find what we lost, to rescue this land and its people from the myriad of poverty and pains which daily assail their lives. ”

He urged members of the party to be united and support his administration in order to revamp  the fortunes of the state, saying ” we will take deliberate and decisive steps to optimally harness our overall potential for greatness, prosperity, peace and stability.”

The Certificate of Return was presented to the governor-elect by the INEC Supervising National Commissioner, Mr. Solomon Soyebi.

source: www.punchng.com

The All Progressives Congress candidate in the Ondo governorship election, Rotimi Akeredolu has said he is humbled, after winning majority votes at Saturday’s election.

Akeredolu had won in 14 Local Government Areas out of the 17 LGAs, already announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

While thanking Ondo people for choosing him as the governor of the state, he said it was time to think and act anew.

See tweets:

Ondo has decided and I am humbled that my people chose me. Our time to Think Anew and Act Anew has come. Thank You Ondo State. #OndoDecides.pic.twitter.com/pd1u2zk5A0

— Rotimi Akeredolu SAN (@RotimiAkeredolu)November 27, 2016

This level of oversight is welcomed and encouraged. It is the beauty of democracy. 

— Rotimi Akeredolu SAN (@RotimiAkeredolu)November 27, 2016

I will be live on Periscope in a few hours to address#OndoDecides

— Rotimi Akeredolu SAN (@RotimiAkeredolu)



https://mobile.twitter.com/RotimiAkeredolu/status/802772036791611392

An 18-year-old undergraduate of the Abia State University, Divine Ibeneme, has confessed that he acquired a locally made gun to protect himself from armed robbers and cultists on campus.

Ibeneme, who was paraded by the Commissioner of Police in Abia State, Mr. Adeleye Oyebade, in Umuahia, said he was under threat by some group of cultists who once robbed him of his phones and money for allegedly wearing a bangle that belonged to their cult group.

He added that he opted to acquire a gun to prevent a repeat of such intimidation.

Ibeneme said, “Due to the rampant armed robbery attacks and killing of students in my school, I decided to purchase a gun for self defence because when the bad boys approach you, they will tell you not to talk and if you do, they will try to kill or behead you.

“That was why I wanted to work for my safety. I bought the gun for N7, 000 in Rivers State. But unfortunately for me, as I was travelling back to school after purchasing the gun, my bag was searched by police officers at a check point along the road, they found the gun in my bag and arrested me.”

The suspect, who hails from Umulolo in Imo State, denied being a member of any secret cult group.

While insisting that he had no intention of hurting any student with the gun, Ibeneme maintained that he wanted to use it to protect himself from cultists.

“I just got the gun so that if they (cultists) harass me again, I will show them what I have for them so that they will leave me alone. I haven’t killed before and I don’t have any intention of killing,” he said.

However, the commissioner of police, said that the Safer Highway Patrol Team Abia State 011 had arrested Ibenem during a stop and search operation along Ofeme axis of the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway.

He said, “The suspect was found with a locally made double-barrelled gun and one live cartridge. He could not give a satisfactory account of the firearm and ammunition. He is helping the police in its investigation and will soon be arraigned in court.”

The Ogun State Area Command, Nigeria Customs Service, has intercepted a petrol tanker and about 25 other vehicles loaded with smuggled bags of rice.

The new Area Controller, Hassan Gangua,  on Thursday added that the interceptions were recorded in different parts of the state in the last two weeks.

Ganga, who spoke at the command’s Idiroko border office, explained that the MAN diesel petrol tanker with number plate, FST 51 XE, was specially built for smuggling.

He said the tanker, which was filled to capacity with the smuggled rice, was intercepted by customs operatives on Monday November 15, 2016, along the Idiroko border area, on its way to Lagos.

“This interception was made 24 hours after my arrival by our gallant officers,” he added.

Gangua added that 25 cars with built-in compartments, loaded with bags of smuggled rice, were also intercepted in the Idiroko area.

The area controller said a trailer was also intercepted at the Lagos-Sagamu interchange with about 500 bags of rice on Monday November 21, 2016.

He said, “The goods, which were neatly packed, were being taken to the Eastern part of the country to be sold in the open market.”

Gangua said three suspects, Anthony Nwapa, Osunkwo Chukwu and Hyginus Igbokwe, were arrested in connection with the seizure, while preliminary investigation was ongoing.

He also said in the last one week, four vehicles loaded with 4,000 cartons of frozen poultry products and 19 motorcycles used for smuggling of rice were intercepted. He said the poultry products had been destroyed.

Gangua noted that as Yuletide approached, smuggling had been on the increase.

He, however, stated that the command had step up its operations, “in order to combat the menace of the smugglers and bring their activities down to barest minimum.”