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The 36 governors have resolved to offset workers' outstanding salaries and pensions in their states as soon as the next tranche of payment from the Paris-London Club loan refunds were made.
Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) and Governor of Zamfara, made this known in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
The statement by Mr Abulrazque Barkindo, Head of Media and Public Affairs, NGF Secretariat, said that the decision was reached by the governors after their meeting in Abuja on Thursday night.
The governors met in anticipation of the release of the money, which had been approved for payment the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
Out of the N522.74 billion owed, N388.304 was paid to states in December, 2016.
Yari said that the governors were not oblivious of the hue and cry over non-payment of backlog of salaries and pensions, and the precarious predicament of the Nigerian workers.
He said that the governors deliberated on the matter and concluded that something immediate must be done to ameliorate workers' plight by offsetting the outstanding pay and emoluments.
This, according to him, made the governors to resolve as a matter of urgency, to pay workers their due as soon as the half of the Paris Club refunds is made.
"We all agreed that a substantial amount from the next tranche of the Paris-London refunds be used in the settlement of workers salary and pension arrears," Yari disclosed.
He added that the governors were also committed to the verification of the input of all the consultants, who claimed to have worked towards the harmonization of the refunds.
The claim, the governor said, was in regards of what was due to each state since 2005 when the demand for the refunds commenced.
"At the moment, there are litigations from more than 10 different consultants still agitating for settlement for their roles in the quest to have the refunds made to states. ''
He said a committee headed by Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State had been set up to provide solution to the demands by consultants on the refunds to states.
Members of the committee are governors of Bauchi, Sokoto, Plateau, Bayelsa, Rivers and Gombe.
He disclosed that another committee made up of the governors of Imo, Bayelsa, Abia, Ekiti, Kano, Nasarawa and Bauchi was also constituted to work for the "reconciliation'' of the forum members.
This, according to Yari, is to enable the governors to work harmoniously in a manner that will transcend all political affiliations so that all governors will speak with one voice on issues of national importance.
"There is no how you will mention any political development in Nigeria without mentioning governors. Governors are a bloc and a key component of this democracy.
"Therefore, we have set up a seven-member committee to look into the development surrounding the unity of the forum and the development of the country.
"The idea is for governors to be speaking with one voice," he said.
Chief Alex Onyido, the traditional ruler of Ogilisi, Idemili South Local Government in Anambra, has called for stringent measures to curtail the growing number of drinking joints in the state.
Onyido made the call on Friday in Awka, while speaking at the the 2017 edition of Lady Victoria Onyido quiz competition, organised by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, for secondary schools.
"The trend is worrisome and not in the best interest of public health.
"Such facilities breed crime and criminality; the rate at which such businesses are springing up in all corners calls for concern," he said.
Onyido, who is the sponsor of the quiz competition, said that it was meant to draw government's attention to the use of illicit drugs among secondary school students.
The monarch lauded NDLEA's commitment to the fight against drug abuse and peddling, pointing out that drug addiction and abuse could lead to other vices like kidnapping, armed robbery and prostitution.
In his speech, Gov. Willie Obiano commended the sponsor and NDLEA for the effective collaboration in the fight against drug abuse in the society.
Obiano, who was represented by Prof. Kate Omenugha, Commissioner for Education, said that his administration was committed to quality education that would enhance students' capacity to compete with their peers the world over.
NDLEA Commander in Anambra, Mr Sule Momodu, in a brief remark, said that the competition, which started four years ago, had yielded positive results.
Momodu commended the Anambra government for establishing Drug Free Clubs in secondary schools.
"My children will never inherit my property either dead or alive if my wife divorces me,'' a 39-year-old fruit seller, Amidu Olalere, told an Igando Customary Court on Friday in Lagos.
Olalere said this while responding to a divorce suit filed by his wife, Adeola, for the dissolution of their 11-year-old marriage on the grounds of constant battering.
Olalere, who accused his wife of starving him of sex, said, "My wife is always denying me sex, and whenever I reported her to her mother, she will ask me how many times will I be having sex with her daughter.
"She would ask me not to kill her with sex, instead of admonishing her."
The respondent said his wife moved out from his house with the children in January to stay with her mother and that whenever he called her, her mother would be raining curses on him.
"There was a day my mother-in-law cursed me, and I also cursed her that thunder will kill her."
He said his mother-in-law was always accusing him of planning to use her daughter for ritual.
On whether the children are his, Olalere said that he doubted the paternity of the four children.
"Whenever my wife and I quarrel, she tells me that the children are not mine; so, I am confused if truly the children belong to me,'' he said.
The husband, however, pleaded with the court not to dissolve the marriage, saying in spite of her shortcomings he still loves her.
Earlier, the wife had accused her husband of beating her on the slightest provocation.
"He once beat me to the point that I fainted and I was hospitalised for four days.
"When I was on admission, none of his family members came to see me since we all live in a family house and my husband also refused to pay the bills," she said, urging the court to terminate the marriage.
"I am no longer interested in the marriage."
After listening to their submissions, the judge, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, adjourned the case till July 25 for judgment.
'It is not enough to say that youths must take over, Nigerian youths must be in charge, do the talking as well as the acting.'
These were the words of Hon. (Dr.) Joseph Akinlaja, the honourable member representing Ondo west and Ondo East Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.
Akinlaja said this at the Democracy Day program of the Students' Union Government, SUG, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo.
Defining the role of youths in democratic dispensation, he noted that participation in democracy goes beyond politics and extends to areas as civil rights campaign, Education Rights Movement, Health and Environmental Vanguard, Entrepreneurship, Community Development Groups and many others.
Akinlaja
'Politics is just one section; there are more sectors where you as a youth can be more useful and instrumental to national development and democratic advancement in Nigeria,' he emphasised. Speaking further, he defined the two key roles of Nigerian youths in gaining political power as establishment of youth structures and providing intermediate political link.
He said: 'There is need for unity of purpose among youths if the agitation for taking over is taken serious. If youths that constitute about 70% of Nigerias population can build a viable and formidable structure, it won't take a year to democratically dismantle the old order.
'Let me say it here, that the #NottooYoungtoRun campaign is a step in the right direction and a worthy campaign if youths can come together to push it through. Its a step in the right direction. 'To push through the democratic culture, youths can take up the challenge of establishing a political link
or cord, linking the local population with the youth structures to make real the quest for democratic transition from the old order to the young generation.
'Politics transcends sermonizing and countless speeches and writings on the pages of newspapers as well as agitations in the media. Politics is a practical game that starts from making yourself relevant in your streets, units, wards and local governments. It's about building structures, not talking. Many of us didn't get to where we are today by mere talking.
He further enjoined youths to be prepared for leadership position as responsibility could beckon on them anytime.
By now, y’all should know Runtown is not here to play and his exploits and consistency in the past 12 months has proved it.
In a few days, the hottest pop star on the African continent will drop a new monster hit single titled ‘Money Bag’ featuring world famous, Grammy award winning, Dj Khaled.
Veteran Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon says Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid will have “special” personal significance as he approaches the end of his storied career.
Buffon
A world champion with Italy in 2006 and eight-time Serie A winner with Juventus, Buffon finished on the losing side in his two previous Champions League finals in 2003 and 2015.
Now 39, he may never get a better opportunity to claim Europe’s biggest prize and he concedes it is a source of extra motivation.
“The emotions I feel might be different to any other guy who’s younger, like Dani (Alves),” said Buffon, gesturing to his team-mate, who was sitting beside him at Friday’s pre-game press conference in Cardiff.
“Dani has already won this competition and he has four or five years ahead in his career. I have to rule out this possibility, so yes, it will be much more special for me.
“I still feel like a young boy, even though I’m 39 years old. Tomorrow’s match is very important to me.
“I’ve played for Juventus for many, many years. I’ve got back more than I gave. It would be the perfect finale. And people like fairytales.”
One of Buffon’s chief responsibilities at the Principality Stadium will be keeping out Madrid talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, who is chasing a fourth success in the competition and third in four years.
Ronaldo also dreams of equalling his great rival Lionel Messi’s tally of five Ballons d’Or and Buffon dismissed suggestions he might pip the pair to the sport’s top individual prize.
“I know that reporters have to write reports about these things because it’s your job, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m not that conceited,” he said.
“I wouldn’t dream of putting myself on the same pedestal as Cristiano. We play different roles. My role is to defend and his is to attack.
“We are complete opposites. The only thing I can do is try and not concede goals. But he can determine much more the outcome of a match because of the role he plays and his history.
“I’m pleased the media see the game as a challenge between myself and Cristiano, but it’s not reality.
“As for the Ballon d’Or, it’s rewarding to hear it, but it’s not important now. All that matter is the match tomorrow.”
– President’s promise – Alves was on the winning side when Barcelona defeated Buffon’s Juventus in the 2015 final in Berlin, but will line up alongside him against Madrid.
The Brazilian right-back won three Champions League titles with Barcelona and when he signed for Juve last year, Buffon sent him a text message telling him to bring his expertise in the tournament with him.
“That’s the text message I sent when he signed for Juventus,” Buffon said with a smile.
“He’s a bit like me. He’s an optimist. He said, ‘Yes, I will help you win the Champions League.’
“Until now he’s been a revelation for me. Not as a player. We’ve all seen what he can do on the pitch. I was able to get to know him in the dressing room and off the pitch, there’s a lot more to him.”
Alves, meanwhile, played down the prospect of becoming the first player in history to win three European Trebles.
“That’s for the history books,” he said. “When you stop your career, people will see what I’ve achieved. For me, it’s really not much use.
“Our objectives are much bigger than that. We have our ambition and will to win. We’re hungry. We have a plate of food in front of us and we want to have it.”
He added: “The only extra motivation that might help is that the president (Andrea Agnelli) said maybe we might find some Ferraris that pop up.
“That does motivate you a bit! I hope we bring the cup home and the president is true to his word.”
By Dayo Adesulu Authorities of Lagos State University(LASU), Friday said it will conduct make-up examinations for External System Students (ESS) who failed their courses and those having issues with missing results.
In a release made available to Vanguard, its Acting Head, Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, Mr Ademola Adekoya said: “The External System has concluded arrangements to conduct make-up examinations for all courses yet to be passed by students or students with outstanding/missing results.”
According to him, the examinations for 100, 200 and 300 Levels students are scheduled to take place on Saturday July 8th and 9th 2017, while 400 and 500 Levels will have theirs on Saturday July 15th and Sunday July 16th 2017.
“Students are to note that all examinations will hold at the Main Campus, Ojo. They are to visit the online website: http://studentservices.lasu.ng/lasues_makeup for registration of courses, applicable fees and examinations time schedules,” he said.
He added that the deadline for online registration for the examination is Friday June 16th 2017.
Two Chibok schoolgirls who escaped from Boko Haram militants have graduated from a high school in Washington D.C..
The two girls known simply by their first names Debbie and Grace graduated after completing junior year (11th grade) and senior year (12 grade) at a private school in the Washington metro area in America.
Debbie and Grace were part of the 57 girls who escaped from Boko Haram terrorists after the mass abduction of almost 275 schoolgirls in April 2014.
One of the Chibok girls at the graduation ceremony in Washington DC
Unlike most of their colleagues who jumped out of the trucks en route Sambisa, the two were taken all the way to the terrorists camp in Sambisa before they escaped and made it back home in a terrifying journey that took about a week with their captors in hot pursuit.
They were the last to escape Boko Haram until last year's escape of Amina Ali after two years in captivity.
The two schoolgirls were among a dozen Nigerian girls sponsored to school abroad by a Nigerian NGO Education Must Continue Initiative with the help of US based international human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe.
EMC helps victims overcome the impact of the insurgency by one of the world's deadliest terror group Boko Haram which has destroyed hundreds of schools and killed thousands.
By this graduation, Debbie and Grace became the first escaped Chibok girls to graduate from an American high school with diplomas after completing and meeting academic standards.
This comes three years after terrorists interrupted their education during their final year in school in northeast Nigeria.
Several other girls had dropped out of EMC's school abroad project after managing to graduate from middle school (8th grade) last year and are now attempting to take the GED exam (external GCE equivalent).
On hand to witness the graduation of the two Chibok girls in the class of 2017 were a delegation from Nigeria which included the founders and directors of Education Must Continue Initiative Mr and Mrs Paul Gadzama and the parent of one of the girls who traveled all the way from Chibok in northeast Nigeria.
The only Chibok girl currently pursuing a degree program in an American university, cut short her summer vacation in Nigeria to return for the graduation of her colleagues.
The girls' American host families and Barrister Emmanuel Ogebe and his family were among the audience who witnessed the historic graduation.
The class of 2017 was the 50th graduation of the school which was the first high school in America to win a prestigious President's award last year. The Chibok girls were among only 21 students who graduated as a few international students were unable to graduate.
In remarks during a celebratory reception, the Chibok girls thanked their host families, the NGO volunteers from EMC for supporting them to achieve their dreams. They particularly appreciated them for driving the girls daily to and fro from school for two years.
Also speaking, the parent visiting from Nigeria stated that he had personally seen that the team had done more for his daughter in America than he could have done for them in Nigeria and thanked them for their love.
Recounting the story of how he conceived the project by divine favour, human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe described how he first brought the orphan of a pastor murdered by Boko Haram to school in the US in 2013.
The following year, Boko Haram attacked her village and abducted 275 girls. Consequently because he had helped an orphan from Chibok before, he was able to help these ones as well.
He appreciated the sacrifice of EMC founders Mr and Mrs Gadzama who flew at their own expense to witness the girls' graduation after missing their own daughter's graduation with a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Michigan just a few weeks earlier.
He also thanked EMC's American volunteer Education Adviser Deanna who helped obtain admission and scholarships to the exclusive $35,000 per year school for her role after their former school tried to take advantage of them.
The girls had to repeat 11th grade after their initial school failed to meet up to its obligations.
A church Thanksgiving is planned for the girls who are exploring their future endeavours following graduation. Among several awards won by them was an award for "Most hard working student in English as Second Language 3".
"This is an outstanding feat for Chibok girls especially given the fact that in Nigeria, most continue to speak in Hausa to the consternation of many Nigerians.
"This shows that our education model of immersion – placing the students in American homes – was immensely successful as they are now able to engage confidently, communicate effectively and blossom generally," says Emmanuel Ogebe the International Program Director.
"This is why the girls in EMC's US program are the most articulate Chibok girls anywhere in the world."
Confirming this, host parents including lawyers, doctors and accountants narrated tales of how Americanized the girls have become, with one of them being quoted as saying "mum, the weather is gross" while on another occasion explaining to her host mum, an American doctor, how Uber, the app-based taxi service, operates.
With this graduation, EMC has no more students in high school in the US.
Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has dismissed allegation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that he registered twice as a voter in Abuja and subsequently in Lokoja.
Bello stated this when he spoke to State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday after observing the two-raka'at Juma'at prayer at the Aso Rock Mosque.
INEC on May 25 via a statement issued by one of its National Commissioners and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mr Solomon Soyebi, alleged that Bello registered twice as a voter.
Soyebi said the governor first registered in Abuja in January, 2011, and subsequently on May 23, 2017, in Government House, Lokoja.
He described the governor's double registration and doing so outside lNEC's designated centres as illegal. Reacting to the allegation, Bello said it might be his ghost that must have done the double registration and not him.
"I travelled on (May) 19 to Dubai for a brief break and I saw the press release and I was taken aback that I did a double registration on (May) 23rd, probably is my ghost that must have done the double registration.
"I think INEC has earned itself a very high reputation and I'm very confident that the leadership of INEC will not allow some elements to drag its name into the mud.
"Actually, that is a falsehood; I did not do double registration of permanent voter card,'' he said.
The INEC statement read: "It has come to the attention of INEC that Gov. Bello of Kogi state registered as a voter for the second time on Tuesday May 23, 2017, in Government House, Lokoja, the state capital.
"His first registration was on January 30, 2011, in Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.
"The governor's double registration and doing so outside lNEC's designated centres are both illegal.
"For the on-going Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, INEC has designated a centre in each of the country's 774 local government areas including FCT's six area councils. '' NAN reports that INEC has since dissociated itself from the governor's action while it also pledged to take disciplinary action against its staff implicated in the second registration for Bello.
On outstanding salary arrears of workers in Kogi, the governor pledged to abide by the decision of the Governors' Forum to use part of the outstanding Paris Club refund meant for the state to settle the arrears.
Bello also frowned at those calling for his impeachment over alleged non-performance, saying his achievements in the last 15 months could be seen by well-meaning citizens of the state.
Hundreds of young Israelis, many wearing just bras and shorts, staged a “SlutWalk” through central Jerusalem on Friday to defend women’s right to dress as they want without being assaulted.
“No, that means no,” they chanted as the marchers, mostly women but also some men, made their way along Jaffa Road and near religiously conservative Ultra-Orthodox Jewish areas such as Mahane Yehuda where women cover up in long robes.
The annual march, held with a police escort, passed off without incident.
Women stage ‘slut walk’ in Jerusalem
Margaret, 23, told AFP she was there to show that “all women and all men have the right to wear what they want… and that nobody has the right to touch or attack them for that”.
With bleached hair, a boyish haircut and several piercings on her face, 18-year-old Katie said such action was “very important” in a country like Israel where an ex-president, Moshe Katsav, is serving a seven-year jail term for rape.
Taking part alongside his girlfriend was Erez, sporting a beard and a dress.
Apart from a show of solidarity, he wanted “to make it loud and clear that the responsibility for sorting out this question lies not with women, but with us, men”.
Unlike Tel Aviv, Israel’s liberal city on the Mediterranean, Jerusalem is conservative and home to religiously observant Jews, Muslims and Christians.
In March 2015, a girl was killed and six other people wounded when an Ultra-Orthodox Jew attacked a Gay Pride parade in the Holy City.
The SlutWalk movement was sparked in Canada in 2011 after a police officer caused outrage during a speech to university students by stating that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised”
Abia State Polytechnic has recovered more than N43 million from students who faked the school's receipts, Prof. Ezionye Eboh, the Acting Rector, has said.
Eboh, while briefing newsmen in Aba, Abia, on the latest development in the institution, said that more than 700 students were involved in the act of obtaining fake receipts from unauthorised sources.
He said that the students would be punished, to serve as a deterrent to others. Eboh also said that the Police had arrested a woman who operates a business centre near the polytechnic for allegedly issuing students with fake receipts.
He said that the woman worked for a lecturer and that she was collecting N10,000 and issuing fake stamped receipts to the students, thereby aiding them to evade payment of N50,000 school fees.
According to the rector, management discovered the forgery when it made it mandatory for students to show their school fee receipts before writing examinations.
He said that the lecturer had been suspended and that the students involved in the act were being investigated. On the issue of the redeployment 10 nurses working in the school clinic, Eboh said that the development was due to the intervention of the governor.
"If it was not for the intervention of Gov. Ikpeazu, we would have sacked them. But he said they should be retained but re-assigned to places where their services would be needed."
He said it was mind-boggling to employ such a large number of such senior nurses earning handsome salaries, in a non-residential campus.
He said that following their redeployment, the institution was saving N34 million per annum, adding that by plugging several loopholes, the institution had paid five months of 2016 salary arrears.
Meanwhile, the Abia Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed to the Newsmen on Thursday that the name of the woman connected with the fake receipts was Caroline Augustine.
He said that Augustine had been charged to court and also identified the owner of the business centre as Mr Alwell Nwachukwu-Njoku.
Manchester City’s goalie, Claudio Bravo is prepared to stay and fight for his place with incoming signing Ederson.
Ederson and Bravo
This follows Benfica agreeing to sell Ederson to City for €40million, with Pep Guardiola again looking for a new competition for the Chilean after it was confirmed that Willy Caballero will leave the club.
Bravo who was Barca’s first choice before the switch lost his place to Willy Caballero after a string of blunders.
“My future is still linked to City for a long time,” Bravo told AS.
“You always have competition at this level. It happened to me at Colo Colo, in the national team, at Real Sociedad, at Barcelona, at City – all my life has been a competition.
“I knew this was going to be the scenario for a while, but this is not something that worries me. Football is like this at the highest level and more so in these powerful clubs.
“Wherever you look, you have a selection of the best in the world.”
“I had two successful seasons at the highest level, and I’ve just experienced one where we did not achieve what we aimed for from a team standpoint,” he said.
“But one thing does not rule out the other. I’ve always been consistent and persevered on the aims that I set myself. It hasn’t been the year that I expected but I hope the next one will be much better.
“Many people think that it was down to adapting but I don’t think so. There has been a tendency to link my name with that of the functioning of all the team. I don’t want to delve into this.
“The whole team did not function as it should have during certain times of the season, but that is in the past.”
A non- governmental organisation known as Sonny Abumhenre Odion Foundation, yesterday rewarded five JAMB candidates from Esan Land otherwise known as the Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State with the sum of N500,000 for their excellent performance in the 2017 JAMB examination.
The ceremony which was held at the Multipurpose Hall of Holy Trinity School Uromi, Ebhebe, Edo State saw five students drawn from the five local government areas which make up Esan Land smiling home with N100,000 each.
Those who walked away with the cash prizes include Freedom Iseghohi (Esan North East), Ogbidi Eronmosele Godwin (Esan Central), Aiyanbhor Ehizojie Osadebamen (Esan South East) Abhulimhen Thomas Osariemen(Esan West) and Joy Okonoboh(Igueben).
Present at the presentation ceremony were dignitaries school principals, students and parents/guardians of the beneficiaries including Hon. Fred Akhelumele,a former Esan North East Chairmanship Aspirant, Dr( Mrs) Felicia Ojemhen, Rector Palms City Polytechnic Uromi and Rev. Dr. F. S. Abanokhua, Administrator Holy Trinity School to mention but a few.
The visibly elated beneficiaries of the cash prize expressed gratitude to the Sponsor Mr. Sonny Abumhenre Odion, Chairman/CEO Sonnex Group (Producer of Sonnex Paints) while promising to keep the fire of academic excellence burning.
Responding to the gesture, Freedom Iseghohi, one of the beneficiaries, said, “I feel so happy… may God bless the sponsor and replenish his pocket.
For Aiyanbhor Ehizojie Osadebame, “I am short of words, I don’t know what to say. Thanks to the organization….may God bless them. Now I know that hard work truly pays.”
The sponsor of the programme, Mr Sonny Abumhenre Odion, Founder Sonny Abumhenre Odion Foundation and President, Esan Mega Forum, Lagos State Chapter who was represented by an official of the Foundation, Susan Akhator, charged the students to work harder while stressing that education is the bedrock of every society
“There is no short cut to success. Read your books, be focused and committed to your studies. There is no alternative to sound education. ” he stated
Some football fans on Friday commended the Super Eagles for their superb performance and bashing of Togo 3-0 in an international friendly match. One of the fans, Kelechi Isiguzo told newsmen in Abuja on Friday that the victory showed that the team had come back to form. Isiguzo, who described the match as a test of the players' form and fitness, said that the Super Eagles had won his respect. ''I nearly wrote off the team with its poor performances in the past, but now, I am proud of them and I can bet anything for them. ''They displayed team spirit and above all, the traditional Nigerian dedication and commitment with seriousness in the pitch,'' he said. Also speaking, Akio Lulu, said that the Super Eagles proved many bookmakers wrong by that disgrace of Togo. Lulu noted that the Super Eagles dominated all through the match with impressive moves, which ordinarily would send shivers to South Africa. Nigerians, however, called on the Super Eagles to improve on its present form to restore the team's status in the round leather game.
Another fan, Ahmed Adamu, urged the team to remain focused.
" We commend the Super Eagles for this win. But, Nigerians want more of such victories. They should be focused and win all matches," he said. Nigeria on Thursday stunned Togo 3-0 in a friendly match, decided at Stade Municipal de Saint Leu La Foret, Paris, France. Ahmed Musa scored twice in the 3rd and 17th minutes to put Nigeria in a comfort zone. The third goal came from Kelechi Iheanacho who converted Etebo's pass in the 27th minute. The match was organised to put the Super Eagles in form for the Nation's Cup qualifying match against South Africa on June 10.
Yangon authorities on Friday sued three Muslim men for holding Ramadan prayers in the street, after the local school where they used to worship was shut down by a nationalist mob.
Police brought the charges after around 50 Muslims gathered to pray on Wednesday on a road in Thaketa township, the site of one of a growing number of raids by Buddhist hardliners on Islamic events.
Two nearby Islamic schools were shuttered in late April after ultra-nationalists complained local Muslims were illegally using them to conduct prayers.
File: A cross section of Muslim faithfuls praying at the Agodi Muslim prayer ground in Ibadan.
Authorities have said the closure is temporary, but given no timeline for when they may be reopened.
“We feel sorry. This month is important for us,” local Muslim leader Zaw Min Latt told AFP, referring to the holy month of Ramadan which began last week.
“We used those schools for prayer for decades. These restrictions have been brought in after more than 60 years.”
Local authorities issued a statement saying the prayer session threatened “stability and the rule of law” in the mainly Muslim neighbourhood in the east of Myanmar’s commercial capital.
A policeman who asked not to be named confirmed the charges.
Two officers tried to stop AFP journalists from filming when they visited one of the madrassas on Friday.
“It’s our mosque as well as our school. We don’t know when it will be reopened,” Khin Soe, a local resident in his 50s, said as he set off to pray in another part of town.
The case comes as Myanmar’s government has been seeking to clamp down on hate speech after a spike in anti-Muslim actions by hardliners from the country’s Buddhist majority.
Religious tensions have soared since a group of Rohingya Muslims attacked police posts in Rakhine State in October, sparking a bloody military crackdown that has drawn widespread international condemnation.
Last week Myanmar’s top Buddhist authority officially banned the Ma Ba Tha, an ultra-nationalist movement affiliated with firebrand cleric Wirathu, which responded by simply changing its name.
The move came after nationalists this month clashed with Muslims in another Muslim neighbourhood in Yangon, after pushing police to raid a house there in search of illegal Rohingya Muslim hideouts
A businesswoman, Mrs Mosurat Oseni, on Friday approached an Igando Customary Court in Lagos seeking divorce of her 18-year-old marriage to Munirudeen Oseni saying her husband said she is a witch who caused his downfall.
Mosurat, 48, told the court that she was no longer interested in the marriage, because her husband labelled her as a witch responsible for his predicament.
"My husband goes about telling whoever cares to listen that I am a witch and I was responsible for his low financial status.
"Most times, he comes to my shop wearing worn-out clothes to curse me and destroy my goods," the mother of three alleged.
She further alleged that Munirudeen was an irresponsible husband and father.
According to her, since the inception of our marriage, I have been the one paying our house rent and the children school fees.
"Our first child is in the university and I am the one paying her fees.
"Six years ago, my husband packed out of the house to stay in Sango-Ota in Ogun, claiming Lagos State is expensive.
"He married another woman and abandoned us.
"After some months, he came back to Lagos to squat with friends in my area from where he comes to my shop to insult and curse me," she said.
The petitioner said that her marriage had been turbulent and fraught with fights and quarrels.
She said that she had not been at peace because her husband always beat her on any provocation.
"My husband takes alcoholic drink a lot. He drinks to stupor after which he will vomit everywhere in the house.
"I have reported him to his family, but he refused to change," she said.
The woman urged the court to terminate the marriage because she was no longer interested in it. "Please, dissolve the marriage. I want to live to eat the fruit of my labour. In fact, the love I once have for him has faded," she said.
Munirudeen, who was said to have been summoned, was however, not in court.
The court President, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, ordered the bailiff to summon him again to respond to the allegations on June 27.
The Board of Continental Broadcasting Services Ltd. (CBS), owners of Television Continental (TVC) and Radio Continental have restructured for a better service.
A statement made available to newsmen on Friday by the group said, following the restructuring, 145 staff members would be affected.
"The Board of Continental Broadcasting Services Ltd. (CBS), owners of Television Continental (TVC) and Radio Continental, wishes to confirm a restructuring of its group companies. This restructuring is geared towards repositioning the business for better and greater delivery of its services to audiences and advertisers alike. In line with these changes we are reconfiguring our workforce as part of the rationale to achieve our objectives.
"145 people will be affected by today’s announcement.
"We wish to make clear that our core channels consisting of TVC News Nigeria, TVC Entertainment and Radio Continental will now become the main focus of our business going forward where we will deliver high quality news and entertainment programmes to our audiences and advertisers across Nigeria and beyond. The winding down of TVC News Africa will allow us concentrate on these key areas of our business.
"The CBS Board of Directors has also approved substantial new investment in our staff across the group of companies which will enable us substantially enhance our news and current affairs output on TVC News, entertainment programming on the market leading TVC general entertainment channel and our key radio asset Radio Continental.
"For those staff members affected by today’s announcement the Board of CBS Ltd. has approved a generous severance package in addition to a programme of assistance to enable them seek new employment."
The Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Abubakar Sa'ad, is beginning to put himself regularly in the eye of ridicule. His recent pronouncements on national matters are beginning to get neutrals worried if this man is not on a deliberate misadventure of creating confusion, tension and chaos where ordinarily there ought to be none.
With the latest absurd resolution reached by the Jama'atu Nasril Islam, JNI, led by the Sultan to "condemn in strongest terms" the decision of the NYSC to continue with its orientation camps for fresh graduates despite the Ramadan fast and also asking the Nigerian army to immediately postpone its planned recruitment exercise until after the Ramadan, one can only ask what religious elites like the Sultan want from Nigeria!
Such statements and demands from the JNI are the height of national absurdity, tragedy and a reflection of how unserious some leaders of this nation take matters of national importance burying them in the grave of religious fanaticism and hypocrisy.
How could the Holy month of Ramadan be unreasonably reduced to a month of laziness by some of these misinformed Islamic leaders who parade themselves as the know-all and custodian of the Islamic religion? Is there any where in the Holy Quran where it is said that there cannot be military activities during the Ramadan?
What if Nigeria suffers an aggressive breach of her territorial integrity by external forces during Ramadan, would the Sultan ask the Nigerian Army to wait until after the Ramadan before they respond? I thought the military is to be prepared at all times including the Ramadan period and the Christian Lenten season?
Such statements and calls by the Islamic body do nothing but encourage laziness among some Muslim faithful. It is a good thing that some Muslims have also condemned the resolution by JNI which is anti-progress in all its ramifications.
A friend once narrated to me how he had to sack his gateman for blatantly refusing to open the gate for him to go out simply because he was fasting. This is a gate that is literally attached to the gatehouse the gateman was staying and there was little or no distance between the gatehouse and the gate, but because religious leaders like the Sultan had inculcated in him the vice of laziness at Ramadan, he would not get up from bed to do anything including performing his primary responsibility for which he would also expect to be paid in the holy month of Ramadan.
The hypocrisy here is nauseating. Anyway, the Sultan should have known by now that Nigerians are regularly "fasting", Rmamdan or no Ramadan, Lenten season or no Lenten Season.
A country where most of her citizens hardly eat up to two meals a day, and some go to bed without any meal for the day, while some eat only once in a day, we literally run a nation of people "fasting" everyday of their lives. To now want to use a fasting period like the Ramadan to disrupt national courses amounts to religious felony against the nation.
While the Sultan is preoccupied with encouraging such indolence, a patriotic Nigerian Muslim, Ahmed Musa, scored two goals for the nation in a friendly football match against Togo in Paris on Thursday, June 1. Very soon, the Sultan and JNI will graduate to asking the NFF not to play friendly matches meant to prepare our boys against football rivals from other nations, including Islamic ones, and then graduate such banal demands to all facets of our national life.
With a competitive match coming up against South Africa on June 10, will the Sultan also ask the Confederation of African Football (CAF), to postpone the AFCON qualifying match until after the Ramadan, or will they ask the likes of Ahmed Musa not to honour the national call because of some misplaced religious sentiments?
Let me remind the Sultan that while he is busy chiding the Nigerian Army for conducting its recruitment exercise and the NYSC for opening its orientation camps in the month of Ramadan, Islamic countries like Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Niger, Algeria, Tunisia et al, are in camp with their footballers training very hard and vigorously to ensure victory for their countries and to bring glory to their nations in the AFCON qualifying series commencing on the weekend of June 9.
Furthermore, on June 1, Iraq, an Islamic country defeated Jordan, another Islamic country by one goal to nothing, in a friendly match (friendly match in Ramadan means the two countries deliberately and consciously decided to engage themselves in an energy-sapping activity like a football friendly match in the holy month of Ramadan).
As I write this essay, Oman is preparing to engage Syria, both Islamic nations, in a football friendly match. Turkey's league is still going on even in the thick of the Ramadan and there is no talk anywhere of standing the league down until after Ramadan.
The Turkish example is even more striking because it simply means that all the players in the league would have to keep up with their daily training as usual in order not to lag behind, the Ramadan notwithstanding.
In the Ramadan period of 2016, 350 people were killed in attacks in some Islamic countries that included one right outside the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, one of the holiest sites in Islam that ended up killing four troops.
In Baghdad, 175 people were killed in an inferno caused by attacks from terrorists in the same period. Will these nations stop the training of their anti-terrorism forces, or ask their military to let down their guards because it is Ramadan?
Let us stop making a joke of important matters under the guise of religion. The hypocrisy of some of our religious leaders is so sickening!
In this country, we have had exams written during the Christian Lenten season without complaints from the Christian faithful but JNI would complain that such is a disadvantage to Muslims during Ramadan. The same goes for recruitment exercises of the army, navy, air force, police, other paramilitary agencies and NYSC orientation camps.
The Islamic religious leaders must not push their luck too far. Fasting is a religious and not a civic obligation. To consistently push for it to begin to compete with national issues calls for concern. A similar call to that of JNI was made last year by the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC.
A situation where leaders of Islam are beginning to make Islam sound like alarm is alarmingly un-Islamic!
The Nigeria army and the NYSC should ignore such alarms and keep working in the overall best interest of the nation.
Sen. Shehu Sani, (APC-Kaduna Central) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari's administration for rescuing the country from the abyss.
According him, “Nigerians are suffering, they are in poverty and there is no confidence between the masses and those in position of authority except Buhari” he said.
Sani who told newsmen on Friday in Zaria, Kaduna State, that the APC government was striving to restore dignity of the country at different levels.
He spoke on the side lines of the 10th National Conference of School of General Education, Federal College of Education, Zaria.
Sani noted the tremendous achievements recorded by Buhari in the areas of security, corruption and changing the image of Nigeria abroad.
The senator expressed satisfaction that the APC-led government had moved Nigeria away from the deft of hopelessness, "but yet to take us to the promise land''.
"Nigerians are suffering, they are in poverty and there is no confidence between the masses and those in position of authority except Buhari.
"The masses in Nigeria have confidence only in President Buhari but no any other politician," he however said.
He alerted that: "If this change agenda fails, Nigerians have no option than to start a revolution in this country, because they have to take the destiny in their hands.
"If the progressive political class do not perform better from the conservative political class, then the next thing is revolution; that is what is going to happen."
On education, Sani lamented that it was only in Nigeria that some schools don't collect school fees in the domestic Naira except in foreign currencies.
"It is unfortunate that there are some schools in Nigeria that don't receive school fees in Naira but in U.S. Dollar, British Pounds and Euros.
"These schools don't operate with our local education curriculum, they use Oxford, Cambridge or Bosten curriculum. This is serious and highly unacceptable, we must urgently do something about it," he said.
The lawmaker assured that he would take the matter up at the National Assembly, promising to pursue it to the end for the benefit of Nigerian education system.
He stressed the need for the society to appreciate teachers, because "without teachers there could have been nobody in position of authority today".
A trending story on Facebook has claimed that one of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, supporters has allegedly claimed that a handshake with the leader of the pro-Biafra group, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had him healed of his stomach pains.
The story posted by a face book user, Engr. Valentine Zimuzo Odogwu has seen the social media abuzz as many have begun to wonder if Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has healing powers in him too aside his being a Biafra freedom fighter.
The IPOB supporter who claimed he got his healing from the Biafran leader when Mazi Kanu visited his hometown also said that Mr. Kanu has become a prophet..
IPOB supporters kneeling and bowing in front of Biafra leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for blessings
According to the post on the Facebook user's timeline, "My Handshake with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (Nwachineke) today!!!.
"Minutes ago my great town ozzuh villa, Umunnachi hosted the Prophet of Biafra land. "He took time to greet both the elders and youths present.
"One of the youths who also had a handshake with the Prophet, confirmed that his stomach pains of about two months disappeared immediately.
"Biafran restoration seems closer than ever.
"All hail Nnamdi Kanu…"
Recall that lately, in fact, after Mazi Kanu was granted bail by the courts, photos of him dressed like a Jewish scribe and having some IPOB supporters kneeling and bowing to greet him flooded the social media.
Some of the photos also who him covering his head with the Jewish scarf and raising his hands heaven-wards in presumed prayers just like the bible shows Jesus did when He was on earth.
And many have begun to ask if Biafra has turned a religion, away from the political emancipation it sought from Nigeria.
