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Rafael Nadal blasted French Open umpire Carlos Ramos on Sunday for treating him like a “machine” and suggested he was being unfairly targeted in an effort to speed up play.
Nadal reached a record-equalling 11th Roland Garros quarter-final with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win over Spanish compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut.
But his joy at matching Roger Federer’s mark for last-eight appearances in Paris was overshadowed by an astonishing broadside at Ramos.
The umpire had warned the 31-year-old in the first set for slow play and again in the third before deciding to dock Nadal a first serve.
“If you want to play well, you have to let players breathe a little. We’re not machines that cannot think. That’s my viewpoint,” said Nadal, who repeatedly falls foul of the rule which stipulates a maximum 25 seconds between points.
“What else can I say? I’m telling you this with some sadness, because I don’t want to have any problems.
Rafael Nadal
“But this umpire is, I think, trying, in a certain way, to look for my faults, my errors.”
The 14-time major winner believes that some umpires are stricter than others who may afford a player more leeway especially in the red-hot atmosphere of a Grand Slam.
“Theoretically the umpires are here to analyze the match and they are not here to use the stopwatch, otherwise we should have a stopwatch on the court,” added Nadal, warming to his theme.
“That’s the whole point. Some dictate things or give their calls in a certain way. Other umpires have different styles.”
Despite a career-long habit of over-stepping the time allowance — a situation not helped by his idiosyncratic plucking at his shorts and smoothing of his eyebrows — Nadal insisted he will not change.
“I told him that he will have to give me many warnings, because if I have not yet grabbed my towel, that he’s going to give me a warning,” he added.
Vanquished opponent Bautista Agut backed Nadal in his spat with Ramos.
“Rafa and I need to play a lot of points. We need to run around a lot. Having the pressure of the umpires is something we don’t really need,” said the 29-year-old.
“I don’t think I really agree with that rule.”
The fall-out with Ramos meant that Nadal’s smooth progress to the last eight became a sideshow.
He has dropped just 20 games in four rounds so far, just one more than he lost at the same stage in 2012, as he attempts to become the first player to win the same Slam 10 times.
Nadal will face fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta who stunned fifth-seeded Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 8-6.
Carreno Busta, the 20th seed, will be playing in his first Slam quarter-final at the age of 25.
But he did it the hard way, needing seven match points to seal victory over the Canadian after 4hr 17min on Court One.
Algeria announced on Sunday the arrest of three suspected Islamists who confessed to planting a home-made bomb that reportedly killed two soldiers patrolling near the border with Tunisia.
“Members of the National Guard arrested three backers of terrorist groups on June 3 at Tebessa,” about 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Algiers, the defence ministry said.
“They admitted to having planted the home-made bomb which exploded as a military patrol passed by” near Bir el-Ater, about 100 kilometres south of Tebessa and some 15 kilometres from the border.
It is the first official confirmation of the attack, which occurred at dawn on Saturday, but the ministry did not say if there were any casualties.
Security sources told AFP on Saturday that the blast killed two soldiers and wounded four.
Algerians had hoped that a 2005 peace and reconciliation charter would turn the page on a 1991-2002 civil war that cost 200,000 lives.
But Islamist groups remain active in the south and east, largely targeting security forces.
Three men with a white van and a stash of knives. Faced with such a simple and brutal plan for slaughter, there’s not much the world’s most sophisticated police and intelligence services can do.
Even monitoring suspected individuals can never absolutely guarantee they will be arrested before committing their grisly acts, if there is no sign that anything is imminent, experts and officials say.
“Low-tech attacks involving vehicles and knives have been on the increase recently as they are easily accessible and the most difficult for security services to stop,” said Alan Mendoza of Britain’s Henry Jackson Society.
He was speaking after Saturday night’s attack in central London which left seven dead after three knife-wielding men mowed down and stabbed revellers at the popular nightlife hub around London bridge.
“We will need further details before making a final assessment but this attack fits the pattern of recent ones in the West that have, at the very least, been inspired by groups like Islamic State,” said the HJS executive director.
Jihadist groups have for years been calling on their supporters to take up the fight where they live, using any means at their disposal, rather than travelling to Iraq or Syria to battle Western-backed forces there.
“The simpler the action is, the less operational preparation is needed, such as buying equipment, weapons and explosives, and the more complicated it is to detect them, because their behaviour is less suspicious,” Yves Trotignon, a former member of the French DGSE anti-terrorism agency told AFP.
“Counter-terrorism is prevention,” he said. “People are arrested when we have things against them, when we have reasons to believe that a crime is going to be committed. It’s possible when people are known, and watched, or when they appear suddenly on the radar because they are preparing something.
“But if this something is simply renting a van, no alarm goes off,” he said.
– ‘Learn to live with…’ –
The case of the young French jihadist Adel Kermiche illustrates the difficulty of knowing when a suspect being monitored is going to actually act: after being arrested in Turkey when he tried to get into Syria, he was released on condition he wear an electronic tag.
He still had the tag attached to his ankle when he took part in the July 2016 throat-slitting of an 85-year-old French priest in the small Normandy village of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, along with another young jihadist he met a short time earlier online.
To physically monitor a suspect 24 hours a day requests some 20 police officers. All suspected jihadist network members and their supporters cannot therefore ever be watched all the time.
And even if they were, how would you know when someone gets into a van if they planned to drive into the centre of London to mow down pedestrian or simply to do some shopping?
“All the intelligence in the world will not prevent this kind of attack,” French senator Nathalie Goulet, co-president of a committee probing the fight against jihadist networks, told AFP.
“You don’t have to resign yourselves. But you have to face reality: to make people believe that by banning Muslims or by closing mosques we will resolve the problem is a lie. On the contrary, that would feed the argument the Islamic State
“A guy who takes his car, ploughs it into people and stabs them…. Unfortunately we have to learn to live with that and everyone must take care to be vigilant.”
Faced with this kind of threat, speed of reaction is the most important, both by police and medical services which in London on Saturday were exemplary, said Trotignon.
“The response, on the ground, is to have teams which are pre-positioned and move in as rapidly as possible to limit casualties.
“On Saturday night in London, the three men were neutralised in eight minutes, which is remarkable.”
BY PETER DURU MAKURDI – All Progressive Congress, APC, has won all the 23 local government chairmanship seats in the council elections held Saturday in Benue state.
The party also won all the councilorship positions in the 276 wards of the state with some of the candidates returned unopposed.
Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, BSIEC Dr. John Tsuwa who announced the results off the election on Sunday at the headquarter of the commission in Makurdi said the election went without much hitches.
Tsuwa who declined to issue figures garnered by the various parties said, "the figures are not ready at the moment but the APC won all the available positions.”
He confirmed that eight political parties participated in the exercise including Accord Party, APC, PDP, SDP, ACB, PPP, LP and NNPP.
The chairman commended the parties, electorates, security agencies and officials of the commission for ensuring a smooth conduct of the exercise and further expressed happiness that no case of violence or snatching of ballot boxes were recorded in the exercise.
Enyimba International Football Club on Sunday at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar defeated Plateau United FC of Jos 1-0 in the ongoing Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Andrew Abalogu scored the lone goal of the Match Day 22 fixture in the 69th minute of the game for the Aba-based side to earn three points.
In an interview with newsmen after the match, the Head Coach of Enyimba, Gbenga Ogunbote, said his team deserved the three points because they played well.
"Calabar stadium has been our winning ground and we will continue to play hard in order to get our normal three points at home,'' he said.
The Head Coach of Plateau United, Kennedy Boboye, on his part also praised his team.
He told newsmen that his team played well even as they failed to utilise the goal scoring chances they had in the first half of the match.
The Kebbi state Governor, Atiku Bagudu has said that the All Progressives Congress, APC, party is a blessing to Nigeria. Gov. Bagudu gave the statement while receiving the former Kebbi State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chairman, Alhaji Bello Doya and 25,000 other members of the ruling party including key party stalwarts who decamped to the APC on Sunday.
Gov Bagudu, APC executives, and hundreds of supporters from the 21 local government areas of the state were on hand to receive the decampees, among whom were Alhaji Isah Muhammad Argungu, the former director general of the campaign organization of former Gov Saidu Dakingari and the 2015 PDP gubernatorial candidate, Gen. Bello Sarkin-Yaki(Rtd).
Others are three current PDP State House of Assembly members lead by Alhaji Muhammad Ismail, ten former local government council chairmen, as well as former local government party and ward chairmen.
Gov. Bagudu
No fewer than 160 former PDP councillors, businessmen and contractors, as well as women and youth groups decamped.
The State APC chairman, Alhaji Attahiru Maccido, said the decampees joined the party Willingly.
In his remarks Bagudu, promised to give equal opportunities to both the new and old members of the APC.
"APC is a blessing to Nigeria, it has become the party of all, in APC everybody is equal, all will be treated equally and fairly," he said.
Spokesman of the decampees, Argungu said their decision to decamp was informed by the achievement of the APC administration at both the state and federal levels.
Torrential rains and wind destroyed 1,000 makeshift homes in northeast Nigeria over the weekend, aggravating conditions for the thousands of people displaced by Boko Haram violence, the United Nations said.
At least 4,300 people have been affected by violent storms that swept the state of Borno, the heart of the eight-year jihadist insurrection, said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) after assessing conditions in 44 camps for displaced people in the state.
“Rains are just beginning and they will last for 3 or 4 months,” Henry Kwenin, an emergency coordinator for the IOM told AFP.
“The number one priority is to reinforce the shelters, to build adequate drainage systems, and safe places in camps where people can gather in case of violent storms,” he added.
The storms came with powerful winds damaging precarious structures in Jere, Kaga, Konduga and Maiduguri, killing one person, said the IOM.
“It began with a sandstorm which lasted for an hour and was followed by a heavy downpour which continued for the next two hours,” said a resident of Pompomari, a district in Maiduguri.
“Our neighbourhood has little trees to break the wind and this makes our houses vulnerable to windstorms,” the resident added.
– ‘Still raining’ –
“It’s still raining as we speak. I can confirm that there are damages but I don’t have any information concerning human casualties,” said Abdulkadir Ibrahim, spokesperson for the national agency that handles emergencies NEMA.
The region has been devastated by eight years of conflict, with the majority of roads inaccessible for security reasons. “Communication is a big challenge,” said Kwenin.
The conflict between the army and Boko Haram jihadists has led to over 20,000 deaths and displacing 2.6 million people since 2009.
Several hundred thousand people have fled to the capital of the region Maiduguri.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 5.2 million people could need life-saving food aid in three northeast states from June to August.
But lack of funding is forcing aid agencies to cut feeding programmes in the northeast Nigeria, the UN said last month, warning of growing pressure on resources as refugees return.
The World Food Programme has said nearly two million people were living on the brink of famine in the remote region.
Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, has restated the commitment of the Future Assured Programme to the wellbeing of women and children.President Buhari being welcomed by his wife Aisha, daughter Zahra and other family members shortly after he arrived in State House after a medical vacation in London on 10th March 2017
She made this commitment through the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Dr. Hajo Sani, at the just concluded World Village Festival in Helsinki, Finland, according to a statement by Mr. Suleiman Haruna, Director of Information to the Wife of the President, in Abuja , Sunday.
Dr. Sani, "The very poor health outcomes for women and children in Nigeria at the beginning of the present administration provided more than enough justification for such a high-level commitment, and two years down the line, having reached hundreds of thousands of women and children through empowerment, health screenings against killer diseases, de-worming exercises, nutrition and vitamin supplementation, we can safely say that we are making a difference."
She described, the Get Involved Initiative of Mrs. Buhari, as a very successful intervention, which has generated a lot of goodwill among national and international players to address the issue of nutrition, in pregnant mothers and young children, including those in displaced persons camps.
In her remarks, Mrs. Fatima Hassan, Executive Director of the Africans and African Europeans Association (AFAES), had in the invitation letter, explained that "Future Assured received special invitation to the event in recognition of its outstanding work in human development, specifically the health and empowerment of women and children as well as its activities on internally displaced persons."
Mr. Meijo Mikkanen, Secretary, Africans and African Europeans Associations (AFAES) in his response, commended Nigeria's anti-corruption fight and expressed optimism that Nigeria would work with the Universal Peace Foundation to make better gains in that regard, saying "to uphold and practice righteousness and noble responsible lifestyle in corrupted circumstances is challenging indeed."
He said that success in this area would not only be rewarding but even liberating for Nigerians. He commended wife of the President's effort to improve the living conditions for women and children with the hope that Nigeria would make a difference in that regard.
He called for improved working relations between Nigeria and Finland.
The programme was organized by the Finland's Development Agency KEPA with a view to promoting global sustainable development using the exemplary models of strong social welfare as achieved in all Nordic countries.
Some of the Key persons at the discussion were Mr. Abayomi Magbagbeola, General Secretary Nigeria-Finish Association, Mrs. Jane Ada Ndem, Head of Mission at the Embassy of Nigeria in Stockholm, and Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, Honorary Consul of Finland in Nigeria. E N D
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Sunday, condemned, in strong terms, the terror attacks on London, the United Kingdom.A police officer escorts members of the public, wrapped in foil blankets, towards The Shard in London on June 4, 2017, following a terror attack. Forty-eight people have been taken to hospital after a terror attack in central London in which six people died, the London Ambulance Service said Sunday. / AFP PHOTO
The condemnation was contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande.
Prof. Osinbajo called for greater global collaboration with a view to eliminating extremist ideologies from the world.
The statement reads in full, "Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, strongly condemns the sickening atrocity perpetrated by a misguided and cowardly group of terrorists who attacked innocent persons in the London Bridge area on Saturday night.
"Prof Osinbajo states that Nigeria stands with the government and people of the United Kingdom and extend our condolences to the families of the victims.
"The Acting President notes that the latest attack in the U.K. reinforces the need for the global community to act with greater vigour to overcome the extremist ideologies which underpin terrorism."
The senator representing Bayelsa East constituency, Sen. Ben Murray Bruce, has said that he had figured out and understood the problems facing and militating against the power sector, thus marshals them out for fellow members to understand. According to him “As the chairman of privatization, I think I understand the problem we have with the power sector.
“We have the Gencos, we have the distribution line and we have the Discos. “These companies were privatized a few years ago on the premise that they will charge cost reflective tariffs to make it profitable. “Those who privatized the sector I assume did not imagine the Niara will be devalued from 160 to 500, 380,400. he said”
Wild jubilation followed the end to a three week war between Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose and oil marketers in the state as the two parties reached pact and sheath swords after a peace meeting brokered by Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola at the government House in Oshogbo yesterday evening.
According to a release by Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, a communique from the peace meeting signed governors, Fayose, Aregbesola, NUPENG, General Secretary, Joseph Ogbebor, IPMAN, Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Debo Ahmed and PTD NUPENG, National Vice Chairman, Comrade Solomon Kilanko, , state the resolutions on the two state government and oil marketers as follows: ”
An ad hoc committee be constituted to fashion out in clear terms the conditions and guidelines for the establishment and operations of filling stations in Ekiti State;
“The committee comprising representatives of Ekiti State Government and oil and gas stakeholders shall commence work on Wednesday 7th June, 2017; “In the spirit of reconciliation, Ekiti State Government agreed to pleas for reversal of the revocation of some Certificates of Occupancy of landed properties on which filling stations are built, except the ones on waterways, canals and where there is no justification for such revocation;
“In that same spirit, the government agreed to stop further demolitions pending the outcome of the committee's report; and
Consequently, the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and other related oil and gas unions hereby suspend the industrial action embarked upon by their members, with immediate effect.”
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Legal Matters, Dr. Bilkisu Saidu has dismissed recent social media campaign about alleged anti-Islamic slant in appointments made by and in the office of the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, again decided to interact with the crowd who waited on the street of Calabar to welcome him during his visit to Calabar to continue the Niger Delta dialogue and MSME Clinics launch in Calabar. 1st June 2017
Dr. Saidu who described the charges of nepotism as "laughable, untrue, unfair and should not be taken seriously," said that on the contrary that senior appointments even in the office of the vice-president had Muslims in the ascendancy.
Dr. Saidu, a former law lecturer at the Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University Sokoto before her appointment in the Office of the Vice President, spoke in an interview programme on BBC Hausa Radio on Sunday. Transcripts of the interview were made available from her office.
"If you are talking about religion, the most senior official or position in the Office of the Vice President apart from the Vice President himself, is the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President and the name of the person occupying that office is Abdulrahman Ipaye, and he is a Muslim.''
“The positions following the Chief of Staff's in the order of hierarchy are the Special Advisers in the Office of the Vice President. Here there are three Special Advisers and two out of the three Special Advisers are Muslims, Senator Babafemi Ojudu and Barrister Mariam Uwais from Kano State,'' she added.
Noting that a cursory look at the other senior positions in the Vice President's office indicate that religious consideration was never a factor in the appointment of the officers, she said “If you look at the remaining senior positions in that office, most of them are in the hands of Muslims from the north.''
“For instance, the person in charge of Protocol (i.e. the Director of Protocol) is Ambassador Abdullahi Gwary from Yobe State; those in charge of welfare and health in the office of the Vice President are mostly Muslims and from the north.
“Worthy of note are the stewards, those who serve the Vice President's meals, they are mostly Muslims, so what do the critics mean when they talk about religion.''
Concluding she said, “when people lack what to use or have exhausted all avenues to speak evil against perceived opponents or ridicule the good works that they are doing, they resort to use of religion or other means possible to damage the image and reputation of that opponent.''
The visiting Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Mrs Retno Marsudi, has announced her government's growing interest in promoting mutually beneficial economic relations with Nigeria.
Marsudi, who led a Delegation to an Indonesia-Nigeria Business Forum in Lagos, said that there had been a decline in bilateral trade between both countries in the last five years.
"Nigeria and Indonesia are currently among the four countries that have the quality for strong growth and provide high returns for investors.
"But, the value of our bilateral trade between 2012 and 2016 is on the decline.
"This decline is taking place, despite the fact that our two countries are the largest and most growing economies in our continents.
"I came to Nigeria with one intention, and that is how best Nigeria and Indonesia should strengthen their economic cooperation. We want closer economic ties with Nigeria,'' she said.
Marsudi said that her government was prepared to enhance its economic relations with African countries, especially with Nigeria, in the years ahead.
According to her, Nigeria and Indonesia currently have the resources and energies to enhance their areas of cooperation.
She also said that it was imperative for both countries to transform their political and economic relations to one that was mutually beneficial.
The minister also disclosed her government's plan to create the enabling environment for smooth business and Investments between Nigerians and Indonesians.
The Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Harry Purwanto, said that the time had come for both countries to work together in promoting initiatives that would bring prosperity to their people.
Purwanto said that what Nigeria and Indonesia urgently needed, was enhanced and balanced economic relations.
"As the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, i attach great importance to people-to-people interactions to make our relations mutually beneficial.
"We need to have more enhanced and balanced economic relations,'' he said.
The Ambassador, who said that Nigeria was a good place for business and Investment, added that the minister and her delegation were in Lagos, to deepen trade between both countries.
The Acting Director General of NAFDAC, Mrs Yetunde Oni, who described Nigeria as a "valuable partner'' to Indonesia, said that Nigeria looked forward to more Indonesian companies in Nigeria.
Oni, however, said that it was imperative for Indonesian companies to be conscious of NAFDAC's regulations and control laws.
She added that her agency was involved in promoting the Federal Government of Nigeria's Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria.
The Senate on Sunday condemned the recent demolition of Breeze 99.9 FM, a private radio station based in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.
Sen. Suleiman Adokwe, Chairman, Senate Committee on National Orientation and Information, who led other senators to the demolished structure, described the development as "saddening and unfortunate".
Senate chamber
Newsmen report that the Nasarawa Urban Development Board pulled down the building on May 20, citing alleged violation of land approval laws.
It also claimed that its action became necessary because the station's facilities posed a health hazard to residents living close to it.
The management of the outfit has, however, rejected such claims, and accused government of hitting the station "for political reasons".
The station's Executive Director, Dr. Nawani Aboki, told newsmen recently that government was angry that the media outfit had consistently given voices to all shades of opinions, especially since state government workers went on strike.
Adokwe said that the visit was to commiserate with the outfit's management, relay the Senate's condemnation of the demolition, and demonstrate support and solidarity.
"We condemn this action in its totality. It is reprehensible. It is uncalled for and undemocratic. That is why we are here. This trend should not be accepted in a democratic setting," he said.
Adokwe said that he was particularly shocked at the speed with which the demolition took place.
"The demolition was too sudden; it is an illegality that failed to follow due process as stipulated by the constitution of the country with regards to demolition, reclaiming of land and related issues.
"We expect the Nasarawa State Government to promote private enterprises like this. Government ought to promote and support investors, instead of destroying their structures and facilities. This must not continue.
"Information should be disseminated to people without any hindrance. Destroying a harmless radio station is denying the people the right to freedom of information
"There are sufficient laws to take care of illegal broadcasting. The constitution is very clear on the procedures. Adequate notices are issued and where there are compensations to be made, they are made," he said.
The Senator advised the Nasarawa State Government to stop gagging the press, and stressed the need to allow the opposition to co-exist, thrive and express themselves in accordance with the law.
"A citizen of the state set up an enterprise that offered employment. The least government can do is to encourage the individual to expand Breeze FM as a pride of the state, and not to truncate the effort of a young investor.
"Suppressing the enterprising skills of young men is abominable. Nasarawa State belongs to everybody. It should not be a place where some people are treated like strangers. No one will accept that," he said.
The countries of West Africa's Sahel region are requesting 50 million euros (56 million dollars) from the European Union to help set up a multinational force to take on Islamist militant groups, Mali's military chief said Saturday.
The vast, arid zone has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups, some linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, in some European nations, particularly France.
There is fear that the development could destroy Europe if left unchecked.
Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania, the so-called G5 Sahel countries, have proposed a regional task force designed to tackle the cross-border threat.
Implementation of the plan has lagged, partly due to funding obstacles.
"The council of ministers of the G5 Sahel countries is making a request to the European Union to financially support the deployment and functioning of the G5 Sahel Joint Force," Gen. Didier Dacko of Mali said on Saturday.
He was speaking at a meeting in Mali's capital Bamako between G5 Sahel military chiefs, EU diplomats and officers from France's regional anti-militant force, Operation Barkhane, aimed to map out what areas required assistance.
Sahel foreign ministers were due to meet on Sunday.
In 2016, the group proposed establishing special units, each composed of around 100 well-trained soldiers, capable of responding quickly to shifting threats, which would be deployed in areas where jihadist groups are known to operate.
They would complement the efforts of regular armed forces, UN peacekeepers in Mali and Operation Barkhane, which has around 4,000 French troops deployed across the five Sahel countries.
France spearheaded a 2013 military intervention that successfully drove back militants who had seized Mali's desert north a year earlier.
However, militants continue to attack local security forces, UN peacekeepers and civilian targets across the region.
New French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Mali on his first trip outside of Europe in May, has reaffirmed Paris's commitment to the region and called on Germany and other European nations to ramp up military and development aid.
French soldiers killed about 20 Islamist militants in Mali on Friday, France's defence ministry said.
The announcement came a day after several French soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in a mortar attack claimed by al Qaeda's local affiliate on a UN peacekeeping camp in Mali's north.
Just minutes before Saturday’s terror attack in London, pubs were crammed with revellers enjoying a balmy night out in a trendy part of the city, many of them watching the Champions League final on big screens.
And then terror struck yet again at London’s heart as a van smashed into pedestrians before its occupants went on a stabbing rampage, bringing bloodshed to the streets of the British capital.
Within minutes, six people had been killed and three attackers shot dead by armed police. Dozens more were wounded.
People enjoying their evening out near the River Thames told of how their night became a nightmare in seconds as they witnessed the attack unfold.
– ‘I saw her bounce up in the air’ –
First, a white van veered wildly into pedestrians crossing London Bridge, with those who managed to avoid the attack rushing to aid those who were hit.
The van deliberately swerved into groups of people at speed, eyewitnesses said.
“I saw this van going left and right, left and right, trying to catch as many people as he could,” Alessandro told BBC radio.
“There were five or six people that we tried to help, they were young people.”
Mark, another witness, was in the middle of London Bridge, taking pictures of Tower Bridge downstream.
“It was swerving from side to side. I could see it hitting people,” he said of the van.
“It hit one person about 20 foot (six metres) in the air. Poor girl. I just saw her bounce up in the air.
“There must have been about five or six people on the ground, they must have been seriously injured,” he told BBC radio.
London resident Dee, 26, said she was sure it was a terror attack as the van careered southwards over London Bridge.
“And then there was a man with a knife, he was running, he came down the stairs and went to a bar,” she told AFP.
After the van crashed right by Southwark Cathedral, the stabbing spree began, with the attackers descending into Borough Market, a popular area of trendy bars and eateries on the south side of the bridge.
Taxi driver Chris told LBC radio he saw men brandishing long knives emerging from the van.
“Three men got out with long blades, 12 inches (30 centimetres) long and went randomly… stabbing people.”
Witness Eric saw the trio get out of the van and thought they were going to help those who had been hit.
However, they were “kicking them, punching them, and took out knives. It was a rampage.”
They then ran towards Borough Market with a shout of “this is for Allah”.
– Bleeding from the mouth –
Alex Shellum, who was in The Mudlark pub near London Bridge said he saw a young woman stagger in.
“She was bleeding heavily from the neck and from her mouth,” he said.
“It appeared to myself and to my friends that her throat had been cut,” he told the BBC.
Police held people inside bars and restaurants for their own safety, telling them to get under the tables.
They were later asked to leave with their hands on their heads.
Frightened people were led away as police officers screamed at them to run. Many were in tears, with friends supporting each other along the road.
Roads were closed off and stations evacuated as police shouted at people to flee the scene.
Three attackers wearing hoax suicide vests caused mayhem, repeatedly stabbing one of the first police officers on the scene.
Within eight minutes of the first calls to the emergency services, the three assailants were fatally shot by armed police.
– Blood on chef’s uniform –
Gerard Kavanar, 46, who lives by Tower Bridge, said: “There was lot of chefs in white costumes, one had blood on his shoulder”.
Police boats scanned the Thames in the dark while helicopters circled overhead and streets were cordoned off, AFP reporters said.
An emergency response helicopter landed on London Bridge, while emergency service workers rushed people on trolleys to waiting ambulances, AFP photographers saw.
Members of the public were seen leaving the scene wrapped in foil emergency blankets while armed police patrolled the scene.
Debris could be seen on the bridge where people had fled.
Several people on Twitter offered their homes for anyone left stranded by the attack.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has promised that the Senate will look into the high interest rate charged by banks in the country.
"It is likely that we will debate it this week," Saraki said during an interactive session with journalists on Sunday in Ilorin.
According to him, the high interest rate is not good for the economy as the nation eases out of recession and targets growth.
"This week we will debate it, have a round table discussion with the Central Bank of Nigeria and other commercial banks and talk frankly to ourselves," he said.
According to Saraki, it is not fair for the banking sector to be making astronomical profit while companies lose money and retrench workers. "Hopefully, with the stability of the foreign exchange, we can now begin to address the issue of interest rate.
"There is no business that can make money if you are borrowing at 28 percent, it cannot work," Saraki added.
Bukola Saraki
He said the Senate would engage financial institutions to arrive at an affordable interest rate, adding, "if they refuse, the Senate may come up with legislation to peg the interest rate."
According to him, the banks are charging high interest rate because they have tied their assets in government securities and are getting 18 to 19 percent.
"They will tell you they are doing business, but in any business, there must be social responsibility.
"I promise Nigerians that we will find a solution to the high interest rate," Saraki assured.
The Senate president also said the upper chamber may limit the amount banks can put in government securities and channel the rest to areas like the real sector.
Saraki also expressed concern over the status of local governments in the country, saying virtually all local councils lacked the required finances to carry out their statutory obligations.
He said that to reduce the burden of responsibilities on local councils, the Senate may transfer the responsibility of funding primary education to states.
"I am of the view that we should look at how state governments take over primary education.
"This is an arm of government that cannot meet its constitutional obligations and you now put a very important one under it.
"Ninety Five percent of local governments depend on state governments' support to pay workers salaries," Saraki added.
He noted that the Constitution Review Committee of the Senate may grant autonomy to the local government in the country.
The Senate president, however, believed that granting autonomy to local governments may not solve their problems.
He stressed that the main issue was that of inadequate funding which must be addressed to allow local governments function effectively
Chelsea attacker Eden Hazard has revealed he would consider a move to Real Madrid if the Champions League winners were to make an approach.
Chelsea’s Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard celebrates scoring his team’s third goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on December 3, 2016. AFP
The Belgium international was pivotal in Chelsea’s successful 2016-17 campaign, scoring 16 goals in 36 Premier League outings to help them to the title.
His awesome showing has reignited speculation that Madrid are interested in bringing the 26-year-old to Santiago Bernabeu and Hazard is not denying it.
“Of course, I would consider it if Madrid made an offer,” Hazard told reporters.
“I am keen to win trophies. It would be great to win the Champions League. But Chelsea’s goal is to win the Champions League as well. Honestly, I do not know what will happen.
“I only know that I still have a contract with Chelsea for three seasons and that we just had an amazing 2016-17 campaign. We want to continue on this path and want to build on this in the Champions League.
“I am feeling very well at Chelsea. But you never know what will happen.
“I have not met with the board yet to discuss a new deal. I have two games with Belgium coming up first and I am off on my holiday after that. I want to think about football as little as possible.”
… as Aregbesola restates need for police restructuring
The Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG Foluso Adebanjo, has commended the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for his administration's commitment to the security of lives and property of the citizens and residents of Osun.
Adebanjo, who was accompanied by two Deputy Commissioners of Police in the state for a courtesy call on the Governor at the Government House in Osogbo commended the efforts of Aregbesola at making the state one with the lowest crime rate in Nigeria.
The visit was part of the DIG's routine security assessment, evaluation and sensitisation of the officers and men of the State and Zonal Commands of the Nigeria Police Force in the zone on the need to uphold professionalism, efficiency and discipline in the course of duty.
The Police boss also lauded Osun Government for giving the Force necessary support and cooperation in its bid to maintaining laws and order.
Describing Osun as one of the states with lowest crime rate in Nigeria, Adebanjo said the Force has been monitoring the records of the state in the last few years, saying, apart from the atmosphere of peace, the state is witnessing massive development of infrastructure.
Gov. Rauf Aregbesola
He therefore sought for executive support to enhance policing and as well free the state and Nigeria from crime and criminality.
According to him, “Nigeria Police Force is always in support of development. We have seen the developmental strides of Governor Aregbesola’s administration in the state of Osun.
“Let me add to it, Osun has one of the lowest crime rates in Nigeria. We cherish this feat and we know that the tempo would be sustained.
“We have been monitoring events in the state even from Abuja and we know that the state has never relented in its efforts to security consciousness.
“As part of our visit is to appreciate Mr. Governor for being supportive of officers and men of the command just as we equally commend the good people of Osun for their spirit of cooperation openly demonstrated to Police in the state.
“On our part, we shall continue to live up to expectation of Nigerian people in ensuring a safe atmosphere for all to live. We will not rest on our oars to ensure that our nation is free from crimes of all nature," he said.
In his response, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola advocated for the decentralisation of Police through a proper restructuring and reform to ensure effective zonal management, control and operation of the Police organisation in Nigeria.
He said Nigeria has grown beyond a centralised policing, saying the devolution of power must be encouraged in the Nigeria Police Force to strengthen the sector for greater productivity.
He said the restructuring of the police and the devolution of its control would go a long way to foster improvement in the system, promoting moral integrity and discipline in the affairs of all police officers and men.
Aregbesola held that, since police remains a civil security organisation, the decentralisation of the system will increase the efficiency and proficiency of the Nigeria Police.
The governor asserted that the complexity and diverse nature of policing in Nigeria has become worrisome, a thing which he said requires urgent restructuring to promote effective zonal and state’s control of its administration and management.
According to him, “The essence of human urbanisation and socialisation is security. Therefore, it is a duty not only for government but also the people to support security agencies especially the police.
“Since the first obligation and responsibility of government remains security and maintenance of law and order, therefore, it behoves on any serious government to prioritise and guarantee the security of lives and property of the citizenry.
“So, there can't be civil service or public service without adequate security just as development lies on the security status of any society. All the social and physical infrastructures of any society could be measured by the level of security therein.
“This justifies that there wouldn’t be any iota of development in an unrest, unsecured, volatile and troubled society. And whenever one want any tangible development, thus, one must accord respect and support to security agencies especially the police.
“It is a duty to support the police and it is in view of this that I strongly clamour for a restructuring of the Nigeria Police to enhance effectiveness and raise the standard of dedication and high sense of commitment to professional ethics, values and conducts.
“It is a misnomer in a society like Nigeria for Commissioner of Police in a state to be directly answerable to Inspector General of Police in spite the fact that there is zonal Assistant Inspector General of Police in the zone to which such state emanates.
“Ideally, CP should be answerable to zonal commander (AIG), while its the duty of AIG to be responsible to IG. This would sanitise the system and instill the spirit of commitment and dedication into the system.
“There is need to federate Police Force. Police must restructure its structure in such a way that would enhance effective zonal structure and management.
“We need to make Zonal Command effective and this can only be achieved through restructuring.
“I am a strong advocate of federalisation of Police Force. We need to devolve the control of Police in such a way that the cumbersome shouldered by the Inspector General of Police would be reduced.
“So, it is high time we go back to drawing board and map out policies that would strengthen high sense of professionalism, effectiveness and proficiency in the Police Force because the unitary structure has become obsolete to a nation like Nigeria”, Aregbesola stressed
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CHELSEA legend Claude Makelele insists N'Golo Kante is not yet as good as he was and that the two-time Premier League champion needs more experience.
N’Golo Kante
France midfielder Kante has been viewed as Makelele's natural successor with the Blues.
But Makelele is adamant it is too early to anoint him as such and believes he needs a tougher schedule before we can really judge him.
Chelsea will be back in the Champions League next season.
And it is only then, with the extra midweek games and travel, that Kante will truly prove his worth, insists Makelele.
He said: "At the moment Kante is special and one of the best midfielders.
"The problem is, I played 25 years in football at this level and comparisons are being made in a bad way.
"This season he did not play in the Champions League. Every four days there will be games.
"With the national team there will be games. There will be a lot of games. He needs to get that experience."
Makelele, who made more than 600 appearances through his career and won the league twice with Chelsea before retiring in 2010, wants Kante to succeed.
But he suggested the former Leicester star's style of play may need to change when faced with the increased workload.
He added: "When he is at that level, he will not run for 90 minutes all the time.
"He will need to listen to the rhythm, the way he plays. This will be key for him. I hope this will be the situation. I hope he does better than I did in my career."
The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu has said that ‘without Biafra there will be no difference between an animal and a black person from Africa.
The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo has commended the efforts of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for promoting the Federal Government's initiative on the "Ease of doing Business".
Ag Pres Osinbajo
Osinbajo gave the commendation in a statement issued by Mr Bola Fashina, the Head of Public Relations of SON in Abuja on Saturday.
The acting president spoke at the recent Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Clinic held in Calabar on Friday.
Osinbajo said: "I know this is a new SON ready to go, a business facilitator and not one that hinders business".
President Muhammadu Buhari recently established the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PBEC.
The aim is to review and address all encumbrances in the "Ease of Doing Business'' which includes movement of people and goods in and out of the country, transparency in government, regulations, and registering business among others.
Fashina said the Director-General of SON, Mr Osita Aboloma, who also spoke at the event, said the organisation was saddled with the responsibility of providing relevant Nigerian Industrial standards as benchmark for quality of products and services offered in Nigeria.
Aboloma, represented by Mr Don Pedro, the Coordinator of SON in Cross River, said that other mandates include the promotion of quality assurance, accurate testing and measurement regimes for trade and commerce to thrive in Nigeria.
"Great emphasis is placed on the grooming of budding Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, using the instrument of standardisation.
"This is to support the industrialisation efforts of the government as well as promote consumer safety,'' Aboloma said.
Poor defending ensured Rivers United failed to get a result at KCCA of Uganda today when they fell 2-1 in a CAF Confederation Cup Group A match in Kampala.
Bolaji
The result means FUS Rabat of Morocco top the group with six points after they defeated Club Africain of Tunisia 2-1 at home on Friday. KCCA are second also on six points, while Club Africain place third ahead of Rivers United by virtue of a better goals difference.
However, Rivers United will hope for an immediate fight back as they will host KCCA on June 20. KCCA went in front after Derrick Nsibambi fired home in the 15th minute from deep inside the box for his second goal of the competition.
However, Rivers United fought back and drew level in the 33rd minute with a superb goal by Bolaji Sakin off an equally super assist by striker John Odumegwu from the left flank.
Nsibambi got his brace and the match winner for KCCA on 71 minutes, when he fired home from inside the box unmarked after a long ball from the right beat the entire Rivers defence.
The home team got off to a very bright start as Rivers United goalkeeper Sunday Rotimi was forced to make at least three big saves early in the match.
Rotimi was later injured and was replaced by Abiodun Akande, who made a point-blank save late in the first half to keep scores at 1-1 going into the interval.
The Ugandan champions controlled the possession after the break, but they struggled to make this count till they were gifted the match winner in the 71st minute.
KCCA hit the post and also the side netting late on as they tried to increase their lead.
By Rotimi Ojomoyela Ado-Ekiti- The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has raised the alarm over the continued nefarious activity of the Fulani herdsmen across the country, especially in Benue state, calling on the Federal Government to use every means possible to rein in the killer herdsmen.Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and Ondo State governor Akeredolu in Iyin-Ekiti for the burial service of Late General Adeyinka Adebayo on Saturday.
Fayose said, "what is going on in Benue State is more like an organised pogrom and those responsible for the killings in the State must be arrested and prosecuted."
The governor said Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo should be allowed to function as the president so as to be able to deploy instruments of the federal government to tackle the herdsmen menace, pointing out that; "As it is today, it appears that the Prof Osinbajo does not have the full powers of the president."
In a release issued on Saturday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose, who declared support for the new law prohibiting open grazing in Benue State, said "those opposed to the law are only doing so as part of their plot to undermine the land and people of Benue State and they must be made to face the law."
He sympathised with the government and people of Benue State, adding that the Federal Government must stop playing ostrich to the menace of the Fulani herdsmen.
Governor Fayose said; "Like I have maintained, cattle farming is not different from fish farming, snake farming, poultry farming, snail farming, etc. Therefore, if fish farmers are providing their own ponds and poultry farmers building their own pens, while also buying feed for their animals, there is no reason cattle farmers should not also provide their own ranch and feed their cows without encroaching on other people's farmlands."
"How can Nigerians embrace farming when those already in the farms are losing billions of naira worth of crops to destruction of their farmlands by the Fulani Herdsmen and the Federal Government is not doing anything about it?"
He described the Buhari-led government's continuous silence on the alleged killing of harmless Nigerians by Fulani herdsmen as unacceptable.
The governor said; "In May, 2016, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria boldly told Nigerians that herdsmen killed over 1,000 Agatu people of Benue State then because over 800 of their cows were killed by Tiv youths. The man who openly made that comment was never questioned by the security agent.
"The same Miyetti Allah is now against the Anti-Open Grazing Law in Benue State, vowing to mobilize its members to resist the law and claiming that pastoralists like other citizens of the country have the right to move freely and to reside in any part of the country.
"Does pastoralists have rights to destroy other people's farmlands, invade homes and rape people's wives and daughters? Shouldn't people who are into cattle farming be able to provide feeds for their animals?"
Awka – The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has expressed sympathy with Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra over the death of his mother, Mrs Christiana Obiano.Chief Willie Obiano
A statement by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, signed by APGA National Publicity Secretary, Mr Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, urged Obiano to bear the irreparable loss and find solace in God.
The statement described the governor's late mother as a good woman and devout Christian.
"The National Chairman, Dr Victor Ike Oye and members of NWC of APGA express our condolence to His Excellency, Governor Willie Obiano and members of his family, over the death of his mother.
"May the good Lord give you and the entire family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
"Mama in her lifetime was a devout and committed christian and a very active member of the Catholic Women Organisation.
"May her gentle soul find eternal peace in the bosom of our Lord," it said.
NAN reports that the death of Obiano's mother was announced on Saturday by Mr Tony Nnacheta, Commissioner for Information and Communication Strategy in Anambra.
Minna – Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger has approved the appointment of 17 new permanent secretaries. Abubakar Bello A statement signed by the Head of Service, Yabagi Sule, said on Saturday in Minna that the governor also retired 16 others, including four that had earlier tendered their notices of retirement based on extant rules of the service.
It said that eight permanent secretaries had been retained, while three others, currently on acting capacity, had their appointments confirmed.
The statement said that the governor's action was aimed at consolidating on the successes so far recorded in the ongoing civil service reforms.
It said that the 17 new permanent secretaries' appointments were based on merit, equity and fair representation to correct existing imbalances.
It named the new permanent secretaries to include Salamatu Abubakar, Yusuf Kagara, Yakubu Bello, Akilu Musa, Mohammed Gana, Ramatu Umar, Kaltume Dauda and Mohammed Musa.
Others are Joseph James, Kolo Kudu, Wasa Jonathan, Yahaya Garba, Abubakar Umar, Usman Dalau, Adamu Baba, Kangiwa Baba and Bawa Ibrahim.
Those retained are Umaru Bawa, Shuaibu Adamu, Rachael Yisa, Zakari Abubakar, Abubakar Salisu, Safiya Bawa, Idris Sadiq and Safiya Garafini
Those on acting capacity, who were confirmed, included Mohammed Makusidi, Shehu Mu'azu and Kudu Nagya, who was confirmed and retired.
It added that the state civil service now had 27 permanent secretaries, with each of the 25 local governments having at least one. (NAN)
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Sovereign State of Biafra and one or more questions still linger. I will not delve into the more contentious questions, but for the sake of improving the relationship between the Igbo and their Yoruba neighbors, let me touch on one or two areas where, if the truth is brought to the fore, the relationship between omo Oduduwa and Ndi’Igbo could be improved.
Firstly, why do Ndi’Igbo still believe the false stereotype that the omo Oduduwa (Yoruba) are cowards? This is simply not true and the facts do not support this belief.
In the history of Nigeria, only two men have returned to Nigeria to face almost certain death even when they had the option of a very comfortable political asylum abroad. Both of them are Yoruba. In 1985, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida toppled the Buhari regime while Major General Tunde Idiagbon (mixed Yoruba/Fulani) was at Mecca yet Idiagbon returned.
In 1995, Olusegun Obasanjo (pure Owu Yoruba) was accused of planning a coup by the blood thirsty tyrant, Abacha (if you do not like that truthful description of Abacha or if you believe that ‘Abacha did not loot’, you can go and join him where he is) while he was away in Copenhagen. He returned to face almost certain death.
What more example of bravery can there be than these two shining ones.
Furthermore, there is the apocryphal example of Colonel Francis Adekunle Fajuyi who chose to die with the Head of State, rather than abandon his guest, which he was at liberty to do. I am hard pressed to believe that if it was vice versa, Ironsi would have done the same for Fajuyi, but then again, I may be wrong.
I admired Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu for his guts and stubborn determination during the events leading up to and during the civil war, but I was disappointed that he fled Biafra when the end came. I wish he remained.
I also admired the Right Honorable Nnamdi Azikiwe, but Chief Obafemi Awolowo would NEVER have abandoned his people as Azikiwe did when he defected to the federal side during the civil war.
Awolowo was in prison because of his people and he could have been released had he compromised his beliefs but he stoutly refused. That is courage not cowardice.
I have been in direct communication with General Yakubu Gowon whom I admire but he did not return to Nigeria after he was accused of being behind the Dimka coup.
All things considered, Fajuyi, Obasanjo and Idiagbon are probably the bravest Nigerians ever. They are (were in the cases of Fajuyi and Idiagbon) certainly braver than Murtala Ramat Mohammed, who was safely in London waiting for Joe Garba and co to topple Gowon.
Even with the sullying of his name as a Quisling in the pages of history, it is on record that of all the first republic politicians that were killed in the January 1966 coup, only Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region, put up a fight. He had a rifle and exchanged gunfire with Captain Emmanuel Nwobosi and his men. Akintola, a civilian, injured the trained soldiers and was only killed when his ammunition finished. And even at that he did not cry or beg!
Ndi’Igbo may do well to remember how Wole Soyinka, at great risk to himself, traveled to Enugu during the height of the civil war crisis to persuade Ojukwu against secession. Soyinka had nothing to gain. He did what he did as a humanitarian in support of the Igbos, an act for which he was arrested by the Gowon led Federal Military Government and thrown in jail for 26 months, 22 of which he spent in solitary confinement.
These facts of history prove that the stereotype of Yorubas as cowards is false. Every ethnicity has cowards and brave men. As we celebrate #BiafraAt50, I hope the Yoruba and Igbo can find common ground and unite as Southern Nigeria’s two main ethnic nationalities otherwise the South will continue to be politically disadvantaged even when it is the most educationally advantaged part of Nigeria.
It is true that the Igbo are marginalized in Nigeria, however, I am of the opinion that a lot of the blame for this can be laid at Ndi’Igbo’s doorstep.
In my opinion, and remember this is an opinion not a fact, the major undoing of Ndi’Igbo is their misunderstanding of the term strength.
Ndi’Igbo erroneously believe all strength is physical. They do not seem to realize that strength is your ability to assert your will on earth and that that ability may not always be physical. The proverb-discretion is the better part of valor-is not understood by the Igbo. They tend to be reactionary and consider pausing to study a situation before you respond (not react) as cowardice. One or two of them may get it, but as a race in general they do not.
They do not consider diplomacy as a first step. To them it is weakness and makes you an efulefu! If they have an enemy, they are not able to suppress their emotions and work with those they do not like. They must make their hostility obvious to the person they do not like and being aware of the dislike, the person is armed against them. In an organization, others may be sublime and discrete in their scheming, but the Igbo are more likely to be obvious and in your face about theirs and end up causing unity amongst their enemies in plotting their downfall.
As a general rule, Ndi’Igbo have very little humility and are very proud individually though there are few exceptions and I must single out my friend Emeka Maduewesi as one of those exceptions. An epitome of a gentleman! Another example would be Uche Chuta. May God throw up leaders like Uche in Igboland!&
For example Since 2010, my white beard has been my trademark. In fact Punch newspapers refers to me as ‘the white bearded Omokri’. Yesterday (May 30th), my grandfather called me and asked me to shave it off because he does not like it. That same day, I obeyed him. I obey my grandfather at 43 the same way I obeyed him at 3.
I am very successful today and I trace my success to the upbringing and prayers I got from my father and grandfather. No money ritual is as effective as a prayer and blessing from your fathers. I may be wrong, but I am not sure that a father or grandfather can have this type of influence on an adult financially and socially successful male in Igbo land. What I did may even be construed as weakness.
In my opinion, Ndi’Igbo are also individually more intelligent than their neighbors (I call it as I see it) but they hardly use their intelligence to unite and have one leader, one goal and one destiny. Because of this, even though they are more intelligent, they are almost always doomed to serve those that are wiser than them because wisdom is superior to intelligence.
The Igbo also appear to value leaders because of the leader’s personal attainments in life and so money gives you more leadership credentials than wisdom or age. They forget that a rich man may have more clothes than an elder but cannot have more rags than him. They overestimate the power of money and underestimate the power of wisdom.
If the Igbo can learn humility and practice diplomacy and discipline themselves to have one leader that they listen to in good and bad times not because he is always right but because he is their leader, their marginalization will end and their dominance will begin.
These are merely my opinions which may be wrong.
Now that I have touched on Ndi’Igbo, perhaps I may also touch on the South in general.
There are four things that the South has to understand about the North.
One, there is no such thing as Hausa Fulani. It is a myth. There is Hausa and there is Fulani.
The second thing is that the Fulani are not our enemies. They are our rivals for power. Once we make this paradigm shift, our attitudes to seeking political power will change.
The third thing is that the Northern elite are experts at brinkmanship.
A perfect example is the recent ranting by the chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, the cantankerous Ango Abdullahi, who says that the North is prepared to split from Nigeria.
When at Chief EK Clark’s 90th birthday in Abuja, Ango Abdullahi said “I come from Kaduna State, the population according to the 2006 census puts us at 6.3 million. And if you look at the resources that come from the so called federation account to Kaduna, it is one quarter of what Delta gets”, what Nigerians should understand is that he was only playing the game of brinksmanship.
Kaduna contributes only 0.1% of the funds that enter the Federation Account and gets 1.4% of the monies that leave the Federation Account.
Who should complain between Kaduna and Delta?
The fourth and final thing is that too many Southerners are filled with hostility for the Hausa people. Unbeknownst to but a few of us down South, there are very few actual Hausa people in the North.
Hausa is more of a language than a people. Most of those we in the South label ‘Hausa’ in the North are a motley crew of various minority ethnic groups who are bound together by a common lingua franca-Hausa.
For decades before Independence these minority groups had been dominated by the Fulani and when Independence came they thought that the more exposed Southerners would come and hand them a hand of fellowship and deliver them from their oppressors but to their shock we greeted them with hostility and sometimes open hatred and a wise sage like Sardauna Ahmadu Bello opened up his hands to them through his policy of One North and empowered Northern minorities like Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sunday Awoniyi and co.
Who knows, he may have done the same with the South and created a truly ‘One Nigeria’, if his life had not been tragically cut short in the coup mistakenly called Nzeogwu coup but which was actually masterminded by Emmanuel Ifeajuna with Nzeogwu being slightly more than a pawn in the game.
Ahmadu Bello was not a tribalistic leader. But he was a regional leader. He was suspicious of Southerners in general and he had something akin to disdain and maybe even contempt for Ndi’Igbo. It is an inconvenient truth that cannot be denied. Even his hardcore followers cannot deny this. He is caught on video articulating this view and these videos are now on YouTube.
Some of Sir Ahmadu Bello’s successors have built upon the foundations he laid and have matured to be great patriots.
For instance, despite what the media has written about him to exaggerate his faults, the fact remains that former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is one of the most patriotic Nigerians alive. Only President Olusegun Obasanjo can be said to be more patriotic than General Babangida in contemporary Nigerian history.
How do I mean? Consider this; In 1998 after Abacha died and Babangida’s protege, General Abdulsalami Abubakar became head of state, President Babangida engineered the shift of political power from the North to the Southwest and specifically to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
For those who think that he had to do this let me ask you a question: What would have happened if the 1999 Presidential election had been thrown open to all and sundry, and not just restricted to the Southwest, and a Northerner like Atiku Abubakar or some other credible Northerner had won?
Would the Southwest have seceded? Would there have been war in 1999? Would Nigeria have gone the way of Rwanda? No, no, no!
There would have been a great discontent in the Southwest, but as long as the results were free and fair, there would have been little the Southwest could have done to change the situation.
Now let me ask a hypothetical question: Placed in that same situation, with Igbo dominance in the military and in government, would an Igbo leader have ceded power to the Yorubas to compensate them for an event like June 12 knowing that even if he did not there was little they could do by way of taking the power from him?
Even an Igbo man would agree with me that this is very unlikely.
I do not need to ask the question of whether or not a Yoruba man would do this because General Olusegun Obasanjo had already done it in 1979.
It is this statesmanly humility, (having the power to do something that would favour yours and your people’s cause, yet having the conscience and discipline not to do it because it is against the principles of natural justice), that Ndi’Igbo lack in sufficient quantity at their leadership levels.
The above reason is why power continues to elude them. It is more than physical. It is spiritual. As James 4:10 says “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
This humility is ingrained into Yoruba and Northern youths from infancy. In the North, youths squat to greet their fathers and their male elders. In the Southwest, children are taught to prostrate for their elders as a form of greeting. Banky W, is an international star but when he met Dele Momodu, he prostrated before him. Long before him, Sir Shina Peters did that to King Sunny Ade. I doubt that an Igbo man can even muster enough humility to prostrate before his own father how much more an elder! He would consider that as foolishness.
And there is nothing unGodly about this. It is not idolatrous. Many Igbos like to claim Jewish ancestry. Maybe they are right maybe they are not. But Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation. In Genesis 18:2 the Bible records that “Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.”
Look at that “bowed low to the ground”. Abraham prostrated!
That act of humility does not take anything from you. But it gives everything to you. You see, a man’s greatest pleasure and need is not money or sex. It is to feel important. It is to be respected.
Both religion and science support this position. In Genesis 1:28 God gave man a charge and said “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion”.
It is God Himself that put the desire in man to want to dominate, to want to be respected.
According to Sigmund Freud, man is dominated by two urges, the sex urge and the urge to be important. This goes back to Genesis 1:28 ‘be fruitful’ and ‘have dominion’.
Women by and large influence men through the first urge which Freud named ‘Eros’. Men influence other men through another part of the male personality that Freud called ego.
Because every man has an ego (the only difference is in size) it is very difficult, if not impossible to influence another man without massaging his ego. Refusal to do so can only end in two ways:
Conflict: which arises when two egos collide and one refuses to bow to the other, or Frustration: which arises when one person refuses to work on the ego of a man who has power over him.
And let me say that no one can have power over you except he was given that power by God which is why Romans 13:1 says “there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Reno Omokri is a Christian TV talk show host and founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the Helen and Bemigho Sanctuary for orphans. He is the author of three books, Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God, Why Jesus Wept and Apples of Gold: A Book of Godly Wisdom. His upcoming fourth book, Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies, is set for release in June.
A little girl from Tuscon, Arizona in U.S. who suffered from a rare condition causing such debilitating and dangerous seizures that she was put into a coma, has been cured by cannabis.
Annalise Lujan, 12, was taking part in a gymnastics class when she began vomiting and lost all feeling in her legs.Cannabis helped Annalise Lujan regain her life
She suffered a severe seizure and was rushed to hospital where paramedics put her in a medically induced coma to stop any further damage being caused to her brain.
The youngster was flown to a specialist unit at Phoenix Children's Hospital where she was diagnosed with febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES), an incredibly rare condition affecting just one in a million children.
Her mother, Maryann Estrada-Lujan, told KVOA : "One day, she was just a healthy young lady, going to school, participating in her community and her gymnastics, and the next day – fighting for her life.
"She was put on a ventilator, and put into a medical coma, and, we haven't talked to her since.
"We had no idea that our whole world would be 180-degrees turned around in such devastation, such heartache, such confusion."
The condition was causing Annalise to suffer constant seizures which can prove to be fatal, but normal epilepsy medication was ineffective against FIRES.
Doctors were not able to bring her out of her induced coma until they found a method of controlling the seizures.
Her mother began researching alternative remedies and discovered a cannabis -derived drug, Cannabidiol, which had been successful in previous epilepsy cases.
She lobbied for the drug, which has low levels of THC which is the active ingredient making people 'high', to be given to her daughter.
Doctors had to rush through its approval with the FDA and DEA as the drug was not yet approved.
After just three treatments the schoolgirl was able to be brought out of her coma, and no longer suffers from the crippling seizures.
Her mother said: "She opened her eyes, and she was scared. She was afraid. She cried. And, I whispered to her that she was very strong, she's beautiful, and she's strong, and she needed to keep breathing, and she did."
Ahead of the Ogun governorship poll in 2019, a civil society organization, Ogun Progressive Mandate (OPM), has cautioned the governor of the state, Mr. Ibikunle Amosun to desist from making inflammatory statements that is likely to overheat the polity.
In a statement issued by the Convener, Mr. Ahmed Bamidele, the group disclosed that the successor of any elected leader can only be determined by God.
“On the race towards the 2011 general elections, no one gave the current governor a chance, everyone’s thought was with the ruling party, due to its structure and federal might ,but when God acts, human would be in a confused state”
“Also, if he doesn’t understand the Lord’s doing on how he became Daniel’s successor, then he should probably understand how Yayaha Bello became a governor. All in all, one fact is sacrosanct, only God can anoint a successor for him”
Besides, the group added that the recent statement ‘imported politician’ being credited to the governor is an aberration to the prosperous sons and daughters struggling to make a living outside the state.
“For every success being recorded in the world, an Ogun indigene is associated with it. Only recently, an Ogun state born boxer, Anthony Joshua became victorious. If tomorrow he decides to contest, won’t he be regarded as a ‘Tokunbo’? ”
“In politics, our leaders must be careful in making utterances. Emotions must not overtake their sense of reasoning. While ‘Tekobo’ may be said to score cheap political points, it is worthy to note that every successful individual in Nigeria has tapped from the blessings of Lagos”
“Also enjoying the honey of Lagos is the current deputy Governor, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga, who is on leave of absence from the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, likewise the governor who became successful as a chartered accountant in the centre of excellence”
Finally, the group appealed to the governor to complete all abandoned projects he initiated in the state, alluding to it as the best legacy he can be remembered for.
IBADAN-THE Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) chapter has announced the commencement of an indefinite strike.
This action came three months after the suspension of an 8-month industrial action earlier embarked upon by the union.
According to a statement signed by Biodun Olaniran, chairperson of the ASUU, LAUTECH chapter, and Toyin Abegunrin, secretary, this is an indefinite and comprehensive strike commencing immediately.
“This is to inform our members that the National Executive Council (NEC) of our union has granted the branch the permission to resume the strike action that was earlier suspended in February with immediate effect.”
"This is an indefinite and comprehensive strike commencing immediately. The three weeks wait for the White Paper or audit panel report, dating back to 11th May, 2017, ended today and nothing is yet to come out."
According to them, the strike became inevitable since the two governments of Oyo and Osun have failed to honor the damands of paying the salaries arrears of its union members in due time.
"It has been over two years now that LAUTECH has been thrown into crippling financial crisis due to government's refusal to meet its funding obligations to the institution," they said.
Isco was picked to start for Real Madrid instead of the fit-again Gareth Bale in Saturday’s Champions League final against Juventus at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
Cardiff native Bale has recovered from a calf injury that had sidelined him since April 23, but coach Zinedine Zidane elected to keep faith with Spanish playmaker Isco, who has excelled in recent weeks.
Holders Madrid were otherwise as expected, with Cristiano Ronaldo partnering Karim Benzema in attack, while there was no place in the match-day squad for Colombia star James Rodriguez.
Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri selected a full-strength team, with Dani Alves and Alex Sandro the wing-backs and Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic supporting lone striker Gonzalo Higuain.
Madrid are seeking to become the first team to successfully defend the European Cup since AC Milan in 1990 and the first to do so in the Champions League era.
Juve, who have lost their last four Champions League finals, are aiming to complete the first Treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and European Cup wins in their history.
Starting line-ups in the UEFA Champions League final between Juventus and holders Real Madrid at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday (1845 GMT kick-off):
Juventus (3-4-3): Gianluigi Buffon (capt); Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorginio Chiellini; Dani Alves, Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Alex Sandro; Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, Gonzalo Higuain
Coach: Massimiliano Allegri (ITA)
Real Madrid (4-3-1-2): Keylor Navas; Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos (capt), Raphael Varane, Marcelo; Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric; Isco; Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo
ABUJA-A total of 200 graduates, who participated in the Nigerian Army’s 2017 Direct Short Service Commission, DSSC,were fully enlisted Saturday, into the service of the Nigerian Army.
A cross section of NDA Cadets' Mass Band during the Passing Out Parade of Regular Course 59 and Short Service Course 40. Photo credit: NDA
Their enlistment came following their successful completion of their professional training at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, in Kaduna, Kaduna State.
Out of the number, 82 of them were medical doctors out of which eight were consultants in various fields of Medicine.
Also, 26 others, according to a statement from the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Sani Usman, were lawyers just as 21 others were Public Relations specialists.
The statement stated that 18 others also were enlisted with specialty to Army Aviation and Engineering just as 19 others were protestant Chaplaincy.
In the same vein, 21 others were identified as having deep knowledge of the Catholic faith, while three also had specialty in Islamic Affairs .
“The full statement from Usman read :”Passing Out Parade/Commissioning and Oath taking Ceremony of 200 Officer Cadets of Direct Short Service Commission 23/2016 at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, Kaduna which is presided by the Reviewing Officer and Special Guest of Honour, Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali, Honourable Minister of Defence.
” The cadets comprised of 82 Medical Doctors out of which 8 are Consultants in various fields of Medicine, 26 Lawyers, 21 Public Relations specialists, 18 with specialty to Army Aviation and Engineering, 19 Protestant Chaplaincy, 21 Catholic, 23 Islamic Affairs specialists.
“It is unprecedented in the history of the Nigerian Army and great boast to the strength of the Officer Corps of the Nigerian Army by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General TY Buratai.”
ABUJA- THE Presidency said Saturday that it has no plans to reject the 2017 Budget which was recently approved by the National Assembly.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senate, Senator Ita Enang, the presidency explained that at the moment, the budget was being subjected to serious scrutiny.
According to him, at the end of the day, if the Presidency discovers grey areas or discrepancies, it would hold a meeting with the leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives for both the Executive and the legislature to be on the same page.
Enang’s statement read in full, “The Presidency is working within the constitutional time-frame required to process details of the 2017 budget passed by the National Assembly. There is no such plan by it to reject the 2017 budget passed by the National Assembly as alleged in some reports.
“The Presidency can only assent to the budget or withhold assent as the case maybe. However, should there be areas needing input, the Presidency would engage the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives. As such, any report suggesting a rejection of the 2017 budget by the presidency is incorrect.
“Right now, the Presidency is subjecting every detail of the budget using the available systems at its disposal to ensure the figures appropriated to MDAs are consistent with the realities on ground, while also engaging in consultations.
“When the budget was presented to both chambers of the National Assembly for consideration last year by President Muhammadu Buhari, both chambers subjected the document to legislative processes using internal systems at their disposal.
“This, exactly, is what the presidency is actually doing at the moment to ensure what would be eventually assented to sufficiently addresses the nation’s present realities, as not doing so could expose government to a backlash from Nigerians.”
It would be recalled that Presidency had last week said that no date has been fixed for assent to the passed 2017 Appropriation Bill, just as it said that consultations as to the signing of the document were still on going.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Maters, Senate, Senator Ita Enang while responding to when the 2017 budget would be signed into law has simply said that, “Further to several enquiries regarding action on the 2017 Appropriation Bill by the Executive, be informed that Assent to same is not yet scheduled as consultations and engagements are on going. Be please informed.”
It would be recalled that the Senate had on May 16th, 2017, explained that the need for authentication of the passed 2017 Appropriation Bill was the rationale behind the delay in the transmission of the document to the Executive arm of government for consideration and assent.
Addressing Journalists on the delay in transmission, Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, APC, Niger North who explained that the passage of the budget document does not automatically translate that the document would be transmitted immediately, had said that the Joint committees on Appropriations still must carry out its assignment properly by not relenting on its oars.
Senator Abdullahi had said, “After the budget is passed, the appropriation committee has to do some authentication, to avoid just any kind of document flying around. Any moment from now (Tuesday afternoon) today or tomorrow, it would be transmitted to the Presidency. Let us allow those who have been given certain responsibilities to do their job, which must include certain protocols.
"Remember that we had to adjourn and reconvene to approve the votes and proceedings to allow them continue the process. If not, they would not be able to do anything on the document. If we had waited till today (Tuesday) to approve the votes and proceedings, it means they would have to start today.”
The defence on the delay came five days after the National Assembly had on May 11th, passed a total of N7,441,175,486,758 Appropriation Bill, which represented an increase of N143 billion from what was presented last December by President Muhammadu Buhari.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had presented the N7.298trillion budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 14, 2016 and had during the presentation, disclosed that his administration would pay more attention to infrastructure with roads and rail projects enjoying priority attention.
ABUJA – Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Sebastian Hon, has applauded decision of the National Judicial Council, NJC, to recall some of the Judges that were suspended from the bench over corruption allegations against them.Justice Ademola and his wife, Olabowale at Abuja court recently.
Hon, SAN, maintained that the NJC took the right decision since the Federal Government has failed to file any charge against the affected superior court Judges, eight months after they were arrested by the Department of State Service, DSS.
He said: “The decision of the NJC to lift the suspension of the Justices and Judges accused of corruption is a most welcome development.
“The NJC, even though is, under the Constitutional, not subject to any body’s direction or control, decided to tacitly support the anti-corruption drive of the government, by in the first place suspending those Judicial Officers – even when they were not arraigned and convicted.
“Since the Executive could not arraign them or secure conviction, the NJC just did the needful, as some of us urged them to do so.
“No country treats its citizens the way those Judicial Officers were treated; and the NJC just woke up to its constitutional and moral responsibility – by taking this bold step.
“Speaking for myself, I will say kudos to the NJC. I will also conclude by urging the security agencies not to see this as an attempt by the Judiciary to splash odious mud on their face, but as the discharge of a constitutional and moral obligation by the NJC”, he added.
The Lagos State Police Command would like to allay the fears of the general public with regards to the falsehood being circulated on the social media in respect of security situation at Mafoluku-Oshodi and environs.
Oshodi is relatively calm and not “boiling as being erroneously peddled. It is mischief and callousness to put people in fear.
Video footage being circulated to back the false information is that of the bomb incident around Banex Plaza, Abuja in 2014.
The Lagos State Police Command avail this opportunity to re-assure members of the public that we will continue to work in partnership with the good people of Lagos and other Security Agencies to ensure safety and security of life and properties.
Always remember to say something if you see something.
The Lagos State Police Command, on Saturday advised members of the public to disregard false reports of a bomb blast in Oshodi area of Lagos.
The spokesman of the command, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole said in a statement on Saturday that report of the purported blast in the social media was absolutely false.
"We would like to allay the fears of the general public with regards to the falsehood being circulated on the social media in respect of security situation at Mafoluku-Oshodi and environs.
"Oshodi is relatively calm and not boiling as being erroneously peddled. It is mischief and callousness to put people in fear.
"Video footage being circulated to back the false information is that of the bomb incident around Banex Plaza, Abuja in 2014.
"The Lagos State Police Command avail this opportunity to reassure members of the public that we will continue to work in partnership with the good people of Lagos and other Security Agencies to ensure safety and security of lives and properties.
" Always remember to say something if you see something," the statement added.
A man Travis Wagner has pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanour charges of trespassing and sexual intercourse with an animal.Buhari welcomed by horse riders on arrival at the passing out parade of the cadets
The 22-year-old admitted having sex on several occasions with a miniature horse several times after sneaking into a barn in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Wagner was however, spared jail but must instead pay a fine and stay away from his brown and white victim and its family.
He was caught after the horse's owner contacted police to report a man driving a Dodge pickup truck had been trespassing on his property late at night.
The owner said he saw a man had gone into his barn, which "houses cattle and a miniature horse".
When quizzed by cops, Wagner confessed he had entered the barn to have sex with the miniature horse on at least three occasions.
According to the Mirror, the culprit was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay nearly $1,700 in fines and court costs.
He was originally facing counts of burglary which is a felony which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison but thanks to a plea deal with prosecutors.
