A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering Niger delta, general national news, politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion,lifestyle human interest stories, etc
President Muhammadu Buhari who departed Nigeria for London Sunday night for follow-up medical consultation with his doctors has said that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will take charge in his absence and that Government will continue to function smoothly and efficiently.
By Levinus Nwabughiogu ABUJA-The cliche’ “the more you look, the less you see was exactly what played out at the Presidential Villa, Abuja as Journalists covering President Muhammadu Buhari and his official activities were literary barred from covering his meeting with the released 82 Chibok girls.
82 Chibok girls with President Buhari shortly before leaving for London
With the official statement from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu on Saturday that the girls freed on the same day would be formally received by the president on Sunday, State House correspondents set out early for the event.
Time for the reception was originally 4pm but the Journalists arrived 2pm.
By 3:30 pm, they walked to the official residence of the president, venue of the reception from the press gallery of the Council Chamber but were told by the security men on duty to wait for clearance.
It turned out to be waiting game as the girls earlier expected by 4pm didn’t arrive until 7:05pm.
Upon their arrival in two Maccopolo white buses with an inscription “Nigerian Army”, the girls were driven inside the premises to alight behind a closed steel gate that made it extremely difficult for anyone to behold them.
Only the Reporter and the Cameraman from State owned media house, the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA and the personal photographer to the President were allowed access into the meeting.
The General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleiman has said that he received with bewilderment the purported claim by Ms., Stephanie Otobo, the Nigerian Canada-based stripper, that she has become born again and accordingly forgiven Apostle Johnson Suleman, with whom she previously accused of having an amorous relationship. In a statement signed by the church's Communications Manager, Mr Phrank Shaibu, it expressed doubts about Stephanie’s new claim of being born again, coming on the heels of the fresh suit instituted by her against Apostle Suleman in Canada, the smear campaign and threat to unveil nude pictures confirming her tryst with the senior pastor.
Mr Shaibu particularly pointed out the several lacunas in the statement announcing Miss Otobo’s new status as a born again Christian, noting that the Canada-based stripper must provide answers to some salient questions before she could be believed.
Stephanie Otobo and Apostle Joshua Suleiman
Part of the statement read thus: “After besmirching the reputation of a man that she has never physically met, Stephanie Otobo, who filed a suit for $5 million against Apostle Johnson Suleiman in a Canadian court in abuse of court process now claims she is born again and wants to put the whole saga behind her and forget the matter and withdraw the case?”
“Not so fast. Where are the explosive incontrovertible evidence she , Festus Keyamo and their team of jeer leaders promised Nigerians? Where are the travel documents she promised to reveal? Where are the nude pictures she claimed to have?
“The 33 year old-officially 23 year old girl who made history by being the only woman to miscarry a baby from her backside rather than her front side (as she claimed) now wants to forgive and forget?”
“Her father called her a liar, her mother called her a liar, her best friend said she was a blackmailer and when given the chance to prove them all wrong she suddenly becomes born again?
“No! We refuse to accept that. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. He who comes to the Lord must come with contrition.
“Psalm 51:17 says “a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Contrition requires remorse and confession. If Stephanie Otobo is indeed born again, we welcome it, but we need to see proof of that and the proof is her confession that she lied or her provision of proof that she did not.
“This girl, who has undermined the faith of many through her Lies wants to get acceptance without doing penance for an act of wickedness motivated by finance!
“A girl who lied that she had her marriage introduction in the apostles office should be honest enough to do her damage control in the office of the court where she filed her suit by providing supporting proof rather than this suspicious handing it over to the Lord when the time came for her to have her day in court.”
“Apostle Johnson Suleman has refused to be blackmailed and his refusal has frustrated his accuser and her sponsors who now hope that this issue will die a natural death but you cannot play with The Lord’s servant and now go to Him without first confessing”.
It is against the foregoing that the spokesman asked Nigerians and Christian community worldwide to be weary of the new claim of Stephanie Otobo, warning that the ex-stripper may be up to mischief and seeking new victims to blackmail.
President Muhammadu Buhari departed Nigeria for London Sunday night for follow-up medical consultation with his doctors.
He had planned to leave Sunday afternoon, but decided to tarry a bit, due to the arrival of 82 Chibok girls who arrived Abuja earlier in the day.
"The President assured Nigerians that there is no cause for worry", said Femi Adesina, the media and publicity adviser
"He is very grateful for the prayers and good wishes of the people, and hopes they would continue to pray for the peace and unity of the nation.
"The length of the President's stay in London will be determined by the doctors.
"Government will continue to function normally under the able leadership of the Vice President.
"President Buhari has transmitted letters about the trip to the Senate and the House of Representatives, in compliance with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution".
The President had travelled in January for a similar check and returned on 10 March.
Pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron resoundingly won France’s landmark presidential election on Sunday, first estimates showed, defeating far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a pivotal vote for the future of the divided country and Europe.
Emmanuel Macron
At 39, the former investment banker will be the country’s youngest-ever leader and faces a huge challenge to heal a fractured and demoralised country.
The vicious election campaign has exposed deep economic and social divisions, as well as tensions around identity and immigration.
“A new chapter in our long history begins tonight. I want it to be one of hope and renewed confidence,” Macron told AFP in a call shortly after results were released.
Initial estimates showed Macron winning between 65 percent and 66.1 percent of the ballots — a higher than expected score – and Le Pen scoring between 33.9 percent and 35 percent.
Unknown three years ago, Macron is now poised to become one of Europe’s most powerful leaders, bringing with him a hugely ambitious agenda of political and economic reform for France and the European Union.
The result will resonate worldwide and particularly in Brussels and Berlin where leaders will breathe a sigh of relief that Le Pen’s anti-EU, anti-globalisation programme has been defeated.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said it was a “victory for a strong and united Europe”, while EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said French voters had chosen a “European future.”
After Britain’s vote last year to leave the EU and Donald Trump’s victory in the US, the French election had been widely watched as a test of how high a tide of right-wing nationalism would rise.
“France is sending… an incredible message of hope to the world,” veteran centrist Francois Bayrou, an ally of Macron, told France 2 television. “Anyone who bet on this has probably made a fortune.”
Le Pen, 48, had portrayed the ballot as a contest between Macron and the “globalists” — in favour of open trade, immigration and shared sovereignty — and her “patriotic” vision of strong borders and national identities.
In a short statement, Le Pen said she had called Macron to wish him “success” in tackling the “huge challenges” he faced and announced that she would lead the FN into June’s parliamentary elections.
– Major obstacles ahead –
Macron will now face huge challenges as he attempts to enact his domestic agenda of cutting state spending, easing labour laws, boosting education in deprived areas and extending new protections to the self-employed.
The philosophy and literature lover is inexperienced, has no political party and must try to fashion a working parliamentary majority after legislative elections next month.
His En Marche movement — “neither of the left, nor right” — has vowed to field candidates in all 577 constituencies, with half of them women and half of them newcomers to politics.
“In order for us to act, we will need a majority in the National Assembly,” the secretary general of En Marche, Richard Ferrand, told the TF1 channel, adding that only “half of the journey” had been completed.
Many analysts are sceptical about Macron’s ability to win a majority with En Marche candidates alone, meaning he might have to form a coalition of lawmakers committed to his agenda.
Furthermore, his economic agenda, particularly plans to weaken labour regulations to fight stubbornly high unemployment, are likely to face fierce resistance from trade unions and his leftist opponents.
He also inherits a country which is still in a state of emergency following a string of Islamist-inspired attacks since 2015 that have killed more than 230 people.
– Rollercoaster election –
The vote Sunday followed one of the most unpredictable election campaigns in modern history marked by scandal, repeated surprises and a last-minute hacking attack on Macron.
Hundreds of thousands of emails and documents stolen from his campaign were dumped online on Friday and then spread by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, leading the candidate to call it an attempt at “democratic destabilisation.”
France’s election authority said publishing the documents could be a criminal offence, a warning flouted by Macron’s opponents and far-right activists online.
It was the latest twist in an election that has consistently wrong-footed observers as angry voters chose to eject establishment figures, including one-time favourite Francois Fillon, a rightwing ex-prime minister.
Unpopular President Francois Hollande was the first to bow to the rebellious mood in December as he declared he would be the first sitting president not to seek re-election in the French republic, founded in 1958.
In the first round of the presidential election on April 23, Macron topped the vote with 24.01 percent, followed by Le Pen on 21.30 percent, in a crowded field of 11 candidates.
The results revealed Macron was favoured among wealthier, better educated citizens in cities, while Le Pen drew support in the countryside as well as poverty-hit areas in the south and rustbelt northeast.
…Says Ifeanyi Ubah, or anyone else can’t incite us to cause economic sabotage
By Victor Ahiuma-Young
PETROLEUM Tankers Drivers, PTD, branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday dismissed the allegation credited to the Department of the State security service, DSS, that one of the reasons Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Capital Oil, was arrested, was for inciting members of PTD to cause economic sabotage.
DSS OPERATIVES
PTD in a statement by its National Chairman, Comrade Salimon Oladiti, declared that the “allegation is baseless, unfounded and totally untrue.”
According to the statement: “We read from an online publication that one of the reasons for the arrest of Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, was for inciting Petroleum Tanker Driver to cause economic sabotage. The leadership of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers wishes to categorically deny the allegation of Ifeanyi Ubah or any other individual, inciting the Tanker Drivers to cause any economic sabotage. The allegation is baseless, unfounded and totally untrue. Our responsibility as a Trade Union is solely to promote, project and protect the job security and welfare of workers most especially the petroleum tanker drivers in Nigeria.
“We have no further relationship with any capitalist/employer beyond the precinct of promoting, projecting and protecting the security of jobs and welfare of our members. We unequivocally support the ongoing war against corruption by the current government and any capitalist/employer found culpable of stealing, diversion or embezzlement of government funds should be appropriately dealt with in accordance with the law. The Petroleum Tanker Driver Branch of NUPENG has over the years built a good brand of integrity and excellent service to the nation and we will not allow anyone or institution no matter how highly placed to bring this beautiful brand our forebears toiled to build into disrepute.”
Renowned for his popular hit track titled 'Suo', which rocked the airwaves, streets and ghettoes in the late 90s, veteran dancehall artiste, Marvelous Benjy, claims to be unruffled by the new generation of dancehall artistes who have been gradually changing the face of dancehall music in Nigeria. According to him, the influx of new dancehall artistes has helped to bring out the best of the music genre.
Marvelous Benjy
In a recent chat with E-daily, Marvelous, who is notably one of the pioneers of the dancehall musical genre in Nigeria, believes that competition among dancehall artistes will make the craft better. "It's a welcome idea to see the new generation of artistes changing the face of dancehall music from what it used to be to what it is now. It's good for us, it's a welcome idea, and I like the whole idea of the competition.
The truth of the matter is that the coming of this new trend of dancehall music and artistes has brought about the best of dancehall music, because competition will only bring about the best. To be sincere, either it gingers me or not to do more as one of the pioneers of dancehall music in Nigeria, it brings out the best of the craft", he said.
Mrs Liz Ahua, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Representative for West Africa, says massive displacement in Nigeria's North-East zone poses great dangers of statelessness for victims.
Ahua said this on Sunday in Banjul at the opening ceremony of a three-day ministerial meeting on the Adoption of the Regional Plan of Action to Eradicate Statelessness in West Africa.
She said that if urgent actions were not taken, some of the 2.4 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or refugees residing neighbouring countries could lose their nationality and become stateless.
She explained that displacement, whether caused by conflicts or natural disasters, was a root cause of statelessness which further increases the risk, if not urgently and properly tackled.
She said that it could also become an obstacle to achieving durable solutions for displaced persons and prevent them from rebuilding their lives in dignity as well as impede return and relocation.
"The crises in the Lake Chad Basin region is a prime example where over 2.4 million people have been displaced by the conflict, including over 1.8 million IDPs in Nigeria
"Over 200,000 Nigerians are living as refugees in neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon without adequate documentation.
"Before the crises, civil registration, including birth registration, were already low in the region and most of those displaced lack identity documents.
"This has created many challenges, including discerning between refugees and IDPs in local communities, impacting their access to protection and rights.
"In the longer term, this may hamper the achievement of durable solution for the displaced.''
According to her, the link between issues of statelessness, sustaining peace and security in the region cannot be separated as statelessness can lead to insecurity and instability.
She explained that stateless persons, when they felt deserted, could easily be used as tools of destruction by insurgents and criminals in carrying our attacks and perpetuating other crimes.
Ahua commended Nigeria and Niger for their commitment in pushing for the Adoption of the Abuja Declaration on the Protection of the Lake Chad Basin in June 2016.
She said that the commitment of both countries gave impetus to the Abidjan Declaration in its engagement to reduce the risk of statelessness among the displaced populations.
The UNHCR Regional Representative further said that laudable efforts were under way to address documentation and nationality issues in the affected areas. (NAN)
Nollywood actress cum producer, Omoni Oboli, weekend, asked her fans to pray for her family after she lost her beloved father in a fatal car accident last Friday.
Omoni Oboli
The actress made the appeal via her Twitter handle, a day before she launched her fashion line 'Omoni Oboli By AVE' The fashion line was launched yesterday in conjunction with Ayo Van Elmer, yesterday, at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
"The devil is a liar, pray for me and my family," she wrote. The appeal is coming three weeks after another Instagram post where she reminisced about a good time she had with her father in Asaba, the Delta State capital, where she was promoting her new movie, “Okafor’s Law”.
Recall that before now, Oboli had faced some challenges following a case of copyright infringement and trademark violation brought against her by a Canadian-based Nigerian script writer, Jude Idada, who secured a court injunction to stop the premiere of Oboli’s much -talked about movie,"Okafor's Law" and also its release on March 31. However, the ban was lifted following a counter suit.
Meanwhile, speaking about her fashion line, the actress who is known for rocking Ayo Van Elmer's designs said, 'I am introducing to the world my inner passion and ideas and a new side of me. You all know me as an actress and movie maker, now you all get to see this whole new side of me. I am excited about this fashion line and excited to be working with Ayo Van Elmer. This fashion line is for my fans and fans of fashion'.
Popular Nollywood actor, Jim Iyke who delved into manufacturing business called Burgeon Global a few years back, is now plotting to expand into real estate business and services.
Nollywood star, Jim Iyke
Jim Iyke took to his Intagram page, weekend, to announce his latest effort. "Men at work. Lustrous Dynamic Global Services; future horizons. Unveiling soon,"he wrote.
In another post, Jim Iyke uploaded a picture of himself and his workers with a caption; "This is what my team and I look like at the office. It’s not pretty but we get first class work done with first class results. We will announce the first of our many platforms on May 10."
Recall that the controversial actor, a few years back delved into sachet water business, with its headquarters located in Abuja. Indeed, since he veered into business, fans of Jim Iyke have been missing him on the big screen.
Emmanuel Macron, who exit polls say won France’s presidential elections on Sunday, may have seen off the competition in the race for the Elysee Palace but will face daunting challenges when he takes office.
Emmanuel Macron
The 39-year-old must unite a deeply-divided country, roll back unemployment and try to nudge a fractious EU along the path of reform — but he first faces a battle to secure a governing majority in legislative elections due next month.
– Reunite France – Macron, a pro-European centrist and former banker, takes over a divided country where nearly half of voters backed extremist candidates — critical of the EU, globalisation and “elites” — in the first round of the election.
The “two Frances” are divided geographically — one urban, more affluent and open to reform; the other, concentrated in the northern rustbelt and in disadvantaged areas of the countryside. It was this latter France that voted for Macron’s far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen.
Macron knows that many voters backed him not out of conviction but simply to stop Le Pen taking power, and his support could evaporate at the parliamentary elections.
“Will the Macron-Le Pen divide — which is a national, existential identity divide, not the usual left-right split — continue into the legislative election? I tend to think so,” said analyst Stephane Rozes of the CAP thinktank.
– The impossible majority? – Macron has promised to move beyond traditional left and right parties to create a new majority in the centre.
He launched his En Marche! (On the Move) party less than a year ago but managed to attract hundreds of thousands of supporters. He finished first in the first round of the election with a quarter of the vote. In the runoff against Le Pen, he notched up almost two-thirds of the vote, according to exit polls.
Now he must convert his extraordinary rise — unprecedented in recent French history — into a solid presence in the National Assembly.
After his success in the presidential race, Macron believes that the French people will give him another victory in parliamentary elections, which will take place on June 11 and 18.
But the traditional centre-right, whose candidate Francois Fillon crashed out in the first round amid a fake jobs scandal, hopes to strike back and force Macron into a coalition arrangement in parliament.
The far left, emboldened by the first-round success of candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who took an unexpectedly high 19.6 percent, is also aiming for a strong showing.
– Labour law battle – Macron has lamented France’s failure to solve its unemployment problem.
French joblessness runs at 10 percent, which compares with an average of 8.0 percent across the EU and just 3.9 percent in neighbouring Germany.
Like his predecessors, Macron will be judged above all on employment, and he has vowed to force through reform of France’s hidebound labour laws using executive orders during his first months in office.
This accelerated procedure, bypassing parliament, could mean a fiery start to his term as France’s highly activist unions would likely bring protests out onto the streets, as they did last year when Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls used the tactic.
Macron wants to cut unemployment to seven percent by 2022 by liberalising employment laws, cutting business rates and loosening restrictions in France’s 35-hour working week.
– Terror threat – The killing of a policeman on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris just three days before the first-round vote was a sobering reminder of the terror threat hanging over France.
More than 230 people have been killed in jihadist attacks in France since January 2015, many carried out in the name of the Islamic State (IS) group.
“IS is open about its desire to smash national cohesion by exacerbating tensions between Muslims and the rest of the population,” said Marc Hecker of the French Institute of International Relations.
Hecker pointed to the dangers posed by hundreds of French IS fighters returning home from Syria and Iraq in the coming years.
With no previous experience in such matters, Macron has to move quickly to show he has a grip on these challenges and his role as military commander-in-chief.
General Jean-Paul Palomeros, who advised Macron, predicted that France’s military commitments in the Middle East and Africa would continue unchanged.
Macron has also said he wants to reinforce the EU’s external borders and has called for a major increase in resources for the Frontex agency.
– EU reform – Macron sees a reinvigoration of the France-Germany alliance as crucial to relaunching the EU after the shocks of Brexit and the migrant crisis.
He plans to tour European capitals during his first months in charge to set out a “five-year roadmap to give the eurozone a true budget and to create a Europe of 27 for the environment, industry and managing migration”.
Vincenzo Scarpetta, analyst at Open Europe, warned Macron may be biting off more than he can chew.
“Reforming the EU looks good on paper but Macron’s ideas are bold: he wants a budget for the eurozone and a eurozone minister. Is that really realistic, when it would require treaty changes?” Scarpetta said.
Macron has also said he is determined to develop European defence by coordinating operations and industrial programmes in this area.
THE lawyer of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Bar. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has said that Nigeria has expired and nothing will make Nnamdi Kanu go into politics.
He made this known in an interview with 'Wazobia Fm' saying that ”Nnamdi Kanu is Biafra and Biafra is Nnamdi.”
His words: "Let me make this clear now, nothing will make Nnamdi kanu to go into politics, Nnamdi Kanu is Biafra and Biafra is Nnamdi Kanu.
"The thing he believes in nobody will change it, he said it to me, he is my friend. Secondly, court demanded that he should come with one senator from his place, and you know that Kanu is loved by everybody, even if the court demands 100 senators for his bail, you will see people from his side struggling to sign for him.
"Enyinnaya Abaribe agreed to sign for his bail and you know it is a matter of life and freedom, he signed for him. " Enyinnaya Abaribe's signatory to Kanu's bail does not mean that Kanu has a political affiliation attached to it.”
Nnamdi Kanu and other co-defendants in court
Explaining the unplanned meeting of Nnamdi Kanu and Sen. Ike Ekweremmadu's allegation against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, coming after him, Bar. Ejiofor said: "Now that Kanu is out, he saw the importance of going to thank Abaribe for his assistance in fulfilling his bail conditions. So, as he went there he met Sen. Ekweremadu and other South East senators that came to Abaribe's house.
"As we left, Sen. Ekweremmadu raised an alarm, because Nnamdi Kanu came to the house and met him, EFCC are finding a way to punish him, probably insinuating that he is assisting Kanu, thus attaching politics to what Kanu is doing.
"Let me state it clearly and unequivocally, Nnamdi Kanu is not a politician, he is not doing politics with the Biafra project and the cause he believed in nobody can change it, that's the simple truth.
"The fact that EFCC is seeking for Ekweremmadu is unknown to me, not till he raised an alarm on the 6th of May, perhaps made them denial it and said that they did not plant anything in his house. But the most important thing I want to tell you now is that Kanu is not doing any politics with the Biafra project.”
Asked if these Senators were supporting Kanu prior to his detention or just started now, he said: "Well, you know it is possible. If court did not request for a senator, nobody will hear about them. But they sometimes urged the federal government to release Kanu and obey the court order.”
Asked the role British played since Kanu was arrested, the lawyer said: "The truth is that since he was arrested, detained, granted bail and FG refused to obey court order, the British government has been sending a delegation to the court and equally going to the prison to see him.
"Any time we go to the court they come from their embassy to the court and follow the proceedings. Even when tear gas was released in his prison, I wrote to them, FG and many other people, they just took records of what is happening,”he said.
On the ownership of Radio Biafra Ejiofor, said "Radio Biafra in London is owned by IPOB, registered just like we have BBC in London and Kanu coming to Nigeria is just to tell you that he had nothing against anybody, he did not plan any evil against the Federal Government yet they arrested him.
"I want to come to Nigeria and see my family, friends and my people. Anyone who is planning a coup will he announce it? Someone who wants to take over government, will he announce it? Someone who wants to mobilise people to take over government will he announce it?
"He announced it on air via Radio Biafra that he wants to go home and see his people in Nigeria and his family members. After announcing it, he came back and they arrested him.”
On comments that the government had made Nnamdi Kanu a hero, he said: "It's true and that is the more reason now that Kanu is strongly saying that Federal government should conduct a referendum. Let them put the Senate process that will guarantee a fair conduct of the referendum, so that Biafra people will determine if they want to separate from Nigeria or not.
"It is not a fight, we are not fighting anybody, it is a peaceful agitation in process without weapon. IPOB people are harmless, they don't fight anybody and anybody has the right to self determination as contained in our constitution, we do not fight anybody.”
On calls for restructuring Nigeria, Ejiofor said: "Nigeria has expired. What is happening in the country today is obvious that we have problem, let’s tell ourselves the truth. It's time for us to come together and discuss if we are going to stay together or not. We are not for fight, it's time for us to come back and negotiate if we are telling ourselves the truth and let's stop hiding the truth from people.”
Minister of Transportation and immediate past governor of Rivers state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has again blasted his successor and current governor of the state, Nyesom Wike over alleged claims that the over $43million found in an Ikoyi apartment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, were stolen Rivers state funds kept in the apartment by Amaechi.
Mr. Amaechi also said that Wike lied that the luxury Ikoyi apartment belonged to him, Amaechi.
Recall that Amaechi had, when the discovery was made, strongly debunked Wike's claims and had challenged Wike to provide evidence of his (Amaechi's) ownership of the money and apartment where the money was found.
In a statement released by his media office, Sunday, Amaechi again took a swipe at Wike for his failure to go to court to prove his claims before a Judge, describing Wike administration in Rivers State as a "government of lies, deceit, fraud and blood."
Wike and Amaechi
Amaechi also threw his weight behind the call by Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka that in the fight against corruption, detractors (saying Wike is an example) who deliberately create distraction should be criminalized and prosecuted.
According to the statement:
"Nigerians would recall that on the night of Friday, April 14, during his hurriedly arranged shambolic press briefing, Wike had threatened the President Buhari administration with fire and brimstone, vowing the mother-of-all legal action against the Federal government if the over $43million was not given to him within seven days. The 7-day ultimatum has long expired, yet no action, whether legal or otherwise by Wike to prove his malicious allegations and claim to the money.
"Again, on Friday, May 6, another wonderful opportunity was open for Wike to prove his frivolous allegations against Amaechi and claim the money, before Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court, Lagos. The Judge had on April 13, directed that anyone who owns the money should come forward to claim it. Neither Wike nor his Lawyers were anywhere near the court. Again, another no show."
"Wike's failure to prove his allegations against Amaechi in a court of law or even in the court of public opinion clearly vindicates our position and completely exonerates Amaechi of any link or connection to the Ikoyi money and apartment.
"Wike's failure to prove this his latest malicious outburst against Amaechi also clearly shows that all previous fake stories of allegations upon allegations of graft against Amaechi by Wike are all lies, like this Ikoyi silly lie from a sick and warped mind. Since he became governor, Wike sleeps and wakes up everyday, with a sole, one-point agenda to attack and denigrate Rotimi Amaechi, his erstwhile benefactor, no matter how ridiculous and silly he sounds.
"Everyday in Rivers State, there is one frivolous, false story of what Amaechi did or didn't do. Same pattern, the same blatant lies with no proof, same old concocted stories of corruption allegations against Amaechi told with different flavours, just like this his latest Ikoyi money blatant lie."
"Sadly, what Wike is running in Rivers State today is not a government, by any stretch, but a contraption of lies, deceit, fraud and blood. He has bastardized and destroyed Rivers State.
"To stem this dangerous trend, this is why we are in full support of Prof. Wole Soyinka's call that in the anti-corruption war, detractors who deliberately create distraction should be criminalized and prosecuted. Detractors of the fight against corruption like Nyesom Wike, and his lackeys and minions like Femi Fani-Kayode, Lere Olayinka, one Senator George Sekibo who like a clown, foolishly blew a whistle on the floor of the senate to push Wike's false narrative of the ownership of the Ikoyi money etc, should not be allowed to go scot free with their politically motivated lies to distract the fight against corruption."
"Finally, we insist that Wike must go to court, like he vowed (as he goes, he can also take his minions and lackeys with him), to prove his frivolous claims that the over $43million Ikoyi money and luxury apartment belongs to Amaechi and were stolen from Rivers State by Amaechi; or be ready to face the wrath of the law (at the appropriate time; constitutional immunity for governors is not for life), the wrath of the people and ultimately the wrath of God, which no constitutional immunity can protect him from", the statement concluded.
Osogbo – The family of Sen. Isiaka Adeleke, who died on April 23, has rejected the coroner inquest instituted by Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun. Late Isiaka Adeleke
While addressing a press conference on Sunday in Ede, the immediate younger brother of the deceased, Deji , alleged that the outcome of the inquest was predetermined.
Aregbesola had on May 2 signed an executive order setting up a coroner inquest into the death of the senator.
The order was according to the Coroner Law Cap 32 Vol I Law of Osun, 2002.
The family, according to Adeleke, however, rejected the coroner inquest in its entirety.
"The family, hereby, denounce in its entirety the ill-advised and self-serving coroner inquest ordered by the Osun State Government, purportedly set up to determine the cause of death of our dearly beloved Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke.
"We condemn, in strictest terms, the continuous politicisation attempts by the state of this great loss to our family, particularly the ordering of this inquest at a time we are still coming to terms with the harsh reality of his sudden departure and the pain and grief therefrom.
"We have been reliably informed by credible sources that the outcome of the kangaroo inquest is already predetermined by the state.
"It is also designed to serve its own interest with distorted facts and misinformation which will clearly not be in the interest of the good people of Osun in general and the Adeleke family in particular," Adeleke said.
NAN recalls that the Adeleke family had at a press conference on April 26 said that the autopsy result conducted on the deceased was yet to be out.
The late senator, who was buried on April 24, represented Osun West Senatorial District on the platform of the APC.
Adeleke, who died at 62 years, was also the first civilian governor of Osun between January 1992 and November 1993 on the platform of defunct Social Democratic Party .
In his unorthodox private life and short political career, France’s new president Emmanuel Macron has battled conventions and broken with traditions.
Emmanuel Macron
The 39-year-old son of two doctors from the northeastern city of Amiens — set to be the youngest president in French history — breaks the mould of a traditional French leader, apart from his elite education in some of the country’s best universities.
Firstly, he is married to his former teacher, glamorous 64-year-old Brigitte Trogneux, a divorced mother of three children whom he fell in love with as a schoolboy.
Their relationship has been a subject of fascination, often encouraged by the media-savvy Macron, in French glossy magazines.
He has also charted one of the most unlikely paths to the presidency in modern history, from virtual unknown three years ago to leader with no established political party behind him.
The philosophy, literature and classical music lover launched his independent movement En Marche (“On The Move”) only 12 months ago, which he said was “neither of the left nor the right”.
This unusual positioning for France, which has seen him borrow economic policies from the right coupled with social measures from the left, was initially met with cynicism.
“There is a left and a right… and that’s a good thing, that’s how our democracy functions,” ex-prime minister Manuel Valls said after En Marche launched. “It would be absurd to want to remove those differences.”
Others saw the ambitious former investment banker, who was then economy minister in Socialist President Francois Hollande’s government, as too young and too inexperienced to have serious presidential ambitions.
Few apart from his loyal core of advisors believed that he had the ability to triumph in 2017 at the age of 39, a year younger than Napoleon Bonaparte when he took power in 1804.
– Momentum –
But Macron pressed on, using his image as a dynamic young moderniser to draw in thousands of volunteers to En Marche, which was modelled partly on the grassroots movement of ex-US president Barack Obama in 2008.
After resigning from his job as economy minister in August, he set about writing his pre-election book “Revolution” and then finally declared he was running for president on November 16.
“We can’t respond with the same men and the same ideas,” he said at a jobs training centre in a gritty Parisian suburb.
A giant meeting at a convention centre in southern Paris in December was an early warning to rivals — and led to widespread mockery of Macron who ended the rally screaming, arms aloft, as he basked in the adoration.
Since then, he has benefited from the woes of the Socialist party and a scandal that engulfed one-time favourite Francois Fillon from the rightwing Republicans party, the other mainstream force in French politics.
Fillon was accused of paying his wife hundreds of thousands of euros from the public purse for a fake job as a parliamentary assistant — allegations he denied but which sunk his campaign.
“He’s been lucky,” veteran political journalist Anne Fulda, who wrote a recent biography called “Emmanuel Macron, Such A Perfect Young Man”, told AFP. “That’s something that helped him considerably. The stars aligned.”
With frustration at France’s political class running high, Macron was able to tap into a desire for wholesale change that also propelled his far-right rival Marine Le Pen into Sunday’s run-off vote.
– Already hated? –
As a student, Macron worked as an assistant to a famous French philosopher and followed a well-worn path through France’s elite public universities including the ENA, which has groomed many leaders.
After first working as a civil servant in the finance ministry, he then went into investment banking, where he earned millions at Rothschild putting together mergers and acquisitions.
Opponents have targeted this period of his career as proof he is part of the “global capitalist elite”. His self-assurance, expensive suits and defence of entrepreneurs has offered further ammunition.
“I’ve spoken with hundreds of people and you can feel it in the air: you are already hated,” one far-left critic, Francois Ruffin, wrote last week in an article in Le Monde newspaper.
He is also frequently criticised for being too vague or intellectual in his speeches, which are often long and peppered with literary references or poetry.
While at ease among ordinary voters, Macron has been accused of being condescending in the past, whether referring to “illiterate” abattoir workers, “alcoholic” laid-off workers or the “poor people” who travel on buses.
In an infamous exchange, when confronted by a protester in a T-shirt in May last year, he lost his cool, saying: “The best way to buy yourself a suit is to work.”
Emmanuel Macron was elected French president on Sunday in a resounding victory over far-right rival Marine Le Pen after a deeply divisive campaign, initial estimates showed.
Emmanuel Macron
Macron, running as a centrist, won between 65.5 and 66.1 percent of the vote ahead of Le Pen on between 33.9 percent and 34.5 percent.
The Methodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Nyanya, has expressed concern over President Muhammadu Buhari's health, and called on the Church to pray for his quick recovery.
He also praised Buhari for the relative peace in the Niger Delta region through the dialogue option adopted by the Federal Government.
He called on Nigerians, irrespective of political, religious and ethnic background to join hands with the present administration to build a country where peace, rule of law and freedom of speech reign.
"We call on the government to sustain the peace to revolve the Niger Delta issues.
"We call on the government to take action against the menace of killers in the guise of herdsmen who have been wreaking havoc on lives and property of helpless Nigerians across the country.
"We condemn the continued killings of innocent persons in Southern Kaduna and call for an immediate stop to the attacks,'' he noted.
On the path of education, Kalu urged the government to restructure the educational curricula to focus strongly on entrepreneurial skill acquisition, which would help the youths of the country.
Jose Mourinho claimed Arsenal were lucky to end Arsene Wenger’s woeful record against his old rival, but the Manchester United manager insisted he wasn’t bothered because the Europa League is more important.
Mourinho
Gunners boss Wenger was able to celebrate a first Premier League victory over Mourinho at the 13th attempt as Arsenal won 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Goals from Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck shattered United’s 25-match unbeaten run in the league as sixth-placed Arsenal closed the gap on fourth-placed Manchester City to six points with a game in hand.
Fifth-placed United are four points behind City with three games left, but Mourinho had already surrendered in the top-four race after sending out a weakened team against Arsenal as he prioritised the midweek Europa League semi-final second leg against Celta Viga.
United, who hold a 1-0 lead from the first leg, will qualify for the Champions League if they win the Europa League, so Mourinho wasn’t too concerned with the result against Arsenal.
Not that it stopped him getting a dig in at his old rival Wenger after Arsenal’s fortuitous opening goal saw Xhaka’s shot deflect in off Ander Herrera.
“Of course we knew we were not coming in our maximum power. That’s a decision,” Mourinho said.
“We want to try to win the Europa League. It’s more important than finishing fourth. We needed to rest players.
“I’m disappointed with the result, not the performance. We lost because we didn’t score and we had great chances to score before them.
“They had luck with that first goal. I can’t ask anymore from my players who haven’t played a minute for several weeks.
“The team was good, organised, we played to win and Arsenal weren’t better than us in my opinion.”
After a turbulent season that featured calls for his resignation from angry Arsenal fans, Wenger could have revelled in a rare upbeat moment this term.
But the Frenchman opted against taunting Mourinho, preferring to urge his players, who are also in the FA Cup final against Chelsea, to finish the season strongly.
“We have had many draws (against Mourinho) as well and there were some fantastic teams that we played against. It is not manager against manager,” he said.
“It was a patiently built win where in the first half you could see we were a bit nervous, in the second half we took the edge off and scored the goals.
“We still have a mathematical chance but we need some help. But the best help we can get is by winning our own games.”
Today in some part of the world people are celebrating World Naked Gardening Day.
According to wikipedia.org World Naked Gardening Day ‘is an annual international event celebrated on the first Saturday of May by gardeners and non-gardeners alike.
According to NBC’s Today News, WNGD “has become an annual tradition that celebrates weeding, planting flowers and trimming hedges in the buff.
While it's linked to a movement of nudists who promote wholesome and unashamed acceptance of the human body, the day is meant to be funny, lighthearted and non-political, founders say.”
A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering Niger delta, general national news, politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion,lifestyle human interest stories, etc
English Football League table after Saturday’s matches, the final day of the regular League Two season (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
League Two
Portsmouth 46 26 9 11 79 40 87 — champions
Plymouth 46 26 9 11 71 46 87 — promoted
Doncaster 46 25 10 11 85 55 85 — promoted
————————————-
Luton 46 20 17 9 70 43 77
Exeter 46 21 8 17 75 56 71
Carlisle 46 18 17 11 69 68 71
Blackpool 46 18 16 12 69 46 70
————————————-
Colchester 46 19 12 15 67 57 69
Wycombe 46 19 12 15 58 53 69
Stevenage 46 20 7 19 67 63 67
Cambridge 46 19 9 18 58 50 66
Mansfield 46 17 15 14 54 50 66
Accrington 46 17 14 15 59 56 65
Grimsby 46 17 11 18 59 63 62
Barnet 46 14 15 17 57 64 57
Notts County 46 16 8 22 54 76 56
Crewe 46 14 13 19 58 67 55
Morecambe 46 14 10 22 53 73 52
Crawley 46 13 12 21 53 71 51
Yeovil 46 11 17 18 49 64 50
Cheltenham 46 12 14 20 49 69 50
Newport 46 12 12 22 51 73 48
————————————-
Hartlepool 46 11 13 22 54 75 46 — relegated
Leyton Orient 46 10 6 30 47 87 36 — relegated
Note: Top three automatically promoted; fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh into promotion play-offs, bottom two relegated.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Saturday said he doubted coal could make a comeback, dismissing a push by US President Donald Trump to revive the declining American industry. Warren Buffett one of the Richest men in the World
“If you are tied to coal, you’ve got problems,” he told the annual shareholders meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway holding company in Omaha, Nebraska.
“Coal is going to go down over time,” said the American called the “Oracle of Omaha” for his savvy — and lucrative — ability to read trends and markets.
“I don’t think there’s any question about that coal is going to go down as a percentage of revenue significantly.”
America’s coal industry has been shrinking for decades. The sector had 862,000 workers in 1923. In 2016, there were just 81,000 according to official figures.
Trump and coal workers believe they can turn the industry around if they take America out of global efforts to cut greenhouse gases, as enshrined in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Ranged against them are skeptics such as the billionaire ex-mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, who see the decline as more due to automation and the shift to more easily accessible fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas.
Buffett, who had backed Hillary Clinton in last year’s US election, did not directly criticize Trump at the meeting.
The Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria has called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the whistle blowing bill pending before the Senate.
The communique commended the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari for the great feat so far in the fight against corruption.
The conference called for strong synergy among agencies charged with responsibility of fighting the menace of corruption and to do it within the ambit of the law.
The communique also commended the professionalism of the security agencies in the fight against insurgency in the country.
The conference called for equal measure of force to combat the rampaging cases of kidnapping, killing by herdsmen, cattle rustling and other criminal behaviors in the country.
"The Conference urged State governments to ensure democratically elected structure at Local Government level," the communique stated
The lawmakers also commended Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for commencing the continuous voters' registration.
The conference urged to INEC to extend the exercise to all voting centres and unit to accommodate all those in the rural areas.
According to them, the conference showed concern on the outbreak of Cerebrospinal meningitis and called on government at all levels to redouble their efforts at curbing the outbreak of the disease.
RB Leipzig capped off a superb first Bundesliga campaign with automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League as Timo Werner scored twice in Saturday’s 4-1 thrashing of Hertha Berlin.
RB Leizpig
Leipzig, founded by energy drinks giants Red Bull in 2009, only reached Germany’s top flight this season after four promotions in seven years.
They lie second in the table and are certain to finish in the top three, which means a direct path into the Champions League group stage.
“I am very proud. There is no better place to celebrate before so many fans,” said Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuettl as 10,000 RB fans travelled to Berlin.
They are the first Bundesliga club since Kaiserslautern in 1998 to qualify directly for the Champions League immediately after winning promotion.
Germany striker Werner, 21, now has 19 league goals in a superb season.
“We have deserved this over the course of the season,” said Werner.
“We have achieved something big and belong among the top teams in Europe.”
He netted the opener on 12 minutes with a bullet header from a curling cross from midfielder Marcel Sabitzer.
A howler by Hertha goalkeeper Rune Jarstein, who slipped attempting a clearance, allowed Yussuf Poulsen to knock the ball across the empty Berlin goal for Werner’s simple tap-in on 54 minutes that made it 2-0.
Hertha pulled a goal back when Leipzig’s substitute midfielder Rani Khedira — younger brother of World Cup winner Sami — headed the ball into his own net on 85 minutes.
But Davie Selke, on for Poulsen, netted on 89 minutes and again in stoppage time to seal RB’s victory. Hertha remain on course for a Europa League place in fifth.
Earlier, Juan Bernat netted as champions Bayern Munich laboured to a 1-0 win over bottom club Darmstadt, which confirmed their relegation.
Bayern, Bundesliga champions for the fifth year in a row, were made to work at the Allianz Arena and Darmstadt might have snatched a point, but Hamit Altintop’s late penalty was saved.
Bernat beat two defenders then coolly chipped Darmstadt goalkeeper Michael Esser for the 18th-minute goal that proved to be the winner.
Bayern are 10 points ahead of RB Leipzig while Darmstadt are now an insurmountable nine points from safety with just two games left.
– Aubameyang level with Lewandowski –
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund took a step towards a direct Champions League place by climbing into third with a 2-1 win at home to Hoffenheim, who slip to fourth.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s second-half header which proved the winner saw him join Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski on 28 goals in the race to be the Bundesliga’s top scorer.
Marco Reus gave Dortmund a controversial lead after just four minutes, replays showing he was a metre offside when Gonzalo Castro’s final pass put him behind the defence to tuck home.
Hoffenheim were then left fuming when Reus controlled the ball with his arm — which the referee missed — before firing in a cross which hit defender Pavel Kaderabek’s hand.
Referee Felix Brych pointed to the spot, but justice was seen to be done when Aubameyang fired wide on 14 minutes.
The Gabon hot-shot made amends when he headed home on 82 minutes, but Hoffenheim pulled a goal back when ex-Leicester City striker Andrej Kramaric slotted in a late penalty.
Hoffenheim are now two points behind Dortmund with two games remaining.
Ingolstadt, 17th in the table, still have a chance of staying up after their 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.
Sonny Kittel’s second-half goal for the hosts was cancelled out by Leverkusen’s 17-year-old midfielder Kai Havertz, leaving Ingolstadt three points from safety.
Winger Andre Hahn scored a 94th-minute equaliser in mid-table Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 1-1 draw with Augsburg, whose Iceland striker Alfred Finnbogason netted their goal.
Wolfsburg, the 2009 champions, are now three points clear of the bottom three after their 2-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt thanks to goals by Daniel Didavi and Mario Gomez.
Alhaji Yahaya Bello, The Kogi State governor has extended his deepest sympathies to the entire people of Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area and the family of Mr Raymond Ekundayo, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth Empowerment (Central) over the untimely the demise of their son.
We are deeply saddened by the news of his death. Our hearts goes out to you during this trying times.
Raymond Ekundayo was a very committed individual and a strong supporter of the New Direction agenda.
Despite his short time in office as the SSA Youth Empowerment, he did his job with diligence, humility and a strong sense of responsibility which earned him the admiration of the members of the New Direction Team. In spite of the shock of this sad occurrence, we are honored and blessed to have had him with us for the period it pleased the Almighty.
Prayers and fond memories are what we have to remember of our dearly departed. It is our prayer that God will grant his soul eternal rest and give his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
The leadership of Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union, RATTAWU, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari on recent appointments in the culture sector, saying those appointed have the capacity to deliver.
The National President of RATTAWU, Comrade Kabir Garba Tsanni, said government should protect the cultural values of Nigeria.
The RATTAWU boss told Sunday Vanguard: "The appointments as they affect our union is not a surprise to us simply because the appointees deserve it.
"The union has critically analysed these new appointees as technocrats in the culture industry. It is imperative to also note that almost all the appointees were not drawn from any sector other than from the culture sector.
"It is the candid desire of the union to urge these new chief executives to systematically apply a comprehensive managerial approach with ethical dimension in order to promote the economic viability of the culture industry.
"As a trade union, RATTAWU is poised with the characteristics of constructive and objective criticism on any administrative incompetence. Therefore, the union pledges its support to the newly appointed chief executives in the culture sector."
Udu Local Government Area of Delta State is blessed with natural and human resources enough to make it investors' destination.
According to a statement by the Executive Chairman of the LGA, Hon. Chief Solomon Kpomah, and the Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief of Hidden Treasures 4 Real, Excellence Emuobo Miller, the public presentation of the resources available in the LGA and award ceremony hold on May 26 under the chairmanship of Professor Jerry Gana, a former Information Minister. Special Guest of Honour is the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani.
The organizers stated that Udu has vast economic potentials including oil and gas fields alongside enormous untapped reserves that made it the hub of the Utorogun Gas Plant, one of the largest in these climes.
Udu is also home to Delta Steel Company(DSC) now known as Premium Steel & Mines Ltd.
Also expected at the event are Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Senator David Mark and the Orodje of Okpe, Orhue I.
More than 36 people were on Saturday feared dead as two passenger buses collided and caught fire at a Quarry site at Km 96, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to an eyewitness, the two 18-seater buses had a head-on collision and the buses caught fire immediately.
"All the passengers in the two buses were burnt beyond recognition.
"Only a baby escaped death because the father of the child threw him out through the window of the bus,'' the witness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Contacted, Mr Yusuf Salami, the Oyo State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), confirmed the accident on telephone.
Salami, however, said he had yet to be briefed on the casualty figures, but confirmed that the accident involved two 18-seater buses.
The Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, has released a batch of more than 80 of the Chibok high school girls who were abducted in mid-April 2014.
According SaharaReporters’ source, the release of the 80 abducted school girls came after further negotiations between the Islamist group and the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The 82 girls who just regained their freedom are currently in Banki town in Borno state awaiting airlift to an unknown destination.
The source added that once the girls are secured in a new location they would be debriefed, undergo a psycological and medical test and then be reunited with their families.
Also the Britain and the United States on Friday said Boko Haram was preparing to kidnap foreigners in remote northeast Nigeria, which is in the grip of a food crisis caused by the conflict.
The Foreign Office in London said it had received reports the Islamist militants were “actively planning” to seize foreign workers in the Bama local government area of Borno state.
Both said in travel advice that the affected area was “along the Banki-Kumshe axis”, which is near the border with Cameroon.
The US embassy in Abuja said in a message to its nationals that the report was “credible”.
Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of women and children, including more than 200 schoolgirls from the Borno town of Chibok in 2014, which brought the conflict to world attention.
At least 20,000 people have been killed since 2009. But abductions of foreigners have been rare.
There was a spate of kidnappings of foreign workers in the wider north from 2011 to 2013, claimed by a Boko Haram splinter group, Ansaru, which was more ideologically aligned to Al-Qaeda.
The leader of Ansaru, Khalid al-Barnawi, has been charged with the abduction and murder of foreign workers, among them an Italian, a Briton, a German, Greek, Lebanese and Syrians.
Most were engineers or construction workers.
International aid workers now account for the majority of foreign nationals in northeast Nigeria. Most are based in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Lake Chad region require urgent food aid as a result of the conflict, which has made more than 2.6 million people homeless and ravaged farmland.
AFP visited Banki with other international media two weeks ago.
Humanitarian agencies operating in the town include the World Food Programme, International Organization for Migration and other UN bodies.
Banki was liberated from Boko Haram in September 2015 and is currently home to some 32,000 displaced people in a sprawling, overcrowded camp.
The surrounding area still suffers from frequent Boko Haram attacks on military convoys, as well as suicide bombings.
Fighters loyal to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who were pushed out of their camps in the Sambisa Forest area last December, are believed to be responsible.
The kidnap warning and the threat to humanitarian operations underlines the fragility of security in northeast Nigeria, despite claims from the government and military that Boko Haram is a spent force.
Abuja – The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has advised candidates for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) not to panic over the delay in getting their examination centres.
Dr Fabian Benjamin, the Head of Media and Information of the board gave the advice in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
Benjamin said although the crosschecking of prospective candidates data would end by 9p.m on Saturday none of them has been given examination centre.
He said that candidates would be given their examination centres before the examination date. "Candidates are just concluding their registrations, so no one has received centre for the examination starting from May 13.
"Hopefully by next week they will start getting their centres, so there is no cause for worry," he said. He, nevertheless, urged all the UTME candidates to always check their emails for further updates.
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board said it had so far registered more than 1.7 million candidates for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination across the country.
By Vera Samuel Anyagafu, (Reporting from Guangzhou)
It is sad to know that over 500 Nigerians are serving jail terms in Chinese prisons. According to sources, an estimate of 535 Nigerians are presently rotting in Chinese prisons for various offenses which also includes drug related offenses.
Speaking to Vanguard, sources disclosed that two out of about 200 Nigerians who come to China on a daily basis are arrested for drug trafficking.
However, Deputy Director General, Foreign Affairs Office of People”s Government of Guangdong Province, China, Mr. Luo Jun, noted that although, Nigerians are good friends of the Chinese, it is imperative to abide by the law of the country which states that drug trafficking is a serious offense and when caught, depending on the size and or grams of the drugs, the culprits are either given a death sentence or made to serve long-term imprisonment.
The office also urges Nigerians to be mindful of packages received from friends and or family members, saying by being oblivious of the content, they could be walking into the hands of the law in the country.
"Depending on the grams of drug found on the culprit, the Chinese law will either pronounce a death sentence or long term imprisonment and without pardon. In some cases the Nigerian consulate maybe informed. But my take is that you should come to China for good related businesses. We are not going to welcome any form of intrusion capable of ruining the future of our youth, who are leaders of tomorrow. We humbly grant various category of visas to Nigerians and believe in the win-win collaboration for better bilateral relationship and this visit indicates our interest to grow with Nigeria and Africa as a whole “, Juo added.
He also pointed out the difficulty Chinese citizens face in securing visa to enter Nigeria, saying that the Nigerian consulate in Guangzhou deny Chinese entry permit.
Similarly, Nigerian consulate team is of the view that relationship between Nigeria and China may not be described as balanced . The team, while lamenting that the relationship between Nigeria and China is imbalanced, said that about 90 per cent of contracts awarded in the previous administration were to Chinese companies, who take the big contracts such as roads, rails and airports , whereas, there are a number of reputable Nigerian organizations well equipped to partner in such projects.
"For fact, there is trade imbalance between Nigeria and China. The Chinese have no industries in Nigeria. Instead of target on green investment, all big contracts are awarded them and they come with their workers, engaging Nigerians only in demeaning jobs. There’s no techniques transfer and so on for Nigerians to improve on. So where is the Win-Win here," the group stated.
Continuing, "Chinese have a lot of private investments in Ogun State with lands everywhere and are still going to hinterlands. Recently, a Chinese business lady bought 700,000 hectares of land in Nigeria, others, to mention but a few.
"China is moving from manual to robotics and smart services. They want to have manufacturing facilities all over the world. So, Nigerians, Africans, are the starting point and this is so, because they can hardly meet the conditionality of the western worlds."
However, They urged Nigerians in China, who are more into logistics and investment to move their partnership to those in Nigeria, disagreeing with the notion that the Nigerian consulate in Guangzhou deny Chinese who wish to do business in Nigeria entry, adding that 1,500 visas are granted Chinese nationals on a monthly basis.
And out of the stated number, 700 go to invest, and the rest go as workers. The consulate team advice that South East zone of the country should be sensitised. They charge their governors and traditional rulers to lecture them and make them understand there are no job for Nigerians in China. There are no greener pastures in China and will only get stuck once they get here, because it is even difficult to open a shop in China.
The process is tedious and a futile mission. Seeking hands of journalists to play a crucial role in the development of the country, through constructive criticism, while giving the example of Chinese journalists who helped in their country's 25 years old development story.
"Negative reporting in the paper has added to our disintegration. “It is common know. We are not saying there’s no corruption anywhere in the world, or countries with their own issues, but that should be tackled through constructive criticism, ” the team echoed.
Also, lending a voice, President Good Governance Initiative (GGI), Mr. Fetus Mbisiogu urged Nigerians in the diaspora to build industries in their home states through their experiences gathered in China and from various countries of abode abroad. He admonished Nigerians not to seek any greener pastures or think there is a better life if they move to China, especially with the mindset that all is rosy here.
In sustenance of the new understanding between the Federal Government and the oil-producing communities of the Niger Delta, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has released additional N35B to step-up the Amnesty Programme in the region.
Although the FG had approved a N20B allocation for the Amnesty Programme in the 2016 budget, President Buhari has now raised the funds, and as appropriated, to N55B with a recent release of additional N30B. There is also a planned release of another N5B later.
Currently the Amnesty Office has now paid up all ex-militants backlog of their stipends up to the end of 2016.
The release of the additional funds is coming after presidential level interactive engagements in the Niger Delta, where the Buhari administration has enunciated a New Vision for the oil-producing areas based on the presentation made by the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, to the President when he received leaders and stakeholders from the region last November.
Subsequently, the President asked his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to embark on a tour of the region that saw him visiting several oil-producing States in the country.
Besides the monthly payment of about N65, 000 to N66,000 to the ex-militants, the funds would also go to the provision of reintegration activities under the Amnesty Programme including payment of tuition fees for beneficiaries from Niger Delta who are in post-secondary institutions at home and abroad, payment of in-training & hazard allowances and vocational training costs.
There are also empowerment schemes and self-help, self-employment support funds, including provision of needed equipments by the Amnesty Office. Equally, the funds would also support the training of pilots, aviation engineers, technicians, and motor vehicles mechanics from the oil-producing communities.
Abuja – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two grandmothers with narcotics at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, while on their way to the U.S and Saudi Arabia.
NDLEA spokesperson, Mr Mitchell Ofoyeju disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.
He said the suspects allegedly ingested 108 wraps of substances that tested positive for heroin and cocaine during outward screening of passengers at the MMIA, Lagos.
He said that the NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba gave the names of the suspected drug traffickers as Ebunoluwa Adebayo, 60, and Ayisat Amodu, 59.
He said that Ebunoluwa was found to have ingested 83 wraps of heroin weighing 1.105kg on her way to New York, U.S while Ayisat ingested 25 wraps of cocaine weighing 275 grammes on her way to Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Ofoyeju said that the women had blamed their involvement in drug trafficking on financial hardship.
He said preliminary investigation reveals that this is the first time a grandmother of 60 years will ingest a whopping 83 wraps of narcotics and noted that the second suspect was going to Saudi Arabia where drug trafficking attracts capital punishment.
"Adebayo Ebunoluwa Mercy was arrested while boarding a Virgin Atlantic flight to New York, while Amodu Ayisat was caught trying to board an Ethiopian airline flight on her way to Medina, Saudi Arabia," he said.
He said that Ebunoluwa, a divorcee sells provision at Ikorodu, Lagos while Ayisat sells food in Lagos.
"I am a divorcee selling provision for survival. Things became rough and tough for me when I lost my capital due to family problems," Ebunoluwa said.
"I was happy when they offered to sponsor my trip to Saudi Arabia but I never knew it will end in my detention," Ayisat said.
He said that the NDLEA Chairman, retired Col. Muhammad Abdallah assured that the agency would continue to work round the clock to root out drug traffickers in the country.
"This move by drug cartels to recruit grandmothers as mules is very disturbing, shocking and shameful.
"The moral emptiness exhibited by the suspects must be condemned by all. A situation where grandmothers have become a bad influence on their children and grandchildren is highly regrettable," Abdallah said. (NAN)
Nigerian screen goddess, Mercy Aigbe Gentry has confirmed that she was domestically violated by her husband Lanre Gentry. As expected Nigerians have reacted to the actress social media post. While some showed their sincere sympathy towards the mother of one, it is only normal for some to criticize and blame the victim regardless of her situation.
Mercy Aigbe and Husband
Fans have taken over Mercy's instragram comment section to bare their minds positively and negatively.
The sympathizers commented thus, @fadekemymercy Dearest mercy, May God take control. Pls,don't allow anyone to beat you like this anymore. I pray this will never happen again. If you have been dead nko?Once you notice the arguments is getting hotter, leave that scene at that moment. Argument or fight can happen at any time with anybody. Your life is more important, your kids need you strong and alive. @liliansawyerr Mrs Mercy so sorry you had to go thru this. You stayed too long in there and you allowed him to hit you severally. Thank God you woke up. I pray God will guide you and give you wisdom on how to go about it. Be well my lady. @abimbolaonabanjoIt is well with you, God will uphold you at this difficult times dear. He will give you the strength to go through these challenging times.
The not too friendly ones had these to say, @so_preciousclothingndesigns what the hell is the world turning into? Why come on social media to talk about your marital issues. This is very immature. People around you already know something happens between you and your hubby so why tell it to a world you have never met eye to eye? Majority of these people commenting encouraging words don't like you and they are happy it's happening to you. This is very immature. @2beesbeautyhome Drama oshi….. Imagine oooo….. How on earth do you want people to believe what you saying after you deceived them for years claiming your marriage was perfect…. You even granted an interview saying he never touched you…. Life drama….. @aik_aikay Hmmm… Too sad to hear, now 2.1m people nd more know you were just a punching bag to your "hubby". Smh #celebritylife
ENUGU- NATIONAL Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odige-Oyegun has said that the Igbo deserve the presidency of Nigeria, going by their industry and history in Nigeria.
National Chairman APC, Chief Odigie Oyegun He also quickly noted that it is only through the platform of the APC that Igbo presidency could be guaranteed.
Oyegun said that the people of the south east are entitled to full participation in the national ruling party, disclosing that most states in the zone are already embracing the party.
Oyegun made the remarks in Udi, Enugu state, Saturday, when the immediate past Governor of the state, Sullivan Chime was formerly registered as a member of the party in his Udi/Agbudu ward.
Chime’s rally was however an anti-climax with the conspicuous absence of former Senate President Ken Nnamani and former Governor of old Anambra state Senator Jim Nwobodo.
The two former senators from Enugu state had initially defected to the APC but failed to show up at the well attended rally.
No excuse was formerly made at the event on reason why both political heavy weights were absent.
Nnamani and Nwobodo could not react to messages sent to them asking why they failed to turn up for the event.
Other APC leaders in the state that were absent at the rally are former Secretary to the state government, Onyemuche Nnamani, Senator Fide Okoro, Chief Anike Nwoga, among others.
An APC stalwart in the state who pleaded for anonymity said that Nnamani and Nwobodo may have been jittery over Chime’s entrant and expressed fears that the state structure of APC may have been handed over to the former governor.
The APC national chairman, Oyegun, said that the entrant of Chime into APC has balanced the tripod stand of the party in Nigeria.
He also boasted that the Chime’s registration and awareness rally was a semi-final to the complete transformation of Enugu state into APC controlled state, adding that the former governor was already an APC member in spirit before his formal defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Oyegun said: “This is the semi-final in the south east. I will come one more time to bury PDP in the state.
“This is by far the greatest of the rallies and I am happy that change has finally come to Enugu state.
“Chime has seen the future and has also seen the damage the last administration did to the economy of the state. As a man of performance, he wants to help Nigeria.”
In his speech after being handed over broom as a symbol of the party, ex-governor Chime said the door is now open for real registration of APC members in the state.
He said: “This is a humbling experience. With the wreckage of our once upon great party PDP, there seems to be no other option. The only place for any active politician now is the APC. The PDP that was dear to us is now dead.
“I thought I was coming for its funeral today but the chairman said he has postponed it till his next coming.”
He stated that he did not join the APC to contest for any position but for his people’s voices to be heard.
Sokoto state Governor, Aminu Tambuwal said that Chime’s entrant into APC was significant particularly now that now that all and sundry are working for the unity of Nigeria.
He said that Sokoto state and the APC are determined to work with the south east for a better Nigeria.
Among the dignitaries at the well attended rally include Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state, APC national organizing secretary Ostita Izunaso, Chairman of Peace Mass Transit Dr. sam Onyishi, APC governorship aspirant in Anambra state George Moghalu, former speaker of Enugu state House of Assembly Eugune Odoh, other national and state officers of the party and members of APC in the 260 wards of Enugu state.
Nollywood actress, Hilda Dokubo in the company of other stakeholders in the film industry last week stormed Alaba International Market, the acclaimed hub of piracy activities in Africa. This was during the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Day held on Wednesday, April 26, 2017,
Hilda Dokubo
Led by the Audio-Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS), the delegation which was received by the Chairman of Fancy and Furniture section of the market, Mr. Emeka Mozoba, include Chairman of AVRS, Mr. Bond Emeruwa, actress and Guest Speaker at the event, Hilda Dokubo, Chairman of Film and Video Producers/Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN), Emeka Aduah, Secretary of Yoruba Video Film Marketers Association of Nigeria (YVFMAN), Tunji Adetola, Aina Kushoro, Lilian Amah- Aluko, Fidelis Duker, Nobert Ajaegbu among others.
The actress during the event urged marketers to desist from replicating the works of filmmakers without permission. "To those who decide to make us poor; because when you steal from us, you are actually ripping us off. Which means you have kept away investors from this business; both locally and internationally. We are all looking for international partners and treaties, so for those who pirate our work, they will kill those treaties and investment. So you are keeping partners away from us. This market is big enough to accommodate all of us, if we all agree to work together. I will tell you how this stealing works; because all of you will say you do not pirate.
"When you buy a copy and go and duplicate and give it to the boys who push them around in wheel barrows for sale, you are a thief. You are killing people," she declared.
The AVRS boss who spoke on the theme of this year's event: 'Innovation – Improving Lives' said "This is an exercise that we have been pursuing vigorously and we promise that soon, filmmakers will have cause to smile. We have engaged with hotels, broadcast organizations and other users of your works and the response has been very encouraging. We implore other users of cinematography works to ensure they are licensed as we are set to use all means within our power to enforce our rights. The lives of our filmmakers must be improved," he said.
The mainstream of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP aligned to the Senator Ahmed Makarfi led National Caretaker Committee, NCC is set to trigger the alternative option for political survival by fusing into the Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance, APDA.
Makarfi
The APDA according to news reports on Friday was one of five political associations that got the nod of the Election and Party Monitoring Department of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to formalise its registration with the Commission.
Ogadi, 46 had always nursed a dream to live and work in America. Immediately he finished his secondary school in one of the Ajegunle schools in Lagos, travelling abroad became his main focus. For years, Ogadi nursed the dream and made several attempts that failed.
But it became an obsession that he could not control. At one point, he made it to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport but it turned out his visa was fake and he was sent back. Soon he began to notice that most of his colleagues that graduated from the same secondary school with him and other contemporaries in his neighbourhood had already graduated from the university while he still struggled for a United States visa.
The girls in the neighbourhood whom he had 'chased' at one point or the other began to use it to mock him at his back. Every girl in the neighbourhood knew that Ogadi used the line of 'about to travel abroad' to chase girls and years became decades but Ogadi never travelled.
He soon realised that his friends and mates in his secondary school had not only graduated from the University but had become men and moved on with their lives. He also noticed that the friends and classmates in the past could no longer reckon with him. He was no longer in the same league with them. Some had become astute professionals and many who hitherto nursed no dream of travelling abroad after graduating from the university had travelled out for further education.
The teenager soon turned 30 and had to move out of the neighbourhood.
When he was no longer seen around the neighbourbood, many thought his dream had finally come true. But that was until many years later when an old school mate went to Allen Avenue in Lagos and met him at a barbers shop where he was employed as a barber. Ogadi lied to him that he just returned from the United States but it turned out the old school mate came to see the guy that employed Ogadi and harboured him all the while. His shame knew no bounds and Ogadi begged him not to escalate what he saw.
Eventually, the American dream died and Ogadi changed his craze. He now decided he was going to Europe. Again, he tried and failed and reduced his dream to wanting to live in Asia. Even till date, at age 46, Ogadi is still trying to adjust to a dream that never became a reality.
He didn't acquire any further knowledge, nor education or gained any skill apart from barbing. He has no accommodation and still squatted about . He has not been able to settle down in a marital relationship but fathered two children with different women who shared his dream of wanting to travel and live in America.
Not a peculiar matter
But Ogadi is not alone in this crave. A visit to immigration offices and foreign embassies in Lagos shows how desperate some Nigerians have become in their crave to travel and live abroad. As early as 7am in any immigration or visa office in Nigeria, Nigerians of different sexes, age and backgrounds would besiege the offices either bidding to get an international passports or obtain visas to travel out of the country.
During a visit to Ikoyi, Lagos immigration office, the Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, Segun Adegoke could not contain the crowd at his personal office demanding his attention for their international passports. From time to time, Adegoke kept coming out to clear the crowd of passport seekers that blocked the entrance of his office. As nice as he tried to be, some aggressive passport seekers dared blocked him and worried him to attend to them. One of his aides told Saturday Vanguard that what the writer witnessed was a daily occurrence.
"We've had cases of people coming to renew their passports and you realised that the ones that expired were never used. Some people just want to own international passports and some want to use it in place of identity cards but we cannot afford the luxury because of the scarcity of booklets. Some people have no business travelling anywhere but they want to own passports. And if you keep giving it to every Tom, Dick and Harry, when the people who truly need the passports like some in essential services come, we'd have a problem of booklets. So, we have devised a way of keeping booklets for people on essential services who may need to travel outside the country for urgent official government assignments.
"There's one particular guy who has been coming here. Everytime, he tells the story of travelling in few days time and demanding for passport. We have been seeing him here and he keeps coming with all manner of stories. He has never travelled to any country. The near-success attempt he made to go to Europe failed. He was denied visa and his passport was stamped and he started coming again under the guise of having lost his passport. It's a strange thing. See the crowd outside and how they have blocked everywhere. There are no booklets for the passports. We cannot kill ourselves. See, our 'oga' comes out himself to drive away the crowd blocking his office. This is what he does everyday and one has to be careful with such a crowd. He tries to be gentle and polite but we are planning to do something about having people barge into the offices."
Within the premises, Saturday Vanguard tried to speak with some passport seekers at the waiting section and the stories differ from person to person.
Osagie who said he came to Lagos from Benin told Saturday Vangaurd that he didn't understand what goes on with immigration. "I filled my passport form since November last year. I paid and was captured but have not gotten my passport. I don't understand, there is no uniformity in the charges. Some pay more than the others and some will pay for the big booklet and be given the small one. They will ask you to pay for the big one and later tell you that what you paid for is not yet available. And that's how they keep disappointing you."
But Saturday Vanguard found out that one can apply for a passport and get it the same day as was the case with this writer who got to the Ikoyi office of immigration around 2pm and before 6pm of the same day , got her passport.
One of the media officers at the Ikoyi office said it can be done and has been done severally. " You have evidence of a visa appointment the next morning and you are travelling officially. It is for people like you that we have some booklets kept for emergency. You would have noticed some police or military personnel coming for passports. There are some government officials also coming for official emergencies.
"Some of the people out there are not travelling anywhere. Some just want to have passports and some have been striving to travel out to live overseas over the years. To some, owning an international passport is a status thing."
Virginia Malachy came to the passport office with her husband and two children aged between 11 and 13. According to her, " we are tired of living in Nigeria. My husband lost his job after 15-years due to the recession. Where he worked, they are still owing him salary and gratuity. I am a teacher in a private school and earn N23,000 every month.
Even that is not regular. My husband and I do a lot of odd jobs to survive and that does not help. We want to travel out. We have relations in South Africa and UK. My brother living in Canada promised to help if we find our way to where he is. I will try and my husband will try and anyone of us that succeeds with visa will go. But I'm very optimistic. My husband and I and the children may be lucky and that is why we are all here. We have families living overseas who know what we are passing through. My husband and I are University graduates and we are not lazy."
Another international passport seeker, Obiajulu told Saturday Vanguard that there's nothing more in Nigeria for him. He said: " I have tried everything. It's like something is following me from the village. I used to live in Mubi. I did well for sometime but this Boko Haram thing drove me back to my village in the East. It was difficult for me to adjust.
The insult was too much. Somebody that used to reign as a king in his family is now depending on the people he used to feed to survive. They were not making it easy. Even my younger ones started changing, asking me to go and look for something to do. I speak Hausa and I felt the only place for me was the North. I went to Kaduna but problem started there too. I came to Lagos. I have been in Lagos for four months. A school mate promised to take me along to Indonesia. I have not started talking about visa. Coming here everyday for passport is not easy. They told me my passport would be ready in one week but I have been coming for one month."
Laide, 32, said her international passport expired and she came for renewal." But all they tell me is that there is no booklet. Before I paid, they didn't tell me that. I don't know what is happening again."
Asked if she ever travelled with the old passport, she said no.
"I didn't have any cause to travel in the past but now that I do, the passport doesn't have the six months validity and I need to get another one."
At the Festac office of immigration in Lagos, Saturday Vanguard spoke with other passport seekers. Ayomide, a University undergraduate said she came for the validation of her passport.
"I have had it for three years but when I got into the University and needed to open an account in a new generation bank, I was told that my data was not coming up. I didn't understand it. I obtained my international passport here at the Festac office and I don't understand what they meant by 'my data' not coming up. So, I came back to find out from the passport office."
But reacting to Ayomide's situation, an immigration officer said he didn't understand what the bank meant by the info in Ayomide's passport not coming up.
"Nobody has access to our data bank except us. No bank is allowed access to information in peoples international passport or into our data bank. So, I suggest that the person in question goes back to the bank and request to see their operations manager or the bank's PRO to explain what they meant. I have checked the said passport number again and the passport is valid. I don't understand the meaning of passport info not coming up in the bank's data. No bank is allowed access to our information bank."
For Odinaka, she was making arrangements to travel and join her spouse who was living in United Kingdom. " I have been living in Nigeria while my spouse is living in UK. We need to be together if our marriage must succeed. I don't have kids yet from my relationship and that cannot happen if my husband and I are not together."
Yemisi, 47, who came to the passport office with her two teenage daughters said her daughters needed the passport to travel to Canada for their University education.
"My husband and I studied abroad in the 80s. That was where we met before we returned to Nigeria after our marriage. Now, our kids are growing and we want them to study overseas like we did. Everything is set but for the visas and that's why I brought them here. They are already admitted to their choice Universities of study."
For pregnant Mrs Okeson, the desire to have children who are US citizens is her drive.
"I want to give birth to my kids in the United States. This is my first pregnancy and I'm already four months. I have relations who have American passports and based on their invitation to come, I don't see a problem. I won't want my kids to suffer to get visa like I did. It's better to have children over there."
For a serious businessman like Uche who operates between China, Dubai, Europe, UK and Nigeria, he didn't come to Festac immigration office for any frivolous reason.
"I have six full international passports. I have been to China several times and Dubai. I have travelled to over 20 countries. I take clothing materials from Nigeria to other countries and bring from other countries to Nigeria. Many Africans living outside Africa depend on me to supply their traditional clothings. I travel to Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, Cameroun and Sierra Leone and buy materials which I take to Europe,China, Dubai and other countries. Coming back, I buy clothes from those places to sell in Nigeria. I don't live abroad and I don't want to. My travelling is strictly for business."
Efe, 39 said he was repatriated from Europe five years ago and got a five-year ban which has elapsed and he needs a new passport to go back.
"I was repatriated and a five-year ban stamped on my passport. The period of ban has elapsed and I need to go back. My wife and three children are still in Europe. I have to re-unite with them."
Besides the crowd that besiege the immigration offices for international passports, there are also other things to contend with. At the entrance of every immigration office, there are the touts who are marketing anything international, ranging from helping to obtain international passports faster and international drivers licences and other things international.
Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, Segun Adegoke at the Ikoyi office who was recently transferred to the Ikoyi immigration office said it was one of the the things on his agenda was to deal with the touts.
"One does not need to spend over N25,000 to get international passports but gullible people fall into the hands of the touts and get duped by them. I have already started dealing with the touts and my advice to anyone who comes here is to follow the routine.
Embassies are no different
If you think it's all about getting international passport, wait until you get to the embassies. Your first question would be, where are Nigerians rushing to? The queue at the United States Embassy everyday is something else. Nigerians of different ages get invited for visa interview and at the end of the day after the long wait, many go home disappointed . It is a similar story in other embassies but the craze to travel to UK or the US appeared more appealing.
In their desperation to get travel visas, many get defrauded while many ended up with fake visas and get turned back at the immigration check at the international airport.
Maria was invited for interview at the US embassy but came out in tears. She was turned down. Asked the reason for her rejection, she said the interviewer said she looked like someone who would not return to Nigeria.
"And that's what is very annoying. I have a good job here. I only want to spend my annual leave there and who told them that I would jettison my lucrative job here to stay in the US to be sweeping their streets. Is it not funny? You needed to have seen the people they give visas to. They reject those they should give visas to and give to those they shouldn't. Such an irony."
Nene went for the US visa interview with her mother. Both of them needed to travel. Her mother was travelling to visit her daughter who is Nene's elder sister while Nene was to travel for her post-graduate. Her mother got a two-year visa but Nene was turned back. According to her, they said her reason for wanting to travel to the United States was not clear.
"Now, tell me, what is not clear about wanting to travel for my post-graduate? My elder sister is living in the US and she is a citizen and I was going with my mother to the same destination on my sister's invitation. I was rejected and I didn't find it funny. Although I was later asked to re-apply, the appeal is no longer there."
For Chi-Chi, a broadcaster, there was never a problem with her obtaining a United States visa.
"I am the only one amongst my siblings living and working in Nigeria. My father, a medical doctor, and my mother are living in the US. I am a broadcaster in a Federal Government -owned broadcasting station. I travel to the United States every year to stay with my parents and siblings during my annual leave. I'm always having extended visa and I always come home. I have no desire to live permanently in the US or any other country apart from Nigeria."
Take it to the Departure Hall
Indeed the departure hall of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on many occasions is like Oshodi market in full session. Nigerians in their hundreds are on their way travelling out to one country. Despite the difficulties they encounter, many still get visas to travel and if you visit the Murtala Muhammed departure hall of the international airport, you would realise for sure that Nigerians never say die. Adults and children, extended family members, groups and individual businessmen and women somehow find the way at the embassies and get their visas.
Sixty-five year-old Madam Eyiuche said she was going to France for the first time for omugwo. Her only son who married away from home just received his first bundle of joy and Madam Eyiuche was on her way to take care of her first grandson. Although she was going alone, she had luggages including Ghana Must Go bags loaded with all manner of edibles from home.
"Hmmmn, my daughter, its my son that invited me. His wife had their first child and he is my only child. I must see with my eyes. If the cold weather allows me, I will stay long but if not, I will stay for two or three weeks and come back. The most important thing is to see my first grandson."
Femi, 24, said she was travelling to UK and would not likely return to Nigeria soon. According to her, "I just finished my NYSC. I have been waiting for this moment to graduate and return to my parents and siblings. I was living in the UK before coming home for my University education. I have done it and I'm going back 'home'."
For Mr Edmund, " I came to pick my wife. I just married her and we are going to Canada. That's where I'm based and that's where she will be based henceforth. I can't keep living like a bachelor when I'm married."
For Priye and Comfort, they were going to the United States for a conference.
"We're colleagues and will be away for just 10 days."
But Chief Inyang who was being pushed in a wheelchair said he was going for medical check-up in UK. With him was his daughter who he said would take care of him for the period.
"I cannot say how long we will stay. I'm not even sure if I will return but if I don't, my daughter here will bring me home'"
Bundle of lies
But it is not every Nigerian that has a genuine reason to travel out. Many people believe they would be more successful if they leave the shores of Nigeria to work overseas. Many lie to gain entry into these countries. And many get repatriated when they are found to be a burden to the countries they travelled to.
Gaby had lived in the UK for ten years before he was repatriated. When immigration in UK caught him with an expired visa in a night-club, he started to act like a mad person to evade deportation and was taken to a mental institution from where he was deported to Nigeria. He has been banned from coming to UK for life. His family is still in the UK and he blamed his wife for everything that happened to him.
"The stupid woman I married sent my visa to her younger brother. He came to UK with my passport and I never got to see it again. The passport I had on me when I was arrested was gotten from Nigerian Embassy in UK but it has no visa on it . That was why I was deported and banned."
Asked what he did in the UK for a living, he said: "Many Nigerians are daily migrating abroad in search of the proverbial greener pasture. The reasons prompting this act range from economic to sheer adventure. Interestingly, this fact has come to be accepted as the inevitable fallout of the country's dwindling fortunes. In Nigeria here, I worked in a bank with my OND certificate but in UK, I did odd jobs but made more money. When things became very tough, my wife and I started having marital problems and started to fight. We had two kids in UK and based on that, the British government started taking care of my wife and kids and since my deportation, my wife has looked the other way.
"Living in the UK is different. You can do anything to survive. Many are there doing drugs. Some married foreigners to get residency permit. You'd see brothers marrying sisters just to remain there. Fathers even marry their daughters just to keep each other especially if one has gotten a residency permit. One of my wife's friends is a citizen and was paid a huge sum to marry someone who desperately wanted to come and live in the UK.
The man paid to marry her just to get a British visa because she has a British passport having lived in the UK for several years. The lady had to come home to Nigeria to marry this guy who was already married but their marriage was just a scheme. The scheme was that her 'supposed husband,' after having been duly granted permission to live in the UK, would divorce her and go back to his real wife. But scams like this have put many in trouble . In my own case, I suspect that my wife sold my visa but lied she gave to her brother. But I am deported and she is not. She is living her life in the UK and even got a scholarship to study in one of the Universities."
According to Gaby, "if Nigeria was good enough, do you think people would travel out?The system here sucks. Why won't people leave? I just laugh when people say Nigeria is good. This country needs help and would become worse unless something is done as soon as possible."
Mrs Beatrice who came home on a visit after over ten years in the United States and was travelling back said there is no basis for comparison between living in Nigeria and living in the US or any country in Europe and the United Kingdom for that matter.
"If 50% of Nigerians have the opportunity to travel out of the country just for once, I bet by the time they return home,there would be bloody revolution. Nigerians will be able to compare whichever country they visited with Nigeria and realise the difference which is so clear.
"In the US, you live without the electricity blinking for once not to talk of power failure. The road network and other social amenities could prolong one's life. But in Nigeria,one can hardly survive three months without having malaria as a result of mosquito bites. I work from home and earn well. When you work abroad, you earn in a day or even hours, what you earn in a month doing the same job back home. Why won't people want to leave the country in droves? Okay, in the US or the UK, the government assists their citizens in one way or the other,but what sort of assistance do people get from Nigerian government? Lets call a spade , a spade. I'm a Nigerian and I know I have no business coming back here to live again.
My children can't come home. My visit was at the instance of my husband who lost his sister. We went to the US through the Green Card Visa Lottery. It's a different world and even though home is haven like they say but my sister, its a different world from where I come from.
That is why you find so many not wanting to return home. Something has to happen to Nigeria. I was shocked by the level of suffering I saw at home. So much suffering, poverty and the worst is the level of insecurity. I stayed one month in the village and had to alter my looks. I had only two pairs of jean trousers for the one month and two ankara clothes . I had to cut my hair to look ordinary and not attract attention and I don't think that is fair. I work hard over there and you come back and live in fear of being robbed or even murdered by people who didn't know what you passed through to get what you have. It is fearful."
A hotly contested goal by Marco Verratti helped Paris Saint-Germain to a comfortable 5-0 win over bottom club Bastia on Saturday as the reigning champions kept the pressure on Ligue 1 leaders Monaco.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Italian midfielder Marco Verratti is congratuled by teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Bastia at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on May 6, 2017. / AFP PHOTO
Edinson Cavani scored twice and also had a late penalty saved, with Lucas Moura and Marquinhos getting the other goals for the hosts at the Parc des Princes.
The win allowed Unai Emery’s side to move level on points with Monaco, although the principality side have two games in hand as well as a superior goal difference.
Monaco are at relegation-threatened Nancy later and the Champions League semi-finalists realistically need just two wins from their final four matches to become champions for the first time since 2000.
PSG are still hoping to win a fifth consecutive title but a vital victory was overshadowed by the incident that saw Verratti put them two goals up late in the first half.
With Blaise Matuidi down in the Bastia area and the ball having gone out for a throw, visiting goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca went to check on the PSG midfielder.
However, the hosts took the throw quickly and Verratti smashed a shot into the roof of the net from the edge of the area, catching out Leca to make it 2-0 10 minutes before the interval.
The goalkeeper ran to protest to the referee but was booked for his troubles.
By that point the home side had already seen Lucas smash a shot against the angle of bar and post before the Brazilian — standing in for the suspended Angel Di Maria — was left with an easy tap in from a Matuidi assist.
A holiday weekend in France and the drab Parisian weather contributed to more empty seats than usual at the Parc des Princes, despite the importance of the match.
It only really came to life again in the final 20 minutes, with Cavani having two efforts disallowed before he made it 3-0 in the 76th minute, finishing into an empty net after a lovely combination between Julian Draxler and Goncalo Guedes.
Cavani had his penalty saved by Leca after being brought down by Alexander Djiku, but PSG were not finished there.
First substitute Giovani Lo Celso, making just his second league appearance after arriving from Rosario Central in January, clipped the ball over Leca and allowed Marquinhos to poke the ball over the line.
Lo Celso then battered a volley off the bar prior to Cavani making it 5-0 following a defensive error.
It was Cavani’s 33rd league goal of a superb season, and his 47th in 47 games in all competitions.
Bastia are a point adrift of Nancy at the bottom and two points from safety with two games remaining.
Nice, who remain in with a mathematical chance of winning the title, sitting six points adrift of the top two with three matches to play, visit Marseille on Sunday evening.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has predicted cloudy condition over the Central States on Sunday with chances of early morning moderate thunderstorms over Abuja, Lokoja, Makurdi, Mambilla, Lafia, Minna and Ilorin.
NiMet's Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office (CFO), on Saturday in Abuja, also predicted prospects of localised thunderstorms over the high ground areas of Jos and Kaduna later in the day.
It added that the region would also experience day and night temperature of 30 to 34 and 19 to 26 respectively.
The agency predicted that the Southern states would experience increased cloudiness with chances of early morning moderate thunderstorms over Lagos, Ijebu-Ode, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Akure, Ado-Ekiti, Osogbo and Ibadan.
It also predicted prospects of localised thunderstorms over Enugu, Owerri, Awka, Abakaliki, Benin, Warri, Yenagoa, Calabar and Port Harcourt during the evening and night period
The agency added that the region would have day and night temperatures of 31 to 33 and 21 to 25 degrees Celsius respectively.
According to NiMet, Northern States will experience cloudy to partly cloudy conditions with chances of localised thunderstorms around Yelwa and Kebbi axis during the morning period.
"The Northern region will also have day and night temperatures of 34 to 42 and 24 to 30 degrees Celsius respectively.
"Sufficient influx of moisture into the country is expected to result in increased cloudiness and induce rainfall activities in some selected cities around the country," NiMet predicted.
