Heavy downpours resulting in floods have destroyed the federal government’s Onitsha-Owerri Road, by Metallurgical junction, making the area almost impassable.
A group, the Cultural Credibility Development Initiative, called on the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, to rehabilitate the dilapidated Onitsha-Owerri Road.
The President of the group, Mr Goddy Uwazurike, said this in a statement to the former Lagos Governor on Tuesday.
A copy of the statement was made available to SaharaReporters with a video illustrating the critical state of the road.
Uwazurike also highlighted other federal roads in the South-East region which needed urgent attention of the Nigerian government as capital projects.
In the video, a man was shown lamenting in both in English and Igbo languages about the road which was divided into two.
The statement partly read, “The Cultural Credibility Development Initiative calls on the Hon. Minister, Mr Raji Babatunde Fashola, to without delay repair the dilapidated Onitsha Owerri Road, particularly the Metalogical junction.
“Today, this road is a present and looming danger to anyone passing through that road. In a sentence, the Onitsha-Owerri Road has been divided into two. Need I remind the Hon Minister that this road is crucial to the network of roads leading to the Economic Golden Egg of Nigeria.
“Your Excellency, we wish to inform you that the roads in Igbo land are so dilapidated that road transportation has crumbled beyond description.
“As the Governor of Lagos State, you performed very well in the provision and maintenance of good roads. We believe that you can repeat this feat on Onitsha-Enugu road, Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, Ihiala Mbano-Umuahia roads, the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road, the Aboh-Anioma roads, the Umuahia-Arochukwu roads, Owerri-Okigwe road, Owerri-Port Harcourt road, the Uturu Afikpo roads the Owerri Mbaise Obowo roads , the Aba-Ikot Ekpene road, the 9th mile- Benue border roads.
“Your Excellency, your good name will go down the drain if you do not urgently rise to the occasion.”
Justin Trudeau has won a third term as Canada’s prime minister, but his decision to hold election early didn’t really pay off as his bid to win a majority of seats failed.
The Liberals (Trudeau’s party) won the most seats of any party, taking hold of 157 – the same number they won in 2019, and 13 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the House of Commons.
The result means Trudeau, 49, and his second consecutive minority government will have to rely on other parties to govern.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, whose party placed second, conceded defeat as results trickled in late into the night.
Early results indicated the Conservatives had 121 seats, the same number they won in 2019. The leftist New Democrats won 29, the Quebec-based Bloc Québécois were down three seats to 28, and the Greens remained at two seats.
Following his victory, he thanked his supporters on Tuesday morning, September 21, and promised he would work with other parties to serve all Canadians.
“You are sending us back to work with a clear mandate to get Canada through this pandemic and to the brighter days ahead,” he said.
He also highlighted the issues important to his party’s platform – climate action, affordable homes and childcare, pledging to continue to work on them.
“You have given this government and this parliament clear direction,” he added.
Before the election, Trudeau led a stable minority government that was not under threat of being removed hence the opposition relentlessly accused him of calling an unnecessary early vote – two years before the deadline – for his own personal ambition.
Trudeau believed Canadians didn’t want a Conservative government during a pandemic with their scepticism surrounding lockdowns and vaccine mandates, which he argued would be dangerous, and said people needed a government that followed science.
His government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to support the economy through lockdowns and Canada is now one of the most vaccinated countries in the world.
Nollywood actress, Rosy Meurer has revealed that nothing can make her leave her husband, Olakunle Churchill, not even infidelity. The mum of one made this revelation in a recent interview with Media Room Hub, when asked if she can call her husband out on social media if they have a marital crisis. In response, Rosy noted that she’d never bring her personal life and marriage to social media. Speaking further, Rosy said she doesn’t think her husband would cheat on her, and if he does, she would forgive him if he is remoreseful because they plan to grow old together.
Her words, “I would never call my husband out on social media. I would never bring my personal life to social media. I also don’t believe my husband would cheat on me because I trust him, but if he does and he’s remorseful, I would forgive him because we have a child together, and we have agreed we are staying together forever. I don’t think there’s anything that can make me leave my husband, not even for a side chick. I’m the main chick . I’m the boss. I’m the side chick; I’m everything to him. That’s all that matters to me.”
About six months after it was declared missing, the Nigerian Air Force Alpha Jet marked NAF 475 is yet to be found.
SaharaReporters had reported how the fighter jet went missing on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in the insurgency-ravaged Borno State in Northeastern Nigeria.
The spokesperson for the Nigerian Air Force, Edward Gabkwet had said the fighter jet lost contact with the radar in Borno State earlier that day.
Gabkwet said the plane disappeared while on an interdiction mission in support of ground troops. He said the mission was part of the ongoing counterinsurgency operations in the North East.
“The loss of radar contact occurred at about 5:08 pm on 31 March 2021,” he had said. “Details of the whereabouts of the aircraft or likely cause of contact loss are still sketchy but will be relayed to the general public as soon as they become clear. Meanwhile, search and rescue efforts are ongoing.”
A few days later, Boko Haram terror group released a video showing its fighters shooting down an aircraft thought to be the NAF 475 alpha jet declared missing.
In the video that is about seven minutes long, the jet was seen flying low to the ground while the insurgents shot at it. However, Gabkwet dismissed the video, adding that there was an ongoing search for the missing fighter jet.
“The attention of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been drawn to some videos being circulated on Social Media, as well as media reports drawn from there, alleging that the NAF Alpha Jet aircraft, which was reported missing in Borno State on 31 March 2021 after losing radar contact, was shot down by terrorists. One of such videos, in particular, began with sporadic shooting by several terrorists, including underage children on motorcycles and vehicles. It later skipped abruptly to a scene depicting an aircraft exploding mid-air, supposedly as a result of enemy action. Another part of the video showed a terrorist, who, while standing by the wreckage, claimed that they had shot down the NAF aircraft.
“Although the video is still being thoroughly analysed, it is evident that most parts of the video were deliberately doctored to give a false impression that the aircraft was shot down. For instance, the video clip failed to show the correlation between the sporadic shooting, which even from casual observation was obviously aimed at ground targets, and the sudden mid-air aircraft explosion. In addition, it is almost impossible for an aircraft to have exploded mid-air, in the manner depicted in the video, and still have a good part of its fuselage, including its tail, intact. Indeed, an explosive impact of that nature would have scattered the debris of the aircraft across several miles,” he had said.
Speaking exclusively to SaharaReporters on Monday, the Air Force spokesperson said different rescue operations are ongoing in order to ascertain the whereabouts of the fighter plane.
“If there is anything new, actually I will tell you. We are still searching for the jet, if there is any new information, you will be the first person to know. No information on its whereabouts now, the search is still ongoing. It’s a continuous process,” Gabkwet told SaharaReporters.
Asked about the fate of the pilots and their families, he said, “There is a difference between absence without leave and missing in action, they are protecting our nation and got missing. Ours is a process that takes up to seven years in this kind of situation. The pilots are still part of Nigerian Air Force till date.”
Industry players have said that Africa will get eight new submarine cables in the coming years. They also said that Africa’s emerging digital market has the fastest growth rate globally, with bandwidth growth on the increase. They said this at an event where submarine operators such as Ciena sat to discuss Africa’s emerging submarine cable market and its impact on broadband penetration. The experts said that as the world’s second most populous continent with 1.4 billion people and covering 20 per cent of the planet’s landmass, adequate availability of digital infrastructure across the continent would play a crucial socioeconomic role in helping to increase critical connectivity options. According to them, only 25 per cent of the 1.4 billion African people are connected to the internet presently. Chief Technical Officer of MainOne, Anil Verma, highlighted the critical role that MainOne had played in deepening broadband penetration and digital growth in Africa.
He said the company was the only multinational to boast of service coverage in 10 West African countries, connected to IXs in London, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Marseille and Frankfurt, Lagos, Accra and Abidjan with three additional IP transit ports, with Tier 1 ISPs in Europe.
According to the experts, submarine cables carry close to 99 per cent of the world’s intercontinental electronic communications traffic, and Africa requires access to this global submarine network infrastructure to fully benefit from an international digital economy. MainOne said it had landed its submarine cable in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire where it equally operates data centres.
Following her appointment as the ninth substantive vice-chancellor of the Lagos State University, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello has assumed duty on Monday, September 20. She was received by the acting Vice-Chancellor, Oyedamola Oke, members of staff, and students at the university’s six storey Senate Building where she will hold sway for the next five years Friends and well-wishers also received her with colourful banners, with some singing to express their joy over her resumption.
Upon her arrival at the entrance of the senate building, she was led into the VC’s office where a short prayer was held. In a short statement titled, ‘New VC, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, mni resumes office this morning’, by the LASU’s Public Relations Unit, the new VC’s entry was described as “gallantry”.
“After months of heightened expectations by stakeholders, the Governor of Lagos State and Visitor to the University, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday, appointed former Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, mni 9th Substantive Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University to wide applause from all and sundry.
“This morning, the Prof. Of Physiology makes a gallant entry into the scenic main campus of the university, no longer as Director, LASUDA, but as the Vice Chancellor of the 37-year-old institution,” the statement read.
She is the second female to occupy the exalted post in the Lagos State-owned tertiary institution. Ibiyemi, a Professor of Physiology, had served as Acting Vice-Chancellor of the institution before her appointment The 57-year-old academic was born on April 23, 1964, in Lagos. She assumed duty as the First Professor of Physiology in LASU College of Medicine on the 2nd of October 2007 after rising through the ranks from Assistant Lecturer (1988 to 1991) to Associate Professor in 2005 at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba.
The Federal Government has sent an appeal to the striking doctors of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to discontinue their current strike action.
This appeal was made by the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
The Minister further noted that negotiations are ongoing over the doctors’ allowances in order to ensure an end to the protracted feud.
“I want to appeal to NARD for them to reconsider their position, get back to work tomorrow or next and then come back again for discussions. We have so many things to discuss.
“I have nephews who are resident doctors. I have three of them at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, UNTH Enugu, Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu. I have so many of them. I have a son who will graduate in Medicine in October. I cannot destroy the profession, I have to protect the profession too,” Ngige said.
In response to the recent court case filed against the doctors, Ngige said, “The court has ruled and said ‘Go and do some more settlement but meanwhile, you go back to work and continue the settlement’.”
If you’re a fan of the Arsenal Football Club who appear to be suffering bad fortunes in the Premier League this season, there is good news from the Central Bank of Nigeria. You can now improve your team’s score-line by attacking Livescores and sending ‘experts’ to take down its site. This quick fix which has eluded seasoned pundits is the ingenuity of none other than Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Chief Treasurer of Nigeria and apparently also, the Clown-in-Chief.
Indeed, of all the inanities that has buffeted us in recent times as Nigerians, the CBN Governor’s declaration of war against abokiFX, an online platform that publishes aggregated currency exchange rates for reference purposes, takes the ball. It offers insight into how our leaders in the eco-political sphere think, and we must be concerned.
It does not take an economist to unravel the apparent improbability of a non-trading platform that merely publishes exchange rates publicly sourced as being responsible for the weakening of the naira. If it were so, abokiFX would only have to publish that the naira is now at par with the dollar for it to be so. The government would not have to fight the platform and its owners but partner with them in publishing favourable even if untrue naira to dollars exchange rates to magically cause it to be so in the currency market.
In this utopia, one would be free from contemplating the role an import-based economy plays in the valuation of a country’s currency; one would be free from worrying over the lop-sided chasing of dollars with naira, and be unmindful of our single-export based economy, being crude oil, whose value is decided by a global body and as such, outside the control of the Nigerian government. In that utopia, the role of fiscal policies by government to shore up foreign reserves or scale up industry-based exports which would tip the scales of international valuation of the naira would be left out, completely ignored, and this, no doubt, are the synapses that jump around in the insulated mental world of our CBN Governor.
It is appalling that this is the mind and thinking of the man saddled with the nation’s treasury and reserves. Going after an online platform and its owner for merely publishing exchange rates references is shadow chasing and fighting a non-factor in the strengthening or weakening of the naira. Surely, the CBN Governor with all his learning and exposure knows this. If this is so, then the real reason for the CBN’s attack on abokiFX and its owner must be because it considers its publishing to be embarrassing to government and hope that by bringing it down, they can save face.
In the grand scheme of things, this is consistent with this government’s approach to facts they find embarrassing and which are evidentiary of their failures or incompetence. And as such, the CBN is another successfully bastardized institution of state deployed to the purposes of regime protection as against its primary responsibility.
Given that the abysmal failure of the naira to perform favourably is a no-brainer, the CBN Governor’s delusion of authority in eviscerating the owner of abokifx, going as far as deigning to arbitrarily order his prosecution, must be tempered by the reminder that executive rascality will only condemn the naira to a further plunge. The CBN and its governor are, indeed, not laws onto themselves but are beholden of it and due process.
The attack on abokiFX and its owner, no matter how stubbornly sustained, will not save the naira from its embarrassingly free fall and, I predict that many other platforms will spring up in place of, or in solidarity with abokifx. Will the CBN attack all? Anyway, the average Nigerian does not need to visit an online platform to know that the naira is fast losing value. The abokis under the trees in Sheraton know, travellers and traders sourcing for scarce dollars know and the general public who have to adjust to the tripling cost of household materials and commodities know. It is to these ones that the CBN Governor owe a duty, not to insulate government from reproach but to build a spine for the crippling naira.
Source: Pelumi Olajengbesi Esq., is a Legal Practitioner and the Principal Partner at Law Corridor Chambers, Nigeria.
Veteran singer, Omawumi has revealed what led to her decision to cut her hair low, citing the sad memory of EndSARS protests victims.
The Nigerian singer who cut her hair live in the video of her hit single, “Bullshit” revealed in an interview with HipTV, that she did it because of the despair she felt from the loss of lives during the pandemic and the EndSARS protests last year. According to Omawumi, she felt so much pain that people were dying and the country was busy celebrating mediocrity.
I cut my hair on my video that I did; the song is titled BS. I cut my hair live on that video because when I was writing it, I was in a place of despair. It was during the pandemic and I was losing people left right center,” she said. “There was the ‘Soro Soke’ in the background. People were dying. It just felt like nothing was going right with the country. We were celebrating mediocrity,” Omawumi added.
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa has said he cannot publicly reveal the Identities of people bankrolling Boko Haram terrorists and other insurgents in Nigeria.
The EFCC boss made the statement during Politics Today’s Channels TV programme on Thursday evening
Earlier this week, the authorities of the United Arab Emirates mentioned six Nigerians among those funding terrorism. However, while answering a question regarding that, Bawa said he would not discuss a sensitive national security issue on national television. “If you are my adviser, will you advise me to come on national television to tell the whole world regarding matters of sensitive national security issue?” Bawa asked. “Certainly, not. But what I want to assure you we are working tirelessly with other sister agencies to ensure that this country is free of terrorism.” The President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has promised many times to publish the names of people sponsoring terrorism in the country, but has failed to do so. Also in Nigeria, about 400 Bureaux de Change operators are standing trial for allegedly supporting terrorists but the government has also not made the details available to Nigerians. Bawa, who collapsed while speaking at an event organised by National Identity Management Commission at the Presidential Villa earlier on Thursday, said he had since returned to work after seeing his doctor. He said apart from being dehydrated, he was fine
Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Igboho, has recorded a massive victory against the DSS in court, securing a N20 billion damages payment.
The Oyo State High Court has asked the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay N20 billion to Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho for unlawfully invading his Ibadan residence, The Nation reports. You may recall that a team of DSS security operatives raided Igboho’s residence in Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo state back in July.
However, during a ruling presided by Justice Ladiran Akintola on Friday September 17, the Oyo State High Court awarded the massive sum as damages against the secret police in the lawsuit filed by Sunday Igboho, through his lawyers. The court also declared the invasion illegal and berated the DSS for acting based on what the Justice described as “arbitrary aggression and prejudices” from his agitation for Yoruba Nation.
Seven different groups on Thursday joined others who want the Governor to resign over his alleged inability to stabilise the country’s bleeding economy
In a statement made available by the coalition and signed by seven of them, the groups noted that the current high poverty rate in the land on the failure of the country’s economy under Emefiele’s watch as CBN governor.
The group who signed the press statement include; the Nigeria Citizens Action Group, Unified Nigerian Youth Forum, Concern Northern forum, Igbo unity forum of Nigeria, Federation of Idoma Youths, Igbo Youth Assembly and Itsekiri National Youth Council.
“The Nigeria Citizens Action Group (NCAG), a coalition of 35 civil society organisations is constraint to lend its voice with that of numerous other concerned Nigerians that have been calling on Mr Godwin Emefiele, Nigeria’s CBN to resign with immediate effect to save the country from total collapse.
“This call became necessary following the extensive review of the tenure of Mr Godwin as the head of our apex bank which has come to the sad conclusion that he should humbly step aside and allow a more competent person to step in to save our country from total collapse.
“We understand that it will be difficult for him and his heirs to reason with us, but we wish to beg on them to put on their garment of patriotism and save our country”, Isah said.
The Arewa Youth Assembly Speaker, Mohammed Salihu had noted earlier that his organisation has given Mr Emefiele three options to either resign voluntarily, get sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari or youths will occupy the CBN premises in their numbers until he resigns.
They made available three options for Emefiele – to resign, to get sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari or to force us to occupy the CBN complex.
The statement reads: “Based on the Arewa Youth Assembly earlier call on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele to resign his position as the apex bank boss over his inability to stabilise the glaring nose-diving country’s economy, we have noticed the sponsored backlash and propaganda against our persons instead of the issues we have raised.
“The fact that the sponsored messengers of the propaganda couldn’t come up with an issue-based argument is a clear indication that Mr Emefiele has truly failed and they are only helping in further exposing his flaws because Nigerians are watching.
“Mr governor would have proved us wrong with facts and figures, and possibly, engage the services of those with related intellectual to defend his inability to stabilise our bleeding economy.
“We are surprised that, Mr governor would engage those with track records in dirty jobs because of their stomach infrastructure. Those that never promoted a genuine course that can prosper the country except sowing the seed of divisional tune in the country are the ones Mr governor is paying to insult us just for saying the obvious.
“While we maintain our three options available for Emefiele – to resign, to get sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari or to force us to occupy the CBN complex, it is important to remind Mr governor and his think-thank the personality of his defenders in this stance.
“We expect Mr Emefiele’s errand boys to come out in his convincing defence. They should tell us that it is not true that our legal tender, the naira has drastically lost its value against other foreign exchanges even in Africa where Nigeria is a big brother.
“They should tell us that it wasn’t true that ₦150bn NIRSAL loan money got missing under Mr Emefiele’s watchful eyes. They should ell us that CBN under Mr Emefiele has been very up to date with her audited report.
“They should tell us that the dishing out of BDC licenses has followed due process and are being issued to the right individuals. They should tell us that Mr Emefiele is not nursing a secret Presidential ambition that has stolen his attention and plunged the Nigerian economy into a quagmire.
“They should also come out to tell us that their action in defence of Mr Emefiele is not for the money they have collected from the CBN to do so. Failure to do all these puts them clearly on the plates as Mr Emefiele’s number one enemies who are hell-bent on ensuring that he gets sacked”, he said in a statement.
The Southern Governors Forum has expressed support for the collection of the controversial Value Added Tax by state governments.
The Governors made their positions known on Thursday during their meeting in Enugu.
Reading the resolutions of the Governors shortly after the meeting, which was attended by nine Governors and seven Deputy Governors, the Chairman of the Forum/Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), tasked the Governors that were yet to enact the anti-open grazing law to do so without much delay.
Akeredolu, in the seven-point communiqué, said the Governors were satisfied with the rate at which the states were enacting and amending the anti-open grazing laws, in line with the uniform template and aspiration of the Forum.
The communiqué read in part, “the Southern Governors Forum expressed satisfaction with the rate at which the states in southern Nigeria are enacting or amending the anti-open grazing laws, which align with the uniform template and aspiration of Southern Governors and encouraged the states that are yet to enact this law to do so expeditiously.
“We also encourage the full operationalisation of already agreed regional security outfits, which would meet, share intelligence and collaborate to ensure the security and safety of the region.
“The Forum reaffirms its earlier commitment to fiscal federalism as resolved at the inaugural meeting of the Forum held on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at Asaba, Delta State and emphasised the need for the Southern States to leverage the legislative competence of their respective State Houses of Assembly, as well as representation in the National Assembly to pursue its inclusion in the Nigerian Constitution through the ongoing constitutional amendment.
“The meeting resolved to support the position that the collection of VAT falls within the powers of the states. It also expresses satisfaction with the handling of issues around the Petroleum Industry Act and ownership of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation by the larger Nigerian Governors’ Forum.”
The Forum also reiterated their earlier position that the next President of Nigeria must come from the southern part of Nigeria, in line with the politics of equity, justice and fairness.
The Governors present at the meeting were Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State; Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State; Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State; Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State; Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State; and Doye Diri of Bayelsa state.
Others were the Governors of Ogun state, Dapo Abiodun, and Akwa Ibom, Emmanuel Udom.
The Deputy Governors that represented their Governors are Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi of Ekiti State, Rauf Olaniyan of Oyo state, Prof Evara Esu of Cross River, Ude Okochukwu of Abia State, Kelechi Igwe of Ebonyi State, Philip Shuaibu of Edo state and Placid Njoku of Imo state.
Big Brother Naija Shine ya Eye housemates, Saga and Nini, are learning the hard way, as Biggie punished for failing secret task.
The two lovebirds have been punished by Biggie for Saga’s failure to keep up with the secret task he was assigned earlier in the week.
Liquorose and Saga during a Diary Session on Tuesday were instructed to play a prank on their love interests in the house, by picking a fight with them till their next diary session.
Barely a day into the prank, Nini had an explosive clash with fellow housemate, Cross over bathroom cleaning. This led to Saga having to break character in order to calm her down.
In the process he also revealed why he had been been “giving her attitude” as she had claimed in a confrontation with him earlier in the day.
“Yesterday during the Diary Session, he (Biggie) said there’s a task for me, that I should fight with you and not talk to you till the next Diary Session,” he said.
He further speculated that Liquorose, who was also avoiding her love interest, Emmanuel, was given the same task during her diary session.
Waking up to punishment
On Thursday, day 54 of the show, the housemates woke up to the Garden in utter disarray with a letter by Biggie set on a stool.
The letter which was addressed to Saga and Nini, instructed that they both clean up the disarranged room without any help from other housemates.
They are only allowed to go for short bathroom breaks while the punishment lasts. However, at least one person must be in the room at all times till it is cleaned up.
Nigerian-born Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has thanked the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle the Duchess, for the kind words they penned about her as she makes the TIME 100 list of The World’s Most Influential People. The magazine has noted the globally-rated economist’s activities around the efforts to ensure that everyone on the planet earth gets vaccinated against any preventable disease for which there is a vaccine. The ex-World Bank guru has been the Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, since January 1, 2016. Gavi has the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries. Concerning the TIME entry, the Duke and the Duchess state: What will it take to vaccinate the world? Unity, cooperation—and leaders like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
As the first African and first woman to lead the World Trade Organization, a 164-member group of nations that oversees trade across the world, Okonjo-Iweala took on the role of director-general this March at a watershed moment for our global health and well-being. Make no mistake, her job affects every person, family and community. As we face a constant barrage of vaccine misinformation, bureaucratic slowdowns across both government and industry, and the rise of variants that underscore the urgency of the situation, Okonjo-Iweala has shown us that to end the pandemic, we must work together to equip every nation with equitable vaccine access. Our conversations with her have been as informative as they are energizing. This is partly because, despite the challenges, she knows how to get things done—even between those who don’t always agree—and does so with grace and a smile that warms the coldest of rooms.
The fragility of our world right now cannot be overstated. Just over a quarter of the nearly 8 billion global population is fully vaccinated. Achieving vaccine equity is a global duty of compassion for one another. Our hope is that guided by strong leaders like Ngozi, we can get there soon.
Germany-based Kingsley Kanu has filed a suit against the Kenyan government at the High Court of Kenya, Nairobi for its involvement in the abduction and extraordinary rendition of his brother and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria.
According to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, there are five respondents which are the Cabinet secretary, Director of Immigration Services, Director of Criminal Investigations, Commanding Officer of Police at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Attorney-General of Kenya.
Kanu’s special counsel in Nigeria, Aloy Ejimakor disclosed this to SaharaReporters on Thursday with evidence of court documents. The lawsuit read partly, “This petition concerns the unconstitutional and unlawful removal engineered by the respondents through abduction, denial of fair administrative action in violation of the human dignity of the subject: Nwannekaenvi Nnamdi Kenny Okwu’Kan (Mr Kanu) whose presence in Kenya was lawful and non-threatening.
“This petition seeks a declaration of rights and appropriate reliefs against the involuntary and illegal return of Mr. Kanu to Nigeria when there were substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that is prohibited by the Constitution of Kenya and the human rights treaties in force in Kenya.
“The petitioner is a German citizen ordinarily residing in Munich within Germany. This petitioner brings this petition on behalf of his brother, Mr. Kanu.”
While speaking on the suit with BBC according to the audiotape obtained by SaharaReporters through Ejimakor, Kanu’s lead counsel in Kenya, Prof. George Wajackoyah said there are pieces of proof that the Kenyan government was culpable despite its denial of involvement.
Wajackoyah stated that Kanu cannot be tried in Nigeria because there was no due process in repatriating him to Nigeria, which made it an extra rendition, and the fact that Kanu is a British citizen and has renounced his Nigerian citizenship.
He said. “We filed a petition today (Tuesday) against the Kenyan government and various actors in this case for their unconstitutional and unlawful removal which denied our client his human rights, which was engineered by 1st to 5th respondents in the violation of human rights of Nnamdi Kanu.
“We are serving the respondents and from there, we take on. Once we filed and served, then the court will give us a date, and that should be within a very short period of time because it was served under a certificate of urgency.”
Speaking on the evidence that indicted the Kenyan government, the Kenyan lawyer disclosed, “We have copies of his passport and a stamp that he was indeed in Kenya. We also have evidence he was in his residence on a particular day. We also have material proof that he was at the airport on a particular day to meet a friend and there he was arrested. Definitely, he was kidnapped.”
Wajackoyah further told BBC, “Why on earth will the Kenyan government deport a British citizen to Nigerian territory. Kanu has renounced his Nigerian citizenship. Extradition and extra rendition are two things. Extradition has to follow due process, you can’t just pick up somebody and throw him. That’s barbaric. It’s outlawed by international law.
“If they are trying a Nigerian national, certainly (they will win). But, if they are trying a British national, not at all. It is an abuse of the court process for the Nigerian court to try a British citizen who has no connection with Nigeria and without due process. So, I have been given instruction by his family in London and his brother in Germany to file a lawsuit against the Kenyan government.”
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa has slumped at the third National Identity Day celebration at the Banquet Hall Villa.
Bawa was delivering a goodwill message when he suddenly stopped, staggered back to his seat, and laid down, Tribune reports.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, and other dignitaries held him and guided out of the hall after a while.
Bawa was nominated as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC on February 16, 2021 and on February 24, 2021, he was confirmed by the National Assembly as the Executive Chairman. He officially took over from the Mr Ibrahim Magu, the former acting Chairman of the Commission.
Kaduna State Police Command has said that two suspects have been arrested over the killing of Captain Abdulkareem, the 36-year-old son of Senator Bala Na’Allah.
Abdulkareem Na’Allah, a pilot, was reportedly killed on Sunday, August 29, 2021, at his residence around Umar Gwandu Road in Kaduna.
A family source had informed Sahara Reporters that the Kaduna State All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain’s son was strangled to death by his assailants. The assailants were said to have slipped in through the roof, tied Abdulkareem up and strangled him to death.
The bereaved father, Bala Ibn Na’Allah represents Kebbi South as a senator in the National Assembly. Senator Na’Allah served as Deputy Majority Leader in the 8th Senate.
A source told Punch the suspects were apprehended two days ago. The Kaduna State Police Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige, confirmed that two suspects were in custody and that other was currently at large.
He said, “We have two suspected killers of Abdulkareem Na’Allah in our custody. One other is at large.”
Garba Mohammed, the Special Adviser to Senator Na’ Allah had, on Monday, August 30, 2021, told newsmen that the remains of the late Abdulkareem were buried the day he was killed at the Unguwan Sarki cemetery in Kaduna.
He added that the father of the deceased was not in the country when the incident happened.
Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan had described Abdulkareem’s death as “appearing to be a case of culpable homicide”.
“In what appears to be a case of culpable homicide, the deceased was found in a bedroom in his residence in Malali, Kaduna North LGA, apparently after having been strangled with a rope.
“A vehicle was stolen from his parking lot by the assailants,” Aruwan had said in a statement.
“I have directed that a full-scale investigation be carried out with a view to unraveling the identities of the culprits and bringing them to book. Report has it that the assassins forcefully gained access into the residence of the pilot at Umar Gwandu Road, Malali, Kaduna during the night hours, choked him to dead in cold blood and made away with his Lexus SUV to an unknown destination.”
A yet-to-be confirmed number of soldiers have been killed and several others missing after an ambush by militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād in Borno State.
SaharaReporters gathered that the attack took place in Monguno on Thursday. Monguno is over 100km north of Maiduguri, the state capital and hosts thousands of Internally Displaced Persons, mostly from Dikwa and Marte council areas.
“We lost so many soldiers during the attack that lasted for many hours. May their souls rest in peace,” a military source told SaharaReporters. The source added that military vehicle, several weapons and ammunition were stolen during the attack.
Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria.
The Nigerian military has repeatedly claimed that the insurgency has been largely defeated and frequently underplays any losses.
In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the insurgents. Hundreds of soldiers and officers have been reportedly killed since January 2021.
Some soldiers were killed during the year when two explosive-laden vehicles rammed into a military convoy in Wulgo. The suicide bombers were identified as Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and Bana Jundullah.
The group also claimed four military vehicles were destroyed. In February, about 20 soldiers were also killed in Malari, Borno State by the insurgents.
SaharaReporters gathered that the soldiers were on patrol to clear some Boko Haram elements in the area following credible intelligence when they were ambushed by the group.
Award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo was born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of humble means to father Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, a construction painter and Marie Rose (Hebert), a stylist and hairdresser; his father’s ancestry is Italian and his mother is of half French-Canadian and half Italian descent. Mark moved with his family to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he lived out most of his teenage years. Following high school, Mark moved with his family to San Diego and soon migrated north, eventually settling in Los Angeles.
Mark first took classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory and subsequently co-founded the Orpheus Theatre Company, an Equity-Waiver establishment, where he worked in nearly every capacity. From acting, writing, directing and producing to running the lights and building sets while building his resume.
Moving into film and TV, Mark’s inauspicious movie debut was the drifter role of Christian in the horror opus Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Dance (1994) and returned to the film series in the role of Joey with Mirror Mirror 3: The Voyeur (1995). He continued on through the 1990’s rather indistinctly with more secondary roles in the horror film The Dentist (1996) starring madman Corbin Bernsen; an amusing perf in the obscure dramedy The Last Big Thing (1996); a third billed role in the Jerry Stiller/Anne Meara bickering senior comedy A Fish in the Bathtub (1998); and the war drama Ceremony… the Ritual of Love (1976) directed by Ang Lee.
Bartending for nearly nearly a decade to make ends meet and discouraged enough to give it up, a chance meeting and resulting collaboration with playwright/screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan approaching the millennium changed everything. Ruffalo won NY success in Lonergan’s 1996 off-Broadway play “This Is Our Youth,” a story about troubled young adults. This led to his male lead in Lonergan’s Oscar-winning film drama You Can Count on Me (2000), playing the ne’er-do-well brother of Laura Linney. The performance drew rave reviews and invited comparisons to an early Marlon Brando.
Ruffalo never looked back. Notable roles in The Last Castle (2001), XX/XY (2002), and Windtalkers (2002) followed, although in 2002 Ruffalo was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor. Though the tumor was benign, the resulting surgery led to a period of partial facial paralysis, from which he fully recovered. In 2003, Ruffalo scored leading roles alongside two popular female stars, playing a police detective opposite Meg Ryan in In the Cut (2003) and the love interest of Gwyneth Paltrow in the comedy View from the Top (2003).
Though both films were high-profile box office disappointments, Ruffalo went on to four notable (if highly disparate) films in 2004 — We Don’t Live Here Anymore (2004), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), 13 Going on 30 (2004), and Collateral (2004) — which solidified his ability to be both a popular leading man and an acclaimed ensemble player in either comedy or drama.
After 2004, Ruffalo was consistently at work, with leads in popular Hollywood films and independent productions that continued to solidify him as one of film’s most consistently strong actors: Just Like Heaven (2005), All the King’s Men (2006), Zodiac (2007), Reservation Road (2007), and The Brothers Bloom (2008). He also made his Broadway debut as Moe Axelrod in the play “Awake and Sing!”
In 2010 Ruffalo achieved something of a breakthrough, by directing the indie film Sympathy for Delicious (2010), which won him the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and co-starring as the sperm-donor father to lesbian couple Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in The Kids Are All Right (2010). His role in the idiosyncratic domestic comedy/drama earned him Academy Award, Independent Spirit Award, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor. He went on to earn two more Best Supporting Actor nominations as an Olympic-winning wrestling champion in Foxcatcher (2014) and as a journalist working to uncover the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in Spotlight (2015). In 2017, the actor returned to Broadway in Arthur Miller’s “The Price.”
High-profile roles in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (2010) and Longeran’s long-delayed film Margaret (2011) followed before Ruffalo’s appearance as Dr. Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk, in Joss Whedon’s movie blockbuster The Avengers (2012). Garnering highly positive reviews for a role in which actors Eric Bana and Edward Norton could not find success in previous films made Ruffalo a box office action star in addition to a critically-acclaimed actor. He returned to the Banner/Hulk role frequently in such Marvel movies as Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019) and Avengers: Endgame (2019),
Reunited with former co-star Gwyneth Paltrow in the sex-addiction comedy-drama Thanks for Sharing (2012), he went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for playing a bipolar Dad in Infinitely Polar Bear (2014). Ruffalo also took on the lead in Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of Larry Kramer’s AIDS-drama play The Normal Heart (2014) and earned a SAG Award and Emmy Nomination. He later took home the Emmy playing twin brothers, one a paranoid schizophrenic, in I Know This Much Is True (2020).
Ruffalo has been married to actress Sunrise Coigney since 2000; the couple has three children, a son and two daughters.
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