audi Luganga Musisi can hardly remember when his family last had breakfast. “We care more about lunch and supper,” says the father of six. “Having breakfast means we won’t have enough money for lunch and supper.”
Musisi, 52, lives in Kibbe zone, a sprawling slum in the Kalerwe suburb in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. His home, which he rents for 60,000 shillings (£12.50) a month, squats beside pools of stagnant rainwater – a world away from the well-watered, emerald-green lawns of the upmarket suburb of Kololo, just across town. Stones hold down the corrugated roof, and the walls are cracked. A sack of sand sits in the doorway to keep any running water out.
Like tens of thousands of others in Kampala, Musisi, a casual worker, has not benefited from Uganda’s steady economic growth, which has averaged above 6% since 2002 (pdf). He has no piped water, or sanitation. His family share a pit latrine with five other households.
Across Uganda, at least 13.8 million people (pdf) use unsanitary or shared latrines. More than 3.2 million people have no toilet at all. Open defecation contaminates drinking water sources and can spread cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid. Those living in rural areas are most at risk – eight out of 10 people in villages live without improved drinking water sources.
For Musisi, poor sanitation has a real, and costly, impact on his life. Every month, he spends 80,000 shillings on medicines, which sometimes pushes him into debt – his average monthly income is 120,000 shillings.
“Every month, we have a [family] member who has malaria or another infection. That’s what disturbs us here.”
Nearly 23% of households spend more than 10% of their total household income on healthcare. About 4.3% of Ugandans are impoverished annually due to out-of-pocket health payments.
Parliament is due to debate a bill to pave the way for legislation to introduce national social health insurance, as a first step towards universal healthcare. The bill has been around since 2007 but has been held up by disagreements between government and employers on how to fund it. Fewer than 1% of Ugandans (pdf) have insurance cover.
Achieving universal healthcare is a specific target in the sustainable development goals, a blueprint for development for the next 15 years that was adopted by UN member states in September. However, for millions of people like Musisi, economic and social inequalities are fundamental threats to health that must be tackled as well.
Sir Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London and winner of the Prince Mahidol award in public health last year, researches social and economic disadvantages and how they create health inequalities between and within countries.
He says: “Inequality brings with it other social evils like ill health and crime. It damages health. Absolute inequality means disempowerment of a severe kind and not being able to afford food and shelter. Our response to this inequality in health is working towards universal health coverage.
“Why treat people and send them back to the same conditions that made them sick? We need action on the social determinants of ill health.”
Last September, 267 leading economists signed a declaration calling for universal healthcare as an essential pillar of development.
For Marmot, this is just one part of the puzzle. Conditions for good health must also exist at home. “Increasingly, the lower you are in the social hierarchy, the [more the] health of the poor suffers,” he says.
His words find a ready echo among some health professionals in Uganda.
“Addressing conditions at home is the way to go,” says Dr Julius Bamwine, health officer for the western district of Ibanda. “We still need [working] health facilities. But a sizeable public budget should go into prevention. People must know that drinking contaminated water makes them sick.”
Robinah Kaitiritimba, director of the Uganda National Health Consumers’ Organisation, says primary healthcare should be the main focus.
“Even when we don’t have a lot of money, we can use information [and] education to tell people how to avoid some diseases. Prevention is the best and cheapest,” she says. “At least 70% of hospital admissions in Uganda are related to malaria but if people slept under treated mosquito nets, these would be drastically cut.”
Others argue that a functioning, affordable health system is just as crucial as improving conditions at home.
For Musisi, improving living conditions is a critical first step. “If government can help us and build for us better houses, it would be the start of a new life for me. You can see the life we live here.” Thanks for reading.
When will the UN be held to account for failing to protect civilians?
This month, the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights revealed the massive scale of abuse against civilians in South Sudan last year. Its report is unflinching in describing rape, killing and torture – all part of what it calls a “scorched earth policy” against civilians by government forces. Quite rightly, it suggests mechanisms that should be instigated to hold perpetrators of these crimes to account. However, the report fails to raise questions about the UN’s own accountability in situations such as these.
The UN mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) is made up of 12,500 peacekeepers under a Chapter VII mandate to protect civilians. As part of this mandate, Unmiss peacekeepers are supposed to “address violence against women and girls as a tool of warfare”, among other requirements to protect civilians under threat of physical violence.
While the UN provides shelter to about 200,000 people in their protection of civilians (POC) sites, the recent report is surely testament to the failure, at least in part, of this mandate, cataloguing horrific abuses against thousands of civilians.
This report comes as Unmiss is already investigating fighting and deaths that took place in their Malakal POC base in February, and follows claims by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) of a “complete and utter protection failure” in Unity state.
In both incidents, Unmiss is accused of failing to react to what is described as systematic targeting of civilians. In a letter to the Guardian rebutting the MSF allegations, the UN special representative and head of Unmiss, Ellen Margrethe Løj, explained the trying circumstances and undoubted challenges that the UN – and all humanitarian operators – face in South Sudan.
However, that is the job and that is the purpose of peacekeeping operations, so at what point is a mission aimed at protecting civilians classified as a failure?
The key missing element here is the lack of a culture of accountability. The UN is grappling with its internal mechanisms for holding peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse to account. Last week, a UN security council resolution committed its members to do just that.
In Central African Republic (CAR), allegations of sexual abuse by French and UN troops continue to be made, with the UN high commissioner on human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, blaming a culture of impunity for the proliferation of cases.
Indeed in CAR it was the whistleblower, Anders Kompass, who faced an investigation (and subsequent exoneration) while no one has been arrested in connection with the abuse allegations themselves.
Allegations such as these are not new, and similar claims have been made of various peacekeeping missions over the past 20 years. Therefore whether the new resolution goes beyond platitudes to taking demonstrable action against individuals who commit sexual abuses − as well as against member states that fail to prosecute their peacekeeping troops − will be a further indication of the UN’s ability to hold itself to account credibly.
As an unelected yet influential body, the UN has always been in danger of lacking legitimacy with those it is meant to serve. Member states must drive processes of accountability, yet they will also be the ones who are found to be culpable in some cases. Therein lies the problem.
It should be a priority for the UN and its member states to develop and instigate robust accountability measures, which can serve both to vindicate and challenge their actions and programmes as required. Rather than appearing to evade accountability in a smokescreen of bureaucracy and fragmented responsibility, the UN needs to find a way to address either failures by its own senior personnel to do their job effectively or − a more likely but concerning reality − serious systematic failures within the UN’s approach to peacekeeping.
If peacekeeping operations and the budget continue to grow, as they did last year, then the need for more exacting accountability mechanisms becomes ever more acute.
Peacekeepers have an important role to play and this month’s report on South Sudan serves as a sad reminder of the importance of ensuring that these operations fulfil their Chapter VII mandates.
Government forces and warring factions who have committed these terrible crimes must be held to account, but there is also a need to examine the prevailing conditions under which the crimes were allowed to happen.
Without accountability the UN will lose legitimacy, peacekeeping operations will not learn from previous failures and the vicious cycle that impunity facilitates will continue. Thanks for reading.
Wind power: senators want moratorium on turbines until health studies conclude
Two members of a Senate inquiry into the health effects of wind farms – including a Coalition backbencher – have called for a moratorium on building new turbines until two separate medical studies conclude.
On Tuesday, the National Health and Medical Research Council announced that it would allocate $3.3m for two university studies on whether noise emitted from wind turbines, known as infrasound, affected health, sleep and mood.
The independent senator John Madigan on Wednesday called for all projects to be put on hold as a “precaution”.
“We have a new industry operating infrastructure that some people say is making them sick,” he said. “There is insufficient research of the type needed to determine the validity of these claims.”
A Coalition senator, Chris Back, was part of a Senate inquiry into the effects of wind turbines. He supported Madigan’s call for a moratorium.
“This research is very important as the only scientific pilot study conducted in Australia measuring the effects of vibration, low-frequency noise and infrasound has indicated that there are health problems that requires further investigation,” he said.
“This important research will provide the affected communities with information regarding health and safety of living nearby to industrial size wind turbines. It is well known that industrial noise effects health.”
Putting money into investigating possible health effects of infrasound was consistent with previous National Health and Medical Research Council recommendations, said the environment minister, Greg Hunt.
“Their preliminary finding was they had no evidence of health effects but they also recommended there should be further study and investigations,” Hunt said. “So we are following the advice of the National Health and Medical Research Council.”
The issue was “of concern to a lot of people”, Malcolm Turnbull said.
“A reasonable exercise for the government is to ... investigate the matter,” the prime minister told reporters.
When asked if he was putting money to a syndrome that had already been disproved, Turnbull answered: “If the conclusion is as you suspect it will be, that will serve to allay lot of anxiety and that’s a very important thing to do.”
A Senate inquiry into turbines handed down its report in August. It recommended national standards on the amount of noise emitted be put into place and that the government put a five-year cap on renewable energy certificates.
Labor said the recommendations were “reckless, ridiculous and irresponsible”.
Turnbull and Hunt on Wednesday announced the formation of a $1bn clean energy fund aimed at creating innovative renewables and then commercialising the new technology.
John Cleese may sue Australian theatre company over Faulty Towers rip-off
John Cleese is considering pursuing legal action against an Australian theatre company’s “brazen, utterly shameless” rip-off of his television series Fawlty Towers, from which it has been profiting for decades.
The Australian company Interactive Theatre International has staged its Faulty Towers the Dining Experience in London, most cities in Australia and other destinations around the world since 1997.
Upcoming dates include Dubai, Singapore and Melbourne from 12-17 April for the city’s international comedy festival, with performances fetching for close to $100 a head for the three-course meal and two-hour interactive show.
Tickets for its residency at the Amba Hotel Charing Cross in London range from £47 (A$87) to £64 (A$119).
According to Cleese, Interactive Theatre International and its associated entities has not sought permission from him or his Fawlty Towers cowriter Connie Booth to use the characters, situations and names associated with the show.
Though he has known of the stage show’s existence for a year, he said on Twitter on Wednesday he had “no idea” of its “astonishing financial success”.
“Seems they thought that by not asking, and by changing the ‘w’ to a u’, they’d be in the clear! Hilarious,” he tweeted.
In response to another user’s comment that the company’s behaviour was “fucking shocking”, Cleese said: “That’s the phrasing I’m hoping to use in Court”.
Cleese quoted another Twitter user’s defence of the “excellent” theatre show, adding “I never heard anything was wrong with the show.
“After all, they start with a lot of advantages: the basic concept ... 40 years of unpaid publicity, the characters’ personalities, the characters’ names, the characters’ stress, the characters’ dialogue ... twelve funny episodes to which they make reference, plus all the catch-phrases, without the need to pay Connie Booth and me a single cent.”
A representative for Interactive Theatre International refused to comment to Guardian Australia but said its UK public relations company would send through a statement.
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Cleese told Fairfax from New Zealand on Wednesday that Interactive Theatre International has been operating for 20 years “without paying us a penny, they could well owe us a very significant amount”.
“They didn’t ask our permission and we didn’t know it was happening on this scale. If little groups are making some money that’s not a problem, but this is entirely different.”
Faulty Towers the Dining Experience bills itself as an “internationally acclaimed ... loving tribute to the BBC’s best-loved sitcom”.
The “loving tribute” line is reiterated in a disclaimer, which clarifies Cleese and Booth’s roles as the writers of the series and adds: “Their original TV scripts are not used in Faulty Towers the Dining Experience.”
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Nine teams of cast work from England and Australia and tour around 20 countries a year; the show’s six-nights-a-week residency at the Amba Hotel Charing Cross is also in its fourth year in London’s West End.
In a statement to Fairfax Media, Alison Pollard-Mansergh, founder and artistic director of Interactive Theatre International, rejected Cleese’s comments as “misleading and inaccurate”.
The stage version of Cleese’s show, Fawlty Towers Live, will make its world premiere in Sydney in August.
Cleese told Fairfax he was considering pursuing legal action against Interactive Theatre International’s iteration before its debut.
“Now that Fawlty Towers is about to happen as a proper stage show and producers are investing money in what is a risky enterprise, we certainly don’t want other shows out there confusing people,” he said.
“These people are completely brazen, utterly shameless. The awful thing about our society is that shameless people get away with things – look at [Donald] Trump.
“They take our concepts, they take our characters, they take our characters’ names and then they change the ‘w’ to a ‘u’ and say it’s got nothing to do with our show.”
He remarked on the irony of Interactive Theatre International’s “aggressive” attempts to protect the copyright of its stage show: “It’s absolutely wonderful!”. Thanks for reading.
Hiroshima survivor urges Obama to visit site of world's first atomic bombing
Barack Obama should visit Hiroshima when Japan hosts the G7 leaders’ summit in May to see for himself the human misery inflicted by nuclear weapons, according to a survivor of the atomic bombing of the city 70 years ago.
“I hope Obama and other G7 leaders come here and change their minds about possessing nuclear weapons,” said Keiko Ogura, who was an eight-year-old schoolgirl when the bomb flattened her hometown on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing 140,000 people.
Obama, who this week made a historic visit to Cuba, spoke of his desire for a nuclear-free world during a speech in Prague in 2009, but has not been to Hiroshima on any of his three visits to Japan as president.
Speculation that he will pay tribute to victims and survivors of the bombing, months before his time in office ends, rose on Wednesday after reports that the White House was looking into the possibility of arranging a visit, which would be the first by a sitting US president.
Japanese media quoted Rose Gottemoeller, the US undersecretary for arms control, as telling reporters in Washington that the White House was “considering” an Obama trip to the city. The final decision on the timing and nature of any visit would be the president’s, Kyodo News quoted Gottemoeller as saying.
Ogura, now 78, survived because her father, convinced something bad would happen, told her to skip school on the day of the attack. Their home was just outside the 2km radius from ground zero where most of the casualties and damage occurred.
“President Obama should come here and see for himself,” she said. “He and other leaders would realise that nuclear weapons are not about making allies and enemies, but about joining hands and fighting this evil together.
“We don’t want to tell world leaders what to think, or make them apologise. They should just view it as an opportunity to lead the world in the right direction, because only they have the power to do that.”
G7 leaders will meet in Ise-Shima in central Japan in late May; early next month, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, will be among the foreign ministers meeting in Hiroshima.
The mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, and Tomihisa Taue, his counterpart in Nagasaki, visited the US ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, in early 2014 to request Obama’s presence at a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the attack later that year, but did not insist that he issue an apology.
“That made me so angry,” said Yuki Tanaka, a retired professor at Hiroshima City University and an authority on the city’s history.
“If the mayors are sincere about demanding that the US abolish nuclear weapons, they also have to make the US recognise that Hiroshima was a crime against humanity and demand an apology. You can’t separate one issue from the other.”
Obama said during a visit to Japan in late 2009 that he would be “honoured” to go to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where 80,000 people died after it was bombed on 9 August 1945. “I certainly would be honoured – it would be meaningful for me to visit those two cities in the future,” Obama said.
But a secret US cable released by WikiLeaks revealed that before Obama’s visit to the country, Japan had discouraged the White House from arranging for him to go to Hiroshima, acknowledging that a presidential apology for the attack was a “non-starter”.
The cable, dated 3 September 2009 and sent to the then secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, quoted Japan’s then vice-foreign minister, Mitoji Yabunaka, as saying that both countries “should temper the public’s expectations” for a stop in Hiroshima.
“While a simple visit to Hiroshima without fanfare is sufficiently symbolic to convey the right message, it is premature to include such program in the November visit,” Yabunaka was quoted as saying.
The only western leader to have visited Hiroshima while in office is Kevin Rudd, who laid a wreath at the peace park cenotaph in 2008 when he was still Australian prime minister.
Jimmy Carter visited the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima in 1984, after he had left office, but no sitting US president has ever visited the city. The highest-ranking US official to visit the site is Nancy Pelosi, the then House speaker, in 2008. Ambassador Kennedy attended the 70th anniversary commemorations last year.
Tanaka believes the prospects for an Obama visit remain slim given the criticism that even a simple gesture, such as laying a wreath, at the cenotaph would generate at home, particularly in an election year.
“It’s not impossible, but I doubt it,” Tanaka said, “for the simple reason that most Americans believe that the US was right to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and that it ended the war.
“Part of the problem is that Japan is reluctant to apologise for its own wartime atrocities, which makes it more difficult to demand an apology from someone else.”
Mayor Matsui would not be drawn on the prospects of a visit by Obama or Kerry to the Hiroshima peace park, whose cenotaph contains the names of every person to have died in connection to the bombing.
But he said: “If they prayed before the cenotaph, they would be demonstrating a commitment [to abolishing nuclear weapons], and that would be good for us.
“An Obama visit would certainly carry a lot of weight.” Thanks for reading.
Clinton and Trump win big in Arizona, but Sanders and Cruz keep pressure on
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both won convincing victories in the Arizona presidential primaries on Tuesday, cementing their status as the frontrunners in Republican and Democratic races that are a long way from being settled.
In a sign both contests are shaping up to be long and drawn-out bids for delegates, Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders, the main Republican and Democratic challengers, also notched significant victories in western states.
Cruz swept to victory in Utah, winning more than 50% of the votes, a pivotal threshold under Utah’s Republican caucus rules, which ensured the Texas senator secured all of the state’s 40 delegates.
Sanders also registered a resounding victory in Utah and added a second triumph in Idaho, a state where only Democrats were holding a contest on Tuesday.
However, Arizona was the largest delegate prize on Tuesday and was also the most fiercely contested, with Trump, Cruz, Clinton and Sanders all criss-crossing the state in recent days in a last-ditch effort to shore up support.
The strength of the victories by the Republican and Democratic frontrunners in the large, diverse state will add to the growing sense they are nominees-in-waiting, even if they have months of protracted contests ahead of them.
The Grand Canyon State is the largest purely winner-takes-all state left in the Republican calendar, and Trump’s victory in the state ensured he won all 58 delegates. At 11pm local time, with close to half of Arizona votes counted, Trump was on 47%, compared to Cruz’s 23%. Ohio Governor John Kasich was third, with around 10%.
On the Democratic side, Clinton had a similarly large margin of victory, with 60% to Sanders’ 38%.
At her victory speech at a rally in Seattle the former secretary of state immediately positioned herself as the Democratic commander-in-chief in waiting, dwelling only briefly on the election results in order to focus instead on a critique of how her Republican rivals responded to the terrorist attacks in Brussels earlier in the day.
Clinton contrasted what she claimed would be her “strong, smart and above all steady” leadership in the White House with the reaction of Republicans to the tragedy in Europe.
Trump, who recently said the US should reconsider its involvement in the Nato defense alliance, a cornerstone of Washington’s foreign policy, responded to the terrorist atrocity by repeating his call to waterboard terrorism suspects. Cruz, meanwhile, was widely criticized for reacting to the attacks with a call for law enforcement patrols of Muslim neighborhoods.
“In the face of terror, America doesn’t panic, we don’t build walls or turn our backs on our allies,” Clinton said. “We can’t throw out everything that we know about what works and what doesn’t and start torturing people.”
She added: “What Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and others are suggesting is not only wrong, it is dangerous.”
Appearing at a rally in San Diego before the Utah and Idaho results were in, Sanders did not mention his loss in Arizona, instead focusing on his expected wins. “We have now won 10 primaries and caucuses,” a hoarse-sounding Sanders told supporters. “And unless I’m mistaken, we’re going to win a couple more tonight.”
His forecast was correct, and the strength of Sanders’ victories in Utah and Idaho, where early voting returns indicated he could win as much as 70% of the votes, will likely energize his supporters. The senator from Vermont is also projected to perform well in the last three Democratic states to hold contests in March: Alaska, Hawaii and Washington.
However, those wins are unlikely to put a decisive dent in the Democratic frontrunner’s lead delegates. Clinton’s lead in delegates selected through primaries and caucuses is bolstered from the pledged support of party officials that also get a say in the nomination process.
With superdelegates included, Clinton went into Tuesday with 1,630 delegates compared to Sanders’ 870. Sanders contends that superdelegates could still change their minds before the convention and insist the second half of the primary calendar includes states that are better suited to him.
Still, Clinton operatives are privately confident that on the current trajectory the senator from Vermont will face intense pressure to pull out of the race by early summer.
The Republican race appears more complicated still.
While Trump looks on course to end the campaign with the most delegates of any candidate, he may not have the 1,237 required to win the GOP nomination outright. That would force the billionaire to make the case for his presidency in a contested convention where party elites, many of whom who are hostile to his candidacy, could hold sway.
With Trump’s projected delegate count expected to come down to the wire, results such as his loss to Cruz in Utah could, later down the line, prove pivotal.
Utah’s large Mormon population always made it steep challenge for Trump, but the race showed signs that Cruz, a conservative stalwart once loathed by the Republican establishment, is starting to mop-up its support.
The self-styled Tea Party senator is desperate to absorb supporters of candidates who have dropped out such as Marco Rubio, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush. In Utah, he received the unlikely backing of 2012 nominee Mitt Romney.
Cruz’s bid for the mantle of Trump’s challenger-in-chief is complicated by Kasich, the third Republican still in the race and, he argues, the only moderate voice. His continued presence in the race could sap at the Texan senator’s pool of potential anti-Trump voters.
Cruz is also hampered by a view among some in the party that that would be no more electable than Trump in a general election – and possibly less so.
Trump and Cruz were both on the east coast, where most results did not start filtering until late Tuesday night. Neither had scheduled news conferences or rallies to react to the results.
Instead, on a night when world leaders were grappling with the repercussions of the terrorist bombings in Brussels, which killed at least 31 people and injuring up to 230, Trump and Cruz ended up in an unseemly Twitter squabble over their wives.
Trump wrongly accusing Cruz of being behind an ad in Utah that used a nude photograph of his wife Melania from a GQ shoot 15 years ago and added: “Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!”
Cruz responded: “Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you’re more of a coward than I thought.” Thanks for reading.
OAP Freeze Slams TB Joshua Over Brussels Bombings
Central European country of Belgium was on Tuesday morning rocked by twin explosions at the Brussels Airport and Metro Station, leaving at least 30 people dead, and tens of others wounded. And not long after the sad news claimed headlines across the globe, popular Nigerian cleric at the Synagogue Church of All Nations, T.B. Joshua, claimed he had predicted the tragedy.
The message was shared on the church’s Emmanuel TV on January 31, where he said that it ‘is not yet over’ for a ‘French Country’. “These evil people are in town,” the prophet said, adding, “The people they chased out, there are some that are still there. They want to strike back.”
“They have to sit tight,” TB Joshua continued in the message, saying that the alleged attackers were “looking for every opportunity for assembly – assembly of people, to launch. They will blow a lot of people die.(sic)”
But popular OAP Daddy Freeze is not buying into these endless prophesies.
“Baba, leave story, you didn’t predict jack!” Daddy Freeze said, adding, “Northern French country ko, southern Portuguese country ni! Shior!!!”
“Your so-called prediction killed about 30 while in your own backyard 116 were killed???? Baba, leave this one and go and predict #SureBet make boys hammer!” Daddy Freeze said.
This is not the first time the OAP would be tackling the popular prophet.
Just some days back, Freeze called out Nigeria’s justice system for treating TB Joshua like royalty after a building in his church’s premises collapsed, leading to the death of over 100 people, while Lekki Gardens MD, Richard Nyong was cuffed and remanded in prison following the collapse of one of his structures. Thanks for reading.
You Must Release Collated Results, Wike Tells INEC
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release already collated results of Saturday’s legislative re-run in the State.
Speaking with in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Wike said it was shocking that the electoral body was still holding back several results already collated and announced at the various collation centres.
He said: “Does INEC have powers to cancel results that have been collated, announced at local government areas. You have no power. You know that a particular party has lost. They came with mights.
“Tell INEC to release results declared. You have announced that PDP won. What are you doing with them. Nigeria of today is not Nigeria of yesterday. People have becomed more aware” he said.
Thanks for reading.
Hulk Hogan: Gawker Media founder Nick Denton 'scared the hell out of me'
Six-foot-five-inch former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan said he was “scared” of Gawker Media founder Nick Denton and had to use a technique of affirming his own greatness in order to get through the controversial privacy trial that landed him with a $140m payout.
Hogan – whose real name is Terry Bollea – told The New York Post that during the trial of Gawker Media’s distribution of his sex tape: “All I did was write for 11 days affirmations: ‘I am victorious. I am grateful. I am highly favored by God and His universe.’”
Hogan said he was shaken by the events of his court battle with Gawker, which ended with a guilty verdict from a Florida jury. The organization is sentenced to pay Hogan $140m. In particular, he confessed he was afraid of Denton: “He scared the hell out of me,’’ said Hogan.
“Denton and I had a stare-down. He scared me staring at me, man. He just sat there staring. It was right after his cross-examination. He stood up and stared. It was like he was going to call me out at Wrestlemania. Yikes!”
Of the sum ordered to him in the verdict, Hogan received $65m for emotional distress. He said the spiritual toll inflicted by the publication of the sex tape was considerable: “I would run into kids who would say, ‘I’d downloaded the Hulk Hogan Wrestlemania video, and Hulk Hogan sex tape came up.’”
On Gawker Tuesday afternoon, Denton characterized the trial as unfair and says Gawker is bound to win on appeal, citing several legal opinions, among them a reversal of the injunction Hogan sought to bar Gawker from posting the tape in the first place.
Denton also said Hogan’s claim that he’d been distressed emotionally by seeing the tape on Gawker was disingenuous, pointing out that Hogan had discussed his sexual exploits in public at length, notably on the Howard Stern show, and that his attempt to separate his alter ego from his own person was a sham. Denton said the former wrestler’s testimony that Hulk Hogan has a larger penis than Terry Bollea rang particularly false.
“Hogan did not sue us, as he has claimed, to recover damages from the emotional distress he purportedly experienced upon our revelation in 2012 of a sexual encounter with his best friend’s wife, Heather Cole (then Heather Clem),” Denton said. “It turns out this case was never about the sex on the tape Gawker received, but about racist language on another, unpublished tape that threatened Hogan’s reputation and career.”
Indeed, when the slur-laced recording of Hogan voicing his disapproval of his daughter’s relationship with a black man became public, the WWE fired Hogan – arguably the highest-profile member of his profession in history – and scrubbed all mention of him from its website. He has since called his use of racial slurs “a huge mistake”. Thanks for reading.
FG Begins Economy Recovery With N350bn For Jobs And Diversification
The Federal Government yesterday announced that it will pump N350 billion to revamp the economy and ensure new jobs are created in the for the masses.
The government’s plan was announced at the end a two-day National Economic Council (NEC) retreat held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said efforts had been put in place to ensure that the spending on the capital projects trickles down to all Nigerians.
Mrs Adeosun, in her paper at the retreat, said: “We are going to spend money and this will be done in a disciplined manner and in right places.
“The Federal Government has a platform and system of control in place to ensure transparency. Spending will not be reckless.
“We are pumping 350 billion Naira into the economy in the next one quarter to help the economy to bounce back. That has never happened in the history of this country”.
According to her, part of the money would be used to offset contractual debts.
With this huge spending, the minister believed that “companies that had laid off staff and those that had abandoned projects are going back to sites and the economy will bounce back”.
“Our priority is that the wages of workers will be paid. We have engaged the contractors to let them know that the payment of management fees has to wait, this is how to make the money to trickle down to Nigerians,” she told the gathering.
The Minister further urged state governments to take their destinies in their own hands by proactively driving revenue generation, saying “now is the time to put in place a robust revenue drive by the states”.
“There is need to have a business and commercial approach to revenue generation,” she emphasised.
Mrs Adeosun also stressed the need for the Nigerian government to look at data management, saying “nobody can succeed in revenue generation without the numbers. It is important to report accurately and understand the billings versus the revenue coming in”.
She told the gathering that the Finance Ministry had already strengthened the Post-Mortem Sub-Committee of the Federation Account.
“The big differences between the NNPC and the Federation accounts are now things of the past.
“We now run a transparent structure. We have appointed three professionals to help clean the system. They write formal reports and get formal responses to all the questions,” she said.
Speaking on the plans for the Customs service, the minister said the Federal Government had agreed to review the remunerations of the Customs Service.
“We look at the Customs and found out that it has one of the lowest salaries at least from their peer group. That is a problem. Here you have a custom officer being paid 50, 000 Naira monthly and you task him to collect duty of nearly two million Naira.
“This means we are looking for trouble. So we are working on better remuneration for the Customs.
“The other issue is the equipment being used by the agency. Their ability to scan containers is very important. Classifications of containers are faulty now because of the kind of equipment they use.
Ability to scan a container and know what is in it is limited,” the Minister stated.
Some other resolutions reached at the retreat which she read out to reporters were focused on increasing Internally Generated Revenue and fostering collaboration between Federal and State Inland Revenues to ensure there was an alignment.
The retreat was said to have been muted by the Nigerian Governors Forum to find a solution to the economic problems they had faced over time.
To solve the problems, the Chairman of the National Economic Council convened the two-day retreat.
Other resolutions reached at the retreat were read out by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma.
The Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano said a resolution was reached on the integration of trading in infrastructure projects and investing in the Nigerian people through the school feeding programme.
The National Economic Council also established two committees, one of them headed by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to monitor the full implementation of the resolutions from the retreat, as well as provide a progress report on the implementation. Thanks for reading.
Ambode/Buhari Campaign Billboards Debts Leave Outdoor Ad Coys On The Brink Of Collapse
More than 70 outdoor advertising companies contracted to handle the Ambode/Buhari campaign billboards in Lagos are still waiting to get paid their dues from the APC, with practitioners revealing that they are enduring a choking debt burden.
“The companies that ensured that Buhari and Ambode billboards took over 95% of the available billboards in Lagos have not been paid up to 5% of their payments for the job,” some frustrated practitioners lamented to journalists in Lagos.
The outdoor advertisers said they were invited by the former LASAA MD, George Noah during the election campaigns to do the jobs but only one or two who insisted on being paid were paid partially, with more than 70 companies remaining in limbo.
“The new MD, Mr. Mobolaji Sanusi has refused to honour the agreement between us and his predecessor, yet his men have started clamping down on our members since around October last year, shutting down our billboards for non-payment of their own dues.
“He has also sent new bills for the year while the billboards are not working since he shut them down but we have explained that the APC billboard monies have not been paid to us by the former MD, George Noah who he claimed has been paid by the All Progressives Congress, Lagos.”
When pressed on why they have not met with Mr. George Noah over the matter, a member of the Out Of Homes companies said, “Our association has met with him but he is insisting that the APC is yet to pay him, all he keeps saying is that he is still talking to his principal but all we are asking for is payment for jobs we did.”
On why they have kept quiet about it till now, another interviewed member representing one of the affected companies said, “We hesitated from coming out till now because we don’t want to embarrass the government or the APC but we were advised by the current LASAA MD, to go after George Noah and the company he used to issue the media order, ‘Media Worth’. Thanks for reading.
Police Extends Deadline For Automated ‘Tinted Car Glass’, Other Licences
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, has ordered the extension of the deadline for the on-going re-validation of Tinted car glass Permit, Police Character Clearance and Firearm Licence from March 18 to May 31.
The directive is contained in a statement issued by the Police Spokesperson, acting Assistant Commission of Police, ACP Olabisi Kolawole, in Abuja on Wednesday.
It said that the extension became imperative to enable members of the public to seamlessly key into the electronic platform initiative of the Nigeria Police Force Central Information System (NCIS).
The statement stated that Arase directed all State Commands Commissioners of Police to ensure that nobody was exploited and extorted in carrying out the exercise.
It said that revalidation was free of charge and that those yet to complete the process should not be subjected to unnecessary harassment by policemen.
IGP reassured the public of the commitment of the Force to provide security to the citizens of the country, always.
It further enjoined them to continue to support and assist the Police in its constitutional task of safeguarding the nation. Thanks for reading.
Corruption and rubbish top agenda for unlikely Rome mayoral favourite
In the Rome envisioned by Virginia Raggi, who is vying to become the city’s next mayor, a new fleet of buses drive in delegated “fast lanes”, traffic flows seamlessly thanks to “smart” traffic lights, rubbish is picked up diligently, and public service contracts are carefully vetted and managed.
It may not sound like a particularly ambitious agenda for a major European capital. But for residents of the Eternal City, who know only too well the vast gulf that exists between the romantic view of the city and the everyday reality for people who live here – the overflowing rubbish bins, unreliable public transport, rampant illegal parking and overgrown public parks – it is nothing short of revolutionary.
“Our vision is of a city that is livable, first of all, which it is not at the moment, for all the Romans who live here and the tourists who … find themselves in front of a city that is devastated and very difficult,” Raggi said.
The insurgent 37-year-old lawyer and former member of Rome’s city council has emerged as one of the favourites in the election which is expected to be held in June, eight months after Ignazio Marino, the former Democratic mayor and transplant surgeon who promised to revive the city, was forced out following a scandal involving his expenses.
Former mayor Ignazio Marino promoting a bike scheme
If she wins, Raggi would not only be the first woman to lead the city but she would also score a significant victory for the Five Star Movement, the populist Eurosceptic party established by former comedian Beppe Grillo that now stands as the second most popular political party in Italy.
While Grillo’s M5S has long been seen as a protest party that was short on policy and more than a bit wacky, the ascendancy of polished politicians like Raggi across Italy marks an important turning point for the party and a sign that it might be moving beyond Grillo. It would also be a humiliating defeat for prime minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic party (PD).
Asked what she makes of the prime minister, himself a former mayor, Raggi did not hesitate in delivering her cool assessment: “[Renzi] is working for the banks and not the citizens.”
As for the other important man in Rome – Pope Francis – Raggi said she thought the Argentinian was probably a “Grillino” (derived from Grillo), ie a supporter of M5S’s views on environmentalism and stand against corruption. If elected, one of Raggi’s objectives would be to claim between €250m and €400m in allegedly unpaid taxes on the Vatican’s real estate holdings and other assets, which she claims have never been collected by the city’s administration for fear of taking on the church.
“I think that on this point, we could have a frank discussion,” she said, noting that the pope has raised the issue in the past.
In an interview with the Guardian in an office just a skip away from the prime minister’s residence, Palazzo Chigi, and in the middle of a race that has of late been dominated by a spat between rightwing rivals – about whether a mother could also be mayor – Raggi seemed delighted to talk up her three big priorities: mobility, transparency, and rubbish collection.
She rails against the particularly Roman phenomenon, “which practically doesn’t exist abroad”, of people who use public buses but do not pay fares (it is an honour system and checks are exceedingly rare).
“There need to be more controllers, and we’ll make it obligatory for people to get on in the front of the bus. We will do small things, of common sense, that have never been done,” she said.
“We have to bring legality back, something that in Italy, in Rome, isn’t there,” she said.
Raggi emphasises public transport: she wants to replace the city’s 15-year-old buses with a new fleet of hybrid electric buses and says she is not a fan of Uber, which she believes creates “unfair competition”. She is also seeking to reorganise the way lorries circulate the city, saying it is untenable for tens of thousands to be moving through Rome with only one or two packages to deliver.
But Raggi readily acknowledges that achieving anything in Rome will mean confronting the city’s rife corruption. While Rome was previously seen as a step above the unofficial capitals of organised crime in Italy – Sicily, Naples, Reggio Calabria – a neverending stream of scandals known collectively as “Mafia Capitale” has made it clear that almost every public service in Italy’s capital has been sullied by mismanagement and corruption.
Raggi’s response is for more transparency, more controls, and open data.
“There are staff in Rome who want to work honestly, heightening controls internally and externally,” she said.
It is an issue in which she clearly stands with her party leader, Grillo. But she hedges on other, controversial, views belonging to the party boss, who has been a cheerleader for Nigel Farage, among other anti-EU figures.
Asked whether she endorses his view that Italy ought to have a referendum on keeping the euro as a currency, Raggi said citizens ought to be able to “speak up” about the eurozone, but also acknowledged that Italy was better off in Europe than out of Europe.
“I think it would be difficult to leave Europe, but Europe needs to change,” she said.
While she defends a recent controversial move by Grillo in which he backed off a political agreement in which the M5S was going to support parental rights for same-sex couples as part of a broader bill on civil unions – the proposal had to be withdrawn – she said she personally supported rights for same-sex parents.
She also takes a different tone to Grillo’s sometimes xenophobic views on the migration crisis, saying Rome needed to more swiftly identify asylum seekers, but that the city ultimately had legal obligations to house migrants.
“We have to understand why these people leave – it is a war we all helped create,” she said.
For now, her candidacy has been clouded by a single controversy: her early work as an apprentice at a law firm of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s attorney, Cesare Previti, who was later convicted of bribing a judge.
She denounces the “debate and all this confusion”, saying it was an attack on “all category of lawyers”.
“The message it transmitted is that if you are a lawyer who defends a criminal, also the lawyer is a criminal. If you are a doctor that treats a mafiosi, are you a mafioso?” she said. Thanks for reading.
BREAKING: Senate Passes Controversial 2016 Budget
The Senate has passed the controversial 2016 Appropriation Bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 22, 2015.
Presenting a report on the budget, on Wednesday, Danjuma Goje, chairman senate committee on appropriation, said that the budget was “full of controversy”, but that the senate would not want to delay its passage by adding more controversies to it.
More to follow..............Thanks for reading.
Brussels suicide bombers identified as police hunt suspect caught on CCTV
Two of the suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the twin Brussels attacks that killed at least 31 people on Tuesday have been formally named by prosecutors, as police searched for a suspect captured on CCTV at Zaventem airport.
The Belgian federal prosecutor, Frédéric van Leeuw, confirmed media reports that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 29, detonated one of two devices that exploded at Zaventem airport, killing himself and 11 others and injuring more than 90.
His younger brother Khalid, 27, was responsible for a third explosion, just over an hour later in a metro carriage at Maelbeek station on the rue de la Loi, near offices of the European commission, van Leeuw told a news conference. At least 14 people died in that attack, with more than 130 wounded.
Van Leeuw said the two airport bombs exploded within seconds of each other at 7.58am, near the check-in desks of rows 11 and two in the main departure hall. Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was identified by his fingerprints.
But two others from a group of three men caught on a CCTV camera wheeling loaded baggage trolleys across the hall have not been identified. One of these men was the second airport suicide bomber, the other a suspect who survived after leaving behind a suitcase containing a “very large explosive charge” and who is being actively sought.
Belgian media have suggested the surviving attacker was Najim Laachraoui, but reports that he had been arrested were later retracted.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, which plunged the Belgian capital into a day-long lockdown, led to heightened security at airports across Europe, and drew swift and strong condemnation from other European capitals, the US and Russia.
Shortly after Brussels residents, EU staff including the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and members of the Belgian royal family observed a minute’s silence in memory of the dead, van Leeuw confirmed the death toll from the attacks stood at 31 but was likely to rise further, with 270 injured.
A taxi driver had come forward after recognising CCTV images of the three airport suspects as men he picked up from an apartment block and dropped off at the airport, van Leeuw said, adding that police had subsequently raided the building in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek and discovered 15kg of explosives, detonators and a suitcase filled with nails and screws.
A series of other raids in the same street had led to one arrest, the prosecutor added, and the discovery in a rubbish bin of a computer containing a statement from Ibrahim el-Bakraoui in which he wrote of feeling “in a rush, not knowing what to do, being hunted everywhere, not being safe, and if this goes on, ending up in a cell”.
Van Leeuw said the two el-Bakraoui brothers, both Belgian nationals, had long criminal records but had not so far been associated with terrorism. It has emerged since the bloody attacks in Paris last November that killed 130 people, however, that they were part of that terror cell.
One el-Bakraoui brother is known to have rented a flat in the Forest area of south-west Brussels that was raided by police last Tuesday, leading three days later to the capture of Salah Abdeslam, the only known survivor among the 10 Islamist gunmen and suicide bombers who attacked the Bataclan concert hall, Stade de France and a string of cafes and restaurants in Paris.
One of the brothers is also known to have rented a hideout in Charleroi in Belgium where two more of the Paris attackers, ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up at the Stade de France, met before heading to the French capital.
One of the el-Bakraoui brothers is also believed to have provided ammunition and weapons for the Paris attacks, RTBF reported.
Laachraoui, 24, is also suspected of involvement in the Paris attacks. He reportedly travelled to Syria in 2013 and was previously identified by his alias, Soufiane Kayal. He was travelling with Abdeslam in September 2015 when their car was stopped at the Hungarian border with Austria. Also in the car was Mohammed Belkaid, who was shot dead by a police sniper in a Forest raid.
Laachraoui’s DNA was also found at another apartment used by the Paris attackers in Auvelais. near the central Belgian city of Namur, and at another suspected hideout in Schaerbeek. RTBF said he could have been one of the bombmakers involved in the Paris attacks.
Belgium raised its terror alert to its highest level in the aftermath of the attacks. The airport will remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday and the metro will be running a reduced service, but schools were opening as normal.
The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, who was travelling to Brussels on Wednesday, urged the EU parliament to authorise a full Europe-wide passenger name record. “It has waited too long to adopt this text,” he said. “It must examine and adopt it in April. It’s time.”
The suspects
Ibrahim el-Bakraoui
El-Bakraoui blew himself up at Brussels’ main airport. He and his brother, Khalid, were well known to Belgian police because of their long history of involvement in organised crime. They had clear links to the Paris attacks and were among the suspects on the run.
The second bomber at the airport.
Khalid el-Bakraoui
Khalid el-Bakroui was responsible for the explosion in the metro carriage at Maelbeek station on the rue de la Loi, which killed at least 14 people and injured more than 130. Like his brother Ibrahim, the airport bomber, he had a criminal history and links to the Paris attacks. He had rented the flat in Forest, south-west Brussels, that was raided by police last Tuesday and where DNA traces of Salah Abdeslam, the surviving Paris attacker, had been found.
Najim Laachraoui
Laachraoui was identified as a key suspect in the Paris attacks the day before the Brussels bombings. His DNA was found in two hideouts used by Paris attackers and also on explosive material, prosecutors have said. Laachraoui was travelling under an alias with Salah Abdeslam in September last year when their Mercedes was stopped at the Hungarian border with Austria. RTBF reported that he could have been one of the bombmakers in the Paris attacks. Thanks for reading.
Alleged N852m Fraud: I Won’t Honour Your Invitation, Fayemi Tells Ekiti Assembly
A former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has failed to appear before the State House of Assembly over allegations on misappropriation of N852 million Universal Basic Education Commission fund (UBEC).
The former Governor, now a serving Minister on Tuesday through his Personal Assistant, Tolulope Ibitola wrote the Assembly that he could not honour the invitation “due to prior scheduled state engagements”.
The Assembly had at its plenary presided over by Speaker Kola Oluwawole on March 9, in a resolution pursuant to Sections 128 (1)(2) and 129(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), ordered the Minister of Solid Mineral to appear before it on March 22.
He wrote, “The minister has however asked that I should draw your attention to the fact that all matters relating to his stewardship as Ekiti State Governor between October 16, 2010 and October 15, 2014 as well documented in his handover note, which was duly submitted to the government at the expiration of his tenure on October 15, 2014 as statutorily required.
“The minister will be pleased to respond to specific clarifications the House may wish to make further to your diligent examination of the handover note.”
However, the speaker said Fayemi could still be invited to defend himself over the UBEC fund, despite responding to the first summons of the House via a letter. Thanks for reading.
National Assembly To Pass 2016 Budget Today
The upper and lower chamber (Senate, House of Representative) would, today pass the 2016 Appropriation Bill presented by President Muhammdu Buhari on December 22, 2015.
The Senate Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Senator Danjuma Goje said the Senate might possibly hold two sessions on Wednesday to enable it to pass the fiscal document.
He said, “We have perfected necessary arrangements to ensure that the budget is considered and passed before we proceed on recess tomorrow (Wednesday)”.
Read Also: Rivers Re-run: Policemen Were Not Biased – IGP
The federal lawmakers, who had earlier slated last week for the submission of the report, postponed it because of fresh errors they said were discovered in the fiscal document. Thanks for reading.
Alleged Corruption: Court Adjourns Metuh, Badeh’s Trial Again
Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja has once again adjourned the trial of the spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh.
The case will continue on Thursday, the Judge ruled on Wednesday.
Mr. Metuh is facing a seven-count charge of alleged money laundering to the tune of N400 million.
He was expected to open his defence Wednesday.
Mr. Abang had adjourned the opening of Mr. Metuh’s Defence last Thursday, following an application by the PDP spokesperson for the case to be transferred to another judge.
The application, filed by Mr. Metuh’s lawyer, Emeka Etiaba, listed 16 reasons Mr. Abang should not be allowed to hear the case.
Also on Wednesday, Justice Abang also adjourned the trial of former Chief of Air staff, Alex Badeh to Thursday. Thanks for reading.
Alleged N32bn Fraud: Dasuki Refuses To Appear In Court , Stalls Trial
Embattled National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, retd, failed to appear in court on Wednesday, for the commencement of his trial on the 19-count money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him and four others.
The anti-graft agency had in the charge it filed before an Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama, alleged that Dasuki connived with the erstwhile Director of Finance in the Office of the NSA, Mr. Shuaibu Salisu and a former Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Aminu Baba-Kusa, and diverted public funds to the tune of N32billion.
The EFCC had alleged that the N32bn was distributed to delegates that attended the Presidential Primary Election the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, held in Abuja, a process that saw the emergence of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole candidate of the party.
Trial Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf had on February 8, okayed full-blown hearing to commence on the matter but at the resumption of trial on Wednesday, the prosecutor failed to produce Dasuki.
EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, told the court that the former NSA who has been in detention since November 3, 2015, refused to be brought to court. “My lord, yesterday (Tuesday) the 1st defendant was notified that this matter will come up today (Wednesday) for hearing and that he should prepare. However, this morning, the 1st defendant refused to come to court on the ground that his lead counsels Mr. J. B. Daudu, SAN, and Ahmed Raji, SAN, will not be in court.
“We persuaded him to at least come to court first but he refused and insisted that he cannot be abducted. He said that nobody can ad but and bring him to court”, Rotimi added.
He argued that section 267(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, allows the court to commence hearing on a case against a defendant who is not in custody, so far such person is permitted to have unfettered access to his lawyers.
“I asked the DSS whether any of his counsels ever made any attempt to see him and they said none of his lawyers ever did. My lord I submit that it is not the law that once a defendant is in custody his trial cannot go on. That is the misconception that the defendant has been given out.
“This recent action is a deliberate game-plan by the defendant and his counsel to ensure that this trial does not go on today. My witnesses are here and ready to testify. The blatant refusal by the defendant to appear in court amounts to misconduct”, Jacobs insisted. Nevertheless, the lawyer who announced appearance for Dasuki, Mr. Wale Balogun, told the court that he was not aware of any of the allegations the prosecution raised against his client. He contended that the onus was on the prosecution to produce the defendant who has been in its custody, in court for trial. ”We are not in custody of the 1st defendant, they are the ones that have him in custody.
We are not ordinarily allowed to see him, so there is no way we can confirm all the allegations. “It is elementary requirement of law that the defendant must be present during his trial, the prosecution has not made any application for his presence to be excused.
The allegation the prosecution raised are very serious. He said someone told him, that DSS officer ought to have deposed an affidavit. “The learned silk cannot give evidence from the bar. His allegations should have been supported by an affidavit duly deposed before this court”,
Balogun argued. Similarly, counsel to the other defendants agreed with Dasuki’s lawyer that EFCC ought to have backed the allegations with an affidavit evidence.
The judge, therefore agreed with the defence counsel on the need to adjourned the case. Consequently, Justice Baba Yusuf adjourned the matter till April 6, 2016 for the prosecution to produce the defendant in court. Thanks for reading.
Academic Requirement: UNILAG Medical Students Get Court Order
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday has ordered the University of Lagos, (UNILAG) Senate not to give effect to its decision to upwardly review the academic requirement for medical students in 100 level to proceed to 200 level.
The judge, Justice Sule Hassan said it would be in the interest of the institution to hold action on its decision it made on January 27 pending the hearing and determination of a suit filed by some aggrieved medical students to challenge the decision.
The Justice gave the order in a positive response to an ex parte application argued by the medical students lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye. The students had approached the judge, claiming that the alleged upward review of academic requirement for them to proceed from 100 level to 200 level was “an attempt to weed them out of the university.”
The students also accused UNILAG of raising the academic requirement in order to accommodate diploma students, who allegedly paid N500,000 to the institution’s College of Medicine.
According to the students, they were admitted to the university in the 2014/2015 academic year to study Medicine and Surgery, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Pharmacology, Physiology, Dentistry, Medical Laboratory Science and Radiography. And their admission process followed a successful performance in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and the post-UTME set by UNILAG.
The students urged the court to hold that the suit they filed would act as an order for the university to hold action on the decision till the case was finally heard and determined by the court.
After listening to the medical students lawyer on Tuesday, Justice Hassan, however, ordered both parties to maintain status quo ante bellum pending further hearing. Thanks for reading.
Killers Of Corps Member In Rivers Will Not Go Unpunished – Minister
Barrister Solomon Dalung, Minister of youths and sports development, has warned that those who contributed to the death of Samuel Okonta, a serving corps member, who was killed during the Rivers State re-run elections would not go unpunished.
Speaking when he received members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who paid a condolence visit to the NYSC headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, Dalung condemned the inhumane acts of violence during elections.
His words: “I want to assure Nigerians that the actors of the wicked acts in Rivers rerun election last weekend must be brought to book. They must be punished for what they have done. I want to assure Nigerians that this government will not condone any impunity again because it is impunity that has destroyed this country,” he noted.
Dalung appealed to politicians to always play the game, by the rules adding that at no point should officials and spectators be made the casualty of that game, because power according to him, is not worth the life of one single Nigerian.
Thanks for reading.
Corps Member Death: NYSC To Review MoU With INEC, Says DG
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has disclosed that it will review the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to ensure the safety of corps members during elections.
This was made known by the Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi in Abuja on Tuesday, when Professor Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman paid him a condolence visit on the death of Okonta Samuel, a corps member who was killed by gunmen during the Rivers State re-run elections.
According to the DG, the scheme had set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the killing and the findings of the panel would determine the need for the review of the MoU between NYSC and INEC. “In past elections, corps members have gone and come back peacefully. It is a shame that a society where there is government, elders and community leaders will allow an innocent corps member be killed.”
The NYSC DG lamented that the incidence was unfortunate because the scheme has been doing all that needs to be done in collaboration with INEC to ensure the safety and security of corps members. His words: “Over the past couple of years, we have taken part in elections in Edo, Anambra, Kogi, Ekiti, Osun States. As turbulent as these elections were in these states, over 6,000 corps members took part and no one was lost.
While commending security agencies for their role in ensuring the protection of corps members, the DG said the NYSC would review security arrangements to forestall future occurrence. Adding that the commission would participate in honouring the deceased and other corps members who might suffer from any form of injury in the cause of participating in election duty. Thanks for reading.
Okupe Is A ‘Hypocrite’, Obasanjo Blasts
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe was a hypocrite.
Okupe had said that Obasanjo remained the “undisputed and authentic” leader of the PDP in the Southwest region of Nigeria.
Obasanjo through an online source (not Greennews.ng), said Okupe “does not know what he was saying”. He stated that he did not apply to join the PDP in 1998, rather, what was given to him was a registration card and his decision to tear the card meant that he was no longer a member of the party.
He also said there was no way he could be referred to as a leader of the party in the South West even if he was still a member.
Read Also: Okupe Blasts Kashamu, Says Obasanjo Remains PDP Leader
“I was a national leader of the party for eight years, so, how would I now reduce myself to becoming its leader in the South West,” he said.
Mr. Obasanjo also said Mr. Okupe should be ignored because he was one of those who campaigned for his his expulsion from the party. Thanks for reading.
DSS: Freed Ekiti Lawmaker Hospitalised
Mr Afolabi Akanni, a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, recently arrested and released by the Department of State Service (DSS) has been hospitalized in a private hospital in Abuja.
Mr Akanni’s who was freed after 18 days in detention became very weak and could barely speak when visited at the hospital even as he kept repeating “I am not well. I am sick. I am sick”.
He said his release may not be unconnected with his deteriorating health situation, adding that he was not told by the DSS operatives why he held. Afolabi was picked up on March 4 when DSS operatives stormed the premises of the State House of Assembly in Ado-Ekiti.
According to the Chairman Committee on Information, Ekiti Assembly, Hon Gboyega Aribisogan, Fayose ordered that Hon Afolabi be taken to the Hospital immediately he was released.
He said: “We are very happy about the development. The entire state is agog with jubilation. His incarceration really bothered us. I can confirm that every other person detained with him has also been released. Immediately he was released, Governor Ayodele Fayose ordered that he be taken into a hospital, which is where he is now” Thanks for reading.
God Is Angry With Buhari, Fayose Claims
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has told President Muhammdu Buhari that God was angry with him following Saturday’s bloody legislative re-run in Rivers State.
He made this assertion while addressing Journalists in Abuja on Tuesday. He recalled other violent elections that have occurred under the Buhari administration, pinning the blood shed on the President.
Fayose said: “I am telling you the truth. Power doesn’t come from anywhere. God rules in the affairs of men. Oppressing, bringing and cutting people down, taking their blood, God is angry. The way this government is taking people down, God is angry. God isn’t happy. Go to Rivers, they kill people”. Thanks for reading.
YABATECH Expels Six Final Year Students
The Academic Board of the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), has expelled six final year students for presenting fake or altered National Diploma (ND) and National Certificate of Education (NCE) results for admission.
The expulsion notice is contained in a circular signed by Mrs Taiwo Obadimu, the Deputy Registrar of YABATECH, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Wednesday.
According to the circular, the authorities of the institution considered the report on verification of the affected students’ results and found them culpable.
It stated: “Their expulsion was approved, having found the students guilty of presenting fake/altered ND/NCE results, as their conduct violated the college’s rules and regulations.
“The students are advised to hand over all college property, including student identity cards in their possession, to the heads of their department, the Polytechnic Librarian and the Dean of Students’ Affairs, with immediate effect,” the circular stated.
The affected students were in the departments of Food Technology, Mathematics and Integrated Science, Physics Education, Estate Management and Valuation, Industrial Technical Education and Industrial Maintenance Engineering. Thanks for reading.
Federal, States, Local Governments Share N345Bn For February As Revenue Drops
The Federal Government, State Governments and Local Government Councils have shared a total of N345.095 billion as Federal allocation for the month of February, 2016.
A communiqué issued by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) and signed by the Accountant General of the Federation Ahmed Idris indicated that the Gross Revenue of N270.499 billion received for the month of February is lower than the =N=290.961 billion received the previous month by =N=20.462 billion.
The communique further indicated that Oil Production increased slightly between December, 2015 and January, 2016 despite explosions at Escravos Terminal, Force Majeure declared at Brass Terminal, Shut-in and Shut-down of pipelines at other Terminals for repairs and maintenance.
There was also revenue loss of $45.90million as a result of drop in average price of Crude Oil from $39.04 in December, 2015 to $29.02 in January, 2016. Also, a substantial drop in income was recorded from Oil and Gas Royalty, Companies Income Tax and import Duty.
Consequently, the distributable Statutory Revenue for the month is N=270.499billion. The sum of =N=6.330 billion was refunded by NNPC to FGN. There is exchange gain of =N=3.485 billion which was included in the amount for distribution. The value added tax VAT realized N64.781 billion was also included for distribution.
Based on the foregoing, the total revenue distributable for the current month inclusive of VAT is =N=345. 095 billion.
The details of the Statutory revenue distributed for the month of February is as follows: Federal Government received N127.200 billion (52.68%); States received N64. 518 billion (26.72%); Local Government Councils received N49.740 billion (20.60%); while the Oil Producing States received N22.780 billion as 13% derivation revenue.
Furthermore, for the month of February, 2016, the gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was =N=64.781 billion as against =N=69.719 billion distributed in the preceding month, resulting in a decrease of =N=4.938 billion.
The breakdown of the Value Added Tax (VAT) distribution for the month is as follows: Federal Government received N9.329 billion (15%); States secured N31.095 billion (50%) while the Local Government Councils got N21.767 billion (35%). Thanks for reading.
FG Set To Celebrate Young Nigerian Scientists – Onu
The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) on Monday said it was ready to organise a science competition that would identify and celebrate the best young Nigerian scientists. The FMST Minister, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, made this known during the official commissioning of the Abuja Office of the Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT). “The ministry will play an important role in helping to promote science and technology culture among our young people. By organising scientific competitions, our young people will benefit tremendously from a new scientific thinking that is needed to increase the awareness of our people for the role of science and technology in nation-building. “FMST will organise a science competition that will identify and celebration the best among young scientists from all the 774 Local Government Areas in the country,” he said. According to him, the NISLT building will serve as a reference centre for scientific equipment needs assessment as well as certification of laboratories for analysis and training. Onu said that he was deeply concerned about the need to diversify national economy, pointing out that the problems facing the nation since independence had been essentially a mono-product economy. “The fragility of our economy had been exposed with attendant consequences of the high rate of high unemployment and undue pressure on our economy. “Nigeria must rise up and employ science and technology as the suitable instrument to help us diversify and strengthen our economy. “I am happy that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to using Science and Technology to diversify our economy,“ he said. Earlier, the FMST Permanent Secretary, Mrs Habiba Lawal stressed that the NISLT would be used by Nigeria scientists and technologies for further greatness of the nation. “Today’s event started in 2003 when the Act formally establishing the institute was enacted by the National Assembly. This was after a period of about 30 years of struggle to have an indigenous regulatory professional body of science laboratory technologies,’’ she added. The NISLT Director-General, Mr Ighodalo Ijagbone, commended the entire management team of the ministry on commissioning of the first office building on the premises. “The next major stage is to put in place appropriate infrastructure to provide the enabling space in carrying out the statutory duties and function as assigned to the institute by the Act,“ he said. Thanks for reading.
Brussels Attack: Buhari Calls For Greater International Cooperation Against Terrorism
President Muhammadu Buhari joins leaders across Europe and the rest of the world in condemning the atrocious terrorist attacks on the Zaventem Airport and Maalbeek Metro Station in Brussels earlier today.
President commiserates with Prime Minister Charles Michel and Belgians over the loss of over 30 lives in the attacks.
The President assures Prime Minister Michel and the people of Belgium that having suffered the horror and anguish of incessant terrorist attacks over several years, Nigeria stands in full solidarity with them on this day of national pain and trauma.
President Buhari believes that the appalling attack on Brussels reinforces the need for greater international cooperation to effectively confront and destroy global terrorism and its perpetrators.
The President assures the global community that under his leadership, Nigeria will continue to work with other countries of the world to ensure that terrorism never triumphs over free, peaceful and law-abiding nations and people of the world.
He wishes the more than 100 persons injured in the attacks a speedy recovery.
Cuba Obama calls for lifting of Cuba embargo and embrace of free market economy
Barack Obama urged Cuba to embrace the free market in a landmark speech in Havana that championed economic liberty rather than political reform as the key to unleashing the potential of its people.
Ignoring calls to echo Ronald Reagan’s famous “tear down this wall” speech in Berlin, President Obama drew another leaf from the cold war playbook and focused instead on the role of capitalism in transforming society from within.
“Many suggested that I came here to Cuba to tear something down, but I am appealing to the young people to lift something up,” Obama told a handpicked audience of 1,000 in the Havana theatre that hosted the last US president to speak in the country, 88 years ago.
Live Obama in Cuba: 'I have come to bury the last remnant of the cold war' – live
The US president delivers historic address in Cuba, opening speech with comments on Brussels attack
Although calling for free elections and an end to the detention of dissidents, Obama’s trip has focused heavily on the growth of small business in Cuba as a sign of internal momentum for change that can circumvent political stalemate.
“We have a clear example of what the Cuban people can build, it’s called Miami,” he said in Tuesday’s televised speech. “Being self-employed is not about becoming more like America, it’s about being more like yourself.
“What changes come will depend on the Cuban people, we will not impose our political or economic system upon you … But having removed the shadow from our relationship, I must speak honestly about the things we believe,” added Obama.
The speech, watched by Cuban president Raúl Castro and many government officials as well as US-invited guests, was received politely, with most applause reserved for Obama’s call on Congress to fully end the trade embargo.
“It is time to lift the embargo, but even if we lifted it tomorrow, Cubans would not realise their potential without more freedom to open a business.”
That was a speech that will perpetuate the dictatorship ...[Obama] didn’t mention the word ‘opposition’ even once
Alier González, democracy activist
A smiling Castro left the theatre to chants of “Cuba! Cuba!” from many in the audience, who gave him a longer and more coordinated ovation when he entered the theatre.
The message will be seen as more palatable to the Cuban leadership than the full-throated attack on political repressions that some activists had hoped for.
Cuban president Raúl Castro gestures after US president Barack Obama delivered a speech at the Gran Teatro de la Havana on Tuesday.
Cuban president Raúl Castro gestures after US president Barack Obama delivered a speech at the Gran Teatro de la Havana on Tuesday. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Watching the speech on a vintage television set at her home in Havana, pro-democracy activist Alier González scoffed at the president’s description of a “new era” for Cuba.
“So we are in a new era with the same old dictator? That’s a total contradiction!
“That was a speech that will perpetuate the dictatorship. He didn’t challenge them. He didn’t mention the word ‘opposition’ even once,” she said.
González, whose husband, the dissident Antonio Rodiles, was detained at a peaceful protest on Sunday, said the tone of Obama’s visit had been “naive”. “We need stronger action, not weak words,” she said.
But Obama stuck to the upbeat tone he has adopted throughout this controversial trip, insisting that long-term, irreversible changes are afoot that few politicians can get in the way of.
“I have come here to bury the last remnant of the cold war in the Americas,” said Obama. “To extend a hand of friendship.
“Our grandchildren will look back on this period of isolation as an aberration.”
Obama appealed to the shared bonds of history and culture between the two countries, describing the US and Cuba as “two brothers that have been estranged for many years”.
“We both live in a new world, colonized by Europeans. Cuba was in part built by slaves who were brought from Africa,” he said. “Like the United States, Cuba can trace her heritage to both slaves and slave owners.”
Reflecting his attempts to reset relations with Latin America, he said called for a new sense of unity, breaking into Spanish to say: “Todos somos americanos” – we are all Americans.
He even accepted the validity of some of Castro’s attacks on America’s own civil rights problems and lack of guaranteed healthcare, also acknowledging local fears of a US corporate invasion once trade restrictions are finally lifted.
“Before 1959, some Americans saw Cuba as something to be exploited. I know the history but I refuse to be trapped by it,” said Obama.
Though desperately poor, many ordinary Cubans remain suspicious of US economic intent, especially in a country where there is no McDonald’s, no Starbucks and no Coca-Cola.
American credit cards do not work, and tourists hoping the US dollar is the preferred currency get a rude awakening when they are charged high fees to change them into pesos.
Our grandchildren will look back on this period of isolation as an aberration
Barack Obama
“There is one word that identifies our country since 1868 and that is independence,” said the concierge at one of the luxury hotels frequented by Americans in old Havana.
“It is as simple as that. Maybe it will be a good thing that McDonald’s doesn’t open. It will be the first step towards our death,” he said.
The president seems well aware of such sentiment, calibrating his speech to avoid causing offence and trying instead to inspire.
“Part of Cuba’s identity is in being a small island nation that can stand up for its rights and stand out in the world. [But] Cuba doesn’t have to be defined as being against the United States.”
After the speech, Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry met a group of dissidents, including Rodiles, at the US embassy, where he said that there are still “deep differences” with the Cuban government on issues of freedom and democracy.
Praising the activists for their “extraordinary courage”, Obama said: “My hope is that by listening and hearing from them that we can continue to refine our policy in such a way that ultimately the Cuban people are able to live freely and prosperously.”
Outside Obama’s speech however, the US visit is, as far as the Cuban public is concerned, a virtually private affair, witnessed by the world’s media and the Cuban elite but not ordinary citizens of the capital.
Because there is no internet in the city outside the luxury hotels and special “Wi-Fi parks”, few in Havana seem to know much of Obama’s schedule this morning other than that their city centre is in complete lockdown.
An army of volunteers was operating a human barrier at a six-block radius from Parque Central, site of another symbolic speech on this three-day trip.
It means nobody, apart from those who live in the old city, will get to see anything other than Obama’s lengthy convoy speeding down the ocean-hugging boulevard, the Malecon.Thanks for reading.
