Boko Haram no longer poses a threat to us says buhari

Despite the bombings still being carried out in parts of the country by members of the Boko Haram sect, President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said the sect is no longer in position to cause serious threat to his administration’s development programmes.
While admitting that the sect’s activities had led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in the country, the President boasted that since his assumption of office in May 2015, Boko Haram has been systematically decimated.
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke at a bilateral meeting he had with the the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani, on Sunday.

Buhari was also said to have talked on the situation in the Middle East and commended the role Qatar is playing in resolving the present Syrian crisis, the Palestinian cause and efforts in reconstructing Gaza.
He said, “The conflicts in Yemen and Syria with their attendant humanitarian crisis need genuine international effort to solve.
“Nigeria as a peace-loving country identifies with the State of Qatar in all her peace efforts in the world to end terrorist activities.
“Nigeria is a victim of terrorism. It is with heavy heart that I stand before you and say activities of Boko Haram have led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in our dear nation.
“We, however, take pride to inform you that since our coming to power, Boko Haram has been systematically decimated and are in no position to cause serious threat to our development programmes.
“I wish to reiterate that Nigeria rejects violence and extremism in all their ramifications, and assure your Highness that we are with the State of Qatar in your efforts to fight terrorism and injustice in your region and in the world at large.”
Buhari also called for a lasting solution to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict , saying “we in Nigeria, like the State of Qatar, favour a ‘Two State’ solution, with the State of Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel. Thanks for reading.

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NDLEA arrest 4 suspect with N61M worth of drugs

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport has apprehended four suspected drug traffickers, including a Birmingham based cleaner with 6.822kg of narcotics, worth N61 million.
A statement by the agency’s spokesman Ofoyeju Mitchell said the seized drugs consist of 4.193kgs of heroin and 2.629kg of cocaine destined for Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, Birmingham, United Kingdom, Rome and Mumbai, India.
NDLEA commander at Abuja airport, Hamisu Lawan said that those arrested were caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country.
He said: “Four suspected drug traffickers have been apprehended with 6.822kg of cocaine and heroin.

“The suspects include Umeh Chidiebere Gabriel, 36 years going to Birmingham with 479 grammes of cocaine, Ozoike Kelechi John, 34 years going to Rome through Addis Ababa with 2.8kg of heroin, Azubuike Francis Okwochukwu, 38 years going to Addis Ababa with 1.393kg of heroin and Okoro Godfrey Ogbonna, 42 years going to Mumbai with 2.150kg of cocaine”.
“Umeh Chidiebere Gabriel who lives in Birmingham, United Kingdom was arrested at the boarding gate of the airport after testing positive for drug ingestion while trying to board an Air France flight to the United Kingdom through Charles De Gaulle, Paris.
“While under observation, he excreted 30 wraps of cocaine weighing 479 grammes. He claimed that the drugs were given to him by a man he met at his village. The suspect hails from Udi village in Enugu State is married with a daughter.
“They promised to take care of me financially after successfully delivering the drugs in London. I feel very sad,” he stated.
Another suspect, Ozoike Kelechi John, a trader at Alaba international market Ojo Lagos, was arrested while trying to check in a bag found to contain 2.8kg of heroin. The drug was cleverly concealed inside the passenger’s luggage.
NDLEA agents made the discovery during screening of passengers on an Ethiopian airline flight to Rome via Addis Ababa. Ozoike Kelechi John hails from Enugu State. He is single and an importer of electronics from Hong Kong.
In his words, “I needed more money to expand my business that was why I had to smuggle drugs. They promised to pay me 10, 150 euros upon safe delivery of the drugs in Rome but I was given 1, 200 euros as part payment”.
Mr. Okoro Godfrey Ogbonna from Ijebu ode, Ogun State was arrested with 2.150kg of cocaine at the screening point during checking in of passengers on a Kenyan airways flight to India through Nairobi.
Ogbonna is an importer of hair extensions from India to Nigeria. He is married with two kids and hails from Enugu State.
“He claimed that he was given the drugs by a friend he met in Lagos to deliver in India after which he will be paid four hundred and fifty thousand naira (N450,000). His travel expenses were all paid by his sponsors.
The last suspect Azubuike Francis Okwuchukwu, from Nnewi, Anambra State ingested 65 wraps of heroine weighing 1.393 kg which he swallowed and attempted to export to Italy. He was arrested trying to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Italy via Addis Ababa.
Okwuchukwu is married with two children and also a business man who imports mobile phones from Hong Kong and owns a shop in Oshodi Lagos. He claims that the demolition of his shop led him into drug trafficking after he was promised 5000 euros upon the delivery of the drugs in Italy.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah rtd said that the Agency will investigate and arrest the sponsors of the suspects.
“My target is to trace the drug barons, arrest and prosecute everyone that is involved in the illicit act”, Abdallah stated. Thanks for reading

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Army establishes motorbike battalion

The Nigeria Army on Saturday established a motorbike battalion to add impetus to its war on insurgency in the Northeast.
Also on Saturday, the Army released a fresh list of 100 suspected members of the terrorist sect, Boko Haram, wanted for various act of terrorism in the country.
The Army also on the same day opened one of the major road leading to Maiduguri, Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road closed to traffic for over two years as a result of the surge of insurgency in the area.

The Army had late last year published the first set of 100 suspected members of the terrorist sect, Boko Haram wanted by the Nigerian state.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai who launched the Motorbike Battalion of the Nigeria Army at the 25 Task Force Brigade, Damboa, Borno State said the decision for the introduction of the combat motorbike is to ensure that “our roads are safe.”
He said the combat motorbike would ensure a force multiplier effect and give the military an edge in the ongoing counter-insurgency war in the North-East.
He said with the introduction of the combat motorbike “our troops will be able to pursue the Boko Haram anywhere.”
He added that the reach of the motorbike will be very important and will ensure that we can improve on our successes.
On the reopened road, Buratai said: “The road Sent from my iPad
He added that: “The safety on this road is in care of the Brigade Commander of 25 Task Force Brigade. I do not want to hear any attack on this road, motorists plying this road must be safe.”
The COAS appealed to the public to come out with information that will assist in the arrest of terrorists, adding that many terrorists in the first list of 100 wanted were identified and arrested.
He said the new list of 100 suspected terrorists is for the members of the public to identify and report their whereabout so that they could be brought to justice.
He said: “The hundred Boko Haram members declared wanted have their faces on the poster. The members of the public should look at the poster very well and report appropriately.”
On the reopened Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road, the Secretary of Borno State Chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Adamu Musa, expressed appreciation to the COAS for making it a reality.
He however called for between 20 and 30 checkpoints on the road in order to check against the threat of the terrorist sect. Thanks for reading.

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I am in touch with PDP Defectors says Sheriff

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, said he has started reaching out to those who left the party for the All Progressives Congress and other political parties.
But he said he won’t mention their names yet.
The former governor of Borno State refused to say if he had also met with the President of the Senate, Sen. Bukola Saraki on whether the latter would return to the PDP or not.

Sheriff, who spoke to our correspondent through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Inuwa Bwala in Abuja on Saturday, said the controversy that trailed his appointment was as a result of alleged panic in the camp of the ruling party.
He said the APC leadership was aware of his capability to unite the members of the PDP and also bring back those who defected to the APC, hence the controversy on his appointment.
Bwala said, “We have started reaching out to those who left the PDP and we are discussing already.
“We are getting positive results from them, but we won’t go to the pages of newspapers to announce their names.
“The APC and its leadership are aware that Sheriff has the ability to unite the members of the PDP and also bring back those who have left the party.
“This was why we had the initial controversy on the appointment. But now, we have thrown that behind us as we have resumed work fully.”
Meanwhile, a former Minister of National Planning under the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Suleiman Abubakar, has scolded Governor Ayodele Fayose over his comments that President Muhammadu Buhari was turning Nigeria to an Islamic state.
Fayose had alleged that the trip by President Buhari and five governors to Saudi Arabia was an attempt to transform Nigeria into an Islamic nation.
The former minister described said that the statement “should be seen as a misguided utterances and not a true reflection of the perceptions of most members of our party.”
He said in a statement that the statement was “not only capable of heighten the centrifugal tendencies in our country,
but could be counter-productive to the reform agenda been driven by some patriotic elements in our party.
“The mere visit by the President and some government functionaries is not enough to suggest an attempt to Islamise the nation.
“Any divisive statement from any leaders of our party is condemnable and not in the best interest of Nigeria.”

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France records first sexually transmitted case of Zika

A first case of Zika spread through sexual transmission has been recorded in France after a woman was infected when her partner returned from Brazil, Heath Minister Marisol Touraine told AFP today.
The case was detected several days ago in “a woman who is not pregnant,” the minister told AFP during a visit to French Guiana, confirming information initially given to AFP by a medical source.
The couple lives in the Paris area,
the minister’s entourage said.
“She showed classic signs of the disease,” an official said. “She was not hospitalised and is doing well.”

Brazil has been the hardest hit country by the mosquito-borne virus, with 1.5 million cases of active Zika transmission.
The World Health Organisation has said that up to 46 countries have reported some level of evidence of Zika infection and that 130 countries are home to the Aedis aegypti mosquito which carries the virus, meaning the eventual spread of the disease could be enormous
In nearly all Zika cases, symptoms are mild, resembling those of flu. However, the growing belief that Zika can also trigger microcephaly in babies born to mothers infected while pregnant has spread international alarm.
Microcephaly is a congenital condition that causes abnormally small heads and hampers brain development.
There is currently no cure or vaccine against the Zika virus.
AFP. Thanks for reading

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FIFA Reforms will reduce corruption football lovers says

A cross-section of football enthusiasts in Abuja says the new reforms introduced by the International Federation of Football Associations will reduce corruption in its administration.
The football enthusiasts told the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday that FIFA deserves praise for the reforms, and urged the football body to follow the reforms to the letter.
NAN reports that the new reforms approved at Friday’s extraordinary congress of the body in Zurich, Switzerland include the disclosure of salaries on an annual basis for the FIFA President.
The same will also apply to all FIFA council members, the Secretary-General and relevant chairpersons of independent standing and judicial committees.

Also, the FIFA president’s tenure has now been limited to three terms of four years.
This will also apply to FIFA council members and members of the audit and compliance committee and the judicial bodies.
The reforms also include a minimum of one female representative to be elected as a council member per confederation in order to promote women in football.
One of the enthusiasts, Mansur Abdullahi, who is a former assistant coach at Plateau United FC of Jos, acknowledged that the reforms are a welcome development.
“If FIFA has approved reforms, then it is a good thing, because when holding a public office such as this, what you take home should be known.
“But why is it only the salaries? Why not the allowances as well? I just hope that this will reduce the corruption in FIFA,” he said.
Another football enthusiast, Alex Mana, who is of the National Institute for Sports in Lagos said the reforms are a good development.
He said the reforms are important to the game at this point in time, especially with the new place given women in the running of affairs.
NAN

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Why Nigeria was unable to defeat boko hararm Buhari says

President Muhammadu Buhari last night disclosed that ‘abuse of trust at various levels’ of government was responsible for the prolonged battle against Boko Haram terrorists who had killed more than 25,000 people in northeastern region.
The President who was speaking at a dinner for the members of the House of Representatives at the old Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja, expressed disappointment that monies meant for the purchase of arms and other necessary equipment for the Military was mismanaged thereby working against defeating Boko Haram.
Recall that Former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki, AIT’s Ramond Dokepsi, Director of Finance in the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, Shaibu Salisu along with other individuals, are on trial for alleged diversion of $2.1 Billion arms purchase cash.
President Buhari said, “Unfortunately for us as a people, we uncovered that billions of Naira and hundreds of millions of dollars were expended by the previous government to acquire good equipment and ammunition so that the military can use, but unfortunately, there was abuse of trust at various levels that cost Nigeria a lot of lives and goodwill.
“We cannot keep quiet about it and facts are coming out gradually. It is very unfortunate. It is a known fact that Nigeria earned its respect from Burma to Zaire to Liberia to Sierra Leone. But it reached a stage where the Nigerian military could not secure 14 local governments out of the 774 local governments.
“As I have always said, how has the mighty fallen? We are doing our best and I hope our best will be good enough,” Buhari said

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