Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State has urged Nigerians to reject what he Tuesday described as "prison-yard democracy, typified by the ignoble meddlesomeness, rascality and high-handedness of some security agencies against democratic institutions" in Nigeria in recent times.
The UN said it received 70 new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse across all its entities and implementing partners, between the beginning of April to the end of June 2018.
Continue reading UN receives 70 cases of sexual abuse, exploitation, in 3 months at Vanguard News.
The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) said it had waded into the crisis in the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Cross River which split the party into factions in the state.
Continue reading IPAC wades into APC crisis in C/River at Vanguard News.
Police in northern India on Tuesday said that a major manhunt was underway for eight men accused of having sex with a pregnant goat that later died. They took turns to sexually attack the goat.
The new Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly and former deputy Speaker, Hon. Kabiru Alhassan Rurum from Rano local government area has paid homage to the Kano state governor Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje Monday afternoon.
GOVERNOR Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state has submitted a bill to make for the provision a law for the establishment of Nasarawa State Agency for Youth Empowerment Scheme(NAYES) in the state
Continue reading Almakura presents bill on youth empowerment at Vanguard News.
The chief of Malaysia‘s civil aviation regulation, Azharuddin Abdul Rahmanon, stepped down on Tuesday after an official report found lapses in air traffic control when Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared.
Continue reading Aviation chief resigns over report at Vanguard News.
That Nigeria is proclaimed the giant of Africa is trite. It is a slogan which has reigned for decades. But in the last two decades, or more, Nigeria, the pride of Africa has been ludicrously derided and despised with various derogative sobriquets’, as “leaping, sleeping or crawling giant” of Africa.
Continue reading Nigeria Air: Appreciating Sirika’s patriotic outing at Vanguard News.
The Lagos State Government on Tuesday debunked viral report on the social media suggesting that it was planning to commence paying salary to religious leaders in the State, saying the claim was totally untrue and misleading.
Continue reading Lagos denies plans to palce religious leaders on salary at Vanguard News.
The Police Command in Akwa Ibom says it has restored peace to Iwukem community in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of the state attacked by suspected militants on Sunday.
Continue reading Normalcy returns to Akwa Ibom community after militants’ attack at Vanguard News.
Gunmen stormed a government building after multiple explosions in an ongoing attack in Jalalabad on Tuesday that has left at least eight people wounded, the latest in a series of assaults in the eastern Afghan city.
Continue reading Gunmen storm government building, take many hostage at Vanguard News.
The Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said on Tuesday that negotiations were on to fully concession the 30MW Gurara Power Plant in Kaduna State.
Nigerian music sensation Wizkid has signed a deal with Ciroc, a brand of eau de vie vodka.
Continue reading Just in: Wizkid becomes Ciroc ambassador at Vanguard News.
WITH anticipated rising demand for fertilisers on African continent, Nigeria’s leading fertiliser, agroallied, petrochemical and power producer, Notore Chemical Industries, has
gone into advanced talks with Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan and other international
investors for the construction of a new plant at its facility in Onne, Rivers
State.
Continue reading Notore eyes export market with planned expansion at Vanguard News.
“We stand by Gov. Simon Bako Lalong and we call on Lalong to contest the forthcoming Governorship election”. This is one popular sound bite that is propagated by the generality of Plateau citizens across the State preparatory to the upcoming 2019 elections.
It assumed a bold inscription on banners carried by women and youths in their hundreds from all 17 Local Government Areas in the many solidarity matches to the Government House at Little Rayfield.
Continue reading 2019: Why Plateau earnestly desires Lalong again at Vanguard News.
The Adamawa chapter of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) says it is optimistic of bumper harvest in the 2018 crop season following successful implementation of the National Rice Development Strategy (NARDS) in the state.
Continue reading RIFAN predicts bumper rice harvest in Adamawa at Vanguard News.
A London woman recently got the “fright of her life,” after waking up to find a 3-foot-long python curled up next to her.
Continue reading Woman wakes up to find python in her bed at Vanguard News.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Tuesday said it recovered a stolen articulated truck with registration number NSR 141 ZX at the Sango -Ota Toll Gate in Ogun.
Continue reading FRSC recovers stolen truck at Sango-Ota at Vanguard News.
If you’re tired of struggling with high blood pressure, specifically someone who wants to cure hypertension, lower blood pressure and avoid heart attacks, strokes and kidney failures…
Then this may be the most important letter you’ll ever read.
The reason why is because I was once in your shoes. My name is Mrs. Rose, and I was battling with high blood pressure up to the age of 52 years and it almost cost me my life.
Kebbi state governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, has directed the commissioners in the state to relocate to their localities, to enlighten eligible voters on Continuous Voter Registration and collection of Permanent Voters Cards.
Bagudu gave the directive when he presided over a meeting of All Progressives Congress’ stakeholders in Birnin Kebbi on Tuesday.
The governor said the directive became imperative, to enable voters in the state exercise their civic responsibility in the 2019 general elections.
“In 2015, over 1.2 million registered with INEC in Kebbi state.
READ ALSO: Former Trump campaign chief goes on trial for bank, tax fraud
“But surprisingly, in spite of subsequent collection of the PVCs by our people, the total number of votes cast in the 2015 general election was lower than the registered voters.
“The commissioners have a huge role to play in their localities. They have to go back and enlighten them on the importance of PVCs collection, as citizens of this country and indigenes of Kebbi state,” he said.
The governor promised to provide the necessary support toward the success of the voters’ registration.
He said that the exercise should cover all eligible voters in the state before the closure of the exercise on the Aug.17.
The governor reaffirmed the resolution of the people of the state to adopt President Muhammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the APC, with a commitment to vote massively for him.
Earlier, the state Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bala Kangiwa, emphasised the importance of unity among party members and called on them to mobilise eligible voters to participate in CVR and obtain their PVCs.
(NAN)
Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort on Tuesday becomes the first member of the president’s election team to face trial on charges stemming from the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 vote.
Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank and tax fraud related to his lobbying activities on behalf of the former Russian-backed government of Ukraine.
The indictment was brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who is looking into Russian meddling in the presidential election, but the charges are not connected to Manafort’s time as Trump’s campaign chairman.
READ ALSO: Cambodian PM hails ‘free, fair’ elections despite criticism
Selection of a 12-member jury for “USA vs Manafort” begins at 10:00 am (1400 GMT) on Tuesday before US District Court Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia. The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
Manafort, a veteran Republican political consultant, served as chairman of Trump’s presidential election campaign for three months in 2016 before being forced to step down amid questions about his lobbying work in Ukraine.
He is charged with five counts of filing false tax returns for not reporting bank accounts he held in Cyprus and other countries in a bid to hide millions of dollars in income from activities on behalf of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych.
Manafort is charged with failing to report the existence of foreign bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service and bank fraud related to several multi-million-dollar loans he obtained from various banks.
Prosecutors plan to produce nearly three dozen witnesses during the trial, including Manafort’s former associate Richard Gates, who is cooperating with the government after pleading guilty to lesser charges in February.
Five witnesses have been granted immunity from prosecution to testify against Manafort.
Mueller has indicted a total of 32 people so far in connection with his probe into whether any members of Trump’s election campaign colluded with Russia to help get the New York real estate tycoon into the White House.
Trump has repeatedly denounced the special counsel’s investigation as a politically motivated “witch hunt” and denied there was any collusion with Moscow to defeat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
While Gates and others, including former national security advisor Michael Flynn, have pleaded guilty, Manafort has refused to strike a deal and has insisted on having his day in court.
– Hoping for a pardon? –
Legal experts said Manafort may be hoping to be found not guilty — or holding out hopes of a presidential pardon.
Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University, said the odds are stacked heavily against the former heavyweight political operative.
“This is an exceptionally difficult case for the defense,” Turley told AFP. “To quote gamblers in Las Vegas, he has to run the table.
“Mueller only has to secure one conviction on one count to put Manafort away for as much as a decade,” he said. “At 69, that must weigh heavily on his mind.”
Turley also said he believes “jurors are not likely to identify or empathize with Paul Manafort,” whose lavish spending and lifestyle is outlined in court documents.
“They’re going to be seeing a guy who spent half a million dollars just on landscaping,” Turley said.
“On top of that,” he added, “the government will bring forth the coup de grace” with incriminating testimony by Gates, Manafort’s former business partner.
Turley said Manafort may be “playing a pardon strategy.”
“Manafort has remained loyal,” he said. “He may feel that he doesn’t have much to lose in going to trial and preserving his chances for a pardon.
“If he cooperates with Mueller, a pardon is going to be substantially reduced in likelihood,” he said.
Manafort has spent the past month in prison in Alexandria outside Washington after having his house arrest and $10 million bail revoked by a federal judge for allegedly tampering with witnesses in another pending case.
He is scheduled to go on trial in the US capital in September on separate charges brought by Mueller of conspiracy, money laundering and failing to register as an agent of a foreign government.
Trump reacted to Manafort’s jailing in June by describing it as “very unfair.”
“Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns,” Trump tweeted on June 15. “Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob.”
(AFP)
Cambodia’s strongman leader Hun Sen on Tuesday hailed this week’s elections as “free, fair and just” after a controversial vote with no viable opposition drew criticism from Washington and the European Union.
Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party is set to win all 125 parliamentary seats — cementing the country’s status as a one-party state — after the main opposition party was barred from contesting Sunday’s poll.
But the prime minister, who has ruled for 33 years, swept aside questions over the ballot’s legitimacy in a celebratory Facebook post on Tuesday.
READ ALSO: Eight dead, 40 injured as roadside bomb hits bus
“Cambodia decided the fate of the nation through a free, fair and just election,” he wrote.
Rights groups accused Hun Sen of wiping out his political opposition, choking free press and stamping out activism in the lead up to the poll.
Opposition figures had called for a voting boycott with a “clean finger” campaign, which election authorities said failed with an estimated 82 percent turnout and 6.3 million votes cast.
But in a sign of pushback from unhappy voters, around 600,000 ballots were spoiled.
In his post Tuesday, Hun Sen said citizens cast their ballots “without pressure or being forced”, thanking voters for supporting the CPP.
A CPP spokesman told AFP this week the party is expected to take all 125 parliamentary seats across the country. Official results are expected on August 15.
The flawed election prompted swift criticism from the European Union, which said the vote “lacks credibility”. The United States threatened to broaden visa restrictions on senior Cambodian officials.
Cambodia’s key ally China, which has provided cash and soft loans to Hun Sen’s government while remaining silent on human rights abuses and democracy, offered its “sincere congratulations” on the poll.
The former head of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party — which was dissolved by the country’s Supreme Court last year — refused to accept the results and said voters had been intimidated into supporting Hun Sen.
“A victory without a contest is a hollow one,” Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-exile in France, said on Facebook Monday.
Rainsy’s CNRP clinched 44 percent of the vote in the last national elections, the most serious challenge in years to Hun Sen since he rose to power in 1985.
The 65-year-old premier is seen as a stabilising force in a kingdom haunted by a bloody civil war.
He has curried favour with ambitious infrastructure projects and patronage among employees of Cambodia’s important garment industry, whom he showered with gift and cash in the months leading up to the election.
(AFP)
A roadside bomb which hit a bus in restive western Afghanistan on Tuesday killed at least eight people and wounded around 40, mostly women and children, officials said.
“It was a bomb planted by the Taliban to hit security forces but… it got a passenger bus,” Farah provincial police spokesman Muhibullah Muhib told AFP.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Taliban that they were responsible.
Afghanistan’s largest militant group is very active in the country’s west.
READ ALSO: Stolen truck recovered at Sango-Ota –FRSC
It often uses improvised explosive devices against government officials and Afghan and foreign forces.
The bus began its journey in the western city of Herat and was headed for the Afghan capital.
The explosion happened as it travelled through Farah’s Bala Baluk district at 4:30 am, provincial governor’s spokesman Naser Mehri told AFP.
Around a dozen of the wounded — mostly members of the Hazara ethnic group who tend to follow Shiite Islam in the Sunni-dominated country — were taken to hospital in Herat.
Among them was Mohammad Zahir, 40, who had been travelling with his newly married daughter to visit relatives in Kabul.
“The bus was driving on the main road when I heard a big bang,” Zahir told AFP.
“When I woke up I found myself in the hospital. I still don’t know what’s happened to my daughter.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack.
“Harming civilians, especially scholars, children and women, is against the Ulema Council’s (Afghanistan’s top religious leaders) fatwa,” Ghani said in a statement, referring to the group’s proclamation in June that suicide attacks and explosions were “haram” or prohibited in Islam.
The Farah explosion came after 22 passengers travelling on a Kabul-bound bus in the eastern province of Paktia were kidnapped by gunmen on Monday night, provincial police chief Raz Mohammad Mandozai told AFP.
Mandozai blamed the Taliban for the kidnapping and said a rescue operation had been launched.
– Civilian deaths –
A photo posted on social media purportedly of the bus in Farah showed the vehicle’s blackened shell and dozens of men at the scene.
Some were peering inside while others were walking through the wreckage. A number of emergency vehicles could be seen.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the 17-year conflict and improvised explosive devices, such as remotely detonated or pressure-plate bombs, are one of the main cause of casualties.
Such IEDs caused 877 civilian casualties in the first half of 2018 — 232 deaths and 645 wounded — accounting for 17 percent of overall civilian casualties, the latest UN figures show.
A total of 1,692 civilians were killed in the conflict during the first six months of this year. Another 3,430 were wounded.
That was the highest number of civilian fatalities for the period since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began keeping records in 2009.
Militant attacks and suicide bombs were the leading causes of death.
The Taliban has a strong presence across western Afghanistan, particularly in Farah. It launched a major attempt to take over the provincial capital in May, triggering intense fighting with US and Afghan forces.
After a day-long battle the Taliban fight
(AFP)
Ted Odogwu
Barely 24 hours after the impeachment of the Kano State Speaker, Hon Yusuf Abdullahi Atta, the State’s Deputy Governor, Professor Hafiz Abubakar, has alleged threat to his life, as well as plans to impeach him.
Professor Hafiz Abubakar petitioned the Police and the State Security Service, over what he described as threat to his life, as well as plans to impeach him.
In the petition, addressed to the Kano State Police Commissioner, Rabiu Yusuf, copied to the Assistant Inspector-General in Charge of Zone One and the State Director of SSS, the deputy governor, prayed for the deployment of more security operatives around him.
READ ALSO: Fire outbreak at Ecobank headquarters
Among others, he accused the state government of disbursing funds to mobilise youths from the 44 Local Government Areas of the State to protest against his continued stay in office.
A loyalist to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the deputy governor has for quite some time being at loggerheads, with the State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
The Federal Road Safety Corps on Tuesday said it recovered a stolen articulated truck with registration number NSR 141 ZX at the Sango-Ota Toll Gate in Ogun.
Mr Adekunle Oguntoyinbo, Sango-Ota Unit Commander of FRSC, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ota that the trailer was recovered on Saturday at 8.00 a. m.
Oguntoyinbo explained that the truck, which was reportedly snatched by suspected armed robbers in Ikorodu on Friday night, was abandoned at Sango Ota Toll Gate on the Lagos Abeokuta highway.
READ ALSO: Fire outbreak at Ecobank headquarters
According to him, a FRSC patrol team sighted the truck on the highway during a routine patrol exercise.
“The matter has been handed over to the police for further investigation since neither the driver nor motor boy was sighted where the vehicle was parked,” he said.
The unit commander advised drivers to always be security conscious and avoid stopping in isolated areas .
He also implored haulage operators to ensure they install speed limiting and tracking devices to safeguard their vehicles from accidents and car theft.
(NAN)
A fire outbreak occurred at Ecobank headquarters on Victoria Island, Lagos on Tuesday.
According to an eyewitness, who shared details on her Twitter handle, @AN26th, the fire started when a “diesel tanker exploded near their generator.”
READ ALSO: Man jailed for plotting terrorist attack
On its Twitter handle, the bank said, the situation was under control.
See tweet:
Officers of the Federal and Lagos State Fire Service are here. Everything is under control. We appreciate your concern.
pic.twitter.com/trBItKMmF9
— Ecobank Nigeria (@ecobank_nigeria) July 31, 2018
An emotional Andy Murray made a triumphant return to hardcourts Monday in his first match on the surface for nearly 17 months, outlasting Mackenzie McDonald at the ATP Washington Open.
The three-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one, who missed 11 months with a right hip injury and surgery last January, defeated the 80th-ranked American 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Murray, who has fallen to 832nd in the rankings, needed seven match points to subdue McDonald, squandering five before being broken in the 10th game of the final set before breaking back and finally ending matters after two hours and 37 minutes at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday.
READ ALSO: Family shocked as kangaroo smashes through house window
“I fought hard and I had to,” Murray said. “The movements and stuff were fine. I didn’t break down. It lasted pretty well.”
The 31-year-old Scotsman unleashed a primal scream and a right fist-pumping frenzy of joy after McDonald hit a forehand long on the final point.
“I enjoyed getting through that one. You could see it in the celebration,” Murray said. “That was a tough match. It could have gone either way. It was nice to get it.”
Murray had not played in a hardcourt match since March 2017 at Indian Wells, where he lost in his opening match.
“I hadn’t played in darkness or under the lights in a really long time and I felt my rhythm was off,” Murray said. “I was struggling on my serve. I cut the unforced errors a little bit in the second set and started serving better.”
Murray booked a second-round match Wednesday against British fourth seed Kyle Edmund, who had an opening bye.
“I’ll have to play much better if I want to win that match, more aggressively,” Murray said. “It will help having one more match under my belt.”
It was Murray’s first experience with a serve clock, which will be used at the US Open this year.
“Without a shot clock, that would have been a three-hour match,” Murray said. “It’s a positive change for tennis.”
After making his return from January hip surgery last month at Queens and Eastbourne, Murray skipped Wimbledon and began preparing for the hardcourt campaign.
– Wawrinka rained out –
His lone win on grasscourts came over Swiss Stan Wawrinka, another three-time Grand Slam winner fighting back from a left knee injury. The world number 198 had a first-round match against US qualifier Donald Young rained out.
Murray’s first hardcourt match in nearly 17 months, delayed three hours by rain, turned when he broke in the penultimate game of the second set and again on his fifth break chance in the opening game of the third set.
Murray, whose best Washington finish was a runner-up effort in his 2006 debut, served for the match in the 10th game but squandered five match points, four of them on errors, and McDonald broke back to 5-5 when Murray netted a forehand to end the 12-minute game.
At 30-30 in the 11th game, McDonald stuck his racquet over the net to play the ball, losing the point on a violation quickly called by French umpire Arnaud Gabas. McDonald then hit a forehand long to give Murray another chance to serve for the match.
Murray, who surrendered four double faults and won only five-of-15 second-serve points in the first set, broke to open the second set but swatted an ugly forehand well wide to surrender a break in the next game, slamming a ball to the court in frustration at what in top form would have been a routine shot.
Both held serve until the ninth game, when McDonald sent a forehand wide to hand Murray the break and a 5-4 lead. Murray held on a service winner to force a third set.
– Jaziri gets Zverev next –
Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri booked a second-round match against third-ranked defending champion Alexander Zverev of Germany by defeating Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 6-1.
US wild card Noah Rubin beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-4 to reach a second-round match against US second seed John Isner.
(AFP)
A kangaroo has shocked a sleeping family by smashing through a bedroom window in suburban Australia and bleeding throughout their home during a distressed late night frenzy.
Melbourne resident Mafi Ahokavo was jolted awake last weekend by a loud noise and discovered the unlikely intruder in the house he shares with his partner and three-year-old-son.
“We were just sleeping and out of nowhere we just hear a big bang,” he told Channel Nine television late Monday.
READ ALSO: Saraki Kwara APC factional exco members reject dissolution by Oshiomhole led APC NWC
The frightened roo, which cut itself on the shattered glass, bounced through the house before collapsing from exhaustion in the home’s bathroom.
Ahokavo was able to lock it in before rescuers arrived and treated the wounded marsupial, which they nicknamed ‘Norman’.
“Poor Norman was not all that far from open fields but took a wrong turn… and couldn’t find his way home,” rescuer Manfred Zabinskas posted on Facebook.
“With a barrier of houses, fences and closed gates, he saw the window as his only passage out.”
Vets treated Norman for multiple lacerations, but on Tuesday the roo bounced out of the enclosure on Melbourne’s outskirts where he was being nursed back to health.
The Five Freedoms Animal Rescue raised fears the missing marsupial may be suffering from a life-threatening case of myopathy, an illness in which a high-stress event causes paralysis.
(AFP)
Success Nwogu, Ilorin
The dissolved Kwara State factional executive committee members loyal to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki on Tuesday said they rejected their dissolution by the All Progressives Congress National Working Committee led by the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.
They said their dissolution was not only outrightly unlawful but also null and void.
The Saraki factional Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari in a statement also said there was no case of lacuna in the party leadership in Kwara State.
He added that there was no ground for their dissolution.
READ ALSO: Man jailed for plotting terrorist attack
According to him, the NWC erred in law, “we recall that for many weeks, party members worked assiduously and painstakingly to elect party leadership at the ward, local government and state levels in Kwara State. The party structure was certified as duly elected by the National Working Committee of APC. The duly elected party structure in Kwara State cannot be overthrown or dissolved by an unlawful declaration from Abuja.
“Considering the inglorious role played by Comrade Adams Oshiomole, he has lost the respect of the leadership and members of APC in the 16 local government areas and 193 wards of Kwara State. He has destroyed his human rights credentials. It is crystal clear the emerging dictator is always willing to trample on the rights of other party members whenever his personal interest is involved.”
He added, “while the party will exercise legal means to protect the constitutional mandates of the party leadership at the ward, local government and state levels, we wish to reaffirm that the Alhaji Ishola Balogun Fulani-led State Executive Committee remains the only authentic and lawful leadership of APC in Kwara State.
“Despite the distraction from Abuja, the Alhaji Ishola Balogun Fulani-led State Executive Committee, the party leadership in the 16 local government and 193 wards of Kwara State shall continue to discharge constitutional functions. All members of the APC in Kwara State should remain calm as we devise legal measures to guarantee the protection of their rights.”
A man was jailed for 17 years on Tuesday for plotting a terrorist attack in Australia after being prevented from travelling to Syria, with the judge saying he continued to hold extremist views.
Agim Kruezi, 25, was arrested in 2014 and pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to one count each of preparing for terrorist acts and planning a foreign incursion.
The court heard Kruezi, reportedly an Australian-born Albanian, planned to travel to Syria to fight with an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group but was stopped by customs officers and his passport was cancelled.
READ ALSO: Putin would be the only winner in ‘no deal’ Brexit –UK minister
He instead turned his attention to an attack on home soil.
Broadcaster ABC said police found a loaded semi-automatic sawn-off rifle, two balaclavas, two machetes, a photocopy of a book titled Jihad, and an Islamic State flag pinned to his bedroom wall when he was arrested.
Instructions to carry out beheadings were also discovered on his computer and in the days before his arrest, he purchased 10 litres (2.6 US gallons) of petrol and attempted to buy glass bottles suitable to make molotov cocktails, it added.
Justice Roslyn Atkinson said it was necessary for counter-terrorism police to arrest him when they did to prevent a “public attack”.
“If not imminent, it was at least planned to the point you had obtained weapons,” she said, according to Brisbane’s Courier Mail.
“There seems little doubt… that you intended to carry out the terror plot, albeit the precise details were yet to crystallise.”
She added that “there is no evidence that you have changed your (extremist) views”.
Canberra has been increasingly concerned by homegrown extremism and citizens fighting with jihadist organisations abroad such as Islamic State.
The country introduced sweeping counter-terrorism laws in 2014 that include blocking alleged jihadists from going overseas.
Authorities say they have prevented 14 terror attacks in recent years. Several others have occurred, including the 2014 siege of a central Sydney cafe in which two hostages were killed.
(AFP)
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would be the only winner in the event of Britain crashing out of the European Union next March without a withdrawal agreement, Britain’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
Jeremy Hunt said Russian aggression made it crucial to maintain close diplomatic, defence and trade relations between Britain and the EU after the split.
“Frankly, if we end up with no deal, the only person rejoicing will be Vladimir Putin,” he told France Inter radio on a trip to Paris, charging that Russia wants nothing more than to see the West divided.
READ ALSO: Okorocha instigated my impeachment –Madumere
“We have to recognise that this is a very unstable period in world history and we need to be working together,” Hunt added.
“There’s Crimea, there’s also the fact that we had chemical weapons used on the streets of England — something that we believe was authorised by the Russian government,” he said of the nerve agent attack on a former double agent which left a woman dead.
Hunt is on his first major international trip since his predecessor Boris Johnson resigned over Brexit earlier this month.
He started the tour in China on Monday and was set to head on from Paris to Vienna as British Prime Minister Theresa May despatches ministers to EU countries in a bid to drum up one-on-one support.
Hunt said a no-deal Brexit was “the last thing we want”, adding that May’s chosen strategy, including pursuing a UK-EU free trade area, was to push for continued close ties.
“We see our destiny, our economic destiny, our diplomatic destiny, our strategic destiny, as being close to Europe,” he said.
(AFP)
Chidiebube Okeoma, Owerri
Impeached Deputy Governor of Imo state, Eze Madumere has accused Governor Rochas Okorocha, of being the brain behind his “illegal” impeachment by the State House of Assembly on Monday.
Madumere flayed the House of Assembly for being a willing tool in the hands of the governor for political witch hunting.
The impeached deputy governor who described his removal from office as illegal, said neither the House of Assembly nor the seven-man panel set up by the chief judge of the state, Paschal Nnadi, invited him to any of their sittings.
Madumere’s media aide, Uche Onwuchekwa said that the House of Assembly has become “mere stooge in the hands of the governor.”
READ ALSO: To combat desertification, Zamfara plants 24,000 trees
According to Onwuchekwa, “in disobedience to the restraining order against the the Chief Judge, the seven-man panel, Speaker and members of Imo State House of Assembly from further action on the controversial impeachment proceeding against the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere, the House of Assembly in Gestapo manner, has removed the Deputy Governor of the state from office.
The Presiding Judge of High Court 8, Justice Benjamin Iheka had restrained the seven-man panel of Inquiry constituted by the Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Paschal Nnadi, the Chief Judge, Speaker and members of Imo State House of Assembly over a matter brought before the court that bothers on constitutional breaches in the procedure adopted to remove the Deputy Governor from the office.
The Acho Ihim-led faction of the members of the House sponsored by Governor Okorocha against the Court Order and the rule of law illegally removed the Deputy Governor in a kangaroo manner.
Against the requirement of the law, Prince Madumere was not given fair hearing as he was neither invited during the sitting of the investigative committee in the House of Assembly nor by the seven-man panel set up the Chief Judge.
The Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association, 81 Division Chapter, Lagos, has donated food items to some widows of Nigerian soldiers who died in the insurgency in the North-East of the country.
Mrs Grace Udoh, the President of the Association in the chapter, made the presentation on Monday evening at the Ikeja Cantonment.
She urged the fallen heroes’ wives to be strong and courageous, “I want to urge you wives of our fallen heroes to be strong, courageous and engage in positive ventures that would create a better life for you and your children in the future.
READ ALSO: To combat desertification, Zamfara plants 24,000 trees
You must endeavour to send your children to school, as education is a sure key to success.
When they are well educated, the chances of child abuse, teenage pregnancy and other criminal tendencies would be reduced, and they will also have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to our nation,” she said.
Udoh advised the widows to enrol for skill acquisition programmes, to enable them to fit well into the society in due time, to avoid the sorrow and pain of the absence of their dear ones.
“Please accept the token presentation of various items and use them judiciously, as we hope to come up with more programmes of mutual benefit,” she said.
Udoh said the presentation was meant to reach out to some of the widows of the great men of honour, who laid down their lives for the peace and progress of our great nation.
She urged the women to take advantage of free Vocational Training Centre organised for them, to enhance their socioeconomic development.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs Idayat Yusuf, thanked the association for the gesture.
(NAN)
The Zamfara State Government has planted 24,000 trees in some of the Local Government Areas, as part of its campaign against desertification across the state.
The Special Adviser to the State Governor on Directorate of Afforestation, Malam Mansur Khalifa-Kaura disclosed this on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Gusau.
Khalifa-Kaura said that the campaign was part of the state government’s commitment to fight desert encroachment and other environmental challenges in the state.
“In the first phase, we planted 14,000 trees across the state, 1,000 trees were planted in a one-kilometre distance in each of the 14 local government which cost the state government N10 million.
READ ALSO: UN receives 70 cases of sexual exploitation, in three months
“In the second phase, we planted 10,000 trees in six selected local government areas in the state, in each of the selected LGAs we planted over 1,600 trees in two kilometres distance along the road side”
“This phase also cost the state another N10 million, making a total of N20 million for the whole projects,” he said.
He said the Six selected local government areas where Bakura, Birnin-Magaji, Talata-Mafara, Shinkafi, Kaura-Namoda and Zurmi.
According to him, apart from combating desertification, the trees will also help in beautifying the environment and the state government will ensure the trees are protected.
He advised the people against indiscriminate tree falling in order to stop desertification and erosion challenges.
He, however, appealed to people of the state to assist the state government in the maintenance and protection of the trees.
(NAN)
A dog called Stormy has been awarded a medal after completing a half-marathon in outback Australia and winning the hearts of its human competitors.
Continue reading Dog finishes Australia half-marathon, wins medal at Vanguard News.
In one of those instances of fuel scarcity in Lagos State, I drove to a fuel station, and, like the other motorists, parked my car in the line for petrol. In a more sane society, motorists will sit in their cars, and inch their way up, as the line moves, to the fuel pump and buy petrol. But because of our general distrust of the Nigerian system, we, of course, doubted that the pump attendants will impartially dispense fuel on the basis of first come first serve.
Continue reading The perils of an unsavory cocktail at Vanguard News.
THE organised labour has called on the Federal Government to immediately review the privatisation of the power sector and revoke the licences of Electricity Generation Companies, GENCOs and Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, to tackle the worsening power situation in the country.
Mr Richard-Mark Mbaram, the Chief Executive Officer, AgroNigeria, says the Nollywood industry has a major role in projecting Nigeria’s agriculture digitally to the world.
LOKOJA—Senator Smart Adeyemi has called for the creation of Local Council Development Authority, LCDA, in Kogi State, arguing that it will fast track development of rural communities.
Continue reading Adeyemi advocates LCDA for Kogi at Vanguard News.
abuja—Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, yesterday, said it had cut down the number of partner universities in the United Kingdom to 15, from 60 and also suspended requests for extension in scholarship programmes beyond the stipulated period.
ABUJA—AS part of the Federal Government commitments to support the growth in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME, 36 finalists have been selected for national MSME awards expected to hold Thursday in Abuja.
Continue reading 36 finalists shortlisted for FG’s MSME awards at Vanguard News.
SIX Christian groups in Osun State have described the PDP governorship a fraudulent exercise and urged the party to make amends
Continue reading Christian groups chide PDP over primary at Vanguard News.
Bayelsa chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, has said that the reported defection of its former state chairman, Chief Tiwei Orunimighe, was of no effect as he was no longer a member of the party, stressing that he was expelled last year.
Continue reading Bayelsa APC mocks former chairman over purported defection to PDP at Vanguard News.
The leadership tussle in Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is fast turning into a never ending war, as the case yesterday received yet another adjournment at the Federal High Court in Jos.
Continue reading Jos Court: Pinnick, Giwa know fate tomorrow at Vanguard News.
The All Progressives Congress in Kwara State has rejected and dismissed the purported dissolution of party at the ward, local government and state levels in Kwara State by the Adams Oshiomole - led National Working Committee (NWC) .
ABUJA—PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari said, Sunday night in Lome Togo, that he decided to take a second shot at the Presidency because Nigerians were solidly behind him.
Continue reading 2019: Nigerians are with me — Buhari at Vanguard News.
ON Wednesday 18 July, at a sprawling sports stadium in Johannesburg, former U.S. President Barrack Obama delivered the 16 Nelson Mandela Lecture. It was his first major event since leaving the White House in early 2017.
Continue reading Obama, Mandela and posterity at Vanguard News.
The UN said it received 70 new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse across all its entities and implementing partners, between the beginning of April to the end of June 2018.
UN Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, while announcing the allegations, said 18 cases involved peacekeeping operations, and 25 from “agencies, funds and programmes”.
“Please note that not all the allegations have been fully verified and many are in the preliminary assessment phase,” he explained, breaking down the 70 allegations.
READ ALSO: MH370 report: Malaysia aviation chief resigns
A total of 43 allegations involved UN personnel, 24 related to non-UN personnel working for implementing partners, and three others related to non-UN international forces, which had been authorised by a Security Council mandate.
Of these 70 reported incidents, 27 took place in 2018, nine in 2017, five in 2016, 10 in 2015 and two allegedly occurred in 2014, while the date is unknown for 17 allegations.
The vast majority, 46, were categorised as sexual exploitation, the UN deputy spokesperson said.
He defined sexual exploitation as “any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another”.
According to him, another 18 allegations were categorised as sexual abuse.
Haq said sexual abuse was “the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions”.
The UN deputy spokesperson said another six were classified as “other” or of an unknown nature.
Women and girls suffered the most from this scourge, according to the figures presented by Haq.
Out of a total of 84 reported victims, 46 were women, 17 were girls – under the age of 18 – and 12 were females whose ages were unknown.
In addition, one boy – under the age of 18 – and five males of an unknown age were also among the victims.
Out of 88 alleged perpetrators, all but eight were men, with four women and four individuals whose genders were unknown.
According to Haq, so far, three of the allegations have been substantiated through an investigation, two cases have not been substantiated, and four were closed due to other circumstances.
The remaining 61 were at various stages of investigation or under preliminary review, while a total of 16 allegations had been referred to the relevant Member States for action.
“We have continued our efforts to implement the Secretary-General’s strategy to combat sexual exploitation and abuse,” Haq said.
Regarding the UN’s commitment to end impunity, he explained that in June, the UN launched “an electronic tool for screening UN staff dismissed as a result of substantiated allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, or who resigned or were separated during an investigation”.
(NAN)
THE All Progressives Congress, APC, in the South-East region, yesterday passed a vote of confidence on the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, saying that those criticising his style of leadership are being sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Continue reading S/East APC leaders pass vote of confidence on Oshiomhole at Vanguard News.
ABUJA—FORMER Chairman, Board of Trustees of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, has x-rayed the current happenings the country and came to a conclusion that he will not celebrate his 85th birthday with pomp because Nigeria has in recent times witnessed many losses, bloodshed and apprehensions.
Continue reading Why I’m not celebrating my 85th birthday — Anenih at Vanguard News.
THE crisis rocking the power sector is far from being over as the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has insisted that the Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, were having difficulty funding the distribution infratructure.
THE Presidency on Tuesday exenorated President Muhammadu Buhari from the impeachment notice served to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State by eight out of 30 members of the Benue State House of Assembly.
—Confusion stirred in Benue State, yesterday, after eight of the 30 members of the House of Assembly protected by heavily armed security operatives barricaded other members, sat in session and raised an impeachment notice against Governor Samuel Ortom.
Continue reading Benue: Gov Ortom in impeachment drama at Vanguard News.
YENAGOA – RENOWNED environmental activist, Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, has tongue lashed governors, who are political leaders of states of the Niger-Delta region for allegedly spending the 13 per cent derivation to develop urban centres, leaving the rural areas that suffer environmental despoliation to stagger in abject poverty.
AWKA—THREE children had drowned, while two others were declared missing in a devastating flood following three days of downpour that wrecked havoc at Okpoko in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Continue reading Flood kills 3 children in Anambra, 2 missing at Vanguard News.
THE APC Standard bearer, Mr Gboyega Oyetola has assured the people of the state of all round development, if elected.
Continue reading Oyetola promises total devt at Vanguard News.
ABUJA—The Consul General of Nigeria in South Africa, Godwin Adama, has condemned the killing of a Nigerian, Linus Chibuzor-Nwankwo from Enugu State by a fellow Nigerian, Lawrence Nwarienne from Anambra.
A FEDERAL High Court sitting in Abuja has been urged to nullify the recent governorship primary conducted by the APC in Osun State on the ground of infraction of law.
Continue reading APC aspirant urges court to nullify primary for law infraction at Vanguard News.
Lagos—The Police, yesterday, arraigned a 30-year-old man, Goddy Inyama, who allegedly defiled a 10-year-old girl by raping her through the anus and vagina, before an Ajegunle Magistrate’s Court in Lagos.
Continue reading 30-yr-old man rapes, sodomises 10-yr-old girl in Lagos at Vanguard News.
IN recent weeks the Federal and Lagos State governments have combined forces in a spirited effort to decongest the Lagos highways, bridges and causeways of heavy vehicles.
Continue reading Need to revive the Eastern ports at Vanguard News.
SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said, yesterday, that there was need for Nigerians to get value from the N123 billion Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Fund, NEMSF, provided by the Federal Government as subsidy to operators in the sector.
THE long sought bid to end gas flaring in Nigeria may come to fruition in no distant time, if the new legal framework signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari is implemented to the letter.
Continue reading New legal framework empowers FG to takeover gas flare fields at Vanguard News.
ABUJA—Former Senate President in the aborted Third Republic, Chief Ameh Ebute, has expressed concerns over the existence of 68 registered political parties in the political terrain, saying they were unwieldy for the nation’s democracy to make any meaningful development.
Continue reading 68 political parties unwieldy – Ameh Ebute at Vanguard News.
JALINGO—Deputy Senate Minority Leader, representing Taraba South on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Emmanuel Bwacha, has said All Progressives Congress, APC, is only comforting itself by saying the mass defection of its members in the National Assembly will not affect APC’s chances in the 2019 general elections.
Continue reading APC comforting itself over mass defection— Bwacha at Vanguard News.
The power generation statistics for first quarter 2018, (Q1’18) shows that a total average of 92,747 megawatts per hour, mwh, of energy was generated by power stations.
Continue reading Electricity generation averages 92,747 mwh in Q1’18 at Vanguard News.
