Thursday 28 May 2015

man faints in UBA Bank yesterday

esterday, being the 27th of may 2015. An old man fainted at the UBA Bank at Ogoja road  branch in Ebonyi. 

Saturday 25 April 2015

Two(2) Soldiers Confirmed Dead As Unserviceable Ammunitions Explode In Plateau Earlier Today

Two soldiers have been confirmed dead while one was seriously injured after some unservisable ammunition went off while being destroyed near the 3rd Armoured Division barracks at Bassa Local Government Area today April 25th.

 Speaking on the incident, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Sani Usman said the unservicable ammunition were being destroyed near a bush when they went off. He debunked claims that the explosion was caused by members of the insurgency group, Boko Haram.

Jonathan Inaugurates N300 CAN Leadership Centre

President Goodluck Jonathan today inaugurated the N300 million Jubilee Resort and Leadership Centre built by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Abuja.

“I am indeed happy that today we are talking about the leadership centre,” he said at the ceremony, urging the association to ensure that it used the centre to train future Nigerian leaders with strong moral and fiscal discipline.

“The greatest asset of any society is leadership – from the family to business; from the church to the national level.

      
“I believe this centre will be used to model and mould leaders, especially those Christians, who are aspiring to be leaders at all levels in the church, in business, in the educational institutions, and of course in the political setting,” the News Agency of Nigeria reported.

 The president said that Nigerians would always expect that if a Christian was governor of a state, there would be a difference.

 According to him, sometimes Nigerians conducted themselves in an inappropriate manner “because whenever certain issues come up, especially things involving money, you see the way people behave and you begin to wonder if this person ever prays.

“I believe this centre will be used to help us to re-orientate us, to refocus those of us that – by the will of God and commitment of Nigerians – are holding various elective and appointive offices.

“These are offices that we should use to help the society, not to help ourselves; and I believe this centre will help us to achieve that.”

Jonathan praised Christians for their unity of purpose in building the edifice and prayed that such unity should be extended to national affairs and governance.

 Speaking earlier, the CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said that the building was built with funds donated by Christians and non-Christians and that most of the contractual work was done free of charge by professionals.

 Oritsejafor said the project would be used to raise money for the association.

Friday 24 April 2015

Thiago excited as he returns to Camp Nou

            The Bayern Munich midfielder says it will be an honour to return to his old stomping ground when they take on Barcelona in the Champions League
Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago is looking forward to returning to Camp Nou to take on Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals.

            The two sides were drawn against each other on Friday, with the midfielder and coach Pep Guardiola coming up against their old side for the first time.
Thiago, who joined Barca at 14 before spending four years in the first team, is "honoured" to get another chance to play in the iconic stadium.
"Any other opponent would also have been very tough, but it’s an honour to play at Camp Nou," he said.
             "We’ll do everything we can to get through and play for the European crown in Berlin."
Bayern demolished Barca 7-0 on aggregate in the last four on their way to European glory in 2012-13, but Manuel Neuer believes those results count for nothing heading into this tie.
"We were always going to be drawn against a big name. There are no easy opponents in the semis, it’s all or nothing as of now," he said. "We enjoyed it in the 2013 semi-finals against Barcelona and won both games comfortably, but it’s a completely new situation now and we’ll need two top performances if we’re to make the final."

Barcelona will host the first leg on May 6, with the return leg taking place on May 12.

Van Gaal - Giggs will be next Man United manager

             The Dutchman rates the 41-year-old highly and believes he will get another shot at the top job after succeeding David Moyes on an interim basis last season
Louis van Gaal has revealed he expects assistant manager Ryan Giggs to succeed him as Manchester United manager.

             Giggs holds the record for most United appearances of all time, having played 963 games during a 23-year career at Old Trafford and won 22 major trophies at the club under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson.

             The 41-year-old joined David Moyes' backroom team in the summer of 2013 and was named interim manager when the Scot was sacked last April, winning two of his four games in charge.

           Van Gaal, who appointed Giggs as his assistant last summer, rates the Welshman highly and believes he will get another chance at the top job when the time comes for him to leave Old Trafford.

"I expect that he will be the next manager after I am gone," Van Gaal told MUTV when asked about Giggs."Now I have the responsibility. He has tasks that he has to perform like the players. What he has to do, for me, he does it very well."

          Van Gaal's current contract as United boss expires in the summer of 2017 and he has already intimated that this will be his last job.

Xenophobia: Isreal denies South African minister visa

           Israel, thank you for doing this! You know their people suffered xenophobia back in the 1940s, so I guess they have zero tolerance for it. A minister from South Africa was denied visa to visit Israel for diplomatic work.

Aljazeera reports

The government of South Africa has expressed outrage after Israel's decision to deny a visa to Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande. Clayson Monyela, Deputy Director General of Department of International Relations and Cooperation, told Al Jazeera on Thursday the Israeli government needed to offer a reason for the snubbing.

           "We are taking it up through the proper channels. We need to receive a proper explanation for the denial of a visa to a sitting cabinet minister," Monyela said.

            The minister was scheduled to travel to the occupied Palestinian territories from April 25-29. He was scheduled to secure further collaboration with the University of Johannesburg and institutions in Palestine.

Nzimande's spokesperson told local media that the denial of the visa had caused a "serious diplomatic problem".

            Naeem Jeenah, Director of Afro-Middle East Centre, based in Johannesburg, described the snubbing as "surprising" considering the two countries' growing trade relations.

Jeenah said the Palestinian solidarity movement in South Africa "would be thrilled" with Israel's decision "because South Africa now has to respond to this matter".

          Arthur Lenk, the Israeli ambassador in Pretoria, told Al Jazeera that South African officials routinely visit the West Bank through Israel.

          Lenk would not be drawn into discussing why specifically Nzimande's visa application was denied, though he described the minister as being "very vocal on a range of issues connected to Israel, South Africa and my region".

The ambassador said the decision to deny the visa was made in Israel.

"The decision came from Jerusalem," Lenk said.
Vocal critic of Israel
But Jeenah said that anything the Israelis say on the matter "could really only make the situation worse".

             The Palestinian embassy in South Africa described the decision as "racist".
"We take note by this aggressive action that Israel is trying to implement the same rule as in the previous apartheid regime of South Africa," the embassy said in a statement.

             The Palestinian lobby group Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS-South Africa) released a statement saying it's "more confident than ever that its time to expel the Israeli Ambassador from South Africa".
"Israel cannot want to tell us who our friends should be, where we should travel and who we can speak with." BDS said.
Nzimande has been a vocal critic of Israel. His spokesperson said on Thursday the minister would call on all higher education institutions to cut ties with their counterparts in Israel.
"We must just boycott Israel," Nkwanyana reportedly said.

             South Africa currently has full diplomatic relations with Israel and recognises Israel within the borders demarcated by the United Nations (UN) in 1948

14 Brigadier Generals,17 Major Generals, retired from Nigerian army

This was seen at the evening news yesterday at NTA, 17 Major generals and 14 Brigadier generals were retired from service. 

OBASANJO - African Countries Happy Over President Jonathan’s Defeat



 The former president, Olusegun obasanjo, on Thursday said countries across the african continent are happy over the outcome of the presidential election in Nigeria, which saw the defeat of incumbent president Goodluck jonathan.
         Mr. obasanjo said his checks in a number of african countries suggested they were as happy over the result of the election as majority of Nigerians are.
He referred to president Goodluck jonathan as a moving train who was providentially stopped from collapsing Nigeria.
“I have visited six countries since the election, they are as happy about the results as we are in Nigeria. It is good not only for Nigeria, it is good for Africa and I believe it is good for the world.”
Mr. obasanjo, who led the african Union Observation Mission to the April 2015 General Election in Sudan, spoke on Thursday at a Washington DC event.
The former president described Nigeria as a country that obsessively plays “a dangerous game of moving close to the precipice”.
He said the country came close to disintegration in the run-up to the 2015 elections but switched swiftly to the path of redemption after the polls.
“I hope we will not fall over one of these days,” he said.
He said one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”
          Describing his role in the election as that of a person standing on the track of a moving train, the former president said during the countdown to the elections, he faced the option of “jumping off” the tracks or “be crushed” if the train did not providentially get “derailed and stop.”
He said he did not jump and was not crushed adding that “at every stage, there must be leaders imbued with sufficient courage and will to stand firm when you have to stand firm.”
He described the results of the elections as what Nigerians “deserve” though some Nigerians “did not want it”.
          Mr. obasanjo was the featured speaker at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) event titled What is Right with Africa: Reframing Africa’s Leadership Challenges.
He made these remarks in response to a question by Princeton Lyman, a former ambassador to Nigeria.
Mr. obasanjo observed that Nigeria’s tendency to flirt with near-death experiences stretches back to colonial times when it almost cost the country the chance of gaining political independence from Britain.
         Recalling colonial-era disagreements over self-rule, the former president said at a stage, advocates of self-rule from the Eastern and Western Regions decided to “let the North go” since their leaders were reluctant to accept regional autonomy back then.
“But reason prevailed,” he said, “East and West got internal autonomy in 1957, North got same in 1959 and the whole country got independence in 1960.”
          Listing the 1964 post-election violence in the south west and the 1966 coup d’etats which led to “pogrom and civil war” as other self-destructive phases in the country’s history, the former president remarked that Nigeria emerged from all of these as “one entity” in spite of contrarian speculations.
“Not only did we survive the civil war but, within nine years, somebody from the rebel side, as we called them, and somebody from the vandal side, as they called us, became president and vice-president of Nigeria. Not many countries achieve that,” he said.
president obasanjo described the 2015 election as “almost in the same category” as other near-death experiences in Nigeria’s history.
He said one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”

     
      “I think we are now building institutions that can withstand what we may see as danger to good governance in Africa. The election has moved Nigeria one very important step up in our democratic dispensation, process and practice.”

AU Organ Wants To Create United States Of Africa (to unite Africa)

          The Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union has suggested that African countries should team up and quickly move towards the creation of the United States of Africa, Nigerianeye informs. 

          The AU organ stated this in its reaction to the xenophobic violence against migrants and migrant workers, including Nigerians, by South African citizens.
 Joseph Chilengi, The Presiding Officer of Council said the creation of the USA was the only way Africans could live together in the political and economic context envisioned by the founding fathers of the AU.
           Chilengi added that the AU secretariat should convene an extra-ordinary emergency session to discuss the situation in South Africa and authorise a framework of action for addressing xenophobia on a collective basis.
            He said: “They should also use the experience to conceive Pan-African programmes and policies that will prevent its recurrence. The episode draws attention to the need to fast track the integration and development agenda of the AU and to move more rapidly towards the creation of the United States of Africa. It is only when Africans are living together in this political and economic context envisioned by the founding parents of AU that we can be rest assured that this shameful exercise will never occur again.”
             Chilengi condemned the xenophobic attacks on African citizens of different nationalities, saying ECOSOCC was sad to learn that such incidents occurred in a country for which Africans on the continent and the Diaspora sacrificed so dearly to ensure independence and black majority rule.
The Presiding Officer announced: “ECOSOCC is appalled to see gruesome pictures of African citizens of South African extraction brutally assaulting, killing, looting and burning the properties of their kith and kin from other parts of the continent. This is a blot on the African landscape, which negates the very essence of the AU and its purpose, principles and values. This deplorable situation makes a mockery of the people-centric orientation of the AU in general and ECOSOCC in particular; ECOSOCC offers its sincere apology to all victims of this shameful exercise. Beyond this, ECOSOCC recognises the need for timely and appropriate action to ensure that this episode ends immediately and never recurs.”

Suleiman Hashimu, the Lagos to Abuja trekker, finally met with the president-elect, Mohammadu Buhari at Abuja

The air around the presidential campaign headquarters of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja was full of excitement and joy as Suleiman Hashimu, the Lagos to Abuja trekker, finally met with the president-elect, Mohammadu Buhari, late Friday evening.

Suleiman Hashimu Meets Buhari In Abuja

        Hashimu made a personal promise in 2013 that should Buhari win the 2015 presidential elections, he would trek from Lagos to Abuja.
When Buhari was oficcially announced the winner of the March 28 elections, Hashimu was forced to fulfill his promise. On April 20, 2015, he arrived Abuja from Lagos amid cries of welcome, excitements and surprises.
         Giving the details of his journey to the president-elect, the trekker noted that he didn’t care about what people would say of him. Hashimu stressed that what mattered to him was the fulfillment of his promise to God and himself.
Suleiman Hashimu Meets Buhari In Abuja
“I made a promise because of the love I have for Mr. president that if Buhari should win the 2015 elections, I will trek from Lagos to Abuja which I have done. I thank God that I made a promise and I fulfill the promise.
“I passed through Kwara and Niger states to Abuja. I was trekking from 6.00am to 6.00pm and anywhere I find myself when it is 6.00pm, I pass the night there.mi spent 18 days from Lagos to Abuja

“Once I found myself inside the bush by 6.00pm and I managed to continue the trek till 9.00pm to a nearby village.
“I made this promise two years ago. I am based in Ibadan and I started my journey from Lagos because Lagos is the most popular city in Nigeria and I started from Berger junction in Lagos.
“I am not bothered about what people think. It is a promise between me and my God. I don’t want anybody to believe me. I left Lagos because I made a promise. Right from Kwara state, I never walked alone for five kilometres. People always walk with me to the next village. I work with a construction company based in Ibadan,” the trekker said.


Speaking at the event, Buhari congratulated Hashimu and thanked God that his health did not fail him.
“I want to congratulate you for making it. He is a young man and he was lucky that his health did not fail him. I also heard so many stories that you wore almost half a dozen pair of shoes. I also understand that there are people who have been quite generous to help you to pay for more pair of shoes”, the president-elect said.
It is worth mentioning, that Hashimu’s journey has triggered mixed reactions among Nigerians.
While many have commended him for his bravery, many others are still in doubt that Suleiman embarked on such a feat. Some have voiced their reservations about how realistic it is for someone to trek from Lagos to Abuja.