Photos: Son of former PDP Chairman allegedly stabbed to death by his wife over alleged infidelity

Bilyamin Muhammed Bello, the son of a former PDP chairman, Haliru Bello, died yesterday November 19th after he was stabbed by his wife, Maryam Sanda, at their Maitama, Abuja residence.

Maryam, said to be the daughter of former Aso Savings boss, Hajia Maimuna Aliyu, stabbed Bilyamin three times in the back; and severally on his private parts during an altercation over his alleged infidelity.

It was gathered that she saw a love message from another woman on his phone. After stabbing him, she drove him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

He will be buried today according to Islamic rites. The Janaiza is after Zuhr prayer at National Mosque, Abuja.

The couple got married on October 2015. Their grand wedding was covered by popular photographer Maigasky. They have a child together...

'Women become so furious when the men they love and are loyal to betray and cheat on them' IG user makes case for woman who stabbed her husband in Abuja

  IG user @jaaruma_empire took to her page to make a case for Maryam Sanda who stabbed her husband, Bilyami Mohammed Bello, to death in Abuja after seeing some text messages he received from his alleged side chic, yesterday November 19th.
Following the backlash Maryam has suffered from Nigerians who felt she should have walked out of the marriage if she wasn't happy, this IG user took to her page to state that women become enraged when the men they have been loyal to, betray their love and cheats on them. According to her, the present day woman would not tolerate the things women in the past tolerated. Meanwhile, the deceased divorced his first wife to marry her.

Climate change and the social contract: How our choices lead to predictable tragedies

ditor's note: From May 2017, Firstpost is featuring a fortnightly column by Mridula Ramesh, titled 'Climate Conversations'. In this column, we take a look at pressing issues pertaining to climate change — in an accessible way.
In a previous column, we saw how our societal choices — building over water bodies, dumping rubbish in rivers and allowing slums to come up on river banks — join hands with climate change and makes the sting so much sharper. Indeed, some experts believe these societal choices have a greater role to play in our suffering than does global climate change. Dr J Srinivasan, distinguished scientist at Divecha Centre for Climate Change, IISC, says “Land use patterns and air pollution have greater impact on local  climate in India than the increase in greenhouse gases.”
We are barking up the wrong tree if we think that advice like “Protect water bodies” or “Ensure tighter monitoring” will solve the issue. Important, loud voices have said it for years and nothing has happened. To understand why we need to look deeper. And that brings us to our social contract.
What is a/our social contract?
True Contracts tend to be implicit and unspoken, so (and as such) are tricky to pin down. But as in any relationship, a contract is the state of affairs that balances what we are willing to give and what we get. Philosophers explain it this way: individual citizens surrender certain rights (law enforcement, judgement, certain freedoms) to get something — protection and cheaper provision of services. Put another way, you give up your right to beat your erring neighbour to a pulp, and, in return, you get clean streets and a peaceful city to live in.
In theory.
To see it in practise, let us consider a story with three main characters.

A man carries a child as he wades through a waterlogged subway after heavy rains in Chennai, in August 2017. REUTERS

A play with 3 heroes — setting the stage
Our first protagonist is an average middle class urban city dweller — let's call him Akash. Akash has recently finished college and has received an offer with an IT firm, working in analytics. He drives to work and lives in a flat with three of his friends. He enjoys going to the movies. He is an asthmatic.
Akash pays his taxes (it’s deducted from his pay cheque every month, so he does not have much of a choice). He’s also among the 1.5 percent of Indian who do pay direct income tax. He also pays indirect tax — GST etc. — but that’s more bundled into whatever good or service he consumes, and arguably less visible. He pays registration fees for his car.
Akash never went to a public school. He has never and does not plan to go to a government hospital. He does not take public transport.
He does not receive any food from the public distribution system. He somewhat trusts that the FSSAI stamp on the food he buys makes it safe to eat, but he nurses his doubts.
He likes the peace the nation enjoys and is proud of the army. Last year, when floods devastated the city, he was rescued by the army. So, he is grateful to them.
He likes the fact that he has not been robbed/assaulted etc., so he is thankful to the police for that.
Akash has never voted. None of the candidates appeal to him. And, to be frank, he feels society does not do much for him. The politicians appear to be aware of this: He is not courted before elections. He is aware of his impotence while complaining about power cuts, water supply or waste on the roads. He’s quietly resentful of the waste, the smells, and the congestion, especially after a trip abroad made these even more glaring.
Enter Muniammal, our second protagonist. She is a 55-year-old woman who lives in a 10x10 illegal shanty on the banks of the Cooum in Chennai. She does not pay for her electricity. Her children went to the corporation school, for which she did not pay any tuition. When she is sick, she visits the government hospital which is free, in theory. She depends heavily on the 1-rupee ration rice for her sustenance.
But Muniammal has little control over the quality of the services (or products) she receives. Indeed, she often needs to grease many palms to get what she is entitled to or what she needs to get away with: to the policeman to look the other way, to the ward boy at the hospital so the doctor will see her, to the ration shop for preferential access. In fact, when there was an assault on her daughter-in-law this past month, she could not get an FIR filed without her local councillor’s help.
The system, which is supposed to work for all citizens, is often broken for her. Raghuram Rajan, our former RBI governor, has been widely quoted in saying: “The tolerance for the venal politician is because he is the crutch that helps the poor and underprivileged navigate a system that gives them so little access”. But this “crutch” comes with a big caveat: Muniammal, the 55-year-old woman, cannot hope to command the attention, let alone the assistance, of the local councillor. Only Muniammal, who belongs to Caste A or Religion B, can. Especially if Caste A is a large voting bloc. This means caste definitions and ethnic divisions need to be highlighted to command attention and delineated to create a unique power base. An interesting thought. And Muniammal gives her vote as her caste leader directs.
Now take Rajiv, our third actor. He’s a hot-shot heir of a large business family with interests in construction, steel and retail. Rajiv would not dream of taking public transportation in India, and would not venture near a government hospital or school. He does not even know where a ration shop is, or what he can get there. He has never seen his ration card. He wants the government to keep multi-brand retailers out of the country and he wants high import duties on steel. Thus far, he has got what he wants.
If we were to look at sheer numbers, the Muniammals of India overwhelm other two in numbers — this is important, we will come back to it in a bit.

People queue to collect drinking water from a municipal tanker at a flooded residential colony in Ahmedabad, in July 2017. REUTERS

There is something rotten in the state of Denmark…
What are the characteristics of such an equilibrium? What kind of social contract would manifest here?
The provision of services of society needs to be broken, or at least flawed. Both Akash and Muniammal, for different reasons, cannot really influence the service quality they receive from the government.
Why? The incentives of the constituents, the vacancies within several essential departments, such as health and education, and the complete lack of competition. Consider this: I write as a chairperson of a government-aided school in rural India. For many transgressions — poor teaching, lack of knowledge, questionable conduct — corrective action is very very hard to take. More than 1,880 primary health centres in the country lack a doctor. Moreover, the quality of the staff is not uniform. Government jobs pay a lot at lower levels — far more than a private sector equivalent. But as you go higher up, the pay differential shrinks and finally inverts. The chairperson of a public-sector bank makes less than a junior banker in a private sector and laughably less than a chairperson of a private sector bank. Moreover, in many areas, there is little competition that such bodies face, so Akash cannot shift his custom to another and Muniammal cannot afford to do so. Little competition means the “badness” of the service can persist. Muniammal cannot command better service. She can influence the process only through her politician.
This is important because otherwise the politician loses his meaning to the Muniammals of the world. Would Muniammal go to him and become beholden if there was a qualified doctor who could be expected to help her out as a matter of course? Unlikely.
Add to this, a tremendously delayed judiciary process — we have more than 25 million pending cases as on date — which imbues the politician with the power of ad hoc decision making. Think of it this way: if someone beat up your son, and the case dragged on and on — wouldn’t it be simpler (and more gratifying) to approach the local politician for speedy street justice?
And lastly: data. Knowledge is power as the saying goes, which maybe explains why departments are shrouded in relative opacity. Data needs to be unavailable, hard to access, or outdated. I have been trying to get station-wise data for a particular city in India — it turns out to be very expensive, patchy and what I have finally settled for — 0.25 x 0.25 gridded data is so inaccessible that it needs a lot of effort to make it usable. Contrast this with China (China!!) which has online air pollution data available for all their cities — even for an average citizen seated in India. This lack of data aids and abets the broken system. After all, you cannot check performance or fix a system without good data.
Answering our questions
With this as background, let us revisit the questions from the last article:
Why do we allow slums to creep up in flood plains?

Garbage is seen near a hospital in Mumbai. REUTERS

Muniammal needs inexpensive housing close to where job opportunities are. It’s illegal, so the politician leans on the policeman and the judges to look the other way. Muniammal is grateful, and rewards him with her vote. And because she overwhelms the Akashes in numbers, her writ prevails. The slums encroach on the river and reduce its carrying capacity. Of course, cheap housing cannot come with underground sewage, so the waste — both solid and human, find their way into the inviting river, further reducing the river’s carrying capacity.
Naturally, when it rains heavily, the river is more likely to flood.
In another city, with a different kind of contract, low-skilled workers like Muniammal would rely overwhelmingly on a cheap and efficient public transport to get them from their affordable housing to their place of work. The Rajivs of the world would like to believe this is a metro, which turns out to be an inadequate and expensive proposition for Muniammal. But the powers that be decided to go with Rajiv, hence the need for slums.
Moving onto question#2: Why do we dump construction debris into our rains and canals with impunity?
To answer this, let us come to Rajiv. He wants to rebuild the city — his way.
Naturally, that involves acquiring buildings on the cheap. He leans on his brother-in-law, the MP, to ensure other builders cannot buy buildings that easily in “his” part of town. He then breaks down the buildings. Carting the waste would add to costs, and why should he when the river lies so invitingly close. Who will stop him? Anyone who dares to will get transferred or worse. Milan Vaishnav writes a fascinating book on the link between builders and political houses, and the increasing criminality in politics. The data is chilling enough to reveal that cement prices go down just before elections, because builders divert funds to the campaign.
Rajiv’s first venture did so well that he wanted to build the second one. The only problem is there is an old lake there. Earlier, the lake had farmers around it with water rights. But farmers have sold their land and moved as the city has developed. The corporation took some of it over, and the rest was too inviting for Rajiv to pass on. Not to worry, dump some earth and debris there, and there is a new site in place.
The unholy alliance between the Rajivs, who promote rule breaking in making a quick buck, and the Muniammals, who require rule breaking as a fiendish substitution for provision of good services, overwhelm the wishes of the Akashes of India. Moreover, the Muniammals vote, and very often, the Akashes don’t.  This results in the trampling of our common goods — air, water — our environment, in short.
And because the politician — who gains his power from the broken system — is the one to fix it, we need to look at addressing the underlying equilibrium, and not merely spout platitudes.
There is a silver lining…
But as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. Even the floods, the drought and the worsening climate.
As the frequency of floods increases, Muniammal ’s satisfaction with her housing is falling. It made sense when it was close to her place of work, and she was willing to put up with the sewage, and the lack of water. But when it floods every year, she loses what few possessions she has, and the relief doesn’t cover it all. Moreover, Muniammal’s son has done well, relatively speaking, and he does not want to live in a slum anymore. The vote bloc is beginning to crumble, and a new vote bloc, the “development” vote bloc is becoming viable.

Also, once in a way, the system throws up a hero — whether a bureaucrat or a vibrant politician — who wants to make a difference. There are recent examples in India: a bureaucrat who heads the irrigation department of a state, or one who ensured a public transportation project was completed in time, and under budget. The politician who revamped the department he was charged with, and delivered results. Typically, this happens when outsiders — either politicians or lateral entrants into the bureaucracy come about. They don’t benefit from the equilibrium, so they are happy to make the change. There are usually tell-tale signs of these heroes — the data will be flashed in front of you.
The good news, if you want to call it that, is that climate change throws in strong relief the fissures in our system. There are fewer and fewer places to hide. Our press has always been relatively free, and for all our faults, we are a ragingly opinionated and functioning democracy. Which means, the power is still in our hands.
This is good news. In the next column, let us understand how we can better wield it.
The writer is the founder of the Sundaram Climate Institute, cleantech angel investor, teacher and author of a forthcoming book on Climate Change and India. Follow her work on her website; on Twitter; or write to her at cc@climaction.net

Jacob Zuma faces no-confidence vote, decision to hold secret ballot could take down South African president

Cape Town: South African president Jacob Zuma faces a no-confidence vote by secret ballot in parliament on Tuesday, with opponents hoping that discontented ANC lawmakers could help oust him from office.
Criticism of Zuma from within the African National Congress (ANC) has grown over corruption scandals and economic woes, and the celebrated party of Nelson Mandela has declined sharply at the polls.
But the ANC — which holds a large majority in parliament — welcomed the decision to hold the vote by secret ballot and said it expected the no-confidence motion to fail.
Several opposition parties will lead a protest to the national assembly in Cape Town on Tuesday ahead of the parliamentary session due to begin at 2.00 pm (1200 GMT). "ANC MPs now have no excuse. They must use their vote... to remove Jacob Zuma," the main opposition Democratic Alliance party said after the speaker of parliament made a surprise decision Monday to hold the ballot in secret.

File photo of South African president Jacob Zuma. Reuters

Zuma has easily survived several previous parliamentary votes held without secret balloting. A 201-vote majority would be needed to remove him from power, and the ANC holds 249 seats in the 400-seat parliament. His cabinet would also be forced to resign.
"It's a long shot to expect a significant number of ANC MPs to vote against their own party and let the opposition claim this big political scalp," independent analyst Daniel Silke told AFP.
Zuma, 75, is due to step down as head of the ANC in December, and as president before the 2019 general election — lessening pressure for his party to trigger imminent change.
ANC loses its lustre
The secret ballot has been subject to a long legal battle waged by opposition parties, who hope that ANC lawmakers will now be emboldened to vote against him without fear of intimidation. Last week ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu acknowledged recent criticism of the party, including the impact of a cabinet reshuffle in March when respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan was replaced with a Zuma loyalist.
Gordhan's sacking led to a string of downgrades to South Africa's credit rating as well as causing the rand currency to tumble. Public support for the ANC, which swept to power under Mandela in the first non-racial elections in 1994, slipped to 55 percent in last year's local polls — its worst-ever result.
A handful of MPs, including Gordhan, have joined calls from anti-apartheid veterans and trade unions for Zuma to resign, as South Africa endures record unemployment and a recession.
Zuma has been engulfed by corruption allegations since coming to office in 2009. A court last year found him guilty of violating the constitution after he refused to repay taxpayers' money used to refurbish his private rural house. He has been accused of being in the sway of the wealthy Gupta business family, allegedly granting them influence over government appointments, contracts and state-owned businesses.
He is also fighting a court order that could reinstate almost 800 corruption charges against him over a multi-billion dollar arms deal in the 1990s.
Zuma is seen as favouring his ex-wife, former African Union chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to succeed him ahead of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

British model abducted, offered for sale on pornography sites and then released for unknown reason

Rome: A 30-year-old man has been arrested in the alleged kidnapping of a young British model who thought she was coming to Milan for a photo shoot, but instead was drugged, hustled away in a suitcase and handcuffed in a house in northern Italy before being released, Milan police said Saturday.
Police released a mugshot of the suspect whom they identified as Lukasz Pawel Herba, a Polish citizen with British residency. He was jailed for investigation of suspected kidnapping for extortion purposes, police said.
Police official Lorenzo Bucossi told reporters the 20-year-old woman had come to Milan for what she thought was a photo shoot and was abducted on 11 July.
A statement from Milan police headquarters detailed the woman's ordeal. "Attacked, drugged, handcuffed and closed inside a suitcase, that's how a 20-year-old English model was kidnapped on 11 July in Milan to be sold to the best offer on pornography sites," on the internet, the statement said.

Representational image. AP

The suspect was arrested on 18 July, the day after he allegedly released the woman and dropped her off at the British consulate in Milan, police said.
The woman had arrived in Milan on 10 July and was supposed to do the photography session the next day, the statement said. A photographer had booked the session through the model's agent, but as soon as she stepped inside the Milan apartment for the appointment, she was attacked by two men, according to the police account.
"The kidnappers loaded the suitcase with the girl (inside) into a car trunk" and drove to a rural home in a hamlet outside Turin, the statement said. In the house, "the model was kept handcuffed to a wooden dresser in a bedroom" until she was released on 17 July, the police said.
Police suspect the Polish man advertised the "sale" of the woman online, while at the same time demanding ransom from the woman's agent of $300,000 (about 260,000 euros).
Authorities said as far as they know, no ransom was paid. An investigation is being conducted in Poland and Britain as well as in Italy. Investigators are trying to determine if the suspect had accomplices and was mainly after ransom, or was trying to defraud someone who might have been willing to pay money online for the woman, police said.
They didn't identify the model's agent.
Milan daily Corriere della Sera said the kidnapper let his victim go because he discovered she had a child and considered her unsuitable for the sex trade. But the police official, Lorenzo Bucossi, told reporters it was unclear why the woman was released.

Published Date: Aug 08, 2017 11:47 am | Updated Date: Aug 08, 2017 11:47 am

Donald Trump names Kayleigh McEnany Republican spokesperson

Washington: Kayleigh McEnany, a conservative television pundit and supporter of President Donald Trump, was named the spokesperson for the Republican Party on Monday.
McEnany, 29, announced over the weekend that she had left CNN, the 24-hour cable news network where she had been working as a pro-Trump contributor.

file image of Donald Trump. AP

Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said that as spokeswoman, McEnany "will be an integral part of our party's ongoing commitment to promoting the Republican message to Americans across the country."
"Her wealth of experience will be invaluable to the RNC as we continue to support President Trump and build on our majorities in Congress," McDaniel said in a statement.
McEnany said she was "excited to be joining the RNC at such an important and historic time in our country."
"I'm eager to talk about Republican ideas and values and have important discussions about issues affecting Americans across this country," she said. Over the weekend, McEnany appeared in a 90-second video on Trump's Facebook page touting his accomplishments.
The promotional video, filmed at Trump Tower in New York, was billed as the "real news." McEnany is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Law School.

Published Date: Aug 08, 2017 08:15 am | Updated Date: Aug 08, 2017 08:15 am

Taxi Driver Breaks Down In Tears After His Car Was Hit By A Lady In Lagos

A Taxi driver could not control his emotions after his car was bashed by a woman in Lagos. The accident happened few days ago on Akin Adesola street, Victoria Island, Lagos. A female Slot executive was driving from the opposite lane, she missed the traffic light (maybe ignored it) as it turned red. The Baba, taxi driver, was driving through the green light, believing it was his right of way. Unfortunately, one second can change everything as his car was hit in the process.

The old man broke down in tears reportedly asking why that had to happen to him. Sympathizers who gathered to see what happen felt for the heartbroken taxi driver.

Source; https://www.nationalhelm.co/2017/07/heartbroken-driver-breaks-tears-car-bashed-lady-lagos-photos.html

Buhari ‘President has never been involved in corruption,’ Aide says Onochie, who’s the Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Media, made the comments via a post on Facebook.

President Muhammadu Buhari
(Getty) 

One of President Muhammadu Buhari’s aides, Lauretta Onochie, says that the president has never been involved in corrupt practices.

Onochie, who’s the Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Media, made the comments via a post on Facebook.

“Our President Muhammadu Buhari is not a businessman. He has never been involved in doing business. He has never been involved in sharp practices to unfairly line his pockets, all his life,” she wrote.

“He has always worked in areas where he earned salaries. That’s how he managed his family finances. Salaries. So he can never understand how families are expected to survive this harsh economic realities when they go month by month, without their salaries.

“President Buhari has run out of patience with Governors who are owing salaries and has ordered CBN, Finance Ministry to release the Paris Club refunds to states immediately. Nigerians in the states where salaries are owed, must become active citizens by insisting that their salaries be paid.

“They must camp in front of the government houses, peacefully till their salaries are fully paid. Enough of this taking Nigerians for a ride. Let’s stop making excuses for those who are standing on our heads,” she added.

She made the comments after some Nigerians expressed concern at the latest presidential order to release more of the Paris Club funds to governors to enable them pay salaries.

ALSO READ: Buhari advices Nigerians to shun self medication

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been investigating allegations that the earlier released sums from the Paris Club Refund were mismanaged by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).

Lai Mohammed “Whistle-blowers have everything to gain and nothing to lose” He also said that the government had put in place necessary measures to keep whistle-blowers safe.

play
Minister of information, Lai Mohammed
(PM News) 

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said that whistle-blowers who inform the government about corrupt funds have nothing to fear.

He also said that the government had put in place necessary measures to keep whistle-blowers safe.

Mohammed made the comments via a statement released on Sunday, March 19. It reads in part:

“For those who may have suffered any backlash as a result of the information they provide, their cases will be reviewed and appropriate mitigating actions taken."

“Whistle-blowers have nothing to fear, because the committee has put in place the necessary measures to safeguard those who give useful information. As a matter of fact, whistle-blowers have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

“What we have done by making this information public is to reassure potential whistle-blowers that the plan to reward is real. We are not just saying we will pay all whistle-blowers, but we are letting them know in advance what they are entitled to, once the information they provide leads to the recovery of looted funds.”

Mohammed also said that any whistle-blower whose information leads to the recovery of up to N1 billion would receive 5 percent of the sum.

ALSO READ: CAN President tells Lai Mohammed to stop lying about religious killings

The minister earlier revealed that the whistle-blower policy had helped the government recover separate sums of $151.7 million and N8 billion from three sources.

Buhari President meets with governors in Abuja [PHOTOS] President Buhari spoke with the governors during the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, which held inside the Presidential Villa.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, March 16, met with some state governors in Abuja.

President Buhari spoke with the governors during the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, which held inside the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa.

play President Muhammadu Buhari meets with state governors at the Presidential Villa on March 17, 2017.
(Twitter)

The meeting held behind closed doors for a few minutes after which Buhari is said to have left for his office.

This is Buhari's first contact with the state governors since his return to Nigeria from a 49-day medical vacation in London.

ALSO READ: President praises Osinbajo, says he did a terrific job

Buhari returned to Nigeria on Friday, March 10, after leaving on January 19.

Ndume ‘If Magu could be rejected, then Saraki shouldn’t be Senate President,’ Senator says

The Senate, on Wednesday, March 16, refused to confirm Magu due to a report against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The Senate, on Wednesday, March 16, refused to confirm Magu due to a report against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

Former Senate Majority Leader, Ali Ndume has reacted to the Senate’s rejection of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Senate, on Wednesday, March 16, refused to confirm Magu due to a report against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to Ndume, if Magu could be rejected due to allegations of corruption, then Senate President, Bukola Saraki should not be occupying the position because he has also been accused of same.

play Ali Ndume
(Daily Post)

“We have all been accused, I have been accused of sponsoring Boko Haram, the senate president is still going to court,” Ndume said while appearing of Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily.

“Same as other members who have cases in court, yet they occupy seats in the senate. So, if you say because of the allegations he (Magu) should not be confirmed, then I should not be a sitting senator and Saraki should not be there as senate president,” he added.

The DSS report stated that Magu had failed the integrity test and would be a liability to the war against corruption.

The report led to the Senate’s initial rejection of Magu in December 2016 but he was screened on Wednesday after President Muhammadu Buhari re-nominated him for the position.

However, the DSS sent a letter to the Senate re-affirming its earlier position on Magu leading to a second rejection.

Buhari returns to face reality of decline - Financial Times

- President Muhammadu Buhari resumed back to work on Monday, March 13 after a long medical vacation in London

- International finance newspaper, Financial Times seem unhappy about the president's return

- They expressed doubt about his ability to govern effectively because of his ill-health

Financial Times has weighed in on President Buhari's return to work, expressing doubts about the 74-year old leader's ability to govern effectively because of his ill-health.

President Buhari disembarking from the plane on his return to Nigeria on March 10

Although FT admitted that President Buhari is honest and humble, traits in short supply in the self-enriching world of Nigerian politics, the newspaper however added that the Buhari’s presidency so far has been a triumph of reality over spin.

That has been brutally underlined in the past two months as the Nigerian president has languished in London receiving treatment for a mystery illness.

While in London, Buhari received senior government officials

READ ALSO: 7 notable things President Buhari said as he arrived Nigeria

After seven weeks and one day out of action, Buhari stepped gingerly down the steps of his aircraft and back on to Nigerian soil on Friday, March 10.

He had the good humour to joke that he had arrived that day so he could continue to rest over the weekend before restarting his presidential duties on Monday.

Yet such are the complexities of Nigerian politics — not to mention the seeming, if undisclosed, gravity of Buhari’s condition — that it is not clear how much governing he will be able to do.

Only hours before he arrived back from his lengthy absence, the electoral commission fired the starting gun on the next election by announcing the date of the 2019 presidential poll, already less than two years away.

There are still doubts about Buhari's fitness to lead Africa's most populated nation

After a ponderous period in office and with the as-yet-unacknowledged reality that Buhari is unlikely to run for a second term, the danger is that the next weeks and months will be consumed by political intrigue rather than the business of running the country. And Nigeria is in desperate need of being run.

It faces its worst economic crisis in 25 years as weak oil prices expose the reality of politicians’ utter dependence on oil revenue — both to govern and to line their own pockets.

Buhari has struggled to make sense of the economy, partly because his ideas were formed in a different era when the enemy was the International Monetary Fund and partly because he lacks coherent proposals. The irony is that the president’s extended London sojourn has revealed what can be done.

In his absence, the self-effacing vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, has injected real energy into policymaking. During his time in charge, some progress was made towards a coherent foreign exchange policy, without which nothing much else can get started.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo held sway in Buhari's absence

READ ALSO: Nigerians must emulate President Buhari's honesty and openess - Aide

Under him, too, the government issued a promising — if necessarily wish-list-heavy — economic recovery document. Osinbajo has held lengthy cabinet meetings, something to which Buhari has displayed scant interest, as well as showing his face around the country, including in the troubled Delta region.

What we discussed with Buhari — Saraki, Dogara

Senate president, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, just concluded a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential Villa, Abuja.

Photo of President Buhari, Senate president Bukola Saraki and speaker Yakubu Dogara in state house on 14th March, 2017.

Saraki and Dogara, said they visited President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss matters of “national interest”.

Senator Saraki told the press that the president engaged them very well.He said they specifically “came to discuss issues and activities of the National Assembly during the absence of the president”, according to Premium Times.

President Buhari spends 3 hours in office on first day of resumption

- President Muhammadu Buhari formally resumed back to work on Monday, March 13

- Vice President Yemi Osinbajo handed over back to the president

- The president also notified the National Assembly of his resumption

A report by Daily Trust indicates that President Muhammadu Buhari only spent three hours in the office as he resumed work at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday, March 13.

President Buhari on his return from vacation on Friday, March 10

According to the report, the president resumed work at about 11.00am and retired to his official residence around 2.10pm.

The report further noted that before now, President Buhari used to stay in the office beyond 4.00pm.

READ ALSO: Prominent Nigerians, groups set target for Buhari as he resumes

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo briefing the president as he resumes

No official reason was given for the president's short stay in office, especially because it was his first day of resumption after being away for long.

The last time President Buhari was in his office was on Monday, January 16 before he travelled for his medical vacation on Thursday, January 19.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo officially hands over back to President Buhari

The president spent 51 days in the United Kingdom and has still not told Nigerians the nature of his ailment.

He however told government officials on his return that he had a blood transfusion, stressing with or without him, Nigeria will continue to exist.

READ ALSO: Dogara receives a copy of President Buhari's resumption letter (photo)

Meanwhile, the personal assistant on social media to President Buhari, Ms Lauretta Onochie has advised Nigerians to emulate the president's honesty and openess.

Onochie made the call in a Facebook post published on Monday, March 13, same day the president formally resumed back to work.

Robert Vaughn Actor dies at 83 Robert Vaughn has passed away from acute leukaemia at the age of 83.

 
Robert Vaughn  express.co.uk

Veteran Hollywood actor, Robert Vaughn, has been reported dead at the age of 83.

His manager, Matthew Sullivan told entertainment magazine, Deadline Hollywood, that the actor passed away on Friday, November 11, of acute leukaemia.

ALSO READ: Gene Wilder dies at 83

Sullivan said, “Mr Vaughn passed away (in New York) with his family around him,”

  Robert Vaughn
(dailymail)

The actor is survived by his wife Linda, son, Cassidy and daughter, Caitlin.

Vaughn starred in the recent US television spy series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E” where he played Napoleon Solo.

May his soul rest in peace.

 

Saraki Senate President launches skill acquisition to empower 40,000 youths Saraki explained that the programme was aimed at empowering the youth in the state.

Senate President Bukola Saraki
(NAN) 

The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Sunday in Ilorin launched: “Skill Acquisition, Training and Empowerment Programme (STEP)” to empower 40, 000 youths in the state.

Saraki explained that the programme was aimed at empowering the youth in the state.

The president of the senate stressed the need to arrest the increasing unemployment and youth restiveness across the country for meaningful development to take place.

He said the Senate was considering the use of local fabric “Aso-Oke” as material for school pupils’ caps and cardigans to provide large number of jobs and generate enough revenue.

Saraki said this was in line with his firm belief and advocacy for patronage of home made goods.


Saraki challenged leaders to develop future oriented technology, training and employment schemes to integrate the younger population into the nation’s economy.

He said young men and women, who had opted for entrepreneurship in the face of unavailability of white collar jobs, should be encouraged and motivated to become employers of labour.

“Under Skills acquisition, Training & Empowerment Programme (STEP), 40,000 youths will be trained over 4 years with advanced skills,” he said.

Also speaking the former Minister of Sports, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi described the statistics of 34 million unemployed Youth in the country as alarming, saying that it could retard the nation’s development.

He said those afflicted by unemployment syndrome also lacked direction as to where they are going in the way and manner they scout for jobs.

He said unemployment was one of the biggest challenges facing governments across the globe, adding that the menace was redefining national security, reshaping politics and changing societies.

The National President, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Alhaji AbdulHameed Adi, described the project by Saraki as well thought-out and urged other office holders to follow suit.

He said creation of more empowerment schemes will reduce the rate of unemployment, thereby making the army of the beneficiaries to be self-employed.

Adi, who disclosed that IEDPU recently empowered about 250 youth in conjunction with Kwara State Polytechnic, enjoined the beneficiaries of the scheme to take it seriously.

An Associate Professor in the University of Ilorin, Dr Fatai Aremu Ayinde, who also delivered brief lecture at the ceremony, identified goal clarity, desire, belief, knowledge and action as sure ways to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

NAN reports that the programme was attended by the Speaker of the Kwara House of assembly., Dr Ali Ahmad, Members representing the state at the National Assembly among others.