Rethinking Heroism and the Nigerian Civil Service, By Festus Adedayo

Unarguably, the dominant perspective on heroism in Nigeria today is that of a land where that specie is endangered. Aside the political exploits of the Obafemi Awolowos, Nnamdi Azikiwes, Ahmadu Bellos; that of the Da Rochas, Aminu Dantatas, Louis Phillip Odumegwu Ojukwu in the economic sphere; public service: the Babatunde Ajoses; literature: the Amos Tutuolas and Chinua Achebes; education: the Adekunle Ajasins, Chike Obis; on the musical turf, with the Hubert Ogundes, Dan Maraya of Jos, Rex Lawsons etc., whose unifying thread of heroism in their works was patriotism and excellence, the pantheon of that class and creed is becoming extinct in Nigeria today.

Fulani Herdsmen Kidnap Delta University Staff, Demand N5m

This is another reason why these herdsmen should be kept in ranches and not left to roam in the name of trying to get feed for their Cows.

A non-academic staff of the Delta State University, Abraka, Mr. John Ogeleke, was Thursday kidnapped at Kwale, Ndokwa West area of the state by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

$2.1bn Cash: EFCC Detains ex-Finance Minister Usman By Soni Daniel

Abuja— Former Finance Minister, Mrs Esther Nenadi Usman, was yesterday, taken into custody by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly receiving N2.5 billion of the N4 billion taken out of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on the orders of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, in the heat of the 2015 election.

Buhari’s shuttle diplomacy and groaning citizenry By Robert Obioha

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on Google Plus

Share on Pinterest

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Digg

FOLLOWING the granting of $6 billion Chinese loan or investment as presidential handlers later told us during President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent visit to China, the administration’s image launders have deafened our ears with their conceited litany of successes of Buhari’s shuttle diplomacy.

Since he became President on May 29, 2015, Buhari has not concealed his romance with foreign trips. He relished them with great passion. Because, he did not have the luxury to make such trips when he took over power as a military junta in the 80s before he was overthrown, his penchant for foreign trips may be somehow forgiven. But the caveat does not mean that such trips cannot be curtailed or that the president cannot delegate others for such shuttle diplomatic functions.

Inside A Church

Hmmm!...this young South African pastor is known for some of his "wild" teachings and instructions

Kachikwu Blames Unending Fuel Scarcity On ‘Sabotage’ | TheCable

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, has blamed “saboteurs” for the persistence of fuel queues across the country, more than a week after his self-set deadline for ending them.

Speaking after Wednesday’s meeting of the federal executive council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, Kachikwu lamented the desperation of marketers to make quick profit at the expense of the country.

“The queues are as a result of sabotage,” he said.

PDP’s ‘16 years of Rot’ By Shaka Momodu

Since the All Progressives Congress (APC) made it to the seat of power in 2015, it has been doing what it knows how to do best: bristling and spewing propaganda. The unfortunate thing here is that while it got away with it as an opposition party, it is proving a different kettle of fish as the party in power. Its self-assured hubris and the potency of its magical abilities sold on a hypnotic propaganda are being challenged every day by reality. But the party is yet to come to terms with this reality and has continued to fiddle and twaddle about, exposing its unpreparedness even more, for the onerous task of governance. It has wailed and whined endlessly, assailing the people with excuses about the scale of rot in the past 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party’s rule.

It has portrayed the president as working very hard to correct the defects in the economic, governance and social structures bequeathed to it by past administrations, thereby laying a solid foundation for a new order. The APC has exalted President Muhammadu Buhari as a godsend to save Nigeria from the treasury-looting PDP and its supporters and to whom Nigerians must constantly express gratitude to. It is now the new mantra in a constantly evolving narrative of “true lies”, half-truths, propaganda and endless excuses for its gross inability to deliver on the promises upon which it rode to power. On the whole, it has been more talk, buck passing and less action on governance and the economy, as high expectations turn into despair; hopes of millions for a rebirth called change are crushed by its startling ineptitude and incompetence in governance particularly in the handling of the economy.

Mother Fights Daughter Openly, Bites Off Her Ear for Sleeping With Her Boyfriend

When a family lacks shame, things like this must happen. A terribly enraged woman has carried out a most brutal attack on her own daughter for the most unbelievable reason ever - male lover.

The woman identified as Chiekube Igbinosa in Akumazi community of Delta State, was said to have bit off her daughter’s ear and stabbed her for having s*x with her boyfriend.

Meeting the herding challenge By Segun Gbadegesin

The controversy over how to deal with the time bomb that defines the frequent violent clashes between herders and crop farmers is an unfortunate example of our habitual politicisation of issues of economic and social importance. What it requires is simply getting our bearing right and calling a spade by its proper name.

What are the issues? Herders naturally promote their economic interests by taking care of their cattle, shepherding them to good pasture not minding the economic interests of crop farmers and their farmlands which their cattle feed on indiscriminately. Naturally too, farmers resent the impunity that appears to characterise the actions of herders. They are resentful because it appears to them that herders are subject to no laws or to different codes which protect them from justice. After all, they see many of these herders with AK-47 flung around their shoulders. Do they have the legally approved licence to carry such lethal weapons in pursuit of their economic interests at the expense of the farmer’s interests?

Why Nigeria Should Be Free of Fossil Fuel

by EYITAYO ALIMI
Fossil fuels as the name suggests are derivatives of plant and animal fossils that are millions of years old. These are primarily formed from the remains of the decayed plants and animals of the carboniferous era. 

The three fuel sources i.e. coal, natural gas and oil/petroleum help to meet the energy and electricity demands of today’s world and it hasn’t come without consequences!

Jonathan’s cheerleaders By Donu Kogbara

LAST week, having heard multiple complaints about the state of the country from several Nigerians, I expressed concerns about chronic fuel shortages, prolonged electricity cuts, widespread poverty and Mr President’s incessant globetrotting. I said that I and many other people who voted for Buhari (and the Change he promised) last year had started to feel disillusioned and would feel more cheerful if he spent more time at home, providing hands-on leadership and solving problems.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan (L) With President Muhammadu Buhari, After A Close Door Meeting At The Presidential Villa In Abuja On Monday (2/11/15) Whenever I try to objectively assess this newish APC government’s performance and suggest ways in which it can up its game, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s cheerleaders swamp me with sad, mocking or abusive emails and text messages. 

The bait from Beijing By Fola Ojo

I give a streaming applause for President Muhammadu Buhari’s brawny efforts to get Nigeria out of her present economic sticky-wicket. Nigeria is in a deep ditch; and it appears to me that this President has the will to dig us out. “Where there is a will,  there is a way”, so says the Old English outlandish proverb. The Shakespearian injunction says that, “where there is a good will, there is a good way.”  It looks like Buhari has a good will. The will and the way, however, are inseparable Siamese twins. You can’t have one without the other to record successes. Now, this President is trying to show us the way.

Parents protest sale of Lagos schools’ playing field ……… Punch

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on Google Plus

Share on Pinterest

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Digg

Some parents of students of three public schools in the Ifako Ijaiye area of Lagos State on Thursday protested against the planned takeover of the playing field of three schools by a company in the area.

The affected schools are Keke Senior High School, Estate Junior High School and Stadium Junior High School.

The protesters, who displayed placards, stormed the state Deputy Governor’s Office, and appealed to the government to prevent the company from taking possession of the playing field.

Some of the placards read, ‘Her Excellency, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, please, save our children’s football field from land grabbers’, ‘Lagos State House of Assembly, please, save our children’s football field’, and ‘The field is for sports’.

The Chairman, Parent Forum, Keke Senior High School, James Ayeni, said the playing field stood at the centre of the three schools.

The $2 Trillion Project to Get Saudi Arabia’s Economy Off Oil ….. Bloomberg

Early last year, at a royal encampment in the oasis of Rawdat Khuraim, Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia visited his uncle, King Abdullah, in the monarch’s final days before entering a hospital. Unbeknown to anyone outside the House of Saud, the two men, separated in age by 59 years, had a rocky history together. King Abdullah once banned his brash nephew, all of 26 at the time, from setting foot in the Ministry of Defense after rumors reached the royal court that the prince was disruptive and power-hungry. Later, the pair grew close, bound by a shared belief that Saudi Arabia must fundamentally change, or else face ruin in a world that is trying to leave oil behind.

US vows to deter any Iran aggression on Gulf states …… Al Jazeera

Share on Twitter

Share on Google Plus

Share on Pinterest

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Digg

The United States will deter and confront aggression against Gulf Arab countries, who continue to have concerns about threats from Iran, President Barack Obama said after meeting their leaders to iron out strains in their alliance.

“I reaffirmed the policy of the United States to use all elements of our power to secure our core interests in the Gulf region and to deter and confront external aggression against our allies and our partners,” Obama said in Riyadh on Thursday after the summit with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

---

“Even with the nuclear deal we recognise collectively that we continue to have serious concerns about Iranian behaviour,” he said.

There was no denying the strains that have afflicted ties between Washington and its Gulf partners, though, even as they have worked together on shared concerns such as the wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Clinton takes her foot off the gas on Sanders after New York win ……. CNN

Hillary Clinton is trading her direct attacks against Bernie Sanders ahead of this week’s New York primary for a softer touch.

Clinton didn’t take any shots at Sanders during her first post-New York rally on Wednesday night, instead delivering her standard stump speech and casting the April 26 primaries in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maryland as a “great opportunity to start us on the path to the White House.”

Trump surrogates say GOP front-runner ‘projecting an image’ during primaries ……. Fox

Share on Twitter

Share on Google Plus

Share on Pinterest

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Digg

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s top lieutenants told skeptical GOP leaders Thursday that their candidate has been “projecting an image” so far in the 2016 primary season and “the part that he’s been playing is now evolving” in a way that will improve his standing among general election voters.

In a recording of the closed-door meeting obtained by the Associated Press, Trump’s newly hired senior aide, Paul Manafort, made the case to Republican National Committee members that Trump has two personalities: one in private and one onstage.

Queen’s 90th birthday: Beacons lit amid UK celebrations …… BBC

The Queen has lit the first of more than 900 beacons lighting up across the UK and overseas as part of her 90th birthday celebrations.

Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall then joined the monarch at a private dinner in Windsor Castle.

Earlier, cheering crowds lined the streets in Windsor as the Queen took part in a walkabout.

On Twitter, the Queen thanked senders of “#HappyBirthdayYourMajesty” tweets.

In another tweet, the Queen said: “I send my best wishes to those who are celebrating their 90th birthday… on this shared occasion, I send my warm congratulations to you.”

Mitsubishi Motors office raided over fuel economy tests …….. BBC

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on Google Plus

Share on Pinteres

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Digg

Japanese officials have raided an office of Mitsubishi Motors following the revelation that the carmaker had falsified its fuel economy data.

The officials searched its plant in the central Japanese city of Okazaki.

Mitsubishi has admitted that employees altered data to flatter mileage rates on more than 600,000 vehicles.

A government spokesman said they were treating it as an “extremely serious case” and that it had ordered the company to submit a full report.

Trump has been playing a part, will become more presidential: adviser …… Reuters

Share on Twitter

Share on Google Plus

Share on Pinterest

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Digg

Top advisers to Donald Trump assured Republican Party leaders on Thursday that the New York billionaire would adopt a more presidential demeanor soon, to temper the image projected during his campaign so far.

Trump’s representatives, including newly recruited senior advisers Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, met privately with leaders of the Republican National Committee at an oceanside resort hotel where the party is holding a three-day meeting.

“The part that he’s been playing is now evolving into the part that you’ve been expecting. The negatives will come down, the image is going to change,” Trump senior adviser Paul Manafort assured the party leaders, according to an audiotape of the session heard by Reuters.