The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Nigerian girl interviews Jesse Jackson

    Nigerian girl interviews Jesse Jackson

    Nigeria’s whiz kid, Zuriel Oduwole has added American Civil Rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson to the list of world leaders she has interviewed.

    Last Thursday, Oduwole, who is youngest person to be interviewed for a feature by Forbes magazine when she was 10  sat for a camera interview with Rev Jackson at the Annual Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

    Jackson, who was with the reverend Martin Luther King Jr  till his last seconds before he was assassinated in Memphis – Tennessee in 1968, gave a no holds barred interview to Zuriel on Thursday September 26th, discussing topics including what it meant to him when Barack Obama, a Kenyan, became the 44th President of the United States.

    He also spoke on what it was like to be the first African American to mount a serious run for the White House, in 1984.

    Zuriel had before now interviewed leading African personalities, including eight  African Presidents, Africa’s richest person Aliko Dangote and tennis super stars – Venus  and  Serena Williams.

  • Breaking News: Gunmen kill 40 students in Yobe

    No fewer than 40 students of Gujba College of Agriculture in Yobe State were on Sunday morning killed by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect.

    The corpses of the students have been deposited at the General Sanni Abacha Specialist Hospital and more are still been expected at press time.

    The Nation learnt that the students were shot in their hostels and classrooms while fleeing from the attackers.

    Gujba is about 60 kilometres  South East of Damaturi the state capital

    The State Commissioner of Police Sanusi Rufai confirmed the attack but said the details of the attack are still sketchy.

    “Yes, I just got a report of the attack on the school but I cannot give you details at the moment because my men are yet to give me a full brief of the incident,” CP Sanusi informed.

     

  • Injury-hit Etuhu returns to training

    Injury-hit Etuhu returns to training

    Nigeria midfielder Dickson Etuhu has returned to training after he was sidelined for eight months by a knee injury, supersport.com reports.

    Etuhu returned to training during the week for Blackburn Rovers and Rovers manager Gary Bowyer was delighted to have the hard working midfielder back.

    “Dickson has been back in training this week, so we are delighted with that. So, we are happy enough with it, it adds competition to the squad,” supersport.com quoted Bowyer as saying on the club’s official website.

    Etuhu joined Blackburn Rovers from Fulham in the summer of 2012 for a fee of €1.9 million.

    He last played for Blackburn in December 2012 against Middlesbrough.

     

     

  • Deadly blast hits Pakistani market

    An explosion has ripped through a market in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, leaving at least 25 dead and dozens wounded, officials say.

    The explosion took place in the Kissa Khwani market, with shops and vehicles set alight.

    The blast comes a week after a double suicide bombing that killed at least 80 people at a church in the city.

    On Friday, at least 17 people were killed in the bombing of a bus carrying government employees near Peshawar.

    Peshawar, the main city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been hit by numerous bomb and gun attacks blamed on Taliban insurgents in recent years.

    BBC reports that police suspected the explosion was caused by a car bomb.

    Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper quoted the health minister as saying that the main Peshawar police station may have been the main target.

    An emergency situation was declared at the Lady Reading Hospital as it received the injured, many of them badly burnt.

    Rising violence has hindered new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s overtures to end the insurgency through peace talks with the Taliban.

    Mr. Sharif is in New York attending the United Nations summit and is to meet Indian PM Manmohan Singh later on Sunday.

     

     

  • India’s building collapse death toll hits 25

    At least 25 people are now known to have died when a four-storey residential building collapsed in the western Indian city of Mumbai, BBC reports.

    32 others have so far been pulled from the rubble of Friday’s disaster, some with serious injuries.

    Others are still believed to be trapped in the debris of the building near Dockyard Road in the east of the city.

    The collapse is the latest in a series in Mumbai. Poor construction practices have been blamed in earlier incidents.

    As rescuers equipped with cranes worked into the night, a young girl was pulled alive from the ruins nearly 12 hours after the collapse.

    The cause of the collapse is not yet known.

    “Five members from my family were trapped inside. So far, two have been rescued. I am praying to God others will also come out alive,” Preeti Pawar, among crowds of relatives and onlookers outside the ruins, told Reuters news agency.

    Earlier, officials were reported as saying that up to 90 people could be trapped in the building, which had been home to families of employees of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

    They said the municipality had asked the residents to vacate the property earlier this year.

    Property prices and rent in Mumbai are among the highest in Asia. Many citizens are forced to live in old, dilapidated properties in a land-scarce city.

    More than 100 people have been killed in five building collapses in Mumbai between April and June alone.

    And between 2008 and 2012, there were 100 building collapses in the city in which 53 people died and 103 others injured, authorities say.

     

     

  • Greek far-right leader arrested

    Greek police has arrested the leader of the far-right Golden Dawn party, Nikos Mihaloliakos, on charges of forming a criminal organisation.

    Another Golden Dawn MP has been held and more warrants issued, police say.

    BBC says the arrests and warrants come amid anger over the murder on September 18 of anti-racist musician, Pavlos Fyssas.

    A man arrested for the stabbing told police he was a supporter of Golden Dawn, though the party strongly denied any link.

    “The Secretary General and one lawmaker of the Golden Dawn Party were arrested a short while ago after arrest warrants were issued,” Greek police said in a text message.

    The killing of Pavlos Fyssas – whose stage name was Killah P – has sparked protests in Athens and across Greece.

    The government launched a crackdown, including raids on Golden Dawn premises and the suspension of police officers believed to be sympathisers.

     

  • Terrorism: Nigerian pleads ‘not guilty’ in U.S court

    A Nigerian citizen pleaded not guilty in a United States federal court in Brooklyn on Friday to helping an al Qaeda affiliate recruit English-speaking people in Nigeria.

    Between January 2010 and August 2011, Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi traveled twice from Nigeria to Yemen to train with leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, U.S. prosecutors said in a statement.

    Babafemi, 33, helped AQAP’s media operations, including the publication of its magazine, called “Inspire,” according to the statement.

    The group’s leadership, including Anwar al-Awlaki, paid Babafemi almost $9,000 to recruit English-speaking people from Nigeria, according to prosecutors.

    Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

    Reuters reports that Babafemi, also known as “Ayatollah Mustapha,” was charged with four counts in an indictment, including conspiracy to provide material support to AQAP and use of firearms.

    He faces life in prison if convicted on firearms charges and up to 15 years in prison on the material support charges.

    U.S. District Judge John Gleeson on Friday ordered Babafemi held without bail.

    In August, a Nigerian court granted a U.S. request for Babafemi’s extradition.

    “The defendant threw his efforts behind al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s media, recruitment, and weapons training campaigns in an effort to strengthen the terrorist group’s grip on the region and extend its reach throughout the world,” Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a prepared statement on Friday.

    “We will use every tool at our disposal to combat al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in a manner consistent with our laws,” Lynch said.

     

  • Ayuba floats clothing line

    Ayuba floats clothing line

    KORA award winner, Adewale Ayuba, has joined the league of Nigerian celebrities who have floated their clothing companies.
    The singer who is known to be a consummate dresser has continued to prove that he’s not only a good musician, but also likes to pay attention to what he wears.
    Ayuba who confirmed the development during the week in a telephone interview explained that he had been working on some new projects lately, part of which was the newly launched clothing line.
    The Fuji star said he decided to launch his clothing line as part of his plans to boost his corporate image around the globe and to expand his business frontiers. He also confirmed that the fashion world would soon be graced with various designs from BA events.
    At the launching that was held in his office in Lagos, the new designer who will be responsible for Bonsue wears, Shegzy Fashion, said he was happy to have signed for Ayuba, saying he was looking forward to working with him.
    Speaking on the new development, Ayuba said “We decided to sign Shegzy fashion because he has proved over the years that he has a very good understanding about the job and I am particularly moved by his sheer dint of hard work.
    He’s one of the most talented fashion designers around and we are proud of his success over the years,” he said.

     

  • Arewa rues ‘lack of international flights’ from north

    The pan northern socio-political organization, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on Friday alleged that northerners are being marginalized in appointments and employment in parastatals under the federal ministry of Aviation.

    The group faulted the lack of international flights from the region.

    The Forum at the end of its joint National Working Committee (NWC), the National Executive Council (NEC) and the Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting in Kaduna asked the relevant authorities in the aviation industry to address the issue without further delay.

    In a communiqué signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani and made available to The Nation in Kaduna, ACF also insisted on the conduct of the 2015 general elections in one day, saying it will cut cost and eliminate the bandwagon effect associated with other elections.

    The Forum also frowned at the protracted nature of the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and appealed to the warring factions to come to compromise in the interest of the students and the nation.

    The communiqué reads in part: “the meetings still considered the factors militating against the good conduct of free and fair elections over the years and still insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission should conduct all five elections on the same day.

    “It is the considered opinion of ACF that such arrangement will cut cost of elections and reduce problems of logistics and do away with band wagon effects that are associated with staggered elections. If other African countries can do it, Nigeria can also do so.

    “The meetings commended the National Assembly for its decision to thoroughly investigate the claims and counter claims which have trailed the recent killings of suspected members of Boko Haram in the Legislative quarters in Abuja.

    “This has become very necessary and timely, considering the overriding need to know the truth which can inform retribution or otherwise and inspire confidence and trust on the authority, on the nation’s intelligence community and on the security agents for public good.

    “ACF has noted with great concern the festering strike by ASUU, which has inflicted untold hardship on the students and their parents and on the nation’s education. It was against this backdrop that the meetings called on the feuding parties to make haste and bring about the necessary sacrifices needed to end the strike and allow students resume lectures without further delay.

    “The parties in the dispute must note that in matter of public intelligence, there is time to stay the course, there is time for compromise and there is time to let go.

    “The deliberations considered the marginalization of the northern part of the country in air travels. There are also evidences that fewer northerners are getting jobs and deployment in parastatals of Ministry of Aviation and in the management of airports in the country. As things stand now, there are no international flights in the north except Abuja.

    “ACF, therefore, urged relevant authorities and Ministry of Aviation to also improve the aviation industry in the north. This is good for the interest of the growth and development of the national economy.”

     

  • ICC wants quick resumption of Kenyan leader’s trial

    ICC wants quick resumption of Kenyan leader’s trial

    Judges at the International Criminal Court on Friday rejected a bid by Kenyan deputy president, William Ruto, to have his trial adjourned until mid-October to allow him to deal with the aftermath of the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall.

    The judges said the trial for crimes against humanity must resume on Wednesday, allowing Ruto to attend a memorial service the day before for the 72 people who died in the four-day assault, claimed by Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab.

    “The service is an important event in Kenya’s national healing,” said Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, presiding.

    Reuters reports that hearings have been suspended since Ruto asked last Sunday for an adjournment to allow him to return home at the height of the hostage drama at the Westgate mall.

    At the hearing on Friday, his lawyers said he would need to stay longer to deal with a series of high-level meetings relating to the attack.

    Ruto and his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, face charges of crimes against humanity related to the violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 elections, in which 1,200 people died. Both have voluntarily complied with all the court’s summonses.

    But since they were elected to their posts earlier this year, both men have asked judges for more leeway in attending court hearings, saying their presence is needed in Kenya.

    If one is in court, the other must be at home, they say, meaning they cannot represent the country properly at international summits.

    The court has not yet given a final ruling on whether the two men can be excused from most hearings.