The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Turkish club hooks F/Eagles star Aminu

    Turkish club hooks F/Eagles star Aminu

    Nigeria U-20 star Umar Aminu has joined Turkish second division team Samsunspor.

    A reliable source in Turkey told MTNFootball.com that the striker agreed to play for Samsunspor despite various other interests.

    “Aminu has agreed to join Samsunspor. They will finalise the deal soonest,” the source told MTNFootball.com

    Aminu, who was top scorer at the 2013 AYC and scored two goals at the FIFA World Cup in Turkey, was on the verge of joining Denilzspor, but decided to join Samsunspor.

    Samsunspor President Snow said, “Nigeria U-20 player Umar Aminu has agreed on everything.

    “The major problem was to get three foreign players. We have sealed the deal with the Nigeria U-20 striker Umar Aminu, we are still negotiating with Joseph Attamah, Ghana U-20 star. And we are also talking with Poland striker Marcin Robak. This is in agreement with the players to fill the quota for foreign players.”

    The Samsunspor hierarchy sees the Wikki Tourists star as the new Daniel Amokachi.

    A representative of the player further told MTNFootball.com: “That is where the player says he wishes to play. He has made his decision.”

    Aminu is expected to sign the dotted lines this week after passing a medical.

     

  • Mexico arrests Zetas cartel head

    Mexico arrests Zetas cartel head

    Mexican marines have captured one of the world’s most notorious drug-gang leaders in a raid near the United States border, BBC reports.

    Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, 40, head of the brutal Zetas cartel, was intercepted with two lieutenants in a pick-up truck near Nuevo Laredo.

    Mexican officials said he had eight guns and $2m (£1.3m) in cash.

    Trevino Morales, infamous for his brutality, was wanted on both sides of the border for ordering massacres and running drugs on a global scale.

    He took control of the Zetas following the death of group founder Heriberto Lazcano in October 2012.

    His capture is the highest-profile arrest since President Enrique Pena Nieto came to office last December.

    Mr. Pena Nieto promised to change the policy of the previous government by tackling the cartels through law enforcement on a local level rather than the capture of big-name targets.

    Ex-President Felipe Calderon had deployed the army across the country and pursued the leaders of the cartels.

    Although the policy eliminated many senior criminal figures, it also created power vacuums that helped fuel the violence.

     

  • MamaYe urges FG to increase health budget to 15%

    The federal government has been urged to abide the 2001 Abuja Declaration to increase allocation to   health spending in the national budget to 15%.

    The call was made by MamaYe Campaign  in a statement issued on the on going Abuja 12+ Summit by African Heads of States to discuss and review the promise they made 12 years ago to increase health budgets in their country.

    “Nigeria is hosting the Abuja +12 Summit and yet it has not kept its promises. We call on President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonko-Iweala to keep the Abuja promise,” MamaYe stated.

    The organization recalled that in a July 8 presidential statement about the summit, President Jonathan claimed that African Union member states with the support of our development partners have through the years sought to implement these commitments with significant results to demonstrate.

    In 2013, Ghana according to MamaYe  is much closer than Nigeria to keeping its Abuja promise with the allocation of  12.5% of its budget to health .

    It noted that keeping the Abuja promise is important and could have a large impact for Nigeria through spending an additional $51 per person on health, decrease the percentage of total health spending financed directly by households without insurance from 60% to 44% and achieve MDG 4, which aims to reduce under-5 mortality rates to less than 71 per 1,000 live births.

    Speaking on behalf of the MamaYe campaign, Dr Tunde Segun said many more mothers and babies could be saved in the country if they had access to quality health services.

    “Somewhere in Nigeria more than 108 women die every day from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Too many babies die, we lose 240, 000newborns each year. This amounts to one newborn death every two minutes. It does not have to be this way. Ensuring our health facilities are safe for our mothers and babies requires more funds be allocated to maternal and newborn health, and this in turn will encourage increased use of these facilities,” Dr Segun stated.

    MamaYe is a campaign initiated by Evidence for Action (E4A), a multi-year programme which aims to improve maternal and newborn survival in sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Boko Haram leader Shekau’s in-laws arrested

    Boko Haram leader Shekau’s in-laws arrested

    As part of the ongoing crackdown on Boko Haram insurgents, the Defence Headquarters on Monday confirmed the arrest of the in-laws of the leader of the sect, Imam Abubakar Shekau.

    But it was silent on where the in-laws were being kept as at press time.

    The raid which led to the arrest of the in-laws resulted in the recovery of some recorded audio messages of the insurgents.

    Also, the DHQ said a recent encounter with the terrorists led to the death of Amir of Bulabulin Nganaram, one of the kingpins on the Joint Task Force wanted list.

    It, however, confirmed said 58 detainees linked with Boko Haram insurgents have been released in Borno and Yobe States.

    The spokesman for the Defence Headquarters, Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade, who made the disclosures at a briefing by Joint Security Committee in Abuja, said the Special Forces in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states are not on any revenge mission but purely on a mission to restore law and order.

    Olukolade said: “Troops on cordon and search operations in Bulabulin area in Maiduguri last week discovered a vast network of underground tunnels connecting houses and many bunkers some which have the capacity to accommodate over 100 persons.

    “More corpses were also discovered in soak-away. Various weapons were also discovered in the same area.

    “Abubakar Shekau’s parents’ in-laws were picked up in the raid which also discovered various audio recordings of terrorists’ messages. Recoveries are made almost on daily basis as the operation progresses.”

     

  • Why I supported Al- Mustaspha’s release – Fasheun

    Why I supported Al- Mustaspha’s release – Fasheun

    The Founder of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr Frederick Fasheun, on Monday in Kano advanced reasons on why he supported the release of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security officer of the late head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha.

    The OPC leader, who explained his reasons to the Yoruba community in Kano, said that it was based on his personal conviction that the Yoruba race is detribalized and always in the forefront for fight against injustice.

    Fasheun, who accompanied Al-Mustapha to Kano shortly after his release from the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons last Friday said he threw his weight behind the freedom, granted the former CSO because he was exonerated on the issue by a competent court of the land.

    The OPC founder said that all patriotic Yoruba race should be grateful to God that nothing happened to Al-Mustapha throughout his 15 years in Kiikiri Prison, pointing out that all he was doing was to demonstrate to the world that “the Yorubas are detribalised and always stand by the truth and for justice to prevail.”

     

  • Al-Bashir: AU position superior to ICC warrant – Ashiru

    Al-Bashir: AU position superior to ICC warrant – Ashiru

    Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru, on Monday said Nigeria shunned an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant on Sudan President’s Omar al-Bashir because of its commitment to African Union position on the issue.

    Al-Bashir arrived in Nigeria on Sunday for an AU Summit on HIV and AIDS to the consternation of rights groups that had called for his arrest following his indictment by the ICC for alleged crimes in Darfur.

    He is accused of masterminding genocide and other atrocities during the Darfur conflict, a charge he had repeatedly denied.

    Ashiru, who is currently in Brazil for a meeting, said: “Sudan’s President is in Nigeria at the invitation of AU for the HIV and AIDS Malaria Summit.

    “Remember AU in 2009 passed a resolution not to cooperate with the ICC on the indictment of President Al Bashir.

    “However, he is not in Nigeria at our instance as Nigeria’s commitment to the AU remains firm,” Ashiru wrote in an e-mail to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    In a statement on Sunday, Elsie Keppler, Human Rights Watch International Justice Programme Director, criticised Nigeria for being the West African country to welcome the ICC fugitive.

    The director said that Nigeria was the first West African country to welcome the Sudanese president.

    “This stands in stark contrast to the leadership of South Africa, Malawi and other African states, who have made clear he’d be arrested or avoided his visits.

    “Al-Bashir is sought on the gravest crimes committed in Darfur and Nigeria’s hosting is an affront to victims,” Keppler said.

     

  • Strike: ASUP holds NEC meeting Tuesday

    Strike: ASUP holds NEC meeting Tuesday

    The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) would on Tuesday appraise the progress made so far in its indefinite strike– which began on April 29.

    The ASUP president, Mr. Chibuzor Asumogba, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that the meeting followed the intervention of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Education.

    The committee, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i and his Labour and Productivity counterpart, Chief Emeka Wogu, had met with the union on July 9, urging them to call-off the strike.

    Asumogba said the NEC meeting would decide the next line of action, noting that the union had received a green light on CONTISS 15 migration and other promises.

    “The NEC is meeting tomorrow to appraise the progress made so far, following the meeting held with the committee on education.

    “ We have received a green light on the CONTISS 15 and we have promises here and there on other demands.

    “The committee on education is proactive in addressing our demands.

    “The committee is highly placed and with its members’ integrity, we have no doubt that our demands will be addressed,” he added.

    On whether the strike would be called-off after the NEC meeting, the ASUP president said that anything was possible.

    “It all depends on what the NEC decides, everything would be decided on Tuesday, “ he said.

     

  • Eight feared dead in Rivers cult clash

    About eight persons were feared dead in last weekend’s clash between two rival cult groups suspected to be Icelanders and Greenlanders which occurred in Asarama, a riverine community in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    The Nation gathered that the cult clash took place last Friday in Asarama during the burial ceremony of one Patience Owen when the cultists engaged themselves in a battle for supremacy.

    A joint statement issued on the ugly incident, the Paramount Ruler of Asarama, Chief Appolus Nteijab; the Chairman of Asarama Divisional Council of Chiefs, Ubonile Francis Abadi and the Chairman of Asarama Community Development Committee (CDC), Mr. Ndeendeng Atagwung, called on “government and police to beef up security in the area.”

    They specifically asked that a police station and men of the Join Military Task Force (JTF) be stationed there to avert future occurrence of the clash which held the entire community hostage.

    The statement also called on parents and guardians whose children and wards are members of cult groups, including the ones that clashed in Asarama to call their children and wards to order and also ensure that they denounce cultism and embrace the path of sanity.

    The trio of Nteijab, Abadi and Atagwung also stated that the incident has been reported to the Police Area Command in Bori and the JTF in the area who have also swung into action to forestall a repeat of the ugly incident in the community.

     

  • Alleged theft: Akingbola loses bid to stop trial

    Alleged theft: Akingbola loses bid to stop trial

    A former managing director of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola, has lost in his bid to quash theft charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja dismissed Akingbola’s application for quash of the charges.

    The trial judge held that Akingbola’s application is lacking in merit.

    The EFCC had arraigned Akingbola and the General Manager of Tropics Securities Limited, Mr. Bayo Dada in court for allegedly stealing N47.1 billion belonging to the bank.

    The former boss of Intercontinental bank had in an application filed by his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) on July 10 prayed the court to quash the charges preferred against him by the commission.

    He told the court that there was not enough proof of evidence to link Akingbola to any of the counts in the charges brought against him.

    Olanipekun argued that since the EFCC failed to obtain a fiat from the Lagos State attorney general, it lacked the power to initiate criminal proceedings against his client at the state high court.

    But EFCC counsel, Mr. Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), opposed the application and urged the court to dismiss it.

     

  • Jonathan seeks local solutions to HIV/AIDS in Africa

    Jonathan seeks local solutions to HIV/AIDS in Africa

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday urged African leaders to look inwards and develop local solutions to tackle HIV/AIDs and other infectious diseases on the continent.

    Speaking during the opening ceremony of the Abuja+12 African Union (AU) Special Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Abuja, he noted that the diseases have remained major causes of morbidity and mortality in Africa and posing serious challenges to sustainable socio-economic development.

    Stressing that the human, societal and financial costs of inadequate action or no action at all will be too grievous to contemplate, he said that the time is ripe for a final and concerted solution to the diseases.

    According to him, African leaders must set clear and decisive goals, identify and implement the best adaptable strategies for best and quickest results.

    He said: “I strongly advocate that Africa should look inwards in search for solutions. We must begin to de-emphasis reliance on external funding and importation of essential medicines required for our treatment programmes.

    “We must stand in solidarity with one another, be proactive to our health challenges and increase inter-continental scientific research partnerships and development efforts to complement the various national and regional plans already underway.”

    “Ownership and sustainability should form the basis of our next plan of actions. Our goal should be to find local solutions to our challenges, translate planning into implementation, and develop our continent at the pace we desire,” the president stated

    While stating that greater fundings would be required to achieve the objectives, he called for increased synergy between government and other stakeholders in order to reduce duplication of efforts and resource wastage.