Category: Foreign

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has declared that climate change is steadily taking a toll on income of families as farm lands get narrowed with desert encroachments, with the vagaries of the weather posing greater risks for the future.

Receiving Letter of Credence of the High Commissioner of Australia to Nigeria, Mrs Claire Ireland yesterday in Abuja, Buhari said the global attention on taming the effects of climate change was important, noting that population had been on the increase in Nigeria and lands for investment and farming have turned more competitive.

“Before now, 10 to 15 members of a family could own a land, but the desert encroachment and growth in population has created a situation where you can have 200 people struggling over a family land,” Senior Special Assistant to the President Garba Shehu quoted him as saying.

The President said the effect of climate change on Lake Chad had created more economic challenges, with the shrinking lake rendering many jobless, and leaving them with little or no options for survival, except crime.

The High Commissioner said Australia had maintained consistent economic growth for 29 years, scoring a record of development indicators that many countries had not been able to attain.

Mrs. Ireland said the growth had been largely driven by investments and diversification in the mining sector, assuring the President that stronger partnerships will be explored for Nigeria’s potentials in minerals, education and agriculture.

Read Also: Kaigama, an organiser of peace, says Buhari

Buhari, who also received Letter of Credence of the Ambassador of Sweden, Mr. Carl Michael, said Nigeria remains grateful for the strong partnership it had enjoyed over the years, urging the diplomat to use his stay to improve trade relations.

The Swedish ambassador assured the President that he will work hard to deepen political and economic relations, pointing out that there are many opportunities for cooperation, including trade and investments.

Receiving the Letter of Credence of the Ambassador of Zimbabwe to Nigeria, Mr. Maxwell Ranga, the President said Nigeria had enjoyed long years of cooperation with Zimbabwe, adding that the country had also been playing a major role in Africa.

Ranga said Zimbabwe appreciates Nigeria’s support during the country’s struggle for independence.

THE impeachment investigation into Donald Trump has entered a new phase as the House Judiciary Committee began hearings into his conduct.

Four experts on constitutional law, three picked by Democrats and one by the Republicans, are giving their take on whether he should be impeached.

The lone Republican-backed professor said Trump’s actions were wrong, but not impeachable.

The other three have said there is no doubt that his actions require removal.

The impeachment process began in September after an anonymous whistleblower complained to Congress about a July phone call by Trump to the president of Ukraine, in which Trump appeared to tie U.S. military assistance to Ukraine launching investigations which would help him politically.

The White House has denied allegations made by Democrats – that Trump put his own personal political interests “above the national interests of the United States” by soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 US elections, as the 300-page intelligence committee report argues.

Read Also: Donald Trump relocates to Florida

After the report’s release on Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said it “utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing”.

Speaking from the UK, where he is attending a NATO summit, Trump questioned the patriotism of Democrats. “You almost question whether or not they love our country and that’s a very serious thing: Do they love our country?” he said yesterday.

Among formal impeachment charges expected to be considered by the judiciary committee are abuse of power, obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress.

Law professors chosen by the Democrats are Stanford University’s Pamela Karlan, Harvard University’s Professor Noah Feldman and from the University of North Carolina, Michael Gerhardt.

George Washington University’s Jonathan Turley was picked by Republicans.

The lawyers will interpret the impeachment clause of the constitution, which allows for presidents to be removed from office due to “high crimes and misdemeanours”.

The White House was invited to participate in the hearing, but on Sunday declared that they would not send any administration officials to attend.

South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a prominent anti-apartheid activist and Nobel laureate, is back in hospital due to a “stubborn infection,” his foundation said on Wednesday.

“The Archbishop has been hospitalised several times over the past few years for treatment of a similar condition,” it said in a statement quoting his wife, Leah Tutu.

Read Also: Desmond Tutu back in hospital after surgery

Tutu, 88, was also diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997.

He received the Nobel Prize in 1984 for his struggle against the racist apartheid regime in South Africa.

He went on to chair the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the transition to democracy brought Nelson Mandela to power in 1994.

Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

THE House of Representatives has mandated the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Diaspora Matters to investigate the attack on Nigerian traders in Ghana.
The purpose of this, according to the lawmakers, is to “ensure that another Xenophobia attack on Nigerians is prevented”.
The resolution followed the passage of a motion brought under matters of urgent national importance, titled: “Recent attacks on Nigerian traders in Circle Market, Ghana,” by Chairperson on the House Committee on Diaspora, Tolulope Akande-Sadipe.
The lawmaker, in her motion, said: “As the Chairperson, House Committee on Diaspora, my primary duty is to represent the government and collaborate with the Nigerian Diaspora Commission and Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to put in place/implement modalities to improve the welfare of Nigerians in Diaspora.
“Recall that few months ago I raised my voice on the Issue of Xenophobia, and urged the Federal Government to create additional airlifting opportunities to evacuate our citizens who were stranded in South Africa.
“Informed that on Sunday December 1, 2019, over 600 shops belonging to foreign traders, particularly Nigerians, at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Ghana were locked up by members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).
“Also informed that this is not the first time the quest to rid the Ghanaian market of foreign traders, who are engaging in retail businesses, has occurred.”
The lawmaker narrated how Ghanaian traders last month at Opera Square in Accra locked up shops belonging to foreign nationals involved in retail business. Most of the shops were believed to belong to Nigerians.
She said there was also a case in August last year where the Inter-Governmental Task Force constituted by the Government of Ghana, in its bid to regulate retail trade, arrested and detained 37 Nigerian traders and locked up about 10 shops in Tip Toe Lane at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Ghana.
She said this was due to the failure of the traders to regularise their business concerns as prescribed by the local law and inability to provide necessary documents such as passports, resident/work permit among others.
She said the minister assured Nigerians that they should in no way interpret the issue as a future xenophobia against Nigerian traders.
When the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila called for a voice vote, the motion passed without dissent.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) leaders have released a joint statement reaffirming their “enduring transatlantic bond” amid tensions on the alliance’s 70th birthday.

The three-hour talks near London resolved a disagreement with Turkey, which was blocking NATO’s updated defence plans in the Baltic region.
A row has also been building over a recording of Canadian leader Justin Trudeau talking about Donald Trump.
In response, U.S. President Trump called Trudeau “two-faced”.
Trump also said he might cancel a planned press conference scheduled for after the summit, telling reporters: “We’ll go directly back. I think we’ve done plenty of news conferences.”
Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron also had sharp exchanges over many topics on Tuesday.
In the statement, NATO leaders said: “To stay secure we must look to the future together.”
It then acknowledged the “challenges” posed by China and Russia, and pledged to take “stronger action” against terrorism.
Although the 29-member bloc’s future is not in doubt, there are disagreements over Turkey’s recent military action in northern Syria; the levels of military spending by members; and recent comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that the alliance is “brain dead”.
Despite the divisions, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson – the host of the event – described NATO as a “giant shield of solidarity” that “protects nearly a billion people”, saying at the start of the meeting at a luxury resort in Watford: “As long as we stand together, no-one can hope to defeat us.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cited increased spending commitments on defence by European allies and Canada, saying: “NATO is the most successful alliance in history because we’ve changed as the world has changed.”
On Tuesday, he said those nations had added $130bn (£100bn) to defence budgets since 2016, and that this number would increase to $400bn by 2024. US President Donald Trump has frequently and forcefully criticised how much other allies spend on defence.
The first day of the special anniversary summit saw tensions bubble to the surface, with Trump and Macron sparring over NATO’s role, Turkey, and Islamic State group (IS) fighters during a news conference.
Relations between the two leaders were already strained amid a dispute over taxes and trade, and comments from the French president last month that the US commitment to the alliance was fading.
Trump, who once called NATO “obsolete”, had earlier hit back by saying Macron had been “very disrespectful” by describing NATO as “brain dead”, calling them “nasty” comments. Macron said he stood by his remarks.
President Trump and Johnson held unscheduled bilateral talks and, ahead of Yesterday’s talks, Trump tweeted they both had “talked about numerous subjects including NATO and trade”.
Meanwhile, a brief video posted on Twitter by Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC, appeared to show British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte having a laugh about Trump’s behaviour during the summit.
The 25-second clip, which has gone viral and was first reported by CBC, begins with Johnson asking Macron why he was late.
“Is that why you were late?” Johnson asked.
Macron nodded, as Trudeau replied, “He was late because he takes a … 40-minute press conference at the top.”
At no time in the video do the leaders mention Trump by name, but Trudeau’s comment appeared to reference Trump’s lengthy remarks to the press during their earlier meeting on Tuesday.
None of them seemed to be aware that the conversation was being recorded, although they were talking openly and loudly enough to be heard by others.
“You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor,” Trudeau also appears to say at one point, though it’s not clear which team he was referring to.
Microphones could only pick up snippets of the conversation at the reception, which the press was given limited access to.
Trump later called Trudeau “two-faced” over the incident.
Asked about the video, Johnson told reporters: “It’s complete nonsense. I don’t know where that’s come from.”
NATO started out in 1949 with just 12 countries as members but having now expanded to a bloc of 29, it is increasingly difficult for the alliance to project a united front.
Apart from defence spending – a longstanding issue of concern for the U.S., which militarily dominates the group – relations between Turkey and other member states is the other key issue looming over this summit.

Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM)  Abike Dabiri-Erewa has described as uncalled for, the recent attacks on Nigerian traders in Ghana.

Dabiri-Erewa, who condemned the renewed attacks, also appeal for calm from both sides while imploring the law enforcement agencies to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians from being attacked pending the resolution of the matter.

In a statement by the commission’s Head of Media and Public Relations,  Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said  the cases of attacks on Nigerian shops and traders by Ghanaians was quite unfortunate.

She said the attacks came when xenophobic attacks was becoming unpopular and thought such attacks had been put to the dustbin of history following interventions of Nigerian and Ghanaian leaders.

The NIDCOM boss, however, appealed to Nigerians in Ghana, especially the shop owners, not to take laws into their hands by trying to revenge but to remain calm and allow law enforcement agents to deal with the situation.

On Monday, there were reported cases of clashes between Ghanaian and Nigerian traders, which resulted into the arrest of six and others sustained injury.

It was alleged that the fight followed the closure of shops belonging to some Nigerian traders at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Ghana.

There has been tension between Ghanaian and Nigerian traders in recent time when over 600 shops belonging to Nigerian traders in Kumasi and other areas were shut this year allegedly by the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).

Ghanaian traders feel foreigners, particularly Nigerians, Chinese and Lebanese have taken over their retail business.

Henry Okah, leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), who was convicted by a South African court for terrorism in 2014, turned his own advocate on Tuesday.

Okah , according to Independent Online, asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to declare his conviction unlawful.

He said the conviction in January 2013 was based on a wrong law and asked to be set free.

“I am not a terrorist. I am a prisoner of war,” Okah told Judge Moses Mavundla, while being guarded by about 15 heavily armed police and correctional service guards in court.

Smartly dressed in a black suit, Okah argued his own application.

In eloquently citing the law, he also asked the court to declare that he was a participant in a non-international armed conflict and thus protected by the Geneva Convention.

He said he is entitled to appear before a tribunal as contemplated by the convention.

Okah is of the opinion that he should have never been tried by the high court in Johannesburg, but that he should have instead been tried before a body such as the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He was convicted under the Terrorist Act and subsequently sentenced following two bombings in the Nigerian cities of Warri and Abuja in March and October 2010.

But Okah said the court never had jurisdiction to try him, as the crimes were committed outside this country’s borders.

He argued that his rights to a fair trial were violated as he was prosecuted under the wrong statute.

“If you argue that anyone who fights against his government is a terrorist, everyone who fought for liberation in South Africa would then be a terrorist,” he said.

He said he was merely embroiled in an armed conflict against the Nigerian government and said the people who died and were injured during the two bombings, were mainly members of the Nigerian security forces.

He told the court that he was deliberately tried by a criminal court here to secure a conviction, as the authorities knew that it would not have been such an easy road for them before the ICC.

Okah also claimed that his arrest was ordered by former president Zuma, but he did not elaborate on this statement.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), in opposing the application, said during his criminal trial Okah admitted that the bombings complied with the definition of terrorism.

The bombings caused mayhem to buildings and killed and injured several people. Okah also at the time admitted that that timing devices were found on site, which were used to set-off the bombs at different times.

He also admitted that the delay in the second bomb exploding was designed to attract people to the location of the first bomb to assist the injured – thus to cause maximum death and injury.

Judgment has been reserved.

Israeli authorities on Tuesday caught a Palestinian man at Israel’s border with Jordan trying to smuggle 14 European goldfinches’ birds in his trousers.

Israel’s chief liaison office with the Palestinians, COGAT, reported in a statement that the man was stopped at the Allenby Bridge crossing after security guards noticed an unusual bulge in his trousers.

COGAT said when they searched the culprit they found the 14 goldfinches, which are considered wild birds, tied to his legs and he was handed over to the police as he did not have the necessary permits for the birds.

READ ALSO: Israeli army penetrates Gaza, arrests 13 Palestinians

According to COGAT, the man said he had bought the birds in Jordan and wanted to sell them in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Allenby Bridge crossing Commander Hadi Khatib called the incident a serious smuggling attempt and vowed to prevent wildlife trade.

“We shall continue to operate relentlessly and collaborate with all parties on struggling and eradicating this alarming phenomenon,’’ he said.

(dpa/NAN)

SECURITY forces have launched a military search operation after 14 people were killed in a “barbaric attack” on a Protestant church in Burkina Faso’s east, authorities on Monday said.

Security personnel were also making sure that everyone injured in the attack was brought to safety, the governor of Komondjari region said in a statement.

Residents in and around the town of Hantoukoura, where the attack took place, were asked to remain vigilant, the governor said. “I condemn the barbaric attack against the Protestant Church of Hantoukoura in the department of Foutouri, which left 14 dead and several wounded,” President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Twitter.

READ ALSO: Terrorists kill 16 in two-day attack on Burkina Faso village

The president offered his condolences to the bereaved families and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded. No group claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday.

The attack took place near the West African country’s border with Niger, a troubled area where numerous extremist groups are currently active. In recent times, the “tri-border region” between the two countries and Mali has been particularly troubled.

In May, gunmen stormed a Catholic church in Dablo, a rural community about 100km north of the town of Kaya in the country’s north-east, killing six people