A Nigerian, Abdullah Usmani, who had not walked for the last 10 years due to a severe knee problem complicated by an incurable genetic blood disorder, has been given a new lease of life by doctors at Aakash Healthcare in Delhi.

The doctors successfully performed on the 41 year-old Nigerian, a knee replacement surgery — a rare for a patient battling multiple haemolytic and genetic complications, newkerala.com reported today.

After a full-fledged post-recovery rehabilitation programme for a fluidic knee-movement and wound recovery, Usmani finally took the walk of freedom from pain, suffering and mental trauma that often accompany such illnesses.

According to a hospital statement, Usmani had spent a major part of his life bedridden due to sickle cell anaemia, a genetic blood disorder that causes knee arthritis and deformed bone development.

Also suffering from other growth disorder complications, including multiple joint complications, hand-foot syndrome, Usmani’s congenital problem led him to undergo a spleen removal surgery in 2002, which led to worsening of his knee arthritis.

A team of doctors at the hospital then gave him a high-end oxinium implant that helped him walk again after 10 years, the statement said.

“After studying his case in detail, we concluded that Usmani’s knee consisted of a severely inflamed tissue and required an intraoperative culture extraction. Following this, a total-knee replacement was undertaken using the implant.”

The Buhari administration has launched a new initiative under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), called the Trader Moni, which will empower two million petty traders between now and the end of the year.

The scheme which was launched last week in Lagos would grant loans to a minimum of 30,000 beneficiaries in each State of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. The aim is to further enlarge the financial inclusion agenda for all Nigerians regardless of social class and economic status.

All together the two million mark is expected to be attained on or before the end of this year, with petty traders in Lagos, Kano and Abia States set to be the first round of beneficiaries to draw the collateral free loans.

In addition to the 30,000 loans per state, states with larger populations like Lagos and Kano are expected to get more than 30,000 loans. Across the country, especially in the pilot states about 500,000 potential beneficiaries have so far been enumerated.

In order to identify the beneficiaries, no fewer than 4000 enumeration agents have been engaged by the Bank of Industry which is deploying the new scheme.

Trader Moni is designed to help petty traders expand their trade through the provision of collateral free loans of N10,000. The loans are repayable within a period of six months.

Under the scheme, beneficiaries can get access to a higher facility ranging from N15,000 to N50,000 when they repay N10,000 within the stipulated time period.

The goal of the Buhari Administration is to use the Trader Moni to take financial inclusion down to the grassroots, the bottom of the ladder, considering the contribution of petty traders to economic development. The Federal Government is also aware of the fact that many of the petty traders don’t have what the commercial banks require to grant loans.

This administration is keen to ensure that such traders at that level are able to build their businesses and grow, government said.

Trader Moni was launched last Tuesday in five markets in Lagos State with tens of thousands beneficiaries already.

The Lagos markets already reached are Mushin, Ikotun, Agege, Ketu, and Abule Egba markets.

The scheme will soon be taken to other states in the country, with Abia and Kano states next in line.

Beneficiaries are already heaping praise on the Buhari administration for this initiative that will improve their businesses.

A trader in one of the Lagos markets, Anna Enwerem thanked President Buhari for the initiatives. “I sell clothes. This N10,000 would do a lot for me and my children. I like this programme so much. I will pay the loan before six months’ time. Before I didn’t believe it, but now that I have received my money I believe.”

Similarly, Chief Mrs Mufiat Adewumi, a market women leader in Lagos said it will help ordinary Nigerians who cannot have access to commercial banks’ credit facilities because they don’t have collateral.

“We are happy about the Trader Moni because this is what we have been expecting for long, that the Government should assist the masses, especially the traders. We thank the Federal Government so much.”

The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the successful conduct of the Bauchi South Senatorial bye-election.

The council, which monitored the Aug. 11 election, conveyed its observations in a communique signed by Comrade Obinna Nwaka, NYCN’s Acting Director, Directorate of Political and Democratic Matters.

The communique was made available to newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.

Nwaka said that NYCN, under the new leadership of Bello Shagari, was accredited by the INEC to observe the bye-election.

He congratulated the Senator elect, Lawal Gumau and also implored the All Progressives Congress(APC)’s candidate him to deliver the promises made to his constituency.

“We commend the INEC for its courage to ensure that the election process was concluded and declaration of winner was announced as expected by the electorates and political parties.

“We commend the assigned security agencies for their civil approach, commitment to peaceful election and ensuring a secured environment for electorates to cast their votes despite the tension before the election.

“We commend the youths in Bauchi State for their peaceful coexistence, political participation and proper conducts during the election.

“We commend Comrade Umar Lauya, the Bauchi State Chairman of NYCN and his few executive for their participation as observers for the Bauchi South Senatorial Bye-Election 2018.

“We finally commend the Returning Officer for taking his time to enlighten and sensitise both the stakeholders present and the Local Government Areas(LGAs) Returning Officers before the commencement of the collation.’’

Nwaka, however, raised concerns over failure of card readers in some polling units in few LGAs which prompted the ad hoc staff to use the manual method of accreditation.

He said that the council observed disobedient of electoral laws following the movement of vehicles and business operation in the major roads during voting.

The director said that the council also observed that there was poor voter education and inadequate sensitisation of the electorate on how to cast their votes properly.

Raging fire at the popular Baga Fish Market in Maiduguri on Sunday destroyed dozens of shops, fish stock and other property, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Malam Muhammad Labo, a trader in the Market, told NAN that the fire, started at about 10.30 p.m., suggesting that it was caused by electrical fault.

“We locked our shops and went home; later, we received the shocking news that the market was on fire.

“Most of the shops at the main fish market were burnt to ashes; we are still trying to put out the fire.”

Labo, however, said that the quick intervention of the fire service personnel helped contain the fire from spreading to other parts of the market.

Mr Ambursa Pindar, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Borno State Fire Service, confirmed the incident and said that four fire-fighting trucks were deployed to the market.

Pindar said that the service responded promptly to fire calls at the market and appealed for calm, adding that the fire was under control.

He further said that the service would investigate the cause of the fire.

Source: NAN

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again alleged plots to arrest the leadership of the Senate to pave way for their impeachment.

The alleged plot to arrest the principal officers of the senate has remained a recurring fear in PDP circle.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and concerned members of the public have asked Senate President Bukola Saraki to resign as senate president because he had defected from the party with majority members in the senate.

But he had defiantly kicked against the pressure with the excuse that he was in control of the senate.

Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, PDP National Publicity Secretary, said in a statement on Sunday that the , “the fresh plot is to detain the two presiding officers is part of renewed design to keep them out of circulation ahead of Senate resumption’’.

He said the plot was designed to impeach Senate President Bukola Saraki and his Deputy Ike Ekweremadu.

The plot according to him, is to create an impression that the two failed to show up for proceedings in the Senate.

He alleged that the arrest was planned to come ahead of the reconvening of the National Assembly and to purportedly hold the Senate leaders back from the sitting and, thereafter, impeach them in their absence.

Ologbodiyan accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being behind the alleged plot to arrest and detention the officers.

He added that part of the plot was to purportedly use security forces and some government agencies to clamp down on the family members of the Senate leaders.

The PDP spokesperson, however, called on Nigerians and the international community to prevail on the ruling party to shelve such plan.

“In all, the PDP cautions the APC and power mongers to know that Nigerians have seen through their intentions and will continue to firmly resist them by standing for democracy and the unity of our nation at all times,” he said.

The opposition party made the claims two days after Saraki and Ekweremadu accused the Federal Government of planning to implicate them in the recent blockade of the National Assembly by security operatives.

A suspected kidnapper who took tramadol is still sleeping six days after he was taken to the police custody.

His identity is yet to be confirmed by the Ondo State Police Command.

The suspect was arrested by men of the command on Sunday as he and three other members of his gang attempted to kidnap a pharmaceutical shop owner in Owo town.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Femi Joseph said the suspect had yet to wake up.

He said, “As of today (Friday), the suspect had yet to wake up. Maybe he took too much of the drug, that is why he is still sleeping. We have tried all we could to make him regain his consciousness to no avail.

“However, we are still watching him to find out if he is pretending. We are with him and he would face the music no matter how long he is unconscious.”

According to the police, the three-man gang stormed the shop with guns with the intention to kidnap the owner, but the victim raised the alarm and escaped through the back door.

The police explained that the suspect tried to escape on a motorcycle but stumbled while he was trying to ride it.

The other members of the gang were said to have taken to their heels.

The police stated that a 400mg tablet of Tramadol was recovered from the pocket of the sleeping suspect which raised the suspicion that he must have taken the drug before he went for the operation.

Source: PM News

Speaker Yakubu Dogara may still be physically a member of the All Progressives Congress, his spirit is already in the Peoples Democratic Party as the party’s candidate, Ladan Salihu won Dogara’s Bogoro local government in the Bauchi South senatorial bye-election on Saturday.

Salihu, a former broadcaster, got 6,646 votes as against the 3,992 votes scored by the APC candidate, Lawal Yahaya Gumau, according to the official result declared this morning in Bauchi. Total valid votes cast in the local council was 15,872.

Collation of the bye-election result that the APC’s Gumau is expected to win massively has just begun, slowed down by the heavy rain that fell Saturday evening.

Apart from Salihu and Gumau, six other candidates took part in the election, including a former governor of the state, Isa Yuguda, who ran on the platform of Green Party of Nigeria.

Others are Haruna Ayuba (African Democratic Congress ), Aminu Tukur (Action Peoples party), Usman Hassan (Kowa Party), the only woman in the race Maryam Bargel (Social Democratic Party), Husseini Umar (New Nigeria Peoples Party) and Usman Chaledi (People for Democratic Change).

Activities at the collation centre in Bauchi resumed today, with results from Dass, Toro and Kirfi local councils also announced.

In Dass local government, the APC candidate won 7,432 votes, while PDP got 4028. Yuguda of GNP got 2,117, and the SDP 1,009.

In the Toro Local Government APC got 30,658, while PDP came a distant second with 8420 votes. GPN and NNPP trailed with 5,624 and 8075 votes.

APC also led in Kirfi local government with 11,051 votes. PDP got 3336 votes, out of a total 17043 valid votes cast.

The results for Bauchi, Tafawa-Balewa and Alkaleri are now being awaited.

Before the announcement of the collated results, the Bauchi Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor Abdullahi called on participants to be magnanimous in victory and gallant in defeat.

Professor Ahmed Fadam of the Department of Agriculture, Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University, Bauchi, is the chief returning officer for the election.

The bye-election arose following the death of Senator Ali Wakili in March.

A 12-year-old boy has been found alive in the wreckage of a plane crash which killed eight people in Indonesia.

Photos from the scene show the boy conscious and looking at the camera.

He was found with the wreckage on a mountainside near the border with Papua New Guinea on Sunday morning.

The Swiss-made Pilatus aircraft he had been travelling in lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday afternoon, shortly before it was due to land at Oksibil airport.

The plane, owned by private charter Dimonim Air, had been travelling from Tanah Merah, about 40 minutes flight south, to Oksibil in the province of Papua when it went down.

It was carrying nine people, including two crew members.

According to news agency AFP, nearby villagers heard a loud roar followed by an explosion.

An investigation into the cause of the crash will be carried out, officials said.

The Straitstimes.com reported that Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands but has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered several fatal crashes in recent years.

Papua is a particularly difficult area to reach.

Five people died after a small plane crashed near Wamena in Papua province in July last year.

In August 2015, a commercial passenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 people on board.

Source: NAN

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is engaged in nothing but senseless noise-making, in its failed attempt to distract President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) said today.

And quickly reminded the PDP of the miasma of corruption legacy it left for Buhari to clear.

“In both content and context, PDP’s latest allegations on President Buhari administration’s anti-corruption efforts should be seen for what they are: empty, baseless and diversionary,” acting publicity secretary Yekini Nabena, said in another scathing reaction to the PDP. The reaction was titled; ‘PDP Your Corruption Stench suffocates Nigerians”.

Nabena said although the opposition in a democracy is supposed to offer constructive criticisms and proffer alternative solutions to government policies and programmes, the opposition rhetoric of the PDP has been replete with ‘senseless noise-making”

“It is truly amazing that that the party of a failed government which held the country prostrate for 16 years; stole, wasted and misappropriated our abundant resources will have the audacity to make comments on the current administration that within three years is clearing the rot left after the PDP’s misrule.

“Was it not under the PDP’s immediate-past administration that disclosures of nauseating magnitude were made?

• I collected N350m from Dasuki for consultation – Iyorchia Ayu

• I only collected $30,000 from Dasuki not N100m – Bode George.

• I got N4.6b from Dasuki for spiritual purposes – Bafarawa.

• I got N2.16 from Dasuki for publicity purposes – Dokpesi.

• I got another N100m from Yuguda. He did not tell me from where – Bafarawa

• I gave N100m each to Odili, Jim Nwobodo, Bode George and others – Yuguda.

• The President asked to change N10b to foreign currency for PDP delegates – Dasuki.

• N950m was shared in my house – Shekarau

And many more shameful disclosures.
“These are just a tip of the iceberg of how our commonwealth were massively looted by the shameless characters in the PDP. Instead of apologizing profusely for their gang rape of the nation, the PDP seeks to present itself before Nigerians in 2019 to seek a return to their stealing. The PDP should understand that Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry how the country was destroyed by the PDP’s gang of pen robbers.

“The PDP may wish to explain to Nigerians under which administration a State Governor who was set free in many courts in Nigeria on charges of corruption and money laundering but was tried and jailed in the United Kingdom. Is it not ironic that the PDP preaches about corruption in the oil sector when it infact oversaw record pillage, maladministration and disrepair of the oil sector when it held sway.

“The PDP should remind Nigerians the circumstances under which the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), now Emir of Kano, lost his job in the bank. How many millions of dollars did he say was not remitted to the nation’s coffers on regular basis? The PDP may also explain the fuel subsidy scandals and how billions of the country’s funds went into private pockets; the massive seizures of properties and cash from public officers who served in the PDP Government.

“In 2015, Nigerians voted massively for the establishment of a truly progressive government to check the shocking level of impunity, corruption, disregard for the rule of law and other deplorable undemocratic practices which previously defined our national life. The APC assures all Nigerians that the President hold sacred this collective trust.

“Despite spirited efforts to discredit on-going anti-corruption efforts, the war against graft is being won. An often overlooked major achievement of the anti-corruption war is that President Buhari has brought the issue of corruption to the heart of national consciousness. The fact that Nigerians are talking about it means we have not accepted it as a way of life and as long as ordinary people continue to show that disdain for corruption, we would win the war sooner or later.

“Under President Buhari, the country has never had it so good. Yearly remittances by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) have been in billions of Naira, over and above what PDP governments remitted in 16 years; increasing yearly revenue from the Customs Service; within three years and despite low oil prices, execution of massive road and rail infrastructure our foreign reserves has grown to over $47 billion- about $4billion more than that of South Africa.

“Under the administration of President Buhari, no minister will purchase bullet proof cars with public funds, nor will an oil minister junket the globe with family members in private jets at the public expense.

“Nigerians were taken for granted too long and have vowed enough is now enough. No degree of blackmail and wicked scheming will make us return to the years the locusts had eaten. We have crossed the Red Sea and have no intention to return to our ugly past.

“While the PDP and their agents attempt to discredit the ongoing fight against corruption, the question the PDP should answer is: are anti-corruption efforts being carried out within the ambit of the law? We urge the President, law enforcement agencies, anti-graft bodies and indeed Nigerians not to be sidetracked by the desperate and roguish attempt by the PDP and their agents to discredit the ongoing fight against corruption. It is natural, corruption will fight back!

“The assurances Nigerians can hold firm is that the APC will not fail the country like PDP’s wasted 16years. While the PDP continue to spew lies in its cheap attempt at opposition politics, President Buhari is concentrating on the important work at hand – clearing the mess and rebuilding the country in all facets.”

Source: NAN

Mr Philip Shekwo, Chairman of the Nasarawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Sunday said that President Muhammadu Buhari was sent by God to save Nigeria from total collapse.

Shekwo stated this during a Thanksgiving Service held in his honour in Toto Local Government Area of the state.

If not because God, in his infinite mercy, decided to bring Buhari to power at the time He did, the country could have been in a serious mess by now.

The President is sincerely fighting corruption; corruption is responsible for all other reasons why there is so much rot in the system.

Boko Haram was also defeated and no Local Government Area in the country today is under the control of the group as was the case in the past.

Immediately President Buhari started fighting corruption and corrupt people, every right-thinking Nigerian knew that corruption would fight back, he said.

He attributed the killings by suspected Herdsmen and bandits in some parts of the country to corruption fighting back to discredit the president.

Shekwo appealed to Nigerians to believe in the President and the party as it would take time to rebuild the system which was destroyed by former leaders.

He assured all aspirants contesting for elections under the party of a level-playing ground, saying the state chapter of the party would ensure justice and equity to all its members.

Source: NAN