The All Progressives Congress (APC) is planning a massive ceremony to receive defecting minority senate leader Godswill Akpabio on August 9.

Senator Akpabio who is currently a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has completed plans to defect to the national ruling APC.

According APC United Kingdom, Acting President YemiOsinbsjo, accompanied by Senator (Dr ) Ita Enang, and leaders of the APC in Akwa Ibom would formally receive Akpabio into APC at Ikot Ekpene Stadium.

It said that all lovers of democracy were invited to attend the ceremony.

BREAKING!

Acting President, accompanied by Senator (Dr ) Ita Enang, and leaders of the APC in Akwa Ibom to formally receive Senator (Dr.) Godswill Akpabio into APC at Ikot Ekpene Stadium on Thursday 9 August, 2018.

All lovers of Democracy are cordially invited.

APC United Kingdom (@APCUKingdom)

In the twitter handle of the Presidential Liaison to the National Assembly, Senator Ita Enang, he wrote: Im confirming that the APCNigeria family as earlier indicated will formally receive H.E,@godswill_akpabio on Wednesday, August 8, 2018, at an elaborate ceremony in Akwa-Ibom State.

Im confirming that the @APCNigeria family as earlier indicated will formally receive H.E,@godswill_akpabio on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8,2018 at an elaborate ceremony in Akwa-Ibom State.Senator (Dr) ITA ENANG.Presidential Liaison to the National Assembly- Senate. [email protected] pic.twitter.com/Cu8SpXTHYE

Im confirming that the family as earlier indicated will formally receive H.E,@godswill_akpabio on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8,2018 at an elaborate ceremony in Akwa-Ibom State.Senator (Dr) ITA ENANG.Presidential Liaison to the National Assembly- Senate. [email protected]

Senator Ita Enang (@SenItaEnang)

The Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla, had also made a similar announcement.

He said a rally will be held at Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, to receive the former governor to the APC.

Following the announcement, Akpabio, who represents Akwa Ibom North West District in the Senate, on Sunday visited the president in the United Kingdom where he is currently on vacation.

The visit, as well as speculations of his (Akpabios) defection from the PDP, come amidst a gale of defections by lawmakers from the ruling APC.

Source: NAN

The Petroleum Equalisation Fund (management) Board (PEF) has set up a task force for the the immediate implementation of transportation of petroleum products through the rail.

The General Manager, Corporate Services of PEF, Dr. Goddy Nnadi, said the task force was set up by the Executive Secretary of the Fund, Alhaji Ahmed Bobboi for the implementation of the new equalization model.

The job of the task force has hit the peak in working out the logistics for a smooth take off targeted at early 2019.

He said that Bobboi, who is driving the process, has given the task force the matching orders to ensure that the take-off deadline was met.

Nnadi said that rail transportation of petroleum products became inevitable because of the potentials, especially in jobs creation, reduction of pressure and accidents on the roads.

The process would generate more revenue for the Federal Government since it would cost less to move products around the country as well as reduce rural urban migration.

He named on other stakeholders in the project to include the National Association of Road Transport Workers (NARTO), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) and PPMC.

He said that members of the task force had commenced the inspection of rail lines in collaboration with NRC to ascertain how the movement of the products would be effected, what quantity of products would be moved on particular rail lines and destination of products.

He explained that after review of the collaboration, it was discovered that NRC has enough tanks to transport petroleum products from Lagos to Kano.

Some major markets, he said, have shown interest in buying into the new equalisation model.

He said that the new transport arrangement would create opportunity for the construction of inland tank farms which in turn would cause the availability of jobs.

Another advantage of the new equalization model is that rural communities will be served better due to shorter distances to be covered by road in getting products to the hinterland, he said.

Apart from the financial cost implications, the constant use of heavy duty trucks over long distances took its toll on the roads, while lots human lives were lost to vehicular accidents.

On safety of products, Nnadi said that security agencies would soon be engaged to work our logistics on how products would get to destinations without hitches.

In a similar development, Nnadi said that plans have reached advanced stage to commence the equalization of cooking gas, LPG, by rail as a step in the efforts of the Federal Government to make the product available in rural areas at the cheapest cost.

He said that the move was also aimed at discouraging the use of firewood for domestic cooking on grounds that the felling of trees for firewood is a major contributory factor to deforestation and desert encroachment.

He said that there were chances that the federal government would ban the use of firewood for domestic cooking once cooking gas was made available and affordable to rural dwellers.

He added that the target was to protect the environment since Nigeria was signatory to the climate change treaty.

Nnadi said that a high level committee made of members from the offices of the Vice President, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Minister of Environment, DPR, PPPRA, Nigeria gas Association, PEF among other agencies is already working out the logistics for the implementation of the project.

It will be recalled that failure of the rail system in Nigeria led to the transportation of all petroleum products by road across the country and this has been at a huge cost to the Federal Government.

Source: NAN

U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged on Sunday that his son met with Russians in 2016 at Trump Tower to get information on his election opponent Hillary Clinton, saying it was totally legal and done all the time in politics.

The Republican president had previously said the meeting was about the adoption of Russian children by Americans.

Trumps morning Twitter post was his most direct statement on the purpose of the meeting, though his son and others have said it was to gather damaging information on the Democratic candidate.

In a post on Twitter , Trump also denied reports in the Washington Post and CNN that he was concerned his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., could be in legal trouble because of the meeting with the Russians, including a lawyer with Kremlin ties.

He repeated that he had not known about the meeting in advance.

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics and it went nowhere. I did not know about it! Trump said.

Political campaigns routinely pursue opposition research on their opponents, but not with foreign representatives from a country viewed as an adversary. Russian officials were under U.S. sanctions at the time.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is examining whether Trump campaign members coordinated with Russia to sway the White House race in his favor. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his government interfered.

One part of the inquiry has focused on a June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower in New York between Donald Jr., other campaign aides and a group of Russians.

Email released by Donald Jr. himself showed he had been keen on the meeting because his fathers campaign was being offered potentially damaging information on Clinton.

Donald Jr. said later he realized the meeting was primarily aimed at lobbying against the 2012 Magnitsky sanctions law, which led to Moscow denying Americans the right to adopt Russian orphans.

President Trump has repeatedly denied that his campaign worked with Moscow, saying No Collusion! Last week, however, he adopted his lawyers tactics and insisted collusion is not a crime.

While collusion is not a technical legal charge, Mueller could bring conspiracy charges if he finds that any campaign member worked with Russia to break U.S. law. Working with a foreign national with the intent of influencing a U.S. election could violate multiple laws, according to legal experts.

CNN reported last month that Michael Cohen, the presidents longtime personal lawyer, was willing to tell Mueller that Trump did know about the Trump Tower meeting in advance.

Trumps lawyers and the White House have given conflicting accounts about whether Trump was involved in crafting Donald Jr.s response to a New York Times article last summer revealing the Trump Tower meeting with the adoptions rationale. Trumps lawyers acknowledged in a letter to Muellers team in January 2018 that Trump dictated the response, according to the Times.

Trump has stepped up his public attacks on the Mueller probe since the first trial to arise from it began last week in Alexandria, Virginia, involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

The federal tax and bank fraud charges Manafort faces are not related to the Trump campaign but Manaforts close relations with Russians and a Kremlin-backed Ukrainian politician are under scrutiny in the trial.

Trumps attacks on the special counsels investigation have been rebuffed by Republican leaders in Congress who have expressed support for Mueller.

The president should be straightforward with the American people about the threat to our election process that Russia, Putin in particular, is engaged in is ongoing, Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday.

One of the presidents personal lawyers said on Sunday that if Trump is subpoenaed by the special counsel, his lawyers will attempt to quash it in court. Any legal battle over whether the president can be compelled to testify could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said on ABCs This Week.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election with a campaign of hacking into Democratic Party computer networks and spreading disinformation on social media. American intelligence officials say Russia is targeting the November congressional elections, which will determine whether or not Republicans keep control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress.

*Reuters

The three main opposition candidates in Malis presidential election are alleging ballot box-stuffing and counting fraud in the first round of voting said to have been won by incumbent Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The three candidates led by second placed Soumaila Cisse have already mounted a legal challenge of the result in the countrys constitutional court.

Keita won 41.42 percent of votes in the July 29 presidential poll in the sprawling west African nation, easily ahead of the second place rival Soumaila Cisse with 17.8 percent. They will face off in a runoff vote next Sunday.

Soumaila Cisse filed last night (Saturday) around 20 submissions to the constitutional court for ballot box-stuffing, violations of the electoral law and other irregularities, a spokesman for the candidate told AFP.

The ballot box-stuffing explains IBKs tallies in the north and centre of the country, the spokesman added, using Keitas initials.

He said a motion had also been filed seeking the recusal of six of the courts judges on suspicion of bias, including its president Manassa Danioko.

Third-placed Aliou Boubacar Diallo, who won 7.95 percent of the July 19 vote, has also filed a complaint to the constitutional court concerning the results and the vote tallying, his spokesman Cheick Diallo told AFP.

And in fourth place with 7.46 percent in the first round, Cheick Modibo Diarra former transitional prime minister in 2012 has also appealed to the highest court about the reports of irregularities, according to a statement from his political group.

The nine-judge constitutional court must officially announce the results of the first round by Wednesday to kick off campaigning for the run-off vote which Keita is heavily favoured to win on August 12.

When questioned by AFP, the courts secretary-general Mamadou Magassouba said he could not confirm receipt of submissions because such requests come in confidentiality.

He also declined to comment on allegations of bias in the court.

Cisse, 68, whom Keita defeated in a 2013 run-off vote, has called the latest vote results neither sincere nor credible and a fraud.

Violence disrupted the first-round election in several areas beset by ethnic and jihadist unrest despite the deployment of 30,000 security personnel.

Suspicions of electoral fraud have been fuelled by the fact that the ministry of territorial administration has released provisional results only on the national level.

The government has no intention of publishing (results) in detail, bureau by bureau, a source close to the ministry said, despite demands from the opposition and international observers for transparency.

The international community, including the UN mission in the country (MINUSMA) and French forces present in the country, have put high hopes in the poll which could revive a peace agreement signed in 2015 between the government, government-allied groups and former rebels.

Mali, considered a linchpin state in the troubled Sahel region, is one of the worlds poorest countries, with most people living on less than $2 a day.

Source: NAN

Four candidates with links to Ogun state were among the top five that excelled in the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The overall best candidate of the 1.3 million candidates is Galadima Zakari from Biu in Borno State. However, he sat for the examination in Ogun. He got the highest score with 364.

Adekunle Jesufemi, an indigene of Ogun State who sat for his examination in Abeokuta, the state capital came second with 358 marks.

Ogun state also produced the fourth best candidate in Ademola Adetola who sat for the examination in Lagos with a score of 355.

Akinyemi Paul from Ogun state, who wrote his examination in Lagos, Ape Moses from Benue who wrote the examination in Makurdi and Obi-Obuoha Abiamamela from Rivers tied for the fifth position. The latter wrote his examination in Port Harcourt. All the trio scored 354.

However, Alikah Oseghale from Edo State who sat for the examination in Ekpoma with a score of 357 was the overall third best candidate.

JAMBs Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said in a statement on Sunday, in Abuja said that the information became necessary to put the records in proper perspective following some misinformation in some quarters.

According to him, the attention of the board was drawn to publications that Ape Moses from Benue came top in the entire exercise.

The report, he said, was untrue and incorrect.

He, however, explained that Moses with 354 score was the highest scorer from Benue State and the entire North Central.

Benjamin added that it was imperative to set the records straight in order to ensure that the public was not misled by unverified report.

The Board appeals to all interested individuals and organisations who would want to use its data for research, reportage and other national necessary disposition to always contact it for accurate and up to date information.

This is so as not to misdirect the public into taking wrong and misleading conclusions.

Our doors are always open to any request especially when the nation would be the ultimate beneficiary.

Source: NAN

Pa Moses Ekpo, deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State has reportedly resigned, according to a tweet by @APCNewspaper and

The resignation has not been confirmed officially by the PDP controlled Akwa Ibom State Government, but the APC organ said Ekpo, the oldest deputy governor in Nigeria, is heading to join Senator Godswill Akpabio into the All Progressives Congress. Both are political allies. Akpabio was a former governor of the state for eight years(2007-2015) and installed incumbent Governor Udom Emmanuel.

BREAKING: Deputy, Pa Moses tenders resignation. To join in on Wednesday.

APC Newspaper (@APCNewspaper)

Ekpo, a veteran journalist, diplomat and administrator was born on 22 December 1941 at Abak in Akwa Ibom State.

He attended both the Government School and Holy Family College, in Abak for his primary and secondary education before going to the London Polytechnic, University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.A and World Intellectual Property Organization Academy (WIPO), Geneva Switzerland.

He holds a Diploma and B.Sc. in Journalism and a WIPO Academy Diploma as well as a certificate of the United States Patent Academy, in addition to several certificates and diplomas earned from many international workshops and seminars.

In a public service career spanning over four decades, Mr. Ekpo has served as Proof Reader, Reporter and Editor in several Nigerian newspapers and broadcasting organisations. He served in senior editorial and management positions in the Daily Express, Daily Times, West African Pilot, the Morning Post, Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Service and Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service.

He was for years the Nigerian country Correspondent for the Voice of America (VOA), Deutsche Welle (Voice of Germany) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Ekpo was also General Manager of Cross River State Newspaper Corporation, Publishers of the Nigerian Chronicle Group of Newspapers.

He also served as Chief Information Officer in the Cross River State Government as well as the Chief Public Relations Officer to that Government.

He was also Assistant Director of Information and Acting Federal Director of Information
and Director of Nigerian Information Service with concurrent accreditation to Europe and the Americas.

He was Commissioner for Information, Social Development, Youths

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump stepped away from her husbands criticism of NBA star LeBron James to compliment his work on behalf of children and even offer to visit his school for at-risk children.

It looks like LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation and just as she always has, the First Lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today. Mrs. Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement Saturday.

The statements tone was in stark contrast to President Donald Trumps tweet Friday night following James appearance on CNN in which he told journalist Don Lemon that he would never sit across from Trump, whom James has criticized in the past. The interview took place at James I Promise school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.

Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon, Trump tweeted in a swipe at a news network he often derides. He made Lebron look smart, which isnt easy to do.

While many former and current professional athletes jumped to James defense, Mrs. Trumps spokeswoman noted that the first lady's Be Best initiative for children promoted the importance of responsible online behavior as well as their well-being and healthy living.

Her platform centers around visiting organizations, hospitals and schools, and she would be open to visiting the I Promise School in Akron, Grisham said.

Mrs. Trump has stood apart from her husbands views before. In June, when migrant families entering the U.S. illegally were being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under Trump administration policies, she said through her spokeswoman that she hated to see the separations and that she believed the U.S. needed to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.

Source: NAN

Senator Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom state, is set to dump the Peoples Democratic Party and dampen the celebration mood in the PDP headquarters, over the defection of some senators and three governors from the All Progressives Congress.

Now a reverse switch is about to happen, with one of the main pillars of the PDP in the South South crossing to APC.

APC Newspaper on its Twitter handle announced Saturday night: We can confirm that, HE, Sen (Dr) Godswill Akpabio is a card carrying member of @OfficialAPCNg effective August 4, 2018. @OfficialPDPNig has lost him. Official Reception in days.

And APC United Kingdom in another tweet set the date for the defection: Acting President, @ProfOsinbajo accompanied by Senator (Dr ) Ita Enang, and leaders of the APC in Akwa Ibom to formally receive Senator (Dr.) Godswill Akpabio into APC at Ikot Ekpene Stadium on Thursday 9 August, 2018. All lovers of Democracy are cordially invited.

Akpabios political movement appears irreversible as he also visited former the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his Lagos home, to seal things up.

Akpabio, two-term governor of oil rich Akwa Ibom state, is at present minority leader of the PDP in the senate.

Analysts said Akpabios crossing over to the APC may flip Akwa Ibom to APC in next February election and at least assure President Buhari of capturing 25 per cent of the vote.

Source: NAN

A broadcast by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday was cut short during an outdoor speech at a military event and soldiers were seen running before the televised transmission was cut off.

A loud explosion nearby appeared to have been the cause of the anxiety as Maduro was speaking about Venezuelas economy.

The audio suddenly went. He and others on the podium suddenly looked up, looking startled.

The camera then panned to scores of soldiers who started running, before the transmission was cut.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But various reports said Maduro was evacuated into safety.

Source: NAN

In it's bid to increase social engagements, the World's biggest Social networking site, Facebook is already putting finishing touches to it's dating App. The App is currently undergoing internal testing at the company.

At it's F8 conference in May, 2018, Facebook hinted of it's dating application, which inadvertently would threaten Tinder, the social dating website.

According to Zuckerberg, “This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships — not just for hookups. We have designed this with privacy and safety in mind from the beginning. Your friends aren’t going to see your profile, and you’re only going to be suggested to people who are not your friends.”

Application Researcher Jan Wong, disclosed through a series of tweets about the App going through a series of testing with facebook staff.

Facebook is internally testing Facebook Dating.

I can't go past the signup screen because they are not activating all non-employee Dating profiles because, well, it's "pre-launch" ;) pic.twitter.com/VQFHUJIkuX

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 3, 2018

According to Techcrunch, facebook will allow people to intentionally create a dating profile on Facebook. Matching will be done based on some set of user preferences and It will be visible to non-friends who also opted into dating.