The All Progressives Congress (APC), Appeal Committee in Kwara State has said there was no petition or appeal against the state congress conducted on Saturday by Senator Bukola Saraki-led faction, which was supervised by the national secretariat of the party in Ilorin.

Chairman of the committee, Mr Osita Egwuatu, made this known in Ilorin on Wednesday at a news conference at the party secretariat.

Egwuatu said the three -member committee were in the state for hearing of election petition that might have arisen from the state congress election.

He added that as at the 9 a. m on Wednesday when their assignment ended, the committee has not received any complaint against the conduct of the congress.

Egwuatu said members of the committee arrived Ilorin on Sunday to hear any complaint, petition and appeal against the state congress of the party.

He said he pasted notice on the board at the APC secretariat for any person with petition or complaint to submit same.

As I am speaking to you, we have not received any petition from anybody.

Today is the last day of the hearing of the petition, up till now, no petition from anybody, Egwuatu added.

He said that since there was no petition, appeal or complaint from anybody, it means that the congress went well in the state.

Reports had indicated that two congresses of the party were held simultaneously on Saturday, with the Saraki led group, holding its own atthe Banquet Hall opposite the Government House. It elected Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani as chairman.

Another faction loyal to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, held another congress at the Arca Santa Event Hall, in Ilorin and electedMoshood Bolarinwa as chairman.

Malam Abdullahi Samari was elected as the Deputy Chairman.

Others were Alhaji Abdulganiyu Saka (Secretary); Abegunde Goge (Assistant Secretary); Rahmat Abolaji (Women leader) and Samuel Isaac (Youth Leader).

Source: NAN

Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi has accepted the resignation of his deputy, Alhaji Nuhu Gidado, who turned in his letter of resignation on Wednesday.

In a statement issued on his behalf by Mr Ali M. Ali, Special Adviser, Media, the governor described the tenure of his deputy as meritorious and therefore deserving of commendation.

Wereceived the resignation of our Deputy Governor, Engr. Nuhu Gidado.

On behalf of the people of Bauchi state, I want to thank him for his meritorious service while in office.

He remains vital to our administration and party.

I wish him well in his future endeavours, and he can count on me for support.

I am also optimistic he will avail the state his service when called upon in the future, said Ali in the statement, quoting the governor.

It would be recalled that the deputy governor resigned on Wednesday, attributing his action to the dampening of spirit and waning zeal with regards his official responsibilities.

Ordinarily, I should have remained up to the end of the tenure, but, with the current dampened spirit and waning zeal as it relates to my official engagements, my continued stay will not be fair and truthful to you as my brother and leader.

In this regard, I feel sure that, Your Excellency will readily recollect the most recent one on one discussion we had, precisely, on Thursday, April 19th, 2018, in your office, where, among other issues, I expressed to you, my contemplation to step aside, if need be, in order to free my conscience.

I regret to say that it has become necessary to yield to that inner calling, and may this development be in accordance with the blessed will and guidance of Allah, said the deputy governor in his resignation letter.

Source: NAN

President Donald Trump has cancelled the planned June 12 summit in Singapore with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, citing the tremendous anger and open hostility in a recent statement from North Korea.

It came on a day that North Korea dismantled its nuclear bomb testing site, in the presence of some invited journalists

Trump said in a letter to Kim released Thursday by the White House that based on the statement, he felt it was inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

The president says the North Koreans talk about their nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

Read Trumps letter:

The aborted Singapore summit had a ring of doubt since it was first suggested. At the heart of the problem was Trumps suggestion that North Korea unilaterally give up its arsenal of nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles.

Last week, Trump sought to placate North Korea after it threatened to call off the summit, saying Kims security would be guaranteed in any deal and his country would not suffer the fate of Muammar Gaddafis Libya, unless that could not be reached.

But the reference to the case of Libya has angered North Korea.

In a statement released by North Korean media on Thursday, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy for comparing North Korea a nuclear weapons state to Libya, where Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development programme, only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters.

It is to be underlined, however, that in order not to follow in Libyas footstep, we paid a heavy price to build up our powerful and reliable strength that can defend ourselves and safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region, Choe said.

Choe said the fate of the summit was entirely up to the United States.

We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us, said Choe.

She said she could suggest to leader Kim that North Korea reconsider the summit if the United States offended the Norths goodwill.

Source: NAN

South Korean President Moon Jae-in convened a meeting with top security officials on Thursday night after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the presidential office said.

Yonhap news agency reported that Moon called an emergency meeting at Cheong Wa Dae at 11:30 p.m. with his chief of staff, top security adviser, intelligence chief, chief press secretary, and foreign, unification and defence ministers, his press secretary Yoon Young-chan said in a message to reporters.

The presidential office said it is seeking to figure out the background of Trumps decision to call off the June 12 summit with North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un.

(We) are trying to figure out what President Trumps intention is and the exact meaning of it, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Trump cancelled the summit, citing the Norths tremendous anger and open hostility. Trump informed Kim of the decision in a letter released by the White House, hours after the North dismantled its only known nuclear test site.

We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore, the letter said.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

Source: NAN

The controversial Nigerian Peace Corps bill has finally been jettisoned as attempt by the House of Representatives to override President Muhammadu Buhari failed on Thursday.

The House of Representatives which boasted it would override the veto of the Buhari could not achieve its aim.

The bill seeks to turn the Peace Corps, currently a non-governmental organisation, into a government para-military agency.

The bill, which was passed by the National Assembly amidst controversy was rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari, who refused to sign it into law.

Buhari in February refused to assent to the bill because it was a duplication of duty and could conflict with the functions of the existing security outfits the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

On Thursday, the bill failed to pass the second reading at the House of Representatives.

The bill was sponsored by Emmanuel Orker-Jev (APC, Benue) and passed by the National Assembly in 2017.

In separate letters to the Senate and House of Representatives, Mr Buhari also cited security concerns and financial implications amongst reasons for his decision.

The bill was transmitted to the president in December 2017 by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Sani Omolori.

The Nigerian police had remained opposed to the legalisation of the corps.

On February 17, 2017, it stormed the organisations headquarters in Abuja and arrested its head, Dickson Akoh, and about 49 other members.

The police accused Mr. Akoh of using the Peace Corps, registered as a non-governmental organisation, to swindle young job seekers and operate as a para-military agency.

Mr. Akoh, who denied the allegations, was later granted bail.

Source: NAN

The Ugandan government is to introduce biometric gadgets for the implementation of daily salary payment for civil servants.

The gadgets are to be introduced following the resolve of the government to start paying civil servants according to the number of days worked rather than a guaranteed monthly salary.

Prof. Ezra Suruma, the head of the Delivery Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), said they are for a start installing the gadgets at public health and educational institutions to monitor clock-in, clock-out of health workers and teachers at their duty stations.

Suruma said salaries of absentee civil servants will be deducted equivalent to work days missed, he said.

Last week, we were in Jinja for a meeting with district local governments and we were told that some districts no longer pay civil servants who absent themselves from work.

We want other districts to follow suit because this is kisanja hakuna mchezo (no playing games), he said.

Kaliro, Kayunga, Buvuma, Bulambuli, Bugiri and Bududa districts all in eastern Uganda are already implementing the scheme.

Prof Suruma, the former finance minister and current Makerere University chancellor, made the comments while receiving an assortment of biometric machines donated by the British government through its overseas development arm, the Department for International Development (DFID).

The gadgets will be installed at public facilities in 22 districts in eastern Uganda piloting the scheme and the supervisors will be required to file daily reports of their supervisees attendance to OPM.

Bureaucrats say the previous practice of registering staff presence at work manually was ineffective and susceptible to errors.

Suruma said citizens dissatisfied with delivery of government services had started reporting absentee employees directly to authorities using social media platforms, particularly WhatsApp.

This has increased the level of community engagement in ensuring service delivery, Suruma said.

Mr Adrian Green, the head of Growth and Economic Management at DFID, said the equipment they donated also included laptops, printers, computers and their accessories.

They will be deployed for gathering, processing and analysing biometric information on teachers and health workers to improve the quality of service delivery at schools and hospitals.

This is a grant worth half a million British pounds for a partnership we have been implementing with government for essential service delivery since 2015 where we have registered tremendous results, Mr Green said.

A biometric time and attendance system is a time clock that tracks some unique physical characteristic of each employee when they clock in or out.

Biometric data comes in many forms, such as vascular patterns, fingerprints, iris patterns and voice recognition. Biometrics cannot be forged.

Source: NAN

By Moji Eniola

Mrs Folorunso Alakija, a billionaire businesswoman, on Thursday told an Ikeja High Court how one Vincent Ayewah, a staff of her Rose of Sharon Foundation, allegedly defrauded her of N3 million.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Vincent, who was employed by Alakija as a clerk and administrative officer, is standing trial alongside his siblings, Florence and Emmanuel, as well as four others for fraud.

The other defendants are Onuwa David, Okoronkwo Chikadibia, Ehizibolo George and Chinyere Awanah.

Vincent was accused of defrauding Alakijas foundation of the fund by forging cheques and conniving with his siblings and cohorts to pose to banks as beneficiaries of the foundation.

Alakija, while being led in evidence by Mr M.D Aliyu, the prosecuting counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told the court how she was allegedly defrauded by Vincent.

Her testimony lasted from 2 pm to 3.23 pm.

She said: On Nov. 13, 2012, I was called by my treasurer, Gladys Efiozor, who said she received a call from Stanbic IBTC that there was a forgery of a cheque.

I told her to send me an email of the forged cheque and when I saw it, I told her that the signature was not mine.

There are three signatories to that account and the forged signature did not match those of the other signatories.

Florence (Vincents sister) was the one caught with the cheque, the bank called EFCC to investigate and Florence was handed over to the EFCC.

It was discovered that the bag she was carrying had 12 different Identity cards of beneficiaries of the foundation with her pictures on the identity cards.

The bag also contained cash collected from other banks from the foundations account.

Alakija also told the court that she confronted Vincent and seized his mobile phone after he had received a suspicious call.

She also claimed that Vincent deleted an incriminating text message from his phone.

He admitted to the fraud and begged for mercy; he had done other infractions in the past and had begged for mercy anytime he was caught, Alakija added.

Alakija told the court that Vincent enjoyed a new lifestyle with proceeds from the alleged scam, claiming he bought new car which he parked far away from the premises of the office to avoid detection.

A blank cheque and a survey plan of a property was in his car.

He had committed infractions before, begged for mercy and I forgave him. I thought that with warnings, he will change, the businesswoman said.

But while being cross-examined by Mr Obiora Umeh, the defence counsel to the Ayewahs and other defendants, Alakija gave further insight into the alleged fraud.

There are widows and orphans that need to be empowered, I had one project manager at the time that Vincent Ayewah was reporting to.

When he needs to write the cheques, he had to handle the cheque book, I knew he was issuing the cheques because it was part of his duty.

The auditors must have gone through the list of beneficiaries and approved it, I cant remember now if they were going through the cheque books because our systems have since changed.

The issue at hand is that the first defendant (Vincent) had taken blank cheques and written the names of the beneficiaries on them.

Vincents siblings had gone to pose in banks to pretend that they were the original beneficiaries.

Even if it wasnt a blank cheque he had torn out and he had followed the normal sequence of things, they will still go and pose as beneficiaries, Alakija said.

Justice Hakeem Oshodi adjourned the case till Oct. 25 for continuation of trial.

Source: NAN

Arsenal have appointed former Paris St Germain coach Unai Emery as the new manager of the club, with the Spaniard succeeding the long-serving Arsene Wenger, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday.

Emery, who joined PSG in June 2016, left the French club at the end of this season, having led them to a domestic treble.

The 46-year-old had previously guided Spanish side Sevilla to three Europa League titles.

“Unai has an outstanding track record of success throughout his career.

“He has also developed some of the best young talents in Europe and plays an exciting, progressive style of football that fits Arsenal perfectly,” Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said in a statement.

“His hard work and passionate approach and his sense of value on and off the pitch make him the ideal person to take us forward,” Gazidis said.

Wenger departed the North London club at the end of last season after nearly 22 years at the helm, helping the team capture three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups.

Source: NAN

No fewer than 14.8 million people were affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria with at least 1.7 million of them displaced.

Nigerias Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, told the UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts Tuesday that most adversely affected were women and children.

Bande regretted that the Boko Haram insurgency had led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in northeastern Nigeria.

He, however, assured the international community that The Buhari Plan would bring relief to Northeast Nigeria, currently ravaged the by Boko Haram activities as all efforts were being taken against the insurgency.

The Presidential Committee for North East Initiative developed The Buhari Plan a framework of action to ensure the rehabilitation of the victims of insurgency and the reconstruction of their communities.

Bande said a robust Social Protection Initiative, and a second National Action Plan to fully implement the provisions of resolution 1325 (2000) had been instituted to protect civilians, particularly women and children from the Boko Haram ravages.

To that end, the initiatives will also complement the implementation of The Buhari Plan, which provides a blueprint for the comprehensive humanitarian relief and socioeconomic stabilisation of the North-East, as well as the return and resettlement of displaced persons.

We are collaborating with our neighbours, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin, within the framework of the Multinational Joint Task Force, to defeat the Boko Haram insurgency, which is targeting civilians, particularly women and children, Bande said.

The Buhari Plan aims to achieve a safe and prosperous Northeast that would be a global model for post-conflict socio-economic recovery and development.

The envoy noted that Nigeria was among the first group of states to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration in Oslo, thereby making a pledge to protect schools during armed conflicts and using and promoting the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict.

Bande said the declaration complemented and strengthened Nigerias national Safe Schools Initiative established in 2014, as part of the response by the Federal Government to promote safe zones for learning.

He said these initiatives reflected governments commitment to ensuring the security of women and children during armed conflicts and enhancing their active and direct participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

The ambassador said: It is heartening to note that over a thousand kidnapped women and children have been rescued, and all territories once controlled by the group have been recovered.

Indeed, our experience in the Lake Chad Region today, is evidence that with determined international collaboration, terrorism can be defeated.

In addition, the Government of Nigeria has adopted a multinational and multi-agency approach tagged Operation Safe Corridor, to effectively handle the de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of willing and surrendered Boko Haram members back to the society.

The Nigerian envoy said so far, many insurgents had willingly surrendered to the military, while about 700 others had indicated interest to surrender.

He said Nigeria had taken steps to cater to victims of Boko Haram in the form of rape and other sexual violence against children, abduction of children and other grave violations.

According to him, these steps include providing humanitarian relief, financial, economic, educational and psycho-social support.

Despite the tremendous efforts being made at the national level, we acknowledge that protecting civilians in conflict situations remains a critical challenge, not only for the United Nations, but also for the entire international community.

Source: NAN

Malaysia has slashed salaries of ministers by 10 per cent and also cut public spending.

The decision was taken to control spending as the new government deals with high-level debt, the 92-year-old leader said exceeded more than one trillion ringgit (251.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday the measures at the first cabinet meeting which was attended by more than a dozen of the newly sworn-in ministers.

We are concerned about the countrys financial problem, Mahathir told reporters after the meeting.

Mahathir said he will not force other senior civil servants to follow suit, but he said they can do so if they want to contribute towards reducing the cost of the running this country.

Since taking power after the election victory, Mahathir has been focusing on implementing the commitments promised during the campaign, including abolishing the six-per cent goods and services taxes, which the rating firm Moodys said could narrow the countrys tax base and strain fiscal strength.

At the news conference, Mahathir said Malaysias debt is around 65 per cent of the countrys GDP.

Aside from the pay cut, he has been advocating other measures, including forming a small cabinet, downsizing the government and recovering some assets related to the 1MDB state fund overseas.

He said the Land Public Transport Commission will be disbanded, with its previous functions placed under the transport ministry, while several other non-essential institutions will be dissolved.

Besides, he touched on the review process of some mega projects, saying the government is studying which will be scraped and which will be continued.

In addition, he said the government is reviewing the contract for the search of the missing MH370 flight.

If we find that it is not necessary, we will not renew (the contract), he said. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN