Zambia is waging a fierce campaign against sex dolls, threatening offenders with heavy jail terms over the dolls which, it says, are “very unnatural”.

“No one sells them openly, no one admits to owning one, and no one has been arrested,’’ report said.

The government launched the crackdown on the sex toys last month.

The action has propelled the issue of sex dolls to the top of the news agenda and made them a hot topic of conversation and debate on social media, dividing opinion in the largely conservative southern African country.

“Being a Christian nation, obviously we are anchored in Christian principles and one of the values is morality and ethics,” Minister of National Guidance and Religious Affairs Godfridah Sumaili , said.

Selling or using a sex doll is against Zambian law, she said, vowing to ensure they are not bought on the internet and imported.

“The use of sex dolls is definitely in contradiction to our natural heritage and our principles,” Sumaili added.

“The law actually forbids anybody to trade (in) and to use such objects — and so this is why we are saying for Zambians that this is a very unnatural thing.”

The minister said the ban was necessary after media reports emerged of sex dolls being imported into Zambia, apparently from Asia. Police are investigating, she added.

In recent months, Zambia’s independent and semi-official press have devoted many column inches to reports of sex shops popping up around the capital Lusaka selling sex dolls, as well as chronicling the backlash.

“God created man and woman for sexual satisfaction — but for a man or woman to use a lifeless object is immoral,” Sumaili said.

“Let’s not import foreign beliefs and experiences. Let us just believe in what we are.”

The manufacture of sex dolls has become increasingly sophisticated, with China developing custom-made “smart” dolls that can talk, play music and turn on dishwashers.

Sex dolls’ inventors say they can cure loneliness and help elderly men who lack female companionship.

In Zambia, the dolls made of silicone were reportedly in a variety of shapes and shades, but could not be found in any shops.

A suspected mentally challenged man on Monday hacked to death two pupils of Saint Johns Anglican Primary School in Agodo, Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of Ogun.

It was gathered that the assailant entered the school premises from a nearby bush and inflicted machete cuts on the children who were observing lunch break with their colleagues.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the assailant fled the scene at about 11 :15 am after the incident.

It was learnt that the deep machete cuts inflicted on the victims left them in the pool of their blood.

Sources said while the school has a perimeter fence it has no gates.

When the parents and guardians thronged to the school after the incident to withdraw their wards while security agents have commenced investigation.

Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi, the State Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the incident to newsmen in Abeokuta.

Oyeyemi gave the names of the two victims as Mubarak Kalesowo and Sunday Obituyi , both aged four and in Kindergarten class.

The incident happened at 11:30 a.m. during lunch break. The children were on the field playing. The guy just emerged from the bush and hacked two of them to death and immediately he did it, he ran away.

Those who know him (suspect) said he is a madman and also an indigene of that place. But we are not relying on that.

We are on his trail, we want to get him arrested.

It is only a medical expert that would confirm whether he is a mad person or not.

Our ultimate aim is to get him arrested. As Im talking to you now, the Area Commander and the DPO Abigi are at the scene. We have set machinery in motion to get him arrested, he said.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari told a town hall meeting in Makurdi today that Inspector-general of Police, Idris Ibrahim has some query to answer as to why he violated his order to relocate to Benue state, following the killings of 73 villagers by herdsmen.

The killings happened on New Years Day and amidst national outrage President Buhari on 9 January, ordered Idris to relocate to Benue state.

Today, President Buhari was told by Governor Ortom that Idris did not spend 24 hours in the state, as he moved to neighbouring Nasarawa state, thus violating President Buharis order.

President Buhari was surprised that Idris breached his order.

He said he would ask Idris to explain why he observed the order in the breach, on his return to Abuja.

What I did was to call him and give him (a) directive. And I didnt know he moved here (Benue State) and didnt spend (time) and then move to Nasarawa. Its only now that I am knowing that. But I know I dispatched him here, the President said.

At every level, you have to be loyal to people below you. Whether that person is loyal to you or not is totally a different thing, President Buhari said.

The easiest thing for me was to go on air and accuse the IGP of being too slow and not using the intelligence and resources available to him to foresee the action of the cattle rearers and so on. People would believe me, but I will be disloyal if I do that.

Source: NAN

Porn actress Stormy Daniels on Monday offered to return the $130,000 she received from President Trumps attorney Michael Cohen, in an effort to fully void the 2016 hush agreement that has prevented her from speaking publicly about her alleged 2006 sexual tryst with Trump.

In a letter addressed to Cohen, which was obtained by The New York Times, Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti wrote that she would wire the money into an account of Mr. Trumps choosing by Friday in exchange of nullifying the agreement of silence Daniels took.

Avenatti outlined that if the offer was accepted, Daniels could (a) speak openly and freely about her prior relationship with the president and the attempts to silence her and (b) use or publish any text messages, photos and/or videos relating to the president that she may have in her possession, all without fear of retribution and legal liability for damages.

The deal also stipulated that, if accepted, the 60 Minutes interview Daniels taped last week with Anderson Cooper would be allowed to air without blocking efforts from the Trump camp.

With a noon Tuesday deadline, the letter will essentially bait Cohen into a choice between letting Daniels talk freely about her alleged Trump affair; or publicly confirm that a silencing campaign had been in effect.

Avenatti told The Daily Beast that he has yet to hear from Cohen or anyone from the Trump legal team.

*Reported by

Source: NAN

The Independent National Electoral Commission is considering burning unclaimedPermanent Voter Cards (PVCs) before next years general elections.

Dr Rufus Akeju, the new Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ondo Statetold newsmen on Monday in Akure that INEC is considering the option, since all attempts had been made in vain by the commission thorough sensitisation campaign to reach out to the affected voters to collect their PVCs.

He said the commission was making efforts almost on daily basis for voters to get their PVCs, adding that the commission may be compelled to resort to burning of the cards or destroying them to check being used to manipulate elections.

The REC said that the burning process would be made public for all Nigerians to witness.

Akeju said in Ondo state, 1,659,186 people have been registered as eligible voters and 1,288,722 cards had been distributed so far, adding that 370,464 PVCs are unclaimed.

He also said the commission was doing everything possible to ensure a credible election that would meet with global best practices.

We now have new and improve data capturing for moderate and effective capturing.

We have introduced additional card readers in case one is malfunctioning in a particular unit, he said.

The REC solicited the support of all journalists in the state, saying they remain major stakeholders in educating the general public.

He, however, urged journalists to report accurately stories they gather from INEC offices in the state without bias.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state, Mr James Sowole, promised that the union would continue to support the commission in its activities.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Akeju was the immediate past REC in Osun before his posting to Ondo State.

Source: NAN

Prince Uche Secondus, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman claimed that the government of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has failed because it couldnt fulfil its promises to the people.

Secondus made this claim while addressing members of the PDP during his working tour to Dutse, capital of Jigawa on Monday.

He said that the APC made a lot of promises to the people during the electioneering campaigns but it has failed to fulfil the promises.

APC said if they win, they will revive the economy, they will address the problem of insecurity and corruption

Sen. Dino Maleye said before the floor of the house recently that in the 16 years of PDP government they collected a loan of only N6 trillion but APC government in just three years collected N11 trillion. These figures, bandied by Melaye and Pastor Tunde Bakare have been discredited as wild guesses.

According to data provided by Debt Management Office,the Federal Government borrowed N6.76 trillion since June 2015. When state debts are added, what has been borrowed is N8.3 trillion still significantly lower than the N11 trillion being touted.

In contrast, the PDP in 16 years borrowed N9.25 trillion, higher than Bakare and Melayes claim.

Corruption has pervaded the APC government from the top to bottom, APC government is more corrupt than PDPs own, claimed Secondus.

There is insecurity in the country, you cannot sleep with your two eyes closed, there is poverty and hunger in all the houses in Nigeria, therefore APC is a government of deception

I therefore urge us to come out en masse and vote for PDP so that we could fight hunger, poverty and the insecurity.

The PDP Chairman said that APC has come to divide the country while PDP is out to unite the country.

APC should therefore prepare to hand over to PDP as we also handed over to them

The Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Hassan Dankwambo, who is nurturing a presidential ambition, said that since the PDP left government in Jigawa, he has not seen any changes under the present APC administration in the state.

Dankwambo urged the people to support PDP, which he said would win the 2019 election, by the power of God.

Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi, immediate Caretaker Chairman of the Party said the party has put all the the necessary machinery in place to wrest power from the APC.

Alhaji Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa and also a presidential aspirant, charged the people to protect their votes on election day.

The PDP National Chairman was accompanied on the tour by prominent Party stalwarts like former governor of Kano state Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, former Senate House Leader Alhaji Abdul Ningi, Amb. Aminu Wali, first civilian governor of Jigawa, Alh Ali Saad Birninkudu, former Governor Kaduna, Alhaji Ahmad Muhammad, who was the immediate past chairman of the PDP and many others.

Source: NAN

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says US will assist Nigeria with latest security equipment and intelligence sharing in its efforts toward the safe return of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls.

Tillerson stated this when he briefed newsmen alongside Nigerias Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him, the US government will also offer special training for security personnel to enable them engage in special operations towards the rescue the girls as well as the remaining Chibok schoolgirls in captivity.

He, however, expressed the hope that both the Chibok and Dapchi schoolgirls would return home.

First, we respect the responsibilities of the government of Nigeria and the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

But the way we support is in providing them capability capacity with equipment and also training of the personnel of special operations and sharing intelligence to ensure that they have all the information available to carry out the recovery effort.

But I think it is also important to put this in a broad regional context as well. Boko Haram is a threat to other regions and this has been the subject of my meetings elsewhere and in Africa as well.

In my discussion with President Derby in Chad earlier today, we spoke about the threat of Boko Haram and I think it is important and its really been powerful.

The collaboration between the joint task force which Nigeria is a part and Chad is a part, to respond to this threat of terrorism which Boko Haram is one of the organizations, there are other threats that the leadership of this country has to deal with.

So the United States is ready to engage and coordinate efforts as well. But we have been supporting, equipping, training and when we can provide information.

I think that is the best way we have been helping the government of Nigeria secure the release of the girls, which we hope, will be done in a peaceful manner. We hope that something can be worked out and they can secure the release of these girls quickly, he said.

On his recent warning to African countries against doing business with China, Tillerson said the warning was not meant to stop Chinese investments from flowing to countries that needed such investments.

He, however, cautioned that such countries should be careful with the level of debts they might accumulate as a result of such business dealings.

But what we are cautioning countries is to look carefully, that the implications of the level of debts, the terms of the debts, and whether the arrangements around the local financing are intact creating jobs, local capacity or the projects being carried out by foreign labour being brought to your country.

Is the structure of the financing such that you will always be in control of your infrastructure?

Are there mechanisms to deal with the faults so that you do not loss ownership of your own assets? These are national assets whether they are ports, railways, or major highways.

We have seen this occurred in other countries that were not so careful and has result they got themselves in situation where they awfully lost control of their infrastructure, lost the ownership, the operationalization of it.

And that is the precaution that we are talking about. That there are international rules and norms and financial structure to deal with unforeseen circumstances and I think we are just cautioning countries to look carefully.

We have seen many around the world that did not work out so well and we are just saying as friends, be careful, he said.

According to the top U.S. diplomat, the American government is creating other alternative financing mechanisms that are available for African nations, saying we are developing mechanism that will also create alternative opportunities financing offer.

Tillerson also stressed the need to increase the volume of trade between the U.S. and Nigeria which he said stood at nine billion dollars.

In his contribution, Nigerias Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said Nigeria had succeeded in degrading Boko Haram, contrary to reports in the social media.

Fighting terrorism is a new challenge globally. When we talked of having degraded Boko Haram, we were referring specifically to the situation that we were confronted with when the government took over.

That was a situation where you have a classical military confrontation and Boko Haram were capturing territory, holding unto territory and hoisting flags. So as a conventional military threat, Boko Haram has been completely degraded.

He, however, acknowledged a challenge with regards to sporadic suicides and bombings as well as kidnapping of the girls. (NAN)

Source: NAN

The Nigerian Peace Corps has reacted to recent reports which implied that President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected the Peace Corps Bill.

In a statement issued on Saturday by the Public Relations Office of the Corps, Millicent Umoru, the NPC described the report as misleading and a voyage of interpretation of the Constitution.

The report had insinuated that by not signing the Bill 30 working days after it was transmitted in December 2017, the President had denied accent to the bill.

However, Umoru insisted that some of the bills that were sent to the President along with the Peace Corps bill had been rejected as the president expressly wrote the National Assembly to convey the reasons why those bills were rejected.

The corps stressed that the Peace Corps Bill was not part of the rejected ones and as such it was wrong for the medium to have published such a report.

Read the full text of the statement below:

RE: BUHARI REJECTS NIGERIAN PEACE CORPS BILL.

Whenourattention was drawn tothe aforementioned report in the Vanguard Newspaper of Saturday, February 17, 2018, which was written by Mr.SoniDaniel, the Northern Regional Editor of the Newspaper and Mr.EmmanOvuakkporie,ourinitial reaction wasthat of disbelief.

But after reading the entire report, it suddenlydawned on usthat the authors deliberately elected to sensationalize the caption with a view to selling the Newspaper and on that note;wewish to assuretheteeming members of thePeace Corps of Nigeria andmillions ofourwell-wishers nationwide that thewriters merely embarked on a voyage ofinterpretation of the Constitution.

The truth of the matteris that out of about nine Billsthat were transmitted to the President together with that of the Nigerian Peace Corps, the President rejected three and returned same to the National Assembly(NASS), stating reasons why he rejected them. And of course, the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill was not part of the rejected ones.

We are not unaware of the grand conspiracy by some security agencies againstthe Peace Corps,especially the Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and CivilDefencein theiradversarial memos to the Presidency to thwart assent to the Bill. Thisconspiracy, whichwasalsomanifested in form of opposition during the Public Hearings conducted by both chambers of the NASS on the Bill, was roundly defeated by superior arguments of over 500 Oral and written Memoranda submitted during the Public Hearings in the NASS.

The major plank of this conspiracy is that the functions of the NigerianPeaceCorps (NPC)Bill overlap that of the Nigerian Police and Nigerian Security and CivilDefenceCorps (NSCDC), which is far from the truth. (Nigerians should watch out for ourfull pageadvertorial on this issue inThe Nation, The Sun, Daily Trust and TribuneNewspaperson Monday, 19thFebruary, 2018). The advertorial clearly articulates the statutory functions of the Police, CivilDefenceand that of the Nigerian Peace Corps.

We wish tocorrect the erroneous impression created by this report, whose contents are just the authors interpretation ofthe provisions of the law,PresidentMuhammaduBuhariGCFR,has notassented to or rejected the NPC Bill.And ifeventhe President rejectsthe Bill, he will communicate same to the NASS, stating reason(s) for doing so.

Moreover, the Spokespersons of both chambers of the NASS, SenatorSabiAbdullahi(Senate) and Hon.AbdulrazakNamdas(House of Representatives) have clarified the issuesas far as the law on this matter is concerned.

The authors also questioned the legal status of the Peace Corps, a position that smacks of mischief. For purposeof clarity, Peace Corps of Nigeria was dulyincorporated bythe Corporate Affairs Commission under the Companies and Allied Matters Act Cap1990, Part CasNigerianLeadership and MarshalCorps, but changed to Peace Corps of Nigeria in 2002 in accordance with theCompanies and Allied Matters Act.So, its legality has never been called to question and even if the Bill is not assented to, that will not stop it from functioning as an entity.The Bill isessentiallytogivestatutory backingto the Corps.

That this report is coming out a few days after the House Committee on Public Petition gave the Corps directive to take-over itsHeadquarters that has been under lock and key by the Policesince February 2017, a directive thatwasalmost executed before the intervention of the FCT Commissioner of Police, is suspicious.How sad!

Sadder still is that in spite ofseveralCourt judgments pronouncing Peace Corps as a legal entity, including recent verdicts by two different Federal High Courtsjudges,the antagonists of the Corps have continued to disregard these valid Ordersby refusing to unsealthe Peace Corpsoffice.Somuch forthe Rule ofLaw!

In conclusion, we request all PCN Stakeholders and indeed the entire Nigerian youth to disregard any erroneous, malicious and none-evidence based information against the NPC Bill.

Patriot MillicentUmoru

Corps Public Relations Officer

Source: NAN

A video of a two year, 11 month-old pupil of Chrisland School, Lekki, Lagos portraying her alleged serial defilement by the schools supervisor was played today at the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.

The video was played during the testimony of Miss Olive Ogedengbe at the trial of Adegboyega Adenekan, 47, a Supervisor at Chrisland School over defilement of a child.

Proceedings lasted from 11a.m. to 3.03 p.m.

Ogedengbe, a clinical psychologist, is an expert in sexual and reproductive health behaviour in children and adolescents. She has over 10 years work experience with children and adolescents, the court heard.

The video recording (Exhibit A1), depicted the child, named Child X, in the clinical psychologists office on Nov. 28, 2016 answering questions about the alleged defilement from Ogedengbe and her colleague.

In the recording, Child X was given a sheet of paper and asked to draw the private part of Adenekan, which she did as well as another image with the ensuing questions.

Child X, referring to the other image said:that is the hand he used to put in my wee wee.

Ogedengbe: Where is Mr Adenekans wee wee?Child X in response, pointed to her private area.

Ogedengbe: Does he put his wee wee in your wee wee?Child X: Yes.

Child X in the recording, using a teddy bear as a puppet, also showed how the supervisor allegedly sexually abused her friend (name withheld).

Kissing the private region of the teddy bear, the child can be heard saying in the video recording Your bum bum is delicious, your bum bum is sweet, I will eat your bum bum.

Ogedengbe, before the video recording was played in the courtroom, in her testimony while being led by Mr Jide Boye, the Chief State Counsel, narrated to the court what had previously transpired during her interaction with the child.

She said:the mother came into my office with a referral letter from the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) and narrated the story and she started crying.

She (the mother) said she did not know the reason why this was happening to her.

She said she was usually over protective of her children and follows them everywhere except school.

She said somebody in her church handed her a book on sexual education for children which she read and decided to practice it on her child.

That was when the child disclosed that she has been defiled.

She told her mother that Mr Adenekan comes to take her out of the class and shows her some videos that are sexually stimulating.

She pleaded with us to help to correct the psyche of her child.

I carried out an independent psychological evaluation on the child. I asked the mother to sit at the corner of the room and myself and my colleague interacted with the child.

We did not directly start interrogating the child as that was against the ethics of our profession.

We started an initial interaction with the child to make her relax and gain her trust.

When our trust was gained by the child and she was in a happy frame of mind, I asked the child:who touched your wee wee? and the child repeated on several times `Mr Adenekan.

I was shocked because I did not expect it from a child her age. I brought out my assessment sheet and I told the child to draw any person that comes to her mind.

She restlessly started jumping around Mr Adenekan is on my mind we got her back to being settled but she continued talking without yet drawing.

She (Child X) said Mr Adenekan said it is good for a child to put her wee wee in Mr Adenekans wee wee at that point in time we decided to do a recording to ensure her story remains consistent.

We asked her how does Mr Adenekans wee wee look like and she demonstrated playfully by pointing her finger upwards stating sharpener.

We asked sharpener or pencil? She stated `sharpener.

We told her to draw Mr Adenekans wee wee. We want to see what it looks like.

To my greatest shock and surprise, for a two-year-old child, she drew a picture which symbolises a reproductive organ of a man in the form of a penis.

I then asked her, show me your wee wee, she pointed at her private part. I asked her to show me where Mr Adenekans wee wee is and she pointed at the lower region of her private part.

By then the child was again getting very restless and she ran to her mother who was at the corner of the room.

We still wanted to hear more but she was playfully running around and her mother started probing her: Is it only you he comes around to take out of the class and she replied no.

The child said it was herself and her friend (name withheld) so her mother asked her to show us what he normally does with her friend.The child said he kisses her bum bum and he licks her bum bum, the child demonstrated by using a puppy in the room.

That was the end of the first interview with the child.

Ogedengbe during her lengthy testimony said from her evaluation, the mother and Child X needed psychological help.

She said:Afterwards, I decided to confirm from the mother if the child was exhibiting any symptom of psychological abuse.

I asked the mother if she observed any strange behaviour in the child and the mother said yes.

I had asked because I noticed in the course of interacting with the child that the child was occasionally aggressive.

The mother confirmed this and also stated that the child had sleep problems and had been having nightmares.She also complained of sexual inappropriate behaviour from the child and that after the incident the child became curious to see naked bodies of people.

From my findings I found the child exhibited aggressive behaviour, inappropriate sexual behaviour, sleeping problems and fear.

After the interaction, myself and my colleague realised that the child and mother needed help.

The mother also exhibited signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.

We decided to do an intervention and we held two more sessions of psycho-social intervention for the mother and the mother was counselled on how to help and assist the child.

While being cross-examined by Mr Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN), Ogedengbe said that Child X was not tutored on what to say during the interview by either her or Child Xs mother.

We used projective techniques in which a client projects their subconscious minds on paper.

The clinical psychologist revealed to Adejuyigbe that she visited the mother of Child Xs friend who was also allegedly sexually assaulted by Adenekan.

We saw the mother of the childs friend but she was not willing to get involved in the case because of stigma, she said.

Ogedengbe also added that she did not interview the staff of Chrisland School, Child Xs father and her older sister.The clinical psychologist also insisted that the child was of above average intelligence.

Children 0-5 years, are usually not able to form full sentences, the child could string meaningful sentences.

In drawing a picture, most children her age do not draw meaningful drawings but she did.

I have worked with children her age from diverse sections of society and she is of above average intelligence, she said.

On re-examination by Boye, the prosecutor, Ogedengbe insisted that the child was not tutored.

If a child is being brainwashed or tutored, the child wont be consistent in answering several questions.

You will see it in her non-verbal behaviour that she was tutored, there would be no flow of conversation, this child was not tutored, the clinical psychologist said.

Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 prescribes a life sentence for the offence of defilement of a child.

Justice Sybil Nwaka adjourned the case till March 21 for continuation of trial.

Source: NAN

At least two persons died late Sunday when the helicopter they were riding in crashed into Manhattans East River in New York, officials said.

The red chopper, owned by tourism group Liberty and carrying six people including the pilot, fell into the river near the upscale Upper East Side neighborhood around 90th Street shortly after 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) at the end of a sunny day.

The pilot freed himself, the other five did not, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters during a brief press conference.

We are told the five people were all tied tightly in harnesses that had to be cut and removed.

Divers rushed to the scene and freed the passengers, two of whom were pronounced dead, amid strong currents and frigid temperatures, Nigro added.

The other three were taken to hospital in critical condition.

Liberty organises aerial tours of Americas financial capital. Police chief James ONeill said the aircraft had been leased by photographers.

New York 1 television, citing police sources, reported that five of the six people flying in the helicopter had died, with only the pilot surviving.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but local media indicated the pilot had sent a distress signal that mentioned an engine problem shortly before the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.

Source: NAN