Adeola Fayehun
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PHOTOS: Army Chief receives Made-in-Nigeria military vehicles from Innoson company

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Multi-purpose patrol vehicles for the military, Police, DSS and other para-military forces are now being made locally in Nigeria by Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited (IVM), Nnewi.

The Chairman of Innoson, Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, was today at the Tactical Headquarter of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maimalari Barracks Maiduguri, Borno State to present the latest Innoson IVM G12 designed solely for military operations, to Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen T Y Buratai. 

The Army Chief assured the Innoson boss that there will be many more patronages from the military especially now that the govt is looking inwards for resources and equipment to win the war against insurgency.

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Obama to outline vision of democracy in a Trump world

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US President Barack Obama will Wednesday sketch out his vision of democracy at a time of mounting global populism, seeking to soothe European allies anxious over a Donald Trump presidency.

On the second day of a European farewell tour, Obama will build on a topic he outlined on Tuesday — the “frustration and anger” of an electorate that feels it has been left behind by rapid globalisation.
“The lesson I draw — and I think people can draw a lot of lessons but maybe one that cuts across countries — is we have to deal with issues like inequality,” said Obama.
The 55-year-old Obama has chosen the “cradle of democracy” Greece to deliver a speech addressing the uncertainties that have led to the rise of populists like Trump.
Trump was able to tap into “a suspicion of globalisation, a desire to rein in its excesses, a suspicion of elites and governing institutions,” Obama noted.
Obama’s visit to Europe — his last foreign trip as American leader — has been all about reassuring traditional allies worried about Trump’s campaign rhetoric.
Trump welcomed Britain’s shock vote in June to leave the European Union and has cast doubts on the NATO alliance that has guaranteed relative peace on the continent for decades.
However, Obama was at pains to stress that Europe — and NATO — would remain the cornerstone of US foreign policy.
The US-led NATO grouping is “absolutely vital” to US interests and a strong, unified Europe was good for America and the world, Obama said in comments aimed at reassuring old partners.
“We know what happens when Europeans start dividing themselves up… the 20th century was a bloodbath,” he said pointedly.
Obama was expected to visit the Acropolis ahead of his much-anticipated speech before heading to Germany to visit Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom he has described as “probably … my closest international partner these last eight years”.
During his time in Berlin, he will also huddle with the leaders of Britain, France and Italy, as European leaders desperately seek clues to future US policy in a Trump world.
– ‘Extraordinary compassion’ –
While Obama has generally been welcomed in Greece, some demonstrators hit the streets to protest against his visit.
Some 2,500 people brandishing banners denouncing US “imperialism” and calling Obama “non grata”, or not welcome, were turned away by police firing tear gas and stun grenades as they tried to breach barriers and head toward the city centre.
Many Greeks are suspicious of the United States after it helped install a repressive seven-year dictatorship in the country in the 1960s, and trade unions, leftist and anarchist parties denounce US involvement in wars in the Middle East.
Several hundred of the protesters appeared to be from Greece’s vocal anarchist movement, police told AFP.
On the first day of his visit, Obama also touched on issues that have shaken Greek society — a dramatic influx of migrants fleeing war and poverty and a crippling financial crisis.
He lauded the Greek people’s “extraordinary compassion” to hundreds of thousands of people arriving during Europe’s worst migrant crisis since World War II.
He also pledged support for Greece’s economy, as Greek leaders seek a fresh US pledge to help alleviate the country’s enormous public debt, a measure actively sought by the International Monetary Fund but opposed by leading European lender Germany.
“In my message to the rest of Europe I will continue to emphasise our view that austerity alone cannot deliver prosperity,” Obama told Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
AFP
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Nigerian mother ‘dumps baby in a bin at Vienna airport because she didn’t want to miss her flight’

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A 27-year-old Nigerian mother has been arrested after allegedly dumping her newborn baby inside a bin in an airport toilet because she did not want to miss her connecting flight.

The baby died Thursday, Nov 10.
A cleaner discovered the child inside a plastic bag in the early hours of Thursday morning and immediately called the emergency services, police spokesman Raimund Schwaigerlehner said.
The baby was taken to hospital but died shortly afterwards due to a prolonged lack of oxygen.
The woman, who had been in transit in Vienna, was also taken to hospital where she remains under medical observation, police said.
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100 missing, feared dead in Mediterranean after migrant boat capsize

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People pictured in the water during a rescue operation off the Libyan coast on 3 November (AFP)
Around 100 people were missing, feared drowned, in the Mediterranean after a migrant dinghy capsized off Libya on Tuesday, according to NGO rescue teams helping with the search for survivors.

German NGO Jugend Rettet said in a tweet that 23 survivors had been rescued by an oil tanker and that “the crews are searching for survivors in the water and recovering dead bodies”.

The survivors and four recovered corpses were transferred from the tanker to the Acquarius, a boat operated by another charity group, SOS Mediterranee.
A survivor told one of the organisation’s staff that the dinghy had begun to sink at 6.00 a.m., four hours before the tanker arrived.
“We were 122 on the boat, no children under 15, but there were 10 women travelling with us and only one survived,” the survivor was quoted as saying.
“We waited in the water, taking any floating thing to remain afloat, but most of the people drowned, including my little brother. He was 15.
“At 10 the tanker came and rescued us. I want to call home to tell them that my brother died.”
The latest tragedy in the Mediterranean came the day after another incident in which it is feared dozens may have drowned after the sinking of another dinghy, from which there were only 15 survivors.
AFP
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How Metuh spent N171 million for Jonathan’s image laundering, witness tells court

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A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday heard how PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, spent N171 million to launder ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s image ahead of the 2015 elections.

Metuh is standing trial on allegation of embezzling N400 million.

In his testimony before Justice Okon Abang, Richard Ihediwa, the fifth defence witness, told the court that Metuh spent N171 million on the committee for the image laundering exercise.
Ihediwa said N140 million was spent on various groups coordinated by aides to the former President while N31 million was disbursed for advertorials in several newspapers.
“Various aides to former president helped to coordinate groups that worked across the country with regards to boosting his image towards the 2015 Presidential Election.
“There were many aides to Jonathan who coordinated those groups and they belonged mostly to the media and publicity, strategy, research and documentation departments.
“In the light of this, Metuh made a lot of payments to these groups coordinated by Presidential Aides and they received N140 million,” he said.
He, however, said the payments were made in line with Jonathan’s directives, adding that Metuh never used discretionary powers to disburse the funds.
“There was also a bill of N31 million for advertorial for the media, using representatives of media houses reporting the beat.
“Metuh made the payment through me. I received the payment through my Access Bank account and consequently paid all the media houses.
“Some payments were made through transfers while others were made in cash,” the witness said.
Ihediwa said the issue of image laundering for the former president was raised at the meeting of PDP stakeholders and Metuh was assigned the responsibility.
“The issue of his image was very important to him because of that election. So, the major mandate given to the team led by Metuh was to find ways to improve on Jonathan’s standing using the media.
“The fact is that the fund spent was not taken from government treasury as alleged.
“I am aware funds were raised and domiciled with the former president. At that time, the Fund Raising Committee headed by Professor
Jerry Gana had started working and they held a fund raising dinner,” he said.
The presiding judge however, adjourned the case till Nov. 16 for continuation.
Metuh, who is facing a seven-count charge, was also accused of illegal 200,000 US dollars transaction. NAN
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Dasuki declined offers to visit his late father on sickbed and to attend his burial – FG

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Minister of Interior, Retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, said former National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, on Monday declined an offer to visit his late father, Ibrahim Dasuki, in an Abuja hospital.

Similarly, Danbazau said Sambo had declined another offer to be in Sokoto throughout the mourning of his Father.

The Minister disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Sokoto on Tuesday.
”We had discussed with the Director-General, DSS, yesterday and Sambo was offered to visit his late father on his hospital bed in Abuja.
“He declined and said he preferred to pray for him. He was also offered to be in Sokoto throughout the mourning period and he also declined, preferring to pray for his late father. That was the true situation,” Danbazau said.
The Minister described the late Dasuki as a true nationalist, and prayed Allah for the repose his soul.
Ibrahim Dasuki, who was the former Sultan of Sokoto, and father of Col. Sambo, died on Monday in an Abuja Hospital at the age of 93.
He was buried in Sokoto on Tuesday.
NAN
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Why Senate rejected Buhari’s 46 non-career ambassador-nominees

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The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of 47 career ambassadors forwarded to it by President Muhammadu Buhari in July, but rejected the entire list of 46 non-career ambassadorial nominees forwarded to it for confirmation in October.

The rejection of the 46 non-career nominees was based on a report submitted by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Monsurat Sunmonu (APC-Oyo).

Sunmonu said the imbalance of nominations observed in the list of career nominees was not in corrected by the President in the non-career list.
According to her, over 250 petitions were received by the committee from aggrieved Nigerians over the imbalance of nominations in the first list.
Ebonyi, Bayelsa and Plateau had no nominees at all and was not addressed by the second list containing names of non-career nominees.
“We thought that the issue of non-equitable representation across the 36 states of the federation raised on the list of nominated career diplomats by the President will be addressed in that of non-career nominees; unfortunately, this was not so.
“This is in spite of public outcry over it and the committee’s observation to that effect to the Secretary to the Government of Federation, David Babachir Lawal during an interface with us before the screening.
“Therefore, we’ve found it difficult to start the screening of the 46 non-career nominees since last month and in fact; we proposed to the Senate that the list be returned to the Executive for needed review and re-presentation”, she said.
The approval and rejection through voice votes followed a motion moved by the Senate Leader, Mohammed Ndume.
Notable names on the rejected list are former Sen. Olorunibe Mamora from Lagos State, retired Justice of the Supreme Court, George Oguntade (Lagos), Yusuf Tuggar (Bauchi), and immediate past Deputy Governor of Niger State, Ahmed Ibeto (Niger), whose nomination as a Minister was withdrawn by Buhari in Oct. 2015.
Former National Secretary of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, Usman Bugaje and former Deputy Governor of Plateau, Mrs Paullen Tallen, had earlier rejected their nominations.
The Senate, in the 47 approved career nominees list, ignored observations made on 14 of them having less than 30 months left to stay in service and three others who could not recite National Anthem during screening.
This was also in spite of submissions against their confirmations by Senators Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP-Delta) and the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio.
Senate President Bukola Saraki urged the 47 career Ambassadors-Designate, to be good ambassadors of the country where ever they were posted.
The career Ambassadors-Designate include Obinna Chukwuemeka (Abia), Salisu Umaru (Adamawa),  Inyan Udo-Iyang (Akwa Ibom), Okeke Vivian Nwanaku (Anambra), Liman Munir (Bauchi).
Others are Ndem Jane Ada (Benue), Mohammed Hassan Hassan (Borno), Martin Young Cobham (Cross River), Janet Omoleegho Olisah (Delta) and Itegboje Sunday (Edo).
Also on the list are Olatunde Adesesan (Ekiti), Lilian Ijeukwu Onoh (Enugu), Manaja Tulah Isa (Gombe), Ngozi Ukaeje (Imo) and Bello Kazaure Husseini (Jigawa), among others. NAN
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World’s oldest stone tablet containing Ten Commandments up for auction

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The world’s oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments – dating back about 1,500 to 1,700 years – may fetch at least USD 250,000 at an auction in the US.

The two-foot (61 cm) square slab of white marble weighs about 200 pounds (90 kgs) and is believed to be the oldest existing stone inscription of the commandments, Dallas-Based Heritage Auctions said. 
Opening bid is $250,000 for the stone, which the current owner likes to point out is not the original.

The tablet is inscribed in Samaritan script with the principles which are fundamental to Judaism and Christianity. It was probably chiseled during the late Roman or Byzantine era, between 300 and 500 A.D., and marked the entrance of an ancient synagogue that was likely destroyed by the Romans, Heritage said in a statement.


It was discovered in 1913 during an excavation for a railroad line in Israel, said Rabbi Shaul Deutsch, founder of the Living Torah Museum, in Brooklyn, New York, which obtained the tablet in 2005.

An Arab man, possibly a construction worker, acquired it and set it in his courtyard, where it remained for three decades, Deutsch said.
The museum, which contains a large collection of artifacts of Jewish life and history dating back to antiquity, is shifting toward a more hands-on focus to attract younger visitors and decided it was time to sell the artifact.

“The sale will provide us with the money to do what we need to do. It’s all for the best,” Deutsch said in a statement.

The tablet was acquired in 1943 by an archeologist, who owned it until his death in 2000. 
Deutsch was able to acquire the tablet for a temporary period through an agreement with the Israel Antiquities Authority and then purchased it outright after a legal settlement, Heritage officials said. 
Reuters
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We will move Nigeria beyond oil export, says Kachikwu

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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, says Nigeria will move beyond oil export and improve its economy.

Kachikwu, who said this in the 2016 Nigerian National Petroleum Draft Policy, also clarified that the aim of restructuring the sector was to ensure efficiency and business enhancement.

“Our vision is to move Nigeria beyond crude oil exports into value added activities in oil, namely refining and petrochemical industries.

“The vision is also to expand from oil into gas-based industrialisation, based on the as-yet largely untapped large gas reserves in Nigeria.”

According to Kachikwu, a strong commercially viable and significant refining sector is an essential part of the Nigerian Petroleum Policy.
He stated that there were three main reasons for the new petroleum policy, which included the fact that the previous policy had not worked, the world had changed and prices had collapsed.
He also stated that the new vision of value adding activities was part of the reasons.
In the report, the Minister of State noted that the negative impact of the oil industry was a major concern in the Niger-Delta.
Kachikwu listed the causes of environmental damage to include sabotage or theft, equipment failure or human error and failure of operators to operate according to required standards of good oilfield practice.
NAN
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Keeping It Real With Adeola – Eps 238 (Is Nigeria Worth Dying For? Ghana’s Election; Trump Wins!)

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This week, Nigeria lost one of her most efficient soldiers, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Abu Ali and six others in a Boko Haram ambush. With inadequate supply of weapons for soldiers and how the country neglects their families, Adeola wonders if Nigeria is worth dying for.

As Ghana prepares for its presidential election on December 7th, Adeola takes a look at the two main candidates, incumbent President John Mahama and opposition candidate Nana Akufo Addo.

       
Adeola discusses the reactions of Africans to the US elections as Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of America.

In Tanzania, it is now a crime to marry or impregnate a school girl as perpetrators now face up to 30 years in prison.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is supposed to have an election this November, but till now, the electoral commission has refused to announce an election date.

Lastly, find out how Kenya treated the refugees that camped outside the parliament in protest, among other stories. 

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2 white South Africans arrested over video of a black man forced into a coffin

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Two white South Africans who were filmed forcing a black young man into a coffin in a video that has gone viral online have been arrested.

The men reportedly face charges of “kidnapping and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm”.
The men are due to appear in the Middleburg Magistrate Court on Wednesday.
The 20 second video showed a white man forcing a black man inside a coffin, and threatening to pour petrol over him and set it alight.

According to eNCA website, the incident took place at JM De Beer Boerdery nexy to Komati Power Station, close to Middelburg in Mpumalanga.

The video has caused widespread outrage.
The victim, Victor Rethabile Mlotshwa, was resisting and could be heard screaming as his captors – named as Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Martins Jacksonthen – threatened to put a snake inside the coffin.
It is not clear what happened to Mr Mlotshwa after the filming ended.
The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said: “This humiliation can be based on nothing else but his blackness, which means it is in actual fact a humiliation of black people as a whole.”

“The leadership of the EFF will be attending the court proceedings. We believe that is one of the important cases that still proves the place of black people in this society.”
“There is no way that, that black man would’ve been treated like that except because of the colour of his skin.”
“His story is he was assaulted because they said that he was invading and they beat him up and tried to put him, as we all saw, in a coffin.”

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PHOTOS: Obasanjo gets Made-in-Aba shoes, says it’s how Nigeria can overcome recession

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Former Nigeria’s president Olusegun Obasanjo has said that whoever wants the country to get out of recession should buy Made-in-Nigeria goods. 
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State delivered some pairs of made in Aba shoes to Mr. Obasanjo at his home in Ogun State.

Obasanjo had, at the 2016 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum in Lagos, ordered for them through Gov. Ikpeazu, who is also the “Chief Marketing Officer” of Made-in-Aba goods.
According to Enyinnaya Appolos, Ikpeazu’s chief press secretary, the governor personally delivered the shoes to the former president at the latter’s Hilltop mansion in Ogun state.
Speaking, Obasanjo said: “Governor, I can’t thank you enough, and through you, I cannot thank my brothers and my sisters who have decided to adorn me with these wonderful, classy and classic shoes made in our land by our own people.
“For me, this is very significant in many ways. In fact, let me deliver to you a message from The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) which they ask me to deliver to you.
“Afreximbank is spearheading made in Africa, and they came during their annual meeting. The message they left for me to you is that they want to establish an industrial park in Aba to encourage production and exportation of goods made in Africa.
“And if the shoes you gave me here, which I am wearing one of them, feeling very comfortable on my feet, if they are good for me, I believe they should be good for Africa, and for anybody in Nigeria and indeed for anybody in the world.
“When we use what we make by ourselves for ourselves, others will simply join us in using them because we are proud of them. These shoes are so comfortable and they are so good. .
“Anybody watching me, no matter how high or low, who wants to help Nigeria get out of recession quickly should call the makers of these shoes in Aba to make for them.”

Abia State government
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Obasanjo wanted life presidency, not third term, Atiku insists

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Former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar has insisted that ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to pave the way for a lifetime presidency and not just a third term in office.

Atiku said this in an interview with a quarterly magazine published by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Zero Tolerance.

The former vice-president said, initially, it was assumed that the plan was to modify the constitution so that Obasanjo could serve a third, four-year term as President.
He, however, said the aspect of tenure limitation was carefully removed so that Obasanjo could be President for life.
When asked why he and Obasanjo were at loggerheads towards the end of their tenure, he said, “My offence was that I disagreed with him on the amendment of the constitution to remove tenure/term limits or what was popularly called the ‘third term agenda’.
“In fact, he sent the then Attorney-General and Prof. Jerry Gana to my office to bring the draft amendments to the constitution. After going through (them), I found out that tenure limits had been removed. In other words, he could be President for life.
“I then asked them that ‘if I send you to the President, can you deliver this message?’ They said yes. I said ‘go and tell him I will not support it and (I) will fight it’.”
Atiku said due to his disagreement with Obasanjo, the ex-president decided to tag him as a corrupt person.
The former vice-president said the then Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, accused him of corruption but later came to him to apologise.
He said, “When he came to ask me for forgiveness, I said if you want me to forgive you, Nuhu, go to the same television stations where you said I was corrupt and say you now (have) realised that I am not corrupt.
“Then he said ‘sir, you have forgiven so many people who have offended you publicly without them going to TV stations to apologise to you’ and I said, ‘your case is different because first of all, I helped to found the EFCC’.
 “I was instrumental to your appointment, so, I believe I have contributed to your development and this is how you are paying me back. In any case, he kept on apologising and I said, ‘okay, no problem. That closed the chapter’.”
Atiku denied media reports that a United States Senate report accused him of laundering $40m in the US between 2000 and 2008.
The former vice-president confirmed that he did transfer money to the US but it was not illegal.
He added, “It was an allegation which was not proved. It was my legitimate money which I transferred to the US; there was nothing (wrong) about it. More so, I was not indicted in that report. They only said suspicious funds but I proved before the Senate committee that they were not suspicious.”
Atiku explained that the accusations emanated from his dealings with a Louisiana congressman, William Jefferson.
He explained that Jefferson had approached him for a communications project but he referred the American to the minister of communications.
Atiku said the US lawmaker collected $100,000 from a woman under the pretext of using it to bribe him (Atiku).
The ex-vice-president said he, however, rejected the money which he described as too little for a man of his status.
He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation subsequently searched his wife’s US home but nothing incriminating was found.
Atiku said, “Apparently, I didn’t know he (Jefferson) had duped a lady and collected marked money from her in my name. Unknown to him, the FBI were on his trail. But, of course, there was no way he could give me money because what was $100,000 to me?
“Eventually, my wife’s residence was searched and nothing was found but when his residence was searched, of course, the money was found there and he was convicted. I was not even called as a witness.”
PUNCH
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Gambia notifies UN of withdrawal from ICC

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The Gambia has notified the United Nations that it is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, the third African country to give formal notice of a pullout, a UN spokesman said Monday.

South Africa and Burundi also ignored appeals from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to reverse their decisions and have sent letters confirming that they are quitting the ICC.
“We have received the official, formal notification, which has now been processed,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Banjul’s decision to pull out of the court struck a personal blow against the tribunal’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian lawyer and former justice minister.
Gambian Information Minister Sheriff Bojang charged that the ICC had been used “for the persecution of Africans and especially their leaders” while ignoring crimes committed by the West.
Gambia’s withdrawal will take effect one year after the letter was received on November 4.
Kenya, Namibia and Uganda are among other African countries that have indicated they, too, are considering pulling out of the Rome statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.
AFP
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Former Sultan of Sokoto and father of detained NSA, Ibrahim Dasuki, dies

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A former Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki is dead. 

He died on Monday at the age of 92.

Family source said Dasuki died at the Turkish Hospital in Abuja after a protracted illness.

The source said Dasuki died of kidney problem. He is said to have been on kidney dialyses for nearly two years.

He will be buried by 2pm on Tuesday according to Islamic rites.


Dasuki was the father of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the 18th Sultan of Sokoto.

The family source said as his health deteriorated, the son, Sambo, who has been in detention for alleged arms deals fraud was taken to see him at the Turkish hospital last week.

Dasuki was dethroned as the Sultan by the Abacha government in 1996 amd then taken to Jalingo where we was placed on exile.

He was the son of Haliru Ibn Barau who held the title of Sarkin Yamma and who was the district head of Dogon Daji. He started Quranic education in 1928.

In 1984, he was appointed chairman of the Committee for the Review of Local Government Administration in Nigeria. The government was tasked with the objective of recommending ideas on how to curb the machinations of state governments in local government affairs and how local governments can encourage rural development.

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ISIS commander Abu Nassim wanted by Italy arrested in Sudan

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A veteran commander of the Islamic State group who was convicted in Italy of terrorist recruitment has been arrested in Sudan, an Italian lawmaker said Monday.

Giacomo Stucchi, a senator who chairs the parliamentary committee that oversees Italy’s secret services, said Italian intelligence had played a key role in tracking down the jihadist known as Abu Nassim, a Tunisian national who was until recently reported to be leading a group of IS fighters around the port of Sabratha in Libya.

“I would like to express my satisfaction over the anti-terrorist operation that has led to the arrest in Sudan of the Tunisian terrorist Moez Fezzani,” Stucchi said, using Abu Nassim’s real name.
Abu Nassim lived in Italy for most of his 20s. He subsequently fought in Afghanistan and Syria before reportedly moving to Libya in 2014.
He first arrived in Italy in 1989 to work on building sites. Suspected of trying to radicalise and recruit other Arab immigrants, he disappeared in 1997 and resurfaced in Pakistan, on his way to join the late Osama bin Laden’s forces in Afghanistan.
He was arrested by US forces in 2001 and held at the Bagram airbase detention facility. From there he was was transferred to Italy in 2009 after prosecutors filed charges of terrorist recruitment related to his previous stay.
He was acquitted in 2012 and deported to Tunisia, only to be convicted on appeal in his absence the following year. By then he was already fighting in Syria.
Tunisia issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the March 2015 Bardo Museum attack in Tunis, in which gunmen killed 21 tourists and a policeman.
AFP
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SSS raid on Bureau De Change operators worsens dollar scarcity

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Suspicion and fear permeates Lagos parallel market as traders struggle to come to terms with last week’s raid by security operatives, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

The situation worsened the scarcity of the greenback as traders’ fear that men of the State Security Service (SSS) were still disguising as potential foreign exchange buyers in the market.
A currency trader, who pleaded anonymity, said the situation might further erode the gains made by the CBN in ensuring the sale of the proceeds of Diaspora remittances to BDCs.
Meanwhile, currency traders said that it was difficult to put a price on the dollar since it had become scarce.
However, the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N560 and N500 at the parallel market.
At the BDC window, a dollar traded at N385/N400, CBN controlled rate, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N555 and N500, respectively.
The Naira lost 25 kobo at the interbank market to close at N305.25, from N304.75 recorded on Friday.
Some operatives of the SSS had on Thursday raided some unregistered BDCs and parallel market traders over an alleged arbitrary sale of forex above the official price. NAN
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Arms deal: It took us ten days to count the N1.2bn cash collected by Agbele, Fayose’s aide – Witness

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The EFCC, on Monday, November 14, 2016 continued the examination of its first prosecution witness, PW1, Alade Oluseye Sunday, on a case of alleged fraud against Abiodun Agbele, an aide to the governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja.

Sunday, a manager and Branch Head of the Zenith Bank Plc., Akure, whose evidence started on Thursday, October 27, 2016, maintained that the sum of N1,219,490,000 (one billion, two hundred and nineteen million, four hundred and ninety thousand naira) that was conveyed via two aircrafts were handed over to him by the first defendant (Agbele).
“The money was mostly in N1000 notes while the rest were in N500 bills. Agbele gave us the instruction to transfer the monies to different accounts. Some were paid into De Privateer Limited, some into Spotless investment limited while some where paid into Ayodele Fayose’s account”, Sunday maintained.
The witness, while reading from exhibit AA1B stated that, N100million was credited to Spotless Investments; N219.490million was credited to De Privateer Limited; another N300million was credited to De Privateer Limited; another N200million was credited to De Privateer Limited; N200million was also credited to De Privateer Ltd; N137million was credited to Ayodele Fayose’s account and the balance N263 million was taken by Abiodun Agbele to Ado Ekiti.
“I saw Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, come down from the aircraft to speak with Agbele”, he said.
Under cross-examination by Agbele’s counsel, Mike Ozekome, Sunday maintained that he had never met the first defendant and had never discussed any money matters with him prior to June 2014.“I got worried when I saw the huge amount of money conveyed by the aircrafts that day. It took us ten working days to count the money and each day, the uncounted sum is stored in the strong room as ‘boxed’ cash”, said Sunday.
Asked whether he reported the transaction as suspicious to any authority, the witness said he did not because it was not his job to do so.
The case has been adjourned to November 17, 2016 for further hearing.
Agbele is facing an 11-count charge for allegedly diverting N4.6billion from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
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Femi Fani-Kayode released from prison

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Former aviation minister and spokesperson to Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has regained his freedom  after spending 24 days in EFCC detention and Kuje prisons.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Jude Ndukwe, Mr. Fani-Kayode was released after meeting all the conditions of bail that was granted to him by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
“After 24 days in detention at the EFCC and Kuje prison and after meeting all the conditions of bail that was granted to him by the Federal High Court in Abuja, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has been released. He gives thanks to God for everything and he has asked me to convey his heartfelt appreciation and love to all those that prayed for and encouraged him and his family at this difficult time and indeed throughout this ordeal.
“He will now focus on getting the medical attention that he needs. He wishes to let all those that have offered him support and that have stood by him throughout this period know that his resolve to help build a better Nigeria and stand up for righteousness and truth remains strong. No matter what comes our way we trust the Lord and we believe that we shall prevail” the statement read.
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