November 2020 – Page 31

Post Date : November 22, 2020

Teacher ‘Rapes’ Minor To Death In Bayelsa

A 3-year-old girl was allegedly raped to death by a teacher in one of the government secondary schools in Bayelsa State, Mr. Promise Sylvanus in Ogun. The 30-year-old teacher, in the school located in Toroegbeni, Sagbama Local Government Area of the state, was said to have waylaid and molested the girl twice in March 2020 near the community stream where she had gone to take her bath. The father of the girl, Mr. Pinaowei Gana, said the girl did not initially report the abuse until she took ill. “She kept it to herself and was bleeding little by little until two months later, when we noticed some strange smell while she was sick. We took her to a local massage therapist and he told us that the child has been defiled and infected. “We took her back to tell my landlord and some elders who questioned her, and she confirmed it was the teacher. The teacher pleaded that I should not go to the police but that he will pay for her treatment and settle with the family. He took her to a private hospital in Opolo where she was admitted for over a week. But he came back and discharge the child without doctor’s advice and dumped her with me. Two days later, the girl died,” he explained. The deceased father also confirmed that after he raised alarm over the death of her child, “the accused and his entire family packed out of the area.” The father to the accused however offered to and deposited the corpse of the girl at a mortuary along Amassoma Road pending the resolution of the matter.” In a twist of events, the alleged rapist, after owning up before family and compound chiefs that he raped the deceased and paid her hospital bill, made a U-turn by filing a report at the police area command in Sagbama over alleged threat to his life by the deceased’s father. Already, some civil society groups including the Girl Response Initiative Team set up by the wife of the state governor, Mrs. Gloria Diri, and the DOF Foundation led by Barr. Dise Ogbise-Erhisere have vowed to take over the matter. Commenting on the development, the Founder of the DOF foundation, Barr. Dise Ogbise-Erhisere, confirmed that the deceased died from complications arising from rape. “A crime has been committed and the culprit has admitted to the crime. The police need to ensure he is arrested and prosecuted. “We urge the police authorities to transfer the case from Area Command in Sagbama to the state police headquarters in Yenagoa for proper investigation,” She said. When contacted, the police spokesman, SP Asinim Butswat, said the rape case has not been officially reported to the police.

Post Date : November 22, 2020

Trump suffers serious legal defeat in Pennsylvania

US President Donald Trump suffered yet another legal defeat in Pennsylvania on Saturday as he lost a suit seeking a court order to discard millions of mail-in ballots in the state. Federal district Judge Matthew Brann sitting in Williamsport described the case as “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations”. “…This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence. “In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state”, Brann said. The case in which Trump’s friend Rudy Giuliani was the lead counsel, marked the latest failure of the Trump campaign to challenge the election results. President-elect Joe Biden won the state with more than 80,000 votes. In the 2016 election, Trump won the state, which normally vote for Democrats. Trump lawyer Giuliani had alleged before the court, what he alleged to be a nationwide conspiracy of widespread voter fraud. Giuliani, rumoured to be paid $20,000 a day for leading Trump’s legal charge, argued that the president was the victim of a nationwide conspiracy. ‘You’d have to be a fool to think this was an accident,’ Giuliani said It’s a widespread nationwide voter fraud of which this is a part.’ Giuliani did not raise complaints about voting machines in court, instead claiming Democratic-controlled counties didn’t allow Republicans to see ‘a single absentee ballot’ during counting. ‘I used to vote by absentee ballot a lot, because I traveled a lot,’ Giuliani acknowledged during his argument. Mark Aronchick, a lawyer representing several Pennsylvania counties, sounded exasperated with Giuliani’s claims and said that the former New York mayor was “living in a fantasy world.” “Dismiss this case so we can move on to the real business of this country,” Aronchick told Brann. “Let’s end this.” With the loss of the case, Trump’s already-remote prospects of altering the election’s outcome, is further doomed.

Post Date : November 22, 2020

Boston court set to jail Nigerians Iyalekhue, Osawaru for online scam

Two Nigerians, Nosayamen Iyalekhue and Esogie Osawaru have pleaded guilty for defrauding victims using various online scams during the COVID-19 pandemic. While Osawaru pleaded guilty 12 November, Iyalekhue, 33, pleaded guilty to one count charge of wire fraud on Thursday. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel in Boston, Massachusetts has scheduled sentencing for March 4, 2021. Both risk 20 year jail terms. Iyalekhue, a former teller at TD Bank in Norwood, Massachusetts from 2018-2019, was arrested in June 2020 along with 27 year-old Osawaru. Iyalekhue and Osawaru participated from 2016 in a series of romance, pandemic unemployment insurance, and other online scams designed to defraud victims by convincing them to send money to accounts controlled by them. They were caught when they started having unemployment benefits deposited into their accounts in May 2020. To carry out the scams, the defendants used false foreign passports in the names of others, but with their photos, to open numerous bank accounts, and in turn directed the victims to send money to these accounts. Iyalekhue and Osawaru then rapidly withdrew the victims’ money from various bank branches and ATMs, often multiple times during a single day. The schemes included collecting unemployment insurance in the name of others during the COVID-19 pandemic. The charging statute provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, and forfeiture. The defendant is also subject to deportation proceedings. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Lelling’s Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case

Post Date : November 22, 2020

Gunmen abduct Nasarawa APC chairman Shekwo

Some unidentified gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted the chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State, Mr Philip Tatari Shekwo. The Police Commissioner in the state Mr. Emmanuel Bola Longe, confirmed the kidnapping to newsmen on Sunday. Longe said unidentified gunmen in large number stormed the residence of the APC chairman near Dunamis Church, Bukan Sidi, in Lafia, yesterday around 11pm and took him away to an unknown destination. Mr Longe, added that security agencies had reacted swiftly by deploying personnel to different forest locations in the state to ensure safe release of the chairman by his abductors.

Post Date : November 22, 2020

We will honour outcome of election, US lawmakers tell Trump

A defiant Donald Trump again falsely insisted he “ won ” reelection in his first public appearance for a week Friday, as the US president appeared increasingly isolated over his long -shot bid to stay in power . Claiming against all odds that a path to victory remains viable , and facing pushback from fellow Republicans alarmed by his effort to overturn results , Trump invited Michigan lawmakers to the White House as part of a bid to subvert the will of voters in key states . But if he expected them to parrot the president ’ s line and publicly support efforts to overturn election results in Michigan — which Biden won by 155, 000 votes — he was mistaken. The Republican legislators stood firm , saying they would “ honor the election ’ s outcome ” . Also , Republican Senator Mitt Romney launched a withering attack on Trump for pressuring local officials , saying : “ It is difficult to imagine a worse , more undemocratic action by a sitting American president . ” Fellow Senate Republicans Ben Sasse and Joni Ernst also slammed the tactics. “ We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan , ” the state’ s Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield said in a joint statement after meeting Trump. “ Michigan ’ s certification process should be a deliberate process free from threat and intimidation , ” they added . The statement came after Trump made brief comments about the election while announcing new pharmaceutical pricing plans at a rare post- election address to reporters . “ Big pharma ran millions of dollars of negative advertisements against me during the campaign — which I won , by the way, but you know , we ’ ll find that out , ” Trump said . He exited the briefing room without taking questions . Logic dictates that Trump’ s days in the White House are numbered, with key states that sealed President -elect Biden ’ s win rapidly approaching deadlines to certify their election results. In a second blow Friday to Trump’ s election interference efforts , Georgia became the first of those states to formally certify its results, affirming that Biden won in the southern state by 12, 670 votes , or 0. 26 percent out of some five million ballots cast . “ Numbers don ’ t lie, ” said Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state in Georgia. “ The numbers reflect the verdict of the people . ” – Last – ditch effort – Trump has been waging a last-ditch effort to throw out ballots in counties that voted heavily Democratic, force recounts and otherwise delay the process of finalizing state results before the Electoral College votes to confirm the next president on December 14. In the latest in a series of presidential interventions not seen in modern US politics, he had earlier insisted on Twitter that if Georgia let him “ expose hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots , ” it would give him “ a BIG VICTORY” in the state. The president spent most of the day hunkered down in the White House , fuming about the “ Rigged Election ” and retweeting conservative personalities — including a QAnon conspiracy supporter — arguing that his rival ’ s victory was fraudulent. Senator Lamar Alexander became the latest Republican lawmaker seeking to nudge Trump into triggering a formal transition process . Biden “ has a very good chance ” of becoming the next president , Alexander said , and should be afforded “ all ” resources necessary for a smooth transfer of power . Despite Trump’ s election denial, Biden is fully preparing to take over on January 20. On Friday — his 78th birthday — Biden huddled in Wilmington , Delaware with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , the top Democrats in Congress, telling them there is “ a lot of work to do. ” Trump’ s Michigan gambit raised eyebrows among those in his party. Trump’ s legal team fights on , however . Rudy Giuliani and other lawyers hosted a conspiracy -laden press conference Thursday peddling unsupported allegations that Democratic “ crooks” committed widespread fraud to deny Trump reelection. – ‘ Never stop fighting’ – Georgia’ s certification of the results, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has carried the southern state since 1992, came as more bad news for Trump. Nevertheless Vice President Mike Pence took Trump’ s message of defiance to Georgia as he campaigned with two Republicans whose runoff elections January 5 will determine which party controls the Senate next year. “ We ’ re going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted. We ’ re going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out , ” Pence told a crowd in Canton . “ And whatever the outcome , we will never stop fighting to make America great again , ” he added , to chants of “ four more years!” While Trump scrambles without success to reverse his election loss, Biden has criticized him for not focusing on the coronavirus pandemic which has rampaged unchecked across the nation , costing 254, 000 Americans their lives . On Friday the president ’ s son Donald Trump Jr announced that he tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, but was not experiencing symptoms. AFP

Post Date : November 22, 2020

Bandits kill PDP chairman, Dako, in Katsina

The Peoples Democratic Party in Katsina State has mourned the death of its chairman for Sabuwa Local Government Area of the state, Alhaji Lawal Dako. Dako died on Friday of injuries he sustained when bandits shot at him in the council . He was then rushed to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria where he passed on . The PDP Katsina state Chairman , Alhaji Salisu Majigiri, who confirmed the development, described the current security situation in the state as worrisome . Majigiri revealed that the granddaughter of the slain party council chairman was also shot and killed by the bandits during the attack . He said , “ My party chairman in Sabuwa was shot five times by bandits who also killed his granddaughter who was with him during the attack . “ The security situation in Katsina is of great concern to us and should be to peace -loving Nigerians. “ When you are doing something and there is no positive result , you are expected to change your strategies. From all indications , the APC government in Katsina has no clue to the security problems facing the state. We are really worried. ” The 60- year -old late party chairman has been buried according to Islamic rites . The spokesman for the state police command , Gambo Isah , was yet to react to enquiries on the incident as of Sunday .

Post Date : November 21, 2020

BREAKING: Strike: We Haven’t Exempted ASUU From IPPIS — Minister of Labour

…..Strike still on, says ASUU president The Federal Government has debunked the report that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has been exempted from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, platform. Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige told Vanguard, Not TheNigerialawyer that government was quoted out of context on the matter, saying, there was no meeting it was agreed that ASUU would be exempted from the IPPIS payment platform. The Minister explained that at the meeting with the leadership of the university teachers, government agreed that ASUU members that were yet to enroll on IPPIS will be paid through the platform with which they were paid the President Muhammadu Buhari’s compassionate COVID-19 payment in the months of February and June. He further said that the platform was a hybrid platform between IPPIS and the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System, GIFMIS platform which is for the transition period, adding that no government payment will be done without IPPIS knowing. He said that IPPIS and GIFMIS would be used in paying the university teachers for the transition period, while the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS continues to undergo all the integrity test and cybersecurity test for confirmation for use Reacting to the purported exemption given to ASUU on IPPIS, the Minister said, “The situation is that you need to get our communique to ASUU, I think it is better because a lot of people are quoting us out of context saying that we abandoned the IPPIS and that we said they should not be on IPPIS, it is not true. “What we said in the meeting and what we agreed was that in the interim for the transition period that UTAS is being tested by NITDA and the Office of National Security Adviser for cyber security. “For those transition period, ASUU members that are not yet on IPPIS will be paid through the platform with which they were paid the President compassionate COVID-19 payment done to them between the months of February and June. “That platform is a hybrid platform between IPPIS and MINPSI platform for the transition period, that is what was used, it’s a hybrid. This is because no government payment will be done without IPPIS knowing. “So there is a handshake between IPPIS and MINSI platform and that was what was used in paying them for that period and so we are going to continue with that until UTAS undergoes all the integrity test and cyber security test and it is confirmed for use.” Also commenting on the new offer to ASUU, Ngige said, “The offer made is clear. You can understand it this way. Prior to meeting of yesterday, Government brought an aggregate offer of N50 billion to ASUU. N20 billion for revitalisation to show good faith that government is still with them on the issue of funding for revitalisation and pending the affirmation of the new sources of funding public education. “There is a committee on that and the committee is working on sourcing new education funds, it is a NEEDS (Needs Assessment) committee. So pending that NEEDS committee effecting a new funding source and strategy, government offered them N20 billion for revitalisation apart from the funds that are coming from TETFUNDS that is also used for revitalisation, they refused the N20 billion and said that they want N110 billion. “And that N110 billion is 50 percent of a tranche of N220 billion government said they don’t have that kind of money and then increased that N20 billion by N5 billion to become N25 billion and if it becomes N25 billion, the Earned Allowances will be raised to N40 billion immediate payment making for a total of N65 billion for revitalisation and Earned Allowances in the universities. “Government then said alternatively, ASUU can opt for the revitalisation to move up to N30 billion, while the Earned Allowances for all the unions in the universities will drop from N40 billion to N35 billion, that is the second basket offered them, either of the two. Either you choose N25 billion revitalisation plus N40 billion Earned Allowances or revitalisation of N30 billion and N35 billion Earned Allowances. ” Strike still on, says ASUU president The Academic Staff Union of Universities, on Saturday , says the eight- month-old strike by universities lecturers is still on . The organisation also said it does not operate a Twitter account . It debunked reports announcing the suspension of the ongoing industrial action as fake. The President of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi , made the clarification in an interview with The PUNCH . He said , “ ASUU does not have a Twitter account . Many people have been bombarding me with telephone calls and I can’ t answer again . If we want to call off our strike , we will address a press conference and that is how we operate. ” The PUNCH had reported Friday that the Federal Government accepted the demand by ASUU that the lecturers be exempted from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System . The government also offered to increase the Earned Allowances to university staff from N 30 billion to N 35b and the Revitalisation Fund from N 20b to N 25b . The development came after weeks of negotiations and disagreements by the FG and ASUU, which proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as its preferred payment platform . Reading out the communique at the end of a seven – hour negotiation with ASUU members in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Labour and Employment , Senator Chris Ngige, had said the government also agreed to ASUU’ s demand to pay their members ’ salary arrears from February to June through the old salary payment platform , Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System . The breakthrough in negotiations is expected to end the eight -month strike embarked on by the university lecturers as parents and students wait on ASUU to call off the strike.

Post Date : November 21, 2020

We took live bullets to Lekki tollgate, says army

The Nigerian Army says it took live rounds to Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020, when #EndSARS protesters were dispersed after two weeks of converging on the place. Ibrahim Taiwo, commander of the 81 division of the Nigerian Army, broke the news while testifying before the judicial panel the Lagos state government set up to probe the incident. Commenting on the incident while being cross examined by Olumide Fusika, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Taiwo said the live rounds were not used on protesters. He said they were meant for the protection of the army team that was deployed to restore order in the state. The army commander said while the soldiers who opened fire used blank bullets, their colleagues with live rounds were on ground to protect from suspected hoodlums who fomented trouble. More to follow…

Post Date : November 21, 2020

FREDERICK NWABUFO: Buhari’s legacy of recessions

‘Why always Buhari?’ As it was in 1984 under General Buhari, so it is in 2016 and 2020 under President Buhari? Is it by the unfortunate hands of kismet, that recession hits Nigeria every time Buhari takes charge of the country’s affairs? If the recession of the 80s under Buhari was a conspiracy by economic and political factors, to what do we attribute that of his first coming as a civilian president — and now in his second coming? Why does pestilence scourge the land, hunger ravage the population and lives lost malevolently when Buhari presides over the country? Why always Buhari? Buhari’s undoing is his wonted predilection for hierarchising ethnicity, religion and loyalty above competence. Since 1999, no president has obtrusively shown a more nepotistic aspect than Buhari. It is unarguable that the president arrays the most competence-challenged cabinet ever in the chronicle of governance in Nigeria. Yes, a recession cabinet. Here is a cabinet constituting of figures stuck in a time when the world only saw pictures in black and white — characters from Pinocchio who see social media as a threat and troglodytes who think farming with hoe and cutlass is progress. Buhari’s agriculture minister, Sabo Nanono, once said there is no hunger in Nigeria and that food is cheap in the country. Wait! Before you tag this as fake news read his exact words and be flummoxed. “I think we are producing enough to feed ourselves. I think there is no hunger in Nigeria; there could be inconveniences. When people talk about hunger in this government, I just laugh. In this country, it is fairly cheap to buy food,’’ the minister said at a press briefing to mark the 2019 World Food Day in Abuja on October 15, 2019. This is one among the foundering protagonists of the Buhari administration. When native complexion and loyalty are prioritised above competence and performance, leadership suffers. I strongly believe even if Nigeria’s constitution allows a third term and Buhari returns in 2023, recession will hit the country again. It appears anything he touches atrophies. Buhari is the type of boss every bungling brownnoser would like to work with. He rewards failure in the currency of loyalty. As long as you keep him sated with praises, you can keep your job. Why have the service chiefs who have failed in their duty of keeping the country safe not been sacked? Why are they still in office long after their retirement is due? The recession of 2016 was largely due to the incompetence of the Buhari government. Here is how Nairametrics, Nigeria’s Bloomberg, puts it: “In a nutshell, what caused the last recession (of 2016) was not entirely the fall in oil prices. Rather, the lack of sound economic policies to diversify away from the volatility of crude oil prices, whilst boosting the nation’s non-oil exports, was also a major cause.” I concede, the recent recession (2020) is a corollary of the global economic meltdown compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a steep drop in oil prices and Diaspora remittances, and the stock market is prostrate. But there were warnings of this impending doom before its fruition. What could Buhari’s recession team have done different? The World Bank in its June 25, 2020 report had projected that Nigeria would slip into a severe economic recession, the worst since the 1980s. Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank country director for Nigeria, recommended: “While the long-term economic impact of the global pandemic is uncertain, the effectiveness of the government’s response is important to determine the speed, quality, and sustainability of Nigeria’s economic recovery. Besides immediate efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and stimulate the economy, it will be even more urgent to address bottlenecks that hinder the productivity of the economy and job creation.’’ Even if the 2020 recession was inevitable, the Buhari administration hastened its climax and ossified the severity by its harebrained economic policies. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Buhari government whimsically closed the land borders, taking food out of the table of many Nigerians. The World Bank in the same report entitled, ‘Nigeria in Times of COVID-19: Laying Foundations for Strong Economic Recovery’, impliedly said the land border closure of 2019 made the 2020 doomsday inexorable. Talk about heating the furnace. It said: “Analysis of the impact of the 2019 border closure found that it contributed to higher inflation—especially true for food, despite the relatively little impact on agricultural output. Because of the rises in food prices, Nigerian consumers now need to pay 2 percent more for the same basket of goods, with negative effects on their consumption.” Why always Buhari? I think, with the latest recession, Buhari is the only Nigerian president that has presided over the country under multiple recessions. What a legacy! Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist Twitter @FredrickNwabufo

Post Date : November 21, 2020

ICYMI: Nigeria officially slides into worst recession since 1987

Nigeria has officially slid into its worst economic recession in over three decades, TheCable can report. According to gross domestic product numbers released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday, the nation recorded a contraction of 3.62 percent in the third quarter of 2020. This is the second consecutive quarterly GDP decline since the recession of 2016. The cumulative GDP for the first nine months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48 percent. The last time Nigeria recorded such cummulative GDP was in 1987, when GDP declined by 10.8 percent. According to World Bank and NBS figures monitored by TheCable, this is also the second recession under President Muhamadu Buhari’s democratic reign — and his fourth as head of state. More to follow…