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Falana, The Baby And The Bathwater By Azu Ishiekwene

The statement on Sunday by a group led by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), about “unrealistic” recommendations contained in the 2014 National Conference report must be turning heads in political circles.

Apart from the fact that Falana was a member of the Conference that made the recommendations, he’s a man whose views on any subject cannot be taken lightly.
It appears that out of the dozens of recommendations by the Conference published in two separate reports of 762 pages and 360 pages, the only noteworthy thing, according to Falana, is the recommendation for the justiciability of Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution.
“The most important recommendation adopted at the Conference,” the statement said, “is that the fundamental objectives enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution be made justiciable. We wish to emphasize that where education and health are made accessible to all citizens, a living minimum wage is paid as when due, unemployment benefits and pensions are paid promptly, housing is provided for, the rights of citizens to live peacefully in any part of the country is guaranteed as envisaged by Chapter 2, the threats to national unity will disappear.”
If, like me, you are sometimes constipated by the language of politics, what Falana means is that once citizens can enforce the objectives currently used as decoration in Chapter 2 of the Constitution, including the rights to education and health, among others, everything would be fine.
That may be true in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in Shehu Sani’s zoo, or perhaps in the museum of some old socialist state. But it’s very, very unlikely that in Nigeria of 2017 a socialist peace offering, even if backed by law, can get us out of the present mess, which promises to get worse before it could get better.
Let me be clear. I was not a huge fan of the Conference because I thought that former President Goodluck Jonathan wanted to use it as red herring. I thought it dubious, if not subversive, for him to delay the inauguration of the Conference till the tail end of his administration when he would be unlikely to carry its resolutions through.
But my objection is not important. I have since read summaries of the Conference report including a recent public lecture on the subject by Actuary and former Chairman of PUNCH, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola.
We cannot seriously address a number of the fundamental political problems facing us without looking at the report of the Conference, and perhaps those of previous ones too.
It would be pathetic to discard the Conference report or to assume that making Chapter 2 justiciable alone will solve all our problems.
Justiciability is important; but to put it above everything else is like striving after the wind, and this is why: the chapter depends essentially on government providing a host of social services and infrastructure failing which citizens can go to court to enforce their rights. It’s founded on the nanny state model.
The question is, where would the resources to support the system come from? How will such a system be financed and who will pay for what?
If, for example, Zamfara State decides that education or health is not its priority, why should we have a federal constitution that not only imposes a different set of priorities on Zamfara but also finances it from elsewhere at the risk of litigation?
Falana could argue that a responsible government, even under the present dispensation, can find more than enough money to make the system work, but it is precisely because the current system is not working that we’re where we are.
To talk about justiciability without talking about how the system will be funded or the impact of religion and socio-cultural beliefs and practices and other factors that make spending on social welfare very, very expensive is to stand the matter on one leg. It won’t work.
In any case, why do we think we can continue to indulge a system where the center, hundreds of miles away, presumes to know what is best for the constituent parts? What is the sense in a system where the constituent parts are shielded from the consequences of the choices they make?
If Yobe wants to spend hundreds of millions of naira yearly to sponsor pilgrims, for example, or Imo wants to discount ground rent for churches into order to produce enough missionaries for export to Rome, why should we insist that education and health must be their priorities?
I’m not suggesting that the center is so useless that it should be done away with. But for it to be efficient and serviceable it must carry fewer loads.
It’s, in fact, to the credit of the Conference that under the recommendation for “devolution of powers”, it proposed to remove nine of the 68 items contained in the Exclusive List, leaving only matters considered essential for now.
There are a number of other recommendations by the Conference that are also noteworthy. These include the reduction in the number of Federal ministers to 19, part-time membership of the National Assembly, removal of the immunity clause, and the creation of a constitutional court, an anti-corruption court and state courts of appeal.
Others are the separation of the offices of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the creation of revenue commissions in the states, the abolition state electoral commissions, the introduction of community policing, and the introduction of independent candidates, etcetera.
Falana should be a proud promoter and defender of these items, especially since he did not file a minority report after the conference.
His concern about the Conference recommendation for the creation of 18 additional states is valid, but surely as a strong advocate of equality how can he justify the existing situation where the North West has seven states, the other four zones six, while the South East has five?
In a federation where dubious numbers determine who gets what, what the current state structure means is that while the North West, for example, has 92 representatives in the Federal House, the South East has only 41.
Compared with the North West, the South East is under-represented by more than a factor of two to one. How can justiciability alone address this gross and fundamental injustice?
By the way, Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, also tried to discredit the work of the Conference recently by claiming that representation at the Conference was poor and that there’s a lack of clarity about what “restructuring” really means.
He is wrong. It’s true that his party, the All Progressives Congress, refused to nominate representatives. But the records I have seen showed that the 492 delegates drawn from 24 groups covered a considerably broad spectrum of the Nigerian society that no honest opinion can ignore.
It’s interesting that while Falana and El-Rufai can hardly be described as ideological soul mates, on the contemporary issue of restructuring, they appear bound by a common contrarian thread.
Interestingly, too, El-Rufai, the prince of the North West, which is the biggest beneficiary of the skewed state system, has just been appointed chairman of the APC committee to “articulate the party’s position on restructuring.” Except if this is a ploy to prompt the man to commit political suicide, the matter is dead on arrival.
Can we still save the baby of the Conference report and the call for restructuring and dispense with the bathwater?
Ishiekwene is the MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine and board member of the Paris-based Global Editors Network.

Court Didn't Consider Constitution Before Stopping Melaye's Recall, INEC Tells New Judge

The Independent National Electoral Commission has said the interim order stopping the process of recalling the senator representing the Kogi West, Dino Melaye, was made by Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, without considering key provisions of the Constitution.

The commission made this submission in its fresh motion filed on July 14, 2017 before the vacation judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, requesting that the interim order granted on July 6, 2017 be vacated.
In the motion filed on July 14, INEC contended that the interim order was granted without Justice Tsoho considering the constitutional provision mandating it to conduct a referendum for Melaye's recall within 90 days from the date it received the constituents' petition to that effect.
Justice Tsoho had on July 6, 2017 granted the ex parte interim order stopping INEC from going ahead with the recall process and adjourned the case until September 29.
But INEC's lawyer, Mr. Sulayman Ibrahim, had filed the application seeking the setting aside of the interim order before Justice Dimgba, being the only one sitting as the Federal High Court's vacation judge in Abuja.
INEC has already filed a counter-affidavit backed by a written address on July 14 in opposition to the main suit which was instituted by Melaye.
Justice Dimgba, on Thursday, fixed July 27 for hearing of the motion seeking accelerated hearing of the case.
Through his lead counsel, Ozekhome, Melaye had on June 23 sued the INEC seeking an order restraining the electoral body from conducting any referendum aimed at recalling him.
Melaye in his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/587/2017 described the recall petitions as fictitious.
Melaye, through his suit, urged the court to declare the petitions submitted to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, as "illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, invalid, null, void and of no effect whatsoever".
He also asked the court to void the recall process on the grounds that it was commenced in breach of his fundamental right to fair hearing.

See the court documents below:
INEC court docs.pdf

Police Confirm One Dead In Apapa Mayhem

The police yesterday confirmed the death of one person in Apapa during a protest by tanker drivers.

Unofficial reports, however, said three persons died in the mayhem.
The drivers’ protest started when one of them was shot dead in front of Diamond Bank by a mobile police officer.
The policeman allegedly fled to Sterling Bank on Burma Road to stay with his colleagues there.
To avert an attack, the policemen attached to the bank started shooting into the air.
Two drivers were allegedly killed and one was injured in the shooting.
An eyewitness, Sunday Abiodun, said enraged by the action, the protesting drivers and their motor boys, torched both banks.
Abiodun said: “This morning, a police officer attached to Diamond Bank, asked one of the truck drivers operating here at Apapa port, to give him N1,000 and the man said he was not the owner of the vehicle parked in front of the bank, that he just came to pick his phone inside the truck. While asking the man to give him the money or move his vehicle, the next thing we had was a gun shot and the man died instantly in front of the bank.”
Attempts by men of the Lagos State Fire Service, Iponri, to put out the fire, was rebuffed by the drivers.
It was gathered that the firemen left for fear of being assaulted by the drivers and their trucks vandalised.
The Nation gathered that it took the combined efforts of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives, Area B police command, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECEROFT and Nigerian Army Signal Corps to contain the situation.
The security operatives also stopped the rioters from setting a tank farm ablaze.
The RRS operatives led by their Commander, Tunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), also prevented hoodlums from looting the affected tanks.
A senior officer, who was ground, said: “Those tanker drivers are very irrational. When the policemen attached to one of the banks shot at the tanker driver, they regrouped and stormed the bank in anger.
“They first demanded that the policeman who shot their colleague be released to them. When their demands proved abortive, they took the law into their hands.
“They contributed fuel from their tanks and set the bank ablaze. The entire situation caused a stampede as both workers and bankers scrambled to escape from the back of the bank to safety.
“The drivers were still on the rampage in the first bank when they heard that the policeman had taken refuge in the next bank.
“Armed with that information, they simply went over to the said bank and carried out same carnage, irrespective of the presence of innocent bystanders.
“They also attacked innocent policemen going about their own businesses. They stabbed no fewer than three policemen who didn’t know what was happening.
“Seventeen of them were arrested. The mobile man was also handed over to the DPO Apapa. Calm has returned to the place now.”
The Police said they had arrested the officer, who fired the fatal shot and 17 others over the disturbance.
Lagos State Command’s spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the police went to the scene following a distress call from the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of a new generation bank.
“The caller said hoodlums were trying to take laws into their hands by setting the bank ablaze following the shooting of a tanker driver by a policeman, attached to the bank after a altercation,” he said.
Famous-Cole said operatives of the command including the Area Commander Apapa, RRS and other security agents rushed to the scene.
The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, was also there.
Famous-Cole said if not for the police’s quick intervention, the hoodlums would have wreaked more havoc on Apapa.
He explained that a mob had gathered in front of the bank demanding the release of the policeman to it.
The bank, he said, refused, leading to the arson and attack on another bank branch on Wharf Road.
The fire at the banks, the ASP said, was put out by the police and other security agencies. He said the driver whose name he simply gave as Azeez was confirmed dead on arrival on hospital.
“Contrary to reports making rounds in the news, only one tanker driver was shot. The policeman has been arrested and would be charged to court immediately. The Lagos State Police Command would like to address the members of the public about the rate of impunity and jungle justice in the state. We are no longer going to tolerate the act of lawlessness and impunity by members of the public.”
Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), chairman Chief Remi Ogungbemi told The Nation that the situation had been brought under control.
“The situation is calm and the police are on top of the situation. I have told my members to calm down because they cannot use wrong to correct wrong,” he said
Sterling Bank said the policeman ran into its premises to avoid being mobbed, urging its customers to patronage nearby branches.
The bank said: “An armed mobile policeman fleeing from an irate mob after shooting a tanker driver disrupted banking operations at the Sterling Bank branch on Creek Road this morning. He ran into the premises of the bank to escape being lynched.
“Security operatives attached to the bank disarmed and arrested the fleeing mobile policeman but did not hand him over to the irate mob.
“The mob got upset and attacked the bank with the intention of unleashing mayhem on staff and customers. The branch’s reception area was vandalised and set ablaze.
“The security operatives attached to the branch prevented the mob from entering the branch while evacuating staff and customers before the arrival of police reinforcement. The branch has been temporarily shut down.
“We wish to inform all our customers that normal services will continue at nearby branches and through all our electronic channels. Sterling Bank is working with security agencies to resolve the issue.”
Petroleum Tankers Driver (PTD) said none of its members was shot dead.
It said reports that some of its members were killed by the police, after loading fuel in Apapa, Lagos, was a figment of the imagination of those who wish out to cause crisis between the two groups.
PTD’s South-West spokesman Tayo Aboyeji, in a statement, said tanker drivers, the police and other security operatives were like members of the same family.
Aboyeji said: "The police, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and its various arms are established by law, to discharge their duties, without interference. They mutually benefit each other and have not engaged themselves in fracas. Members of PTD have not involved in any act of criminality or lawlessness," he said.

CONGRATULATION TO MUSTAFI

Very happy to let you know of the birth of our daughter!

Arsenal player and german national team pleays shkodran mustafi take to the is twitter and congratulation is family and feel happy

CSNAC Seeks CPC Intervention In Fraudulent Visa SMS Charges By VFS

The Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) has urged the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to investigate the activities and business operations of VFS Global Services, a visa application company carrying out business in Abuja and Lagos, for charging a non-negotiable rate of N400 (Four Hundred Naira) for SMS.

In a petition forwarded to the Director-General of the Commission and signed by the network's chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, CSNAC said it is demanding an urgent investigation of the VFS Global Services because it is fraudulent, unconscionable and exploitative.
The petition read: "We write to formally lay a complaint against the business operations and actions of VFS Global Services and Operation; a visa application company carrying out business in Abuja and Lagos.
"The said company as part of its purported services to be rendered to visa applicants in Abuja and Lagos charge a non-negotiable rate of N400 (Four Hundred Naira) for SMS to be sent to visa applicants as regards the status of their application and incidental matters."
CSNAC noted further that the said service has been seen to be ineffective, fraudulent, unconscionable and exploitative.
It raised the issue of unconscionable charges and exploitation of consumers, adding that, "the VFS Global Services & Operation Company charge a mandatory SMS rate from visa applicants and the said service is designed in such a way that same is not optional, thus stifling competition and imposing the excessively high rate on the applicants. This is in utter breach of consumers’ right to choose and access to variety of quality products and services at competitive prices.
"The average amount chargeable by all communication companies for SMS is the rate of N4 (Four Naira) only and the said rate is way cheaper when utilizing bulk SMS service which comes at an average rate of about N1.50k (One Naira, Fifty Kobo) only, we are reliably convinced that VFS Global utilizes the said cheaper alternative.
"On the whole, in a normal visa application, the SMS notification usually required to be sent is less than four SMS which at most will cost about N20 (Twenty Naira) only, leaving an excess of about N380 (Three Hundred Naira) unaccounted for, in an obvious exploitation of applicants and an overcharge aimed at depriving them of their hard earned money."
Similarly, the coalition identified the inefficiency of SMS service, stating that, "disturbingly, the said VFS Global Services and operation company in an overwhelming majority of established cases negligently and or fraudulently fail to send the relevant SMS to update applicants of the status of their application as promised despite the un-refundable payment made to that effect.
"This is in a flagrant breach of consumers’ right to satisfaction of basic needs, as the said company owes a duty to ensure that their services meet the standard of quality promised such that there is value for money in the transaction.
"The aforementioned breaches ought not to be condoned in our society where the values of the Consumer Protection Council are entrenched in our laws, especially at a time where there are vigorous attempts at stamping out corruption practices and entrenching transparency in both public and private sectors of the economy.
"On the above basis, we hereby demand an urgent investigation of the VFS Global Services and operation company in the light of the above complaints in other to promote a robust and effective consumer protection and satisfaction in trade/services experience. We also request that appropriate sanctions be meted out to the said company where found wanting according to the reports of your good office’s investigations and the relevant provisions of the law," CSNAC said. ‎

Orijin Will See Me Through By Pius Adesanmi

When a culture that defines economic opportunity as the massive manufacture of inferior material quick fixes for Africa (China) meets, falls in love with, and marries a culture that is pathologically resistant to maintenance (Nigeria), the results can be devastating.
From Lagos or Abuja to the hinterland, you keep changing rooms within a hotel. With every call for a room change, you notice the exasperation in the voices and on the faces of hotel staff who don't understand all the fuss. Then you start changing hotels when you run out of options within a particular hotel.
You used this same hotel just last year. This same room. Everything brand new, gleaming from China. Now one or two bulbs are dead. The toilet roll holder is bent or broken. The shower curtain is torn. The water heater in the bathroom is heating water at half capacity. The toilet is no longer flushing properly and needs to be fixed. The list goes on. Very little things that are hard to spot because everything is still gleaming and luxurious.
For every complaint, there is an explanation and a suggested solution accompanied with a lot of begging.
The toilet is not flushing? Oga please, just run water in the bucket and pour it into the toilet bowl. E go flush. We will try to fix it tomorrow. Tomorrow usually never comes.
The toilet seat is broken? Oga, please just lift it up and sit on the rim of the toilet.
The water heater is not bringing the water to a boil? Oga please, we will bring you hot water now now from the kitchen.
Here, the solution is never in fixing the problem but in making the mediocrity nicer and more accommodating. And from Maitama to Nyanya, Banana Island to Okokomaiko, this is the prevalent culture.
The soul begins to get weary. This is your world. This is your soil. This is your soul. These are your peeps. The oxygen of this land defines you. How can you be an outsider to their culture? Are you an outsider? Where is the border between fastidiousness and insistence on the basic little things that define human dignity in the modern world?
Are you being overbearing and unreasonable? Are you the arrogant importer of the cultures, standards, and values of other lands into this space? After all, these rooms that you keep abandoning for other rooms have been inhabited every day by other Nigerians since you were last here a year ago.
The Nigerians who inhabited these rooms flushed their shit by pouring water from a bucket; saw nothing wrong with a dead bulb because the lighting in the room is still great; did not insist on the water heater being fixed because hot water arrives promptly from the kitchen in a bucket. They lived in and standardized this mediocrity. If they can stay in this sort of luxurious hotel, they are the elite. They are the ones who establish, define, and drive culture in the land. Their culture invariably defines the culture of the land. Yet this room is like this because they have lived it as their world and culture. They have made love in it, checked out and tipped generously without seeing anything wrong.
In order not to be an alienated diasporan always grumbling and looking down on things, you say, ok, maybe there are little compromises you can make for and with the culture. In the 21st century, somebody will loot, build a hotel worth billions of naira, and put only one socket near the toilet, far from the bed area. It means you have to go and charge your laptop and phones near the toilet.
Professors Adeleke Adeeko and Tejumola Olaniyan have their own little compromise: bring your two-kilometre long extension wire box from the US to avoid stories that touch. They travel with backpacks the size of a Dangote container, filled with little things that can help you make your hotel room fit for human dignity as defined by 21st century standards.
I say, ok, my own compromise will be with wifi. Last year, it was half strength in many hotels. This year, it is half the strength of last year's half strength in many hotels. When I click send on that email, I say to myself, I am content with grabbing a glass of Orijin and watching the drama on my screen. Gmail will say "still working". After three minutes, Gmail will say "oops, your message has not been sent". Sips Orijin, clicks send again: "still working", then after another five minutes, "your message has been sent". One down, twenty more messages to go. Orijin will see me through.
The self doubt returns. The self flagellation returns. To what extent is your little compromise to blend with your culture a rationalization of mediocrity? Why should insisting that a light bulb be changed, a toilet seat be fixed, water pressure be made consistent with acceptable standards be deemed imposition of Oyinbo culture?
How did these little things, so essential to the basic dignity of humanity, come to be fixed in the collective imaginary of this land as Oyinbo attitudes that are strange to our essential culture? In accepting even the slightest compromise in order to maintain your sanity, are you not facilitating the lazy ways in which they define maintenance culture as an Oyinbo thing and even proceed to develop a very hostile attitude to it?
This morning finds me in yet another hotel room in a new hotel. Everything checked out yesterday. We did a most meticulous check and I finally basked and certified it close to the standard of a 4-star hotel in Ottawa, Paris, or London. Then I wake up to shower this morning. No hot water. Somehow, between my inspection at 6 pm yesterday and this morning, the witches of Isanlu had gotten to the water heater. It has packed up. China.
I call to complain. We will bring you water from the kitchen sir.
No, I don't want water from the kitchen.
We will change your room sir.
Nope, that is not what I want.
We will send maintenance sir.
Nope.
What do you want sir?
You need to change the water heater.
What!!!????
Yes. I am not asking for me. I am asking for you, for your future, for your humanity. I am doing it to change your mindset for the sake of the future of your children. It gets to a point where even fixing things is not a solution. You also change things. A hotel this size, a hotel this luxurious ought to have a maintenance storage space for replacement things anyway. This ought to have been part of the thinking of the proprietors.
They transfer me to the Manager. The Manager almost has a heart attack when he hears me. Prof, you will need to talk to Chief o. I don't know who Chief is but I think he is the owner or one of the owners of the hotel.
They give me Chief's number. I phone, greet him very warmly and introduce myself as one of his guests. Chief is very warm and affable too. Then I tell him what is going on. He is a little surprised. Must be a first for him. Then he says, Prof, you know, you may be right. I will have maintenance check it and if it really cannot be fixed, we will install a new one latest tomorrow. Awon China yen ni. We bought and installed those heaters just last year o. They are packing up after one year. By the way, Prof, anything you eat and drink today is on the house.
If you are reading this and you are in a hotel, a government office or space, your own home, please get something changed. Insist that the dead bulb must be changed today. Do not shit and flush with water from a bucket today. They must fix that toilet. What about that old towel that is no longer even fit for a floor towel? Don't use it this morning. Insist on talking to a manager. They must give you a new towel.
One million of you can change the destiny of Nigeria and repair this deleterious mindset by rejecting something today no matter how minimal.
I come against that spirit in you that justifies everything which defines basic human civilization as "oyinbo stuff". I bind that spirit in you in Jesus name.

Budget: Osinbajo Proposes N135.6b Virement

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has submitted a virement proposal of N135.6bn to the National Assembly.

The money is meant to cover projects across many MDAs, particularly the Ministry of Power/Works/Housing.
Details later.

Enugu State Government To Pay N80m For Illegal Demolition

Enugu State Government says it will pay N80 million compensation for the illegal demolition of a property belonging to Chief Fidelis Okoro within 90 days.
The property situated at No. 11 Savage Crescent, GRA, Enugu, was demolished in 2005 on the orders of the then governor, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani.
Okoro, who was then representing Enugu North Senatorial Zone in the Senate, proceeded to court and obtained judgment against the state government for the payment of N140 million for the illegal act.
However, the matter lingered as the last administration did not honour the judgment.
The State Commissioner for Information, Dr Godwin Udeuhele said that the approval to pay the damage was given at the meeting of the State Executive Council on Wednesday.
Briefing newsmen on Thursday on the outcome of the meeting, Udeuhele said that the action of the then administration was without justification.
He said that the council made the approval to forestall further litigation as the ex-senator had threatened to approach the court for enforcement of the judgment.
“Okoro got the judgment during the past administration in the state but the state government could not honour it.
“The last administration could not pay the money and the senator had threatened to approach the court for an enforcement order.
“The state government approached and negotiated with him after which he decided to forfeit N60 million from the original amount considering the state of things in the economy,” he said.
Udeuhele said that the outstanding N80 million would be paid within 90 days of the approval and was free from Value Added Tax or any other deductions.
The commissioner said that the ex-senator needed to be commended for his patriotism in forfeiting such huge amount to the state government.
Okoro, who hails from the same senatorial zone with the current governor, was at the Senate from 1999 to 2007.

The First Thing I Would Do When I Win A Lottery Is Get My Boobs Done- Fayose's Sister, Mo, Says

Mo Fayose, younger sister of Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose, had a video session on her Facebook page yesterday where she discussed with her followers about insecurities some women suffer about their breast sizes. According to her, after she had her baby prematurely some years ago, she lost confidence in her boobs and still has little or no confidence in them. She says if she wins a lottery now, the first thing she would do is a boobs lifting surgery. Mo says women with boobs they don't like have low self esteem and tend to hide it when they get intimate with their lovers. She says when she wants to get intimate with any man, she has to turn off the light just because she feels insecure about her boobs. She advised women to do whatever they can to ensure they have confidence about their body.
I lost my self confident just because of thhe size of my breast & I struggled with that for many
many years. I had my first child about 18 years ago. She was premature and she came very very early. She was in intensive unit for sometime and as a result of that, I had to expres breast milk. It was really difficult. It was pretty hard. I was approached by the nurses who asked me if I am willing to donate breast milk. So I said yes I can donate breast me so they gave me this machine that lokks very industrial. You connect your boobies to and you express milk. I expressed milk for like three months and I was donating 6 liters of breast milk a week. So they would come to my house to pick up the breast milk and take it to the disadvantaged children or children that their mothers are unable to express breast milk. Before that time, I wasn't the type that would go for bras because my breast were that onpoint. I was wearing bra only when I wanted to because my breasts were onpoint. I could flaunt them in front of my husband at that time because they were so good and I like dthe way my boobies were. They were looking straight. Unfortunately now, they are looking down. They have missed the plug. I didn't like that and I still don't like it. Its not that I don't like it, its about how I feel when I am with a man. I tell people that when I win a lottery, the first thing I am going to do is to do something to are these my boobies. They have got to be done. They have got to be lifted up without bras"she said

US Senator, John McCain Diagnosed With Brain Cancer

Sen. John McCain, 80, has been diagnosed with a primary glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor, Mayo Clinic doctors directly involved in the senator's care told

US serving Senator from Arizona, John McCain, has been diagnosed with brain cancer, according to a Wednesday statement released by his office.
The tumor was discovered after the former Republican senator underwent a procedure last week to remove a blood clot.
Below is the statement Sen. John McCain: I Can't Vote for Trump or Clinton - NBC News

Sen. John McCain: I Can't Vote for Trump or Clinton - NBC News

Washington DC At the request of senate john Mc Cain(R-AZ) and all his family mayo clinic
released the following statement today:
"On Friday, July 14, Sen. John McCain underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot from above his left eye at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot.
"Scanning done since the procedure (a minimally invasive craniotomy with an eyebrow incision) shows that the tissue of concern was completely resected by imaging criteria.
"The Senator and his family are reviewing further treatment options with his Mayo Clinic care team. Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.
"The Senator's doctors say he is recovering from his surgery 'amazingly well' and his underlying health is excellent."
The office of Senator John McCain also released the following statement:
"Senator McCain appreciates the outpouring of support he has received over the last few days. He is in good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family in Arizona. He is grateful to the doctors and staff at Mayo Clinic for their outstanding care, and is confident that any future treatment will be effective. Further consultations with Senator McCain's Mayo Clinic care team will indicate when he will return to the United States Senate."
President Donald Trump released a message soon after the news of the senator's condition broke. "Senator John McCain has always been a fighter," he said. "Melania and I send our thoughts and prayers to Senator McCain, Cindy, and their entire family. Get well soon."
John McCain, who contested in the 2008 presidential election was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He is known for his work in the 1990s to restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam, and for his belief that the Iraq War should have been fought to a successful conclusion. former president of USA OBAMA as says john is

Aggressive tumor'

His doctor said McCain was oriented, with good balance and no headaches or seizures.

The clot was over the senator's left eye, not far from the left temple where he was diagnosed with melanoma in 2000. Previously, McCain had three other malignant melanomas removed in 1993, 2000 and 2002. None of these melanomas were invasive. All were declared Stage 0.

However, McCain has been regularly screened by his doctors since 2000.

Gupta was one of a select group of reporters who reviewed McCain's medical records in 2008 when he was campaigning for president.

McCain's blood clot may be more significant than first thought

The surgical procedure McCain underwent is "a significant operation," said Gupta, explaining that a bone underneath the eyebrow had to be removed to do the procedure and then later put back.

"It's a very aggressive tumor," said Gupta. He explained that average survival for malignant glioblastoma tends to be around 14 months with treatment. In McCain's case, additional therapy, including radiation, could not begin until the incision heals, which would be in the next three or four weeks.

Still, one 2009 study reported that almost 10% of patients with glioblastoma may live five years or longer, according to the American Brain Tumor Association.

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"This is the same tumor that Ted Kennedy had," said Gupta.

McCain's diagnosis is the latest chapter in a storied life. Tortured as a Vietnam prisoner-of-war, the maverick politician fell short of the pinnacle of politics with two failed presidential runs. His absence from Washington in recent days has come at a politically inopportune time for a bill repealing and replacing Obamacare. This week, McCain broke ranks and called for discussions with Democrats and a full committee process to finally provide "Americans with access to quality and affordable health care."

Is Biafra A Buzzword? - One Day With Biafra Agitators led By Nnamdi Kanu

Lagos, Rivers, 18 Other States Refuse To Make Detailed Budgets Public - BudgIT

An accountability and transparency-focused civic organization, BudgIT, has disclosed that Lagos, Rivers and 18 other states have failed to make available details of their budgets to the public. The organization made this disclosure in a statement released on Wednesday, following the report of a research it conducted to ascertain the total number of state budget documents available online to citizens.

BudgIT said its research showed that only Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kogi states made the details of their proposed budgets available.
The research, the organization added, also showed that only 14 states have posted their detailed budgets online. These are Akwa Ibom, Edo, Ekiti, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ondo, Abia, Plateau and Yobe.
Along with Lagos and Rivers, Osun, Oyo, Anambra, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Imo, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun, Sokoto, Taraba, Zamfara and Adamawa states are yet to make their detailed approved budgets available online.
“States such as Lagos publish summaries online that provide no project details that citizens can effectively track. Contrary to the conditions tied to the N90 billion bailout fund provided by the Minister of Finance, none of the 36 states have made their budget implementation report available to the public,” the statement said.
BudgIT explained that making budget documents public, mostly online, is key to transparency and good governance. It added that it is important for the public to have a clear understanding of how state governments are deploying public funds.
The organization said its research equally revealed that most states require citizens to either pay for hard copies of the budgets or go through a protracted application process for what should be a public document and can be posted freely online.
It observed that while huge attention is focused on the Federal Government, there is a need for Nigerians to pay similar attention to transparency at the state level if the country hopes to curb corruption.
It noted that Nigerians pay little attention to state finances. Quoting figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria, BudgIT said of the N50 trillion spent between 2011 and 2015, 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory cumulatively spent over N18.89trillion, representing 38% of entire expenditure.
The organization said it will remain committed to advocacy to ensure that Nigerians have a greater understanding of how resources are deployed are the state level.
“We believe that a functional society is that which takes into highest regards citizen engagement and participation in all areas. Without budget information, it is near impossible to participate in government, thus defeating the concept and essence of democracy altogether. We implore the citizens to also continually demand accountability from those in charge of their funds and keep them on their toes to improve on the current governance structure,” BudgIT concluded.

Modu-Sheriff: The Spirit Of Law By Louis Odion

It is quite human for Ahmed Markafi and co to quickly imagine the worst storm is over following the legal life-line from the Supreme Court last week and therefore relapse to the iniquities and debauchery of the past. But unless the dominant faction of the beleaguered Peoples Democratic Party now has the sobriety to decode the hidden lessons in the adversity suffered in the past fifteen months, they may realize sooner rather than later that their ululation was premature.

The first step to self-redemption will of course be an admission that its downfall in 2015 was brought on by years of sins, followed by a show of humility to serve a penance. Nothing emblematizes this legacy of shame more than the latest revelations from American courtroom of how PDP's erstwhile princess of oil, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and her male collaborators consistently bled the nation's exchequer between 2010 and 2015 and splurged their loot on vanity. Part of it went into bribing INEC officials to help fix results in favor of her party.
By conservative estimate so far, PDP's Diezani bled Nigeria to the tune of $6b through sweetheart concessions to her cronies or outright pocketing of oil receipt for the five years she presided over the nation's oil and gas industry.
In one telling instance, the psychedelic Jezebel was even quoted in an intercepted phone conversation as tutoring her fellow accomplices to be careful the way they went about flaunting their sudden wealth lest the people they were stealthily robbing became suspicious.
A reminder of what another kleptocrat in history, Mobutu of Zaire, once famously told those aspiring to follow in his footsteps at home: "If you want to steal, steal a little. If you steal too much, the whole town will know and will soon come after you."
To famished soldiers murmuring at the presidential gate over unpaid wages, the great Capone famously asked, "Were you not issued uniforms and guns?"
What Diezani and co purloined is different from the hefty $15b bazaar Sambo Dasuki presided over in the diversion of cumulative defence votes.
Much as PDP would wish the congenitally forgetful nation quickly loses these memories, it is doubtful if the ghosts will readily vanish. A vast number of its leaders are known to have refunded their own share of "Dasukigate". So, by now, the inheritors of what remains of the the once "biggest party on African continent" should know that nothing could be more offensive to public sensibilities, indeed suggestive of utter lack of contrition, than continuing to reserve their front-row seats for faces already implicated or tainted in that infamy.
Next in the rehab blueprint should be a resolve to purge itself of the virus of greed. It manifests in the cabal culture that upends internal democracy, a pathology that has haunted it right from Obasanjo days. It accounts for the emergence of Ali Modu-Sheriff in the first instance.
With the fall of Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 and the inevitable forfeiture of moral authority, a clique scrambled in to fill the vacuum by foisting on the party the most unlikely character who, over the years, had only proved to be an itinerant undertaker, cold-blooded mercenary, fresh from the sewer.
The cartel's calculation was simple: they wanted Modu-Sheriff to hold the horns as interim national chairman from February 2016 while they milked the cow ahead of the 2019 presidential elections.
But a ruthless schemer himself, the hireling from Borno had his eyes on PDP's presidential ticket as well. In fact, he was said to have separately wooed two of the PDP governors to be his presidential running-mate. The duo, who were quite instrumental to his being crowned the party head, only got to know this while comparing notes and soon rallied others to pull the rug from under Modu-Sheriff's feet at the now historic Port Harcourt Convention of May 2016.
If not for greed, the cabal should have known from Sheriff's antecedents that he is incapable of any commitment without a guarantee of self-aggrandizement. Even as ANPP governor between 1999 and 2007, Modu-Sheriff was known to be Obasanjo secret agent who helped suborn the then opposition party to the wiles of the ruling party.
As governor, he is reputed to have provided the feeding trough for the first generation of Boko Haram at the beginning of this Republic. They provided him muscles to chase his political rivals out of town. As part of their own share of the election spoils of 2003, the office of Finance Commissioner was allegedly ceded to the future terror organization.
But as with any partnership founded on an ideal less than noble, that political romance soon collapsed following the gruesome murder of the Finance Commissioner nominated by Boko Haram.
Again, it is a measure of of the naivety of the cabal to have recruited a man said to be related to President Buhari of APC by marriage and expected him to act differently. As a top APC player once put it half in jest, half in earnest to this writer, "Well, Sheriff just has to do the work of a Sheriff in the PDP". That is, the sort of dirty job the British colonialists would euphemistically call "pacification" in the heady days of independence struggle by native agitators.
Overall, by the judgement of last week, Supreme Court clearly acted on the side of the spirit of the law which is more morally compelling than obsession with the fine letters of the law. The lower courts that indulged and provided Sheriff shelter had undoubtedly conveniently chosen to hide behind the technicality of law.
Moments after the door was shut firmly against him in Port Harcourt, wily Modu-Sheriff quickly addressed a press conference and unilaterally declared the party was now ready to "obey" a subsisting injunction forbidding the scheduled convention.
That was a smart maneuver by a political buccaneer. He seemed right by the letter of law. Though Sheriff then continued to flaunt the party's staff of office, everyone knew it was ill-gotten. Everyone knew the Markafi group had more clout and the crowd. It soon became clear that the only one actually profiting from the hemorrhaging PDP was the ruling APC left to frolic with reckless abandon in the absence of a virile opposition.
But with the Supreme Court judgment, a flicker of hope has undoubtedly been raised for the deepening of democracy in Nigeria, without which the national space risks becoming an exclusive arena for the hallelujah choir. A republic is doomed and the polity in great peril without a check-and-balance valve. It however remains to be seen if PDP can seize this historic moment.
Some have proposed reconciliation. But it will be futile seeking to force the co-habitation of strange bedfellows. As the seemingly intractable crisis bedeviling ruling APC has demonstrated, shared value is what ultimately nourishes and grows a party, not soaring sloganeering or fancy insignia for that matter.
In his own reading of the Supreme Court verdict, euphoric Peter Obi was quoted as saying, "The current agitation over recession and restructuring will soon be over". It is precisely because of mentality like this that PDP was forced to its knees in 2015. Such verbiage only suggests the resumption of the wheeling-dealing of old.
Enough of the carnality of "share the money". What this moment calls is a change of attitude.
Fortuitously, PDP has the October convention to demonstrate to the nation that it has learnt some lessons. The process leading to it and its outcome will indeed tell if a mortician would be invited or a receiver-manager needed to help negotiate possible bankruptcy.

Court Orders Forfeiture Of Diezani Alison-Madueke's $37.5m Banana Island Property

A High Court ordered the forfeiture of former Minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke's $37.5m property on Banana Island, Lagos

Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday ordered the temporary forfeiture of a $37.5m property at Banana Island bought by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in 2013.
According to the court papers argued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the property, which has 24 apartments, 18 flats and six penthouses, is located as Building 3, Block B, Bella Vista Plot 1, Zone N, Federal Government Layout, Banana Island Foreshore Estate.
Apart from the property, the court also ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sums of $2,740,197.96 and N84,537,840.70, said to be part of the rent collected on the property.
The funds were said to have been found in a Zenith Bank account number 1013612486.
Anselem Ozioko, counsel for the EFCC, had told the judge that the EFCC reasonably suspected that the property was acquired with proceeds of alleged unlawful activities of the Minister.
He said an investigation by the EFCC revealed that Mrs. Alison-Madueke made the $37.5m payment for the purchase of the property in cash, adding that the money was moved straight from her house in Abuja and paid into the seller's First Bank account in Abuja.
"Nothing could be more suspicious than someone keeping such huge amounts in her apartment,” he said. “Why was she doing that, to avoid attention?”
He continued: "We are convinced beyond reasonable doubt because as of the time this happened, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was still in public service as the Minister of Petroleum Resources."
The ex-parte application taken before the judge was filed pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, No. 14, 2006 and Section 44(2) (k) of the constitution.
Listed as respondents in the application are Mrs. Alison-Madueke, a legal practitioner, Afamefuna Nwokedi, and a company, Rusimpex Limited.
In a 41-paragraph affidavit attached to the application, an investigative officer with the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, explained that Nwokedi, in connivance with Mrs. Alison-Madueke, purposely incorporated the company, Rusimpex Limited, on September 11, 2013 to facilitate the alleged fraud scheme.
According to Bawa, when Nwokedi was questioned by the EFCC, the lawyer explained that he had approached Mrs. Alison-Madueke for opportunities in the Oil and Gas industry but the ex-minister told him that being a lawyer, she did not have any such opportunity for him and asked him whether he could in the alternative manage landed properties, an offer which Nwokedi accepted.
Bawa said Nwokedi later registered Rusimpex Limited at the Corporate Affairs Commission, wherein a lawyer in his law firm, Adetula Ayokunle, and a Russian, Vladmir Jourauleu, were listed as the directors of the company, while the address of Nwokedi's law firm in Ikoyi, Lagos was registered as the business address of Rusimpex Limited.
The investigator added that when Ayokunle was questioned by the EFCC, he explained that he only appended his signature on the CAC documents at his boss' instruction, while Jourauleu denied knowledge of the company.
The investigator explained: "Sometime in 2013, the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, invited Barrister Afamefuna Nwokedi, the Principal Counsel of Stillwaters Law Firm, to her house in Abuja for a meeting where she informed the said Barrister Afamefuna Nwokedi to incorporate a company and use same as a front to manage landed properties on her behalf without using her name in any of the incorporation documents.”
He further explained that Mrs. Alison-Madueke further directed Mr. Afamefuna Nwokedi to meet with Mr. Bisi Onasanya, the Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc for that purpose.
"Mr. Stephen Onasanya was invited by the commission and he came and volunteered an extrajudicial statement wherein he stated that he marketed a property at Bella Vista, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, belonging to Mr. Youseff Fattau of Ibatex Nigeria Limited to Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke later bought the property from Mr. Youseff Fattau, through her lawyer, Mr. Afamefuna Nwokedi (who she introduced to him) and that payment for the said property was made through the Abuja office of First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
"First Bank of Nigeria Plc, through Mr. Barau Muazu, wrote to the commission and also volunteered an extra-judicial statement in writing that they made the payments totaling US37,500,000 to Ibatex Nigeria Limited & YF Construction Development and Real Estate Limited on behalf of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and that they collected the entire cash from Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke at her residence of No. 10, Fredrick Chiluba Close of Jose Marti Street, Asokor, Abuja and paid into the First Bank of Nigeria Plc accounts of Ibatex and YF Construction Development and Real Estate Limited on her instruction."
After listening to the EFCC lawyer, Ozioko on Tuesday, Justice Obiozor made an order temporarily seizing the property and the funds.
He then directed that the order should be published in a national newspaper. He adjourned till August 7, 2017 for anyone interested in the property and funds to appear before him.

We Will Begin Daily Sit-Out At NASS If Buhari Doesn't Return To Work On Day 90, Group Declares

Concerned Nigerians, a pro-democracy group committed to accountability, rule of law, good governance and the fight against corruption, has announced plans to commence a daily sit-out at the National Assembly in 18 days if the legislature fails to respond to the health conundrum of President Muhammadu Buhari as prescribed by the constitution.

In a statement released on Wednesday by its convener, Deji Adeyanju, and Secretary, Dr. John Danfulani, the group noted that Buhari has now been absent from office and from Nigeria for 72 days, and if the situation remains unchanged, it would commence the sit-outs on the 90th day of his absence.
It regretted the failure of the leadership of the National Assembly to launch an investigation or set up a panel to look into the true status of the President's health, adding the group believes the legislators have been compromised and are working with an infamous cabal in the executive branch against the Nigerian people.
“The Leadership of the National Assembly must choose between the Nigerian people and the cabal,” Concerned Nigerians declared. “72 days is too long for a Commander-in-Chief to be away from his country without any explanation to the people that voted him.”
The group affirmed that if Mr. Buhari has become incapacitated, he should do the honorable thing and resign, because he cannot continue to hold the country to ransom.
“We hereby demand that the National Assembly invoke Section 144 sub Section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution and direct the setting up of a medical panel in conjunction with the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to ascertain whether the President is incapacitated,” the statement continued.
“If the President is found with any infirmity that renders him incapable of discharging his duties, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall officially declare him incapable of discharging his duties and declare his office vacant as prescribed in subsection 2 of section 143,” Concerned Nigerians declared.

Five Killed In Rivers State Shootout

Niger Delta militants attacked Joint Task Force (JTF) troops deployed to Rivers State on Wednesday morning, leaving five dead.
This is the second attack to occur in the Niger Delta region this week.
According to the deputy commander of the JTF, Brigadier-General Kevin Aligbe, four militants were killed while one civilian JTF member died in the attack.
Mr. Aligbe added that four soldiers sustained injuries and are currently receiving medical treatment in Port Harcourt.
He recalled that on July 13, troops deployed to Ogboubagbene community in Bomadi local government area of Delta State were similarly attacked, resulting in the death of one soldier.
According to the deputy commander, an operative of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps as well as a policeman, who are members of the task force, were wounded in the attack.
He said that the militants carted away some military hardware during the attack, but that JTF troops were trailing the suspects.
The JTF chief warned the communities to refrain from shielding or harboring militants and criminals.
He enjoined residents of Ogboubagbene community to reveal the identities of the criminals, vowing that they would be apprehended and brought to justice.
Mr. Aligbe dismissed reports by the Ijaw Youth Council, he Civil Liberties Organisation, and other Niger Delta stakeholders that the military invaded the communities, molested innocent people and destroyed property.
He said that the ongoing efforts to track down those behind attacks and other criminal activities were within the rules of engagement and operating procedures of the task force.
“Following the malicious and unsubstantiated reports, I and other component commanders of the JTF and the paramount ruler of the community, Chief Godspower Oporomo, Pere of Kerebiri, and chiefs from 10 communities visited the sites they said had been razed by troops.
“We found the entire communities to be in a calm and peaceful state while the residents were seen going about their normal activities. The reports were false,” Mr. Aligbe said.
He applauded residents of the Niger Delta for their support to the task force, urging them to sustain the support.
The deputy commander also told the residents to assist the task force with timely information that would assist them in ridding the region of criminality and violence.

Happy Birthday To My Right Hand In All This" Temi Otedola Celebrates Her Boyfriend, Mr Eazi

Billionaire daughter and fashion blogger Temi Otedola took to her instagram page to Celebrate her

boyfriend, singer, Mr Eazi who turned a year today. She shared a loved up photo of them and wrote;

"A social media message just can't do this justice) Happy Birthday to my right hand in all this! Let's just say my look in this photo says it all. Get off that plane quick and let's start the celebration"

Too Tired For Royal Duties, Prince George Appears Sleepy As The Royal Family Arrive Berlin

he could be a king someday ; so it's understandable that he's being trained to do his duties he

feels like it or not. All the same, Prince George is obviously not feeling this recent trip.
The young Prince looked rather sleepy when the royal family arrived Berlin for the second leg of their tour. He seemed tired and rubbed his eyes as they got off the plane to make their way along the receiving line on arrival at Berlin Tegel Airport. The Prince, who will be 4 on Saturday, stayed close to his father as she spoke with the welcoming committee.
Princess Charlotte, on the other hand, seemed to be up for her official duties. She looked cheery as she received her own miniature bouquet from German gov rep Till Knorn and shook hands with British defence attaché Brigadier Rob Rider.
The royals are in Berlin to Begin the garman leg of their five-day tour, with a visit to the Brandenberg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial on the agenda for Kate and William today.

14-year-old Schoolgirl Brutally Raped And Murdered By Neighbour, Suspect Arreste

Police have Arrested the neighbour of a girl who was found brutally raped and murderd in her room

in Chachoengsao’s Ban Pho district,Thailand after DNA evidence proved positive.
Supornchai Noonoi, 31, was arrested at 5am after tests showed that his DNA matched the samples found in semen on the girl’s clothes. TEST were taken FROM 30 men in the neighbourhood.The girl was home alone ON JULY 12 and was found dead the following morning. A Chacherngsao-based social media page initially speculated that she died when part of the dental brace slipped and became

stuck in her throat.
Police said that initial medical examination at the scene found nothing in her throat.
Police later determined that she had been raped and killed.
Supornchai admitted killing the girl. He is also suspected of stealing a motorcycle in Chon Buri’s Panas Nikhom district and raping three women in Khon Kaen previously before he fled to live in Chachoengsao.
Source: The Nation Thailand