Thursday, June 14, 2018
Video - Nigerian President Buhari apologises for Abiola's annulled 1993 presidential win
Nigerian President Buhari has been lauded for declaring the 12th of June as Democracy Day and for recognizing MKO Abiola's 1993 presidential election victory. Many Nigerians have described Buhari's announcement as a victory for democracy. The president has offered a public apology to Abiola, who won the 1993 vote -- an election that was later annulled by the military. As of next year, the 12th of June will be a public holiday and commemorated as Democracy Day.
Messi warns 'Nigeria will be no walkover'
They lock horns with the Super Eagles in their last group game at the Saint-Petersburg Stadium after ties with other group D rivals Iceland and Croatia.
And the Barcelona star is certain that the encounter with Gernot Rohr's side will be a tough one.
“Croatia is a good team with players in the big European leagues and that makes them dangerous, Messi told the Express.
“We don’t know so much about Nigeria but the African teams are normally compact, tough and strong. So it will be no walkover.”
Video - Why Nigeria has more HIV-positive infants than anywhere else
Preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission is considered one of the most basic goals for curtailing the AIDS epidemic, and Nigeria is struggling mightily. In our series The End of AIDS, William Brangham and Jason Kane examine why this oil-rich nation is falling so badly behind, and profiles a unique, church-based program that’s showing real promise.
Psychic pig predicts Nigeria will reach the semi-finals in the World Cup
The psychic pig Mystic Marcus that predicted President Donald Trump’s victory has picked Nigeria, Argentina as semi-finalists for the 2018 World Cup. The psychic pig which has a history of sniffing out a winner – and is hoping to continue his unbroken record for this summer’s World Cup, thesportsbay reports.
Mystic Marcus has a 100 per cent track record of predicting sports results according to his owner Juliette Stevens.
The black micro pig has previously guessed the winner of the 2014 World Cup and the Wimbledon tennis finals by picking apples. With bad news for England fans, Mystic Marcus expects Belgium, Argentina, Nigeria and Uruguay to make it through. Farmer and micro pig breeder Juliette from Heage, Derbyshire, said: ‘Marcus is the seventh child of a seventh child and apparently they’re gifted with special powers so maybe that’s where it comes from. ‘A few years ago I was invited on a radio show because of Paul the octopus predicting results and they wanted to see if I had any animals that had the ability. ‘I hadn’t tried the seventh child theory out so thought I’d give it a go.’
Nigeria to recover $500 million from Abacha loot
The money was part of the huge sums stolen by the former despotic leader, Gen. Sani Abacha.
Making the disclosure while briefing journalists at the end of the meeting, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Malam Abubakar Malami, said the move was the fallout of negotiations between the federal government and the three countries.
According to him, the expected sum is coming barely a few months after the repatriation of $322 million Abacha loot to Nigeria from Switzerland following an agreement signed by Nigeria and Switzerland.
Malami, who said the processes leading to the repatriation and the aftermath were reported to the council Wednesday, also disclosed that the council approved the payment of N500 million as legal fee to lawyers engaged in the litigation between the federal government and MTN over the N1 trillion fine imposed on the latter by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).
"The council approved the payment of professional fees to lawyers engaged by the federal government relating to the MTN case instituted against the federal government in pursuance of penalty of over N1 trillion imposed by the government on MTN.
"MTN, as you will recall, instituted a case seeking to retrain the federal government from recovering the over N1 trillion imposed on it. The federal government engaged the services of lawyers to put up defence on its behalf. As a result, the case was eventually settled by the parties amicably and arising from that settlement the lawyers were entitled to their fees.
"The federal government has now sanctioned the payment of N500 million for the N330 billion agreed upon for the alleged certain breaches in their operations. This amount is less than one per cent of the fee instead of the internationally recognised fee which is pegged at five per cent.
"Finally was a report on the global forum on assets recovery. You will recall that in December 2017, the federal government participated in global forum on asset recovery in Washington DC and during that forum, Nigeria and Switzerland signed agreement that paved the way for the repatriation of $322 million relating to looted assets and on the account of that the amount was eventually repatriated back to Nigeria.
"What transpired was only reported back to the council today. The report today was not only about the signing of the agreement but the report of the eventual repatriation of the amount of money that was signed and agreed to be repatriated during the forum.
"Nigeria has also engaged other countries including the UK, US, France and others in further negotiations relating to repatriation and I am happy to report that we are almost concluding the processes relating to the repatriation of additional $500 million," Malami said.
Malami also responded to questions on the legality and legitimacy of the declaration of June 12 as a public holiday, as well as the conferment of posthumous awards on the late Chief MKO Abiola and Chief Gani Fawehinmi as well as Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe.
The president had on June 6, proclaimed June 12 as the new Democracy Day, replacing the hitherto May 29 Democracy in acknowledgement of June 12, 1993 presidential election described as the freest and fairest in Nigeria's history and won by the late business magnate, Chief MKO Abiola, but unjustly annulled by former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Consequently, the president conferred the highest honour of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Abiola on Tuesday.
He also conferred the award of the Grand Commander of the Order of Nigeria (GCON) on Abiola's running mate, Kingibe, and Chief Gani Fawehinmi posthumously in recognition of his gallant fight for the actualisation of June 12 mandate.
But the moves had been criticised by some Nigerians who argued that the president lacked the power to proclaim June 12 as public holiday without amending Public Holidays Act to pave the way for the replacement of May 29 with June 12 as the new Democracy Day.
The president was also criticised for unilaterally conferring the national honours on the recipients without consulting the National Council of State.
But Malami in his defence, said the president was only duty bound to consult the Governing Board in relation to the conferment of the National Merit Award, insisting that there is no law compelling the president to make any consultation before conferring national honours on anyone.
Malami also stated that it was not the first time that a posthumous national honours award was conferred on anyone, pointing out that former Head of State, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, had once been posthumously honoured.
However, he admitted that Public Holidays Act needed to be amended before June 12 Democracy Day can come into effect as a public holiday. Consequently, he said the process of amending the Act had already been put in place and the declaration would not be effective until the amendment is concluded.
"National Merit Award Act and the Nigerian National Honours Act are two distinct and different applicable laws as far as National honours awards are concerned. You have the National Merit Award on the strength of which we have the law of the governing board come into effect and then as it relates to the National Honours Act, the board does not have any relevance in terms of processing of the honours.
"Above all, we equally have in existence, a precedent as it relates to the award of posthumous honours. I can recall that a former Head of State, General Muhammed was equally honoured posthumously, among others.
"As it relates to public holidays, there is truly a Public Holidays Act, but it is about the process of amendment. At any rate, the Act can be amended and the process of amendment has been put in place.
"So, when the Act has been fully amended, the declaration of the President will come into effect. It is a declaration of intention, a declaration of desire and that will eventually be given effect with the act of amendment of the existing law," he said.
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