Apo Six killings: Two policemen get death sentence, three discharged

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The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday sentenced two policemen to death and discharged three others over the killing of six traders in Apo, Federal Capital Territory, in 2005.

Those condemned to death are Emmanuel Baba and Ezekiel Acheneje, while Danjuma Ibrahim, Nicholas Zakariah and Sadiq Salami were discharged.

The five were among six arraigned over the killing of the traders on June 7, 2005 on suspicion that they were armed robbers.

The sixth person on the charge sheet, Othman Abdulsalam, who was the Divisional Police Officer in Apo, is currently on the run.

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May braces for second defeat over Brexit bill

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(FILES) This file photo taken on September 5, 2016 shows a general view of the House of Lords chamber in session at the Houses of Parliament in London. Approved by the House of Commons, the bill on the triggering of Brexit passes before the Lords on Monday. The upper house of parliament should not block the bill, but could disrupt the government's schedule. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Kirsty Wigglesworth

British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a second defeat on her Brexit bill Tuesday as the House of Lords votes on another change which would give parliament the final say on leaving the EU.

The bill empowering May to start the Brexit process has already been held up by a week after peers voted on March 1 for an amendment guaranteeing the rights of European citizens living in Britain.

Members of the unelected upper chamber are on Tuesday expected to back a second amendment, this time to give the parliament a vote on the final withdrawal deal and any future trade ties with the European Union.

May has promised lawmakers a vote on a “take it or leave it” basis, meaning that if they reject the deal on offer, Britain would leave the EU without any agreement at all.

But opponents of this fear it would cause economic and legal chaos, as all previous trade deals and contracts between Britain and its 27 former EU partners would become void overnight.

A poll released Tuesday by the Independent newspaper found that only 25 percent of British people would support leaving the EU without a deal, with 56 percent favouring other options at odds with May’s plans.

May has repeatedly urged the Lords not to amend the two-clause EU (Notification of Withdrawal) bill, saying it is designed only to implement the June referendum vote to leave the bloc.

She is under pressure to pass the bill quickly to meet her deadline of triggering Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which would start the two-year process of exiting the bloc, by the end of March.

But a Lords source from the opposition Labour party told AFP it expected to win its amendment “handsomely” on Tuesday thanks to cross-party support.

– ‘Incentive for a bad deal’ –
The start of the Brexit talks will loom over this week’s EU summit in Brussels, which May will join for the first half before leaving her fellow leaders to discuss their future without Britain.

EU leaders have signalled that the upcoming negotiations will not be easy, amid fears that other member states could follow Britain out the door.

May is optimistic she can get a deal, but has also warned she is willing to walk away from the negotiations, saying that “no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal”.

Her spokesman said this position risks being undermined by the Lords’ demands on a final vote.

“We don’t want a process that incentivises the EU to offer us a bad deal in the hope that it stops us leaving,” the spokesman said.

“At the end of the day the referendum has taken place, the public voted and that must be respected.”

However, Labour’s Brexit spokeswoman in the Lords, Baroness Dianne Hayter, said: “We need the best possible deal to lessen the social and economic aftershocks of the referendum result.

“Engaging parliament throughout the process can only but help improve the prime minister’s negotiating hand, and a vote at the end will, I am sure, be conducted in the best interests of our country.”

– ‘Parliamentary safety net’ –
Peers voted by 358 to 256 last week to amend the bill to ensure ministers protect the rights of more than three million European citizens liviing in Britain after Brexit.

The change dashed May’s hopes of securing approval for the bill this week, as it must now return to MPs in the lower House of Commons for deliberation, likely on March 13.

Ministers will seek to overturn the change and, with a majority for their Conservative party in the Commons, are confident that this can be achieved.

The second amendment on a final Brexit vote, however, might be harder to remove as reports say up to 20 Tory MPs might rebel against May to support it.

One of them is Anna Soubry, who said a “proper vote” on the divorce terms was crucial.

“If we are faced with a potentially catastrophic ‘falling off a cliff’, the least we can do is provide a parliamentary safety net,” she wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

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Olajumoke Orisaguna: One year after

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Olajumoke Orisaguna, former bread seller on the streets of Lagos who received public attention when she appeared on the cover of a magazine is celebrating one year of stardom.

She came to limelight when she `photo-bomb’ a picture that was taken by a professional Nigerian photographer TY Bello, while on her way to sell her bread.

She currently works as a model. She took to her Instagram handle @olajumoke_o , to mark the anniversary, thanking God and those who have been part of her success.

Olajumoke took to her Instagram handle @olajumoke_o , to mark the anniversary, thanking God and those who have been part of her success.

I'm not where I want to be yet, but I'm where I never thought I will be #thankful #thankyou #blessed #olajumoke1stanniverssary #somethingexcitingiscoming

A post shared by Olajumoke Orisaguna (@olajumoke__o) on Mar 6, 2017 at 8:56am PST

//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

Jumoke Sunday as she is popularly called is a brand ambassador to some major outlets in the country including Payporte, an on line shopping outlet.

She also enjoyed massive media exposure both locally and internationally including, CNN and HuffPostUKStyle.

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Kim Jong-Nam killed by VX nerve agent

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s half brother was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare and listed by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction, Malaysian police said Friday.

Releasing a preliminary toxicology report on Kim Jong-Nam’s murder at Kuala Lumpur airport, police revealed the poison used by the assassins was the odourless, tasteless and highly toxic VX.

The news brought condemnation from South Korea, which slammed the use of the nerve agent as a “blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and other international norms”.

Experts in the South said Friday that North Korea has up to 5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons stockpiled, including a supply of VX.

Kim died on February 13 after being attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport by two women, who are seen on CCTV footage shoving something in his face.

He suffered a seizure and was dead before he reached hospital.

An autopsy revealed traces of VX — a fast-acting toxin that sparks respiratory collapse and heart failure — on the dead man’s face and in his eyes.

Tiny amounts of the poison are enough to kill an adult, whether it is inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

“I am outraged that the criminals used such a dangerous chemical in a public area,” said Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar

It “could have caused mass injuries or even death to other people”.

One of the two women arrested after the attack fell ill in custody, police said, adding she had been vomiting.

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar has previously said the woman who attacked Kim from behind clearly knew she was carrying out a poison attack, dismissing claims that she thought she was taking part in a TV prank.

“The lady was moving away with her hands towards the bathroom,” Khalid said earlier this week.

“She was very aware that it was toxic and that she needed to wash her hands.”

– Diplomatic pouches –
Khalid said Friday experts would sweep the busy airport terminal where the Cold War-era attack took place for traces of the toxin as well as other locations the women had visited.

“We are investigating how (the VX) entered the country,” he told reporters.

However he added that “if the amount of the chemical brought in was small, it would be difficult for us to detect”.

A leading regional security expert told AFP it would not have been difficult to get VX into Malaysia in a diplomatic pouch, which are not subject to regular customs checks.

North Korea has previously used the pouches “to smuggle items including contraband and items that would be subjected to scrutiny if regular travel channels were used”, said Rohan Gunaratna, the head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.

Detectives are holding three people — women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean man — but want to speak to seven others, four of whom are believed to have fled to Pyongyang.

One man wanted for questioning, who is believed to be still in Malaysia, is senior North Korean embassy official Hyon Kwang Song.

Police have acknowledged that his diplomatic status prevents them from questioning him unless he surrenders himself.

– Chemical warfare –
North Korea, which has not acknowledged the dead man’s identity, has vehemently protested at the investigation, saying Malaysia is in cahoots with its enemies.

Its ambassador Kang Chol has said Pyongyang “cannot trust” the Malaysian police to prosecute their probe fairly.

He was told Friday to shut up or face the prospect of being kicked out of the country.

“The ambassador has been informed of the process involved (in the police investigation) but he continues to be delusional and spew lies and accusations against the government of Malaysia,” Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said.

A senior Malaysian government official said Kang had been shown a “yellow card”, adding: “If he repeats the baseless allegations, he will be expelled.”

The only known function of VX is as a chemical warfare agent and the US government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes it as the “most potent” of all nerve agents.

VX was used by Japan’s Aum cult in the 1994 murder of an office worker in Osaka, and in the attempted murder of two other people.

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Compliance to speed limit device very low in Plateau

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Men of FRSC on duty

Very few motorists in Plateau have installed the “speed limit” device in their vehicles, three weeks after the deadline, according to Mr Crawford Otti, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) sector commander.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that FRSC had given motorists, especially commercial vehicles and fleet operators up to Feb. 1, to comply with the directive.

Otti told NAN in Jos on Sunday, that his command was facing “a stiff resistance” from the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

“Most motorists have complained of the exorbitant price of the device; they say that it is not affordable.

“But we have told them that our task is to enforce the directive; we keep reminding them that we don’t sell it and cannot therefore influence its price.” he said.

Otti, however, said that efforts were on ground to ensure compliance, in view of the advantages of the device.

“We shall soon organise a stakeholders’ consultative forum to further educate motorists on the importance of the device to road safety.

“In the past, we limited our efforts to parks; this time, we shall take our campaigns to Churches, Mosques and other public places,” he said.

He said that FRSC would collaborate with security agencies to force motorists to comply.

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Iran in new military drills despite US warnings

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Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard is to conduct military drills next week, a senior commander announced Saturday, despite warnings from the United States and fresh sanctions over a ballistic missile test.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard is to conduct military drills next week, a senior commander announced Saturday, despite warnings from the United States and fresh sanctions over a ballistic missile test.

“The manoeuvres called ‘Grand Prophet 11’ will start Monday and last three days,” General Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the force’s ground units, told a news conference.

He said rockets would be used without specifying which kind. In early February, Iran conducted drills involving short-range missiles at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.

The Islamic republic said the exercises were aimed at demonstrating Iran’s “complete preparedness to deal with the threats” and “humiliating sanctions” from Washington.

US President Donald Trump slapped fresh sanctions against Tehran’s weapons procurement network following a ballistic missile test on January 29.

“Iran would do well to look at the calendar and realise there’s a new president in the Oval Office. And Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president,” Vice President Mike Pence said earlier this month.

New Pentagon chief James Mattis, for his part, has branded Iran “the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world”.

Iranian officials have rejected the threats emphasising that the missile programme is purely defensive.

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Pence tells Europe: ‘US will always be your greatest ally’

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US Vice President Michael Richard Pence (L) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel pose for photographers ahead a bilateral meeting on the 2nd day of the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC) at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich, southern Germany, on February 18, 2017.<br />Christof STACHE / AFP

US Vice-President Mike Pence Saturday pledged an “unwavering” commitment to transatlantic ties, in an emphatic reassurance to allies including German Chancellor Angela Merkel who pleaded with nations not to go it alone.

Capping a week of whirlwind diplomacy by American officials who have descended on Europe to calm nerves rattled by Donald Trump, Pence underlined the United States’ devotion to its old friends.

“The United States is and will always be your greatest ally. Be assured that President Trump and our people are truly devoted to our transatlantic union,” he told European leaders including Merkel at the Munich Security Conference.

“The promise to share the burden of our defence has gone unfulfilled for too many, for too long and it erodes the very foundation of our alliance,” he warned, stressing that “the time has come to do more”.

At the same time, he did not go further and threaten, as Trump had done, to walk away if the allies failed to pay their way.

The US, he said, will boost defence spending significantly, “to defend our nation and our treaty allies from the known threats of today and the unknown threats of tomorrow”.

“We will meet our obligations to our people to provide for the common defence, and we’ll continue to do our part to support our allies in Europe and in NATO,” he said.

– ‘Trump contradicts himself’
Trump’s criticism of NATO as “obsolete”, his praise for Britain’s decision to leave the European Union as well as his softer approach towards Russia unnerved Washington’s allies.

But over the past week in Europe, key members of his administration have pressed the message that the United States is not retreating into isolation but remains committed to its global role.

At NATO in Brussels on Thursday, Defence Secretary James Mattis said Russia must first “prove itself” and respect international law before there can be any improvement in relations strained to breaking point by Moscow’s Ukraine intervention and annexation of Crimea.

Mattis said the transatlantic bond was “as strong as I’ve ever seen it”, and stressed America remained “rock solid” in support of Article 5 — NATO’s core “one for all, all for one” collective-defence tenet.

Likewise, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was cautious in his dealings with Russia.

Following his first sit-down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Bonn on Thursday, Tillerson said the US would cooperate with Moscow but only when doing so “will benefit the American people”.

Trump’s envoys also held to a hard line on continuing sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.

Explaining the apparent policy back-and-forth, senior US Senator John McCain said Trump sometimes “contradicts himself, so some of us have learnt to watch what the president does as opposed to what he says”.

“Make no mistake, these are dangerous times, but you should not count America out,” he said in Munich on Friday.

– ‘Won’t give up on Russia’ –
Exasperated and worried by Trump’s calling into question long-standing foreign policy givens, Europe’s top politicians have warned Washington not to take transatlantic ties for granted.

They work both ways, they said, and benefit the United States as much as Europe.

Merkel on Saturday warned countries not to retreat from the international cooperation which she says is the only way to solve global problems.

“In a year in which we see unimaginable challenges we can either work together or retreat to our individual roles. I hope that we will find a common position,” she said.

This includes working not only with Western partners, but also with Russia if possible and if Moscow once again respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states such as Ukraine, she said.

She said it was “regrettable” that Europe had not managed to reach a stable relationship with Russia over the last 25 years.

“I will not give up on finding a way for better relations with Russia despite our different views on many questions,” she said, hours before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to address the forum.

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Impeachment crisis: IG orders closure of Ondo Assembly

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Ondo State House of Assembly

Mr Malachi Coker, the Acting Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, on Monday said the police had sealed the Assembly over its leadership crisis. Coker told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Akure that the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, ordered indefinite closure of the Assembly.

The Assembly, had on Friday, Jan. 27, impeached the Speaker, Ms Jumoke Akindele, and other principal officers over allegation of N15 million fraud.

NAN reports that the sum of N15 million was allegedly found on the Assembly’s Pay Master, Mr Makanjuola Adesina, who told the lawmakers that it was withdrawn on the instruction of the Speaker for a project which he failed to disclose.

Coker told NAN that the Assembly had adjourned sitting indefinitely following the police action. “For now, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has directed that the Assembly should be locked.

“On Friday, Feb, 3, the police brought a warrant that the Assembly should be locked indefinitely and that was after the House had adjourned its sitting at a plenary held on Thursday, Feb. 2.

“We hope the police will not be bias in their actions by allowing the impeached Speaker’s faction to have access into the Assembly,’’ he said. On the impeachment of the Speaker and other principal officers, Coker said that 20 out of the 26 members of the Assembly signed the impeachment notice.

“For clarification, it takes 18 members to sign the impeachment notice, while 10 members can sit in the Assembly to pronounce it and this time around 20 members signed the impeachment notice.

“About seven members backed out after they had signed the impeachment notice following pressure from the power that be.

“We all plan the impeachment together, but as human beings, some claimed they were not in the Assembly when the impeachment was to be carried out,’’ the acting speaker said.

He appealed to members of the Assembly to come together and work for the interest of the state and not for individual’s interest or pecuniary gains.

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Top tech companies file suit against Trump travel ban

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Dozens of top tech companies — including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter — have filed a joint legal brief arguing against President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

The brief was filed late Sunday with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of an ongoing lawsuit against the travel ban.

It charged that the ban “inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth as a result,” according to a copy of the brief posted by various US media.

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UN chief slams border closures in ‘developed countries’

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres/ AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM

UN chief Antonio Guterres criticised Monday the closure of borders “even in the most developed countries in the world”, after US President Donald Trump slapped a ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries.

The new UN secretary general was speaking at the opening of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, where he praised African nations for being “among the world’s largest and most generous hosts of refugees”.

“African borders remain open for those in need of protection when so many borders are being closed, even in the most developed countries in the world,” Guterres said to loud applause.

The 28th African Union summit is the first since Trump’s election, and the consequences of his presidency for the African continent are already being felt.

Trump’s administration has faced outrage and widespread protests over the move to ban citizens from seven countries including Libya, Somalia and Sudan in Africa.

“It is clear that globally we are entering very turbulent times. For example the very country (where) our people were taken as slaves… has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries,” said outgoing AU Commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

“What do we do about this? Indeed this is one of the greatest challenges and tests to our unity and solidarity,” she said.

The summit has a heavy agenda as leaders will decide whether to allow Morocco to rejoin the bloc 33 years after it quit. They will also vote for a new AU Commission head in an election that will be shaped by regional alliances and interests.

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Nigerians withdraw N4.7 trillion through ATMs in 2016