Border communities in Cross River appeal for electricity supply

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Electricity

Residents of some communities in Cross River bordering Cameroon, have appealed to the State Government to restore electricity to the areas to improve their lives and economic activities.

The people made the appeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nfum, Etung Local Government Area of the state on Sunday.

Mr Augustine Agbor-Attah, the Clan Head of Nfum, told NAN that the community had not had electricity supply for the past three years.

Agbor-Attah expressed concern that the situation had adversely affected the peoples’ lives, adding that the community also lacked other social amenities and infrastructure.

He said that the people needed potable water, hospital and schools, due to the strategic position the community occupied.“In terms of infrastructure, we are lacking a lot. We don’t have water, electricity, good schools and hospitals.

“This is an international border town; we are supposed to have all the basic amenities, including hotels, but we are grossly lacking all these amenities.

“The officers manning the border post do not even have good accommodation to live in. The roads in this community need to be expanded because of the terrain,’’ he said.

Mr Emmanuel Ndum, the Youth Leader of Ajassor, a neighboring community, also told NAN that businesses had not thrived in the community due to lack of electricity.

Ndum said that since high tension cables were connected in Ajassor in 2014, nothing else had been done to provide electricity to the people.

“The people have been complaining about the non supply of power in this area. They want government to complete the project soonest to give them a sense of belonging.

“We have been using generators, day-in and day-out, and this is not healthy for the environment. Moreover, a litre of petrol here is N160, ’’ he said.

Another resident of Ajassor, Mrs Veronica Ntui, said the community needed warehouses for storage of goods to promote businesses in the border community.

“We also need warehouses in this town to store goods. This is a border community from where goods go out and come into the country daily,’’ she said.

A business woman in the area, Ms Patience Okoronkwo, told the agency that running a business in the border community without electricity was very expensive.

Okoronkwo said she recorded low profit from her sales because a good percentage of the profit went into buying of fuel to keep her generator running.

“It is very difficult to sell drinks without power supply, especially now that the weather is hot and every customer wants a cool drink.

“I am appealing to the state government to look into our plight and give us electricity because we paid our bills regularly before this indefinite blackout,’’ she pleaded.

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North Korea hits out at US over possible terror listing

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This picture taken on February 22, 2017 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 23 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) visiting the People's Theatre to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State Merited Chorus in Pyongyang. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT

North Korea warned Saturday the US will “pay dearly” if it puts Pyongyang on a terror list over the killing of its leader’s half-brother, as a suspect in the murder claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy.

Kim Jong-Nam, 45, was poisoned in Malaysia last month with VX, a nerve agent so deadly that it is classed as a weapon of mass destruction.

The dramatic killing at Kuala Lumpur airport prompted an international probe, lurid stories of North Korea’s Cold War-style tradecraft and a bitter war of words between Malaysia and Pyongyang.

South Korean and Japanese media, citing diplomatic sources, have since reported that the US has been mulling placing the North back on its terror list, which includes Iran and Syria.

“The US will keenly realise how dearly it has to pay for its groundless accusations against the dignified” North if it puts it back on the terror list, the regime’s foreign ministry spokesman told state-run newswire KCNA.

The spokesman maintained that Pyongyang opposed “all forms of terrorism” and accused the US of trying to tarnish its reputation.

South Korea has blamed the North for the murder, citing what they say was a standing order from leader Kim Jong-Un to kill his exiled half-brother who may have been seen as a potential rival.

However, the only North Korean arrested over the assassination on Saturday denounced Malaysia’s probe into the murder as “a conspiracy to impair the dignity of the Republic (North Korea)”.

Ri Jong-Chol, who was released and deported Friday due to lack of evidence, said that police had offered him a comfortable life in Malaysia in return for a false confession.

“But no way. No matter how good a life it could be, it is still not as good as my own motherland. How could I forget the motherland that raised me and fed me to this point?” he said to media in Beijing.

– Airline employee wanted –
Ri’s release came days after two women — one Vietnamese and one Indonesian — were charged with murdering Kim Jong-Nam. Airport CCTV footage showed the women approaching the heavyset 45-year-old and apparently smearing his face with a cloth.

Police say he suffered a seizure and died less than 20 minutes later. Swabs of the dead man’s face revealed traces of VX nerve agent. On Friday police issued an arrest warrant for a North Korean airline employee, Kim Uk Il, 37, in connection with the murder.

They also requested that Hyon Kwang Song, second secretary at the North Korean embassy, assist the probe. Both are believed to be in Malaysia. Four others are thought to have fled to Pyongyang on the day of the assassination.

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

In response, Malaysia has cancelled a rare visa-free travel deal with North Korea — a key conduit to the outside world — and recalled its envoy to Pyongyang.

The nuclear-armed North was first designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the US in 1987 when its agents bombed a South Korean plane killing all 115 on board.

But it was taken off the list in 2008 after Pyongyang took steps toward freezing its nuclear facilities.

However, since then the North has resumed its activities, conducting four atomic tests and numerous missile tests despite the fact that they are banned under several UN Security Council resolutions.

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We don’t have Ebute’s letter, says UN (Read full details)

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UN Security Council

The UN said on Friday that it has not received a letter reportedly written by a former President of the Nigerian Senate, Sen. Ameh Ebute.

Ebute’s letter was reportedly calling on the UN Security Council to sanction some of Nigeria’s neighbouring countries for alleged complacency in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.

Ebute was reported to have addressed the letter to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and also copied the Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, Hague.

However, Mr Stephane Dujarric, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, denied knowledge of the letter.

“I’ve seen the press reports. I have not seen the letter.

“Obviously, the question of sanctions is up for the Council.

“And I think for the UN, for our part, we’ve always counted on the cooperation of all countries in the Lake Chad Basin in the fight against Boko Haram,” Dujarric said.

Ebute had said in the letter “that each time the insurgents strike in Nigeria, they escape into either or all of these countries for refuge, during which time, they recuperate, re-energise, re-arm and surface to attack new targets in Nigeria.

“It must be emphasized that the three countries have always been the entry and exit points for terrorists into and out of Nigeria.

“Since the fall of Sambisa forest, their safest haven in Borno state, residues of insurgents have relocated to these countries, from where they stray into Nigerian territories to launch random attacks on soft and obscure targets,” he said.

The former President of the Senate urged the UN Secretary-General to invoke relevant instruments, particularly Article 99 of the UN Charter.

He added that the Secretary-General should draw the attention of the UN Security Council to investigate the “nuances of the consuming terrorism undercurrents” in Nigeria, which are potent enough to cause international breach of peace and security.

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Multiple blasts rock Maiduguri (Read full details)

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PHOTO:AFP

Multiple explosions rocked the outskirts of Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri early Friday, killing three suicide bombers, the emergency service and police said.

The blasts on Damboa road in the restive city were triggered when one of the bombers detonated his explosives, Ibrahim Abdulkadir, of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told AFP.

“Three suicide bombers came into the city through Damboa around 3:00 am (0200 GMT) and they were spotted by civilian (vigilantes),” he said.

“They quickly ran and hid under three petrol tankers, where one of them detonated his explosives, killing all of them.”

Two of the bombers were women and the third male.

Borno state police confirmed the incident and said its officers had been sent to the scene.

The blasts in Maiduguri are the latest blamed on suicide bombers, who continue to pose a threat to civilians despite military claims of success against Boko Haram Islamists.

On February 17, as many as seven bombers, six of them women, tried to attack Maiduguri but were either shot by security personnel or detonated their explosives before reaching their targets.

There have been similar attacks against mosques and security checkpoints.

The Boko Haram insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead since it began in 2009 and has displaced more than 2.6 million others.

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Clear CT scan allays fears over Atletico’s Torres

Malaysia to free North Korean arrested in Kim killing

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Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong (L), 28, is escorted with a heavy police presence after a court appearance with Indonesian national Siti Aisyah, 25, at the magistrates' court in Sepang on March 1, 2017, for their alleged role in the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Two women were charged March 1 with the murder of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, after his assassination at a Malaysian airport last month. / AFP PHOTO / MOHD RASFAN

The only North Korean arrested over the dramatic airport assassination of Kim Jong-Nam is to be freed, Malaysia said Thursday, as it announced the abrupt cancellation of a visa-waiver programme with Pyongyang.

The moves came the day after two young women appeared in court charged with murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un with a banned nerve agent.

Attorney general Mohamed Apandi Ali said 47-year-old Ri Jong-Chol would be released on Friday.

“He is a free man. His remand expires and there is insufficient evidence to charge him,” Apandi said.

“He has no proper [travel] documents so we will deport him.”

Seven other North Koreans are wanted in connection with the killing, including a diplomat and an airline employee who are believed to be in Malaysia.

Four others are thought to have fled to Pyongyang on the day of the murder.

Ri was arrested days after Kim suffered an agonising death when he was attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as he waited to board a flight to Macau.

CCTV footage shows two women approaching the heavyset 45-year-old and appearing to thrust a cloth in his face.

Police say he suffered a seizure and died less than 20 minutes later, without reaching hospital.

Swabs of the dead man’s face revealed traces of the VX nerve agent, a synthetic chemical so deadly that it is classed as a weapon of mass destruction.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, were charged with murder on Wednesday, an offence punishable with hanging.

Both women say they thought they were taking part in a prank video but police have dismissed the claims.

– Cahoots –
South Korea has consistently pointed the finger of blame at North Korea, citing what they say was a standing order from Kim Jong-Un to kill his exiled half-brother.

Pyongyang — which has never acknowledged Kim’s identity — has denied the charge and disputes the autopsy, claiming Malaysia is in cahoots with its enemies.

The two countries, which had enjoyed relatively warm relations, have been at diplomatic daggers drawn since the killing.

On Thursday Kuala Lumpur — which had earlier recalled its ambassador — said it was cancelling its visa-free travel deal with Pyongyang.

The government was implementing the change on the grounds of national security, Malaysian news agency Bernama quoted deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying.

The cancellation will take effect on March 6, after which North Koreans entering Malaysia will be required to obtain a visa, the report added.

Malaysia was one of only a tiny handful of countries around the world that had such a visa waiver scheme with North Korea.

– “Downgrading ties” –
A senior Malaysian official told AFP on Thursday that the government was mulling further “downgrading diplomatic ties” with North Korea.

“Malaysia is considering shutting down its mission in Pyongyang,” he said, as well as the expulsion of the North Korean ambassador following his “baseless allegations”, a reference to accusations of bias in the murder probe.

Malaysia formally established diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1973 and opened an embassy in Pyongyang in 2003.

It has provided a channel between Pyongyang and the wider world in recent years, with Kuala Lumpur serving as a discreet meeting place for talks between the regime and the United States.

Up to 1,000 North Koreans currently work in Malaysia and, like expats worldwide, their remittances are a valuable source of foreign currency for the isolated regime.

It is not clear how widely known Kim’s fate is at home, but on Thursday South Korean activists said they will send millions of leaflets about his murder across the border by balloon.

They said the text on them would describe the North’s leader as “a devil who killed his own brother”.

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Dollar firms on Fed rate hike talk, Trump promises spending boost

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PHOTO:AFP

The dollar firmed in Asia Wednesday after two top Federal Reserve officials suggested US interest rates could rise this month, while Donald Trump’s speech to Congress received a mixed response.

The greenback’s rally provided fresh impetus for Tokyo stocks, but regional equity markets were subdued despite forecast-beating readings on Chinese factory activity and Australian growth.

In Washington President Trump’s much-anticipated address to both houses of Congress was short on detail but provided enough to keep traders mainly upbeat.

The tycoon pledged $1.0 trillion in public-private infrastructure spending and “massive” tax cuts for the middle class, but he did not say how any of it would be paid for.

Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News: “Investors are feeling relieved. Focus is shifting toward the Fed.”

And while Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at forex firm OANDA, said in a commentary that the address was “high on rhetoric and light on detail” and “a highly scripted damp squib”, he added that “it has become a case of no news is ever so slightly good news”.

But Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at CFD and FX provider AxiTrader, said in a note: “It was a bit of a disappointment in the sense that he did not put any more meat on the bones” of past promises.

World markets have surged since Trump’s November election victory on expectations his plans for infrastructure spending and tax cuts would fire up the world’s top economy.

However, his lack of clarity in recent weeks has led to some uncertainty, while there are also concerns the presidency has been enveloped with controversy that has caused division in the country.

The Nikkei in Tokyo ended 1.4 percent up as the dollar strengthened against the yen after the speech, helping exporters.

Investors were already shifting into the US unit after New York Fed president William Dudley said there was a strong case for borrowing costs to rise, while his San Francisco counterpart John Williams expects such a move to get “serious consideration” when the bank meets this month. Fed boss Janet Yellen is due to speak Friday.

Hong Kong was up 0.2 percent in the afternoon while Shanghai ended 0.2 percent higher and Singapore put on 0.7 percent.

However, Wellington, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta all turned lower.

And Sydney ended down 0.1 percent as traders brushed off news Australian growth hit 1.1 percent in the October-December quarter, averting a technical recession of two-straight quarters of contraction, thanks to a pick-up in exports and household spending.

There was little reaction to Chinese figures showing manufacturing activity grew more than expected last month.

The improvement in the purchasing managers index follows a series of upbeat readings from Beijing that suggest the world’s number two economy may have turned a corner after years of slowing growth.

– Key figures around 0700 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 19,393.54 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.2 percent at 23,783.74

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,246.93 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0555 from $1.0579

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2365 from $1.2381

Dollar/yen: UP at 113.51 yen from 112.75 yen

Oil – West Texas Intermediate: DOWN two cent at $53.99 per barrel

Oil – Brent North Sea: UP three cents at $56.54

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 20,812.24 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,263.44 (close)

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The Biography Of Solomon Dalong [Wiki, Age, Life Profile & Net Worth]

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Solomon Dalong (born September 26, 1964) is the current Nigerian sports minister. Dalong attended LEA Primary School Sabon Gida from 1971 to 1977. He then proceeded to Government College Keffi, now in Nassarawa State, for his secondary school education.

Solomon Dalong joined the Nigerian Prisons Service in the early eighties and in 1991 while still in the Prisons Service, Dalong enrolled to study Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Jos. He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Bwari, in Abuja, graduated in 2000 and was called to the Bar in 2001.

He worked as Personal Assistant to Chief Solomon Lar when Lar was appointed as Adviser Emeritus to President Olusegun Obasanjo, until 2004 when he took up an appointment with the Faculty of Law of the University of Jos as a lecturer. In 2005, he combined his job as a lecturer and study while pursuing a prost graduate degree in Law, which he finished n 2007.

In the same 2007, Dalong was appointed the Chairman of Langtang South Local Government Area. He returned to the University of Jos in 2008 at the expiration of his tenure.

Dalong joined the Prisons Service as a Prison Assistant and rose to the rank of Assistant Inspector of Prisons. He was moved to the legal department of prisons where he served as Legal Officer II in the prisons headquarters before his
retirement.

In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari named Solomon Dalong as the new sports and youth minister during the inauguration of 36 ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Solomon Dalong net worth is estimated $50 million (net worth estimated in 2017).

* An Uzomedia Biography

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Peru asks Trump to consider deporting ex-president Toledo…Read full details

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Newspapers with the portrait of former Peruvian President (2001-2006) Alejandro Toledo on their front pages, are displayed for sale in Lima on February 10, 2017. Peruvian police launched a manhunt Friday for ex-president Alejandro Toledo, once hailed as an anti-corruption champion, after a judge ordered his arrest over accusations he took $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. / AFP PHOTO / ERNESTO BENAVIDES

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has urged US counterpart Donald Trump to consider extraditing fugitive former leader Alejandro Toledo, believed to be in the United States, to face graft charges.

The net appeared to be closing on the former Peruvian president as Israel said it would refuse entry to Toledo, who is accused of taking bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

Toledo’s French-born wife Eliane Karp has Israeli citizenship.

“President Kuczynski has asked Donald Trump to evaluate… with the State Department the idea of sending Toledo back to Peru,” where he is wanted on charges of taking $20 million in bribes while in office, state news agency Andina reported on Sunday.

However, the United States said it could not arrest Toledo until it received more information on the case, according to Peruvian officials, who were scrambling to send investigation documents to their US counterparts.

Peruvian authorities believe Toledo, 70, is in San Francisco. He is a visiting professor at nearby Stanford University.

Toledo issued a statement on Twitter late Sunday night, without revealing his whereabouts but denying he was on the run as he had not been facing charges when he left Peru.

“The court in Lima did not request my testimony to help with their investigation. On the contrary, it accused me of crimes that I have not committed and that the court cannot prove,” he said.

Toledo has branded the accusations against him as political persecution. But he has struggled to explain the source of the money.

A White House readout of a call between Kuczynski and Trump did not mention Toledo.

Instead, it said the pair discussed the “humanitarian situation” and other concerns in Venezuela, and “the need to promote democratic governance throughout the Western Hemisphere.”

The White House hinted at a future meeting between the two leaders.

– Israel alerted –
Toledo, once hailed as an anti-corruption champion, is accused of taking a huge payoff from Odebrecht in exchange for a massive highway contract connecting Peru and Brazil during his 2001-2006 presidency.

Peruvian police launched a manhunt for him after a judge ordered his arrest Thursday night. There is a $30,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

The Peruvian government has indicated that Toledo might try to flee to Israel.

“We heard from a solid source that he was trying to flee to Israel. So we alerted Israel,” Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio said on RPP Radio.

But Israel blocked any such effort by Toledo.

“Toledo will be allowed in Israel only when his affairs in Peru are settled,” foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.

Peru’s authorities have a warrant for Toledo to be detained and held in preventive custody for 18 months pending a full investigation.

He is accused of influence peddling and money laundering.

At the moment, Toledo could leave the United States, since the US has not yet received the documents on which the warrant is based, according to Basombrio.

Israel’s foreign ministry later said he was not aboard a flight from San Francisco that landed at the country’s main international airport late Sunday.

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17 dead in stampede at Angolan football stadium

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Panic spread through the crowd at a football match in the town of Uige, Angola, resulting in a stampede that caused the death of at least 17 people, police said ©ISSOUF SANOGO (AFP/File)<br />

At least 17 football fans died in a stampede at a stadium in northern Angola on Friday, police said, adding that scores of other spectators were injured, some of them seriously.

Panic spread through the crowd at the match in the town of Uige between Santa Rita de Cassia and Recreativo de Libolo in Angola’s domestic league season.

“There was a blockage at the entrance to the January 4 stadium… this obstruction caused multiple fatalities — 17 deaths, and there are 56 injured in the hospital,” police spokesman Orlando Bernardo told AFP.

He added that there were an unknown number of children among the dead, and that hospitals were still treating those injured.

Police said hundreds of fans had tried to enter the already packed stadium to see the match, causing a crush that pushed some people to the ground.

Many of the dead were trampled on or suffocated.

In 2009, poor crowd control in Abidjan caused 19 deaths before a 2010 World Cup qualifier between hosts Ivory Coast and Malawi.

A stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana in 2001 resulted in 127 deaths.

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