The Senate has described as a treaonable felony, the action of suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who led unidentified men to the chamber of the senate to which is its symbol of authority.

Spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, described the action as an attempt to overthrow an arm of government, describing it as treason.

Today, some hoodlums led by suspended Senator, Ovie Omo-Agege, walked into the Senate plenary and seized the symbol of authority of the Upper Legislative Chamber, the mace.

This action is an act of treason, as it is an attempt to overthrow a branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria by force, and it must be treated as such.

All security agencies must stand on the side of due process and immediately mobilize their personnel to retrieve the mace and apprehend the mastermind and the perpetrators of this act.

This action is also an affront on the legislature, and the Leadership of the House has come to express their support against this action.

The Senate is now in an Executive session. An updated statement will be released immediately after the closed door session, he said.

Source: NAN

A Chief Magistrates Court in Kaduna on Wednesday sentenced two teachers, Adams Jibril, 28, and Mohammed Yusuf, 27, to combined 24 months imprisonment for defrauding a man of N3 million.

The convicts, both residents of Chechenji Road, Kaduna, were arraigned on a five-count charge of criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating, impersonation and forgery.

In her judgment, the Magistrate, Mrs Zainab Mohammed, said the prosecution was able to prove the charge of conspiracy, cheating, impersonation and forgery against Jibril.

Mohammed, thereafter, sentenced Jibril to 18 months imprisonment with an option of N100,000 fine.

She also sentenced Yusuf to six months imprisonment on charge of conspiracy and forgery with an option of N20,000 fine.

The convicts had however pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Sunday Baba, had said that the matter was transferred on May 5, 2016 from the Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna, to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for investigation.

Baba told the court that Yahaya Abdullahi of Kinkinu, Kaduna, in June 2015, reported that the convicts came to his house and defrauded him of N3 million.

The prosecutor said the convicts had deceived the complainant that they would help him get admission for his son Abdullaziz, at the Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna.

After the complainant gave the convicts the money they later brought the admission letter which was discovered to be fake.

All effort made by the complainant to get his money back proved abortive, rather the convicts absconded to an unknown destination, Baba added

The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 97, 312,179,322 and 364 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017.

Source: NAN

The Senate has urged the Inspector General of Police and the director-general of the Department of State Services, DSS, to retrieve the mace snatched today by some hoodlums, who accompanied, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to protest his suspension today.

Spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, accused Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of masterminding the snatching of the mace.

He described the action as an attempt to overthrow an arm of government. He said it was treason.

Today, some hoodlums led by suspended Senator, Ovie Omo-Agege, walked into the Senate plenary and seized the symbol of authority of the Upper Legislative Chamber, the mace.

This action is an act of treason, as it is an attempt to overthrow a branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria by force, and it must be treated as such.

All security agencies must stand on the side of due process and immediately mobilise their personnel to retrieve the mace and apprehend the mastermind and the perpetrators of this act.

The Senate is now in an Executive session.An updated statement will be released immediately after the closed door session, he said.

In an updated statement, Abdullahi Sabi said the Senate resumed plenary after coming out of the executive session where the earlier incident of forceful removal of the mace was deliberated upon.

The session is holding with the mace, the official symbol of authority firmly in place, and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, presiding.

The Senate also decided that it will get to the roots of this sad assault on democracy and an obvious act of treason which the seizure of the mace by some armed hoodlums represents. The hoodlums severely attacked some members of staff of the National Assembly, particularly the Sergeant-at-Arms on Chamber duties.

The Senate has mandated the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Idris Kpotum Ibrahim and Director General of the State Security Services (SSS), Malam Lawan Daura, to retrieve the mace stolen by the hoodlums within 24 hours.

At the moment, some House of Representatives members led by Deputy Speaker. Hon. Yusuf Lasun, are in the Senate chambers in solidarity visits. The session is presently live on NTA Channel 10.

We are determined to conclude all matters slated on the Order Paper for today, even if it means us sitting until 6pm, said Ekweremadu.

Source: NAN

Kenya is likely to achieve the UN target of total malaria eradication by 2030 as the government and bilateral partners roll out robust interventions to contain the disease, officials said on Wednesday.

Sicily Kariuki, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, said Kenya has the potential to achieve the vision of malaria
free status subject to robust investments in diagnostic kits, case management and public education.

Kenya has made notable progress in combating malaria as prevalence rate drops due to a combination of policy,
funding and biomedical interventions.

Our goal to achieve malaria free status is within reach, said Kariuki, ahead of World Malaria Day to be
observed on April 25.

Statistics from Kenyas ministry of health indicate that malaria remains the leading killer of pregnant mothers
and children under five years old in the East African nation.

An estimated 70 per cent of Kenyan population is at the risk of contracting malaria and the disease is to blame
for declining economic productivity and poor school enrollment in endemic regions.

Kariuki said that Kenya has borrowed international best practices to reignite the fight against malaria through
mass distribution of second generation of treated nets, diagnostic kits in public hospitals and improved
case management.

Malaria prevention through distribution of treated bed nets, rapid diagnosis and treatment, advocacy and social
mobilisation are part of strategies to realize a malaria free status in the country, said Kariuki.

She disclosed that piloting of a malaria vaccine that will commence later in the year will rejuvenate the fight
against the vector borne disease.

Kenya will implement a long-term strategy to accelerate progress towards elimination of malaria in the high
endemic coastal strip and western region.

Ejersa Waqo, the Head of National Malaria Programme in the ministry of health, said that improved governance,
research, public awareness and domestic resource mobilization will reduce malaria burden in Kenya.

Our new strategy to eliminate malaria in the country is embedded in the universal health coverage goal outlined
by the President, said Waqo.

He revealed the government is addressing policy, technical and financing bottlenecks that have undermined the
fight against malaria in the country. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has unveiled a new website and other official social media accounts.

The partys national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi gave the website address as

Abdullahi said the APC Twitter handle is https://twitter.com/OfficialAPCNg

The other social media accounts of the ruling party are: Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/officialapcng/

*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialapcng/

*YouTube: Official APC Nigeria

Abdullahi said the newly-designed website features a streamlined and uncluttered design, offering user-friendly functionality and rich content.

This website as well as the official social media accounts offers quick and easy access to essential information and features to keep party members, the media and indeed the general public abreast of party activities, the APC-led federal government and APC-governed states.

Abdullahi said APCs new website will be regularly updated with news on party accomplishments and events.

Visitors are encouraged to explore the new website and sign up for APCs mailing list and newsletter to receive direct emails on the Contact Us page. Also follow the APC on the listed social media accounts, Abdullahi said.

Source: NAN

Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State is the chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention Committee, the party announced on Sunday.

According to APCs Organising Secretary, Sen. Osita Izunaso, in the partys news social media handle, the 68-member committee has Governors of Imo, Borno, Katsina, Oyo, Yobe, Kaduna, Plateau, Adamawa, Kogi and Edo as members.

Membership of the committee, which also included serving and former senators and members of House of Representatives and notable party chieftains, has Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu and Sen. Ben Uwajumogu as Deputy Chairman and Secretary, respectively.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NA) gathered that stakeholders in the party settled for Badaru after much negotiation between the different power blocs in the party.

It was learnt that governors elected on the partys platform settled for their Jigawa counterpart because he is one of them and could best protect their interest.

This is especially so because he was a member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, and the Tinubu bloc is believed to have seen him as a bastion of its ideals. (NAN)

Source: NAN

The Syrian crisis needs a negotiated solution involving all powers in theregion, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said on Monday, adding he could not imagine anyone who had usedchemical weapons against his own people to be part of that process.

Maas was asked whether Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad could be part of a solution to the crisis in Syria.

There will be a solution involving everyone who has influence on the region, he told reporters on arrival to
a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Nobody can imagine someone who uses chemical weapons against his own people to be part of this solution.

NAN reports that the U. S., Britain and France fired more than 100 missiles at Syria on Friday in a one-time shot
the Pentagon said followed evidence that Al-Assad was responsible for a chemical weapons attackusing at least chlorine gas.

While Turkey is cooperating with both Russia and Iran to wind down some of the violence in Syria, Ankara has
long demanded that President Al-Assad must go and has backed rebels against him. Assads main supporters
are Moscow and Tehran.

Turkey has also been at loggerheads with Washington over U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia,
which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation linked to Kurdish militants waging a decades-long insurgency
in Turkish soil.

Turkey supported the air strikes by U.S., British and French forces, saying the move sent a message to
Al-Assad.

Source: NAN

It has been revealed that French President Emmanuel Macron persuaded President Donald Trump not to pullout U.S. soldiers in Syria to enable him launch airstrikes as punishment for the Bashar al-Assad led-government for an alleged chemical weapons attack on his people.

Macron made the confession while appearing in a two-hour live broadcast on French television BFM and online investigative site Mediapart.

The 40-year-old leader said the U.S., Britain and France had full international legitimacy to intervene in order to enforce international humanitarian law.

The allies fired missiles early Saturday at three chemical-weapons facilities in Syria to punish the regime for the alleged use of chemical weapons in the town of Douma.

It was retaliation, not an act of war, Macron said in justifying the operation a day before the French parliament was set to debate it.

The airstrikes marked Macrons biggest foreign policy yet. Nearly a year into his term, the new president declared France the most active country on the diplomatic field and at the United Nations.

Ten days ago President Trump wanted the United States of America to withdraw from Syria. We convinced him to remain, he said, speaking in the majestic room of Chaillot National Theater, with the Eiffel Tower shining in the background.

He said France now wants to involve Western powers, Russia and Turkey in a new diplomatic initiative to find a sustainable political solution in Syria.

Macron also offered to play the role of intermediary between the United States and Russia.

Source: NAN

Governor Ayodele Fayose will spend many years in jail after leaving office in October, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, his predecessor said.

Fayemi who is now Minister of Mines and Steel Development, and wants to seek re-election made the vow during his declaration of intent to contest for Ekiti State governorship seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Fayose, he stated, will be made to account for the gross mismanagement of the state’s resources and allocation in the last four years.

Fayemi shocked the crowd by bringing out a red card from his pocket which he symbolically showed to Fayose and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said the red card is an answer to the White Paper issued against him by the Fayose regime which indicted him of financial impropriety and banned him from holding public office for ten years.

Traffic was grounded for about four hours in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where a massive crow turned out to hear Fayemi speak on his readiness to win Ekiti for APC in the July 14 governorship poll.

Fayemi said the state has retrogressed sharply in the last four years he left office saying his bid to run again was motivated by the need to “rescue Ekiti people from bad governance, want, hunger and poverty.”

He lamented the suffering of teachers, state civil servants, local government workers, and pensioners who are being owed backlog of arrears of salaries, allowances and benefits.

According to him, Fayose owes core civil servants six months, local government workers ten months, community health workers ten months; pensioners, ten months; teachers, ten months and students, bursaries of over three years.

Fayemi said Governor Ayo Fayose has no excuse not to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners benefits having collected two tranches of bailout funds, two tranches of Paris Club refund cash and Budget Support Funds for thirteen months.

He also disclosed that latest records from the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed Fayose has borrowed N56 billion since coming to power in October 2014 with nothing appreciable to show for it.

Fayemi vowed that Fayose would be brought to justice at the end of his tenure on how he has managed all the funds received from the federal government on behalf of the state.

The former governor was joined by his wife, Bisi; former deputy governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; Nigeria’s Ambassador to Hungary, Dr. Eniola Ajayi and other officials who served in his administration to the APC secretariat where he officially informed party leaders of his intent to run.

After declaring at the secretariat, Fayemi and his train moved to the nearby Jonathan African Church Ajilosun, Ado-Ekiti where he addressed another crowd waiting for him on his agenda for the state.

He said all APC members who had joined the governorship race are eminently qualified to occupy the state’s number one seat saying anyone who emerges as the flag bearer would be supported by all.

The minister declared that everything humanly, constitutionally and legally possible would be done to win Ekiti State for APC at the next governorship election.

Fayemi said: “When I come before you, it is with profound need for the unfinished business, we need to complete what we started, reclaim our land and restore our land.

“Anywhere Ekiti people go, people subject us to questions that what is wrong with you Ekiti people?

“We thought you are educated, we thought you are exposed, how do you come up with a character like this as governor?

“It is time to put a stop to that; it is not about title, it is about sacrifice and whatever it will take us to free Ekiti from these criminal and rapacious brigands, we will do it.

“We are here to inform Ekiti people that we will never abandon them. We will never hesitate to leave the comfort of Abuja. It is high time to come home and help our vulnerable people.”

He added: “We will do everything that is required to win Ekiti back. They will accuse us of using federal might.

“Although power belongs to God and he gives it to whoever He wishes, we will use bottom power, middle power. That is why they are jittery.”

He described the White Paper of the Fayose administration which indicted him of financial impropriety and recommended him for a ten-year ban from holding public office as an “ordinary tissue paper.”

The minister said: “Every time I move around, I see the suffering and penury our people are going through. I saw their pain and pangs of not knowing where the next meal will come from.

“That is why we must tell the man who is shouting around that he has a White Paper, we have a red card for him and his party. We will ensure that he will end up in jail.”

Fayemi described Fayose as a “pathological liar” for claiming that the debt he (Fayemi) left behind was responsible for his (Fayose’s)

inability to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners benefits as and when due.

The ex-governor explained that he took a N25 billion bond from the Capital Market in December 2011 with which he executed capital projects adding that he had repaid N14.5 billion at the time he left office in October 2014.

Dismissing the opposition’s claim that he hates workers and teachers, Fayemi stressed that workers enjoyed most during his administration when they enjoyed salary increase three times.

Apart from this, he said workers were sponsored to local and overseas seminars, teachers got Core Subjects Allowance, Rural Teachers Allowance and no worker was sacked.

To party members, Fayemi said: “Whoever wins the primary, we will all support him. Don’t run down any aspirant. Let us desist from hate speech because all aspirants are promoting our party.

“Party members should not use abusive and intemperate language and I want to suggest to our party leaders to come out with a code of conduct to check this.

“If we don’t do that, we run the risk of damaging our brand (APC). You are free to market your aspirant and leave the judgment to our delegates.

“They (delegates) want our party back in power and we must respect their judgment. Any aspirant who does not respect the rule, I will take him as an agent who does not want the good of our party.

Source: NAN

Mr Ibanga Etang, an aide to Gov. Mr Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom has defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC).

It would be recalled that few months ago, the governors Special Assistant on Electoral Matters, Mr Chris Okorie also dumped thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP) for APC.

Etang, a former Chairman of Esit Eket Local Government, resigned on April 9, as Special Assistant to the Governor on Projects andformally registered with the APC at his Etebi Ward 7 along with over 300 followers on April 10.

Addressing his supporters at a post-defection meeting on Friday, Etang said with their entry into APC, the party stood 70 per cent chance of winning Esit Eket Local government Area.

Etang, who was also a former President of Afigh Iwaad Ekid, the umbrella youth organization in Eket Federal Constituency, said he left the PDP because of impunity.

I blame the continuing exodus from the Esit Eket PDP on a situation where an individual takes Esit Eket as his personal property, he stated.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Etang had also served as Special Assistant to former Gov. Godswill Akpabio.

According to him, he has refused overtures from PDP leaders in the state in the last few days not to defect to APC.

He said, I vowed that my supporters and I have decided to move on and no going back.

In his resignation letter to the Governor, he said he was leaving because it was necessary to depart now in line with the dictates of my conscience and highest level of sincerity.

Receiving the defectors, Mr Bassey Dan-Abia Jnr, a former member of the House of Representatives said the APC has been increasing in number, andexpressed optimism that the party would take over the state in 2019.

He commended the defectors for their courage and boldness and assured them of Federal Government lofty programmes for the state.

NAN reports that seven chieftains of the PDP in the local government have so far defected o APC.

They include Sen. Etang Umoyo, a former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Bassey Dan-Abia, a former NDDC Commissioner,Mr Imaobong Inyang, a retired Permanent Secretary, Dr. Mike Eyo and two former House of Representatives members, Bassey Dan-Abia Jnr. and Eseme Eyiboh.

Source: NAN