The people of Jigawa state have been thrown into mourning following the death of two prominent politicians – the deputy speaker of the state House of Assembly, Inuwa Sule Udi and former commissioner of education and information, Salisu Ibtahim Dandoka.

The 47-year-old Udi, who was a third term member representing Ringim constituency at the House died along with his driver, Mas’ud Ringim, in a fatal road accident Thursday night.

The former commissioner on the other hand died after a brief illness at the Malam Aminu KanoTeaching Hospital.

The accident involving the deputy Speaker was said to have occurred along the Kano-Ringimroad amid a heavy down pour.

Spokesman of the Udi family, Balarabe Mohammed, said that the orderly to the late deputy speaker survived the accident.

Udi left behind four wives,18 children and grandchildren.

Prominent sympathisers who thronged his residence to condole with the family included the chief of staff, Government House, Dutse, Aminu Ringim, who represented the state governor, SuleLamido and the Speaker of the state Assembly, Ahmed Adamu, as well as commissioners, local government chairmen and lawmakers.

Both have been buried according to Islamic rites.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on Friday arrested a 27-year-old drug peddler, who attempted to smuggle 5.300kg of cannabis and 660 grammes of heroin to Rome, Italy.

The spokesman of the agency, Mitchell Ofoyeju, who announced this in a statement, said the drugs were detected during the outward screening of Alitalia passengers at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos.

“The parcels of cannabis were covered with dried bitter leaf vegetables inside a bag while the heroin was ingested by the suspect,” Ofoyeju said.

He said that the suspect who was not named claimed to have graduated from the Philosophy department of the Ebonyi State University in 2009.

The spokesman said that the suspect also claimed that he was introduced to the drug by a baron who bought his ticket and gave him 1,000 Euros.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has disqualified two governorship candidates in Anambra State for failing to produce an up-to-date tax clearance certificate during screening.

Chairman of the PDP appeal committee on Anambra governorship election, Mahmud Shinkafi, former governor of Zamfara State, said 15 other aspirants were cleared.

Shinkafi named Sylvester Okonkwo and Owuanyin Afamefuna as the two disqualified candidates.

The Anambra governorship election has been slated for November 26, while the state primaries are expected to hold three months earlier on August 24.

The screening panel headed by Aminu Wali had on August 6 screened 17 aspirants and cleared 13 while four were disqualified.

However, Ugochukwu Okeke and Tony Nwoye, were cleared by the committee on Wednesday, bringing the total number of aspirants to 15.

The remaining 13 deemed eligible to contest the party’s primaries include: Obinna Uzoh, MikeOkoye, Akachukwu Nwankpo, Josephine Anenih, Emmanuel Anosike, Andy Ubah, Jerry Ugokwe.

Others are: Nicholas Ukachukwu, Patrick Ogbomo, Kramer Ifunanyachukwu, Alex Obiogbolu, CharlesOdunukwe and Walter Okeke.

The 40-year-old Eguhuo Bridge in Agba, Ishiellu local government area of Ebonyi State, caved in on Wednesday after a heavy downpour.

The rainfall crippled economic activities in Ogboji, Eguhuo, Eguotu, Eguogiji and Onunweke as vehicular access to these communities was hindered.

The bridge links the area to Amagunze in Enugu state.

Julius Nworkpor, member who represents the area in the State House of Assembly said that the situation had made it impossible for the people of the area to gain access to their communities with vehicles.

“Before this unfortunate situation, a journey to Enugu State from the area took about 30 minutes but now its lasts for some hours. Indigenes of the area who wish to access their communities fromAbakaliki now have to get to Enugu through the Enugu-Abakaliki expressway and then take Abanito reach the place,” he said.

Nwokpor noted that this was the second time the bridge was caving-in in three years.

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Conducting journalists and a team of engineers round the bridge, the state’s commissioner for works and transport, Chukwuma Nwandugo, said the bridge caved-in due to heavy traffic.

“The pressure weakened the bridge and forced the abutment to cut off from the metal reinforcement. The unity bridge beside it could have been completed before now, but it was discovered it was poorly designed and could pose serious threat to users,” he said.

The commissioner urged the people to be patient, adding that the government would expedite action to work on the bridge to ensure that economic and social activities returned to the area.

A real estate developer, Ishola Salauden, was on Wednesday dragged before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on a 210-count charge of defrauding 111 accommodation seekers of about N1 billion.

Thirty-seven-year-old Salaudeen, who resides at No. 59, Oriola St., Ketu Alapere, Lagos, was charged with stealing and obtaining by false pretences.

The prosecutor, G.O. Osuyi, said that the accused committed the offences between April and July at his residence.

Osuyi said that the developer collected various amounts of money from 111 accommodation seekers in the guise of securing the same mini flats for them at his residence.

He said that when each of the victims went to occupy the apartment, he discovered that the developer had rented it out to other persons.

The prosecutor said that when the victims sought to recover their money, the developer absconded.

Osuyi said that the offences contravened Sections 285 and 312 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 and attracts penalty of 15 years imprisonment.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

The Chief Magistrate, S.O. Solebo, granted him bail in the sum of N2 million with two sureties in like sum.

Solebo ordered that one of the sureties should be a property owner in Lagos State and must produce evidence of three years tax payment to the state government.

The court adjourned the case to September 9.

Reginald Stanley, Executive Secretary, PPPRA
The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has cleared the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, over the non-remittance of the sum of N4.423 billion to the federation account.

At the end of a reconciliatory meeting between NEITI and the PPPRA over the recently released 2009-2011 industry audit in the oil and gas sector, a joint statement issued said that the dispute over the missing funds has been reconciled and traced to the Petroleum Support Fund, PSF, account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The statement which was signed by Zainab Ahmed, executive secretary, NEITI and Reginald Stanley, executive secretary, PPPRA, said “there is nothing outstanding against PPPRA on the said amount”.

It added that the meeting evolved strategies for both NEITI and PPPRA to address other issues arising from the report, using the platform of Inter-Ministerial Task Team, IMTT, set up by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.

“The meeting also resolved to ensure effective communication network between the two Agencies for effective Inter-Agency cooperation in pursuit of their mandates,” the statement added.

NEITI had accused the PPPRA of failing to account for the N4.423 billion recovered from 10 oil marketers as over-payments between 2008 and 2009 in its audit report and challenged it to show evidence of such remittance.

NEITI’s director of communications, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, had stressed that there was no evidence that the recovered fund was remitted into the federation account.

However, the PPPRA in its response, accused NEITI of “confusing” the public with its audit report, adding that NEITI appeared to have embarked on a wild-goose chase instead of addressing the issues at stake.

President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated Mali’s President-elect, Ibrahim Keita, on his victory in last Sunday’s run-off presidential election in the country.

In a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Reuben Abati, the President also commended people of Mali for successfully conducting the elections and taking a major step towards the full restoration of democratic governance to their country.

The President noted that having served capably as his country’s Prime Minister for many years, Keita will assume the Malian Presidency with the requisite experience, knowledge and wisdom needed to guide the country towards a speedy return to peace, normalcy, political stability and further development.

He assured Keita of the support, assistance and cooperation of Nigeria, ECOWAS and the African Union, AU, as he prepares to take on the burden of leading Mali away from political strife and instability to national peace and progress.

Keita accepted his presidential election victory after his rival, Soumaila Cisse, conceded defeat in a run-off vote that Malians hope will bring stability and democracy to the country.

“You have done this not for yourself, not for me, but for the good of Mali. Your visit was a symbol of the new Mali,” Keita told Cisse on Malian television after Cisse paid a congratulatory visit to Keita in his Bamako home on his second round victory.

Keita won double the number of votes as Cisse in the first round of voting on July 28, and received endorsements from nearly all of the other candidates from the first round.

European and African election observers declared the elections as “credible and transparent”.

The election is relevant to helping Mali end a period of instability as it attempts to recover from a military coup last year and an Islamist insurgency that prompted France to send troops to its former colony.

Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has been virtually grounded Thursday as wife of the President, Patience Jonathan pooled women from all over the federation to drum support for her husband’s 2015 ambition which is yet to be officially announced.

As state machinery was fully deployed it initially seemed like a siege as military and police patrol vehicles acted as forerunners to pave the way for the massive motorcade that followed behind, even as helicopters hovered in the skies.

Vehicular movement was halted for a while in different areas of the city as supporters of the President’s second term bid were drove past in lorries amid chants, choruses and dances.

Security agents manned strategic areas of the road during the parade
Each of the lorries bore the name of a state in the country and occupiers, men and women, wore uniform attires to depict the region they come from.

The carnival – like parade was massive and nothing short of a campaign as the posters that stuck on the body of the lorries testified.

Some of them read: “2015: Nasarawa Women Support Jonathan. Carry Go!”, “Imo women thank our gender friendly President”, “Abia women are solidly behind you our President. Ride on! God is with you, for you shall triumph”.

The event, which was a source of entertainment and amusement for some Nigerians who stood by the street corners to observe, drove fear into others who curiously asked “please what’s happening?”
As they stood to watch the rich display of culture and music, residents of Abuja analysed the cost implication of the jamboree and reflected on the on-going strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities which remains unresolved.

One youth observed that “they say they don’t have money to pay ASUU but see all the money they are wasting.”

“This Goodluck Jonathan administration is just wasteful and Nigerians are complacent. See these women dancing and singing here when their children have been at home for almost two months now,” said an even more upset young man.

Also, the rally tagged “Celebrating Women, Peace and Development” affected work in the city as government offices operated with few or no women, many of whom formed the crowd at the Eagle Square while others saw the event as a licence to rest at home.

The motorcade terminated at the Eagles Square amid the rendering of songs by Onyeka Onwenuand other musicians.

The first lady is expected to address the women at the Square later.

A closed-door meeting between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU on Tuesday in Abuja ended in a deadlock.

And there are indications that union’s strike action might be prolonged  as minister of finance,Ngozi  – Iweala declared that federal government does not have the resources to meet ASUU’sdemands.

Following the stalemate in negotiations yesterday, the governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, who is chairman of the Universities Needs Assessment Committee, told newsmen that both parties had rescheduled their negotiations for August 19.

Suswan, who is the negotiator for the federal government, said that tremendous progress had been made in the negotiations.

He said that this was mainly on the NEEDs Assessment and Earned Allowance issues raised by ASUUand expressed optimism that the issues would soon be resolved going by the progress made so far.

“Well the meeting continues next week Monday. We made some progress; we had very fruitful discussion with ASUU. We have agreed we are to meet again on Monday at about three o’clock. When we meet again we will be able to arrive at some decisions,” he said.

Suswam assured that the federal government was making effort to resolve the crises in the education sector as it has introduced some new faces in the negotiating team, including the minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the director-general of the Budget Office, BrightOkogu.

“Now that finance minister is coming, we are getting close to resolving it because the strike is about settling some debts and also intervening in the universities and so she is here and she also contributed,” he added.

However, Suswam’s optimism is not shared by Okonjo – Iweala who at disclosed at another ceremony in Minna Tuesday that the government did not have the money to meet the lecturers demands.

The minister said this in her keynote address at the opening ceremony of this year’s National Council on Finance and Economic Development, NACOFED, in Minna, Niger State, with the theme “Restructuring Nigeria’s Finances”

She stated that federal government cannot meet the N92 billion in extra allowances demanded byASUU contending that less emphasis should be placed on recurrent expenditure, especially salaries and allowances of workers in order to adequately and urgently develop other sectors.

“At present, ASUU wants government to pay N92 billion in extra allowances over and above their salaries. Though we are in discussion with them, the problem is that the resources to take care of the demands are simply not there,” Iweala said.

She also stated that ASUU’s demand will drastically affect provision of infrastructure in the universities.

Okonjo-Iweala posited that the country was still suffering from the impact of the wage increase in 2010, adding that by the time other demands are added, the recurrent budget will be getting higher, thus leaving virtually nothing for capital projects.

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“Do we want to get to a stage when virtually all the monies and resources we earn are being used to pay salaries and allowances for public servants, who make up a minute percentage of the country’s population?” she asked.

“People are supportive when there is agitation to increase salaries, pensions among others. But on the other hand, people also turn around to say the recurrent budget is too high and there is no way you can have it both ways and so we have to make specific choices in this country.” she reasoned.

ASUU began indefinite strike on July 1, 2013 over the full implementation of a 2009 agreement and a 2011 memorandum of understanding they had with the government on various issues ranging from university autonomy, to funding, and lecturers’ remuneration.

Egypt’s security forces have stormed two protest camps occupied by supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, killing at least 30 of them.

Armoured bulldozers moved deep into the main camp outside the eastern Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and another protest camp at Nahda Square, pulling down all the tents used as shelter by the protesters.

There was no official confirmation of the death toll but witnesses said they saw at least 40 bodies, while the Muslim Brotherhood claim that hundreds died.

The health ministry said 13 people were killed near Rabaa during the crackdown, including five police and eight civilians.

The operation, which suggested that the powerful military had lost patience with persistent protests that were crippling parts of the capital and slowing the political process, began just after dawn with helicopters hovering over the camps.

The protesters, among them women and children, fled Rabaa for safety as the sound of gunfire and clouds of black smoke rose into the air.

The government issued a statement saying security forces had showed the “utmost degree of self-restraint”, reflected in low casualties compared to the number of people “and the volume of weapons and violence directed against the security forces”.

At least 20 were shot in the legs as television pictures showed security forces shooting from nearby rooftops.

“Tear gas (canisters) were falling from the sky like rain. There are no ambulances inside. They closed every entrance. There are women and children in there. God help them. This is a siege, a military attack on a civilian protest camp,” said protester Khaled Ahmed, 20, a university student wearing a hard hat with tears streaming down his face.

The 17-year-old daughter of leading Muslim Brotherhood figure Mohamed el-Beltagy was among the dead. Asmaa al-Beltagy was shot in the back and chest, her brother said.

The operation came after international efforts failed to mediate an end to the political standoff between Mursi’s supporters and the army-backed government which took power after his ouster on July 3.

Meanwhile, there were also reports of violence in other parts of Egypt.

State news agency Mena says three churches were attacked in central Egypt, one in the city ofSohag with a large number of Coptic Christian residents.

Security sources quoted by Reuters news agency reported clashes between security forces andMorsi supporters in Assiut and Minya cities.

Morsi supporters are reported to have blocked roads in the northern city of Alexandria.

Hundreds are said to have gathered outside the governor’s office in Aswan in the south and the interior ministry said a mopping-up operation in the streets surrounding Nahda Square was under way.

Egypt has been engulfed by political and economic turmoil since a 2011 uprising that ended 30 years of autocratic rule by ousted President Hosni Mubarak.