DELTA STATE: UGHELLI-ASABA ROAD: UDUAGHAN SEEKS N45BN REFUND

By Kola Eke Ogiugo
Delta State governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has again called on the federal government to refund the N45 billion spent on the dualisation of the Ughelli-Asaba Expressway.
Uduaghan, rather than wait endlessly for the federal government to award and execute deteriorating federal projects in the state believe in intervening with state government fund to bring the socio-economic benefits of the projects to the door steps of the people.
The governor is however unhappy that the federal government is yet to respond positively to his request. The governor has made several presentations to the federal government for reimbursement of the said N45 billion in respect of federal projects executed by the state.

Speaking to our correspondent in Asaba, the governor appealed to the minster of works, Arch Mike Onolememe, to assist the state in facilitating the request. Some unconfirmed sources said that the state is indebted to the tune of N60 billion, money expended for what was described as frivolous projects.
The 149-kilometre Ughelli-Asaba road dualisation project was awarded on
November 14, 2008 to three contracting firms at the cost of N44.7 billion.
The project is the most ambitious project ever embarked upon by any administration since the creation of the state.
The governor said the state has committed over N440 billion to the road sector since rehabilitation came on board in 2007. He said since his administration came on stream, over 1,618km of roads and 514km of bridges have been completed adding that in Asaba alone, over 65km road have been completed.
-Leadership.

THE USA ENDS 52 YEARS OF EMBARGO ON CUBA

As part of the move, Washington plans to open an embassy in Havana.

It comes as part of a deal that saw three Cubans freed from a Florida jail and the release of American prisoner Alan Gross by Cuba.

US President Barack Obama made the announcement on the policy shift in a TV address to the nation.

“It’s time for a new approach,” he said, marking a dramatic development in a longstanding dispute that has dominated headlines for years.

President Obama said the “rigid“ and outdated policy of the past failed to have an impact on Cuba.

“Today we are making these changes because it is the right thing to do. Today America chooses to cut loose the shackles of the past, so as to reach for a better future, for the Cuban people, for the American people, for our entire hemisphere, and for the world,” he said.

Some areas involving trade and transportation are now expected to be relaxed, but for now the decades-old trade embargo remains. For this to be lifted, congressional approval is needed.

Alistair Bell from Reuters wrote: “Only Congress can overturn the law, and with Republicans due to take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in January, the chance of lawmakers scrapping all sanctions on Cuba soon is almost zero.”

There is vocal criticism of the move in the US, and that has mostly come from Republican politicians.

The former Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, who is also seen as a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said: “I don’t think we should be negotiating with a repressive regime to make changes in our relationship.”

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban American, who will soon be the chairman of the key Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says he will try to block the plan.

But a spokesman for President Obama says the lifting of the embargo on Cuba could happen before he leaves office, and a visit to Cuba is possible before then, once full diplomatic relations are restored.

“If there is an opportunity for the president to visit, I’m sure he wouldn’t turn it down,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Source: EURONEWS. Photo shows Fidel Castro of Cuba

George Stinney, Jr 14-year old boy executed in 1944 (USA) exonerated after 70 years

By Lisa Riordan Seville

Seventy years after South Carolina executed a 14-year-old boy so small he sat on a phone book in the electric chair, a circuit court judge threw out his murder conviction.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Carmen Mullins vacated the decision against George Stinney Jr., a black teen who was convicted of beating two young white girls to death in the small town of Alcolu in 1944.

Civil rights advocates have spent years trying to get the case reopened, arguing that Stinney's confession was coerced. At the time of his arrest, Stinney weighed just 95 pounds. Officials said Stinney had admitted beating the girls, 11 and 8 years old, with a railroad spike.

In a 2009 affidavit, Stinney's sister said she had been with him on the day of the murders and he could not have committed them.

Stinney was put on trial and then executed within three months of the killings. His trial lasted three hours, and a jury of 12 white men took 10 minutes to find him guilty.

He is often cited as the youngest person executed in the U.S. in the 20th century. At the time of the crime, 14 was the legal age of criminal responsibility in the state. 

Alison-Madueke Appointed President Of Gas Exporting Countries Forum

Nigeria’s Petroleum Resources Minister was Tuesday appointed President of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) at the 16th Ministerial Meeting of the forum holding in the Qatari capital city of Doha. The Minister who was a few days back appointed President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is not attending the meeting because she is deeply involved in negotiations with Nigeria’s two main oil workers unions (PENGASSAN and NUPENG), who Monday embarked on strike over a long list of demands which includes the adoption of the delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), aimed at overhauling the sector and maintenance work on oil refineries.

Plainclothes cop pulls gun on police brutality protesters in Oakland

An undercover cop aims a gun at demonstrators in downtown Oakland.

Image: @NBCNews

By Patrick Kulp

A plainclothes police officer who had been gathering intelligence from protests in downtown Oakland Wednesday night aimed a gun at demonstrators after he and his partner were reportedly attacked by members of the crowd.
More than a hundred demonstrators took to the streets of Berkeley and Oakland Wednesday evening to protest two separate grand jury decisions, in Ferguson and Staten Island, both of which declined to indict white police officers in the killings of unarmed black men. Perhaps due to the oncoming rainstorm, the protest had a much smaller turnout than earlier in the week, when crowds of hundreds shut down a major freeway.

Fox News Reporter Dies of Apparent Suicide

Variety StaffDecember 12, 2014

Veteran Fox News correspondent Dominic Di-Natale, who recently reported on the riots in Ferguson, Mo., has been found dead of an apparent suicide.

He was 43.

Officials discovered Di-Natale’s body Wednesday in Jefferson County, Co., where the international reporter owned property. The coroner said that he took his own life.

According to Fox News, the U.K. born journalist had been dealing with undisclosed health issues.

“We were extremely saddened to learn of Dominic’s passing and send our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” said a statement from a Fox News spokesperson. “He was an esteemed journalist and an integral part of our news coverage throughout the Middle East.”

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly expressed her condolences on Twitter.

So sad to hear Fox's Dominic Di-Natale has died. A great reporter, who off-air was always trying to help US troops. I will miss him.

Soyinka condemns Jonathan’s ‘Impunity’, Likens President To ‘Nebuchadnezzar’

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing what he called a reign of impunity, the latest being police siege on the National Assembly.

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by Ben Ezemalu Dec 02, 2014

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing what he called a reign of impunity, the latest being police siege on the National Assembly.

Mr. Soyinka said the latest action of Suleiman Abba, the Inspector General of Police, against members of the House of Representatives was an “unambiguous” declaration of war against the people.

Halliburton To Buy Baker Hughes For $34.6 Billion

November 17, 2014 2:56 PM ET

Krishnadev Calamur

Halliburton, the world's second-biggest oilfield services company, said today it is buying Baker Hughes, the world's No. 3 oilfield services provider, for $34.6 billion.
Bloomberg reports: "With the agreement, Halliburton eliminates a chief rival and expands its business portfolio and reach at a time when falling oil prices have pushed the industry into a downturn. The merger will likely draw intense antitrust scrutiny, especially where North America businesses overlap."

Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke Elected First OPEC Female President

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke

Chineme Okafor in Vienna, Austria

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been elected the first female president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Alison-Madueke was  elected President of OPEC Thursday at the ongoing 166th General Meeting of the body in Vienna, Austria.

She replaces former President of OPEC, Libyan Vice Prime Minister for Corporations, Abdourhman Atahar Al-Ahirish.

US Executive Actions on Immigration

Executive Actions on Immigration

Executive Actions on Immigration Español  On November 20, 2014, the President announced a series of executive actions to crack down on illegal immigration at the border, prioritize deporting felons not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation. These initiatives include:

$ 16bn EPZ Saga: Uduaghan Decries Attack on Jonathan, Abduction of Journalists

From left, Secretary to Delta State Government, Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and President, Nigeria Guild of Editors, Mr. Femi Adesina during the 2014 Delta NUJ Press Week held in Asaba, Tuesday.

LAGOS NOVEMBER 18TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has decried accusations leveled on President Goodluck Jonathan of being partisan in the issue of the Delta Gas City project, Ogidigben, saying, the President means well for Nigerians.
He also, strongly condemned the recent kidnap of fourteen journalists in some parts of Delta State, stating that the President was worried as a result of the incident and has charged security operatives to unravel what happened.

Jonathan succumbs, Governors lose senate battle

on November 08, 2014

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru and Daud Olatunji
There were indications yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Working Committee, NWC, may have succumbed to the aggrieved senators’ demand for automatic ticket in the 2015 elections.

$18m Fraud: EFCC Nabs Runaway Suspect

 A suspected fraudster, who defrauded a group of Bureau de Change operators of $18,600,290 USD and disappeared after he was granted administrative bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been re-arrested. Alhaji Saidu Hashim was picked up by operatives of the Commission from his hide out in Lagos.

S’Court orders Delta legislator to refund salaries, allowances

  October 24, 2014 by Ade Adesomoju, Abuja 

The Supreme Court on Friday sacked a member of the Delta State House of Assembly representing Ugelli North Constituency II, Mr. Edoja Akpodiete.

The apex court in a unanimous judgment ordered him to within 90 days refund to the state coffers all the salaries and allowances he had collected since he had been occupying the seat since 2011.
It was the first time the Supreme Court would be ordering any person to refund the money earned from office that he or she illegally occupied.

COE Lecturer Burnt To Death For Killing 5 Students

• Published: 25.10.2014
• Kukogho Iruesiri Samson

play Scene of a lynching in CAR (illustrative purposes only)
(HRW)

Umar killed 5 pupils in a road accident and to reported himself at the police station. Angry youths from the community however invaded the police station, brought Umar out and burnt him to death.

FAB BreakingNews: Canada's parliament attacked near where PM Harper was speaking

By Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren

(Reuters) - Canada's capital was jolted on Wednesday by the fatal shooting of a soldier and an attack on the parliament building in which gunshots were fired outside a room where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was speaking.

Nigeria: Deal Agreed To Return Kidnapped Girls

Talks between the Nigerian government and Islamists Boko Haram reportedly secure the release of schoolgirls kidnapped in April.

16:53, UK, Friday 17 October 2014

Video: Video Of Kidnapped Girls Released

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Nigeria's presidency has agreed a ceasefire with Boko Haram militants which would see the return of 219 kidnapped girls, according to officials

The group kidnapped more than 200 girls at gunpoint from a school in Chibok, northeastern Nigeria, on April 14.
Some of the girls managed to escape from the group in the aftermath of their kidnap or during fighting among militants, but the vast majority are still missing.
Air Marshal Alex Badeh, chief of defence staff, said: "A ceasefire agreement has been concluded between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal Jihad (Boko Haram).

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau demanded the release of extremists

"I have accordingly directed the service chiefs to ensure immediate compliance with this development in the field."
The president's principal secretary Hassan Tukur told the AFP news agency that an agreement to end hostilities had been reached after talks with the Islamist group.

Video: The Devastation Left By Boko Haram

He said: "Boko Haram issued the ceasefire as a result of the discussions we have been having with them.
"That have agreed to release the Chibok girls."
The talks are thought to have taken place in neighbouring Chad, with the country's president Idriss Deby mediating negotiations.
Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford said authorities were "cautiously optimistic" the girls would be released.
She said: "Boko Haram have assured Nigerian authorities that the Chibok schoolgirls are well and safe.
"The gives everyone an indication that there is a very clear possibility that the girls could be freed as part of this deal.

Video: Police: 'We Cannot Stop Boko Haram'

"Nigerian authorities are going out of their way to say there is no deal, that there are no conditions attached to the ceasefire."
Mr Jonathan has faced strong criticism over a deteriorating security situation in Nigeria, with areas in the northeast Borno state inaccessible due to the threat from Boko Haram.
The group has demanded the release of detained extremists in exchange for the girls.
Journalist Peter Guest, a former editor of the Financial Times This Is Africa magazine, told Sky News: "Cynically, I think this is a government ploy to make it look like they're doing something.
"There's been a surge in protest and activism about this case in the last week, and the government needs to look busy."
The development was announced on the day 107 Boko Haram militants and eight soldiers were killed in fighting in northern Cameroon, according to the country's defence ministry.

BreakingNews: And the deceit continues.......

The newly sworn in governor of Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose chose an old Mercedes Benz car as official vehicle to reflect his closeness to the poor.

Follow me on twitter: @akenamif 

Ministers that may resign by October 30, 2014

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday held a valedictory session for seven ministers who may resign by Oct. 20 to enable them pursue their political ambitions in their respective states. The outgoing ministers as announced by President Goodluck Jonathan are Mr Labaran Maku (Information), Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (Health) and Mr Emeka Wogu (Labour and Productivity). Others are Mr Nyesom Wike (Minister of State for Education), Mr Samuel Ortom (State for Industry, Trade and Investment), Mr Darius Ishaku (State for Niger Delta Affairs) and Musiliu Obanikoro (State for Defence). The ministers, who are members of the PDP have till October 20 to either change their minds or formally resign in compliance with the election guidelines of the party. The PDP set the date as deadline for its members holding appointive public offices at all levels of government to resign to pave way for their political ambitions. Jonathan explained that by implication, the ministers might not be present at the next FEC meeting, hence the need for the valedictory session. "About seven members of council may not be here next week Wednesday to continue deliberations with us. I use the word `may’ because in politics nothing is concluded until the eleventh hour. "But, we cannot say they are no longer with us until they formally write to us through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). "For now, none of them has written and we are not dropping anybody, so people should not say we have dropped ministers. They are still members of Council, but between now and Monday, if they decide to go on with their plans, then they may not be with us. "It is proper for us to at least, wish them well in case we don’t see them here again. But, if they change their minds, they will remain with us. But if they changed their minds after we must have received their letters of resignation, it would be too late,’’ he added. The president said that the ministers served the country meritoriously, adding that they maintained a warm and cordial relationship with their colleagues during their tenures. The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who spoke on behalf of FEC, expressed appreciation to the ministers "who have rendered distinguished service to this cabinet and to our country.’’ "They have served very well; they gave us their best and stood by you and by us their cabinet members. They identified with us and with our great leader's transformation agenda. "And now that they have decided to become Your Excellency’s ambassadors in their various areas, we wish them well; we wish them the best of God's guidance and protection. "They have a strong call, a notching to serve our nation in other capacities as core hard politicians. One will say that they came, they saw, they acquired knowledge and then want to go out and serve their own people in their states.’’ The minister also expressed the appreciation of his colleagues to the president for the opportunity given them to serve in his cabinet. He likened service under Jonathan to an apprenticeship school where every member of the cabinet had greatly learned from his humility and versatility in leadership. "Your Excellency, service under you is like a skill-school and apprenticeship school, a tutelage school for building consensus. Your patience, humility, versatility in the art of servant leadership, your pious, decorum even in the face of unmitigated and unwarranted provocation are skills and virtues that we are all learning from. "Some of our colleagues want to go out and express experientially what they have learnt from you,’’ he said. Responding on behalf of the outgoing ministers, Maku thanked the president for the confidence reposed in them and for choosing them among millions of qualified Nigerians. "Your Excellency, we believe in you, we believe in this country. Under you, this country has undergone fundamental changes in terms of leadership style, focus and policy implementation for the transformation of our country. "Let me say again, as I mentioned here last week when we were discussing the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) conquest by your leadership, that you may not be appreciated now. But don't worry a time is going to come when this country will celebrate you because of what we have seen, the experiences we have gone through and the talent you have shown as a leader. "It is very clear that God brought you purposely to stabilise this country and to give us a new direction out of a crisis of several decades,’’ he said.

Delta State: Nollywood actor Clems Onyeka Shot dead in Asaba

Nollywood Actor Clems Onyeka Shot dead in Asaba

Popular Nollywood actor Clems Onyeka has died. He was gunned down by a stray bullet in Asaba Tuesday afternoon, October 14th. According to eye-witnesses, robbers who robbed a bank along the Summit Express, were exchanging gun fire with police when Clems was shot!

May his soul rest in peace!