Defection, political suicide for Oyinlola –Osun PDP

by Eniola Akinkuotu

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Ganiyu Olaoluwa

Osun State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, has described the defection of ex-governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress as political suicide.

Olaoluwa, in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo, on Tuesday, said “Oyinlola requires prayers as he starts a political journey with professional liars.”

According to Olaoluwa, it was almost unthinkable that the former governor could return to the camp of those that saw nothing good in him.

He maintained that there was more to the defection of Oyinlola than meet the eyes, stressing that the secret will soon be made open.

The PDP chairman said, as much as Oyinlola prides himself of being proud of his name and heritage, “I am sure that his immediate and extended family members will even be disappointed.

“As a political party, the PDP in Osun has shock absorbers to contain such eventuality as we are always prepared legally, constitutionally and politically.

“We respect the decision of Oyinlola, but we are also expecting him to be man enough to send a congratulatory message to us after the August 9 election.

“For the PDP in Osun, we are resolute and stands as a family to rescue our people from political vultures and voodoo personalities.”

@punchng.com

US services sector, factory data point to solid economic growth

by Agency Reporter

United States. services sector activity hit an 8-1/2-year high last month and factory orders surged in June, bolstering expectations of solid economic growth in the third quarter, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The Institute for Supply Management said on Tuesday its services index rose to 58.7, the highest level since December 2005, from 56.0 in June, with new orders reaching their highest level since August 2005.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.

In a separate report, the Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods increased 1.1 per cent after a 0.6 per cent decline in May. Economists had forecast new orders received by factories rising only 0.6 per cent.

United State stocks held losses after the unexpectedly better ISM and factory orders data, while the US dollar extended gains against a basket of currencies. Yields on US 10-year and 30-year Treasuries touched session highs after the data.

Manufacturing is expanding strongly, helping to keep the economy on solid ground.

A survey last Friday showed new orders at the nation’s factories surged in July.

Automobile production is also accelerating. But businesses amassed huge piles of stocks in the second quarter, which they will probably need to work through before placing more orders.

That could take some edge off factory activity and overall economic growth. The economy grew at a 4.0 per cent annual pace in the April-June period, and growth estimates for the third quarter are currently around a three per cent rate.

Orders excluding the volatile transportation category jumped 1.1 per cent in June, the largest increase since July of last year, as bookings for primary metals, machinery and electrical equipment, appliances and components rose. Orders for computers and electronic products also increased.

Unfilled orders at factories rose 1.0 per cent. Order backlogs have increased in 14 of the last 15 months.

The Commerce Department also said orders for durable goods, which are manufactured products expected to last three years and more, rose a sturdy 1.7 per cent in June instead of the 0.7 per cent rise reported last month.

Durable goods orders excluding transportation surged 1.9 per cent instead of the previously reported 0.8 per cent advance.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft — seen as a measure of business confidence and spending plans — increased 3.3 per cent.

The so-called core capital goods data was previously reported to have increased 1.4 per cent.

The factory orders report showed inventories rose 0.3 per cent in June, slowing from May’s 0.8 per cent gain. Shipments rose 0.5 per cent after slipping 0.1 per cent in May.

The inventories-to-shipments ratio was unchanged at 1.31.

Give new US Ebola drug to Africans – Experts

by aljazeera

Three of the world’s leading Ebola specialists have called for experimental drugs and vaccines to be offered to people in West Africa, where a vast outbreak of the deadly disease is raging in three countries.
Noting that American aid workers who contracted the disease in Liberia were given an unapproved medicine before being evacuated back to the United States, the specialists – including Peter Piot, who co-discovered Ebola in 1976 – said Africans affected by the same outbreak should get the same chance.
Piot, David Heymann and Jeremy Farrar, all influential infectious disease professors and respectively directors of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security, and the Wellcome Trust, said there were several antiviral drugs, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines under study for possible use against Ebola.
“African governments should be allowed to make informed decisions about whether or not to use these products – for example to protect and treat healthcare workers who run especially high risks of infection,” they wrote in a joint statement.
The World Health Organization (WHO), “the only body with the necessary international authority” to allow such experimental treatments, “must take on this greater leadership role”, they said.
“These dire circumstances call for a more robust international response,” they added.
Almost 900 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been killed by Ebola and more than 1,600 infected since the virus started spreading in Guinea in February.
Two American aid workers who fell sick with Ebola in Liberia saw their conditions improve by varying degrees in Liberia after they received an experimental drug called ZMapp, developed by San Diego-based private biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical.
Piot, Farrar and Heymann questioned why Africans were not being given the same chance.
If the deadly virus was raging though wealthy countries, they said, medical agencies “would begin discussions with companies and labs developing these products and then make rapid decisions about which of them might be appropriate for compassionate use”.
“Experimental treatments shouldn’t be rolled out generally without prior safety testing,” they said in their statement, issued in London late on Tuesday.
“But in the face of the critical challenge in West Africa, the WHO and Western medical agencies should be helping countries weigh the risks and benefits of limited deployment of the best (drug and vaccine) candidates to those in the greatest need, while continuously monitoring safety and efficacy.”
Biotech firm Mapp and its commercial partner Leaf Biopharmaceutical said the ZMapp drug was only identified as a potential treatment candidate in January and that, as a result, very little of it was currently available. The company said that the treatment was hard to produce and that it was working to scale up production as soon as possible.
The ZMapp serum consists of three antibodies manufactured in modified tobacco leaves, which take weeks to grow.
A spokesman for the Geneva-based WHO told Reuters news agency that the United Nations health agency “would not recommend any drug that has not gone through the normal process of licensing and clinical trials”.
Treating patients with experimental drugs that have not been tested in humans to determine safety and efficacy is highly unusual.

Ukraine rebel-held Donetsk sees heavy fighting

by Agency Reporter

Heavy fighting has erupted in a suburb of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, local officials say, BBC reports.

There are reports of civilian casualties as government forces battle to retake the city from pro-Russia separatists, the city council said.

Reports say powerful blasts and shooting were heard in the city.

Ukrainian government forces have made steady gains in recent weeks, encircling Donetsk and another rebel stronghold, Luhansk.

Power cuts

“As of 17:00 (14:00 GMT), there are active military hostilities going on in the Petrovksy district of Donetsk,” Donetsk city council said on Tuesday, quoted by Ukraine’s Unian news agency.

Electricity has been cut in some parts of the district after shells hit substations in the area, Unian added.

It said that gunfire – including heavy weapons – could also be heard in other parts of the city.

Eastern Ukraine has been unstable since rebels declared independence from the authorities in Kiev in April.

At least 1,500 people, both civilians and combatants, are believed to have been killed and thousands more injured since Ukraine’s new government sent in troops to put down the insurrection in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The rebels have since been pushed back to their strongholds in the two cities of the same name, though other pockets of resistance remain.

Separately on Tuesday, Russia called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reports.

It comes after the UN revealed that the number of people fleeing the war in eastern Ukraine to other parts of the country had jumped from 2,600 to 102,600 inside two months.

The figures for early June to early August coincide with a sharp increase in fighting between pro-Russian separatist rebels and security forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also ordered his government to prepare retaliatory measures against the latest round of Western sanctions imposed, local news agencies report.

But he said the measures must be carefully designed to avoid affecting Russian consumers.

Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March, has been accused of arming the rebels and has been targeted by US and EU sanctions. Russia denies the accusations.

Russian forces have been accused of helping the separatists with rocket barrages, a claim Moscow denies.

In a sign of increasing tensions, Ukrainian defence spokesman Andriy Lysenko on Tuesday condemned Russia’s plans to carry out military exercises in southern Russia, calling it “a provocation”.

He said Russia had massed some 45,000 troops along its shared border with Ukraine.

Lysenko also said that Ukrainian troops had retreated from Yasynuvata, a railway hub in the Donetsk region formerly under separatist control.

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of more than 300 Ukrainian soldiers who sought shelter inside Russia after being cut off by the rebels remain unclear.

The soldiers and border guards, who entered Russian territory on Monday, have been housed in tents supplied by the Russian border service while negotiations continue about their fate.

Russia says that 438 Ukrainian service personnel sought shelter near the town of Gukovo, in Russia’s Rostov region, while the Ukraine government says there are 311 of them.

Republican incumbents face final challenge

by Agency Reporter

Republican efforts to win control of the US Senate face their last big internal hurdle this week with several key primary battles between establishment incumbents and more conservative Tea Party-backed candidates for the party’s nomination in November’s midterm elections, The Guardian reports.

The results, which begin trickling in on Tuesday night with a battle between Kansas senator Pat Roberts and his conservative challenger Milton Wolf, could clear the way for a relatively unified slate of candidates to take on Democrats in November.

Despite the shock defeat of House majority leader Eric Cantor by Tea Party favourite Dave Brat in June’s Virginia primaries, the primary season has been less bumpy than expected for the party’s Senate leadership – with once vulnerable senators such as Mitch McConnell in Kentucky and Lindsey Graham in South Carolina comfortably defeating rebel challenges from the right.

Opinion polls point to a similar win for Roberts in Kansas on Tuesday against Wolf, who coincidentally is a second cousin of Barack Obama, followed by a predicted win for senator Lamar Alexander over challenger Joe Carr in Tennessee on Thursday.

Nevertheless, opinion polling in primary elections, in which turnout is often low, is notoriously unreliable and failed to pick up on the growing dissatisfaction against Cantor in Virginia.

There are also a number of important House primaries this week, beginning with races in Missouri and Michigan on Tuesday, that could yet see the party hierarchy embarrassed.

In Michigan, it is the Tea Party that has the incumbency in the shape of Justin Amash, who represents the state’s third district in the House. He has been a frequent thorn in the side of the GOP’s Washington leadership on matters ranging from the government shutdown to NSA surveillance.

Amash is widely expected to hold on to his party’s nomination for the seat despite a well-funded campaign against him by local investment adviser Brian Ellis.

And Democrats, who have typically seen less heated internal contests, also face an unusually competitive primary of their own in Obama’s home state of Hawaii where senator Brian Schatz was appointed by the governor after the death of Daniel Inouye and now faces his first challenge at the polls from local representative Colleen Hanabusa on August 9.

Obama has been unusually active raising money for Democratic Senate candidates across the US as polls show there is a serious danger of his party losing control of the Senate in November.

Most recent poll analysis shows some improvement for Democrats but a small overall lead remaining for Republicans in the Senate races due largely to the fact that those seats up for grabs are predominantly in states lost by Obama in the last presidential election.

Over 2,000 council staff on £100,000 plus — Report

by Agency Reporter

CHICAGO: More than 2,000 council staff received pay packets greater than £100,000 last year, according to a report from the pressure group, The TaxPayers Alliance, the British Broadcasting Corportion reported on Tuesday.

The group’s Town Hall Rich List is now in its eighth year and compares pay from all the UK’s councils.

It claims 2,181 council workers took home more than £100,000 in pay, benefits and pension contributions between 2012 and 2013.

However, this represents a five per cent fall on the previous year.

The most recent figures are also a 30 per cent decrease from 2011.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TPA, said, “It is good news that the number of senior council staff making more than £100,000 a year is falling, although that may only be because many authorities have finished paying eye-watering redundancy bills.”

Top of the rich list was David Crawford, the executive director of Social Care Services at Glasgow Council who received £486,303 which included pension contributions of £274,988.

Wandsworth Council’s chief executive Paul Martin received the highest salary, earning £274,224 last year.

More than 542 council workers took home more than the Prime Minister’s £142,000 salary.

Thirty four council employees earned more than £250,000, almost ten times the average UK wage.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, said, “In the past four years local government has made significant savings to senior pay and managed the biggest cuts to local service budgets in living memory.”

“Senior managers are responsible for overseeing vital life and limb services like child safeguarding and adult social care where there can be no margin for error.”

“Their pay is set to balance this level of responsibility with the need to offer good value for taxpayers’ money.”

Israel withdraws troops as 72-hour Gaza truce begins

by Agency Reporter

Israel withdrew ground forces from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and started a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step towards negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war, Reuters reports.

Minutes before the truce began at 8 am (0500 GMT), Hamas launched a salvo of rockets, calling them revenge for Israel’s “massacres”. Israel’s anti-missile system shot down one rocket over Jerusalem, police said. Another hit a house in a town near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. There were no casualties.

Israeli armour and infantry left Gaza ahead of the truce, with a military spokesman saying their main goal of destroying cross-border infiltration tunnels dug by Islamist militants had been completed. “Mission accomplished,” the military tweeted.

Troops and tanks will be “redeployed in defensive positions outside the Gaza Strip and we will maintain those defensive positions”, spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said, reflecting Israeli readiness to resume fighting if attacked.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Islamist Hamas faction that rules Gaza, said Israel’s offensive in the densely populated, coastal enclave was a “100 per cent failure”.

Israel sent officials to join talks in Cairo to cement a longer-term deal during the course of the truce. Hamas and Islamic Jihad also dispatched representatives from Gaza.

In Gaza, where some half-million people have been displaced by a month of bloodshed, some residents, carrying mattresses and with children in tow, left UN shelters to trek back to neighbourhoods where whole blocks have been destroyed by Israeli shelling and the smell of decomposing bodies fills the air.

Sitting on a pile of debris on the edge of the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Zuhair Hjaila, a 33-year-old father of four, said he had lost his house and his supermarket.

“This is complete destruction,” he said. “I never thought I would come back to find an earthquake zone.”

Visiting International Red Cross President Peter Maurer, responding to local criticism that his organisation was late in helping some of the victims, said “we were insufficiently able to bridge the gap between our willingness to protect them and our ability to do so”.

Several previous truce attempts by Egypt and other regional powers, overseen by the United States and United Nations, failed to calm the worst Israeli-Palestinian fighting in two years.

An Israeli official said that in the hour before the ceasefire came into effect, the civilian airspace over Tel Aviv was closed as a precaution against Gaza rockets, and takeoffs and landings were delayed at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Gaza officials say the war has killed 1,867 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed since fighting began on July 8, after a surge in Palestinian rocket launches.

Hamas said it had informed Egypt “of its acceptance of a 72-hour period of calm”, beginning on Tuesday.

The Palestinian cabinet issued a statement after its weekly meeting in Ramallah welcoming the ceasefire.

The US State Department also welcomed the truce and urged the parties to “respect it completely”. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington would continue its efforts to help the sides achieve a “durable, sustainable solution for the long term”.

Efforts to turn the ceasefire into a lasting truce could prove difficult, with the sides far apart on their central demands, and each rejecting the other’s legitimacy. Hamas rejects Israel’s existence, and vows to destroy it, while Israel denounces Hamas as a terrorist group and eschews any ties.

Besides the truce, Palestinians demand an end to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on impoverished Gaza and the release of prisoners including those Israel arrested in a June crackdown in the occupied West Bank after three Jewish seminary students were kidnapped and killed.

Israel has resisted those demands in the past.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said there was “clear evidence” of war crimes by Israel during its offensive in Gaza as he met International Criminal Court prosecutors in The Hague on Tuesday to push for an investigation.

Both sides have traded allegations of war crimes during the Gaza assault, while defending their own actions as consistent with international law.

Lerner said the army overnight destroyed the last of 32 tunnels located inside Gaza and which had been dug by Hamas for cross-border ambushes at an estimated cost of $100 million.

Israeli officials say, however, that some tunnels may have gone undetected and that the armed forces are poised to strike at these in the future.

Impeachment: Open letter to chief judges

by Ahuraka Isah

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloma Mukhtar
| credits: pmnewsnigeria.com

A country can still do well with bad laws but it cannot do well with bad judges. This is because if the judges are upright, they can mitigate the injustice, inhumanness created by people who made bad laws. But when judges are corrupt, even with good laws, development, justice cannot thrive,” said Justice Akinola Aguda (1923-2004).

The impeachment of the former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako may have opened the floodgate of impeachment of state governors and other public officers at both state and federal levels.

At the beginning, it was rumoured that governors of Adamawa, Nasarawa, Rivers, Edo, Oyo and other states yet to be named would be impeached.

But now, it is no longer a rumour that Nyako has been impeached while Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state is in the impeachment Golgotha.

In a democratic setting, legitimacy is conferred on some people to act as leaders.

In contrast, impeachment or the removal of an official elected by the people is an exercise carried out with just a handful of the elected leaders. The banished Duke in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” opted to say that there is the good side in every bad situation, but impeachment in most cases amounts to sowing a whirlwind or dragon teeth that hatches into bad omen in the society. That informed Gen.Yakubu Gowon and Alhaji Shehu Shagari and others to discourage former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’aba, and the former Senate President, Pius Ayim, from going ahead with the plan to impeach the then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002.

The concern of this writer is the fate of the judiciary in the face of the comic absurdity in our nation’s democratic practice. Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN) had sounded a note of warning to judges in his book, ‘Legal System, Corruption And Governance in Nigeria’, saying Gen. Ibrahim Babangida held the judiciary responsible for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

In his annulment proclamation, Babangida said that “the judiciary has been the bastion of the hopes and liberties of our citizens. Therefore when it became clear that the courts became intimidated and subjected to the manipulation of the political process, resulting in contradictory decisions and orders by courts of coordinate jurisdiction, then the entire political system was in clear danger. Accordingly, it is in the supreme interest of the laws and order, political stability and peace that the presidential election be annulled.”

In the same vein, Gen. Sani Abacha blamed the judiciary for sacking Chief Ernest Shonekan’s Interim National Government, following Justice Dolapo Akinsanya of Lagos High Court judgment which declared the government illegal and an aberration.

The role of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chief Judge of a state in the impeachment of a President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a state governor respectively are well provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The constitution asked occupants of these positions to constitute panels to investigate allegations of “gross misconduct” properly levelled against the President or the state governor by the National Assembly or the state Assembly as the case may be.

Section 188(5) of the 1999 constitution as (amended) for instance vested the powers on the state Chief Judge to appoint 7-man panel to investigate allegations of gross misconduct of the governor of a state. While carrying out this function, the Chief Judges are also to be guided by other sub-sections of Section 188.

The mere failure to comply with these provisions of the constitution by some Chief Judges of states in the past, especially, since the advent of the current democratic dispensation in 1999 has left the careers of many of them and other judges in shambles.

The National Judicial Council which is charged by the same 1999 Constitution with the appointment and discipline of judges have always taken exception to action of judges who violate the otherwise clear provisions of the constitution.

At an emergency meeting held at Abuja on December 20, 2006, the National Judicial Council, acting with powers vested in it by Paragraph 21(d) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 constitution suspended the Chief Judges of Anambra, Plateau and Ekiti states for the partisan roles played in the impeachment of the governors of their respective states.

Those suspended were Justices Chika Okoli (Anambra), Ya’u Dakwang (Plateau), and both the Chief Judges of Ekiti state, Justice Kayode Bamisile, and the former acting Chief Judge of the state, Justice Jide Aladejana. The suspension takes immediate effect.

Chuka Okoli, former Chief Judge of Anambra State, was placed on suspension by the council for what was considered to be his inglorious act in the controversial impeachment of Peter Obi as governor of the state. Before Governor Virginia Etiaba effected the decision of the council to appoint an acting Chief Judge, Okoli even tried to discountenance the directives of the NJC.

Justice Kayode Bamisile, his Ekiti State counterpart, was also sanctioned for similar misconduct. The former Chief Judge allegedly compromised himself by appointing on the investigation panel persons believed to be cronies of the then Governor Ayodele Fayose, to probe the impeachment allegations levelled against the governor. But Justice Jide Aladejana, who stepped into Bamisile’s shoes without due process, went down with his boss in line with the council’s recommendation.

Lazarus Dakyen, the Chief Judge of Plateau State, also lost his job because of his reluctance to be guided by law in his participation in the processes leading to the removal of Governor Joshua Dariye. Before them were Okechukwu Opene and D. A. Adeniji, who were indicted for taking bribe on the matter of the senatorial election in Anambra State. Though a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Akin Olujimi, (SAN), advised President Olusegun Obasanjo against their dismissal, the President upheld the decision of the NJC. Olujimi based his advice on the procedure adopted by the council in determining the case.

They are not the only judicial officers who fell victims of the political crisis in Anambra State. Stanley Nnaji, then a judge of Enugu State High Court, was suspended in March 2004 for wrongly assuming jurisdiction on a matter outside his state. The judge had ordered Tafa Balogun, then Inspector-General of police, to remove Chris Ngige, who was then the governor of Anambra State. Nnoruka Udechukwu, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, petitioned the NJC, complaining that the ruling was in bad faith and against the code of conduct of judicial officers.

Nnaji was probably encouraged by the reluctance of the Federal Government to implement a similar decision of the council on Wilson Egbo-Egbo, another High Court judge, for granting an injunction directing Ngige to stop parading himself as the governor. But shortly after Nnaji was accused of misconduct, Obasanjo approved Egbo-Egbo’s retirement. The latter is one of the nine judges so far retired for endorsing unnecessary ex-parte applications. But they are not the only casualties of political cases.

Five others were implicated in the 2003 Election Petition Tribunal in Akwa Ibom State. They adjudicated on the petition against the re-election of Governor Victor Attah by Ime Umanah, candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, at the election. By the time the NJC concluded its job, Matilda Adamu, a judge of the High Court of Plateau State, Christopher Senlong of the Federal High Court, Lagos, and James Isede, a chief magistrate in the Edo State judiciary, had earned themselves dismissal from the judiciary because political issues. D. T. Ahura of the High Court of Plateau State and A. M. Elelegwu of the Customary Court of Appeal, Delta State, were recommended for suspension. The Federal Government, after approving the verdict of the council on the judicial officers in February 2004, sent their case files to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission for trial.

It on these grounds judges and Chief Judges who are involved in various political cases, especially as the 2015 general elections approach, are advised to learn from the eventualities which befell those of the past by doing justice in accordance with their oath office.

•Isah writes from Abuja

@punchng.com

Sierra Leone capital now in grip of Ebola

by Aljazeera

The traditional healer was not at home when Saudatu Koroma arrived at his clinic in the bustling Wellington neighbourhood of Sierra Leone’s capital. This probably saved his life. Saudatu was suffering from the incurable Ebola virus, the first person to contract the disease in the capital, and was on the run from the hospital.

“She couldn’t eat … couldn’t sleep,” said Sulaiman Foday, a neighbour who was present at the time. Foday watched as police and a medical team arrived at the scene to recover the patient, who was by now lying on the floor of the healer’s house.

“We saw them come with those devil masks and we were so afraid,” he said. Women and children locked themselves inside their houses. Others fled the area.

The medical team had no protective clothing, so for three hours Saudatu stood and waited before being put in an ambulance and taken away. She died before she reached the hospital. It was not until four days later that officials came back to the area and advised residents to disinfect the compound with chlorine and water.

“We had to use our own money and do it ourselves,” said Foday.
State of emergency

The outbreak, which began in neighbouring Guinea back in March, is both the largest on record and the only one to reach major urban centres.

At least 729 people have died in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. For weeks, cases were largely confined to the east of the country, but increasingly they are now starting to appear in the capital itself. According to a spokesman at the ministry of health, six people have now tested positive for the disease in Freetown.

On Wednesday, President Ernest Bai Koroma declared a state of emergency and cancelled a trip to Washington where he was to attend a US-Africa summit.

“Extraordinary challenges call for extraordinary measures,” he said in an impassioned address to the nation. “Sierra Leone is in a great fight. We are a resilient people. And we must not fail.”

The areas hit hardest by the disease will be quarantined, Koroma announced, along with all houses where the disease is present. He called on the army to enforce the plan, which includes house-to-house searches to track down Ebola suspects as well as a ban on public gatherings.

The government had faced criticism over its management of the crisis, with many feeling the initial response was too little and too late.
The country’s tourism minister sparked outrage when he requested that journalists report Ebola in a less negative way to avoid scaring away the few intrepid tourists who make it to this corner of West Africa.
A spokesman for Sierra Leone’s health ministry insisted the city was ready to cope with the disease. “We have isolation units in all major hospitals,” he told Al Jazeera. “And we are building a new treatment centre in Lakka [outside the city].”
He also said dozens of foreign experts are due to arrive to back up a health service that is overstretched at the best of times. Given a chronic lack of skilled personnel, much of the battle is currently being fought by volunteers.
Health workers have been hit hard by the disease. Twenty staff members at the main government-run hospital in Kenema are said to have contracted Ebola.
Nurses have been striking intermittently for weeks, demanding better hours and the payment of a monthly risk allowance worth about $20. They are also demanding the takeover of the hospital management by the medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres, who are operating the world’s largest ever haemorrhagic fever treatment centre in the far east of the country.
In Freetown, the slum neighbourhood of Kroo Bay – a labyrinth of shacks and muddy pathways perched at the edge of a large rubbish dump stretching out into the Atlantic Ocean – has not yet been hit by the virus.
But community health officer Baba Musa is worried nonetheless. “I am afraid,” he says, sitting in a dimly lit office at the local health clinic. “These places are always prone to outbreaks.”
He has reason to be concerned. Infectious diseases have a history of spreading like wildfire through the crowded shanty town. An outbreak of cholera in the slums of Freetown in 2012 killed almost 400 people.
Series of rumours
Efforts to control the current outbreak have been hampered by a series of rumours that health workers and the government are intentionally spreading the disease for their own gain. It is this fear that drove Saudatu’s family to break her out of hospital and seek help from the traditional healer instead.
Massive awareness campaigns have sought to dispel these rumours and teach people how to avoid contracting the disease. However, progress has been patchy. Health outreach workers acknowledge it takes time to break through a deeply ingrained distrust of the government, fuelled by decades of opaque governance and endemic corruption.

“There has been lots and lots of sensitisation here,” says Musa, as a rat scuttles back and forth from behind the cupboard in his Kroo Bay office. “Initially we had denial, but with the death of Dr Khan [Sierra Leone's top virologist, who died of Ebola last week] more people are now accepting the disease is real.”

But two months and hundreds of deaths on from Sierra Leone’s first registered Ebola case in the far eastern district of Kailahun, many still simply do not accept the disease exists.

“I haven’t seen anyone die of Ebola yet, so I can’t say I believe it’s real,” says Kroo Bay resident Anna Musa Koroma, sitting outside her corrugated iron hut surrounded by her many children. “I am not afraid at all. I just look to God.”

This sense of fatalism is common in Freetown. Despite being in a state of emergency, life for the vast majority of the city’s residents continues as normal.

Though a few have started to wear protective latex gloves, most seem as inclined to put their trust in God instead of adopting preventive measures. The buckets of chlorinated water that have appeared outside some of the city’s businesses and restaurants are nowhere to be seen in the slums.

In a teahouse in Wellington not far from the traditional healer’s clinic where Saudatu was picked up by the police, Al Jazeera asked people what they knew about preventing the spread of the disease. The response was unanimous: “We will pray to God.”

US pledges N8.4bn for 2015 elections, others

by NAN

The US Government on Tuesday said it would provide 51 million dollars (about N8.4 billion) to support credible elections in Nigeria in 2015 and other electoral process in the country in the next five years.

This is contained in the “Fact Sheet” issued by the White House in Washington DC, which highlighted US support for democratic institutions, good governance and human rights in Africa.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the publication was released just as the US-Africa Leaders Summit being attended by 50 leaders from the continent, including President Goodluck Jonathan, began in Washington DC.

The publication stated that the US was working with other donors to support Nigeria’s electoral management bodies and strengthen the ability of the country’s civil society to promote electoral reforms.

According to it, part of the funds will be used to expand voter education and monitor electoral processes in the run-up to the 2015 elections.

The US government also announced that it had launched “Making All Voices Count,” a programme aimed at supporting innovation and research that would empower citizens in some countries to engage with government.  

“The project is being executed in partnership with other governments and private foundations.

“The partnership with the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Omidyar Network, and the Open Society Foundations, is providing 55 million dollars globally in support and in capacity building from 2013 through 2017,” it stated. 

It said that the first round of grants on the programme, totaling 2.5 million dollars had been announced and would benefit African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Liberia and Ghana. 

US destroys 60% of Syria chemicals

by bbc

The United States has informed the UN Security Council that it has neutralised about 60 percent of Syria’s most toxic chemicals.
Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador to the UN and the current president of the Security Council, said that the US made the report after a video-conference briefing by Sigrid Kaag, who heads the international effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapons.
He said Kaag reported that a meeting was held in Beirut on earlier Tuesday to work out methods to destroy the 12 chemical production facilities that Syria has declared. She said it will take about six months to complete.
Lyall Grant said he reported to the closed council meeting that Britain will complete its destruction of Syrian chemical precursors intended for the production of chemical weapons and hydrochloric acid “in the course of this week.”
“So, good progress on the destruction of chemicals outside Syria,” he said.
Syria agreed to surrender its chemical arsenal last year when the US threatened missile strikes in retaliation for a chemical attack on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus. The attack is believed to have killed more than 1,000 people.
In early July, some 600 metric tons of Syria’s most toxic chemicals were transferred onto the US cargo vessel MV Cape Ray in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro. The ship moved into international waters and began the two-month process of destroying the chemicals.
Lyall Grant said the US informed the council that once it has neutralised all the chemicals, the residue will be sent to Germany and Finland for final disposal.
He said Kaag, who heads the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, also briefed the council on the ongoing discussions about discrepancies in the Syrian government’s initial declaration of its chemical weapons and precursor chemicals.
Kaag said a lot of technical questions need to be addressed, and an OPCW team plans a further visit to Damascus in September, Lyall Grant told journalists.
The material handed over by Syria included mustard gas and precursors for the nerve gas sarin. But questions remain over whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is hiding undeclared poison gases or attacking rebels with chlorine – a toxic industrial gas that is not specifically classified as a chemical weapon.
Lyall Grant said council members raised questions about allegations of further use of chlorine-based explosive devices in recent weeks.

Apple, Samsung agree to drop cases outside the US

by BBC

| credits: gev.com

Apple and Samsung have agreed to withdraw all legal cases against each other outside the United States.

The two rivals have sued each other over a range of patent disputes in nine countries outside the US, including the UK, South Korea, Japan and Germany.

A joint statement said the agreement “does not involve any licensing arrangements,” and they would continue to pursue existing cases in US courts.

The two firms are the biggest players in the smartphone and tablet PC market.

But they have been involved in a bitter legal battle, spread across various countries, which has escalated in recent years.

The legal wrangling between the two companies began in 2011 after Apple sued Samsung in the US.

It claimed that the South Korean firm’s Galaxy range of phones and tablets “slavishly” copied its iPhone and iPad.

The South Korean firm has since taken Apple to court in various countries, accusing it of infringing its patents.

These included patents on a way to synchronise photos, music and video files across several devices, and a method to capture and send video over the internet.

For its part, Apple filed counter claims in some of those countries – disputes which the two firms have now agreed to withdraw.

However, the main legal battle between the two companies is being fought in the US courts.

Apple has won two verdicts in the US against Samsung in recent years.

In May, a US court ordered Samsung to pay $119.6m (£71m) to Apple for infringing two of its patents. The amount was way less than the $2.2bn that Apple had sought.

But the court also ruled that Apple infringed Samsung’s patents and awarded $158,000 in damages.

However, Samsung denied any wrongdoing and sought $6m after arguing Apple infringed two of its smartphone patents related to camera use and video transmission.

Two years ago, a separate jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05bn in damages for infringing intellectual property.

The jury decided several Samsung devices had infringed iPhone-maker Apple’s software and design patents, but rejected counter-claims by Samsung.

That verdict is still being challenged by Samsung.

Chinese earthquake death toll rises to 589

by CNN

The death toll from a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck China’s southwestern Yunnan province on Sunday has risen to 589, with nine people still missing, China’s state-run media said on Wednesday.

Among the reported deaths, 504 were in the worst-hit Ludian County and 72 in Qiaojia County. In addition to the deaths, 2,401 people were reported injured.

The epicenter of the quake was recorded in Longtoushan Township, 23 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of Zhaotong, and tremors were felt almost 200 miles away. Hundreds of aftershocks were recorded following the initial tremor. Poor weather conditions and the aftershocks hampered rescue efforts.

One of the rescued victims, 88-year-old Xiong Zhengfen, was found Tuesday after 50 hours buried under rubble in Babaocun village, near the quake’s epicenter. Doctors told local media that she was uninjured and her vital signs normal. She was taken to the county hospital after being rescued.

Beijing has allocated 600 million yuan ($97 million) for relief efforts, Xinhua reported Monday.

It is a fairly remote, partly mountainous area. Many live in low-rise houses made of wood and bricks or plaster, which make them prone to collapse.

The quality of the housing, along with the higher-than-average population density in the area and the relatively shallow epicenter of the quake, was said to be a contributing factor to the death toll.

Lu Xuefeng, head of Zhaotong City’s communications department, told reporters Monday that an estimated 210,000 households and almost a million residents had been affected by the earthquake.

Some 12,000 homes were destroyed and 30,000 others damaged in Sunday’s quake, according to CCTV. Tens of thousands have been relocated from structurally unsafe houses. Some roads have been destroyed and some villages remain cut off.

The scope of the disaster meant that medical facilities were in danger of being overwhelmed. Officials from Zhaotong had urged people to give blood in order to make up a significant shortfall.

The Chinese Red Cross has issued appeals, urging people to forget about a scandal involving the lavish lifestyle of Guo Meimei, a young socialite, that indirectly implicated the charity and led to a fall in donations.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.1, while the China Earthquake Networks Center reported it as a 6.5-magnitude event.

The area is a mountainous region, known for its natural scenery and ethnic diversity, but is also prone to natural disasters and lies on a major earthquake fault.

Yunnan’s neighboring province, Sichuan, witnessed a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in 2008 where at least 87,000 people died.

One nurse dies of Ebola as FG confirms seven cases

by Sunday Aborisade

The Federal Government said on Wednesday, that a nurse who was one of the medical personnel that attended to the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who died of Ebola virus in Lagos on July 25, has died of the disease.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, who stated this at a news conference in Abuja, also confirmed that five other medical practitioners who participated in the treatment are already infected with the virus.
He said, “Nigeria has now recorded seven confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease.
“The first one was the index case, which is the imported case from Liberia of which the victim is now late.
“Yesterday, 5th August, 2014, the first known Nigerian to die of the EVD was recorded and this was one of the nurses that attended to the Liberian.
“The other five cases are currently being treated at the Isolation Ward in Lagos.”
The Minister noted that all the Nigerians diagnosed were primary contacts of the index case.
He announced the appointment of Prof. O. Onajole, of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, who will be based in Lagos, as the Director, Communication and Community Mobilisation for the EVD.
He also pledged to visit Lagos within the week, in company with his colleague in the ministry of information, to assess the situation on ground.

Israeli-Palestinian indirect talks begin in Egypt

by bbc

Indirect talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives are taking place in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
They come after a four-week conflict in Gaza that has claimed more than 1,900 lives.
Egyptian mediators are shuttling between the two delegations, relaying each side’s demands.
A 72-hour truce is now in its second day in Gaza, the longest lull in fighting since the conflict began on July 8.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged both sides to use the ceasefire to move towards broader negotiations.
Kerry told the BBC that the situation could “concentrate people’s minds” on the need to negotiate a two-state solution.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have been returning to their homes.
The BBC’s Jon Donnison, in Gaza City, says many people have found nothing left.

Argentinian grandmother finds ‘stolen grandson’ after 36 years

by AFP

Grandmother

The founder of Argentina’s leading human rights group has found her grandson, who was taken from her daughter while she was a prisoner of the military dictatorship in the 1970s. A DNA test solved the mystery, one of many from the “dirty war” era.

An emotional Estela Barnes de Carlotto, founder of the “Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo”, announced that her long hunt had ended.

“Thanks to God, thanks to life, because I didn’t want to die without embracing him and soon I will be able to,” the 83-year-old grandmother said at a news conference covered live on national TV. She has not yet met him.

The now 36-year-old man came forward to have a DNA test taken and have the sample compared in a national database because he had doubts about his own identity, said Guido Carlotto, a son of de Carlotto and the human rights secretary for the Buenos Aires Province.

The family didn’t release the man’s name, but Argentine media identified him as Ignacio Hurban, a pianist and composer who is director of a music school in the city of Olavarria, southwest of Buenos Aires.

“The empty picture frames will have his picture,” Estela Barnes de Carlotto told France 24.  “I’ve seen his (photo), it’s beautiful, he’s an artist, he’s a good guy and he searched for me, he searched for me.

“He achieved what the grandmothers have said, they (the victims) will find us like we have found them. He came to the grandmothers, he was received, he went to CONADI (the identity commission) and was received and listened to and today they told me he’s my grandson with a 99.999999% (probability).”

Son of an executed activist

De Carlotto said the test revealed the man is the son of Laura Carlotto, a university student activist who was executed in August 1978 two months after she gave birth while being held under the dictatorship’s brutal campaign against guerrillas and other opponents of the regime.

The announcement was major news in Argentina, drowning out coverage of the recent default forced on the country by a legal dispute with US investors.

De Carlotto is considered a symbol of the struggle for justice for victims of the 1976-83 dictatorship that, according to official statistics, “disappeared” at least 13,000 people. Activists say the death toll was more than twice as high.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called de Carlotto when she learned the news. “Cristina called me crying … I told her, ‘Yes, Cristina it’s true.’ She said, ‘What great joy,’ and we cried together,” the long-term activist said.

“The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo” believe around 500 children were seized from people killed by the dictatorship and given to couples who supported the government. The group has so far helped to identify 114 of the illegally adopted children in a campaign that has stirred painful memories.

The Grandmothers pushed for the creation of the DNA database that enables people illegally adopted to determine their real identity.

Two former dictators were eventually convicted, along with others, of systematically kidnapping children. Jorge Rafael Videla died in prison in May 2013 while serving a 50-year sentence. Reynaldo Bignone remains in prison.

A ‘form of reparation’

De Carlotto said the parents who received her daughter’s child “may have done so innocently,” not knowing the newborn’s origins. “We don’t have the whole story yet, but we are going to get it,” she said.

Laura Carlotto was a Peronist militant detained while pregnant in November 1977 along with the baby’s father, Oscar Montoya, a member of the Montoneros guerrilla group. He also was killed in captivity.

The baby was taken shortly after being born in a military hospital and his mother was executed soon afterwards, de Carlotto said.

Her daughter was killed with a shot to the head and to the belly to try to hide the fact that she had been pregnant and may have given birth, said de Carlotto, who was given the young woman’s remains.

De Carlotto said the identification of her grandson is a form of reparation for the brutality of the dictatorship, but it isn’t an end to the struggle for justice or a resolution of the issue of missing children.

“The search for the rest must continue,” she said.

Confab: Deliberation on final report begins Aug 13

by nan

The final report of the National Conference is ready and delegates would commence deliberation on it on August 13, Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications to the confab, Mr James Akpandem, has said.
Akpandem told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja, that the report was being reproduced for circulation to delegates.
He expressed the hope that the required number of copies of the report would be ready before the delegates resume plenary on August 11.
He said copies of the report would be circulated to delegates when they resume plenary on August 11.
The media officer explained that the delegates would be expected to study the report on Monday and Tuesday ahead of deliberation on Wednesday.

WHO Summit on Ebola begins in Switzerland

by bbc

Global health experts at the World Health Organisation are meeting to discuss new measures to tackle the Ebola outbreak.
The meeting – being held in Geneva, Switzerland – is expected to last two days and will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.
That could involve imposing travel restrictions on affected areas.
The outbreak began last February and has since spread to four African countries, claiming nearly 900 lives.
It comes as leading infectious disease experts have called for experimental treatments to be offered more widely.
Two US aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia appear to be improving after receiving an unapproved medicine before being evacuated back to the US.
But it is not clear if the ZMapp drug, which has only been tested on monkeys, can be credited with their improvement.
Prof Peter Piot, who co-discovered Ebola in 1976, Prof David Heymann, the head of the Centre on Global Health Security, and Wellcome Trust director Prof Jeremy Farrar said there were several drugs and vaccines under study for possible use against Ebola.
“African governments should be allowed to make informed decisions about whether or not to use these products – for example to protect and treat healthcare workers who run especially high risks of infection,” they wrote in a joint statement.
The WHO, “the only body with the necessary international authority” to allow such experimental treatments, “must take on this greater leadership role”, they said.
“These dire circumstances call for a more robust international response,” they added.
The WHO meeting involves the organisation’s emergency committee and is solely focusing on how to respond to the Ebola outbreak.
If a public health emergency is declared it could also involve detailed plans and efforts to identify, isolate and treat cases.
A WHO spokesman said: “We can’t speculate in advance what the committee members are going to decide in advance.”
In the meantime, the World Bank is allocating $200m (£120m) in emergency assistance for countries battling to contain the Ebola outbreak.
It is the world’s deadliest outbreak to date and has centred on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There have also been two cases in the Nigerian city of Lagos, where eight people are currently in quarantine.
British Airways has temporarily suspended flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until August 31 because of the health crisis, the airline said in a statement. It follows a similar suspension by two regional air carriers last week.
The virus spreads by contact with infected blood and bodily fluids. The current outbreak is killing between 50 per cent and 60 per cent of people infected.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola – but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Ebola has initial flu-like symptoms that can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.

Jonathan incompetent to rule Nigeria – Tinubu

by Olufemi Atoyebi and Kamarudeen Ogundele

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
| credits: File copy

National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described President Goodluck Jonathan as incompetent and unfit to rule the country.

The APC leader spoke in Osogbo, on Tuesday, during the rally held for the re-election of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in Osogbo.

He said, “President Goodluck Jonathan does not understand what it means to govern. He knows nothing about good governance. He’s confused.

“How can he bring soldiers to Osun because of election and claimed to be protecting youth corps members, when he should have used that force to stop the killing of our people in the North?”

“People of Osun must not collect bribe from Peoples Democratic Party. We have offered you better life, good jobs will be offered the youths and we will maintain the register of progress in this state.

“APC is the party for the masses with the capacity to care for the people. I want you to know that the FG is using your money to pay the soldiers and the police brought here. Don’t run away from them so that you can protect your votes. If they fail in their duty to provide security for you, we will protest their oppression. They cannot chase us away from our votes.”

National chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, said the party would not recognise any government formed through a stolen mandate in 2015, saying that the party would set up a government of the people in its place.

Aside from Oyegun, Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomole, Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi, a former chairman of the party, Bisi Akande, Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, Kwara State governor, Abdulfattah Ahmed, his predecessor in office, Senator Bukola Saraki, a former governors of Osun State, Isiaka Adeleke and Olagunsoye Oyinlola, as well as other leaders of the party were present at the rally.

@punchng.com

Impeachment: Probe panel clears Al-Makura

by Olusola Fabiyi, Ade Adesomoju and Umar Muhammed

Governor Tanko Al-Makura
| credits: http://abusidiqu.com/

The seven-man investigative panel set up by the Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Justice Umar Dikko, has dismissed the allegations levelled against Governor Tanko Al-Makura by the state House of Assembly.

The panel, at its sitting on Tuesday   said it did not find any proof of the 16 counts levelled against the governor by the assembly.

The assembly members had in their notice of impeachment, published in some newspapers, accused the governor of gross misconduct and violation of provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

The Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Usman, said the report on their findings would be sent to the Speaker of the assembly, Musa Mohammed.

Usman pointed out that the panel had carried out its responsibilities in compliance with section 188 (8) of the 1999 Constitution.

The governor’s lead counsel , Chief Nnoruka Udechukwu, had earlier urged the panel to dismiss all the allegations because the assembly failed to prove them.

Earlier in his submission, the counsel for the lawmakers, Ocha P. Ulegede, alleged that two members of the panel were members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He added that another member, Rev. Joel Galadima, was a member of the Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board.

Ulegede further argued that the proceedings of the panel on   August 1 and August 5, 2014 as well as other subsequent ones were illegal because the committee had been disbanded by the assembly.

He said the sittings of the panel were in violation of Section 188 (7) (a) of the 1999 Constitution   as amended.

The counsel submitted that the panel usurped the   powers of the assembly to make laws.

He, therefore, urged the committee to disqualify itself to avoid a constitutional crisis.

Fielding questions from journalists shortly after the lawmakers walked out of the panel, Ulegede insisted that they would not partake in a process that was illegal.

Ulegede said, “We are not ready to be part of the breach of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which they (lawmakers) swore to uphold. The powers given to the Chief Judge of Nasarawa   State are not absolute.”

He said , “Rev. Joel is a member of the Nasarawa Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board and he collected the June 2014 salary

“Mohammed Sabo Keana is a member of the PDP and his name is number two on the party’s register in Keana Local Government Area of the state.

“Galadima is a member of the PDP in the Keffi Local Government of the state. So when you look at issues like these, will you say the Chief Judge complied with the provisions of the Constitution?”

Reacting to the verdict of the panel, the national leadership of the PDP said that it had yet to be briefed on what happened in the state.

It said because of this, it would be difficult for it to comment on the clearance of the governor by the panel.

Apart from this, the party said the issue at hand was between the governor and the people of the state.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who stated this in an interview with one of our correspondents, said the party was waiting for the state chapter of the party to brief it before it could make any statement.

He said, “We are not following what is happening in the state. Besides, the issue is a local matter between the governor and the   assembly.

“We are not following what is happening in the state and we are waiting to be briefed by our party in the state before we could make any statement in the matter.

“For now, we are not involved.’’

On its part, the All Progressives Congress   hailed the dismissal of the allegations.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described it as a vindication of the party’s position that the impeachment move against Al-Makura and others in the country was a mere political witch-hunt against the opposition in the country.

Mohammed, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the telephone, said the PDP had orchestrated the impeachment moves to “decapitate the opposition”.

He said the party was happy that the panel had dismissed the allegations as being unfounded and baseless.

Mohammed said, “Our position that has been that the gale of impeachment in the country is nothing but political witch-hunt, has been vindicated.

“We saw the gale of impeachment as nothing but part of the grand plan of the PDP to decapitate the opposition. We are happy that the panel has dismissed the impeachment allegations as baseless and unfounded.”

Also, a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, said the dismissal of the allegations was a real life vindication of APC as a party of “the people that creates and cherishes good governance.

“The era where a political super power will arbitrarily use impeachment as a mechanism to get rid of political opposition is over,” he said.

The   governor had on Monday filed a suit at the state High Court, seeking an order to either quash or set aside the assembly’s impeachment notice dated July 14, 2014.

Al-Makura also prayed the court to declare as   illegal, the publication of the   notice of impeachment by the clerk of the   assembly.

@punchng.com

Why Osun must not vote for Omisore –Oyinlola

by Femi Makinde

Former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola

Former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State on Tuesday urged the people of the state against voting for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

Oyinlola, who publicly declared for the All Progressives Congress at the mega rally of the party held at the Osogbo Township Stadium, on Tuesday, accused Omisore of being selfish.

He urged the people of the state to vote for Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who incidentally, was the one who unseated him from office after a marathon legal battle which lasted over three-and-a-half years.

The former National Secretary of the PDP, who spoke in Yoruba language, said that his former party was not fair to the Yoruba people, saying there was no Yoruba person occupying any of the top 20 political offices in the country.

Oyinlola alleged that he was badly treated by the PDP which, he said he was very loyal to.

Oyinlola said, “The candidate of their party is selfish. I don’t know how Bola Ige was killed. Although Omisore was accused of killing Bola Ige, God knows who was responsible for the killing.

“Let us look at this; he (Omisore) picked Prof. Wale Oladipo, who was in the prison with him (over Bola Ige’s case) to replace me as the National Secretary of the PDP. He nominated Jelili Adesiyan who was also with him at Agodi Prison as a minister and he installed Gani Olaoluwa, who was also with them at the prison as the PDP chairman in the state.

“Does it mean that we cannot hold public office except we are former prisoners? The running mate (Adejare Bello) is the only one different. The PDP is now empty; they pushed former Governor Isiaka Adeleke out, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade (Labour Party candidate) left them when he saw the way they were doing and I have also left them for the APC.”

Oyinlola added that Omisore had nothing good in stock for the people of the state while hailing the performance of Aregbesola who he urged the people to support.

But the Chairman of the PDP in Osun State, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, in a statement issued to react to Oyinlola’s defection, wished him well in his new political party.

Olaoluwa said that the former governor required prayers as he started a political journey with the APC, which he described as a party of professional liars.

The PDP chairman said Oyinlola’s defection was beyond the ordinary while stating that the secret behind it would soon be blown open.

He said, “I am sure that his immediate and extended family members will even be disappointed. As a political party, the PDP in Osun has shock absorbers to contain such eventuality as we are always prepared legally, constitutionally and politically.”

@punchng.com

Two die as military officers clash in Lagos

by Samson Folarin

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko
| credits: File copy

There was confusion on Sunday morning after two military officers, identified as Hilary and Sheu Abdullahi, died after a brutal clash.

Our correspondent gathered that the incident happened at a popular night club on Pen Crescent, Apapa area of Lagos.

The PUNCH learnt from a reliable source that Hilary, a corporal in the Nigerian Army, had gone to the club with his girlfriend who was donned in a military outfit.

The source said, “The bouncers at the club stopped the lady and challenged her, asking if she was a soldier. But Hilary asked why they would question his girlfriend in his presence.

“Abdullahi, a naval officer, who was equally at the club with his girlfriend, came out to intervene. After listening to the bouncers, he told Hilary it was wrong for his girlfriend to wear a military uniform when she was not one. That was how Hilary left the bouncers and decided to tackle Abdullahi.”

Another source told our correspondent that the fight began after Abdullahi slapped the soldier’s girlfriend for disrespecting him.

He said, “The soldier was angry and went after the naval officer. He stabbed him with a jackknife and he died on the spot.”

Our correspondent gathered that Abdullahi’s colleagues, after getting wind of the situation, mobilised to the scene.

It was learnt that in retaliation, the men pounced on Hilary, and beat him to a pulp.

The affray was said to have escalated after the soldier gave up in their hands.

A resident was said to have made a distress call to policemen at the Apapa Police Division who arrived the scene on time to prevent further bloodshed.

The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Lelma Kolle, while confirming the incident, said the police made two arrests at the scene.

He said, “Yes, the incident happened. Actually, two people died. We received a distress call from someone that there was a situation at the club and we instantly rushed to the scene. We were able to bring the situation under control and prevent further loss of lives. It was just unfortunate that by the time we got there, the two officers had died. But the police arrested two military officers in connection with the incident.”

He added that the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, and the corpses of the slain officers, deposited in the mortuary.

The Army Public Relations Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Omale Ochagwuba, said he was at a programme and would appreciate if our correspondent could visit his office.

The Command Information Officer of the Western Naval Command, Lieutenant Commander Way Olabisi, said he would get back to our correspondent on the incident.

@punchng.com

Sawyer: Lagos matron shows Ebola symptoms

by Sesan Olufowobi, Sunday Aborisade, Ifeanyi Onuba, Bukola Adebayo and Okechukwu Nnodim

Health inspectors at work
| credits: www.globapost.com

There was gloom at the secretariat of the Nigerian Medical Association,Lagos State chapter when the association’s Chairman, Dr. Tope Ojo, disclosed that the matron of the hospital where the Liberian-born American, Patrick Sawyer, was admitted for treatment was showing symptoms of Ebola virus.

The matron is one of the health workers at the Obalende, Lagos hospital who attended to Sawyer before he died of the disease (Ebola) on July 25..

A female medical doctor, who also participated in managing the Liberian- American was confirmed on Monday by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, to have contracted the deadly virus.

Apart from the female medical doctor and the matron, six other people suspected to have been infected with the virus are being quarantined at the IDH, Yaba.

Ojo, who added that 30 striking doctors had volunteered to attend to the medical needs of all those with Ebola-related case, stated that the female medical doctor was stable.

He said, “We know that the infected doctor is stable, however, the matron is showing symptoms too. But everybody, including the experts from the World Health Organisation, are doing all they can.

“Strike or no strike, we must respond to emergencies. Our doctors are at the Yaba hospital where isolated contacts are being monitored.”

Ojo however said the NMA was having a challenge   getting volunteers to be part of the Ebola Case Management Committee because of the fear of contracting the virus.

The NMA chairman said, “There are seven committees working on the management of the disease at the centre in Lagos which our members are part of.

“ But the committee which we are having a challenge getting volunteers is that of   case management. This committee comprises people   that work directly with confirmed cases.

“Our doctors are worried about the danger it(Ebola virus) poses to their lives and they need to be reassured.

“We understand their fears and we are making moves to confirm the level of preparedness of the government for doctors.”

He stressed the   need for the government to put adequate measures in place to assure health workers of their safety in stemming the virus.

“ Look at the protective measures that doctors in Liberia and Guinea wear. They are well protected, yet some of them still caught it,” Ojo said.

A doctor in one of the committees, Dr. Babajide Saheed, said they   were working closely with   WHO and other stakeholders to contain the spread of the virus.

Saheed said,” Not all doctors can attend to an Ebola patient. In fact, you must limit the number of health workers treating affected persons just to contain the risk.

“We will be escalating the situation if doctors rush to the Mainland hospital to attend to patients.”

A top official of the IDH   said   the Lagos State Government should designate one of its hospitals to accommodate more persons that might   be isolated for monitoring.

“The mainland hospital may not be enough if we are to isolate more persons who had contact with Sawyer and those who have had direct contact with those people too,” he added.

He said that “ instead of using a ward in an hospital, it is better to just designate a whole   hospital and evacuate patients from it.”

The Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Tuesday that Nigeria   was considering applying for a dose of the experimental Ebola therapy to treat the Lagos female doctor.

“We will exploit the possibility of getting some (ZMapp Experimental Drug),” the Lagos State Health Commissioner, Jide Idris, said.

The San Diego, United States-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.’s experimental ZMapp drug had only been tested on infected animals before it was given to Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, the two U S health workers who were infected with the virus in Liberia.

Airline’s manifest with FG, says LASG

Also on Tuesday, the Lagos State Government said Asky Airline had made the full manifest of passengers on its flight KP50 available to the Federal Government.

The flight had brought the 40-year-old   Sawyer into Lagos via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The state government had last week said it could not give the precise number of passengers in the flight since the airline had not made the manifest available.

However, the Health   Commissioner , Dr. Idris, said on Tuesday that the Federal Government had the list.

The commissioner,   while updating journalists on development on the virus in the state, said, ”The airline has made the comprehensive list of the people on the flight available to the Federal Government through the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.”

Idris added that the government was still compiling a list of all the primary and secondary contacts of the   Lagos female doctor who contracted the Ebola virus from Sawyer.

The Commissioner, who also dispelled the rumour that the doctor   had died, said the development was part of measures to curb the spread of the disease.

According to him, contact tracing is one of the   measures needed to curb the spread of the virus.

He urged   the public to be vigilant, especially with regards to relating with ill people.

Idris said, “Contact tracing is essential and very important to stop the spread of Ebola virus. In the case of the doctor, who was infected, we have contacted her family and have opened a comprehensive list of people that had   contact with her.

“There is no panic as long as basic precautionary measures such as handwashing, adoption of appropriate waste management and enhanced personal/environmental hygiene are adhered to. This is a call for everyone to be vigilant, especially with regard to relating with people who are ill.”

The commissioner said it would be more difficult to control the spread of the virus if health workers were not around to help.

He said, “I appeal to the striking doctors to return to work and to other health workers to sheath their swords and embrace team work. We also count on the cooperation of the people of Lagos State.”

A senior official in his ministry, who pleaded anonymity because he was not competent to speak on the issue, confirmed that the manifest was in the custody of the ministry.

The source however said he could not confirm whether the Lagos state government had approached the ministry for a copy of the document.

“Only the minister, the coordinator of the Centre on Ebola and the Lagos state commissioner for health are competent to speak on the issue,”he said.

Flight manifest can’t be made public- FAAN

However, the   Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has said that it cannot reveal to the public, the names of passengers onboard the flight that brought in the late   Sawyer into Nigeria.

Reacting to request in some quarters that the names of those onboard the flight be made public, the General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke, told one of our correspondents in Abuja that it was the duty of the agency to protect the passengers.

He said, “If we mention your name as one of the passengers on that flight, tell me, how will people see you? This is not a plane crash that will require us to say that the deseased’s relatives need to know those on the flight.

“These people are not dead; they are alive and we have a duty to protect them while they are receiving treatment. You can’t release such a manifest to the public because this will cause stigmatisation. We have had reason to state that it is not possible.”

On what is currently happening to those onboard the flight, Ndubuoke said the FederaL Ministry of Health   was in contact with them.

He said, “The Minister of Health has stated that there were 50 passengers onboard that flight apart from Sawyer. He made it clear that the ministry   was getting in touch with all of them. The Health ministry had explained that it was in touch with all of them and was monitoring and investigating them. Even the driver that took Sawyer is being monitored.”

World Bank pledges N32bn to fight Ebola

Meanwhile, the World Bank Group on Tuesday pledged   $200m (N32bn) to contain the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

The amount would also help communities affected by the epidemic cope with the economic impact of the crisis, and improve public health systems throughout West Africa.

The bank, in a statement it made available to journalists on Tuesday, did not list Nigeria as one of the beneficiaries of the fund.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are the three countries that would use the money to check the spread of the virus.

Ebola death   toll in West Africa, according to WHO, is now 887.

The statement quoted the World Bank   President, Dr. Jim   Kim, as saying the new financing commitment was in response to a call from WHO and the three African countries hardest-hit by the virus for immediate assistance.

Kim, who is also a medical doctor experienced in the treatment of infectious diseases, added that the bank would step up social safety net assistance for affected countries and families of those infected .

The bank will also help to build up public health systems in West Africa to strengthen the region’s disease control capacity more generally.

Kim said, “I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks.

“I have been monitoring its deadly impact around the clock and am deeply saddened at how it has ravaged health workers, families and communities, disrupted normal life, and has led to a breakdown of already weak health systems in the three countries.

“The international community needs to act fast to contain and stop this Ebola outbreak. I believe this new World Bank emergency funding will provide critically needed support for the response to stop the further transmission of Ebola within Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, which would prevent new infections in neighboring at-risk countries.”

@punchng.com