House Democrats draw the line: No bipartisan cooperation with Republicans who questioned the election

WASHINGTON – Freshman Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat, has begun turning to an unusual source when trying to decide whether he wants to work with a Republican he thinks makes a good point during committee hearings: Google.

The Massachusetts lawmaker says he knows his constituents want him to work across the aisle, but he's drawing “a sharp red line” at working with Republicans who voted not to certify the Electoral College results as part of then-President Donald Trump's failed bid to overturn his election defeat.

If a quick search produces evidence that one of his Republican colleagues refused to acknowledge President Joe Biden's win, he said, “I kind of throw cold water on the whole thing,” adding that while he doesn't like political litmus tests, "insurrection against the United States government qualifies.” |||READ MORE

How Biden, Republicans and public health leaders are trying to convince GOP skeptics to get their Covid vaccinations

WASHINGTON — Vaccine holdouts could end up being the last obstacle to defeating the pandemic, and a growing effort is aimed at convincing one substantial group of skeptics: Republicans.

While efforts to combat vaccine hesitancy and access have so far been mostly focused on African Americans and Latinos, recent polls suggest the largest group of Americans either hesitant about the Covid-19 vaccine or outright opposed to it are Republicans, and efforts to reach them are only in their infancy.

Success convincing skeptical conservatives could be the difference between the United States reaching herd immunity or not. That's why a group of Republican pollsters and politicians, plus the White House, are all already working on getting the skeptics on board |||READ MORE

Ndume: It Started Like A Joke… Nigeria On The Brink Of Collapse

Senator Ali Ndume (APC-Borno South) has expressed worry over the increase in criminal activities, adding that security and welfare are threatened in Nigeria.

Speaking at a press briefing on Saturday, Ndume said Nigerians and government are still not taking the security situation seriously.

He called on citizens and government to match faith with action on ensuring an urgent improvement in the security situation |||READ MORE

FG Not Ready To Protect Nigerians- Gani Adams

 

Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams has said the federal government and security agents are not ready to protect Nigerians.

Speaking in an interview with The Sun, he also accused the Muhammadu Buhari administration of playing the ethnic card on issues of security.

While describing the current state of security in the country as unfortunate, Adams said the poor handling of criminal activities may lead to war READ MORE

Kaduna Abduction: Shehu Sani, Aisha Yesufu React To Bandits Flogging Of Students

Human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, and the former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central senatorial district, Shehu Sani, have reacted to the video released by bandits showing them flogging the missing 39 students abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The bandits on Saturday released a video requesting for the sum of N500m as ransom to release the students.

Parents of the students have also confirmed that the abductors have reached out and are demanding the sum of N500 million |||READ MORE

Benue Will Not Negotiate, Grant Amnesty To Criminals Again – Ortom Vows At Suswam’s Funeral

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has promised that his administration will no longer negotiate or grant amnesty to criminals again.

Naija News recall that Terkura, the elder brother to Gabriel Suswam, former Benue governor, was killed alongside his aide on March 2.

They were both attacked at Terkura’s hometown in Anyiin LGA of the state.

Speaking at his funeral on Saturday, Ortom said the state will no longer offer amnesty to criminals, except they repent and beg for forgiveness |||READ MORE

FG launches cash grant for rural women

The Federal Government Rural Women Cash Grant Programme was flagged off yesterday in Borno and Yobe States. A total of 5,840 women are expected to receive cash grant of N20, 000 each in Borno, while 3,400 women of the same category will benefit from Yobe state. At the flag off on Friday at the Multi-Purpose Hall, Government House Maiduguri, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, explained the importance of the programme to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

She said the Conditional Cash Transfer has been catering for Internally Displaced Persons in Gonikachallari, Bakasi and NYSC Camps due to the peculiarity of security situation in Borno State. “We currently have 12,190 Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs) that have been enrolled in 13 Local Government Areas. They are Konduga, Gubio, Magumeri, Hawul, Shani, Mafa, MMC, Chibok, Mobbar, Kaga, Jere, Akira-Uba and Dikwa LGA’s and disbursement is set to commence as soon as the security situation improves.

“A total number of 5,840 women are to benefit from the cash grant of 20,000 each to uplift the socio-economic status of the rural women in Borno State. It is President Muhammadu Buhari’s social inclusion and poverty reduction agenda, with the realization of the national aspiration of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years,” the minister explained |||READ MORE

IPODO…where drug dealers harvest pleasure, profit from little girls’ bodies

This is the dream of a Lagos crack dealer: to see the sun rise daily in its silvery splendour while the city stirs to hustle and thrill seekers pursue a new kind of “jonzing.”

His name is Kola but “customers” call him O’ngbana. At 49, O’ngbana swaggers through Ipodo like a cocky prince of the barrio. Amid the shanty in Ikeja, Lagos, he made a killing everyday until COVID-19 struck, dwindling patronage to a trickle.

Business is at a scary low. A dribble here, a trickle there, makes O’ngbana very worried. “People don’t have money to eat let alone smoke crack (adulterated cocaine). But I have my loyal customers. Come rain or shine, they will always show up,” he said, and forlornly recalled the glory days of his hustle, when he made as much as N10, 000 in a day and about N50, 000 in a week, dealing crack and Indian Hemp |||READ MORE

How I was raped five times, by Iyabo Ojo

Popular Nollywood actress, Iyabo Ojo, has shared how she was raped five times.

She recalled the first incident was when she was just 14.

She spoke during a recent episode of her YouTube series titled ‘Bare it all with I.Y‘monitored by THE NATION.

The actress explained she decided to share her story to encourage others who have had a similar experience to speak up with a view to tackling rape and sexual violence in society |||READ MORE

Buhari sued over FG’s plan to borrow N895bn from dormant accounts

The Federal High Court in Abuja has been asked to restrain and stop President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government from borrowing an estimated N895bn of Nigerians’ money in the form of their unclaimed dividends and balances in dormant accounts.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project filed the lawsuit after the recent move by the Federal Government to take over and borrow unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances owned by Nigerians in any bank in the country. But the same legislation explicitly excludes dormant official bank accounts by all branches of government and their agencies.

In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/31/2021 filed by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms Adelanke Aremo, last Friday, SERAP is seeking “an order of perpetual injunction restraining and stopping President Buhari from demanding, taking over, borrowing, and collecting Nigerians’ money in the form of their unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts or transferring and moving the money into a trust fund known as ‘Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund” |||READ MORE\

‘Night To His Day: The Social Construction Of Gender’: A Review

The phrase doing gender refers to the connotation that gender is a social construct. This is where Judith Lorber’s article, “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender,” written in the mid-90s comes into play. It highlights ways in which people do gender every day. From the jobs people work at to the colours people wear, to what colour is revealed at a gender reveal party, my belief is that people have been brainwashed by society to believe that from the day you were born you have been put into a box – a box of believing that wearing a certain piece of clothing or applying for a certain job may make you seem more masculine than feminine and vice versa.

In different parts of the globe, doing gender may be demonstrated in different ways. In Saudi Arabia women were only recently allowed to drive. That was a crime that was punishable with years in prison. It wasn’t till 2018 that women were finally allowed the same privilege as men to operate a vehicle. This is a more extreme example of doing gender.

To the Saudi Arabian government driving was seen as a more masculine activity and because the people in power were doing gender the rest of the country were forced to do the same. People don’t know how much doing gender can really impact society. “Gender boundaries are breachable and individual and socially organised shifts from one gender to another call attention to ‘cultural, social, or aesthetic dissonances. These odd or deviant or third genders show us what we ordinarily take for granted that people have to learn to be women and men”, Lorber states |||READ MORE

Myth And Lie Of Phoning While Driving

Do you know that globally, the use of phone while driving which has been my focus for the last two weeks is under-reported by the relevant authorities? Do you also know the same underreporting applies to road traffic crashes caused by the use of phone while driving distraction? Do you know that there are numerous challenges in collecting and reporting reliable crash data? This challenge is irrespective of the clime although it is more problematic in low and middle income countries such as ours. Do you know that the story is the same in our clime as most motorists including the classy, educated, as well as the very religious will rarely own up to using the phone when arrested or even when involved in a road traffic crash?

I remember a very hilarious incident some years back when I was sector commander in the Federal Capital Territory. As the Sector Commander, the current Corps Marshal Dr Boboye Oyeyemi charged me to creatively address the ugly trend. To checkmate the rising wave of driving and phoning infraction, I embarked on a unique intervention to address the rising scourge. The campaign was in collaboration with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA 2) under the watch of Wole Coker who insisted live feeds from my Command. The novel campaign/enforcement intervention involved using unmarked vehicles with plain clothes materials backed with video and still camera. Whenever we spotted an offender, we ensure the infraction is recorded using the still and video camera and thereafter, we pull over the defaulters and interview as well educate them on the dangers of using the phone while driving. All recordings were then submitted to NTA who would then run the feed as news on network. You can call or tag the campaign ‘’Show of shame’’.

After days of the campaign, we received positive reviews on the novelty and creativity behind the idea. As Sector Commander, I felt tall despite my Julius Agwu look -alike height. However, after series of arrests were made, we ran into a driver who was driving and using his phone. We tailed him from Zone 4 junction in Wuse in Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory up to the Central Business District just after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. We pulled him aside but noticed as we approached him that he had quickly dropped his phone underneath his car seat. When he stopped and came out, he denied ever using the phone while driving despite witnesses who confirmed that they also saw him. To stop the discourse from dragging and guard against any kind of assault from onlookers, I moved closer to him and gently asked him, ’Sir, between your God and your yourself, were you driving and phoning’’. Like a comic actor, he paused, looked up to the heavens and said,’’ between my God and I’? At that point, the tape was cut because it made for a good cut for broadcast which was, as you can guess, aired on NTA network |||READ MORE

Religious Tolerance: Governor Bello Leads The Way

When national, state, or local governments make a concerted effort to solicit input from citizens and provide services to all of their constituents equally, they sow the seeds of stability and growth. When this is done within a framework of political and legal accountability, citizens increasingly trust state institutions to support and to treat all of them in an even-handed manner.

Governance is inclusive when it effectively serves and engages all people, takes into account all facets of personal identity and when institutions, policies, processes and services are accessible, accountable and responsive to all members of society.

Fostering governance that is inclusive is essential to advancing democratic values, including peaceful pluralism and respect for diversity, religion, human rights and equality before the law|||READ MORE

Why Road Projects Take Time – Minister

The year, 2020, witnessed unprecedented crises occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. How did the ministry of works and housing navigate through these difficult times?

No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has immensely affected the plans and programmes of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. There was reduction of government activities as a result of the total lockdown, and this has affected execution of projects. But the ministry is still on course, we have adjusted. We are now working tirelessly to complete and deliver most of our projects.

What would you say are the specific projects the government has delivered even in the face of COVID-19 pandemic?

First of all, let me make it clear how we go about doing projects. When you talk about completion of projects, you may likely mean completion of a road project which we might differ in thinking. Let me give you example, if a road starts from point A to point B with a distance of say 500 kilometres, you may find three or more different contracts on that road which we refer to as project sections, being handled by different contractors or a single contractor. Because they are different projects, even if we have completed one or two projects on that stretch out of the different projects we usually wait until we complete the remaining parts before we commission the road. Otherwise, we have many projects that have been completed. A typical example is the Kano-Maiduguri road project where we have five contracts handled by five different contractors. Two out of the five contracts are completed and the remaining three have reached advance stage, but we are delaying the inauguration of the completed section until the remaining three sections are completed so that we deliver a pleasurable travel experience and world class facility to our people travelling along that corridor. However, we have not restricted traffic movement on the completed sections||| READ MORE

A year of COVID-19: What was going on in the US in March 2020

The U.S. would never be the same after March 2020.

While the novel coronavirus had been in the country for at least a month, in March case began to jump at alarming rates as did the hospitalizations and deaths. Former President Trump and other federal leaders initially claimed that the virus would not be a major problem, but many changed their stance by the end of the month and the virus was declared a national emergency.

Still, relatively little was understood about the disease and politicians on both sides of the aisle as well as leading public health officials issued guidance, including about mask-wearing that is out of step with what we now know. In fact, masks were recommended and then required in some places, like New York, the next month |||READ MORE

Pope Francis urges Iraq’s Muslims, Christians to unite for peace

  

Pope Francis has urged Iraq’s Muslim and Christian religious leaders to put aside animosities and work together for peace and unity during an interfaith meeting in the traditional birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, father of their faiths.

“This is true religiosity: to worship God and to love our neighbour,” the pontiff told the gathering on Saturday.

Francis travelled to the ruins of Ur in southern Iraq to reinforce his message of inter-religious tolerance and fraternity during the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, a country riven by religious and ethnic divisions |||READ MORE

 

Sex-obsessed teacher, 35, jailed for sleeping with a 15-year-old pupil 'left a former partner because he refused to go swinging with her'

A teacher who was jailed yesterday after having sex with her 15-year-old pupil had split from her former partner after he refused to go swinging with her, it has been claimed.

Married mother-of-three Kandice Barber, 35, was jailed for six years and two months and branded 'despicable' by a judge after sleeping with her student.

The supply teacher from Wendover, Buckinghamshire, sent him nude images of herself and later threatened to 'take him down' if he told senior staff about their illicit sex encounters.

And now it has emerged she dumped the father of her children Carl Greeves after he refused to partner swap |||READ MORE

 

Tiny leather skirts, tutus and PLENTY of skin: Rita Ora steals the show as thousands of revellers celebrate Mardi Gras in Sydney after Australia beat Covid

Thousands of revellers celebrated Mardi Gras in Sydney on Saturday night, with pictures showing scenes not witnessed in many other parts of the world since the coronavirus pandemic began.

A reported 5,000 people took part in the parade that was held inside the Sydney Cricket Ground to an audience of 36,000 in the stands, with people seen tightly packed together without the need for social distancing or face masks.

Headline act British singer and superstar Rita Ora stole the show, and around the city countless more partied at pubs and bars, as Sydney's state of New South Wales went 48 days without a local transmission of the virus.

The event is emblematic of Australia's success at suppressing Covid-19, having seen just over 29,000 cases and 909 related deaths among a population of over 25 million people |||READ MORE

 

FG To Pay N53m For Unlawful Detention of German

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has ordered the Nigerian Government to pay over N53 million to a German national, Mr Martin Gegenheimer, for unlawful arrest and detention.

The Court’s Communications Department disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja, following the judgment of the court on the matter on Thursday.

According to the statement, the court ordered the payment of N53 million as special damages to Gegenheimer for various losses suffered |||READ MORE

Insecurity: I Will Not Negotiate With Criminals – Governor Bello

 

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has said his administration will not negotiate with criminals.

He stated this on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“Anybody that is carrying rifles or arms against the state, they are criminals. I will not subscribe to negotiating with criminals,” he said.

“The issue of kinetic or non-kinetic, when criminals hold guns against the state, let us get them out. When people are ready, we should be able to provide succour for lawful Nigerians to have lawful employment |||READ MORE

Vaccination Of Buhari, Osinbajo In Pictures

President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo both took the AstraZeneca vaccines on Saturday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The vaccine jabs were administered to the leaders by their chief personal physicians in the presence of some members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

After taking the vaccine jabs, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo were presented with electronic cards containing the details of their vaccinations. 

Others who witnessed the vaccination of the President and his vice included the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, as well as the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu |||READ MORE

 

 

COVID-19 Vaccination: Buhari Asks Governors, Others To Take The Lead

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged all state governments, as well as traditional and religious leaders to take the lead in the mobilisation effort within their environment and spheres of influence, as Nigeria launches the COVID-19 vaccination exercise.

He made the plea on Saturday shortly after he took the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine jab along with the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The President described his decision to take the vaccine in public as a demonstration of leadership and faith in the safety and efficacy of the vaccines |||READ MORE

 

How Ibiono Ibom Stakeholders Dethroned Oba’s Strong Ally, Inyangmme As Political Leader

PDP stakeholders in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area have dethroned Elder Ntienyong Inyangmme, a strong political ally of Senator Bassey Albert (OBA), as the Political Leader of the Local Government.

In a letter signed by 54 political stakeholders and addressed to the Governor and Acting State Chairman of PDP, the political bigwigs in the area said Inyangmme was only selected as political leader but yet to be ratified and formally installed.

The stakeholders stated that one of the reasons they have withdrawn their support for Inyangmme is his “ignoble role” in the 2020 Local Government Party primaries for the LG elections in the state. They stated that Inyangmme went against the established zoning arrangement in the area which favoured Ibiono Ibom Southern to produce the Council Chairman. Inyangmme had, alongside OBA, Ignatius Edet and others in their camp supported re-election of EkomAbasi Akpan who is from Ibiono Ibom Northern.

The stakeholders stated further during the period Inyangmme acted as Political Leader, he caused more harm than good and has factionalized the party while aligning with few selfish individuals to run the party as a private enterprise which caused “turmoil, apprehension and crisis in the party” |||READ MORE