LAGOS STATE APPROVES 10 DAYS PATERNITY LEAVE FOR MALE CIVIL SERVANTS.

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has approved 10 days paternity leave for any male civil servant in the state whose wife delivers a new baby. The measure is to afford them the opportunity of attending to developmental needs of the child.

Fashola also jerked up the maternity leave from three months to six, to allow the nursing mother give their child exclusive breastfeeding for the period.

Head of Service, HOS, Mrs. Oluseyi William, who disclosed this yesterday, at a joint briefing with the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lateef Ibirogba and Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, in Ikeja, said the new approved policy took immediate effect.

NASARAWA LAWMAKERS SET TO IMPEACH GOV. AL MAKURA, LEVELS 16 OFFENCES AGAINST HIM.

Nasarawa State lawmakers on Thursday proceeded with their moves to remove the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura, by levelling against him 16 charges bordering on alleged official gross misconduct.

The charges by the state House of Assembly include missing local government joint account funds between June 2011 and April 2012; and from January to July, 2013.

The impeachment notice said the alleged offences amounted to gross violation of section 162 (7 and 8) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended. The impeachment notice was signed by 20 out of the 24 members of the assembly.

EGYPT GIVES NINE MEN JAIL TERMS RANGING FROM 20YRS - LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR ASSAULTING WOMEN!!!!

An Egyptian court has given nine men sentences ranging from 20 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting women near Cairo's Tahrir Square, according to state run newspaper al-Ahram.

The sentences handed down Wednesday were the harshest seen since the government criminalized sexual harassment last month, amid criticism over the widespread abuse of women in the country.

The men were found guilty of being involved in four different attacks, three of them taking place during the inauguration celebrations for newly elected President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in June.

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MALAYSIAN AIRLINES PLANE WITH 295 PEOPLE ON BOARD SHOT DOWN IN UKRAINE!!!!

A Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, crashed Thursday in eastern Ukraine.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it lost contact with Flight 17 and that the plane's last known position was over Ukrainian airspace, the airline said on Twitter.

The aircraft was "shot down" over Ukraine by "terrorists" operating a Buk surface-to-air missile system, according to the Facebook page of Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. There were 280 passengers killed as well as 15 crew members, Gerashchenko's post reads.

JONATHAN SEEKS $1BN ONLY TO FIGHT BOKO HARAM!!!

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday forwarded a letter to the National Assembly, asking the lawmakers to urgently approve a $1bn external loan for the Federal Government to confront the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

The letter dated July 15, 2014, was read on the floor of the Senate and that of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, by the Senate President David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal respectively.

In the letter, Jonathan explained that the external loan was urgently needed to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of the Armed Forces and security services in order to enable them to confront the insurgents more forcefully.

NYAKO'S IMPEACHMENT - A MESSY STORY!!!!!

The removal of Admiral Murtala Nyako as governor of Adamawa State was a prediction long foretold. But why he walked straight into the booby trap is a wonder

The atmosphere in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, hours after Admiral Murtala Nyako was removed as governor of the state on Tuesday was largely serene. Citizens went about their businesses largely unconcerned with the political asphyxiation of the state’s former number one citizen.

The indifference was largely reflective of the feeling of detachment with which the former governor related with a large section of the citizenry. Nyako in the estimation of some was largely devoted to himself and his family with the appointment of friends and family in strategic positions in government.

DRUNK SECURITY GUARD KILLS BABCOCK STUDENT IN HOTEL.

A security guard, Azeez Ibrahim, has shot dead a female undergraduate of Babcock University, Busayo Ogunkoya, during a birthday party in a hotel in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

Punch Metro learnt that 22-year-old Ogunkoya was celebrating with her friends on Saturday evening, July 5, 2014, at Mambillah Hotel, when the guard fired a shot that killed her.

Our correspondent learnt that immediately the incident happened, there was confusion as the people fled the hotel. A source said Ibrahim was drunk. He said, “The incident happened on Saturday night when Busayo and her friends were having a party. “She did not know the person celebrating, but she was invited to the party by her boyfriend.

JONATHAN MUST STOP THE MISUSE OF MILITARY.

THRUST suddenly into national and international spotlight, Nigeria’s Armed Forces are looking rather flat-footed. While struggling to contain the terrorist insurgency in the toxic North-East zone and engaged in operations in most of the states, its personnel are unwisely being deployed for some purely political and civil matters by a short-sighted Presidency. It is a dangerous game that could well imperil the Fourth Republic.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his advisers are too fixated on politics to appreciate the dangers of immersing the military in partisan politics. No wonder that late last month, soldiers claiming to be acting on “orders from above” stopped the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, as he arrived for a function in Kaduna and insisted on searching his car despite protestations by the security aides of the country’s Number 4 citizen. Also in June, soldiers deployed in support of the massive security provided for the Ekiti State governorship election were reported to have stopped two state governors, Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) from attending a rally in Ado-Ekiti, two days before the poll.

In Lagos State, soldiers allegedly acting at the behest of the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, invaded a building site of the state government, chased away the workers and occupied the premises. Ownership of the site is being disputed by the federal and state governments. When did armed soldiers become the arbiters in civil disputes between two tiers of government?

(PHOTOS) POLICE ARREST BOKO HARAM'S CHIEF BUTCHER!!!!!!!

Following the massive onslaught by Security Forces on the activities of the insurgent group, Boko Haram, at the Balmo Forest Bauchi State, Police detectives attached to Bauchi State Police Command on Saturday, 12/7/2014 about 2pm have arrested one Mohammed Zakari, a male of 30 years old and senior member of the Boko Haram terrorists’ organization along Darazo-Basrika Road while fleeing from the intensive counter insurgency operations going on around the Balmo Forest. 

The suspect, who hails from Kaigamari Village, Daptchari in Darazo Local Government Area, Bauchi State is the self-styled “chief butcher” of the insurgent group at the Balmo Forest Camp and is linked with the recent slaughter of seven (7) people, including women and children. Findings as well as disclosures from the suspect will assist the Law enforcement agencies in tracking down some other members of the terror cell.

INDIA ANNOUNCES NEW VISA MEASURE FOR NIGERIANS

The new Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ghanashyam Rangaiah, on Tuesday, announced new measures that would enable Nigerians obtain visas to India with ease.

Mr. Rangaiah told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the commission was working hard at making Nigerians to personally visit its website to make their applications for visa.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to desist from patronising agents and visa racketeers.

“We have decided that Nigerians wishing to visit India for any purpose should personally visit our website to make their applications.

APC ISSUES ALERT ON PLANS BY OPPOSITION TO ASSASINATE GOV. AREGBESOLA

The All Progressives Congress, APC, Osun State chapter, yesterday said it had received a red alert that a leading opposition party contracted foreign snipers to assassinate Governor Rauf Aregbesola during his campaign trail.

“The masterminds behind this plot are the party’s chieftains, from a S-West state and the opposition party”s candidate for the August 9 election in Osun.”

According to APC, sources from within the opposition party informed the APC that “there is great consternation within the party that for as long as Aregbesola is present and visible, the election cannot be rigged, so their last option to ‘win’, according to sources, is to take out completely the governor, and they needed the best professional killers in the world, this is why they have contracted the foreign firm.

“It is not clear if Abuja is involved in the plot, but sources say that security infrastructure in the country may not be unconnected,” APC said.

The APC recalled that it had alerted Nigerians and the international community of the party’s plans to militarise the state one week to the election and terrorise APC leadership and assassinate some of them.

Vanguard.

PDP FINALLY WRESTLES ADAMAWA STATE FROM APC.

Tuesday’s removal of the former Governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako (retd.), from office by the Ahmadu Fintiri-led state House of Assembly, did not come as a surprise to those familiar with recent happenings in the state. 

Nyako’s removal makes it the sixth time a governor has been impeached in the country since 1999. Before now, five governors namely: Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), DSP Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti) and Peter Obi (Anambra) were shown the door.

However, the Supreme Court overruled the lawmakers in Oyo, Plateau and Anambra for not following due process.

(PHOTOS) OGWUCHE, MASTERMIND OF NYANYA BLAST HAS BEEN EXTRADITED TO NIGERIA.

The alleged mastermind of the April 14 blast in Nyanya, Abuja, Aminu Ogwuche, has been extradited by Sudan to Nigeria on Tuesday.

Ogwuche, who was handed over to the Interpol Unit of the Nigeria Police Force by the Sudanese authorities was flown into the country in a special flight from Khartoum, Sudan, which touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at 3pm on Tuesday.

On hand to receive him at the Presidential wing of the airport were the spokespersons of the Police, ACP Frank Mba, Department of State Services, Marilyn Ogar, Army, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade and the Coordinator, National Information Centre, Mike Omeri.

LEGISLATORS IMPEACH GOV. MURTALA NYAKO OF ADAMAWA AS HIS DEPUTY ALSO RESIGNS!!!!

As anticipated, Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, has been impeached today, after the state House of Assembly concluded its deliberations on the report of the panel set to probe allegations of financial misconducts leveled against him.

The committee submitted its report to the House  yesterday, amidst high security presence at the premises of the state’s assembly.

It will be recalled that the state Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari, resigned from office to avoid being impeached along with his boss.

Mr. Ngilari’s resignation letter was read at the plenary by the speaker of the Assembly, Umaru Fintiri, after which the lawmakers approved it.

Nyako, Ngilari had failed to appear before the panel constituted to investigate the allegations against them following an earlier noticed served the executives by the assembly members.

ISRAEL ACCEPTS EGYPT'S CEASEFIRE PLAN TO END GAZA FIGHTING WHICH HAS KILLED MORE THAN 180 PALESTINIANS.

Israel has accepted an Egyptian proposal to end the week-long conflict in Gaza, suggesting that an end to the violence, which has killed more than 180 Palestinians, could be in sight.

But, in a sign of the animosity between the Cairo regime and Hamas, the Islamic movement in Gaza rejected the plan, saying it had not been consulted and terms for an end to the conflict had not been reached.

Pressure on Hamas to end rocket attacks on Israeli will mount following Israel's indication of a readiness to bring the fighting to an close. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, is closely involved, along with Middle East envoy Tony Blair.

REVENGE RAPE OF A 14-YR-OLD GIRL IN INDIA. #SayNoToRAPE

When a 14-year-old girl was pulled from her home, dragged to a nearby forest and raped, police revealed the assault was ordered by the head of her village in India.

The horrific case, which took place last week, has once again shed light on local councils, called panchayats, which wield significant power in rural villages throughout India and can dole out punishment with impunity.

The incident occurred after the girl's brother was accused of attempting to rape a married woman, according to police. The village council met and directed the aggrieved woman's husband, identified as Nakabandi Passi, to rape the accused assailant's young sister in retaliation, police said.

FORMER GOV. OF BORNO ALI MODU SHERIFF DECAMPS TO PDP.

A former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff on Monday in Maiduguri, the state capital, said he was in the state to initiate the process of defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Mr. Sheriff arrived in Maiduguri alongside several members of the National Assembly and was received at the airport at about 2 p.m. by a mammoth crowd: supporters of both of the PDP and the state’s ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

A convoy of hundreds of cars, put at about 500, that snaked into several kilometres accompanied the ex-governor from the Maiduguri airport to his Giwa Barracks Road home.

THE CIRCLE - LAWYERS, JUDGES AND CORRUPTION.

Chief Justice, Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, pushed her anti-corruption efforts a notch higher, the other day, when she sought to identify forces fostering illicit activities in the judiciary. According to the CJN, lawyers, particularly Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), working in tandem with corrupt judges are equally corrupt. 

And her point basically that there are no corrupt judges without corrupt lawyers is incontrovertible. If the Bench stinks of corruption, the Bar may stink even more, a situation that poses grave danger to the entire legal profession and dispensation of justice. Considering the notion that the judiciary is the last hope, the only avenue for the ordinary citizen seeking justice and fairness if all else fails, the CJN’s assertions should be worrisome to all Nigerians.

FLOOD KILLS 3 AND RENDERS MANY HOMELESS IN EDO STATE.

No fewer than three persons were confirmed dead following a torrential rain on Sunday in Igarra, headquarters of Akoko Edo Local Council of Edo.

Houses and household items were submerged by heavy flooding caused by the rain.

A witness, Akinola Onabiyi, said on Monday at Igarra that the rain, which started about 5 p.m., lasted for about eight hours had rendered hundreds of people homeless.