Sunday, 22 February 2015
New Music: Teddy-A Ft Timaya - 'Feeling The Boy'
Mark my words, Buhari will never be Nigeria president - Fayose
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has said that the hope of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to seize power in Nigeria, using Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) will be dashed saying; "Buhari will never be Nigeria president again."
The governor also challenged Buhari to swear by the Holy Quran that he did not visit hospital in the United Kingdom last week.
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said; "I wish they can see spiritually what I am talking about that Buhari, despite the hullabaloo will never be president. I predicted my return as Ekiti State Governor and I am saying it again that Buhari will never rule Nigeria again.
"After President Goodluck Jonathan, there will be a young element in his late 50s from the North that will be Nigeria president. I want to liken this revelation to the story of Elijah and Elisha. I am the Elijah while my followers are Elisha."
While maintaining that he was not wishing Buhari dead, Governor Fayose said; "I owe it a duty to Nigeria and its people to expose the antics of the APC cabal whose only interest is to seize power to further their selfish interests.
"Without doubt, it is obvious that these cabal in the APC are trying so hard to deceive Nigerians on Buhari’s health status. That's the reason they have been using photoshoped pictures to defend their lies on Buhari's UK trip.
"First, they used a March 5, 2013 picture, claiming that Buhari was taking a walk in London on Thursday. Later they came up with another poorly cropped picture of Buhari with former British Prime Minister,Tony Blair.
"The same people who lied in September 2012 that they received a gold card invitation to attend the Democratic National Convention in the United States of America are behind the robing of Buhari in the garment of lies and I challenge Buhari to swear by the Holy Quran that he did not visit hospital in the United Kingdom last week.
"However, I want to disappoint this selfish cabal. Buhari is only raising their hope and that hope will be dashed."
GEJ Tackles Obasanjo: ‘Your Utterances Ridiculing Nigeria, Scaring Investors’
President Goodluck Jonathan has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of ridiculing Nigeria before the international community and of scaring investors away from the country by his consistent criticism of his administration.
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Jonathan said Mr. Obasanjo, by his utterances, was creating the impression that Nigeria is a country on the verge of collapse.
Mr. Jonathan therefore advised the former president to be civil in his criticism so as not to create the impression that the country is in crisis.
“For one reason or the other, Obasanjo may disagree with me as his first political son. You can even disagree with your own biological children, as a human being, not to talk of disagreeing with your political children. So, he can agree or disagree with me, but the utterances have to be managed in a way that it does not affect the economy and security of this country.
“But I will use this opportunity, because you asked, to just plead with my father that he is a leader, a former president of the country. He has led the country more than anybody — eight years of democratic governance and almost four years of military governance. No other person has that kind of record.
“The stability of this country is critical in terms of the economy of this country. Rating agencies downgrade countries that are going into elections because the feeling is that there would be crisis. When you paint the colour of instability for your own nation, you are doing so much injustice to the country because it affects the economy of the country, not just affecting the country in terms of security and social issues alone. It affects the economy directly. So, I plead with very senior citizens that Nigeria is dear to us; we don’t have any other country than Nigeria.
“So, actions and inactions, or utterances, should be guarded so that we don’t expose our country to the international community as if it is a country in danger, a country that is about to collapse. You are frightening investors, especially those who invest hot cash, to pull out their money from the country and that would affect the stock market and it would affect the economy.”
Mr. Jonathan however insisted that he remained a political child of Mr. Obasanjo, saying he owes his rise to political prominence to the influence of the former President.
“First and foremost, Obasanjo is a father to me. By divine providence and the grace of God, I am the President of Nigeria today. It is not by my strength. But God uses human beings to actualise His own blessings on human beings. And he used so many Nigerians, including former President Obasanjo, to play one role or the other for me,” he said.
“I became the deputy governor of a state, became the governor, the vice president and president. I have no issues with him, and I really don’t want to join issues with President Obasanjo. I think it is not necessary,” he added.
The relationship between both men worsened after Mr. Obasanjo’s wrote an 18-page open letter to Mr Jonathan on December 2, 2013, blaming the president for failing to deliver on his promises to Nigerians. He also accused him of making no effort to check the growing corruption in the country and allowing insecurity to degenerate.
In the letter, Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr Jonathan of hounding prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party opposed to his second term ambition.
Since then, Mr. Obasanjo has relentlessly criticised the Jonathan administration and all efforts by party chieftains to reconcile both of them have failed.
Matters got to a head last Monday after Mr Obasanjo, who apparently got wind of a plan to expel him from the party, dumped the party before the plan was executed. On the occasion, Mr Obasanjo, not one to leave without creating a spectacle, asked the PDP ward leader to tear his membership card.
He also announced his retirement from active politics and expressed his desire to be a statesman.
Source: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/177307-jonathan-tackles-obasanjo-your-utterances-ridiculing-nigeria-scaring-investors.html
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Jonathan said Mr. Obasanjo, by his utterances, was creating the impression that Nigeria is a country on the verge of collapse.
Mr. Jonathan therefore advised the former president to be civil in his criticism so as not to create the impression that the country is in crisis.
“For one reason or the other, Obasanjo may disagree with me as his first political son. You can even disagree with your own biological children, as a human being, not to talk of disagreeing with your political children. So, he can agree or disagree with me, but the utterances have to be managed in a way that it does not affect the economy and security of this country.
“But I will use this opportunity, because you asked, to just plead with my father that he is a leader, a former president of the country. He has led the country more than anybody — eight years of democratic governance and almost four years of military governance. No other person has that kind of record.
“The stability of this country is critical in terms of the economy of this country. Rating agencies downgrade countries that are going into elections because the feeling is that there would be crisis. When you paint the colour of instability for your own nation, you are doing so much injustice to the country because it affects the economy of the country, not just affecting the country in terms of security and social issues alone. It affects the economy directly. So, I plead with very senior citizens that Nigeria is dear to us; we don’t have any other country than Nigeria.
“So, actions and inactions, or utterances, should be guarded so that we don’t expose our country to the international community as if it is a country in danger, a country that is about to collapse. You are frightening investors, especially those who invest hot cash, to pull out their money from the country and that would affect the stock market and it would affect the economy.”
Mr. Jonathan however insisted that he remained a political child of Mr. Obasanjo, saying he owes his rise to political prominence to the influence of the former President.
“First and foremost, Obasanjo is a father to me. By divine providence and the grace of God, I am the President of Nigeria today. It is not by my strength. But God uses human beings to actualise His own blessings on human beings. And he used so many Nigerians, including former President Obasanjo, to play one role or the other for me,” he said.
“I became the deputy governor of a state, became the governor, the vice president and president. I have no issues with him, and I really don’t want to join issues with President Obasanjo. I think it is not necessary,” he added.
The relationship between both men worsened after Mr. Obasanjo’s wrote an 18-page open letter to Mr Jonathan on December 2, 2013, blaming the president for failing to deliver on his promises to Nigerians. He also accused him of making no effort to check the growing corruption in the country and allowing insecurity to degenerate.
In the letter, Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr Jonathan of hounding prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party opposed to his second term ambition.
Since then, Mr. Obasanjo has relentlessly criticised the Jonathan administration and all efforts by party chieftains to reconcile both of them have failed.
Matters got to a head last Monday after Mr Obasanjo, who apparently got wind of a plan to expel him from the party, dumped the party before the plan was executed. On the occasion, Mr Obasanjo, not one to leave without creating a spectacle, asked the PDP ward leader to tear his membership card.
He also announced his retirement from active politics and expressed his desire to be a statesman.
Source: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/177307-jonathan-tackles-obasanjo-your-utterances-ridiculing-nigeria-scaring-investors.html
Bangladesh ferry with 100 passengers sinks; at least 48 dead
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- A river ferry carrying up to 140 passengers capsized in central Bangladesh on Sunday after being hit by a cargo vessel, killing at least 48 people, officials said. A rescue operation was underway, but it was not clear how many people were missing.
The ferry was struck by the cargo vessel at the Daulatdia-Paturia crossing on the Padma River on Sunday afternoon, said fire department official Shahzadi Begum. Rescue teams were deployed and passing boats were helping in the operation, she said.
The site is 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Dhaka, the capital. Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, an impoverished South Asian nation that is crisscrossed by more than 130 rivers.
The ferry, the M.L. Mosta, was submerged at a depth of up to 6 meters (20 feet), said Inspector Zihad Mia, who is overseeing the rescue operation.
By Sunday evening, at least 48 bodies had been recovered, Mia said.
He said officials had yet to determine how many passengers were missing. Ferries in Bangladesh usually do not maintain formal passenger lists.
"We don't have a clear picture about how many were exactly in the ferry when it sank," Mia said. "But I think many have survived."
Jewel Mia, an official from the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, told reporters at the scene that up to 140 people were on board when the ferry sank.
A passenger who survived said many people got trapped inside when the ferry sank. "The passengers who were on the deck have survived, but many who were inside got trapped," Hafizur Rahman Sheikh was quoted as saying by the Prothom Alo newspaper.
Sheikh said the cargo vessel hit the middle of the ferry.
Authorities ordered an investigation into the accident and a five-member committee has been asked to submit a report within 15 days, the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.
The Padma is one of the largest rivers in Bangladesh, where overcrowding and poor safety standards are often blamed for ferry disasters.
Last August, a ferry with a capacity of 85 passengers was found to be carrying more than 200 when it capsized on the Padma near Dhaka, leaving more than 100 people dead or missing. The ferry's owner was arrested after weeks in hiding on charges of culpable homicide, unauthorized operation and overloading.
At least five people were killed earlier this month when a ferry sank in southern Bangladesh.
The ferry was struck by the cargo vessel at the Daulatdia-Paturia crossing on the Padma River on Sunday afternoon, said fire department official Shahzadi Begum. Rescue teams were deployed and passing boats were helping in the operation, she said.
The site is 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Dhaka, the capital. Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, an impoverished South Asian nation that is crisscrossed by more than 130 rivers.
The ferry, the M.L. Mosta, was submerged at a depth of up to 6 meters (20 feet), said Inspector Zihad Mia, who is overseeing the rescue operation.
By Sunday evening, at least 48 bodies had been recovered, Mia said.
He said officials had yet to determine how many passengers were missing. Ferries in Bangladesh usually do not maintain formal passenger lists.
"We don't have a clear picture about how many were exactly in the ferry when it sank," Mia said. "But I think many have survived."
Jewel Mia, an official from the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, told reporters at the scene that up to 140 people were on board when the ferry sank.
A passenger who survived said many people got trapped inside when the ferry sank. "The passengers who were on the deck have survived, but many who were inside got trapped," Hafizur Rahman Sheikh was quoted as saying by the Prothom Alo newspaper.
Sheikh said the cargo vessel hit the middle of the ferry.
Authorities ordered an investigation into the accident and a five-member committee has been asked to submit a report within 15 days, the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.
The Padma is one of the largest rivers in Bangladesh, where overcrowding and poor safety standards are often blamed for ferry disasters.
Last August, a ferry with a capacity of 85 passengers was found to be carrying more than 200 when it capsized on the Padma near Dhaka, leaving more than 100 people dead or missing. The ferry's owner was arrested after weeks in hiding on charges of culpable homicide, unauthorized operation and overloading.
At least five people were killed earlier this month when a ferry sank in southern Bangladesh.
U.S. weighs more sanctions against Russia over violations in Ukraine
The Obama administration is weighing a new round of sanctions against Russia in response to its continued “land-grabbing” in eastern Ukraine despite a cease-fire agreement, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Saturday.
Speaking to reporters in London, where he met with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Kerry said he expected that the United States and its European allies would impose some “very serious” sanctions and other steps to punish Moscow after repeated cease-fire violations by Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists.
Kerry said one of the most egregious violations was a separatist assault on the strategically important railway hub of Debaltseve last week. President Obama and European leaders have vowed there will be consequences for violations of a Feb. 12 peace agreement. Amid ongoing violence and chaos in eastern Ukraine, their credibility could be undermined if those tough words are not backed up by action.
“If this failure continues, make no mistake,” Kerry warned. “There will be further consequences, including consequences that would place added strains on Russia’s already troubled economy. We’re not going to sit back and allow this kind of cynical, craven behavior to continue at the expense of the sovereignty and integrity of another nation.
“And I am confident that the United States and the United Kingdom and others are prepared to stand up and take the measures necessary to add to the cost of these actions.”
Kerry said satellite imagery proves that Moscow has kept up its support of the rebel fighters despite signing the agreement brokered in Minsk by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande. The pact called for both sides to pull back their heavy weaponry. That has not happened, Kerry said.
“We know to a certainty what Russia has been providing, and no amount of propaganda is capable of hiding these actions,” Kerry said.
However, Kerry said Obama has not decided whether to send lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, as many members of Congress have urged. He suggested the decision may depend on what happens in eastern Ukraine over the next several days.
Hammond also criticized Russia’s “continued aggression” and said the Minsk agreement had been “systematically breached.” But he did not predict more sanctions.
Europe is far more connected to the Russian economy than is the United States, and some countries in Europe are balking at further estrangement from Moscow, an important trading partner and a key supplier of natural gas for heat and power.
“We will talk about how we maintain European unity and the U.S.-European alignment in response to those breaches,” Hammond said before he and Kerry sat down for talks.
In Ukraine, pieces of the cease-fire deal moved forward even as both sides said fighting was continuing. Pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military swapped prisoners Saturday, a key part of the peace plan reached after marathon negotiations this month.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said 139 Ukrainian prisoners of war had been released. One more was expected to be freed Sunday, his spokesman said. Rebel officials said 52 people on their side had been released. Reporters on the scene described how wounded soldiers, some of them limping on crutches, walked miles to reach safety.
Poroshenko said many of the released Ukrainian soldiers were captured in Debaltseve, the site of a major defeat for government forces. Thousands of encircled troops fled in the dead of night over the frozen steppe, taking fire from two sides. The violence has threatened to upend the peace deal and has damaged Poroshenko politically.
Rebels and the Ukrainian military said Saturday that fighting had largely quieted but that some violence persisted in limited pockets of a region that before the war was Ukraine’s industrial heartland. A Ukrainian military spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko, said one soldier had been killed and 40 wounded in the previous 24 hours.
Lysenko said that much of the fighting took place in a village just east of the vital Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol. Rebels have moved heavy weaponry toward the city, he said, amid fears of an attack. The economy in the breakaway part of Ukraine would be far stronger if rebels possessed the port, and Mariupol could also form a strategic pro-Russian belt to connect to the Russian-held Crimean Peninsula.
Poroshenko has pleaded for an international peacekeeping mission, a tacit admission that Ukraine’s beleaguered military cannot defend the country on its own.
In Moscow, thousands of protesters rallied in a central square against Ukraine and the West to mark the one-year anniversary of the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The march was a measure of the powerful anti-Western sentiments that have grown here over the past 12 months. Tensions between the West and Russia are at their worst since the Cold War.
Obama kills Donbas children,” one poster read, referring to the eastern Ukrainian region where rebels have seized power.
A year ago, Russia was riding high as the Winter Olympics in Sochi came to a close. Now 74 percent of Russians have a negative view of the United States, according to polls taken by the independent Moscow-based Levada Center, up from 44 percent in January 2014.
Ukraine, too, has radically reshaped itself, electing the most pro-Western leaders in its history.
Yanukovych, the former president, gave a blitz of interviews on Russian television stations Saturday after staying out of the spotlight for most of the year. The ex-leader, who has lived in exile near Moscow, appeared heavier and wearier than he did a year ago. He said he hoped to return to Ukraine to lead a protest movement against the current government.
Speaking to reporters in London, where he met with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Kerry said he expected that the United States and its European allies would impose some “very serious” sanctions and other steps to punish Moscow after repeated cease-fire violations by Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists.
Kerry said one of the most egregious violations was a separatist assault on the strategically important railway hub of Debaltseve last week. President Obama and European leaders have vowed there will be consequences for violations of a Feb. 12 peace agreement. Amid ongoing violence and chaos in eastern Ukraine, their credibility could be undermined if those tough words are not backed up by action.
“If this failure continues, make no mistake,” Kerry warned. “There will be further consequences, including consequences that would place added strains on Russia’s already troubled economy. We’re not going to sit back and allow this kind of cynical, craven behavior to continue at the expense of the sovereignty and integrity of another nation.
“And I am confident that the United States and the United Kingdom and others are prepared to stand up and take the measures necessary to add to the cost of these actions.”
Caption
As part of the cease-fire, government forces and rebels swapped prisoners.
Feb. 21, 2015 A Ukrainian woman practices at a shooting range as part of civil defense exercises in Bila Tserkva, a city about 40 miles south of Kiev, the capital. Alexander Chekmenyov/European Pressphoto Agency
Wait 1 second to continue.
“We know to a certainty what Russia has been providing, and no amount of propaganda is capable of hiding these actions,” Kerry said.
However, Kerry said Obama has not decided whether to send lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, as many members of Congress have urged. He suggested the decision may depend on what happens in eastern Ukraine over the next several days.
Hammond also criticized Russia’s “continued aggression” and said the Minsk agreement had been “systematically breached.” But he did not predict more sanctions.
Europe is far more connected to the Russian economy than is the United States, and some countries in Europe are balking at further estrangement from Moscow, an important trading partner and a key supplier of natural gas for heat and power.
“We will talk about how we maintain European unity and the U.S.-European alignment in response to those breaches,” Hammond said before he and Kerry sat down for talks.
In Ukraine, pieces of the cease-fire deal moved forward even as both sides said fighting was continuing. Pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military swapped prisoners Saturday, a key part of the peace plan reached after marathon negotiations this month.
Poroshenko said many of the released Ukrainian soldiers were captured in Debaltseve, the site of a major defeat for government forces. Thousands of encircled troops fled in the dead of night over the frozen steppe, taking fire from two sides. The violence has threatened to upend the peace deal and has damaged Poroshenko politically.
Rebels and the Ukrainian military said Saturday that fighting had largely quieted but that some violence persisted in limited pockets of a region that before the war was Ukraine’s industrial heartland. A Ukrainian military spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko, said one soldier had been killed and 40 wounded in the previous 24 hours.
Lysenko said that much of the fighting took place in a village just east of the vital Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol. Rebels have moved heavy weaponry toward the city, he said, amid fears of an attack. The economy in the breakaway part of Ukraine would be far stronger if rebels possessed the port, and Mariupol could also form a strategic pro-Russian belt to connect to the Russian-held Crimean Peninsula.
Poroshenko has pleaded for an international peacekeeping mission, a tacit admission that Ukraine’s beleaguered military cannot defend the country on its own.
In Moscow, thousands of protesters rallied in a central square against Ukraine and the West to mark the one-year anniversary of the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The march was a measure of the powerful anti-Western sentiments that have grown here over the past 12 months. Tensions between the West and Russia are at their worst since the Cold War.
Obama kills Donbas children,” one poster read, referring to the eastern Ukrainian region where rebels have seized power.
A year ago, Russia was riding high as the Winter Olympics in Sochi came to a close. Now 74 percent of Russians have a negative view of the United States, according to polls taken by the independent Moscow-based Levada Center, up from 44 percent in January 2014.
Ukraine, too, has radically reshaped itself, electing the most pro-Western leaders in its history.
Yanukovych, the former president, gave a blitz of interviews on Russian television stations Saturday after staying out of the spotlight for most of the year. The ex-leader, who has lived in exile near Moscow, appeared heavier and wearier than he did a year ago. He said he hoped to return to Ukraine to lead a protest movement against the current government.
Morello reported from Washington. Birnbaum reported from Moscow.
Director Bruce Sinofsky of 'Paradise Lost' trilogy dies
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Bruce Sinofsky, whose series on the "West Memphis Three" cast doubt on the murder convictions of three Arkansas teenagers, catalyzing a movement that led to their release, died Saturday, longtime collaborator Joe Berlinger said.
The Emmy-award winning documentary director died in his sleep of complications from diabetes, Berlinger said. He was 58.
"Bruce's humanity is on every frame of the films that he leaves behind, and words can't express how graced I feel my life has been by having the extraordinary opportunity of being able to say we were partners and, more importantly, best friends," said Berlinger.
The duo collaborated on Sinofsky's debut, the critically acclaimed "Brother's Keeper," before turning to the "Paradise Lost" trilogy, a series of films that drew attention to the case of three teen boys convicted in 1994 of killing three Cub Scouts in West Memphis, Arkansas.
People we lost in 2015 27 photos
The films, released in 1996, 2004 and 2011, raised questions about the evidence, drawing attention from musicians including Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits and Henry Rollins, who pushed for a review of the case. After spending 18 years in prison, Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin were released pursuant to a complicated plea agreement in September 2011, one month before the final installment, "Purgatory," was released.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award.
As the case wended though the courts, Sinokfsky and Berlinger turned their attention to metal band Metallica, whose music was featured in the first two installments of "Paradise Lost." The result was 2004's "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster."
Sinofsky also directed PBS' "Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records," an installment of The History Channel's "10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America" and episodes of the Sundance Channel's "Iconoclasts" series. He won multiple Emmys, a Peabody and an Independent Spirit Award for his work.
Berlinger recalled Sinofsky's dedication to his first film "Brother's Keeper," despite a lack of of financial backing or equipment.
"Bruce encouraged both of us to throw caution into the wind to start capturing what would become 'Brother's Keeper' in 1991 with no money in our pockets, in the pre-video 16mm age of documentary-making, when making a no-budget film took a little more ingenuity to get in the can," he said in a statement.
"His unique combination of courage and empathy made that possible, as well as everything that came after for us. The extraordinary adventures we had on the road and the deeply stimulating experiences we had in the editing room were life-changing for all of us who knew him thanks to his wisdom and fervor to change the world. "
A memorial service will be held in March.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)