British Billionaire Richard Branson Condemns Indonesia for Executing Nigerians, Others

British Billionaire Richard Branson Condemns Indonesia for Executing Nigerians, Others


British billionaire Richard Branson has taken to his blog to denounce the execution of the Bali Nine by firing squad.

According to him, the action is “needless” and “brutal”. He also warned the Indonesian government that the decision will severely “hamper the country’s chances to secure clemency for Indonesians facing the death penalty abroad”.

“Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was granted a last-minute reprieve. But Rodrigo Gularte, Martin Anderson (aka Belo), Raheem Agbaje Salami, Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Okwudili Oyatanze, Zainal Abidin bin Mgs Mahmud Badarudin, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran lost their lives brutally and needlessly.

“Brutally, because the death penalty is always cruel, barbaric and inhumane. It has no place in a civilised society.

“Needlessly, because these executions will not do anything to deter drug trafficking in Indonesia or reduce supply and demand. There is plenty of evidence that prohibition and strict law enforcement have little to no effect on the drug trade. If Indonesia wants to tackle its drug problems effectively, it needs to return to evidence-based policies that place public health over criminal law enforcement.”

He went on to discuss the tales of prisoners’ rehabilitation, particularly of Andrew and Myuran, who he heralded as “shining examples of people working through their mistakes and becoming productive members of society”.

Branson concluded that the death of the eight prisoners in Bali will have a “significant negative impact on Indonesia’s standing in the world”.

“I hope some good will come out of these tragic events, as more and more people realise inhumane death penalty laws must end globally, now,” he said. “As people unite behind the #IStandForMercy hashtag, public disgust for the death penalty grows and hope increases that an end to the death penalty is in sight.”

“To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: ‘The only difference between saints and sinners is that every saint has a past while every sinner (should have) a future.’

“Everyone deserves a second chance. Let’s do away with the death penalty once and for all.”

Update on Military Operation in Sambisa Forest by Chris Olukolade

Update on Military Operation in Sambisa Forest by Chris Olukolade

-Rescued Women Undergoing Thorough Profiling

-True Identities of some Freed Victims Yet to be ascertained

-Terrorist Field Commanders Killed -Notorious Training Camps Destroyed

-Nigerians being held captives are being freed by Gallant Troops

-hope for the recovery of more hostage of the terrorists

A Press Briefing by Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade at Defence Headquarters, Abuja on April 30, 2015

Gentlemen of the press, As you already know, troops have commenced operations deep into the Sambisa forest after sustained aerial bombardments by the Nigerian Air Force. The main objective as you know is to decimate and clear the terrorists from the forest which is their last bastion.

Several field commanders and foot soldiers of the terrorist group have lost their lives, some armoured personnel carriers, Bufallo vehicles mounted with Anti-Aircraft guns, a truck and several Hilux vehicles were destroyed by troops. Also recovered from the fleeing terrorists are a number of Anti-Aircraft guns, General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG), Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) and several AK 47 rifles.

Unfortunately though, we lost one soldier in the course of the operation while 10 others have so far been wounded.

The true identity of some of the rescued women and girls are yet to be ascertained. At the moment, what is upper most and of priority is their movement to a conducive place where they are now undergoing thorough profiling to verify their true identity, where they come from, how they found themselves in the forest, etc. Additional number of persons are still being recovered from the forest.

Until such comprehensive profiling is done, nobody can confirm whether they are among the Chibok girls or not. Whoever they may be, the important thing is that Nigerians held captive under very severe and inhuman condition have been freed by our gallant troops. The joy and sense of hope being expressed by many Nigerians on hearing about the rescue operation is therefore understandable.

We would like to reassure them that the momentum of this operation will be sustained until that sambisa forest is comprehensively cleaned out and all Nigerians held captive within the bowels of the forest are rescued. There is great hope for the recovery of more hostage of the terrorists. Already, the dislodged and disorganized terrorists are in flight on different directions and running helter-skelter in the expansive forest.

There is no longer any respite or sanctuary for them; they will be pursued and tracked down not minding the daunting challenges in the mission including hundreds of land mines and difficult terrain of the Sambisa forest. It should be noted however that the essence of this operation is not to kill everybody in sight. We encourage any of the combatants who is desirous to surrender to come out, as the forest will no more be tenable as a haven for their activities.

In the same vein, innocent civilians among those in flight are also encouraged to report themselves to the troops. We will continue to treat civilians in the most professional and humane way.

We thank all Nigerians for their continued prayers and support and assure them that Never Again shall forces of darkness reign supreme in our country.

Thank you.

CHRIS OLUKOLADE Major General Director Defence Information

 

Governor Ayo Fayose withdraws lawsuit against APC lawmakers

Governor Ayo Fayose withdraws lawsuit against APC lawmakers


Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, yesterday withdrew the suit against the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) members of the state House of Assembly from impeaching him and his Deputy, Kolapo Olusola.

In the suit, the plaintiffs, including speaker of the House of As­sembly which is oc­cupied by the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) factional Speaker, Olugbemi Joseph Dele; Ekiti State House of Assembly, Fayose and Olusola through their counsel, Ahmed Raji (SAN), had approached the court seeking to stop im­peachment moves against the governor. The suit however had already been struck out by Justice Ahmed Moham­med.

When the matter was called for hearing yesterday, counsel to the plaintiffs, Raji, informed the court of his client’s inten­tion to withdraw the case. The plaintiff’s counsel did not give any reason for the with­drawal.

S’Africans attacks on foreigners planned – S’African Mayor

S’Africans attacks on foreigners planned – S’African Mayor

Police reinforcements have been rushed to Thabazimbi in Limpopo after shops owned by foreign nationals were looted and vandalised.

About 50 foreign nationals, including women and children, have been accommodated at a local sports centre. Police have arrested 15 suspects, with Thabazimbi mayor, Patricia Mosito, having condemned the incident.

Mosito says one way or another, “this thing was organised because people cannot just wake up and start engaging in this criminal acts.” The mayor has added that “it is criminal to attack foreign nationals. It is not something that we can condone, it’s something criminal.”

Meanwhile, Ethiopian and Somali nationals whose shops were looted at Reogorokgile township in Thabazimbi on Freedom Day say they would like to be reintegrated back into the community.

About 50 of them were rescued from an angry mob and are temporary accommodated at the Thaba Park Sports Centre in the Thabazimbi Central Business District. Five shops were looted.

On Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer of the South African Council for Educators and President of the African Forum of Teacher Regulatory Authorities, Rej Brijraj, condemned the recent spate of xenophobic violence in the country.

Brijraj was briefing the media in Pretoria and said he has confidence in the country’s ability to abolish attacks on foreign nationals.

Xenophobic Attacks: Zuma calls Jonathan, pleads for support

Xenophobic Attacks: Zuma calls Jonathan, pleads for support

President Jacob Zuma has had telephonic discussions with President Goodluck Jonathan of  Nigeria on recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, according to a statement by the South African presidency.

The two Presidents reaffirmed the warm and cordial relations between South Africa and Nigeria and pledged that the two countries will continue to work together for the good of their peoples and the continent as a whole.

President Jonathan expressed his support for the efforts of South Africa to arrest the attacks on foreign nationals and to ensure the safety and security of all citizens, including foreign nationals and those from the African continent, in particular who bore the brunt of the attacks earlier this month.

President Zuma will attend the inauguration of the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari, next month.

Chibok girls: More females rescued, Boko Haram commanders killed

Chibok girls: More females rescued, Boko Haram commanders killed

As the battle to clear out Boko Haram camps inside the vast Sambisa Forest continues, Nigerian troops have killed several field commanders of the terrorists, destroyed more of their training camps and rescued more women and children. Vanguard cannot ascertain if there are Chibok girls among the rescued.

Acting Director Public Relations of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Sani K. Usman said: “troops of 7 Division Nigerian Army cleared several terrorists strong points and training camps within Sambisa forest, Borno State, Nigeria.

“The troops have also rescued additional women and children. They have been evacuated to a safety zone for further processing.

“During the encounter unfortunately we lost a soldier, while four others were wounded in action.”

The Army’s spokesperson also mentioned that armoured vehicles and ammunitions were also recovered from the terrorists.

“Meanwhile, the Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade would today provide updates on the ongoing counter-terrorism campaign in North-Eastern Nigeria”the statement said.

6 Reasons We're Impeaching Governor Dakingari -Kebbi Lawmakers

6 Reasons We're Impeaching Governor Dakingari -Kebbi Lawmakers


12 out of 24 members of the Kebbi state house of assembly have served Governor Saidu Usman Dakingari an impeachment notice.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the 12 lawmakers in the impeachment notice listed 6 sins the governor has committed. Dakingari's sins include;

•That Governor Sa’idu Dakingari committed grave violation of the provision of Section 5(1)(a) of the Kebbi State Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Bureau Law,2006 in that the Chairman of the Bureau is to be a retired Civil Servant, but the Governor appointed a serving Permanent Secretary/Solicitor General of the State Ministry of justice, Barr Aminu Usman as Chairman of the Bureau;

•That the governor committed gross misconduct by accessing and obtaining a loan facility to the tune of N2 billion from Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Support Fund set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) allegedly without obtaining the necessary confirmation of 2/3 majority of the Assembly, which was opposed by nine of 24 members;

•That the Governors continues work with unelected Local Government Councils in the State whose tenure in office already expired on or about the 18th September,2014, two years after Oath of office as provided by Section 18(1) of Kebbi State Local Government Law, 2008 and thereby committed a gross misconduct;
•That between the period of January 2015 – April 2015, the governor allegedly misappropriated the sum of N1,800,862,672.00 from the State Government funds in the name of General Election 2015 even when there is no provision for that expenditure in the Appropriation Law 2015;

•The Governor,alleged misappropriated the sum of N965,000, 000.00 in the name of the official visits of Mr President, Vice President and First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria between November 2014 to March, 2015 and that Mr Vice President and First Lady did not make any official visit to Kebbi State within the said period thereby committed gross misconduct;

•That the governor issued the renovation and furnishing of the Presidential Lodge and other government lodges at the cost of N558, 560, 416.00 to unknown contractor in September 2011 and thereafter within two months period that was between October 2014 – November, 2014, the governor alleged wrongly inflated the cost of renovation and furnishing to the tune of N1, 347, 373, 906.54k.That the contract sum was increased by the sum of N788, 813, 490.54k thereby committed misconduct
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