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(Nigeria) A former governorship aspirant in Delta, Great Ogboru, on Thursday filed an application for a stay of contempt proceedings before a Federal High Court, Lagos, pending his appeal. Ogboru filed the application through his counsel,  following a contempt proceeding against him by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, for flouting an order of court. He sought for stay of proceedings pending an appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit. Counsel to AMCON,  however, raised an objection to the application, arguing that the notice of appeal was not properly filed and served. He argued that there was no evidence of proper filing before the court, and that it was also not duly certified. AMCON, therefore, urged the court to refuse the application for stay, describing it as being unwarranted. Justice Okon Abang, in his ruling,however, held that the notice of appeal was duly filed by the applicant, adding that he would f

Syrian rebels under siege near the Lebanese border pleaded for help on Thursday against government troops and their Hezbollah allies as a confident President Bashar al-Assad spoke of having new Russian missiles, reports Reuters. Though Moscow contradicted suggestions he had taken delivery of an entire, long-range S-300 anti-aircraft system which alarms Israel, Russia's plan to send them highlighted the international confrontation brewing over Syria , even as Moscow and Washington work together for a peace conference between the warring sides. With Iran and its Lebanese partner Hezbollah also rallying to Assad's defense and his Western-backed Syrian opponents mired in squabbles, the president was quoted sounding confident of his position at home and abroad. He would attend talks in Geneva, he said, but he expected to keep fighting the revolt. Among his enemies on the battlefield, rebels in the besieged border town of Qusair warned that it could be wiped off

(Nigeria) Nigeria’s   House of Representatives, Thursday, approved   a 14 year jail sentence with no option of fine for same sex couples. The House also outlawed gay clubs and societies in Nigeria. The federal lawmakers took these decisions after   considering the report on a "Bill for an Act to prohibit marriage or Civil Union entered between persons of same sex, solemnization of Same and for other matters related ".   The House imposed   a 10 year jail term for members of gay associations or those engaged in gay processions. The legislature   resolved that any marriage or civil union entered into by persons of same gender is prohibited. The bill on same sex was introduced on the floor of the House last year. A public hearing on the matter was held in October, 2012. It will be recalled that the Senate had also passed a bill prohibiting same sex union with similar jail terms for offenders. With the consideration of the report, the bill will now wait for h

(Nigeria)  The Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, on Thursday directed teachers in the 11 states that had not implement the 27.5 per cent Teachers Peculiar Allowance to begin an indefinite strike from June 1. The NUT National President, Michael Olukoya, gave the directive at the end of the union’s National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Abuja. The meeting was held to discuss the pending strike to enforce the payment of the allowance and the 2011 approved National Minimum Wage. ``With effect from June 1, 2013, we are aware that it falls on a Saturday, but all teachers should disengage from any work that will make them to come to school as from this Saturday. ``Be it examination, social engagements in schools, all activities should be disengaged from Friday midnight. ``All the services of teachers in those states where the issue of the 27. 5 per cent and the minimum wage is still on should stay off school, you are hereby so directed, ’’Olukoya said. Oluko

(Nigeria) Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State on Thursday said that inconsistency in policies was destroying the nation’s education sector. Jang said in Jos while receiving the Senate Committee on Education that such inconsistency was ``very dangerous’’ and challenged the national assembly to halt the trend. ``The National Assembly must quickly rise to this challenge before it gets out of control and destroy the future of the younger generation,’’ he stated. He said that it was not good for the sector that each administration would discard the old policies and introduce new ones, adding that consistency was key to any progress. ``Nations like Germany practise the 6-3-3-4 (system) like Nigeria, but they have gone far because they have been very consistent with it,’’ he said. He called on the Federal Government to ensure that state governments had direct access to Universal Basic Education funds, to ease planning the deployment of resources. Jang said

Explosions in Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods across Baghdad on Thursday killed at least 10 people, deepening fears of a return to levels of sectarian violence not seen since a civil war five years ago. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni Muslim Islamist insurgents and al Qaeda's Iraqi wing have increased their operations since the beginning of the year as part of a campaign to intensify inter-communal tensions. A car bomb exploded in the mainly Sunni district of Binoog in north Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 12, while improvised roadside devices killed six people and three in districts in the south and centre of the capital, police said. The Police also said that a further group of seven people, including three policemen, were killed in clashes between gunmen and security forces in the northern city of Mosul. The surge in violence began in April when Iraqi forces raided a Sunni protest camp in the nort

(Nigeria) An Abuja Magistrate Court on Thursday declined jurisdiction in a case of alleged rape involving a 19-year-old security guard, Bado Longtong. The magistrate, Mr Abdullateef  Abolaji,  said that having gone through the First Information Report (FIR), the court was convinced that the matter was a clear case of rape which it lacked jurisdiction to entertain. ``Going through the FIR, it reveals a clear case of rape which this court lacks jurisdiction and the case is hereby transferred to the High Court,’’ he said. The reports that the police had earlier arraigned Longtong of EFAB Estate Life Camp, Abuja before the Court for allegedly raping a house help, Janet Emmanuel. Police prosecutor, Mr Simon Emmanuel told the court that one Emeka Ugoma of same address reported the matter at Life Camp Police Station, Abuja on May 21. Emmanuel said that on the same date the victim went to fetch water from a neighbour's compound and in the process the accused f

(Nigeria) Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, on Thursday alleged irregularities in the remittances of revenue by some collecting banks. The RMAFC said in Abuja while addressing newsmen on the commission's decision on illegalities being perpetrated by some banks in the remittance of FIRS and NCS revenues. He said that most of the banks were engaged by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, and Nigerian Customs Service, NCS. The  Chairman of the commission, Mr Elias Mbam, said some of the irregularities were excessive bank charges like Commission On Turnover, COT, on revenue accounts of the FIRS and NCS. Mbam said the commission launched a verification and reconciliation of revenue remittances by the banks to block any leakage to the Federation Account. He said that 53 consulting firms had been appointed to carry out the exercise covering January 2008 to June 2012. He said that they were given three months to submit their rep

Michael Adebowale one of the suspects accused of killing a British soldier in London, on  Thursday appeared at the West Minster Magistrate Court. Adebowale 22, is being charged with murder, and possessing a 9.44 mm KNIL model 91 revolver with intent to cause fear among onlookers and also to trigger violence. On May 22, Adebowale, and another suspect Michael Adebolajo hacked Drummer Lee Rigby, a soldier to death in a brutal attack. At Thursday's short hearing, the suspect only confirmed his name, date of birth, and address, but will stand trial at ``Old Bailey’’  England's central criminal court. Although he is expected to make a bail application by June 3rd, before a pre-trial hearing on June 28. Adebowale who sustained injuries after being shot by police following Rigby's murder spent six days in hospital receiving treatment.  The second suspect Adebolajo 28, is still in hospital and is believed to be seriously injured.

(Nigeria) The Joint Security Task Force, JTF, in Kano State, has arrested three Lebanese suspected of owning the large cache of arms recovered at a bunker in the city. Brig.-Gen. Iliyasu Abba, the Brigade Commander, 3 rd Brigade, Nigerian Army, said one of the suspects was arrested on Tuesday at a house on Gaya Road in Bompai area of Kano. According to him, another suspect was arrested in Abuja while the third suspect was apprehended since May 16,  at Aminu Kano International Airport, on his way to Beirut, Lebanon. ``The one arrested at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport had a sum of $60,000 in his possession.'' He said one Abdullahi Hassan Tahir Padalla, who was the owner of the house in which one of the suspect was arrested was still at large. Abba said among the weapons discovered during the operation on Tuesday were 17 AK 47 rifles, 44 magazines, four land mines and 12 RPG bombs, 14 RPG charger, 11 66 mm anti-tanks weapons, one SMG magazine,

(Nigeria) An Abuja High Court on Thursday refused an application to recall a prosecution witness, Mr Ayuba Ede, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, in the alleged Apo six killings. Justice Ishaq Bello ordered for the continuation of cross examination of the witness. It would be recalled that Mr Rickey Tarfa, counsel to Danjuma Ibrahim, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, had earlier filed an application challenging the recall of Ede as a witness in the case. He said that on Feb. 14, 2012, Ede was cross examined by the prosecuting counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN. "At that sitting, the prosecutor informed the court that he will not be re-examining the witness and the witness was accordingly discharged. My lord, it is pertinent to state that the prosecution thereafter sought for several adjournments to enable them to field other witnesses in support of their case, but they failed to do so,” Tarfa said. He said that when Ede was called, the prosecution led him in

At least seven bombs battered Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim neighborhoods across Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 16 more people in the worst wave of sectarian violence since civil war five years ago, reports Reuters. The bloodletting reflects increasing conflict between Iraq's majority Shi'ite leadership and the Sunni minority, many of whom feel unfairly treated since the 2003 fall of strongman Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. Civil war in Syria between Sunni rebels and President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite sect derives from Shi'ite Islam, has aggravated the strife in Iraq. Sunni and Shi'ite Iraqis have been crossing the border to fight on opposing sides in Syria. No group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks, but Sunni Islamist insurgents and al Qaeda's Iraqi wing have increased their operations since the beginning of the year as part of a campaign to exacerbate inter-communal tensions. A car bomb exploded in the mainly Sunni di

(Nigeria) A Bauchi High Court, on Thursday ordered the reinstatement of a female member of the state Assembly, Mrs Rifkatu Danna (PDP-Bogoro), suspended since June 7, 2012. The state Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Zango, who gave the order in Bauchi, while delivering judgement on the case, also directed the House to pay the lawmaker all her salaries and entitlements which accumulated during her suspension. Zango held that the indefinite suspension clamped by the House on Danna was unconstitutional, null and void and of no legal effect. He described the action of the Assembly as mere arbitrary show of power, which had infringed on the fundamental human rights of the plaintiff. Danna was suspended by the assembly and ordered to apologise for publicly criticising the decision of the House to relocate the headquarters of Bogoro local government from Tafawa Balewa to Bununu. The judge said the comment was not derogatory as claimed by the House but mere criticism o

(Nigeria) Justice Ibrahim Saulawa of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, on Thursday declined hearing of an appeal filed by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan, challenging a death sentence handed them. Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late General Sanni Abacha, and Shofolahan former Personal Assistant to Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, are challenging the death sentence handed them by a Lagos High court. The convicts were sentenced to death on January 30, 2012, by Justice Mojisola Dada, for conspiracy in masterminding the murder of late Kudirat. The case which ought to be for argument of the appeal filed by the appellants, could not go on, as the presiding jusctice declined hearing for personal reasons. Justice Saulawa told counsels to the appellants, that he could only assist them in recording a further date for arguments, but will not participate in hearing the main appeal for reasons which he described as personal. He therefore adjourned the case to

(Nigeria) Nigeria's military on Thursday dismissed as "empty propaganda" claims by Boko Haram's leader that soldiers have retreated during an ongoing offensive, insisting the campaign has heavily damaged the Islamist insurgents. In a video obtained by AFP on Tuesday, Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau said soldiers have at times "turned and ran" when facing Islamist fighters and rejected military boasting about the success of the operation. "We consider it as empty propoganda," defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade said of the video. "To the best of our understanding, at the moment (the insurgents) are in disarray. They are on the run and so many of them have been captured," he told AFP. He declined to provide figures of those captured or killed in the operation launched on May 15 after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three northeastern states considered Boko Haram strongholds. She

Ghana’s President, John Mahama has said that he did not rig the 2012 presidential election in the country as alleged by the opposition parties. A statement from the Ghanaian presidency quoted Mahama as saying this when he spoke to the BBC on Wednesday during his three-day official visit to France. He said the challenge against his legitimacy as president currently before the Supreme Court was not a source of distraction to his poise to ensure good governance. News Agency of Nigeria reports that Nana Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of Ghana’s major opposition party, New Patriotic Party, NPP is challenging Mahama’s victory in the court. The NPP is alleging irregularities and massive rigging during the general election that brought in Mahama as president. The statement further quoted the president as expressing huge trust in the ability of the Supreme Court to deliver sincere judgement in the matter. ``I am not perturbed at all, it is also not impacti

Israel does not want to provoke a military "escalation" with Syria but will not allow it to transfer strategic arms to groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah, a cabinet minister said on Thursday. "There is no need to provoke an escalation, there is no need to heat up the border with Syria, that was not our objective and it will never be," Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom told public radio. Asked about Moscow's plans to supply S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, Shalom said they would only become a problem if they fell into the wrong hands. "Syria has had strategic weapons for years, but the problem arises when these arms fall into other hands and could be used against us. In that case, we would have to act," he said. Moscow has defended its arms shipments to Damascus, describing them as a "stabilising factor" which could act as a deterrent against foreign intervention. Shalom's remarks were made a day after Prime Minis