Major Shake-Up In Nigerian Army, 334 Top Officers Redeployed

Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai

The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has approved the redeployment and appointment of 334 officers to various units across Nigeria. The officers appointed include some Principal Staff Officers at Defence and Army Headquarters, Corps Commanders and General Officers Commanding as well as other commanders, army spokesperson, Sani Usman, said. Some of the senior officers appointed include 37 Major Generals, 57 Brigadier Generals, 128 Colonels and several Lieutenants Colonels among many others.

Buhari: No Plan To Challenge Cameroon’s Ownership Of Bakassi Peninsula

President Buhari shaking hands with Cameroon President Paul Biya in Yaounde, Cameroon (Image source: SaharaReporters)

Nigeria will abide by the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Bakassi Peninsula, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. President Buhari said his administration would ensure the faithful implementation of the Green Tree Agreement, which regulates the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon. Mr. Buhari spoke at an interactive session with Nigerians living in Cameroon during his two-day working and friendly visit to the country, a statement by Femi Adesina, the president’s spokesperson, said.

Port Harcourt, Warri Refineries Begin Crude Production – NNPC

Warri Refinery (Image source: urhobotimes.com)

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has announced the successful re-streaming of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries after nine months of phased rehabilitation conducted by its in-house engineers and technicians.

The national oil company made the announcement on Wednesday through a statement.

It said the plants had commenced preliminary production of petroleum products after successful test-runs, noting that while the Port Harcourt Refining Company was ramping up capacity to about 60 per cent of the 210,000 barrels per day of crude capacity, production from the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company had been projected to hit 80 per cent of its installed capacity 125,000 bpd.

CORRUPTION: FG Goes After ‘Super Rich’ Civil Servants

ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta

Federal Government’s anti-corruption operatives have been sent after ‘super rich’ public officers who have multiple properties and other assets suspected to have been the rewards of graft. For now, The PUNCH learnt, the searchlight of the anti-corruption agents was on civil servants that possess many properties in the Federal Capital Territory. Our correspondents learnt in Abuja on Wednesday that operatives in the Assets Tracing, Recovery and Management Unit (ATRMU) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission had been asked to haul in suspects for interrogation and recovery of ill-gotten assets in their possession.

Zimbabwean Charged Over Killing Of Cecil The Lion

Hunter Theo Bronkhorst (left) and landowner Honest Ndlovu are facing poaching charges

A Zimbabwean court on Wednesday charged a professional hunter with failing to prevent an American from unlawfully killing 'Cecil', the southern African country's best-known lion, in a case that has triggered widespread revulsion at trophy hunting.

The American, Walter James Palmer, a Minnesota dentist who paid US$50,000 to kill the lion, has left Zimbabwe. He says he did kill the animal but believed the hunt was legal.

Local hunter Theo Bronkhorst appeared in a courthouse in Hwange, 800 km (500 miles) west of Harare, and was charged with "failing to supervise, control and take reasonable steps to prevent an unlawful hunt".

NEWS OUTRUNS GUARDIANS OF TRADITION: Ooni Of Ife Is Alive, Says Royal Traditional Council

Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade

Controversy has trailed the death of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, Olubuse II as the Royal Traditional Council, RTC, of the town, Wednesday, said  the paramount ruler is alive and in good state of health. The RTC, which comprises of all traditional chiefs and title holders in Ile-Ife, said Oba Sijuade is not only in a good state of health but added that the royal father was preparing for his son’s wedding holding Sunday, next week, in Lagos.

Sources close to the foremost traditional ruler told Vanguard at the palace that the traditional wedding of the new couple took place last weekend in London.

What's Causing US State Of Florida's Leprosy Cases?

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Leprosy is often thought to be an ancient disease, but leprosy-causing bacteria continue to infect people in the southern United States, including in Florida, where nine people have been diagnosed with the disease so far this year.

What's to blame? It could be the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) that roams wild across much of the Southeast, experts say. "Keep your distance from armadillos," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, who wasn't involved in the Florida cases. "Don't play with them, don't eat them and don't keep them as pets."

The cause of the Florida cases is still unknown. Researchers know that armadillos can transmit the disease to humans, but the Florida Department of Health hasn't tested the strains in the nine patients to see whether they match those found in area armadillos, said Mara Burger, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health.

Buhari Arrives Cameroon, Holds Talks On Terrorism

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari arrived Cameroon on Wednesday for talks on how to combat the escalating regional threat from the Boko Haram sect. AFP reports that security was tight for the 24-hour visit, after a surge of Boko Haram violence in Cameroon including an unprecedented series of five suicide bombings in the far north.

Presidential guard soldiers were posted on rooftops of houses and along the route from the airport to the presidential palace in Yaounde, while vehicles armed with machine-guns patrolled the streets and access to the hotel where Buhari will stay was blocked.

The trip comes a day after Nigeria vowed that a new regional force tasked with fighting the insurgents would go into action soon. Nigeria’s government had said Buhari’s talks with his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya were part of his “ongoing effort to build a more effective regional coalition against Boko Haram.”

Kuku Commends Buhari For Appointing Boroh As New Coordinator For Amnesty Programm

Brig. Gen. Boroh (L) with colleague

President Muhammadu Buhari was commended for appointing on Tuesday Brigadier-General Paul T. Boroh (rtd.) as the Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme for former Niger Delta militants. The former coordinator of the Programme, Kingsley Kuku, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Boroh as his successor.

Nigerian Author, Chigozie Obioma Makes Man Booker Long List With "The Fishermen"

Chigozie Obioma’s debut novel, The Fishermen, gathering positive reviews

The long list of 13 titles for the 2015 Man Booker Prize for fiction written in English, published on Wednesday, features Chigozie Obioma’s debut novel, The Fishermen in contention for the 50,000 GBP (US$78,000) prize.

GRAPHITTI NEWS reports "The Fishermen", which was published in April, has been longlisted for the 2015 Centre for Fiction First Novel Prize and the Edinburgh Festival First Book Award.

"Parents Love Me" Campaign: Tanzania's Free SMS Health Campaign Helps Pregnant Women, New Mothers

Women and their children visit a clinic at Sinza Health Centre in Tanzania's capital Dar es Salaam May 2, 2011. Photo: Reuters/Emmanuel Kwitema

When Halima Rahim became a mother for the first time, friends and acquaintances in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar-es-Salaam, were quick to offer advice and help. Had Rahim listened to them, she would have raised her baby on porridge rather than breast milk, not realizing the risk to her daughter's health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infants who are partly breastfed or not breastfed at all may face a higher risk of death from diarrhoea and other infections.

The global health body recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant's life. Breast milk not only protects newborn babies from infection, it also lowers mortality among malnourished children.

FG Overrules JAMB On Admission Policy As ASUU Says JAMB Has Become Promoters Of Private Varsities

Mr. MacJohn ‎Nwaobiala, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education

The Federal Government has overruled the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on its new admission policy that recently sparked protests in parts of the country.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. MacJohn ‎Nwaobiala‎, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Tuesday after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari of his ministry’s activities and challenges at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. JAMB, had at its 2015 Combined Policy Meeting adopted a policy, whereby candidates of universities with surplus applicants for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations are reassigned to other universities with lower number of applicants than their capacities.

Text Of President Obama's Remarks At The African Union

US President Barack Obama delivers a speech at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa on July 28, 2015.

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery--by President Barack Obama

Address to the People of Africa

African Union Headquarters

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Good afternoon! Thank you, Madame Chairwoman, for your kind words and your leadership. To Prime Minister Hailemariam and the people of Ethiopia—once again, thank you for your hospitality and for hosting this pan-African institution. Members of the African Union, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen—thank you for welcoming me here today. It is an honor to be the first president of the United States to address the African Union. 

I am grateful for this opportunity to speak to the representatives of the more than one billion people of the great African continent. We are joined today by citizens and leaders of civil society and faith communities, and I am especially pleased to see so many young people who embody the energy and optimism of today’s Africa. Hello! Thank you all for being here.

CONTINUES AFTER BREAK

Buhari Seeks National Assembly Confirmation Of Service Chiefs

Buhari requests Senate confirmation of Service Chiefs

The Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday announced the receipt of a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari, requesting the confirmation of Service Chiefs, recently appointed by him.

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, read the letter at plenary as the Red Chamber resumed after five-week recess.

US$1m Treasure From Sunken 1715 Spanish Armada Found

Gold coins and gold chain found in the wreckage of a 1715 Spanish fleet that sunk in the Atlantic off the Florida coast are seen in an undated handout picture courtesy of 1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels LLC. — Reuters picORLANDO (Florida)

A Florida family who has hunted treasure for years found more than US$1 million (RM3.819 million) worth of gold artifacts this summer from the wreckage of a 1715 Spanish fleet that sank in the Atlantic, according to a salvage company’s estimate. The find included 51 gold coins of various denominations and 12 metres of ornate gold chain, said Brent Brisben, whose company, 1715 Fleet — Queens Jewels LLC, owns the rights to the wreckage. The Schmitt family — parents Rick and Lisa and their two children and daughter-in-law — who hunt for treasure off their salvage vessel Aarrr Booty, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Police Raid Factory Producing 41,000 Fake iPhones In China

China is rife with knock-off iPhones, iPads and other Apple accessories 

A factory producing thousands of fake Apple iPhones has been raided and nine suspects detained in a major counterfeit bust by Beijing police. Along with more than 41,000 “iPhones” police found the factory manufactured 66,000 fake ribbon cables with a total value of 120 million yuan (£12.4 million). It is unclear how many counterfeit products were exported overseas, but at least some of the fake smartphones were sold in the US market.

The bust took place in May, according to the statement posted on the social media account of the public security bureau in Beijing on Sunday.

A World Of Pains, Despair For Ex-Eagles Goalie & FA Cup Legend, Fregene

(L) FA Cup legend, Peter Fregene…still comes to relish is young old days, 2014; (R) Very ill: Former goalkeeper Peter Fregene, Now

Alexander Okere writes on the life of pain, poverty and dejection of a former Nigeria goalkeeper, Peter Fregene, who represented contry at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico and Libya ’82 Africa Cup of Nations

He was regarded as one of the safest hands in Nigeria’s football history and was nicknamed the Flying Cat by his colleagues and fans, due to his quality as a goalkeeper when he manned the post for the Green Eagles in the late 1960s, 70s and early 1980s. But that Flying Cat, Peter Fregene, has become a shadow of himself and may be living his proverbial ‘ninth life’.

UEFA Head Platini To Announce FIFA Presidency Bid

Michel Platini

Michel Platini, the head of European soccer's governing body UEFA, is to announce in the next few days that he will stand for the presidency of FIFA, a source close to the former France international told Reuters on Tuesday. The 60-year-old Platini, a former France and Juventus midfielder, has been UEFA president since 2007 and had been widely expected to throw his hat into the ring to succeed Sepp Blatter, who announced his plan to stand down two months ago. Platini's impending announcement, expected before the end of the week, is likely to prompt other contenders to confirm their plans to stand.

Suspected Boko Haram Militants Kill At Least 25 In NE Nigeria, Cameroon Deploys 2,000 Extra Troops

Boko Haram Insurgents

At least 25 people have been killed by suspected Boko Haram militants on three communities in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, military and police sources said. The raids took place on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, Reuters reported. The main village attacked was Dille along with two smaller communities in the Askira/Uba local government area in the Borno state. The region is hit hardest by an Islamist insurgency.

Meanwhile Vanguard reports Cameroon will send about 2,000 military reinforcements to the north to fight Boko Haram, the Nigerian jihadist movement behind bloody cross-border raids and suicide bombings, state television said Tuesday.

OBAMA ADDRESSES AU: Africa must Create Jobs To Avoid Instability, Disorder; African Leaders To Respect Presidential Term Limits

Obama in Africa

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday said Africa needed to create more jobs for its young people in order to avoid instability and disorder, adding that the United States offered "real economic partnerships" to Africa.

"We need only look to the Middle East and North Africa to see that large numbers of young people with no jobs and stifled voices can fuel instability and disorder," Obama said, according to a text of his speech to the African Union in Ethiopia.

N4b Debts: WAEC Threatens To Withhold Results Of 19 States

West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has threatened to withhold results of candidates in 19 states, who wrote the May/June 2015 West African Senior Certificate Examination (WASSCE), following unpaid examination fees by state governments.

The National Head of the Council, Mr. Charles Eguridu, lamented that the affected states owed N4 billion for the May/June 2015 WASSCE and 2014.

16 Killed In Boko Haram Raids On Lake Chad Villages

Presidents of Niger, Chad and Niger (L-R) at the Lake Chad Basin Commission Summit in Abuja, Nigeria earlier in June 2015.

At least 13 suspected Boko Haram militants and three civilians were killed in separate attacks over the weekend after the insurgents raided several remote localities around Lake Chad, Chadian security sources have said.

The insurgents are also suspected of kidnapping some 30 people in Katikine village, near the lake. The hostages were taken onboard four speedboats to an unknown destination, one of the security source said, asking not to be named.

President Plans To Name Oil Thieves, Crude Illegally Lifted Up To July 3

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that his administration is close to ending the sharp practices in the oil and gas sector. The perpetrators will be named, he said. He also spoke of his ongoing search for “decent”, “patriotic” and “selfless” politicians and technocrats who will be ministers. The President has promised to name his ministers in September. Buhari, who spoke on his vision for a greater Nigeria on “Good Morning Nigeria”, a Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Abuja, pragramme, said oil was still being illegally exported by July 3.

EBOLA OUTBREAK: Sierra Leone Begins Treating Ebola Patients With Survivors' Plasma

Ebola survivor giving blood

The first donations of plasma from survivors of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone are being used to treat Ebola patients at the 34 Military Hospital in Freetown, following a lengthy approval process.

Dr. Calum Semple is the lead researcher from the University of Liverpool, which is backing the trial. He said that transfusions of convalescent serum from survivors have been shown to boost the immunity of patients infected with Ebola, giving the body a boost that enables it to better fight the disease. The method was first used during a 1976 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has since been used on Ebola patients in the U.S., Europe and West Africa, including at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)'s Donka treatment centre in Guinea.

DSS Probe Of Rivers REC In Order — APC

THE All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has thrown its weight behind the current probe of the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Gesila Khan, by the Department of State Services. The party, in a statement signed by the state Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, berated the Peoples Democratic Party for seeking to stop the DSS from carrying out its constitutional duties. Ikanya argued that the PDP’s posture on the arrest of the state REC by the DSS indicated that they (PDP and REC) were in alliance.

“By petitioning the DSS over the probe of Mrs. Gesila Khan, the PDP Reps have publicly exposed the unholy alliance between their party and REC. We have been crying even before the March 28 and April 11 elections, in which she brazenly took sides with the PDP and worked overzealously to return the party’s candidates for all the positions, so as to justify the huge sums of money she collected from the then ruling party and please her relation, the then President Goodluck Jonathan,” Ikanya said.

“HE WANTED TO BE LED ASTRAY”: UK’s Lord Sewel Quits Over 'Drugs And Prostitutes' Sting As Police Called In

Lord Sewel, who has resigned as Lords Deputy Speaker

The parliamentary authorities have called in Scotland Yard after the deputy speaker of the Lords was caught on video allegedly taking drugs with prostitutes. Lord Sewel quit his £84,500 a year role, which included overseeing conduct issues in the Upper House, after the dramatic expose by The Sun On Sunday. But he is facing calls to resign from parliament altogether - and could become the first peer expelled under tough new rules that he helped to introduce, even if police take no further action.

APC: PDP ‘Too Blind’ To Notice Buhari’s Hard Work

Lai Mohammed

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is “too blind with hatred” to notice President Muhammadu Buhari’s hard work with solving the country’s numerous problems. It also said PDP could not provide any worthwhile opposition to the APC-led federal government if its spokesman continues to issue “convoluted and fustian statements” just so that he can be in the news.

“Today’s statement is the most tortuous yet by the PDP and, honestly, sounds more like a compendium of beer-parlour gossips and side talks than a serious criticism of a sitting government,” the APC said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by Lai Mohammed, its  spokesman.

£5m Alamieyeseigha Looted Fund Given To Bayelsa Govt

Former Governor Diepreye S. P. Alamieyeseigha

More than £5 million recovered from the funds stolen by former Bayelsa State Governor Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha was handed back to the state government in 2012, it was learnt at the weekend. Nigeria’s retiring High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) Dr. Dalhatu Tafida who broke the news at the at the weekend in Birmingham where he spoke with the Nigerian community on the amount of stolen funds received from the UK by the Federal Government through its High Commission in London.

Tafida’s visit to Birmingham was part of a thank-you-tour as his tenure ends on August 15, after an eight-year stint as Nigeria’s chief envoy in the UK. He had earlier visited Manchester, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle and Belfast.

SANs: Prosecute Senate Rules Forgery Suspects

Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa (R) Swearing-In the Senate President, Bukola Saraki at the Inauguration of the 8th National Assembly in Abuja

National Assembly Clerk Salisu Maikasuwa, senators and any other person found culpable in the illegal amendment to the Senate Standing Order should be prosecuted, some eminent lawyers said yesterday. The police have declared the Standing Order, which was used for the June 9 election of Dr. Bukola Saraki as the President of the Eighth Senate, a forgery.

Prof. Itsay Sagay, Yusuf Ali (SAN) and Monday Ubani yesterday called for the prosecution of those who had a hand in the alteration of the standing rules applied to pick the Senate President, his deputy and four principal officers. But the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the defunct Second Republic, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), held a contrary position.

THE GREAT IMPOSITION! JAMB Registrar Assumes Powers Not Confered By JAMB Act

Professor Dibu Ojerinde of JAMB

Prospective candidates and their guardians have roundly rejected JAMB’s reasons for the JAMB’s purported intention to re-distribute candidates to other universities. They argue that university of choice is exclusively the decision of the candidates and their sponsors, not JAMB who ought to be an impartial facilitator.

GRAPHITTI NEWS gathers that there is a strong groundswell that the JAMB registrar appears to be turning his office into a marketing arm of the Private University owners in Nigeria. This surely would amount to gross act of impunity and partiality.

ThisDay reports the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan chapter has kicked against the recent policy of redistribution of candidates against their choice of institutions by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).