altimglobe

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Obasanjo to lead election observers to Zimbabwe

HARARE (AFP) – Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo will lead a team of 60 African Union monitors to Zimbabwe for the July 31 election, the organisation said Friday.

Obasanjo will arrive in Zimbabwe 10 days before the vote, which has already been overshadowed by allegations of political intimidation and electoral rolls packed with “ghost voters”.

Obasanjo

In a statement, the AU said the monitors — drawn from African NGOs and member countries — will work with nine observers already on the ground.

Obasanjo has twice ruled Nigeria.

A former soldier, he headed a military government between 1976 and 1979 and served an eight-year term as an elected president between May 1999 and May 2007.

President Robert Mugabe has opposed the entry of non-African observers to monitor the election, which will see the long-term leader try to extend his 33-year term.

Rights groups have expressed concern that the vote will see a repeat of vote rigging and violence that has marred previous polls.

Amnesty International on Friday called on regional bodies to “meticulously document human rights violations, in particular those committed by government agencies”.

Zimbabwe’s security forces, controlled by President Robert Mugabe, 89, have in the past been accused of rights abuses and intimidating political opponents.

At least 200 people were killed in the run-up to the June 2008 presidential run-off between Mugabe and his arch rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai will again be Mugabe’s opponent on July.

Mandela’s wife says now ‘less anxious’ about his health

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Graca Machel, the wife of ailing South African icon Nelson Mandela, said she was less anxious about his condition Friday, five weeks after he was admitted to hospital.

“He continues to respond positively to treatment. I would say that today I’m less anxious than I was a week ago,” she told state-backed SABC television.

It is the latest in a series of upbeat accounts, which seem to suggest that while the 94-year-old’s condition remains “critical”, it has improved somewhat.

Nelson Mandela

After visiting Mandela late Thursday, President Jacob Zuma said he was “responding to treatment.”

“He remains as much of a fighter now as he was 50 years ago,” Zuma said, marking the anniversary of a police raid that led to Mandela’s life sentence in prison.

Earlier in the week Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, who is one of Mandela’s nephews and king of his Thembu tribe, said the former statesman was “conscious”.

“He could not talk, but he recognised me and made a few gestures of acknowledgement, like moving his eyes.”

Two weeks ago the prognosis appeared much bleaker, with family massing at his Pretoria hospital as Zuma abruptly cancelled a trip to Mozambique.

Doctors are said to have ruled out switching off Mandela’s life support machines unless there is serious organ failure.

Court documents filed on behalf of the family last month described Mandela’s condition as “perilous”, with one claiming he was in a “vegetative state”.

Mandela, who turns 95 next week, was rushed to a Pretoria hospital on June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

Several dead, dozens injured in France train derailment

PARIS (AFP) – At least seven people were dead and dozens injured on Friday after a speeding train split in two and derailed at a station in the southern suburbs of Paris, officials said.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls gave the initial toll of seven dead and said there also were “dozens of injured” following the accident at the Bretigny-sur-Orge station involving a train heading from Paris to the west-central city of Limoges.

The minister said that information on the number of dead and wounded was “constantly evolving” and that several train carriages were lying on their sides.

The Paris prefect’s office said a “red alert” plan had been activated at 5:23 pm (1523 GMT) following the accident.

“The train arrived at the station at high speed. It split in two for an unknown reason. Part of the train continued to roll while the other was left on its side on the platform,” a police source told AFP.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

“It was not a collision and it was not a problem with the speed,” a source with the SNCF national rail service told AFP.

The accident took place at 5:14 pm, the SNCF said, minutes after the “Intercite” train left the Paris-Austerlitz station.

Bretigny Mayor Bernard Decaux told newspaper Le Parisien that there was chaos at the station.

“Everyone is running in every direction, there is panic,” he said. “It is an apocalyptic scene. We are trying to organise things.”

Dozens of emergency and police vehicles had arrived at the scene, an AFP reporter said.

The accident occurred as many in France were departing for the start of their summer holidays

British counter-terror police probe mosque ‘nail-bomb’

LONDON (AFP) – British counter-terror police were on Friday investigating reports of an explosion outside a mosque in central England that witnesses said left nails scattered over the ground.

No injuries were reported after the incident in the town of Tipton in the West Midlands, but police evacuated several streets in the area as a precautionary measure.

“An investigation is being led by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit and it is being treated as a terrorist incident,” West Midlands Police said in a statement.

There has been a rise in anti-Muslim incidents in Britain since May, when a soldier was hacked to death on a London street in a suspected Islamist attack.

Friday’s incident coincided with the funeral of 25-year-old soldier Lee Rigby, who was murdered in broad daylight near his barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, on May 22.

Prime Minister David Cameron was among 800 mourners at Rigby’s private military funeral in Bury, northwest England, while thousands of members of the public lined the streets to pay their respects.

Two Muslim converts from Nigerian Christian families have been charged with Rigby’s murder and are due to stand trial in November.

Vatican: Pope tightens penalties for child abuse

Pope Francis on Thursday announced a reform of the Vatican penal code, introducing tighter penalties for child abuse, financial crimes and official leaks, while abolishing life sentences. The move comes in the wake of: paedophilia scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in recent years; allegations of wrongdoing at its bank, the Institute of Religious Works;… [Read More...]

N130m alleged fraud: Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State asks court to stop arrest

By Bartholomew Madukwe

Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sinatu Aderoju Ojikutu, has filed a suit asking the Lagos High Court to stop the Inspector General of Police, IGP, from arresting her.

Ojikutu, 67, and her son, Adebisi Ojikutu (Jnr), were both declared wanted by the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, of the Nigeria Police Force. The police said that the former Deputy Governor had a case involving a fraud of N130 million to answer.

She however, said the matter which culminated into the police investigation was a civil case involving the sale of her late husband’s land at Lekki, Lagos.

Ojikutu said she sold the land through her lawyer, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN, to one Mr Cajetan Okekearu, adding that both of them (herself and Adebisi jnr) obtained their letter of administration at the Probate Registry of the Lagos High Court.

*Aderoju Ojikutu

The police had alleged that the former Deputy Governor and her son allegedly conspired and sold a parcel of land known as Plot 24, Block 4 situated at Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos for N130 million to Okekearu.

But Ojikutu’s Counsel, Pedro asked the court to declare that the said land described in the contract of sale dated October 6, 2011 and entered into by his client and the third defendant (Okekearu), belonged to her late husband, Mr Sampson Adebisi Ojikutu, pointing out that they were the true beneficiaries of his estate by virtue of the Letters of Administration with reference No. PHC/2114/2010.

She then urged the court to declare that the IGP, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, and the Second defendant, the Commissioner of Police- SFU, Tunde Ogunsakin, were not empowered under any known law to interfere with any civil matter arising out of a breach of contract in particular.

In the originating summons brought pursuant to Order 3 Rules 8 (1) and (2) of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2012, the plaintiffs, among others, urged the court to determine whether the IGP and the Police Commissioner could legally, lawfully or validly convert the case into a criminal matter and proceed to declare the Ojikutu wanted or put her through any investigation whatsoever.

Furthermore, they then prayed the court to determine whether they were entitled to the said land and whether Okekearur, as a purchaser of the said land was under an obligation to make inquiries or investigate the true ownership of the said property.

“Whether by virtue of clause 9 of the contract of sale dated October 6, 2011 entered into by the claimants and the 3rd defendant, the claimants are under obligations to indemnify the 3rd defendant in the event that the 3rd defendant incurred any expenses or loss arising from the transfer of title in the property as aforementioned. “Whether the refund of N50million by the claimants to the 3rd defendant was done in good faith and in compliance and partial fulfillment with clause 9 of the contract of sale dated October 6, 2011 and entered into between the claimants and the 3rd defendant,” Ojikutu stated. No date has yet been fixed for mention of the case.

Malala vows not to be silenced by terrorists

NEW YORK CITY (AFP) – Pakistan teenager Malala Yousafzai vowed Friday not to be silenced by terrorists in a powerful speech to the United Nations on her first public appearance since being shot by the Taliban.

“They thought that the bullet would silence us, but they failed,” Malala said on her 16th birthday in a presentation in which she called for books and pens to be used as weapons.

“The terrorists thought that they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life, except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born,” she said.

Toorpekai Yousafzai, mother of Malala Yousafzai , the 16-year-old Pakistani advocate

Her 20 minute speech was given several standing ovations and was quickly hailed for her message of peace.

Malala, who wore a pink headscarf and a shawl that belonged to assassinated Pakistan leader Benazir Bhutto, insisted she did not want “personal revenge” against the Taliban gunman who shot her on a bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley on October 12 last year.

“I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all the terrorists and extremists. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me I would not shoot him.”

But Malala said “the extremists were and they are afraid of books and pens, the power of education. The power of education silenced them. They are afraid of women.”

“Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution,” she said.

The passionate advocate for girls education was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she road on a school bus near her home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in October.

She was given life-saving treatment in Britain where she now lives, but the attack has given new life to her campaign for greater educational opportunities for girls.

Malala is now considered a leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Taliban have made it clear however that she remains a target.

Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister and UN special envoy for education, hailed Malala as “the bravest girl in the world” as he presented her at the UN Youth Assembly.

Brown said it was “a miracle” that Malala had recovered to be present at the meeting.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon and other top officials also hailed her achievements.

The speech in which Malala invoked the legacy of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and other legendary peace advocates brought quick praise.

Malala also thanked British doctors and nurses for the care they had given and the United Arab Emirates government for paying for her treatment.

“I cannot believe how much love people have shown me. I have received thousands of good wish cards and gifts from all over the world. Thank you to all of them. Thank you to the children whose innocent words encouraged me,” she said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on his twitter account that Malala had delivered a “powerful message”.

The United Nations estimates that 57 million children of primary school age do not get an education — half of them in countries at conflict like Syria.

“Students and teachers across our globe are intimidated and harassed, injured, raped, and even killed. Schools are burned, bombed, and destroyed,” said Diya Nijhowne, director of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.

Nijhowne highlighted a horrific attack in northern Nigeria last week.

Malala Yousafzai

Gunmen from the Boko Haram Islamist group — whose name literally means “Western education is a sin” — broke into a secondary boarding school and killed 41 students and one teacher before setting fire to the building.

According to Ban’s annual report on children and conflict, 115 schools were attacked last year in Mali, 321 in the occupied Palestinian territory, 167 in Afghanistan and 165 in Yemen.

Pakistan has an estimated five million children out of school and Nigeria 10 million, according to UN estimates.