Corruption: Buhari signs executive order on suspicious assets

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed an executive order on the preservation of suspicious assets connected with corruption.

The Presidency disclosed this on Thursday, July 5, in a message posted on one of its verified Twitter handles, @AsoRock.

Buhari signed the document at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The message read: “President @MBuhari has just signed a presidential executive order on the preservation of suspicious assets connected with corruption at the Council Chambers, State House, Abuja.”

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, February 5, signed an executive order to improve local content in public procurement with science, engineering and technology components.

According to Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, in a series of tweets stated that the executive order was expected to promote the application of science, technology and innovation towards achieving the nation’s development goals across all sectors of the economy

He added that the executive order also prohibits the Ministry of Interior from giving visas to foreign workers whose skills are readily available in Nigeria.

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11-year old Nigerian Artist impressed the World

It is no secret that Nigeria is full of talented artists, most of whom have not been discovered yet. However, a young boy by the name of Kareem Waris is not one of them anymore. Find out more about a young and talented Nigerian upcoming artist whose works have captured the hearts of thousands of people all across the world.

Photo: rte.ie

The inspiring life story of Nigeria upcoming artist

Kareem Waris Olamilekan, who is also known as Waspa, the bitty artist, is an incredible Nigerian artist, and he is only 11 years old. The art work you see above is of his own making. Yes, it took us some time too to come to terms with how talented he is.

The young artist was born on March 14, 2007. He started drawing when he was only six years old, and he drew comics and cartoons. The talent was apparent in his art, so when Kareem and his family moved to Iyana Ipaja, Lagos State two years after, he decided to pursue this hobby seriously.

At one point, Waris met a boy who turned out to be an apprentice at the Ayowole Academy of Arts, and he became interested in becoming one himself. The young prodigy showed his work to Adeniyi Adewole, the man who ran the school, and he was so impressed that he let Kareem join the academy and learn more about art.

These days, Kareem, or rather Waspa, is a student at the Oke-Odo Junior High School, and he continues perfecting his craft. While the artist usually works in the style of hyperrealism and uses pencils and pens as his tools, he sometimes exchanges them for paints and crayons as he works with face painting, murals on houses and his art school homework. His main inspirations are Arinze Stanley and Michelangelo.

When he just began drawing, Waspa admitted that he had not always had the means to support his passion. His family was not at all wealthy, so it was sometimes hard for him to get the necessary materials for his drawings.

Now, however, the boy is coming up in this world. His drawings of famous Nigerian politicians have gotten recognition from the politicians themselves, and not that long ago, Kareem was invited by the Managing Director of Ecobank to draw the President of France Emmanuel Macron.

In just two hours, he drew a striking portrait of the French President at the New Africa Shrine. The man from the picture seemed very impressed with Waspa’s talent, and he congratulated the young man in person and via his Twitter.

The word about Nigeria’s youngest artist in the genre of hyperrealism has spread far, and people all over the world have learned of this young talent. The story of Waspa was mentioned on CNN, broadcast on CGTN Africa and even on the BBC News, so the boy is finally getting the recognition he deserves.

Moreover, he is now taking commissions, so if you want to help him out and get some insanely amazing art from it, call him at 09090879307 or 09096971196. To check out his drawings, you can go to his Instagram page (@waspa_art), where his audience has almost reached 40 thousand, and marvel at the beauty of his works.

Top works from Waspa, the bitty artist

Photo: twitter.com

Speaking of his works, if you do not want to go through all of Kareem’s posts on Instagram (even though there are not that many), here are his best drawings he has ever posted on his page.

Here is an adorable self-portrait, where he seems to be having the time of his life. It is interesting to note that the artist was only ten when he made this.

This is a quick sketch (!) of Temmy Balogun, a writer and creator of temmybalogun.com. We cannot help but wonder how the artist has managed to achieve this perfection in a limited amount of time and how it could have looked if he had a few more hours.

Photo: imgur.com

Last, but certainly not least is the most famous work of Kareem’s, and it is his ‘Daily Bread’. With this painting, he wants to show how hard it is for some people to get some food to put on the table, thus the boy in the picture is sweating and crying while eating his meal.

As you can see, our Waspa is a unique individual whose talent greatly surpasses even those older than him by decades. But right now, let’s enjoy the beauty Kareem has already brought into this world.

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President Buhari in Crucial Meeting with 3 APC.Governors

Barely 24 hours after some aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) formed a new faction, the Reformed All Progressives Congress, President Muhammmadu Buhari and three state governors belonging to the party are currently locked in a crucial meeting.

The state governors in attendance are Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state, Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa state and Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi state.

The meeting is holding inside the president’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The new faction has broken away from the All progressives Congress (APC)and has called itself the Reformed All Progressives Congress (RAPC).

The new faction is the same as the new Peoples Democratic Party which joined the APC in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.

Buba Galadima who is the former national secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change and an ally to President Muhammadu Buhari was named the new chairman of the group.

In an apparent response to the emergence on Wednesday, July 4, of the rebel group, Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of the APC reiterated his appeal to aggrieved members of the party to be patient with his leadership.

He expressed appreciation to members of the party for his election and for entrusting with him, the responsibility to pilot the party’s affairs at this time.

The APC national chairman acknowledged that he knew of the party’s challenges before accepting the task, saying that it was a huge opportunity for him and other newly elected executives of the party to make a difference. This, Oshiomhole said, was not only for the party, but for the country generally.

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Former CBN Governor and Ex - Finance Minister is Dead

Former minister of Finance, Malam Adamu Ciroma is dead. Ciroma reportedly died at the age of 84 year in a Turkiush Hospital in Abuja on Thursday, July 5, after a protracted illness, Leadership reports.

Mallam Adamu Ciroma was an elder statesman, presidential hopeful and the first editor of the New Nigerian..

Malam Ciroma had been hospitalised since last week.

He was a prominent player in second republic politics who later played a prominent role in the fourth republic as one of the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ciroma is expected to be buried after Islamic rites st the National Mosque, Abuja.

His death came two days after former vice president Atiku Abubakar visited him at the hospital on Tuesday, July 3 .

The Atiku Abubakar’s office also confirmed the death of Malam Ciroma.

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Koyewon Makes Case for Police, Task Parents on Crimes Preventions

The Chairman Moniya Police Divisional Headquarters Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) Chief Olaiya Babalola aka. Koyewon has asked parents to inculcate religious teaching in their youths to stem the growing rate of crimes and social unrest in the country.
Koyewon also urged religious institutions to instill moral discipline into the youths and made them to see the need to conform with the societal norms.
The PCRC Chairman made the remarks at the July 2018 monthly general meetings of Moniya PCRC Divisional Headquarters Ibadan.
He expressed happiness at the fast rate of which police in Oyo State Command tracked all the social unrest in the society which according to him in big way reduced crimes rate in the state.
While commends the Police Service Commission and Oyo State Police Command Commissioner for the recent police promotion he urged all the recipients to reciprocate the gestures of the government with faithful services in area of crimes bursting for their fatherland.
He however enjoined the PCRC. members Nationwide not to relent in their efforts in
given regular assistant to the police in their various divisional headquarters.
Koyewon finally pledged of his members continuous support not only to his divisional headquarters or Moniya Area Command but also for the Oyo State Police Command in general.

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8 foreigners who first worked in Nigeria before becoming famous

Nigeria, with its vast human and natural resources coupled with a cobweb of multi-ethnic cultural diversity and richness, has been a centre of attraction to so many people from around the world.

Thus, it is not surprising to see that after more than five decades of existence as an independent country, Nigeria has evolved to be a launching pad for numerous foreigners who visited and worked in the country before becoming famous upon returning home.

In this piece, are the highlights of eight celebrated foreigners who have worked in Nigeria before returning to their countries to become famous in their respective chosen fields:

1. Sir John Major

Sir John Major

Sir John Major KG CH, born 29, March 1943, is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997.

However, before he became the prime minister, Major decided to take a correspondence course in banking. He started work for Standard Chartered Bank in 1965, and in 1967 he was posted as a bank clerk by Standard Chartered to the small Nigerian town of Kuru Karama. Kuru Karama, together with Kuru Secondary and Kuru Village formed Kuru town, a small town located on the Jos Plateau in north-central Nigeria.

However, a serious car accident forced him to leave Nigeria and return to the UK take up politics.

2. Sir Paul McCartney

Sir Paul McCartney. Credit: Daily Journal

Though Paul Paul McCartney was already famous as one of the greatest songwriters of all time as one of the Beatles, it was in Lagos, Nigeria that he proved himself a solo artist in his own right.

In 1973, August 9, Paul McCartney and his wife Linda landed at Murtala Mohammed airport to record his third album with The Wings Band.

The 1973 album, recorded on the gritty streets of Lagos, “Band on the Run” went on to be ranked number 75 in Q Magazine’s “100 Greatest British Albums Ever” (2000).

3. Fredrick Forsyth

Fredrick Forsyth. Photo credit: Wikipedia

Frederick McCarthy Forsyth CBE (born 25 August 1938) is an English author, former journalist and spy, and occasional political commentator.

Before Forsyth wrote one of the world’s best known political thrillers, “The Day of the Jackal”, he wrote his first book about his time as a journalist in Nigeria.

He reported from Nigeria during the first six months of the Biafran war in 1967, posted to the region by the BBC.

When the BBC told him they had no plans to cover the Nigerian Biafran Civil war, he quit the BBC and flew back out to Nigeria, reportedly staying in Eastern Nigeria for most of the next 2 years. And in 1969 he wrote and published his first book, “The Biafra Story”.

In 2015, Forsyth revealed he began to first work as a spy for MI6 while reporting on the Biafra war, a role he would continue for the next 20 years.

4. Archbishop Justin Welby

Archbishop Justin Welby with President Muhammadu Buhari. Photo credit: Premium Times

Justin Portal Welby, born 6 January 1956, is the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury and the most senior bishop in the Church of England.

The current Archbishop of the Anglican Church has close ties with Nigeria not only because many of his congregation are from the country but because (before he turned to the church) he was an oil executive for Elf with many financial interests there (Nigeria).

Justin Welby, then also known as “Monsieur Africa”, allegedly tried to promote a $6billion deal to stop Nigeria from nationalising its oil industry and protect Elf’s oil interests.

5. Colin Firth

Colin Firth. Photo credit: Famouspeople.com

Colin Andrew Firth, CBE, born 10 September 1960, is an English actor who has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.

Best known for his roles in Bridget Jones Diary, Mr Darcy in Pride & Prejudice, and Love Actually, this award-winning English actor spent the first years of his life in Nigeria.

Colin Firth’s parents travelled for work, both were lecturers, and his father became an education officer for the Nigerian government.

The family stayed in Lagos until Colin was 4 years old when they moved back to the UK.

6. Ronnie Kray, the Kray Twins

Ronnie Kray, the Kray Twins. Photo credit: Independent UK

Ronnie and Reggie Kray were twins. They were two of the most notorious gangsters in London’s East End in the 1950s and 1960s. And then they also came to Nigeria.

However, the twins were already famous by the time they came to Nigeria and their visit to Nigeria did not enjoy much publicity.

In 1963, the Krays reportedly invested heavily into a construction project in Enugu, eastern Nigeria and the brother Ronnie came to Nigeria several times to check on the project.

In ‘Our Story’, an autobiography by the Kray Twins, assisted by their ghostwriter, first published in 1988, the twins talked about their Nigeria experience:

“We lost a packet in 1963-64 to a building project in Enugu in Nigeria, which was later to become Biafra. It was Ernest Shinwell, the son of the Labour peer Manny Shinwell, who got Reggie and me interested in this one… He’d been approached, he said, by the government there, who wanted him to form a company to develop and build housing estates and factories and schools. Shinwell said there was a fortune to be made for those who invested in the scheme.

“We stuck in £25,000 straightaway and a lot more money from the Kray coffers followed that little lot straight down the Nigerian drain. It was another case of us getting involved in something we knew nothing about. We just got out of our depth. It happens.

“The only good thing was that I had a couple of trips to Enugu, which was the capital of that part of Nigeria. On both occasions, I was welcomed by Dr Okpara, who was the prime minister at the time. He drove me around, which his chauffeur, in a battered old Rolls and really wined and dined me. I didn’t realize at the time, but it was probably Reggie and me we were actually paying for all this VIP treatment.”

7. Ginger Baker

Ginger Baker. Photo credit: Rollingstone.com

Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker, born 19 August 1939, is an English drummer and the founder of the rock band Cream.

Ginger Baker has been called “rock’s first superstar drummer” and in 2016 he was ranked 3rd on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Drummers of All Time”.

Though he was already pretty famous from his work with Cream and Eric Clapton in the 60s, in 1970 he drove from Algeria to Nigeria. He reportedly lived in Nigeria from 1970 to 1976, even becoming friends and playing with the legend Fela Kuti.

8. Emmanuel Macron

Presidents Buhari and Macron at the Aso Villa, Abuja, Nigeria on Tuesday, July 3. Photo credit: Facebook/Femi Adesina

Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (born 21 December 1977) is a French politician serving as President of France and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra since 14 May 2017.

The youngest ever president of France, Macron, started out in Lagos, Nigeria.

He was on a civil service work placement at the French embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, when he watched on TV what he called “the defining political moment of my generation”:the far-right Front National’s Jean-Marie Le Pen reaching the final round of the presidential election in 2002.

On Tuesday, July 3, Macron returned to Lagos, Nigeria; this time not as a civil servant but the president of one of the powerful countries in the world.

In Lagos, Macron urged Nigerian youths to get involved in politics to change the narrative of the nation.

Talking about the importance of politics, Macron said only Nigerians could change their image before the comity of nations.

The French president, who was accompanied by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state, gave the challenge during a visit to the Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, on Tuesday night, July 3, at an event tagged “Celebrate African Culture.”

He noted that the future of Africa and the task of making it great rested with Africans, saying that the youths have a crucial role to play.

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Court okays suit seeking impeachment of President Buhari by National Assembly

A Federal High Court, sitting in Osogbo, the Osun state capital, has ordered the National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment process against President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to Justice Maurine Adaobi Onyetenu on Wednesday, July 4, gave the order based on the suit filed by two Nigerians, Kanmi Ajibola, a lawyer and Sulaiman Adeniyi, a human right activist.

The duo had urged the court to enforce the National Assembly to impeach President Buhari, three months ago, after writing to both the lower and the upper chambers of the National Assembly on the need to impeach the president.

They had cited alleged constitutional breaches by the president and threatened that they will approach the court if the federal legislators fail to act accordingly.

After they were ignored by the lawmakers, Ajibola and Adeniyi headed to court and filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Osogbo asking for an order of mandamus to compel both the Senate and the House of Representatives to start the impeachment proceedings against President Buhari.

In the suit filed on Tuesday, June 19, they hinged their arguments on four grounds on why the National Assembly should impeach the president.

In the motion ex-parte, the duo claimed that in flagrant violation of the 1999 constitution, President Buhari contested election, won and was sworn in as the president on the 29th day of May 2015 without possessing the basic constitutional requirement, which would have made him qualified for the contest of the election.

They further alleged that the 4th respondent, which is President Buhari in flagrant violation of section 137 (1) (j) of the 1999 constitution presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the purpose of the 2015 presidential election that brought him to the office of the president.

Besides, they accused the president of treating the orders of the court with a great disdain and abuses the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at will, particularly from the angle of the observance of the Federal character as contained in section 14 of the constitution.

They told the court that as applicants in the matter, they have the right and duty to compel the 1st and 3rd Respondents to perform their statutory duty of impeachment against the 4th Respondent, having bothered on the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Citing several constitutional authorities in the written address in support of the motion ex-parte and with 44-paragraph affidavits, the duo posed some questions by putting Nigeria side by side with some developed nations.

“Can the conduct of the 4th Respondent, particularly on the presentation of a forged certificate, be condone in America or great Britain unchecked?

“Can the 4th Respondent continue to benefits from his act of forgery and infraction of constitution?

“Definitely, an American president cannot be genuinely accused of presentation of a forged certificate and still be allowed to continue as the president, likewise the prime minister of the Great Britain,” they noted.

After moving the application, Barrister Ajibola urged the court that with all array of documents before the judge, the National Assembly must perform its constitutional duties without fear or favour.

Justice Onyetenu in her ruling granted the application and ordered“that the National Assembly being the 1st, 2nda nd 3rd respondents commence the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

Further hearing of the matter has been fixed to Tuesday, October 30.

Meanwhile, President Buhari is facing growing pressure to sack his security chiefs over indiscriminate killings across the country.

Many groups and prominent individuals in the country say it is time to rejig Nigeria's security architecture as the killings continue in some parts of the nation.

One of the groups, Good Governance Initiative (GGI), on Sunday, July 1, took its view even a notch further by asking the president to resign.

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Civil rights activists march to Aso Rock over killings across Nigeria

Hundreds of civil rights activists are currently marching to the Nigerian government's seat of power, Aso Rock, to demand the end of killings in the country.

The march is an initiative of a coalition of young Nigerians promoting good governance and citizen engagement under the name - Enough is Enough Nigeria.

Prominent civil rights activists spotted at the solemn march includes Charles Oputa (Jnr) also known as Charly Boy and Deji Adeyanju of the Our Mumu Don Do movement; Gbenga Sesan of Paradigm Initiative, Aisha Yesufu and Maureen Kabrik of Bring Back Our Girls group.

Civil Rights Activists march to Aso Rock over killings across Nigeria. Photo credit: EIE Nigeria

Also spotted at the march, is media personality and budding politician, Mr Jollof, who has been very critical of the government.

The activists prevented from marching into Aso Rock by the police

Speaking before the commencement of the march, Yesufu asked the federal government to live up to its responsibilities and protect all Nigerians.

She said: “Enough of the president abdicating his responsibility to God. We have all it takes for us to be a great nation.This current administration must protect each and everyone of us. It is their primary responsibility and we will hold them accountable.

“Today’s survivors will be tomorrow’s victims, Today’s victims are You and I. So I ask the question who is next? Our humanity has been debased.”

On his part, Charly Boy who spoke in pidgin English, said: “Pikin wey say him mama no go rest him ma no go rest. Enough is enough of these killings. Na we be government. The power is in our hands. We dey provide our light, water, security etc, wetin Nigerian government dey do for us. They need to see our red eye.”

The protesters are currently heading to the Aso Villa to air their grievances.

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It's official: (British) coffee drinkers live longer

Image:A reason to smile? Scientists say that coffee will keep you alive!Coffee drinkers live longer, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study, conducted by the US National Cancer Institute, used data from more than 500,000 British volunteers.

Conducted over a decade, the study found that coffee drinkers lived longer on average than those who abstained - whether they drank instant, ground, or decaf.

No matter the cause of death, drinking coffee was associated with longer life expectancy for all participants, aged between 38-73 years.

Blood samples and detailed medical histories, including health and lifestyle questions, showed that 33% of people drank between two and three cups of coffee a day.

The live-giving properties of a cup of joe even stayed in place for the survey's 10,000 respondents who drank eight cups or more a day.

The researchers said: "The study provides further evidence that drinking coffee can be part of a healthy diet and offers reassurance to coffee drinkers.

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Unknown gunmen open fire, kill 7 policemen in Abuja

Seven policemen have been killed and many civilians injured when unknown gunmen opened fire on them in Abuja on Monday night, July 2, Daily Trust reports.

The policemen were said be on a stop-and-search duty operation at Galadimawa roundabout, a suburb in Abuja.

A resident of the community who confirmed the incident but spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the gunmen were stopped for search when they opened fire on the unsuspecting policemen which led to the death of seven while one was seriously injured.

The gun battle led to many pedestrians and traders around the roundabout to run for safety while many sustained various degrees of injuries.

Before now, residents in the area were said to have been complaining of lack of security and constant arm robbery in the neighbourhood

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Cannabis Oil can performs Healing Miracles - Expert claims

A controversial historian and author identified as David Bienenstock is going viral after revealing claims that Jesus Christ might have used cannabis oil to perform healing miracles.

He maintained that his claim might have been possible because cannabis was widely available across Middle East 2,000 years ago. He added that people during that era used the oil to treat the sick and perform other form of miracles.

As part of the healing ingredients used for the oil, Bienenstock added that kanehbosem was among the ingredients used. He added that kanehbosem is a cannabis extract which when absorbed into the skin, helps cure several physical and mental illness.

Controversial report claims Jesus used cannabis oil to perform healing miracles. Source: Daily Star

Speaking with Daily Star, he said: “Historical records show that cannabis was widely available at the time they would've known how to grow it and exploit its medicinal properties. There is nothing different in the efficacious cannabis oil used today that wouldn't have been available to people in Jesus' time it's simply a matter of concentrating the cannabis into the oil and absorbing it through the skin. The medical use of cannabis during that time is supported by archaeological records. Someone of the religious mindset from that time, not understanding the scientific underpinning of how or why it works, would be likely to view that as a miracle.”

It was further reported that according to the Hebrew version, the holy oil recipe in Exodus contained about three kilos of an unidentified herb which was later revealed as keneh-bosum.

Interesting discovery!

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2018 Budget: Group Urges Saraki.Dogara to Step Down

The Citizens Action to Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN) has faulted the alteration of the 2018 budget by the National Assembly.

The group stormed the National Assembly to protest what it described as “illegal insertions” to the 2018 budget.

The protesters held placards with inscriptions: "Our lawmakers are inserting illegal projects in the budget," "They now compel the use of their corrupt contractors," ‘The national assembly is not for armed robbers."

The national convener of the group, Ibrahim Garba Wala, said: “We call on the president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, to immediately step down from their offices as they have shown that they lack the requisite credibility and moral capacity to hold the position of authority.

“It is clear that the insertions are huge, which also signifies the size of the criminality behind the intent to hijack the budget.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has earlier lamented some changes made by the National Assembly on the 2018 budget proposal.

The president said that the budgets was proposed by the executive according to its policies and projects but regretted that the National Assembly increased its own costs.

He said: "I am however concerned about some of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the budget proposals I presented. The logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the executive is that, it is the executive that knows & defines its policies and projects."

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