Security: Senate,Presidency hold Summits on Feb.1.

The Senate in collaboration with the president Muhammadu Buhari and the executive arm will on Thursday, February 1 and Monday February 5 convene a national security summit.

In view of the multi-dimensional security challenges facing the nation, the summit will provide an all-inclusive platform for heads of security and defence agencies, governors, traditional rulers, socio-cultural groups, civil society organizations and others, with a view to finding solutions to acute and long term challenges posed by insecurity.

A statement issued by the majority leader of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan,today January 30, said the summit will also review the challenges being faced by security agencies in the performance of their duties and charting the way forward towards resolving the issues involved.

The Senate had on January 17, while deliberating on the interim report submitted by its adhoc committee on review of security infrastructure, resolved to convene a summit to interface with security agencies and other critical stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the issue and other related challenges.

The deliberation followed the crisis that erupted in Benue, Taraba and Adamawa States and other states, especially between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria.

The statement noted that though the summit was an initiative of the Senate as part of it’s contribution to the resolution of the rising security challenges, it is being convened in partnership with the Presidency to find a common solution to the issue.

The summit is to be declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari and is to hold at the Banquet Hall of the state House on Thursday with all the 36 state governors in attendance.

Other participants at the event will include all Senators and members of the House of Representatives, ministers of Defence and Interior, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Service Chiefs and other heads of security agencies.

Others expected at the two-day summit are selected traditional rulers from across the six geo-political zones, representatives of regional socio political organizations, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Other stakeholders invited to the summit are the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

Meanwhile, Senate, during the Thursday, January 18, plenary sitting announced that it postponed the national security summit previously scheduled to hold on January 24th to 25.

The summit was postponed indefinitely after Senator Ahmed Lawan cited order 53(6) and sought for a two week extension of the summit.

Lawan said the extention would allow the ad-hoc committee a proper planning and hold a summit that’s worth it. 

The Traditional clothing for Igbo men

Author: Mary Ikande

Its good to find out how the traditional clothing for Igbo peoples should look like and what makes it different from the attires of other ethnic groups.

Features of Igbo traditional attire

There are several details that make modern traditional wears of Igbo culture really unique. Let us highlight the most important of them:

• The native wears of dignitaries and honorary titles holders differ from the costumes of other people.
• One of the most interesting accessories is a walking stick. It is a symbol of strength and wealth. Without it, the Igbo attire for a gentleman will look incomplete.

• Holders of high titles usually wear a red cap sometimes decorated with a feather.

• The jewelry (coral beads, bracelets, and even hats) is widely used. It’s worn not only by men but also by women and able to turn the most modest costume into festive attire.

Fabrics used for Igbo traditional wears

Igbo culture allows the use of different patterns and colours. However, the most popular are red, white, and black. The materials with images of crowns, lions, swords, horses, and other attributes of masculinity are used quite often.

Traditional caps are made exclusively of wool. By its quality, one can understand if a cap is meant for a titled person or an ordinary member of society.

Next, we will analyze the most popular styles and elements of the Igbo traditional wardrobe.

Isiagu

This is a beautiful shirt with vivid patterns. It can have different length and size of sleeves. Such clothes are often worn at special events, large-scale festivals. The stylish decorations are gold buttons and chains.

Turning to history, we may find out that such a shirt testified that its wearer is the leader of the tribe. Today, the rules are less strict so that Isiagu is worn by Nigerian men of any age and status.

The best additions to this shirt are red cap and wrapper. However, if you do not want to confuse people around emphasizing the title which you do not have, it's better to give up the red cap.

For reasons of convenience, Isiagu can be worn with ordinary trousers. Modern men use them no less often than a traditional wrapper.

The wrapper

In accordance with the Igbo customs, a traditional wrapper may be worn by both men and ladies. Such clothes are comfortable and look very beautiful. Therefore, they can often be seen on Nigerians during events.

If you do not have a traditional fabric woven in a special way, just create a wrapper from any other similar material that you like and which organically complements your clothes.

Senator attire

This form of clothing became popular after the Nigerians saw it on Anyim Pius once serving as President of the Senate. This is a fairly simple costume, none the less looking stylish and solid. It consists of trousers and a shirt with long sleeves. Designers usually do not come up with a complicated cut. The task of this attire is to emphasize the manliness of the wearer and not to draw attention to some excessively vivid details.

Light features of elegance can be created by shiny buttons or a chain on a breast pocket.

As you can see today Igbo fashion offers to the stronger gender a lot of interesting and stylish designs, helping them look bright and manly. Always remain elegant and handsome supporting the culture of your native land.

Obj.Letter on Buhari's 2019 Re-Election: PMB.Caution His Aides

Days after Chief Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a letter advising President Muhammadu Buhari against seeking re-election in 2019, reports have indicated that the latter has issued a warning to his aides against attacking the Ota farmer.
Our correspondence reports a source in the presidential villa as saying President Buhari issued the warning to his spokespersons immediately after Obasanjo released the letter.
“You can see that is why everybody is very careful on this matter. Mr. President specifically warned against engaging President Obasanjo negatively,” the source said.
Already the administration of President Buhari had officially responded to the letter telling Nigerians the government would look into the issues raised since it believes the letter was in good faith.
Lai Mohammed , the Information Minister, had, in the response, noted that the Buhari administration had performed well in areas including the economy. He also listed other areas where the administration had excelled. Reports had it that hours after former president Olusegun Obasanjo released the long and strong-worded letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of the nation, some Nigerians packaged the letter in a spiral-bound format and are offering it for sale in Abuja and Lagos.
The letter written by the former President is currently generating a lot of discussions among Nigerians and is believed to be a major blow to the Buhari's presidency as Obasanjo is seen as one of the key statesmen in the country whose opinion can make or mar their 2019 chances.

2019 Amended timetable:INEC 'll cooperate with NASS

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has stated its resolve to obey any amendment to the Electoral Act or time table as long as it was timely and legitimate.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this at Prof. Abubakar Momoh Memorial Lecture organised by The Electoral Institute TEI, the training and research arm of the commission, in Abuja, yesterday.

Represented by a National Commissioner, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, the INEC boss was reacting to the reported amendment of the 2019 election time table by the House of Representatives.

He said: “It is still a proposal by the House of Representatives. I think it is still going to enjoy concurrence of both chambers of the National Assembly for harmonisation as well as input from states.

“As a law-abiding organisation, INEC works with the Electoral Act. If there is a legitimate amendment to the Act, INEC will have no option than to obey, but that must happen first.

“Like I said, the role of INEC is to conduct elections based on the law; if there is a legitimate amendment to the Electoral Act, INEC will obey.

‘’Practically, there is an ECOWAS protocol discouraging amendment of the Electoral Act before the election in less than six months to an election and we still have more than six months.”

Meanwhile, INEC has expressed worry at the proliferation of political parties, saying apart from presenting logistic challenge, Nigeria’s literacy level could affect voters’ choices.

At a retreat organised for political parties, yesterday, in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, said: “We are also concerned about the increasing number of political parties and access to the ballot.

“Since the last general elections in 2015, the commission has conducted 178 elections, which is the largest outside the general elections. One of the challenges we have is for political parties to obey their rules.

Russia 'will target US mid-term elections' says CIA chief

• Share this with Facebook
 
• Share this with Twitter
 
• Share

Media captionCIA director on Russia, North Korea and Trump

The director of the CIA expects that Russia will target the US mid-term elections later this year.

Mike Pompeo told the BBC there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US.

He also said North Korea may have the ability to strike the US with nuclear missiles "in a handful of months".

The US intelligence community has said that it believes Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Mr Pompeo, who briefs the president most mornings, dismissed as "drivel" recent claims that US President Donald Trump was not up to the job.

The director's conference room on the seventh floor of the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is lined with pictures of former directors and the presidents they served.

And Mr Pompeo is clear about his vision for the CIA under President Trump.

• All you need to know about Trump Russia story
• Mike Pompeo: America's spymaster

"We are the world's finest espionage service," he told the BBC.

"We are going to go out there and do our damnedest to steal secrets on behalf of the American people. And I wanted to get back on our front foot."

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY

Image captionDonald Trump has been dogged by suspicion over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin

A year into the job, Mr Pompeo says his mission has been to unleash and unburden the CIA.

It is an agency operating in an unpredictable world - one in which intelligence assessments can be the basis not just for military action, but also political controversy.

Even though there has been co-operation in counter-terrorism (the CIA helped stop a plot in St Petersburg last year), Mr Pompeo says he still sees Russia primarily as an adversary, sharing the concerns in many European countries about its subversion. "I haven't seen a significant decrease in their activity," he said.

Asked if his concerns extended to the upcoming US mid-term elections in November, he replied: "Of course. I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that, but I'm confident that America will be able to have a free and fair election [and] that we will push back in a way that is sufficiently robust that the impact they have on our election won't be great."

Image captionMr Pompeo says his mission has been to unleash and unburden the CIA

Mr Pompeo says the US is engaged in trying to counter Russian subversion. Some of this work was not the mission of the CIA such as helping people validate sources of information.

But the intelligence community was involved in identifying who was behind subversive activity, using technical means to suppress it and trying to deter Russia.

• The Trump-Russia saga in 200 words
• Russia-Trump: Who's who in the drama to end all dramas?

Mr Trump has been dismissive of claims of Russian interference in sharp contrast to the conclusions of the US intelligence community. So does the CIA director have to walk a fine line?

"I don't do fine lines. I do the truth," he responds. "We deliver nearly every day personally to the president the most exquisite truth that we know from the CIA."

Mr Pompeo briefs Mr Trump most days when they are both in Washington DC. The briefing covers current events and strategic issues.

Media captionClaims about Trump 'dangerous and false', says CIA director

Ahead of visits abroad or meetings with foreign leaders, the briefings aim to provide the president with what is described as "informational advantage".

"He is very focused in the sense that he is curious about the facts that we present. He is curious in the sense he wants to understand why we believe them."

Fire and Fury 'drivel'

Mr Pompeo is dismissive of the portrait painted in the recent book Fire and Fury which raised questions about Mr Trump's faculties.

"It's absurd. I haven't read the book. I don't intend to," he says.

"The claim that the president isn't engaged and doesn't have a grasp on these important issues is dangerous and false, and it saddens me that someone would have taken the time to write such drivel."

Mr Trump's use of Twitter and frank language about foreign policy has been unprecedented, including calling Kim Jong-un "rocket man" and boasting about the relative size of his nuclear button.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionThe risk posed by N Korea is uppermost in Pompeo's mind

But Mr Pompeo argues such public pronouncements have helped impress upon both the North Korean leader and leaders of other countries the risks of the current situation.

"When you see this language that the president chooses to use, there are many audiences for it and... I assure you Kim Jong-un understands the message that America is serious."

Mr Pompeo said China was moving on the North Korea issue, as witnessed by recent votes at the UN, but there was still more they could do.

North Korea's nuclear programme is high on the agenda. "We talk about him having the ability to deliver nuclear weapons to the United States in a matter of a handful of months," Mr Pompeo says.

"Our task is to have provided the intelligence to the president of the United States that will deliver to him a set of options that continue to take down that risk by non-diplomatic means."

The president and senior officials were "mindful" of the fact that all-out conflict could lead to massive destruction and loss of life, Mr Pompeo said.

When asked if it might be possible to remove Kim Jong-un or prevent him from being able to launch nuclear missiles, he replied: "Many things are possible" - but did not elaborate further on what that might mean.

Amaechi Arrested In Germany Over Links With Boko Haram

A 27-year-old Nigerian man, Fred Amaechi, suspected of being a member of Boko Haram, has been arrested in Germany.

He was detained on Wednesday, January 24, 2018 in Bavaria and a day later a judge issued an arrest warrant and ordered that he be remanded in custody, the chief federal prosecutor said in a statement, Reuters reports.

“He is strongly suspected of being a member of the foreign terrorist organisation, Boko Haram,” the statement said.

It said Amaechi Fred O. was believed to have joined Boko Haram in 2013 and had admitted to actively taking part in four attacks against Nigerian civilians during his one-year membership of the group.

He is accused of killing several people during two attacks on schools and one attack on a village and taking part in another attack on a village, during which members of Boko Haram took girls as hostages and burned down a church.

Boko Haram is an Islamist terrorist group which has been has been waging a violent campaign since 2009 in Nigeria with the intention of establishing an Islamic caliphate in the secular country. Over 50,000 people have been killed by the terrorist group and 3 million Nigerians displaced

Late December 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari declared victory over the Islamist terrorist group after Nigerian troops announced that they have recaptured Camp Zero in Sambisa forest, the base of the deadliest terrorist group in the world.

The Nigerian Army later presented the president with the flagbelonging to the terrorist group in a “mission accomplished” ceremony.

Since the declaration a week ahead of Christmas Day 2016, Boko Haram has launched a number of deadly attacks in the North Eastern region of the country where the terrorists have murdered at least 50,000 since they began their campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate in the country.

Osinbajo, Saraki others dignitaries receive Ewkueme

The Senate President Bukola Saraki, his counterpart at the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara were also among other dignitaries who paid last respect to the late elder statesman.

Our source gathered that the duo were at the parade of honour for former Ekwueme, as part of activities marking state funeral of the late statesman at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Osinbajo, who was the official chief mourner of Ekwueme transition, earlier today, Monday, January 29, with police pall bearers in honour of the former VP, accompanying the remains on journey to Anambra ahead of burial later this week.

Senate President Bukola Saraki arrived Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, to received the body of former Nigeria's vice president, Alex Ekwueme

Meanwhile, earlier reports noted that the body of late Nigeria’s former vice president, Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, will arrive Abuja on Monday, January 29.

Osinbajo, Saraki other dignitaries receive Ewkueme

Ekwueme who died at the age of 85 gave up the ghost at a London Clinic at 10pm on Sunday, November 19, 2017.

Ekwueme who was vice president to former president Shehu Shagari was ousted in a coup staged by military officers led by Brigadier Muhammadu Buhari on 31 December 1983.

North Carolina court says GOP-backed law grabbed power from Democratic governor By ASSOCIATED PRESS JAN 26, 2018 | 4:35 PM RALEIGH, N.C. North Carolina court says GOP-backed law grabbed power from Democratic governor North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper challenged a Republican-backed law that changed how elections are organized and managed in the state. (Alan Campbell / Associated Press) North Carolina's highest court stepped in Friday to limit the Republican-dominated Legislature's efforts to minimize Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's ability to pursue his goals, declaring unconstitutional a law devising a state elections board that hinted at deadlock. The state Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that Cooper couldn't be forced to pick a politically divided, eight-member elections board from names the two major political parties selected. The law prevented Cooper from removing members with whom he disagreed unless there was wrongdoing. ADVERTISEMENT The law makes Cooper unable to fulfill his duties to ensure election laws are followed because half of the elections board will be people who will probably oppose the governor's policy preferences, the majority opinion said. It's the first of what may be several times the high court steps in to referee the ongoing political battle in state government. ADVERTISEMENT The GOP-led Legislature started changing laws on who organizes and manages elections soon after Cooper narrowly beat incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2016. Cooper sued over a law that converted the elections board from majority Democrat to equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats and required five members to support any decision. The elections board has had a majority of members from the governor's political party for a century. The law also prevented the state's top elections executive, who originally took the job under the old majority-Republican state board, from being removed from her job for years. It also directed that a Republican be chairman of the new elections board in presidential election years, when national and statewide contests generate the most voter interest. Cooper didn't dispute the General Assembly's authority to reshape government, in this case merging the state Board of Elections with the Ethics Commission, the court said. Instead, Cooper challenged how the new panel was constituted and required to operate, the court said. Legislative leaders had argued that neither the governor nor state courts could challenge their decision. But the court said its decision was in line with an earlier ruling in McCrory's favor that the General Assembly had exerted excessive control over certain government agencies. The problem was that the law required Cooper to pick half the members from a pool of the opposing party's recommendations, the court ruled.

North Carolina court says GOP-backed law grabbed power from Democratic governor North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper challenged a Republican-backed law that changed how elections are organized and managed in the state. (Alan Campbell / Associated Press) North Carolina's highest court stepped in Friday to limit the Republican-dominated Legislature's efforts to minimize Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's ability to pursue his goals, declaring unconstitutional a law devising a state elections board that hinted at deadlock. The state Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that Cooper couldn't be forced to pick a politically divided, eight-member elections board from names the two major political parties selected. The law prevented Cooper from removing members with whom he disagreed unless there was wrongdoing. The law makes Cooper unable to fulfill his duties to ensure election laws are followed because half of the elections board will be people who will probably oppose the governor's policy preferences, the majority opinion said. It's the first of what may be several times the high court steps in to referee the ongoing political battle in state government. The GOP-led Legislature started changing laws on who organizes and manages elections soon after Cooper narrowly beat incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2016. Cooper sued over a law that converted the elections board from majority Democrat to equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats and required five members to support any decision. The elections board has had a majority of members from the governor's political party for a century. The law also prevented the state's top elections executive, who originally took the job under the old majority-Republican state board, from being removed from her job for years. It also directed that a Republican be chairman of the new elections board in presidential election years, when national and statewide contests generate the most voter interest. Cooper didn't dispute the General Assembly's authority to reshape government, in this case merging the state Board of Elections with the Ethics Commission, the court said. Instead, Cooper challenged how the new panel was constituted and required to operate, the court said. Legislative leaders had argued that neither the governor nor state courts could challenge their decision. But the court said its decision was in line with an earlier ruling in McCrory's favor that the General Assembly had exerted excessive control over certain government agencies. The problem was that the law required Cooper to pick half the members from a pool of the opposing party's recommendations, the court ruled.