Nigerian Eye

Bode George withdraws from PDP chairmanship race

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A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George, has announced his withdrawal from the race for the national chairmanship of the party.<br />
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He, however, said he did not withdraw for any candidate.<br />
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He said he was withdrawing from the race on a matter of principle, saying it was wrong for the party not to have micro-zone the office of the national chairman.

Latest-News Bode George withdraws from PDP chairmanship race

A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George, has announced his withdrawal from the race for th...

Israel shoots down rocket fired from Gaza

21:38 Unknown 0

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Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket fired on Friday at the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said in a statement.<br />
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“No injuries were reported,” it added.<br />
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It was the second such incident since US President Donald Trump’s statement on Wednesday recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.<br />
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His declaration sent shock waves through the region and Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers called for a new intifada, or Palestinian uprising.<br />
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On Thursday, Israel responded with air strikes and tank fire into Gaza after what a military statement described as “a projectile” was fired into southern Israel.<br />
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Palestinian security officials in the enclave said the sites hit were two Hamas posts.<br />
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The Israeli military said the targets were “two terror posts”, without identifying them, but said it held Hamas responsible for all attacks originating from the territory under its control.<br />
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AFP

Latest-News Israel shoots down rocket fired from Gaza

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket fired on Friday at the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army sai...

I ran away to Libya to escape my dad’s sexual demands —Returnee

16:49 Unknown 0

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<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Miss Loveth Ekumabo, 25-year-old Libya returnee, has blamed her father’s incestuous behaviour for her decision to flee to Libya, at least, for safety from her father, and also in search of greener pasture.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, as it turned out, her case is akin to jumping from the frying pan into fire;as she has, in her life, gone through bitter experiences, especially during her stay in Libya, where she underwent forced labour and became a victim of serial rape.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ekumabo, from Uhunwode local government, is one of the hundreds of Edo indigenes that have been repatriated from Libya. They are currently in the custody of the state government undergoing rehabilitation for effective integration into society.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aside her traumatic experience during her seven-month sojourn in the North African country, pregnant Ekumabo may have to live with the pain of not knowing the father of her unborn child.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In an interview with the <em>News Agency of Nigeria</em>, she cursed all those who raped her in Libya, including her biological father, whose incestuous action at home, she claimed, was responsible for her present predicament.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Narrating her ordeal, Ekumabo said her father’s attempted acts of incest drove her to Libya. She alleged that the exposure of her father’s attempted incestuous relationship with her resulted in a big family row.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“After I exposed what my father wanted to do to me, fight broke out at home and I had to run away for my safety.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I went to stay with my friend who introduced me to the man that helped people to Europe.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I did not have any money; so, I was made to swear to an oath in a shrine in Benin that I will pay back every kobo when I get to Europe.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We agreed that I will pay back N200,000. I left Benin for Kano in April 2017. From Kano, we were transported in a Hilux truck through the dessert, with no food or water, to Agadez in Niger Republic and from there to Tripoli in Libya.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“If you want to cross from Agadez to Tripoli without money, you either get raped as a girl or get beaten up as a boy. The agency can also sell you out as slave to get their money before you are allowed to cross to Tripoli with your new owner.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I saw dead people; boys being killed; girls raped to death; and people sold as slaves.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The worst part is that Nigerians are among those Arabs who treat fellow Nigerians badly.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It was while I was about to cross to Tripoli that four Arab men raped me continuously without stop; after which I was allowed to cross to Tripoli where I discovered that I was pregnant.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">”The church where Nigerians worship in Tripoli advised me to go back to Nigeria since I cannot do any other work here now that I am pregnant.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sounding confused, Ekumabo said she did not get any comfort or words of encouragement from her immediate family. Her biological mother forbade her to return home “empty handed,” she said.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“When I called my family that I was coming back, my mother asked them to tell me to stay back and try my best to cross to Europe.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“But I said to myself that since she was not the one who sent me to Libya, she had no right to tell me to cross to Europe,” Ekumabo said.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #fafafa; line-height: 1.445; margin-bottom: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She explained that the Edo State Government has advised her to keep the pregnancy and has promised to give her accommodation where she will stay and be delivered of the baby.</span></div>
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Latest-News I ran away to Libya to escape my dad’s sexual demands —Returnee

Miss Loveth Ekumabo, 25-year-old Libya returnee, has blamed her father’s incestuous behaviour for her decision to flee to Libya, at least...

Paucity of funds hits Presidential Committee on Northeast

16:33 Unknown 0

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Barely a year after its inauguration by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative has been hit by paucity of funds.<br />
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Vice Chairman of the PCNI, Alhaji Tijjani Musa Timsah disclosed this while hosting Senate Committee on Special Duties in Abuja.<br />
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He noted that the Committee was doing a lot in line with its mandate of reconstruction and rehabilitation of victims of insurgency in the Northeast, decrying that funding was a major challenge confronting it.<br />
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“We have been able to put up strategic framework to tackle challenges in the Northeast in line with our mandate.”<br />
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“We have challenges of paucity of funds. We are calling on Nigerians to rally round us because challenges of Northeast are challenges of Nigerians’, he said.<br />
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According to him, the 2018 budgetary provision of N47 billion was grossly inadequate, saying that Northeast has six states with approximately 20%pf Nigeria’s landmass.<br />
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Reacting, the visiting Chairman of the Senate Committee on Special Duties, Abdulaziz Murtala Nyako, pointed that the legislature was happy with the framework of tackling challenges in the Northeast.<br />
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He expressed that the Senate would not rest on its oars until victims of insurgency were fully settled.<br />
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The lawmaker who represents Adamawa Central Senatorial district also acknowledged that the agency needed support, pointing out that they could only achieve their plans when sufficient funds were made available to them.<br />
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He added that the Senate would look into their budget in 2018 with a view to intervene, saying that devastation in Adamawa state alone as a result of insurgency could gulp over N47 billion which was appropriated for the entire Northeast.<br />
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“We are happy with the framework of tackling challenges in the Northeast by Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative and they really need further support.”<br />
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“They know what they are doing, they have their plans, particularly funding so that they can achieve their plans,’ the lawmaker maintained.<br />
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Latest-News Paucity of funds hits Presidential Committee on Northeast

Barely a year after its inauguration by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative has been hit b...

Atiku reveals what Obasanjo did to him for opposing tenure elongation

15:48 Unknown 0

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Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, has admitted that he opposed moves by ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo to “elongate the presidential tenure beyond eight years.”<br />
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Abubakar said he was, “largely frozen out in the second term of our tenure” by his former “boss” for opposing his attempt to elongate the presidential tenure.<br />
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The Waziri of Adamawa made the disclosure in an article while responding to an open letter directed to him by stand-up Comedian, Francis Agoda aka Comedian I Go Dye.<br />
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The article reads in part, “My legacy as Vice President, I would say is the banking consolidation process, for which I gave political backing for. Many big people were putting a lot of political pressure to not change the status quo, but we knew that if that consolidation was not done, Nigeria could not grow. Because of that banking consolidation, Nigerian banks don’t fail anymore the way they used to.<br />
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“I oversaw the telecoms revolution, which is why young people like you, I Go Dye, now have a flourishing career. Under our tenure, we witnessed a large repatriation of Nigerians back to Nigeria, driven by the hope of the recovering economy. It is sad that many of those young people are heading back abroad now — this is to show you that leadership matters.<br />
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“I know many of these have been forgotten because it was a long time ago, and successive administrations did not follow up on the progress we made. But that is also not to say we were blameless.<br />
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“I was largely frozen out in the second term of our tenure, and I regret that we had that disagreement with my boss. Some say I was disloyal, but I looked at the events in Zimbabwe recently, and it gives me confidence that I did the right thing fighting the attempts to elongate the presidential tenure beyond eight years. If I did not win that fight, do you think we would be having a discussion on young people getting into leadership today?”<br />
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Similarly, the former Vice President had declared that he never procured any property belonging to the Nigerian government despite been in charge of privatization while in power. </div>

Latest-News Atiku reveals what Obasanjo did to him for opposing tenure elongation

Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, has admitted that he opposed moves by ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo to “elongate the presidential...

BREAKING: Britain to pay £35-39bn in Brexit divorce deal

15:48 Unknown 0

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Britain will likely end up paying between £35 billion and £39 billion to the EU under the Brexit deal struck by Theresa May early on Friday morning, it is understood.<br />
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Though negotiators have avoided putting an official figure on the financial settlement in the joint text agreed last night, British officials in Brussels close to the discussions say the methodology should produce a net bill of under £40 billion.<br />
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Downing Street also gave the nod to the calculations on Friday morning – though hardline eurosceptics such as Nigel Farage described the figure as “humiliating” and “way more than we need to pay”.<br />
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The figure is net rather than gross – in that it subtracts the smaller amount of money the EU owes from the larger amount of money Britain owes the bloc.<br />
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Under the plan, the UK is expected to pay somewhere between €17 billion and €18 billion into the 2019 ‘multi annual financial framework’ (MFF) – effectively the EU's budget round.<br />
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It will also pay between €21 and €23 billion into the so-called “RAL” outstanding at the end of 2020 – effectively a credit facility for the EU whose acronym come from the French term “reste à liquider”.<br />
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Officials also expect the UK to pay between €2 to €4 billion for actual liabilities Britain owes the EU – mostly things like the future pensions of European civil servants.<br />
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But the EU also owes Britain its stake of the European Investment Bank’s capital, which is around €40 and €45 billion, and will pay that back to the UK over the long term.<br />
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The joint text agreed early on Friday morning has scant detail about the payment schedule, but is clear that the UK won’t have to make any advance payments it wouldn’t be making in the EU.<br />
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“Payments arising from the financial settlement will become due as if the UK had remained a Member State. In particular, the UK will not be required to incur expenditures earlier than would be the case had it remained a Member State unless agreed by both sides,” the joint text says.<br />
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“It may be appropriate for the UK and the Union to agree on a simplified procedure for settling some elements of the payment schedule in the second phase of negotiations. Such a procedure should be based on an agreed forecast and, where appropriate, provision for subsequent review and correction.”<br />
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Latest-News BREAKING: Britain to pay £35-39bn in Brexit divorce deal

Britain will likely end up paying between £35 billion and £39 billion to the EU under the Brexit deal struck by Theresa May early on Frida...

NYSC launches job portal for corps members

15:23 Unknown 0

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The National Youth Service corps on Friday launched a job website for corps members.<br />
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This was disclosed by NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Sulaiman Kazaure, while speaking at a launch held in Lagos.<br />
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According to him, the portal is to provide job opportunities for corps members.<br />
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He said, “The National Youth Service Corps has launched a job portal that would enhance job seeking opportunities for corps members and also make them available for prospective employers.<br />
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“The portal would serve as a pool for employers searching for suitable candidates and also provide a means of verification of credentials.<br />
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” The Management of National Youth Service Corps have also established Zonal lntegrated Skill Centres in six different locations across the country aimed at entrenching entrepreneurship among Corps Members.<br />
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“It solves need for every job seeker to acquire relevant information in order to survive in the competitive job market and reduce unemployment in Nigeria.<br />
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“Corps members are advised to upload their data on relevant portals.<br />
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NYSC Lagos State Coordinator, Prince Mohammed Momoh, added that the NYSC Lagos initiative would reduce the stress of job search among Corps Members.<br />
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