Curator

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Zambia’s opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, facing treason charges, said Friday he had been moved from a prison in the capital Lusaka to a maximum security jail in a small town. Hichilema was arrested in April for allegedly failing to give way to President Edgar Lungu’s motorcade and has so far been held in detention for two months. A magistrate court on Thursday ruled that he should face trial for treason in the High Court, dismissing requests by his lawyers to throw out the charge. “We can confirm that we have been moved to Mukobeko Maximum Prison in Kabwe. We arrived a few minutes ago,” he said in a Facebook post. “We don’t know what is happening but we are not bothered by processes,” he added. Armed police officers at the Lusaka prison had earlier bundled Hichilema and five co-accused into a van and drove them to the city airport, according to his lawyer Jack Mwiimbu. Mwiimbu described his transfer to Kabwe, 150 kilometres north of Lusaka, as ill...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The UN says Nigeria is the 146th country to endorse the Paris Climate Change agreement as the country presented its endorsement on Tuesday. Mr Santiago Villalpando, Chief of the Treaty Section of the UN, stated this at the presentation of the Climate Change Endorsement instrument by Nigeria’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande. The Paris climate change agreement entered into force on Nov. 4, 2016, with 197 parties. By presenting its endorsement to the UN, Nigeria has deposited its instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the depository. Villalpando, at the historic event in New York, commended Nigeria for taking the bold decision and for its commitment to implementing the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Speaking with newsmen after the presentation, Bande said Nigeria had always lived up to its commitment to the UN and other international obligations. “This presentation of the Climate Change ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Dr Taiwo Sholaja, the lead pathologist who carried out the autopsy on the body of the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke, on Wednesday told a coroner inquest that no trace of poison was found in the body system of the deceased when it was examined. Sholaja, while giving evidence before the coroner, Chief Magistrate Olusegun Ayilara, said the autopsy carried out by him and two other pathologists from Ladoke Akintola University Hospital, Osogbo, revealed that the late senator died of “aspiration of gastric content due to multiple drug overdose.’’ He said the autopsy carried out by him and his team was performed in the presence of the Police Divisional Officer of Dugbe Police Station, Osogbo, SP Ogunkanmi Gbemileke and the two other pathologists from LAUTECH. Sholaja also said that before the autopsy, he gathered from a family member, Mrs Modupe Adeleke-Sani, that the late politician had complained of pains in the knees, and inability to sleep. He added that some d...

http://ift.tt/2rqUM3c Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) The Department of the State Service (DSS) on Wednesday failed again to bring retired Col. Sambo Dasuki to stand trial at an Abuja High Court, Maitama. Dasuki, a former National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, was arraigned on a 19-count charge bordering on alleged diversion of N13.6 billion. He is being tried alongside Shuaibu Salisu, a former Director of Finance, Office of the National Security Adviser, and Aminu Baba-Kusa, a former NNPC Executive Director and two others. At the resumed sitting on Wednesday, all other defendants were present in court, except Dasuki and at the last sitting; the trial was adjourned until May 16, May 17 and May 18. The prosecuting counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), told the court that he contacted the Director Legal, DSS on Tuesday for Dasuki to be brought to court. “ I am surprised that he is not here today, I also contacted DSS again today, I was told that Dasuki said tha...

http://ift.tt/2pQnEAY Kano – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it had spent over N1.6 billion on the repairs of the vandalised pipeline between Kaduna and Kano in 2016. The NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr Maikanti Baru, disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje on Tuesday in Kano. Baru was in Kano to inaugurate loading operations at the NNPC depot following the repairs of the vandalised pipeline. He said the company had also expended about N2 billion to provide security for the pipelines within the last one year. He said it was unfortunate that the company had to spend the money to rectify the pipeline after the illegal activities of vandals. “These are funds that would have been invested for providing other essential services. “With the repairs of the vandalised pipeline, I am happy to tell the governor that the line is now 100 operational,”he said. He disclosed that following the repairs of the pipeline, the company had been...