Popular Nigerian blogger, Linda Ikeji, has taken to her Instagram IG to share multiple videos and photos of her Cartier gold and diamond bracelets.
The mother of one narrated how she was lured by her younger sister, into the lifestyle of buying bracelets.
She wrote
“My sister said to me the other day, every big girl I know has cartier bracelets except you. I said to her, what is Cartier? I’m kinda a big girl so I went and bought three at the same gaddem time.
The ones with diamonds. I also threw in a Chopard bracelet. Looks lovely, huh?
Crazy thing is, up until December 2020, I had only one bracelet….but now I’m racking up a nice collection… To be honest, can’t figure out why I didn’t care much for jewelry before. Kinda loving it now. ”
Sunday Igboho said that while they were planning to come for rally somebody was preparing plan B against the rally. He also likened the recent invasion of his principal’s residence in Soka, Oyo State on Thursday by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) to an “assassination” attempt.
Somebody was not happy we are planning to come to Lagos for rally says Igboho.
In a live broadcast monitored by The Nation early friday, Koiki, said: “DSS released false allegations against him (Igboho) just to silence him and not to speak up again.
The DSS said a joint team of security operatives raided Igboho’s residence based on an intelligence report.
The plan was that they knew that nobody would stop Sunday Igboho from attending that peaceful rally that we have done in every state,
“So somebody sent a message to DSS, to get to Ibadan and bring Sunday Igboho’s body to Abuja.
The target was to kill him Igboho before the Lagos mega rally, they came heavily well prepared.
“They came 72 hours before the mega rally, if you read the DSS statement, you’ll know they were prepared to kill him or label him as a criminal.”
Koiki also alleged that DSS officials took away a cat when they raided the house
According to him, operatives thought Igboho turned into the cat to escape arrest.
He said: “Sunday Igboho escaped not because he was stronger but God rescued him. How will they say that they saw one dollar?
“They can label anyone but we will not back down. They want Igboho dead. The target was to kill him but they failed.
They took one of his cats away, thinking he transformed into a cat during the attack to escape. All the allegations against Igboho should be for terrorists killing people in the country.”
The Lagos state Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has issued a warning to Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemi popularly known as Sunday Igboho, against staging any rally in the state.
Igboho had recently declared intentions to organize a rally in Lagos to sensitize residents of the state on the need to support the call for the actualization of the Yoruba nation. The planned rally was slated for Saturday, July 3, at the Gani Fawehimi Freedom Park, Ojota area and other parts of the state.
At a press briefing on Thursday, July 1, the police boss insisted that the command would not allow any rally to hold in order to avoid a repeat of a total breakdown of law and order as witnessed in the hijacked EndSARS protest, last year.
In his words
“ Lagos State cannot afford to experience any security lapses, breakdown of law and order and threat to public peace at the moment, considering the negative effects and reoccurring agonies of the October 2020 violent #Endsars crisis that led to massive destruction of public and private facilities, while some Police personnel paid the supreme price. This is in addition to many Police stations, barracks and officers’ personal properties that were set ablaze during this period.
The Command is still going through those harrowing experiences. It will not be cajoled by the so-called organizers that the rally will be peaceful. That was the same slogan adopted by the organizers of the #Endsars protest that eventually snowballed into crises with attendant massive destruction of lives and properties. The Police will not submit to their antics”.
According to the police boss, intelligence gathered by the police indicates that one Elewe-omo, a transport Union leader in Ibadan, Oyo State, had perfected a plan “to attack organizers of the rally as a reappraisal attack on the death of one of his followers allegedly killed by one Sunday Igboho’s group during a similar rally organized in Ibadan, Oyo State sometimes ago”. He mentioned that some disgruntled elements had perfected plans to infiltrate the ranks of the protesters to hijack the opportunity to attack and loot properties of Lagosians.
”The command still reaffirms that on no account will any actual or rumoured activities including the said planned mega rally be allowed to lock down the state or hinder normal daily activities of the good people of Lagos State. The effect of this, if allowed to come to fruition, is better known than imagined on the security, traffic and economic activities of a cosmopolitan state, like Lagos.
It has also come to the knowledge of the command that the rally arranged to take place at the Gani Fawehimi Freedom Park, Ojota, Lagos, has been planned by some other yet-to-be-identified groups to simultaneously take place in LekKi Toll Gate, Ikoyi, Iyana-Ipaja, Ikeja, Surulere, Ikorodu and other areas.
This, if allowed, could be a fatal ground to anarchy. The cumulative effect of all these poses a threat to law and order in the State. The Command will not fold its hands and allow disgruntled elements to truncate the peace being enjoyed in the state”.
However, Igboho has since called off the rally in Lagos. He announced the decision after his Ibadan home was raided by DSS officials.
The Bill to amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to provide for inclusion and protection of young persons and persons with disabilities (PWDs) passed the second reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The bill defines young persons to mean Nigerians between the ages of 15 to 35 years.
The bill, among other amendments, seeks to make it mandatory for young persons and PWD to be included in appointments in government at various levels.
An amendment in Section 147, subsection 3 reads, “any appointment under Sub-section (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of subsection 14(3) of this constitution. Provided that in giving effect to the provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each State, who shall be an indigene of such State and shall include young persons and persons with disabilities.”
The bill, sponsored by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, generated some debate on the floor, with the main opposition to it coming from Uzoma Abonta.
Abonta argued that the consideration for young persons and persons with disabilities should be a policy matter and not a constitutional one.
According to him making it a constitutional matter would be overkill.
The Speaker argued against this saying policies come and go depending on government but amending the constitution to accommodate the interests of young persons and persons with disabilities would provide a permanent solution.
A bloody wave of shootings, arson and other criminal violence has engulfed parts of Port-au-Prince, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes and trapping others within dangerous areas of the Haitian capital, aid agencies say.
Most recently, a series of killings on Tuesday night claimed the lives of radio journalist Diego Charles and activist Antoinette Duclair among others, according to a statement by Haiti’s government.
“The government vehemently condemns these abominable actions and the blind violence which sows trouble and mourning in every level of the Haitian population,” read the statement, which added that the country’s national police and justice ministry had been instructed to bring the killers to justice.
“These odious crimes and reprehensible actions cannot go unpunished in a democratic society,” it said.
Criminal activity and territorial disputes between an estimated 95 armed gangs are causing “widespread panic” in Port-au-Prince, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Armed groups have targeted local police and set fire to swathes of civilian homes as well as a camp populated by people with disabilities. The violence prompted an estimated 13,600 city residents to flee their homes in June alone — a massive increase from the 3,400 people displaced by gang activity in the previous nine months, according a report last week by the humanitarian agency.
Nathalie was one of the early victims, forced to flee with her baby earlier this year, after their home was set on fire during a battle between rival gangs, she said. She asked for her last name to be withdraw due to safety concerns.
Her husband had been killed while out buying groceries, the 27-year-old added, speaking to the media from a temporary encampment where she has been living for months. More than 230 other families are also living in the camp due to similar reasons, she said.
They burned down our house, which is why we had to find space in this camp. We were collateral damage in the gang fights between G9 and the other gangs who are looking to take over the neighborhood,” Nathalie said, referring to a federation of gangs led by infamous ex-police officer Jimmy Cherizier, who last week vowed before local media to carry out a “revolution” in the city.
Bruno Maes, UNICEF representative based in Port-au-Prince, told the media his agency had collected “hundreds” of testimonies from other women and children whose homes were also burned down by armed groups.
Fighting has prevented aid agencies from directly reaching many of the displaced families sheltering by the thousands in churches and community centers, Maes said. Others are dispersed across the city.
For now, aid is being funneled through local networks, but he warns that humanitarian workers will need better access as the peak of the Caribbean’s hurricane season approaches.
Insecurity is having a ripple effect on national supply chains, Maes also said. “Gun violence is taking control of more and more space,” he said. Criminal control of major transit arteries in the country’s biggest city — which is also its main port — are slowing food and fuel deliveries to other parts of the country — a serious threat in a population where the UN estimates 46 percent of people are already “food-insecure.”
The chaos also threatens everyday access to medical treatment in the capital, as Covid-19 surges in Haiti. Doctors without Borders has cut back activities in parts of Port-au-Prince, citing recent episodes where medical staff were forced to shelter from stray bullets and armed individuals robbed ambulance drivers.
The US Embassy in Haiti has expressed concern over the violence and called for action from the Haitian government. “The United States urges the government of Haiti to protect its citizens by countering the proliferation of gangs and by holding the perpetrators of violence and their accomplices accountable,” it said in a statement released Wednesday.
But for now, Haiti’s leaders appear unable to contain the violence — a fact that Nathalie, the displaced mother, describes as unforgivable. It’s all happening under the government’s watch, she said. “No one came to our rescue despite days of gang fighting.”
The Prime Minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Bill Cosby is set to be a free man today after nearly three years in prison following a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacating his 2018 conviction on three charges of aggravated indecent assault.
The American comedian and actor have long maintained his innocence until he was charged in late 2015 when a prosecutor armed with newly unsealed evidence Cosby’s damaging deposition from her lawsuit arrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.
The trial judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify at Cosby’s first trial, when the jury deadlocked. However, he then allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial about their experiences with Cosby in the 1980s.
On Wednesday June 30, Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that testimony tainted the trial, even though a lower appeal court had found it appropriate to show a signature pattern of drugging and molesting women.
Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, so the reversal could make prosecutors wary of calling other accusers in similar cases. The law on prior bad act testimony varies by state, though, and the ruling only holds sway in Pennsylvania.
According to reports, the justices voiced concern not just about sex assault cases, but what they saw as the judiciary’s increasing tendency to allow testimony that crosses the line into character attacks. The law allows the testimony only in limited cases, including to show a crime pattern so specific it serves to identify the perpetrator.
In New York, the judge presiding over last year’s trial of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose case had sparked the explosion of the #MeToo movement in 2017, let four other accusers testify. Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is now facing separate charges in California.
In Cosby’s case, one of his appellate lawyers said prosecutors put on vague evidence about the uncharged conduct, including Cosby’s own recollections in his deposition about giving women alcohol or quaaludes before sexual encounters.
“The presumption of innocence just didn’t exist for him,” Jennifer Bonjean, the lawyer, argued to the court in December.
In May, Cosby was denied paroled after refusing to participate in sex offender programs during his nearly three years in state prison. He has long said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing even if it means serving the full 10-year sentence.
This is the first year he was eligible for parole under the three- to 10-year sentence handed down after his 2018 conviction.
Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt called the parole board decision “appalling.”
Prosecutors said Cosby repeatedly used his fame and “family man” persona to manipulate young women, holding himself out as a mentor before betraying them.
Cosby, a groundbreaking Black actor who grew up in public housing in Philadelphia, made a fortune estimated at $400 million during his 50 years in the entertainment industry.
An inmate at the Awka Correctional Centre in Anambra has bagged two certificates from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Awka Study Centre.
The inmate, Jude Onwuzulike received the certificates of Post Graduate Diploma and Masters of Science degrees in Information Technology on Tuesday, June 29.
Mr. Felix Edoka, Registrar, NOUN, while presenting the certificates at the Awka Correctional Centre, said the programme was targeted at impacting lives, including providing education to the inmates.
The Registrar represented by the Deputy Registrar (Academics), Oladipo Ajayi, commended the inmate for achieving the feat despite being in prison.
He urged other prisoners to take advantage of the programme to become educated.
Also speaking, the director of NOUN Awka Centre, Scholastica Ezeribe, said, “The inmate defended the certificates online under strict supervision. This shows that distance and space were no barriers to interested students of the institution.
“We could have given him the certificates with his colleagues during the convocation in Abuja, but because of his peculiar situation, we had to bring the two-in-one certificate to him.”
The prison comptroller, Patrick Chukwuemeka, added that the scheme was initiated for inmates’ educational development and skill empowerment.
Mr. Chukwuemeka thanked the programme facilitators for their assistance to the graduate, appealing to other inmates to imitate Mr. Onwuzulike.
The correctional centre is not only for confinement, but opportunities for the inmates to upgrade themselves academically as well as learn skills that will make them better persons after their jail term,” he said.8
In an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party Thursday, President Xi Jinping claimed that only the party could ensure China’s continued assent and stability, and any attempt to divide it from the country would fail.
Without the Communist Party, there will be no new China,” Xi said.
Speaking in front of a reported crowd of 70,000 at a highly-choreographed ceremony in Tiananmen Square, Xi delivered a strongly nationalist speech in which he vowed that China would no longer be “bullied, oppressed or subjugated” by foreign countries, to thundering applause and cheers.
“Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people,” Xi said.
Xi’s speech capped a morning of celebrations in the capital to mark the party’s centenary, including patriotic songs, speeches from officials and flyovers by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
The Chinese Communist Party was founded in secret in a small brick house in Shanghai’s former French Concession by around a dozen delegates, in July 1921. Its subsequent rise and continued monopoly on power has confounded its critics, with the party proving itself adept at changing at crucial moments to ensure the survival of its one-party rule. Under its founder and former Chairman, Mao Zedong, millions starved to death during protracted periods of famine and political crisis. Today, China is the world’s second-largest economy, with some estimates suggesting it is poised to overtake the United States.
However, Thursday’s celebrations follow a turbulent two years for the unelected party, marked by its perceived mishandling of the initial Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019, growing international outrage over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and the rise and subsequent suppression of large scale pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Numerous challenges also lie ahead, from a slowing economy, an aging population and a shrinking workforce, to an increasingly united democratic West that is determined to counter China’s rise.
Speaking on Thursday, Xi announced the party had accomplished its centenary goal of creating a “moderately prosperous society” in China. “We are now marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects,” Xi said.
In a continuation of his hardline foreign policy, Xi said while China would welcome “helpful suggestions” from other governments, it would not accept “sanctimonious preaching.”
On the subject of Taiwan, the self-governed democratic island that the Chinese government has long maintained is part of its territory, Xi said its “reunification” with the mainland was part of the “historic mission” of the Communist Party.
And at a time when Hong Kong’s civil liberties are increasingly under threat from new national security legislation passed by Beijing, Xi said Thursday that “social stability” must be maintained in the major financial hub, as well as China’s “sovereignty (and) security.”
“No one should underestimate the great resolve, the strong will, and the extraordinary ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the problem of the country is Nigerians and not ethnicity or religion.
Receiving members of the Muhammadu Buhari/Osinbajo (MBO) Dynamic Support Group, who visited the State House in Abuja on Wednesday June 30 to present a compendium of five years achievements of the administration, the President recounted his struggle to get justice after disputed results of presidential elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011.
Buhari said that those who ruled against him were of his own ethnic stock and religious persuasion, while those who stood up for him were of other faith and ethnicity.
The President said;
“Our problem is not ethnicity or religion, it is ourselves. After my third appearance in the Supreme Court, I came out to speak to those who were present then. I told them that from 2003, I’d spent 30 months in court.
“The President of the Court of Appeal, the first port of call for representation by presidential candidates then, was my classmate in secondary school in Katsina. We spent six years in the same class, Justice Umaru Abdullahi.
“My legal head was Chief Mike Ahamba, a Roman Catholic and an Igbo man. When the President of the court decided that we should present our case, my first witness was in the box.
“Ahamba insisted that a letter should be sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to present the register of constituencies in some of the States, to prove that what they announced was falsehood. It was documented.
“When they gave judgment, another Igbo man, the late Justice Nsofor, asked for the reaction from INEC to the letter sent to them. They just dismissed it. He then decided to write a minority judgment. That was after 27 months in court.
We went to the Supreme Court. Who was Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)? A Hausa-Fulani like me, from Zaria. The members of the panel went in for about 30 minutes, came back to say they were proceeding on break. They went for 3 months. When they came back, it didn’t take them 15 minutes, they dismissed us.
“In 2007, who was the CJN? Kutigi. Again, a Muslim from the North. After 8 months or so, he dismissed the case.
“Again in 2011, because I was so persistent, Musdafa, a Fulani man like me, from Jigawa, neighbor to my state, was CJN. He dismissed my case.
“I’ve taken you round this to prove that our problem is not ethnicity or religion. It is ourselves.
“I refused to give up. I had tried to wear Agbada after what happened to me in Khaki. Something was done to me, because I did something to others. You know it. In the end, I myself was arrested, sent to detention, and they were given back what they had taken. I was there for three and a quarter years. This is Nigeria.
“I hope historians and intellectuals would document this, because it is a fantastic state of political development. Let our grandchildren and great grandchildren see how we came along. We didn’t get it as easy as other people think. Not because God has given us great population and resources. We have suffered along the line.
“I try to mention these things because you got yourselves together, used your resources, energies without any input from me. I cannot thank you enough. I’m very grateful to you and to Nigerians because in 2019, I visited all the states, the people that turned out to see me across the country (because I’m dedicated to serve Nigeria and Nigerians), the love is genuine.
“Thank God that over the years, they can’t accuse me of corruption. And I’ve been everything; Governor, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Head of State, President and in my second term. I thank you that nobody forced you, but you got together, used your energy, time and resources, I thank you very much. I assure you, history will do you justice.”
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