Armsgate: Court dismisses Metuh’s application on change of trial Judge

Justice Abang Okon of the Federal High Court has ruled on Metuh’s application on the change of trial judge, striking out his application for lacking in merit, terming same as abuse of court proceedings.
It would be recalled that one of the counsels to Metuh, Emeka Etiaba had recently filed an application demanding justice Abang to disqualify himself from the case for being bias.
However, ruling on the matter on Friday afternoon, Abang held that the defendant had failed to provide facts that he had exhibited bias in his handling of the matter.
He ruled, “It is my humble view that the application lacks merit, it is an abuse of court proceedings and is appropriately dismissed,” Justice Abang said.
Earlier, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday faulted the allegation that the trial judge in charge of Olisa Metuh’s case, Justice Okon Abang exhibited bias while carrying out his function.
EFCC’s lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir said this during Metuh’s ongoing trial at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
According to Tahir, there is no evidence by the defendant to show that the trial judge had exhibited bias in his conduct.

Nigeria: Budget - Emergency Federal Executive Meeting Holds Today

The Federal Executive Council will meet in emergency today over the 2016 budget details submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari by the National Assembly yesterday.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, confirmed this exclusively to our correspondent yesterday evening.

Another top government official also told our correspondent yesterday that the details of the budget would be forwarded to all ministers between yesterday and today for a review.

President Muhammadu Buhari had last week insisted that he would critically review the Appropriation Bill before assenting to it.

The source, who craved anonymity, also confirmed that the executive would go through the details of the budget, see the corrections and take steps on implementation.

"Between today (yesterday) and tomorrow (today), the budget details will be forwarded to the ministers to start reviewing and seeing the corrections and also taking steps on how to implement them. They want to do things based on facts, not lies," he said.

The source said the ministers would go through the details of the budget "within a short time."

But asked how long the budget review would last, he simply said: "The ministers are the ones supervising the ministries.

Nigeria: Govt Urges NLC to Shelve Planned Warning Strike

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to rescind its planned warning strike over the new electricity tariff in the overall interest of the nation.

He made the appeal in Abuja yesterday at the 3rd Triennial National Delegates Conference of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC).

Ngige said the dispute over the increase in electricity tariff was before the National Assembly, urging the NLC to allow the National Assembly arbitrate on the matter.

The minister advised investors in the power sector to provide decent working environment for their staff as his ministry would no longer tolerate unfair labour practices, even as he urged workers to do their best in the promotion of productivity.

Stand with Girls Pursuing Their Education

In Nigeria 276 girls remain missing after being abducted from their school by the terror group Boko Haram.

The girls were taken because they were pursuing their education – a reminder to us all of the many obstacles related to culture and tradition that girls in many parts of the world must overcome to improve their lives. 

As we pray for the girls’ safe return, we ask you to please stand with girls everywhere risking their lives to attend school. Please provide your email below.

Zamfara State, Nigeria

In March 2010, the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) discovered an outbreak of lead poisoning in remote villages in Zamfara State, Nigeria. More than 17,000 people were severely poisoned and 400-500 children died as a result of soil lead contamination associated with artisanal gold mining/processing in residential compounds. International organizations collaborated with Nigerian health authorities and local civil and traditional governments to provide emergency medical, environmental, technical, and public health response.

Remediation activities, conducted in three phases from May 2010 to July 2013, were modeled on Idaho/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “Superfund” protocols. Post-cleanup activities included medical treatment in MSF-run clinics, monitoring the sustainability of the remediation, and implementation of safer mining practices. The epidemic has been characterized as unprecedented, and the ensuing cleanup one of the largest and most comprehensive ever undertaken by an African government. 

Remediating the villages presented numerous resource, logistic, cultural, institutional, and technical challenges. The remote area is difficult to access and has little infrastructure. Village life is ruled by overlapping civil, tribal, and Sharia governments, exhibits gender-segregated social structure, suffers numerous endemic diseases with limited healthcare, and a workforce dependent on primitive tools and labor practices. The cleanup evolved from an emergency response initially developed and directed largely by international personnel from TerraGraphics (TG) to a multi-disciplinary program carried out by Nigerian federal, state, and local governments employing village workers.

The Source of Lead Poisoning

The source of the epidemic was artisanal gold mining that became prolific in 2009-10. For several months, ore processing was conducted at numerous sites within the villages. Because local religious and cultural practices include the sequestration of married women, ore crushing, washing, and gold recovery were undertaken within homes to utilize the women’s labor. During the rapid increase in mining activities, a dangerous gold ore exceeding 10% lead was introduced. By April 2010, with death and illness prevalent, the local Emirates ordered a temporary suspension of artisanal ore processing and later required that all operations be moved approximately outside the villages. However, extremely hazardous waste and contaminated soils remained in the residences and communal areas.

MSF/TG focused on emergency medical treatment and environmental response. MSF, ZMOH, and FMOH developed village chelation therapy clinics. All entities agreed that children could not live in contaminated homes as it would compromise the treatment. Coupled with local resistance to relocation, this required the villages to be remediated prior to commencing chelation.

Leaks about offshore accounts leave Russians unimpressed [Associated Press]

MOSCOW (AP) -- In the list of presidents, prime ministers, sheikhs, billionaires and other magnates cited in a sweeping worldwide investigation into hidden assets in offshore accounts, there was an odd man out: A Russian cellist.

Up until now, 64-year-old Sergei Roldugin was known only in the Russian music community — as a People's Artist of Russia and the artistic director of the House of Music in St. Petersburg. What makes him stand out from other Russian musicians, however, is his close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

Roldugin features in Putin's early autobiography as a close friend and the godfather of Putin's eldest daughter, Maria. He pursued a musical career, and despite the fact that he never became a tycoon like many of Putin's other friends, he did somehow acquire a stake in the Rossiya bank, one of the first Russian firms slapped with U.S. sanctions following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The U.S. Treasury in 2014 described the bank as being "designated for providing material support to government officials" and co-owned by members of Putin's inner circle. But unlike other Putin friends who have built flourishing businesses in Russia, Roldugin, whose stake in Rossiya was reported at 3.3 percent, was not slapped with sanctions.

A myriad of documents that the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists gained access to showed Roldugin — or someone posing as him — skillfully operating affiliated companies that controlled a significant share of a business empire that earned tens of millions of rubles per day from murky deals. The companies received millions from Putin's friends and Russian billionaires as well as preferential loans from a Russia-controlled Cyprus-based bank.

The journalists who analyzed the leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world's biggest creators of shell companies, say the combined turnover of a company that Roldugin is reported to have owned through an intermediary between 2009 and 2012 was around $2 billion.

When the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which led the ICIJ investigation in Russia, approached Roldugin after a concert, the cellist had a friendly chat with the reporter but refused to talk about the offshore companies, saying the subject was "delicate."

Roldugin was unavailable for comment on Monday. A receptionist at the St. Petersburg House of Music said he was not in.

The release of what has become known as the Panama Papers has sent officials in countries around the world scrambling. Some have pledged to investigate claims of possible tax evasion, others like the prime minister of Iceland and the president of Ukraine face political storms over their alleged involvement in offshore companies.

In Russia, however, the trove of documents showing a money trail leading close to the president has gone largely unnoticed.

At first, Russian state media and pro-Kremlin media ignored the Panama Papers reports, then some reported only parts of it related to the Ukrainian president's woes and those of an Argentinean soccer player. A few hours later, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Western media for focusing on Putin even though he was not directly linked to any offshore activity.

Peskov suggested the ICIJ had ties to the U.S. government. The ICIJ is part of the nonprofit, non-partisan Center for Public Integrity.

"It's obvious that there are many journalists there whose main profession is unlikely to be journalism," he said, alleging that "former employees of the State Department, the CIA, other security services" may have been involved in the publication of the leaks.

Peskov said Roldugin was a friend of Putin's but added the president "has very many friends."

In past years, as Putin's friends were building fortunes by getting lucrative state contracts with no or little competition, independent media in Russia have published countless investigations suggesting a conflict of interest at the least — or possibly major corruption. These reports, however, did not lead to any official investigations, Russian government reshuffling or public discontent.

Arguably the only exception was last year's protest by truck drivers who rallied against a hefty new road tax imposed by a company co-owned by a son of one of Putin's friends.

Russian experts said even if the offshore scandal was getting coverage on Russian television, Putin will still come out of it unscathed.

"There aren't any accounts directly connecting Putin to the companies, but even if there were, it is unlikely that this would shock his supporters in Russia," Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Center in Moscow told The Associated Press.

Putin's detractors, he said, are looking in the wrong places for problems that could potentially destabilize his government.

What could be disastrous for Putin? "Anything that brings Russia back to the 1990s," said Baunov, referring to the withholding of salaries and a slump in living standards.

In a country where all officials are believed to be corrupt by default, a revelation of corruption in Putin's inner circle or even his own misdeeds are not viewed as much of a sin.

"In a healthy society, all those friends of the national leader would already be behind bars while the leader himself would be a pariah," Dmitry Gudkov, the only Russian lawmaker who voted against the Crimean annexation said in a blog Monday. "In our (society) the reaction is: 'So what? He does not drink newborn babies' blood, thanks for this.' We know things could be worse."

While Russian opposition activists were fuming on social media about the Panama Papers revelations, the reports left many more Russians unmoved.

"Seriously, if someone had posted a photo of Putin watching 'Peppa Pig' it would have caused more of a stir," blogger Ilya Varlamov tweeted, referring to a popular cartoon series.

Unlike the reclusive banker Yuri Kovalchuk or Putin's childhood friend Arkady Rotenberg, the soft-spoken Roldugin has never hidden from the press, giving interviews about his love for music and Russian musical talent.

"I don't like talking about Putin. It's private, I hope you understand," Roldugin said in a 2014 interview.

But when asked where he thinks Putin's government is failing, he said: "I think there is not enough effort to fight corruption in Russia. I would like to see more decisive action.

Leaks about offshore accounts leave Russians unimpressed [Associated Press]

MOSCOW (AP) -- In the list of presidents, prime ministers, sheikhs, billionaires and other magnates cited in a sweeping worldwide investigation into hidden assets in offshore accounts, there was an odd man out: A Russian cellist.

Up until now, 64-year-old Sergei Roldugin was known only in the Russian music community — as a People's Artist of Russia and the artistic director of the House of Music in St. Petersburg. What makes him stand out from other Russian musicians, however, is his close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

Roldugin features in Putin's early autobiography as a close friend and the godfather of Putin's eldest daughter, Maria. He pursued a musical career, and despite the fact that he never became a tycoon like many of Putin's other friends, he did somehow acquire a stake in the Rossiya bank, one of the first Russian firms slapped with U.S. sanctions following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The U.S. Treasury in 2014 described the bank as being "designated for providing material support to government officials" and co-owned by members of Putin's inner circle. But unlike other Putin friends who have built flourishing businesses in Russia, Roldugin, whose stake in Rossiya was reported at 3.3 percent, was not slapped with sanctions.

A myriad of documents that the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists gained access to showed Roldugin — or someone posing as him — skillfully operating affiliated companies that controlled a significant share of a business empire that earned tens of millions of rubles per day from murky deals. The companies received millions from Putin's friends and Russian billionaires as well as preferential loans from a Russia-controlled Cyprus-based bank.

The journalists who analyzed the leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world's biggest creators of shell companies, say the combined turnover of a company that Roldugin is reported to have owned through an intermediary between 2009 and 2012 was around $2 billion.

When the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which led the ICIJ investigation in Russia, approached Roldugin after a concert, the cellist had a friendly chat with the reporter but refused to talk about the offshore companies, saying the subject was "delicate."

Roldugin was unavailable for comment on Monday. A receptionist at the St. Petersburg House of Music said he was not in.

The release of what has become known as the Panama Papers has sent officials in countries around the world scrambling. Some have pledged to investigate claims of possible tax evasion, others like the prime minister of Iceland and the president of Ukraine face political storms over their alleged involvement in offshore companies.

In Russia, however, the trove of documents showing a money trail leading close to the president has gone largely unnoticed.

At first, Russian state media and pro-Kremlin media ignored the Panama Papers reports, then some reported only parts of it related to the Ukrainian president's woes and those of an Argentinean soccer player. A few hours later, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Western media for focusing on Putin even though he was not directly linked to any offshore activity.

Peskov suggested the ICIJ had ties to the U.S. government. The ICIJ is part of the nonprofit, non-partisan Center for Public Integrity.

"It's obvious that there are many journalists there whose main profession is unlikely to be journalism," he said, alleging that "former employees of the State Department, the CIA, other security services" may have been involved in the publication of the leaks.

Peskov said Roldugin was a friend of Putin's but added the president "has very many friends."

In past years, as Putin's friends were building fortunes by getting lucrative state contracts with no or little competition, independent media in Russia have published countless investigations suggesting a conflict of interest at the least — or possibly major corruption. These reports, however, did not lead to any official investigations, Russian government reshuffling or public discontent.

Arguably the only exception was last year's protest by truck drivers who rallied against a hefty new road tax imposed by a company co-owned by a son of one of Putin's friends.

Russian experts said even if the offshore scandal was getting coverage on Russian television, Putin will still come out of it unscathed.

"There aren't any accounts directly connecting Putin to the companies, but even if there were, it is unlikely that this would shock his supporters in Russia," Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Center in Moscow told The Associated Press.

Putin's detractors, he said, are looking in the wrong places for problems that could potentially destabilize his government.

What could be disastrous for Putin? "Anything that brings Russia back to the 1990s," said Baunov, referring to the withholding of salaries and a slump in living standards.

In a country where all officials are believed to be corrupt by default, a revelation of corruption in Putin's inner circle or even his own misdeeds are not viewed as much of a sin.

"In a healthy society, all those friends of the national leader would already be behind bars while the leader himself would be a pariah," Dmitry Gudkov, the only Russian lawmaker who voted against the Crimean annexation said in a blog Monday. "In our (society) the reaction is: 'So what? He does not drink newborn babies' blood, thanks for this.' We know things could be worse."

While Russian opposition activists were fuming on social media about the Panama Papers revelations, the reports left many more Russians unmoved.

"Seriously, if someone had posted a photo of Putin watching 'Peppa Pig' it would have caused more of a stir," blogger Ilya Varlamov tweeted, referring to a popular cartoon series.

Unlike the reclusive banker Yuri Kovalchuk or Putin's childhood friend Arkady Rotenberg, the soft-spoken Roldugin has never hidden from the press, giving interviews about his love for music and Russian musical talent.

"I don't like talking about Putin. It's private, I hope you understand," Roldugin said in a 2014 interview.

But when asked where he thinks Putin's government is failing, he said: "I think there is not enough effort to fight corruption in Russia. I would like to see more decisive action.

U.S. says it killed IS militant who killed Marine in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The anti-Islamic State coalition conducting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria has killed the IS militant believed responsible for an attack on U.S. troops in northern Iraq last month that left a Marine dead, it said on Sunday.

Militant Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a high-value target, was killed by a drone strike overnight in northern Iraq, coalition spokesman U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters in Baghdad.

"We have information (that) he was a rocket expert, he controlled these attacks," said Warren, referring to the shelling of a base used by U.S. troops near the town of Makhmour, located between Mosul and Kirkuk.

That attack killed Marine Staff Sergeant Louis Cardin and wounded eight others, all part of a company-sized detachment of less than 200 troops. They provide force protection fire to Iraqi army troops, who are making slow progress in a campaign to clear areas around Mosul, an IS stronghold.

Cardin's was the second combat death of an American service member in Iraq since the start of the campaign to fight the militant group in 2014.

Warren said five other Islamic State fighters were killed in the air strike.

(Reporting by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Clelia Oziel)

Vanguard learned that the duo were part of a five man robbery gang who besieged the home of a business woman in the community, name withheld, and attempted to rob her of her valuables. According to the source, “the armed men actually stormed the home of the woman at about 10pm on Saturday night just minutes after she had returned from her business place. “After forcing their way into the woman’s house, they threatened to kill her and her children if she did not surrender all the money in her possession to them. “The woman immediately acted fast and raised an alarm which attracted neigbours and members of the local vigilante group in the area who immediate rushed to the scene. “Sensing danger, members of the gang fled from the village but two of them were not so lucky, the villagers caught up with them and beat them to death after which their bodies were set ablaze and burnt beyond recognition.” It was gather that the charred remains of the suspects were later evacuated by the Police in the area. When contacted, the Benue state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Assistant Superintendent, ASP, Moses Yamu confirmed incident.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/irate-mob-set-two-robbers-ablaze-gboko/

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The anti-Islamic State coalition conducting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria has killed the IS militant believed responsible for an attack on U.S. troops in northern Iraq last month that left a Marine dead, it said on Sunday.

Militant Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a high-value target, was killed by a drone strike overnight in northern Iraq, coalition spokesman U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters in Baghdad.

"We have information (that) he was a rocket expert, he controlled these attacks," said Warren, referring to the shelling of a base used by U.S. troops near the town of Makhmour, located between Mosul and Kirkuk.

That attack killed Marine Staff Sergeant Louis Cardin and wounded eight others, all part of a company-sized detachment of less than 200 troops. They provide force protection fire to Iraqi army troops, who are making slow progress in a campaign to clear areas around Mosul, an IS stronghold.

Cardin's was the second combat death of an American service member in Iraq since the start of the campaign to fight the militant group in 2014.

Warren said five other Islamic State fighters were killed in the air strike.

(Reporting by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Clelia Oziel)

Costa gets extra one-game ban

Chelsea striker Diego Costa has been given a further one-match ban, fined £20,000 ($28,630, 25,021 euros) and warned as to his future behaviour after admitting a charge of improper conduct following his red card at Everton last month, the Football Association announced Friday.

Costa was sent off for the first time in his Chelsea career in the FA Cup quarter-final loss and given an automatic two-match ban, ruling him out of both the Blues’ draw with West Ham and this Saturday’s Premier League match against Aston Villa.
Now Costa, who had no case to answer over suggestions he bit Everton midfielder Gareth Barry or made an inappropriate gesture to Everton fans, will also miss the April 9 match at Swansea after incurring an additional suspension for his aggressive protest to referee Michael Oliver regarding his dismissal at Goodison Park.
“Following an independent regulatory commission hearing on Thursday (March 31, 2016), Chelsea’s Diego Costa has been given a one-match suspension, fined £20,000 and warned as to his future conduct.”
“The forward admitted a charge of improper conduct in relation to his behaviour after he was shown a second yellow card in the FA Cup sixth-round tie on March 12, 2016 at Goodison Park.
“This suspension will follow immediately on the conclusion of the player’s current ban.”
Costa’s automatic ban was two games as it was considered to be his second dismissal of the season after he was handed a retrospective three-match ban for clashes with Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel in September.
Spain forward Costa has scored 11 goals in his last 16 games for Chelsea and with the reigning Premier League champions currently tenth in the table and long out of the title race, interim manager Guus Hiddink said Friday the final eight games of the season might be a good time for the London club to experiment.
“We now have eight games coming up, and there’s not much to win for Chelsea anymore. There might be some time for experiments,” the Dutchman said.