Boko Haram militants trained in Somalia: President

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of Somalia, speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2016. (Reuters)

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants have been trained in his country before going back to West Africa.

Mohamud said at a security conference in Germany that militant groups in Africa are associated and that the African states need to be organized to be able to deal with their threats.

He noted that his country, which is plagued by attacks by al-Shabab militants as well as corruption and political infighting, has only made limited progress in setting up a working political system.

Somalia has not had a functioning central administration since civil war erupted a quarter of a century ago.

"Without a stable Somalia, the whole region of the Horn of Africa will remain unstable and by and large, the African continent. There are proofs and evidence that (for) some time Boko Haram has been trained in Somalia and they went back to Nigeria," Mohamud said.

"The terrorists are so linked together, they are associated and so organized, (that) we the world we need to be so organized," he added.

Al-Shabab militants, which have link to al-Qaeda, have frequently staged attacks against government officials and civilians over the past years.  

Boko Haram, on the other hand, has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri group, which is wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

Boko Haram terrorists have killed more than 1,650 people since the inauguration of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2015, and claimed the lives of over 17,000 people since the start of their insurgency in Nigeria in 2009, AFP figures show. They have since forced over 2.6 million others to flee their homes.

FG Sacks Heads Government Owned Media

Nigeria’s federal government has announced the sack of the heads of the six information-related parastatals under the ministry of information and culture.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the disengagement during a meeting he held with the Chief Executives of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Voice of Nigeria (VON), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) on Monday .

The Minister directed the disengaged Chief Executives to hand over to the most senior officials in their various establishments.

He thanked them for their service to the nation and wished them  "best of luck" in their future endeavours.

The affected Chief Executives are the Directors-General of NTA, Mr. Sola Omole, FRCN (Mr. Ladan Salihu), VON (Mr Sam Worlu), NOA (Mr. Mike Omeri), NBC (Mr. Emeka Mba) and the Managing Director of NAN (Mr. Ima Niboro). 

In a statement made available to this effect by Segun Adeyemi, SA to the minister, he directed the disengaged Chief Executives to hand over to the most senior officials in their various establishments.

Mohammed thanked them for their service to the nation and wished them the best of luck in their future endeavours.

INEC Declares APC Winner Of Adamawa Rerun Election

Announcing the results, the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) constituency returning officer, Dr. Pascal Timtere said  Yohanna of APC polled 24,126 votes, Micheal Zidon of the People Democratic Party (PDP) got 11,513 votes, and Kabiru Garba of the  Citizen Peoples Party (CPP) scored 222 votes.
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Others were Bitrus Alkali of the Kowa Party who got 400 votes, Dr. P.P Power of the People Democratic Movement (PDM) scored 6,320 votes while Anslem Olam of Labour Party (LP) scored 154 votes respectively.  

However, Laori, who had defected from SDP to re-contest in KOWA party after his election was annulled, had reportedly secured an injunction from an Abuja Federal High Court, restraining INEC from conducting the election for failure to include his name as the candidate of his new party.

But the Commission’s spokesperson in Adamawa, Rifkatu Dikku, said INEC was not aware of the injunction as they were yet to receive such communication from their national headquarters in Abuja.

APC Pressure Mounts on Buhari to Sack Heads of Parastatals

With the agitation by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on President Muhammadu Buhari to replace several heads of federal government agencies whom he inherited from his predecessor reaching fever pitch, there are indications that Buhari, who resisted the clamour to remove them on the grounds that their tenures, some of which are backed by law, had not expired, may have succumbed, according to THISDAY.

In this regard, it was learnt that Buhari late last week approved the sack of no fewer than 35 chief executives and directors-general‎ of some agencies of government.

The presidency, which has communicated the president’s approval to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal, is expected to announce their removal this week, in the report.

Prior to the approval, Buhari, it was gathered, had resisted pressure for the ouster of some of the heads of parastatals he inherited from the Goodluck Jonathan administration, arguing that their tenures had not expired and in some cases is backed by law.

However, there has been mounting pressure from members of his party to remove the parastatal heads and replace them with APC loyalists as compensation for their loyalty to the ruling party and contributing to its victory in the 2015 general election.

A notable case was that of the APC candidate in the April 11, 2015 Rivers State governorship poll, Mr. Dakuku Peterside, and some APC chieftains from his state, who after the Supreme Court dismissed their election petition against Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, met with the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun recently.

At the meeting, they pleaded with Oyegun to make a case for their compensation at the federal level owing to the sacrifices they had made and the fact that they had been branded “traitors” in Rivers State for siding with the APC.

Some of the affected agencies, according to the report sources, are the Nigeria‎ Railway Corporation (NRC), the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) and the Industrial Trust Fund (ITF), among 32 other agencies, THISDAY reported.

According to sources, the complete list of agency chiefs would be announced this week by the SGF who at the weekend asked the supervising ministers of the agencies to inform the affected persons of their removal, told THISDAY.

Lawal chose to wait to make the announcement because he did not want to spoil their weekend, more so since the Valentine’s Day celebration fell at the weekend.

But ahead of the announcement, he asked the supervising ministers of the affected agencies to inform their heads ahead of time, which some of them were believed to have done.

Although Buhari, sources said, is yet to announce replacements for any of the agencies, their letters of disengagement will instruct them to hand over to the most senior persons in their respective agencies, pending the appointment of new substantive heads to run the parastatals.

Victoria Beckham on bringing back the corset - and being a working mum - at her New York Fashion Week show

A corseted look from Victoria Beckham's latest collection CREDIT: REX

Given that it's -14 currently in New York it feels apt that Victoria Beckham is offering stealth knitwear solutions for next winter, and debuting them on herself. Backstage before the show, with the model line-up still being tweaked an hour before the unveiling, VB is sporting a cosy pale hued roll neck, loose grey flannel cropped trousers and a pair of bright white Stan Smith trainers (which, unusually, she didn't swap for heels for her post show bow).

Beckham took her bow in box-fresh white trainers CREDIT: REX

Having posted a £9 million turnover increase on the previous year's taking in December and with her second store due to open in Hong Kong in three weeks this is a buoyant time for the label, which launched with a collection of 10 dresses in 2008.

For AW16 Beckham took the opportunity to take stock. She describes it as “an evolution of my personal style. I looked back at the clothes I've worn and designed and decided to rework key elements.” The central piece was the corset. “I used to wear a lot and it felt very sexy and feminine,” she explained backstage. “I wanted to find a way to bring that back and feel new and fresh.” The key take home in her modern take on the corset is the lack of boning. These are 'easy' pieces, with the fitted basque shape created in knitwear and as bodices on the dresses, but without that forced rigid, constricting structure.

Models backstage sporting the new collection CREDIT: REX

The dresses, some knitted in navy, orange and khaki green check, reflect her 'signature silhouette' which is a figure flattering, female friendly one, but updated with a cool, low key attitude, with the sort of understated elegance her customers have come to expect. The shift and move on comes from the elevated techniques used: a heritage houndstooth coat that uses a waxed cord running through it to act as an embroidery took five days to make.

Victoria Beckham AW16 collection CREDIT: ISIDORE MONTAG

Masculine houndstooth and check fabrics are used to good effect in coats: added design details of knitted cuffs and hems left raw, bringing a neat contrast to the femninine dress shapes. Bold stripes are used to add definition and a keen sense of modernity, and lend that all important “freshness” Mrs Beckham is so keen on.

Victoria Beckham AW16 collection CREDIT: ISIDORE MONTAG

Skirt lengths are just above midi. Knitted tops, bodices and skirts are layered over each other, or cut to give the illusion of layers. Trousers are knitted and close cut, dresses (some featuring a cute bubble hem) and tops are spliced open gently to reveal slithers of flesh - “something we know our customer loves,” says VB. The pieces are given an added punch a quirk with oversized buttons and silver metallic brooch details.

Victoria Beckham AW16 collection CREDIT: ISIDORE MONTAG

The easiness continues into her footwear, flat pointed monk strap brogues and hefty block heeled ankle boots. For evening and red carpet (perhaps a niche concern) Beckham offers a high waist trouser worn with a cream satin bustier layered under a knitted black top. “It feels like a chic, modern take on red carpet,” she says.

Victoria Beckham AW16 collection CREDIT: ISIDORE MONTAG

It's half term so the Beckham clan were in full effect (next to their usual front row mates Anna Wintour and her daughter Bea) on the front row. Harper sat on her father's lap, doing a military look, with a single breasted gold buttoned navy pea coat with red collar detail and Gucci shoes. Cruz and Romeo were suited and the eldest, Brooklyn was working a T-shirt under his tailoring, his quiff flattened to the side.

The Beckham family on the front row CREDIT: AP

The children had given their mother “some beautiful flowers” for today's Valentine's Day. She bought them balloons. “We'd spent the whole day with these balloons for the kids and I got out of the car after we'd been working all night, and I said to the driver, ‘Be careful of the balloons!' and he got out the car and said what? And a bunch of them flew up into the air. I was like, no!”

A comforting thought that even a Beckham can't have it all run smoothly.


With The Telegraph