Presidency Reacts To Brouhaha Over Buhari’s Telegraph Interview

The State House has described as misconstrued, the various interpretations of President Muhammadu Buhari’s comments in an interview granted to the UK’s Telegraph newspaper on February 5.

In a statement released in Abuja on Tuesday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, said that the wave of negative reactions to the President’s remarks about the reputation of Nigerians abroad was as a result of an incomplete understanding of President Buhari’s point.

“President Buhari was asked about the flood of migrants from Nigeria and the fraudulent applications for asylum put in by people desperate to leave their motherland at any cost, and it was this question that elicited his response,” Mr Shehu said, encouraging Nigerians to avail themselves of a full text of the interview, which has now been made available on the Telegraph’s website.

The President’s spokesman added that it was preposterous for anyone to imagine that the President of Nigeria would describe all the citizens of the country he leads as criminals, when he himself is a Nigerian – obviously not a criminal – and when there are many Nigerians of honest living making their country proud all over the world.

“Unfortunately, there are also Nigerians giving their country a bad image abroad and it is to those Nigerians that the President referred in his comments,” he said.

Mr Shehu maintained that people may play politics and online games with the President’s comments, but the fact of the matter remained that Nigeria’s reputation abroad has been severely damaged by her own citizens.

“These Nigerians who leave their country to go and make mischief on foreign shores have given the rest of us a bad reputation that we daily struggle to overcome,” he said.

The President’s aide called attention to the many efforts of President Buhari to clean up Nigeria’s image such as the war on corruption, stating that “Acknowledging you have a problem is the first step to preferring a solution.

“President Buhari is very aware of the problems the people of Nigeria face both at home and abroad; and he is not shying away from admitting them even as he focuses on solutions to bring them to a permanent end,” he said.

With Channel TV

Court rejects Kanu’s request for his seized passports, money

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed an application by leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and founder of Radio Biaf‎ra, Nnamdi Kanu, for the release of certain items, including his British and Nigeria passports, which are in the custody of the Department of State Service.

Justice James Tsoho dismissed the application made orally by Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Chuks Muouma (SAN), who had sought the release of the items because they would not be needed by the prosecution since they were not listed as part of exhibits to be tendered.

Apart from the passports, other items which Muouma sought to be released to the IPOB leader who is currently in detention at Kuje prison along with his two co-accuse, are cash sums of $2,200 and N87,000, The PUNCH reported.

Justice Tsoho, in dismissing the application for lacking in merit, insisted that the fact that the items were not listed as possible exhibits did not foreclose the possibility of their being later used by the prosecution as exhibits.

‎He then adjourned the case till February 19 for the hearing of an application by the prosecution for protection of its witnesses.

The judge, before adjourning the case,  granted the request by the defence lawyer to the effect that relations of the accused persons be allowed in the court room subject to security screening and the capacity of the court room.

Kanu, David Nwawusi and Benjamin Madubugwu are being prosecuted on six counts of treasonable felony, unlawful possession of firearms and other offences bordering on their agitation for secession ‎of the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria.

‎Justice Tsoho had on January 29 denied bail to Kanu and the two other defendants and ordered that they remained on remand pending the period of their trial.

The judge in rejecting the accused persons’ bail application, held that they were not entitled to bail as they failed to challenge the allegation by the prosecution that they would continue to commit the alleged crime for which they were being prosecuted if granted bail.

Kanu was in the custody of the Department of State Service from the time of his arrest in a Lagos hotel on October 14, 2015 till January 20, 2016, when he was transferred to prison by an order of Justice Tsoho , shortly after he was arraigned along with two others.

Popular Yoruba actor, Arakangudu, is dead

Top Yoruba actor, Sikiru Adeshina, popularly called Arakangudu, died between late Monday night and the early hours of Tuesday, The Punch reported.

Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone from his base in Ekiti State, veteran thespian, Chief Jimoh Aliu, said those with the late actor broke the news of his death to him on Tuesday morning.

“I was called by those who were with him and told that he died after making a noise from his sleep,” Aliyu said. “They told me he died early this morning.”

Apart from acting, late Adesina produced movies like Ilu Gangan, Idunnu Mi, Ogbologbo, Iya Oju Ogun, Agbede Ogun, Ere Agbere among others.

Prosecutor Closes Case In Metuh’s Trial

The prosecution has closed its case against the spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Olisa Metuh.

The case was closed after the 8th prosecution witness briefed the court on how Mr Metuh had destroyed his statement during investigation by the anti-graft agency, according to Channel TV.

Under cross examination, the witness, Mr Junaid Sa’id, said that after Mr Metuh had written in his statement that the monies he received from the Office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki, was for campaign activities as approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan and for the payment of his personal debt.

He added that about 77.5 million was allegedly paid to one CMC Connect for campaign publicity for the PDP while 25 million was giving to one Abba Dabo for the same purpose.

The witness, who is an investigative officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also told the court that the National Women Leader of the PDP, Kema Chikwe, got five million Naira from the said money while the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the PDP, Tony Anenih, received the sum of 21.7 billion Naira.

He also told Justice Obong Abang that 500 million Naira was paid in two tranches to a company, Daniel Ford International, by Mr Metuh for the purchase of a landed property at Banana Island in Lagos State.

The witness said that ‎investigations revealed that the former NSA had on November 27, 2014, made a 10 billion Naira withdrawal from the Central Bank of Nigeria and converted same to $47 million which was shared to some PDP party members at its national convention.

According to him, the two million dollars allegedly laundered by the PDP spokesman is strongly linked to the said withdrawal.

It was four days after the disbursements that Mister Metuh gave the money to his then wealth manager, Nneka Ararume, he claimed.

The official of the EFCC further told the court that out of the 400 million Naira that was fraudulently transferred to Mr Metuh and his company by the former NSA, the accused person kept 50 million Naira for himself

But when asked if there was any documentary evidence to substantiate his testimony, the witness ‎answered in the negative.

‎The trial judge then adjourned the case till February 18 for the defence to open its case.

Women in Jordan fight for their rights

SheFighter, the first gym in Jordan to provide specialised self-defence and martial arts training for women, was founded in 2012 and commended last year in a speech by US President Barack Obama.

Founder Lina Khalifeh says the gym's methodology unites classic martial arts techniques with self-defence and self-empowerment strategies, noting: "Training in SheFighter has a bigger impact on women's lives than 10 conferences on women's rights."

Years ago, Khalifeh said that she decided to begin teaching self-defence after she saw a colleague being physically abused by her brother. Today, SheFighter has trained more than 3,000 women, and Khalifeh hosts workshops outside the capital Amman and at universities. She is aiming to expand further, opening more gyms, both in and outside Jordan.

Each week, a stream of young women pour into the gym to learn self-defence and have fun. "She angry, SheFighter!" they scream at the end of each training session.

With Aljazeera