Only collective efforts can rescue Nigeria –Fashola

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The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has said only collective efforts of Nigerians can rescue the country from its many woes.  The governor said this on Friday at a grassroots empowerment programme organised by council chairmen in the state, under the aegis of Conference 57.

He said the failure of Nigeria to achieve socio-economic and political growth, after over a decade of self-governance, should give a cause for concern.

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2015: Don’t campaign for me yet, says Tambuwal

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, said on Sunday that it was against the law of the land for anybody to start campaigning for elective positions in the 2015 poll when the Independent National Electoral Commission had yet to give politicians the nod to do so.

Why Ebola remains incurable –UK doc

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Pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to invest in vaccines and research to cure the deadly Ebola disease because it is only killing Africans, a leading UK doctor has claimed.

The President of the UK Faculty of Public Health, Prof. John Ashton, has claimed no cure for the disease has been discovered because it so far has only affected powerless minorities.

He likened the response to that of Aids, for which treatments were developed only when it started affecting Western countries.

Doctors disagree over strike

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About two months after calling out its members for a nationwide strike, the Nigerian Medical Association appears to be divided on whether to suspend the action or not.

A press conference that was scheduled to take place on Sunday was put off for undisclosed reasons.

The Secretary-General of the association just came and apologised to journalists, promising that the association would call them soon.
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Ikorodu monarch dies at 83

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The Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Salaudeen Oyefusi, is dead. He was said to have died on Saturday.

A statement by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Ademorin Kuye, said Oyefusi, who was also the Vice Chairman of the Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs, died at the age of 83.

The statement, “With gratitude to God for a life well spent and in meritorious service to his people, Lagos State Government regrets to announce the passing on to glory of the Ayangburen of Ikorodu and Vice Chairman of the Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs, Oba Salaudeen Afolabi Oyefusi, OON, which sad event occurred 2nd August, 2014. He was aged 83. Funeral arrangement will be announced later.”

Israel Air Strike On UN School ‘Criminal’ – UN

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The UN has expressed outrage after another deadly strike on one of its schools as Israel begins pulling some troops from Gaza in a widely-acknowledged step towards unilateral withdrawal.

The strike killed 10 people at a school in the southern city of Rafah on Sunday where about 3000 Palestinians made homeless by the violence had been sheltering. It was the third such incident in 10 days.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the shelling, calling it “a moral outrage and a criminal act”.

“This madness must stop,” he said.
The strike came as Palestinian factions gathered for truce talks with Egypt in Cairo and world powers voiced increasingly urgent calls for the laying down of weapons.

Southwest China Earthquake Kills 367, 1,900 Injured - Reports

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More than 367 people are dead and almost 2000 have been injured in a strong earthquake which hit China’s mountainous southwest, bringing homes crashing to the ground and sparking a massive relief operation.

The quake, which struck in the Zhaotong prefecture of provincial Yunnan on Sunday, toppled buildings and left rescue teams and residents to pull survivors from beneath rubble, images on social media show.

“At least 367 people have been killed and 1881 people were injured,” the official news agency Xinhua reported early on Monday, citing rescuers and raising a previous toll given minutes earlier of 357.

2 Drown, 900 Evacuated In Bulgaria Floods

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Two people have drowned and 900 have been evacuated from homes after floods caused by torrential rain hit northwestern Bulgaria.

More than 800 residents of the town of Mizia were evacuated overnight and during the day on Sunday after the swollen river Skut submerged large parts of the town under up to three metres of water, the interior ministry said.

Daniel suffering from overdose of political prostitution -Kashamu

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The Chairman, Organisation and Mobilisation Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, has described the former Governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, as ” someone suffering from an overdose of political prostitution.”

He spoke against the backdrop of a statement credited to Daniel on Sunday in some national newspapers where the ex-governor described Kashamu, a chief of the PDP in Ogun State, as “suffering from political inexperience and over-confidence”.

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Northern youths back Atiku for 2015 Presidency

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Northern youths on Sunday in Kaduna asked former Head of State and Chief of the All Progressive Congress, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), to shelve his ambition of contesting the 2015 presidential election. Instead, they asked Buhari to support his kinsman and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the flag bearer of the main opposition party in 2015.

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5 die in Sokoto road accident

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Five persons from the same family have been reportedly killed in a road accident that occurred on Saturday on Shagari-Tureta road in Sokoto State.

The News Agency of Nigeria learnt that the deceased were members of the family of the District Head of Dogon Daji in Tambuwal local government area, Alhaji Shehu Umar, .

The deceased included the son of the district head, his daughter, two grand children and his 74-year-old younger sister.

They were said to be travelling from Dogon Daji to Abuja on a condolence ‎visit when their vehicle collided with a petroleum tanker.

The bereaved the District Head, described the accident as “an act of God”.

The Spokesman for the state Police Command, DSP Al-mustapha Sani, confirmed the accident in an interview with NAN.

One Killed after Gunmen Attacked Christian Worshippers in Kaduna

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At least one person was killed and several others injured when unknown gunmen opened fire on worshippers during Sunday service at a Catholic Church in Ungwar Pau-Pau in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

TheNation reports the incident happened in the early hours of Sunday when the gunmen invaded Catholic Church during  service, shooting sporadically. Eyes witness said one of the youth guarding the Church was killed while several others injured are receiving treatment at various hospitals in the area.
The eyewitness said:
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By-Election: We’ve Enough Qualified Candidates, We Don’t Need Ribadu, Says Adamawa PDP

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State says it is not interested in wooing or begging any one to fly its flag in the by-election to replace impeached Governor Murtala Nyako.

The party was reacting to media reports that it was wooing former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, to join the PDP and contest the election on its platform.
The state PDP chairman, Chief Joel Madaki, who spoke while addressing party stakeholders at Government House, Yola, on Friday, boasted that the party has many qualified people in its ranks to win the governorship poll.

Chibok girls Drugged, radicalized and used as suicide bombers

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There have been an increase in female suicide attacks and a source who spoke with Vanguard thinks the female suicide bombers may be captured Chibok girls. The unnamed source said he believes that the girls may have been exposed to radicalization by their captors.

The source spoke about the possibility that the girls had been indoctrinated by the terrorists in the last three months of their captivity, hypnotized  or posibly drugged and sent into various parts of Nigeria and beyond with a view to carrying out deadly missions.  The source, who has contacts with the Boko Haram leadership, pointed out that it may be difficult to change radical orientation of the girls, who may now see their malevolent disposition as an act of righteousness.

FG reduces electricity target to 5,000MW

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Plans to generate above 6,000 megawatts of electricity by December 2014 may have hit the rocks as the Federal Government on Saturday announced that its new target by the end of the year is now 5,000MW.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, stated in Abuja on Saturday that the Central Bank of Nigeria would clear up the N25bn gas-related debts of the power sector in order to boost stakeholders’ confidence in the industry.

She said, 

African/American Leaders Summit: US to test Pres. Jonathan’s aides, other Africans for Ebola

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You can find reports that the US is likely to screen a delegation from Nigeria and other affected African countries billed to go to the African/American Leaders Summit on Monday August 4th in Washington DC, for contact with Ebola. In accordance with Reuters, president Obama said some African participants will undoubtedly be screened because it's important that they protect US from the outbreak.

"Folks who are from these countries that have even a marginal risk, or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we’re making sure we’re doing screening.” Obama said.

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Sudan floods render thousands homeless

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More than 3,000 homes have been destroyed by floods that hit almost half of Sudan’s states over Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holidays, official media said.

At least 184 people were injured and 6,100 families were displaced many of whom were from the Nile and North Kordofah states, the SUNA news agency reported on Saturday.

“Twenty-two districts in eight states were affected by flooding and heavy rain,” the report said citing the federal health ministry.

Nigeria has lopsided structure — Gani Adams

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The National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress and a delegate representing the South-West at the National Conference, Gani Adams, speaks with OLUSOLA FABIYI on the achievements recorded at the confab and other national issues.

19 year old boy suffocates his own 4year old brother in Oyo state

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19 year old Rilwan Ahmed (pictured above) did the absolute most unthinkable thing, he killed his own brother. Based on a written report by Tribune, Rilwan took his 4 year old half-brother Waris Ahmed to an uncompleted building close very close to their residence at Oloko village in Ibadan, Oyo State, tied a bit of cloth across his face, which makes it hard for him to breathe, then tied his legs, and left him there. Life slowly ebbed out of him as he struggled to breathe. His body was discovered there 3 days later. Read the entire following the jump

Buhari’s attempted assassination and Nigeria’s crossroads

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Imagine going to a physician and telling him that you just mistakenly ingested a certain substance and that you wondered whether it would hurt you or not. And the physician sends you home with the instruction that the substance may make you healthier or kill you.

You probably will question the competence, even sanity, of the physician. Yet, the attempted assassination of Muhammadu Buhari presents Nigeria with a parallel paradox. On the one hand, it can galvanise a much more unified approach to the Boko Haram challenge or it could portend an unimaginable horror.