PHOTO SPEAK: TOP NIGERIAN ELITES #SayNoToElectionViolence

APC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND THE COMMONWEALTH CHAIRPERSON, AHMED ADAMU

Senator Andy Uba and Ahmed Adamu

Mrs Folorunso Alakija and Ahmed Adamu

PHOTO SPEAK: PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA #SayNoToElectionViolence

Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Council, Ahmed Adamu and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

3 Women Killed As Customs Knocks Bus Off Highway

3 Women Killed As Customs Knocks Bus Off Highway
by Jeff Ezemadu
Three ladies aged between 25 and 30 years died Thursday afternoon after the hummer bus in which they were traveling was knocked off the Lagos-Benin highway by an operational vehicle driven by operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service.
The commuter bus with registration number EDO AKA 35 LG carrying second hand clothes also known as okirika, somersaulted during a hot chase by Customs officials from the Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Ikeja from one of their checkpoints in Ijebu Ode.
The driver of the bus allegedly refused to stop when flagged down at their checkpoint which resulted in the tragic chase.
According to the driver who was in severe pains, having lost one of his legs in the accident, when the Customs pick up van could not overtake him, it hit his bus at the rear which caused the vehicle to somersault several times into the bush at a place indigenes called J3.
On sensing that the bus had crashed into the bush, the Customs officials beat a hasty retreat to avoid being attacked by members of the public that immediately rushed to the scene of the accident.
Three women in the bus died on the spot and the other injured victims were brought out of the bus and were writhing in pains.
There was no policeman or road safety official on hand to assist them.
Until the time our correspondent, who was on his way to Port Harcourt, left the accident scene, the corpses of the three women and the victims were still lying there.
Some of the sympathizers at the scene lamented that sometime ago, road safety officials had equally chased some passengers to their death in the same area.
They called on appropriate authorities to check the excesses of law enforcement officials on the road.

Rally over jailing of anti-water charge protesters

A protest is being held in Dublin this afternoon over jail sentences handed down to water charge protesters for contempt of court and the ongoing arrests of anti-water charge protesters.

The protest is due to get under way at around 2pm at the Central Bank in Dame Street with the demonstration heading to Mountjoy Prison.

Anti EU banner at central bank #waterprotest pic.twitter.com/qClCJtG8yh

RELATED AUDIO & VIDEO

• Watch: Anti-water charge protest over jail sentences

Meanwhile, protesters from a number of different groups are gathering in Castlebar in Co Mayo to protest against Government cuts and the introduction of water charges.

The demonstrators stopped outside Taoiseach Enda Kenny's constituency office on Tucker Street and chanted their opposition to Government policies.

 
They have gathered outside the hotel where the Fine Gael National Conference is taking place.
A number of groups are involved in the protest including the local Right2Water Campaign, the National Reform Movement, representatives from the People Before Profit campaign and members of a group called Forgotten Farmers.
A number of people travelled to Castlebar for the demonstration on buses earlier.
Protesters from Leitrim, Sligo, Galway and Dublin are among those taking part.

 

Protesters making their views known to delegates on their way into the Fine Gael National Conference.

At the conclusion of the march through the town, a number of speakers outlined their opposition to Irish Water during speeches outside the conference venue.

Around 200 people have been listening to the speeches outside the TF Royal Theatre.

Independent Sligo Councillor Declan Bree told the gathering that nothing short of the abolition of water charges would be accepted by those opposed to the measures.
He said the Government needed to know that no carrot was big enough to quell the anger of people regarding charges.

Cllr Bree said the jailing of activists would not weaken the resolve of the campaign.
He said it was an outrage that people had been jailed for trying to prevent the introduction of water metering and he called on all those opposed to charges to mobilise and ensure there was a mass campaign of non payment when bills were issued in April.

A number of protesters gathered around a bus transporting delegates to the conference this afternoon and chanted "shame", as the Fine Gael members made their way into the afternoon session.

Man charged with uncle's murder outside wedding

A 46-year-old man has been charged with murdering his uncle who was shot dead outside a wedding in Co Fermanagh ten days ago.
Patrick McGinley, from Lisfarrell, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, appeared at Omagh Magistrates Court today.

 
He was accused of murdering 63-year-old Bernard 'Barney' McGinley, outside a church in Newtownbutler, on 11 February.
During the short hearing, Patrick McGinley spoke only to confirm that he understood the charge against him and a PSNI detective told the court he could connect the accused with the charge.
Mr McGinley was remanded in custody.
No application was made for bail, but his solicitor Seamus Leonard said an application for bail would be made to the High Court.

President Michael D Higgins one of ten #HeForShe champions

President Michael D Higgins has accepted an invitation from the United Nations to become one of ten global champions of its #HeForShe campaign for gender equality.
The President announced the move at a conference in Dublin Castle on the advancement of women's rights and empowerment.
The most recent EU figures show that Ireland's gender pay gap is increasing, standing at 14.4% in 2012 compared with 13.9% in 2010 and 12.6% in 2009 and 2008, President Higgins told the gathering.
However, he said there has been a steady decrease in teenage pregnancies in the two decades since the Beijing Platform for gender equality was adopted by 189 states.
The conference, which is reviewing the implementation of the platform, has been organized by the National Women's Council and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Authority.


United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson launched the #HeForShe equality campaign last September.
President Higgins said that five of the top six occupational groups for women in Ireland are also the most popular ones with women worldwide.
For example, in clerical and office work, only one-fifth of the Irish workforce is male.
The first woman to lead An Garda Síochána, Nóirín O’Sullivan, is part of a ground-breaking corps of women who have followed Mary Robinson into leading roles in the criminal justice system.
Ireland has a female Chief Justice, Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions as well as ten women High Court judges.
The Garda Commissioner assured all victims of what she called the crime of domestic violence, many of them female, that the Garda is on their side.
Director of the National Women's Council Orla O'Connor told the conference that although the past 20 years gave them much to celebrate, women make up just one sixth of the Dáil and two out of three lone parents experience deprivation in Ireland.

Missing boy, 3, last seen wearing diapers

Toronto Police released this photo of missing three-year-old Elijah. (Toronto Police photo)
TORONTO - Toronto Police are scouring a North York neighbourhood for a three-year-old boy reported missing Thursday morning.
Elijah was discovered missing from an apartment on Neptune Dr., near Bathurst St. and Hwy 401, around 7:30 a.m.
Surveillance video showed the boy leaving the building on his own around 4:20 a.m., wearing only a T-shirt, diapers and winter boots, Const. Victor Kwong said.
"We are hoping he is not outdoors. If he is outside, he is not dressed for the extremely cold weather," Kwong said.
"We are urging residents in nearby buildings to check stairwells, hallways. Everyone in the area should be looking in their backyards."
The boy was staying at a relative's apartment at the time, Kwong said.
A "massive" police contigent is searching for the boy, including the K-9 and mounted units. The York Regional Police helicopter is also being used in the search.

Can Nigeria defeat Boko Haram?

People march in support of the Niger army's war against Boko Haram in Niamey. Tens of thousands of people marched through Niger's capital Niamey on Tuesday to support the country's military following a series of attacks along the border with Nigeria carried out by Boko Haram militants. The sign reads "Everyone united against Boko Haram." (Tagaza Djibo/Reuters)

Nigeria has been under the gun since Boko Haram, a Taliban-like Islamist movement, unleashed a bloody insurgency in 2009.
After nearly six years of fighting, terrorism and mass atrocities, Boko Haram has pushed oil-rich Nigeria into a near constant state of fear, anger and loathing.
Nigeria, Africa's most populace nation with a population of 180 million people, is a religiously mixed society. The southern part of the country is predominantly Christian, while Muslims are in the majority in the north.
The Christian Association of Nigeria has chided Nigerian authorities for failing to stop Islamist attacks on Christians. Since 2009, violent Islamists have been carrying out a campaign of religious cleansing in the Muslim-majority north, attacking Christian schools, churches and villages.
Nigeria's Muslim community has also been attacked by Boko Haram. Since 2010, the terrorists have been killing Muslim clerics and moderate community leaders who don't subscribe to their brutal interpretation of Islam.
Last year, reports Amnesty International, "more than 4,000 civilians were killed by Boko Haram." According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, the Islamist force has "indiscriminately killed civilians, abducted women and girls, forcefully conscripted young men and boys, and destroyed villages, towns and schools."
Captured territory
"In a shocking display of its military power, Boko Haram seized and controlled territory in the beleaguered northeastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa," a Human Rights Watch report said of Boko Haram's territorial conquests in 2014.
"In my opinion, it is very obvious that Nigerians are extremely fearful of their personal safety because of the evil jihadist terrorist group called Boko Haram destroying and terrorizing innocent people," said Nigerian-Canadian Emeka Njoku when contacted in Nigeria.
"I want to stress this climate of distrust and uncertainty and hopelessness compounded by the fact that people feel that the government is not capable of handling the matter," he said of the current mood in the country of his birth.
"Nigerians are not sure if the military can defeat or slow Boko Haram," Njoku wrote in an email.
"Well-meaning and enlightened Nigerians now know that the army faces many challenges," said Rev. Father Evaristus Bassey, executive secretary and chief executive officer of Caritas Nigeria, which is a local branch of the Roman Catholic Church's humanitarian and international development agency.
According to Bassey, the Nigerian army is "ill equipped" due to corruption within the military, as well as the current government's failure to procure the weapons and equipment the army needs to defeat Boko Haram.
From Njoku's perspective, government officials are failing the people of Nigeria. "The government or political leadership must provide the fearless leadership and determination to fight and defeat Boko Haram," he said.
The enemy within
Bassey believes that Nigeria's military faces enemies from within.
"Internally, the army has challenges of sabotage, as we hear that certain commanding officers are sympathetic to Boko Haram and order their troops to flee at the advance of sometimes less-equipped Boko Haram terrorists; troops then flee and abandon weapons for the terrorists," he alleged.
Religious divisions within the army are another possible explanation for the Nigerian military's inability to crush Boko Haram. "Many Nigerians are sad at the fact that even in the army, religious orientation is affecting discipline and professionalism," Bassey said in an email interview.
"The most surprising stumbling block (to defeating Boko Haram) is the United States, which obstructs most of the efforts of the federal government to procure arms, accusing the Nigerian army of human rights abuses," Bassey said of the Obama administration's reluctance to arm the besieged country's military.
However, the United States has reason to be concerned about Nigeria's human rights record. According to Human Rights Watch, government forces have committed grave human rights abuses against suspected Boko Haram members.
In addition, the human rights watchdog alleges that pro-government vigilante groups are supposedly "implicated in the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and ill treatment and unlawful killing of Boko Haram suspects."
Some Nigerians are unwilling to leave the defence of their communities exclusively to the military, so they have formed local militias, which some describe as vigilantes.
"In the northeast, you have what is called Civilian Joint Task Force," Bassey explained. "The military team in the northeast is a joint task force drawn from all arms of the military, so the vigilante named itself Civilian JTF.
"One admires the courage of these young Christian and Muslim Nigerians who jointly protect their land. They have been quite helpful to the military, in terms of intelligence and the actual fight against the terrorists. Many, of course, have lost their lives in the process, and I guess we may need to have a day of commemoration for these civilian soldiers."
Amnesty International confirms that Boko Haram has "repeatedly targeted communities for their perceived collaboration with the security forces." According to the NGO, communities in northeastern Nigeria with state-sponsored militia "have suffered particularly brutal attacks."
"In my opinion, Nigeria needs military assistance from U.S.A., Canada and/or other countries under the right circumstances to fight Boko Haram -- like the international community is doing in Iraq and Syria," Njoku said.
However, he acknowledged that the situation in Nigeria is unique. "The Nigerian situation is a bit complicated due to the internal dynamics," Njoku conceded. But he was quick to add that "Boko Haram is a part of the global jihadist terrorism (movement) and needs international actions."
No military solution
The problem of Islamist violence in Nigeria won't be resolved by military action alone, Bassey said. "Islamic scholars need to do a lot more to promote a true Islam that is reflective of a mutually harmonious society," he said.
"I was quite impressed by the statement Islamic scholars around the world issued clarifying the position of the Qur'an, against the proclamation of the leader of ISIS. They need to show more how Islam respects the right to life, not just of the faithful but of every human being and how the holy prophet's teaching although sacrosanct, are to be adapted to present day rights-conscious society."
According to Bassey, the Nigerian government should engage in peace-building. "Our government also needs to know that the violent approach alone does not succeed," he said.
"It must engage moderate scholars and teachers who would sow seeds of respect for others in the minds of the young; and government must never terrorize family members of suspected or convicted terrorists -- rather they should be kind and helpful, giving scholarships to their children and support to their widows," he said.
Follow Geoffrey P. Johnston on Twitter @GeoffyPJohnston.

INEC to decide on poll shift Saturday

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has fixed separate meetings with chairmen and secretaries of all registered political parties, and resident electoral commissioners [RECs] for Saturday to decide whether to go ahead with the general elections scheduled for February 14 and 28.
A statement Friday by Kayode Idowu, the spokesperson for the INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, said after the meetings, “the Commission will address a press conference to brief the nation on its decision with regard to whether or not the general elections will hold as currently scheduled.”

Mr. Jega had on Thursday briefed the National Council of States on the preparedness of the Commission to conduct the 2015 general elections. He made a presentation titled “Preparations for the 2015 General Elections: Progress Report”.
The National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the nation’s services chiefs also briefed the Council on the current security situation in the North-East.
Mr. Jega told the Council that his commission was in a better position to conduct election at present compared to its state of preparedness for the 2011 election.
“Compared with the 2011 General Elections, for instance, our systems are definitely more robust. We believe that we are ready for the elections as planned,” Mr. Jega said.

Ukraine crisis: Russia tests new weapons

 
A rebel Strela-10 air defence system on the streets of Donetsk 

Eastern Ukraine has become a testing ground for Russia's new military capabilities.

When Russia last went to war, in Georgia in 2008, it looked like an easy victory. But Russia's generals were deeply concerned at how badly their forces performed in some key areas of modern warfare.
Russia has spent the seven years since then rearming, re-equipping, and retraining, in order to deal with those deficiencies, and to try to close the capability gap with modern Western armies.
Now the results can be seen in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have gained ground against Ukrainian government troops.
Ukraine's army has not gone through the same intensive modernisation process, and is suffering the effects, facing the newer weapons and systems supplied by Russia.
Two key examples are the use of UAVs (drones) for surveillance and targeting, and the use of electronic warfare.
Both technologies were identified as areas of weakness in the Russian forces in 2008, and both have been intensively developed since. Now, they are in widespread use in eastern Ukraine, placing Ukrainian government forces at a strong disadvantage.Here a rebel Grad rocket system is deployed at a cemetery
Ukrainian forces are short of secure communications systems. The result is that their communications are both subject to jamming, and often also show their location to Russian direction-finding equipment. This can lead to being swiftly targeted by Russian artillery, including Grad and other, more powerful, rocket systems.
As part of the non-lethal aid provided by the US, Ukraine has received special radar to try to pinpoint the source of incoming mortar fire. But their use is limited by the difficulty in communicating the results to other forces.
And, for the time being, Ukraine has not received the more sophisticated systems that would pinpoint the source of fire from longer-range artillery systems.

Tanks and missiles
Ukrainian forces are also outclassed by the tanks arriving from Russia. Not only are these more modern than Ukrainian models, but Ukraine is also short of effective anti-armour weapons in working order.
All of these systems, plus medical support and field hospital equipment, are on the list of Ukrainian requests for support, to increase the survivability of their forces when confronting new Russian military equipment.
Losses of Ukrainian aircraft over the conflict zone show how well-equipped the Russian-backed separatists are for air defence. This includes not just the Buk missile system - blamed for downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 - but also others like Strela for use at lower altitudes and shorter ranges, and a wide range of lighter, shoulder-launched missiles.

Most of the Ukrainian army's equipment is also Russian-made

Kiev funeral: Thousands of soldiers have died on both sides in the conflict

Independent experts, as well as Nato, Western leaders and the Kiev government, say there is clear evidence of direct Russian military involvement, despite Russian denials.
As part of its military transformation process, Russia has been practising for conflict with an intensive programme of exercises and manoeuvres, involving tens of thousands of servicemen across the country.
These exercises have been increasing in size and complexity, and often have a storyline which is directly hostile to the West.
Now, in addition, Russia has the benefit of a live testing ground in eastern Ukraine, where it can try out its new weapons, systems and tactics. The results - especially if all of these are tested against any potential new US defensive systems supplied to Ukraine - will help Russia assess how its forces would fare in a direct confrontation with Nato

PHOTO SPEAK AT THE FLAG DOWN CEREMONY OF THE COMMONWEALTH YOUTH COUNCIL Y-CAEV AND SIGNING OF THE ABUJA PEACE ACCORD!!!

              WITH PEACE, EVERYONE WINS!

 The Commonwealth Youth Council launched the Youth Campaign Against Election Violence (Y-CAEV) in Abuja, Nigeria on the
3rd February, 2015.

Dorathy Njemanze, the Commonwealth Chairperson, Ahmed Adamu and Ejike Asiegbu

The Commonwealth Youth Council President, presenting an Ambassador Y-CAEV Certificate to Joy Tiku Enighe

Nigeria Youth are for Peace

United for Peace

Joy Tiku Enighe, Ahmed Adamu and Joseph Lifu

Ahmed Bachaka and Ejike Asiegbu

The Commonwealth Chairperson, Ahmed Adamu presenting a State Marshal Certificate to Hamzat Lawal

The Commonwealth Chairperson, Ahmed Adamu signing the Abuja Peace Accord

A cross section of participants

Joy Tiku Enighe signing the Abuja Peace Accord (CYC)

Joy Tiku Enighe, Ahmed Adamu and Joseph Lifu

Ahmed Adamu and Dorathy Njemanze

Ahmed Adamu and Ejike Asiegbu

A cross section of participants

A cross section of participants

A cross section of participants

A cross section of participants

A cross section of participants

A cross section of participants

A cross section of participants

Photo session

Photo session

Photo session

photo session