Wednesday, July 24, 2013

ISLAMIC CLERICS SUPPORT DEATH PENALTY IN EDO STATE, CONDEMN RIVERS STATE CRISIS

Islamic clerics in Edo State have thrown their
weight behind the recent execution of
condemned criminals in Edo State, saying it
was in accordance with the laws of God.
Led by the chief imam of Benin and
chairman the League of Imams in Edo State,
Abdul Fattah Enabulele, the clerics also hailed
the Governor for frowning at same sex
marriage proposal.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the
governor yesterday, the chief imam, who led
other imams in the state to the Government
House in Benin City, commended the
Governor for abiding by the dictates of the
constitution of the nation and his readiness
to uphold and support the African value
system.
“Recently when the Comrade Governor
signed the warrant for four convicted
criminals in the state, there were criticisms
from some quarters. We, the League of
Imams, took a look at the gravity of the
crime, which they committed, that
warranted such. After carefully studying the
briefing of the Honourable Commissioner
for Justice and Attorney-General of Edo State
on the issue, we were all satisfied Edo State
government has done the right thing at the
right time.
“Even the Almighty God will not be happy if
the Governor had not signed the death
warrants. Apart from the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, the holy books,
(the Bible and Glorious Quran) support that
those who kill by the sword should die by
the sword. Those criticising your action
should study the constitution properly and
seriously evaluate the seriousness of the
crime committed by these fellows. It was a
grievous crime committed against innocent
souls, nobody has the right to take another
person’s soul,” he noted.
The Imams, who also frowned at the crisis
in Rivers State said, “When the good people
refuse to do anything, evil people will
continue to prosper in such environment.
The latest drama in Rivers State is not an
issue one should shy away from. It is not
only a slap and shame on democracy; it was
a civilian coup d’etat, which is treasonable in
nature.
“Nigerians are watching an executive
Governor come under assault, supported
and sanctioned by the powers that be. We
need not just watch. Those of us living in
other states should not be indifferent, what
is happening in Rivers State can happen in
any other state. An attack on the state
Governor, who is the chairman of the
Governors’ Forum is an attack on all state
Governors,” he added. Source: Daily Independent

ARMED ROBBERS ARRESTTED IN OSUN STATE

The Police in Osun State have
arrested a gang of robbers said to be
terrorizing the people of the state and other
neighbouring states.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mrs
Dorothy Gimba, said six robbery suspects
were arrested in various locations in the
state following tip-off by members of the
public.
She said items including automatic pistols,
cutlasses, axes and charms were recovered
from the suspects, adding that items stolen
including Blackberry phones, Nokia phones
and other items were recovered from the
suspects.
Gimba who disclosed that the six suspects
will soon be charged to court, said 18
robbery cases were reported to the state
Police Command between June and July
2013.
She stated that the suspected armed
robbers had operated in Osogbo, Ile-Ife,
Ilesa and other major towns in the state,
stressing that the Police were able to arrest
them as a result of their unrelenting efforts
at ensuring a secured state.
Also, the Police Commissioner hinted that
the four students of the Osun state
Polytechnic, Iree arrested for involvement in
cult activities would be arraigned before the
court soon, stressing that the state Police
command has descended heavily on cultists
in the state. Source: The Vanguard

NLC THREATENS TO JOIN ASUU STRIKE

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on
Monday threatened to join the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in
solidarity strike if the Federal Government
failed to address the ASUU demands.
NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar, made
the threat at the opening ceremony of the
“2013 Rain School” in Uyo.
“We call on the Federal Government to
have meaningful dialogue with ASUU with
a view to implementing the agreement.
“The State Governments should equally
obey the law and pay minimum wage to
teachers and the local government
workers as well as the 27.5 per cent
teacher's enhanced salaries.
“Should these strikes persist, workers of
Nigeria will not hesitate to join them in
solidarity," he stressed. Source: The Punch

Monday, July 22, 2013

CHILD MARRIAGE: MATTERS ARISING

Upset by Senate bid to peg official
marriage age in Nigeria at 18, northern
youths, yesterday, lashed out at the
lawmakers, warning them not to stoke the
embers of religious war over the
controversial legislation.
The Senators had last week voted in favour
of amending the Nigerian Constitution to set
the marriage age at 18, a decision that was
promptly challenged by former Zamfara
governor, Ahmed Yerima, who described the
decision of the lawmakers as anti-Islam.
Apparently joining forces with Yerima, who
also initiated Sharia in his state when he
was governor, Arewa youths asked the
Senators to desist from taking action on the
matter so as not to further heat up the polity
along religious, ethnic and political lines and
create avoidable cold war.
The President of the Arewa Youth Forum,
Alhaji Gambo Gujungu, said in a statement in
Abuja, yesterday, that the Senators had
missed the point in amending the law and
exposed themselves as people who were
confused on what to do to justify their
presence in the upper chambers of the
National Assembly.
“The approach by the Senate to this matter
shows how grossly insensitive and poorly
equipped they are in the rudiments of
legislative functions and totally insensitive to
the critical challenges Nigerians are facing
as a people,” the AYF leader said.
“The Senate must be told in plain terms
since it has lost focus, that their core
function as parliamentarians is not to
debate, moderate or decide religions for
Nigerians, or to divide Nigerians on
Christian-Muslim basis or North and South
factions.
“They must also be made to know that their
function does not include breeding
religious war from their politicization of the
Constitution Amendment exercise but to
make laws for peace, good governance,
stability and indivisibility of the Nigerian
Federation as contained in Part II, Section
Four (1,2,3) of the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The senators must be told that what
Nigerians expect is basically principled
oversight functions to address insecurity
tearing the country apart, the increasing
unemployment rate, collapse of health,
education, agriculture and dilapidated
infrastructure.
“Another expectation of Nigerians from the
Senate is to address monumental corruption
being perpetrated with impunity by elected
public office holders and top government
officials that has stifled Nigeria any
meaningful development in Nigeria for
decades.
“But we are sad to note that the Senate has
been painfully reduced from that honoured
pedigree to a mere religious moderation
centre and place of petite issues that tend to
divide the citizens along religious and
ethnic lines and not an arm of government
that should confront our national
challenges.
The youths warned the lawmakers to
abandon the attempt to further instigate
friction in Nigeria by ensuring that every
Nigerian has the religious Freedom to
practice their faith without harassment,
limitation and intimidation.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

AREWA YOUTHS MOBILIZE TO IMPEACH JONATHAN

Angered by the current political crises facing
Nigeria, northern leaders, youths as well as
progressives from other parts of the country
are planning a series of protests geared at
pushing the National Assembly to begin
impeachment moves against President
Goodluck Jonathan.
The President of the Arewa Youth
Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima
Yerima, disclosed this to P.M. NEWS
Wednesday, saying this was the outcome of
the meeting he was part of Tuesday.
He said the mobilisation had begun and
that, all other things being equal, the mass
protests would begin in the coming weeks.
“We are going to organise a mass protest to
the National Assembly for the impeachment
of President Jonathan. The situation under
him is no longer bearable and we cannot
fold our hands to see him truncate a
democracy many fought for with their lives
and blood. We are currently meeting,” he
told P.M.NEWS on the phone.
He urged other progressives to join the
effort to sanitise governance in the country,
saying it was for the benefit of every citizen.
Recalling the incident that occurred in Port
Harcourt, Rivers State, southsouth Nigeria,
Tuesday, during which four governors from
the northern part of the country were held
hostage by anti-Governor rotimi Amaechi
protesters, he said this was why well-
meaning Nigerians had clamoured for a
change of the constitution for true
federalism.
“They came to see the chairman of the
Nigerian Governors Forum(Amaechi)and to
show solidarity, but what happened was
unfortunate.
“We have decided not to look at the issue as
an attack against ‘northern governors’ but
an attack on duly elected governors of the
country. This government does not have
respect for the rule of law.
“Any moment from now, we are going to
start compelling the National Assembly to
start the impeachment of the President,” he
declared.
He also noted that such brigandage cannot
happen in the United States as President
Barack Obama cannot demean any governor
of a state in that country like it is happening
here in Nigeria.
Yesterday, in reaction to the current political
turmoil in the country, six prominent socio-
cultural and political groups in the north-
the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the
Northern Elders Forum, NEF, the Northern
Union, NU, the Arewa Reawakening Forum,
ARF, Arewa Research and Development
Project, ARDP, and the Code Group, CG,
accused the President of leading the country
to anarchy, lamenting the level of
lawlessness and high-handedness that has
overtaken the political landscape of the
country.
They also accused Patience Jonathan, wife of
the President, of abusing the rule of law just
because of her husband’s desire to stay in
office beyond 2015.
Speaking through Ango Abdullahi, former
Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University,
they warned President Jonathan not to
recontest, saying he “must be ready to
concede power to a northerner in 2015.
According to them, “the alarming rate at
which politicians tend to manoeuvre
themselves to vantage positions for the
electoral contests of 2015 is a major threat
to the elections themselves and ultimately
the democratic process.
“The clumsy and embarrassing conduct and
fallout of the election in the Governor’s
forum, the engineered crisis in the ruling
party, the role of the spouse of the President
in affairs of the state and shameful and
disturbing abuse of power and rule of law
in Rivers State are signs that Nigeria is
descending into anarchy and lawlessness
rarely seen in our history.”CULLED FROM PM NEWS

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

GOOD TIPS FOR YOUR HEALTH

Brush up on hygiene. Many people don't know how to brush their teeth properly. Improper brushing can cause as much damage to the teeth and gums as not brushing at all. Lots of people don’t brush
for long enough, don’t floss and don’t see a dentist regularly. Hold your toothbrush in
the same way that would hold a pencil, and
brush for at least two minutes. This
includes brushing the teeth, the junction of
the teeth and gums, the tongue and the
roof of the mouth. And you don't need a
fancy, angled toothbrush – just a sturdy,
soft-bristled one that you replace each
month.
Neurobics for your mind. Get your brain
fizzing with energy. American researchers
coined the term ‘neurobics’ for tasks which
activate the brain's own biochemical
pathways and to bring new pathways
online that can help to strengthen or
preserve brain circuits. Brush your teeth
with your ‘other’ hand, take a new route to
work or choose your clothes based on
sense of touch rather than sight. People
with mental agility tend to have lower rates
of Alzheimer's disease and age-related
mental decline.
Get what you give! Always giving and
never taking? This is the short road to
compassion fatigue. Give to yourself and
receive from others, otherwise you’ll get to
a point where you have nothing left to
give. And hey, if you can’t receive from
others, how can you expect them to
receive from you?
Get spiritual. A study conducted by the
formidably sober and scientific Harvard
University found that patients who were
prayed for recovered quicker than those
who weren’t, even if they weren’t aware of
the prayer.
Get smelly. Garlic, onions, spring onions
and leeks all contain stuff that’s good for
you. A study at the Child’s Health Institute in
Cape Town found that eating raw garlic
helped fight serious childhood infections.
Heat destroys these properties, so eat
yours raw, wash it down with fruit juice or,
if you’re a sissy, have it in tablet form.
Knock one back. A glass of red wine a
day is good for you. A number of studies
have found this, but a recent one found
that the polyphenols (a type of antioxidant)
in green tea, red wine and olives may also
help protect you against breast cancer. It’s
thought that the antioxidants help protect
you from environmental carcinogens such
as passive tobacco smoke.
Bone up daily. Get your daily calcium by
popping a tab, chugging milk or eating
yoghurt. It’ll keep your bones strong.
Remember that your bone density declines
after the age of 30. You need at least 200
milligrams daily, which you should combine
with magnesium, or it simply won’t be
absorbed.
Berries for your belly. Blueberries,
strawberries and raspberries contain plant
nutrients known as anthocyanidins, which
are powerful antioxidants. Blueberries rival
grapes in concentrations of resveratrol –
the antioxidant compound found in red
wine that has assumed near mythological
proportions. Resveratrol is believed to help
protect against heart disease and cancer.
Curry favour. Hot, spicy foods
containing chillies or cayenne pepper
trigger endorphins, the feel-good
hormones. Endorphins have a powerful,
almost narcotic, effect and make you feel
good after exercising. But go easy on the
lamb, pork and mutton and the high-fat,
creamy dishes served in many Indian
restaurants.
Cut out herbs before ops. Some herbal
supplements – from the popular St John's
Wort and ginkgo biloba to garlic, ginger,
ginseng and feverfew – can cause
increased bleeding during surgery, warn
surgeons. It may be wise to stop taking all
medication, including herbal supplements,
at least two weeks before surgery, and
inform your surgeon about your herbal
use.
I say tomato. Tomato is a superstar in
the fruit and veggie pantheon. Tomatoes
contain lycopene, a powerful cancer
fighter. They’re also rich in vitamin C. The
good news is that cooked tomatoes are
also nutritious, so use them in pasta, soups
and casseroles, as well as in salads. The
British Thoracic Society says that tomatoes
and apples can reduce your risk of asthma
and chronic lung diseases. Both contain
the antioxidant quercetin. To enjoy the
benefits, eat five apples a week or a tomato
every other day.
Eat your stress away. Prevent low blood
sugar as it stresses you out. Eat regular and
small healthy meals and keep fruit and
veggies handy. Herbal teas will also soothe
your frazzled nerves. Eating unrefined
carbohydrates, nuts and bananas boosts
the formation of serotonin, another feel-
good drug. Small amounts of protein
containing the amino acid tryptamine can
give you a boost when stress tires you out.
Load up on vitamin C.We need at least
90 mg of vitamin C per day and the best
way to get this is by eating at least five
servings of fresh fruit and vegetables every
day. So hit the oranges and guavas!
SOURCE: THE INTERNET