My thoughts and views are not solely mine
AFTER the euphoria of Saturday’s governorship elections, the winners will confront the grim reality of managing insolvent states. Just how precarious the finances of the 36 states have become was highlighted by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, which said their combined debts exceeded their revenues by N2.39 trillion in 2017, a 53.31 per cent deficit. With …
Continue reading "Debts, insolvency driving states to bankruptcy"
Nigeria grabbed the headlines for the wrong reason in the United Arab Emirates recently, when five of her youths smashed a bureau de change outlet in the Sharjah Emirate of the country and made away with Dh2.3 million (about N226.1 million in our local currency). The UAE police said the robbers had travelled on March …
Continue reading "Curb export of crimes abroad By Punch Editorial Board"
Less than two months to the end of his first incumbency, it is now beyond doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari loves to bask in the short-term escapism of foreign trips. In the past week, the President has been to three different capitals in West Africa and the Middle East. With misery, insecurity and economic implosion …
The political class has destroyed so many things in this country. The health system has been destroyed. People now travel abroad for medical attention. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Emir of Kano, has indicted politicians on the growing rate of insurgency in the country, claiming that the political class is aiding kidnapping and thuggery. Speaking at …
Continue reading "Politicians Have Destroyed Institutions In Nigeria, Says Sanusi"
There is a battle for survival. If you’ve ever read the book, ‘Animal Farm’, that’s what it is. Because there is economic insecurity, it leads to social insecurity, which means that you are now reduced to your animalistic instincts Bismarck Rewane, Chairman of the Presidential Technical Advisory Committee on the Implementation of the National Minimum …
Continue reading "There’s Nothing Like ‘Rich’ In Nigeria, Says Rewane"
Dr Bose Akhigbe-Ojo and Dr Joy Akhigbe-Kalu. Dr Joy Akhigbe-Kalu obtained her doctorate for Nursing Practice. I have very proud of her and her family, her husband Charles Kalu and their daughter Nonye Kalu.
BBC newsreader, who has bowel cancer, says he felt guilty using disabled loos George Alagiah has told of his feelings of guilt at using disabled toilets when he was not visibly disabled but had a stoma bag attached to his stomach. The BBC newsreader, who has stage-four bowel cancer, also said he had to get …
Edo State is one of the states in the country where the politics has always attracted the attention of the nation due to the fact that the players are politically sophisticated. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruled in the state during the leadership of late Chief Tony Anenih until November 12, 2008, when the former labour …
Exclusive: Official figures reveal a mental health crisis in Britain's immigration detention estate, as the number of people on suicide watch grew by 5% in 2018, to 541 people. Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News; Press Association via AP Images Michael had only been in detention a handful of hours when he attempted to take his …
Government policies in Zimbabwe are worsening the country’s economic crisis, causing immense hardship to those less well-off, and crushing the human rights of those who dare complain, a group of UN experts* has warned. “We are gravely concerned that, as the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates, the Government is pushing people further into poverty,” the experts …
Continue reading "OHCHR | Zimbabwe policies hitting poor hardest, say UN rights experts"
25. (1) The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth-namely- (a) every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria; Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this …
Editorial On January 24, 1980, Immigration officers arrested Alhaji Darman on the strength of a deportation order signed by the Federal Minister of internal affairs Alhaji Bello Maitama. The deportation order entitled "Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman's Deportation Order 1980", stated amongst other things that "...Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman at present in Nigeria ought to be classified as …
Continue reading "Shugaba, Atiku and the Nigerian constitution"
The first time Heineken amazed me was in Tunisia, in early 2011, when I was covering the Jasmine revolution and the fall of President Ben Ali for a Dutch business newspaper. During my reporting, I discovered that Heineken maintained close ties with the kleptocratic family clan that had ruled Tunisia for almost 25 years. It …
‘Modern slavery is one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time,’ says Penny Mordaunt The UK government is backing an advertising campaign urging Nigerian women and girls to find jobs at home instead of “risking a life of modern slavery” in Britain. Posters are to be placed in schools, churches and marketplaces in …
The Court of Appeal has reiterated that a migrant can be regarded as a “persistent offender” for the purposes of deportation law even if he or she has not committed a crime for some time. The case is Binbuga (Turkey) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWCA Civ 551. Mr Binbuga came …
Almost a year after it first broke, the Home Office has opened a compensation scheme for those affected by the Windrush scandal (the Scheme). It expects to pay out up to £310 million to victims. We provide in this post a brief outline of how the Scheme works, who can claim and how. There are …
Continue reading "How to apply to the Windrush compensation scheme By Nick Nason"
Oshiomhole, against his narrative actually visited Saraki… here is the evidence! The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole is used to public shows. He lives as if every situation in life is a piece of drama that must be acted out. Even at that, he does not respect the rules …
Continue reading "Understanding Adams Oshiomhole By Abraham Ogbodo"
Netanyahu, Trump and Putin: A love story The Israeli prime minister has worked hard to grow his political bromance with the presidents of Russia and the US. Call him a crook, call him a warmonger, but who other than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could boast two successful summits with both US and Russian presidents …
Shehu Usman Chindo Yamusa III is the Emir of Keffi In our series of letters from Africa, Nigerian novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani visits an influential traditional ruler who often swaps his royal garb for boots and a hoe in a bid to encourage his subjects to take up farming. When the Emir of Keffi in …
Continue reading "Letter from Africa: Nigeria’s farmer king by Shehu Usman Chindo Yamusa"
Less than two months to the end of his first incumbency, it is now beyond doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari loves to bask in the short-term escapism of foreign trips. In the past week, the President has been to three different capitals in West Africa and the Middle East. With misery, insecurity and economic implosion …
Continue reading "Buhari’s unproductive foreign trips by Punch Editorial"
Consistently the most popular article on Free Movement, somewhat depressingly, is the list of immigration and nationality fees. The fees charged by the Home Office for processing visa, settlement and nationality applications are high, set far above the actual administrative cost to the department. Fees constitute a significant source of revenue for the department and …
Continue reading "Immigration and nationality fees lack “basic fairness” By Conor James McKinney"
The Y2K bug, also known as the Y2K problem or Year 2000 Problem, was a major perceived threat of the late 1990s. The Y2K Scare was a phenomenon at the turn of the 21st century where computer users and programmers feared that computers would stop working on December 31, 1999. The UK exiting the EU, …
R (OAO Harris) v London Borough of Islington. High Court (Admin) CO/1282/2019 (unreported, settled March 2019.). This is a settled judicial review, I’ve seen the grounds, interim order and final consent order. It raises a number of issues about the performance of the new Housing Act 1996 Part VII duties as amended by the Homelessness …
Continue reading "Ending duties after the HRA By Giles Peaker"
No person has done more in living memory to undermine the functioning of the US government than the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. Yes, Donald Trump has debased and defiled the presidency. He has launched blistering attacks on Democrats, on judges he disagrees with, journalists who criticize him and the intelligence community. But McConnell is …
 WE may be doing Little Thurock Rectory today as there has been a large fire on the Globe Estate. It reminded us of the area and its mix of industry and housing. It is often one of those seats that Labour fancy their chances, the Conservatives worry a little bit about and then they …
I had been a lazy author. I was so absorbed in my excitement for my first visit to Nigeria, that I didn’t bother to look through Aké Arts and Book Festival’s draft program in time to communicate any adjustments I had before it had to be finalized. When I did finally look through the program days before the 2016 edition I discovered a curiously …
Continue reading "Why I’m no longer talking to Nigerians about race by Panashe Chigumadzi"
The Zimbabwe government has come under fire after information emerged that it spent thousands of dollars on importing legal wigs from the UK for local judges, with critics lambasting the purchase as a colonial hang-up and a waste of money. The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that the country's Judiciary Service Commission placed an …
Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye Working on a clearer image of Nigerian corruption. The popularity of Nigeria’s Nollywood movie industry—the world’s second largest by volume—was covertly deployed for a social cause five years ago. Researchers from Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) collaborated to commission a feature film …
Africa is a beautiful continent of 54 countries. However, tourists harbour conflicting thoughts about touring African countries. This uncertainty is caused by factors like social instability, war, famine which render some African regions unsafe for touring. Our focus will be spotlighted on ten of the safest African countries tourists can freely visit and enjoy: Morocco …
Continue reading "10 African countries to tour without security fears"
Roy Cohn, the lawyer who embraced infamy during the McCarthy hearings and Rosenberg trial, influenced Donald Trump to turn the tabloids into a soapbox Donald Trump is a man who likes to think he has few equals. But once upon a time, he had a mentor: Roy Cohn, a notoriously harsh lawyer who rose to …
It was as if Mark Meadows were watching a political car crash in slow motion. In November 2018, when House Republicans lost their legislative majority, it rendered him a bit player in Donald Trump’s Washington. Then in late November and early December, a more paralyzing fear began to creep into his mind: Republicans were going …
Getty Images The last known survivor of the transatlantic slave ships, brought to the US in 1860, has been identified by an academic at Newcastle University. Sally Smith was kidnapped from West Africa by slave traders and lived until 1937 in Alabama, staying on the plantation where she had been enslaved. Hannah Durkin made the …
Assiduous Free Movement readers and European law aficionados may remember the case of SM (Algeria) v Entry Clearance Officer [2018] UKSC 9, covered in this previous post. The case has now gone from the Supreme Court to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which has held that although a child who has been placed …
Continue reading "Unrecognised adoptions can attract EU free movement rights By Nath Gbikpi"
OPINION: Hours after the death of Nipsey Hussle, images of his last moments thoughtlessly flew across the socialverse. But they were a failure to consider some important concepts People mourn for rapper Nipsey Hussle on April 1, 2019 in Los Angeles. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Image) As someone who has just recently moved to Los …
We now know for sure what kind of man Donald Trump is. Beyond the tweets, the rallies, the interviews, the debates, the press conferences, the scandals, the best-selling yet unclearly sourced insider books and the unrelenting braggadocio and aggrandizement, a comprehensive read of the Mueller report brings to life the portrait of the man Donald …
Continue reading "Donald Trump Is Weak and Afraid. The Mueller Report Proves It by David French"
Deborah Ighiwiyisi Agbonayinma, the daughter of Ehionzuwa Johnson Agbonayinma, a federal lawmaker and Pension Ad Hoc Committee Chairman, has been working with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) with fake foreign and local university degree certificates, The Nation reports. Hon Agbonayinma is representing Egor/Ikpoba-Okha of Edo State in the House of Representatives. Deborah was sacked about …
Continue reading "Edo State Lawmaker’s Daughter Sacked For Working With Forged Certificates"
A 52-year-old Canadian, Kyliuk Morris, on Tuesday said policemen in Ogun State assisted him to deliver the N2.5m ransom paid to his kidnappers to regain his freedom. Morris, in a chat with PUNCH Metro in Abeokuta, said his ordeal started when he was abducted by the hoodlums at Fidiwo, in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area …
Continue reading "Police delivered N2.5m ransom to my kidnappers – Canadian by Tunji Bosun"
Boris Johnson? Michael Gove? Dominic Raab? Be afraid, be very afraid. Theresa May's press statements are like reboots of the "Star Wars" franchise. There's a brief flash of excitement ("Is she going to call a general election?" "Is she going to say 'f**k the lot of you, I'm off for a gin?'") followed by crushing …
Continue reading "Tory leadership race (to the bottom) by Paul Dallison"
 Robert Mueller's redacted report comes after the special counsel spent more than two years investigating President Donald Trump and his associates' possible ties to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Mueller Report An annotated guide to the redacted Mueller report Here’s POLITICO’s rolling analysis of the hotly anticipated …
Continue reading "An annotated guide to the redacted Mueller report"
Nigeria constitution 292. (1) A judicial officer shall not be removed from his office or appointment before his age of retirement except in the following circumstances - (a) in the case of - (i) Chief Justice of Nigeria, President of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the …
A divorce lawyer explains the wildest case she ever had to oversee — and what it can teach everyone about family law. Divorce doesn’t always have to be messy. But it often is. And amidst the intense emotions that surround the dissolution of a marriage, things can sometimes go wildly off the rails. Regina A. …
My parents’ home, in Umujieze, Nigeria, stands on a hilly plot that has been in our family for more than a hundred years. Traditionally, the Igbo people bury their dead among the living, and the ideal resting place for a man and his wives is on the premises of their home. My grandfather Erasmus, the …
Continue reading "My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave-Trader"
Almost a year ago, the US public radio network, NPR, interviewed Robert Mueller’s biographer, Garrett Graff. The book was a classic American hagiography. The “wealthy” Mueller went to Princeton University, where he played lacrosse, then followed his teammate David Hackett to Vietnam after Hackett had been killed trying to rescue an ambushed platoon. His biographer …
If anybody just types in “Creepy Tiny hands Trump Videos” you come up with a treasure trove…I think Trump has a big problem here because he calls it his entitlement, this country calls it completely inappropriate”.
Editorial The historical reason for S21 was because the government claimed it will increase the supply of housing in the private sector. This was because it wanted to reduce the social housing sector. Now the government wants the private sector to provide tenure security for tenants while the government whistles.Private landlords will no longer be …
Continue reading "Government plans to ban no-fault evictions in England by BBC"
A racist caricature from 19th-century minstrel theater still haunts America. An image from "Blackface," the photographer David Levinthal's series depicting racist memorabilia. Credit: David Levinthal Nineteenth-century minstrel entertainers spawned a racist caricature that endures to this day when they darkened their faces to portray black people as grinning, dancing simpletons. The white men who donned …
Continue reading "How Blackface Feeds White Supremacy By Brent Staples"
The Irish backstop is an attempt to avoid renewed instability in Northern Ireland, but opponents say it could keep the United Kingdom trapped in the European Union’s customs union forever. The dispute could determine the future of Brexit. What’s happening? As the March 29 deadline to leave the European Union approaches, the UK Parliament has …
Continue reading "Brexit’s Stickiest Point: The Irish Backstop by Andrew Chatzky"
Behind the Scenes of the Referendum The United Kingdom’s vote last year to leave the European Union was a seismic event. The British people ignored the advice of the leaders of all their major political parties and of virtually all experts. George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, told voters that leaving would wreck the …
Continue reading "Why the British Chose Brexit by ANAND MENON"
Editorial: Sudan has now breached a cardinal principle of the AU. No change of government by force of arms. Sudan will now be excluded from the AU until it reverts to democratic rule. President arrested after months of protests that escalated with mass sit-in on Saturday Sudan’s army has removed President Omar al-Bashir from power …
Nigeria ranked sixth most miserable country in the world The human condition inhabits a vast continuum between “miserable” and “happy.” In the sphere of economics, misery tends to flow from high inflation, steep borrowing costs and unemployment. The most surefire way to mitigate that misery is economic growth. All else equal, happiness tends to blossom …
In his first term, President Muhammadu Buhari left too much undone. In his second, he needs to be bold. One of humanity’s most hopeful developments in recent decades has been the dramatic drop in extreme poverty. In 2000, some 1.4 billion people lived at or below the global poverty line of $1.90 a day. Today, the …
President Donald Trump had finished a round of Sunday golf and repaired to his private quarters at his Palm Beach, Fla., club when the news arrived. After 22 months, the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation were in. Moments before, around 3 p.m. on March 24, Trump’s White House lawyer Emmet Flood received a …
There is little difference between the country’s ruling party and the opposition. A campaign poster for President Muhammadu Buhari, who is running for re-election. Nigeria has come a long way from 1999 when the army handed over power to a democratically elected government, but the bar must rise from simply conducting marginally free and fair …
Continue reading "Why Nigeria’s Elections Won’t Change Anything By Elnathan John"
Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People’s Democratic Party, attend an election campaign rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square, in Lagos, Nigeria, on Tuesday, before Saturday’s elections. (Sunday Alamba/AP) WhatsApp’s use as a tool for political campaigns and sharing fake news across the global south has become increasingly apparent in the past …
Making his face into a mini-frown, tainted with a dash of mockery, he said: "You're telling me Nigerians are flying past Italy to get British pizza? While you're at it, why not fly past Amsterdam to get weed in Romania? Like what are you doing? This is so extra. Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture, …
In Applications, Civil Procedure, Rule Changes The writer has looked several times at judicial warnings against one party writing to the court without copying in the other party. Those warnings have now been inserted into the Rules. The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2019 introduce a new CPR 39.8 which comes into force on the 6th …
If repair and maintenance work is not carried out by the owner, the occupant will be able to take them to court Tenants are going to be given the power to sue their landlords over damp and mould in their homes when a new law comes into force. From March 20, the Homes (Fitness for …
Continue reading "This new law allows tenants to sue their landlords for cold and mouldy homes"
As you are no doubt aware, under the ‘Right to Rent’ rules, landlords are responsible for checking the immigration status of potential tenants and face fierce penalties if they rent to someone who does not have the ‘right to rent’ in the UK. Which can include a prison sentence. Many have complained that this is in …
Continue reading "The High Court Rules that Right to Rent breaches Human Rights law"
The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has alleged that some of the judges on the panel to hear the petition of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are working for President Muhammadu Buhari. In a statement by Ikenga Ugochinyere, its spokesman, the coalition said it had seen the names of …
Continue reading "CUPP: Agents of Buhari are among judges listed to hear Atiku’s petition"
Existing US sanctions on Zimbabwe in place since 2003 have been extended for a further 12 months. President Donald Trump says the southern African nation poses an "unusual and extraordinary" threat to US foreign policy. He blamed President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government for failing to implement the "political and economic overhaul required to rebuild its reputation". …
Whoever came up with the wise saying that Nigerian politics is dirty deserves an award for perspicacity. I have just returned from that dirtied, muddled up, confused, uncertain, unpredictable zone of Nigerian life and society with truck loads of stories in my head and enough impressions in my mind to last me another life-time. As …
Continue reading "Nigeria 2019: Notes from the field by Reuben Abati"
Pius Adesanmi was one of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash March 10. (Josh Hotz/AP) NAIROBI — At a workshop in 2013, the Nigerian writer Chuma Nwokolo came up with a thought-provoking exercise: He asked the more than 40 assembled African thinkers to inscribe their own epitaph. “Here lies Pius Adesanmi,” one wrote, “who …
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CUXLFXU/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_tai_uN4NCbXB4YCWM Naija no dey carry last, please buy this funny take on our country by a late but insightful author of several books and articles on the sad snail journey of Africa’s most populous country. Your purchase will contribute to his family purse and make you laugh out loud.
Even as doodlebugs smashed into the surrounding streets, George Orwell consoled himself with this thought: “One thing that has always shown that the English ruling class are morally fairly sound, is that in time of war they are ready enough to get themselves killed.” Present those who governed us with an existential crisis, he argued …
The “enemies of the people” are not those opposing Brexit, but the reckless politicians who have brought us to this act of self-harm. We are reduced to this. A humiliated, supplicant British prime minister sitting alone in a Brussels side room for six hours while the rest of the European Union discusses our fate. A government …
Continue reading "The humbling of Britain By Martin Fletcher"
Michael Musto argues that wearing rose-colored glasses always leads to an unfair distortion — looking back on the best of the past while comparing it to the worst of the present. Sascha Kilmer/ Getty, Unsplash, Illustration by Katie Kosma Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used To Be was the hilarious title of Oscar winning actress Simone …
Continue reading "The Problem With Nostalgia by Michael Musto"
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Capitol Hill in June 2018. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) What happens when immense bigotry gets lodged in a small mind? Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is what happens. During a recent interview with the New York Times, King asked, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” …
Continue reading "Republicans need to condemn Trump’s brazen bigotry By Michael Gerson"
Late Professor Pius Adesanmi In our country, the more we try to conclude complicated and inconclusive democratic matters including elections, the more inconclusive they seem. As we tried to conclude inconclusive gubernatorial matters at the weekend, the more complicated the inconclusive elections became everywhere. It came to pass at the weekend that the Osun state …
Continue reading "Can we rebrand Nigeria without conquering mediocrity? By Martins Oloja"
Hell, the Moron is guilty. He is a thief, a conspirator, a cheat, riding coaches and horses through the American constitution. Conclusion Remove the bastard from office and deliver him to the maximum prison and throw away the keys.
In a landmark decision the High Court has declared a key plank of the Government’s “hostile environment” policy discriminatory and incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In a judgment handed down today, Mr Justice Martin Spencer ruled that the “Right to Rent” scheme - which prohibits landlords from renting properties to people …
Continue reading "Landmark ruling declares “Right To Rent” scheme unlawful"
Accused of a racist act, the congressman threw a fit. Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina, objected to a statement from a Democratic member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee during testimony from Michael Cohen on Wednesday. Representative Mark Meadows President Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, testified before Congress with evidence …
Continue reading "Mark Meadows and the Victim Card By Kashana Cauley"
cfrd8-files.cfr.org/sites/default/files/audio-files/20190304_TPI_Campbell.mp3
Shooting by Trumpilistas in New Zealand, Netherlands, the US. Stabbings in the UK and other countries.
Hizballah, Ansaroul Islam and Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam Wal-Muslimin (JNIM) are set to be banned following their proscription as terrorist organisations. A draft order, laid in Parliament today, will proscribe Hizballah in its entirety alongside Ansaroul Islam and JNIM who operate in the Sahel region in Africa. Subject to Parliament’s approval, from Friday when the order …
Continue reading "Hizballah to be banned alongside other terrorist organisations by UK Home Office"
FORMER TRUMP lawyer Michael Cohen’s Wednesday hearing before the House Oversight Committee was explosive not for what was new — but, depressingly, what was not new to anyone watching this administration with clear eyes. The takeaway: President Trump is a liar with a defective character — and, possibly, a criminal. Corroborating allegations previously revealed in …
The rules for citizens can be rewritten at a whim, we should not let go of the centuries of legal protections that predate them Under ancient Roman law, those who were accused of the most heinous crimes were stripped of their status as citizens. They became known as “homo sacer”, or “sacred man” – sacred …
In Applications, Avoiding negligence claims, Civil Procedure, Relief from sanctions, Setting aside judgment In Workman v Deansgate 123 LLP [2019] EWHC 360 (QB) Mr Justice William Davis allowed an application to set aside a default judgment and relief from sanctions. The most surprising procedural aspect of this case is the defendant’s failure to file a defence …
Ogboru As the results of the Delta State governorship election trickled in yesterday showing the Peoples Democratic Party’s Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa cruising comfortably to another term, there were reports that his main challenger, Chief Great Ogboru had departed the state for Lagos.  Great Ogboru…insists he should have been governor of Delta State Ortom takes …
Continue reading "Delta: Is it finished for Ogboru? By Emmanuel Aziken"
Beset by a raging civil war and the prospect of famine, the Central African Republic is in shambles. One and a half year old Vincent is held by his mother at the Bangui Paediatric Centre in Bangui, Central African Republic. Vincent's mother brought him to the country's only pediatric hospital because he was on the …
BENIN—the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Owan West Constituency, Mike Ohio-Ezomo, kidnapped in his country home near Uzebba was released Saturday night in Owo, Ondo State after 38 days in his kidnappers’ den. It was gathered that his family members, who had struggled to raise the ransom demanded in hard currency , were …
…expresses gratitude to electorate for massive votes …party chieftains delighted at governor’s leadership style The growing popularity of the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, across households in the state has earned the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, an unprecedent political gain, shattering old records and winning all 24 seats in the Saturday …
Reuters Celebrations for President Buhari's supporters and plenty of surprises in the parliamentary vote The re-election of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria's president may not have come as much of a surprise to many Nigerians, but there have been some major upsets in the parliamentary polls. Most shocking has been the collapse of some powerful "godfathers", …
Senate President, Bukola Saraki Some prominent senators in the Eighth National Assembly will not be returning in the next assembly, having lost at the polls on Saturday. Millions of Nigerians on Saturday went to the polls to elect a president who will lead Africa’s most populous country for the next four years. The voters also …
Continue reading "Prominent senators, governors who lost out in Senate race By Azeezat Adedigba"
Three different family members, plus a close friend of Adesanmi’s and a Canadian official, confirmed the sad development to SaharaReporters. Until his death, Adesanmi was a Professor of English at Carleton University. Pius Adesanmi, popular Nigerian professor and columnist based in Canada, was on the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed in the early hours of …
Its Rulers Care More About Power Plays Than Economic Reforms Over the course of his nearly 40 years in power, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe demonstrated again and again how disconnected his rule was from the needs of his people. The violent pogroms he ordered in the 1980s against a largely imaginary enemy in the west of …
Continue reading "What’s Driving the Crisis in Zimbabwe? By CFA"
The “Liberal” Democrats are apparently calling for President Assad’s wife to be deprived of her British citizenship. I am loathe to refer to anyone as “x person’s wife” but this seems to be exactly the basis for the deprivation of citizenship: that she is President Assad’s wife. The remainder of the justification seems very thin …
The governor race in the largest city of Lagos is among those highly contested Nigerians are heading to the polls to elect state and local representatives, two weeks after the presidential poll. Ballots are being cast in 29 of the country's 36 states. In oil-rich Nigeria, some state governors control budgets larger than those of …
Continue reading "Nigerians vote in governor elections in 29 states"
Introduction Building on a practice dating back to antiquity, states forge extradition treaties so they can pursue fugitives and other wanted individuals in faraway jurisdictions. Extradition has become ever more important given the spread of transnational criminal organizations, including those involved in terrorism, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, and cybercrime. The United States has extradition treaties with …
HCWS1379 The Right to Rent Scheme was launched to prevent illegal migrants from accessing the private rental sector, and to tackle unscrupulous landlords who exploit vulnerable migrants, sometimes in very poor conditions. In 2016, a requirement was introduced for landlords and lettings agents in England to take reasonable steps to check that they are renting …
Editorial And by extension Boko Haram in Nigeria. Getty BEIRUT — The dramatic arrival of Da’ish (ISIS) on the stage of Iraq has shocked many in the West. Many have been perplexed — and horrified — by its violence and its evident magnetism for Sunni youth. But more than this, they find Saudi Arabia’s ambivalence …
Please clink the link to listen to the podcast cfrd8-files.cfr.org/sites/default/files/audio-files/20190304_TPI_Campbell.mp3
ASSOCIATED PRESS This article is Part II of Alastair Crooke’s historical analysis of the roots of ISIS and its impact on the future of the Middle East. Read Part I here. BEIRUT — ISIS is indeed a veritable time bomb inserted into the heart of the Middle East. But its destructive power is not as …
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 received the Royal Assent at the very end of last year and is due to come into force on 20 March. You can read an excellent description on the Nearly Legal site. How is this act going to impact on landlords? My Landlord Law members had a …
Continue reading "Fitness for Human Habitation – four points on the new act by Tessa Shepperson"
Trump wants to do to America what he did and does to his companies. America cannot afford Trump and his cohorts. Trump uses other people's money to build his assets and walk away from his debts. He has been bankrupt twice. And he has just uprooted the financial guard of his Goldman Sachs creditors. He …
More than 84 million Nigerians are geared up to vote on 16 February, but what do you know about Africa's most-populous nation and largest economy? 1) Afrobeats - one of its greatest exports Nigerian musicians are touring the world and picking up awards at the forefront of the global craze for Afrobeats. This is not …
Continue reading "Five things about Nigeria: The superpower with no power"
As a socio-legal academic, I just love it when a court has to deal with “the empirical evidence” (and, as an occasional qualitative researcher, also love it when quals are regarded as superior to quants). In R(TW)(No 2) v Hillingdon LBC [2019] EWHC 157 (Admin), the question for Rowena Collins-Rice, sitting as a Deputy High …
Continue reading "Hillingdon’s 10 year rule (Again) By Dave"
There is a warning to anyone considering the use of electronic bundles at trial contained in the judgment of Mr Justice Birss in Invista Textiles (UK) Ltd & Anor v Botes & Ors [2019] EWHC 58 (Ch).THE CASE The judge was giving judgment in a case where witnesses had been cross-examined using electronic bundles. The bundles had …
Civil evidence, Civil Procedure, Witness statements The “exhibiting” of documents to witness statements and affidavits is common. It is surprising how common it is for the exhibit, and the witness statement, to fail to comply with the rules. Here we look at the rules relating to exhibits and useful guidance in relation to the use …
Continue reading "CIVIL PROCEDURE BACK TO BASICS 28: EXHIBITS TO WITNESS STATEMENTS AND AFFIDAVITS"
Disgraced junior lawyer MP’s jail term not unduly lenient, Attorney General rules MP Fiona Onasanya A disgraced junior lawyer turned MP who was jailed for perverting the course of justice will not have her three-month sentence extended after the Attorney General decided against referring her case to the Court of Appeal. Commercial property law specialist …
Court documents show baby was locked with his Nigerian mother for 12 days An eight-month-old baby was locked up by the Home Office in immigration detention despite being a British citizen, it has emerged. The details of the case appear in court documents revealing that the Home Office successfully won an appeal against a ruling that the …
AFP In our series of letters from African journalists, the editor-in-chief of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, Mannir Dan Ali, considers why Africa's most populous country is struggling to educate its children. Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Nigeria's Kaduna State, likes to make headlines. While receiving a visiting World Bank delegation recently, he revealed that a …
Continue reading "Why Nigeria is failing teachers and pupils BBC"
Reuters/Simon Dawson Spreading the gospel. African immigrant populations in Britain are bringing with them a rapidly growing wave of Christianity. Southwark, a borough in South London, stands as a testament to this growth as it is now home to the biggest concentration of African Christians outside the continent. As many as 20,000 congregants are estimated …
Continue reading "African-led churches are taking charge of the gospel in England By Yomi Kazeem"
Immigration has been an important element of U.S. economic and cultural vitality since the country's founding. This interactive timeline outlines the evolution of U.S. immigration policy after World War II. 1952 As the Cold War deepens, the U.S. government consolidates its immigration and naturalization laws into one comprehensive federal policy. The McCarran-Walter Act ends policies …
Continue reading "U.S. Postwar Immigration Policy 1952 – 2018 by the Council on Foreign Relations"
Every few years, a single resolute idea about the best way to solve the problems of Nigeria grips the nation. It begins from someone’s fanciful thoughts but gets shared so much that, before long, nearly everyone begins to parrot it. When the last dictator, General Sani Abacha, died in 1998, nearly everyone became persuaded that …
A statue of James Brown in Augusta, Ga., where he grew up. Mr. Brown’s will had set aside money to distribute scholarships for children from the state. A statue of James Brown in Augusta, Ga., where he grew up. Mr. Brown’s will had set aside money to distribute scholarships for children from the state.Michael Holahan/Augusta …
The former Chairman of Ambrose Alli University branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Monday Igbafen who was suspended over allegations of sex for marks has threatened to institute legal action against the institution if it fails to retract its “defamatory materials” within 30 days. It will be recalled that AAU announced Igbafen’s suspension …
Minister of foreign affairs insists 19-year-old does not have dual citizenship Minister of foreign affairs insists 19-year-old does not have dual citizenship Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen and there is “no question” of her being allowed into Bangladesh, the country’s ministry of foreign affairs has insisted, despite Britain’s move to strip the teenager …
Continue reading "Shamima Begum will not be allowed here, says Bangladesh by Esther Addley"
There are various criteria that have to be met if the teenager is to be prevented from returning to the UK. Shamima Begum could face justice if she returns to the UK The decision by Home Secretary Sajid Javid to try to strip Islamic State bride Shamima Begum of her UK citizenship may play well …
Continue reading "Shamima Begum: Can Home Secretary stop IS bride from returning home?"
Esther Kiobel has waged a long campaign for justice The widow of a Nigerian activist suing oil giant Shell over the execution of her husband says his death left her "traumatised" and "poverty-stricken". Esther Kiobel is testifying in court in The Hague, demanding compensation from the Netherlands-based firm. She is among four women who accuse …
Continue reading "Nigeria: Ogoni widow testifies against Shell in The Hague"
Editorial This case showcase the need for careful drafting of witness statements. The judge state as much A cheating Zimbabwean Nurse was ordered to repay ex-boyfriend £116,000 following an alleged affair with another man. 37-year-old Trish Garikayi who is based in the UK admitted that she was given a Porsche 911 and a £100,000 diamond bracelet by love-struck …
During the Second World War in 1944, the student boarders of King’s College, Lagos were moved from the college premises to ‘Bonanza House’ in Customs Street, to enable the Army to use the College buildings. The students went on strike when they felt they were badly treated in their new accommodation. Some of the student …
Continue reading "HOW THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA AND THE CAMEROONS WAS FORMED"
The management of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma in Edo state, has suspended the Chairman of ASUU branch of the University, Dr. Monday Igbafen over alleged gross misconduct bordering on sexual harassment and threats of sex for marks. Leadership reports that Igbafen's suspension order was contained in University’s News Bulletin, dated 13th February and signed by …
Continue reading "Ambrose Ali University ASUU chairman suspended over sex-for-marks scandal"
President Muhammadu Buhari heavily criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when it postponed the 2015 general elections. Then an aspirant under the APC merger, Mr Buhari also criticised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government of systematic rigging. On February 8, 2015, six days away, INEC postponed the February 14 presidential election by six weeks …
Continue reading "FLASHBACK: What Buhari said when INEC postponed 2015 election"
Politicians have lost the plot. But lawyers still grasp Brexit realities In times of crisis, politics usually tramples on the law. But this time a fractured Westminster can’t even agree on the facts Politics and law are entirely different ways of seeing the world, even though they bump up against each other all of the …
Campaign billboards with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and Nigeria's main opposition party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar with his running mate, Peter Obi, in Abuja, Nigeria, on February 5, 2019. Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters Nigerians will go to the polls to cast votes in national elections on Saturday, February 16. The country has a …
Continue reading "What to Watch for in Nigeria’s Election by John Campbell"
From a child’s perspective, seven years of residence in the UK can be literally a lifetime. It may be the sum of all the child’s experience and the UK may be the only home they know in any meaningful sense. On top of that, children do not make their own decisions about moving homes and …
Supporters Buhari hold up brooms at the Lagos rally. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP Muhammadu Buhari’s reputation hindered by allegations about his allies Nigeria’s president, who came to power with a pledge to tackle corruption, has said he needs more time to sort out the problem but has begun no successful prosecutions and has appeared to condone …
APC leader, Adams Oshiomole Nigerian politicians are ridiculous. But during election campaigns aka political season, their ridiculousness rises to new levels. Thus, I am compelled by circumstances to present the inaugural Fawehinmi Political Season Awards. The PPP Award The Preposterous Political Personality (PPP) award goes to Senator Ibikunle Amosun, the outgoing governor of Ogun state. …
Continue reading "Political season awards by Feyi Fawehinmi"
Supporters of President Mohammadu Buhari of Nigera at a rally in Kano last month. Mr. Buhari first took power after a military coup in 1983, and won election in 2015. Supporters of President Mohammadu Buhari of Nigera at a rally in Kano last month. Mr. Buhari first took power after a military coup in 1983, …
Lagos, Nigeria - Four years ago, hundreds of thousands of people had thronged the streets of Nigeria to celebrate Muhammadu Buhari's historic win in the presidential election in 2015, hoping the country's problems would end soon. The former army general had defeated rival Goodluck Jonathan by more than two million votes on the strength of his grassroots …
Continue reading "Has Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari honoured his promises?"
A few months to the 2019 general election, disorderly parliamentary conduct, a prelude to violence, is plaguing state legislative assemblies across the country. These ugly rehearsals executed by unruly lawmakers in a number of states gripped Akwa Ibom State last week. In an offensive aimed at entrenching anarchy in the oil-rich state, a group of …
Continue reading "Akwa Ibom assembly mayhem, threat to democracy"
Godswill Akpabio may determine who wins elections in the oil-rich state of Akwa Ibom "Godfathers" in Nigerian politics don't usually run for office themselves, but many believe they are the ones who decide the election winners and losers. With campaigning well under way for general elections on 16 February, these are the men - and …
Continue reading "Nigeria election 2019: How ‘godfathers’ influence politics BBC"
Editorial At first only the British doctor could determine when President Buhari would resume office and return to Nigeria. Then he returns to Nigeria. Now only German engineers can determine when he will work from his office. God bless us when the Polish have anything to tell us when President Buhari has to do something. …