Nigerian woman sues US airline for ejecting her over body odour

A NIGERIAN woman is in court against the United Airlines, claiming the carrier racially discriminated against her in removing her from her flight at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport following a complaint by a fellow passenger that she had a “pungent” odour.

Hearing the federal discrimination suit filed by Queen Obioma is a court in Texas.

The plaintiff said she and her children were wrongfully kicked off a flight headed to San Francisco on March 4, 2016, the second leg of a three-flight trip from Lagos to Ontario, Canada, where her kids attend school.

According to the lawsuit, Obioma boarded the plane and found a white male passenger sitting in her assigned business class seat, from which he refused to move. When a flight attendant failed to resolve the conflict as the man continued to refuse to move to his own assigned seat, Obioma agreed to take his spot.

Obioma went to the restroom before takeoff and returned to find the man blocking her from accessing the seat for several minutes.

She said that a United staffer, identified as Russel H., instructed her to step off the plane, where she was informed by another United agent that the pilot requested that she exit as the man causing trouble complained that she was “pungent” and did not feel comfortable flying with her.

Shaken, Obioma had her children removed from the flight as well, and the family made their connection five hours later. A frequent flyer member of United’s Star Alliance programme, Obioma said the airline discriminated against her because she is black, African and Nigerian.

United responding to an inquiry on the issue by the Houston Chronicle said:

“We have not yet been served with this suit and due to the pending litigation involved in this matter; we’re unable to provide further comment.”

Obioma seeks punitive damages and legal fees. - The Nation

Crazy - Demo !!! ‘One’ shot dead as Lagos APC congress turns violent

One person was reportedly shot dead on Saturday as the All Progressives Congress (APC) congress in Lagos state turned violent.

TheCable learned that the exercise was going on smoothly at Central School, Dopemu, until suspected thugs invaded the area, shooting sporadically into the air.

The shootings had resulted in chaos in the area as participants in the congress scurried to safety.

The thugs were said to have killed one Nurudeen Olanose while an unconfirmed number of persons were injured.

The police say three persons have been arrested over their alleged involvement in the killing.

Chike Oti, spokesman of the command, said the suspects have been taken to the criminal investigation department, Panti, for interrogation.

He said: “We confirmed that one person was killed on Saturday at Central Primary School, Oniwaya Agege. Three persons allegedly involved in the killing have been arrested.

“The suspects have been taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti for interrogations. The victim was killed outside the venue of the APC ward election.

“The victims and those arrested had nothing to do with the election as they were not accredited.”

In a similar development, the congress in Ifako-Ijaiye local government area was brought to an abrupt end as a mild violence erupted over the choice of candidates.

Trouble started when the electoral officers announced some names as elected executive members after which some party members immediately protested in opposition.

The intervention of security personnel on ground prevented a breakdown of law and order.

The electoral officers in charge of the process were whisked away by security officials after some persons attempted to attack them. - Cable Nigeria

Buhari asked to fulfill campaign promise by signing disability bill

The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CDD) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfill a campaign promise he made by giving assent to the disability bill.

Recently, the national assembly transmitted the bill to the presidency for assent. Before then, the national assembly had passed the bill four times but it was never assented to.

Speaking with journalists on Friday in Abuja, David Anyaele, executive director of CDD, said though the president has tried his best to support people with disabilities, a legal framework would achieve more for them.

Anyaele said the refusal of previous administrations to sign the bill was a result of “sheer ignorance”.

“During the campaign, he (Buhari) said he will support the rights of people with disabilities,” he said.

“We are appealing to him to sign the disability bill into law so no one would be left behind. He has tried to support people with disability.

“We went ahead to design a policy brief to highlight the impact of this bill and it should be assented to. It will assist Mr President.”

The executive director said Nigeria has about 25 million people living with disabilities and that keeps increasing because of insurgency and poverty.

“This figure is quite above population of some countries in Africa,” he said.

“It’s noteworthy however that many countries in Africa have disability laws being fully implemented in their countries. Ghana for instance passed disability law in 2006 and established National Council on Person with Disability.

“It is our belief that signing the bill into an act will go a long way to ameliorate the challenges that confront persons with disabilities into equal opportunities like their contemporaries in other countries in Africa.” - Cable Nigeria 

PL latest : Guardiola anticipates Liverpool Premier League title challenge

Pep Guardiola believes Liverpool can launch a challenge for Manchester City's Premier League crown next season and voiced his admiration for Anfield boss Jurgen Klopp.

City can become the first team in Premier League history to register 100 points in a single campaign by beating Southampton on Sunday, a feat that would round off a season where Guardiola's men have swept all before them – all, that is, apart from Liverpool.

A record-breaking run of 18 consecutive Premier League victories laid the foundations for glory in the first half of the season, with a 5-0 thrashing of 10-man Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium fuelling City's ambition in September.

Talk of an undefeated domestic campaign had started to build by the time the leaders headed to Anfield in January, but Klopp's ferocious side prevailed 4-3 in a thriller.

Worse was to follow for Guardiola on Merseyside, as a 3-0 first-leg defeat put the Champions League quarter-final beyond his team, who were beaten 2-1 by in the return.

Liverpool progressed unchecked to a final date with Real Madrid in Kiev – an achievement that means the 25-point gulf between themselves and champions City, along with a failure to make certain of a top-four spot before the final round of fixtures, has avoided a degree of scrutiny.

"I'm pretty sure this season they were a big contender and they will be next season," Guardiola told reporters.

"I will not say just Liverpool [will challenge] but it's still true. Liverpool, the way they play and the quality of their players - not just up front, I think [Virgil] van Dijk has helped them a lot to be more consistent in the defensive department.

"We are 25 points in front. It's difficult to say it was difficult, but it was."

And former Bayern Munich coach Guardiola certainly recognises a worthy adversary in ex-Borussia Dortmund boss Klopp, whose relentless high-pressing style has regularly provided the antidote to the Catalan's artful precision in their previous encounters.

"Jurgen is a top manager, an excellent manager," he said. "He's created a model that has an offensive style that's always thinking about the spectators.

"He is always positive and creating good environments in his clubs. I admire him because [City midfielder Ilkay] Gundogan was with him, [Bayern striker Robert] Lewandowski was with him and every player speaks so well about him – as a manager and a human being."

Discussing a playing style that has given him plenty of headaches down the years, Guardiola acknowledged Klopp's more direct approach when compared to his own – servicing the forward talents of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and PFA and FWA Player of the Year Mohamed Salah – can be particularly potent.

"I think both teams [City and Liverpool] want to attack, Tottenham do as well," he explained.

"It doesn't matter what happens, they want to try to attack. But I think the way they attack and defend is a little bit different.

"They play more here [centrally]; sometimes we look more for the sides to attack. They are more direct with the wingers. Mane, Salah and Firmino - they play more together and they attack more in front.

"But I think the idea is quite similar in terms of they want to try and win a game [because of] themselves. They don't wait for what will happen.

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"They want to try and make it their game. I wish them all the best in the final. " - Goal

NSCDC arrests retired inspector., 18 others over child molestation

The Jigawa Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense (NSCDC) said it has arrested 19 persons, including a retired police inspector for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old.

The corps’ Spokesman in the state, SC Adamu Shehu, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Saturday.

Shehu said the said the suspects were arrested on Thursday at about 4 p.m., in Kiyawa village, in Kiyawa local government area of the state.

He explained that the arrest followed a complaint received by men of the command from the victim’s brother-in-law.

 “A complaint wss lodged by the brother in-law of a 13-year-old girl at our Divisional office in Kiyawa LGA, on Thursday at about 4 p.m., that his sister in-law, who is an orphan and living with her mother, was being molested.

“Our officers immediately swung into action and started investigating the matter, and in the process were able to arrest 19 people aged between 25 and 60, including a retired police inspector,” he said.

“The young girl, who is a street hawker, told us that some of the men took advantage of her while selling porridge popularly known as “Kunu”, by giving her extra money and others by making unfulfilled promises,” he said.

The spokesman added that three of the suspects have confessed to have committed the crime while the rest denied it.

According to him, three of the suspects, who confessed to committing the the offence, have already been arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Dutse and were remanded in prison.

He added that rest are still being investigated while they girl was taken to the hospital for medical tests and care.

British brothers who grew up in Nigeria now selling ‘Ikoyi Chapmans’ in UK

Mike and Garry Robinson, two brothers from Leamington, are selling a Nigerian drink known as ‘Ikoyi Chapmans’ in the UK.

The brothers grew up with their parents in Nigeria where they fell in love with the drink made with citrus fruit and bitters.

Mike and Garry returned to the UK to attend boarding school but they often returned to Nigeria during holidays — and they always had Ikoyi Chapmans each time they came back.

“After leaving school, Garry and I both became professional squash players but it has always been our dream to commercially produce this drink,” Mike told Leamington Courier.

Following their retirement from playing professional squash about five years ago, they embarked on the quest pursue their dream.

“We went to various drinks companies, but many only want an energy drink or a fruit drink,” Mike said.

“We were taking them a drink that had a unique taste.”

Dohler, a drinks company, eventually bought into their vision.

By April, after a bit of experimentation with the flavour and finding a bottling company, the first bottles finally came off the production line.

Ikoyi Chapmans is currently being sold in a few bars and cafes in Leamington and Warwick, and their ultimate goal is to get it on supermarket shelves.

“It was a long, drawn-out process, so it was emotional to see our drink go round the bottling line,” said Mike.

“We were just absolutely elated – we can’t believe it.

Mike and Garry Robinson, two brothers from Leamington, are selling a Nigerian drink known as ‘Ikoyi Chapmans’ in the UK.

The brothers grew up with their parents in Nigeria where they fell in love with the drink made with citrus fruit and bitters.

Mike and Garry returned to the UK to attend boarding school but they often returned to Nigeria during holidays — and they always had Ikoyi Chapmans each time they came back.

“After leaving school, Garry and I both became professional squash players but it has always been our dream to commercially produce this drink,” Mike told Leamington Courier.

Following their retirement from playing professional squash about five years ago, they embarked on the quest pursue their dream.

“We went to various drinks companies, but many only want an energy drink or a fruit drink,” Mike said.

“We were taking them a drink that had a unique taste.”

Dohler, a drinks company, eventually bought into their vision.

By April, after a bit of experimentation with the flavour and finding a bottling company, the first bottles finally came off the production line.

Ikoyi Chapmans is currently being sold in a few bars and cafes in Leamington and Warwick, and their ultimate goal is to get it on supermarket shelves.

“It was a long, drawn-out process, so it was emotional to see our drink go round the bottling line,” said Mike.

“We were just absolutely elated – we can’t believe it.

Mike and Garry Robinson, two brothers from Leamington, are selling a Nigerian drink known as ‘Ikoyi Chapmans’ in the UK.

The brothers grew up with their parents in Nigeria where they fell in love with the drink made with citrus fruit and bitters.

Mike and Garry returned to the UK to attend boarding school but they often returned to Nigeria during holidays — and they always had Ikoyi Chapmans each time they came back.

“After leaving school, Garry and I both became professional squash players but it has always been our dream to commercially produce this drink,” Mike told Leamington Courier.

Following their retirement from playing professional squash about five years ago, they embarked on the quest pursue their dream.

“We went to various drinks companies, but many only want an energy drink or a fruit drink,” Mike said.

“We were taking them a drink that had a unique taste.”

Dohler, a drinks company, eventually bought into their vision.

By April, after a bit of experimentation with the flavour and finding a bottling company, the first bottles finally came off the production line.

Ikoyi Chapmans is currently being sold in a few bars and cafes in Leamington and Warwick, and their ultimate goal is to get it on supermarket shelves.

“It was a long, drawn-out process, so it was emotional to see our drink go round the bottling line,” said Mike.

“We were just absolutely elated – we can’t believe it. - Thecablestyle 

Demonstration of craze !! Stray bullet kills teenager during Oyo LG poll

A teenager simply identified as Kofo was killed by a stray bullet when some hoodlums clashed with personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) during Saturday’s local government election in Oyo state.

The incident took place in the Idi Oro area of Ibadan, the state capital.

The girl was said to have gone to a pharmaceutical shop to buy some drugs when she met her untimely death.

NAN gathered from residents that some hoodlums were fomenting trouble in the area when personnel of the NSCDC in the state were called in to quell the violence.

The residents alleged that the girl was killed by a stray bullet belonging to the NSCDC in the ensuing clash.

The hoodlums thereafter attacked the NSCDC divisional office in Ibadan North West local government council at Ekotedo, vandalising the premises.

It was gathered that officers of the NSCDC later mobilised and repelled the attack.

Olusegun Oluwole, spokesman of the NSCDC in the state, confirmed the incident, but said men of the command were not responsible for the killing of the teenager.

Oluwole said the hoodlums were already shooting before the arrival of the NSCDC team.

He told NAN that the case was now under investigation by the police.

“Our men are not responsible for what happened, but I can tell you now that the case is with the police,” he said. - Cable Nigeria

Cultists kill 3 farmers, injure 21 others in renewed clash in Delta

Rampaging cultists terrorizing Cable Point of Asaba and its environs in Delta State have allegedly killed three farmers in the area, and injured twenty-one others in a renewed clash on Friday night.

Mr. Nnamdi Chukwuede, Chairman of Asaba Community Vigilante who spoke to DAILY POST in Asaba, confirmed that the three farmers were shot dead during a rival cult war, while twenty-one others within the area sustained severe injuries, and are presently being treated in a private hospital in Asaba.

He said: “the corpses were deposited at the private hospital mortuary, while efforts were being geared to arrest the perpetrators.

“The victims were killed in a shot out during the cult rival war in the area, we have been doing our best, but it seems the cult groups are increasing by day”.

Investigation revealed that cult related clashes had in the past three years increased in Asaba, Ibusa, Okpanam and its environs with no fewer than forty-three persons killed.

The Police Spokesman in the State, DSP Andrew Aniamaka told DAILY POST that “the identities of the suspects have been unmasked; we are on their trace, we will not relent until they are brought to book”.

Also, the Police Operatives in Ugborikoko community, near Effurun, have arrested three suspected armed robbers in the area, and recovered three locally made guns from them.

The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Mohammad Mustafa who spoke to DAILY POST said: “the police detectives at the Effurun Police Division acted on a tip-off, and swooped on the suspects while they were robbing a prominent business woman, Mrs. Stella Obeh in the area at gun point”.

He warned members of the public against the use of private security guards, adding many of them leaked information to robbers. - Daily post

Defying the tides of misfortune: the migrant babies born at sea

Mercy, Francesca, Newman, Diabam and Sophia were the names their mothers chose. What they had no control over was where their babies were born.

As hundreds of thousands of migrants risk their lives on the perilous sea crossing from North Africa to Europe, dozens of newborns have taken their first breath aboard rescue ships in recent years.

"There were a lot of people in the rubber boat, we were all packed together... the pain was awful," said Stephanie, a Nigerian woman who gave birth to Francesca aboard an aid boat.

There are many elements of a tortuous sea crossing that can push pregnant women travelling aboard crammed vessels into labour -- stress, the vibration of boat engines, even the relief of being rescued from danger.

But the chance of a woman having to give birth on the perilous voyage is ultimately a question of numbers.

Since 2014, almost 80,000 women have landed on Italian shores, not including adolescents.

The majority of them are young and many are pregnant.

"I've met many women who were raped," said Marina Kojima, a Japanese midwife who spent several months aboard the Aquarius, a rescue ship jointly run by NGOs SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

"Often they have to sell their bodies in order to get a place on the boat."

For these women, pregnancy makes the perilous journey through the desert into hellish Libya even more difficult, and giving birth at sea can be a scarring experience.

 Births, deaths 

Giulia Marinig, a recently qualified doctor, remembers a hectic 48 hours in October 2016 when three women went into labour aboard the Dattilo migrant rescue ship.

"We barely had time to realise what was happening and after just 45 minutes a little boy was born," said the 26-year-old.

"I was working on autopilot. Just trying to do my best for the patients, we didn't sleep for two days."

Marinig reckons there were around 30 other heavily pregnant mothers on board the Dattilo, and a number of women carried babies in their arms they had recently given birth to in Libyan detention centres.

Even if their birthing suites amounted to the ship's hard floors with plastic crates as cots, the successful deliveries that night brought a shimmer of light to dark two days -- 10,500 migrants had been picked up in the Mediterranean and a total of 50 corpses discovered.

For relief workers, delivering newborns alive and healthy is such a powerful experience that the European Union re-baptised its anti-trafficking operation in the Mediterranean Sophia in tribute to a Somali girl born in August 2015 on a German ship.

A baby born aboard the Aquarius in 2017 became the inspiration behind this year's French Eurovision entry, simply called "Mercy".

And the tributes go both ways.

Stephanie chose to name her girl Francesca after Pope Francis while little Desire Alex, born on the NGO boat Aquarius in 2016, was named after the ship's captain.

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 Citizenship dead-end 

But even if the 35 babies born aboard Mediterranean rescue vessels in recent years defy the odds to make it safely to Europe, their ordeal is just getting started.

According to maritime law, children born at sea are considered nationals of the ship's flag carrier: Italy for Francesca, Germany for Sophia, the United Kingdom for Mercy.

But in these countries, restrictive citizenship laws mean the babies are not entitled to a European passport.

Upon arrival in Italy, their unusual birth affords them no special treatment and they often get lost among the masses.

Mercy and her mother were taken to Mineo reception centre in Sicily, the largest in Europe and long dogged by scandals of embezzlement and trafficking.

It still houses nearly 3,000 people who sometimes wait years for an answer to their asylum applications.

Little Francesca, and two others, Newman and Favor, born on the Aquarius in 2016, were luckier: their parents were taken in by smaller centres which offered legal support, Italian courses and independent accommodation.

On the advice of German sailors, Sophia's mother continued her journey and was granted asylum in Germany.

They all share the same hope: that their children can go to school and grow up to live a life less precarious than their birth. - AFP 

Lesbos: Europe's migrant barrier nears breaking point

At the heart of Moria, an overcrowded refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, is a dark rectangular building ringed with police guards and coils of razor wire. Taking photographs of it is prohibited.

It's here that thousands of migrants are interviewed by asylum officers — and ultimately informed whether they will ever be allowed to leave the island.

Holding up a tattered asylum card that reads "Forbidden to travel outside Lesbos," 40-year-old Syrian Ziad Rashid said he was supposed to be deported back to Turkey after he unsuccessfully appealed his failed application. But Turkey's effective refusal to re-admit migrants means there's nowhere he can go.

"I've been here for two years," says Rashid, struggling to find the words in broken Greek and English. "It's a big problem."

Lesbos is facing a fourth summer of crisis. It's one of five Greek islands near the coast of Turkey being used by the European Union to form a barrier to migration after more than a million people came through here in 2015-16, heading to western Europe.

But with 7,000 inhabitants, the refugee camp at Moria is now at more than 300 percent capacity, and outbreaks of violence, often triggered by trivial disputes, are increasingly common. A clinic run by the aid group Doctors Without Borders helps treat the sick among the camp's 2,000 children, but has to turn less serious cases away.

Even so, more keep arriving: The number of island arrivals has surged this year from about 50 a day in 2017 to around 200 a day in recent weeks. Asylum applications are backed up by nearly three years, according to Lesbos' regional governor.

Currently, asylum seekers on five Aegean Sea islands — Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros, and Kos — are banned from traveling on to the Greek mainland as part of the European Union's controversial "containment policy." That's causing severe overcrowding at the islands' camps, and the government has faced legal challenges and protests against the measure.

Meanwhile, to try to bypass the islands, an even higher number of migrants and refugees are now crossing Greece's heavily militarized land border with Turkey in the northeast of the country.

That has forced Greece to overhaul its policy, and parliament is now debating draft legislation aimed at easing pressure on the islands. Under the proposal, migrants would be allowed to move to camps on the Greek mainland, but they would remain under restriction and could be banned from leaving the regions of the country where they are placed.

The plan has already drawn fire from human rights groups, which argue that containment is to blame for poor living conditions on the islands.

"This situation causes distress, violates people's rights, and insults the dignity of some of the world's most vulnerable people. It's an open wound for Greece and human rights," Dimitra Spatharidou, from the Greek office of Amnesty International, told a parliamentary committee.

Amnesty observers recently visited island camps, and found hundreds of people sleeping in makeshift tents, children sleeping in unsupervised sites, and some resting in fields they say were overrun by rats.

"We saw dozens of men with papers in their hand saying they were suffering from depression, anxiety disorders, and had suicidal dispositions; terrified women at risk of sexual violence in a European country that should be providing them with safety," Spatharidou said.

The government has also promised to speed up the processing of asylum claims by streamlining procedures and hiring additional staff and translators. But new arrivals on Lesbos and other islands are far outpacing the number of people being transported to the mainland on compassionate grounds or because their asylum applications have been approved.

Spread over a hillside, Moria's shoebox-shaped trailers and tents are home to refugees from Syria, Iraq, Congo, and over 50 other of the world's black spots of war and hardship. The camp, crowded but still generally kept in good order, spills into the neighboring fields, where asylum seekers — mostly African men — have little hope of leaving.

Serafin, from Togo, who was too afraid to appear on camera or give his last name, sleeps in a child-sized bunk bed. There are 70 more bunks like his wrapped in gray blankets for privacy and crammed into a single tent they call Little Turkey.

"It's not easy, not easy at all. You can see where we sleep. And the smell," he said, abruptly overcome by melancholy when asked about his prospects. "I don't know what will happen. I miss my family."

The island containment policy started two years ago, when the massive flow of migrants was halted. The EU encouraged countries on the route west to close their borders, asked NATO to patrol the eastern Aegean Sea, and pledged 6 billion euros ($7.1 billion) to Turkey to hold back migrants and accept deportations from Greece.

EU countries have accepted 22,000 refugees from Greece since the agreement between the EU and Turkey was reached, while just 2,000 have been deported to Turkey. That failed to offset new arrivals, and more than 16,000 migrants remain on the islands while more than 40,000 are on the mainland. A planned new round of resettlement has been complicated by the refusal of several EU members including Hungary and Poland to join the scheme.

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Dimitris Vitsas, Greece's migration minister, told parliament the new measures will need several months to take full effect.

"A period of difficulty lies ahead. We are fully aware of that fact," he warned lawmakers.

Vitsas traveled to Lesbos last week, along with 19 other members of the Cabinet and the prime minister, to promise more help to the island, from improvements in the ambulance service to faster farm subsidy payments.

In a town hall meeting, Vitsas was berated by island residents complaining about petty crimes that have risen since the camps opened, and others who said they felt their good will toward people fleeing war had been exploited by Greek and European policy-makers.

Many island residents are angry to be missing out on a tourism boom that's helping the country emerge from a decade of financial crisis. Business owners closed their stores for 24 hours in protest at the government visit, and street protests turned violent.

"We all welcomed the refugees. But there is a problem and it has to be taken seriously ... We have a good quality of life here and it's been taken away," said Akis Argiropoulos, a hotel manager in the island's capital, Mytilene. "Without the proper facilities and policing, the island cannot handle all of this burden." - AP