Photo News: Okada riders take over Lagos roads as Gov Ambode goes to sleep

From the look of things, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State no longer cares about the unruly activities of commercial motorcyclists popularly called Okada as operators now ride with impunity on highways and express roads from which they have been restricted.

The Lagos State Road Traffic Law which came into effect on August 2, 2012 restricts the operations of commercial motorcycles on about 475 out out of the over 9,000 roads in Lagos State.

It is now a common sight to see commercial motorcyclists riding roughshod over Lagosians on inner roads, major highways and expressways in the state.

Rather than enforcing the traffic law, the enforcement agencies, especially the police, have allowed the motorcyclists to operate by extorting money from them.

Ever since Governor Ambode was prevented from securing a second term ticket by his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the governor appeared to have lost interest in governance and allowed impunity, disorder and indiscipline to reign supreme in the state.

A commercial motorcyclist using the pedestrian walkway along Ikorodu road.

Okada operators take over Iju Ishaga road

Okada operators causing confusion along Lagos-Ikorodu expressroad at Ojota

Okada operators take over the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway at Abule Egba

Unruly commercial motorcyclists passing through the BRT lane along Ikorodu road.

Unruly Okada operators driving against traffic on Mile 2-Apapa express road

Okada operators riding against traffic at Lagos-Abeokuta express road (Ikeja Along)

Commercial Motorcyclists at the ever-busy CMS, Lagos Island

Okada operators driving against traffic at Abule Egba

Okada operators riding against traffic on Lateef Jakande, Agindingbi, Ogba

Commercial motorcyclists under the Falomo bridge, Ikoyi

 Okada operators at the ever-busy CMS, Lagos Island

Okada riders driving against traffic on Lateef Jakande road, Agindingbi

- PM NEWS

2019: Atiku will increase hunger, take Nigeria back to recession – Amaechi warns

The Director-General of President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has cautioned Nigerians against voting for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in the 2019 elections.

According to him, PDP is a party of very hungry politicians who will spare nothing to loot the public treasury again, increase the ‘hunger’ of the masses and take the nation back to recession.

He said this yesterday at the flag-off of President Buhari’s campaign in Uyo Akwa-Ibom state.

Amaechi blamed the ‘hunger’ currently suffered by Nigerians on the havoc wreaked on the nation’s economy by the previous administrations of the PDP.

He said: “They (the PDP) said you are hungry. You are hungry because they stole the money. If the money was here, you wouldn’t have been hungry.”

Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers state, added: “If you vote for the other party (PDP), let me tell you what will happen. They are so hungry that if they come out, they will be too busy stealing money that by the time Nigerians realise it, we are back to recession.”

He said corruption is one of Nigeria’s major problems, and that President Buhari was not giving up on the anti-corruption fight.
“We got in and saw the challenges. We never knew they had stolen all the money. We thought they had a conscience to leave some money behind.
“You know, the difference between us and the other party (PDP) is that they are not saying that they are not corrupt.

“They say we are corrupt, but APC is also corrupt. They agree that the president is not corrupt. What they are saying is those around the president are corrupt. But they agree that they are corrupt.
“We are saying as APC that we are not corrupt and that we are fighting corruption. Whether you are APC or PDP, when you are corrupt we will fight you,” he said.

- DAILY POST

Former Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood, who appointed Arsene Wenger, dies aged 82

Former Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has died at the age of 82, the Premier League club has announced.

Hill-Wood joined the Arsenal board in 1962 and served as chairman from 1982-2013.

Hill-Wood's time at the helm included the club's title-winning eras of managers George Graham and Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal won two league titles, the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup under Graham, who was appointed by Hill-Wood in 1986.

Hill-Wood also presided over the appointment of Wenger in 1996. The club won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups under Wenger before Hill-Wood stepped down due to ill health in 2013.

Hill-Wood's involvement in Arsenal had continued a long family tradition. Both his grandfather, Sir Samuel Hill-Wood, and father, Denis Hill-Wood, had previously served as Gunners chairman.

Hill-Wood was also instrumental in the formation of the Premier League in 1992 and he oversaw the north London club's successful move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium in 2006.

An announcement on the club's website read: "Peter and his family's influence on the club cannot be understated, but at this most difficult time for his family and friends, it is Peter the man who we remember with great fondness. Our thoughts are with his wife Sally and his children Sarah, Julian and Charles." 

- THE TELEGRAPH 

Witness in Air Marshal Badeh’s trial forfeits N263m

A prosecution witness in the N3.9 billion fraud trial of late Air Marshal Alex Badeh, has forfeited N263 million to the Federal Government.

The interim order of forfeiture was granted by Justice I. E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, the same day that Badeh was killed on his way to Abuja, from his farm in Nasarawa.

Late Badeh was a four star flag officer of the Nigerian Air force who served as the 18th Chief of Air Staff and the 15th Chief of Defence Staff of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, had through an ex-parte application filed on December 3, 2018 prayed the Court to grant the interim forfeiture of the said money, believed to be proceeds from illegal transactions linked to the funds meant for purchase of arms for the military.

The application is subject to the provisions of section 29 (b) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004.

The money has been deposited in the safe custody of the EFCC Recovery Account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

In granting the order, on December 18, 2018, Justice Ekwo ruled that “a publication of the notice is to be simultaneously made by EFCC in a national newspaper and the EFCC website; inviting all persons/bodies who may have interest in the said sum to show cause why the final order of forfeiture in respect of the sum of N263 million should not be made in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria”.

- PM NEWS

Boko Haram: Future of millions of children and women at risk in Nigeria -UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has accused the Boko Haram terrorists’ factions of carrying out grave atrocities against children in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region over the course of 2018.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports a submission of the UN agency entitled ‘How the world failed children in conflict in 2018’. In the submission, the agency maintained that the world failed to protect children in conflicts in Nigeria and 14 other countries in 2018.

UNICEF said the future of millions of children living in Nigeria and other countries affected by armed conflict were at risk, as warring parties continued to commit grave violations against children, and world leaders failed to hold perpetrators accountable.

The other countries are Afghanistan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Myanmar, Palestine, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.

UNICEF added that children living in countries at war had come under direct attack, had been used as human shields, killed, maimed or recruited to fight.

The UN children agency said rape, forced marriage and abduction had become standard tactics employed by the mainstream Boko Haram terrorists and the factional Islamic State West Africa Province.

UNICEF said: “In northeast Nigeria, armed groups, including Boko Haram factions, continue to target girls, who are raped, forced to become wives of fighters or used as ‘human bombs’.

“In February, the group abducted 110 girls and one boy from a technical college in Dapchi, Yobe State.

“While most of the children have since been released, five girls died and one is still being held captive as a slave”.

In the Lake Chad basin, ongoing conflict, displacement and attacks on schools, teachers and other education facilities have put the education of 3.5 million children at risk, UNICEF said.

“Today in northeast Nigeria, the Lake region of Chad, extreme north of Cameroon and Diffa region of Niger, at least 1,041 schools are closed or non-functional due to violence, fear of attacks, or unrest, affecting nearly 445,000 children.”

Across all these countries, UNICEF said it worked with partners to provide the most vulnerable children with health, nutrition, education and child protection services.

“For example, in October, UNICEF helped to secure the release of 833 children recruited into armed forces in northeast Nigeria, and is working with partners to reintegrate them into their communities,” it said.

UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes, Mr Manuel Fontaine, said children suffering atrocities and the number of countries in conflict hit new peak in 2018.

“Children living in conflict zones around the world have continued to suffer through extreme levels of violence over the past 12 months, and the world has continued to fail them.

“For too long, parties to conflict have been committing atrocities with near-total impunity, and it is only getting worse. Much more can and must be done to protect and assist children.

“2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, yet today, more countries are embroiled in internal or international conflict than at any other time in the past three decades.

“Children living through conflict are among the least likely to be guaranteed their rights. Attacks on children must end,” Fontaine said.

UNICEF called on warring parties to abide by their obligations under international law to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and water infrastructure.

UNICEF also called on states with influence over parties to conflict to use that influence to protect children.

“Much more needs to be done to prevent wars, and to end the many disastrous armed conflicts devastating children’s lives.

“Yet even as wars continue, we must never accept attacks against children. We must hold warring parties to their obligation to protect children.

“Otherwise, it is children, their families and their communities who will continue to suffer the devastating consequences, for now, and for years to come,” Fontaine said.

- PM NEWS