Asset declaration: Lagos PDP issues 14-day ultimatum to Fashola 

LAGOS State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has given Governor Babatunde Fashola a 14-day ultimatum to declare his assets publicly, else it will mobilise Lagos for a street protest to demand same.
This is as the party accused the governor of having about 60 per cent shares in the multi-billion naira 23-storey hotel that he commissioned in the state on Sunday.
The party gave the ultimatum on Monday in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Taofeek Gani, declaring that there was high level of corruption in governance in the state and that “the governor ploughs the proceeds therefrom into personal businesses, one of which is the newly commissioned 23-storey hotel building which has cost N30 billion to complete.”
The party, while averring that it strongly believed that the governor had about 60 per cent shares in the hotel, said that  he should account for why he personally commissioned the hotel himself.
The PDP, while reiterating that it was convinced that Fashola and his predecessor had indeed plunged the state into debt, lamented that Lagos residents were still not enjoying improved social welfare services despite the fact that the state realised at least N23 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) every month.
“What we see instead are new hotels, shopping malls, airlines, banks, private housing estates, construction companies that are linked to the governor or his predecessor,” the party said.
The PDP, therefore, demanded that Governor Fashola make public his assets within 14 days or else it would mobilise Lagos people for a protest to demand same.

 

Photo: Meet Nigerian Who Witnessed The Amalgamation Of Nigeria In 1914

Obi Asika posted this picture on Instagram of the man who witnessed the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. Also in the photograph is Senator Florence Ita-Giwa.

Train Hits Couple Having Sex On Its Tracks - Woman Killed, Man Loses Both Legs

A thrill-seeking Ukrainian couple met a tragic end after they stopped on their way home to made love on a train tracks and were hit by a train.

According to Ukrainian Interior Ministry, which announced the Saturday morning accident,  the couple 'wanted to experience an extreme sensation near the railroad tracks.
They were returning home from a party at a friend's house when they decided to stop on the tracks.  Reports say they were drunk at the time, so they failed to overcome their natural passion when walking home.'

Unfortunately, the '30-something' woman was killed by the train while her 41-year-old male companion lost both legs, but survived to tell the story. 

Gov. Fashola Finally Unveils The Tallest Hotel In West Africa

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, yesterday, unveiled the N30 billion tallest hotel in West Africa, the Intercontinental Lagos.

The hotel located at Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, is a 23-storey building with 358 rooms, 37 suites and a presidential suite.

The Intercontinental Lagos, a subsidiary of the Intercontinental Hotel Group, IHG, is owned by the Milan Group.

Fashola said the new hotel showed that the economy of the country was witnessing growth daily but without corresponding employment.

According to him, “The new sector is the tourism sector. This is the only virgin sector in the country, and it will help address the challenges of unemployment in the country.”

The governor noted that the new hotel had helped to create new 650 direct jobs in the state, adding that with the construction of more hotels and hospitality outfits, more direct jobs would be created as well as numerous indirect jobs.

Chairman, Milan Group, Ramesh Valechha said the hotel will change the landscape of Lagos and boost the hospitality industry in the state.

He noted that the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, for the project was signed on March 31, 2004 while it took two years to complete the design work before the conceptualisation of the project began.

He revealed that the Lagos State Government, Skye Bank and Wema Bank were supportive of the project.

According to Valechha, building of the hotel cost over N30 billion, while 650 jobs were created for Nigerians.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Oba of Lagos, Oba Riliwan Akiolu 1; ex-governor of CBN, Joseph Sanusi, and other dignitaries.

Female Nigerian Pilgrim From Jigawa Dies In Medina

The Jigawa State pilgrim welfare board on Monday announced the death of one Hajiya Safiya Musa in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
The state’s Executive Secretary for the board, Alhaji Sani Alhasan, announced the death of the pilgrim shortly before the departure of the state’s intending pilgrims to Mecca.
Alhaji Alhassan explained late Safiya Musa who was 58 years died in motor accident on Monday.
Reports from the holy land indicated that the deceased was trying to cross a road in Medina after prayer.
The executive secretary noted that the deceased died in the hospital where she was rushed to after the accident.
The state government had already informed her family.

Bangladesh MP sentenced to death

An MP for Bangladesh’s main opposition party has been sentenced to death by a war crimes court for charges including murder and genocide during the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.
BBC reports that Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, the first member of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) to be tried by the court, was found guilty of nine out of 23 charges.
The BNP has consistently argued that the trial is politically motivated.
Previous verdicts against Islamist leaders have been followed by protests.
The war crimes tribunal was set up by the Awami League-led government in 2010 and opposition parties have accused it of pursuing a political vendetta against its opponents.
Human rights groups have also said the tribunal falls short of international standards.
Security was tight in Dhaka where the verdict was being heard and also in Chittagong, the home district of Chowdhury, where there is likely to be anger at the verdict.
Analysts say the tribunal’s verdicts have exposed profound divisions in Bangladeshi society.

 

MEND leader John Togo for burial 2 years after death

The Defence Headquarters has given the go-ahead for the burial of a notorious sea piracy kingpin and leader of the Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF), John Togo, over two years after he was killed in a clash with troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State.
The Nation reliably gathered that the JTF has received the approval to release the body of the crime lord to relevant authority for burial.
Sources said the delay in burying the scar-face militant, who was a factional leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), was due to the Federal Government’s directives that a DNA test be carried out on his decomposing remains.
Togo was killed in an aerial assault by the Airforce arm of the JTF in May 2011 after a five-month stand-off between his ragtag army and troops of the JTF.
He died after he renounced the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government in November 2010, took up arms and went back to the trenches with a handful of his fellow NDLF members.
He triggered a furious manhunt when he ambushed and killed about six soldiers of a JTF team near Ayakoromo in November 2010; the incident led to the invasion of the community and burning down of about 50 houses in the Ijaw community.
Thereafter, the JTF intensified manhunt for him and his boys, who were encamped at the ‘Israel Camp’ of the group in an isolated boundary area between Bayelsa and Delta states.
He was killed after months of bloody clashes and his gang members buried his remains in a shallow grave before fleeing the scene.
His body was later exhumed when the JTF sent in ground troops, who arrested one of the fleeing militants who led them to his burial site.
The remains could not be buried due to the military’s insistence that a DNA must be conducted to properly identify his body before the manhunt launched for him would be officially called off.
The DNA test, which confirmed the remains as that of Togo, was carried out leading to the recent approval given for his burial.
A top official of the JTF in Effurun Barracks, Capt. Mohammed Abdulahi, was contacted by our reporter, confirmed the report.
He said: “It is true that approval has been given for the burial of Togo, but it is not the task of the JTF to bury him, the body will be released to the Police.”
A source at the JTF’s headquarters, Yenagoa said the approval came last Wednesday.