These are the stories you should be monitoring today:
French President, Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday visit the New Afrika Shrine, a night club in Lagos founded by Nigerian music legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
He is expected to attend an evening which will feature concerts, fashion shows by leading African designers and a meeting with stars from the Nollywood film industry.
Macron who had trained as a senior civil servant at the French Embassy in Lagos in 2004, seven years after Fela died will become the first “real president” to enter the club.
The State Government has announced ahead of the visit, a traffic diversion and restricted movement from 12 noon to 12 midnight on Tuesday, July 3, 2018, around the Alausa, African Shrine/Agidingbi axis.
President Muhammadu Buhari has called for the easy repatriation of looted assets in countries where they have been stashed without procedural technicalities.
According to a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, Buhari made the call in Mauritania on Sunday during his introductory remarks as the leader of the African Union shortly before the commencement of the debate on the African Anti-Corruption Year, as he also called on all other member states yet to ratify the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combatting Corruption to take all necessary measures to sign and ratify it with a view to achieving its universal ratification during this calendar year.
“We must all collectively work to place high on the agenda the need for open and participatory government, as well as the repatriation of stolen assets without procedural technicalities and legal obstacles,” Buhari said.
The theme for this year’s session is: “Winning the Fight against Corruption – A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation.”
Governor of Ekiti, Ayodele Fayose has accused the Federal Government of deliberately delaying allocations to states in the federation as a way of instigating workers in the state against his government, ahead of the July 14 poll in Ekiti.
Fayose who spoke over the weekend in a radio and television broadcast in Ado Ekiti, said: “The Federal Government has refused to share the allocation. They decided to delay so that workers in Ekiti would be angry with Fayose. They held a meeting last week Saturday and decided to delay the allocation so that workers won’t get salaries until after July 14 poll.
“They owe me two budget supports. They delayed the salaries of the workers across the nation because of Ekiti State. Is that a government that loves the masses?” he added.
The Benue Government has praised military troops in the state, Operation Whirl Stroke for drastically reducing the spate of herdsmen attacks.
Lawrence Onoja Jr, State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, who made the commendation in Markurdi over the weekend, noted that “since the commencement of the military operation on May 18, the spate of attacks in Benue have reduced, with most of the invaders being repelled in several communities and some of those displaced enabled to return to their homes, though these have been reduced to rubbles and their means of livelihood completely destroyed.”
Onoja urged the operation to continue to abide and execute orders, as stated by the Acting Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General John Agim, which “include to track, fish out and come down heavily on the camps of the militants and to shoot and kill any cow used as shield,” while reiterating the call of the Benue government for the arrest and prosecution of leaders of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), as well as those of the Fulani Nationality Movement, who he claimed have openly claimed responsibility for the attack in Benue and other states of the country.
“The achievement was a no mean feat and was accomplished at great expense, with some of the security personnel involved paying the supreme sacrifice, while others have suffered various degrees of injuries,” he added.
The Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO) has said 324 judgments were delivered within the last six months by courts designated to hear corruption related cases nationwide.
It also said that 12 of such cases were struck out and judgment have been reserved in 62 cases, leaving 1,479 cases out of the total 1,812 corruption cases pending in courts nationwide as at last November, when it was inaugurated.
Director of Information at the National Judicial Council (NJC) Soji Oye, in a statement on Sunday said that information about the number of cases decided and those pending were contained in COTRIMCO’s “report card” submitted to the NJC.
CONTRIMCO, headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Suleiman Galadima, was inaugurated by the NJC in November 2017 to take a tour of the six geo-political zones to determine the causes of slow pace of corruption and financial crimes cases in courts.
And………… stories from around the world:
Danijel Subasic was the star of the moment as he saved three penalties in the penalty shootout against Denmark to ensure Croatia’s qualification to the quarter final.
Both teams could not create any clear cut chances to book a Quarter-Final spot in 90 minutes and were forced to go into extra time – the second game on Sunday that went the long haul.
Earlier on Sunday, Igor Akinfeev was the hero of his nation as his two penalty saves led Russia to a 4-3 penalty shootout win.
The game was a 1-1 stalemate after 120 minutes of open play. Spain opened the scoring with an own goal from Sergei Ignashevich in the 12th minute, before Gerard Pique handled the ball in the box and Artum Dzyuba converted the resulting penalty.
Akinfeev was, however, the hero of the night with two penalty saves from Koke and Iago Aspas.
Russia advanced to the Quarter-Finals and will now face Croatia on Friday
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador decisively won Mexico’s presidency on Sunday, exit polls showed, setting the stage for the most left-wing government in decades at a time of tense relations with the Trump administration. (Reuters)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition faced an uncertain future Monday, as her hardline conservative Bavarian allies vowed a final attempt at a deal on migrant policy after she was unmoved by her interior minister’s offer to resign. (AFP)
A notorious gangster, Redoine Faid is on the run after escaping by helicopter from a prison in the Paris region.
Faid (46), has been serving a 25-year sentence for a failed robbery during which a police officer was killed, was helped by three heavily-armed men with assault rifles.
This is the armed robber’s second prison break: in 2013, he escaped after seizing four guards as human shields and blowing several doors off with dynamite.
Nearly 3,000 French police have been drafted into the manhunt, a police source has said. “Everything is being done to locate the fugitive,” an interior ministry official said. (BBC)
Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.
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