The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), Theresa May has branded Nigeria home to the "poorest people in the world".
It's noteworthy that the statement came barely a day ahead of her scheduled visit to the country.
The Prime Minister made the assertion while delivering a speech in Cape Town, South Africa, on Tuesday, 28th August 2018.
Mrs. May, scheduled to visit Nigeria on Wednesday 29th August 2018 being today, added that Africa has
the highest number of poor people in the world, with Nigeria being the
poorest.
She said: “Much of Nigeria is thriving, with many individuals
enjoying the fruits of a resurgent economy, yet 87 million Nigerians
live on less than $1 and 90 cents a day, making it home to more very
poor people than any other nation in the world."
According to her, the focus is to achieve "inclusive growth", noting
that UK would invest in Africa to create more jobs to combat poverty and
at the same time tackle global challenges.
Buhari Returns After A 10-Day Vacation
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President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja, the Nigeria's capital territory after 10 working days holiday spent in London, the United Kingdom (UK).
The presidential plane conveying Buhari and few of his aides landed
at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,
Abuja, at about 6:38p.m.
President Buhari was received at the airport by Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State,
the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha,
Service Chiefs and the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.
Others at the airport to welcome the president included cabinet
ministers, the acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) and members of the presidential media team.
It would be recalled that President Buhari on Friday August 3, 2018 embarked on a 10-day working holiday and
transmitted a letter to the President of the Senate and the Speaker,
House of Representatives to that effect in compliance with Section 145
(1) of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, as amended.
While the president was in London, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo acted in his absence in line with the said constitution.
Former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan has died.
The Kofi Annan Foundation said the former UN boss, who hails from Ghana and won the Nobel
Peace Prize for humanitarian work, died on Saturday, 18th August 2018 at the age of 80.
He died in Switzerland after a brief illness, according to a tweet by the said Foundation.
“It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan
Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the
United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on
Saturday 18th August after a short illness”, the Foundation tweeted.
Mr. Annan served as U.N. Secretary General from 1996 to December
2006. He had earlier served in different capacities within the same
organisation.
The Ghanaian was the second African to head the UN after Egypian
Boutrous Boutrous Ghali, who was in charge between January 1992 to
December 1996.
His tenure as UN secretary-general coincided with the Iraq War and the HIV/Aids pandemic.
After serving for 10 years at UN, Annan served as the UN special
envoy for Syria, leading efforts to find a peaceful solution to the
conflict.
Kofi Annan described his greatest achievement as the Millennium
Development Goals which – for the first time – set global targets on
issues such as poverty and child mortality.
Mr. Annan was born in Kumasi Ghana on 8th April 1938. After studying at
Kwame Nkrumah University, he went on to study economics at Macalester
College, International Relations from the Graduate Institute Geneva and
Management at MIT.
He joined the UN in 1962, working for the World Health Organisation’s
Geneva office. He went on to work in several capacities at the UN
Headquarters including serving as the Under-Secretary-General for
peacekeeping between March 1992 and December 1996.
He was the first UN Secretary General to be appointed from within the organisation’s bureaucracy.
His first marriage was to Titi Alakija, from 1965 to 1983. After the
marriage collapsed, he married Nane Maria Lagergren in 1984.
He is survived by his wife, Nane and three children, Kojo, Ama and Nina.
The Brazil’s Workers' Party (PT) officially named former President Luiz
Inacio Lula de Silva as its presidential candidate on 4th August 2018 even
though he is in prison on a corruption conviction that will almost
certainly bar him from running.
Members
of Workers' Party (PT) wear masks depicting Brazil's former President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during the National congress of the party in
Sao Paulo, Brazil on Saturday.
Lula
has been jailed since April 2018 but leads in opinion polls when included as
a candidate. Unable to attend the convention, he addressed the party in
a letter striking a defiant tone.
“Today our democracy is
threatened,” Lula wrote. “They want to make the presidential election a
rigged card game, excluding the name that is ahead in popular preference
in all polls.”
A
member of Workers' Party (PT) holds a mask depicting Brazil's former
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during the National Congress of the
party in Sao Paulo, Brazil on August 4.
The
convention ended without the PT declaring a vice presidential
candidate, pushing electoral deadlines to the brink and adding a further
degree of uncertainty to what is already Brazil’s most wide-open
election in decades.
Parties have until Sunday to hold
conventions and name candidates, although the consequences for missing
that deadline are unclear with a separate filing deadline on Aug. 15 to
declare nominees to the election authority.
PT leaders, including
party president Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, denied they have a Plan B
candidate to stand in Lula’s place should he be barred from running as
is widely expected. Election law disqualifies people from standing for
office if they have corruption convictions held up on initial appeal.
At
least eight other parties held conventions on Saturday, largely
ratifying expected presidential tickets or backing allied parties’
candidates.
Slideshow (5 Images)
The
Brazilian Sustainability Network Party (REDE) nominated former senator
and environment minister Marina Silva for her third presidential bid,
while the center-right Brazil Social Democracy Party (PSDB) launched the
candidacy of four-time governor of Sao Paulo Geraldo Alckmin.
Silva and Alckmin are polling second and third behind far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro in early polling that excludes Lula.
Alckmin,
who lost to Lula in 2006, said 14 years of Workers Party rule had left
Brazil 13 million unemployed in a sputtering economy suffocated by an
oversized government.
“Nobody tolerates a state infested by
corruption anymore. We are going to unlock the economy by downsizing the
state,” he told the party convention in Brasilia.
Alckmin has
forged a broad nine-party coalition that will give him an advantage in
television and radio advertising time when the campaign officially kicks
off on August 16.
He picked former journalist and senator Ana Amelia as his running mate, a choice aimed at winning over female voters.
Mnangagwa Emerges Zimbabwe's Substantive President ______________________________________________
The interim President of Zimbabwe, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly won the keenly contested Zimbabwe's presidential election, making him the second substantive president of the country, following Mr. Robert Mugabe.
With all 10 provinces declared, Mr. Mnangagwa won 50.8% of votes, compared to 44.3% for opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
Police removed opposition officials from the electoral commission stage when they rejected the results.
The chairman of Mr. Chamisa's MDC Alliance said the count could not be verified.
By narrowly winning more than 50% of the vote, Mr. Mnangagwa avoids a run-off election against Mr. Chamisa.
The president said on Twitter he was "humbled", and called the result "a new beginning".
Mr. Mnangagwa, from the governing Zanu-PF party, took over as president last November 2017 from long-serving leader Mr. Mugabe.
"Thank you Zimbabwe!
I am humbled to be elected President of the Second Republic of Zimbabwe.
Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams.
This is a new beginning. Let us join hands, in peace, unity & love, & together build a new Zimbabwe for all!"
Mr.
Chamisa has insisted he is the winner of the presidential poll, telling
reporters earlier on Thursday 2nd August 2018 that Zanu-PF was "trying to bastardize
the result", something "we will not allow".
But the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) said there was "absolutely no skulduggery".
Rostrum Political crew gathered that six people died after opposition protests in Harare on Wednesday, 1st August 2018 over alleged vote-rigging.
The
elections were the first since Mr. Mugabe, 94, was ousted and were
intended to set Zimbabwe on a new path following years of repressive
rule.
Court Orders Arrest Of INEC Boss
____________________________
Justice Stephen Pam of the Federal High Court
sitting in Abuja has given an order for the arrest of Chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for
refusing to appear in court.
Rostrum gathered that that Justice Pam gave the warrant of arrest following Prof. Mahmood’s absence in court for the third time.
The INEC boss had on July 10, shunned a valid order summoning him to
appear before Justice Pam who had on July 5 ordered Yakubu to appear before
him to show cause why he should not be sent to prison for contempt of
court.
The judge made the order for Mahmood to appear before the court while ruling
on a preliminary objection by INEC and it’s Chairman in a contempt
proceeding filed by Ejike Oguebego and Chuks Okoye, Chairman and Legal
Adviser, respectively of the Anambra State Chapter of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Buhari Embarks On Vacation, Leaves For London Tomorrow
_________________________________________________
The Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari would proceed on another vacation tomorrow being Friday, 3rd August 2018, as was announced by the presidency in the early hours of today.
Using the official Twitter handle, the presidency said the president
would start the vacation in London, the United Kingdom (UK), and has transferred
power to the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
“President @MBuhari begins a 10-day working holiday from August 3, 2018. In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, a
letter has been transmitted to the President of the Senate, and the
Speaker, House of Representatives to that effect.
“While the President is on vacation, Vice President @ProfOsinbajo will be in acting capacity as President.
"President Buhari will be in London for the holiday,” it said.
The trip comes amidst a busy week in Nigeria’s political landscape.
Three governors in Mr. Buhari’s party have renounced their membership and
joined the opposition where they hope to raise a formidable team to
defeat the president in 2019.
The presidency did not elaborate on the specific assignments the
president would engage in while away, a mission that seems more
deliberate than oversight.
It's noteworthy that the president has embarked on several trips in the past in which he
exercised functions that were not necessary parts of his disclosed
itineraries.
The latest trip comes barely three months after the president
traveled to London for Commonwealth leaders’ meeting in April. Although
the event proper was slated for April 18-20, the president left Nigeria
on April 9, raising questions about his health.
However, in some quarters, people are of the insinuation that the president's abrupt quest for vacation was informed by the pressure mounted by the incessant defections hitting the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on a daily basis.
