Court orders rape victim father’s arrest for cutting accused’s manhood

An Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, has ordered the police to arrest and charge father of a rape victim, Dennis Akpati,  for taking law into his hand by slicing off the penis of an alleged rapist, Seun Ogunbanwo.

The magistrate, Mrs. M. B. Folami, gave the order when Ogunbanwo (accused) was brought before her and she felt he had been badly battered by the father of the rape victim.

Akpati and others were alleged to have beaten up Ogunbanwo and using machete to cut part of his body.

Folami explained that under the law, the accused is presumed innocent until found guilty.

Ogunbanwo, a graduate of Business Administration, who just finished his national youth service, was charged with house-breaking and rape, offences punishable under Sections 411 and 358 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 17, Vol. 2, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

It was gathered that Ogunbanwo allegedly made his way into Akpati’s home at 52, Tijani Alabi Street, Ijegun, Lagos, when he knew that the victim (Akpati’s 20-year-old daughter) was alone.

He allegedly had unlawful carnal knowledge of her without the girl’s consent and was caught in the act by the victim’s father, who wasted no time in cutting the accused’s manhood with a machete.

In defence, Ogunbanwo said the victim was his girlfriend and they both lived in the same area.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was admitted bail in the sum of N100, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

The matter has been adjourned till January 18.

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LASU to students: Pay up today or forfeit admission

AUTHORITIES of Lagos State University, LASU, yesterday, reiterated its stand that old and new students pay their stipulated tuition fees and meet registration deadline which closes today.

In a special bulletin, by the management, new and old  students were mandated to pay the stipulated new regime of fees, which, according to sources, ranges between N193, 750 and N348,750;  N25,000 and N33,250 respectively, before close of work today, or forfeit their studentship.

However, mixed feelings have continued to trail the decision of LASU management, as some students have started paying, while others are yet to comply.

The majority of students, who are yet to make payments, have expressed fears of the unknown, in the decision of the management to forfeit their hard-earned admission into the citadel, after the deadline.

According to them, two weeks are too short for them to afford the stipulated fees proposed by the management.

President, Lagos State University Student Union, LASUSU, Akeem Durojaiye, condemned the management’s decision, describing it as impromptu and an act of insensitivity on their part.

He said: “In fact, the unbannable Lagos State University Student Union totally condemns the draconian policy of Professor Obafunwa, LASU new VC. We have issued a bulletin to this effect, urging students who can’t meet the impromptu deadline not to panic.

“How do you expect a student whose parents earn below the N18, 000 minimum wage to pay N250,000 within two weeks? This is outright wickedness,” he  said, adding, “everything is under God’s control.”

Durojaiye further revealed an order by the school management to arrest members of the union, yesterday. He said: “To our surprise, this morning, (Thursday), the Public Relations Officer of the union, Financial Secretary, Treasurer and 10 other students were arrested by men of the Ojo Divisional Police Headquarters, in what they  (management) termed ‘malicious damages’ of the university’s property.

He said the property involved was the students union arcade gate, which the union broke down to gain entrance into their offices as it was locked-up by the management.

“Which property are they talking about, is it theirs or ours? The reason behind the arrest of our members can not be justified, although, they have been bailed this morning (Thursday) by us, but our stand remains that students who may not meet with the impromptu deadline can never forfeit their admission.”

Also speaking, Comrade Olateju Azeez, PRO, LASUSU, described his arrest, that of two other members of the union, and 10 other students as unfortunate.

“We will not be cowed to give-in to the draconian policies of the management”,  assuring,  “students who have their money should go to pay and commence registration, while the union will ensure it stands for those who may not meet the deadline, against the management’s threat that they will forfeit their admission”.

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5 trapped as Lagos govt building collapses

-No fewer than five persons, including a ministry official, were trapped, yesterday afternoon, as a one-storey building collapsed at Alausa, Ikeja, close to the Governor’s Office.

At press time, no casualty was recorded in the incident.

The building, being built by the Ministry of Environment and still under construction, caved in at exactly 2:30 p.m.

The building is about 10 metres away from the main building of Lands Bureau, on the same premises, with a commercial bank adjacent Alausa Millennium Park.

Vanguard gathered that the site engineer, Mr. Oki, was rescued at exactly 3:55pm, after over one and half hours.

One of the onlookers,  told Vanguard that the building belongs to the state Ministry of Environment.

“The Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development came here to mark the building insisting that it lacked approval and that work should discontinue, but the Ministry of Environment insisted on going on with the work,” a worker who did not want to be mentioned, told Vanguard.

The collapsed building. Photo: NAN

In a statement, Director, Public Relations,Ministry of Environment, Mr Fola Adeyemi, explained that Governor Babatunde Fashola had earlier ordered the demolition of the structure when it was observed to be defective.

”In the process of the pulling down, a section of the structure caved in and trapped some of the demolition squad, who were eventually rescued by Lagos State rescue team comprising Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Fire Service and Lagos State Ambulances Bus Services, LASAMBUS,” he said.

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Ekiti group blames Police Minister for PDP loss in Reps Rerun poll

A Political Group in Ekiti State, The Ekiti Patriots (TEP) has questioned the loyalty of the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying; "The minister should be held responsible for the party's loss in the last Saturday House of Representatives rerun election." TEP said in a statement signed by its Convener, Comrade Ebenezer Olaleye that the PDP had at least 60 per cent chance of winning the election, but "the minister bungled the opportunity owing to reasons
best known to him."

The group said signs that Olubolade was not committed to the PDP winning the election had emerged even before the election because "a committed party leader who desired victory for his party in an election holding in his own constituency won't stay away until less than 48 hours to the election."
"From our assessment before and during the election, it was clear that it was an election the PDP ought to have won. "Ekiti people were already tired of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and were obviously willing to vote the PDP, but there was no enough motivation on the part of the PDP.

"Even most PDP leaders were not aware of any arrangement for the election until the Election Day as the minister, who supposed to giving directions did not make himself available until Friday evening.
"Most importantly, information available before the election day was that the ACN was going to use thugs and state government machineries to rig the election, but nothing in terms of security was provided.
Instead, the ACN people were allowed the freedom to destroy votes and use thugs to chase voters away in towns like Erijiyan, Ikogosi and Ipole.

"Even when the minister heard that as against the agreement that no government official, including Governor Kayode Fayemi should move around during the election, the governor was moving round the three
local government areas with a convoy of close to 30 vehicles, all that he (Olubolade) could do was to prepare pounded yam for the governor when he got to Ipoti, his hometown!
"How can a minister be busy eating pounded yam with leader of opposition party when members of his own party were on the field facing election battle? Little wonder, he only managed to win his
polling unit with ‘four votes.'
"Therefore, we are of the opinion that the loyalty of Capt. Olubolade to the PDP is doubtful and the National Working Committee of the party should endeavour to look into his alleged accord with Governor Fayemi
and the ACN."

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Gaddafi daughter seeks ICC probe into his killing

A lawyer for Muammar Gaddafi's daughter said on Wednesday he had written to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ask if an investigation had been launched into the killing of her father and brother.

A copy of the letter, seen by Reuters, said that Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim were "murdered in the most horrific fashion with their bodies thereafter displayed and grotesquely abused in complete defiance of Islamic law".

"The images of this savagery were broadcast throughout the world, causing my client severe emotional distress," said the letter from Nick Kaufman, who represents Aisha Gaddafi.

"To date, neither Ms. Gaddafi nor any member of her family has been informed, by your office, of the initiation of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the brutal murders," the letter said.

Muammar Gaddafi and Mo'tassim were captured in their home town of Sirte in October, two months after rebels seized the capital Tripoli and put the longtime Libyan leader and his relatives to flight.

They were killed soon after their capture while in the custody of fighters loyal to the country's new leadership, in circumstances that have not been fully explained.

Gaddafi's daughter Aisha fled with other family members to neighbouring Algeria in August.

The ICC, based in the Hague, earlier this year issued arrest warrants for Muammar Gaddafi, another son, Saif al-Islam, and the former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, for crimes against humanity.

In the letter, Aisha Gaddafi's lawyer asked if the ICC prosecutor's office was investigating the killings of her father and brother, and if it was taking steps to make sure the Libyan authorities themselves were investigating the matter.

The letter also asked whether the ICC was looking into what reports said at the time was a NATO air strike on Gaddafi's convoy moments before he was captured.

"Is your office investigating the attack allegedly carried out by NATO forces in order to determine whether individual criminal responsibility should be assigned for an unlawful military attack?" the letter asked.

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Fuel subsidy removal will only bring temporary pains - Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan said on Thursday in Abuja that fuel subsidy removal will only bring temporary pains which will fizzle out in no time for Nigerians to reap the gains.

Jonathan, while speaking at the 2011 Christmas Carol held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, said the nation could not continue to use its limited resources to subsidise imported fuel.

He said the fuel subsidy was to the advantage of a cartel and to the detriment of the poor masses.

The president explained that the decision by his administration to remove fuel subsidy was in the overall interest of the nation and not a deliberate move to inflict pains on the people.

``There is nobody who will want to deliberately inflict suffering on his people. Goodluck Jonathan can never be one.

``I know the pains Nigerians are passing through. Yes, I am here in the State House and being fed by government but that does not keep me so far from the people.

``There is no day that I don't interact with Nigerians, both low and high, and I appreciate the pains of the people. We are facing challenges but we must take certain decisions to reposition our economy so that things will ease out.

``If we don't have the courage to do so, then we will continue to be dying in pains until God knows when.

``So, my belief is that, at a particular time, people must be courageous to take the right decisions,'' he said.

Jonathan acknowledged that the Nigerian populace might experience some minor pains for some months because some people would want to exploit the situation.

``I promise Nigerians that there is hope. The pains will not be the way people are thinking.

``The pains will be temporary, and after few weeks or few months, Nigerians will be better off, the economy will be repositioned," he said.

The President noted that professionals in the industry had predicted that Nigeria's oil reserves would dry up in the next 30 to 35 years.

``In view of this, the country must begin to have an alternative plan in order not to subject the future generation to slavery. Government must look for ways to expand the economy.

``We must look for other ways of earning money, we must go back to farming and not just subsistence farming that we know but really taking farming as a business.

``We must create wealth through farming, we must industrialise, we must begin to produce things in this country and we need the money from the subsidy to do that," he said.

Jonathan stated that the current subsidy economy had impoverished the nation and forced government to borrow money to run its affairs.

He said if the trend should be allowed to continue, the economy would be grounded to a halt and everyone would pay dearly for it.

``Even now that we have oil, we are borrowing and we are not expanding the economy. Last year, our capital budget was N1.146 trillion and we borrowed the whole capital budget and even a little more.

``This year, with the present budget, we are paying back the part of the money we borrowed. But what is in the budget is only N560 billion, which is just about half of the money we borrowed.

``Who will pay the balance and when, with the interest on it? There is no way we can continue to run the economy this way," the president said.

He assured that the country would overcome its challenges and remain united, stating that his administration would do its best to fix the economy to blossom.

Earlier in a message, Rev. Oluranti Olubogun, Bishop of the Ife Diocese of the Anglican Church in Osun, had also said that there was hope for the nation despite its daunting challenges.

In the message titled ``Love and Faithfulness of God, Olubogun said God had taken over the affairs of the country and would lead it to the promised land.

The event was attended by many dignitaries, including former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and former Nigerian Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd.).

The Senate President, Sen. David Mark, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, federal ministers and presidential aides were also in attendance.

The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and members of the diplomatic corps also attended the event.

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Boko Haram: Ex-NSAs hold talks today

AS a follow-up to the recent Northern Peace Conference ostensibly held to break the suspicious silence from the North over the Boko Haram terrorist group, a meeting of all former National Security Advisers, NSAs, who are incidentally from the North is to hold today in Abuja.

The meeting, it was learnt, is being convened to address the nationwide activities of militia groups that have the capacity to push Nigeria into a sudden disintegration, thereby bringing to pass the predictions of international pessimists.

An impeccable security source told Vanguard that the parley which is at instance of the Federal Government is being planned against the backdrop of widespread suspicion across the country that the elusive public condemnation of the activities of the Boko Haram by prominent Northerners could mean their endorsement of the group that has led to the loss of several lives in the recent past.

Immediate past National Security Adviser, NSA, Lt. Gen Aliyu Gusua in his capacity as guest speaker at the 1st Shehu Musa Yar’Adua memorial lecture called for the adoption of the right strategies to curtail current security challenges facing the country.

Beside Gusau, who is expected to throw light on his kind of security strategy at today’s talks which holds in an undisclosed location in the nation’s capital, other former NSAs that will attend include Alhaji  Ismaila Gwarzo, Alhaji M.D. Yusuf, Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed and Alhaji Sarki Muhktar.

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Arsonists blow up Ikole INEC office

Residents of Ikole Ekiti were yesterday thrown into confusion when the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, located in  the town  was blown apart with substance suspected to be dynamite.

Vanguard reliably gathered that the perpetrators of the act arrived the INEC office located at Odo Oro Road in the town with a red Sport Utility Van at 10 am.

Upon arriving the INEC office, they  were said to have disguised as officials of INEC from the Headquarters of the commission in Abuja, looking for some vital documents. They were in the office when the real officials of the commission including the Area Electoral Officer were attending a workshop in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

The suspected arsonist were said to have threatened to kill the only security man  on duty, if he failed to cooperate with them.

After overpowering him, they then blew up the building, with the main target  being the store of the commission.

The hoodlums were said to have waited for a couple of minutes to confirm that they achieved their goal.

The fire fighters in the town were said to have made some spirited efforts to  put off the inferno, but all  efforts proved abortive.

The INEC Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Taiwo Gbadegesin, confirmed the incident, saying  the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Alhaji Hussaini Pai,  had led top officials of INEC to the place to assess the extent of damage.

Also, the Police Public Relations Officer in Ekiti, Mr. Mohammed Jimoh, confirmed the incident, saying police had deployed  bomb experts to the scene to get to the root of the matter.

Jimoh however said there was no casualty, adding that  the security man  attached to the INEC office was with the police assisting them in their investigation

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NANS paralyses activities at gov’s office over LASU fee hike

 Activities at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, were paralysed, yesterday, as National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, protested the hike in tuition fees at Lagos State University, LASU, and other tertiary institutions in the state.

The protesters demanded the immediate reversal of the new tuition fees of all tertiary institutions in the state.

Other demands includes: the reinstatement of LASU Student Union, opening of Adeniran  Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin, and improvement of  infrastructure at all state-owned tertiary institutions.

It would be recalled that the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba, had  in an interview with Vanguard, said  the increment was based on the recommendation of the visitation panel led by Justice Olaseinde Silva.

The students, who came in their hundreds, barricaded the entrance to the office of Governor Babatunde Fashola and other roads, obstructing the free flow of traffic for several hours.

They ensured that vehicular movement into and out of the governor’s office were stalled and demanded to see the governor.

However, attempts to see the governor by the protesters proved abortive, as they refused to yield to the demands of the security officials who pacified them to leave the premises.

Speaking on behalf of  NANS, Lagos State, Mr. Aibana Adeyemi, condemned the increment of LASU tuition fees from N25,000 to N250,000.

He said: “It is an attempt by government to deprive children of low income- earners the opportunity of attending tertiary institutions.”

Adeyemi warned that if the governor refused to yield to their demands, the students might be forced to confront the authorities.

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Boko Haram: Senator to stay with SSS

Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume was arraigned yesterday on a four-count charge before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of an Abuja Federal High Court.

Ndume is accused of hoarding information on planned terror attacks and providing logistics to convicted Boko Haram spokesman, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman AI- Zawahiri).

He is also charged with allegedly giving telephone numbers of certain public officers to Boko Haram for the purpose of communicating terrorist messages.

The alleged offences are contrary to and punishable under Sections 3(b), 4(1) (a) and 7(1) (b) of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011.

Ndume, a Senator representing Borno South, pleaded not guilty to the charge after it was read to him. Clad in a white Babariga with a white cap to match, the senator smiled occasionally as his plea was being taken.
Plea taking over, the prosecution counsel, Mrs. Olufemi Omotunde, applied for a hearing date to enable the prosecution adduce evidence to the charge.

Omotunde, who is the Director of Public Prosecution at the Federal Ministry of Justice, said the prosecution will call eight witnesses to prove the charge against Ndume.
She said witnesses’ statements and extract of relevant text messages had been attached as proof of evidence.
Efforts by Ndume’s counsel, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN), to move a bail application filed on behalf of Ndume since December 5, was resisted by the prosecution.

Mrs Omotunde argued that it was premature to move the bail application, which, she said, was filed before the case was assigned to a judge.
But Tarfa submitted that the prosecution had already filed a counter-affidavit to the bail application, making the protest unnecessary.

 Mrs Omotunde, who insisted on having five days to prepare the written address, said: “My lord, we were served prematurely because the court was not seized of the matter as at that time. We have not filed our written address.”
Intervening, Justice Kolawole said “I’m disposed to granting them opportunity to file a written address. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Tarfa replied: “My lord, we have filed the application since December 5. The accused has been in their custody since November 21. Ordinarily, they (prosecution) ought to reply to the motion within two days.”
 Justice Kolawole, who reduced the five days requested by the prosecution to three days directed that the written address against the bail application must be filed within 72 hours. He gave the defence counsel 24 hours to reply before adjourning till December 16 for hearing of the bail application.

The Judge, who observed that the defence counsel did not protest against Ndume’s continuous detention in the SSS custody, however, pointed out that he will review the situation at the next sitting.

He said: “Once an accused is duly charged before the court of competent jurisdiction, the only proper place for him to be remanded is prison, which is the only facility where people standing trial are to be reminded.”

Consequently, he ordered that the accused person should remain in the custody of the SSS and must be allowed reasonable access to his lawyer.

Ndume had earlier been arraigned with Konduga over a two-count charge of criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation criminal and anonymous calls.
The charges were terminated by Chief Magistrate Oyewumi Oyebola, following the withdrawal of the First Information Report (FIR) by the State Security Service (SSS).
The prosecution counsel, Cliff Osagie, told the court that a fresh charge had been filed against Ndume. He should not be tried in two courts over same allegations, he said.
Owing to the development, the ruling on Ndume’s bail application scheduled for the day was arrested.
The new charges against Ndume are:

•”That you, Mohammed Ali Ndume (m) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja, being in possession of the mobile phone number of Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman AI- Zawahiri), a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect which you know to be of material assistance in securing the apprehension of the said Ali Umar Konduga, did fail to disclose same information to a law officer as soon as reasonably practicable and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 7(1)(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 and punishable under Section 7( 1) of the same Act.

•”That you, Mohammed Ali Ndume (m) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja, having received information from Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect regarding planned attacks on judges of the Borno State Election Tribunal and the National Assembly, which you know to be of material assistance in securing the prosecution of members of the said Boko Haram Sect for an offence under the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 did fail to disclose same information to a law enforcement officer as soon as reasonably practicable and you thereby committed and offence contrary to section 7(1)(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and punishable under Section 7(1) of the same Act.

•”That you, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (rn) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja, being the operator of MTN GSM telephone number 08035998045, did provide logistics to wit: telephone numbers of certain public officers including the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation, to Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman Al-Zawahiri), a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, for the activity of sending terrorist text messages to them, which you know is connected with an act of terrorism and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and punishable under Section 3 of the same Act.

•”That you, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (m) on or about the 4th day of October, 2011 somewhere between Maiduguri and Abuja did knowingly render support for an act of terrorism by supplying the telephone numbers of certain public officers, including the Hon. Attorney-General of the  Federation, to Ali Sanda Umar Konduga (alias Usman AI-Zawahiri), a terrorist spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, for the purpose of communicating terrorist messages to the said public officers and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 4(1)(a) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and punishable under Section 4 of the same Act.”


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We must cut recurrent budget, Okonjo-Iweala insists

 Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has announced plans by government to shrink the number of government agencies and commissions in its bid to bring down recurrent expenditure, beginning from next year.

Okonjo-Iweala

Okonjo-Iweala, who delivered a keynote address at the 3rd Economic Policy and Fiscal Strategy Seminar, organised by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, CSEA, in Abuja, expressed shock that the previous government had let the level of recurrent spending to spiral against capital budgeting.

She said: “When I left the administration last time (2006), we left a recurrent expenditure level of about 66 per cent, which was even considered to be too high back then. However, upon my second coming this year, I was surprised to find that recurrent expenditure in the budget has risen to more than 74 per cent. This is unacceptable.”

According to her, the increase in the recurrent expenditure was made worse by the unreasonable increase in the number of Federal Government agencies and parastatals, even as she noted that the first step to cut down the recurrent budget was to drastically trim the number of government agencies and departments.

She said: “This government is resolved to reduce the level of recurrent spending to a reasonable degree, starting from the next budget. And we will do that by collapsing government agencies because we have so many of them, so many parastatals, commissions, committees, agencies, each one eating up a chunk of the budget, some duplicating each other.

“We are also doing biometrics which is yielding some interesting results where we’ve done it. This is the only country where ghost workers retire and become ghost pensioners and that’s what we are seeing. So, we are weeding that out and creating quite a bit of money in the process.

“When we reduce the recurrent expenditure, we want to increase capital because the phenomenon where our capital budget is so low, 24 per cent of the whole budget, it means we are not investing in the critical infrastructure that we need.

“We want to take the capital budget back on the trajectory it used to be back to 33 per cent by the end of this administration.”

The Minister pointed out that the nation’s overall debt to GDP ratio is quite reasonable. “We are about 20 percent which is very good but of that 16.4 is domestic debt and we want to watch that because its building up at an alarming rate and at high interest rate and people in the country don’t seem to worry.

“If it is external debt, everybody keeps screaming without looking at whether this is concessional or not but when its domestic there is a big complacency that you can just float bonds and all will be well. Well my message is no, all will not be well because when you rack up domestic debt you actually have to service it. It’s not like having external and you tell them I can’t pay in your own economy if you don’t pay, institutions, pensions fund all that they will suffer, the individuals and it will create a crisis of confidence in the government so we can’t afford that.

“So we want to keep the stock of domestic debt at a reasonable level around 16 to 17 percent of GDP going forward. It means we will still borrow but we are going to borrow at a declining rate.”

Okonjo-Iweala criticized the previous administration for its excessive borrowing and spending, which had little impact on the economy

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U.S. Senate legalises sex with animals

THE United States Senate yesterday approved a defence authorisation bill legalising sodomy with humans and sex with animals or bestiality. 

Only a week ago, Nigeria’s Senate passed a bill banning same-sex marriages and recommended a 14-year sentence for anyone convicted of homosexuality, defying a threat from Britain and the United States to withhold aid from nations violating gay rights.

But voting 93-7, the United States Senate not only repealed the military law on sodomy, it also repealed the military ban on sex with animals-or bestiality.

On November 15, the Senate Armed Services Committee was said to have unanimously approved S. 1867, the National Defence Authorisation Act, which includes a provision to repeal Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). 

Article 125 of the UCMJ is said to have made it illegal to engage in sodomy with humans and sex with animals. Specifically, it states: 

(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however, slight, is sufficient to complete the offence. 

(b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. 

Expectedly, reactions have continued to trail the decision by the United States’ lawmakers in the country and other parts of the world, including Nigeria. 

In the United Sates, Family Research Council President, Tony Perkins, said the effort to remove sodomy from military law stems from liberal Senate Democrats' and President Obama’s support for removing the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.

‘It’s all about using the military to advance this administration’s radical social agenda,’ Perkins told CNSNews.com. ‘Not only did they overturn ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ but they had another problem, and that is, under military law sodomy is illegal, just as adultery is illegal, so they had to remove that prohibition against sodomy.’ Perkins said removing the bestiality provision may have been intentional-or just ‘collateral damage.’

Well, whether it was inadvertent or not, they have also taken out the provision against bestiality,’ he said. ‘So now, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), there’s nothing there to prosecute bestiality.’
 

Former United States Army Col. Bob Maginnis also reportedly said some military lawyers have indicated that bestiality may be prosecutable under another section of the military code of justice – the ‘catch-all’ Article 134 for offences against ‘good military order and discipline.’

But don't count on that, he said. ‘If we have a soldier who engages in sodomy with an animal, whether a government animal or a non-government animal, is it, in fact, a chargeable offence under the Uniform Code? I think that’s in question,’ Maginnis was quoted as saying. 

‘When the reader stops laughing, the reader needs to ask the question whether or not this is in the best interests of the government, in the best interests of the military and the best interests of the country? I think not,’ he said. 

He added: ‘Soldiers, unfortunately, like it or not, have engaged in this type of behavior in the past. Will they in the future, if they remove this statute? I don’t know.’

Perkins said there was no attempt to remove the UCMJ repeal provision from the bill, which Perkins had expected the Senate to approve.

Now that it has passed, however, the Senate version will have to go to a conference committee, and Perkins predicts there will be several sticking points with the House.

‘The House in their version of the defence authorisation, reinforced the Defence of Marriage Act, saying that there is a military DOMA as well, prohibiting same-sex marriage on military bases. This is something the Department of Defence is pushing for,’ he said. 

‘And now this is an added concern, that sodomy has been removed, and as we have discovered, that bestiality-the prohibition against it-has been removed from the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So yes, the House will have problems with this bill,’ he stated.

In Nigeria’s anti-gay bill, anyone who aids or ‘abets’ same-sex unions faces 10 years in prison, a provision that is believed to be targeted at rights groups. 

The bill, passed last Tuesday, comes nearly a month after British Prime Minister, David Cameron, threatened to withhold aid from nations violating gays rights, sparking outrage in Africa where leaders interpreted it as ‘colonial’ display of power.

Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries based on remnants of sodomy laws introduced during the British colonial era and perpetuated by cultural beliefs.

In Nigeria, the anti-gay bill has been widely applauded, while the sex with animals has been condemned. The Catholic Bishop of Jalingo Diocese, Taraba State, Most Rev Dr Charles Hammawa, said it ‘is human insanity; it is unacceptable, that bill is improper. It is strange and outrageous. This is the same society that condemns crime and bad leadership. It is a pity. 

‘I don’t know what the world is turning into. The return to God is necessary. It is very sad news to hear. I pray Nigeria doesn’t copy such.’

For Pastor Wale Adefarasin, General Overseer of the Guiding Light Assembly, Lagos, he could not imagine that anyone or country would think of such a law. ‘Are you serious?’ he retorted, adding, ‘My comment is that I dey laugh.’  

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