23022018 - Confusion over Yobe girls; angry parents stone gov

44 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018
Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping, others
undermining human rights — Amnesty
WORLD leaders are
undermining
human rights for millions of
people with regressive
policies and hate-filled
rhetoric, but their actions
have ignited global protest
movements in response, a
rights group said.
US President Donald
Trump, Russian leader
Vladimir Putin, and China’s
President Xi Jinping were
among a number of
politicians who rolled out
regressive policies in 2017,
according to Amnesty
International’s annual
human rights report
published on Thursday.
The human rights body
also mentioned the leaders
of Egypt, the Philippines and
Venezuela. “The spectres of
hatred and fear now loom
large in world affairs, and we
have few governments
standing up for human rights
in these disturbing times,”
Salil Shetty, Amnesty’s
secretary-general, said.
“Instead, leaders such as
el-Sisi, Duterte, Maduro,
Putin, Trump and Xi are
callously undermining the
rights of millions.”
Amnesty’s The State of the
World’s Human Rights
report cites Trump’s
controversial travel ban
prohibiting entrants to the US
from six Muslim-majority
countries, Venezuelan
authorities’ use of force
against demonstrators and
unlawful killings in the
Philippines’ anti-drug war
as evidence of policies
resulting in an international
regression on human rights.
More than 20,000 people
have been killed since June
2016 in Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte’s
anti-drug campaign,
according to an internal
report.
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the
UN’s human rights chief,
has denounced
Venezuela’s excessive use of
force against antigovernment
protesters,
stating pro-government
security forces and armed
groups were responsible for
dozens of demonstrator
deaths between April and
July last year.
‘Gun control advocates exploiting
Florida tragedy’
THE head of the most
powerful gun lobby in
the US has blamed
Democrats and media for
“exploiting” a school
shooting that left 17 people
dead.
Wayne LaPierre said
“opportunists” are using the
14 February tragedy to
expand gun control and
abolish US gun rights.
Mr LaPierre’s comments
came during the
Conservative Political Action
Conference (CPAC) in
Washington.
He also echoed President
Donald Trump’s call to arm
teachers who are trained to
carry concealed weapons.
“As usual, the opportunists
waited not one second to
exploit tragedy for political
gain,” said Mr LaPierre,
who is the executive director
and CEO of the National
Rifle Association (NRA).
“They hate the NRA. They
hate the second
amendment. They hate
individual freedom,” he
said, referring to the second
amendment, which governs
the right to bear arms.
His comments were the
powerful gun lobby’s first
more than a week after an
alleged gunman opened
fire on the Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida
and killed 17 people.
Mr LaPierre lambasted
the FBI for failing to follow
up on a tip about the
suspect, Nikolas Cruz,
before the attac.
He also criticised
America’s “European-style
socialists” who are calling
for more gun control.
“They don’t care if their
laws work or not,” Mr
LaPierre. “They just want to
get more laws to get more
control over people. But the
NRA, the NRA does care.”
Survivors of last week’s
deadly shooting have
renewed calls for stricter
gun laws, prompting the
nationwide activist
movement #NeverAgain.
Mr LaPierre condemned
Democratic Senators Nancy
Pelosi and Chris Murphy,
saying they were “eager to
smear” the NRA and blame
the organisation for
country’s mass shootings.
Democratic Senator Chuck
Schumer hit back at the
group on Twitter.
Britain warns of ISIS attacks
in South Africa
BRITAIN has warned of
a threat of attacks by
Islamists on foreigners in
South Africa after two
British nationals were
kidnapped in a small town
there, but South African
police said they had no
evidence militants were
behind the incident.
UNICEF boss resigns over
allegations
EX-Save
the
Children chief
executive Justin Forsyth
has resigned from Unicef
as he says he does not
want coverage of his past
to “damage” the
charities.
Mr Forsyth faced
three complaints of
inappropriate behaviour
towards female staff
before leaving Save the
Children, the BBC
reported this week.
He was accused of
sending inappropriate
texts and commenting on
what young female staff
were wearing.
He said he
“ a p o l o g i s e d
unreservedly” to the
three workers at the time.
Mr Forsyth said the
reason for his
resignation as Unicef’s
deputy director was not
because of what he
described as the mistakes
he made in his former
role at Save the Children.
“They were dealt with
through a proper process
many years ago,” he said
in a statement.
“There is no doubt in
my mind that some of the
coverage around me is
not just to (rightly) hold
me to account, but also to
attempt to do serious
damage to our cause and
the case for aid.” A
statement from Unicef
said it was grateful to Mr
Forsyth for his work over
the past two years.
Africa’s most
industrialised country has
a large expatriate
community and attracts
many tourists, and has
seldom been associated
with Islamist militancy. No
attack followed a similar
warning by Britain and the
United States in June 2016.
South Africa’s elite police
unit Hawks said the force
was investigating the
kidnapping, which took
place on Feb. 12.
Britain’s Foreign Office
(FCO) said on its website
the main threat was from
Islamic State.
In an email to Reuters
on Thursday, the FCO
said: “We have updated
our travel advice to
include this recent
incident”, referring to the
kidnapping. “Our travel
advice already states that
terrorists are likely to try
to carry out attacks in
South Africa. This remains
our assessment.”
The FCO declined to
give details on the
kidnapping.
A spokesman for the
Hawks, Lloyd Ramovha,
said two suspects had been
arrested in connection with
the kidnapping of the
British couple.
PDP squandered our
resources in the worst form
of impunity —Utomi
Chima Daniel
Well said Prof. Pat
Utomi . President Buhari
did not sack people from
work. He did not
withhold people’s
salaries. What he stop
was wasteful spending of
public fund. . Any
patriotic Nigerian that
mean well for the country
would commend him.
Uyi Jfk · Stockholm,
Sweden
It is a disgrace from a
man I respect so much.
Prof you disappointed
me. You of all people.
Obum
I have so much respect
for Pat Utomi and I
thought that he is always
persistent on his stands.
The actions and inaction
of Pat Untomi since the
last couple of years
showed that he was not
comfortable with this
government. How did he
become one of this
government’s praise
•Pat Utomi
singers as 2019 is
approaching?
C h i e m e l e
Field_Marshal
Your sentiments can’t
diminish the Prof’s
worth. Not the director of
the prime Lagos
Business School.
Cleansignorance
Obum
President Buhari has
threatened him with the
EFCC, on his bank
looting case with
AMCON, hence he
became an APC saint
overnight by crossing
over to the APC and
singing like a cannery in
APC’s praises now
I took actions based on instructions by
President’s wife, Jonathan’s aide tells court
Share Idea Okojie
Ne Ewatto
Please, don’t join issue
with them. If giving
instructions to people
that serve you is now a
crime, Buhari and all
APC members should be
guilty of same. Are
individuals no longer
allowed to change dollar
to Naira? If EFCC
cannot provide evidence
of government money
being traced to Patience,
every other conjecture is
just media trial that will
not have any legal effect
rather, it will only
diminish Patience’s
image publicly.
Sir Demo share Idea
Forget about looting,
giving or receiving $1
million, about N290
million in cash is money
laundering
share Idea Sir Demo
How many politicians
in Nigeria have you
heard have been
convicted of money
laundry? None.
However, majority have
been convicted for actual
crime committed when
prosecuting agencies
proved that actually, the
money discovered in
someone’s position
could be traced for
government funds
misappropriated
(corruptly earned) as a
result of the person
abusing his or her
position
peoples voice Sola
Akinwande
Telling the court you
only take instructions
from your boss who is
your employer, what is
wrong in that, does that
make them guilty of the
crime?
The facts Chiemele
Reno is not a law
enforcement officer. It’s
the law enforcement
officers that indict
suspects. I think people
should be educated
enough to know that.
S’East governors asked
to invest in ranches
Kelechi Anozie
Umezurike
Why was this not urged
during last governments?
alitaaruku
If there should be any
investment in ranches in any
other region besides the
north it should be for people
of that region. Let the
northern governors invest in
ranches too for their people,
let them plant grasses and
create canals and irrigation
channels so their people
wouldn’t need to run south
for pasture
Conscience Kalitaaruku
Even if the South East
governments put up
ranches, herdsmen must
pay to access it. There should
be no freebies. Cattle
rearing is business or don’t
herdsmen get paid when
they sell their cattle?
AryLoyds Conscience
The Fulani herdsmen you
see tending to this cattle in
bushes are just workers, the
cattle are owned by
businessmen in the north, so
don’t let these animals
deceive you
Tiger News Conscience
The ranches should be like
the ones in Holland.
Anything short of that is not
acceptable.
PolyGon2013
Conscience
Of course, that is the idea.
Very brilliant.
Chiemele Conscience
Now there are
conditionality’s you put on
the ground. Simply saying
No, is a no brainer.
Conscience Chiemele
What is wrong with
putting “conditions”?
Should cattle rearers pay tax,
levies etc? Is Nigeria not a
communist nation? Services
have to be paid for. If you go
to the North to do business,
won’t you pay tax, levies,
won’t you pay your shop
landlord? It’s as simple as
ABC. We should stop
sentimentalism and
emotionalism in this country.
Business is business.