Nigerian forward Obasi barred from team

 
BERLIN German Bundesliga side Hoffenheim Nigerian forward Chinedu Obasi has been dropped from its  team main squad for showing up late for training.

Also barred is Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino who same way like Obasi failed to show up for training.
The Bundesliga club's general manager Ernst Tanner told a German newspaper Bild the two are "employees who are not badly paid but come late to work."
Both played in Hoffenheim's recent game with Firmino  scoring in the 1-1 home draw against Freiburg on Saturday. Neither is expected to play in Friday's game against Bayer Leverkusen.
Tanner says he and coach Holger Stanislawski agreed on suspending the two because they are repeat offenders.

Nigeria Senate approves anti-gay marriage bill

ABUJA A Federal senator in Nigeria and some section of the public has called for harsher penalties for being gay. Speaking during a debate at the National Assembly in Abuja Senator Baba Dati said, “Such elements in society should be killed.”

Meanwhile, the senators in Nigeria voted on Tuesday to criminalize gay marriage, passing a law that incorporates a prison sentence of more 10-years for violations in a nation where gays and lesbians already face a discrimination and abuse.

During the debate, televised live from National Assembly in Abuja, Senate President David Mark said Nigeria would not bow to international pressure on any legislation.

"Anybody can write to us, but our values are our values," Mark said. "No country has a right to interfere in the way we make our laws."

The bill heads to Nigeria's House of Representatives, who have to approve the bill and send it to President Goodluck Jonathan for his signature before it becomes a law.

Under the measure, couples who marry could face up to 14 years in jail, and witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be sentenced to 10 years behind bars. That is an increase over the bill's initial penalties.

Homosexuality is already technically illegal in Nigeria, a country evenly divided between Christians and Muslims that is nearly universally opposed to homosexuality.

Across the African continent, many countries have made homosexuality punishable by jail sentences. Ugandan legislators introduced a bill that would impose the death penalty for some gays and lesbians, though it has not been passed into law two years later. Even in South Africa, the one country where gays can marry, lesbians have been brutally attacked and murdered.

The proposed law also has drawn the interest of European Union countries, some of which already offer Nigeria's sexual minorities asylum based on gender identity. The British government also recently threatened to cut aid to African countries that violate the rights of gay and lesbian citizens. However, British aid remains quite small in oil-rich Nigeria, one of the top crude suppliers to the United States.

International opinion also did not seem to trouble lawmakers.

Prostitutes rape Pastors in Asaba

Two men of God were over the weekend allegedly lured to patronise sex workers at a popular brothel at Cable Point, Asaba, the Delta State capital, when they went there to preach to the ladies of easy virtue.

Reports have it that the pastors from a very popular church along Ibusa Road in the state had visited the area to convert and win over the sex workers to their church, but they were themselves seduced by the prostitutes who had sex with them and later burnt their Bibles and clothes.
Sources said the men of God (their names withheld) had resolved in one of their meetings to win many converts, especially the prostitutes who stay in brothels, in order for them to grow their church membership.
Cable Point is a notorious stop-over for hoodlums and has the largest number of brothels and casinos in the south-south region.
An eyewitness said that preachers had gained audience with the harlots but after a period of time they were disoriented by the sudden display of breasts and other revealing body parts which reportedly hypnotized the preachers. Their hosts then took them into their rooms where they were said to have performed quickies.
It was revealed that fight broke out when the evangelists regained their composure and insisted on not paying the prostitutes' bills, arguing that that was not their original mission. During the scuffle, they ladies reportedly burnt the pastors Bibles and clothes.

Jailed Nigerians in Nepal seeks govt intervention

Nigerian prisoners in Nepal, a country sandwiched between China and India, have called on the Federal Government to rescue them from what they described as dehumanizing treatment.
  Their counsel, Mr. Okechukwu Okpara, told journalists in Abuja on Saturday, that one of the inmates died recently while another was suffering from mental problem.
"Some of these young men are in the prime of their youth and have been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and more. The conditions in Nepal prisons are horrible and dehumanizing. One of the Nigerian inmates has died and another is now mentally ill. They are not allowed any visitations and not entitled to any parole no matter how well they behave there," Okpara added.
He claimed that efforts to open an official communication channel with the Nepalese authorities on the welfare of the 23 concerned Nigerians had failed, leaving them (inmates) isolated and open to more abuses.
The counsel therefore called "on the Nigerian government to immediately open a line of communication with the Nepalese government in order to give these 23 Nigerians access to fair trial."
He said, "There is also an urgent need to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Nepal to transfer the 23 inmates to Nigeria to serve out their sentences if the need arises.
"The truth is that nobody knows what their offences are because nobody has actually gotten through to Nepalese prison authorities. I have only managed to hear from them through an email that they sent to me.
"That was in August this year. Since then, I have made written applications to the offices of President Goodluck Jonathan, the President of the Senate , the Deputy President of the Senate, Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Senate and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
Okpara added, "But we have received no responses so far except from the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who has shown interest in the Nepal 23.
"These are Nigerians incarcerated in a foreign country. Whatever their offenses are, their continued incarceration is in breach of consular relations because international conventions provide that they be given adequate legal representation and the Nigerian government and their families must be notified of their cases.
"But these were not done as the trials were conducted in a language that the prisoners did not understand and no translation was provided whatsoever and they were made to sign some documents under duress."

France loans Nigeria $100 million for buses

   
PARIS France has promised it will loan Nigeria $100 million to set up a bus network in its sprawling commercial capital Lagos, the foreign ministry said on Friday during a visit by Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan.
 "In coordination with Nigerian authorities, the French development agency, on the ground since 2008, has made urban development one of its operational priorities in this country," a statement said.
 France said the loan would be made to the Nigerian federal government but then passed to Lagos State. It will help fund the city's new $330 million urban transport plan, which is co-financed by the World Bank.
Lagos is sub-Saharan Africa's greatest metropolis and the commercial hub of Africa's oil-exporting largest nation, but its public infrastructure struggles to cope with its vast population.
Jonathan and his finance minister former World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are on a working visit to Paris to drum up trade and investment from France, which has growing oil interests in Nigerian fields.

Nigerian man stabbed to death, has ears cut off in Moscow

            

MOSCOW A Nigerian man was found stabbed to death in southern Moscow with his ears cut off in a grisly murder, investigators said on Tuesday.

The body of the 28-year-old man, named as Akintola Olufemi, was "found with numerous stab wounds and with his ears cut off," lying close to rail tracks, the Investigative Committee wrote in a statement published on its website.

The man had been stabbed at least eight times, a spokesperson for the committee, Viktoria Tsyplenkova, told the Interfax news agency.

Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported that the victim was a student in the northern city of Arkhangelsk and that the crime appeared not to have been a robbery as his papers and wallet were left at the scene.

Attacks against foreigners of non-European appearance occur regularly in Russia, although the authorities say that numbers have been dropping amid a crackdown on extremist organisations.

An NGO that monitors hate crimes, Sova, said in a report released in March that there were 37 hate killings in 2010, while 382 people were injured in attacks with racist or neo-nazi motives.

Nigerian senator arraingned over links to Boko Haram

ABUJA Nigerian authorities charged a senator on Tuesday over suspected links to a man accused of being a spokesman for Islamist sect Boko Haram, blamed for attacks including the bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja.
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume was charged in magistrate's court alongside the alleged spokesman, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, with breaching public trust and criminal intimidation.
The charges claim that between September 15 and November 3 in the cities of Maiduguri and Abuja, "Mohammed Ali Ndume and Ali Sanda Umar Konduga did conspire to commit" the alleged crimes.
Ndume, a senator from Borno state in the country's northeast, where most of Boko Haram's attacks have occurred, pleaded not guilty. Konduga pleaded guilty and is to be sentenced at a later date.
The case was adjourned until December 6.
The senator is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, which dominates national politics but is not in power in Borno state.
He also served on a presidential committee that sought earlier this year to determine whether dialogue was possible with Boko Haram.
 It was unclear whether Konduga, the alleged spokesman, had reached a deal with authorities. Secret police announced his November 3 arrest only on Monday and said he confessed to various crimes as well as his links to politicians.
"His arrest further confirms the Service (police) position that some of the Boko Haram extremists have political patronage and sponsorship," secret police spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said on Monday, referring to Konduga's arrest.
Speculation has been rife over political links to at least certain factions of Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja which killed at least 24 people.
Such speculation has pointed to explanations ranging from local politics in Borno state to opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan in the mainly Muslim north.
There has also been intense speculation, particularly among Western nations, over whether the group has formed links with outside extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda's north African branch (AQIM).
Boko Haram is believed to have various factions with a number of different aims, and the alleged confessions of Konduga seemed to involve mainly local politics.
Authorities claim that Konduga was the Boko Haram spokesman quoted in the news media under the alias Usman al-Zawahiri.
The secret police statement claimed that Konduga was "a former political thug," referring to the practice of Nigerian politicians of recruiting or forming local gangs to help rig elections.
 The statement said one benefactor promised to pay him 10 million naira ($60,000, 45,000 euros) to work for his party, but then died on his way to deliver half the sum to Konduga.
Konduga allegedly confessed that a member of Nigeria's National Assembly then took over the running of his activities. The statement did not name the person.
The statement also claimed that Konduga was behind threatening text messages sent to election tribunal judges with the aim of having the government in Borno state tossed out.
 Other threats were made to politicians including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, it said.
It claimed that Konduga told security agents that threatening messages sent to the chairman of an election petition tribunal in Borno state "were scripted and relayed to him by the National Assembly member."
  

Nigerian embassy in Qatar soon, said VP Sambo

(From left) Senator Ikechi Nwogu, Senate committee chairperson on gas,  Raymond Bob-Ume, NIDO-Qatar VP, Nigerian Vice President Namadi Sambo and  Bashir Yuguda, minister of state for works

Nigeria’s Vice-President Namadi Mohamed Sambo, who was in Qatar for the just-concluded Gas Summit for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), has promised Nigerian residents that the government will look into establishing an embassy in Qatar within the next year. He was speaking to Nigerian professionals working in Qatar during a reception held in his honour at the Doha Sheraton by the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation-Qatar chapter (NIDO-Qatar).

 

Speaking at the occasion, Sambo said “The government of Nigeria will look into all the issues you have highlighted and we are going to ensure you have an embassy in Qatar soon.”

“The Nigeria government would also look into ways to boost its relations with Qatar,” he added.

The vice-president also thanked the Nigerian community for a warm reception given to him.

Cross section of Nigerian professionals resident in Qatar

In addition, present at the occasion were former Nigeria Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, Chairman Senate committee on gas Senator Ikechi Nwogu, members of the vice president’s entourage and representatives of the Nigerian press.

Earlier in his welcome address, Vice President of NIDO-Qatar Raymond Bob- Ume thanked the vice-president for giving members of the community an opportunity to meet him. He also highlighted the needs of the community, especially establishment of Nigerian embassy in Qatar.

He said that absence of an embassy in Doha has been creating difficulties for the members of the community in getting consular services. “As much as we appreciate the effort and the support being rendered by the Nigerian embassy in the UAE, which is concurrently serving Qatar, the entire NIDO-Qatar desires an embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Qatar,” he said. “An embassy in Qatar will bring sound synergy between Nigeria and Qatar as both are members of OPEC and as well as Gas Producing nations.

It will also create opportunities for investment and trade potential with Qatar, being presently a nation with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world and has investment in up to one hundred nations in Asia, Europe and Africa,” Bob- Ume added. Jide Adedeji, a Nigerian Quantity Surveyor, said Nigerian government should look into Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with Qatar Airways, as Nigerians in Qatar could no longer buy tickets online.

Speaking at the meeting, former UAE-Qatar ambassador designate, who is presently the Nigerian minister of state for works, Bashir Yuguda urged the community to continue to be good citizens and be law-abiding.

Sambo attends Gas summit in Doha calls for fair price

Nigerian Vice-President Namadi Sambo joined other leaders of the world's biggest gas suppliers in an inaugural gas summit in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday by calling for a fair gas price. Meanwhile, Iran, whose president was absent from the ceremony, warned that Western taxation will derail the energy market.

The summit was opened by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani who called for "innovative solutions" to the challenges facing the gas industry for the benefit of both consumers and producers.

According to organisers, the summit was to discuss "the priority of long-term contracts as the basis of security for exporters and consumers of natural gas."

It was also seek ways to establish a fair price for gas under a gas-to-oil indexation, with the aim of overcoming the disparity between crude oil and gas prices, organisers said.

The leaders would review cross investments and technological collaboration between GECF members.

Besides Oman which was admitted on Sunday, the GECF also comprises Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Kazakhstan, Norway and the Netherlands are observers.

Russia is the world's largest gas producer and sits on 30 percent of global reserves, while Qatar is the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter with a production capacity of 77 million tonnes a year.

GECF has been working for a fair gas price which its leaders say is the fastest growing energy source, but they deny it aims to control prices or become a cartel like the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The producers want "a fair price for gas that is linked to an energy commodity, especially crude oil ... Gas prices are not yet in parity with oil," Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada told reporters on Sunday.

 “Fair prices are determined by demand and production (supply). It is not the duty of this forum to determine prices," he said.

 "The summit wants to send a message (to the world) about reliable gas supplies," Sada said.

 Gas prices are currently determined either in long-term contracts between sellers and buyers, which some exporter’s index to oil, or on spot markets.

World gas demand dipped in the wake of the global financial crisis but the GECF says it rebounded last year, rising 7.3 percent, mainly due to Japan boosting LNG imports after its March tsunami and nuclear crisis.

The International Energy Agency estimated last month that around $10 trillion of investments would be needed in the gas industry until 2035, or about $400 billion a year.

Nigerian forward Ujah scores brace in Bundesliga

Nigerian forward Anthony Ujah scored his first two Bundesliga goals as struggling Mainz came from behind to beat VfB Stuttgart 3-1 in a match featuring two red cards on Friday.
Mainz, without a victory in nine outings, turned the form book inside out to defeat sixth-placed Stuttgart who were unbeaten in five games.   
 The home team had Eugen Polanski sent off in the 83rd minute and Stuttgart defender Maza was also dismissed in stoppage time.     Cacau put visiting Stuttgart in front six minutes after the break but two minutes later 21-year-old Ujah, signed from Norway's Lillestrom in the close season, headed the equaliser.  
 Mainz went ahead on the hour following a harshly-awarded penalty for handball by Maza that was converted by midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz. 
Four minutes later the Austrian set up Ujah for his second goal.     Mainz are 15th in the table with 12 points from as many games while Stuttgart have 18, two behind Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen and Borussia Moenchengladbach.