Nigerians must respect laws of host countries

ABUJA Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister Aminu Wali has urged Nigerians travelling or residing abroad to respect the laws of their host countries following the execution of 2 Nigerians in Indonesians on drug related offenses.

The minister made the appeal recently while interacting with journalists regretted that 12 other Nigerians were still on death row in Indonesia for drug offenses.

The minister said the federal government appealed to the Indonesian government to commute the death sentence to other forms of imprisonments but the Indonesians still carried on with the death penalty. He said the Nigerian government has been engaging the Indonesian authorities on sparing the lives of the 12 Nigerians remaining in jail.

Meanwhile, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairman, House Committee on Diaspora has stressed the need for government to take deliberate measure towards ensuring that the 12 Nigerians on death row are not executed.

Sounding a note of warning, Indonesia's Attorney General Muhammed Prasetyo has said there is no excuse for drug dealers and, "hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect."

A word is enough for the wise......

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Nigeria security adviser suggests postponement of election

Nigeria should delay elections planned for next month to give organisers more time to distribute millions of biometric ID cards to voters, the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan said on Thursday.

Sambo Dasuki said during a talk at London think-tank Chatham House that he had discussed the matter with the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and had said a delay within the time allowed by the law would be a good idea.
"That is what we are encouraging at the moment," he said.
The elections will be the first where voters have to have a biometric card, introduced to guard against fraud that has plagued past polls.

Dasuki said INEC had distributed 30 million cards in the past year but had another 30 million to hand out.
He said INEC had assured him it would achieve this in time for the February date, but he thought it would make more sense to take more time. He added that there was a 90-day window during which the election could legally take place.

"It costs you nothing, it's still within the law," Dasuki said he had told the INEC chairman.
Dasuki said it was for INEC and not for him to decide.
"What sense does it make to vote three months early when there are 30 million cards still with INEC? That's my position," Dasuki said.

Real Madrid top football rich list for 10th straight year

Spain's Real Madrid have emerged as the world's richest football club for the 10th straight year in the annual Football Money League published by accountants Deloitte, with a revenue of $639 million.

English team Manchester United moved up from fourth to second on the list, which is based on 2013-14 season revenues despite enduring its worst-ever league campaign. German champions Bayern Munich came in third, followed by Spain's FC Barcelona and French side Paris Saint-Germain.

English clubs Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool were placed sixth to ninth, all of them showing healthy rises in revenues.

The Deloitte football money league list:
1. Real Madrid: $639m ($602.7m)
2. Man Utd: $602.3m ($492.3m)
3. Bayern Munich: $566.8m ($500.1m)
4. Barcelona: $563.5m ($560.5m)
5. Paris Saint Germain: $551.5m ($463.2m)
6. Manchester City: $481.9m ($367.2m)
7. Chelsea: $451.1m ($352.4m)
8. Arsenal: $417.9m ($330.2m)
9. Liverpool: $355.8m ($279.5m)
10. Juventus: $325m ($316.4m)

Chadian Prime Minister lead thousands to support army move against Boko Haram

Chadian Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet led demonstrators on Saturday as they marched from N'Djamena’s city hall to the Place de Nation square, carrying Chadian flags and chanting in French and Arabic: "Kick the forces of evil out of our territory," in response to the government’s decision to send troops to fight Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists.

A large banner read: "We support our army. The people of Chad support their Cameroonian and Nigerian brothers in the fight against terrorism."

"Today's march is a strong signal, a warning to Boko Haram and above all a march for peace to protect our vital interests, to protect our economy, to protect Chad's security," Deubet said.

"The country is seriously threatened by Boko Haram," said Ouchar Tourguidi, head of the main party in parliament, calling the rally "important for boosting morale of our troops who are going to the front."

Dozens of Chadian tanks headed out of the capital on Friday south towards Cameroon after Chad's parliament approved the deployment.

Chad's plunge into the war against Boko Haram came after a large-scale attack by the militants in Baga, the Nigerian town on the shores of Lake Chad were as many as 2,000 people were massacred by the militants in a raid on January 7 described by US Secretary of State John Kerry as a "crime against humanity".

Cameroon's President Paul Biya had announced Thursday that his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby had agreed to send "a substantial contingent" of troops to help Cameroonian armed forces, who have faced repeated attacks from Boko Haram.

The Russian ambassador to the country also pledged to supply Cameroon with more modern weapons to combat the Islamist insurgents.

Jonathan makes surprise visit to insurgency-hit northeast Nigeria

MAIDUGURI- President Goodluck Jonathan made a surprise visit to insurgency-plagued northeast Nigeria on Thursday, a rebuff to critics who say he has ignored the plight of victims of Boko Haram Islamist militants.

"What you're doing is not easy," he told officers and soldiers at an army barracks in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.
"We thank you as a nation. Terrorism is a global phenomenon. We're working day and night, trying to curtail this madness."

Jonathan is running for re-election in a Feb. 14 vote in which security is a major issue. His main rival, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, is seen as tough on security.
It was the president's first visit to Borno, the area worst affected by the advance of rebels seeking to carve an Islamic state in Nigeria, since he declared a state of emergency in the northeast in May 2013.
Jonathan has been criticised for not doing enough -- and often not saying enough -- about relentless Boko Haram attacks that have killed thousands of civilians, kidnapped hundreds and pose the greatest security challenge to Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy.

His administration was seen as slow to react when the insurgents abducted some 200 schoolgirls last April.
The group's fighters seized the military base and town of Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, on Jan. 3. Baga was the headquarters of a multinational force with troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The militants have killed scores and razed dozens of homes there, with the military putting the death toll at 150, while some local officials have put it as high as 2,000.
Nigerian security forces repelled an attack by Boko Haram on the northeastern town of Biu on Wednesday, killing several insurgents.
Soldiers have complained of a severe lack of equipment and arms in the face of a determined foe.
"We will assist you to succeed in your efforts. We will give you what is due to you," Jonathan said. "In terms of equipment, we are better off now than when we started".


REUTERS

Man Utd sack scout for posting offensive messages

English football club Manchester United have sacked one of their European scouts for posting racially offensive comments on social networking site Facebook.

According to Daily Mail, Torben Aakjaer posted several anti-immigration messages. The 32-year-old Dane, in his comments, supported Denmark closing its borders and putting "extra personnel on every crossover and exit so all that eastern Europe dirt and s**t can be kept out" and a photograph of six pigs with a caption: "It's time to deploy our secret weapons against Islamists."

"The club received the evidence, launched an immediate investigation into the matter and has terminated our association with Aakjaer. Manchester United is an inclusive organisation and will not tolerate this sort of behaviour," a statement from Old Trafford said. However, the English tabloid reported that the Dane was not a permanent United staff member and was used on a casual basis to scout young players for the club's academy rather than the first team.

Nigerians In Chicago Wonder Why Boko Haram Massacre Isn't Getting Attention?

 The terrorist attack in Paris galvanized the world and sparked overwhelming sympathy. But the reaction to a massacre in Nigeria at the same time has been much different, even though many people more people died there.

According to CBS 2's Jim Williams reports Chicagoans and others are asking why?

The news coverage was non-stop when terrorists killed 17 in Paris and massive vigils were held around the world.

"17 people died, 1.5 million people march," said Boyede Sobita with the Nigerian American Professional Association. "2,000 people died and it's a blip on a radar."

A blip on the radar says Boyede Sobita the response to the group Boko Haram killing 2000 people last week in Nigeria, Sobita's parents' native country.

"The fact that we can allow this to happen without bringing the necessary attention to the people who are suffering is sad," Sobita said.

Experts explain the different responses this way: France is a close ally of the United States, the murders were seen an attack on free speech and linked to terrorist groups that threaten much of the world.

Nigerian-American Chime Asonye says Nigeria's government itself underplayed the violence there.

"If leadership does not shine a light and say this is an issue the world should turn its attention to, then people are not going to follow suit," Asonye said.

"Boko Harum has been ravaging Nigeria for the last five to six years, so the daily announcements of violence become numbing."

Still, Nigerian Americans in Chicago insist no violence should be ignored.

"From a human standpoint, tyranny anywhere is an attack on freedom everywhere," said Sobita.

The Nigerian-American Young Professionals group plans to hold vigils to call attention to the massacre and the threat posed by Boko Harum. They note that while the president of Nigeria sent condolences to France, he's said little about murders of 2,000 people in his own country.