NEWS : Why I rejected Jonathan, supported Buhari in 2015 – Amaechi

 

The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, has claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan offered him every opportunity to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but he rejected it.

The minister says he went ahead to support President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 because he is not tribalistic.

The former governor of Rivers State was speaking in Port Harcourt on Saturday while receiving some party members who defected from the PDP.

The minister explained that whatever he says in Rivers State would happen, adding that he would soon return to declare prayers in the state.

He claimed that God gave him victory over Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

“You know, when Goodluck fought us, he was not fighting me, he was fighting God and I knew he would fail.

Tell them from next year prayer will start, I will come to Port Harcourt like I used to come and I will say this will happen and it will happen.

“Let me tell you who I am; I do not drink, I have never tasted alcohol in my life, I don’t smoke; I am not tribalistic. Whether in Rivers State or in Nigeria, I am not tribalistic.

‘If I were tribalistic, President Goodluck Jonathan offered me the opportunity to remain in PDP, he offered me all sort of opportunities and I said that I have given my allegiance to Buhari because I am not tribalistic.”

NEWS : visa application for Nigerians, other new immigrant workers ,UK opens up

 

The United Kingdom said it has opened a skilled workers visa application for Nigerians and other foreign nationals intending to migrate and work in the country.

“Applications for the new skilled worker visa open today (1 December), meaning the brightest and the best from around the world can now apply to work in the UK from 1 January 2021,” UK government said in an article on its website.

Under the points-based immigration system, the UK government said, points will be awarded for a job offer at the appropriate skill level, knowledge of English and being paid a minimum salary. Skilled worker visas will be awarded to those who gain enough points.

“The new immigration rules will ensure that businesses can recruit the most highly qualified from across the globe to drive the economy forwards and keep the UK at the frontier of innovation,” the government said.

It will also encourage employers to focus on training and investing in the UK workforce, driving productivity and improving opportunities for individuals, especially those impacted by coronavirus.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said the “government promised to end free movement, to take back control of our borders and to introduce a new points-based immigration system. Today, we have delivered on that promise.

“This simple, effective and flexible system will ensure employers can recruit the skilled workers they need, whilst also encouraging employers to train and invest in the UK’s workforce.

“We are also opening routes for those who have an exceptional talent or show exceptional promise in the fields of engineering, science, tech or culture.”

Patel disclosed that people will normally “need to be paid at least £25,600 per year unless the ‘going rate’ for that job is higher.”

Applications are made online, and as part of this, people will need to prove their identity and provide their documents. Once someone outside the UK has gone through all these steps, they will usually get a decision within 3 weeks.

“They will need to have enough money to pay the application fee (ranging from £610 to £1,408), the healthcare surcharge (usually £624 per year) and be able to support themselves (usually by having at least £1,270 available),” the government said.

“The visa lasts for up to 5 years before it needs to be extended.”

The student route and Child Student route visa system opened on 5 October 2020 to eligible international students from across the globe.

NEWS : coronavirus vaccine, Facebook says it will remove

Facebook on Thursday said it would remove posts that containFacebook on Thursday said it would remove posts that contain claims about Covid-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts, as the social network acts more aggressively to bat down coronavirus misinformation while falsehoods run rampant.

The move goes a step beyond how Facebook had handled misinformation about other kinds of vaccines. The company had previously made it more difficult to find vaccine misinformation that was not related to the coronavirus by “downranking” it, essentially making it less visible in people’s news feeds.

But Facebook said it planned to take down Covid-19 vaccine falsehoods entirely if the claims had been discredited or contradicted by health groups including the World Health Organization, the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This is another way that we are applying our policy to remove misinformation about the virus that could lead to imminent physical harm,” the company said in a blog post. “This could include false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients or side effects of the vaccines.”

Facebook added that it would also take down “false claims that Covid-19 vaccines contain microchips, or anything else that isn’t on the official vaccine ingredient list.”

The social network has long been hesitant to wade into the fraught space of determining what is true or false information on its platform. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, has made it clear he “does not want to be the arbiter of truth” of what is posted on the site.

But Mr. Zuckerberg has also taken an active role in combating the spread of coronavirus misinformation. Facebook has created new products and tools to inform the public about the potential dangers of the virus. Mr. Zuckerberg emailed Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infection disease expert, as early as March to offer his help in fighting the virus. Dr. Fauci has since appeared on multiple live-streamed interviews on Facebook with Mr. Zuckerberg.

Because of the novelty of Covid-19 vaccines, not all false claims may be taken down immediately, Facebook said. The social network said it also plans to continue sending people to its Covid-19 Information Center, which contains verified and up-to-date information about the virus.

Facebook’s decision to remove vaccine-related misinformation is not without precedent. The company previously removed misinformation about the polio vaccine in Pakistan, as well as misinformation on the measles vaccine in Samoa during outbreaks of the illnesses.

NEWS : Corruption , Court Sentences Austrian Ex-Finance Minister To Eight Years In Jail For Corruption

 

A Vienna court on Friday sentenced a flamboyant, jet-setting former Austrian finance minister to eight years in prison in the country’s biggest corruption trial since World War II.

r was found guilty of abuse of power and involvement in kickbacks totaling 9.6 million euros ($11.7 million) over the sale of state-owned apartments.

During the trial, a co-defendant — who was also best man at Grasser’s wedding — admitted passing on insider information enabling a consortium to buy 60,000 government-owned flats for 961 million euros, one million euros more than a rival bidder.

Just three years later, the consortium valued the apartments at about double the price.

Grasser, who as finance minister had decided to sell the flats and knew of the bids, and his co-defendants received kickbacks totalling 9.6 million euros.

“Only Grasser could have passed on information” to the winning consortium, judge Marion Hohenecker said. 

She rejected a claim by a co-defendant that the relevant information had come from Joerg Haider, the controversial former head of the far-right Freedom Party who died in 2008 and who had himself faced multiple corruption allegations.

During his time in office, Grasser, now 51, frequently graced the tabloids with his wife, the heir to the Swarovski crystal empire.

At the time the one-time Haider protege was seen as a political star with a possible future as chancellor.

Heinz Mayr, former head of the law faculty at Vienna University who has followed the trial, said the defendants’ attempts to explain the events surrounding the deal at times seemed “very far-fetched”.

“There were a lot of inconsistencies that could not be explained,” he told AFP.

One of these explanations, highlighted in the verdict, was Grasser’s claim that the 500,000 euros he had deposited in cash at Vienna’s Meinl Bank — which filed for bankruptcy this year after it was accused of laundering more than $500 million euros — had been gifted to him by his mother-in-law.

His mother-in-law denied this and prosecutors were able to prove that he had not met her in Switzerland at the time he said she handed over the cash.

The case, which has attracted major media interest in the wealthy EU country, involved 14 defendants facing an array of charges including breach of trust, bribery, taking kickbacks, falsifying evidence, money laundering and fraud.

The case also touched on alleged corrupt payments related to the renting of an office block in the city of Linz.

The verdict was based on hundreds of witness statements as well as tapped telephone calls in which one of the defendants wonders how he could reasonably explain receiving hundreds of thousands of euros to the prosecution.

Grasser, along with several defendants who were also found guilty, will appeal, his lawyer said.

NEWS : Obasanjo downs ‘reconciliation with Gani Adams’ reports

 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has shot down reports of “reconciliation” with Aare Ona Kakanfo, Gani Adams.

The “peace meeting” was purportedly held on Wednesday in Lagos.

In a statement by spokesman, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo said his visit to a Yoruba leader, Ayo Adebanjo, was not a reconciliatory one.

“It is true that I paid a personal visit to Chief Ayo Adebanjo at his residence in Lekki Phase 1 on December 2, 2020 and I met Gani Adams there.

“I have no quarrel with Gani Adams, but for his past way of life, which was not in accord with my standards and principles.

“I have in the past, both in government and out of government, refused to grant Gani’s request to visit me.

“If at all anybody feels I have a quarrel with him or her that needs reconciliation, such reconciliation will, no doubt, take place in my residence in Abeokuta only,” Obasanjo said.

In 2001 when Obasanjo was in power, the police arrested Adams, then National Coordinator of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC).

He was taken into custody more than one year after former Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Mike Okiro, declared him wanted for the alleged murder of Afolabi Amao.

Amao was the Divisional Police Officer of Bariga police station in Lagos.

Adams was also accused of culpability in violent ethnic clashes in the South-West. Authorities insisted the OPC played a major role.

He, who still has a huge followership in Yorubaland, was at different times remanded in prisons in Lagos, Abeokuta and Abuja, the nation’s capital.

NEWS : UK Government Announces Point-based Immigration System For Skilled Workers

 In a bid to attract the brightest and the best from around the world, the UK Government has announced application for skilled workers visas.

According to a statement released by the UK’s Secretary of State, Priti Patel, the new immigration system would open on January 1, 2021.

Points will be ascribed to applicants for having a job offer at the appropriate skill level, knowledge of English and being paid a minimum salary.

Applicants will be awarded five-year skilled worker visas, open to extension, for earning points, the statement noted.

The statement read, “The new immigration rules will ensure that businesses can recruit the most highly qualified from across the globe to drive the economy forwards and keep the UK at the frontier of innovation.

“It will also encourage employers to focus on training and investing in the UK workforce, driving productivity and improving opportunities for individuals, especially those impacted by a coronavirus.

“They will need to have enough money to pay the application fee (ranging from £610 to £1,408), the healthcare surcharge (usually £624 per year) and be able to support themselves (usually by having at least £1,270 available).”

“This simple, effective and flexible system will ensure employers can recruit the skilled workers they need, whilst also encouraging employers to train and invest in the UK’s workforce.

“We are also opening routes for those who have an exceptional talent or show exceptional promise in the fields of engineering, science, tech or culture.”

NEWS : Boko Haram Attacks Are International Conspiracy To Split Nigeria – Army

 

The Nigerian Army has said that the Boko Haram attacks are an international conspiracy to “cut Nigeria to size” and to destabilise the peace of the country.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col Sagir Musa, stated this, claiming that there are some international paymasters sponsoring Boko Haram.

Musa stated this in an article he shared on social media and with journalists.

The army spokesman said, “The recent killing of our people on a rice farm in Borno State was unexpected, inhuman, cowardly, dastardly and sadistic cruelty by the Boko Haram terrorists. There is no normal human being that will take pleasure in such inhuman massacre of defenceless and armless civilians, working on their farms; but that is the nature of terrorism and those who sponsor it.

“There is an international conspiracy to cut Nigeria to size and compromise national renegades making attempts to destabilise and dismember Nigeria if possible in subservience to the international paymasters; who are the owners of Boko Haram. They train them, arm them, finance them and supply their logistics.

“Without this treacherous international support of Boko Haram; they would have since been defeated. Yet, we can defeat them through our unity and unflinching support and encouragement of our security forces, particularly the military.”