Miami building collapse: 159 missing,

 

The number of people listed as missing after the collapse of a 12-storey building in the US city of Miami has risen to 159, officials say.

Four people are known to have died.  BIAFRA : Abaribe wears a 'dot nation' t-shirt after President Buhari's comment

The mayor of Miami-Dade says they "still have hope" of finding survivors. Search teams working around the clock have reported hearing people banging beneath the debris.

What caused the 40-year-old building to collapse early on Thursday morning remains unclear.

At least 102 people have now been accounted for, but it is uncertain how many were in the building when it came down. Dozens of people have been evacuated from what is left of the structure.

President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Florida, meaning the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) will help state agencies with the relief effort.

Overnight hundreds of rescuers used sonar cameras and specially trained dogs as they scoured the rubble for survivors. Teams were tunnelling from an underground car park below the building in an effort to reach victims.

The mayor of Surfside, where the disaster happened, Charles Burkett, said at an early-morning news conference that some 15 families had walked out of the building.

Most residents would have been asleep when the collapse happened at about 01:00 (05:00 GMT).

"It's heartbreaking because it doesn't seem to me... that we will find people alive," Mr Burkett said.

However, on Friday Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said they would do "everything possible" to locate survivors.

"We will continue search and rescue because we still have hope that we will find people alive," she said.

BIAFRA : Abaribe wears a 'dot nation' t-shirt after President Buhari's comment

 

Senate minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe has been spotted wearing a 'dot nation' t-shirt after President Buhari's comment in an interview with Arise TV few days ago.  DOT IN circle : Buhari’s ‘dot in a circle’ comment attempt to divide south-south, south-east

In the interview on Arise TV, the President had said that the military and the police will be mobilized to go after secessionist group, IPOB accused of disturbing the peace in the South-East region.  

Buhari said in the interview;  South east govs want to sacrifice Igbo people for power, they’re desperate – Nnamdi Kanu

"IPOB is just like a dot in a circle and they have nowhere to turn to. They are spread everywhere and they have investments and properties everywhere and in other areas.

“They don't know what they are doing. How we will handle them is to mobilise the police and the military to go after them.”   Reps advocate social media regulation as FG insists Twitter ban is in Nigeria’s interest

Days after the comment which incited controversy, Abia-born senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has been spotted wearing a 'dot in the circle' t-shirt. Media personality, May Ubeku who shared the photos wrote;  Farouk Lawan bags 7 years jail term over graft

Abaribe representing The Dot Nation

 

 

DOT IN circle : Buhari’s ‘dot in a circle’ comment attempt to divide south-south, south-east

 

Annkio Briggs, social critic and human rights activist, says the “dot in a circle” comment by President Muhammadu Buhari is an attempt to divide the people of the south-east and the south-south. DOT IN circle : Buhari’s ‘dot in a circle’ comment attempt to divide south-south, south-east

 

“First of all, I don’t even recall any access or non-access to the sea during the onslaught of the civil war,” the activist said.

“It was the federal government that came through the sea and the creeks. So having settled that, there are millions of elders and there are millions of youths in the Niger Delta, and there are ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta that make up the south-South. https://saviournicodemus.blogspot.com/2021/06/dot-in-circle-buharis-dot-in-circle.html

“For the president to therefore assume that whoever has told him that there won’t be access to the sea, that gives him pleasure and gives him joy because obviously an attempt to divide and rule both the south-south and the south-east, which in the past between our people would have keyed into, and I warned against during the celebration of my hero Adaka Boro.

 

“We may not agree on things per se, but one thing we do know and have, is a common enemy, a common problem, a common crisis and we do almost have a common desire, which is our collective survival.”Reps advocate social media regulation as FG insists Twitter ban is in Nigeria’s interest

On his part, Don Pedro Obaseki, former managing director of DAAR Communications PLC, said the president “is trying to be clever by half by trying to play the devil’s advocate in between the south-south and the south-east”. https://saviournicodemus.blogspot.com/2021/06/reps-advocate-social-media-regulation.html

“He has made it clear from his body language, spoken language and all else that Nigeria is a different country with different nations,” he said.

South east govs want to sacrifice Igbo people for power, they’re desperate – Nnamdi Kanu

 

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has accused Southeast governors of being desperate for power.

Kanu claimed that Southeast governors are ready to sacrifice people and anything for their personal gains.

Speaking through the spokesman of IPOB, Emma Powerful, Kanu vowed that the Southeast would actualize Biafra.

A statement signed by Powerful reads: “How can South East governors be so desperate for power beyond 2023 that they can sacrifice anything and anybody for personal gains? In case they don’t know, even the Northerners they are trying to impress understand the handwriting on the wall. They know that the governors are on their own.

“These South East Vassals should know that during referendum, they only have one vote just like the man on the street.

“If these frustrated politicians without conscience and direction are discerning enough, they should know that they should first push for a referendum to determine if the people they pretend to be speaking for actually have their support. No matter their pretenses, our people are tired of One Nigeria. They have since opted for Biafra, and there is no going back on this irrevocable resolve!”

Reps advocate social media regulation as FG insists Twitter ban is in Nigeria’s interest

 

An APC chieftain from Katsina State and a House of Representatives Committee member on Information, Fatuhu Mohammed has called for the regulation of social media claiming the time had come for the country to face up to the real issues confronting it.

Mohammed made the call when Lai Mohammed appeared before the House Committee on Information on Tuesday.

Lai Mohammed had cited various sections of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in support of the action that was officially taken in light of the security challenges facing the country.

Reacting, he said that if the Minister had not banned Twitter, with the permission of Mr President, the kind of insults to the sovereignty of Nigeria, coming from its users, would be worrisome.

NBC Act: Regulate all online broadcasters including Twitter – Lai Mohammed tells Lawmakers

Also speaking, Rep Shaba Ibrahim (PDP-Kogi), a member of the committee on Information said the Minister of information, Lai Mohammed did a good rendition of the legal framework that supported the steps taken to ban Twitter.

He said that allowing such infractions by Twitter to go unchecked, until the President’s tweet was taken down, amounted to a disservice to the country.

Ibrahim observed that anything would pale into insignificance where national interest and security were at stake.

Similarly, Rep. Chinedu Ogah (APC-Ebonyi), also a member of the committee, stated that if the law regulating social media had been implemented, the activities of the micro-blogging site would have been checked.

“For example, in China, social media is being regulated and such a thing is not in Nigeria, and we have all those agencies that are capable of the regulation in the country.

Ex Reps member, Farouk Lawan bags 7 years jail term over graft

 

Ex-Chairman, House of Reps probe panel on oil subsidy regime, Farouk Lawal has bagged a 7-year jail term for receiving a $3 million bribe from oil magnate Femi Otedola.

Justice Angela Otaluka of FCT High Court at Apo found the former lawmaker guilty on all three count charges the ICPC preferred against him.

The Judge ordered him to refund $500.000 dollars to the federal government.

ECOWAS Court stops Buhari govt from prosecuting Nigerians using Twitter

 

The ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja on Tuesday delivered a landmark ruling as justices restrained President Muhammadu Buhari administration and its agents from arresting or prosecuting Nigerians using Twitter.  South east govs want to sacrifice Igbo people for power, they’re desperate – Nnamdi Kanu

The court also protected social media service providers, radio and television broadcast stations and others from prosecution pending the hearing and determination of this suit.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians had challenged “the unlawful suspension of Twitter”.  Reps advocate social media regulation as FG insists Twitter ban is in Nigeria’s interest

They said the directive “escalated repression of human rights and unlawfully restricted the rights of Nigerians and other people to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom.”

The court heard arguments from Solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana (SAN) and lawyer to the government Maimuna Shiru.

The court said any interference with Twitter is viewed as an interference with human rights and that will violate human rights.  Ex Reps member, Farouk Lawan bags 7 years jail term over graft

“This court has jurisdiction to hear the case. The court also hereby orders that the application be heard expeditiously. The Nigerian government must take immediate steps to implement the order.”

Falana, in his reaction, hailed the intervention of the ECOWAS Court.  ECOWAS Court stops Buhari govt from prosecuting Nigerians using Twitter

The legal luminary described it as a timely relief for millions of Nigerians using Twitter and under the threat of prosecution under the provision of the Penal Code relating to sedition.

“It is extremely embarrassing that the Federal Government could threaten to jail Nigerians for sedition, which was annulled by the Court of Appeal in 1983, in the case of Arthur Nwankwo vs The State”, he said.

The substantive suit has been adjourned to 6th July 2021 for hearing.