Friday 26 August 2016
Breaking! Enugu Police arrest suspect from Zamfara State over Attakwu community attack (photo)
According to the statement released by the command today, August 25th, the suspect who claimed that he is 20 years old revealed that he came in from Gusau Zamfara state to Enugu recently for the purposes of rearing cattle but has none to rear till now.
Meanwhile investigations have commenced in full scale into his alleged nefarious activities and with a view to unmasking his gang members so that they can be brought to book. The state commissioner of police Emmanuel Ojukwu has vowed to unmask all those involved in the dastardly act and bring them to book.
Photos: New ISIS video shows children executing prisoners, British kids reportedly among them
Islamic State just released a horrible video showing three gruesome execution scenes in Raqqa, Syria. The video shows five ISIS children executing 5 Kurdish prisoners. The children are reportedly from Egypt, Britain, Tunis, Uzbekistan, and a Kurd. One of the prisoner is even a child himself.
Photo credit: Jenan Moussa
Neglect of male infertility affects reproductive health "says Expert"
A Clinical Biochemist and Molecular Diagnostic, Prof. Oluyemi Akinloye, on Friday decried the neglect of male infertility in the reproductive health system in the country.
Akinloye, Head, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The expert said that too much attention was being paid to infertility factors in females, than that of their male counterparts.
According to him, In Nigeria, the male factor contribution to infertility is estimated to be about 54 per cent, based on semen analysis.
He also said that globally, the male contribution to infertility among couples has been estimated to be about 33 per cent.
“Often, the male partners are very uncooperative, thereby obstructing the proper diagnosis and management of couples’ infertility.
“Until recently, little attention was being placed on male contribution to infertility, partly because of the widely held erroneous belief that infertility was a female problem, especially in Africa.
“The women continually suffer neglect, especially in developing countries like Nigeria; the scientific and medical communities have paid more attention to female factors than that of their male counterpart.
“About 15 per cent of all couples have fertility issues and in half of those cases, the male partner has semen deficiencies,’’ Akinloye said.
He described infertility as “a disease of the reproductive system, defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse’’.
The expert said, “Infertility is a global problem, but was described to be rampant in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Despite the high population growth rate in Africa, infertility remains a major reproductive health problem.
“Hence, infertility still consumes a large percentage of resources available for reproductive health services in Nigeria.’’
He said that the causes of male infertility were multi-factoral.
“It was usually diagnosed on the basis of abnormal semen values observed in conventional semen analysis.
“Hormonal disturbances, environmental factors such as diet and toxic elements, genetic aberrations, improper medical waste disposal by healthcare workers, can lead to infertility,’’ the experts said.
Akinloye, therefore, urged governments at all levels and health workers to work as a team to ensure that waste generated at the health facilities were properly disposed, to reduce human exposure to its dangers.
He said that good human resources, power supply and good policies would improve research into the environment, industries and quality of people’s life.
glean: LUTH
France’s top court suspends burkini ban
France’s highest administrative court on Friday suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.
In a judgement expected to set a precedent, the State Council ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit was a “proven risk” to public order.
The judges said there was no such risk in the case before the court concerning Villeneuve-Loubet, one of around 30 towns to have introduced the bans.
The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) hailed the ruling as a “victory for common sense”.
Police have fined Muslim women for wearing burkinis on beaches in several towns, including in the popular tourist resorts of Nice and Cannes, sparking controversy in France and abroad.
The burkini bans have triggered a fierce debate about women’s rights and the French state’s strictly-guarded secularism.
– ‘Line in the sand’ -Amnesty International welcomed the ruling.
“By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fuelled by and is fuelling prejudice and intolerance, today’s decision has drawn an important line in the sand,” Amnesty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen said.
“French authorities must now drop the pretence that these measures do anything to protect the rights of women,” he said.
The CFCM’s secretary general Abdallah Zekri said: “This victory for common sense will help to take the tension out of a situation which has become very tense for our Muslim compatriots, especially women.”
The State Council heard arguments from the Human Rights League and an anti-Islamophobia group.
A court in Nice had upheld the Villeneuve-Loubet ban this week.
President Francois Hollande said Thursday that life in France “supposes that everyone sticks to the rules and that there is neither provocation nor stigmatisation”.
Anger over the issue was further inflamed this week when photographs in the British media showed police surrounding a woman in a headscarf on a beach in Nice as she removed a long-sleeved top.
The office of Nice’s mayor denied that the woman had been forced to remove clothing, telling AFP she was showing police the swimsuit she was wearing under her top, over a pair of leggings, when the picture was taken.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday condemned any “stigmatisation” of Muslims, but maintained that the burkini was “a political sign of religious proselytising”.
“We are not at war with Islam… the French republic is welcoming (to Muslims), we are protecting them against discrimination,” he told BFMTV.
But in a sign of the divisions within the Socialist government on the issue, Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the “proliferation” of burkini bans “was not a welcome development”.
Vallaud-Belkacem, who is of Moroccan origin, took issue with the wording of the ban in Nice which linked the measure to the jihadist truck attack in the resort last month in which 86 people were killed.
“In my opinion, there is nothing to prove that there is a link between the terrorism of Daesh and what a woman wears on a beach,” she said, using another term for Islamic State.
But Valls contradicted his minister’s claims, saying the bans were necessary to maintain “public order”.
– ‘No legal justification’ -The administrative court in Nice ruled Monday that the Villeneuve-Loubet ban was “necessary” to prevent “public disorder” after the Nice attack and the murder of a Catholic priest by two jihadists in northern France.
But in its ruling, the State Council said: “In the absence of such risks, the emotion and the concerns arising from terrorist attacks, especially the attack in Nice on July 14, are not sufficient to legally justify a ban.”
The so-called burkini bans never actually mention the word burkini, although they are clearly aimed at the garment which covers the hair but leaves the face visible and stretches down to the ankles.
The vague wording of the prohibitions has caused confusion.
Apart from the incident in the photographs in Nice, a 34-year-old mother of two told AFP on Tuesday she had been fined on the beach in the resort of Cannes wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.
France was the first European country to ban the wearing of the Islamic face veil in public in 2010.
glean: AFP
EFCC : We fear nobody except God
Magu throws open detention facilities to journalist By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor Appalled by criticism that a detainee, Desmond Nunugwo, died in its detention, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, yesterday, threw open its holding facilities to journalists for assessment and that the commission fear nobody expect God.
Apparently to prove its innocence in the death of Nunugwu, the Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Magu, flanked by some of his media managers, conducted journalist round the facilities located in its ‘Idiagbon House’ by is headquarters in Wuse 2, Abuja. Facilities shown to journalists were the interrogation room, medical and toilet facilities as well as the cells where detainees are kept pending investigations and prosecution. Magu boasted that EFCC’s detention facility was among the best in the country and asked journalists to take a tour of other holding facilities in the country and compare with those of the commission so as to determine his claim. “Without boasting, we can say that we have one of the best detention facilities in the country and we do so with purpose because those being kept in our custody are merely being temporarily kept pending interrogation and prosecution. “We have no intention to keep any detainee under an inhuman condition. That is why we have provided everything that is necessary to provide comfort for those kept in our facilities,” Magu said. Magu, who defended the actions of the commission so far, said that every of its action was done in the overall interest of the nation and not to boost any individual’s ego. “Let me make it very clear that we are driven by nothing but national interest in all that we do and we will continue to work for the interest of this country. We will continue to investigate and prosecute those who commit financial and economic crimes against this country. We fear nobody except God in the discharge of our national assignment,” the chairman said. The invitation of journalists to view the detention rooms, the first of its kind in the history of the EFCC, revealed the conditions under which the detainees are kept and how they conduct their lives while in solitude. All of the detainees are provided by 8 inches mattresses strewn on the floor with some of them being paired in a room while as many as four are kept in larger spaces. Findings also show that all the males share about 6 toilets and similar bathrooms while the female also share their facilities. A small room serves as a mosque for Muslims. The Head of the EFCC Medical Department, Dr. Haliru, who also conducted journalists round its medical facilities, said that relevant drugs are administered to inmates based on the medical reports of each person being brought into detention. “We first of all take the vital statistics and conduct relevant tests to determine the medical needs of each detainee before assigning them to their cells. We also provide free of charge the prescribed drugs to the detainees so that they don’t suffer any deprivation as a result of being detained. “We encourage them to come with their prescribed drugs and if they run out of them, we secure for them. We give them free medical attention,”Haliru said. The death of the protocol officer in EFCC cell has sparked outrage within and outside Nigeria, prompting adverse media commentary, which the EFCC has strongly objected to. Nunugwo, a former Chief Protocol Officer with the Ministry of Defence, was arrested by some officers of the Intelligence and Special Operations Section (ISOS) of the EFCC on June 9 at about 5.30pm for defrauding one Oleh Nnana Kalu of N63.6 million. His untimely has death triggered accusations and petitions to the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Assembly and Amnesty International calling for probe. The wife of the deceased, Susanne, suspects a foul play in her husband’s death and has already petitioned the National Human Rights Commission, the Nigeria Police Force, Amnesty International and other civil society groups to probe the death. However the EFCC has said that the man died naturally barely two hours after being taken into detention over fraud related petition. “The EFCC in the early hours of June 10, 2016 released an official statement through its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, announcing the tragic incident, while also informing that the matter had been formally reported to the Nigeria Police which is the relevant agency to investigate matters such as the unfortunate death of Citizen Nunugwo. “While the nation awaits the outcome of the Police investigation which should include the autopsy report, the family of the deceased suspect appears to have lost their patience with the Police investigation and is pre-empting its outcome with all manner of insinuations.
glean: vanguard
glean: vanguard
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