UK Elections 2015 4 Nigerians who contested for parliament win

 

The 4 Nigerians who were contesting for seats in the United Kingdom (UK) parliament have won.

Chuka Umunna, Helen Grant and Chi Onwurah who were already Members of Parliament for Streatham, Maidstone and The Weald in Kent and Newcastle upon Tyne Central  respectively will be returning to the House of Commons.

All 4 won in a landslide victory; Umunna who is with the Labour Party won by a 53% margin, Grant who is a member of the Conservative Party won by a margin of 45% while Onwurah who is also a member of the Labour Party won by a 55% margin.

Kate Osamor, who is a member of the Labour Party also won the seat for Edmonton in North London in a landslide victory with 25,388 votes, beating closest rival Conservative Gonul Daniels, who gained 9,969 votes.

 

By Unknown 04:44

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti expects La Liga strike action to be averted

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti says he expects strike action to be averted in Spanish football, after the prospect became very real this week.

The LFP and Spain's football federation (RFEF) have been involved in a disagreement with the government on a new law on collective bargaining for TV rights.
That was followed hours later by the Spanish football league saying it would take legal action against the federation.
  But Ancelotti said on Friday: "I think La Liga will continue normally. I think the parties involved will find a solution."
Spain's professional league (LFP) have started legal action to prevent the suspension of the final two La Liga match days.
The final two match-days in La Liga would both be affected, as well as the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao at the end of the month.

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti expects La Liga strike action to be averted

By Unknown 04:36

Manchester United's Michael Carrick to miss rest of season

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick will not play against this season, manager Louis van Gaal has confirmed.

The Reds' vice-captain suffered a calf injury in the closing stages of last month’s win over Manchester City and has subsequently missed the last three matches - all defeats - against Chelsea, Everton and West Brom

Manchester United's Michael Carrick to miss rest of season

By Unknown 04:16

'I'll kill corruption' - Buhari reaffirms

The President–elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari has said tackling corruption is third on his agenda after insecurity and unemployment, stating he will kill it before it destroys Nigeria.

He said this on Thursday, May 7, in Abuja, while receiving the Akwa Ibom chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said Nigeria’s problem is more of corruption, and not ethnic or religious.

 “So the point I want to make here is that the problem of Nigeria is not ethnic or religious, it is corruption,” Buhari said.

He added, “this is what we are fighting, that is why corruption is number three in my campaign.

“The first one is insecurity in the North-East and the Niger Delta where people are kidnapped and ransom is being demanded which people cannot afford.

“The second one is unemployment, 60 per cent of Nigerians are youths, most of them, whether they went to school or not, are unemployed and that is dangerous.

“So we have to get the issue of the economy right to make sure the jobs are made available and we should try to kill corruption before corruption kills Nigeria.

“Let us practice what we preach as well, whoever wins as a governor too has a lot of work to do because corruption is fast becoming a culture and to try to caution people is not an easy task but it must be done.

“I know you all represent various constituencies, please pass our message and give them hope that we’ll do our best in the interest of all.’’

Buhari cheered and advised the APC governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, who lost PDP’s Udom Emmanuel, to rely on the judicial system as “the right place to fight for your right and the right of the people you represent.”

'I'll kill corruption' - Buhari reaffirms

By Unknown 04:10

Fuel Scarcity | NNPC assures queues at filling stations will 'thin out in days ahead'

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its downstream subsidiary, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), has said they have 1.2 billion litres of petrol in stock.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, May 7, by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department of NNPC, Ohi Alegbe,

The statement stated that the figure translated to 31 days sufficiency, going by the 40 million litres daily consumption of the product in the country.

It explained that the Managing Director of PPMC, Haruna Momoh, made the announcement in Abuja.

It quoted Haruna as saying that "21 additional vessels laden with petroleum products are in offshore Lagos waiting to berth.

"NNPC has made adequate arrangements to ensure energy sufficiency in the country and reassured motorists that the noticeable queues at the filling stations would thin out in the days ahead.”

Momoh said that the NNPC also had 21 days sufficiency of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) otherwise known as diesel and 18 days sufficiency of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), otherwise known as kerosene.

He said that as part of efforts to ensure petroleum products’ sufficiency and distribution, the NNPC embarked on aggressive Reception Depots rehabilitation in 2011.

“As at today, 18 depots out of the 23 depots have been fully recovered with the exception of Makurdi, Yola and Maiduguri due to the activities of pipeline vandals,” he said.

The PPMC MD disclosed that the corporation suffered petroleum products losses worth N40.8bn through pipeline vandalism in 2014.

He said that no business could survive such a loss and still remained a growing concern.

Momoh said there was a marginal increase in pipeline vandalism, stressing that in 2013, the corporation recorded 3,517 vandalised points but in 2014, the figure increased to 3, 774.

He said that “as at today, 97 pipeline vandals are undergoing prosecution”.

Momoh expressed regret that since the cases started a few years ago, none of the accused persons had been convicted for economic sabotage.

He called on Nigerians from all walks of life, especially those living in communities where the pipelines run through, to protect them in national interest.

Fuel Scarcity | NNPC assures queues at filling stations will 'thin out in days ahead'

By Unknown 04:06

What happened to Kim K's figure? (Photo)

She forgot to wear her waist trainer? She posted the pic on instagram as she prepares to appear onAustralia’s Next Top Model tonight!

What happened to Kim K's figure? (Photo)

By Unknown 06:34

Mother of executed Australian drug trafficker writes emotional letter to Indonesia President

The mother of Myuran Sukumaran (pictured left), one of the two Australians executed alongside 7 others for drug related offences in Indonesia on April 28th, has written an emotional open letter to Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, describing the pain of losing her child.

In the letter, she criticized the President for refusing to grant her son and others clemency despite pleas from everyone. Read the letter after the cut...

Dear Mr President,
Leader of Indonesia and father of three children, My name is Raji Sukumaran, and my son, Myuran Sukumaran, was executed in the early hours of Wednesday 29 April 2015 under your instructions. As I make the preparations to bury my beautiful son, I thought I would share my feelings with you. I thought I would share how my son was reformed, was full of life, love and passion, and who so desperately wanted to live his life in service to help others. I have made this letter open in the hope that it may help other people or their families, in some way as they sit and wait for you to order their deaths. I would really like to think that you would be able to understand, if you don't, then feel free to share this letter with your wife, who I think would understand, one mother to another.

My son doesn't want another mother, father, sister or brother to go through what we went through. For no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or friends should have to deal with what we've had to deal with. I am not sure where you were as the men you ordered to kill my son, and seven others pulled the trigger but I am sure you were far away. My son died knowing all his loved ones were close by waiting in a hotel room to hear the news that he had been executed.

My son did commit a serious crime but he also apologised to your country and your people many times. In the last 10 years while you kept him in prison, he chose to do all within his power to make up for his crime. It wasn?t easy, I am not sure anyone will ever realise how hard good man in prison, to be a positive role model for other younger prisoners, Indonesian prisoners.

Myu spent many years rehabilitating so many prisoners, he hoped that he could help as many people as possible, to give them a chance to leave prison to go out in the world a little better than they came inside. Myu helped prisoners who struggled with drug use and many other issues. My son never asked for his rehabilitation to be enough to free him from prison, all he asked was that he not be killed. Was it too much for you to let him live the remainder of his life in prison? I have heard that many others around you took the time to read and learn of the works of my son, and of Andrew and of the people they helped.

Many of whom are now helping other people themselves. I cannot believe that all of his works could not even get you to even read the paper you were signing. I remember when you were elected as President of Indonesia, my son was celebrating. My son told me that 'Our new President is a man of the people, a person that would support education, rehabilitation and people bettering themselves' and that you would look into everything he had done in the prison. I guess he was wrong.

As human being, I can?t even understand how you could sign a person?s death without looking into their personal circumstances. If you do not read what you are signing how can you know whether the life you are taking belongs to someone who is mentally unwellwheelchair, or young mother with two children, or a father of two, or a man who has been in your prison for 17 years, or a gospel singer, or two young boys who made foolish mistakes.

My son only hoped to live in prison for the remainder of his life so that he could be able to continue his good work, which has become known around the world. All he wanted was to be given a chance to do that. I as a mother was punished for 10 years as well for his crime, and I will be punished for the rest of my life now because you took his lifesend my son home. I just asked you not to order his death but instead you ignored me and many others. I asked to meet you, to speak to you but once again you could not even have the courage to face our requests to communicate with you. I will not have the chance to see him get married, have children. Mr President, do you think that your punishment towards my son after he had spent 10 years in gaol reformed and helping others and then executing him is fair and just? Do you as a leader feel that everyone who faces justice in Indonesia is treated fairly and equally? Do you believe that Indonesia has a justice system that doesn?t make mistakes? Do you not hear or read all the stories about corruption in criminal cases? I think this is something very important - you have told the thousands and thousands of people in prisons across your country, that no matter how hard you work, no matter how much you change your life, no matter what your personal circumstances are - you will not receive mercy. You ask them to not try, as I have never heard of anyone in prison around the world doing the works my son has done - it was still not enough for you to read his clemency application. I hope your wife would understand what myself and Andrew Chan's mother are going through. I felt so helpless as I watched my son walk away, healthy and full of life. I watched as over the last four months you tortured him by making jokes about his life, making him guess the night he would be taken, openly discussing the way in which he would die, parading and humiliating our family. We made funeral plans for our sons while they were still alive.

This was because we were told you the President had not changed your mind, and that you had ordered the executions to be carried out, despite the world wide outcry to let our sons live. I want to ask you to put your family in my situation. Only days before I saw a video in which you said that you did not want Indonesians to be killed overseas. I know as I write this letter, the death of our children will not make any difference to drug trade in Indonesia. I am sure you know this, and that your reasons for taking these 8 lives had nothing to do with preventing drugs and everything to do with your politics.

I hope that your children, your grandchildren, your nephews and nieces never make a mistake. I also want you to remember when your child falls in love, gets married, makes plans for the future, that Andrew Chan also fell in love, made plans for his future and was executed. How would it feel if this was your son? I was told as my son said his last words, one of the last things he did was say a prayer for Indonesia. My son sought forgiveness for your country and the men taking his life, as he knew you did not know what you were doing. This was the man you ordered to die. I am not sure whether I could ever forgive you, I hope that I have that much grace and compassion in my heart one day. But I am sure this pain in my heart will stay with me for the rest of my life, and it hurts so much.

Think for a second, one of your children is tied to post, and men are lined up in front of them and the fear he would have felt, and then your child is shot through the heart. My son was young and foolish, he did not deserve to suffer like this. My son will be missed by so many people who love him and so many people are ?nding it dif?cult to come to terms with what has happened.

As I finish this letter I pray for the many other men and women whose lives are in your hands, especially those on death row. I pray that you will have the courage to look beyond the politics for they too have families who love them despite their mistakes.

MMN
Raji Sukumaran

Mother of executed Australian drug trafficker writes emotional letter to Indonesia President

By Unknown 06:24