US Justice Dept Seek to Enlist Boko Haram as Foreign Terrorist Group

The Justice Department is pressing the State Department to designate Boko Haram, a Nigerian militant group alleged to be responsible for hundreds of deaths, as a "foreign terrorist organization," according to a document obtained by Reuters.

Lisa Monaco, head of the Justice Department's national security division, sent a letter in January to State Department counter-terrorism chief Daniel Benjamin requesting that Boko Haram, also known as the "Nigerian Taliban," be put on the list.

A Congressional source said that in the last few days, State Department representatives have lobbied Congress to try to stop legislation which would force the administration to act against the group or explain why they had not done so.

On Thursday, Rep. Patrick Meehan, a Republican who chairs a House subcommittee on Homeland Security, introduced an amendment to a defense bill that does just that, after he said State officials inexplicably cancel led a briefing on Boko Haram.

In several recent cases, including that of the so-called underwear bomber, in which a Nigerian failed to blow up an airliner headed to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, the United States has been handcuffed by waiting too long to designate a group as "terrorists," Meehan said.

"Only later, after they've committed terrible acts have we put them on the list of foreign terrorists," Meehan told Reuters. "To not have the capacity that it gives law enforcement to both monitor and to hold people who give material support to an organization like that, puts us at a disadvantage."

Representative Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said: "Boko Haram claimed credit for the suicide bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, killing 23 people and injuring more than 80 others.

"That meets my definition of a terrorist group, but if the administration has a reason why they don't want to designate them, I would like to hear it," Rogers said.

A senior State Department official said the department was "very concerned about violence in Nigeria" and added that it was "looking at this very carefully."

The official insisted the department was "not stalling or dragging our feet." But he noted that adding a group to the sanctions list is a "rigorous process which has to stand up in a court of law."

Also on Thursday, Rep. Charlie Dent added an amendment to a foreign affairs bill that would also require State to explain why Boko Haram had not been designated a terrorist organization. The measure passed the House Appropriations Committee Thursday.

LINKED TO SERIES OF ATTACKS

Congress has recently been at odds with the Obama administration regarding demands that a Pakistan-based militant group linked to the Taliban known as the Haqqani Network also be added to the foreign terrorist organization list.

Some administration officials have hinted that they are resisting putting the Haqqani network on the list in the hope that not doing so might advance continuing, but patchy, peace negotiations between the U.S. and Taliban groups in Afghanistan.

Assistant Attorney General Monaco's letter said that in her view, Boko Haram meets the criteria for a foreign terrorist listing, in that it either engages in terrorism which threatens the United States or has a capability or intent to do so.

According to Monaco, since 2009 the group has targeted violent attacks against Nigeria's "police, politicians, public institutions and civilian population."

She said the group was responsible for an attack in December 2010 in which 80 were killed in a town called Jos; a June 2011 attack on Nigeria's national police headquarters; an August 2011 attack on a U.N. compound in Nigerian capital Abuja; and multiple attacks in November and December 2011, including Christmas Day attacks on churches and other targets.

Monaco said that according to press reports, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for 510 victims in 2011, and also took credit for a January 20 attack on government buildings in Kano in which more than 160 were killed.

Monaco said that although Boko Haram attacks until now have occurred only within Nigeria, the U.S. should not underestimate the threat the group poses to U.S. interests.

She claimed the group had forged links with "transnational terrorist groups," including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a north African affiliate of al Qaeda's Pakistan-based core group, and Boko Haram has "openly espoused violence against the West."

In a March 30 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Meehan and House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Peter King suggested some of Boko Haram's most recent tactics have paralleled those of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan, both of which have been linked to attempted - though unsuccessful - attacks on the United States.

Administration officials have said that U.S. government representatives will hold high-level talks with Nigerian officials in Washington next month and the issue of Boko Haram is certain to come up.

Will Smith slaps a Ukrainian reporte for kissing him

Will Smith slaps male reporter for kissing him

At the Men In Black 3 premiere, the actor says: 'He's lucky I didn't sucker punch him.'

19 May 2012 | By Joe Morgan

Actor Will Smith slapped a male reporter who kissed him at the Moscow première of Men In Black 3.
As reported by TMZ, the footage shows Ukrainian reporter Vitalii Sediuk as he leans to embrace the actor and kiss him on the cheek.
Smith responds by pushing the reporter away, and says: ‘What the hell is your problem, buddy?’ The actor then gives Sediuk a backhanded slap.
After a pause and as the actor moves away to the next interview, he says: ‘He tried to kiss me on the mouth! He’s lucky I didn’t sucker punch him.’
He quickly adds: ‘Oh sorry, I said that on camera.’
Sediuk is known in Ukraine as a television prankster, and made headlines last year when he presented pop queen Madonna with her greatest floral hatred – hydrangeas.
The Hollywood actor has supported President Barack Obama’s stance on gay marriage, calling it ‘brave’.
During his global Men In Black 3 press tour Smith told German reporters: ‘If anybody can find someone to love them and to help them through this difficult thing that we call life, I support that in any shape or form.’

NNPC spends N1.35bn annually on 36 employees

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has been spending N1.35bn annually on 36 of its employees redeployed to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.
This much was discovered and made known by the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies in its report.

Apart from the fuel subsidy issue, the NCDMB, which was established on April 22, 2010, came under serious scrutiny from the members of the Stephen Oronsaye Committee.

A breakdown of the figure by the committee showed that each of the 36 NNPC officials deployed in the new board received on the average N37m per annum.

The committee noted that the figure “is very high and cannot be supported when the basic salary per annum in the public sector is N216,000.”

The committee has also listed the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency and the Petroleum Equalisation Funds among agencies that should lose their independent status.

According to the 660-page report exclusively obtained by SATURDAY PUNCH, the committee, led by a former Head of Service (Oronsaye), recommended a merger of the PPPRA with the PEF as an antidote to the fraud in fuel importation and distribution in the country.

Oronsaye and his colleagues in the committee recommended that the PPPRA and PEF be collapsed into a single department under the supervision of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
In recommending the merger of some of the core agencies in the nation’s corruption-ridden oil industry, the committee said, “The PPPRA and the PEF be merged into a single department in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources; and there should be full automation of the bridging process of distribution of petroleum products to eliminate abuse.”

The Committee stated that the statutory functions of the PEF could be carried out as a department in the petroleum ministry.

The report stated that the PPPRA and PEF perform functions that have a cause and effect relationship, which makes it necessary for an alignment of functions for a better efficient service delivery.

“The committee believes that the performance of the functions of the agencies does not need a complicated apparatus in the form of two parastatals and their boards.

“Their collapse into a single department in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources would reduce the widely reported financial and procedural abuse in the oil sector.

“The need will therefore arise to fully automate the bridging process of the distribution of petroleum products to eliminate abuses.”

In arriving at its decision, the committee stated that the 26-member board of the PPPRA is rather unwieldy.

The committee members argued that PPPRA would cease to exist with the phased removal of fuel subsidy in the country and with the expected enactment of the Petroleum Act.

Oronsaye and the members of his committee made serious observations about the administration of the NNPC.

According to the committee, the NNPC has been maintaining a workforce considered inimical to the nation’s economy.

The committee put the workforce of the corporation at 9,765 out of which 1,386, 7,331 and 1,048 are management, senior, and junior staff respectively.

It was also the observation of the committee that “the NNPC structure is unwieldy in terms of the size of its workforce and this constitutes a big drain on government resources.”

The committee observed that the NNPC is violating a constitutional stipulation, which forbids a minister to be chairman of a parastatal under them and recommended that an independent chairman be appointed to head the governing board by the President in accordance with “extant Federal Government Guidelines on the Administration of Federal Government Parastatals.”

The committee recommended a periodic management audit of the corporation.

It was further observed that the NCDMB and the Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund were performing similar functions of training qualified Nigerians for placement in the oil and gas sector of the economy, which the committee said could have been performed by a single agency.

The report said, “The committee further observed similarities in the functions of the NCDMB and the Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund.

“While the NCDMB focuses on the initiation, design and implementation of effective indigenous research and development capacity for Nigeria’s oil and gas and solid minerals industry, and while the core functions performed by the two bodies could be performed by one agency, the committee is of the view that the bodies – the PTDF and the NCDMB – should be merged to ensure greater synergy and have a one-stop shop for training and placement of competent Nigerians in the oil and gas sector.”

The committee, therefore, recommended that the PTDF be subsumed in the NCDMB as a way of ensuring an effective coordination in the training and placement of competent Nigerians in the oil sector.

It recommended the amendment of the NCDMB law to enable it to take over the PTDF.

The Oronsaye Committee further recommended the scrapping of 38 agencies, the merger of 52 others in addition to the reversion of the status of 14 agencies to departments in ministries.

It recommended the management audit of 89 agencies and the capturing of the biometric data of members of staff.

It is also part of the recommendations of the committee that the government shou ld stop the funding of certain agencies that are expected to be self-sustaining.

On the issue of the scourge of corruption in the country, the committee gave some insight into its recommendations for the merger of the anti-graft agencies in the country.

The committee recommended the merger of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Code of Conduct Bureau, because of the similarity of functions performed by the agencies.

The committee recommended the establishment of an independent anti-corruption agency in place of the EFCC, ICPC and CCB.

“The Code of Conduct Bureau should be merged with the ICPC and EFCC into a strengthened parastatal and that the law should accord it independence and autonomy,” the report stated.

It is part of the recommendations that the Code of Conduct Tribunal be renamed the Anti-Corruption Tribunal, entrusted with the sole responsibility of handling cases referred to it by the proposed anti-corruption body.

The committee stated that the recommended Anti-Corruption Tribunal should be “granted the status of a Court of Superior Records.”

Also recommended is the establishment of strong departments in the proposed anti-corruption agency. These include prosecution, investigation, prevention (advocacy) and asset declaration/forfeiture.

It was recommended that the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit be made an autonomous body now domiciled in the EFCC.

The committee observed that the recommendations involving the anti-corruption agencies and the special tribunal for corruption would take a strenuous constitutional amendment, which they agreed, was worth the stress. SATURDAY PUNCH

Incumbent France president, Nicolas Sankozy loses to socialist,Hollande

Hollande wins French presidency

As Socialists celebrate their first president in nearly 20 years, Sarkozy urges his party to remain united.

Hollande's defeat of Sarkozy made for the first time in 31 years that an incumbent president has been unable to be reelected [Reuters]

France has crowned Francois Hollande as its first Socialist president in nearly two decades, marking a shift to the left at the heart of Europe. Hollande unseated Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy in a heated election on Sunday, making the incumbent France's first one-term president in 31 years since Valery Giscard d'Estaing lost to Socialist Francois Mitterrand in 1981. Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons in Tulle, where Hollande is expected to give a brief vicotry speech tonight, said that there are high expecations of a man who "has never even held a junior ministerial post". "He's certainly proved popular despite a background that really is pretty boring, politically." Joyful crowds were gathering in Hollande's adopted  home town of Tulle and in front of Socialist headquarters in Paris, as rumours of the result spread more than an hour before French media were legally permitted to publish results. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Paris, said the final votes are yet to be counted, but the result was sufficiently clear. "A very clear, very decisive margin there, and already, we're seeing the scenes - cars hooting as they drive down the Champs-Élysées...and crucially, the Place de la Bastille, the traditional celebration ground of the socialist movement," said Rowland. Sarkozy suggested on Sunday that he would step back from frontline politics after his failed re-election bid, but stopped short of confirming his retirement. "In this new era, I will remain one of you, but my place will no longer be the same. My engagement with the life of my country will now be different, but time will never strain the bonds between us," he told supporters. A long challenge Hollande, who led in the polls throughout the campaign, won the April 22 first round with 28.6 per cent to 27.2 per cent for Sarkozy - making the right-winger the first-ever incumbent to lose in the first round. Grey skies and rain showers greeted voters across much of France, but turnout was high, hitting 71.96 per cent at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) according to interior ministry figures and as high as 80 per cent by day's end. More than 46 million people were eligible to vote. Sarkozy had vowed a surprise, while Hollande cautioned against assuming he will be France's first Socialist president since Mitterrand left office in 1995. An end to 'MerKozy' partnership  The election was marked by fears over European Union-imposed austerity and economic globalisation, and Hollande has said his first foreign meeting will be with German Chancellor Angela Merkel - the key driver of EU budget policy. Hollande has promised more government spending and higher taxes -including a 75-per cent income tax on the rich - and wants to re-negotiate a European treaty on trimming budgets to avoid more debt crises of the kind facing Greece. That would complicate relations with Merkel, who championed the treaty alongside Sarkozy. Under Sarkozy, France pledged to rein in its spending while the rest of 17 countries that use the euro embark on a strict period of belt-tightening. In France, that has included programmes designed to reduce government employment. Hollande will need a strong mandate if he is to implement his proposed programme to fight EU-driven austerity measures. Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer, reporting from Berlin, said that Merkel has made it clear that she would like to see a Sarkozy victory. "She was, in fact, supposed to campaign with him, but it became clear to people in Sarkozy's entourage that that might actually work against him because French voters didn't want to be told that what they needed was a German-style austerity in their country, so it wasn't really a vote-winner, it was a bit of an embarrassment," said Spicer. But, said our correspondent, a plan is in place to work with Hollande as president. "The noises we are getting out of Berlin are that they would very quickly try to find a working relationship. Hollande himself has said that his first phone call tonight would be to German Chancellor Angela Merkel."

Ex-Nigerian Striker Rashidi Yekini Buried [potos]

Ex-Nigerian Striker Rashidi Yekini Buried [Photos]

Rashidi yekini (Oct 23 1963 -May 4,2012)

   
   Ex-Nigerian striker rashidi yekini was buried this morning in Ira, Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State according to muslim rights .

       The former african footballer of the year passed away yesterday in ibadan at the age of 48 due to what his close associates called depression. Rashidi was said to have been living a solitary life after retiring from football .At the burial which was attended by top officials,oyo and osun state Government donated N1M each to his family.

  The former Super Eagles top striker was survived by aged mother ,three wives and three children.

Rashidi lying in state

      rashidi lying in state in offa                                            islamic leaders praying for the body of rashidi

Mss Cross river, Isabel Ayuk wins Miss Nigeria beauty contest

The 25th edition of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant took place tonight in Benin City, Edo State.

Isabella Ayuk, Miss Cross River was crowned as the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria MBGN 2012 winner.

The MBGN 2012 finalists had been Miss Abuja, Miss Osun, Miss Cross River, Miss Kaduna & Miss Rivers.

As MBGN 2012 winner,Isabella Ayuk's official title is Miss MBGN World 2012 and she will represent Nigeria in the 2012 Miss World competition which will hold August 18, 2012 in Inner Mongolia, China.

Her prize includes a brand new Toyota Corolla car, fantastic million Naira cash prize and a million naira worth Cartier wristwatch.

Other winners were:

•MBGN Universe 2012 – Charles Damiete (Miss Rivers )
•MBGN Tourism 2012 – Ifeoma Umeokeke (Miss Abuja )
•MBGN 2012 Miss Photogenic - Omobhude Omoye Mary ( Miss Edo )
•MBGN 2012 Miss Amity – Onuoha Grace (Miss Taraba)
•MBGN 2012 Miss La Casera – Igebu Antonette (Miss Gombe)
•MBGN 2012 Face of Select Pro - Tomilayo Salami (Miss Kwara)
•MBGN 2012 Best Traditional Costume - Isabella Ayuk (Miss Cross river)

Aside: Banky W's head stole the show though.
That was all everyone was tweeting about as the MBGN competition was on. *LOL*






Source

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Banky W.jpg

Banky W2.jpg

Gov Uduaghan explains N7.4bn airport expenditure

The Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has said that the N7.4 billion budgeted for the earth movement at the Asaba International Airport was to enhance pilots’ visibility and for the airport to accommodate large body aircraft. He explained that his administration was abiding by the conditions given by the aviation regulatory body, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Speaking to selected Aviation Correspondents in Asaba at the weekend, the Governor said that work had started on the project long before the planned visit of the President for the South South Economic Summit, remarking that the airport was built with 3.4 kilometer runway with 50 metres width, which qualifies it to accommodate a Boeing 747 aircraft and its equivalent. He however added that there are conditions that must be met before such aircraft could be allowed to land by the regulatory body. Such conditions, according to him, include having a strip of 120 meters on either side of the runway, and that the ends of the runway must be at the same ground level with the runway. “ So inevitably the hill at the end of the runway must be cut down and the earth moved to the sloppy sides of the runway so that there is equal ground level distance of 300 meters on either side of the runway. “So the N7.4 billion was not budgeted just for cutting of the hill but for complete earth work to ensure that the runway is at the level of its surrounding so that the airport meets international standard for easy visibility of the pilot, the landing and take-off of large body aircraft and for safety at the runway and the whole airside of the airport”, he said Uduaghan added, “The contract for the leveling of the hills was not awarded because of the recently concluded South South Summit we hosted in Asaba; it is purely driven by the technical and safety consideration of the NCAA. The contract has since 2011 been awarded, as the Chief Executive of the state, I directed the contractor to get the job done in good time because we are in a hurry to get the airport up and running, that is our goal and this is driven by the pressure I am under from our sister states in the South East, Anambra, Abia, Enugu to get the airport running.” The Governor also explained that the contractor had done about 10 percent of the job after about 10 months, calculating that with that pace job would be completed in the next two years, which was not what government, which was already under pressure to kick off the cargo part of the air operation, so government had to bring in two more contractors at the same budget of N7.4 billion to finish the job in time. On the amount of money budgeted for the project, the Governor said, “I think the figure that is being bandied about is the totality of so many things, the unfortunate thing is that the time the figures were sent out, it was not properly transmitted, and that is the unfortunate thing.” In addition to the earthwork, the money budgeted would also fund the building of quarters for essential staff at the airport, according to the state government. Before Uduaghan became the Governor of Delta state, his predecessor had built an airstrip at Asaba, but seeing the economic potential of having a full airport in the capital, Uduaghan’s administration embarked on building an airport for big body aircraft, looking at the business communities all around Asaba. “The desire to go beyond just having an airstrip as thought by the last administration to me makes an economic sense, because the Asaba airport will be fed by passenger traffic from the Onitsha, Nnewi axis and other key areas of the South East. We also considered the cargo activity at the airport; that is why we embarked on the airport project,” the Governor explained. But the snag was that the there was no stretch of level land for about four kilometers that could take the airport, so the government had to do with what was available. “We wanted to build an airport with a runway length of between 3.4 kilometre and four kilometers, unfortunately, there is no terrain in Asaba area that could give us such stretch of land; the topography here in Asaba is mainly either hills, or low lands, rivers almost like a valley. With all the directions and technical survey that was done for the airport, we got where we are now, which gives us two terrains, the hill on one side and the river on the other side, we have to make do with what is available.” He said that his administration had to embark on the project with serious and heavy engineering work, dealing with all challenges offered by the topography, including this latest one, which is leveling the whole surrounding of the runway and cutting the hill at its end. Meanwhile, the airport is already providing service for the teeming businessmen and women in Onitsha and its environs as airlines operating into the airport enjoy full load factor on every flight.