Russia bans Jehovah's Witnesses as "fanatic"

Russia has prohibited Jehovah's Witnesses as a radical association, setting the conservative organization in the organization of neo-Nazi and jihadi gatherings. 

The equity service included the Jehovah's Witnesses authoritative focus in Russia and 395 nearby offices to its enroll of restricted associations on Thursday.

Criminal allegations would now be able to be brought against devotees for exercises, for example, converting or basically assembling.

The move depended on an April incomparable court choice that pronounced Jehovah's Witnesses a fanatic association and requested its property to be swung over to the state.

The equity service had affirmed that the millenarian gathering damaged Russia's dubious law against radicalism, taking note of that its "religious writing denies blood transfusions to sick individuals from the association".

"What's happening now helps me to remember Soviet circumstances. Presently as then a considerable lot of our kindred adherents are assembling in pads since they were closing down our kingdom corridors, a hefty portion of which will now be appropriated," said Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative for Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, including that the gathering possessed many structures in Russia.

The 175,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia commonly decline to vote and request other options to obligatory military administration.

Nearby experts in a few urban communities have officially prohibited Jehovah's Witnesses and indicted adherents.

In May, Danish national Dennis Christensen was captured at a Jehovah's Witness book of scriptures perusing in Oryol. He stays in pretrial detainment on radicalism charges.

Joined Nations human rights specialists said the court body of evidence against Jehovah's Witnesses "flags a dim future for all religious opportunity in Russia".

Mr Sivulsky said Jehovah's Witnesses would advance the boycott to the European Court of Human Rights.

Alexander Verkhovsky, chief of the human rights association Sova Center, said the US-based order is frequently "seen as an operator of Western impact" in Russia.

"Jehovah's Witnesses are anything but difficult to abuse since they are not famous and are peaceful objector, so there's no danger of radicalization," he said

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President Buhari’s policies Have Led to Fuel Scarcity & Devaluation of the Naira: Is Nigeria at Crossroads Again?

As indicated by late popular assessment, the occupant President, the plane setting kid from Daura , is uncouth. His approaches have prompted hyper-swelling, shortage of fuel and remote trade, amongst different things. However, once more his antecedent was regarded to be uncouth as well. 

Presently if the person who is attempting to accomplish something is clumsy and the individual before him was uncouth is there anyone sufficiently capable to manage a nation called Nigeria? 

We've experienced each type of government in Nigeria; from Parliamentary standard amid the First Republic to a progression of military fascisms coming full circle with the Presidential framework we now grasp. 

So far none of these administrations, as indicated by popular feeling, have worked. 

So the basic truth is that there is no one able to decide the nation (- that is whether you rebate the late Sanni Abacha with his totalitarian style of government!) 

Maybe the genuine reason we have inept governments lies with our exceptionally selves. 

How would we choose our pioneers? 

Do we vote in favor of legit individuals or individuals who have flawed riches and skeletons in their organizers? Do we vote in favor of them since they're from the North or South or whether they are Christians or Muslims? Then again do we vote in favor of them since they've renumerated us? 

Presently the president alone doesn't run the nation. There are Governors, congresspersons and so on directly down to the humble councilors, in nearby governments, all voted into office by your vote. 

Presently on the off chance that you vote into office a terrible councilor, an awful congressperson, an awful senator or an awful President what do you get? You get an administration that won't work. It doesn't make a difference whether you have a PDP or APC greater part, if the individual voted into office is awful there are no prizes for think about what he/she will get up to. 

At present, what number of governors, congresspersons and clergymen are under scrutiny for misrepresentation, debasement and abuse of their workplaces? 

One individual is not a legislature. It takes many individuals to frame an administration to run a nation. What's more, for that administration to work appropriately you require everyone to work in flawless synchronization. So in the event that you have a couple of Governors, Senators and Ministers fouling things up it will influence the levels of leadership and request of things. Furthermore, much the same as a column of dominoes everything will tumble down. Quod Erat Demonstrandum! On the other hand as the late Chinua Achebe once said," a finger in oil will soil the rest". 

We are the voters. Our votes put these individuals in office and we ought to hold ourselves obligated. In the event that you vote a known cheat into office, he will take your cash! Moreover in the event that you vote in a dolt or a man of sketchy character they're not going to do anything – separated from enhancing themselves and their comrades! I wager the late disclosures of the Panama Papers will have a considerable measure of Nigerian lawmakers shaking in their shoes! 

It doesn't make a difference what type of government we rehearse, unless we alter our opinion sets and choose individuals who are qualified to carry out the employment(- and vote them out the moment they get to be bumbling!) Nigeria will perpetually resemble a gerbil in a hamster wheel – always going round in circles however really going no place! 

Maybe we ought to restore the late Sanni Abacha to bring back his totalitarian style of government since nothing else appears to work!

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We’ll institute agric policies to reduce food imports – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria said on Monday that it would institute pro-agricultural policies that would assist in reducing the huge amount spent annually on food imports.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, stated this while speaking during the Nigerian agricultural finance conference held in Abuja.

He lamented the limited flow of credit to the agriculture sector stating that there was need to unlock credit to the sector.He put the amount currently being spent on food import at N630bn, stating that with this huge amount, there is need to put in place adequate policies to stimulate local production.

Providing statistics on the sector, the governor said the flow of credit to agriculture has been low, ranging from 1.67 per cent in 2010 to 3.72 per cent in 2014.

Similarly, the governor stated that budgetary allocation to the sector as a percentage of total federal budgets had been declining steadily from 3.59 per cent in 2010 to 1.77 per cent and 1.47 per cent in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

As a result of the low funding to the sector, Emefiele said the apex bank in 2009 took proactive steps to intervene in the sector by providing intervention funds.

He, however, lamented that despite the intervention of the apex bank, the progress by the sector has not been encouraging.

He said,”A number of policies, programmes, schemes and institutions have been introduced to drive our agricultural transformation but progress had been held back by lack of synergy, consistency and continuity in efforts.

“Agricultural credit, though a necessary condition for catalyzing the diversification of the Nigerian economy, is not a sufficient condition if it is not complemented by other drivers of growth like infrastructure, research and development, functional extension system and market access, etc.

“I want to assure you that the Central Bank of Nigeria will continue to institute pro-agricultural sector policies to totally reduce our food import bills, create jobs and diversify the economy.”

The CBN Governor said the conference with the theme, “Catalyzing the diversification of Nigerian economy through effective Agricultural finance,” aligns with our present national priority of attaining self-sufficiency in food production, stimulating non-oil exports and diversifying the economy.

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Buhari rejects N’Assembly’s peace deal on budget

There were indications on Sunday that the National Assembly’s  peace moves with the executive over the 2016 budget crisis had flopped.

loveishloaded learnt that as part of the peace moves, the National Assembly had, on Saturday, reached out to the executive and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the document and then send a supplementary budget to the lawmakers.

A minister, who confided in loveishloaded, said both arms of government had been discussing the issue, but the President had been advised by members of his cabinet not to sign the appropriation bill.It was gathered that the President did not accept the suggestion against the backdrop that the distortions in the budget discovered in the document transmitted by the National Assembly were too many.

“The National Assembly has initiated some peace moves. The lawmakers have suggested that the budget should be signed by the President before he will send a supplementary budget to cover the omissions, but he had turned down the proposal,” a competent source told one of our correspondents on Sunday.

Also, a  competent Presidency source told loveishloaded on condition of anonymity on Sunday that with the level of distortions noticed in the document returned to the President, there was no way he could have been advised to append his signature to the budget.

The source stated, “I can confirm to you that the President has been advised not to sign the budget as it is. The initial plan was for him to sign it before going to China and thereafter present a supplementary budget to the National Assembly.

“But as it is, with the level of distortions noticed, the President has been advised not to sign it at all.”

It was gathered that  Buhari on Sunday afternoon met behind closed doors with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, in continuation of his consultation on the budget.

The meeting was held inside the President’s official residence in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting was held shortly before Buhari left Abuja for China on a one-week official visit.

It was learnt that the meeting was a follow-up to an earlier one held by the President with the leadership of the National Assembly.

Presidential spokesmen, Mr. Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, were not available for comments on Sunday as they were on the President’s entourage to China.

Investigations by our correspondents at the National Assembly showed that the majority of the 109 senators and the 360 members of the House of Representatives had no knowledge of the details of the 2016 budget before they passed the document on March 23.

It was learnt on Sunday that the lawmakers placed too much confidence on the judgment of the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriation, chaired by Senator Danjuma Goje and Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, to work out the details that they reportedly paid less attention to the work of the committee.

One senior legislative official, who followed the budget through, said, “Let the truth be told; the budget was passed without any information on the breakdown.

“We all trusted the committee that due to the pressure to pass the budget, the members should work out the details while we passed the highlights.

“The news of inserting projects or removing some came as a surprise to many us.”

It was learnt that in the case of the House of Representatives in particular, only the Chairman, Jibrin, and a few members of the Committee on Appropriation sat to work on the details of the budget without the knowledge of other members.

“Although members of the committee were asked to stay behind during the Easter break for the purpose of working on the details, they were not called to meetings to work on the details.

“What we heard was that some consultants were hired by the chairman to work on the details, while he pleaded with members for understanding because of the exigencies of time,” another legislative official disclosed to loveishloaded

As the development unfolded, opposition party lawmakers, in a surprise move, backed Buhari’s objections to the budget, saying the President was right.

Speaking on their behalf, the Minority Leader of the House and member of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Leo Ogor, told The PUNCH that Buhari was free to reject the budget if it did not fall in line with his economic agenda.

Citing the alleged removal of the Lagos-Calabar rail line project from the budget, Ogor noted that the President must have made provision for it because he believed it would be a major boost to his economic agenda.

Ogor stated that the Committees on Transport and all other committees supervising agencies whose projects were removed would have to explain whether the removal was done with their knowledge.

However, Jibrin took to his Twitter handle to respond to allegations levelled against the National Assembly and specifically the Committee on Appropriation.

In a series of tweets, he addressed some of the issues one after another.

In the tweets, he said, “The Lagos-Calabar rail (line project) was never included. How could NASS have removed what was not there? But the nation is being misled.

“This is unfortunate as it is quite clear to all and sundry that #Budget2016 and all its headaches and controversies didn’t emanate from NASS.

“We will come up with a comprehensive position especially with respect to our observation of the budget and what we did to make it better.”

He added, “What NASS did with the N54bn? We added N39.7bn to the Lagos-Kano Rail project. This will help complete the project once and for all.

“That N50bn be set aside as special bursary for students of tertiary institutions.”

When contacted, the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, on Sunday, said he was not aware of any meeting between the leadership of the National Assembly and the Presidency over the 2016 budget.

Ndume, who spoke in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, said, “Our concern as Nigerians should be how to collectively move the nation forward instead of writing on speculations that could heat up the polity.”

Attempts to get the Director, Information, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Mr Charles Dafe, to comment on steps being taken to resolve the grey areas in the budget were not successful.

The Senate on Sunday also denied allegations of padding levelled against the appropriation committees of the National Assembly.

Senate spokesman, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, said in Abuja that the Constitution of Nigeria did not make the legislature a rubber stamp.

He said, “I can say authoritatively that we did not pad the budget at all. I reject that in its entirety. We appropriated in line with what we believe the issues are and we did so in consultation with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.”

He added that the National Assembly, in reality, helped the executive to pass a badly written budget, saying having done its job within the law, the lawmakers expected the executive to follow the constitutional process.

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President Buhari Leaves Corrupt Ex-Police IG, Mike Okiro, To Recruit 10,000 Police Officers

Two top police officers in Abuja have told SaharaReporters of widespread disenchantment within police ranks that President Muhammadu Buhari had not removed former Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro from his post as chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC). Also, SaharaReporters learned that several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have voiced their disquiet over Mr. Okiro’s continued leadership of the PSC despite credible and well-documented details about his corrupt lifestyle.

One of our sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Okiro’s tenure at the helm of the PSC has had negative consequences on the professionalization of the police, adding that Mr. Okiro was well known for his corrupt practices and notorious for favoring some of the most criminal elements within the police force.

The other source remarked that it would be unfortunate if President Buhari allowed Mr. Okiro to oversee the hiring of 10,000 new police officers. “This man [Okiro] was not a good influence when he was the IG, and he has not been a good influence as chairman of the Police Service Commission,” said one of the high-ranking police sources. He added: “To allow him to be in charge of new recruitment of thousands of new officers means that the culture of corruption and even criminality in the force is being fostered.”

SaharaReporters has detailed how Mr. Okiro shielded a murderous police officer, Vincent Orubebe, even after internal police investigations found that the officer had killed innocent people and released criminals from detention in exchange for cash. Mr. Orubebe, who was in charge of a special anti-robbery squad in Lagos, was suspended from the police and was close to being formally sacked before Mr. Okiro became IG and recalled him. 

Also, Mr. Okiro approved the reinstatement and promotion of another notorious police officer, Sam Chukwu, who has been implicated as the sponsor of a gang of junior police officers whose armed robbery and kidnapping activities once terrorized the resident of Enugu, the capital of Enugu State. Even though Mr. Chukwu has defied summons to appear in court over the kidnapping and murder of Lotachukwu Ezeudu in September 2009, Mr. Okiro engineered the fugitive officer’s promotion to the rank of assistant commissioner of police and his deployment to police headquarters annex in Lagos.

Police sources accused Mr. Okiro of promoting and protecting criminal-minded officers because they funnel cash to him. “The simple truth is that this man [Mr. Okiro] has instituted a system whereby he receives bribes to push the promotion of senior officers. Unless Mr. President acts fast, Sir Okiro is going to destroy what remains of the integrity of the force if he is in charge of the recruitment and promotion of 10,000 new policemen for Nigeria. He will just populate the force with people who share his corrupt views,” said one of the senior police sources.

A senior officer, Solomon Kaase, had petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) accusing Mr. Okiro of planning to steal N275 million from the PSC. In its investigation, the ICPC found that former IG Okiro requested for and collected N350 million ostensibly to train 900 staff of the PSC, even though the commission had only a workforce of 391 at the time.

ICPC investigators further concluded that Mr. Okiro trained PSC staff at a training location in Abuja and pocketed funds meant for training in Lagos and other parts of the country.

SaharaReporters also reported how Mr. Okiro used a firm registered by his now late wife to defraud a bank. In 2009, the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) indicted Mr. Okiro and his wife, Hera Okiro, for engaging in activities that led to huge losses for creditor banks. Mr. Okiro apparently used his official residence to operate a company that received government contracts while he was in active service as Inspector General of Police, a conduct that meant that the former IG violated public service laws. The said company was also used to obtain loans from Nigerian banks that were never paid back.

As the NDIC moved to recover the bad loans, Mrs. Okiro died in a freak accident after reportedly falling in her bathroom. Mr. Okiro kept her death secret from the public for a while, fueling suspicion that her death may not have been accidental.

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