The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has urged parents to instill family values in their children as a way to save the country from degeneration.
The minister made the call on Saturday in Kaduna during a stakeholders’ engagement with 77 district heads, religious and community leaders from the 23 Local Government Areas of Kaduna State.
“We are calling the attention of parents that we have failed our children in the sense that the kind of values we use to have is no more.
“We need to remind ourselves that our children need to be upright and that this criminality going on, on daily basis, is not for their benefits and the benefit of the state and country.”
The minister appreciated efforts by the Kaduna state government in managing security issues in the state.
Ahmed told the stakeholders that the Federal Government has created a N75 billion entrepreneurship support fund, to enable youths in the country grow their businesses and be economically independent.
The minister explained that the fund would support the youth to actualize their innovative and enterprenueral ideas, be productive and employers of labour.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Muhammad Mahmud, called for collective efforts to tackle the security challenges in the country.
He urged the stakeholders to support government in addressing the security challenges and unemployment in the country.
The minister advised the youths to be self reliant, by focusing on skills acquisition and not depending on government.
Mahmud urged the leaders to be advocates of peace in their respective communities in order to bring about meaningful development.
Earlier, the Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, appealed to the stakeholders to sensitise their communities on the need to always uphold the law in all their conducts.
According to her, the state government will remain resolute in dealing with any lawlessness and criminal acts.
She also condemned the recent spate of looting and destruction of public and private properties.
“These mob actions are unreasonable and intolerable,” the deputy governor said.
She expressed the hope that the interactions would lead to understanding and collective efforts to develop the state.
“As good citizens, it is part of our civic duty to support government in the development of the state.
“So, we need this interactions between the government, traditional and religious institutions that allow us to reason together.
“It is agreed that there are problems, but government is doing all it can to address them. I urge all on the need to join forces to save the society from those seeking to destroy it.
“This is a responsive government and we have listened to the demands of our people and are doing our best to address them,” the deputy governor added.
The stakeholders tasked the government to do more in securing the lives and property of the people.
They appreciated the government for its efforts so far in managing the security situation across the state, and requested that such interface be held quarterly, to address emerging challenges.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Fayemi Kayode, and Governors of Sokoto and Jigawa, Aminu Tambuwal and Badaru Abubakar, respectively, attended the event. (NAN)
Many Nigerians especially the youngs ones have had their lives cut short by rogue officials in the Nigerian Police force. These helpless Nigerians have been killed iun the most dehumanizing way over allegations that were yet to be proven by a competent court in the land
One of such death is that of Seyi Fasere who until his death was a final-year student of Ekiti-State University in Ado-Ekiti. The soon to be graduate was shot dead by the police in Ilupeju in Ekiti state.
His mother in an interview with the Punch reveals how her son was killed inm a brutal manner by men paide to secure his life.
What do you do?
I was a trader but I have not been able to work since the police killed my son, my first child. Seyi was shot dead by a policeman, popularly known as Akobi Esu (Devil’s firstborn).
Why was he killed?
They said he was an armed robber but my son was not an armed robber. They just wasted his life and the killers are walking freely as if they have not committed any offence.
Where and when did it happen?
It happened in March 2013. He was killed at a police station at Obalasan in Ilupeju Ekiti. It is very close to Oye Ekiti.
How did it happen?
My son, Seyi, was a final-year student at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti when the incident happened. He was taking his final examination and had one more examination to take.
He had not fully paid his tuition; he still had N100,000 to pay and he said the school management was threatening that he would not be allowed to sit the last examination if he did not pay.
He came back home to Ilupeju Ekiti and we were able to raise the money and give to him. I think he had an examination to take the following day.
He went to a barbershop to have a haircut and sent a neighbour to tell me that his younger brother should bring his bag to him at the bus stop – Esinkun.
But I told his brother that he could not just leave without returning home to shower and wash off the hair and more importantly, pray before embarking on the journey. I never knew I would not see him alive again. He left around 5:30pm; that was the last time I saw him.
His brother took his bag to him at the bus stop and I was later told that he saw a woman he knew in the bus going to Ado Ekiti and she asked him to join but he said he would wait for a car.
But the woman, who is a septuagenarian, Madam Victoria, told us later that he persuaded him to board the bus because she was also going to Ado Ekiti to visit her children.
That was how he boarded the bus and they embarked on the journey. Just three of them were in the bus.
When they got to Obalasan, they heard that armed robbers were attacking a bank ahead of them and the driver was said to have asked the old woman if she knew a shortcut so they would not run into the robbery scene.
They said she gave the driver the direction of another route. The driver was new on that road so he was said to have asked to be directed. At that time, we started hearing gunshots in Ilupeju because it is not very far from us.
I was worried and I ran to Esinkun where he boarded the bus but I was told that he had left. Later, the driver parked the bus and they hid somewhere so they could wait until the shooting would stop.
The woman said she asked Seyi to go and bring their bags because the driver had dropped their bags and turned back.
Was he shot while carrying the bags or what?
I heard that the policemen combing everywhere to see if they could arrest some of the robbers saw him when he was taking the bags. They arrested him and took him to the station. The woman did not see Seyi again.
She returned to Ilupeju because that is where she lives; the woman is resident here. She came to ask if Seyi had come back home because she said they had to abandon the journey because of the robbery incident.
I told her that I had not seen him. We started searching everywhere for him but we did not hear that he was arrested and taken to the station that night.
How did you eventually know he was killed at the station?
We heard the following morning that somebody was killed and I called his dad who was in Ado-Ekiti to know if he had seen Seyi but he said no. I told him about what happened. The following morning, one of my younger brothers called me and told me that they had killed Seyi at the station. I left and his dad also came from Ado-Ekiti and together with Blessing, his younger brother, we left for the police station.
What happened at the police station?
Immediately we got there, the policemen there grabbed me and beat me ruthlessly. They slapped me about 20 times and kicked me several times; they removed my slippers and used them to hit my head.
Despite what happened, they beat me, humiliated me and put me behind the counter. I was just weeping and crying to God that why would this terrible thing happen to me.
My husband too was not spared, they slapped him so many times. They removed his shoes and used them to hit his head. They brutalised us and my husband was put in a cell at the police station and not behind the counter.
I fell down there and to compound my sorrow, they brought my son’s corpse and put it before me and asked me to be looking at my son. There is no agony that can be worse than that for a mother. I wept bitterly.
Why did they beat you and your husband?
They said Seyi was an armed robber. They said we did not bring him up well and that was why he became an armed robber. But I was weeping and telling them that my son was not a thief and each time I said that, one of them would slap me.
Did you notice anything about his corpse?
They had removed his shirt and tied his hands behind his back. His trousers were worn inside out. That confirmed it that he was arrested before he was killed and he was not killed while shooting at them as they claimed. Will an armed robber tie his two hands behind his back and be shooting?
Even if I did not go to school, I know that is not logical but they wasted my son’s life, humiliated me, and labelled my son an armed robber. It is only God that can remove that sorrow from my heart. They offended Seyi’s creator, who is God almighty and I know He will fight for us.
Was any of the armed robbers that actually attacked the bank arrested?
They killed him around 4am and put his corpse before me from 7am until the time they saw one of the armed robbers who participated in the robbery. I think the armed robber was shot during a gun battle between them and the police.
He was wounded and was in pain. He was found the following morning and residents drew the attention of the police to him and they picked him up. He was begging them to take him to hospital to be treated. He didn’t want to die.
He was one of the armed robbers. I heard him say he only distributed guns to the robbers but not a marksman. He said they all came from Kogi State and that he is Ebira.
The policemen asked the arrested armed robber if Seyi was one of them and he said he was not a member of their gang. He said six of them came from Kogi State for the operation.
That was when they asked us to go home. Seyi’s brother, Blessing, was also thoroughly beaten and he was handcuffed and locked up. At a point, they took him in handcuffs to our house to search everywhere. But what would they find in the house of a poor person? They found nothing.
They tarnished our image because some people saw how Blessing was handcuffed and led to the house by the police. They heard that the police killed Seyi so they would conclude that my children were armed robbers but God sees everything and I want Him to fight for me.
They eventually released us and asked us to go home when they knew Seyi was innocent but they did not admit that they were wrong. The three of us were put on a motorcycle and asked to be taken home to mourn our son.
Did they release the corpse to you for burial?
They later took his corpse to the mortuary at the Federal Medical Centre, Ido Ekiti. His hands were tied behind his back the way he was killed. We went there a number of times but I became tired at a point. We were asked to go and get his remains from the mortuary after almost three years after the incident. I brought him home and buried him but since then, I have not been okay. The sorrow led to high blood pressure and after the beating, I know that I have not been alright but there is nothing I can do about it.
Is the policeman who you said shot Seyi still in Ilupeju?
They transferred all of them out of the place because there were a series of protests held at the time by students. The National Association of Nigerian Students, EKSU students, and youths in Ilupeju were always protesting then because they knew that Seyi was not a thief let alone an armed robber.
A security man at a school close to the place where the incident occurred later came and told us that he saw Seyi at the police station and that Seyi begged him to inform us that he had been arrested.
But the man said he did not know Seyi. He said Seyi answered all the questions the policemen asked him when he was there at the station and that immediately after he left the police station, he heard a gunshot and knew that they had killed him.
His name is Ojo. He lives in Ilupeju here. The man said Seyi begged them not to kill him. He said he told them that he was not a thief but they did not listen. The man said a chief told the police to kill Seyi. The man said the chief said Seyi’s parents refused to allow him (Seyi) to be installed as a chief.
Was Seyi entitled to become a chief or what?
They wanted to give him a chieftaincy title which never existed in his father’s lineage. The so-called title has to do with idol worshipping and we said no. They wanted to use that to destroy our Christian faith but we rejected it. We said our son was still in school and was not interested in such a chieftaincy title.
Which church do you attend?
We all attend Deeper Christian Life Ministry. Seyi was a children’s teacher in church until his death. Even after church service, he would gather kids together in our area and teach them the word of God.
When we heard it was someone who told the police to shoot Seyi, my younger brother went to the Palace of Apeju of Ilupeju and he said he overheard someone telling somebody on the telephone that they should not have killed him. The issue became very serious then.
I suffered a lot and I was advised to see the former state governor, Ayo Fayose, about it. But when I got there, they said he had just left his office. But he was not the governor then.
Somebody called him on the phone and he said that I should inform journalists in Ado-Ekiti about it; that was when the police realised that the matter had become serious. But despite that, they did not do anything.
Was the case taken to court or how did it end?
I was asked to get a lawyer and I did. I went to court a number of times and the court asked the policemen to also appear. But you know how court cases go; I became tired of the whole process and refused to go to court again. They killed my son and I was still going to court every time and wasting time and money.
Why didn’t you tell Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was the governor at that time?
The governor heard about the case and instructed the Secretary to the State Government, Ganiyu Owolabi, who is also from Ilupeju Ekiti, to address the issue. I was told the governor said the SSG should not be in the office while there was a serious crisis in his hometown.
Did the SSG come?
He came to the palace and we were invited but I left there in anger.
Why?
He asked what we wanted them to do. But because it was still fresh then, I said if they gave me money, would I not spend it? What can anyone give me to replace the life of my son? I left the meeting in anger. Government’s agent killed my son and they did not do anything about it. How much can anybody give me?
What do you want to be done to those who killed Seyi?
I cannot judge but I want God to judge his killers. He was my first child and they just killed him like that. That sad incident destroyed everything about my life.
I can no longer trade and I only eat when people give me money. I don’t have the strength to work again and I still feel a lot of pain. It is God that can remove the bitter experience from my heart.
Will you testify before the Panel of Enquiry set up by the state government to get justice for victims of police brutality?
I will testify if they call me. I will tell them how I was stripped naked by my son’s death.
What is your view about the #EndSARS protests all over the country?
They were one of God’s judgments against the police. They killed many people who did not commit any offence. Do you think God will applaud them for taking innocent lives? I consider the protests as God’s judgment against their evil acts.
Did any of your children join any of the #EndSARS protests?
They are all in Ado-Ekiti; I am the only one at Ilupeju. Three of them have graduated from university and have nothing to do. So, I asked them to learn skills that will help them.
One is an apprentice photographer; one is an apprentice mechanic while one is an apprentice tailor. The last one is at the technical college in Ado-Ekiti. My husband is also in Ado-Ekiti; he is a security guard, collecting N10,000 per month.
Governors of northern states have called for the censorship of social media to “avoid the spread of fake news”.
At a meeting in Kaduna on Monday, the governors said the effect of uncontrolled social media is devastating.
They also condemned the “subversive” actions of some #EndSARS protesters, saying some people took advantage of peaceful protest to push their “separative agenda”.
Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, says he did not order the military to kill residents of Oyigbo local government area of the state.
Wike declared a 24-hour curfew in Oyigbo on October 21 following the outbreak of violence spilling from the EndSARS protest which led to the killing of some members of the army and the police.
The governor, who blamed the unrest on members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), last Wednesday, signed an executive order to enforce the ban on the group and its activities in the state.
Soldiers were deployed in the local government to prevent further breakdown of law and order.
The soldiers have, however, been accused of extra-judicial killings and abuse of human rights. The security agents are allegedly moving from house to house, killing people on Wike’s order.
But speaking during an interview on Africa Independent Television (AIT) on Monday, Wike denied the allegation against him.
He said he ordered “security agencies”, not specifically the army, to bring to justice any member of the group that disrupts the peace in the state.
“The issue of people saying I sent soldiers to Oyingo to kill Igbo people is balderdash; It is completely a none issue. Have I even directed police one day? I have no command over the police so how will I now begin to direct the army?” Wike said.
“I said security agencies, I never said the military, are to make sure this ban on IPOB is maintained and that they should not allow the activities of IPOB, anywhere in any of the local governments. Oyigbo is the boundary between us and Abia state, so it is very easy for them to use Oyigbo to launch attacks, and we came out to say that what has happened is something that we should not take lightly; we must come out openly, heavily against this terrorist organisation. I have no regret about that and I stand on my point to say that even the south-east governors never supported IPOB. So why me? I’m not from the south-east, I’m from Niger Delta, now support IPOB? On what basis?
“People are now seeing IPOB as if it is the mouthpiece of the Igbo people which is not correct. You cannot allow some bands of criminals to give the people a bad name. No responsible government can see the kind of destruction, for nothing …they went to kill six army operatives, four police officers…. They’re using it to cause trouble in my state and you say I should not talk. It came to a situation where the Igbos were now fighting the Hausas.”
Wike alleged that Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, told the people of the state to rise up against him.
“He thinks I’m harassing him politically, so he is doing that to bring me down,” he said.
When it comes to potentially infectious microbes, beards beat the dogs.
First things first. Why is this on TreeHugger? Because A) bacteria are fascinating and play a huge role in the nature of us and our planet B) avoiding potentially-infectious germs is good preventative medicine; and mostly C) after writing too much about the imminent collapse of nature thanks to humankind, sometimes a writer just wants to write about beards and dogs.
So here we are; and mind you, this is interesting.
A group of 13 researchers had a question, as described in the study’s objective: “To determine whether it would be hygienic to evaluate dogs and humans in the same MRI scanner.”
Well that’s the short version, at least. The title of the study, which was published in European Radiology, gives a bit more detail: “Would it be safe to have a dog in the MRI scanner before your own examination? A multicenter study to establish hygiene facts related to dogs and men”
(Which now ranks amongst my top favorite scientific study titles.)
Anyway, the whole thing came about because the cost of MRI scanners is prohibitive for most veterinary clinics to have on site, so a number of dog MRIs were to be conducted at the radiology department of a European hospital that also does around 8,000 MRI scans of humans each year, explains Brandon Specktor at LiveScience.
For the study, they took samples from 30 dogs – samples came from saliva swabs as well as fur from the dogs’ backs, an area that is prone to skin infections and is “particularly unhygienic.” The dogs were scanned, and then the researchers took samples from the scanner itself.
Next, they collected samples from the beards of 18 hospital patients; the men ranged in age from 18 to 76, and were in relatively good health. After their MRIs, samples were taken from the scanner again.
Here’s what they found, as noted in the study:
A significantly higher bacterial load in specimens taken from men’s beards compared with dogs’ fur.
All of the men (18 out of 18) showed high microbial counts, whereas only 23 out of the 30 dogs had high microbial counts.
Human-pathogenic microorganisms were more frequently found in human beards (7 out of 18) than in dog fur (4 out of 30).
More microbes were found in human oral cavities than in dog oral cavities.
After MRI of dogs, routine scanner disinfection was undertaken and the CFU [colony-forming units] found in specimens isolated from the MRI scanning table and receiver coils showed significantly lower bacteria count compared with “human” MRI scanners.
As Specktor reports, “Seven of the men and four of the dogs tested positive for human-pathogenic microbes – the kind of bacteria that can make a person ill if they colonize the wrong part of the host’s body. These microbes included Enterococcus faecalis, a common gut bacteria that is known to cause infections (especially urinary tract infections) in humans, and several cases of Staphylococcus aureus, a common skin/mucous-colonizing bacteria that may live on up to 50% of all human adults, but can cause serious infections if it enters the bloodstream.”
The authors concluded that, “bearded men harbour significantly higher burden of microbes and more human-pathogenic strains than dogs.” But that said – before the beardless among us start feeling all high and mighty – this was a very small study. And, the authors added, “there is no reason to believe that women may harbor less bacteriological load than bearded men.”
So maybe in the end this isn’t about beards at all … and really, the focus should be directed at one of the study’s key points: “Deficits in hospital hygiene are a relevant risk for patients.”
With deadly healthcare-related infections on the precipitous rise (and antibiotic efficacy on the wane), this is no small matter. And given that “antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today,” according to the World Health Organization, it seems prudent to be keeping tabs on the microbes – especially in hospitals where they revel in running amok.
“The central question should perhaps not be whether we should allow dogs to undergo imaging in our hospitals,” the authors write, “but rather we should focus on the knowledge and perception of hygiene and understand what poses real danger and risk to our patients.”
Wait, this was supposed to a fun story, what happened? Next stop, cute kittens.
Civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has petitioned the office of Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, over serious allegations of sexual molestation of girls in Aba, Abia State, and the alleged use of brute force on civilians.
The rights advocacy group reminded the Army Chief of his solemn pledge to respect the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms of the citizens, while asking him to act swiftly to investigate these allegations.
It lamented that the atrocious criminal acts of some of the operatives on internal security operations are tarnishing “his hard earned good image as a no-nonsense officer who wields the big stick to deal with acts of professional misconduct and indiscipline since the last five years.”
HURIWA said: “We have just deliberated for three hours and as a body, we have decided to send to the Chief of Army a strong worded petition to draw his attention to the cases and reports of gross human rights violations by soldiers posted to Aba in Abia State on internal security operations under the Operation Crocodile Smile.
“We got reports from our members in Aba, Abia state of serious violations of the fundamental dignity of the human persons against many girls by soldiers manning checkpoints just as we have received reports of sexual harassment of girls by soldiers in Aba, Abia state.
“These actions, if verified, are direct violations of the Constitution because chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution contains the entire body of fundamental human rights including right to the dignity of the human person, right to freedom from torture, right to life and freedom of movement.
“These persistent reports of sexual attacks against younger persons of the female gender must be thoroughly investigated and the soldiers responsible for such heinous crimes against humanity should face the internal mechanisms of judicial sanctions within the Nigerian Army as a matter of urgency and this is to assure the international community of the commitments of the Chief of Army Staff that the armed forces will continue to respect and protect human rights during operations, knowing the consequences of its violation.”
HURIWA recalled that the Army Chief has on many occasions informed Nigerians that if there were complaints of human rights violations against personnel, such complaints were investigated and where necessary, those involved were either court martial or charge to court just as the rights group said the decision of the group to personally write the Army Chief was because of the need for the operatives of the Nigerian Army to be compelled by their superiors not to continue to engage in professional misconduct and indiscipline that graphically paints Nigeria before the international community as a nation without rules and regulations.
The rights group therefore called on the hierarchy of the Nigerian Army to allow civil society groups to monitor the internal military operations of the Nigerian Army in Oyigbo in Rivers State to ascertain the true state of affairs there following spiralling accusations that soldiers are engaging in ethnic profiling of Igbo residents and systematically carrying out pogroms following the recent alleged killing of some soldiers by suspected members of the Indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
HURIWA also condemned the public statements of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State which the group said violates all known laws against hate speech by playing up the erroneous impression that IPOB is purely Igbo or that IPOB speaks and work for the over 60 million Igbo ethnic nationals.
HURIWA warned the Rivers State Government to respect the Constitution by arresting and bringing citizens accused of committing any crime no matter how grievous before the courts of law rather than play up ethnic sentiments and hate speech targeting and castigating Igbo-speaking people of Nigeria.
“It is the hate speech by Governor Wike that has created an atmosphere of mutual suspicion against the Nigerian Army and this is why there are allegations of ethnic profiling against Igbo by the Nigerian Army on the prompting of the Rivers State Governor who has not managed the crises as much as a statesman should.
“The Rivers State Governor needs to be tolerant of all other ethnic groups not indigenous to his state but who are legitimately engaged in meaningful business.
“The Rivers State Governor has poured petrol into the fire literally which is why there are fears and General atmosphere of panic that soldiers are killing young Igbo youth.”
On the petition to the Army, the rights group said: “We have also written our petition to the office of Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai to let him take action to ensure that the rules of engagement are followed by the operatives of the Nigerian Army in Oyigbo in Rivers State.
“The Nigerian Army should quickly let the world know exactly what the situation is because it is totally unacceptable that independent civil society stakeholders are not being allowed to observe the enforcement of the internal military operations in that restive part of Rivers state to make sure that there is no case of extrajudicial killings of civilians or even persons suspected of any crime since section 36(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 as amended which is the Grund Norm of the Country provides for fair hearing for suspects accused of any sort of crime.
“We expect that the Chief of Army Staff who has done a lot to set up a department of civil military relations and a human rights desk will do whatever he can not to tolerate the application of extrajudicial executions of Nigerians by operatives of the Nigerian Army.” (News Express)
It’s all scientific and medical actually, not an inspiration from Tusky, 😄.
You see, there’s a particular condition called CHIMERISM. It’s not a disease really, just one of those flukes of nature. This condition makes whoever is suffering from it to have two different sets of DNA inside them. How?
When a woman is pregnant with twins, if the twins are fraternal twins, i.e they were fertilized from two different eggs, sometimes, one of these embryo dies early inside the woman and the other surviving embryo can absorb his or her twin’s cells, making the surviving twin to be born as a single baby but with both its DNA and that of the twin that didn’t survive.
And most often than not, the pregnant woman and her husband will never know that the single child born to them was actually a fraternal twin. They will not know he or she actually had a brother or sister that didn’t survive but whose DNA and cells were absorbed by the surviving child. Such individuals are called CHIMERAS.
Now if such an individual grows up and has a child, it’s very possible that the child will not take his or her own DNA but that of the other twin that has been absorbed. So if a DNA test is done for that child of a Chimera, it will say he is not the Father or she is not the mother because it won’t see their DNA in the child, yet they are! 🤣🤣.
These people who have such double DNAs known as Chimeras are not that common but exists in their numbers nonetheless. Ironically not all of them have any physical symptoms or signs. They just live their lives normally, some may have features like two different colours of eyes, but others may have no physical feature evidence whatsoever. And because it’s been proved that we have about 30% of women experiencing twin loss in multiple pregnancies, it means we actually have more Chimeras than we think or know about.
It’s even better if the chimera is a woman because at least her husband knew when she carried the pregnancy, so if any test says she’s not the mother of the child, they will both probably ignore it as nonsense. Issues become volatile if the Chimera is the man, because the DNA test will reveal that he’s not the father of that child, yet he is.
In 2015, a man from Washington did a paternity test for his son and they discovered that the child is not his and furthermore, the test also showed that the child definitely belonged to his brother. 🤣🤣🤣.
Remember that DNA can also show familiar relationships.
Thank God that their environment is more enlightened than ours and more tests were done, only for them to realize that his saliva carries one DNA pattern but his sperm has a totally different DNA – that of his absorbed twin! (The brother the test reffered to but who never lived).
Now imagine that kind of a thing happening here in our environment. The moment the first test was done and it showed it’s not his child, but it looks like the child belongs to a close relative, most likely a brother! It’s not only hell that will be let loose, in fact, the lake of fire will overflow its banks too, 🤣🤣🤣. Yet, the child is his.
Why am I telling you this? It is because this issue has broken many homes and unfortunately in this part of the world, informations like this are not made public for everyone to know about.
So, before you send your wife away because DNA test reveals that you are not the father of a child or even all the children, especially if such DNA test was done not because of established suspicion but maybe because of requested statutory tests like the ones done for traveling etc, think again.
Before you send a good woman away on account of infidelity, do further tests and be sure that you are not a Chimera and that it’s not your absorbed twin that inadvertently fathered your kids for you. 🤣🤣🤣.
It’s not funny I know, but it is too. This is not fables, it’s real and scientifically proven too. So it’s possible for DNA to say you are not the Father or mother of a child, yet you are.
Note: Other situations can cause CHIMERISM but I don’t want the post to be too long, so I addressed the commonest one.
Editor’s Note: For more reading, please click link below:
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is presently interrogating a former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler, over the N100 billion tax evasion allegations levelled against a tax firm, Alpha Beta Consulting.
Fowler, who is also a former Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, responded to an invitation from the EFCC on Monday.
A former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Alpha Beta Consulting, Dapo Apara, had accused the firm of tax fraud to the tune of N100bn.
In a petition to the EFCC in 2018, Apara stated that Alpha Beta, the firm given exclusive rights to monitor and collect Internally Generated Revenue on behalf of the Lagos Government, “has become an avenue for official corruption of government officials, a conduit pipe for massive money-laundering scheme, tax evasion, among other vices.”
In the petition which was written by his lawyer, Adetunji Shoyoye and Associates, the ex-CEO claimed that the fraud had been covered by powerful politicians in the state.
The petition signed by Adetunji Adegboyega on behalf of the law firm, read in part, “Over the years the company has been protected and shielded by some powerful politicians and people in the society which made them to always boast of being untouchable, but our client, feeling the need not to keep quiet again and strengthened by his belief in the fact that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is keen on fighting corruption, which has been the bane of our country, is of the firm belief that it’s time to expose and open the can of worms called Alpha Beta Consulting.”
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed that Fowler was with the commission.
“Yes, Fowler responded to an invitation this morning. I believe he is still here,” he explained.
Uwujaren, however, did not comment on the investigation.
Goddy Jedy-Agba [PHOTO CREDIT: Official Facebook Handle]
The publisher was arrested on October 13 following a petition accusing him of defaming Minister Jedy-Agba.
For 20 days now and still counting, the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) of the Nigeria Police Force in Area 10, Abuja, has continued to detain Tom Uhia, the publisher of Power Steering Newspaper, a monthly magazine that covers the power sector.
He was arrested on October 13 following a petition dated July 1, 2020 by a lawyer, Obi Nwakor, on behalf of the Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba. The minister is accusing the 73-year-old publisher of defamating his character.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Power Steering Magazine, in its June 2020 edition, alleged that Mr Jedy-Agba may have some knowledge about the Dana plane crash of 2012 while serving as a senior manager with the Nigeria Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The magazine also accused the minister of wrongdoing during his days at the NNPC.
Mr Uhia’s magazine also alleged that Mr Agba paid to be appointed minister by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Following the publication, Mr Jedy-Agba briefed his lawyer, Mr Nwakor, who petitioned the police. The police arrested Mr Uhia on October 13 and he has since then remained in their custody.
‘illegal detention’
The lawyer representing Mr Ohia, Alexander Okota, expressed displeasure over what he called illegal detention of his client.
He also told our correspondent that he has filed an application to enforce Mr Uhia’s fundamental rights against the police and the minister. The matter is to come up on November 5, at FCT High Court before Justice Peter Affen, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
“The police have refused to release the publisher claiming he has a case to answer. The police claimed that they got a court order from an unnamed magistrate in Nasarawa State to detain our client while a charge they filed at the FCT high Court is pending.
“All efforts to get the police to disclose the Court and the name of the Magistrate who purportedly issued the order proved abortive. We can categorically state that there was no any order relied upon by the police. Our client was not arraigned before any magistrate. They never got any detention warrant.
“The police must not be allowed to mess up our judicial system. We are exploring every legally conceivable means to free our client and get for him a redress.”
Minister, police react:
When contacted, the minister distanced himself from the publisher’s arrest and detention. Mr Jedy-Agba said he only petitioned the police to investigate all allegations leveled against him by Mr Ohia’s magazine.
“I am not in anyway related to his detention and I did not ask that he should be arrested. All I did was to petition the police to investigate the matter”, the minister told PREMIUM TIMES.
“If you want to know about why he was detained, go to the force headquarters on whether they have court order or not. I reported to police but did not ask that he should be detained. I don’t have the power to do so. The police are charging him for criminal defamation of character while I also have a civil suit against him.”
The Minister’s lawyer, Mrr. Nwakor did not deny detention of Mr Ohia. He also said the police are responsible for that.ADVERTISEMENT
“They (Mr Ohia’s team) have filed a case of fundamental human rights in court and I will not want to speak on the matter to the press.”
“I wrote the petition on behalf of the minister and police carried out the arrest. The police will explain to court why they have to detain him. I don’t want to talk about the case since they have already gone to file for fundamental human rights.”
Meanwhile, police spokesperson, Frank Mba asked this reporter to call him back when contacted on Saturday afternoon for proper briefing on the case.
He has since not responded to repeated calls and text messages sent to him by PREMIUM TIMES.
Groups kick:
While Mr Ohia’s publication did not provide evidence for allegations made against Mr Jedy-Agba, activists and right groups are wondering why the police were brought into what should be a civil case.
Even if treated as a criminal case, Section 35 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution demands that the police should not detain any suspect for longer than 48 hours without a court order
Reacting to the continued detention of the newspaper publisher, the FCT Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in a statement by its chairperson, Emmanuel Ogbeche, urged the Minister to seek judicial remedy through the courts rather than resort to abuse of power and privilege using the police if he felt defamed by Power Steering reports.
“It is obvious that recent events are not enough lessons to officials in power that there is always a day of reckoning. If the Minister of State, Power, Mr Goddy Jedy-Agba feels strongly that he has suffered libel or defamation, what he ought to do is to seek legal remedy through the courts rather than using the police to arrest and detain Mr. Tom Oga Uhia, publisher of Power Steering Magazine for over 72 hours now without being charged to court,” the NUJ said.
In the same vein, a rights group, House of Justice, in a statement by its Director, Gloria Ballason, said Mr Uhia’s detention “does not only go against the grain of the Nigerian Constitutional provision of presumption of innocence until guilt is proven as well as arraignment in court within 24 or 48 hours but is moreso a condemnable infringement on a free press which inexorably has a chilling effect on Nigeria’s democracy.
“The police cannot claim that Mr. Uhia is being detained by order of court when he has neither been arraigned before any court nor has any remand order or detention warrant been made available to his lawyers.”
If the latest polls are any indication, Joe Biden is on track to win the popular vote in the upcoming US presidential election by a substantial margin, and an Electoral College reversal of that outcome, like in 2016, is unlikely. But the polls have been wrong before, including in 2016.
MILAN/STANFORD – In late July, opinion polls clearly indicated that US President Donald Trump had lost ground to Joe Biden, his Democratic challenger in the upcoming presidential election, owing primarily to his administration’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Trump’s fortunes have not improved; if anything, they have deteriorated further. Now, Trump appears set not only to lose the popular vote on November 3, but also to fail to pull off an Electoral College upset, as he did in 2016.
Start with party affiliations. As Table 1 shows, since the 2016 election, the Democratic Party’s ranks have grown by 6%, compared to just under 3% for Republicans. Self-identified independents declined by 8%. Among those who still identify as independents, the share of those leaning either left or right has changed little.
Moreover, as Table 2 shows, perceptions of Trump’s management of the COVID-19 crisis have declined considerably since March, and even since July, especially among moderate Republicans, Democrats, and independents – three groups whose votes are decisive in battleground states. Trump’s overall approval rating has also declined, though not quite as much.
Regression analysis – using a wide array of known variables that are correlated with voting behavior, including party affiliation and ideology – supports the assumption that the COVID-19 crisis is a major driver of this shift. This includes both the pandemic itself and the economic and employment crisis that it has caused.
To be sure, ongoing protests against systemic racism and police brutality – which have often been met with excessive force by police – are also capturing American voters’ attention. But the way in which those protests are interpreted – that is, whether voters believe they are violent and require a strong “law-and-order” response – is overwhelmingly consistent along party lines, and thus unlikely to affect voting decisions significantly.
As Table 3, which uses data from October YouGov polls, shows, only 15% of Democrats believe the protests are violent. Of those, 19% – just 2.85% of all Democrats – may vote for Trump because of the protest issue.
Overwhelmingly, Democrats still have no intention of voting for Trump, regardless of whether they identify as ultra-liberal, moderate, or anything in between. On the contrary, as Table 4 shows, even fewer plan to vote for Trump than the very few who were considering doing so in July, and even more plan to vote for Biden.
In 2016, support for Trump’s then-Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, was lower across all three categories of Democratic voter, especially among moderate and conservative Democrats (81%), than it is for Biden today. Since these data were collected in mid-October, when many people were already casting their ballots, there is little reason to think that the protests or anything else will increase Democratic support for Trump.
Biden is doing better than Clinton not only among Democrats, but among all voters. In 2016, Clinton won the popular vote by 2.1%, but lost in key battleground states, resulting in her defeat in the Electoral College. As Table 5 shows, the vast majority of those who voted for Clinton in 2016 intend to vote for Biden this year.
But Biden’s advantage is much larger. While most of Trump’s 2016 supporters also plan to vote for him again, he has lost more voters than the Democrats have. Add to that the fact that Clinton voters were already the larger group, and Biden’s lead among these two groups of voters reaches the 8% range. Third-party voters from 2016 are also more likely to prefer Biden over Trump this year.
Biden’s advantage extends to the battleground states. Though the difference is somewhat smaller, the Democrats have retained more voters from 2016 than Trump has, and more third-party voters plan to vote for Biden than for Trump.
A demographic breakdown of the voting public, as shown in Table 7, further reinforces the impression that Biden will come out ahead. Among every category of voter – young and old, female and male, non-white and white, more and less educated – Biden is doing better than Clinton was in 2016.
Of course, voting intentions matter little, if people cannot actually manage to vote. And this election is occurring amid a pandemic, which limits traditional voting methods. But, as Table 8 shows, far more voters – especially Democrats and independents, but also Republicans – are embracing early voting and voting by mail.
This could have implications for the election results – or, at least, how they are received. Issues arising from vote-by-mail systems, or even a protracted ballot-counting process, could fuel state-level challenges to the results. Because Biden is likely to receive more mailed-in votes, he is more vulnerable to such challenges, which, if successful, could significantly alter the picture painted by the polling data. The United States may face a period of volatility as it awaits results.
Nonetheless, if the polls are a reasonably accurate indication, Biden is on track to win the popular vote by a substantial margin, and an Electoral College reversal of that outcome is unlikely. Trump’s hardcore base is simply not large enough to hand him victory, and he lacks the support of moderates and independents. Biden could suffer due to fragmentation within the Democratic Party – say, if progressive voters decide not to support him – but the polls show no evidence of this. The desire to vote Trump out seems to be too great.
Of course, the polls have been wrong before, including in 2016. The intentions of key groups of voters on either side may not be accurately reflected in the results. In fact, when YouGov asked voters whether their neighbors would be surprised by their voting intentions, about 10% of urban and rural voters said “yes,” indicating that there may be “hidden” voters for both candidates.
In short, Biden looks like he is headed to the White House. But the race isn’t over until it is over. (Project Syndicate)
•Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics, is Professor of Economics Emeritus and a former dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, serves on the Academic Committee at Luohan Academy, and co-chairs the Advisory Board of the Asia Global Institute. He was chairman of the independent Commission on Growth and Development, an international body that from 2006-10 analysed opportunities for global economic growth, and is the author of The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World.
•David W. Brady is Professor of Political Science and Leadership Values at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
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