280 Dead After Egypt Police Storm Protests

Security forces stormed the Cairo protest camps of ousted president Mohamed Morsi's supporters in a long-anticipated assault Wednesday that officials said led to almost 280 deaths across Egypt

In response to the violence, the army-backed interim government imposed a month-long nationwide state of emergency and curfews in Cairo and 13 other provinces.

Authorities said 278 people were killed, including 43 policemen, with many of
the deaths in Cairo but with the violence spreading from the capital and claiming lives across the country.

The state of emergency went into effect at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT), with what will be a daily 11-hour curfew beginning at 7:00 pm.

Gory photographs and video images of the Cairo bloodbath dominated social media networks, as world powers called for restraint and condemned the show of force by security forces.

Hours after tear gas canisters first rained down on tents of protesters in the sprawling Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in eastern Cairo, an AFP correspondent counted at least 124 bodies in makeshift morgues there.

In a field hospital, its floors slippery with blood, doctors struggled to cope with the casualties, leaving the hopeless cases, even if still alive.

The health ministry said 235 civilians were killed in the Cairo crackdown and in subsequent clashes across Egypt.

The interior ministry added that 43 security personnel had lost their lives.

Among those killed in Cairo was 17-year-old Asmaa al-Beltagui, daughter of wanted Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed al-Beltagui, a spokesman for Morsi's movement said.

And Britain's Sky News said a veteran cameraman, Briton Mick Deane, was shot and killed while covering the violence.

Security officials had originally spoken of gradually dispersing the sit-ins over several days but the dramatic descent on the squares shortly after dawn came as a surprise to many.

The violence prompted vice president and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei to resign, saying his conscience was troubled over the loss of life, "particularly as I believe it could have been avoided."

"It has become too difficult to continue bearing responsibility for decisions I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear," he said.

By Wednesday evening, a security official said Rabaa al-Adawiya was "totally under control. There are no more clashes."

The authorities later said calm had been restored across the country.

Earlier, hundreds of Morsi supporters were given safe passage out of the camp, some flashing victory signs as they left through a security corridor.

A security official confirmed to AFP hundreds of people were taking advantage of the safe passage offer but said that some diehards had stayed behind to fight on.

Shortly after dawn, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said security forces fired tear gas before surging into Rabaa al-Adawiya, sparking pandemonium among the thousands of protesters who had set up the camp soon after Morsi was ousted in a July 3 military coup.

Men in gas masks rushed to grab each canister and dunk them in containers of water, as the main stage near the mosque of the camp blared anthems and protesters chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest.)

In the smaller of the protest camps, at Al-Nahda square in central Cairo, police said they took control of the square after two hours.

Television footage showed flattened tents, as women and children flanked by police and army troops were led out of the square.

Dozens rounded up in the dispersal were shown sitting on the ground, handcuffed and surrounded by security forces.

Weirdest Guinness World Record - Meet The Spoon Man

Most world records are pretty standard - the world's smallest man (21.5 inches tall), the world's oldest twin sisters (103 years old), or the world's highest standing jump (4 feet 10 inches onto a platform) are all interesting facts to know.

But other records are totally wacky, like the biggest jigsaw puzzle made of tents or the largest gathering in Sumo wrestler.


There is also Etibar Elchiyev who posed with more than 50 spoons magnetised
to his skin during his attempt to break the Guinness World Record for 'Most Spoons On A Human Body.'

During his cutlery feat, Elchiyev appeared serious and somber as the spoons hung randomly from his chest and shoulders in front of a room of onlookers.

Egypt’s Vice President Mohamed El Baradei Resigns

Egypt's acting vice president, Mohammed El Baradei, has announced his resignation in protest against a brutal crackdown by the army-backed government that left more than 100 people dead.
Egypt's health ministry said 149 people were killed on Wednesday in a bloody assault against hundreds of thousands of who held sit-ins to demand the reinstatement of Mohammed Morsi, who was sacked by the army on July 3.

But the Muslim Brotherhood, which was behind the protests, says more than 2,000 died.

Emergency order has been imposed in many parts of Egypt, to begin from 8pm local time.

Mr. El Baradei, a Nobel Peace laureate said he stepped down from the interim government because he "cannot continue in shouldering the responsibility for decisions I do not agree with and I fear their consequences."

"I cannot shoulder the responsibility for a single drop of blood," he said in a statement.

His resignation is seen as a big blow to Egypt's interim government which forced Mr. Morsi out with the support of Mr. El Baradei.

Reports say he favored more negotiation and dialogue to any use of force, and threw in the towel after his opinion was repeatedly ignored by the military-backed government.

The scale of violence on Wednesday seemed most bloody since the removal of Mr. Morsi and drew widespread condemnations around the world.

The government said the decision to storm the sit-ins was taken because the "security and order of the nation face danger due to deliberate sabotage, and attacks on public and private buildings and the loss of life by extremist groups."

We Demanded N87bn, Not N92bn, ASUU Replies Okonjo-Iweala

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Wednesday faulted the statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, that the union demanded for N92bn, describing the claim as false.
ASUU said it never demanded such amount as earned allowances in the 2009 agreement it reached with the Federal Government.

Okonjo-Iweala had on Wednesday in Minna, said the Federal Government couldn't meet the N92bn allowances as demanded by ASUU.

The univerisity lecturers, in a statement by the University of Ibadan branch chairman, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, described the amount mentioned by the minister as "a the imagination of the minister."

Ajiboye explained that the earned allowances, the union and the governemnt calculated in the 2009 agreement, amounted to N87b, which covered allowances for three and half years for the lecturers in the nation's universities.

He said, the N87bn was a compromise made by ASUU to scale down from N127bn.

He added that the N87bn was computed based on 15 per cent of the yearly recurrent expenditures of some nation's universities.

The statement stated, "I want Nigerians to ask the minister where she got her figure of N92bn from. There was never a time that ASUU made a demand that is up to N92bn. I think the N92bn is just the imagination of the minister. "But that is not to say that this government did not enter into an agreement with us. This is a government that signed an agreement with us on January 24, 2012 to the effect that they would inject N100bn as funding into the universities in the first one month and that before the end of 2012, they would inject another N300bn.'

Insecurity: Obama Invites President Jonathan For Talks

United States President Barrack Obama has invited Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for talks on issues bordering on terrorists activities in the African continent among others .

Disclosing this to State House correspondents in Abuja, United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman who is leading a delegation to the US-Nigeria bi-national commission meeting, said all was set for both leaders to meet soon and discuss issues bordering on security, governance, education and agriculture.

According to her, while she came to the presidential villa to deliver a letter from Obama to the Nigerian president, Jonathan was "gracious enough to accept the letter, adding that we look forward to working further on the basis of the letter".

She said, "The binational commission is really an invaluable tool for both nations to work together for a strong relationship, especially to support Nigeria as it moves forward to tackle its challenges. Our presidents are likely to meet soon. I will leave that announcement to the President of the United States and the President of Nigeria.

"The issues before the bi-national commission range from security to governance, education and agriculture. Nigeria is a very important country, not only here on the continent, but around the world. Nigeria has served on the Security Council of the UN and it is likely to do so again in future.

"It is the head of the Committee on Democracy and has been leader in so many ways, like in ECOWAS as a peace-keeper all around the world. These are the partnerships that are important to us. Secretary Kerry had a meeting with President Jonathan in Addis at the AU summit, and so, we look for every opportunity to strengthen our relationship."

PDP/NGF Crisis: Obasanjo’s Peace Talks Fails

The efforts of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to douse the tension among the governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have failed.

Obasanjo met with the governors on Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to intervene in the crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors' Forum.

A major decision at the meeting was to persuade both Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi; and his Plateau counterpart, Jonah Jang, to step down for a neutral person as Chairman of the NGF.

We learnt on Wednesday that the two governors had refused to step down.

Amaechi and Jang are both claiming the chairmanship of the forum since its controversial election three months ago. The NGF has since split into two with Amaechi and Jang controlling different factions.

Before the Tuesday's meeting, which ended at a few minutes after 3am, Obasanjo had earlier met with the governors on Monday night.

The two meetings were said to have centred on discipline in the PDP, the NGF crisis and sundry issues among which are the crisis in Rivers State; matter of automatic tickets for political office holders, and lack of cohesion among the governors.

On Wednesday, it was gathered that some of the governors in the Jang faction of the NGF raised the matter of persuading both Jang and Amaechi to step down but those in the Amaechi Camp objected, saying that the matter was beyond what could be discussed at the meeting.

Though a source at Monday's meeting said that there was hope that the issue would be resolved, he said that the matter assumed a new dimension at the resumed meeting on Tuesday when both parties refused to shift ground.

A source close to the two governors, on Wednesday, said, "There was nothing like that. Both of them have agreed to stick to their mandate."

He added that though Jang was "almost ready to step down because those who voted for him were at the meeting, Amaechi however said he needed to meet those who elected him since his supporters cut across party lines during the election."

The source added that Obasanjo had agreed to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan on the matter.

Speaking through the Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Yiljap Abraham, Jang said, "The meeting is still inconclusive."

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, described Amaechi as a defender of democratic principles and would not hesitate to yield to the opinion of the governors that voted him as their chairman.

Semenitari, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, explained that the governors had not asked Amaechi to step down, so he remained the NGF chairman,

She said, "What I know is that Nigerians are aware of the democratic process by which the chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum was picked. As far as I know Governor Chibuike Amaechi, I also know that he believes that the democratic process should not in any way be one that we will treat with levity.

"Everybody who knows Amaechi knows that he does defend democratic principles. What I am certain of is that the Chairman of the NGF as of today is Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

"But if all of the governors, especially the governors who voted for Governor Amaechi, ask him to step down, that would mean that the majority of the governors have decided that there should be a new chairman. Naturally, he would concede to his colleagues. But today, that is not the case."

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Keita Wins Mali Presidential Election

Mali's presidential election has been won by Ibrahim Boubacar Keita after his rival admitted defeat in the second round.

Ex-Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse said he had congratulated Mr Keita and wished him good luck, AFP reported. Mr Keita, 68, served as prime minister from 1994 to 2000.

Mali has suffered a year of unrest including a military coup and a French-led military intervention to oust Islamist rebels from the north.
No official results have yet been released following Sunday's runoff, however, reports had put Mr Keita well ahead.
In the first round Mr Cisse polled just 19% against Mr Keita's 40% and most of the other candidates then gave Mr Keita their endorsements.
Mr Keita - known as IBK - will now oversee more than $4bn (£2.6bn) in foreign aid promised to rebuild the West African state.
A 12,600-strong United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma) is currently deploying, as France begins to withdraw its 3,000 troops.
After the first round Mr Cisse had complained of widespread fraud, with more than 400,000 ballots declared spoiled.
However, Mali's Constitutional Court rejected the allegations and the head of the EU election observer mission, Louis Michel, praised the electoral process for its transparency.
On Monday, observers from the EU and the African Union again praised the way the second round was carried out.
"Malians should be congratulated because it seems to me they are regaining control of their democratic destiny, which is in fact nevertheless a tradition that exists in Mali," said Mr Michel.

UNUSUAL WEDDING: Couple Weds During Bike Race

A cycling-loving Arizona couple tied the knot on Saturday during a grueling 100-mile mountain bike race. 

In January, Julie Bass, 45, and her fiancé, Rick Bucher, 40, were planning their wedding - a medium-size ceremony in Sedona, Arizona, a town famous for its beautiful red sandstone formations. But overwhelmed by the ballooning expenses, Bass had a change of heart.
“I’ve never been that traditional or dreamed of wearing a white wedding dress,” she told Yahoo! Shine. “Rick and I both love cycling and we were planning to enter the Leadville 100 race in Colorado, so I said, ‘Why not get married in the middle of the race?’”

Bucher, however, was skeptical. “Julie and I are experienced cyclers but the logistics of marrying in the middle of a race seemed unrealistic,” he said. Bucher had reason to hesitate. After all, the race is a 100-mile cycle across the rough terrain of the Colorado Rockies, starting at 10,152 feet and elevating to 12,424 feet.
“But I had to agree that it was the best way to represent our relationship and our passion for cycling and the outdoors.” So the two planned to wed at the mid-point of the race, at the highest elevation area, the Columbine Climb.

I'm Not A Tribalist, I Had An Intimate Relationship With Bianca Onoh Ojukwu - Ex-Minister, Femi Fani Kayode

Former Minister of Aviation and one-time PDP hit man, Chief Femi Fani Kayode took to twitter to prove he is not a tribalist by saying he once dated an Igbo Lady, Bianca Ojukwu.

Since the deportation of Igbos by the Lagos state Government, he has written a few of articles about the Igbos and the Yorubas.
See his tweets below

Femi Falana: The Lagos Deportation And The Law (2)

Mr Femi Falana

 
Continued From Yesterday
Accordingly, the forceful removal of beggars from their chosen abode and repatriation to their states of origin are illegal and unconstitutional as they violate the fundamental rights of such citizens enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. In particular, deportation is an affront to the human rights of the beggars to dignity of their persons (Section 34); personal liberty (Section 35); freedom of movement (Section 41); and right of residence in any part of Nigeria (Section 43).

Furthermore, the deportation of beggars and other poor people by the federal and state governments is a repudiation of Section 15 of the Constitution which has imposed a duty on the State to promote national integration. Since the polical objective of the State imposes a duty on the governments to “secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation”, it is illegal to remove poor people from the streets of state capitals without providing them with alternative accommodation. By targeting beggars and the destitute and deporting them to their states of origin the state governments involved are violating Section 42 of the Constitution which has outlawed discrimination on the basis of place of birth or state of origin.

In so far as Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 has specifically banned discriminatory treatment on the grounds of “social origin, fortune, birth or other status”, it is indefensible to subject any group of citizens to harassment on account of their economic status. An urban renewal policy that has provision for only the rich cannot be justified under Article 13 of the African Charter which provides that every citizen shall have equal access to the public services of the country.

In the celebrated case of the Minister of Internal Affairs v. Alhaji Shugaba Abdulraham Darma (1982) 3 N.C.L.R. 915, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Borno State High Court which had held that the deportation of the respondent, (Alhaji Shugaba), from Nigeria to Chad by the Federal Government constituted “a violation of his fundamental rights to person liberty, privacy and freedom to move freely throughout Nigeria.” In the Director, State Security Service v. Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (PT 595) 314 at 356, the Supreme Court reiterated that, “It is not in dispute that the Constitution gives to the Nigerian citizen the right to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof.”

Since deportation has denied the victims the fundamental right to move freely and reside in any state of their choice it is illegal and unconstitutional. It is indubitably clear that the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the African Charter Act are not for the exclusive preserve of the bourgeoisie but for the enjoyment of all Nigerian citizens including beggars and other economically marginalised people. To that extent, no state government has the power to deport or enter into agreements to repatriate any group of citizens to their states of origin.

It ought to be made clear to the managers of the neo-colonial state that there is no country which promotes social inequality that has successfully outlawed the poor from existence. This explains why beggars are found in large numbers on the streets of major cities and in the ghettos of the United States of America – the bastion of capitalism. The situation is bound to be worse in the periphery of capitalism like Nigeria where the poverty rate has reached an alarming proportion due to the failure of the State to provide for the welfare and security of the people which is the primary purpose of government.

The Federal and state governments should also be made to realise at all times that beggars are Nigerian citizens who lack money, food and other basic facilities to lead decent lives. The authorities should stop stigmatising and harassing them and other citizens who have been pushed to a state of penury by the gross mismanagement of the economy by a selfish and short sighted ruling class. A nation that complains of inadequate funds to establish a social security scheme for the majority of the people allowed a cartel of fuel importers to corner $16bn while oil thieves stole crude oil worth $7 billion on the high seas in 2011 alone.

Yet, the influential oil thieves and pirates are walking free on the streets of our state capitals without any official harassment. Others who engage in unprecedented corruption, fraud and other financial and economic crimes have never been deported to their states of origin. It is high time the government was restrained from holding the poor vicariously liable for the crisis of underdevelopment of the country. Therefore, a part of the billions of naira being earmarked to build mega cities should be set aside for the rehabilitation of beggars and the destitute.

There is no doubt that Lagos State is put under severe pressure, from time to time, by millions of Nigerians who have been economically displaced in their own states of origin. But unlike its counterparts, the Lagos State Government has devised effective strategies to compel the rich to pay taxes through their noses. In addition, the monthly statutory allocation of the state from the federation account is partly based on its population. In the circumstance, the Lagos State Government should take from the rich to service the poor. As in the case of most of the “area boys” who have been productively engaged by the Babatunde Fashola administration, the Lagos State Government should formulate programmes for the rehabilitation and resettlement of beggars and other destitute citizens to make them contribute to the economy of the state.

In his inaugural address on January 20, 1961, the United States President, Mr. J.F. Kennedy, warned that, “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich”. About 40 years later, those cautionary words resonated in the case of Hoffman v. South African Airways (2001) CHR 329 at 354 where Justice Ngcobo of the Constitutional Court of South Africa stated that, “Our Constitution protects the weak, the marginalised, the socially outcast and the victims of prejudice and stereotyping. It is only when these groups are protected that we can be secure that our own rights are protected.”

With respect to the implementation of neo-liberal policies that have continued to pauperise our people, I am compelled to remind the ruling class in Nigeria of the plea made by the late Dr. Akinola Aguda in 1985 that, “Our new perspective in law and justice must be such as to guarantee to each of our people food, drink, lodging, clothing, education and employment in addition to the rights guaranteed to him so far by our Constitution and our laws, so that justice may mean the same thing to everyone.”

Finally, since the deporting state governments have no immigration officials to police their borders, there is no assurance that the deportees will not find their way back to where they were deported . However, in view of the illegality of the deportation of poor people, the governments of the Federal Capital Territory and the respective states are advised to stop it without any further delay. If the practice is not discontinued, the deporting state governments should be prepared to defend their action in court. Sooner than later.

Concluded.

•Falana, SAN, is a Lagos-based human rights lawyer

EFCC Releases Ex-Kwara Governor Bukola Saraki On Health Grounds

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has released the ex-governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki,from its detention following an alleged ill-health. He is due to return there in the first week of September.
Saraki, who honoured EFCC’s invitation on Monday, was interrogated by the anti-graft operatives over his alleged involvement in fraud-related matters during his eight-year tenure and when he was the executive director of the defunct Societe Generale Bank Nigeria Limited (SGBN).
We were able to gather from a family member of the ex-governor that he was released on health grounds and was asked to report by first week of September.
Meanwhile, the EFCC’s spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, has denied an online report published by Sahara Reporters that the operatives were interrogating the Kwara senator over an alleged N100 million he was collecting monthly as pension from the Kwara State government.
He described the report as baseless, saying he was not aware of anything like that concerning the ex- governor.
Uwujare said the anti-graft operatives would make its findings public either in court or at the appropriate place when necessary.

Funke Akindele honoured as estranged hubby completes Ikeja home (photos)

Different strokes for different folks but celebration seem to be common as Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele and her estranged hubby smiled again!
While the Jenifa star was on Friday, August 9, 2013 honoured producers of Idan Irawo on Africa Magic, her Kehinde Adeola Oloyede throws a house warming ceremony for his newly completed house.
The duo had reasons to smile again as they chart new courses in their new life after their separation.
See photos from the house warming below: