Nigeria Wins Seven Nods At AMAA 2015

A total of seven awards were given to Nigeria at the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), which was held in South Africa over the weekend.

Of the 28 categories, Kunle Afolayan’s October 1 got best Nigerian film, best actor in leading role for Sadiq Daba and best costume for Adeola Sagoe.

Comedian, Ayo Makun’s ’30 Days in Atlanta’ won best comedy film while Kemi Akindoju got best young promising actor for her role in ‘Dazzling Mirage’ in a joint win with a Ugandan actor, Hassan Insigoma.

Destiny Ekeragha won the best first feature film by a director for the movie ‘Gone Too Far’ and the ‘Legacies of Rubbies’ won Nigeria her first AMAA prize in animation.

Full List Of Winners

Best Short Film: Twaaga – Burkina Faso

Best Animation: The Legacies of Rubbies – Nigeria

Best Documentary: Egypt Modern Pharaohs ‘Nasser’ – Egypt

Best Film in an African Language: Timbuktu – Mauritania

Best film by an African living abroad: Fevers – France/Morocco

Best diaspora short film: Sound of Tears – Canada

Best diaspora documentary: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution – USA

Best diaspora feature: Supremacy – USA

Best Production design: iNumber Number – South Africa

Best costume design: October 1 – Nigeria

Best Make-Up Njinga: Queen of Angola – Angola

Best soundtrack: Triangle Going to America – Ethiopia

Best visual effects: iNumber Number – South Africa

Best Sound: Lobraz Khan – Mauritius

Best Cinematography: Lobraz Khan – Mauritius

Best Editing: Timbuktu

Best Screen Play: Le President

Best comedy film: 30 Days in Atlanta

Best Nigerian Film: October 1

Best Child Actor: Layla Walet Mohammed and Mehdi A.G Mohammed – Timbuktu

Best young promising actor (Joint winners): Kemi Lala Akindoju – Dazzling Mirage Hassan Spike Insingoma – Boda Boda Thieves

Best actor in a supporting role: Samson Tadesa – Triangle Going to America

Best actress in a supporting role: Ama Amphofo – Devil in a Detail

Best actor in a leading role: Sadiq Daba – October 1

Best actress in a leading role: Lesliana Pereira – Njinga: Queen of Angola

Best first feature film by a director: Destiny Ekeragha – Gone Too Far (British-Nigerian)

Best Director: Abderrahmane Sissako – Timbuktu

Best Film: Timbuktu – Mauritania

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Abia Govt. Begins Recall Of Disengaged Non-Indigene Staff

The Abia State Government has started executing the implementation process of total reabsorbing of the non-indigene staff that were disengaged some years back.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, during an interactive session with them at Umuahia, said that government was willingly to recall all of them in a systematic procedure, so as not to take more than it can afford to pay.

Calling on them to co-operate, he said that the ongoing civil service biometric verification has created opportunities that close up loopholes of wastage.

Although some of the disengaged workers expressed appreciation for the effort, they appealed to government to recover them at once because the suffering and state of unemployment was taking a toll on their families.

Out of about 4,000 non-indigene workers of Abia State that were disengaged, only more than 2,000 have been recalled to work, while processes are on going to reinstate the others.

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Afghanistan: Taliban Assault Kunduz City From Different Directions

There has been a deadly siege on the Afghan city of Kunduz where reports say hundreds of Taliban fighters are attacking the city from several directions.

Police said that the militants have entered a hospital and are locked in deadly combat with security forces.

Kunduz province has seen a number of attacks since April, with the Taliban joining forces with other insurgents.

The assault comes a day after a bomb attack on a sports match in the Eastern Paktika province killed nine people.

Kunduz province contains major roads that connect central and northern Afghanistan, including a road to the capital, Kabul.

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Bayelsa APC Excos Were Playing An Aspirant’s Script – Amgbare

One of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Ebitimi Amgbare, has said that it was difficult to trust the party’s State Excos based on their activities prior to the controversial governorship primaries in the state.

Mr Amgbare was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.

He explained that prior to the election, all the aspirants had agreed on the way they wanted the process to run, which included means of accreditation and identification of delegates.

But very early on the day, they saw that there was going to be a problem because “a lot of people who had no reason to be within the arena had found their ways into the arena.

“The State Exco, of course from the onset we knew they were playing the script of an aspirant. They set up a parallel accreditation committee and gave all manner of tags to people.

“For us we thought it was just going to be a business of delegates, agents and officials.”

He went further, “There was no reason to trust them because they descended to the arena, they became active participants, they were campaign managers of a particular aspirant. So it was clear that they were going to be partisan.”

He provided his account of what transpired at the venue of the primary election which has led to accusations between Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole and one of the aspirants, who is also a former Governor of the state, Timipre Sylva.

Amgbare believes that Governor Adams Oshiomhole who was the Chairman of the Election Committee did the right thing by calling for the cancellation of the election as it was indeed marred by irregularities.

 

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Hajj: Buhari Orders NAHCON Account For All Nigerian Pilgrims

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) and the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to urgently account for all Nigerian pilgrims in the aftermath of last Thursday’s disaster at Mina.

The Presidential directive, contained in a statement by the special adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adeshina, follows conflicting reports on the number of Nigerians who died or suffered injuries in the catastrophe which claimed well over 700 lives.

“President Buhari is very concerned that days after the unfortunate incident, some Nigerian families are still grappling with painful uncertainty over the fate of their relatives who traveled to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj.

“The President expects the National Hajj Commission to work with the various state pilgrim boards, Islamic organisations and private travel agencies involved in Hajj operations to speedily provide a confirmed and verifiable report on the status of every Nigerian pilgrim in Saudi Arabia”, Mr Adeshina said.

President Buhari has also directed the Hajj Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to give all necessary assistance to Nigerians who are still receiving treatment for injuries suffered in Mina.

The President also prayed that the Almighty Allah receive the souls of the dead, comfort bereaved families, heal the injured and bring all surviving Nigerian pilgrims safely home.

NAHCON had earlier on Monday confirmed the death of 54 Nigerians in the deadly stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, during this year’s Hajj.

The Chairman of NAHCON, Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed, said that 42 out of the 54 that died were from states pilgrims welfare board including two NAHCON officials, while others were among those on pilgrimage by private tour operators.

He made the confirmation in Makkah on Monday.

He also listed 15 states of Bauchi, Borno, Zamfara, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe, as those that lost pilgrims to the stampede.

The incident is said to have claimed at least 720 lives.

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Syria Conflict: Russia Wants ‘Coordination’ Against IS

Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, has again reiterated his support for Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, saying the latter is fighting terrorist organisations, and Russia “will be pleased to find common ground for joint action against the terrorists”.

In a television interview in the United States (US), Mr. Putin also called for a regional “coordinating structure” against Islamic State (IS).

The crisis in Syria is expected to top the agenda as world leaders gather at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.

Mr. Putin will also hold rare talks with the US President, Barack Obama, to discuss the issue later on Monday.

Relations between Russia and the West have been strained ever since Moscow’s annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.

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President Muhammadu Buhari To Address UN General Assembly Shortly

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, will take the centre stage as he addresses the Heads of States from other countries at the ongoing UN General Assembly.

Fillers from the Presidency says that the President’s message will focus on insurgency and the battle against Boko Haram.

President Muhammadu Buhari arrived this afternoon, walking straight into the Assembly Chambers.

He is also expected to touch on happenings in Nigeria, particularly on his economic programmes and the focus on his administration.

Yesterday the President met with his counterpart in China, President Xi Jiping where he talked about oil theft and the reorganisation at the NNPC.

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Nigeria’s Independence: Governor Ayade Promises Good Governance

As the countdown towards Nigeria’s Independence gets closer, the Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, has reiterated his commitment towards the delivery of good governance to the people of the state.

Ayade made the remark at an interdenominational service at the Saint Bernard’s Catholic Church in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, as part of the events to celebrate Nigeria’s 55th Independence Anniversary.

Speaking on the achievements of the state and country at large towards meaningful governance, Ayade sued for policies that would be more beneficiary to low income earners.

On the issues facing the nation 55 years after independence, the Governor called for a reversal of the privatization policy. According to him, “Nigeria’s present state of development does not support privatization.”

Speaking further, Governor Ayade urged the people of the state to remain focused on his signature projects, no matter how unrealistic it seems, as he remains focused on its deliveries within his first four years in office.

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Nigeria’s D’Tigress Beat Guinea 100-47 In Women Afrobasket

Nigeria’s D’Tigress did not really break a sweat blowing out lowly Guinea in Sunday’s only game of Afrobasket Women championship in Yaounde, Cameroon, as they won 100 points to 47.

Although Coach Scott Nnaji sat out team leading scorer, Olayinka Sanni, Nigeria easily recorded an easy 100 points to 47 victory.

Joyce Ekworomadu inspired five other Nigerians who scored 12 points or more, while Nadia Peruch-Niang paced Guinea with 17 points and 7 rebounds.

Guinea, in the second quarter, made three shots from beyond the arc, cutting the deficit to just 13 points, but it was a matter of time as Nigeria went on to close the third quarter with a 73-40 lead.

Nigeria will face Senegal later tonight in another Group B game.

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Britain To Deploy Troops For Somalia Peacekeeping Mission

Britain has announced that it will deploy dozens of troops to Somalia to help peacekeeping efforts to counter Islamist militant.

Prime Minister, David Cameron, said that up to 70 personnel would join a United Nations (UN) contingent supporting African Union troops fighting Al-Shabab.

Also, up to 300 troops could be deployed in South Sudan over time.

Mr Cameron, who will pledged the support at the UN General Assembly Summit, said that the approach would help curb migrants coming to Europe.

Al-Shabab is battling Somalia’s government for control of the country.

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What Is Important Is Good Football – Wenger

Arsène Wenger believes that Arsenal are getting better with every passing week and he wants the team to continue with their style of football.

The Gunners followed on their midweek Capital One Cup win at Tottenham with a 5-2 victory at Leicester City on Saturday.

Having ended the Foxes’ unbeaten run, Wenger feels his side are close to repeating the form shown in the second half of last season.

“It has been two weeks and the league is tight again,” he said. “You have to be consistent and that is what we focus on.

“I feel like the quality of our game is getting better week by week. Overall we are finding the level back that we showed at the end of the season.

“We came to Leicester who have not lost this season and the fact that we came here and won in a convincing way was important for the confidence as well.

“I’m just glad I did my job for the team and the fans. I’m not too concerned about the result. I have had 30 years of football and I know what is important and that is good football.

“What you want is to manage a team that enjoys to play together and gets better every week.”

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Kogi Govt. Releases 30 Million Naira To Pay Students’ Bursary

25,205 students of Kogi origin in various higher institutions have began to receive bursary payment from the state government.

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Student Matters, Precious Matifo, disclosed this in Lokoja while briefing journalists on the advantages of the student web portal created recently.

She said that this was a practical demonstration of the Governor’s commitment in education.

The web portal which was created in July for Kogi State students in various institutions nationwide by the state government, is aimed at channeling students’ bursary payments straight into their various accounts.

This new initiative, Governor Idris Wada said, would lead to transparency, efficiency and accountability.

Kogi students nationwide have all registered online as directed and the first batch has began to get the alert for their bursary payments.

The SSA to the Governor, Precious Matifo, said that 100 million naira had been released to settle the backlog of Law students’ fees while 30 million was released for the first batch of about 25,000 students.

She added that 60,000 students would have gotten their bursary payment by the conclusion of the exercise.

According to the Executive Secretary, Kogi State Scholarship Board, Mrs Rebecca Acheneje, the aim of the portal was to make access easier for those that are eligible.

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‘Supermoon’ Coincides With Lunar Eclipse

Sky-watchers from North and South America to Western Europe have been enjoying a rare astronomical event in which the moon has appeared to redden in the night’s sky – a so-called blood moon.

A supermoon occurs when the moon is in the closest part of its orbit to earth, meaning it appears larger in the sky.

The eclipse, which made the moon appear red – has been visible in North America, South America, West Africa and Western Europe.

This phenomenon was last observed in 1982 and will not come again until 2033.

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BVN: 32 Million Bank Customers Yet To Register

About 32 million of bank customers are yet to register and obtain their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), less than five weeks to the October 31 deadline.

According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) on Sunday, out of about 52 million active accounts owned by adults and children in various banks, the total enrollment for the BVN stood at about 20 million.

According to the statistics, out of the 20 million registered bank customers, only about 14 million accounts have been linked to the BVN as of September 2015.

The BVN scheme was introduced by the Apex bank in collaboration with the bankers’ committee on February 14, 2014.

This is aimed at ensuring a unique identity for every bank customer and other users of financial services in the country, through the use of customers’ bio-metrics as a means of identification.

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Hajj Stampede: NAHCON Confirms Death Of 54 Nigerians

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has confirmed the death of 54 Nigerians in the deadly stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, during this year’s Hajj.

The Chairman of NAHCON, Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed, said that 42 out of the 54 that died were from states pilgrims welfare board including two NAHCON officials, while others were among those on the pilgrimage by private tour operators.

He made the confirmation in Makkah on Monday.

He also listed 15 states of Bauchi, Borno, Zamfara, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe, as those that lost pilgrims to the stampede.

The incident is said to have claimed at least 720 lives.

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Presidency Denies Missing Out On UN Assembly

Nigeria’s Presidency have denied reports that Nigeria missed out from a meeting where countries affected by Boko Haram insurgency, sought help from United Nations (UN) member states.

The Presidency claimed that Nigeria was not listed for that meeting called by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. Stephen O’Brien.

The President’s Media Adviser, Femi Adesina said, “When we have meetings such as the UN General Assembly, there are also sideline meetings.

“This meeting that you referred to, called by Mr. O’Brien, was one of the sideline meetings, and Nigeria was not invited for it,” he said.

“We have a schedule of all meetings to be attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, and that is not included in our schedule,” Mr Adesina added.

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Thousands March To Remember Mexico’s Missing Students

The parents of 43 students missing in Mexico have led a march of thousands of people in the capital to mark one year since their disappearance.

On Sunday, many carried photos of their loved ones in Mexico city, demanding justice.

The parents want the government to hand over the investigation to a special unit under international supervision.

They dispute the government’s account that the students were handed over by police in the city of Iguala to a criminal gang, which killed them.

A group of independent experts had suggested the students were killed because they unknowingly took control of a bus carrying illegal drugs, and the government did nothing to protect them.

The protesters on the streets in Mexico City called the march “a day of indignation” which allowed people to show their anger towards the government over the handling of the students’ disappearance.

Meanwhile, President Enrique Pena Nieto had announced the creation of a special team to look into the case.

The President had earlier met the families and said that he was on their side and he also wanted to get to the bottom of what happened.

The students disappeared on September 26, 2014 in Iguala in the southern Guerrero state.

They had gone there to gather for a commemoration in Mexico City.

The Federal Government had said local police from Iguala and the nearby town of Cocula had detained the students and turned them over to the local drug gang.

But a team of international experts sent by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights spent six months reviewing the government’s investigation and found a number of flaws.

It concluded the bodies of 43 students could not have been burned at the rubbish dump in Cocula as the government maintained.

The government said that forensic experts had identified two of the students from the burnt remains recovered from the rubbish dump.

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Iran Calls For Probe Over Hajj Stampede

Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, has called for an investigation into Thursday’s stampede at the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

The incident was the deadliest to hit the Hajj in 25 years, with 769 people dead, more than 130 of them from Iran.

Mr Rouhani described the crush as “heart-rending”. As well as the fatalities, 934 people were injured.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, however, accused the Iranians of playing politics with a tragedy.

Mr Jubeir, who is also in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, said he believes Iranians should know better than to play politics with a tragedy that had befallen people who were performing their most sacred religious duty.

Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric had defended the authorities, saying the stampede was “beyond human control”. King Salman had also ordered a safety review into the disaster.

The crush occurred on Thursday morning as two million pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj’s last major rite.

The pilgrims threw seven stones at pillars called Jamarat, which stood at the place where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.

With temperatures around 46C, two massive lines of pilgrims converged on each other at right angles at an intersection close to the five-storey Jamarat Bridge in Mina, a large valley about 5km (3 miles) from Mecca.

It was the second disaster to strike in two weeks, after a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 109 people.

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Governor Ahmed Condemns Eid-el-Kabir Attack On Saraki

The Kwara State Governor, Mr Abdulfatah Ahmed, has condemned the hurling of objects at dignitaries, including the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, during the Eid prayers in Ilorin.

Speaking during a visit to the Emir of Ilorin, Dr Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, Governor Ahmed said that there are proper avenues for people to vent their grievances rather than turning a place of worship to a theatre of violence.

“The incident is not Islamic-like, it is not Kwara-like, and it is not Ilorin-like. We must stand against those things because our value is centred on Islam and we must respect it”, he said.

Governor Ahmed also reminded residents of the state that unlike in other places where Eid Grounds are used for other purposes such as carnivals and football matches, “this one is a mosque dedicated and not used for anything else”.

Offence Against God

Dr Sulu-Gambari on his part, described the incident as an offence against God.

Gambari disclosed this in Ilorin on Saturday when he paid the yearly Eid Kabir visit to the governor at the Government House in Ilorin.

He noted that the efforts of the miscreants to defile the sanctity of the place of worship and deny Muslims their right of worship are condemnable and a possible invitation of the wrath of Allah whose abode the miscreants invaded, describing the development as despicable and unfortunate.

The Emir advised parents to train their children not to taint the good image of Ilorin Emirate and Kwara State as a peace loving and united entities.

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Trial Of Those Who Misappropriated NNPC Revenues Will Begin Soon – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in New York restated his determination to fully sanitize Nigeria’s oil industry and make it totally free of corruption and shady deals.

Speaking at a meeting with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations, President Buhari said that a necessary first step in this direction had already been taken with the appointment of a new management for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsequent reorganisation .

The President said that the prosecution of those who misappropriated the NNPC’s revenue under past administrations will soon commence.

President Buhari thanked President Xi Jinping for China’s ongoing help in curbing crude oil theft from Nigeria.
The President applauded China’s interception of shiploads of crude oil stolen from Nigeria, and which were to be sold and proceeds paid into private accounts.

“We know your stand on corruption, and we are grateful. Your continued cooperation in curbing oil theft from Nigeria will be appreciated,” President Buhari told the Chinese leader.

He also assured President Xi Jinping that under its new leadership, the Nigerian military had been re-trained and re-equipped, and was now making steady gains against Boko Haram.

President Jinping told President Buhari that China, which is already involved in Nigeria in diverse areas like railway, airports, agriculture, and in the Mambilla Hydro-power project, among others, will increase its investment in the country’s agricultural sector to support the achievement of domestic food security.

He also promise further Chinese investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, and more support for human capital development in the country.

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