Biafra: IPOB replies Buhari, says ‘we would also not tolerate Nigeria’

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday welcomed the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari to the effect that Nigeria would not tolerate Biafra, pointing out that Biafra would also not tolerate Nigeria.

In a statement entitled “Response to Ohanaeze and Buhari’s disparaging remarks about Biafra on Al Jazeera,”the group spokespersons said: “We wish to reiterate for record purposes that our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has not mandated Ohanaeze or any  youth group to negotiate for his release.The agitation for Biafra is a long and arduous process and the entire IPOB family all over the world understands this approach as espoused by our detained leader''

“We have not come to merely agitate, we have come to restore or die in the process. Some people think we are joking or can be easily dissuaded from this divine path that God-Chukwu Okike Abhiama has mandated us to follow. “Any negotiation on Biafra must be led by Nnamdi Kanu and nobody else. If roads, bridges and a few junior staff at Aso Rock are our problems as Biafrans, then IPOB worldwide can fund such infrastructural development alone and very soon, we shall do it. Our quest is Biafra- nothing more, nothing less''.

“On the issue of Buhari’s Aljazeera interview on Biafra, we welcome his comments because Biafra would not also tolerate Nigeria. Lord Lugard created Nigeria not Chukwu Okike Abhiama, God Almighty. So, like USSR, it will collapse. We, the IPOB Worldwide have decided not to go back on the quest for restoration of Biafra. Nigeria is not bigger than USSR just as Buhari is not stronger than Michael Gobachev. Buhari can kill Biafrans as he did during the 1967 to 1970 civil war, but this time, it will not be the same.”

In a statement signed and made available to newsmen in Enugu yesterday, MASSOB Leader, Uchenna Madu, revealed that it has mobilized its allies to ensure that its directive was heeded. According to Madu,

”we can no longer tolerate the systematic killing of our people and invasion of our land in the name of cattle grazing. Seventy per cent of Fulani herdsmen in the eastern region are Northern-trained secret army assigned for devastation and secret killing of Biafrans. “MASSOB in collaboration with IPOB and other affiliates have vowed to protect Biafra land with enthusiastic spirit and  motivation  from foreign invaders in any disguise. As we have resolved to protect Biafra land, we warn Arewa secret army in disguise as Fulani herdsmen to concentrate on grazing with their cows as any further attack on our people shall be squarely returned.”

 “The level of Biafra actualization has gone beyond Buhari’s imagination and comprehension. As long as Ndigbo and easterners in general live, Biafra can never be subdued by Nigeria. We advise the international community to ignore Buhari’s diplomatic propaganda against Biafra. We will continue to toe the line of non-violence in our pursuit for Biafra and will not lower our guard to continue to press for the release Nnamdi Kanu,Ben Onwuka and other pro-Biafra detainees in prisons scattered all over the country”.

Fayose: ''I can’t be intimidated by one million DSS officials''

Consequent upon the alleged invasion and arrest of four members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly on Friday evening by the operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), Governor Ayodele Fayose has declared that he cannot be intimidated by any show of force by the Federal Government.

According to him, even if the State was invaded by one million armed men of the DSS on the order of President Muhammadu Buhari, the government and the people of the state will never be intimidated to surrender governance of the state to political desperados, whose four years reign destroyed the economy of the state. The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon, Kola Oluwawole had on Saturday told newsmen that operatives of DSS invaded the Assembly on Friday evening, during the sessions of various committees of the House, shot into the air and abducted four members of the House to an unknown destination.

The governor, who expressed concern over the activities of the DSS under President Buhari, said the security agency was overreaching its constitutional mandate, as it’s being used to achieve petty partisan interest. Fayose said the government of Ekiti State may have to reconsider the usefulness of men of the DSS in the government house and other institutions of the state government. Fayose, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the APC led Federal Government was pursuing a clandestine agenda of truncating democracy in Ekiti State and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controlled States like Rivers and Bayelsa. In his words,

 “If Buhari likes, let him relocate all DSS men in Nigeria with the entire ammunition in their armoury to Ekiti, the will of Ekiti people can never be broken. They will only try, and like they have always done, they will fail because dictatorship has never triumphed over the people. Even Buhari’s dictatorship between 1984 and 1985 ended one day and Nigerians will also outlive his present dictatorship.”

Five Senators pledge ‘solid and unshakable’ loyalty to Saraki

Some Senators on Sunday reiterated their “solid and unshakable” support for the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, whose corruption trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal commences on Friday.

Mr. Saraki risks losing his seat if found guilty of the false asset declaration by the tribunal in a charge brought against him by the Federal Government.

As his opponents, particularly Kabiru Marafa (APC-Zamfara State), continue to call for his resignation “to save the image of the National Assembly”, there is growing insinuation that Mr. Saraki’s supporters are also searching for a suitable replacement should he lose eventually.

However, on Sunday, five Senators – Lanre Tejuoso (APC-Ogun), Ibrahim Rafiu (APC-Kwara), Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP-Delta), Isa Misau (APC-Bauchi) and Mr. Sabi – issued a joint statement, reiterating loyalty to Mr. Saraki and dismissing insinuation of shopping for his replacement.

They claim they acted on behalf of “overwhelming majority of their colleagues.”

Their statement came in obvious reaction to Sunday’s story published by a National Newspaper which reported that Mr. Saraki’s supporters were considering choosing a “New PDP” Senator from Kwara State or Nasarawa State as his replacement.

But the five Senators said there was no truth about claims that some Senators were discussing or thinking about Mr. Saraki’s successor “because there is no basis for that.”

“Let us make it clear, our position remains the same. The case against Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal is not a case of corruption. It is a case of political persecution. Again, he remains innocent until the case has gone through the final floor of the judicial architecture. We have no doubt that the mischief will fail and so we are solidly behind him. We continue to stand by Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki and nothing will change that”, the Senators said.

Facebook to pay more taxes in Britain

Facebook on Friday said it would declare advertising revenue from its top British clients in Britain instead of Ireland, where it has its European headquarters, meaning it will have to pay more tax.

“On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland,” the company said in a statement.

“What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales,” it added.

The result is that Facebook will end up paying more tax in Britain although the precise amounts will not be known until 2017. The company did not make clear what proportion of revenues from smaller companies would continue to be routed through Ireland.

The announcement comes amid public outrage in many parts of Europe over the tax arrangements of US tech multinationals including Amazon, Facebook and Google.

There was an outcry in January in Britain over Google’s back tax payments and Facebook has also been in the firing line over the £4,327 (5,572 euros, $6,119) in corporate tax it paid in 2014.

The BBC said that Facebook’s major British clients include the supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury’s, as well as food giant Unilever and advertising group WPP.

The corporate tax rate in Ireland is just 12.5 percent — one of the lowest in the European Union.

In Britain the rate is 20 percent.

Could this be true ??? Men who talk on cell phones for an hour daily ‘are twice as likely to have low sperm quality’

Men who carry their mobile phone in a trouser pocket or talk on it for just an hour a day risk suffering with fertility problems, scientists warn.

Research shows that sperm count can also be reduced by talking on a phone that is charging, or even keeping it close by on a bedside table at night.

The quality of sperm among men in Western countries is steadily decreasing, and is considered the factor in 40 per cent of cases in which couples have difficulty conceiving a child.

Heat and electromagnetic activity, which emanate from a mobile phone are thought to be ‘cook’ sperm, causing them to die.

The findings have led to a leading British fertility expert to warn men about the risks of being ‘addicted’ to mobile phones.

Israeli scientists monitored 106 men attending a fertility clinic for a year.

The study revealed that men who chatted on the phone for more than an hour daily were twice as likely to have low sperm quality as those who spoke for less than an hour, while those who talked on the phone as it charged were almost twice as likely to suffer problems.

It also found that 47 per cent of men who kept their phones within 20 inches of their groin had sperm levels that were seriously affected, compared with just 11 per cent of the general population.

The findings, published in Reproductive BioMedicine, support a long-feared link between dropping male fertility rates and the prevalence of mobile phones.

Professor Martha Dirnfeld, of the Technion University in Haifa, which carried out the study, said: “The [sperm] levels were down to a number that would make conception difficult.

“If you are trying for a baby and it doesn’t happen within a year you might want to think of whether it could be your mobile phone habit that is to blame.”

Professor Gedis Grudzinskas, a fertility consultant at St George’s Hospital, London, said: “Men need to think about their well-being and try to stop being addicted to their phones.”

The study concludes that men planning to conceive should turn off their devices while charging, or keep it at least 20 inches from the groin.

Adapted from DailyMailUK online

Ese Oruru's abduction: Until Nigeria makes example of Senator Yerima, there will be thousands of Yunusa – Prof.Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has criticised the Nigerian government for allowing the practice of child marriages to thrive in the country.

Mr. Soyinka spoke Sunday ‎during a press conference titled ‘Justice At Bay: The Long, Twisted Road to Ese’ jointly hosted with Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer.

“Until we make an example of people like (Senator Ahmed) Yerima, there will be thousands of Yunusa,” said Professor Soyinka.

Senator Yerima (APC, Zamfara West) in 2010 married a young Egyptian girl alleged to be 13 years old.

Yunusa Yellow allegedly abducted Ese Oruru, a Bayelsa teenager, ‎in 2015 to Kano where she was converted to Islam and renamed Aisha.

Mr. Soyinka also lauded the role Lamido Sanusi, the Emir of Kano,‎ played in the saga noting that the “emir represents a modern traditional ruler who will help transform the primitive chief’s in power.”

Photos: Germany’s BMW celebrates 100th anniversary

German luxury carmaker BMW will throw a lavish 100th birthday party on Monday, looking back at its often troubled history and forward as it seeks to adapt to the age of “personal mobility”.

In its home city of Munich the iconic headquarters, a complex dubbed the “BMW four-cylinder”, towers as a source of pride while its vast plant, offices and museum are the southern city’s main private employer, with a total of 41,000 staff.

Since its World War I beginnings, the company has grown into a multinational giant with plants in 14 countries, more than 116,000 employees and 80 billion euros ($88 billion) in annual sales.

BMW today makes cars and motorcycles and its brands also include Rolls-Royce and Mini.

Leading its rival Daimler-Benz in units sold, and with giant VW damaged by the emissions scandal, BMW remains in pole position at the high end of the auto industry and is seen as a symbol of German engineering prowess.

“It’s a great product, it’s a joy to make it,” says Stefan Eichborn, wearing a blue overall and speaking in a Bavarian accent, as he supervises huge machines that press steel sheets into car body parts

– War-time past –

The auto giant started life in far more troubled times — on March 7, 1916, making aircraft engines as Germany’s “Bavarian Aircraft Factory”.

After WWI, when defeated Germany was forbidden from manufacturing aircraft, it renamed itself Bayerische Motoren Werke (“Bavarian Engine Factory”) in 1922.

BMW adopted a propellor-shaped logo as a salute to its aerospace origins, in Bavaria’s traditional blue-and-white colours.

“The product for which BMW is best known nowadays was actually the last product to be taken into its portfolio,” says Manfred Grunert, the company’s in-house historian.

After producing its first motorcycle in 1923, BMW began making cars in 1928. During the 1930s it started on its own designs, such as the 326 limousine and the 328 roadster.

As the Nazis came to power, BMW again became involved in armament efforts, once more building aircraft engines.

From 1939 it used forced labour from concentration camps — one of BMW’s darkest chapters, which it only began to open up about in the 1980s.

At the end of World War II, with Germany in ruins, the company survived by making household utensils.

It resumed motorcycle production in 1948 and car production in 1952, but its success initially remained limited.

“During the 1950s, BMW had serious financial problems,” historian Grunert told AFP.

“BMW did not participate in Germany’s post-war economic miracle.”

– Start-up spirit –

In 1959, the group was about to be taken over by its arch-rival Daimler-Benz, but a group of shareholders rebelled.

One of them, Herbert Quandt, son of a well-known industrialist, came to BMW’s rescue, investing massively in the company.

“Without his involvement, BMW would today simply be a factory of Daimler,” said Grunert.

The Quandt family today remains BMW’s biggest shareholders with a stake of 47 percent.

Peter Fuss, automobile expert at consultants EY, said the presence of a “strong shareholder” willing to take risks is a key factor behind the company’s success.

But the Quandt name is also associated with the darkest period of Germany’s history.

Herbert’s father, Guenther Quandt, was one of Germany’s leading industrialists during the Third Reich, enjoying the spoils of wealth confiscated from Jews.

During the 1960s, BMW launched its “Neue Klasse” limousines and in 1965 coined the advertising slogan “the joy of driving”.

From the 1970s to 90s, it expanded abroad. BMW bought British Rover in 1994, but the company remained a financial millstone and was sold off again in 2000.

BMW however held on to the Mini brand, transforming it into a premium marque.

It has since diversified into four-wheel drives, compact cars and the fully electric i3 model range.

As tech giants such as Google and Apple are eyeing the personal mobility market, the company launched its BMWi division in 2011 which also offers services like car sharing platform DriveNow.

The idea now is to “instill the spirit of a start-up in BMW, which is not obvious in an industry where product cycles are long,” said Henrik Wenders, responsible for managing BMWi products.

So far, BMWi generates only one percent of the group’s total turnover, said Wenders, but he declared confidently that “without us there may not be a 200th anniversary” for BMW.

American Scientists Say Walnut Can Inhibit Cancer, Diabetes

American scientists carried out a number of laboratory tests on grouped mice suffering from prostate cancer. By feeding one group with walnuts, another with walnut oil, and the last mice group with no walnut at all, the researchers were able to detect a drastic deceleration in the growth of the tumor and malignant cells in the rats fed with walnuts.

The first group did not consume walnuts, the second group received walnuts, and the third one was fed with walnut oil.

The experiment showed that the development of the tumor and malignant cells significantly slowed among the rodents in the second and the third groups.

Raw walnuts contain phytonutrients, a natural substance, which restrains the growth of cancer cells.

The scientists, attribute the success of the tests to this, and further reveal that only two handfuls of walnuts daily is enough to reduce the chances of both prostate and breast cancer by about 50 per cent.

In another development, the scientists showed that walnut oil plays a key role in reducing the amount of harmful cholesterol in the blood, helping to fight heart disease and reducing the risk of diabetes.

The study found that overweight adults with type two diabetes, who ingested only a quarter cup of walnuts daily saw their high levels of insulin reduce quicker than those on non-walnut diets.