Obama Commends US off duty Solders Who prevented Train Attack

News from aljazeera.com

US President Barack Obama has praised
two off-duty US soldiers for their role in
stopping a gun attack on a train
travelling between Amsterdam and Paris.
Obama thanked the men for their
"courage and quick thinking" after the
attack on Friday on Belgian territory
near the northern French town of Arras.
Two others, including another US
national, and a British man living in
France were also involved in tackling the
attacker.
The incident left three people injured,
including one of the men who subdued
the gunman, a 26-year-old of Moroccan
origin who was known to the intelligence
services, French investigators said.
The man, who was arrested at a railway
station in Arras, had a Kalashnikov, an
automatic pistol, ammunition and a box
cutter in his luggage, one police source
told AFP news agency after Friday's
incident.
'Extremely violent suspect'
Bernard Cazeneuve, French interior
minister, who went to Arras in the wake
of the incident, praised the two
Americans who had subdued the
"extremely violent" suspect.
They showed "great bravery in very
trying circumstances", he said. "Without
their cool-headed actions we could have
been faced with a terrible incident."
Footage showed three men,
Americans Anthony Sadler and Aleck
Sharlatos, and Chris Norman, receiving
medals at a restaurant in Arras for their
actions, the Reuters news agency
reported.
A Spanish official, linked to the country's
anti-terrorism unit, said the individual
lived in Spain until 2014, then moved to
France, travelled to Syria, and then
returned to France, the Associated
Press news agency reported.
Cazeneuve said that the suspect may
have been flagged by Spanish authorities
last year for links to radical movements.

"I condemn the terrorist attack on the
Thalys [train] and express my sympathy
to the victims," Charles Michel, Belgian
prime minister, said on Twitter of the
incident which occurred while the train
was on Belgian territory.
French President Francois Hollande and
Michel agreed in a telephone call to
"cooperate closely" in the investigation,
according to a statement from the
Elysee Palace.
The incident occurred at 5.50pm local
time (15:50 GMT), the train operator
said.
The French prosecutor's office said its
anti-terrorist section had taken over the
investigation into the incident, "in view of
the weaponry used, the way it happened
and the context".
"The passengers are safe, the situation
has been brought under control," train
operator Thalys, which is jointly owned
by the national rail companies of Belgium,
France and Germany, said on Twitter.
France remains on edge after armed men
attacked the satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in
Paris in January in a spree that killed 17
people and shocked the world.
In June, a man beheaded his boss and
tried to blow up a gas plant in southern
France in what prosecutors say was an
attack inspired by the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
In May last year, four people, including
two Israeli tourists, were killed when an
armed man opened fire at the Jewish
Museum in Brussels.

No Plans to Probe National Assembly Account

The Presidency says it has not initiated any investigation into the National Assembly’s account, as public outcry mounted over the reduction in the high cost of governance at all levels.Shehu Garba, senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, told BusinessDay on an enquiry of a report that the Presidency had initiated an investigation into the accounts of the National Assembly.“I am not aware of that. However, the National Assembly is not answerable to the executive,” Garba said.Concerned Nigerians recently expressed concerns over the N13 billion allegedly spent on allowances and salaries of the 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives barely two months into the eighth Assembly.They also called for the disclosure of actual monthly salaries and quarterly allowances as well as contracts being awarded by the National Assembly bureaucracy.They further called for part-time legislature, on the premise that the services of the lawmakers did not commensurate with the N600 billion spent for a four-year legislative tenure.Earlier reports gathered showed that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) revealed that the Clerk of the House Committee on House Services was quizzed about three years ago over a petition on the award of some contracts.When contacted on whether or not there was an ongoing investigation of the legislature, one of the ICPC management team noted that the Commission was at liberty to beam its searchlight on any public institutions in line with its statutory mandate.“We do conduct investigations based on petitions from anyone who have information from any of the institutions. We call them whistleblowers. But for now, there’s no investigation that I know on the National Assembly,” according to the ICPC official.When asked whether there was any petition against the seventh Assembly under Senator David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who is presently the Governor of Sokoto State, the ICPC official said that, “there was none that I can recall.”He explained that the commission do ‘painstakingly’ conduct thorough investigation into any corruption related practices, such as the 407 Peugeot contract scandal and Power probe that rocked the sixth House of Representatives.Bobboi Kaigama, president, Trade Union Congress (TUC), who chided the failure of the National Assembly from approving living wage for Nigerian workers, argued that the rising cost of governance contributed to the lingering economic crises.“Furthermore, considering the nation’s present socio-economic realities, it is totally indefensible for senators and members of the House of Representatives to be paid as much as N2 million and N1.8 million, respectively, as basic salary every month.“Where then lies any justification for their claims to being contributors to the growth of a nation where unemployment and other social vices are the order of the day?“The enormous cost of governance contributes immensely to the economic crises rocking the Nigerian boat. How is this huge amount justifiable in the light of the current financial dilemma the nation is overwhelmed with?“What do the legislators who often turn down proposals for wage increase for the workers do to deserve these mind-blowing sums of money? We think it is high time Nigerians take their destiny in their hands and stand firm against these injustices and inequality,” Kaigama said in a statement obtained by BusinessDay.

Buhari to Set Special Court for Looters

According to a report by Punch, the Federal Government might be establishing special courts to try people who have stolen from the country. Buhari may even have started plans to submit a bill on the special anti-corruption courts to the National Assembly. Sources in the know told the newspaper that the government is currently looking for fearless judges that would prosecute these corrupt individuals.All the states of the federation will have these special courts so FG is looking for 36 incorruptible judges. A source told Punch that Buhari decided to set up the planned special courts because of the long delay by regular courts in deciding corruption-related cases.

Did E-Money Use skibii for Money Ritual?

Kcee has expressed disappointment that his brother and chairman of Five Star Music, E-Money is being dragged into the Skiibii death scandal.Speaking on Wazobia FM, Kcee said “I’m disappointed with people on social media who said that my brother, E Money, used Skiibii for money rituals. What gets me even angrier is that now that he did not die, they are saying his head was too strong for the juju and that is why immediately I came into the country I decided to use this medium to clarify issues.”“I was on tour with my producer, Soso Soberekon in Norway when the purported rumour of Skiibii’s death broke. Somebody called Soso to confirm the news and Soso called his boy who confirmed that Skiibii col­lapsed and was rushed to the hospital but he did not know what exactly was happening but it’s like Skiibii was dead and so he told the caller that skiibii was actually dead.“I later got in touch with my brother, E-Money, who said he had instructed that Skiibii be transferred to another hospital immediately. So the whole issue was misconstrued because of Soso and he has been placed on suspension by the management.”Commenting, Skiibii said that he was hale and hearty. His words:“I’m alive and healthy. This is not the first time this is happening to me. It’s like a blackout which occurs anytime I’m over excited. It’s happened two times and the last time was when I was on a plane with another label mate. I thank God I’m okay.”

I DISCOVERED WIZKID NOT BANKY W -OJB

Producer, OJB Jezreel has decided to set the records straight regarding who discovered Wizkid.In a recent interview,OJB said he hadn’t spoken about it before now because he is too old to be blowing his own trumpet at 50. The beat maker said that he went to Wizkid’s family house to convince his parents to allow him pursue his music career.“To set the records, I discovered Wizkid’s talent. We basically started his career and I remember when we had to push Wizkid around and take him for shows but nobody was ready to allow him to perform because they were not ‘feeling’ him at that point in time. When he had the chance and said he wanted to move on and try other things, we were behind him then too. If we did not discover him, he would not have been with us. I was the first person to go to his family house to tell them that it would be a nice idea if they allowed him to go into music.We have been there from day one but not everybody know this story, we don’t just make noise about it. It is not Banky W that discovered him, I did. I would soon be 50 years old and I think it would be funny if I start blowing my trumpet,” he said.OJB said that he has no regrets when it comes to Wizkid because he pushed his career as far as he could.“There are some artistes that if you spend millions of naira on them, they would not be impactful until they cross borders. Take Harrysongs for example, millions was spent on him but nothing happened till he crossed over to Five Star Entertainment. There is no how Harrysongs would say that Questionmark record label was not a blessing to his life. Sometimes, these things happen like that and I think it is destiny,” he said.

Saturday PUNCH’s investigations on Friday revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari was opting for a comprehensive onslaught against the problem of corruption in the country.It was learnt that the President had concluded plans to submit a bill on the planned special anti-corruption courts to the National Assembly.The PUNCH had on Monday exclusively reported that the Presidency had commenced the process of identifying fearless judges that would be saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting corrupt persons.It was also gathered that the Federal Government was planning to establish 37 of the Special Courts to try corruption in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and the 36 states of the Federation.A top operative of one of the anti-graft agencies, who confided in one of our correspondents, said that the Federal Government decided to set up the planned special courts because of the long delay by regular courts in deciding corruption-related cases.It was further gathered that the President recently made a demand for 36 judges with the requisite integrity and boldness to decide cases in line with the law and not according to influence of the people or the pecuniary gains that come with associating with them.The anti-graft officer said, “The President is being careful; he does not want people to do a wishy-washy job for him.“Buhari is pressing for the establishment of special courts to try corruption cases. He wants the courts to be established in Abuja and the 36 states of the federation so that they can fast-track such cases.”Investigations further revealed that the Federal Government had contacted the National Judicial Council to provide judges with impeccable reputation to preside over the planned courts.It was gathered that the NJC released the names of 100 judges from the 36 states of the federation to the leadership of three major anti-corruption bodies in the country after an internal process of selection.The judges were screened by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission and the Department of State Security on Tuesday.It was gathered that the focus of the on-going screening exercise is to identify judges with a passion for the law and the constitution rather than deference to personalities.The officer stated, “On Tuesday, the NJC forwarded the list of 100 judges to the anti-corruption agencies for screening. The exercise is meant to select the judges for the special courts the President is moving to establish to try corruption cases.“The plan is to get judges that are bold, courageous, and fearless. Many of them must have delivered sound judgements (in the past). They don’t want those who play to the gallery.“The screening exercise is very intensive; they are passing through the NJC that has the list of all the judges. When the NJC is through with its screening, it passes the list of the judges to security operatives and the anti-graft agencies to continue with the investigation.“And because this is a democracy, they have to go through acceptable legal channels; they have to amend the constitution to set up these courts. They want to start with speed; even the legislatures have to be involved to amend the constitution.”It was also learnt that the anti-graft agencies screened the judges by doing background checks on them, particularly looking at their history at the bench.The source said, “We are working on the information we got about them (the judges). There are those who have been compromised in the past, who will not be part of the arrangement.”But the anti-corruption agencies are not saying much about the on-going screening exercise, which is said to have entered its second phase.When our correspondent contacted the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on the telephone on Friday, he said that he was not aware of it.“I am not aware of the exercise you are talking about,” he said.Similarly, the Resident Consultant, Media and events of the ICPC, Mr. Folu Olamiti, said that he could not comment on the story, when contacted.“I can’t comment on it,” he said.Also, the Acting Director, Information, National Judicial Council, Mr. Soji Oye, said he was not aware of any plan to create special corruption courts.It will be recalled that the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, had in 2012, when he was being screened by the Senate, called for the establishment of special courts for corruption cases.He had said, “The reason for the clamour for special courts for certain cases has to do with the processes of law. Judges have corrupt cases and other cases to attend to, but if we have special courts for corruption cases, it would facilitate the process. I don’t think it will be too much to ask that a special court be dedicated to corruption cases.”Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, and Executive Chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran, described the plan to create special courts to handle corruption cases as a welcome development.But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Nwobike, described the establishment of such courts as needless.Keyamo, however, urged the government to put certain resources and laws in place for such special courts to achieve their intended goals.He said, “Establishment of special courts will not solve the entire problem of anti-corruption cases and it will not solve all the problems of criminal cases. But it will go a long way if the courts are well equipped and have rules that will help fast track such cases.“Special courts will not address the integrity of judges that will be sitting there. It is a welcome development and government should go ahead to establish them but some things should be put in place for the courts to achieve the intended goals.”Adeniran also described the establishment of special corruption courts as desirable. He said such courts would help in quick determination of corruption cases.He said, “It is desirable to the extent that it will hasten up the adjudication on corruption cases and will make it easier for the judges to handle.”But Nwobike said that instead of creating special courts, government should focus on capacity building to enhance the competence of investigators and prosecutors.He said, “It is needless. It will amount to waste of judicial resources to set up special courts to try corruption cases.”