All Songs

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced labour reforms to be enforced from January 1 that aim to curb abuse and protect the rights of millions of foreign workers.“We want to close the door on those who trick the simple worker,” Emirati Labour Minister Saqr Ghobash told a press conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.The new measures, which will remove practices associated with a sponsorship system known as “kafala” will allow foreign workers to terminate their contract and change employer.The kafala system not only regulates entry and residence, but also requires that workers seek permission from employers to change jobs.Ghobash said that from January 2016, the UAEwould take steps which, when completed, would get rid of “all the practices that were associated with kafala.”He said that under a new system, in which workers’ contracts would be lodged with the labour ministry rather than with employers, who currently hold the documents, “invol...

Daredevil suspected robbers struck in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Tuesday and killed a police sergeant, identified as WilliamRelomer, and two persons, who were occupants of a Toyota Tundra car.The bandits immediately carted away an undisclosed sum of money left in the vehicle in an operation that lasted less than six minutes.An eyewitness said the incident happened around Waterlines Bus-stop along the ever-busy Olu Obasanjo Way at about 12.05pm on Tuesday.The PUNCHgathered that the huge sum of money, contained in aGhana-must-gobag, belonged to Oyigbo Local Government Area.It was learnt that the policeman and the two others (a driver and an Oyigbo LGA official) that were shot dead had gone to a new generationbank to withdraw the money.The hoodlums had shot the police first ostensibly because he (police sergeant) was armed before killing the two other occupants of the vehicle.It was revealed that the hoodlums had earlier parked their vehicle, a Toyota Camry, away from whe...

I am sure NC members all have their views and have kept quiet out of (appropriate) deference to our right to make our individual choice. Obviously I do not need to explain anything to anyone in a purely personal matter but a few points are worthy of note:The lady in question is 18 and therefore legally of age to marry under all laws and certainly under Muslim law.She is proceeding for her undergraduate education in the UK in January. She had an A in computer science in her O levels and plans to get a degree in computer science.3. Each and every one of my wives is a university graduate and some have worked and then stopped and in each case the choice was purely theirs.It is a tradition in Kano that emirs and princes in choosing wives consider issues beyond the individual. The family is in every sense a social unit. My predecessor was married to princesses from Ilorin, Katsina and Sokoto.5. The relationship between the late Lamidoof Adamawa Aliyu Musdafa the father of the current Lamido ...

The Ogun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Isabo, Abeokuta, became a theatre of confusion as suspected political thugs stormed the venue and flogged party faithful, who had converged on the court’s premises.The attackers, who were armed with canes and other weapons, descended on some notable party chieftains, who were sighted in the court’s premises.Notable party chiefs of the Peoples Democratic Party, who were attacked included a former Chairman, Yewa North Local Government, Olusoji Eweje, Sesan Orelaja and a former Women Leader of the Labour Party,  Mrs. Omolola Soyombo.The state PDP chairman, Bayo Dayo, and theNational Auditor of the party, Alhaji Wole Adeyanju, were said to have narrowly escaped being whipped by the hoodlums.The fracas began shortly after the Chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Henry Olusiyi, reserved judgment in the case, in which the governorship candidate of the PDP, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, is challenging the election, w...

US Republicans said Tuesday they were introducing legislation that would use frozen Iranian assets to pay American victims of Iranian terrorism before billions of dollars are returned to Tehran as part of the nuclear deal.Congressional Republicans are furious over President Barack Obama’s landmark accord with world powers that aims to rein in Iran’s nuclear program, in exchange for an easing of sanctions that have crippled the Islamic republic’s economy.They see the Justice for Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act as a way to stall the deal, or at least take a major bite out of funds that would be returned to Tehran.The bill will be introduced this week, according to its sponsor, House Republican Pat Meehan.“There are some $43.5 billion in judgments whichhave been rendered under American law for victims of acts of Iranian terror,” with more than 80 lawsuits successfully prosecuted through US courts, Meehan told reporters.“Despite this, not one cent has be...

Former Governor of Lagos State and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Babatunde Fashola, has said acts of terrorism currently perpetrated by Boko Haram and other insurgents in the countryhave nothing to do with Islam or its tenets.Speaking at the public presentation of a book, ‘Frontiers of Jihad: Radical Islam in Africa’, written by Dr. Yinka Olomojobi, held on Monday at the MUSON Centre, Lagos, Fashola noted that a religion, whose foundation was peace, such as Islam, could not be the foundation or excuse for acts of murder, rape, savagery, pillaging and terror.Commending the author of the book for intellectualising the ongoing discourse on the real identities and motives of terrorists masquerading as promoters of the Islamic faith, he urged Muslims and other Nigerians not to accept any reason given by the criminals to explain their actions.Fashola said, “It is sheer propaganda to fool the general public and to deceive people in the name of a faith whose tenets they themselv...

The Ogun State Police Command on Tuesday arraigned a blogger and social media activist, Emmanuel Ojo, before an Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court for allegedly publishing false news against the wife of the Ogun State Governor, Mrs Olufunso Amosun.The suspect, who pleaded not guilty to the eight counts brought against him in case number MA/430C/2015, was, however, granted bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in the like sum.The Chief Magistrate, Anthony Araba, who presided over the case, also ruled that the two sureties must be residents within the jurisdiction of the court with landed property.They (sureties), he added, should also submit the documents of the landed property with the court and also show evidence of regular tax payment tothe government.Ojo was accused of publishing “a false news with intent to malign, cause hatred against the wife of the Governor which was punishable under section 516 of Criminal Code Cap 24 vol. 2 Lawsof Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.”He was accused of pub...