2 injured as plane veers off runway in Scotland

2015-01-02 15:11
London — Scotland's ambulance service says two people were injured when a plane veered off a runway on Scotland's wind-whipped Isle of Lewis.
The Saab 340 plane operated by Scottish regional airline Loganair came off the runway as it tried to take off Friday morning from Stornoway Airport in strong winds. Photos showed the plane sitting in the grass with its nose touching the ground.

The plane, with 28 people aboard, was trying to leave the island off Scotland's west coast and fly to Glasgow.

The Scottish Ambulance Service said two people were taken to Western Isles Hospital with minor injuries.

Stornoway Airport said "efforts to remove the aircraft from the runway are ongoing and investigations into the cause of the incident are underway."

- AP

You are here: Home / News / ‘Rivers’ monthly allocation slashed by 50%’ ‘Rivers’ monthly allocation slashed by 50%’

The Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, said on Thursday that the monthly federal allocation to the state had been slashed by over 50 per cent as a result of the dwindling oil prices.

Amaechi, who disclosed this during his New Year message broadcast live, explained that his administration would continue to review its finances in order to cushion the negative impact the reduction had on the people.

The governor said that apart from the reduction in the state’s monthly allocation, the ceding of oil wells in Soku and Etche to the neighbouring states by the National Boundary Commission had also affected the finances of the state.

Amaechi expressed sadness that there had been no plan to return the lost oil wells to Rivers State in spite of the evidences in favour of the state. He, however, said that his administration would not relent in its campaign for the return of the oil wells.

The governor said that while his administration inherited a monthly wage bill of about N2.5bn, the Rivers State was now managing a wage bill of about N9.2bn every month.

“We inherited a wage bill of about N2.5bn but we now pay almost N9.2bn every month. We do not regret the injection of needed manpower into the system especially in the health and education sectors for the sake of the future of this state, but our monthly allocation has dropped by over 50 per cent.

“Our administration has been faced with the battle of confronting the injustices that have been visited on our people. Besides the denial of economic opportunities, we have lost many of our assets. Our oil wells in Soku and Etche have been ceded to neighbouring states by the National Boundary Commission, with no plan to return them despite numerous evidences in our favour.

“We will continue to demand for our rights as a people because that is a debt that we owe you. With oil prices crashing below budgeted levels, the pressure on our finances is very high.

“Despite these, Rivers State is one of the few states in Nigeria that have paid salaries up to December 2014. We will continue to review our finances and the options before us so as to reduce the impact of these natural and man-made pains inflicted on our people,” Amaechi said.

Stating that his administration would review some of its projects in the face of fresh financial constraints, Amaechi promised that his government would not only pursue these projects and programmes, but would document them properly for handover.

The governor said his administration had embraced transparency with audited accounts and open transactions.

Man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II puts roses on his tomb

Wochit

Man Who Tried to Kill Pope John Paul II Puts Roses on His Tomb

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The man who tried to kill former Pope John Paul II 33 years ago showed up at the Vatican on Saturday …

 

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The man who tried to kill former Pope John Paul II 33 years ago showed up at the Vatican on Saturday to put white roses on his tomb and said he wanted to meet Pope Francis.

Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, left John Paul critically injured after firing several shots in the failed assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

The former pope forgave Agca, once a member of a Turkish far right group known as the Grey Wolves, and went to meet him in 1983 in the Rome prison where he had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the attack.

Agca called the Italian daily la Repubblica on Saturday to announce he had arrived in the Vatican, his first visit since the assassination attempt and exactly 31 years after John Paul met him in prison.

The visit was confirmed to Reuters by Father Ciro Benedettini, the Vatican's deputy spokesman, who said Agca stood for a few moments in silent meditation over the tomb in St. Peter's Basilica before leaving two bunches of white roses.

Agca, 56, was pardoned by Italy in 2000 and extradited to Turkey where he was imprisoned for the 1979 murder of a journalist and other crimes. He was released from jail in 2010.

The attack against John Paul, who died in 2005, has remained clouded by unanswered questions over who may have been behind it. An Italian investigative parliamentary commission said in 2006 it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that it was masterminded by leaders of the former Soviet Union.

The Vatican on Saturday gave a cool response to Agca's request to meet with Pope Francis. "He has put his flowers on John Paul's tomb; I think that is enough," Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi told la Repubblica.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Stephen Powell)

PDP may lose Abia, group warns Mu’azu

A group, Abia Pro­fessionals Forum (APF) has alerted the national leader­ship of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party ( PDP) to what it called imminent loss of gov­ernorship election and other elective offices in Abia State.
In a statement signed by President of the forum, Mr. Sam Onukwe and made available to newsmen at the weekend in Abuja, the APF expressed regret that nothing had been done by the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Commit­tee (NWC) led by Adamu Mu’azu to placate aggrieved governorship aspirants, who felt cheated over the manner the party’s governorship can­didate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu emerged.

The forum declared that mere admonition by President Goodluck Jonathan that ag­grieved aspirants should not dump the ruling party was not enough and noted that some of the candidates being parad­ed for the forthcoming general elections were not popular with the Abia electorate.

“We particularly note the situation in Abia State where there seem to be total loss of confidence in the leadership of the ruling party and par­ticularly, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the controversial governor­ship candidate of PDP, who was reportedly stoned at Aba Township Stadium and had to be quickly smuggled out of the sports facility to avert the danger to his life by the police.

“We wonder how a candi­date who is so unpopular will go round the state to canvass for votes.
“It is our fear that unless urgent action is taken by the leadership of PDP at the state and the national level, the electorate may be forced to speak with their voters’ card during the election, a situa­tion which may turn out to be unpalatable for the PDP,” the group said.

The forum further sub­mitted that the fate of the party hangs in the balance, given what it called the cred­ibility of candidates that had emerged on the platform of key opposition parties in the state.

The group advised the PDP NWC to take urgent steps to save the party from the dis­mal political loss it suffered in 2007 when it lost the Abia governorship election to the Peoples’ Progressive Alliance ( PPA) which produced the in­cumbent governor, Theodore Orji.

Biafran team to AU gets warm reception

The delegation of the Supreme Council of the Elders of In­digenous People of Biafra was accorded warm reception at a five-day meeting of the African Union (AU) held in Nairobi, Kenya.
The team returned to the country at the weekend even as another group dispatched to Cote D’Ivoire to thank the government and the people for harbouring the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu during his sojourn between1970 and 1982, has also returned. The Nigerian civil war ended in 1970.
Briefing newsmen in Nnewi, Anambra State yesterday, Deputy Chairman of the group, Dr Dozie Ikedife, said the pro-Biafran group which had recently been admitted as a member of Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the AU sent its delegation for the first time since admission to be part of delebrations at the Africa’s apex body to facilitate its diplomatic approach for self-determination.
“The delegates have returned. The meeting in Nairobi, Kenya lasted between December 18 and 22. Reports showed they were warmly received and given a place of recognition and honour to participate fully as members at the ECOSOCC meeting. They met other representatives from other countries and exchanged cordialities with them,” Dr Ikedife said.

Although he did not disclose the outcome of the meeting since it did not concern the pro-Biafran group alone, according to him, there would be a stronger delegation at the next meeting for fuller and more active participation. According to him, the Bilie Human Rights Initiative was on course as a legal arm of the pro-Biafran group to handle legal matters.

The former President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo also said the group sent to Cote D’Ivoire had returned.
He said “32 years after our brother, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu returned from Cote D’Ivoire, we feel obliged that according to customary law, if somebody has done you a favour, no matter how long it has taken, you will go and say ‘thank you’. We sent a delegation of three people, comprising a medical doctor, a religious leader up to the rank of a bishop and a well articulated Biafran war veteran. They went with a thank-you letter and some gift items according to our custom. The government and people of ICote D’Ivoire received them with appreciation.

Dr Ikedife said the same thank-you visit would be paid to Gabon which he said sent relief materials to war devastated Igbo and lifted their kwashiokor stricken children to take care of them.
He also said plans had reached an advanced stage to give a befitting funeral to Igbo sons and daughters who died during the civil war. He said a group had attempted to do that but could not. He said a governor, whose name he did not mention, had agreed to organize the funeral.

We didn’t rob; we only collected our dues – Suspects

The police have arrested four suspected robbers at a Lagos market who claimed they did not steal from the traders, but only came to collect their dues.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects- Onyenge Osanie, Azuka Eboh, Ezelonwu Michael and Afolabi Shakiru- were nabbed by the police while they were looting some shops and robbing traders at the Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos.

Our correspondent gathered that the suspects, who are four members of a ten-man gang, were arrested by operatives of the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad on December 20.

According to the police, the gang, which is led by a runaway suspect identified simply as Friday, made use of locally-made guns in their operations.

Our correspondent also learnt that most of the gang’s victims were phone dealers, and the gang allegedly carted away about 70 smartphones and Ipads which were worth about N1.5m.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, 35-year-old Osanie said the gang robbed the traders and looted their shops, because they refused to ‘settle’ them. He added that they only targeted shops of traders who had ‘offended’ the gang.

He said, “We usually work with phone dealers in the market who specialise in selling stolen phones. When we steal, they sell, and they then settle us. But later on, some of them defaulted, and we attacked their shops. It was not as if we robbed them, we only came to ask for our money.

“On that day, we had taken only 10 phones before the police apprehended us. I had initially escaped, but two gang members who were caught at the scene later brought the police to arrest me.”

Osanie, a father of three, said he regretted working with the gang, adding that if he was released, he would not indulge in robbery again.

Also, 27-year-old Eboh confessed that the gang did not only burgle shops, but also vandalised some property during the operation.

He said, “What we learnt initially was that a market chairman was coming to give out money but he later failed to show up. That was when we decided to deal with the traders. When we got to the shops, we broke their glasses and carted away expensive phones.

“I joined the gang because I did not have a job. I have been living in hardship with my family.”

Meanwhile, Michael, 22, said he had also gone with the gang on three occasions, adding that they took advantage of the traders’ ‘misbehaviour’ to rob them.

“I was working as a truck driver before I met them. I had gone out with the gang on three occasions to rob in the market. We only took advantage of the commotion of the market to rob them. It was not deliberate,” he said.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrest of the suspects.

“Investigations are still ongoing on the matter at SARS,” he added.

I regret supporting Amaechi to become gov – Odili

of the Peoples Democratic Party through his (Amaechi) defection to the All Progressives Congress.

He explained that but for the quick intervention of a former Minister of State for Education and PDP governorship candidate in Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, the party would have gone into oblivion.

The ex-governor, who spoke on Saturday during Wike’s campaign tour in Ndoni Local Government Area on Saturday, said Amaechi worked against the PDP structure put in place by the founding fathers of the party.

Odili pointed out that the PDP, in the past, supported Amaechi’s political career with good intentions, adding that he and the PDP had accepted their mistake and were poised to correct it in 2015.

It was the first time the former governor would speak publicly on the strained relationship between him and incumbent governor.

He said, “We thought we did the right thing by supporting Amaechi to become the governor of the state. We left a united state; we also left a united party. The PDP was one, Rivers State is the PDP.

“There was no other party in Rivers State other than the PDP. Whatever the party hierarchy said would happen. The secretary is here to support what I am telling you here today.

“With all the best intentions, we supported his political career and ambition. We thought we did what was best for the state. As you know, until a man has power and has money, you don’t really know him.

“One thing is clear; we have accepted our mistake and we are determined to correct it in 2015. Who would have thought that a governor who won an election on the platform of the PDP would defect with the mandate of the party to another party?

“Who would have thought that a governor elected on the platform of the PDP would abandon the PDP to join an opposition party? The elders of the party who are here can corroborate what I am saying here today. We ran a cohesive party. We had respect for the elders of the party. We had respect for party members.”

Explaining that no member of the PDP attempted to hijack the party during his reign as the leader, Odili recalled that party officials respected elders during his days as the state governor.

He, however, expressed gratitude to Wike for reuniting the PDP in the state immediately Amaechi defected to the APC, along with the former state chairman of the PDP, Chief Godspower Ake, his commissioners, his supporters and 22 out of the 23 local government chairmen.

“I want to thank the governorship candidate of the PDP for the 2015 governorship election and the next governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, for miraculously rescuing the party from disintegration and working tirelessly to unite the members of the party.

“By the special grace of God in February, we are going to the polls. The first election is to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term. The second election will be the governorship election where our candidate, Wike, will emerge as the next governor of Rivers State.”