Fire ravages Sabon Gari Market in Kano

A massive fire that began late Friday at the Sabon Gari Market in Kano, is still raging more than 12 hours after.
The fire started at about 10 PM, and is believed to have destroyed properties worth millions of naira by Saturday morning.
It was not clear what caused the fire. But witnesses said it started around the Sani Abacha Mosque where books and other items are sold, before spreading to Gidan Magge.
A PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter said Fire Service personnel initially found it difficult to access the market because of the large number of shop owners and suspected hoodlums working to either salvage or loot goods.
Residents accused the fire fighters of arriving the scene almost five hours late, and not coming with enough water to stop the blaze.
The Sabon Gari Market fire is coming less than three months after fire gutted the Singer Food market also in Kano, destroying goods and shops.

Jonathan only called me 19 days after Chibok girls’ abduction — Borno Governor

Governor Kashim Shettima and Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Monday said for 19 days after over 200 girls were abducted from their dormitory in Chibok, former President Goodluck Jonathan failed to call him or any official of the state government to make enquiry or empathise with the state over the incident.
Mr. Shettima made the disclosure on Monday when former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is on a two-day visit to the University of Maiduguri, visited him at Government House in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
In a lengthy speech filled with encomiums for Mr. Obasanjo, the governor said he was confident that the abduction of the Chibok girls would have been handled differently were the former President (Obasanjo) in power at the time of the incident.
The girls were abducted as they prepared for exams in April 2014. Many Nigerians, including Mr. Obasanjo, blamed government’s inability to locate the girls on Mr. Jonathan’s poor handling of an incident that sparked global outrage and concern.
Hosting Mr. Obasanjo on Monday, the Borno governor recalled how the former President, who left office nine years ago, fought vigorously for peace during his tenure, repeatedly telephoning governors, traditional rulers and other peacemakers in trouble spots across the country.
“In our own case, Your Excellency, after the Chibok abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in April, 2014, it took 19 days for me to receive a call from the Presidency,” Mr. Shettima said.
“I brought this mainly to show the difference, because we will only appreciate scenarios when we make comparisons.”

The governor added, “”Your Excellency, Sir, I was privileged to have worked closely with Chief Innocent Audu Ogbeh as Honourary Adviser to me on Agriculture. He selflessly assisted us in fine-tuning our Agricultural programs from 2012 to 2015 which made him to frequent Maiduguri at the heat of the Boko Haram insurgency. I remember that in one of his visits, we had one conversation in 2014 after the Chibok schoolgirls abduction. I was actually lamenting to him on governance at the Federal level with relations to poor handling of the Boko Haram insurgency.
“As I was lamenting to him, Chief Ogbeh said something to me and I quote; “Look, I might have had some political difference with President Olusegun Obasanjo but to say it as it is, if Obasanjo had been President while this insurgency is happening in Borno and other parts of the northeast, you would have witnessed what responsive Leadership entails”.
“Chief Audu Ogbeh went further to say that from his point of view, His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was one of Nigeria’s most hard working President. He described President Obasanjo as a highly energized workaholic. Chief Ogbeh made these remarks as a leader in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria at a time Baba Obasanjo was a PDP leader.
“Besides Ogbeh, I had a conversation with a former Governor who told me that while he was a sitting Governor during Baba Obasanjo’s regime as President, there was a time Baba called him countless number of times in one day to get update over a crisis that erupted in the Governor’s State.
“Someone even told me that as President, Baba Obasanjo had phone numbers of traditional rulers and resident heads of security establishments in States that were prone to crisis and he sometimes spoke with them directly to get first hand information.
“Without crisis, he created time to call traditional rulers to make enquiries about communal stability, ethno-religious coexistence and community policing in order to forestall problems. In our own case, Your Excellency, after the Chibok abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in April, 2014, it took 19 days for me to receive a call from the Presidency. I brought this mainly to show the difference, because we will only appreciate scenarios when we make comparisons.”
The former President’s visit to the state is at the instance of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), following his request to excuse himself from the forthcoming UNIMAID convocation billed to hold soon.
Mr Obasanjo, who arrived Maiduguri at about 11am, immediately visited Mr. Shettima, at the Government House.
The governor said Monday’s visit was the former president’s first call at the Borno Government House since 1976.
Mr. Shettima could not hide his excitement, describing himself lucky and privileged to receive Mr. Obasanjo in his office as a sitting governor.
“Your Excellency, Sir, majority of Nigerians salute you; we adore and respect you and we shall forever be grateful to you for standing for the unity, continued existence and the recovery of Nigeria when Nigerians needed you most,” he added.
Mr. Obasanjo, who commended the Borno State governor, called on the Federal government to embark on detailed research to document the Boko Haram insurgency for posterity to learn from.
At the university, the former President is to commission the newly renovated Convocation Square and inspect some ongoing projects in the university, hosted to a dinner.

INVESTIGATION: How Nigerian officials stole billions meant for flood disaster victims

Corruption and climate change vulnerability produced a near-fatal cocktail in several communities of Delta State after hundreds of hunger-torn flood victims, denied of basic relief materials, resorted to eating corn seedlings, which unbeknown to them were already treated with pesticides.
Women, children and the elderly were the worst hit in a mass food poisoning that was initially mistaken by local health officials for an outbreak of epidemic.
Overnight, hundreds of people in communities like Ossissa, Isele-Egwu, Olor and Onu-Aboh were left looking gaunt with bloated tummies and sunken eyes, forcing families who could afford it to rush their sick members to hospitals while others resorted to prayer houses.
This mass poisoning recorded in 2012 in Ndokwa-East Local Government Area of the oil-rich state exposed the underbelly of the flood disaster management and victims’ rehabilitation committees set up by the State in the wake of a ravaging flood that washed away homes, farmlands, roads, bridges, markets and businesses across 22 states of the federation.
With corrupt government officials routinely diverting cash, food and relief materials meant for disaster victims, the survivors were left with little recourse but to feast on the only thing that was supplied in abundance – the pesticide treated corn seeds doled out to victims, in addition to cassava stems, to encourage them to begin a new planting year.
The 2012 flood disaster in Nigeria remains one of the harshest spinoffs of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. Delta was one of the 22 states ravaged by flood after neighbouring Cameroon was forced to release water from its Ladgo Dam, leading to an unprecedented overflow of many rivers, especially Niger and Benue. Hundreds of kilometers of urban and rural land in those states were inundated by flood.
According to the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment Report of the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) 363 lives were lost, thousands of livestock drowned, over two million people displaced and N2.29 trillion worth of properties and economic means washed off.

Delta received N500 million intervention fund from the Federal Government to assist flood victims in the state. This was in addition to internal funds already set aside by the oil-rich state for the same purpose. In one of his numerous speeches during the crisis period, the then governor of the state, Emmanuel Uduaghan, announced the allocation of 49 trucks of food items to internally-displaced people in the state but it didn’t appear that those eating pesticide-treated corn seedlings saw any of the food trucks. A cash relief of N5,000 to adults and N3,000 to youths was equally announced but the monies instead went into private pockets.
Mr. Alexander Nwanji, a farmer and cassava-mill entrepreneur trained by ActionAid in Good Governance and Citizens Participation told PREMIUM TIMES that nobody in his Ossissa community received any cash or food items. Official records had it that 11,810 internally displaced persons were took refuge at the Oleh camp alone in Isoko Local Government Area of the state.
It is difficult to say how many, if any, received the cash payment. But with three kids fed with only one packet of noodle, the disaffection and neglect in the camp was such that the IDPs began to “discharge themselves” from the camp.
In the face of starvation, many abandoned the camp in search of friends and families to take them in.
The next time the governor came calling, the same thieving officials who had diverted foods and pocketed cash meant for the displaced persons told him that they had successfully helped most of the flood victims to return home. The number of people left in the camp was only 3,640.
If the governor smelt a rat he did not say it. However, in the course of yet another speech before television camera, he found it necessary to throw in this:
“I beg you in the name of God do not short-change or divert these materials to other persons or channel them for personal use. Let them get what they are supposed to get because that is why we have trust in you,” the governor said.
Alluding again to widespread official corruption, this time in the data collation of flood victims, Mr. Uduaghan would at another location plead against the falsification of data and using same for personal gains.
The governor was directing his words at members of the Flood Fund Management Committee, political appointees and state lawmakers who had invented clever ways to make fortunes out of the pervading misery.
Alexander Nwanji, a victim, told PREMIUM TIMES that although he lost both his farm and cassava mill, his name didn’t appear on the official list of farmers to receive post disaster assistance. He also did not get the N5,000 meant for adult IDPs. He accused politicians and government officials of populating the list with ghost beneficiaries, adding that the 11,810 IDPs at the Oleh camp alone were robbed of about N59 million.
Other people who told this newspaper they got nothing from the flood relief funds included Larry Onyia of Ashaka village and Benjamin Ogbogu of Igbukwu village who said the only thing he got was a mattress and that that came from an oil company operating in his community.
Officials in Delta were evasive when this newspaper sought their comments on the administration of the N500million relief fund the state received from the federal government.
The State Ministry of Environment wouldn’t provide information in respect of the utilisation of the funds. Rather, its spokesperson, Anita Ohagwa, directed enquiries to the Bureau of Special Duties under the Governor’s office, where the spokesperson, a woman who would not give her name, said, “we had nothing to do with flood relief funds. Go to the Emergency Management Agency.”
However, the Director of the Emergency Management Agency said he was new on the job and could not comment on the utilisation of the funds.

As it is Delta, so it is in other states

Investigation of corruption in the administration of the 2012 Flood Relief Fund took this newspaper to five of the affected states – Kogi, Anambra, Delta, Benue and Oyo. The Federal Government had provided N17.6 billion as relief funds from which the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory got N13.3 billion while Federal bodies received N4.3 billion for victims support.
In addition the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had announced that a total of 40, 000 metric tons of food items were to be taken from silos and distributed to flood victims.
Authorities in Abuja had, even before a flood impact assessment was done, released N9.7 billion for food and agricultural seedling and N2.5billion to the Ministry of Health for disease control.
The flood relief fund was further swollen with contributions from the organized private sector mobilized by the Presidential Flood Relief and Rehabilitation Committee.
Led by billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, the 34-member committee garnered N12 billion in fund raising. Mr. Dangote donated N2.5 billion; N200 million of which he gave to the Kogi State government. Among others, Globacom boss, Mike Adenuga, gave N500 million; Zenith Bank’s Jim Ovia and businessman Arthur Eze donated N1 billion each while the then governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, gave N1.8 billion on behalf of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. Construction giants Julius Berger, RCC, Dantata, Setraco were also reported to have donated generously.
Flood victims, initially euphoric with the announcements of big monies donated towards their cause. would soon be plagued with rising misgivings. It was gathered that rather than translate the funds into palliatives and post-crisis rehabilitation, the fund managers in the various states instead went into a contest of who can be more disingenuous in fund diversion. They crafted promises and lies in equal measure and dished same out to the public through press releases.
In Benue, a regime of lies
In Benue State for instance, flood victims at Gyado village, along the Makurdi-Gboko road, recalled that the Commissioner of Environment at the time of the disaster, Eugene Aliegbe, on a local radio station to say that the Benue State Government used the relief funds to build clinics in the affected local government areas as well as drainages along the Markurdi-Gboko road at a cost of N300 million.
Our investigations, however, revealed that no clinic was built. Residents said the only drainage constructed along the Gboko-Makurdi in the wake of the 2012 disaster was from the Ecology Fund.
Former IDPs spoken to in Benue State included Tsav Reuben, a business man; David Awuhe, Friday Yua, Christopher Idoko, all farmers; Terkimbi Osu, also a farmer; and Matina Ukagye, a septuagenarian. From Makurdi to Agatu Local Government Area it was the same story of self-help with the ordinary people saying they were “abandoned and left to suffer with no compensation either in cash or in kind.”
At Mu, a community on the outskirts of Makurdi, the septuagenarian Matina Ukagye, said, “it has been difficult to eat and we are in hardship. My family lost rice, maize, cassava farms and about five persons to the flood disaster.”
Tsav Reuben said he would never forget how water submerged his entire neighborhood with houses deep in water up to the lintel.
“We lost an entire economic foundation to the flood. Our farms are gone and with the monies meant for our economic rehabilitation stolen by the government, it is not only the present that is endangered but also the future of our children,” Mr. Reuben said.
Efforts to speak to the new Commissioner for Environment were rebuffed by the ministry’s spokesperson, Simon Aliegbe, who insisted there was no information to be given in respect of the utilisation of flood relief funds.

No accountability in Kogi
In Kogi State, the threat of the River Niger, which submerged most of the entire Ibaji local government area in 2012, was still evident in October 2015 when this newspaper visited.
On the road to Ibaji, from Idah, the River Niger had already consumed villages both to the left and right. And there was just such a little land to walk before getting to a point where it was only possible to go farther by boat.

Since 2012, displaced people have been taking refuge on the Idah-Ibaji road, with absolutely no attention from government. Almost living like destitute in shanties, the IDPs said they were hoping the water would recede sufficiently enough someday so they can go back to what used to be their homes.
Victims who lost their farms like Acholo Abel and John Eguda said they got nothing in assistance from the government even though they were asked to fill forms for compensation.
“I have four children and one wife and we were rich with our large rice farm,” Mr. Abel said, standing on the road where he and his family were taking refuge. “But flood took away everything. They brought forms for us to fill. But they gave us nothing. Now life is difficult for my family though we have been able to return to subsistence farming by ourselves without any help from government.”
“Na for this road we dey sleep because water don displace us. But wetin we see for 2012 pass this one,” Mr. Eguda said in Pidgin English.
Michael Ojone, leader of about 10,000 victims, who fled from Kogi to Ogwugwu in neighbouring Anambra State, said, “we were compensated but very little.”
He went cynical as he narrated how the National Emergency Management Agency provided mattresses, second-hand clothing, palm oil and five bags of rice “for 10 thousand people.”
Mr. Ojone confirmed that Kogi State government gave each village cash compensation. However, while there were victims who got nothing at all eventually, those who did got “just about N1,500” as compensation.
“But then this a country we found ourselves, where those who were not victims got from the money,” said Mike Abu, media aide to the Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, whose office handled the flood issues.
The Deputy Governor’s office explained how Kogi State utilized the N500 million flood relief fund given to it. Mr. Abu said N300 million was spent to build a post-flood housing estate in Lokoja. N131 million, he said, went to the affected local government areas and the victims got N500,000 each to start a new life when they were leaving camp.
The deputy governor, however, said only victims in Lokoja, a relatively less affected community, got N500,000, while victims in the worst -hit places like Ibaji either got no compensation or got a paltry N1,500. Try as we did, however, this reporter could not find any victim in Lokoja who confirmed receipt of N500,000 as claimed by officials.
Talem, a taxi driver, who was a flood victim, furiously countered the official claim as he thundered: “Na who dem give N500,000? It’s a lie!”
Blessing Edogbe, also in Lokoja, said: “We were victims; the River Niger displaced my family and we lost all our valuables in the house. Even the flood killed someone in that house. But we were not given N500,000. I am not sure any victim was accommodated in the post flood estate they said they built. We had to move to Okene and abandoned our means of livelihood. It was difficult at that time.”
In Akabu, Kogi-Kotonkarfe local government area, Abdurahman Ibrahim said the state government promised to relocate upland about 30 communities affected by the flood to avert future occurrence.
“Not only that they reneged on the promise to relocate us, we did not get anything as compensation,” Mr. Ibrahim said.
“Yes, we had plans to relocate people in the communities prone to flood but resources were limited,” Mr. Abu said, adding that the Kogi State Government had appealed to the Federal Government for assistance to build infrastructures that would avert future flood event.
“It is not what we can do alone but there has not been response from the Federal Government,” he said.
In Anambra State, 58 communities in eight local government areas were affected by the flood.
The government’s interim report states that a total of N537 million was spent on the resettlement and rehabilitation of 125,000 victims of the flood disaster.
In communities like Aguleri Otu and Nzam in Anambra East and Anambra West LGAs respectively, victims said they received “little” compensation from government. Anambra State claimed it contributed N128 million to the resettlement fund; N400 million came from the N500 million it received from the Federal Government, and another N9million coming from public donors.
In some areas like Atani in Ogbaru local government area, victims like Josephine Osadebe said there was no relief or compensation from government.
“We were abandoned by the government even though we heard big money came from Abuja,” Mrs. Osadebe said.
Checks in Oyo State produced similar tales of woes, although the state also received N500 million from the Federal Government. Residents at Apete, Oju oja, Papa Alago, waterside said they were abandoned even though the flood washed off businesses like car wash, fish ponds, restaurants and barbers’ shops from their communities.
They said relief materials like food items and mattresses came only once and were provided by a federal lawmaker.
The University of Ibadan was seriously affected by the disaster. But the University’s Director of Communications, Tunji Oladejo, said no assistance was received from the Oyo Government.
“We raised appeal funds; so, there was no assistance from Oyo State Government,” he said.
Efforts by our reporter to get information in respect of the utilisation of the relief funds from the offices of the Deputy Governor and Head of Service were unsuccessful.

Shortchanged by corporate bodies
Just as government officials in their respective states robbed the flood victims, some corporate organisations may have deliberately taken advantage of their misfortune.
It was gathered that many of the corporate bodies failed to redeem their pledges included in the N12 billion raised by the Dangote committee. The then President Jonathan had wooed corporate donors with tax incentives if they would donate to the flood relief fund.
However the Dangote committee would later disclose that, in what was a new form of corruption, some of the companies merely made big pledges, took the tax incentives but refused to redeem their pledges.
Meanwhile, in June 2013 and April 2014, the Dangote committee announced intention to build housing estate and other disaster relief infrastructures in 22 states.
But no such infrastructure provided by the committee exists in any of the five states of Anambra, Oyo, Kogi, Benue and Delta at the time our reporter visited.
The investigation was done with the support of Ford Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.

Buhari: Nigerians will see more actions from my govt. soon

FROM LEFT: VICE-PRESIDENT YEMI OSINBAJO; PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI; CELEBRANT, ASIWAJU BOLA TINUBU AND HIS WIFE, REMI, AT THE 8TH ANNUAL BOLA TINUBU COLLOQUIM IN ABUJA ON TUESDAY (29/03/16) 2595/29/04/2016/ICE/CH/NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday assured Nigerians that his administration would take decisive steps to cushion the suffering of Nigerians in the days ahead.
Speaking in Abuja at the 8th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium: “Agriculture: Action, Work, Revolution”, Mr. Buhari, who has faced growing criticisms lately, said in the coming months Nigerians would see actions taken by the 10-month old administration to address the multifarious challenges facing the nation.
The event, which Mr. Buhari chaired, was organized to mark the 64 birthday of a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.
“In the coming months, Nigerians will see much more actions,” the president said. “Government will continue to invest substantially in human capital development and this is just the beginning.
“We are going to hold ourselves accountable. We will measure results. There will always be some skepticism, some have even become disorientated and impatient enough to think that barriers are insurmountable. Anyone who claims great change is impossible can only look as an ordinary success.”
Mr. Buhari demanded the cooperation of Nigerians in the task of governance, saying “We can achieve more with partnership that link up and scale up our respective efforts”.
“I am declaring that we need a new approach that challenges more states and local governments, more organisation, companies and non-governmental organisations and individuals, some of the younger people who are here to step up and play a role because government cannot and should not do it alone. All hands should be on deck,”Mr. Buhari said.

The president praised Mr. Tinubu for his commitment and zealousness to the development of the country.
According to him, there are very few patriots alive today that could “match the commitment, zealous, creativity that Bola Tinubu has demonstrated in his contribution to national growth”.
Mr. Buhari also praised the organizers of the colloquium, especially on the choice of agriculture as its theme. He said it was the intention of the federal government to create enabling environment that would bring viability on the economic potentials of the private sector.
He said, “We intend to organize an efficient market infrastructure that will make agriculture viable for investors. We are providing an enabling environment so as to ensure certainty and predictability for the private sector”.
“We intend to also ensure that the market is fair and worth to transform small holder farmers from beggars to businessmen,” the president said.
“Furthermore, we are going to keep focusing on improved nutrition for children. We know the effects of hunger and poor nutrition can last a life time. Children are thrown out of school to earn a living”.

10,000 hunters gather in Nigeria’s North-East, seek clearance to confront Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest

An estimated 10,000 local hunters from the North-east of Nigeria gathered recently in Adamawa State for their annual oath-taking festival, known as Salala in the local parlance.
The hunters, dressed in their warfare attires, and with their Dane guns dangling over their shoulders, vowed to rid the society of criminals.
They appealed to the government to make use of their members in the fight against terrorism and other social vices.
The leader of the hunters in Adamawa, Muhammad Tola, who claimed the hunters had so far played significant roles in the fight against Boko Haram, said hunters were familiar with the terrain in dreaded forests, like the Sambisa forest.
“We are ready to pursue the terrorists because we know the terrain very well,” Mr. Tola said.
“We are appealing to the military authorities to allow us join the fight against Boko Haram at the Sambisa forest.”
Mr. Tola said the hunters needed the government to assist them with ammunition, transportation and logistics.

He said the government could also enlist young hunters who were willing to join the army, police, and other security agencies.
“We remain one big family devoid of religious or tribal sentiments, that is why you can see over 10,000 hunters from Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi, Borno, Yoba and Adamawa converged for this epoch-making event,” Mr. Tola said.
Female hunters also participated in the Salala festival.

The leader of the female hunters, Aisha Bakari Gombi, said securing the society was a fight for everyone, irrespective of gender.
“This is a clarion call. We all must make sacrifices,” she said.
Babangida Muhammad, the Sarkin Gida, who represented the Paramount Ruler of Adamawa, Muhammadu Mustapha, in the festival, said there was need for government to engage the services of the hunters and other vigilantes in the fight against social vices.
Hunters in Borno State had on January 3 called on the military to allow them join the war against Boko Haram insurgents in the dreaded Sambisa Forest.
“We are appealing to the military authorities to allow us join the fight against Boko Haram at the Sambisa forest,” Mai-Gana Mai-Durma, the Borno Emir of the Hunters, made the appeal in Maiduguri while addressing journalists at the time.
“We are ready to pursue the terrorists because we know the terrain very well.”
Mr. Mai-Durma said that the military should align them with members of the vigilante group, popularly known as the Civilian JTF, for effective result.
“We will overrun Sambisa in partnership with members of the civilian JTF if given the opportunity,” he said.
The Adamawa State Government had in November 2014 announced that it was officially enlisting the services of local hunters and vigilantes, called Civilian JTF, to liberate communities captured by Boko Haram insurgents.
Shortly afterwards the local hunters were reported to have recaptured Maiha and Mubi local governments, killing at least 75 Boko Haram militants in the process.

Nigerian Army Colonel kidnapped

An Army Colonel serving with Nigeria Army School of Infantry, Jaji, Kaduna State, has been reportedly kidnapped by unknown gunmen.
The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Usman Abdul, confirmed the kidnap on Sunday in a statement issued in Kaduna.
He said the colonel was abducted around Kamazo near NNPC junction, Kaduna, at about 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“The abductors dropped off his wife and left with him in his car and headed towards Abuja. They drove in a Mercedes Benz GK black colour with registration number Abuja, KUJ 154 TZ,” he said.

Angry mob took laws into their hands and brutalized a man to death for stealing ATM card in Asaba,

– Angry mob took laws into their hands and brutalized a man to death for stealing ATM card in Asaba, Thursday evening at the ogbeogonogo market. According to eyewitnesses, the man was caught attempting to make away with a bag containing the card when the owner raised alarm. The man was subsequently seized by angry traders in a mob action resulting to the man convulsing to death. Our correspondent also gathered in the scene that men of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) were seen attempting to rescue the man from the mob action, but were overwhelmed by the crowd who desperately want the head of the thief. While the victim was struggling with death, onlookers were saying he was only pretending in order to evade “justice” while the beating continued until the man gave up the ghost. Also on the scene, a man believed to be an accomplice was equally detained by the police and barely escaped lynching by the angry crowd. The situation lead to pandemonium, but immediately it was believed the man is dead, everyone ran from the scene for safety.

Heavy winds as Dubai plane crashes in Russia, killing 62

We're sorry, an error has occurred when playing video (video is not readable). MOSCOW (AP) — A Dubai airliner with 62 people on board nosedived and exploded in a giant fireball early Saturday while trying to land in strong winds in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all aboard, officials said.
Several planes had trouble landing at the airport at the time of the crash, with one trying to land three times before giving up and diverting to another airport, experts said.
Russia's Emergencies Ministry said the Boeing 737-800 operated by FlyDubai was carrying 55 passengers, most of them Russians, and seven crew members. FlyDubai confirmed there were no survivors and said four children were among those killed.
It was FlyDubai's first crash since the budget carrier began operating in 2009. Its fleet consists of mint 737-800 aircraft like the one that crashed.
Closed-circuit TV footage showed the plane going down in a steep angle and exploding. The powerful explosion left a big crater in the runway and pulverized the plane but investigators quickly recovered both flight recorders. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, but officials and experts pointed at a sudden gust of wind as a possible reason.
"By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level," said Rostov regional Gov. Vasily Golubev.
According to weather data reported by Russian state television, when the FlyDubai plane first tried to land, winds at ground level weren't dangerously strong, but at an altitude of 500 meters (1,640 feet) and higher they reached a near-hurricane speed of around 30 meters per second (67 miles per hour).
Later, when the plane crashed, winds near the surface reached 22 meters per second (49 miles per hour) and could have been even stronger at altitude.
Several planes had landed in Rostov-on-Don shortly before the Dubai airliner was scheduled to touch down, but other flights later were diverted.
Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, told The Associated Press that the FlyDubai plane missed its approach, then entered a holding pattern, circling for about two hours before making another landing attempt. It said a Russian Aeroflot plane scheduled to land around the same time made three landing attempts but then diverted to another airport.
Flightrader24's data indicated that the Dubai plane began climbing again after a go-around when it suddenly started to fall with vertical speed of up to 6,400 meters per minute (21,000 feet/min).
"It was an uncontrollable fall," said Sergei Kruglikov, a veteran Russian pilot, said on Russian state television. He said that a sudden change in wind speed and direction could have caused the wings to abruptly lose their lifting power.

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A flydubai Boeing 737-800 passenger jet has crashed in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, on March 19, 2016. According to the latest reports, all 55 passengers and the seven crew members on board have died. Coming from Dubai, the flight FZ981 was scheduled to land at 1:20 a.m. Moscow time but missed the runway. After circling for about two hours, it went down at 3:50 a.m. local time after making a second attempt. While the exact cause of the accident is yet to be confirmed, poor visibility and high winds are believed to be the main factors. At the time of the crash, winds were blowing at 60 mph (97 kmph).

He said the pilots would have understood seconds before the crash that they were going to die, but "passengers and the cabin crew likely didn't realize they were facing imminent death."
FlyDubai CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith said the plane attempted to land in line with established procedures. He added that the pilots hadn't issued any distress call and hadn't attempted to divert to an alternate airport.
"As far as we know, the airport was open and we were good to operate," he said, adding that the plane couldn't have landed without air traffic controllers' permission.
"Our primary concern is for the families of the passengers and crew who were on board. Everyone at FlyDubai is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those involved," he added.
Al-Ghaith said the plane's pilots, who were from Cyprus and Spain, had 5,965 and 5,769 hours of flying time respectively, making them "quite experienced." The cabin crew included two Russians and citizens of the Seychelles, Colombia and Kyrgyzstan.
The plane was built in 2011 and underwent a detailed maintenance inspection known as a C check in January, he added.
President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the victims' families and top Russian Cabinet officials flew to the crash site, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Russian border with Ukraine, to oversee the investigation.
Alexander Neradko, head of the Russian state civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, said it was up to the pilot to decide if weather conditions allowed the landing and said that traffic controllers in Rostov-on-Don acted in line with standard instructions.
"Our air traffic controllers were acting in full accordance with international rules and there is no reason to talk about any flaws in their work," he said in televised remarks from Rostov-on-Don.
A local online newspaper, Donday.ru, released what it said was the recording of conversations between the Dubai plane's crew and air traffic controllers, in which the pilot, who sounded calm, was inquiring about weather conditions. The authenticity of the tape couldn't be independently confirmed.
Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, who also arrived in Rostov-on-Don, said the airport fully conformed to modern standards.
"(The airport's) complete overhaul was completed last year, and it has received all the necessary clearances, including international ones," he said.
Pilot Vitaly Sokolovsky told Rossiya 24 television that a sudden gust of wind could be particularly dangerous at low altitude while the plane was flying slowly at low power and the pilot was throttling up the engines to make another attempt at landing.
Emirati authorities including the president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, sent condolences to Putin. Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as the Emirates' vice president and prime minister, expressed his regrets on his Twitter feed.
In a statement expressing "shock and grief," Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades confirmed that the pilot was a Cypriot, Aristos Socratous from Limassol.
Officials said the plane and bodies of the victims were blown into small pieces by the powerful blast, making identification long and difficult. Investigators, however said the plane's cockpit conversation recorder and another one recording flight data were in satisfactory condition.
The airline was launched in 2008 by the government of Dubai, the Gulf commercial hub that is part of the seven-state United Arab Emirates federation. It has expanded rapidly in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
Dubai is a popular destination for Russian vacationers, and many Russian expatriates live and work in the city. The carrier has been flying to Rostov-on-Don since 2013. The airline says, in all, it operates more than 1,400 flights a week.
FlyDubai has a good safety record. In January 2015, one of its planes was struck on the fuselage by what appeared to small-arms fire shortly before it landed in Baghdad. That flight landed safely.

Raids kill 39 civilians in IS bastion in Syria: monitor

 

 

 Islamic State (IS) fighters established the capital of their self-declared caliphate in Raqa after seizing control of the northern Syrian city in 2014 Air strikes killed at least 39 civilians on Saturday in Raqa, the Islamic State group's main stronghold in Syria, a monitoring group said.
At least five children and seven women were among the dead, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The raids came a day after 16 civilians were killed in strikes on the same city.
"We cannot know whether the latest strikes on Raqa are by Syrian or Russian warplanes," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
"What is clear is that their goal is to try to paralyse IS and to stop it from deploying reinforcements from Raqa to the Palmyra area," he told AFP.
IS seized Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Pearl of the Desert", last May.
In recent weeks, Syrian troops backed by the Russian air force have been pressing an advance to try to reclaim the ancient city.
On Saturday alone, Palmyra was hit by at least 70 strikes, the Observatory said.
Russia, a key backer of the Syrian regime, on Monday ordered the withdrawal of most of its armed forces from Syria, but continues to strike jihadist targets, particularly around Palmyra.

Nigerian president accused of overstating Boko Haram losses

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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's president has exaggerated the military's success against Boko Haram, say officials in northern Nigeria in response to an American commander's testimony that the Islamic extremist group still holds territory.
President Muhammadu Buhari said in January that Boko Haram is "currently not holding any territory today as we speak." His claim — made at a summit in Abu Dhabi — was met with skepticism in Nigeria.
Buhari's claim was contradicted last week by Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of U.S. Africa Command, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington that Boko Haram "does own some significant territory in northern Nigeria."
Rodriguez's statement indicates that Nigeria's government is overstating its success in the campaign to eliminate the extremists, a few northern officials said this weekend.
"All we know is that Boko Haram lacks the capacity to carry out their usual commando-like attacks during which they march in and run down towns or villages, but that is not enough to say that they are not around," said Ngari Modu, a transport official in the Nganzai area of northeast Borno state.
Modu, who stays in a camp for displaced persons in the city of Maiduguri, said his home village and surrounding areas remain "no-go" zones.
"We are left confused each time we hear soldiers saying no territory is now under the control of Boko Haram," he said by telephone.
In the 10 months since he took office promising to halt the insurgency, Buhari has replaced the military's leadership, resupplied soldiers and moved the headquarters for the fight from the distant capital, Abuja, to Maiduguri.
Sen. Mohammed Ndume of Borno said that Nigeria's soldiers are succeeding in cutting off Boko Haram's access to food and supplies and he is confident that eventually the military will regain all territory from Boko Haram

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