Less than four months to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention, there has been a call for an amendment of the party’s constitution.
The Director-General of Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), Dr Salihu Lukman, made this call in a statement, suggesting that the amendment of the 2014 constitution of the party before the convention will check what he described as perceived excesses of some party officials at the state and federal levels.
Lukman also advocated for a credible membership register ahead of the party’s national convention billed to hold in November this year.
The PGF DG warned that only a credible membership register can hand over the party to the people and save its structures from being hijacked at the states and federal levels.
He further urged Yobe State Governor Mai Buni-led Caretaker and National Convention Planning Committee of the party to ensure that those who emerge as leaders of the party are not cronies of 2023 aspirants.
According to him, party supremacy will only be guaranteed if wards and states congresses are conducted based on credible register of members which will humble any 2023 aspirants.
A file photo of President Muhammadu Buhari shaking hands with Dr. Dapo Williams
President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora over the sad loss of Dr Dapo Williams, a prominent member of Nigerian UK Diaspora.
In a condolence message signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari recalled his meeting with Dr Williams in January, 2020, during a town hall meeting with Nigerian professionals in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Dapo Williams being officially presented to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England, for excellent management of resources recognition, by the Chair of Governors, St. Martin’s, in the Fields Church of England for Girls in London, during tercentenary (300 years) celebrations.
“He was passionate about our country, deeply committed to a Nigeria that attains her position in the comity of Nations. It’s sad to lose such a hopeful, ebullient soul so soon,” President Buhari said.
Late Dr Williams was a leader and pioneer of Nigerian Think Tank Group (NTTG), and a staunch member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Buhari Campaign Organization, in the UK.
Otunba Dapo Williams, a successful real estate professional and community leader, was a member, Institute of Directors, London and Kent.
Nigerian-UK based robotics engineer, Silas Adekunle, known for creating the world's first intelligent (augmented reality) gaming in the world. Image- Reach Robotics
Awarri – a pan African enabler of Robotics and advanced Artificial intelligence has launched in Africa with the aim of preparing African youths for the future of work and enabling them to take on some of Africa’s biggest challenges.
In a statement made available to Echotitbits Saturday, the founder, Nigerian-UK based Robotics Engineer, Silas Adekunle, stated that Awarri has a mission to revolutionize the tech ecosystem in Africa and indeed Nigeria.
Adekunle, a technology entrepreneur, known for creating the world’s first intelligent (augmented reality) gaming in the world, also announced that the organization is in partnership with Union Bank to introduce a first of its kind robotics training and mentoring programme for students ages 11-16 in Nigeria, starting in Lagos, through their edu360 platform.
“This will equip students with requisite knowledge of Robotics and Artificial intelligence as they continue with their mission of building the Africa of our dreams”, he stated.
According to information on its website, Awarri is derived from the Yoruba language word, “Awari”, which means seek and find.
Adekunle was born and raised in Nigeria. He earned a first class degree in robotics from the University of the West of England.
Echotitbits gathered that as a result of the success recorded when he released MekaMon, the world’s first gaming robot, in 2017, with sales of 500 bots that generated $7.5 million, according to The Guardian, Adekunle received support from various organisations such as London Venture Partners ($10 million) and in the same year, his company, Reach Robotics signed a deal with Apple securing exclusive sales in Apple stores.
“Impressed by the quality of his robots and their ability to show emotion with subtly-calibrated movements, Apple priced his four-legged “battle-bots” at $300 and has put them in nearly all of its stores in the United States and Britain.
“Early customers skew towards male techies but a growing number of parents are buying the robots for their children to get them interested in STEM, Adekunle told Forbes in an interview this year”, Allafrica.com reported.
Senator Buruju Kashamu’s corpse has been buried at his Ijebu-Igbo country home.
The late lawmaker and political leader was reported to have been interred at around 12:55 pm on Sunday.
Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who is a friend of the deceased, was among dignitaries who attended the islamic burial rites to bid farewell to his kinsman.
However, sympathisers shunned COVID-19 protocols while they struggled to catch a glimpse of the burial proceedings.
Kashamu died of coronavirus complications in a Lagos hospital on Saturday, at the age of 62.
On the night of the passing of Senator Buruji Kashamu, who represented Ògùn East constituency at the Senate, his remains was welcomed in Ijebu Igbo by a mammoth crowd of supporters.
On Sunday morning. Residents of Ijebu Igbo thronged the streets to bid their leader and for many, their benefactor, farewell.
At the residence of late Senator Buruji Kashamu, who was reported to have died of Coronavirus in a Lagos Hospital, a huge crowd of well wishers took over the compound.
Here, the final resting place of Senator Buruji Kashamu, founder of Omoilu Foundation, who many described as a philanthropist and a politician with a large heart.
The remains of former lawmaker, Senator Buruji Kashamu, had arrived Ijebu-Igbo in Ogun State.
The lawmaker, who represented Ogun East Senatorial district between 2015 and 2019, would be buried today according to Islamic rites by 12pm, his spokesman, Austin Oniyokor, has confirmed.
Oniyokor disclosed that Kashamu died in a private hospital in Lagos at the age of 62 after a brief illness.
“The Shodipe Kashamu family of Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, has announced the death of the patriarch of the family, Senator Buruji Kashamu.
“Kashamu, 62, died Saturday at a private hospital in Lagos, after a brief illness.
“His remains will be interred by 12 noon on Sunday, August 9, 2020, in his Ijebu-Igbo country home, in accordance with Islamic rites.”
Meanwhile, a former presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, has paid tribute to the late Senator, saying Kashamu brought him into partisan politics and groomed him in the process.
Abati, who was Kashamu’s running mate during the 2019 governorship election in Ogun on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), explained that late lawmaker loved Nigeria dearly but he was grossly misunderstood.
“I am completely heartbroken. Senator Buruji Kashamu was my political mentor. Now he is dead at the relatively young age of 62. I feel like an orphan all over again.
“I may have worked with the PDP government at the federal level, but he was the man who brought me into direct, partisan politics. He was one of the most generous men that I have ever known. He was determined to groom me and he did. He taught me the ropes. He linked me with the grassroots. I learnt a lot from him.
“He was a very simple man who was grossly misunderstood by his political opponents. His persona, his politics was indeed grossly misunderstood but those who knew him personally met a man who loved Nigeria dearly and was unapologetically public-spirited.
“He enjoyed giving other people opportunities. He was humorous, kind-hearted, large-hearted and genial. With his death, Nigeria, Ogun state, Ijebuland and the people of Ijebu-Igbo have lost an illustrious son, who demonstrated courage, talent and creativity in everything to which he applied his energy.
“His death is yet another confirmation that COVID-19 is real, capricious and wicked. It is also a sober reaffirmation of the maxim that “man proposes, but God disposes.
“He no longer wanted to run for office in 2023, but he made it clear he would support others to achieve their dreams of getting an opportunity to make contributions on the Nigerian stage. And now, he is gone. Death is a cruel fact of human reality. It puts an end to life and many things,” Abati said in a statement.
Obasanjo, in a statement, described Kashamu’s death as “sad,” but noted that his life and history left “lessons for those of all us on this side of the veil.”
He said: “Senator Buruji Kashamu in his lifetime used the maneuver of law and politics to escape from facing justice on alleged criminal offence in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.
“But no legal, political, cultural, social, or even medical maneuver could stop the cold hand of death when the Creator of all of us decides that the time is up.
“May Allah forgive his sin and accept his soul into Aljanah, and may God grant his family and friends fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”
Kashamu, prior to his death, engaged in a series of legal battle against the Federal Government of Nigeria over his extradition to the United States of America to face alleged drug trafficking and fraud charges.
Idowu Sowunmi
Former President Obasanjo’s Condolence Letter on Late Buruji Kashamu. Source: Adetomiwa Adetilewa
Germany’s coronavirus testing requirement for travellers flying in from high-risk countries has come into force with few complications on Saturday, DW News has reported.
Operators of airport testing centres across the country reported minimal wait times and ample supplies. Meanwhile, EU members Romania and Bulgaria were added to Germany’s list of high-risk countries.
Coronavirus testing booth operators at Germany’s largest airport, Frankfurt Airport, said they did not see any major problems or notice a large increase in the number of people waiting to be tested.
“This is slightly more than in the past few days,” Benedikt Hart, the head of the German Red Cross-operated testing center at the airport told the DPA news agency. “The people have understanding. There are no disgruntled passengers.”
A Hamburg Airport spokesperson echoed that statement, saying there were no complications related to the testing, and that passengers arriving from high-risk countries didn’t face more than a 30-minute wait to be tested. In Berlin, tests carried out at both Tegel and Schönefeld airports, as well as the central bus station were carried out with relative simplicity and only sporadic queues.
The tests are typically to be taken directly upon arrival at airports, but are also available free of charge at separate testing centres and medical practices up to three days after arrival.
DW correspondent Konrad Busen, who was at Frankfurt Airport, said the introduction of testing was expected to increase the number of cases identified.
“Up until now here in Frankfurt the number of positive tests has been relatively small around about 1 per cent of the about 2,000 people tested her per day have been positive,” he said. “This number is expected to rise now as compulsory testing is introduced for people traveling from high-risk countries.”
Praise and condemnation
The largest German doctor’s union, the Marburger Bund, welcomed the move, citing a higher rate of positive tests in people coming from high-risk countries. “The obligatory testing could make this even more obvious, because people with a tendency toward risky behavior are more likely to bypass voluntary testing stations,” Marburger Bund Chairwoman Susanne Johne said.
However, other practitioners have criticised the broad requirement. The risk areas are “much too general” and many general practitioners do not have the capacity to handle a “rush of people” asking to be tested, Ulrich Weigeldt, the chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, told Die Welt newspaper.
He also said it was “absurd” that returning travellers should have to give a doctor proof that they were abroad, adding that general practitioners are “not a branch of the Federal Ministry of Health.”
As an alternative to being tested in Germany, people arriving from abroad can be tested in the country where they were vacationing within 48 hours of their flight. Health authorities are, however, encouraging travelers to be tested a second time five to seven days after their journey.
Around 130 countries, including the United States, Egypt and Russia are listed as high-risk by the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s health research agency. High-risk EU countries include Luxembourg, the Belgian province of Antwerp, several regions of Spain and parts of Romania and Bulgaria. A place is considered to be high risk once the number of new infections rises in the past week rises above 50 cases per 100,000 people.
NDDC Scandal: PDP Reps insist independent panel probe allegations against lawmakers
The number of infections in Germany has been steadily on the rise over the past weeks, with experts warning of a second wave. The daily number of new infections rose by over 1,000 for the third day in a row on Saturday, reflecting a trend not seen since May. The country has recorded nearly 217,000 cases and a death toll of 9,201.
A collage of Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and Late Senator Buruji Kashamu
Senator Amosun mourns Buruji Kashamu
The Senator representing Ogun Central District at the Red Chamber, Senator Ibikunle AMOSUN, CON FCA has expressed sadness over the death, today, of a leading politician and stakeholder of Ogun State extraction, Senator Buruji Kashamu, aged 62.
In a Press Release, signed by Alhaji Bola Adeyemi, his Media Assistant , Senator Amosun, who’s also the immediate past Governor of Ogun State said
“Death, once again, has robbed us of the contribution of an enigmatic politician of the PDP, who represented Ogun East Senatorial District at the 8th Senate, our dear brother Senator Buruji Kashamu”
He also said “although we belonged to different political persuasions, and disagreed on most issues, Senator Kashamu will nonetheless be remembered for his assertive presence in the political arena and uncommon doggedness”
” He fought myriad of wars with every breadth in his soul in the defence of whatever he believed in and for his personal freedom. Hate him or love him, he could not be easily ignored” according to him”
Senator Amosun prayed that the Almighty Allah, SWT, will forgive Kashamu’s earthly sins and give him eternal rest.
He expressed condolences to the nuclear and political family members of the late founder and financier of the Omo Ilu Foundation, the Ijebu Igbo Community, and Ogun State as a whole.
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has expressed shock over the death of Senator Buruji Kashamu.
Kashamu, who represented Ogun East Senatorial district in the 8th National Assembly and contested the gubernatorial ticket of the state on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), along other contestants with Abiodun, died in a Lagos hospital on Saturday.
The governor, in a statement in Abeokuta, described Kashamu’s passing as one death too many and a devastating blow to the nation’s political family generally.
According to him, “I received the sad news of the passing of Senator Buruji Kashamu today (August 8, 2020) with a deep pain and grief that words cannot capture. On behalf of my family, the government and good people of Ogun State, I convey our deepest condolences.
“His demise further diminishes the tribe of my close political associates. He was a large-hearted politician and courageous fighter for whatever cause he believed in.
“He was not just a loving personality, a generous giver and someone who lived for others, he was to many a beacon of hope of a better tomorrow. This painful exit is much more than the end of an individual.
“Distinguished Senator Kashamu was a phenomenon, he was faithful to his principles and convictions and even his critics woud attest to his tenacity of purpose.
“Our brother and friend was a consummate politician and patriot who will be sorely missed within and outside Ogun State for his larger than life disposition.
“Posterity will accord him his due recognition for his legacies of service and forthrightness. He was a worthy Ambassador of Ogun State.”
Abiodun, however, urged all to find solace in the saying of Prophet Muhammad (SAW): “Amazing is the affair of the believer, verily all of his affair is good and this is not for anyone except the believer. If something of good/happiness befalls him he is grateful and that is good for him. If something of harm befalls him, he is patient and that is good for him.” (Saheeh Muslim #2999).
The governor prayed Allah to forgive and admit him to Aljannah Firdaus and grant the family, friends and associates the patience to bear this painful loss.
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