One Dead, 23 Missing After Hippo Hits Boat In Malawi River

The vessel, a canoe, was carrying 37 people across the Shire River when the incident took place.

A one-year-old child died and 23 people were missing and feared dead after a hippopotamus charged into and capsized a canoe on a river in southern Malawi, according to authorities.

Police in the southern African country’s southern district of Nsanje said on Tuesday that the vessel was carrying 37 people across the Shire River when the incident took place on Monday morning.

Malawian police rescued 13 with the help of World Food Programme personnel who were working in the area and provided boats for the rescue operation, Nsanje District Police Commissioner Dominic Mwandira said.

Nsanje police spokeswoman Agnes Zalakoma said that rescuers also retrieved the lifeless body of a one-year-old who had drowned in the collision, she said.

“The search mission to locate the missing individuals is currently under way,” Zalakoma said, adding that the canoe started to list and eventually capsized after the hippo collided with it.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera sent Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia to the scene. She said locals told her hippos often caused problems in the area and they wanted authorities to relocate some of the animals.

The Shire is Malawi’s largest river.

Boat accidents are common in Malawi, where the lack of regular water transport forces many to cross lakes and rivers in sometimes-rickety boats, in the absence of regulations.

Last month, at least five people died after an overcrowded boat sank in Malawi’s central district of Mchinji.

SOURCE: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/16/one-dead-23-missing-after-hippo-hits-boat-in-malawi-river


Picture Description: Malawi's Minister of Water and Sanitation, Gladys Ganda left, waits with government official Abide Mia, right, for news updates from the rescue party on the banks of Shire River, Tuesday, May 16,2023. (Austin Kachipeya/AP Photo]

LP: Lamidi Apapa Gives Condition To Meet With Tinubu

Apapa, while answering questions on Arise TV on Thursday, said he would only meet with Tinubu if the party approved it.

The factional chairman of the Labour Party, Lamidi Apapa, has given conditions under which he would honour an invitation from the country’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

“Before I honour him, I will consult the executive of the party, so if they ask me to go ahead, I will do so. If the executive says go ahead, it becomes our position.

“It’s not going to be my position. If they say go and see him or we are going to see him, it becomes the position of the party, not the position of Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa.

“All of us will collectively go and see him. That is, if we have the mandate of the house, that we are going to see him,” he said.

The leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party took a fresh twist on Wednesday as the factions loyal to Apapa and Julius Abure engaged in a fight at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja.

The Federal High Court in Abuja had suspended Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party.

https://dailypost.ng/2023/05/18/labour-party-factional-chairman-apapa-gives-condition-to-meet-with-tinubu/

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Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima To Be Awarded GCFR, GCON On May 25

BREAKING: On Thursday May 25, 2023, President-Elect @officialABAT and Vice President-Elect @KashimSM will be conferred with the National Honours of GCFR and GCON respectively, by President @MBuhari.

#Transition2023NG

https://twitter.com/toluogunlesi/status/1659191874589175810?t=Z2TqxNwbsfHXA8INikXw_g&s=19

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I’ll Be At Presidential Tribunal Court On Friday – Lamidi Apapa Vows

The factional National Chairman of the Labour Party, Lamidi Apapa, has vowed that he will again, storm the Presidential Petition Tribunal on Friday.

DAILY POST had reported that Apapa and Mr Julius Abure’s factions clashed during the court proceeding on Wednesday as they both claimed leadership of the party.

The court refused to recognize the two factions and adjourned the hearing to Friday, May 19.

But speaking on the matter while appearing on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Thursday, Apapa said he will be in the court on Friday.

He also accused the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, and the suspended National Chairman, Julius Abure of allegedly sponsoring thugs to beat him out of the Presidential Petition Tribunal on Wednesday.

According to him, he was in the court on Wednesday because “it was my responsibility as the authentic acting National Chairman of the party to exercise my authority as representative of the party”.

https://dailypost.ng/2023/05/18/ill-be-at-presidential-petition-court-on-friday-lamidi-apapa-vows/

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Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral, period of mourning gulped £162m - UK Treasury

The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the period of mourning cost the UK government a total of £162m, according to the Treasury.

A breakdown of costs provided by the government showed that the Home Office paid the greatest amount at £74m, followed by Department for Culture, Media and Sport which covered £57.4m.

The Scottish government incurred costs of £18.8m, while the Welsh government and Northern Ireland office paid about £2m each.

SOURCE 

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Abure’s Labour Party Faction Now Working For APC - Arambabi

Abure’s Labour Party Faction Now Working For APC, Mandated Party's Senators-Elect To Work For Akpabio –Arabambi

Arabambi alleged that Abure has mandated all Labour Party senators to work for Godswill Akpabio.

The National Publicity Secretary of Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi has accused the party’s suspended National Chairman, Julius Abure of working for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Arabambi made this known in a terse statement on Friday after the pictures of the APC Senate Presidential candidate, Godswill Akpabio with Julius Abure, Farouk Umar, Clement Ojukwu and Oluchi Opara, all former officers of Labour Party, surfaced on the internet.

The Federal Capital Territory High Court had restrained the LP officers from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

Arabambi alleged that Abure has mandated all Labour Party senators to work for Godswill Akpabio.

He said, "Godswill Akpbio and Julius Abure, Farouk UMAR , Clement OJUKWU and OLUCHI OPARA all former officers of Labour Party that the FCT high court has restrained from parading themselves as National officers.

"It’s clear that Abure is now working for APC. Abure has mandated all Labour Party senators to work for an APC SENATE PRESIDENT NOMINEE. "And yet this Man will be accusing Ag National Chairman ALh BASHIRU LAMIDI APAPA of working for APC," he added.

Meanwhile, the Obi/Datti Presidential Campaign Council spokesman, Kenneth Okonkwo had described the Apapa-led faction of the party as a department of the ruling APC pushed forward to distract the party from pursuing its presidential mandate in court.

Okonkwo said there was no crisis nor factions in the party, adding that the process by which national officers of the party would emerge is clearly stated in its constitution – Article 13 (1)(b)(iv). Also, Obiora Ifoh had said that expelled and suspended members of the party were being used by the ruling APC to cause chaos within its ranks. Ifoh specifically accused Apapa and Arabambi of being the arrowheads of the destabilisation plot. 

Meanwhile, a former Senate leader and Director-General of the Akpabio Campaign Organisation, Ali Ndume, said their team called Stability Group had secured the signatures of 69 Senators-elect who are behind the aspirations of Senators Akpabio and Barau Jubrin.

He said, “We want you to support this stability group; we have 69; who have signed. It isn’t about Akpabio or Jibrin. What the country needs now is stability, and that’s why we called the group the Stability Group.”

He called on the Labour Party and the New Nigeria People’s Party to support Akpabio and Jibrin.

Julius Abure, the suspended National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, said it is not common for the “political party in power to consider accommodating the opposition”.

“It is an indication that our democracy is growing. I want to say very clearly that in most of our engagement with our senators, we haven’t given them any directives. We don’t want to be dictating to them on where they should go.

“Two of my senators are here. Ireti Kingibe isn’t here, but we shall whisper to her. We need a vibrant legislature to promote our democracy, and we hope yours will be a departure from what we have. Every government policy must be such that will affect our people positively,” Abure said.

https://saharareporters.com/2023/05/18/abures-labour-party-faction-now-working-apc-mandated-partys-senators-elect-work-akpabio

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How FG Spent Over N200bn On Postponed Census – Nasir Isa-Kwarra (NPC Chairman)

 

The chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, on Thursday, hinted at how N224 billion released by the Federal Government for the 2023 housing and population census was spent.

The initial money budgeted for the exercise was N800 billion but was cut short after the postponement.

Isa-Kwara mentioned in Abuja during a breakfast meeting with media executives that the N224 billion has been spent on preparations for the exercise which include printing of papers, and training of adhoc staff members, among many other miscellaneous.

Recall that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) postponed the census after several meetings with stakeholders in late April. 

He said the incoming administration of President-elect, Bola Tinubu, will decide on the date the exercise will hold.

https://punchng.com/how-fg-spent-over-n200bn-on-postponed-census-npc-chairman/