FG Converts Badeh’s Mansion To Office

A N1.1bn mansion seized from the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), has been converted to an office to be used by the Federal Government, The Punch has learnt.

A correspondent, who visited the property located on Plot 6 Ogun River Crescent, Maitama, a highbrow area in Abuja, learnt that the property is being used by the Presidential Committee on the North-East Intervention headed by Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, a former Minister of Defence.

The warning, ‘EFCC, Keep Off!’ which was written in red ink on the fence, had also been wiped off.

It was noticed that the rooms had been converted into offices while desks had been set up at strategic positions. When a Punch correspondent approached one of the workers, he said, “The property was given to us by the government to work. I know that the EFCC seized the property some months ago but it was given to us to work.”

Muslim Cleric Warns Lawmakers Against Gender Equality

A prominent Muslim cleric in Nigeria has warned Muslim lawmakers that they will be condemned as "unbelievers" if they back a new gender equality bill.

The bill proposes that men and women inherit an equal share, violating the Koran, Sheikh Isyaka Rabiu said.

Gender activists have been pushing for the bill to end discrimination against women in a country with roughly the same number of Christians and Muslims.

Lawmakers say that public hearings will be held before the bill is passed, BBC reports.

Reverend Musa Asake, the secretary of the West African state's main Christian group, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), told the BBC's Hausa service that he did not find anything wrong with the bill because in "Christianity inheritance is shared equally between male and female".

Obama Blasts Trump With 7-Eleven Jibe!

Damn! Obama has some harsh words. President Barack Obama has blasted Donald Trump's recent remarks about women, saying they would be intolerable even for someone applying for a job at a 7-Eleven convenience store.

At a rally supporting Hillary Clinton, Obama also urged senior Republicans to formally withdraw their endorsement of Mr Trump as presidential candidate.

Many top Republicans have however distanced themselves from Trump when a video in which he boasts of groping women surfaced.

Femi Kuti Talks Tough On Government...

Afrobeat musician Femi Kuti has blasted president Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership elite in the country for the continuous backwardness it has subjected Nigerians.

The first son of the late Afrobeats legend Fela Kuti said this at the 8th edition of the symposium, The Fela Debates, as part of celebration of Felabration, the annual festival founded by his sister, Yeni Kuti, to honour their father, who died in August 1997. It started on Monday October 10 and will end on Sunday, October 16, with activities taking place in different parts of the world.

Lawyers Pull Out From Defending Paris Attacker In Court

Lawyers for the main suspect in last year's Islamist attacks in Paris say they will no longer defend him.

Salah Abdeslam will use his right to remain silent, one of the lawyers, Frank Berton said.

"We said from the beginning... that if our client remained silent we would quit his defence," he said,

alongside fellow lawyer Sven Mary.

The attacks in Paris last November on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the Stade de France killed 130 people.

Absence Of Witnesses Stalls Daniel’s 5-Year-Old Trial

The five-year-old trial of former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, was stalled on Tuesday at the state high court in Abeokuta because the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, could not produce three witnesses scheduled to give evidence at the court.

The anti-graft agency told the court it had earlier on Monday held a pre-trial conference with the witnesses, and was shocked that they failed to turn up as appointed.

Justice Olanrewaju Mabekoje had, at the last sitting of the court on Monday, directed the agency to bring all its witnesses to court.

Niger Gov. Stops Payment Of Wassce Fees, Says I Can’t Be Paying N800m For Students To Fail

The Niger State Government said it would discontinue the payment of the West African Senior School Examination Certificate Examination and National Examination Council fees for its students in secondary schools in the state.

The state governor, Sani Bello, disclosed this on Tuesday when he visited the Justice Legbo Kutigi Secondary School to inspect the ongoing renovation of the school in Lavun Local Government Area of the state.