Breaking News: Abubakar Audu Wins Kogi Governorship Election
Following the collation of the Kogi State governorship election results from all the Local Government Area in the state, by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress has defeated the incumbent Governor Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Local Government Areas, are
Adabi, Ajaokuta, Ankpa, Bassa, Dekina, Ibaji, Idah, Igalamela-Odolu, Ijumu, Kabba/Bunu, Koton Karfe, Lokoja,Mopa-muro, Ofu, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi, Okene, Olamaboro. Omala, Yagba East, Yagba West.
In total, Audu of the All Progressive Congress polled 240, 867 to defeat his PDP counterpart, governor Wada who had 199, 514 votes out of the 21 Local Government Areas in the state.
Following the collation of the Kogi State governorship election results from all the Local Government Area in the state, by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress has defeated the incumbent Governor Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Local Government Areas, are
Adabi, Ajaokuta, Ankpa, Bassa, Dekina, Ibaji, Idah, Igalamela-Odolu, Ijumu, Kabba/Bunu, Koton Karfe, Lokoja,Mopa-muro, Ofu, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi, Okene, Olamaboro. Omala, Yagba East, Yagba West.
In total, Audu of the All Progressive Congress polled 240, 867 to defeat his PDP counterpart, governor Wada who had 199, 514 votes out of the 21 Local Government Areas in the state.
Graphic Video: Two Nigerians In Street Fight In Italy, One Kills The Other
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Kogi State Is Under Attack Right Now. DSS Office Under Siege!
This is currently ongoing. Channels Tv is reporting it. Kogi state is under heavy attack right now. Policemen and civilians on the run!
Recall that on Tuesday, the DSS paraded over 70 hoodlums including 56 arrested in a place called BOKOHARAM village in Obajana
Recall that on Tuesday, the DSS paraded over 70 hoodlums including 56 arrested in a place called BOKOHARAM village in Obajana
North Korea: Live updates as Kim Jong-un issues threat of war against South Korea
Talks are underway between North and South Korea aimed at finding a peaceful way to resolve the dispute.
A deadline issued by North Korea came and went without incident, but the talks began around an hour later - 9.30am UK time.
In light of the growing tensions, the US has come out and reaffirmed its commitment to defending South Korea against any aggression.
Talks continue into early hours of Sunday
The talks have passed into the early hours of Sunday morning.
There is still not announcement on the results of the talks.
Experts on the two countries say long discussions between them are not unusual.
US forces on the move in South Korea
US forces have been pictured moving in South Korea.
Pictures show US military vehicles moving in the South Korean town of Paju which borders North Korea.
America has already pledged to help defend its ally.
US 'will defend South Korea'
The US has said it is committed to defending South Korea.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed it will stand by the country during a phone call to a senior South Korean counterpart on Friday.
See how crisis started
It is worth remembering how this crisis started.
It erupted as South Korea refused to silence giant loudspeakers – in defiance of a warning by the North.
The two countries have already put troops on war footing and fired conventional missiles into border areas as tension escalates between the rivals.
Talks still ongoing
The talks are still believed to be ongoing.
There has still been no announcement as to the outcome of the meeting.
It is taking place on the border between the two countries.
Loudspeaker
The meeting at the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) village, known for its sky-blue huts and grim-faced soldiers, began soon after the deadline for North Korea's previously set ultimatum demanding that the South halt its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border or face military action.
That deadline passed without any reported incidents.
The negotiations continued after roughly three hours, according to the South's Unification Ministry.
Talks lasting more than three hours
Top aides to the leaders of North and South Korea continued their talks after nearly three hours on Saturday, the South's Unification Ministry said, held to address tensions following an exchange of artillery fire that threatened military conflict.
The talks were announced just hours before the deadline of an ultimatum set by the North to begin military action unless the South halted propaganda broadcasts at the border that had prompted Pyongyang to fire artillery against the South.
How the armies compare
If the two nations did go to war, how would their armies fare?
According to GlobalSecurity.org, this is how North and South Korea compare.
North Korea
Military budget: £6.4billion
Size of army: One million troops
Tanks: 3,500
Submarines: 72
South Korea
Military budget: £21.9billion
Size of army: 522,000 troops
Tanks: 2,414
Submarines: 23
Talks 'still going on'
Despite reports to the contrary, a South Korea government representative has said the talks continue with the North.
Just moments ago, it had been suggested that the talks had concluded.
This was reported by Yonhap News Agency, but has been denied according to the Wall Street Journal.
South Koreans remain in shelters
Those South Koreans who live close to the border are still in shelters for their own safety.
Despite talks going on aimed at reducing tension, the authorities have deemed it necessary to keep nationals away from the region.
The talks began at around 9.30am UK time.
Meeting announced by North
The North's KCNA news agency also announced the meeting, referring to the South as the Republic of Korea, a rare formal recognition of its rival state, in sharp contrast to the bellicose rhetoric in recent days.
In an earlier statement, the agency said: "The situation on the Korean peninsula is now inching close to the brink of a war due to the reckless provocations made by the south Korean military war hawks."
South Korea and the US have taken part in military exercises in an apparent show of force.
'Harsh retaliation'
During the earlier threats between the two nations, South Korea evacuated almost 4,000 residents from border areas.
The nation also announced that it would 'retaliate harshly' if there was any action from the North.
Talks between the nations began this morning and are ongoing.
'Vision of hell'
Back in April 2013, our reporter Chris Hughes visited the secretive state and recorded what life was like for those who live in one of the poorest countries on earth.
Taking footage from brave whistle blowers eager to show what life was truly like in the country, Chris revealed the true horror for residents there.
Referencing how 'justice' is meted out, Chris said: "And not far away, prisoners are herded from their harsh labour camps to frantically dig out crops from frozen ground while trigger-happy troops hover over them waiting for the one wrong move that could end with death."
Talks ongoing
Still no word from Korea on how talks between the South and North are going.
They are seen as a last ditch effort to avert war between the nations following threats from Kim Jong-un.
Many experts do not believe the situation will get that bad, and the talks are simply aimed at finding a way for neither nation to lose face.
State broadcast
Here is how state media in North Korea reported the increasing tensions between the two nations.
With images of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il displayed on screen, the newsreader talked about how the nation did not start the troubles.
Representatives of the two nations are currently locked in talks aimed at ending the stand-off.
North 'bracing for all-out war'
As talks between the two nations continue, the North's state-run media has revealed that the entire nation is bracing itself for war.
The North's Foreign Ministry said: "We have exercised our self-restraint for decades.
"Now, no-one's talk about self-restraint is helpful to putting the situation under control.
"The army and people of the DPRK are poised not just to counteract or make any retaliation but not to rule out all-out war to protect the social system, their own choice, at the risk of their lives."
What does South Korea broadcast to the North?
Most of the information broadcast across the border appears to be anti-North content, pop music and information on life in the South.
According to NK News, it also broadcasts interviews with defectors about their lives in the South and a selection of Buddhist teachings.
One person who helps produce the program told NK News: "It usually broadcasts about ethnic homogeneity, that South and North share the same culture and history, the superiority of the South Korean system, including our culture of (capitalistic) consumption, the international economic standard and various types of K-pop."
Missiles 'being moved in the North'
US and South Korean intelligence have both reported the movement of vehicles in North Korea carrying missiles.
Short range Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles have both been detected by the agencies.
Military in the South is now on its highest alert.
US resumes joint exercises
The United States, which has 28,500 military personnel based in South Korea, said on Friday it had resumed its annual joint military exercises there after a temporary halt to coordinate with Seoul over the shelling from North Korea.
The drills, code-named Ulchi Freedom Guardian, began on Monday and run until next Friday. North Korea regularly condemns the manoeuvres as a preparation for war.
Four South Korean and four US fighter jets flew in a joint sortie over the South on Saturday, an official at the South's office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said by telephone, as thousands of South Korean villagers living near the border were evacuated into shelters.
Both sides need to 'save face'
James Kim, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, has revealed what he thinks both sides need from the upcoming talks.
He said: "They need to come up with some sort of an agreement where both sides have saved face. That would be the trick.
"North Korea will probably demand that the broadcasts be cut, and they may even come to an impasse on that issue."
US 'watching closely'
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has come out and said the United States is committed to defending it's ally.
He made the statement in a phone call to a senior South Korean counterpart on Friday, according to reports.
In a following statement, the Pentagon said: " "Chairman Dempsey reaffirmed the unwavering commitment of the United States to the defense of the ROK (South Korea) and reiterated the strength of the US-ROK alliance."
Dempsey and Admiral Choi Yoon-Hee "concurred they would watch North Korea's actions closely in the coming days and would ensure that the US and ROK continue to work closely with one another to deter further North Korean provocations and defuse tensions".
'Still at war'
North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, had declared a "quasi-state of war" in front-line areas and set the deadline for Seoul to halt the broadcasts from loudspeakers placed along the border.
"The situation on the Korean peninsula is now inching close to the brink of a war due to the reckless provocations made by the south Korean military war hawks," the North's KCNA news agency had said earlier.
Seoul had said it would continue the broadcasts unless the North accepted responsibility for landmine explosions this month in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that wounded two South Korean soldiers. Pyongyang denies it planted the mines.
Deadline passed
The original deadline set by North Korea has now passed without any apparent incident.
This would appear to back up claims from the South that talks have been arranged between the two nations for 9am UK time.
It is hoped the talks, at the border between the two nations, will help prevent all out war.
Deadline looming
The deadline that North Korea gave the South is now just moments away.
It is not clear however if the secretive nation will stick to this, as the South has said it is meeting with representatives from the North at 9am - 30 minutes after the deadline.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security adviser and her unification minister will meet with Hwang Pyong So, the top military aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and an senior official who handles inter-Korean affairs.
US 'will defend the South'
Reports are now coming in that the United States has pledged to defend it's ally South Korea should war break out.
Last night, South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo tried to reassure a jittery public tonight, vowing a harsh counterattack against any further provocations by North Korea.
South Korea and the United States are now operating their joint combat system, which will deter North Korea's additional provocations, the defense minister stressed at the time.
#BREAKING: US military top officer pledges to defend S. Korea: official
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) August 22, 2015
Nations to meet
South Korea will meet with counterparts from the North at 9am today (UK time) in a bid to halt hostilities.
The two nations have agreed to hold top-level talks, Seoul's presidential Blue House said, in an apparent bid to stave off a looming military clash.
The officials have agreed to meet at the border truce village of Panmunjon.
The talks come after North Korea said it would attack the South at 8.30am today (UK time).
Kim Jong-un, the communist nation's dictator, issued the threat earlier after telling his troops to be 'fully ready for war'.
Tensions have spiked since yesterday, when South Korea fired a barrage of artillery rounds into North Korea after the North shelled across the border to protest against anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts
Seoul began blasting anti-North Korean propaganda from loudspeakers on the border on August 10, resuming a tactic that both sides had stopped in 2004
A South Korean military official said the broadcasts would continue
Presidency Scraps Office Of First Lady Aisha Buhari
The presidency has said that official portfolio was yet to be assigned to Aisha, the wife of president Muhammadu Buhari, overruling what hitherto was known as “First Lady’s office”. Apparently renaming it “Office of the Wife of the President”, the presidency however stated that Mrs. Buhari would, for now, be saddled with women and youth related issues in the country.
The Presidency was reacting to allegations in some Nigerian media that the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari has moved into the First Lady’s office in the Aso Villa.
Describing the allegation as totally false and fictitious, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu said that even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with Mrs. Buhari making use of the office space reserved for the First Lady, she had not done so in her capacity.
Shehu stated that under president Buhari, the office shall be completely different from what obtained in the past, saying that the era of the First Ladies issuing oil wells and licenses was gone.
“President Buhari promised that there would be a clear difference between the role played by his wife during his tenure and that played by many previous First Ladies. “All that ostentation, ubiquitousness and arrogance we have come to expect from the office are over and done with. Change has come.
“The ideal platform from which she will be useful to Nigeria’s women and children is still being thought out. Once this has been concluded on, Mrs. Buhari’s role will become clearer to all Nigerians. There will be nothing shady or hidden about it. There will be no access to public funds. It will be purely private and voluntary”, he said.
The presidential spokesman recalled that the time Mrs. Buhari had to make use of the office was at the beginning of the present administration.
He added that the meeting during which she hosted the wives of governors was held in a section of the Villa’s banquet hall, not in the First Lady’s office. “Her only visit to that office was at the point of the take-over of the Villa by the incoming administration.
“Out of respect to Mrs. Buhari, the Sierra-Leonian First Lady, Mrs. SiaKoroma recently surrendered her position of head of Africa’s First Ladies to Mrs. Buhari, inviting her to take up the same seat which Mrs. Jonathan hurriedly handed over a few weeks to the handover of her husband’s government to President Buhari. Again, all these things are currently under consideration and no decision has been arrived at presently,” Shehu said.
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