US judge blocks Donald Trump's travel ban granting 'nationwide restraining order'

Donald Trump's travel ban on individuals from seven Muslim majority countries has been thrown into doubt by a judge who ruled that it was unlawful.

US District Judge James Robart upheld cases brought by two states - Washington and Minnesota - and granted an order effectively suspending the order issued by Mr Trump on Jan 27.

His ruling  contradicted a judgment in Boston.

Within hours of the Seattle ruling, Mr Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer issued a strongly worded statement saying that the administration would appeal what he initially described as the judge's "outrageous order".

Human skulls, blood discovered at the altar inside a church in Imo .

There was great shock in Ububo -Alia, Awara in Ohaji/Egbema local government area of Imo state when 5 human skulls were discovered in a church called the Ark of Covenant Ministry.

The Authority reports that the general overseer of the church, Pastor Ngozi Odika, was beaten blue-black by irate youths of the area believed to be ex-militants. He was also said to have been beaten on the suspicion of using his church as a spiritual ground for militants who patronize him for spiritual powers.
How 5 Human Skulls Were Discovered at the Altar Inside a Popular Church in area.

According to a witness, the breeze blew when his alleged accomplice and girlfriend was caught with some fetish objects by some repentant militants from the area. She was accosted by the militants while on a errand for the pastor. When she was searched, items like human hair, animal horns and other fetish objects were found on her.

The shocked youths pounced on her, beating her mercilessly before dragging her to the pastor at the church where he was already waiting for her. The witness further disclosed that the beating continued with the pastor before he was handed to the vigilante in the area.

The witness said: “As the Pastor’s altar was later vandalised, other revela­tions emerged. In his al­tar was found 5 human heads buried alongside some other skulls of ani­mals.”

The youths also discovered a basin of blood and fingernails at a discrete area of the church. Odika was also alleged to use strands of hair of babies dedicated at the church for his devilish rituals. During interrogation by the vigilantes, the pastor confessed to being a spiritual father to the militants who come to him for various powers and other members of his church.

My B’Haram friends amputated my hand, leg because I wanted to renounce membership of the group

A Boko Haram insurgent says his fellow insurgents cut off his right hand and left leg as punishment for planning to renounce his membership of the group

- According to Muhammad Abubakar, his fellow insurgents accused him of planning to expose them to the Nigerian government.

According to Vanguard, Muhammad Abubakar disclosed to newsmen in Maiduguri on Thursday, February 2, that his right hand and left leg were chopped off as punishment for deciding to renounce his membership of the group and embrace peace.

He said: “I had told a friend, Hassan Dan-Guduma, that I was going to surrender as the movement had no meaning to me anymore.

“Hassan Dan-Guduma initially bought my idea but later betrayed me. Shortly after our discussion, he went and came back with three others whom I am sure he must have told them about our plan to surrender.

“They said I was planning to expose them to the Nigerian Government, so they did all this to me.

“After they chopped off my right hand and left leg, they threw me into a culvert where I was left struggling, until soldiers came and rescued me.
“All I can say is that all we had been told by Boko Haram leaders,were lies and misleading. I never joined them to kill anyone."

The Theatre Commander, Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, said Abubakar was still undergoing interrogation.

“You can see what they did to one of their own because he decided to quit,” said Irabor.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has assured citizens that bomb attacks by Boko Haram insurgents will soon end because the outfit is doing all possible to put end to them.

This assurance came from the Theatre commander of Operation Lafiya Dole Major-General Lucky Irabor during Thursday, February 2’s press briefing in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

The army also disclosed that not fewer than 3,332 Boko Haram suspects were arrested between January 11 and February 1, 2017.

It said the coordinates used by the Nigerian Air Force in the Rann bombing were incorrect but there were Boko Haram insurgents in the area.

Donald Trump proclaims February 'African American history month'

President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation honoring February 2017 as National African American History Month, ABC News reports.

This was disclosed in a press release by the White House press secretary on Thursday, February 2.

In the press statement, President Trump highlighted the contributions African Americans have made to US, adding that they are an integral part of society.

According to President Trump, African Americans have embodied the shared progress of US over generations.

Trump said that they have made America a better place to live and work for everybody.

Yesterday, the President signed a Proclamation honoring February 2017 as National African American History Month.

Soldier gets jail sentence for fleeing Boko Haram

A Nigerian soldier, Egbechi Oze, has been sentenced to jail by an army general court martial sitting in Maiduguri, Borno state after he fled his duty post.

Premium Times reports that the private was absent for 270 days when he fled his post because of Boko Haram and took refuge in a state in the south east.

The soldier was among those that were recorded as missing after Boko Haram terrorists attacked a military base in Gwoza.

The court said that in spite of the fact that Oze had abandoned his duty post for almost a year, he still continued to enjoy his benefits.

He was charged for not accounting for his rifle and cache of ammunitions he signed to be in his possession during the attack on Gwoza but was acquitted of the charges.

This was because he lost possession of them when he was abducted by Boko Haram before soldiers finally attacked the place.

He was sentenced to 14 months in prison and the court reiterated that he stands a chance of dismissal and refusal to be readmitted into the army for his court martial.

Trump blasts Obama over 'dumb deal' for refugees

The Obama administration struck a deal with Australia to take 1250 genuine refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.

Trump however objected to the agreement over the US receiving refugees. He was said to have insisted it was a very bad deal for the US to take.

In one of his characteristics tweets, Trump criticized the Obama administration, saying: “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!”

BREAKING: Nigerian University finds cure for HIV/AIDS

If claims Professor Francis Otunta are anything to go by, then, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, might have discovered a drug for the treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution located at Umudike in Abia state, has announced the discovery of a drug which he claims is potent in the cure of the epidemic.

Otunta told newsmen at the university campus on Wednesday, February 1, that the finding followed years of scientific research by the institution.

He said that the breakthrough was made by Prof Maduike Ezeibe, a researcher in the university.

According to him, Ezeibe had presented the drug to the University management, Senate and Council, where he explained the processes he went through to arrive at his finding.

Governor Fayose declares supports for 2Baba’s nationwide protests.

Governor Ayodele Fayose says he will be part of the nationwide protest led by popular musician Innocent ‘Tuface’ Idibia

- Special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, says those planning the protests are supporters of the Goodluck Jonathan’s government

- Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio, disassociates himself from the planned protest by Tuface Idibia.Governor Fayose declares supports for 2Baba’s nationwide protests

Governor Ayodele Fayose has declared his support to the organisers of the protests against the federal government.

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has said he will be partaking in the February 5 nationwide protest led by popular musician, Innocent ‘Tuface’ Idibia, against the federal government.

President Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court

President Donald Trump will nominate Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Trump announced Tuesday night at the White House.
The nomination of Gorsuch, a 49-year-old federal appellate judge from Colorado, gives Trump and Republicans the opportunity to confirm someone who could cement the conservative direction of the court for decades.

His selection also sets up an intense fight with Senate Democrats, still angry over the Republicans' decision to essentially ignore former President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland for the empty Supreme Court seat last year.
Introducing Gorsuch, Trump said he had committed as a candidate to "find the very best judge in the country for the Supreme Court."
"Millions of voters said this was the single most important issue for them when they voted for me for president," Trump said. "I am a man of my word."
"Today I am keeping another promise to the American people by nominating Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court."
Trump made the announcement after an unusual day in which both top candidates for the nomination -- Gorsuch and Judge Thomas Hardiman -- were brought to Washington as the suspense built.
The court has been operating with eight justices since the sudden death last February of Justice Antonin Scalia. If confirmed, Gorsuch would continue the ideological balance that existed before Scalia's death, with four conservatives, four liberals and Justice Anthony Kennedy as a swing vote between the blocs.
Trump selected Gorsuch -- who sits on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals -- from a list of 20 potential justices compiled during the presidential campaign in a direct appeal to conservative and evangelical voters skeptical about his commitment to their values.
Gorsuch's opinions on religious liberty, where he sided with the challengers to the so-called Obamacare contraceptive mandate, and on the separation of powers, where he said too much deference was given by the courts to administrative agencies, are key to his appeal to Republicans. As is his age. At 49, he could carry on Trump's legacy long after the President leaves office.

Unlike others on Trump's list, Gorsuch has an Ivy League pedigree, having attended Columbia and Harvard, and also studied at Oxford, where he earned a doctorate in legal philosophy.
Gorsuch is a fourth-generation Coloradan and a former clerk to both Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.
"It is an extraordinary resume. As good as it gets," Trump said.
"The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute," Trump said. "I only hope that Democrats and Republicans can come together for one, for the good of the country."
On the bench he joined an opinion siding with closely held corporations who believed that the so-called contraceptive mandate of Obamacare violated their religious beliefs. The ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Court. Gorsuch wrote separately holding that the mandate infringed upon the owners' religious beliefs "requiring them to lend what their religion teaches to be an impermissible degree of assistance to the commission of what their religion teaches to be a moral wrong."
He also wrote a majority opinion in a separation of powers case holding that too much deference was given to administrative agencies. This issue is a favorite of conservatives and Gorsuch's beliefs align with those of Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas.
Gorsuch, in a speech last year at Case Western Reserve University School of law, aligned himself with Scalia's judicial philosophy.
"The great project of Justice Scalia's career was to remind us of the differences between judges and legislators. To remind us that legislators may appeal to their own moral convictions and to claims about social utility to reshape the law as they think it should be in the future, " he said. "But that judges should do none of these things in a democratic society."
At the White House Gorsuch he would faithfully commit to upholding the laws of the nation, saying he would act as a "servant of the Constitution and laws of this country."
Like Trump, he cited Scalia as a model.
"Justice Scalia was a lion of the law," he said.

Trump sacks defiant acting attorney general Sally Yates

Donald Trump has fired the acting US attorney general after she questioned the legality of his immigration ban.

Sally Yates, who was appointed by Barack Obama, ordered justice department lawyers not to enforce the president's executive order.

A White House statement accused Ms Yates of "betraying" the justice department and being "weak on borders".

Mr Trump replaced her with Dana Boente, US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Mr Boente said he was "honoured to serve President Trump" and immediately directed his department to enforce the controversial order.

Mr Trump also replaced the acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Daniel Ragsdale, who has been in the post since 20 January. He is the former deputy director.

No reason was given for Mr Ragsdale's sacking. He has been replaced by Thomas Homan, the executive associate director of enforcement and removal.

Mr Trump's order temporarily banned nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, and sparked street protests in the US and abroad.

China military official says war with US under Donald Trump 'becoming practical reality'