Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term in Canada's national elections Monday, losing the majority but delivering unexpectedly strong results despite having been weakened by a series of scandals that tarnished his image as a liberal icon.
Mr Trudeau's Liberal party took the most seats in Parliament, giving it the best chance to form a government. However, falling short of a majority meant the Liberals would have to rely on an opposition party to pass legislation.
"It's not quite the same as 2015. It's not all owing to the leader," said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto.
"Mr Trudeau is prime minister because the rest of the party was able to pull itself together and prevail. While Trudeau certainly deserves credit for what has happened he's really going to have to demonstrate qualities that he hasn't yet shown."
Still, the results were a victory for Mr Trudeau, whose clean-cut image took a hit after old photos of him in blackface and brownface surfaced last month.
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom on Monday called on the Federal Government to close the land borders to prevent the influx of foreign herdsmen into the country.
The FG has since closed the country’s borders to all movement of goods as part of an effort to stop smuggling, and Ortom says foreign herdsmen should also be stopped at the borders.
The governor made the call in Makurdi during a visit to the General Hospital in Apir to see Mrs Grace Zeku, whose arm was cut off by suspected herdsmen on her farm in Gboogyo village, Guma Local Government Area of the state recently.
He lamented that herdsmen from Mali, Niger and Chad had been coming into Nigeria to commit atrocities.
The governor said, “No country can accept this, how can people come from other countries to commit atrocities. They should be checked.
“The Federal Government should ensure that our borders are also closed to prevent those herdsmen who come from neighbouring countries, many of them are from Niger and Mali.”
Ortom said the state government was making efforts through the State Security Council to beef up
security in the state to prevent any further violent attacks.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has charged a former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, and his son, Faisal, with various offences before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
It was learnt on Monday that the ex-pension chief and his 20-year-old son would be arraigned before Justice Okon Abang on Friday, Punch reports.
Maina and his son were, on September 30, 2019, arrested at an Abuja hotel by the Department of State Services and subsequently handed them over to the EFCC on October 2 for further investigation and prosecution on allegations of fraud and money laundering to the tune of N2.1bn.
Before he was arrested by the DSS, Maina had evaded arrest for over four years.
The spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Mr Taofik Gani, in this interview with Tunde Ajala, shares the position of his party on governance in the state and the condition of roads across the city.
What is the assessment of your party on the state of roads in Lagos State?
The truth of the matter is that Lagos residents must take their destiny into their hands because transiting from this point to the other point lies in their hands. For the sake of clarity, the obvious thing is that we have a group of people governing this state and they are people who do not care. They are so indifferent; the power is so much and they are so arrogant with the power they have that they don’t even care. They will rather focus on the distribution of the state’s internally generated revenue among themselves.
There is no reason why Lagos State should be this backward in terms of infrastructure. As far back as 2013, Lagos was generating a minimum IGR of N55bn (monthly), based on our own research. With the state chairman of our party then, Capt. Tunji Shelle, we went out to do an undercover investigation into the Eko Atlantic and the things we found were shocking. Flood started reaching certain parts of Lagos and other areas because of the land reclamation they were doing. So, it was a serious misplacement of priorities in governance.
Talking about roads, do you know why we have them this bad?
Flooding is a major problem and the major cause of the flooding now is the encroachment on waterways. It’s like an encroachment on nature. Go to Ilubirin and you would see the import of the land reclamation. Now, with little rainfall, there would be flooding, but they don’t care. Unfortunately, we have a situation where there can never be a check because at the local government, state and national level, they all belong to the same party. I just pity Lagosians and that is why I said the only thing that can resolve this is that Lagosians must take up the responsibility themselves. They cannot rely on the state House of Assembly that is completely the subservient to the executive. Unfortunately, Governor Sanwo-Olu is even unprepared for this job and the double jeopardy is that we have a disillusioned House of Assembly that would rather ‘play the game’ than check the governor.
The Duke of Cambridge is "worried" about his brother after he talked about his mental health in a TV documentary, a Kensington Palace source has told the BBC.
Prince William is said to be hoping the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "are all right" after they told an ITV documentary they were struggling.
The palace source said there was a view the couple were "in a fragile place".
Kensington Palace had no comment on the ITV film, which aired on Sunday.
The documentary followed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their tour of southern Africa earlier this month.
In interviews, the couple both said they were struggling with the intense scrutiny from elements of the British tabloid press.
The palace source played down suggestions that Prince William was "furious" with his brother after the documentary aired on Sunday.
It followed Prince Harry's admission in the film that he and William have "good days" and "bad days".
Asked about media reports of a rift between the brothers, the Duke of Sussex said that "inevitably, stuff happens" as a result of "this family being under the pressure that it's under".
But Rita Ora's latest look accidentally left her underwear on display as she flashed her Spanx beneath a billowing scarlet gown on Monday.
The Falling To Pieces singer, 28, looked in good spirits as she left the Cartier London celebration at The Chiltern Firehouse, but inadvertently ended up revealing too much.
The pop star suffered a wardrobe malfunction due to the high slit on the gown, which exposed her nude coloured Spanx shapewear.
Nicki Minaj has tied the knot. The rapper revealed this on Instagram that she has gotten married to convicted s3x offender Kenneth 'Zoo' Petty.
The Grammy-nominated artist, 36, took to Instagram to share a clip that revealed she and the 41-year-old Petty had tied the knot.
The Anaconda singer wrote, 'Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10•21•19,' alongside a clip in which she showed off souvenirs such as ballcaps that read, 'Bride' and 'Groom,' and mugs that read, 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.'
The comment thread under Minaj's announcement was populated with well wishes from her fellow celebs such as La La Anthony, Christina Aguilera, Winnie Harlow, Tanisha Thomas and Evelyn Lozada.
I wonder who would feel well about this mess! A pensioner, 75, with a high sex drive is facing jail after routinely exposing himself to elderly neighbours whenever they opened their window blinds in the morning.
Bernard Condron, who has dementia, would wait in his favourite armchair until his victims had got out of bed and would then leap in front of his French windows and flash them.
One woman said the pensioner would regularly expose himself to her on a daily basis over a two-month period while in a state of arousal.
He would also flash another neighbour from his back garden.
Police were called to speak to Condron about the incidents in a secluded residential street in Salford, Greater Manchester, but he ignored warnings and subsequent court orders and carried on flashing for a period of more than four years.
In a statement, one of the neighbours said: 'This is making me unwell and every day when my husband leaves the house, I am worried about what this man is going to do next.
'I am concerned about my young grandchildren coming to the house. I would be devastated if they were to see this man with no trousers on.'
At Manchester Crown Court, Condron who lives alone in a 1950s semi-detached house, admitted three charges of indecent exposure and breaching a 2015 Sexual Harm Prevention Order which had banned him for five years from being 'visible to any person whilst naked.'
He is currently undergoing hormone treatment to reduce his testosterone levels in a bid to curb his behaviour.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said he stands by what he said in 2015, that the Boko Haram terrorists have been technically defeated.
The minister stated this on Monday when he paid a working visit to the new corporate headquarters of “The Sun” Newspaper in Lagos.
Fielding questions from the editorial board of the newspaper led by the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Mr Onuoha Ukeh the minister said Nigeria is currently facing global terrorism that has no boundary, no frontier.
“I stand by what I said that Boko Haram is technically defeated.
“What we are having today is global terrorism where you have the ISIS, ISWAP Al-qaeda all working together.
“Terrorism is a global issue. Between 2009 and 2015 we were fighting Boko Haram, but today we are fighting global terrorism where the remnants of the Army in Syria are now joining hands with the ISWAP and others,” he said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has released the date for the fresh Kogi West Senatorial election involving Senator Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Senator Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
INEC, in a statement signed Mr Festus Okoye, Chairman of its Information and Voter Committee, said that the senate election would hold simultaneously with the Kogi governorship election on 16 November, 2019.
Okoye, INEC National Commissioner, in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, said that another by-election for the Sabuwa State Constituency in Katsina State, had been slated for Nov. 30.
“The decision was taken at the commission’s meeting held on Monday,” the statement said.
A Nigerian Airforce officer, Jeremiah teaches his fiancee, Deborah as they salute each other in their cute pre-wedding photoshoot. And they know how to smile. More pics...
Rev. Father Felix Ezeaka has been abducted in Manyu division, Cameroon. The Nigerian priest was taken in Mbakang village shortly after Sunday mass.
According to report, Rev. Fr. Felix Ezeaka who has been offering worship services in the bushes to IDPs has been repeatedly harassed by the Cameroon military for being too close to the suffering people of Ambazonia whom they considered as terrorist.
On Sunday in Mamfe which has been under heavy Cameroonian military presence some suspected proxy forces of the Cameroon government arrest the priest soon after mass ended at Mbakang.
Some reports say he was abducted by unknown men while others said he was arrested by soldiers.
As at the time of this report, the bishop of Mamfe has not issued any statement on the abduction.
Popular Nigerian comedian Akpororo has shared a photo of himself with his new car. The funny guy, who recently bought a car in celebration of his wife’s birthday, has now bought one for himself.
He attributed his success to God and his favour to his family. Congrats!
Former Governor of Kano State and immediate past Senator representing Kano Central, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, was attacked by armed thugs who are yet to be identified in Kano on Monday.
The attack, which followed the former governor’s visit to his hometown, Madobi where he had gone to open a midwifery school, was said to have been carried out around the state underpass.
As much as 8 persons were said to have been critically injured while many cars were badly damaged.
However, Hajiya Binta Sipikin, Kwankwaso’s media aide, linked the attack to thugs loyal to political opponents. She said, “This attack was preplanned because we were told that heavy-armed thugs were waiting under the bridge to attack us when we were coming from Madobi.
The moment Bobrisky got physical with a man that bashed his new Range Rover was captured in the Lekki area of Lagos yesterday. It's unclear if the man later agreed to fix the new ride.
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment of six Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIG) with two to proceed on pre-retirement leave.
According to a statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations, of the Commission, Ikechukwu Ani in Abuja, the remaining four are to replace the four retired DIGs and also form part of the IGPs Management team made up of seven DIGs.
The statement reads: “The new DIGs are; Abdul Dahiru Danwawu; Lawal Shehu; Adeyemi Samuel Ogunjemilusi; Peter Babatunde Ogunyanwo, all former AIGs and Alex Okpara and Celestine Okoye, former CPs. DIG Ogunjemilusi and DIG Okpara are to proceed on pre-retirement leave.
“The Commission also approved the promotion of 14 Commissioners of Police to the next rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police.
“They are: Yunana Babas; Dan-Malam Mohammed; Mua’zu Zubairu Halilu; Rabiu Yusuf; Sanusi Nma Lemu; Ahmed Iliyasu; Mohammed Uba Kura; Zaki M. Ahmed; and Gwandu Haliru Abubakar.
“Others are: Zama Bala Senchi, presently CP, Jigawa State Command; Bello A. Sadiq; Austin Iwero Agbonlahor; Lawan Ado, former CP, Kwara State Command and currently Commandant Police College, Kaduna and Bashir Makama.
“The appointments and promotions were the highpoints of the Commission’s 6th Plenary Meeting held in Abuja on Friday, October 18th and chaired by Musiliu Smith, Chairman of the Commission.
“The Commission also approved the promotion of 230 Superintendents of Police to Chief Superintendents, eleven Deputy Superintendents of Police to Superintendents and two hundred and eleven (211) Assistant Superintendents to Deputy Superintendents. Forty one Inspectors were also promoted to ASP1.
“The new CSPs include: Kabiru Ishaq; Sufi Salisu Abdullahi; Dattijo Abdullahi; Bisiriyu Akindele; Faloye Folusho; Ngozi Faith Nwosu; Shehudden Yusuf Baba; Ibrahim Bashir; Benjamin Nlemchukwu Ugwuegbulam; Remigius Nnaemeka Ekpe; Tope Adewunmi Oparinde; Esther Ifeoma Nwaiwu, Victoria Olayinka Mulero and Ogbonnaya Nwota.
“Chairman of the Commission, Smith, said the Commission will continue to closely monitor the performance of these Officers and enjoined them to rededicate themselves to the service of their fatherland. He reiterated that promotion in the Force will continue to be based on merit, seniority and availability of vacancies.”
Former senate president Bukola Saraki took to his twitter page yesterday to react after Court Ordered him to forfeit his properties in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos. His statement;
"My attention has been drawn to an Order granted by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos pursuant to an ex-parte application by the EFCC.
It is my belief that the Judge was misled into granting this Order and was not presented with the full position of the law or the facts...
It is my belief that the Court was not informed of a pending Order of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja restraining the EFCC from taking any steps regarding the seizure of the property in question pending the determination of a suit filed before that Court.
I also believe that the Court was not made aware that the property in question formed part of the judgment of the Court given on July 6, 2018 where the Supreme Court declared that the source of funds for the purchase of the property was not illicit as claimed by the prosecution.
The Supreme Court specifically referred to No 17a McDonald Road, Ikoyi on pages 12, 13 and 26 of its judgment upholding the no-case submission made before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
I am confident that once these facts and the declaration of the Supreme Court are brought before the Court, this Order will be vacated. My lawyers will be approaching the Court immediately to achieve this."
Back in June, transgender campaigner Ben Saunders contacted sanitary product brand Always to ask them one important question.
Why do they feature feminine logos on all of their packaging? And it turns out that Ben wasn't the only person who wanted to know the answer.
A Twitter user who goes by the name Melly Boom also messaged Always, asking why it is "imperative to have the female symbol on their sanitary products".
She added: "There are non-binary and trans folks who still need to use your products too you know!"
Always, which is owned by Procter & Gamble (P&G), have taken the comments and questions on board and responded with a letter, explaining the action they plan to take.
In the letter to Ben, Sheryl, a member of the Always team, revealed that the company had decided to remove the feminine logo from their packaging.
Sheryl wrote: "Dear Ben, I wanted to come back to you regarding your message about the Always wrappers' design with the female symbol on it you sent 18/06/2019.
"We listened to you and our marketing team worked a solution!
"We are glad to inform you that as of December we will use a new wrapper design without the feminine symbol.
"Please just be aware that you might find products with the old wrapper design in the stores for some weeks after December, as the distribution of the new packages might take some time - the new designs should be in store Jan/Feb 2020."
She added: "We are absolutely grateful for having people like you voicing their opinions. Thank you for contacting us, your comments help us improve every day!"
The move was praised by a number of people, including Ben and Melly, for being inclusive.
Another person on social media that supported the decision, said: "I understand that you guys love girl positivity but please understand that there are trans men that get periods."
However many women were unhappy about the decision and argued that it was "eliminating women's biology".
