I May Retire Very Soon As I Have Only 2-3 Years More To Live - Pope Francis

Pope Francis

The Pope has spoken publicly for the first time about his own death, suggesting that he only has two to three years to live and may retire early.

Pope Francis, 77, made the claims during a press conference on his return flight from a hectic, five-day visit to South Korea.

When asked how he was coping with his huge popularity, the Pontiff replied: “I try to think of my sins, my mistakes, so as not to think that I am somebody. Because I know this will last a short time, two or three years, and then to the house of the Father.”

He then made a chopping gesture with his hand and whistling noise.

If the Pope is proved right, it would bring the curtain down on a revolutionary papacy during which he has already shaken up - over the course of months since his election last year - Vatican institutions which have remained unchanged for centuries.

On the plane back from Korea, the Pope looked in good form and stood for an hour as he took questions from reporters, but he admitted he was struggling to keep up with his appointments, recalling how he cancelled a visit to a Rome hospital in June.

“The day I should have gone to the Gemelli (Hospital), up to 10 minutes before I was there, but I could not do it. It is true, they were seven very demanding days then, full of engagements. Now I have to be a little more prudent,” he said.

The hard working pope, who grew up in Buenos Aires and became archbishop there in 1998 before his election as pope, revealed his last holiday outside the city was in 1975, but he added that he was a dab hand at holidaying at home.

“I change rhythm. I sleep more, I read the things I like. I listen to music. That way I rest. In July and part of August I did that,” he said.

Pope Francis admitted that he had “some nerve problems”, which required treatment. “Must treat them well, these nerves, give them mate (an Argentine tea) every day,” he joked.

On Tuesday, bookmakers Paddy Power made Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson 7/1 favourite to succeed the Pope, followed by Canada’s Cardinal Marc Ouellet at 8/1. England’s Cardinal Vincent Nicols stood at 20/1.

On the plane the Pope again supported the decision by his predecessor Pope Benedict to retire - the first pope to do so in 600 years - and suggested he might do the same.

“Let us think about what he said,” the Pope said of Benedict. “I have got old, I do not have the strength. It was a beautiful gesture of nobility, of humility and courage.”

The Pope pointed out that 70 years ago, bishops rarely retired. “They did not exist, but today emeritus bishops are an institution,” he said.

“I think that the emeritus pope is already an institution because our life gets longer and at a certain age there isn’t the capacity to govern well because the body gets tired, and maybe one’s health is good but there isn’t the capacity to carry forward all the problems of a government like that of the Church,” he said.

“I would do the same,” he added. “I would pray, but I would do the same. He (Benedict) opened a door that is institutional, not exceptional.”

Despite his talk of death and retirement, the Pope was also keen to lay out plans for future foreign trips, suggesting he still has plenty of energy.

After suggesting that the UN should get involved in halting the advance of the Islamic militants in Iraq, the Pope said he was willing to visit northern Iraq, even though “at the moment it is not the best thing to do”.

He said he was aiming to visit Philadelphia next year, had been invited by Barack Obama to the US Congress and by the secretary general of the United Nations to visit the UN in New York.

“So maybe the three cities together,” he said. “Then there’s Mexico. The Mexicans want me to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, so we could take advantage of that too, but it’s not certain.”

He was also mulling a quick trip to Spain, he said.

Following trips to Brazil, the Holy Land and South Korea, the Vatican has confirmed Francis will visit Albania in September and Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January.

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The New Map Of Nigeria, As Proposed By Nigeria National Confab if approved by President Goodluck Jonathan. 18 additional new states!

New Map Of Nigeria

 Nigeria could have 18 new states following the July 3rd recommendation of the delegates of the National Confab if approved by President Goodluck Jonathan.     The states which were carved from the 6 geo-political zones of the country will bring the total number of states in Nigeria to 54.   Members of the National Conference Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government jointly headed by Ike Nwachukwu & Mohammed Kumalia released a copy of the newly proposed map of Nigeria with the additional states added. The additional new states are:
Apa from Benue
Edu from Niger
Kainji from Kebbi state
Katagum from Bauchi
Savannah from Borno
Amana from Adamawa
Gurara from Kaduna
Ghari from Kano
Etiti from South East
Aba from Abia
Adada from Enugu
Njaba from Anambra and Imo
Oil River from Rivers state
Anioma from Delta state
Ogoja from Cross River State
Ijebu from Ogun State
Ose state from Edo
New Oyo State from the present Oyo State  
 Meanwhile the closing ceremony for the CONFAB will take place August 21st 2014, where the final report adopted by the delegates will be handed to President Jonathan for consideration and approval.

Sacked Governor Nyako Vows To Challenge Impeachment In Court

Nyako
Ousted Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako has described his impeachment by the House of Assembly as illegal.

He vowed yesterday to challenge the process in court to reclaim his mandate.

Nyako, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Ahmad Sajoh, said divine justice would soon be done.

Read his statement in part:

“Everything they have done is illegal. They have contravened the Constitution; they have violated court order. Their motto is that if they don’t subdue, they will destroy.

“They have done their worst, they can’t go beyond this. But there is divine justice waiting for all in the end. Can anyone run away from divine justice?

“They have done it. We are people of faith. Without the leave of Allah, they cannot do it. Sometimes, Allah gives and takes power. Sometimes, Allah chooses the most difficult path to take power but at the end of the day a pleasant era will come.

“Allah’s will has been done but we are challenging the process in the court. This is not only for the sake of reclaiming the mandate but for the sake of posterity.”

After deliberating on the report of the Investigative Panel headed by Buba Kaigama, 18 of the 25 members of the Adamawa Assembly opted to remove Nyako.

There were plans to arrest Nyako, who was said to have left Yola late Monday.

Shortly after the impeachment, the Assembly wrote the acting Chief Judge of the state to inaugurate Speaker Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as the acting governor.

According to sources, PDP leaders in the state opted for “arm-twisting” when they discovered that they could not initially secure the majority to remove Nyako.

But to push the impeachment proceeding through, the “hawks” prevailed on Ngilari to resign.

A source said: “The resignation of Ngilari was the joker which was used to convince pro-Nyako lawmakers that the game was up.

“Those against Nyako queried the rationale of leaving the governor untouched when the deputy has quit.

“The game-plan is to compensate Ngilari with a juicy appointment.”

It was gathered that to intimidate the Assembly members, those against Nyako in the Presidency mobilised troops, policemen and security agents to Yola.

Meanwhile the National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Northeast, Mr. Babachir David Lawal, described Nyako’s impeachment as “illegal”.

Lawal Statement in part: 

“The whole process was characterized by a litany of illegalities. The constitution requires a direct service of impeachment notice on the governor and this was not done by the House of Assembly. The Assembly opted for substituted service but the Supreme Court has ruled that such a notice must be personally served.

“But we know we are dealing with people who have no respect for law; we are dealing with members of the House of Assembly who have no respect for the constitution they have sworn to obey.

“They are doing this because they have the assurances of their sponsors in Abuja that whatever illegalities they committed, they would assist them to sustain it.”

Maltreatment Galore on Nigerians With Accident Injuries in the hands Spanish Police.

Orihuela, a suburb city from the region of Alicante, west of Torrevieja, in Kingdom of Spain where our associate reporter reveals the mal treatment melted upon Five Nigerians by the Orihuela police command, who were returning from a child dedication party held at Elche, in the same region, on the 13 th day of July, around 11.12 pm, who  had traffic accident, was shocking and alarming. The accident victims with higher grade injuries were lock up in police cell.

All efforts to reach the police command was blocked by the police when  visits to see the victims inside the police cell  before they were released. The victims explained that on their way to Torrevieja from the party, they ran into a purported traffic police control which they were stooped and cleared but only to be chased by the police again which resulted to a fatal motor accident.

As narrated by the victims, "the car collided with the round about wall and the police were asking of papers instead of assisting us to get out from the car and even when we managed to come out, the driver was unconscious, the other had limb fracture and the other legs and arms broken, the police draw the driver on the ground...

Later as the ambulance arrive at the scene of the accident, the police took them to the nearby clinic at Orihuela and without proper genuine treatment as discovered later by the Torrevieja General hospital were two of the victims undergone operations subsequently, the accident victims were put into police cells with injuries, despite their pains, cries, shout and plead for medical attention, all these fell on deaf ears till the arrival of the lawyer who came the next day around 2.45pm. Yet, the driver was denied bail till the next day.

Information gathered by our reporter is that the medical sheet given to the victim after the accident at Orihuela Clinic was useless as no treatments were administered on the injuries according to the Torrevieja General Hospital management, hence, two of the victims went for emergency operations and questioned why were the victims allowed to go out from the Orihuela clinic and put into police cell with such severe injuries when they were not confirmed criminals?

The human right commission provides rooms for anybody under police arrest for proper medical attention and humane treatments but why the Orihuela Police command acted the way they did remains questionable.
Ironically, four of the victims were not charged to court before they were released to the lawyer and the driver of the car, Mr Thomas,  was released at the court on the second day at Orihuela where the driver explained that the police control where he had the encounter with the police was not properly managed by the two police men and he was afraid when he was chased, thinking they were not police officers because no signs of police control were installed on the road and it was late in the night.

All efforts to confirm the allegation failed.

...Loud News Today crew.
Spain.

EDO STATE MARKET WOMEN AND ABA WOMEN`S RIOT OF 1929. CAN WE HAVE ANOTHER HISTORY IN EDO STATE COME 2016 GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION?

market women

By Prince Kelly O. Udebhulu

I recall once again that the "riots" or the war, led by women in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria in November and December of 1929, became known as the "Aba Women's Riots of 1929" in British colonial history, or as the "Women's War" in Igbo history.  Thousands of Igbo women organized a massive revolt against the policies imposed by British colonial administrators in southeastern Nigeria, touching off the most serious challenge to British rule in the history of the colony.  The "Women's War" took months for the government to suppress and became a historic example of feminist and anti-colonial protest.  

market women

On the 1st of July, 2014, APC`S Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State received over 2,000 Market Women from across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state that paid him a solidarity visit at the Government House, Benin City while on the 4th of July, 2014, Edo State market women  have thrown their weight behind the leadership of Edo State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party in their quest to bring sanity into the political system in the state and the party’s desire to reclaim the number one position in the state with their solidarity visit to the PDP` s Secretariat. 

Can Edo State Market women do the same and make history as to the tone of Aba Women`s Riots of 1929?

EDHA CRISIS: THOSE THE GODS WANT TO DESTROY. PART ONE.

Odion Odianosen

By Odianosen Odion

"Haters, You goofed"!
"...the suicidal error your master (Adams) made was to apply the Amaechi treatment to the Edo case..."

The constitutional mandate to legislate reside with the elected members not a piece of wood or iron called the mace.Even in our shrines,the objects of worship have no use unless the legitimate priests are present.In cases where the objects of worship are taken away,as happened in the massacre of 1884, whatever the priests approved of became acceptable to the gods. If the members can legitimately sit anywhere other than the place designated as the house of assembly complex,it goes without saying that the members & not mere symbols hold the mandate.

The suicidal error your master made was to apply the Amaechi treatment to the Edo case, forgetting that whereas the members Amaechi fears are just four, those who seek to bring your oga to account are nine members who form the constitutional qourum. For the avoidance of doubt,two-third majority is required of members present. Those who are holed up in a kitchen of the executive complex and therefore willingly absent from proceedings have no case.

Those the gods seek to destroy...!!!

Edo is too big to fit into the small pocket of Adamu Oshiomhole.!!!

Edo People Are Not Fools. Gov. Oshiomhole tells Pastor Ize-Iyamu.

GOV,OSHIOMHOLE ADDRESSING THE CROWD.

LOUD NEWS TODAY-BENIN CITY. Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has challenged Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, former Secretary to the State Government during the administration of Mr. Lucky Igbinedion, to render his account of stewardship as SSG which made positive impact on the people of the state, saying he failed to use his office to impact on the people.

He threw the challenge today, when he received over 2,000 Market Women from across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state who paid him a solidarity visit at the Government House, Benin City.

Oshiomhole said “I defeated the Peoples Democratic Party in all the Wards and Local Governments in the last election conducted and that was due to the massive support from you Market Women. After the defeat, a man who claims to be a Pastor, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, insisted on being imposed on Edo People as the Governor. I refused because I said, as former Chief of Staff to the State Government, what did you do?

“What effort did you make in bringing development to Edo People? Did you give your people electricity? Did you give them water? Did you give them good roads? How did you influence the government in bringing development to even your constituencies? Did you bring hospital to the people?

Oshiomhole added. “Even as Secretary to the State Government, I requested to know from him how he impacted on the government. All the money that came from Abuja during his tenure as SSG, he was first to receive, what did he do with it? How many markets did he build with it? Which erosion did he assist in controlling even at a time when erosion was a threat to the people of the state?

“Everywhere I go, people begin to ask me, why did you always allow this man to go with you? Like you the Market Women have said, in the morning, you see some of them as PDP, at night they become APC, and how can you commit the resources of the State to such people? Oshiomhole asked.

The Governor continued, “For me, I cannot bring such a man because a gateman that cannot watch over the house cannot be seen as a good security man. A woman who is given money for home upkeep and instead decides to hide it for her own selfish interest cannot be entrusted with money again. Hence I told Pastor, Edo People are not fools.”

Oshiomhole regretted that some are in politics and parade themselves as Servants of God to deceive many.

According to him, “When some people know they have bad names already, they claim to now be Pastors. That is why these days, though there are so many genuine pastors, but there are some that call themselves pastors for political reasons to perpetrate evil.”

Oshiomhole assured the people of Edo State that he will not allow those that looted the state to now take over the helms of affair of the people saying that Edo people will decide who lead them when the time comes.

He assured the women of his administration’s unflinching support for them, stressing that his relationship with them can be likened to a Catholic marriage that can never be broken. He promised to use the resources of the State to continually develop the state so as to ensure that development gets to all the 192 Wards of the state.

The market women Coordinators from all the local governments who spoke during the solidarity visit castigated four lawmakers in the state house of Assembly for selling the mandate freely given to them to the opposition party.

They praised the Governor’s effort in the provision of employments to youths in the state, provision of infrastructural facilities and providing the right environment for businesses to thrive.

Leader of the market women, Madam Blacky Omoregie said the state cannot afford to go back to the dark days when the state was backward.

According to her, “The People's Democracy Party is shouting war when there is no war. By the time the war will start, they will have no other option but to save their own various heads. We market women are the people that vote, so we are waiting for them in the field”, she concluded.