Trump approves legislation backing Hong Kong protesters
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law congressional legislation backing protesters in Hong Kong despite angry objections from Beijing, with which he is seeking a deal to end a damaging trade war.
The legislation, approved unanimously by the US Senate and by all but one lawmaker in the House of Representatives last week, requires the State Department to certify, at least annually, that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to justify favourable US trading terms that have helped it maintain its position as a world financial centre.
The law also threatens sanctions for human rights violations.
Congress passed a second bill, which Trump also signed, banning the export to the Hong Kong police of crowd-control munitions, such as teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and stun guns.
“I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi (Jinping), China, and the people of Hong Kong.
They are being enacted in the hope that Leaders and Representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all,” Trump said in a statement.
At the heart of the matter in Beijing’s promise to allow Hong Kong a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years when it regained sovereignty over the city in 1997, a pledge that has formed the basis of the territory’s special status under U.S. law. Protesters say freedoms have been steadily eroded.
Trump had been vague about whether he would sign or veto the legislation while trying to strike a deal with China on trade that he has made a top priority ahead of his 2020 re-election bid.
After Congress passed the bill, Trump’s aides debated whether the president’s endorsement could undermine efforts to reach an interim trade deal with China, and most of them ultimately recommended the signing to show support for the protesters, a person familiar with the matter said.
The decision was also influenced by the overwhelming majorities in the Senate and House in favor of the legislation, which was widely seen as making the bills veto-proof, as well as the landslide election victory in Hong Kong earlier this week of critics of Chinese rule, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If Trump had opted to use his veto, it could have been overridden by two-thirds votes in both the Senate and the House. The legislation would have automatically become law on Dec. 3 if Trump had opted to do nothing.
China has denounced the legislation as gross interference in its affairs and a violation of international law.
After the Senate passed the legislation, Beijing vowed counter-measures to safeguard its sovereignty and security.
Last week, Trump boasted that he alone had prevented Beijing from crushing the demonstrations with a million soldiers, while adding that he had told President Xi that doing so would have “a tremendous negative impact” on trade talks.
China has warned the US it could take “firm counter-measures” if Washington continues to show support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
The warning came after US President Donald Trump signed the Human Rights and Democracy Act into law.
The act mandates an annual review, to check if Hong Kong has enough autonomy to justify special status with the US.
Mr Trump is currently seeking a deal with China, in order to end a trade war between the two countries.
“The US has been disregarding facts and distorting the truth,” a Chinese foreign ministry statement said.
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BREAKING: Court Asked To Stop Alleged Moves By AGF To Extradite Air Peace Boss, Onyema To US
A court has been asked to stop the alleged moves by the AGF to extradite Air Peace CEO to the USA.
According to a report by Sun News, the alleged acts of fraud against the Chairman of Airpeace Airline Company, Mr. Allen Onyema by the United States of America (USA) has mertmorphosed into a legal action with a suit by a human rights activist and legal practitioner, Johnmary Jideobi, seeking to stop the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) from attempts to extradite him to the United States of America (USA) for trial.
In the suit before the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, the plaintiff also requested for an order of the court restraining any agency of government with prosecutorial powers as represented by AGF either by themselves, their servants, privies, assigns or any other person or authority acting under any concerts from attempting to use or seeking to harass, threaten, arrest or inviting or arresting Onyema in relations to Civil aviation contract he entered with American authorities through his companies.
In the suit with Reference No.: FHC/ABJ/CS/1446/2019, the activist also sought the court order barring government, its agencies, servants of privies from giving effect to any extradition request from any country of the world especially the United States of America anchored on any indictment or charges reflecting in substance or similar fact as contained in the US extradition request against Onyema.
The court was also urged to make any other order or orders as circumstances in his situation may warrant.
In a 6-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit, the applicant claimed to have come from Anambra state with Onyema and that he had known him as a reputable business man in the aviation sector over the years.
The activist averred that the freedom of Onyema has become endangered in the country and likely to be curtailed in the circumstances of the alleged fraud indictment.
The affidavit deposed to by one Martin’s Okoye, a legal practitioner said that the applicant has piously with sufficient understanding the entirety of the alleged criminal indictment and believed that the totality of the facts and circumstances surrounding the indictment points to multiple civil aviation-related transactions Onyema through his companies entered into with his business partners in America whose businesses have not shown to have come under any criminal suspicion in America.
He therefore asked the court to make declaration that the federal government has no power to abridge the fundamental right of Onyema to freedom of movement as enshrined under section 35 of the 1999 constitution
Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer of the biggest private airline in the country was said to have been indicted for fraud by the American government.
The American authorities were said to have been making efforts to apply for extradition of the business man to enable them put him on trial for the alleged fraud.
Meanwhile, no date has yet been fixed for hearing of the suit filed on November 25, 2019.
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Allen Onyema: How I sourced Money To fund Air Peace
When the news broke over the weekend that Allen Onyema had been indicted in the United States for multi-million dollar fraud, a question that echoed amongst Nigerians was how he moved from relative obscurity to become one of the biggest players in Nigeria’s aviation sector in just about half a decade.
Some commentators said the indictment buttressed their suspicion that Mr Onyema might be a fraudster like many Nigerian businessmen with unexplained wealth; while others rehashed old claims that he has been fronting for unscrupulous politicians who cornered public funds and invested the same through him.
Mr Onyema established Air Peace Limited in 2013, and by the end of 2018, it had gained the largest share in Nigeria’s domestic air travel, according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The airline also recorded tremendous breakthrough in foreign travels, flying to more countries in Asia, Europe and Africa than any other Nigerian commercial flights operator.
Earlier this year, the company announced it was expanding both its fleet and destinations, which would include Atlanta and Houston, and effectively asserted its place as a blue-chip entity in the Nigerian aviation industry.
A daunting indictment
But all that came raised more suspicion with the allegation Friday that the man behind the thriving airline had been involved in multiple layers of sharp practices spanning several years in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Mr Onyema was indicted by a grand jury on several counts of criminal charges bordering on identity theft, bank fraud and money laundering. Facing the charges alongside him is Ejiroghene Eghagha, Air Peace’s head of finance and administration.
The full indictment narrated how Mr Onyema, aided by his alleged accomplice Ms Eghagha, allegedly raised several letters of credit to buy the same planes he had already purchased and added to Air Peace’s fleet of commercial airliners in Nigeria.
Based on the dubious letters of credit, American banking giant Wells Fargo transferred more than $21 million to bank accounts of U.S.-based Springfield Aviation, a suspected shell company registered and controlled by Mr Onyema. Wells Fargo paid the money to Mr Onyema in a series of transactions between February 10, 2017 and February 20, 2018, court documents said.
Within hours after the indictment was made public, Mr Onyema released a statement pushing back strongly against the charges. He said he would vigorously defend his honour in court, but did not indicate whether or not he would be heading to the United States soon.
Based on the charges, American prosecutors have secured court warrants for the arrest of Messrs Onyema and Eghagha in the United States. Corresponding warrants have also been issued for Canadian authorities to detain both suspects should either or both of them be found there.
Financing Air Peace
Although a large section of Nigerian social media already expressed doubts about the veracity of American charges against Mr Onyema even before his rebuttal Saturday morning, many others withheld their support for the businessman because they felt the source of his wealth, especially how he acquired Air Peace, had been shrouded in secrecy.
“It is only in Nigeria that someone can become a billionaire overnight and you cannot unravel how he accumulated his wealth no matter how deep you dig,” business analyst, Osahon Ojigbede, told PREMIUM TIMES. “It is one of the reasons I have been very reluctant to go with those who say we should give Mr Onyema the benefit of the doubt.”
Mr Ojigbede said he was particularly gripped by a section of the indictment which said Mr Onyema established several non-profit organisations to move funds around in a manner typical of money laundering.
“Since he has said he would clear his name in court, I look forward to seeing how he plans to address charges of drafting fake purchase documents and using proceeds of non-profits to directly fund commercial businesses,” Mr Ojigbede said.
American authorities said Mr Onyema used about $3 million from his NGOs, including Foundation for Ethnic Harmony, International Centre for Non-Violence and Peace Development, All-Time Peace Media Communications Limited and Every Child Limited, to buy planes for Air Peace.
PREMIUM TIMES reached out repeatedly to Mr Onyema in the wake of the allegations, but he has yet to agree to be interviewed.
However, he briefly addressed how he raised funds to start Air Peace in an April 2017 interview with City People, an entertainment weekly based in Lagos.
In the interview, Mr Onyema expressed his ‘irritation’ about a perennial rumour that he had been fronting for Patience Jonathan in operating Air Peace, saying he had “never met” the former Nigerian First Lady in his life.
He said he grew up in Warri, but moved to Lagos shortly after graduating from the University of Ibadan and becoming a lawyer in 1989. When he moved to Lagos in 1990, he initially joined a law firm, where he worked for a few years before going into real estate.
It was in real estate that he said he became fortunate from selling lands in Lekki and other priced areas in the Nigerian commercial capital.
“By 2008, I was receiving about 18 per cent interest on my deposits. I was building estates from interest alone,” he told City People.
He said it was in 2008 that he discussed launching Air Peace with his wife, and getting a licence for the airline took several years with exhaustive efforts.
“I brought my finances into it (Air Peace) while getting support from the banks too,” Mr Onyema told the magazine.
“When I had gone halfway with the acquisition of my aircraft, I discovered that it was more than I thought. So I borrowed money from the banks.
“Fidelity Bank is there for anyone who cares to see. I pay the bank daily from sales. It is automatic,” Mr Onyema said.
Since then, Mr Onyema said Air Peace has become so successful that commercial banks can no longer pass on any opportunity to do business with it, even as he emphasised that the company was whole owned by him.
“I have integrity and every bank that knows my pedigree like Fidelity would readily do business with me,” Mr Onyema said. “I equally borrowed from Zenith but not as much as I did with Fidelity. This is how I set up my airline. For the record, I own Air Peace 100 per cent.”
In another interview with the Vanguard last October, Mr Onyema said Air Peace had a staff strength of 3,000, out of which about 2,000 are women. He spoke glowingly of the dedication of women on his staff, especially top officials like Ms Eghagha whose intelligence and energy he said keep the company flourishing.
Source: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/365090-how-i-made-my-fortune-to-start-air-peace-onyema.html
An 11 year old maid who was battered and allegedly fed faeces and cockroaches by her employer has been rescued after she was found with bruises all over her body.
An 11-year-old house girl who was allegedly assaulted and fed with cockroaches and faeces by her madam, has been rescued by activist Gwamnishu Harrison in Awka, Anambra State.
The girl is now currently receiving medical attention at Amaku General Hospital in Awka.
She was rescued from a dungeon where she laid helpless with wounds and scars all over her face and body.
Disclosing how it happened, Gwamnishu wrote "A concerned citizen reached out to us on the case of an 11-year old house girl locked up, beaten up and fed with cockroaches and faeces.
"We quickly swung into action, got to Awka and rescued the little girl from the dungeon where she laid helpless with septic wounds and scars all over her face and body. She is currently on admission at Amaku General Hospital, Awka." .
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19 cows struck dead in Osun
At least 19 cows were killed by lightning at Iba in Ifelodun local government area of Osun state.
According to NAN, some herdsmen were rearing their cattle on the field around Apala area of the town when the incident happened.
While sympathising with the herdsmen over the incident, Adekunle Oyedeji, the monarch of the town, asked them to burn the dead cows to avoid outbreak of epidemic.
In a statement by Gbolagunte Bamigbola, his media aide, Oyedeji called for calm among indigenes and residents of the town.
“The people of Iba, have over the years been living harmoniously with Fulani natives living in our domain,” he said.
“The death of the cows belonging to the Fulani cattle rearers living among us was a natural occurrence ocassioned by a thunder that struck in the town.”
Also, Gboyega Oyetola, the governor, sympathised with owners of the dead cows.
Oyetola, who spoke through Biodun Ajisefini, his special adviser for agriculture and food security, commended the people of the town for living peacefully with herdsmen in the town.
“We are indeed sad about the unfortunate incident. Lightning is a natural phenomenon that we have no power or control over. The traders who suffered this loss are part of us, not strangers,” he said.
“They have lived here for decades and I commend them for their exemplary contributions to peace in Iba community. I want to assure them of my support and indeed government’s support at a time like this.”
In September, 36 cows were struck dead (pictured) by lightning at Ijare in Ifedore local government area of Ondo state.
The cows had strayed into a “sacred hill” in the town.
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