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Hong Kong leader vows education overhaul after protests

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Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader on Monday vowed to overhaul the city’s education system, arguing its liberal studies curriculum helped fuel last year’s violent pro-democracy protests.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam described the current secondary school programme as a “chicken coop without a roof” and said her government would soon unveil their plans.

“In terms of handling the subject of liberal studies in the future, we will definitely make things clear to the public within this year,” she told the pro-government Ta Kung Pao newspaper in an interview published Monday.

Her comments are likely to inflame those Hong Kongers who fear Beijing is chipping away at the freedoms that make the city a major international draw as political tensions rise once more.

With the backing of Beijing, Hong Kong’s government is pushing ahead with a bill that outlaws insulting China’s national anthem and leading pro-establishment figures are lobbying for an anti-sedition law.

The government says new legislation is needed to curb snowballing support — especially among younger Hong Kongers — for democracy and greater autonomy from China.

Opponents say the laws will cut back on free speech and do little to heal the city’s festering divides.

Hong Kong has some of Asia’s best schools and universities with academic freedoms unseen in mainland China.

Liberal studies was introduced in 2009 as a way to foster critical thinking with schools allowed to choose how they teach it.

But it has become a bete noire for Chinese state media and pro-Beijing politicians who have called for more patriotic education.

In Monday’s interview, Lam said she felt the classes allowed teachers to push their political biases and that greater oversight by the government was now needed.

Protests rekindle
Hong Kong was convulsed by seven straight months of often-violent youth-led pro-democracy protests last year, with millions hitting the streets.

More than 8,000 people have been arrested — around 17 percent of them secondary school students.

The mass arrests and the coronavirus pandemic ushered in a period of enforced calm.

But with the finance hub successfully tackling its COVID-19 outbreak — and social distancing measures easing — small protests have bubbled up.

On Sunday, riot police chased flash-mob protesters through multiple shopping malls.

They later used pepper spray and batons against protesters, bystanders and journalists in the district of Mong Kok.

Police said 230 people were arrested throughout the day, aged between 12 and 65.

“Police condemn protestors for disregarding the Government’s disease prevention and control measures, and participating in or organising prohibited group gatherings,” the force said in a statement on Monday.

Lam has resisted calls for universal suffrage or an independent inquiry into the police’s handling of the protests.

In the New Year, she vowed to heal the divisions coursing through Hong Kong, but her administration has offered little in the way of reconciliation or a political solution.

Arrests and prosecutions have continued apace, while Beijing’s offices in the city sparked a constitutional row last month by announcing a greater say in how Hong Kong is run.

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Senator Ifeanyi Ubah dies at 52

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The Senator representing Anambra South in the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Ubah, is dead.

Ubah, who was the Chief Executive Officer of Capital Oil, was said to have died in a hotel in London, the United Kingdom, on Saturday.

He would have been 53 on September 3.

Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, confirmed Ubah’s death to our correspondent on Saturday.

He said, “It’s confirmed, but I am sending an official statement soon.”

Ubah, who was re-elected into the 10th Senate under the Young Peoples Party, had last year defected to the All Progressive Congress.

In September 2022, Ubah escaped assassination when he was attacked by gunmen on his way to Nnewi in Enugwu-Ukwu in Anambra State.

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JUST IN: Edo state Assembly impeaches Deputy Governor Shaibu

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The Edo State House of Assembly, on Monday, impeached the state’s Deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu.

The impeachment followed the adoption of the report of the seven-man investigative panel set up by the Assembly to probe allegations of misconduct against Shaibu.

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JUST IN: Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun joins ancestors at 81

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The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun has joined his ancestors after a brief illness.

He joined his ancestors at the age of 81.

It was gathered that the late monarch was taken to the hospital Wednesday morning having stayed indoor throughout Tuesday on account of slight malaria fever, though, he was hail and hearty on Monday during which he personally received few guests that paid him congratulatory visits on his second year anniversary on that day.

Making this announcement was the Baba-Kekere Olubadan and his younger brother, Dr Kola Balogun in a statement by the Personal Assistant (Media) to the late monarch, Oladele Ogunsola.

According to the statement, Dr. Balogun disclosed that Oba Balogun would be buried at his Aliiwo ancestral home by 4.00pm on Friday according to Islamic rites just as he said that the State Governor Seyi Makinde, though already verbally informed, would be formally notified early in the morning.

The late Olubadan was the first most educated to have emerged as Ibadan monarch, a British trained P.hd holder, a former university lecturer, former member of management staff of Shell British Petroleum, former gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Nigeria People’s Party, NPP, former Senator and a successful business man.

His last official outing was the Olubadan Advisory Council’s meeting which he presided over last Saturday where the decision to derobed Mogaji Akinsola, Olawale Oladoja was taken.

He however, on Tuesday instructed the Ekerin Olubadan, Oba Hamidu Ajibade to midwife a small committee to deliberate on last Friday’s decision on what should be the position of Ibadan Zone in the proposed newly reconstituted Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs.

The decision of the small committee was earlier on Thursday ratified by the Olubadan Advisory Council at a meeting presided over by Otun Olubadan and the former governor of Oyo State, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja and was to be taken to the late Oba Balogun for his signature Friday morning so as to meet the deadline for submission to the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters later in the day.

The late Olubadan is survived by wives, children and grandchildren.

Announcing the passage of the monarch, Governor Makinde, in a statement, stated that Olubadan, who joined his ancestors late Thursday evening at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, described him as an epitome of royal excellence and a great achiever, who made great marks on Ibadanland in just a little over two years of his reign.

He expressed his condolences to the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland and Oyo State, praying to God to grant repose to the soul of the deceased monarch.

Makinde said: “With total submission to the will of God, I announce the passing unto glory of our father, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Dr. Mohood Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland.

“A mighty Iroko has fallen; Oba Dr. Balogun has joined the ancestors.

“In Kabiyesi, Ibadanland had a cosmopolitan and well-experienced Olubadan, who made indelible marks on the sands of history and achieved greatly within a short while.

“On behalf of the Government and good People of Oyo State, I condole with the immediate family of the Oba Dr. Balogun, the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland.

“It is my prayer that God grants repose to the soul of our late monarch.”

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