WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian drone disables Russian warship near Russia's Novorossiysk port

A Russian warship was seriously damaged in an overnight Ukrainian naval drone attack on Russia's Black Sea navy base at Novorossiysk, the first time the Ukrainian navy has projected its power so far from the country's shores.

The port, which handles 2% of the world's oil supply and also exports grain, temporarily halted civilian ship movement before resuming normal operations, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium which operates an oil terminal there.

Russia's Defence Ministry said a Ukrainian attack by two sea drones had been repelled in the waters outside the base and that the drones had been destroyed. It made no mention of any damage in its short statement.

A Ukrainian intelligence source said the Olenegorsky Gornyak, a Russian Navy landing ship with around 100 Russian servicemen on board, had been hit by a sea drone carrying 450 kilograms of TNT.

"As a result of the attack, the Olenegorsky Gornyak received a serious breach and currently cannot conduct its combat missions," the source told Reuters, adding that the operation had been carried out by Ukraine's Security Service and the navy. "All the Russian statements about a 'repelled attack' are fake."

Video footage verified by Reuters showed the Olenegorsky Gornyak being towed to shore by a tug, listing heavily to its port side.

Andriy Ryzhenko, a retired Ukrainian Navy captain and naval consultant, estimated the sea drones had travelled 740 km (460 miles) from their likely launch area to Novorossiysk, which would amount to a significant increase in their range.

"It was the first time ... the Ukrainian navy projected power so far away," he said.

A source with knowledge of the port's operations said a large Russian naval vessel had to be towed ashore because it could not move under its own power after being damaged.

The source, who did not name the vessel, said oil and grain loadings were still taking place at the port, which resumed normal operations hours after the attack.

Ukraine referred to the Olenegorsky Gornyak without directly claiming responsibility for the attack.

"We have open information that it is indeed damaged," said Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the southern military command said, adding "it is absolutely legal to destroy the potential of the enemy in time of war."

The Kremlin referred questions to the defence ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Ukrainian source shared a grainy video that looked like it had been shot from the top of a maritime drone that sails right up to the side of a large vessel before the video abruptly cuts out and turns to pixels.

"Another Russian ship is teetering, undermining the aggressor's security reputation in the Black Sea waters," Ukraine's foreign ministry said on X, previously known as Twitter, adding that one of its compartments had flooded.

Andrei Kravchenko, a Novorossiysk city official, said on the Telegram app that the Olenegorsky Gornyak was one of two ships that had "instantly reacted" to fend off the Ukrainian attack.

RISING BLACK SEA TENSIONS

Russian social media users had reported hearing explosions and gunfire near Novorossiysk on Friday morning.

"Tonight, the armed forces of Ukraine attempted to attack the Novorossiysk naval base with two unmanned sea boats," the Defence Ministry said in its statement.

"In the course of repelling the attack, the unmanned boats were visually detected and destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ships guarding the outer waters of the naval base."

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium which loads oil onto tankers in Novorossiysk said its facilities had not been damaged and that oil loadings continued onto tankers which were already moored.

The port is one of the biggest in the Black Sea, and a major terminal for the export of oil and oil products. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is the main exporter of Kazakh crude oil.

Exports of Russian and Kazakh oil from Novorossiysk average around 1.8 million barrels per day, or about 2% of global oil supply.

Britain's military intelligence service said last September that Russia's Black Sea Fleet had relocated some submarines from the Crimean port of Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, probably because of the increased threat of Ukrainian long-range strikes.

Retired Ukrainian Navy captain Ryzhenko said the drone video suggested the Russian vessel had been taken by surprise.

"Open windows were visible with the lights on inside. No sailors on the top deck (were) looking for a possible threat. This drone just hit in the middle and caused significant damage to this ship," he said.

"This is quite a serious signal to Russia that other attacks can be conducted and for them it will be unsafe to keep vessels even in Novorossiysk."

Tensions in and near the Black Sea have escalated since Russia last month withdrew from a deal allowing the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports. Russian drones and missiles have since repeatedly struck Ukrainian port facilities and grain silos on or near the Black Sea.

Ukraine sank Russia's flagship, the cruiser Moskva, in April 2022 and said in June last year that it had hit a Russian naval tugboat with Western-supplied anti-ship missiles.

The Ukrainian source did not mention other attacks on warships, but said Friday's hit was the latest in a string of successful operations by the security service, including sabotage operations on Russia's bridge to occupied Crimea last year and last month.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had also repelled an attempted Ukrainian attack on Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, using at least 13 aeroplane-like drones. It said there were no casualties or damage.

** Blasts in Crimea, officials report Ukraine drone attack

Explosions were heard near the bridge linking Russian-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland early on Saturday, Russian-appointed officials reported, saying the blasts were linked to a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian tanker.

Russia's sea rescue service in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk said tugboats were dispatched to help the tanker, which was damaged and unable to operate on its own.

"We can say that the tanker is damaged in the (Kerch) strait, only on the south side," Russia's Tass news agency quoted the rescue centre as saying.

"They will deal with it now on whether to take it under tow or not. It is standing at anchor for the moment. The machine room suffered some damage, not too badly."

Russia-installed officials in the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, said the latest explosions had nothing to do with the bridge, which has come under serious attack twice in the 17-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine, which rarely comments on attacks on Russian targets, made no official statement on the incident.

Traffic was halted for a time on the bridge, the third such stop in the past 24 hours, but later resumed.

"Once again, there was no direct attack on the Crimea bridge and there was no explosion in the immediate vicinity," Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Ukraine's UNIAN news agency said three explosions had been reported in the area.

Ukrainian news reports and pro-Russian officials in occupied parts of Ukraine said Ukrainian drones had attacked a tanker vessel in the Kerch Strait operating under a Russian flag and identified as the SIG.

One Russian-appointed official in Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, posted an audio clip in which the vessel had requested a tow from tugboats.

Rogov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, posted pictures of what he described as shattered fixtures and equipment inside the vessels.

The ship, he said, had been supplying oil to Russian troops in Syria.

The bridge, completed by Russia in 2018, four years after Moscow annexed the peninsula from Ukraine, has been subjected to two major attacks in the 17-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the most recent one occurring last month.

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for the attacks only indirectly.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev loses over 43,000 troops in botched counteroffensive — Russia’s top brass

The Ukrainian military has lost over 43,000 troops and about 5,000 items of military hardware, including 26 combat aircraft and 25 Leopard tanks since it launched its counteroffensive, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"The Ukrainian army’s losses in combat operations already exceeded 43,000 personnel in June-July since the Kiev regime launched its so-called offensive," the spokesman said.

These figures do not include those wounded and foreign mercenaries evacuated to Ukrainian military hospitals and abroad, and also the personnel eliminated as a result of high-precision strikes by Russian long-range weapons in rear areas, the general said.

In addition, Russian forces have destroyed about 5,000 various Ukrainian armaments since the start of Kiev’s counteroffensive, he said.

"Over 4,900 items of the Ukrainian army’s various armament, including 26 aircraft, nine helicopters, 1,831 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, among them 25 German-made Leopard tanks, seven French AMX wheeled tanks and 21 American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles have been destroyed at the frontline," the spokesman said.

The enemy has also lost 747 field artillery guns and mortars, including 76 US-made M777 artillery systems, and also 84 motorized artillery guns from Poland, the United States, France and Germany, the general reported.

Kiev’s aborted counteroffensive

As the Russian Defense Ministry reported, the Ukrainian army has been making unsuccessful offensive attempts since June 4. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Ukrainian troops had failed to achieve success in any of the frontline areas. At a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in St. Petersburg on July 23, the Russian leader said that Kiev’s counteroffensive had failed.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov admitted in an interview with CNN that the counteroffensive was falling behind schedule, explaining this by a shortage of ammunition and air defense systems. Ukrainian Air Force Spokesman Yury Ignat pointed to Russia’s electronic warfare supremacy as one of the causes of Kiev’s stalling counteroffensive.

** Russian air defenses intercept 15 US-made HIMARS rockets in Ukraine operation

Russian air defense forces intercepted 15 rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and shot down 28 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"During the last 24-hour period, air defense capabilities intercepted 15 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system," the spokesman said.

In addition, Russian air defense systems shot down 28 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Svatovo and Lisichansk in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Donetsk, Soledar and Volnovakha in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general reported.

Reuters/Tass

I don't believe that President Bola Tinubu does not know the implications of his warmongering stance against Niger Republic. If he did not know, at least the Realists in his team must have worked out the implications by now. It has grave religious and ethnic downside.

There is a school of thought encouraging him to go on this warmongering stance.

These people including the Oduduwa Republic adherents, the Biafrans, Asari Dokubo and the Ijaw nation, the Bokists, and many other inchoate splinter groups who would move 'to their tents' and declare their own nations when the Tinubu cataclysm erupts.

No nation goes to war on behalf of Neocolonialists and other parasitic world powers to enforce democracy. What happened to the principle of 'Non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations' which the Western nations studiously adhere to. Why is Mr President crying louder than the bereaved?

The other tactics to secure votes and win an election not the same or even worse than a coup d’etat?

I think the usual platitudes should just have been mouthed by our President and then leave the people of Niger to sort themselves out.

He has stopped electricity flow to Niger.

Does he not know that we supply electric power to Niger Republic in exchange for their not constructing a Dam on their own end of the River Niger, which would have completely ruined the lives of millions of Nigerians and which will put the Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro dams out of business?

The electricity we supply is a small price we pay for the Nigeriens not to dam the said River.

He should  have consulted with General Yakubu Gowon who would have explained the depth of Nigeria's relationship with Niger starting with the reign of President Hamani Diori.

Finally, the arms dealers like vultures are locked in on this threat of war. The biggest arms dealers are the same countries encouraging ECOWAS to go to war on behalf of democracy that they do not practice. They are yearning for a large scale war in Africa, which will depopulate us and hand the region over to them F-O-C without the rigours of colonisation.

The President should not start what he cannot finish.

When it comes to near-death encounters, some tales can be quite literally unbelievable — even if they really did happen.

U/sintemp recently asked the people of Reddit, "In what unusual way have you almost died?" Wow, these are some pretty wild stories — chilling, even. See for yourself:

1. "By inhaling a cracker. I got pneumonia and was hospitalized. I don't eat those crackers anymore."

—u/EchoLynx

2. "I was digging a hole because I could — kid stuff. I only remember waking up and it was dark. I had apparently hit an underground electric line. No one knew. I was there for hours. I got up, went inside, and ate dinner. This was in the early 1980s. I pissed my pants and felt weird for a day or two. I never told my parents because I thought they’d be mad."

—u/BadLuckEddie

3. "When I was born in 1995, one of my lungs was filled with amniotic fluid. The doctors went in to drain it and inadvertently tore it instead. Then they proceeded to tear the other one in an attempt to fix the first one. My mother remembers two doctors getting into an extremely heated verbal argument over this. Doctor 1 thought he could treat me at the current hospital I was in. Doctor 2 knew that I would die if I wasn’t transferred to a better equipped emergency center. They were in such disagreement that Doctor 2 literally had to sneak me out after Doctor 1’s shift was over. Obviously, it worked. I turned out to not just make a full recovery, but I left a LOT of people scratching their heads because my body never developed scar tissue from all of that. My lungs work 100%."

—u/Ohlookitsyouagain

4. "I was born with a collapsed lung. The nurse noticed my heart was beating in the wrong place and said something. They had to dart my chest right then and there to relieve pressure on the lung. I still have a scar and it cut part of my lower pectoral muscle one one side, but I'm still alive."

—u/FaAlt

5. "In 2005, I attended the Boy Scout National Jamboree. Due to the sheer number of attendees and a heat index that reached upwards of 120°F, water was difficult to obtain until you reached the parade grounds. I became severely dehydrated to the point where I actually stopped sweating. Upon arriving at the parade grounds, there were fire trucks spraying us to cool us down. A bit of water from a fire hose landed in my bottle and I saw it foam up. In my delirium, I thought they were spraying us with soapy water. The next thing I knew, I was being carried across the grounds by multiple soldiers to a medical field tent. A woman asked me my name and it took me close to two minutes to register her question. From there, I was taken to an emergency tent where, after five failed attempts to find a vein with a needle for an IV, I was finally able to receive an IV drip. I went through 3 water bags before having to pee. From my experience, nearly dying of dehydration is far from fun."

—u/Ryanisreallame

6. "I was assisting at a target practice in the military when a trainee misfired. I got saved by my Kevlar helmet, but the force of impact pushed my head backwards and fell into the ground with so much force that I got a concussion. Next thing I know, the drill instructors are tearing that trainee a new one while I'm looking at a beautiful blue sky hearing shouting far away."

—u/CommieWhacker14

7. "I almost got crushed in a pin setter at the bowling alley when I was working on the pin table. I was lazy and, as the manager, I didn’t think anyone would turn it on but me. I was wrong, and it was a mistake I only made once."

—u/HappyHubby33

8. "I was pushed off a dock by a bully and almost drowned in front of a lifeguard who was yelling at me to stop faking. I was 9 or 10 years old and I couldn't swim. The town had a population of less than 800 and only had one lifeguard, and I was at the beach 3-5 days a week because of my family, so they knew I couldn't swim. My brother ended up pulling me out and resuscitating me himself. The lifeguard pretended she didn't notice."

—u/ModularArchive

9. "I fell 65 feet onto concrete at an indoor rock climbing facility. I was climbing up one of the easier walls to take a break from the more difficult ones I had been doing, and halfway up my climb the person holding my rope had disconnected from my rope. When I reached the top, I gave the signal that I was coming down, and I let go of the wall. I think I passed out as soon as I realized what was happening, although several friends also remember me shouting 'Look out!' I woke up on the ground and was rushed to the hospital. I was stabilized and spent two weeks in ICU and another six in hospital wards. I underwent five surgeries and several more weeks of physical therapy. My injuries include a shattered pelvis, a shattered left elbow, two broken ribs, a punctured left lung, a lacerated spleen, and permanent nerve damage on my left side. Fortunately, I was not paralyzed, and after a long recovery I'm able to lead a normal life with only a few permanent symptoms."

—u/dfieldhouse

10. "I fell down a mountain. My clothes and skin were torn badly, one of my pack straps was broken, and, while nothing felt broken, I felt like I had been beaten by baseball bats for a week. When I entered the hospital, I was bleeding from every orifice and couldn't eat or drink. For a CAT scan, they dumped 1.5 liters of a dye that, as it turns out, I was severely allergic to. I next woke up with a technician sobbing into my face and a doctor who looked like he just ran a marathon holding te shock paddles. I was informed of the allergy and was told I had died. I had to swear to the very upset technician that I'd always tell others I had such a severe allergy."

—u/Gurpguru

11. "I was sitting in a chair on my deck on my 35th birthday, hanging out around a fire with our neighbors after a cookout. Our deck has a towering, full-growth oak tree overhead. About 30 minutes after sitting down, a 25-foot branch falls from 60 feet in the air and lands squarely on my shoulder. Oddly enough, it broke my radial bone near my wrist. This tree branch scraped my neck when it hit, that’s how close it was to ending me. The cast comes off in a week."

—u/cschneider27

12. "When I was a kid, I accidentally almost choked myself by having my head sticking out of the car window. My hand accidentally hit the button that made the window roll up."

—u/East_Dog7971

13. "I almost died at a diner when I was 8, choking on a mozzarella stick that no one could get out until a doctor came to help me."

—u/FunkyFrog420

14. "I woke up during the night choking on my own acid reflux. I could not breathe anymore, and I felt like I was not gonna make it."

—u/bambagico

15. "I was 14 and pitching in baseball, and I took a line drive to my temple. It gave me a shattered skull and some internal bleeding. Apparently, if it struck more half an inch in either direction, it likely would've killed me."

—u/nwaterman44

16. "My stomach veins exploded. It was like something out of a movie, with blood pouring out of my mouth. I don’t recommend it. I'm still traumatized."

—u/pancakesquest1

17. "I was at camp, and there was a zipline-esque 'ride' simply called 'The Swing.' You were harnessed in, slowly lifted up via attached rope by your fellow campers, and when you were high enough you detached your carabiner and freely swung back and forth. The first time I ever did it, I was somehow strapped in the wrong way. The moment they started lifting me I felt discomfort around my neck and I yelled out, "It hurts my neck" and the staff on site didn't think anything of it. Moments later, I felt like my head was going to pop off, and I somehow wasn't alarmed when one of the counselors started screaming for the campers to stop pulling me up and to slowly let me down. As I descended, the pressure on my neck eased up and I was basically gasping for air. Long story short, I almost had my head popped off on the ol' swing ride."

—u/Party-Veterinarian60

18. "I went skinny dipping in a lake at night with a group of people while extremely drunk. I suddenly got out of the water and immediately passed out. If I hadn't gotten out at that moment, I probably would've drowned before anyone would have noticed, since it was pitch black outside."

—u/Speculative_sparrow

19. "Measles. I caught it on a vacation to Hawaii with my parents. It has a two week incubation period. My parents had a wedding to go to, and I assured them I would be fine on my own. I woke up on the couch fully delirious on day two.I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and I see my face covered in red spots. I called my emergency contact in the area. They came over to see my condition and tried to take my temperature, but I broke the thermometer because I was under six or seven blankets, shaking uncontrollably. They called my parents. I passed out, but I remember my dad arriving. He scooped me up without a word and rushed me to the hospital. I woke up a few days later and heard that I had a temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit and was severely dehydrated. If I hadn't been brought in when I was, I would've died the next day. I was one of only seven cases in the US that year, and the entire state of Michigan had to get a booster shot because of me."

—u/Accomplished-Leg-149

20. "A tooth abscess. The infection traveled up my face and started under my eye, and it was going to my brain. During the hospital stay, not only was a possible brain infection trying to kill me, but the doctors overdosed me on morphine and gave me an antibiotic I was allergic to, twice. My mom tore that place apart."

—u/Intelligent-Jelly419

These stories have been edited for length and clarity.

BuzzFeed

A Hungarian man temporarily became a rich man, after the company he worked for accidentally paid him 367 times more than he had actually earned. And when the employer asked for the money back, he refused to pay.

The unnamed man, who hails from Hungary’s Somogy County, briefly worked for a company in Kaposvár but his employment was terminated during the trial period. For his short stint at the company, he stood to earn 92,549 forints, which amounted to 238 euros ($260). But in a feat of incredible generosity, his employer wired him 367 times that amount.

Actually, it was just a huge mistake caused by the fact that the man had provided an Austrian bank account, so the salary had to be paid in the local currency, euros. Only instead of converting the forints to euros, they sent the lucky man 92,549 euros instead.

Soon after realizing the mistake, the Hungarian company contacted its former employee and asked him to return the money that had been accidentally wired to his bank account. However, the man said that he did not have access to the Austrian bank account anymore, so he couldn’t wire them the money back. Only that obviously wasn’t the end of it, and a subsequent police investigation found that the man had extracted some 15,500 euros in cash from his Austrian account through an ATM in southern Hungary and transferred it to another bank account.

With the help of the Kaposvár District Prosecutor’s Office, the company managed to freeze the Austrian bank account of the accused and arranged for the money to be transferred back to its own bank account. According to Hvg.hu, it has recovered around 72,000 euros so far, but hopes to eventually receive the full amount wired to its former employee.

As for the accused, he has been charged with unlawful appropriation and risks a huge fine.

Last year, we featured the similar story of a Chilean man who accidentally received 268 times his salary and vanished without a trace to avoid paying it back.

Oddity Central

President Bola Tinubu’s move to allow the nation’s currency to weaken has contributed to combined losses of $385 million at six of the nation’s biggest companies.

Airtel Africa Plc reported the biggest loss among the top Nigerian companies for the quarter ended June 30. The local units of Nestle SA and Mondelez International Inc. reported losses for the first six months of the year after revaluing overseas loans and letters of credit as the local currency depreciated 40%.

Tinubu, who took over late-May, has introduced a raft of measures to attract overseas inflows. Apart from weakening the naira, the government has also ended a fuel subsidy that cost $10 billion last year, more than tripling the pump price of gasoline and causing a jump in food prices. Accelerating inflation is eroding demand for consumer goods from chocolates to beer.

The naira’s devaluation is reverberating across the continent and beyond. Earnings at Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s second-largest wireless phone operator, missed analysts’ estimates by 44% after accounting for one-time foreign-exchange loss of 34.2 billion rupees ($413 million) in Nigeria. Meanwhile, local units of MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company, and Unilever Plc reported a drop in profits.

Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc lost

68.7 billion naira after devaluing its foreign-exchange rate to 756 naira per dollar from 461 naira in Dec. 31.

The devaluation has also increased expenses of imported raw materials, according to Cadbury Nigeria Plc. “Consumer spending power has really reduced and that has affected sales volumes of companies,” Ogaga Ologe, finance director at the unit of Mondelez said in an interview.

Cadbury also raised prices helping it increase revenue by 28%, Ologe said, adding that continued price increases have started to threaten sales volume.

Bloomberg

British multinational drugmaker and biotechnology company GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) said Thursday it is drawing the blinds on its Nigerian subsidiary after a “strategic intent” to consider other favourable business options.

GSK’s operations in Nigeria will no longer involve commercialising its prescription drugs and vaccines, meaning its activities in the country now entail the distribution of its pharmaceutical products through a third party only.

“The Haleon Group has also separately informed the Board of its intent to terminate its distribution agreement in the coming months and to appoint a third-party distributor in Nigeria for the supply of its consumer healthcare products,” the company said in a note to the Nigerian Exchange.
The decision cuts GSK’s ties of more than half a century with Africa’s largest economy, where it commenced business in 1972 through its precursor, Beecham Limited.

That partnership has birthed a broad range of top-of-the-line products from consumer brands like Ribena, Lucozade, Macleans and Sensodyne to popular medicines like Panadol and Andrews Liver Salt, which many Nigerians have developed an affinity for.

“Today we are briefing our employees whom we will treat fairly, respectfully and with care, meeting all applicable legal and consultation requirements,” the company assured.

GSK said it is holding talks with advisors who will inform shareholders of the next course of action and will work out a quick cash distribution and return of capital to shareholders, excluding GSK UK, if the Securities and Exchange Commission sanctions the plan.

The release fell on the same day GSK Nigeria published its half-year 2023 financials showing a plunge by almost half in revenue to N7.8 billion from N14.8 billion a year ago.

Earlier this year in March, Unilever, another British consumer product powerhouse Unilever announced an end to the production of its homecare and skin-cleansing products, notably Lux, Sunlight and Omo, saying “These categories are margin dilutive and the exit is part of the company’s aim to make its operation in Nigeria competitive and profitable.”

PT

Barely 24 hours after meeting with President Bola Tinubu where an agreement was reached to call off their protests, the rapprochement between the organised labour and the Federal Government appeared to have collapsed as the unions on Thursday night vowed to embark on a nationwide strike from August 14 if their leaders were summoned for contempt of court orders.

Nigeria Labour Congress hinged its decision on the contempt of court application filed by the Federal Ministry of Justice against the labour leaders on Wednesday.

It threatened to down tools should the Federal Government fails to withdraw the lawsuit accusing the labour leadership of disobeying court orders.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, announced the decision on Thursday night after the union’s National Executive Council meeting which was held in Abuja.

In a bid to avert a strike by the labour movement last month, the FG had through the Federal Ministry of Justice secured an order from the National Industrial Court restraining the NLC and the Trade Union Congress from embarking on any strike action over issues bordering on “removal of fuel subsidy, hike in prices of petrol and consequential increase in cost of living,” pending the determination of the suit.

Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Beatrice Jedy-Agba, in a statement, urged the NLC to withdraw the seven-day notice it issued on its plan to commence a nationwide industrial action from August 2, if the demands of labour unions were not met.

The justice ministry sternly warned in a statement on July 26 that the planned strike by the union would be contempt of court, an offence that is punishable by imprisonment.

According to the FG, such strike action would amount to a resort to self-help since the matter was already pending in court.

But dissatisfied by the slow negotiation process with the FG and the delay in rolling out palliative to cushion the pains of subsidy removal, the organised labour declared a nationwide protest despite the court injunction.

Lagos lawyer and solicitor to the organised labour, Femi Falana, however, insisted that the proposed protest was lawful.

As a result, the protests, which were held on Wednesday, paralysed economic and commercial activities nationwide, leading to the shutdown of banks, offices and courts in several states.

As a payback for the labour leaders’ defiance, FG on Wednesday initiated a contempt of court proceeding against the labour leaders, a development that angered the unions.

The “notice of consequences of disobedience to order of the court”, titled “Form 48,” was filed before the National Industrial Court, Abuja.

The applicants are the Federal Government and the Attorney General of the Federation, while the various leaders of the organised labour were listed as respondents.

The notice was addressed to NLC President, Joe Ajaero; Deputy Presidents, Audu Aruba, Adeyanju Adewale, and Kabiru Sani; General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja; TUC President, Festus Usifo, and General Secretary, Nuhu Toro.

“Take notice that unless you obey the directives contained in the Order of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, delivered by Honourable Justice Y. Anuwe on June 5th 2023, as per the attached Enrolled Order, you will be guilty of Contempt of Court and will be liable to be sentenced to prison,’’ the contempt notice signed by Senior Registrar, Balogun Olajide, read.

Responding to the charge, NLC President, in a statement on Thursday said the Ministry of Justice and National Industrial Court have continued to ‘’allow themselves to be used as agents of anti-democracy.”

The labour centre noted that though it agreed to suspend its protests based on its meeting with the President, it would embark on a nationwide strike starting from August 14, 2023, should the government fail to withdraw the lawsuit filed against the labour leaders.

Highlighting the decisions of the NLC, Ajaero said NEC resolved to support and affirm the decision to suspend further nationwide mass protest and to commit to maintaining the required vigilance needed to hold the government accountable for its assurances and governance in general.

The union further resolved to commit to the terminal date of August 19 within which the issues around the petroleum price hike would be agreed given the assurances of the President and the National Assembly.

The statement added that the NLC resolved “To go on total strike across the country any day labour leaders are summoned to court by the government through the NICN 5; To demand the immediate withdrawal of this litigious terrorism by the Federal Ministry of Justice before the end of work Friday, the 11th of August, 2023; To embark on a nationwide comprehensive strike beginning Monday 14th of August, 2023 if this contemptuous court summons is not withdrawn by whosoever initiated it.”

Counsel to the Organised Labour, Falana, urged the President to call the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice to order over the contempt charges filed against organised labour.

He also noted that the NLC had in no way breached any agreement it had with the President on the suspension of the nationwide protests.

Falana who spoke in an interview with our correspondent on Thursday night explained that his client had already challenged the ex parte order obtained by the justice ministry from the National Industrial Court.

The human rights lawyer said, “Labour is not in breach of any agreement. They were in a meeting with the president when a ministry official went behind to file contempt charges. That was an embarrassment.

“If the organized labour were in contempt, would the president have met with them? Would the police have marched with them? We have challenged the jurisdiction of the court, and we have challenged the competence of the ex parte order; so she (Jeddy-Agba) knows she can’t be talking of contempt of court until our motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court and competence of the ex parte order is taken.”

Punch

Ex-Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has been elected the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He succeeds Abdullahi Adamu, who resigned under controversial circumstances last month.

Ganduje was elected at the 12th National Executive Committee (NEC) Caucus meeting of the ruling party in Abuja.

A former Senate Spokesperson, Ajibola Bashiru has also been confirmed as the party’s national secretary.

Aside from Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima, several governors and chieftains of the party were present at the NEC meeting.

Before the emergence of Ganduje, top shots of the party had rejoiced over the news that he would be selected.

An aide of the former governor had said Ganduje’s selection would strengthen the party in the state and by extension the northwest and the country as a whole.

Speaking to our correspondent in Kano, a chieftain of the APC, who is also a serving chairman of one of the local government areas in the state, said they were told that Ganduje would be given the opportunity to fill in the newly vacant position of the ruling party’s chairmanship.

“For us, this is even better news because as the party chairman, Baba (Ganduje) will be directly involved with not just the party but also maintain his cordial relationship with the president,” he said.

When asked, however, if he knew what was responsible for the decision, he said what they knew for certain was that was “not a victory for the opposition that had been carrying out a campaign of calumny but a strategic and political calculation by the president.”

Daily Trust

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine attacks Russian navy base near Novorossiysk

Ukrainian sea drones attacked a Russian navy base near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, a major hub for Russian exports, early on Friday and were destroyed by Russian warships, Russia's defence ministry said.

The attack prompted the Novorossiysk port to temporarily halt all ship movement, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium which operates an oil terminal there.

Russian social media users reported hearing explosions and gunfire near Novorossiysk on Friday morning. If confirmed it would be the first Ukrainian attack on one of Russia's main commercial ports.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium which loads oil onto tankers in Novorossiysk said the port has temporarily barred all ship movement. It said its facilities had not been damaged and oil loadings continued onto tankers which were already moored

Videos posted on a local online community and circulated by Russian online news outlet Astra showed the movement of ships just off the coast with the sound of gunfire coming from the direction of the sea.

The emergency services of Novorossiysk have confirmed reports of blasts and security services have been informed, Russia's RIA news agency reported. The port is one of the biggest in the Black Sea.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is the main exporter of Kazakh crude.

Clashes in the Black Sea and adjacent ports have escalated since Russia refused last month to extend a deal allowing for the safe exports of grain from Ukrainian ports; Russian drones and missiles have struck several Ukrainian port facilities and grain silos on or near the Black Sea.

Russia has also reported an attack by Ukrainian sea drones on its warships which were escorting a civilian vessel.

Russian air defences downed 10 Ukrainian drones over Crimea on Friday morning and suppressed three more with electronic countermeasures, TASS cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.

** Zelenskiy decries 'revolting' practices at recruitment centres

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday decried "revolting" practices exposed during an audit of Ukraine's military recruitment centres and pledged to fix the system by placing in charge people who understood the meaning of war.

Zelenskiy has expressed indignation at corruption uncovered during the audit last month after a high-profile incident of wrongdoing came to light in the Black Sea port of Odesa.

"We had a detailed conversation," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address after meeting Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and the head of the SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk.

"The investigation is revealing numerous abuses," Zelenskiy said. "And they are frankly revolting."

The probe of recruitment offices is part of a long-running campaign to root out corruption, a critical issue as Ukraine presses a campaign to join NATO and the European Union.

Zelenskiy said all the findings of the investigation would be made public and subject to criminal proceedings.

"The conclusion is clear: the recruitment system needs people who understand the value of protecting Ukraine," he said.

"Recruitment centres must be staffed with people who have seen the war, experienced it," he added. "And those who, sadly, may have lost limbs but not their dignity and not Ukraine. Let me thank them."

The head of a military recruitment centre in Odesa accused of corruption and embezzlement was ordered held in pre-trial detention last month.

The official stood accused of acquiring without explanation funds equivalent to a little more than $5 million. Ukrainian media reports said his family had acquired property in Spain.

** Zelenskiy says Ukrainian strength dominates, top officers report progress

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukraine's military faced difficulties on front lines in the east and south of the country, but were dominant in their campaign.

Senior military officials reported Ukrainian gains in the east -- long the focal point of the 17-month-old conflict - around the shattered Russian-held city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine in June launched a counter-offensive in the east and in the south, where it hopes to advance to the Sea of Azov and sever a Russian land bridge between occupied parts of the east and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Russian accounts said Moscow's forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks near Bakhmut, farther north where fierce fighting has also flared and on the southern front.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces faced fierce Russian resistance in all frontline sectors.

"There is heavy fighting. They are trying to stop our boys with all their strength. Very fierce attacks," Zelenskiy said, referring to Bakhmut and other centres in the east.

"In the south, everything is difficult. But whatever the enemy does, it is Ukrainian strength that dominates."

Zelenskiy said Russian drone attacks this week, including an assault on shipping infrastructure in the Danube port of Izmail, underscored the need for improved anti-aircraft defences.

"In all, the terrorists have deployed against Ukraine at least 1,961 (Iranian-made) shahed drones and we managed to down a significant number of them," he said.

"Unfortunately, not all of them. We are working on downing more of them -- downing a maximum. We are working so that there will be more anti-aircraft systems."

General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian land forces, said he was meeting officers in the east to speed up Ukraine's advances -- which Zelenskiy and other officials ackowledge have been slower than they wished.

"In the Bakhmut sector, my work is devoted to current problems of accelerating the pace of the advance, the prospects for greater activity and resolution of issues that interfere with the implementation of tasks," Syrskyi wrote on Telegram.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for the eastern group of Ukrainian forces, said Kyiv's troops were advancing "consistently and relentlessly" on the fringes of Bakhmut, captured by Russian troops in May after months of battles.

"Every day we are talking about hundreds of metres and over the week about kilometres," Cherevatyi said in comments reported by Ukrainian media.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had thwarted eight Ukrainian attempts to advance near Bakhmut and nearby areas. Two Ukrainian attacks were countered near Lyman and Svatove farther north and attempted advances in the south were also stopped.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

‘Weeds’ hindering Ukrainian counteroffensive – UK military

Growing vegetation on the battlefield is hampering Ukrainian attempts to breach Russian defenses, the UK Defense Ministry claimed on Thursday.

In its regular intelligence update, the ministry described “undergrowth regrowing” in the southern part of the front as a likely factor “contributing to the generally slow progress of combat in the area.” 

UK officials explained that arable land, which is abundant in the region, has been “left fallow for 18 months, with the return of weeds and shrubs accelerating under the warm, damp summer conditions.”

According to the ministry, this provides extra camouflage cover for Russian troops and complicates Kiev’s mine-sweeping efforts. “Although undergrowth can also provide cover for small stealthy infantry assaults, the net effect has been to make it harder for either side to make advances,” it added.

Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive against Russia along several sections of the front in early summer, but failed to gain any ground and has lost tens of thousands of troops in botched attacks, according to Moscow. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu stated that, in July alone, Kiev’s forces lost nearly 21,000 service members and 2,227 units of military equipment.

Both Ukrainian and Western officials acknowledge that the offensive has developed more slowly than expected, with Kiev blaming stiff resistance from Moscow’s forces, a lack of air support, and delays in arms shipments for the difficulties.

Well-prepared Russian fortifications have also reportedly helped to blunt the Ukrainian attacks. CNN ha described the defenses as consisting of multiple layers, including minefields, tank traps, and other such obstacles. Faced with these hurdles, Ukrainian troops “have resorted to using small groups of military engineers working through forested areas to cut a path through or evade these minefields,” the report said.

On Tuesday, Politico reported that the Ukrainian offensive has “sorely disappointed” Kiev’s supporters in the West. It noted that despite Ukraine committing 150,000 troops to a three-pronged attack, its gains have been measured in the hundreds of meters, with the second and third defensive lines still lying ahead.

The report also said that even when Ukrainian troops manage to clear mines and advance, Russia uses artillery and helicopters to drop more mines in the rear in order to trap the Ukrainian spearheads.

** Air defenses triggered in several Crimean regions, no casualties — authorities

Air defense systems repelled attacks on several regions of Crimea early on Friday, shooting down all targets, an adviser to the region’s head wrote on Telegram.

"Air defense systems were triggered in several districts of Crimea. All targets were shot down," Oleg Kryuchkov said. "No damage or casualties have been reported."

Reuters/RT/Tass

Not only are military coups becoming frighteningly frequent in West and Central Africa, virtually all of them, it appears, also speak French. For the fifth time in three years in West Africa, soldiers struck again in Niger, Nigeria’s Northern neighbour, where former President Muhammadu Buhari had teasingly longed for refuge from Nigeria’s hostile press.

With the recent turn of events, however, it appears that Buhari’s speed train to Maradi, Niger’s ancient city, may have to find another destination.

It’s the fifth successful military coup in that country since 1960. Apart from the worn-out reasons of “deteriorating security and poor economic and social governance” given by the coup plotters, other familiar reasons have ranged from jihadist insurgencies to corruption and poverty; and from high birth rate to desertification.

As Nigeria’s president and new chairman of the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Bola Tinubu, rallies the subregion to confront what is now called “Africa’s coup belt”, he would find that the problem in the region’s largest landlocked country, which shares the longest land border with Nigeria, is far more complicated than it appears.

It is heartening that the UN and the AU have condemned the coup and that the US and France have also lent their voices to the call for the soldiers in Niamey to return to the barracks.

Tinubu would find, however, that beneath the veneer of foreign concern lies a web of vested interests and powerplay involving the US, but particularly France and China, that make other well-known complications in Niger look like small potatoes.

Once upon a time – and that was about one and a half decades ago – it was widely assumed that after multi-party democracy was introduced in that country in 2010 following the coup that removed President Mamadou Tanja, Niger would finally have a chance to reset.

In fact, the man who took office after the brief spell of military takeover, Mahamadou Issoufou, acquitted himself so well after two terms in office that he received the Mo Ibrahim Prize for good governance. President Mohamed Bazoum, widely expected to build on Issoufou’s fragile record, had only been in office two years before soldiers removed him on July 26.

However tempting it is to resist the trope of looking for foreign scapegoats, it’s fair to say that the snake of Niger’s problem has its hand buried in the womb of the unfinished problems of Tanja’s confrontation with France.

That confrontation, which finally left Tanja in bed with the Chinese over Niger’s uranium and mineral deposits and, in fact, also produced a refinery built by the Chinese, became compounded by other factors, a number of which were, sadly, self-inflicted, over the years.  

Tanja, a former colonel, was on the verge of serving out his constitutional two-term limit of five years each, when he instigated an extension. When the process appeared doomed to fail, he not only scrapped the constitutional court that ruled that his attempt was illegal, but also scrapped the parliament. But that’s only part of the story.

The other important part was Tanja’s confrontation with French state-owned atomic energy group, Areva, which had enjoyed a de facto monopoly of the country’s rich uranium, a strategic resource for France’s nuclear power. Areva’s profit from uranium is twice Niger’s GDP.

In a multi-million-dollar deal with China in which Tanja did not mind cutting Niger’s nose to spite the face of France, he pulled the plug on Francophone Africa’s most significant player, making the French play second fiddle to the new Chinese bride. When the tables turned following Tanja’s ouster, Paris was more than happy to dance on his political grave. But the story did not end there.

According to Tom Burgis in his no-holds-barred book, The Looting Machine, Niger spent $47 million from the proceeds of the uranium deal on arms to suppress the Tuareg rebels; and when a further $300 million came later from signature payment by China National Petroleum Corporation, to develop an oil block, the question was no longer whether Tanja could afford to make trouble, but how much.

“The military coup against Tanja,” Burgis wrote, “deepens fears in Africa that China’s competition with the old powers for the continent’s resources was giving rise to a new and ruinous rivalry like that of the Cold War which had allowed dictators to play Communist and capitalist suitors against one another.”

It was in these circumstances that after the unravelling of Libya, jihadist insurgents found willing recruits among Tuaregs. With the avalanche of light arms flowing out of the broken North African country, it was not too difficult for power hungry soldiers in Niger to topple Tanja’s corrupt government in 2010, ushering in a brief spell of military rule.

Deposed President Bazoum, who was elected only two years ago, steered Niger back to warm relations with Paris which, obviously, is one of the main grouses of the soldiers.

In a viral statement credited to coup leader, Abdurrahman Tchiani, he accused the president of taking orders from France before deciding what to do with terrorists, without regard for the lives of Nigerien soldiers “falling at the fronts.” And added, for good measure, that regional leaders with dubious electoral records had no moral right to challenge the coup.

The coup is a huge embarrassment for ECOWAS, yet from its record, the likely failure of the one-week ultimatum to the soldiers in Niamey would only compound the misery of the regional body. Already, the military governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea, have lined up behind Niger, threatening to quit any regional group that enforces sanctions against Niger.

Apart from Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone and perhaps also in The Gambia, not once in the last nearly 30 years or so has ECOWAS been able to reverse a military takeover in any country.

And sadly, for the region, the Niger coup is coming at a time when its chairman and president of the regional powerhouse, Tinubu, is facing a perfect storm at home: protests by Labour and widespread economic discontent as the president struggles to fix the country.

It does not help also that while ECOWAS is tightening its noose around Niger, the Wagner mercenaries, that French nightmare with Russian roots, is expanding its footprint on the continent, lurking in the shadows and hoping to do for the Nigerien coup plotters what it did for their Malian cousins.

Of course, ECOWAS must do what is necessary to prevent the contagion of military coups, reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s. But the coup in Niger also highlights the increasing failure of periodic elections and Western-style democracy to deliver value for the swathes of citizens chafing under flawed elections and corrupt governments.

The swift response of the regional body is commendable as it is a clear message that it would not be business as usual for soldiers. Yet, with foreign interests prowling the region and waiting to pounce, it is improbable that the soldiers in Niamey would trade off what appears to be fairly widespread support and return to the barracks with their tail between their legs.

French legacy of namby-pamby in Francophone West Africa well past its usefulness, except for France, appears to have come back to haunt Mère France with a fury. ECOWAS may have to review its ultimatum and adopt a negotiated exit, with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s example in Sao Tome in 2003, as guide.

Since ECOWAS was founded in 1975, only one country, Mauritania, has left. Tinubu cannot afford to be the president that lost three ECOWAS countries in two months. If the regional body manages to chase away the Nigerien soldier kites, it might also have to return to warn the numerous straying democracy chicks across the region, to mend their catastrophically prodigal ways.

** Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP