Adamawa Raises Alarm on Plot Against Gov Bindow*

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Adamawa State government on Monday alleged plot by some politicians who lost out in the primaries to blackmail Governor Muhammadu Bindow and set him against the party and the presidency.

Briefing newsmen in Yola, the state Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Malam Ahmad Sajoh said some disgruntled politicians planned to print the campaign poster of the governor with that of the presidential candidate of another party so as to portray him (Bindow) as having divided loyalty.

Sajoh said that the plan was to paste the posters in Yola and Abuja. 
“We have credible information that the posters would be pasted in Yola and Abuja as a means, not only to blackmail the governor, but to creat a rift between him and the president .

“Let me reiterate for the avoidance of doubt that Gov. Bindow has no intention to leave APC or work for anyone outside APC or support anybody that is not the candidate put forward by APC.

“We are APC government and remain loyal to the party at all levels and the president is the leader of the party and the most credible candidate we can market,” Sajoh said.

He listed series of Federal Government projects going on in Adamawa, saying that the people of the state have no reason not to support Buhari again.

He urged all those who lost out in the party primaries to heed to the call by president Buhari by showing sportsmanship and join hands with winners to ensure the party’s victory at the polls.

*Presidency Lists Expectations as National Assembly Resumes Tuesday*

The Presidency on Monday welcomed back the Senate and the House of Representatives members as they resume for legislative work.

Sen Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), in an interview with NAN, urged the federal lawmakers to quickly settle down for work.

”Let me congratulate the Senate President, the Speakers, all presiding and principal officers and all the distinguished senators and honourable members of the House for a well-deserved annual legislative vacation and welcome them back to work,” he said.

Enang, who noted that most of the lawmakers participated in the conventions, congresses and other activities of different political parties in the course of seeking nomination for one office or the other, also wished them the best.

”I congratulate all of them and I pray that let the result, positive, favourable or otherwise, not affect the way they will consider the nation’s business.

”Let them please appreciate that they are senators and honourable members of the National Assembly and the constitution entrusts the duty on them and they should please exercise this duty with the greatest show of patriotism, ” he said.

He reminded the lawmakers of the request by President Muhammadu Buhari on the Supplementary Budget to provide for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other sources of funding which was still before them.

According to him, since almost all the political parties have completed all their exercises, we are appealing to them to please consider this budget expeditiously and pass it so that the nation’s electoral process can move forward.

The SSA also urged them, as they resume, to consider the Electoral Amendment Bill that would ensure the proper mode and method of conducting the 2019 elections.

”Because funding the elections without setting the proper law that is acceptable to all to guide the election will not be good,” he said.

He added that President Buhari had laid before the lawmakers the request for borrowing to fund the 2018 Budget from the various windows before they went on vacation.

Trump Says He Has No Plans to Fire Rosenstein

President Donald Trump said Monday he has no plans to fire Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who has been facing an uncertain fate for more than two weeks.

"No, I don't. No," Trump told reporters on Monday after he was asked if he has any plans to fire Rosenstein. 
Rosenstein joined Trump aboard Air Force One for a trip to Florida, where the two men attended the International Association of Chiefs of Police's annual convention. 
"Thank you as well to our Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for being here, flew down together," Trump said at the event. "The press wants to know, 'What did you talk about?' 'We had a very good talk,' I will say. That became a very big story, actually. We had a good talk." 
Trump and Rosenstein had been scheduled to meet last week to discuss The New York Times report that flung Rosenstein into limbo. The report claimed Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump and using the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. They postponed the meeting amid the Kavanaugh confirmation battle and speculation has abounded that Trump might fire Rosenstein.

*Trump on Taylor Swift: 'I Like Taylor's Music About 25% Less Now'❗*

If he ever enjoyed Taylor Swift's music, President Donald Trump now likes the pop star's tracks "about 25% less."

Trump struck out at Swift a day after the singer and longtime Nashville resident endorsed Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen, a former governor, over Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee's Senate race. 
"What'd she say?" Trump said with a smile when he was asked about Swift's comments on Tennessee politics, walking back toward reporters on the White House's South Lawn after hearing the pop star's name shouted at him. 
After being told Swift announced her opposition to Blackburn and endorsed Bredesen, Trump offered quick praise for Blackburn, who he said "is doing a very good job in Tennessee." 
And then he served Swift with a diss.

Trump Says He Has No Plans to Fire Rosenstein

President Donald Trump said Monday he has no plans to fire Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who has been facing an uncertain fate for more than two weeks.

"No, I don't. No," Trump told reporters on Monday after he was asked if he has any plans to fire Rosenstein. 
Rosenstein joined Trump aboard Air Force One for a trip to Florida, where the two men attended the International Association of Chiefs of Police's annual convention. 
"Thank you as well to our Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for being here, flew down together," Trump said at the event. "The press wants to know, 'What did you talk about?' 'We had a very good talk,' I will say. That became a very big story, actually. We had a good talk." 
Trump and Rosenstein had been scheduled to meet last week to discuss The New York Times report that flung Rosenstein into limbo. The report claimed Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump and using the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. They postponed the meeting amid the Kavanaugh confirmation battle and speculation has abounded that Trump might fire Rosenstein.

*Schoolgirls Beaten in India for Confronting Sexual Harassers

Campaigners are calling on India to protect girls in state-run institutions who are at risk of sexual assault and violence after 34 girls were violently attacked by a mob for fighting off sexual harassers in Bihar state.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, a residential school for girls in Supaul district, witnessed chaotic scenes on Saturday after some girls objected to sexual advances and lewd messages from a group of boys.

A mob comprising the boys and their parents later entered the school where they beat and injured dozens of girls aged between 12 and 14.

"The girls were playing inside the school compound when some boys came in and tried to sexually harass them. The girls fought them off and there was an altercation. A mob then gathered with the boys' parents who beat up the girls," Jagatpati Chaudhury, the District Education Officer in Supaul, told Al Jazeera.

"The girls were injured, shocked, in trauma and were rushed to hospital. These were scenes of havoc as most of the girls are in sixth and seventh grades."

A video uploaded on social media by a local news website, The Bihar Post, showed a girl from the school after the attack