Nigerian Senator Attacked By Police Moved To London For Treatment!

Nigeria:

Information reaching us revealed that a Rivers State Senator who was reportedly shot with a rubber bullet and teargas cannisters by some men of the Nigerian Police Force in Rivers state on Sunday, January 12th 2013, is on his way to London for further treatment.

According to information gathered, the Senator identified as Magnus Abe had gone to supervise the preparations for a peaceful rally organized by a non governmental association known as the Save Rivers Movement at  Rumuola, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when the incident occurred at about 9.00 am on Sunday. Some Policemen disrupted the rally by firing tear-gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Dr Mckay Anyanwu, Medical Director of Krisany Hospital, where Abe was rushed to for treatment, told newsmen that the senator was brought to the hospital in a state of shock caused by low blood pressure.

“He was unable to talk or eat, and he was feeling restless as a result of traumatic shock. The implication is that there is haemorrhage; this is a blood trauma, it is not a sharp one,’’ he said.

Dr. Anyanwu said that the senator’s chest was hit with an object that might have caused internal bleeding therefore necessitating his transfer to the UK for better medical care.

The Rivers Police Command however denied that its members hot the Senator, they insist that minimum force was applied in dispersing rally goers at the state’s College of Arts and Sciences because they did not obtain police permit before the gathering.

Its spokesman, Ahmad Muhammad, however told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that the Police did not dispense any bullet while dispersing a rally by Save Rivers Movement on Sunday.

"I can confirm to you that Sen. Magnus Abe was not shot. The police did not expend any single bullet while dispersing the crowd. It is not true. The police didn't shoot the senator, we only used minimum force to disperse the crowd at the venue of the rally,’’ he said.

It was gathered that Senator Magnus Abe who represents Rivers South-East Senatorial district  in the National Assembly, has been on a canvass for the immediate redeployment of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, over his questionable involvement in the Rivers crisis.

"We will not enjoy security without development, 
we will not enjoy development without security, 
and we will not enjoy either without respect for 
human rights."- Former UN Secretary-General 
Kofi Annan

What's old is new again: Julia Roberts Mimics Sharon Stone's 1998 Oscar Shirt!

Fashion is cyclical they say,  which best explains why when a few throwback styles popped up at the 2014 Golden Globes— like Lupita Nyong 'o's cape—we found ourselves instantly remembering when we had seem them on the red carpet before.

Take Julia Roberts' Dolce & Gabbana creation, which included a white button-down top, similar to Sharon Stone's infamous Gap shirt, which she wore to the 1998 Oscars. Although Stone's look was a little more skin revealing (plunging neckline and all) and also included a Vera Wang skirt rather than the LBD that theAugust: Osage County actress opted for. But still, it's pretty rare for an actress to show up to a red carpet in office wear.

How Civil Servants Underdeveloped Nigerian Public System!

An Open Letter to Nigerian Civil Servants - Let me begin by reminding us that politicians come and politicians go, so do their government and their policies. Yet, there exist a particular group of government officials, who, once they come into office, they do not exit easily like their politician counterpart. They are the real government officials! The civil servants. 

They stick to the system and assist the politicians achieve their aim, be it a good or ugly aim, they will always support. A politician can stay for as short as eight years, but these other people can have their way for as long as thirty years and even wanting more! Some of them have even vowed to die in office and they have adopted various methods in achieving this. Fraudulent changing of birth age every ten years, enrollment in part-time programmes, change of birth origin, etc are just few of the ways they elongate their stay in the civil service. If you think Politicians like to stay long in office, then you haven’t met the Nigerian Civil Servants.

There are less than 5,000 core politicians across Nigeria and over millions of civil servants working with them. One would begin to wonder, is it that these few politicians are constitutionally empowered to manipulate and misuse the civil service, or is that the civil servants are just too lackadaisical in supporting any government, be it a good, bad or the ugly type? Indeed, they are always willing to bend in as much as their share of the cake is reserved.

Go to the University part-time programmes, you will see them flooding the classrooms in search of higher rank and higher pay with no aim of acquiring a higher value for their work place. I was shocked to read in the papers that the NUC had revoked the suspension on part-time programmes and has thereby allowed this certificate-acquisition-without-value fraud to continue in the civil service. It is only in Nigeria civil service that you can see workers abandon their duty post for years (and still earn their salaries for this period), enroll for a part-time academic program, acquire a higher degree, return to their duty post and get a higher salary with no additional value to the work. Just a new certificate for the sake of a higher pay! If you want to know why our National recurrent expenditure have been on the high side throughout this democratic dispensation, just check the payroll of our civil servants and you will find out that they are responsible for the underdevelopment of our economy and the public system!

One cannot remember when last time the defunct PHCN and any other government owned corporation publicly published their monthly statement of accounts. What are they afraid of? What is wrong in showing us how much your corporation makes and spends in a month? Without doubt, the money PHCN makes monthly is enough to clear paychecks and even build new power plants independently of Federal Government’s intervention. Thank God they have been disbanded, let’s see how those top officials will continue to generate billions monthly, manipulate the figures and then lie to our government that mere millions are been made as loss. PHCN could have survived as a public owned but Independent Corporation like N-LNG if not for the fraudulent approaches been adopted by the top management team and their deliberate efforts to jeopardize government effort to minimize costs, cut down recurrent expenditure and thereby maximizing profit in order to expand the power generating assets. 

Our University teaching hospitals are making millions daily, have you seen their monthly statement of accounts?

As if that is not enough, the civil servants have now assumed a dictatorial pattern of workmanship through establishment of various unions. You dare not try to sack any civil servants for negligence of duty. He will connive with his union executive and the next minute, the whole offices are on strike demanding for an improbable and unconnected archaic agreement to be implemented!  

We all know what happened when Nigeria University Commission (NUC) demanded for an audit from all University workers. After smelling that the audit might expose their too-many fraudulent activities, they (under the name of ASUU), refused this audit based on a clumsy and stupid excuse. And even when NUC insisted, they threatened, embarked on strike and won at the end! Even though this NUC audit was not mentioned as part of the reason for their recent strike, we all know they couldn’t have mentioned it for the fear of public suspicion. Yet NUC accepted defeat and obviously, the fraud among university workers is bound to continue. 

What is wrong in an employer through a monitoring commission wanting to have statistics and a comprehensive database of its employees? There are many dead lecturers that still earn salaries from Nigerian government! It is a common practice among civil servants. Without doubt, the Nigerian Government should do something about the becoming dictatorial misbehavior of trade unions and labour associations in this country. Since when has employees become greater than their employers all in the name of union?

Have you ever wondered why our LGAs have all failed in developing their various councils? It is simply because they spend over 80% of their federal allocated income in paying some unproductive civil servants who cannot boast of generating a hundred thousand Naira to the coffers of the LGA on a monthly basis. As a patriotic politician, try to use the term ‘redundancy’ as reason for laying them off from your council and I promise you they will ruin your political career. It is no longer news that their (civil servants) input in their place  of duty is not in anyway commensurate to the monthly salary they earn. Try to ask them why it is so and they will say ‘na so government work dey be na’. Indolent sit-at-home workers are what we have in our LGA councils!

Every civil servant must ask him/herself, is my monthly earned income commensurate with my monthly input to this office? Am I been productive in this office in the same way I should be if it were my personal private business? If the answer to this question is no, then without doubt, you are the kind of civil servant that is responsible for backwardness of our general economy and the Nigerian public system. Please resign and make yourself productive!

For every crime a politician successfully commits in office, there are a hundred civil servants who guided him and another hundred who will work hard to officially cover up the illegality. For every ten evil politicians that exist in Nigeria, there are a hundred thousand evil civil servants supporting them to succeed! It is high time we investigate these civil servants in the same propensity that we investigate the politicians.

Just recently, a group of civil servants in the name of ASUU, refused to show up for work in five months and yet have been paid for this whole period! Where in the world can this absurdity happen if not in the Nigerian Civil Service. Yet the tax payers whose commonwealth are been used to settle these group of people are all keeping mute. In Nigerian university, a seventy years old professor would love to die in office rather than in retirement. I guess we are all suffering from this I-don’t-care attitude. 

Only in Nigeria will workers not show up for work in five months and yet receive their salaries simply because they belong to a union and bear the name 'civil servants'. Its a pity that most of these 'unproductive' civil servants keeps bloating our National recurrent expenditure and thereby ruining our economy. Is this how they run their personal businesses? Or perhaps there is no other way of getting their share of the National Cake. Now I begin to see reasons why every institution and corporation under the civil service and Nigerian government collapses while their private counterparts are doing extremely well. Public Universities and basic schools, refineries, Nitel, Steel Mills, NEPA, etc are all collapsing.

I have once asserted in my earlier article that ‘..If you claim to be a professor and your professorship is not felt practically in the Nigerian society and by the Nigerian economy, then (sorry to say) to hell with your professorship!’ I have not changed my opinion here! Today’s technological products all over the world’s markets, from electronics to gadgets to software and mechanical equipments (cars, keke Napep, etc) are all products of university’s research. I think it is high time our civil servant scholars suspends writing abstract theories and starts practicalizing and pragmaticalizing them! It is high time the Nigerian Government stops building new universities and starts funding old research institutes. 

Our government and our scholars both have different roles to play here. We just cannot continue to import everything in this country. Yet, no university lecturer cares about the harm of such practice on our economy. We have massively funded our faculties of engineering with the hope of getting new patents and possibly flooding the African market with ‘Made in Nigeria’ technologies and products. But what have we in return from these lecturers? Demands upon demands upon demands. Earned allowances, bonuses, etc. No lecturer is talking about how the government can fund research institutes so we can learn to produce our own manufactured products. These are the kind of civil servants we have in the academic field!

Everyone now believes that the Nigerian Government is a charitable organization and can afford or perhaps should continue to offer free roads, free health care, free education, subsidized pilgrimage trips, cheap petroleum products, etc all at the detriment of our National infrastructural development and in the favour of our civil servants. Ever since our politicians turned our governments into Non-Profit-Organizations, our civil servants lost value, orientation and our civil service work became a work for indolent unproductive citizens. Indeed, this idea of free this and free that by the government has turned Nigerians into lazy poor beggars always expecting the government to do ‘free’ things for them. Free wives should be coming soon to our men from our charitable government! 

This continuous offering of free education is an attestation that Nigerians have always been poor, are still poor and will continue to be poor, hence the need to make education free for them while they are been looted dry by politicians in collaboration with the civil servants.

Without doubt, the Civil service or preferably, the Nigerian civil servants have contributed to the underdevelopment of our economy than any other set of employees in recent time. Their continuous unproductive finagle method of working has led to the increase in our national recurrent expenditure, break down of value in the civil service and with the introduction of ‘free this and free that’ by the recent governments’, the Nigerian civil servants had suddenly become nothing but a bunch of unproductive nonchalant and lazy people depending entirely on the government for everything yet contributing nothing to the accounts upon which their salaries are been paid for. 

What does an LGA need 6,000 workers for? Why are government owned corporations and institutions collapsing while their private counterpacts are succeeding? It is simply because these people- the civil servants do not work for their salaries. They just earn it for free. And even more harmful is the fact that they don’t save for their pension as the international standard, but yet the govt ends up paying them pension after their long years of indolent service. Pension is suppose to be a personal affair, but for civil servants, it is a government affair. 

I will be writing a letter to Mr. President soon and in that letter I will clealy state that, ‘If you must drastically reduce your National recurrent expenditure, you must disband the entire civil service and ensure that there exist at least a level of financial autonomy, for the payment of their staffs, especially in parastatals that are able to generate their own funds’.

Until these abnormalities are scrutinized and checked, the Nigerian economy will continue to decline as no nation in the world can succeed by spending over 80% of its income in paying unrepentant, unproductive, redundant workers whose input is not commensurate to the earned output of their corporate duties. If the Nigerian Civil Service was established to augment the unemployment rate in an ineffectual way as it has become, then their bandwagon growth is acceptable even as it threatens our National infrastructural developmental growth and economy. But, if the Nigerian Civil Service was established to offer administrative functions to the government with an aim of encouraging productivity, efficiency, innovation and economic growth in the general well being of the economy, then the present Nigerian Civil Service is due for rehabilitation, reformation and re-orientation in order to retrace their essence and encourage productivity so as to make our nation a better place.

by Tony Osborg

Obasanjo withdraws from PDP, writes Jonathan, Tukur!

Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has written a letter to the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bamanga Tukur, in which he gave notice of his withdrawal from the party’s activities.

Obasanjo has also sent a copy of the letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the National Leader of the PDP.

In the letter, the former president, said he was withdrawing from all activities of the party because the PDP had been negating the principles of morality, decency and discipline in its decisions, especially as they affect the South West where he comes from.

According to a report by Nigerian Tribune, the letter, dated January 7, 2014, according to a source at the national secretariat of the party, was received in the office of Tukur on Wednesday, 8 January, 2014. It is believed that President Jonathan also got his own copy on Thursday. Obasanjo accused the party leadership of imposing someone (names witheld), who he described as a criminal wanted abroad, on the party as its South West zonal leader and proceeded to add that he was forwarding with the letter, “recent documents” on the alleged activities of the person.  Efforts to get copies of the “recent documents” by Saturday Tribune from both the PDP national secretariat as well as from Obasanjo’s side were, however, not successful but a source at PDP’s national secretariat confirmed that the letter came with attachments. He did not give further details. 

The three paragraph letter read: 

“While I believe that a good and truly national political party must be a microcosm of the nation in its membership, made up of all sorts of characters from near-saints to near-satan, I also believe that on no account should a known habitual criminal that is wanted abroad to face criminal charges levelled against him be extolled as a political leader in a respectable and wholesome nation-building political party.

“(…Names witheld) has been so extolled in PDP in South-West geo-political zone which I personally find unsavoury. Politics played by any national political party must have morality, decency, discipline, principles and leadership examples as cardinal practices of the party. I have attached here recent documents that clearly indicate that your extolled PDP Zonal Leader in the South-West zone of Nigeria and an indigene of Ogun State is, to say the least, not a credit to the party as a member, let alone being a zonal leader. 

“Since I stick in my practice of party politics to the hallowed and cherished principles enunciated above, I take this opportunity to let you know that while I continue to remain a card-carrying member of PDP, I cannot and I will not subscribe to a wanted habitual criminal being installed as my zonal leader in the party; a criminal for whom extradition has been requested by the US government. In the meantime, I will consider withdrawing my activity with PDP at local, state, zonal and national levels until the anomalous and shameful situation is corrected.”

It was gathered that a meeting of South West leaders of the party, will hold in Ibadan, Oyo State, and may also come up with far-reaching decisions on the future of the party in the zone. 

PDP governors give fresh conditions for peace:

People Democratic Party (PDP) governors have given fresh conditions for peace to return to the party and for the chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to remain in office.

Part of the conditions, according to information gathered was for President Goodluck Jonathan to prevail on Tukur to return the structures of the party to them in their respective states as well as make them the leaders. Only after this would they agree to resume adequate funding of the party at all levels as well as its national secretariat.  

Part of Tukur’s ‘sins’ was believed to be his alleged incessant interference in the affairs of the state chapters, which is said to have led to the setting up of caretaker committees for some of the chapters. A situation which did not go down well with the governors, who saw the action as erosion of their powers as leaders in their respective states.
The new development, sources close to the governors said, followed the intervention of some respected leaders of the party who reportedly counseled them on the implications of removing Tukur now that the 2015 general elections are around the corner.

The development reporetdly created a sharp division among the governors, as some of them are still insisting that the embattled chairman must go as earlier demanded, for them continue to be relevant in the scheme of things in the party ahead of the 2015 elections.

The likes of the governors of Jigawa and Niger states, who were members of the aggrieved G7 Governors before five of them defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), and some others are said to have insisted that for genuine peace to return to the PDP and for the party to maintain its supremacy come 2015 elections, there must be a complete change of leadership.

However, one of the aides to Alhaji Tukur revealed that the cause of friction between Tukur and the governors was his insistence that the party must be returned to the grassroots, and that the constitution of the party must be followed to the letter to allow for due process in election of candidates for party or elective offices, rather than the old order of imposition of candidates by state governors without due process.

‘My Son Lied Against Pastor Fireman” – Mother Of Virgin Killer Speaks!

Recently,  you read that a controversial Lagos pastor identified as Sign Fireman had been arrested by Lagos police over the alleged ritual murder of a 12 year old girl, Bose Ogoja, after the girl’s killer, 18 year old Ikechukwu claimed he killed her following instructions from Pastor Sign Fireman. 



Well, the boy’s mother has spoken out and says his son has never met the founder and Head Pastor of Perfect Christian Mission.

Mrs Esther Egbo told reporters that they were members of the Badagry brand of Fireman’s church and in the two years they’ve been in the church, they have never set eyes on the man. She said her son had been arrested four different times by the police for attempted rape and had even been charged to court and was only released on December 10, 2013

Mrs Egbo said:

“My son has been under as spell since 2009 when he was cursed by one of my neighbours in Badagry. Sometimes, he suddenly sees young girls, grabs them and starts trying to molest them. He only behaves like that in the afternoon and the whole neighborhood knows. In 2011, he was arrested after touching a 15-year-old girl inappropriately. Later, he was arrested for attempting to rape a 17-year-old girl. Most times, it is residents that call to tell me that my son has been detained at the Badagry Police Station when I am looking for him.

“In November, he did it again and was arraigned before a Badagry Magistrates Court for attempted rape and remanded in Badagry Prison for 19 days. He was released on December 10 after he was acquitted. It was three weeks later that he killed the little girl.

I asked him what happened that day and he said he was eating at one woman’s shop and saw the woman’s daughter pass. He stood up and followed the girl and dragged her into an uncompleted building where he killed her. He was caught as he attempted to run. He said something came over him.

“We even started a deliverance programme for him at the church and he never even met Pastor Fireman. After his interview with journalists, I asked my son why he lied against the pastor and he said it was because he was threatened .”

The victim’s mother said although they attended Fireman’s church, they never met with him because as the General Overseer of the church, it was not always easy for members to see him at random.
She said her son did not even have Fireman’s telephone number and wondered where the supposed meeting he had with her son took place.

An aide to the pastor described the allegations against Fireman as ridiculous, adding that Fireman could not have stooped so low as to encourage a teenager to commit murder.

“I have spoken to the boy (Ikechukwu) and he told me that he was coerced into saying what he said to the press. Pastor Fireman is a very rich man. What sort of money ritual would he want to do? His father owns a gold factory in Russia while his mother is a professor at ABSU. This is a man that has distinguished himself".

Ikechukwu reportedly killed Bose in the Badagry area of Lagos State. When he was paraded before journalists at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, he said he killed the girl in an uncompleted building following instructions from pastor Sign Fireman.

Ikechukwu said,

“I attend Perfect Christian Mission Headquarters around Ketu Street, Aguda, but I live with my parents in Badagry. I just finished secondary school and I have been very broke. So, I approached the pastor, Sign Fireman, for money, but he told me that I should strangulate a little girl. He explained that while strangulating the girl, she would pass out faeces in the throes of death. The pastor said I should obtain the faeces and bring it to him. He said if I could do this, he would give me N100, 000.”

The suspect’s mother says the boy later confessed to her that nothing of such happened and that the 12 year old only passed feces due to the rape and strangulation. She said the incident had nothing to do with ritual but a clear case of rape that led to murder.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that many church members had elected to give the pastor free legal service.
Fireman’s lawyer, Peter Oboyi, said the police had no evidence against the pastor adding that his client’s home had even been searched on Wednesday and no evidence was found.
He said,

“Pastor Fireman has over 100,000 members worldwide and does not even know one tenth of them let alone a small boy in the Badagry branch of the church. The boy has even confessed to the police that it wasn’t the pastor that sent him to the dastardly act. The allegations are frivolous and based on hearsay. If you want to send someone to kill another person, you will send someone that you trust, someone that wouldn’t give your name up easily. How could pastor have done such?”

Source: Linda Ikeji blogspot

Expatriate resigns in protest over company’s maltreatment of Nigerian workers!

According to Vanguard Newspapers, a Base Maintenance Manager at Caverton Helicopters, Surendra Bhagwandass, resigned yesterday over non-payment of salaries and unfair treatment of Nigerian workers in the company.

The expatriate accused the company which has contracts with oil firms like TOTAL, SHELL, among others for not paying the salaries of its Nigerian workers last month, December 2013.

He also said that unlike the foreign workers, the Nigerian staff do not enjoy all the benefits that comes with the job even though they put in more effort.

Bhagwandass who tendered his resignation letter through an email to the management of Caverton said that he became frustrated knowing that the expatriates workers were being taken care of while their Nigerian counterparts were not only poorly paid but their salaries delayed and described the development as unfair.

“Shame on you guys. I heard from the people I work with that they are not paid for the festive season. This is a security breach as I now feel uncomfortable to travel and work, while you guys have a merry time.

“Please have heart as these people have families, while you all enjoy the best; being with your families. You all (set) break the record as the only company in the world who do not pay your workers. Shame on you guys,” the expatriate stated in the email.

Some of the Nigerian workers at Caverton Helicopters said it was painful to know that expatriate staff were paid in dollars but the Nigerian workers who put in more effort on the job were paid less.

They also said, that while they are not given accommodation or security escorts, expatriates enjoyed such benefits.

“They are paid in dollars, we in Naira but we work more than them. Several staff have been attacked because they leave their houses around 4 am. There is no security for us. But they enjoy everything in our country,” the staff said.

He further accused Caverton Helicopters of failing to take good care of its staff even after promising oil companies that it would do so before signing contracts with them.

The Personal Assistant to the Managing Director of Caverton Helicopters, Mrs. Doyin Elegbe denied the allegations.

Obama, world react to news of Ariel Sharon's death!

President Obama says Ariel Sharon ‘dedicated his life' to Israel, sends ‘condolences’ to leader’s family in statement.

President Obama expressed sorrow about the death of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday, joining other United States and world leaders in commenting on the life and passing of Sharon.

 “On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the family of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and to the people of Israel on the loss of a leader who dedicated his life to the State of Israel,” the president said. 

“We reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel's security and our appreciation for the enduring friendship between our two countries and our two peoples.”

.............."The State of Israel bows its head over the passing of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon," current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, expressing "deep sorrow" over the news.

"His memory will forever be held in the heart of the nation," Netanyahu said.

.........Sharon was "a brave soldier and a daring leader who loved his nation and his nation loved him," said President of the State of Israel Shimon Peres, a longtime friend and rival. 

"He was one of Israel's great protectors and most important architects, who knew no fear and certainly never feared vision."

......In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister David Cameron said: 

"Ariel Sharon is one of the most significant figures in Israeli history and as prime minister he took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace, before he was so tragically incapacitated. Israel has today lost an important leader."

......Russian President Vladimir Putin

 "highly praised Ariel Sharon's personal qualities and his activities to protect Israel's interests, noting a high respect for him among compatriots and his high authority in the international arena.

..........United Nations spokesman said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "saddened" by Sharon's death.

"Prime Minister Sharon will be remembered for his political courage and determination to carry through with the painful and historic decision to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip. His successor faces the difficult challenge of realising the aspirations of peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people," a UN statement said.

.......Carl Bildt, Sweden's foreign minister, posted on Twitter: 

"Ariel Sharon was a great leader of Israel. A brilliant military commander, but also a wise statesman seeing the necessity of peace."

......“Ariel Sharon's journey was Israel’s journey,” Secretary of State John Kerry said. 

“The dream of Israel was the cause of his life, and he risked it all to live that dream. … During his years in politics, it is no secret that there were times the United States had differences with him. But whether you agreed or disagreed with his positions … you admired the man who was determined to ensure the security and survival of the Jewish State.”

.......Bill and Hillary Clinton praised Sharon as leader who "who gave his life to Israel."

In a statement, the former US president and his wife, the ex-secretary of state said: "It was an honour to work with him, argue with him, and watch him always trying to find the right path for his beloved country."

"Ariel Sharon gave his life to Israel - to bring it into being, to sustain and preserve it, and at the end of his long service, to create a new political party committed to both a just peace and lasting security," they added.

........"Laura and I join our friends in Israel and around the world in mourning the loss,” said former President George W. Bush, commenting for himself and his wife.

“He was a warrior for the ages and a partner in seeking security for the Holy Land and a better, peaceful Middle East.”