More than 70 people were killed in a fire at a petrol station in Ghana’s capital, Accra, as they sought shelter from heavy rains that caused widespread flooding, the police and Red Cross said Thursday.

“This loss of life is catastrophic and almost unprecedented,” a visibly shaken President John Dramani Mahama said as he toured the scene.
“A lot of people have lost their lives and I am lost for words.”

Communications minister Edward Omane Boamah described the situation as a “national emergency”.
A senior police officer said that “the fire service alone has retrieved about 73 bodies,” while Red Cross disaster management coordinator Francis Obeng put the death toll at “more than 70″.

Local hospitals said morgues were full, with the death toll likely to rise, according to security officials.
The fire broke out late on Wednesday night in the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area of central Accra and is thought to have spread from a nearby residence.
It was not immediately clear exactly how the victims died, with reports that some had drowned in flood waters caused by blocked roadside gutters and drains that overflowed because of the rains.

Mahama extended his condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones and said “precautionary measures” needed to be taken against flooding that hits the city every year.

At least two days of rains have caused chaos in Accra, leaving many suburbs submerged and people stranded.
Already sketchy power supplies had been cut to some communities as electricity sub-stations were submerged.

Boamah said the armed forces, police, fire and the National Disaster Management Organisation have been deployed to help those affected.

“The general public is kindly advised to avoid fast-moving rainwater and areas they know have big drains. Stay on higher ground, where necessary, to prevent loss of life,” he added.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/over-70-killed-in-ghana-petrol-station-fire/

[b]We should always take a good message/suggestion irrespective of whose mouth it came from...If Ifeanyi Ubah is a thief as a poster said earlier and he is calling for thieves to be caught then he has either repented and wants to be punished or he is not one of them as many may have thought....This is not time for name calling or judging things sentimentally out of tribalism or religion....As Ubah has said of which he might be culpable at the end of the probe, the scarcity of Oil/its products and those behind it should be probed....As well, subsidy should be removed and a total deregulation of the downstream sector should be implemented by the FG....The Change has totally started as am even surprised the way people come out recently to bring out good suggestion to the FG which will benefit the masses unlike it was obtainable in the previous regimes especially the immediate past regime of GEJ;it's indeed a sign of good thing....EFCC now waking up from slumber...People has started adjusting already...Come to think of it, when evil is order of the day you will knowingly/unknowingly be trapped into it....But now, the body language of the President says it is over for such and no longer business as usual.....May God bless Nigeria!!1[/b]

A lot of fake products abound in the Nigerian markets. Fake cosmetics, fake electrical appliances, fake canned food, fake spare parts, fake drugs, fake designer shoes and clothing- the list is literally endless. It is just about a fake of everything you can think of. However, with fake drugs, the effect can be so far-reaching because it is a matter of life and death.

The simplest scenario depicting this was a sad event which occurred in 1995. An asthmatic purchased a fake inhaler and when she had an attack, she simply reached for the inhaler she carried everywhere with her. It was no use. She boarded a bike to the nearest hospital for medical assistance. She passed out on the steps of the hospital and never regained consciousness. A fake drug and not the asthma was her Waterloo. Like her, many have died from the scourge of fake drugs in this country.

Enter Dora Akunyili who is best remembered for her work in the National Agency For Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC. The agency came into the consciousness of Nigerians when she took over the helm of affairs. With some cooperation, the quantity of fake drugs in the Nigerian market was reduced drastically. Her efforts led to increased public awareness about counterfeit drugs and tougher surveillance by the Nigerian Customs. At the height of her battle, fake drugs worth about N2 billion (US $ 16 million) were voluntarily handed over by counterfeiters or seized after tip-offs from the public.

What is happening now? The truth is that there is a resurgence of fake drugs. Why? Is it that the importers and manufacturers of counterfeit drugs have found new ways of beating the mechanisms put in place to crack down on the illegal trade? Or has the corruption, which Akunyili said had been the bane of NAFDAC, returned? Has the surveillance at the sea and airports been relaxed? Do the inspections which led to surrender of fake drugs, arrest of counterfeiters and shopkeepers still take place? What about the legislation that should support efforts which are already in place?

Or is it a combination of all these factors? Nothing can be quite as disheartening to agents as risking their lives to gather information, arresting culprits and in no distant time, see them walk free and in some cases, have enough information to threaten their lives. No worse morale killer. The penalty for fake drug producer or importer ranges from paltry fines to between three months to five years imprisonment. That is preposterous for the billions they make, the hardships suffered and the lives lost. It was good news to read in the papers recently that an importer of fake drugs was apprehended. A big fish going by the worth of seized goods worth about a billion naira or more.

However, how will the story end? What of his collaborators within and outside the country? The fake drug business is worth billions of US dollars and is a powerful international cartel. Unfortunately, Nigeria – in fact many African countries – are where they are able to do their dirty business (in collusion with people of that country) and get away with it. It is clear that counterfeit drugs are more of our problem than it can ever be for any Western nation. This is a battle we must fight ourselves. Appropriate legislation should be put in place. Our lives are at stake. No one is immune.

NAFDAC and other agencies cannot do it alone without the necessary backing and political will. Enabling environment and active wooing of multi-national drug companies to encourage them to establish their factories within the shores of our country should be made a priority.

The sheer volume of drugs we import from them is the bait. These companies establishing in Nigeria will serve more than one purpose: the monitoring agencies will be able to monitor their production processes and ensure that adequate standards are maintained. This is currently an uphill task where what is produced in far-away Asian countries can hardly be monitored by our regulatory agencies. In addition, badly needed jobs for our teeming unemployed youths will be provided. Also, they will bring in their resources to fight counterfeiting of their products so they can make profit. Our local manufacturers should be greatly encouraged.

More quality drugs can be produced by them with government support. Even when we eventually succeed in getting these foreign pharmaceutical giants to come to establish, protecting their interests jealously is very important.

Funding research in the use of our rich diverse local flora as raw materials to make our own drugs ought to be highly encouraged and promoted. This is a goldmine yet to be tapped. We should begin to look inwards so that over time, the tide will change in our favour.

In addition to these relatively long term plans, it is critical that something should be done now. Relatively mild ailments are no longer easy to treat. The experiences of physicians around me tell a whole lot. My experiences and those of friends where relatively mild ailments need trial of drugs from different drug outlets before one gets ‘lucky’ and gets an original product is disheartening.

In the past few months, for a relatively healthy individual, I have had quite a few experiences with counterfeit drugs that I am left pondering: If I have had as much exposure, how about those who are sick and literally depend on drugs to survive? Antibiotics don’t work; a cocktail of antibiotics is used to treat patients thereby encouraging antibiotic resistance; wounds and ulcers remain unhealed, compounding the misery of sick, suffering Nigerians while draining their pockets of scarce resources. Efforts of health care providers are frustrated, making a mockery of diagnostic efforts. How and when will this end? Who will deliver us?

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/the-return-of-fake-drugs/

Nigerian prosecutors on Wednesday withdrew murder charges against a 15-year-old girl who was accused of using rat poison to kill the 35-year-old man she had married.

Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki asked the High Court in Gezawa, Kano state, to “terminate the case of culpable homicide against Wasila Tasi’u”, who was 14 when she married Umar Sani.

“With a heavy heart, I apply that the accused be discharged,” he added. Legal sources in Kano told AFP separately that Nigeria had faced pressure to drop the case which has angered rights activists.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/court-drops-murder-charges-against-nigerian-child-bride/

A landlord, Fatai Waidi, 44, who allegedly stole his tenant’s tricycle valued at N500,000 was on Wednesday arraigned in an Oshodi Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

Waidi, who resides at No. 14, Ajenifuja St., Orile, Oshodi, Lagos, is being tried on a one count of stealing.

The prosecutor, Kehinde Olatunde, told the court that the accused committed the offence on May 15 at his residence.

He said the accused stole the tricycle belonging to one Mr. Sunday Okeke, tenant to the accused..

Olatunde said the complainant bought the tricycle on hire purchase, while the accused refused him to park the tricycle in the compound.

“The accused refused to allow the complainant park his tricycle despite pleadings,” he said.

The prosecutor said after four months of parking the tricycle elsewhere, the accused told the complainant that he could now be parking the tricycle in the compound.

“The complainant brought his Keke Napep home and parked it in the presence of the accused and the accused locked the gate.

“The following morning, the tricycle was nowhere to be found, and the complainant rushed to the accused room to inform him about the disappearance of the tricycle.

“But on that day, the accused was also nowhere to be found.”

The offence, Olatunde said, contravened the provisions of Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Section 285 prescribes a three-year jail term as penalty for offenders.

The accused denied committing the offence, and the Magistrate, Mr. Akeem Fashola, granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum.

He adjourned the case till June 8 for mention.

http://www.punchng.com/news/landlord-arraigned-for-allegedly-stealing-tenants-tricycle/

NO fewer than 14 Junior Secondary School, JSS, students have been arrested by the Police in Edo State over alleged involvement in cult-related activities in Benin.

Vanguard gathered that the students, whose ages ranged from 12 to 15 years, were said to have been picked by policemen at Oguola Secondary School, along St. Saviour Road in the state capital and were being screened at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Police headquarters, Benin.

Principal of the school, Mr. Ehanire Reuben, said eight of the students were allegedly arrested in the school compound, adding that their arrest prompted the police to conduct a search on some students in the classrooms.

He, however, said prior to the arrest, he learned that a student teacher in the school was attacked and his phone and wallets taken from him by some students, who also attacked residents in the area.

He pleaded with police to release those found to be innocent. Edo State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Innocent Onwochie, in his reaction to the development, said the arrest was made following a tip-off, adding that those arrested were under-aged.

He said investigations on the issue had been stepped up, promising that the police would leave no stone unturned in its war against cultism and other criminal activities in the state.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/14-jss-students-arrested-for-cultism-in-edo/

Am voting for |ADEH39|,|AIPETE2|,|SANDRAHNAUB|,|TOHPAHZ|,|SUBBIED|

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Saraben:
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How To Fix Error Message : "In Order To Configure TCP/IP , You Must Install And Enable Network Adapter Error In Windows

Often when device drivers are updated for network interface card, the mismatch between previous model of network adapter and newer one (or the newer driver) can cause a weird error which pops up when trying to access TCP/IP properties and looks something like the diagram below.

Fortunately, there is a very simple fix for this and works on all versions of Windows. To remove this error : Click the link below for details

http://ikeifeadika..com/2015/04/how-to-fix-error-message-in-order-to.html

HTC, the Taiwanese mobile giant has captured the mid-segment market with launch of the Desire 816. This tremendous success was followed up by adding the color infused HTC Desire 820. Both these models have garnered a huge fan base that is a mix of consumers and critics. The success of these two models paved the way for the new HTC Desire 826. The new HTC Desire 826 was flaunted at CES 2015. The phone is not a mere upgrade but HTC’s desire to regain its foothold in the smartphone segment. We’ve done the rounds to give you a well rounded view of the new smartphone.

HTC 826 Design:

Like all HTC Desire latest models, this phone is a real eye-pleaser. The design elements borrow heavily from HTC’s 820 and Desire Eye. The slim, plastic body fits comfortably in your hands, and is quite easy to manage, despite its large size. The plastic back on the HTC Desire 826 is shiny plastic and not of matte finish, making it a fingerprint magnet. There’s a power button that sits almost flush on one side and the volume rocker and power button are located on the other side. The camera on the front is strikingly similar to the Desire Eye. One of the aspects we thoroughly liked is the integration of the speaker in the design; it is practically not visible making it unobtrusive. The HTC 826 will be available 3 color variants White Birch, Blue Lagoon & Purple Fire (and more yet to be announced). Overall, the design is very minimalistic and suave.

HTC 826 Screen & Display:

The HTC Desire 826 has a 5.5-inch (1080 x 1920) Super LCD3 display with a pixel density of 401ppi. The display of the smartphone is crisp and clear. It is possibly one of the first mid-level phones that have such a high pixel density. The screen also has an incredible screen-to-body ratio i.e. 68.1%.

HTC 826 Hardware Specifications:

The new HTC Desire 826 comes loaded with a lot of hardware goodness. The smartphone is powered by Octa-Core Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 64-bit processor along with 2GB of RAM and a powerful Adreno 405 GPU. The CPU is configured in to 2 x Quad core processors, one clocked at 1.7GHz and the second at 1.0GHz. This is done to improve performance and optimize the phone. The phone will sport 16GB of internal memory along with microSD slot expandable up to a tremendous 128GB. The new HTC 826 will be a dual-sim compliant, considering the phone will be launched first in China. One the connectivity front, the device is 4G LTE compliant and has features such as Wi-Fi, DLNA, hotspot, Bluetooth v4.1 (A2DP + apt-X), A-GPS, GLONASS. The new HTC Desire is powered by a non-removable Li-Po 2600mAh battery.

HTC 826 Camera:

Like most phone manufacturers, HTC too has concentrated heavily on the camera of the new Desire 826. The phone rocks a stunning Full-HD 13MP autofocus camera capable of resolutions as high as 4160 x 3120 pixels. Catering to the next gen, the 826 is optimized for #selfies. The secondary camera is of 4MP and is powered by HTC’s UltraPixel technology. The large pixels in the UltraPixel technology allow more light in thereby increasing low-light performance immensely. Apart from this the camera has geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR and simultaneous HD video and image recording.

HTC 826 Software and Operating System:

The new HTC Desire will run Android OS v5.0.1 (Lollipop) right out of the box. The OS is laced with HTC’s slick User Interface; Sense UI. The UI will allow users a certain amount of customization. Apart from this, there isn’t much going on in the software department. The phone comes bundled with all trademark apps found is most phone from the HTC Desire series. The next version of HTC’s Sense UI/Sense Home is around the corner. This version will adhere more to Google’s material design.
There is no news about the availability and price of the HTC Desire 826 in India. Considering HTC just launched a slew of MediaTek powered HTC desire phones in India, the phone may only be available somewhere in the 3rd quarter of 2015. Furthermore, keeping in mind that the device is aimed at the mid-level segment and the price sensitive nature of Asian customers, the device will be competitively priced. To sum things up, the new HTC Desire 826 looks like a very promising device.

Source: http://ikeifeadika..com/2015/04/htc-desire-826-everything-you-need-to.html

Great....thanks for that...

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the All Progressive Grand Alliance as winner of 26 seats out of 30 state constituencies in Anambra State in the State Assembly elections held on Saturday.

INEC, therefore, rescheduled the remaining four LGAs in the state for April 18, 2015.
Addressing newsmen in Awka on Sunday, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in the state, Mr. Edwin Nwatarali, listed the affected areas, where the election have been rescheduled as Aniocha Constituencies 1 and 2, Aguata 1, Constituency 1 and Ekwusigo Constituency.
“Out of the 30 constituency seats in the Anambra State House of Assembly, 26 have been declared; and they were all won by APGA,” he said.
He said the Commission had to move the Ekwusigo elections from April 25, which was its initial scheduled date to April 18 following a recommendation from the INEC headquarters.
According to him, the Ekwusigo Constituency election was cancelled after thugs made away with over 75 per cent of the total electoral materials meant for the Saturday election.
He said for Uga ward 1 in Aguata, the number of voters exceeded the number of registered voters with Permanent Voter Card.
For Aniocha Constituencies 1 and 2, Nwatarali said there was a deliberate attempt not to use card readers in the area despite certifications by technical personnel from INEC confirming the workability of the devices.
“So, we are rejecting the result from these constituencies. Our card reader was working and yet over 80 per cent of accreditation was done manually,” he said, adding that the commission had enough technical personnel to address issues of such nature.

Source: http://www.punchng.com/news/apga-clinches-26-lgas-in-anambra-state-assembly-election/

To put the record straight with respect to the threatening remarks made by Oba Akiolu of Lagos...Below is the link for the audio clip gotten from Vanguard...To be frank, this is not about APC or PDP but why on earth should he make such threat in this 21st century...Many of NLs are already being sentimental trying to cover him up...However, that doesnt prevent him from being cautioned using our votes...

[url]https://soundcloud.com/chxta-bee/oba-akiolu-speaks-mp3?in=chxta-bee%2Fsets%2Foba-akiolu-issue[/url]

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/audio-oba-akiolus-meeting-with-igbo-leaders/

My own prediction goes thus:

APGA
ABIA


PDP
AKWA IBOM
CROSS RIVERS
DELTA
EBONYI
ENUGU
TARABA
ADAMAWA
BENUE
IMO
JIGAWA
NIGER
PLATEAU
RIVERS


APC
BAUCHI
BORNO
GOMBE
KADUNA
KANO
KATSINA
KEBBI
KWARA
LAGOS
NASARAWA
OGUN
OYO
SOKOTO
YOBE
ZAMFARA