Life, they say, is what one makes of it. A condition that drives one man into frustration and even attempted suicide would be made so light by another man that it would become a source of hysteric laughter.

Consider the case of former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and his supporters in Kwara State and you would realise the sense in the Yoruba saying that there is good in evil and evil in good.

Still smarting from the crushing defeat of Saraki’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the rampaging machinery of the All Progressives Congress in virtually all the positions contested in the recently concluded elections in the state, the immediate past Senate President and his supporters have found a formula for getting over the humiliating defeat.

The refrain on the lips of members of Saraki’s political camp in Kwara State these days is that they have proceeded on a four-year leave after the strenuous task of governing the state for 16 unbroken years, and would be making a return to the Government House in 2023.



While the supporters of APC in the state are sneering at Saraki and his supporters over the refrain which they see only as an ingenuous way of mitigating their pains, PDP supporters in the state are praying that the purported leave would not turn into retirement, given the pace at which Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s government is moving.

A 28-year old man, Desmond Ovoke Onovaibirhi, has been arraigned before an Oredo Magistrate Court, Edo state for stealing the sum of N157,700.

Desmond was alleged to have conspired with one Elisabeth Augustine to steal the money from a new generation bank on January 12, 2019.

Police Prosecutor, ASP Patrick Agbonifo, informed the court that the money belonged to one Loveth Tijani.

The suspect was arraigned on two count charges of stealing and conspiracy.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

ASP Agbonifo said the offences were punishable under sections 390 and 516 of the Criminal Code vol ii laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria now applicable in Edo State.

Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. Ivie Akhere, granted bail to the accused person to the sum of N50,000 and a surety in like sum.

The case was adjourned to September 9, 2019 for hearing.

A middle-aged man, Okon Samson Udofia, has appealed to the Akwa Ibom state government and concerned individuals to come to his help after his son burnt down his thatched house.

Udofia, an oil palm tree tapper and native of Ikot Nya village in Nsit Ibom local government area of the state, lamented that he is homeless and in dire need of a roof over his head.

Narrating his ordeal to our correspondent, Udofia said his 20-year old son, who is apparently mentally deranged, set fire to his thatched house at about 9 pm while he was asleep.

He said his sick son was a serious threat to his life and the entire community, adding that he had made several entreaties to the police to save the situation but to no avail.

”My son, Iniobong is mentally unwell and I have been crying and asking the police to arrest him and take him to a psychiatric hospital but they they(the police) keep telling me it is not their responsibility to arrest mad people.

”My son has been very violent to the extent of threatening to kill me and other villagers. Last night he set fire to my house while I was sleeping at about 9 pm.

”The fire burnt the house and my properties worth over N500,000. It is by the grace of God that I managed to wake up and escape. This is not the first time he has commuted this kind of atrocity”, he said.

Udofia said his predicament was a warning sign to all villagers at Ikot Nya as his rampaging son, if not arrested and taken to a psychiatric hospital, may kill somebody very soon.

”I am using this opportunity to call on the police and the state government to urgently arrest Iniobong and take him to the psychiatric hospital otherwise he will cause more destruction of properties and even life than what he has done to me”, he cried.

One of the villagers, Udeme Uyoatta, who spoke to our correspondent said the community is no longer safe as Iniobong was on the prowl.

Uyoatta said the community had made several appeals to the Divisional Police Officsr (DPO) to arrest Iniobong but that he kept saying it was not the responsibility of the police to arrest mad people.

All attempts through phone calls and text messages to reach out to the DPO at Ikot Nya proved abortive as at the time to filing this report.

SOUTH Africa has snubbed Nigeria’s quest for compensation for its citizens who incurred losses from xenophobic attacks.

Nigeria is pressing for full compensation for victims of the unprovoked attacks and wanton killings.

The Federal Government’s envoy is in Pretoria in a diplomatic move to end the impasse created by the situation.

But South Africa’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Naledi Pandor, said on Thursday that payment of compensation was not in the country’s law.



Following persistent attacks over the years, many Nigerians – about 200 – have been killed. Many more have lost properties and goods worth millions of dollars, according to the President of Nigerian Union in South Africa Adeola Olubajo.

As a result of this, the Federal Government has been pressing for compensation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama reiterated the demand for compensation on Thursday in an interview with reporters at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He said: Our citizens there have suffered a lot. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that they are compensated and we will take measures necessary and do whatever we have to do to ensure that they are compensated.”

On Tuesday, Onyeama said: “Full compensation has to be paid because as we have discovered from previous experience, a lot of these Nigerians loss their property and it is a long drawn out process and very often are not compensated for it. But on this occasion, the Nigerian government is going to fight for full compensation and hold the government of South Africa to count.”

The South African foreign minister also alleged that Nigerians are involved in drug and human trafficking.

Pandor spoke while responding to criticisms that South Africa’s security agencies were not doing enough to protect foreigners in the wave of xenophobia rocking the country.

In an interview with eNCA, a South African outfit, Pandor said South Africans believe many Nigerians are “harming our young people.”

Asked if the country’s security agencies had helped in protecting foreigners including Nigerians, she responded: “I would appreciate them in helping us as well to address the belief our people have and the reality that there are many persons from Nigeria dealing in drugs in our country.

“I believe that Nigerian nationals are involved in human trafficking and other abusive practices.

“These kind of assistance of ensuring that such persons do not come to our country will be of great assistance to our nation.”
The xenophobic attacks forced Nigeria to pull out of the ongoing World Economic Forum in South Africa.

In its initial response to the fresh attacks, the federal government summoned Bobby Monroe, South Africa’s high commissioner to Nigeria.

The Nigerian government is now considering the option of suing the South Africa government to force her to pay compensation, as shown by the move being made by the federal ministry of justice.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa who addressed the nation yesterday on his attacks, did not mention the concern of Nigerians on the killing of her nationals.

He merely said at least 10 persons were killed, two of them foreigners, in a wave of riots and attacks.

In the televised address in Johannesburg, he said: “Over the past few days, our country has been deeply traumatised and troubled by acts of violence and criminality directed against foreign nationals and our own citizens,” Ramaphosa said.

“People have lost their lives, families have been traumatised … We know that at least 10 people have been killed in the violence. Two of whom were foreign nationals.”

South African police arrested more than 80 people and confirmed five deaths as riots in Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria intensified on Tuesday, spreading to surrounding townships with roving groups attacking mainly foreign-owned shops.

“We can’t rule out pure criminality of criminals using a sensitive situation where there are real grievances on issues of unemployment and foreign nationals,” police minister Bheki Cele said.

Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has confirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari gave him a bailout of about N30.8 billion to clear salary arrears of workers in the state, insisting that his government is presently up to date in the payment of salaries.

The governor, who spoke with reporters after a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC and all those who contested the party’s governorship primary, also asked the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to look inward in the search for those who attacked the venue of their primary election rather than blaming him.

He said: “As regard the issue of news making the round that Kogi State is owing salaries, I want to categorical state that, my two predecessors inherited salary arrears.

“It is a problem I inherited when I assumed office. But I want to announce to you today, that Kogi is not owing any worker’s salary at all. We have been able to clear all workers’ salaries and we are up to date. As a matter of fact, the last primary election that was held on August 29, we paid the salaries of August. That is to tell you that we are up-to-date as far as salary is concerned.
“The issue of us owning up to 38 months’ salary arrears before we cleared it was all false and lies. We did owe up to that, what we were owing at that time was between four to five months.

“As I speak with you now, Mr. President graciously approved a bailout of N30.8 billion for us and our national chairman seated help me to facilitate the release.”

The governor said he had fully applied the bail-out fund to clear salaries and pension arrears. “We are not owing any salary,” he said.

On the allegation by the PDP that he was behind the attack on their primary, Bello said: “I am a member of the APC and not PDP. We gave a level playing ground to all the aspirants from all political parties to carry out their activities freely within the state. They moved around the entire state and we provided security for them and ensure that they were safe.”

A man was charged 99,983.64 (£55,300) for just one bottle of beer at a Manchester hotel and he took to Twitter to share his experience.



Peter Lalor, a cricket writer from Australia, said he thinks the beer he was served could be "the most expensive beer in history".



But it turns out the beer should have been £5.50 and an error meant he was overcharged and £55,000 was removed from his account. He still hasn’t had a refund for the bottle of Deuchars IP.



He said he was staying at a branch of Malmaison in Manchester ahead of the fourth Ashes Test match when he stopped for a drink at the hotel bar. When it was time to pay, it became apparent that something was not quite right.



Mr Lalor tweeted: "I didn’t have my reading glasses when she presented me with a bill for the beer and when she had some problems with the machine I didn’t think much of it, but it was eventually resolved, I said I didn’t want a receipt and she went to leave.



"Something, however, made me ask: ‘How much did I just pay for that beer?’ She checked, covered her mouth, started to giggle and refused to tell me, saying only there had been a mistake and she would fix it.



"She kept giggling, I told her it needed to be fixed and fixed right now. She ran to get her manager who took the situation far more seriously and went about attempting to arrange a refund. She told me somebody would be in contact."



But Mr Lalor said nobody got in touch with him and he was unaware exactly how much had been taken from the account until he received a call from home.



He wrote: "The sum of $99,983.64 (£55,300) had been removed from our account. And, there’d been a transaction fee of 2,499.59 to add to the pain. The fee has been refunded but not the larger amount."



Mr Lalor said it was "baffling" that the transaction had been gone through "unquestioned".



After he tweeted and his tweet went viral, he said the hotel had been in touch and were being very helpful.



Read his tweets below.

The Federal Government has explained why it recalled the High Commissioner to South Africa, Ambassador Kabiru Bala.



Ambassador Kabiru Bala was recalled from South Africa following an outcry by Nigerians over the endless xenophobic attacks.



However commenting on the development, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said Bala was recalled only for consultation. The consultation is expected to hold after the Special Envoy sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa returns.



He said: “The Nigerian government is only recalling the country’s High Commissioner in South Africa for consultation and that will be after the President’s Special Envoy has returned from South Africa.”