₦airaland Forum

No fewer than five persons have been killed and over 35 vehicles destroyed in an ongoing riot caused by a minor motorcycle accident in Dei Dei, Abuja.

An eyewitness narrating the cause of the riot to our correspondent said the riot started after a motorcyclist knocked down a woman by the roadside who sustained serious injury. This led to a heated conversation among onlookers and sympathisers. Residents from “around the area started fighting in front of the corner shops by Tomatoes junction around the Timber Shed,” the eyewitness said.

In defence, the motorcyclist brought out a dagger and stabbed five people.

One of the people that was stabbed in the head died immediately which fuelled more reactions and counter reactions leading to the death of four others.

Angry residents fought vehemently smashing and destroying cars as well as burning houses. The whole area is in mayhem as business men and women had closed down their shops running to safety.

The road leading to the area has been blocked with serious traffic, people are seen leaving their cars and running to safety.

Our corespondent reports that Mobile Policemen and other security agencies have been deployed to the area and all is being done to restore peace. Some of the security men have also sustained injuries in the process.

All efforts to speak to any of the security personnel failed at the time of publishing this report.

berem: This is the same Governor CAN wants to give merit award for God knows what!
Southern Kaduna people have been totally neglected in the scheme of things and the governor suddenly shows his face to either sympathize with them or do a political campaign.

May God see the people of southern kaduna through in these trying times.

MichaelAustin: furniture allowance every month?

MichaelAustin: furniture allowance every month?

The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) says Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has dumped his 2015 presidential ambition for President Goodluck Jonathan's re-election.

The BoT disclosed this late last night after a meeting held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja where it endorsed Jonathan as the party's sole candidate for the 2015 presidential election.

Governor Lamido had reportedly been keenly interested in challenging Jonathan at the PDP's primaries for the 2015 presidential election.

Addressing State House journalists on the outcome of the three-hour closed door meeting which ended at 11.30pm, a member of the BoT and former Information Minister Jerry Gana said the board endorsed Jonathan after the PDP Governors Forum Chairman Godswill Akpabio announced that the forum had done same.

Asked whether Lamido had agreed to the endorsement of Jonathan by the PDP governors forum, Gana said Akpkabio who confirmed to the BoT that Lamido "phoned him during the meeting and directed the deputy governor of Jigawa who attended the meeting to sign the document. In other words, he (Lamido) authorised the deputy governor to sign on his behalf, and therefore the answer to your question is that he too endorsed that decision. We asked the same question and that is the answer we got".

Gana added that the PDP governors agreed that none of them would contest the position of president in the PDP primaries.

"Hence, the BoT was so informed today about this and that decision by the governors was fully endorsed in a motion by the BoT on its own. Having received that news, the BoT also unanimously resolved that because of the excellent work which Mr. President has done, because of the mature way he has been leading Nigeria, because of the humble, dedicated and pathetic way he has been handling very sensitive issues, the BoT is delighted, convinced and overwhelmed by the fact that we've a very impressive candidate.

"Therefore, the BoT also unanimoulsy resolved that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan be the sole candidate of the party in the forthcoming election. That was unanimously resolved with a standing ovation and the BoT is very excited. I'd like to take this opportunity to also say the BoT thanked the governors for their wisdom, maturity and love of the party. And I want to emphasise; we asked the governors and they said all the PDP governors signed the document which is going to be presented to the president in another session".

Gana said the BoT also approved the timetable and guidelines for the party's primaries and national convention for the 2015 elections, adding that the document would be presented to the party's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting today for final endorsement.

On whether Jonathan's endorsement as the party's sole candidate is not repugnant to internal democracy, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said, "The name of our party is the People's Democratic Party. So, democracy is part of us and we're very concious of the need to have internal democracy in our party. But you must remember that consensus building is also part of democracy. For us in the PDP, we believe that the BoT is the conscience of the party.

"So, if the BoT has agreed to endorse Mr. President as the candidate of the party, we're simply saying that we're persuading every member of the party to accept that position. We're not going to force any person, but we're making a strong statement; we're persuading our people strongly to accept this position for the reasons earlier mentioned. It's also important for us to know that we need to reward hard work, commitment, achievement and performance.

"We're borrowing from other democracies including the US where a sitting president who has done so well is expected to be rewarded by his party with a ticket. So, we're building a tradition which we hope that those who will come after us will be able to imbibe. This is also within the tenet of democracy, not only in Nigeria, but in other parts of the world".

Jennydoris: United will lose.

engineerboat: REPLIED "Sorry, you have sent an invalid PIN. Please try again. Thank you"

McWhillion: Over 200 Chibok girls missing
$20 billion dollars missing
20 police officers were three days ago missing
Alpha jet used yesterday missing
You waka any how, you'll go missing

Probably Nigeria too is missing on world map.
CNN will know

MrOrioye: I'm so happy to see this trend. I thought it was my decoder going bad. Now i know its a software problem. I hope they release a better software soon.

Rich4god: You sure say no be you kill am,,,

Nearly 10,000 people, including youth vigilantes, local hunters, retired military, police and para-military operatives, artisans and petty traders today vowed to confront Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State.

They resolved to use dane guns, sticks, bows and arrows to confront the insurgents as it came in the wake of emerging reports of Nigerian soldiers retreating from the war front as a result of alleged superior powers of the insurgents.

Of recent, the insurgents have taken over many towns and villages in Borno State, including Gwoza, Gamboru Ngala, Dikwa, Bama, Banki and many others.

Reports suggest that Boko Haram insurgents are also perfecting plans to attack the state capital, prompting the resolve of the people to rise against the move.

The volunteers gathered at the Ramat Square in Maiduguri today, before they proceeded to the Palace of the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai Al-Amin El-Kanemi where they sought for his blessings ahead of the operation.

They said they are ready to enter the infamous Sambisa Forest and also go to all captured towns in order to reclaim them.

The state Coordinator of the Civilian JTF, Mallam Abba Aji Kalli said they were at the Shehu's palace to seek for his blessings and fatherly advice.

He told the Shehu to beg the Federal Government to provide them arms and logistic support so that they can protect themselves and vulnerable citizens.

Speaking to journalists later, he said, “The various groups you see here have vowed to go after the Boko Haram insurgents even if we are not well armed. We are optimistic that with our Gora (Sticks in Hausa) and other local arms, we would raid all terrorists’ hideouts and kill them when given permission by the federal government.

“We have done this before when Maiduguri was a theatre of mindless killings by the Boko Haram, we chased them out of the town but they have regrouped in the bushes and are now attacking people.

igwedaboss: Essen smile tho... he just seem happy getting treatment

tuffgongjo: She is d reason JT enjoys going down every time.

CyberWolf: SLS and his mole in the currency operation department comes to mind..

onnairaland: Pls sir, how do I send a direct msg to MTN so they can deactivate my CNN news alert? The 180/181 doesn't have ways of connecting to their CC again. Can u assist me on this? Thanks in advance.