₦airaland Forum

Afeez Hanafi

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a resident of Shobowale Street in the Alagbado area of the state, Victoria Alaba, for allegedly killing the wife of her landlord during a scuffle.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the deceased, Mrs. Amosa Ogunyemi, had ordered Alaba and other tenants not to wash dirty clothes at a section on the premises as the compound was being messed up.

It was said that the suspect ignored the order and was washing on the premises on Saturday when Ogunyemi approached her and told her to vacate the spot.

Our correpondent gathered that Alaba declined the directive, causing an altercation between the two.

A source close to the family told PUNCH Metro that Alaba, said to be in her 30s, pounced on the deceased and beat her up, while another resident said they engaged in a scuffle during which Ogunyemi gave up the ghost.

It was learnt that the landlord’s wife, who was said to be in her late 50s, was rushed to a hospital in the area, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

The source, who declined to mention his name, said, “The landlord’s wife had warned on several occasions that tenants should stop washing clothes at the spot, but Victoria (Alaba) did not listen. On Saturday, she chose to wash her dirty clothes at the spot again. The landlord’s wife walked up to her and told her to leave the spot. She refused and they started exchanging words.

“She pounced on Amosa (Ogunyemi) and pushed her to the ground. The woman became unconscious and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but she died. The tenant has been arrested by policemen from the Alagbado division.”

However, a resident of the area, who identified himself simply as Adamu, said the argument between the two women led to a fight.

“I was not there, but I was told that it was a fight and the woman (Ogunyemi) was overpowered by the tenant. She died in the process,” he added.

Other residents approached by our correspondent, who visited the neighbourhood on Wednesday, refused to speak on the issue.

In the deceased’s residence, a one storeyed-building, some sympathisers gathered under a tent outside, while others were with the husband of the late woman in a living room.

The distraught widower and a relative said the matter had been amicably resolved and called one of the deceased’s children, identified as Kazeem, to speak to our correspondent.

The son told PUNCH Metro that the family members were not interested in taking any legal action against the suspect, adding that his mother had been buried according to Islamic rites.

He said, “We have resolved the matter and the police have released her corpse to us. We don’t have any comment on how the incident happened. All we are going to say is that everything is settled. Thank you.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident in a text message, adding that the suspect was transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, for further investigation.

She said, “The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, has ordered the case to be transferred to the SDCI for discreet investigation. The name of the tenant is Victoria Alaba while that of the deceased is Amosa Ogunyemi.”

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A man, who identified himself only as Ade, said he suspected foul play because the letter did not carry government stamp, adding that his wife, who needed a job, persuaded him to pay the money.

According to him, “The woman was in
relationship with the man from Kwaru when she
was a girl and used to give her money when they
were dating. The lady in question married another
person. But after their marriage, the lady and her
former boyfriend were still going out.

Troops of the 7 Brigade, 8 Task Force Division of the Nigerian Army who were on clearance operation around Gratte in Kukawa LGA of Borno State killed seven Boko Haram militants including a notorious kingpin popularly known as the Albani of Monguno, the army said yesterday.

A statement from the army spokesman, Colonel Sani Usman, said the troops also seized two vehicles, seven motorcycles, one AK-47 rifle and two Boko Haram-hoisted flags among other items.

In a related development, the Defence headquarters yesterday alerted members of the public that fleeing remnant of the militants had laid land mines on farm lands in the North- east states.

Defence spokesman, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, said in a statement that the militants had adopted the tactic in their desperation to unleash maximum terror on the people.

He said they now operated with horses to carry out attacks on isolated villages and communities along the fringes of the Nigerian borders in the North-east.

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Harmored:
SEE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING,YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THE VALUE OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING

Suspected cult members have murdered a native doctor, Chief Onupka Nwite, in his shrine at Ndulo Ukwuagba Ngbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. After killing Nwite about 8p.m. last Friday in front of his shrine while resting, the suspects ran away from the area.

The victim was said to be preparing charms for cult members in the area which protect them from being killed by rival cult group(s) during clashes. The son of the deceased, Nwabueze Onukpa, listed the names of those he claimed killed his father.

Onukpa reported the matter at Ohaukwu Police Division and at the Development Centre Coordinator.

He also appealed to security agents to bring the culprits to book. Nwite’s kindred in Ukwuagba mobilised youths who burnt the houses of some persons suspected to be involved in the killing of the native doctor.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP George Okafor, said he was outside the state. He said: “I am not with my record because I am travelling. I will be back tomorrow.”

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A 14-year-old girl allegedly attempted suicide after she was impregnated by her boyfriend in Byazhin across, Kubwa, Abuja.

The girl, who is a student, a source said, attempted suicide when her parents asked her to tell them who impregnated her.

City News reliably gathered that the girl has succeeded in hiding the pregnancy from the parents for a while until they became suspicious.
The source said the girl was later taken to the hospital where she was confirmed pregnant.

The source added that the parents, who became angry on receiving the result of the pregnancy test, insisted the daughter must produce the man behind the act.

“The day she was to take the parents to the man that impregnated her, the parents were waiting for her in the sitting room to dress up, not knowing she was busy drinking the poisonous substance in her room,” the source said.

City News learnt that the parents became disturbed when she did not appear on time and went to her room where they saw her lying unconscious and fuming from the mouth with the container of the poisonous substance by her side.

She was rushed to the Kubwa General Hospital where she is currently receiving treatment.

Confirming the incident, the Kubwa Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Chief Superintendent Nuruddeen Sabo, said, “The suspect, whose name was given as Benson and staying around Channel 8, is presently at large, but we are making efforts to arrest him.”

A 32-year-old visually impaired man, Kamilu Suleiman, has decided to sell one of his kidneys to further his education.

A graduate of Electrical Electronics from Kaduna Polytechnic, Mr. Suleiman did his Youth Service Corps in 2014.

Explaining the reason for his decision, Mr. Suleiman said, “Frustration is what brought the idea of my readiness to sell one of my kidneys just to get money to sponsor my education. I really want to be useful to the society. I don’t want the effort of my parents to go in vein.

An indigene of Ilobu in Osun State, Mr. Suleiman was born and grew up in Kaduna State as the second of 7 children.

While explaining how he lost his sight, he stated that he was diagnosed with Glaucoma at the National Eye Centre Kaduna in 2009, but lost his sight completely in 2012 .

“I was supposed to graduate in 2012 but because of a carryover (C.O) I got in one subject, I went for my NYSC in year 2013 and finished in year 2014.
“I was posted to Plateau State but requested for redeployment back to Kaduna due to my condition.

After I became completely blind I decided to live with a friend to avoid my parents seeing me in this condition because I don’t like seeing them worried.”

Mr. Suleiman said his goal is to study courses and programs that will enable him maximise his present situation.

“So I’m appealing to well meaning Nigerians to help me with a job or scholarship to further my education. I have applied to various media organizations seeking for job but I didn’t hear anything positive.

“My effort to look for somebody to sponsor my Masters program didn’t yield result. I just want to further my education so as to be useful to society and help others in my condition too.

“My parents don’t have the money and I don’t to be a burden on them,” he said.

He explained some of the steps he has taken to seek support from influential Nigerians.

“I got a letter from Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) to my governor, Rauf Aregbesola, in 2014. Another letter to Chief Imam of Yorubaland, Mustapha Ajibade, and to the Chief Imam of my home town seeking for assistance but I’m yet to hear from them.

“The letter to the governor I gave it to his personal Assistant, Alhaji Sikiru. I also spoke to Deputy Speaker House of Representatives who is from my home town, Lasun Sulaiman Yusuf, who also promised to help me but as I speak to you he has stopped picking my calls,” he said.

Mr. Suleiman said he had also sent a letter, through courier, to Shehu Sani, an activist who currently represents Kaduna Central in the Senate.

Written by: Oluwole Igeand Johnson Babajide

The uproar that greeted the purchase of 36 luxury SUVs as project vehicles of the Senate committees continued to reverberate at the weekend, following indications that senators from the Northern part of the country have been barred from driving home the vehicles.

Investigations by the Sunday Tribune in Abuja confirmed that many of the Northern senators, who received the cars ,are in dilemma over driving them home because of threat text messages they have been receiving from their constituents.

Sources in the Senate told Sunday Tribune that immediately the Senate came up with explanations last week to the effect that it only purchased 36 cars on one senator per state, messages started bombarding phones of the Northern senators, telling them not to attempt driving the cars in the streets of the north.

Perhaps, as a foretaste of the intention of constituents in the North to deal with any senator that defies the order, some unknown persons were said to have attacked the Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Hamman Misau, in Bauchi last week.

Sources told the Sunday Tribune that the lawmakers had since decided to keep the new vehicles in Abuja to avoid trouble.

“Many of our colleagues from the North have received text messages threatening to deal with them if they attempt driving the Land Cruiser V8 SUVs on the streets. The tones of the text messages were strong enough, such that nobody is actually ready to dare them,” a source in the Senate said.

The Senate on Tuesday last week had clarified reports about the purchase of its project vehicles, saying that the upper chamber only bought 36 cars, not 108.

Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, who made the clarification, told newsmen in the Senate that the decision was taken that only 36 cars instead of 108 would be purchased and that the cars would go round at one senator per state.

Senator Gobir said that the public was apparently misinformed about the purchase of the cars, saying that each of the Toyota Land cruiser VXR V8 costs $90,000, while the final figure for the purchase amounted to N36.5 million each, after tax was added.

The senator said: “A lot has been happening within the last two days concerning the issue of cars vis a vis car loan, and cost of the car and we feel it is necessary to come out and inform the public about what it is. So that people can have a better understanding of the whole thing to avoid wrong perception as being created among Nigerians.

“First, I would like to say that the issue that we bought 108 cars is totally wrong, It is not correct. We bought 36 cars. These 36 cars because each senator in each state is either a chairman or a vice chairman and we gave one car to each state.

“We don’t have money to buy 108 cars. On the issue of buying cars without appropriation, this is totally wrong because this has been appropriated for in the 2015 budget.

“So we used what we have in the 2015 budget to buy the 36 cars so that it can go round to each state.
“On the issue of the cost of the car, the showroom price, the cost of the car is N36.5m and we are surprised. The car we bought is Land Cruiser VXR V8 not V6. Therefore the showroom price is about N31m minimum and when you put 10 per cent tax, it becomes N36.5 million.

“In fact you can go to the internet and download it. It is very simple. We can give you the website, we have several items we downloaded from the internet, you can see them. This particular car costs about $90,000.

“By the time you multiply that, you will have about N28.8m, so when you add tax, you will end up with about N37m. So I think what we have purchased the car for is very reasonable and sensitive to economic challenge.

“We are supposed to buy 109 cars but because of the paucity of funds, because of our sensitivity and concern for lack of funds, we bought only 36 to go round per state.

“There is no minister that hasn’t got about three or four cars. One land cruiser, maybe a backup and two Hilux cars. There is no director in the civil service that hasn’t got a car. There is no permanent secretary that hasn’t got a land cruiser.

“In fact, every House of Assembly (member) has either a Prado or a Land Cruiser and here is a senator, you say he cannot have one Land Cruiser.

“On the issue of car loan, let me tell you, the car loan that we were given, we have not taken, hear it from me, we did not take the car loan. No senator was given car loan, we did not take it.

“Currently, we have money for 36 vehicles and we procured 36. We had a close session and we all agreed that we should give one car per state, we sat down and agreed, who needs the car most and that was what happened.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria has imposed a total fine of N3.2bn on United Bank for Africa Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, and Sterling Bank Plc for committing various kinds of regulatory infractions.

The offences, which were committed during the 2015 financial year, were contained in the annual reports of the affected banks, copies of which were obtained by our correspondent on Friday.

UBA had the highest fine among the four banks, paying the sum of N2.969bn as penalty to the CBN for committing eight offences.

The offences are: failing to meet the Treasury Single Account reporting and remittance deadline, N2.946bn; failure to update customers’ records and conducting continuous due diligence on some accounts, N2m; and failing to review credit policy at least every three years in line with section 3.1 of the prudential guidelines 2010, N4m.

Others are bidding for export proceeds in excess of the Bankers’ Committee guidance rates, N4.8m; violating the CBN circular in respect of the 2015 Risk-based Examination, N2m; and inadvertent omission of two customers from the PEP returns, N2m.

Others are errors in response to an enquiry on offshore subsidiaries, N6m; and processing import transaction for a customer, pending the receipt of the customer’s renewed NAFDAC certificate.

Zenith Bank, which had the second largest fine, paid the sum of N60.1m to the central bank for committing nine offences.

The offences comprise infractions arising from risk assets examination as of December 31, 2014, N2m; late rendition of fraud and forgeries returns, N2m; fraudulent instant pay from an account in the Enterprise Bank to the Valluci Properties Limited, N10m; and late rendition of returns in respect of CDL, N4m.

Others are anti money laundering spot check exception, N4m; the TSA deadline exception, N4m; late rendition of returns, N100,000; penalty in relation to reporting of public sector deposit, N32m; and failure to implement auditors recommendation contained in a management letter.

The CBN fined GTBank the sum of N60.05m for committing three offences in the 2015 financial year. The offences involved delay in transmitting the list of the TSA names to the CBN, N2m; late rendition of returns, N50,000; and contravention of the CBN circular on prior clearance of prospective employees of banks, N4m.

Sterling Bank, which had the least fine among the four banks, was fined N13m for committing five offences.
The offences listed against the bank are failure of its system in preventing tiered-customers from exceeding their thresholds, N2m; not classifying customers into appropriate risk category and incomplete account opening forms, N4m; and failure of the bank to provide reports to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System Plc as required in the circular, N1m.

Others are failure of the bank to meet the deadline for transfer of funds to the TSA, N4m; and delay in response to the CBN directive in respect of reporting lines of the Chief Compliance Officer, N2m.

It was gathered that Mrs. Igwe’s daughter, a
graduate of marketing from the Delta State
owned University, (DELSU) Awai Campus, fell in
love with the lover boy who works with shell in
Warri (name withheld) while she was a 300 level
student and introduced him to her mother who
fell in love with him.

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

MOST of the 23 states that got bail out cash from the federal government for the settlement of arrears of workers’ salaries and emoluments, diverted the funds for other purposes, thereby defeating the purpose of the government’s effort to provide succour for the workers.

A comprehensive analysis carried out by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, ICPC, in conjunction with the Nigeria Labour Congress, revealed last night that many of the states deliberately lied that they were owing their workers huge debts when the reverse was the case.

A major feature of the analysis released by the ICPC and signed by its Commissioner for Public Enlightenment, indicated that many of the states failed to apply the amount received from the federal government to settle their indebtedness to their workers, leaving them enmeshed in huge arrears of salaries to the staff despite collecting the bailout cash.
A breakdown of the analysis indicates that out of the 27 states that applied for the fund, only 23 had been paid by the Central Bank of Nigeria as at the end of December 2015.

The benefiting states are: Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Ekiti, Katsina, Gombe, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Plateau, Sokoto, Kwara, Bayelsa and Imo.
Others are: Enugu, Oyo, Delta, Kebbi and Zamfara.

Of particular concern to the ICPC, is the case of Zamfara State, which applied for N32.5bn but as at the time of collecting N10 billion from the federal government for workers’ arrears, the state was reportedly not indebted to any of its workers.
But after receiving the cash, the state government made overtures to its House of Assembly to approve the use of the money for the settlement of indebtedness to contractors and other purposes.

The House of Assembly thereafter approved the disbursement of the money as follows:
*Outstanding of payment to 14 LGS of the State: N4,262,560,629.83
* Outstanding payment of fertilizer for 2014 farming season: N3,056,300,000.00
*Outstanding certificate for construction of Bungudu-Nahuche Kyabarawa Road 22.6Km: N265,256,342.76
* Outstanding certificate of Hostel Block at Abdu Gusau Polytechnic. T/Mafara:N55,000,000.00
* Payment of outstanding cost of Vehicles supplied to State: N319,430,000.00
* Outstanding certificate of construction work at K/Namoda Juma’at Mosque: N20,4 79,100.39
* Outstanding certificate of construction work at Emir’s Palace. Gusau: N6,020,000.00
* Share of 14 Local Government Councils Bailout: N2,035,705,000.00.

In a different dimension of misuse, Imo State, which collected the sum of N26,806,430.000.00 from the CBN, paid the amount into two commercial banks and transferred part of the money into uses not related to workers salaries.

The ICPC said it discovered that N2 billion was lodged into a Government House Account, N2 billion paid into Imo State Project Account, while another N2 billion was lodged in a micro-finance bank and a ‘management fee’ of N21 million paid into an unspecified account out of the bailout fund received by the state.

Similarly, Adamawa State got N9,578,360, 000.00 as bailout cash but disbursed only N2,378,360,000.00 with a balance of N7,200,000,000.00. According to the report, the state could not adduce any reason for the slow process of off-setting the debt as at the time of the report. However, the state claimed not to owe outstanding salaries as at September, 2015.

In the case of Bauchi State, the report shows that out of the N8.609.100.000.00 it received as bail-out fund, it disbursed N8.4I4.088,383.26 with a balance of N95.011.616.74. The State claimed not to owe salaries as at September. 201 5.

Also, Benue State received N 12.503,439.787. 48 as bailout fund and disbursed N10,852.536.702. 96 with a balance of N 1.650.903.084.52. Analysis of the documents submitted revealed a double payment of N37,760,000.00 in favour of Office of the Deputy Governor. The ICPC said it was investigating the double payment to the Deputy Governor.

Cross River State is said to have received N7.856,400.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N3.140.883.040.77 with a balance of N4.715,516.959.23. However the State claimed not to have outstanding salaries to workers as at 19/11/2015.

Ekiti State according to the report, received N9.604.340.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N9.213. 816.252.44 with a balance of N390.613.747. 56. The State owed one month salary as at 28th October 2015.

Katsina State got Nl1, 086.630.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N2.512.214.530.71 with a balance of N8.574.415.469.29. The State claimed to have cleared all outstanding salaries as at 18lh February, 2016.

Gombe State got N11,000,000,000.00 and disbursed N6,321.684.423.67 with a balance of N4,678,315,576.33. The state claimed it was not owing salaries as at September, 2015, according to the report.

Nasarawa State received N8,317.167.368.87 in two tranches of N3.956.047.519.60 and N4.361.119.848.27 as bailout fund and disbursed N3.956.047.519.60 with a balance of N4.361.1 19.848.27. The State claimed not to have paid Local Government Workers’ salaries due to an on-going verification exercise.

Niger State received N4.396.810.000.00 as bailout fund and the entire amount was claimed to have been expended in off-setting salary debts.

Ondo State received N9.443.059.226.92 as bailout fund and disbursed N7.905.484.176.60 with a balance of N1,537.575.050.32. The State reportedly owed one-month salary and several months arrears of gratuity/pension as at 30th September. 2015.

Osun State received N34.988.990.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N18.677.224.582.20, leaving a balance of N16.311,765.418 billion as at November. 2015. The Commission said it was verifying allegations that Osun State public servants had only been paid salaries up to July 2015.

Ogun State claimed it received N18,916.208.664.86 as bailout fund and duly expended the entire sum for salary arrears and did not owe workers as at 9th October, 2015.

Plateau State received N5.357.570.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N5.330.589.061.15 with a balance of N26.980.938.85. The State was owing two months salaries as at 30th September 2015.

Kwara State received the sum of N4.320.950.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N4,291.087.985.08 for staff salaries and emoluments with a balance of N29.862.014.92. The State claimed to have cleared all outstanding salaries as at 20th October. 2015.

Bayelsa State applied for the sum of N 1.285.000.000.00 and had concluded disbursement formalities but the Central Bank of Nigeria was yet to release the said fund to the State as at 18th December, 2015.

Enugu State was granted N10,174,238,681.19 as bailout fund as at 16th November 2015. Analysis of the documents submitted revealed that, the State disbursed N5, 967,238,681.19 from the bailout fund to settle domestic debts and claimed that funds for the payments of Staff salaries and emoluments was not yet assessed.

Oyo State was granted N26,606,944,831.03 as bailout fund and disbursed N25,495,292,422.63 with a balance of Nl, l 11.652.408.40. The State owes four months’ salaries as at 7 April. 2016.

Delta State has a total debt value accrued from Staff salaries and emoluments of N36,417,217,601.53. The State was granted N10,936,799,299.36 as bailout fund and disbursed N8,129,888,279.86 with a balance of N2,806,9I1,019.50. However, the state claimed not to owe salaries as at 24th November. 2015.

Kebbi State received N7.080.000.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursedN2,617,152,577.20 with a balance of N4,463,975,420.27. The State claimed to have cleared all outstanding arrears on salaries as at September. 2015.

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The Nigerian army on Friday paraded one Prince Onyemauche accused of impersonation as a Colonel in the army.

Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman while parading Onyemauche before journalists at the army headquarters in Abuja said he was arrested with an automatic rifle and pistol.

Usman said Onyemauche was arrested alongside one sergeant Jacob Phillip by troops of 176 Special Forces Gurads Battalion at about 12:30 in the early morning of 17th February 2016, along Wazobia Motor Park, Gwagwalada Abuja.

He said the suspect was driving Toyota Tacoma Pick-up van when he was arrested after earlier escaping check in Abaji where he claimed to be a Colonel in the Nigerian army.

Usman said after the arrest both suspects were carried to Gwagwagalada Barracks where a search on the Pick-up revealed an Ak 47 Rifle, with registration number 3290 and four magazines, out of which, two were empty while the other two were loaded with 42 rounds of 7.62 ammunition.

He added that: “A luger pistol, 21 x 9mm Parabellium ammunition and the sum of one million, eleven thousand three hundred naira (N1, 011,300.00) was found.”

Usman said initial investigation revealed that Onyemauche had habitually been illegally using soldiers as escorts while travelling out of Lagos to his village in Imo state and sometimes to Abuja.

He said: “The three identified soldiers, including Sergeant Jacob Phillip, who travelled with the suspect without official authorization, are awaiting trial by a court martial.”

Usman stated that Onyemauche would be handed over to the civil police for further investigation and prosecution.

Wechie, in his petition, alleged that the defendant addressed herself as member of the Assembly, even when she had not been administered oath of office or sworn in.

The Permanent Secretary of Osun State Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs Adebimpe Ogunlumade has been abducted by gunmen while returning to Osogbo from Abuja.

Ogunlumade was kidnapped along with her driver, Mr. Oladapo Arogundade Ajani and a Director from the ministry, Mr. Tajudeen Badejoko who accompanied her to Abuja for the official assignment.

The Permanent Secretary and other officials were abducted at gunpoint on Friday at Obajana along Lokoja-Okene road in Kogi state, Daily Trust learnt.
The state Auditor General who also travelled with the officials was said to have escaped the abduction by a whisker.

In a statement by the Osun State Head of Service, Mr. Sunday Olayinka Owoeye in Osogbo, the state capital, confirmed the abduction.

The Director of Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon also confirmed the development.

"The officials were returning from Abuja where they attended the briefing on the State and Local Government Reforms Project; a World Bank and European Union Programme,” the head of service statement read in part.

He said the state government has alerted all necessary security agencies nationwide and Kogi State Police Command in particular towards the safe release of the three abducted officials.

The Police Public Relations Officer for Osun State Police Command, DSP Folasade Odoro said the command was working with the Kogi State Police Command to ensured that the abducted officials were rescued.

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Fidelis Soriwei with agency report

The Commander of a multinational force fighting the Islamist insurgents, Maj.-Gen. Lamidi Adeosun, has said that Boko Haram is strapping bombs to birds as it continues to develop more deadly weapons for its bloody attacks.

Adeosun, according to The Independent, a United Kingdom newspaper, revealed the discovery at a meeting with American diplomats and security officials.

The report added that Adeosun showed gruesome photos of the victims of Boko Haram’s attacks and their latest weapons during the briefing at the Multinational Joint Task Force’s headquarters in Chad on Wednesday.

One picture showed a bird with an explosive strapped on its back, demonstrating “a lot of ingenuity,” he said.
Adeosun said his force had received intelligence that Isis members were being imbedded with Boko Haram but that the Nigerian terrorist group had not satisfied requirements for greater operational coordination.
It was not the first report of birds being used to carry explosive devices.

Photos emerged in July last year claiming to show bombs strapped to chickens by Isis fighters in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
There was speculation that they could be resorting to increasingly bizarre means of destruction while running out of ammunition but the account could not be verified.

The Syrian Army said Isis had rigged animals with explosives in Palmyra.
Isis is known to be unusually liberal with its use of explosives which it manufactures, using cheap chemicals and equipment readily available on the civilian market.

A Syrian officer involved in the operation to re-take the group’s former stronghold of Palmyra last month described how Jihadists had “booby-trapped everything”, including animals and trees.

Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, made a pledge of allegiance to Isis in March last year and released a message, urging its fellow sub-Saharan Jihadists to do the same, further increasing the group’s reach.

Brigadier-General Donald Bolduc, Commander of the United States Special Operations in Africa, described the surrounding Lake Chad Basin region as “ground zero” in the fight against extremism in Africa.
America, Britain and other European nations are among those supporting military intervention against Boko Haram.

More than 30 personnel from the British Army’s Royal Anglian Regiment were deployed to train Nigerian soldiers earlier this year.

“We stand united with Nigeria in its efforts to defeat the murderous Boko Haram extremists,” Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said at the time.
He pledged to double the number of British personnel carrying out training in Nigeria this year, sending explosives specialists, medics and an RAF training team.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has advised the members of the public to refrain from moves to organise solidarity rallies to celebrate the recent successes of the military against the Boko Haram sect in the North-East.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Thursday that while the army was not against the public’s desire to associate with the successes of the military, it would not want such solidarity rallies.

Usman said that the army authorities had received information that some people were planning to celebrate the current victories against the insurgents through rallies.

He said that it was necessary for the public to exhibit some caution as such rallies could distract the military.

Amberon11:
What is your problem? why must you look for a way to blame the girl. Did you see anything that suggested that the girl was dating one of them? When you were younger, did you not report other people to your older siblings?

Two brothers, suspected to be children of one Jude Nnamani, a pastor of the Assemblies of God Church in Kafuso Ogwu of Ishiagu community in Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi state, have been arrested by the police over an alleged rape.

The duo, Nnaemeka Nnamani and Chiemerie Nnamani allegedly lured two sisters simply identified as Favour and Uloma to a corner in the church and had carnal knowledge of them.

A resident of the area, who identified himself as Igwe Moses, told New Telegraph that, “It is not just defiling these children aged 7 and 9 respectively, they have committed a sacrilege.

“They lured the minors to a corner of the church and raped them.

“This is very bad. How would someone whose father has been preaching against such ungodly acts not learn anything good?

“This is discretion of the church,” Moses added, stressing that they sinned against God and man for defiling these innocent children.

Confirming the incident, the state Police spokesperson, ASP George Okafor, said, “The children’s parents are living around the church where the father of the suspects currently serves as a pastor.

“A medical report showed that the two children were defiled and the matter is already in court,” the spokesperson stated.

P.M.NEWS gathered that trouble started after
their sister rebuffed an approach by Onuora and Alia to lure her for sex in the hotel where they went to drink.

In anger, Onuora reportedly assaulted the girl who went and reported to her twin brothers that evening.

From Fred Itua , Abuja

BARELY twenty four hours after the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, openly declared that the party will not mind if a member of another political party takes over from Senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki, if he leaves office based on the asset declaration trial, there are indications that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may field Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu as a likely replacement if there is vacancy.

Daily Sun gathered that some members of the opposition party are thinking in that direction following the body language of the Unity Forum and the Like Minds camps in the Senate.

Members of both camps, who spoke with our correspondent yesterday evening, revealed that they are considering Ekweremadu as a possible replacement for the Senate president, based on his experience and the fact that he has been Saraki’s deputy since last June.

A senator from the South-East who is a member of the kitchen cabinet of the Senate president, told our correspondent that members of Like Minds group, who are predominantly PDP, were already mooting the idea of Ekweremadu succeeding Saraki.

He said since it was becoming glaring that Saraki was losing support, both from the party and the Senate, it was time to shop for a senator who will carry everyone along as his possible replacement.

He said though the idea of Ekweremadu succeeding Saraki has not formally been discussed in their regular meetings held at the Maitama residence of Saraki, lawmakers were already throwing their weight behind the Deputy Senate President.

The source said: “We hold meetings everyday and we strategize on the way forward. But many of us were shocked when we read yesterday (Saturday) that the APC was willing to concede the Senate presidency seat to us (PDP). We did not expect it to end like this.

“We have always stood by Saraki and we will stand by him till the end. But we also need to start putting the interest of our party (PDP) first. We have started talking to ourselves and we have started mounting pressure on Ekweremadu to gear up and be prepared to succeed Saraki. He has been the Deputy Senate President for three times now. PDP will take over and Ekweremadu may just be the man.”

In a dramatic twist, the Unity Forum has promised to work with Ekweremadu in the event that he emerges as Senate President.

A prominent figure of the forum from the North-West who had a telephone chat with our correspondent yesterday, aligned with the position of the APC national chairman.

He said the forum was ready to work with Ekweremadu if he emerges as Senate President. He argued that it was safer to have an opposition member as Senate President than Saraki, who he said has repeatedly defied the party, APC.

He said: “If Ekweremadu emerges through a democratic means, we will support him. We cannot have our own who is fighting us. We will rather support a stranger that we know than someone who is fighting us from within. We will soon meet and take a position on the next line of action.”

Saraki’s trial is expected to continue today at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), having failed to get a fresh reprieve from the Federal High Court in Abuja which ruled last Friday that the Senate President should face trial.

There were also speculations that he died of Magun, certain death arising if a man makes love to a charmed woman.

The Nigerian army has said troops on Operation Lafiya Dole recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition at Garsum in Borno state.

A statement on Sunday by army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said following a tip off the troops on clearance patrol to Borgozo-Alargano discovered the arms concealed by Boko Haram.

He stated that: “The patrol team also cleared remnants of Boko Haram terrorists that were dislodged from Alagarno forest hibernating at Kadari, Camp Abu Fatima and Gursum.”

“The troops discovered large cache of arms and ammunitions that include 36 boxes of .51mm calibre, 5 x 20 Lyra beefcake mixture of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition, large quantity of 7.62mm (Special), ammunition and one 81mm mortar tube,” he added.
Usman also said: “the troops recovered 1 Toyota Hilux, 1 Generator and several motorcycles,”

He added that "the army appeals to people of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States to continue to provide useful information in order to facilitate complete routing of the remnants of Boko Haram insurgents hiding in their localities.