₦airaland Forum

JUST A NIGHT
What of those that have spent years unjustly

Baby falls off mum’s back on Okada, crushed by truck
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/more-news/odd-news-reports/item/2408-baby-falls-off-mum-s-back-on-okada-crushed-by-truck

It was a sad Christmas for residents of Oke Ibukun Street, off Araromi, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

They woke up to a raging fire that razed a clinic, Universal Medical Clinic (Specialist Children Clinic), and killed the owner of the clinic, Dr. David Oguntuase.

Our correspondent gathered that the fire began at about 12.30am on Thursday. Nobody could, however, determine the cause of the fire.

Sympathisers could not hold back their tears as they watched the remains of the victim which were burnt beyond recognition.

It was learnt that the doctor worked as a Consultant Paediatrician at the Federal Medical Centre in Owo, while he maintained a private clinic in Akure.

Some residents were said to have made frantic efforts to rescue the doctor by getting the state firefighters to the scene. The efforts, however, failed, as none of the firefighters came to the scene in spite of the calls made to them.

A resident, Ajayi Olorunlogbon, explained that but for the efforts of neighbors around, the fire could have spread to other houses.

He said, “The incident occurred at midnight and I heard people shouting, ‘fire, fire.’ I quickly call other residents on the street.

“We mobilised and looked for ways to douse the fire, but all efforts proved abortive as the gate leading to the clinic was already locked. We had to eventually break it down to save the situation.

“We immediately called firefighters, but they told us there was no vehicle.”

One of the nurses, who saw Oguntuase on Wednesday after her day’s duty, told journalists that she was devastated at the news of his death.

She said, “We can’t state what exactly caused the tragic incident because all of us (nurses) had gone home when it occurred. All we can say is that the doctor came into the hospital and cracked jokes with us about Christmas and later told us to go home for a happy celebration.

“Before we all left, he instructed us to lock all the windows and doors, which we did. We never knew this would happen. It is very sad.”

She added that the clinic had discharged all the patients because of the Christmas holiday.

A resident on the street, Temitope Adelani, said initially, no one knew the doctor was inside the building at the time of the fire because his vehicle was on the premises.

“We never knew the doctor was inside the building because he did not park his vehicle outside. It was when we were making efforts to put out the fire that we realised the doctor had died in the fire,” he said.

He also said during the rescue effort, a gas cylinder in the house exploded, adding that there was no public power supply and no generator was on at the time of the fire.

Officers of the state fire service could not be reached, but the Police Public Relations Officer, Wole Ogodo, confirmed the incident, adding that the police had started an investigation into the cause of the fire.

He said, “The doctor was consumed in an inferno in his clinic and we have commenced our investigation. His corpse has been taken to the morgue.”

Ogodo added that the wife of the late doctor, Wuraola, reported the incident at the A-Division Police Station in Akure.
Source: http://www..com.ng

Just few days after Damaturu the Yobe State capital was viciously attacked by Boko Haram Insurgents, the capital came under the insurgents’ attack again, yesterday.

Residents told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the attack started just after 7pm when everyone was indoors as a result of the dusk to dawn curfew in the state capital. They said they could hear sounds of shooting and explosions from their homes.

A resident of the state capital, who confirmed the attack in a telephone interview yesterday, said troops had gotten wind of the impending attack on the state capital and together with the vigilante, had laid ambush on the insurgents who advanced to the capital through the Buni Yadi axis of the state.

He, however, said unfortunately, some of the insurgents after meeting a brick wall from the troops, made a detour and came into Damaturu through the Maiduguri-Potiskum axis.

Fighting had, however, subsided at the time of going to press, sources said.

Yesterday’s attack on the state capital follows a clash between troops and suspected Boko Haram members at Katarko village, in Gujba local government area of the state where dozens of sect members were reported killed and many items including ammunition, Toyota Hilux vehicles and foodstuff were recovered from the insurgents.

Katarko village is 24 kilometres away from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, which came under attack but was repelled by security forces late last year.

A credible source stated that military troops supported by local hunters stormed Katarko village two days after an attack by suspected Boko Haram insurgents who killed scores and abducted over 20 young men and women.

The source confirmed that yesterday evening, troops and local hunters made their way to Katarko village which has been under siege in the last few days.

“Honestly speaking our soldiers were well prepared and had the weapons to confront the terrorists,” he stated.

“We got prior information since yesterday that the attackers were approaching Damaturu, the headquarters of the state, that’s how I escaped into the bush with some people. As we speak, there are gunshots going on,” he said.

Another resident who escaped told our correspondent over the phone that many people, including women and children, had fled to nearby bushes for safety.

“We cannot go back because the thing is becoming worse with gunshots from different directions. We will remain in the bush,” the resident stated.
There were no details of the attack as at press time but gunshots have subsided according to a resident.

Efforts to reach the Yobe State commissioner of police, Mr Marcus Danladi, proved abortive as his mobile phone was switched off.

Niger’s Withdrawal Of Troops Threatens Multinational Task force
The collapse of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) became imminent yesterday with the announcement by the government of Niger Republic that its troops may not return to Baga, a town in troubled Borno State which is presently under the control of insurgents.

The MNJTF was established in 1998 to checkmate banditry activities and also facilitate free movement of the member states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission across their common border. Republic of Chad had also earlier withdrawn their troops from the MNJTF base following increase in the activities of the Boko Haram sect.

The countries’ decision to withdraw their troops comes on the heels of the attack carried out by members of the sect on the MNJTF base located just outside Baga town in Borno State last Friday. The base was being manned by troops from Nigeria, Niger, and Chad to interdict criminal activity in the Lake Chad area.

The government of Niger yesterday said its troops are unlikely to return to Baga, the latest community in Borno state, to have fallen under the control of Boko Haram.

Until the attack, which led to casualties on the sides of both the insurgents and security forces, the MNJTF was coordinating its operations from its headquarters in Baga.

Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Niger’s foreign minister, Mohamed Bazoum, alleged that his country had withdrawn its security forces as far back as October.

“We have 50 soldiers there and decided to withdraw them after Boko Haram captured Malamfatori town in October and continued to operate in the area with impunity.

As you know, Baga is under the control of Boko Haram terrorists and unless the town is recaptured from them, we will not send back our troops. But we are still determined to work with our neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria to contain the situation – it is a problem for us all,” he said.

The chief of defence staff, Alex Badeh, had in an interview with State House correspondents on Tuesday, corroborated Bazoum’s claim.

“What has been happening is that they (Niger and Chad) have not contributed people to the point of Baga. Chad had people on their own side but I believe they have withdrawn. Niger had people with us. They too withdrew and left Nigeria only at the Multinational Joint Task Force Headquarters,”he said in the interview.

Following series of attacks, Baga has become deserted as residents have fled to neighbouring towns and bushes.

Sources confirmed yesterday that dozens of corpses still litter the streets of Baga after the attack which has been described as the most deadly of recent.

Meanwhile, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has appealed for international military help to fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which this week threatened to step up its cross-border raids into the country from Nigeria.

The Nigerian group is part of a “global” movement that has attacked Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia in its drive to establish its authority from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, Biya said.

“A global threat calls for a global response. Such should be the response of the international community, including the African Union and our regional organisations,” he said in a New Year speech on Thursday to diplomats at the presidential palace.

He said he regretted that a regional military force against the Islamists had yet to be established.

At least 15 people were killed in an attack on a bus in north Cameroon on New Year’s Day.

A man purporting to be Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, threatened in a video posted online this week to step up violence in Cameroon unless it scrapped its constitution and embraced Islam.

Biya did not comment on the video in his speech.

The country has deployed more troops to its Far North region and has killed hundreds of the Islamist fighters. New laws aimed at stamping out the militants were also helping, Biya said.

“Although weakened by the losses it has suffered, our foe nonetheless remains capable of bouncing back,” he said.

Police kill Charlie Hebdo terror suspects
Two brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi who have laid siege on France over the past two days, have been killed by the police.

The suspects murdered 12 people at the head office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris on Wednesday and advanced to several other parts of the country until they met their waterloo.

Earlier on Friday, the police closed in on them, as they took a hostage and moved to Dammartin-en-Goele, a town, 35km form Paris.

In Dammartin-en-Goele, they took hostages at a grocery store where commandos and elite police holed them up in a bout of explosions, which led to the freedom of many hostages.

According to AP, the market shooter had earlier threatened to hurt the hostages if police raided the building where the Kouachi brothers were holed up, but the hostages taken were freed unhurt.

As night fell, explosions rang out and heavily-armed commandos made their move on a small printing firm in Dammartin-en-Goele northeast of Paris, killing the two massacre suspects.

One police officer was injured.

The police also released a photo of the people responsible for the killing of a police woman and an attack on a municipal worker in Paris on Thursday.

They were identified as Amedy Coulibaly and Hayet Boumddiene.

While Coulibaly has been killed at a Paris grocery store, Biumddiene is still at large.
Source: http://www..com.ng

Amnesty International on Friday described the recent attacks on Baga, Borno State, by the terrorist Boko Haram sect as the deadliest and called on the federal government to put in place measures to protect civilians in the affected areas.

This is coming as the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said it was not in a position to speak on the number of civilian casualties as at this moment regarding claims by Amnesty International and other foreign media that over 2,000 people died in the attack,.

Researcher for AI, Daniel Eyre said: “The attack on Baga and surrounding towns looks as if it could be Boko Haram’s deadliest act in a catalogue of increasingly heinous attacks carried out by the group. If reports that the town was largely razed to the ground and that hundreds or even as many as 2000 civilians were killed are true, this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram’s ongoing onslaught against the civilian population."

He said AI was working to find out more details of what happened during the attack on Baga and the surrounding area.

According to him, this attack reiterates the urgent need for Boko Haram to stop the senseless killing of innocent people.

Boko Haram militants reportedly attacked Baga and surrounding towns twice in the last eight days.

In the attack of last Sunday, the military base in the town was routed by the insurgents leading to soldiers abandoning newly acquired military weapons.

Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri, Abba Yunus, a member of the youth vigilante group in the town said: "The militant which had on Saturday taken over the military base in the town, as if they were not satisfied with their destruction of the town on Wednesday launched another attack on it."

Yunus claimed that the new set of people fleeing the town "told the members of the youth vigilante that the insurgents attacked the town again and torched houses and killed countless civilians who were helpless."

He said: "We were told by those that had to flee into Maiduguri through the bushes that many corpses were on the streets, many of which have started decomposing."

A man who identified himself as Musa Alhaji Bukar, a senior government official, had told the BBC that Boko Haram fighters burnt down almost the entire town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base on Saturday.

Bukar said bodies lay strewn on Baga's streets, amid fears that some 2,000 people had been killed in the raids.

Earlier on Monday, Senator Maina Maaji Lawan, representing Borno North at the Senate said Boko Haram controlled 70 per cent of Borno State, which is worst-affected by the insurgency.

Bukar also said that fleeing residents told him that the town, which had a population of about 10,000, was now "virtually non-existent".
However, the federal government said that it was working hard to ensure the full liberation of Baga town and neighbouring communities.

Coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC) and Director General of National Orientation Agency, Mike Omeri, stated this while briefing journalists in Abuja.

He also said that government was reviewing the situation with regards to the fight against insurgency in order to improve logistics requirement and support for the security forces to enable the defeat of the terrorists.

He said officers were being trained and re-trained to up-grade their skills and capacity while increased surveillance, intelligence sharing and synergy are being enhanced.

According to him, consultation with security chiefs (serving and retired), traditional rulers and other critical stakeholders with a view to bringing their varied experiences to bear on the fight against the insurgency are on-going.

DHQ keeps mum on death figure…
In a related development, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday stated that it was not in a position to speak on number of civilian casualties as at this moment in response to claims by Amnesty International and other foreign media that over 2000 people died in the Baga attack.

The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade said that the onus is on the Amnesty International or any other group peddling such numbers to authenticate their claims, wondering how they arrived at such figures since they were not on ground.

"I am not in a position to confirm or deny those claims. Ask those who are making the claims to define their sources", he said.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed that a minimum of 1,663 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) that fled Baga town after it was captured by Boko Haram terrorists had registered with its Coordinating Office in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Speaking to THISDAY, the Public Relations Officer, NEMA, Mr. Manzo Ezekiel also said that the agency could not confirm the number of casualties from Boko Haram onslaught since nobody had access to Baga or surrounding towns.

Ezekiel said they could only confirm the number of displaced persons that had registered with them as at the time of this report, adding that those media reports only relied on information from locals who claim to come from Baga.

He said: "We have 1663 displaced persons that fled from insurgents attack in Baga and they have been registered by NEMA in Maiduguri as at Thursday 8th Jan 2015.

"The registration continued today but I'll give you the update tomorrow when it is sent to me. At present, there are eleven IDPs camps in Maiduguri including the new one opened at Teachers Village to accommodate the Baga IDPs".

According to him, "these are not things we can speak on but whatever you have heard is based on speculations.”

"The place is still inaccessible but people from those places are running into Maiduguri where our officers have camps and offices. As I speak to you now, we are desirous of going there but even the neighbouring town to Baga, the people are also running away."

Insecurity hinders deployment of humanitarian specialists to Baga…
Meanwhile, a statement from the National Information Center (NIC) signed by Mike Omeri on Friday stated that specialist humanitarian professionals who would have been deployed to Baga could not be deployed due to serious security threat.

“NEMA, in partnership with the Borno State Government, International Committee of the Red Cross and the Nigerian Red Cross Society, have pre-positioned humanitarian supplies and are ready to send specialist humanitarian professionals to Baga to provide critical aid to the area’s residents once the security situation permits.

“There has been intense fighting between security forces and Boko Haram in some parts of Borno State, especially Baga, over recent days. Since the first attack last weekend on Baga, security forces have been actively pursuing the militants. On Wednesday, a group of militants conducted a second terrorist attack on the area, leaving casualties and destroying property. Security forces have responded rapidly and have deployed significant military assets and conducted airstrikes against militant targets. We will provide further details as we are able to release information,” said the statement.
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/national-news/item/2482-amnesty-international-baga-massacre-deadliest-boko-haram-attack

well deserved





Amnesty International: Baga Massacre, Deadliest Boko Haram Attack
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/national-news/item/2482-amnesty-international-baga-massacre-deadliest-boko-haram-attack

nice pics






BBC Reporter Gets High on Heroin On Live TV
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/more-news/odd-news-reports/item/2396-bbc-reporter-gets-high-on-heroin-on-live-tv

This was one na for those way e get money most na small stove things.



Signs Your Relationship Is Going To Fail!
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/more-news/life-style-news/item/2404-signs-your-relationship-is-going-to-fail

A former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has called on rich and wealthy Nigerians to come to the aid of the hopeless and the less-privileged members of the society.

Obasanjo made this call at the carol service organised by him in the Chapel of Christ The Glorious King, located inside the premises of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State, on Tuesday night.

He said there were many poor people in the society.

He said, “I want to appeal to the rich in the society to always remember the less-privileged in the society. There are many children without hope out there. We should come to their aid. There are boys and girls in our communities with such problem.”

Obasanjo cited an example of a gospel musical group from Ibadan, made up of orphans, who entertained guests at the event.

He said, “They have been part of us here and I want to thank the governor for promising to assist them after I had told him about their plight. For us with hope, we should help them.”

The former President also called on private investors to come to Ogun State and invest, given the infrastructural development and relative peace being enjoyed in the state.

He appealed to the former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, and other industrialists who were indigenes of the state to use their connections in the private sector to attract more industries to the state.

“The challenge is for you to bring your colleagues in the private sector and give us more companies,” Obasanjo told Shonekan.

The occasion witnessed prayers for the state, the country, and Obasanjo’s family and had in attendance traditional rulers, politicians, and choristers from different churches.

Source: http://www..com.ng

Strong indications have emerged that governors elected on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) are poised for a showdown with the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and Senate President David Mark over the collapse of the deal President Goodluck Jonathan had sealed with them a month ago.

To express their grievances, the governors are expected to meet with President Jonathan on Tuesday night ostensibly to extract “some commitment from him” before his ratification during the December 10 national convention of the party.
As this emerged, LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that a frustrated governor in one of the South East states has concluded plans to defect to the opposition All Progressives Party(APC).

The governor’s grouse is that he has been stopped from presenting his preferred anointed successor for next year’s governorship election in the state. His albatross are a former governor of the state and a high-ranking member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

As part of the deal between the governors and President Jonathan, they (governors) were to present their preferred candidates as successors, just as those with senatorial ambitions were to be allowed to aspire. About eight PDP governors serving their final terms are reportedly eyeing the senate.

But since the deal was struck a month ago, there have been several dissenting voices, even as incumbent senators have drawn the battle line with their governors.

The highpoint of the high-wire political intrigues was Friday’s curious withdrawal from the senatorial race of Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan and Sullivan Chime of Delta and Enugu states respectively.

A governor from one of the northern states confided in a team of newsmen that his southeast colleague “is already on his way to the opposition” as a result of the shabby treatment meted to the governors.

The governor said: “The PDP we used to know is not the one we are seeing now. The party is rotten, and this is very shameful and unfortunate. Some of us feel like crying for the party we once cherished as the biggest party in Africa.

“It is most ridiculous for the President to reach an agreement with us and renege or rather not to know what is happening, when governors are being pushed here and there by forces who are merely interested in their personal benefits.

“But I can assure you that we have decided to unravel what is really the issue, because we suspect foul play in all that is going on within the party. Imagine forcing sitting governors to withdraw from the race simply because someone somewhere is threatened by the presence of former governors who are desirous of being senators.

“Right now, one of us, a southeast governor, is already on his way to the opposition party. How are we sure even those who will not leave will not work from within to undermine the party.

“This is the height of unseriousness on the part of any political party that intends to win next year. This matter has to be tabled, maybe on Tuesday, before the President, because there are reports we need to confirm that this whole thing is being oiled by the senate president and the national chairman,” he alleged.

The governor further alleged that, in particular, the senate president has put up an attitude which seemed to depict that he was uncomfortable with the presence of the cleavage of former governors at the senate.

“We know what the senate president is doing underground. It is to stop as many governors as possible from going to the senate, because he sees them as being too powerful to subject to his control,” he alleged.
Source: .com.ng

SeverusSnape:
Their days are numbered, I trust the CIA's drone to take them all out.

It is just a matter of time

congrats to her

Al-Quaeda's days are numbered

Premier League leaders Chelsea suffered their first defeat of the season as they were beaten at Newcastle in their 15th top-flight game of the campaign yesterday. The Magpies took the lead when Cisse slotted in after Gary Cahill missed Sammy Ameobi’s low cross. An Eden Hazard shot hit a Newcastle upright before Moussa Sissoko set up Cisse for another tap-in. The hosts had Steven Taylor sent off but, despite Didier Drogba pulling one back, held on for the win.

Chelsea piled forward late on and striker Diego Costa had a shot tipped over by 21-year-old goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, who was making his debut having come on as a half-time substitute for the injured Rob Elliot. Newcastle had beaten the Blues in their last two league games at St James’ Park but a repeat appeared unlikely considering the marauding form of their visitors.


However, a heroic defensive performance, marshalled by centre-back Fabricio Coloccini, was the foundation of a victory which ended Chelsea’s hopes of setting a new club record of 24 matches unbeaten in all competitions.


The defeat will also end talk of the Stamford Bridge side repeating Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ by going the whole league season without losing, and gives the London side’s title rivals the chance to make up ground.


Mourinho had insisted that it was “impossible” to remain unbeaten all season and he was proven right as his side were frustrated by a disciplined and organised Newcastle side, much in the way they were in a goalless draw at Sunderland last weekend.


Before the break, Chelsea were limited to a couple of Willian strikes wide, a Cahill header over and a well-struck Oscar overhead kick past the frame of the goal. The hosts gradually grew in confidence as they quelled the Blues’ threat and might have taken a surprise lead.
Ameobi found Ayoze Perez and his sliding pass released Colback, but the midfielder was thwarted when Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois saved his close range shot with a foot.


It was easy to see how Newcastle had lost just once in nine games but they suffered a setback when goalkeeper Elliot failed to emerge for the second half, having injured himself taking a goal-kick. That meant a debut for Alnwick, whose first piece of action was to punch away a Cesc Fabregas free-kick assuredly.


Alnwick should have been tested again when another Fabregas free-kick found John Mikel Obi in space at the near post only for the midfielder to head wide.


The miss was immediately punished when, at the other end, Cahill missed a low Ameobi cross and Cisse slotted in gleefully. Chelsea exerted more pressure but, 38 seconds after a Hazard shot came back off a post, Newcastle extended their lead when Cisse scored after a swift counter-attack.


A Taylor foul on Andre Schurrle earned the defender his second yellow card left the Magpies a man down. And, in a dramatic finale, Drogba gave Chelsea hope when he nodded in a Fabregas free-kick.


However, Newcastle stood firm as Mourinho was left still searching for his first win at St James’ Park in five attempts as Chelsea manager
Source: .com.ng

Al-Qaeda has evolved as prominent figures are killed - including, of course, its leader Osama Bin Laden in 2011 - and the geographical focus of militant activity shifts.

Here we profile some of the most prominent names:


Ayman al-Zawahiri
https://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49399000/jpg/_49399648_004891455-1.jpg

Ayman al-Zawahiri (16 December 2007)Ayman al-Zawahiri, an eye surgeon who helped found the Egyptian militant group Islamic Jihad, was named as the new leader of al-Qaeda on 16 June 2011, a few weeks after Osama Bin Laden's death.

In a statement, al-Qaeda vowed to continue its jihad under the new leadership against "crusader America and its servant Israel, and whoever supports them".

Zawahiri was already the group's chief ideologue and was believed by some experts to have been the "operational brains" behind the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.


Zawahiri was number two - behind only Bin Laden - in the 22 "most wanted terrorists" list announced by the US government in 2001 and continues to have a $25m (£16m) bounty on his head.

One of his wives and two of their children were killed in a US air strike in late 2001.

Zawahiri went into hiding after a US-led coalition overthrew the Taliban. Security analysts believe he is most likely to be concealed in the Afghan-Pakistan border region, although he has continued to evade capture and his precise whereabouts are unknown.

In January 2006, the US launched an airstrike on Damadola, a Pakistani village near the Afghan border where they believed Zawahiri was hiding, killing 18 villagers including four children.

US sources suggested he was among the dead in international media over the following days - only for a video to be released showing that he was unharmed.

Zawahiri has been one of al-Qaeda's most prominent spokesman, appearing in dozens of videos and audiotapes since 2003 - most recently in September 2014, when he called for an Islamist resurgence in India.

He has been indicted in the US for his role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa, and was sentenced to death in Egypt in absentia for his activities with Islamic Jihad during the 1990s.

In June 2013 Zawahiri called for the radical Islamist group Islamic State (IS) to leave Syria and instead focus on Iraq, and in February 2014 al-Qaeda severed all ties with the group altogether.

Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi
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Wuhayshi, a former private secretary to Osama Bin Laden, is the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was formed in 2009 in a merger between two offshoots of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

US news organisation CNN quotes a US official as saying intelligence suggests he has recently been appointed as al-Qaeda's second-in-command - its "general manager" - by Ayman al-Zawahiri, adding weight to claims that al-Qaeda is reorienting from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region to the Arab world. He is said to be only 36 years old.

Wuhayshi replaces "the Libyan", Abu Yahya al-Libi, killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan's north-west in June 2012.

Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi
US counter-terrorism officials have called AQAP the "most active operation franchise" of al-Qaeda beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Wuhayshi, who is from the southern Yemeni governorate of al-Baida, spent time in religious institutions before travelling to Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

He fought at the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, before escaping over the border into Iran, where he was eventually arrested. He was extradited to Yemen in 2003.

In February 2006, Wuhayshi and 22 other suspected al-Qaeda members managed to escape from a prison in Sanaa. Among them were also Jamal al-Badawi, the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, and Qasim al-Raymi, AQAP's military commander.

After their escape from prison, Wuhayshi and Raymi are said to have overseen the formation of al-Qaeda in Yemen, which took in both new recruits and Arab fighters returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The group claimed responsibility for two suicide bomb attacks that killed six Western tourists before being linked to the assault on the US embassy in Sanaa in 2008, in which 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians died.

Four months later, Wuhayshi announced in a video the merger of the al-Qaeda offshoots in Yemen and Saudi Arabia to form "al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula" and his appointment as AQAP leader was later confirmed by Zawahiri.

The group's first operation outside Yemen was carried out in Saudi Arabia in August 2009 against the kingdom's security chief, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, though he survived.

It later said it was behind the attempt to blow up a US passenger jet as it flew into Detroit on 25 December 2009. A Nigerian man charged in relation with the incident said AQAP operatives had trained him.

Two more plots targeting US aviation were foiled.

At home, Wuhayshi's group capitalised on Yemen's political turmoil to capture large regions of territory in 2011, only to be driven out of many areas in an army offensive in 2012. In recent months, it has been blamed for a growing number of bombings targeting Yemeni security services - mirroring US drone strikes which analysts say nearly tripled in Yemen in 2012 from 2011.

On 10 September 2012, officials in Yemen said Wuhayshi's deputy, Saudi-born Said al-Shihri, had been killed in an air strike in Hadramawt in southern Yemen. The group has vowed to avenge that and other killings of senior AQAP figures.

Khalid al-Habib
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Khalid al-Habib, thought to be either Egyptian or Moroccan, was identified in a November 2005 video as al-Qaeda's field commander in south-east Afghanistan, while Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was named as its commander in the south-west.

In early 2006, Pakistani officials reported that Habib had died in a US airstrike near the Afghan border, but Pakistani security officials have since retracted that claim, saying that no al-Qaeda leaders died.

Habib seems to have assumed overall command after al-Iraqi's capture in 2006.

He was described as al-Qaeda's "military commander" in July 2008.

US military officials say he oversees al-Qaeda's "internal" operations in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

Habib may be operating under an assumed identity, according to some analysts. One of his noms-de-guerre is believed to be Khalid al-Harbi.

Saif al-Adel
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An Egyptian in his late 40s or early 50s, Saif al-Adel is the nom-de-guerreof a former Egyptian army colonel, Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi. He travelled to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight Soviet forces with the mujahideen.

Adel was once Osama Bin Laden's security chief, and assumed many of military commander Mohammed Atef's duties after his death in a US air strike in November 2001.

He is suspected of being a member of the group which assassinated former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

In 1987, Egypt accused Adel of trying to establish a military wing of the militant Islamic group al-Jihad, and of trying to overthrow the government.

He is believed to have been involved in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, training the Somali fighters who killed 18 US servicemen in Mogadishu in 1993, and instructing some of the 11 September 2001 hijackers.

Following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Adel is believed to have fled to Iran with Suleiman Abu Ghaith and Saad Bin Laden, a son of the late al-Qaeda leader. They were allegedly then held under house arrest by the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran has never acknowledged their presence.

Abu Ghaith was arrested in Jordan and extradited to the US in March 2013.

Recent reports say Adel may have been released and made his way to northern Pakistan, along with Saad Bin Laden - but a report from 2011 suggested he had returned to Iran.

The US has offered up to $5m for information on his whereabouts.

SEE FULL LIST: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/world-news/item/1966-al-qaeda-s-remaining-leaders

Nigeria on Friday said that a decision to cancel US training of its soldiers to fight Boko Haram was a logistical, not a political decision.


The US Embassy in Abuja announced on Monday that the Nigerian government had halted a training programme of an army battalion, which would have developed into a unit to take on the militants.
The cancellation came after Nigeria’s ambassador to Washington last month criticised the United States for the “scope, nature and content” of its support for the counter-insurgency.

In particular, he said Washington had failed to provide the weapons required to deliver a “killer punch” to Boko Haram.

But Nigeria’s national security spokesman, Mike Omeri, played down talk of strained diplomatic ties, saying it did not affect the countries’ existing military cooperation.

“This is just a training component for one battalion of the Nigerian Army,” he told AFP.

“We have had the first and second phase of that training, so it is not as if the whole bilateral military agreement has been suspended. The suspension is logistical and not political.”

Omeri was quoted as saying in the Nigerian media on Friday that the cancelled third phase required military equipment to be withdrawn from current operations to be used for training.

The US Embassy had said it regretted the end of the training programme, which had been offered in the wake of Boko Haram’s abduction of 276 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria in mid-April.

A number of foreign powers sent surveillance and intelligence specialists to Nigeria to assist the military with the search for the 219 teenagers who are still being held.

Nigeria’s military — west Africa’s largest — has been unable to end the five-year militants insurgency, which has left more than 13,000 dead and displaced more than one million people.

The main opposition has alleged that Nigeria’s government has been playing politics with the insurgency, as the worst-hit areas are unlikely to vote for it in next year’s elections.
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/national-news/item/1932-nigeria-us-training-cancellation-logistical-not-political-abuja

cr7

I hope they will place us in a good group not in a group of death






The Top Five Resourceful African Footballers
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/sports-news/item/1939-the-top-five-resourceful-african-footballers

Bunsky:
honestly i no steal meat,my childhood days was fun.
I remember then,whenever we saw dis whites birds,we all be shouting leleleke give me white white finger,imagine it worked then.

I'm very good at mama and papa play.lol.

I usually get white nails if i shout leleleke.

Street football then was the bomb.

This is too bad and i thougt the situation in abj university was bad.







The Top Five Resourceful African Footballers
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/sports-news/item/1939-the-top-five-resourceful-african-footballers

MR Nyesom Wike, a former local government chairman, erstwhile chief of staff to Governor Chibuike Amaechi and until recently, minister of state for education is a leading aspirant for the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In this interview, he speaks on allegations by 16 other governorship aspirants of his party that he was behind their initial disqualification by the South South zonal screening committee of the party and other topical issues. Excerpts
By Jimitota Onoyume

What is your reaction to the claim by your 16 rivals that they were unjustly disqualified from the contest?

Let me say this straight away, I have said it before that the problem we have in this country is that we have not imbibed the spirit of real democracy, this is not a winner takes it all, it is not a do or die affair. It is about internal democracy. Now if they say the panel disqualified them to pave way for me to come in, you would recall that they talked about the ward congresses that they should cancel the congress, what that means is that they don’t have delegates. If they don’t have delegates, why would anybody disqualify them to pave way for me?
Nyesom Wike
Nyesom Wike
We have toured 16 local governments out of 23. By the grace of God by the time we get to the 5th of December, we would have toured the 23 Local Government Areas of the state. So we have made efforts to tour all the nooks and crannies of the state of all the Local Government Areas and you are telling me they should not allow me to run. That is not fair. So for me, I don’t think it is proper. We are getting the support and the endorsement of our people. Look at the whole Riverine area of the state, we are getting overwhelming support.

Are you not worried about the mounting opposition against you from both the PDP and APC?

If you know the geographical spread of this state then you will know it will not affect us. Let me tell you something, the Ogonis have four Local Government Area’s such as Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme. Now I am Ikwerre man, we have four local governments. When you say the Ijaws, have overwhelming majority, it is not correct. The Kalabari’s have three Local Government Areas, Opobo is one local government, if you want to play ethnic sentiments, all the Riverine local government of the state, the total number of their voting strength, put them together, if you want to talk about sentiments, calculate all their votes and see whether they are bigger than Obio Akpor Local Government Area.
Mind you if you are talking about local government area from Kalabari, Ogu, Bolo and Okirika is also there, Andoni is the local government area where the Deputy National Chairman of PDP comes from, Prince Uche Secondus. In the Riverine area such as Andoni where Secondus comes from PDP has overwhelming support. Obio Akpor where I come from has about 400,000 votes. Assuming my people hate me, wont I have their votes? And mind you an Opobo man cannot give a Kalabari man deputy governor; you can’t give an Ogoni man deputy governor. The APC have excluded Ogoni and Kalabari, but we in PDP, the chances are there that a Kalabari man may become deputy governor. So it is the best opportunity the PDP has.
I am happy that it is my friend Dakuku Peterside that the APC gave its ticket. So the coast is clearer. So let’s see who will win.

Some of those opposed to you have accused you of violating INEC guideline on electioneering campaign. They said you have commenced campaign?
What is their business if I have commenced electioneering campaign, are they INEC? Why are they crying more than the bereaved? What is wrong with somebody going to woo delegates to vote for him? You want to do INEC job now?

The governor has consistently accused you of diverting N3 billion meant for the construction of the Adokiye Amasiamaka Stadium Road. What is your take on this?
I have responded to this allegation before; let me also respond to it again. You gave money to somebody to go and do road and the person pocketed the money and you did not arrest the person for prosecution. And he has consistently been saying that, does that show good governance?
The roads he said he gave to me, the commissioner for works then is the same man he is bringing up now as the APC governorship flag bearer in the state. Let’s watch and see.
I challenge Amaechi to come forth with the documents that proves that he gave contract to me.
He said he gave me contract for the stadium and there is no document to prove that, and you call yourself a governor. If you say you gave me a job, how did you give me the money? You gave somebody money to do a job the person did not do the job after seven years you come back to complain that such a person did not do the job.
In fact Amaechi would have resigned and put himself in jail for not jailing somebody he claimed pocketed money meant for a contract.
So you are saying that the governor never gave you any job?
He did not give any job to me.

Your critics say you do not have a blueprint for the governorship and that your aspiration is an accident arising from the crisis in the party?
If I may ask what is called a blue print. What is the definition of a blue print? What was Amaechi’s plan before he became governor and what has he accomplished based on his plans?
They said I don’t have blueprint but the blue print they have is a monorail project that does not have any socio economic bearing on the people. That he built a stadium where people are not living , is that the blue print you are talking? All the roads in the state have collapsed. Is that the blueprint?
Source: .com.ng

Politics not a game for light heads








How Nicki Minaj Got Pregnant At Age 16!
Source: e reporter.com.ng/index.php/entertainment-news/item/1884-how-nicki-minaj-got-pregnant-at-age-16

ok

Source: .com.ng


An Indian man dubbed "Spider-Man" for his ability to scale buildings with his bare hands says he has his sights set on the world's tallest skyscraper.

Jyoti Raju, 27, regularly wows locals and tourists by scaling the walls of a 17th century fort near his home in Chitradurga and he says he practices every day by climbing any surface he can find.
"I have been given the nickname Spider-Man by many people," Raju told the Daily Mail. "I have never used safety gear while climbing. I have injured myself many times. I have metal rods all over my body from injuries. But I like pain, I will not feel bad if I get hurt -- instead I accept it is a part of what I do."

Raju said his goal is to scale the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

"An Indian should climb it and set the world record. If myself or one of my students achieves that, then I will be more than happy," he said.

Source: .com.ng


The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) devalued the naira and raised interest rates by 100 basis points on Tuesday, as it sought to stem losses to its foreign reserves from defending the currency hit by weaker oil prices.

The bank moved the target band of the currency to 160-176 naira to the U.S. dollar, compared with 150-160 naira previously, owing to prolonged naira weakness and high dollar demand.

The last time it devalued was in November 2011, when it lowered the band from 145-150 naira to the dollar.

The bank also raised interest rates to 13 percent on Tuesday, from 12 percent.

The naira has taken a beating over the past few months, as falling oil prices have shaken confidence in the assets of Africa’s leading energy producer and biggest economy.

Defending the move, the bank’s Governor Godwin Emefiele said efforts to defend the naira had led to “dwindling foreign reserves” and that a “more flexible exchange rate is the most viable option”.

“Falling oil prices have consistently reduced the accretion to external reserves, thus constraining the ability of the bank to continually defend the naira and sustain the stability of the naira exchange rate,” Emefiele said.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves fell to a five-month low of $37.17 billion by Nov. 21, down 5.1 percent from the previous month as the central bank stepped up its defence of the ailing currency, figures on the bank’s website showed on Tuesday.

Despite billions of dollars spent on supporting it, the naira has fallen 10 percent this year versus the dollar on concerns that a continuous slide in global oil prices could undermine the central bank’s efforts to keep defending the currency.

It opened at a record low on Monday of 178.25.

According to its website, the central bank has spent an average of $27.9 million a day this year defending the naira, which has tracked falls in other emerging market currencies, especially those in economies that are more sensitive to changes in the oil price, such as theRussian rouble.

In a further tightening move on Tuesday, the central bank hiked banks’ cash reserve ratio for private sector bank deposits to 20 percent, from 15 percent previously.