₦airaland Forum

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently holding his first meeting with the nation’s service chiefs at the defence house in Abuja.



The service chiefs arrived‎ at 11:55 am for the meeting, which is expected to be dominated by strategies for ending the threat of Boko Haram in the north-east.

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/06/buhari-meets-service-chiefs.html

A tragic fire incident which occurred early this morning and razed down properties worth millions of Naira, has got the residents of Iyana Ipaja in lament. At about 1am on Tuesday, a terrible fire outbreak hit Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos, along Abeokuta expressway, spreading across a wide area. Till 5am, men of the fire service were yet to arrive the scene to contain the fire accident. Lots of cars, shops and houses were gutted by the outbreak.

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/06/more-photos-from-fire-incident-at-iyana.html

Saheed Olugbon sent Pictures from the fire incident that occurred this morning at Iyana Ipaja, Lagos to us at www.metronaija.com

He said the fire started early this morning and he cant confirmed the number of dead persons but properties were destroyed

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/06/photos-from-fire-incident-at-iyana.html

Garba Shehu, the new Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity to president Muhammadu Buhari pictured carrying out official tasks on his first day in office.. Garba Shehu until his appointment on Sunday (yesterday) -was the Head of Buhari's Media team, a position he maintained after serving as the Director of Media and Publicity of the All progressives Congress (APC), Presidential campaign organisation.

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/06/photos-president-buharis-new-senior.html

Two trailers collided and went up in flames at Remo junction along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway this afternoon. The accident has resulted in traffic gridlock along the road. Men of the fire service are there now.

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/06/photo-2-trailers-collide-along-lagos.html

Justice Ibrahim Bubba of a Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the personnel of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, out of the home of fugitive senator-elect, Buruji Kashamu.

Mr. Kashamu had been under house arrest since Saturday morning when anti-narcotic agents secured his property.
The NDLEA had said Mr. Kashamu was detained to ensure he appears in court to face extradition proceedings on Monday.
The lawmaker-elect is wanted by United States authorities for alleged drug related offences.
Despite the house arrest, the NDLEA failed to take Mr. Kashamu to court on Monday.

The matter has subsequently been adjourned till‎ 4th of june‎.
More details later.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/183691-%E2%80%8Ebreaking-court-orders-ndlea-out-of-kashamus-home.html

Nollywood actress, Halima Abubakar has revealed she lied about her age earlier to fit in.The actress says she would be 30 in June,despite many thinking she is older. She told Encomium.

Your birthday is Friday, June 12. What preparations do you have on ground in respect of that?

I don’t understand if there should be any preparations on that, please (laughs). I am only planning to spend it with you guys. So, get ready. It’s going to be a birthday with the press. Nothing elaborate at all. It’s going to be an avenue for media interaction where everybody will be free to ask me any question about my life and career, be it positive or negative. No holds barred.
I will be 30 on June 12, 2015.

But that’s incredible because a lot of people believe you’re more than that. Some even said you’re 35. How come you now say you’re just 30?


'' I will be 30 on June 12, 2015. When you say the truth, people argue. When you lie, they also argue. But I have said the truth, and I really don’t know what to do again. But when I came into Nollywood, I had to lie just to fit in because it’s an era of aunty, aunty. And I was in JSS II then. So, if people still can’t believe that I lied then just to fit in, that means they need a reality check. I am proud of my age.
But that’s the truth about my age. Or are you the one who issued me a birth certificate? I am 30 and I am proud of it.''

http://www.metroparrot.net/2015/05/why-i-lied-about-my-age-halima-abubakar.html

It appears APC is having a silent battle over who becomes the next senate President. Two hours ago, Senator Bukola Saraki who is gunning for the seat of the Senate president, tweeted that the party had reaffirmed its position to zone the seat of the Senate Presidency to the North Central.

A few minutes ago, his claim was refuted by a statement released by the party's National Secretary Mai Mala Buni, which was shared on the Facebook wall of Kaduna governor-elect, Nasir El Rufai.

Recall that the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu had told press men last week that the party will not be zoning the position of the Senate Presidency and that they will not compromise merit during the process for the emergency of a Senate President. See Saraki's tweet and APC's statement below..

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/apc-denies-bukola-sarakis-tweet-says.html

National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG National President, Mr. Igwe Achese, at a briefing in Lagos, yesterday said fuel scarcity will continue to be part of Nigeria’s socio-economic problems if certain things are not fixed like if the country’s refineries remain grounded, importation of petroleum products continues, subsidy persists, deregulation ignored and depot not rehabilitated.
Achese in his speech blamed the current scarcity of fuel on Lagos State government, who he said gave tanker drivers 24 hours, instead of the two weeks they asked for, to leave Oshodin-Apapa Expressway.

He said: “We are not on strike. It was just a withdrawal of services. I directed that the trucks stay away to avoid violence. “Even when the tankers were out of the roads, trailers took over which means it is not our problem.

“We work and pay our taxes in Lagos. It is unfortunate that they do not consider it good enough to create a corridor for us just as they did for Bus Rapid Transport, BRT.

“As long as government refuses to do the needful, fuel scarcity will continue to be part of this country.

“To stop it, our refineries must be put in order, railways working, the downstream sector deregulated, subsidy removed and depot rehabilitated.”

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/nupeng-fuel-scarcity-will-continue-to.html

An unidentified middle age woman was killed by an Ido bound train Thursday afternoon.


The accident occurred at Cappa bus stop rail line around 12:30pm. Scores of sympathizers gathered around the victim and watched as the woman gradually gave up the ghost.


According to eye witnesses , the woman seemed to have been lost in thought as she stood on the railway track while the train approached.


One of those who hanged on the train was said to have stoned her, shouting to get her off the railtrack.

An eyewitness identified as Iyabo spoke about the moment of collision.

“I was here (side of the track) and the woman crossed onto the rail track. She just stood there lost in thought and somebody from the train stoned her, we all shouted at her to get out but she did not until she was hit.”


But another witness said the train did not horn until it got very close to the victim thereby ensuring the accident was inevitable.

But Iyabo’s account has also opened another dimension to the accident with some claiming the victim was on a suicide mission.


“There is no way a train will come on the tracks and you will not know by the vibrations on the rail. They stoned and shouted at her but she refused to leave, what do you call that if not suicide?” a man said.

Meanwhile emergency and rescue services operators have been blamed for failure to respond to calls when the accident happened.


When Metronaija arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the accident, the body of the victim still lay on the track with blood oozing out of the nose. This action prompted the believe that the victim might still be alive and prompt medicare could save her life.

” We have called Lagos emergency number several times and they promised to come yet refused to show up, nobody was ready to help,” a Lagos State Traffic Management Agency ( LASTMA) official said.


Another LASTMA official accused the traffic police of neglecting the victim immediately the accident occured.

“Immediately it happened, I told the policemen to let us move the woman, but they refused, maybe we would have saved her life,” he said.


For over 30 minutes after the accident, the various government agencies still did not show up at the scene while sympatizers gathered around the now obviously dead body with broken hands and leg and severe injury to the head.

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/train-kills-middle-age-woman-in-lagos.html

The Senate on Thursday asked its committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream) to immediately commence investigation into the causes of the current fuel crisis in the country.

The directive followed a motion by the Deputy Senate Majority Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi, who prayed the upper chamber to pay serious attention to the biting fuel crisis which was creating great hardship for Nigerians at the moment.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, noted that since Ningi raised the motion under personal explanation, the senate would not debate it but would rather approve his prayers.

Ekweremadu said, “Ningi’s prayers are simple and straightforward. He is asking us, as representatives of the people, to direct our committees on upstream and downstream to find out what is currently going on in the oil sector and possibly find a way of addressing it.

“In that regard, we now ask our committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream), to find out what is going on and what the government is doing about it and report back on Tuesday next week. That is our wish.”

Ningi had, while moving his motion, said since the Senate still have the mandate of the people‎ until June 1, it had the responsibility to intervene in the unfortunate development.

Ningi said, “We need to know whether fuel scarcity has come to stay. We need to know whether it has become part of our lives. We need to plan.

“By planning and talking about it we are now sensitising Nigerians to brace up for the impending issue of fuel scarcity whether it is going to be here permanently or temporary.

“But we can’t know all these things until we hear from the experts. Therefore my prayer is to ask the committee on downstream and upstream to come up with explanations next Tuesday through which Nigerians will know and plan their future.

“Otherwise, I think its legally and morally wrong to keep silent about it, sweep it under the carpet and to continue to believe these things are usual.”

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/senate-begins-fuel-scarcity-probe.html

A fake medical report a Corps member presented to NYSC Camp in order to get redeployed. Malaria Asthmatics with P*nis wheezing? Lol. Which one is that again? Found it on Twitter...

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/photo-check-out-this-fake-medical.html

This was made known in a letter he wrote and sent to the Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, Muazu asking him (Secondus) to step in as acting National Chairman in line with the party’s constitution.

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/breaking-news-prince-uche-secondus.html

Nigerian prosecutors on May 20 withdrew murder charges against 15-year-old Wasila Tasi’u who was accused of using rat poison to kill the 35-year-old man she had married.
Killer Bride: Lawyer Wants Dismissal Of Murder Charges


May 20



This process generated many reactions in the Nigerian society. Since the arrest of the “killer bride” there have been numerous calls for the girl’s release. Activists insisted that Wasila had become victim of child marriage.



On Wednesday the case took a surprising development, according to Vanguard.

Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki asked the High Court to “terminate the case of culpable homicide against Wasila Tasi’u”.



“With a heavy heart, I apply that the accused be discharged.”

AFP exclusively obtained from its sources in Kano that Nigeria had faced pressure to drop the case which has angered rights activists.

In case you missed, find the story in full below.



March 17, 2015



A defence lawyer on March 16, Monday, requested the court to dismiss the murder charges against 14-year-old Wasila Tasi’u, called the “killer bride”, who allegedly poisoned her husband in Gaya LGA, Kano state, last year.

It should be recalled that apart from the 35-year-old spouse, three other people died as a result of taking a poisonous substance.



According to PM News, in a recent development lawyer Hussaina Aliyu said to the High Court in Gezawa:

“We urge your lordship to discharge and acquit the accused.”

Aliyu insisted that the prosecution had failed to prove her guilt by establishing a connection between the cause of Umaru Sani’s death and Wasila’s intent to kill him.



Witness Hamziyya, the sister of the girl’s co-wife, said that the suspect had given her money to buy rat poison. The defence stressed, however that the state had breached the law by calling a seven-year-old witness.

The prosecution believes that the charge has been proved, and requests the death penalty for Wasila, whose case has generated serious controversies over child marriages.



Both parents of the deceased and the suspect denied that the 14-year-old had been forced into marriage. They noted that it was a standard marrying age in northern Nigeria.

There had been attempts by the defence to direct the case to the juvenile court, but the motion was rejected.

November 11, 2014



The father of a 14-year-old child bride Wasila Tasi’u, who has been accused of murdering her husband, appealed to a Nigerian court to spare his daughter.

“We are appealing to the judge to consider Wasila’s plea,” her father, Isyaku Tasi’u, told Associated Press on Thursday.



On Wednesday witnesses told the High Court in Gezawa, a town 60 miles outside of Kano, that Wasila Tasi’u killed her husband and three others two weeks after their wedding in April.

The prosecution led by a senior state council from the Kano State Ministry of Justice, Lamido Soron-Dinki, wants the death penalty for the accused.

This case calls into question the legality of trying a 14-year-old for murder under criminal law and the rights of child brides, who are common in the poverty-stricken, predominantly Muslim northern region.

Zubeida Nagee, a women’s rights activist in Kano, told Associated Press:

“She was married to a man that she didn’t love. She protested but her parents forced her to marry him.”

Nagee and other activists have written a letter of protest to the Kano state deputy governor. Nagee stated that Wasila was a victim of systematic abuse endured by millions of girls in the region. Activists say the blend of traditional customs, Islamic law and Nigeria’s constitutional law poses a challenge when advocating for the rights of young girls in Nigeria.



If Wasila is taken to the gallows, she will be the first minor to be executed in the country since 1997.

August 4, 2014

Wasila set to go on trial for murder.



It had been previously reported that the girl had confessed to committing the crime, saying her reason was that she was forced to marry a man against her own wishes and whom she did not love.

On April 14, Monday, she was charged before a Rijiyar Zaki Magistrates Court in Kano for alleged culpable homicide.

Her lawyer Hussaina Aliyu, however, rejected claims that her client made a legally valid confession.

She said Tasi’u was questioned by police without a parent or lawyer present and so any comments she may have made are inadmissable in court.



“All we are saying is do justice to her. Treat the case as it is. Treat her as a child,” Aliyu said.

She insisted that the primary issue was that criminal charges filed against a minor should be handled by a juvenile court.

July 7, 2014

Wasila Tasi’u has been charged by the Kano state government with culpable homicide punishable by death.



The young girl who hails from Yansoro village, Gaya local government council, had allegedly poisoned her husband-to-be and his relatives with rat poison to avoid the marriage.

This recent development follows the transfer of the case from juvenile court to a Kano State High Court over what judicial sources attributed to “lack of jurisdiction by the lower court”.

Vanguard obtained the charge sheet title:



“Application to prefer a charge under Section 185(B) of the Criminal Procedure code Cap.105 Laws of Kano State 1991, signed on behalf of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice by a Senior State Counsel in the ministry, Lamido A Soron Dinki, lined seven prosecution witnesses.”

The sheet states:

“By the power conferred upon the Attorney General of Kano State of Nigeria under Section 211(1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Code Law Cap. 37 Laws of Kano State which delegate powers, I do hereby seek, under Criminal Procedure Code, to charge for trial of Wasila Tasi’u.”



“That you, Wasila Tasi’u, 14 years, of Yansoro village , Gaya Local Government Council, on or about the 5th day of April, 2014, at about 14:30 hours, at Yansoro village, Gaya within the Kano Judicial Division, did commit culpable homicide punishable with death in that you caused the death of four persons.”

June 2, 2014

The young bride pleaded with the judge of the juvenile court to release her over being homesick.

Speaking exclusively with a Vanguard correspondent before the arraignment, the 14-year-old lamented that despite substantial support from her family and even from strangers, she missed her mother:

“I miss my mum who has not been allowed to visit me in a strange land… My dad and aunt visited me a few days ago and conveyed my mother’s message but the vacuum created by her absence can not be filled by anyone.”



Meanwhile, her late husband’s father Sani Garba told the journalist he still was unable to overcome the grief and said:



“Do you know that I lost three children to her action and you are asking whether I have forgiven her? The act was too painful to be forgiven and I don’t think I can forgive her.”





Telling how the relationship between his son and Wasila started, he said the two had courted for a year before the marriage and were no strangers to each other.

The suspect’s father, Tasi’u Muhammad, said they would never abandon their “little girl”, attributing Wasila’s act to destiny. He also said that his family had visited their in-laws to beg for forgiveness.

April 13, 2014



Fourteen-year-old Wasila Umaru feels sorry about what she did.

Speaking in tears with Sunday Vanguard, the girl confessed:

“Mine was a classical example of youthful exuberance; it dawned on me shortly after that it was a joke taken too far to resolve a forced marriage question.”



According to Wasila, her father forced her into the relationship she was not ready for.





Asked about her late husband, Umar Sani, the girl said:

“My blood went cold when I realized I had committed mass murder.”

With all the evidence available, the police have to prosecute the alleged culpable homicide, but they face a serious dilemma because of the suspect’s age.

Meanwhile lamenting over her act, Wasila said:

“Destiny appears to have played a wicked one on me at this early stage of my life and I would rededicate the rest of my life to sincerely seek Allah’s forgiveness.”

Initial report: April 15, 2014

The suspect confessed to committing the crime and said that she could not marry a man she did not love.

She said she had bought the rat poison, known in local parlance as Shinkafa Bera, at a village market at the cost of eight naira.



The husband died after eating the meal along with his friends, Nasiru Mohammed and Alhassan Alhassan of Yansoro Kademi who died on the spot, while the other female victim, Indo Ibrahim died at the hospital while receiving treatment.



Ten other victims who also ate the poisonous meal survived after they had been successfully treated at the hospital.

The Kano state police spokesman, Musa Magaji Majiya, confirmed the incident. The corpses were taken to the hospital for examination and the investigation was started, he added.

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/prosecution-drops-murder-charges.html

The Governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole has yet again made another amazing revelation about his new bride, Lara Fortes, saying he met her in a pristine, untouched state.

This exposure was delivered by the Comrade during their wedding thanksgiving service.

He said, “I can boldly tell all of you that I was a very principled man during my first marriage. I didn’t succumb to the worldly pleasures of this lustful environment, even though I had lots of opportunities. And it was this principled sobriety that made me fish for a virgin wife.

“I can boldly say to you all that I was the first man to know her (Lara Fortes) and initiated her into the worldly ways.

“This is the kind of spirit I want Edo youths to inculcate, instead of messing around and engaging in different shades of adultery and fornication.”

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/i-met-my-new-wife-virgin-oshiomhole.html

A randy pastor identified as Philips, (surname withheld) has allegedly put into family way a house wife and her two daughters.

He pastors a new generation church around Ogbesowe quarters, Asaba, Delta state

It was gathered that the man of God at present, helping the police at the police headquarters state CID Asaba, allegedly committed the act in April, 2015, barely six months he pulled out of a popular church within Asaba to establish his own church.

Police Public Relations Officer in the State, DSP Celestina Kalu, who confirmed the arrest of the pastor, said the suspect made useful statements to the police, disclosing that investigation was on going.

Sources close to the church squealed that the house wife identified by patience (sure name withheld) had two grown up daughters who attend the church with her before the bubble burst

Trouble started when the pastor with a view to wooing more members to his church, allegedly introduced a concept of every Wednesday all night, a process and prayer session he often relishes prophecies to members and non-members.

But this was not to be as the firebrand pastor conceiving evil intentions, allegedly prophesized to his victims of two weeks all night prayers for them to ward off evil manipulations in their family.

During prayer’s session, our informed sources said, the suspect allegedly prays separately with his victims, in most cases armed with candles and olive oil and in the process had carnal relationship with them.

Speaking to journalists , the house wife who lived around Otougu quarters, Asaba, said ” I did not know if I will get to this level, I found myself two months pregnant after I and pastor enjoyed something in our last all night among the two weeks all nights, and my daughters too”

Expectedly, the husband of the woman a staff of the state ministry of information who did not want his name in the print, said” I have given the pastor via the police to marry my wife and my two daughters, it is as simple as that”

http://www.metronaija.com/2015/05/pastor-puts-housewife-daughters-in.html