₦airaland Forum

Ladies, free yourself from prison; stop depending on men for money – Kate Henshaw


Nigerian actress, Kate Henshaw-Nuttall, has aired her opinion concerning ladies that cannot fend for themselves but solely depend on men for money.

The actress expressed her frustration at such ladies as she shared a post on her twitter page @Henshawkate.

She wrote, “I cannot for the life of me understand why a woman will not be financially stable or capable of holding her own if the need arises.

“You are cut off from friends and family and taken out to another country.

“Yet you do not work or even own a phone.

“Is that not prison?

“What if there is an emergency, what will you do?”



Jaden Smith now has his own gender-neutral fashion line


Will Smith’s second son, Jaden Smith, who likes to dress different now has his own fashion line focused on gender-neutral clothing. The line, called MSFTSrep, was developed for people who want to dress like themselves no matter what, as Smith told Variety. He said:

“The clothing line is for the girl that wants to be a tomboy or the boy that wants to wear a skirt, and people try to condemn. We’re here for you. Tell us your stories. If someone at your school’s trying to pick on you, it doesn’t matter because Jaden Smith’s got your back.”



Bayern Munich players and coach Carlo Ancelotti all smiles as they get new Audi sports cars (photos)


Bayern club sponsor, Audi, have provided every squad member with a new car since 2002, the year they became a shareholder with the German giants. Part of their contract stipulates they provide the squad with company cars with Bayern players picking up the latest Audi model on Monday afternoon.




Bravo flies in to seal Man City deal


The Chilean will land in the north west of England on Tuesday afternoon to finalise his move to the Blues, although nothing will be confirmed until Barca sign Jasper Cillessen

Claudio Bravo will arrive in England on Tuesday afternoon to complete his move to Manchester City, Goal can confirm.

Blues boss Pep Guardiola has identified Bravo as his No.1 for the coming season after deciding Joe Hart has no future at the club.

Goal understands Bravo will nearly double his existing salary when he puts pen to paper on his City contract.

The Chilean, who has won the Copa America with his country twice in the last two years, earns around €3.5 million at Camp Nou but will be paid around €6m by City.

There is no rush to get Bravo signed ahead of City’s Champions League play-off second leg against Steaua Bucharest as he is not registered in the Blues’ squad.

Instead, it is believed the signing will not be made official until later this week, when Barca close a deal for Ajax keeper Jasper Cillessen.

Although Bravo has been Barca’s league goalkeeper in recent seasons, Marc-Andre ter Stegen – who the Catalans would not sell to City this summer – has played in the cups, leaving the Chilean without Champions League football.

He did not receive a medal when Barca were crowned European champions in 2015, and it is understood that the opportunity to play in the Champions League with City was an influential factor in his decision to move.

The transfer will cast Joe Hart’s future at the Etihad Stadium in further doubt.

Hart has been sidelined in favour of Willy Caballero so far this season and he may have played his final game for the club, as it is believed he will not be selected for Wednesday’s game against Steaua, despite City holding a 5-0 first-leg advantage.

It has been reported on Tuesday morning that Hart is happy to stay at City beyond the close of the transfer window next week, even if he were to be relegated to Guardiola’s third-choice goalkeeper.

US Secretary of state arrives Sokoto state


US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has arrived Nigeria and is currently at the Palace of the Sultan of Sokoto to discuss counter-terrorism efforts in Nigeria. He will also be giving a speech on the importance of resilient communities and religious tolerance in battling violent extremism. Kerry will later today visit President Buhari.




IPMAN Plans to Crash Prices of Petrol, Kerosene


The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said it plans to crash the pump prices of petrol and kerosene in the country as soon as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the federal government fulfill their strategies to buoy the naira against the dollar and also deliver cargoes of kerosene into the country.

A faction of IPMAN led by Mr. Chinedu Okoronkwo disclosed recently in Abuja that federal government has placed order to import huge cargoes of kerosene into the country. The association said it has received assurances from the government that its members will receive good quantities of the supply when the cargoes arrive.

The association said this would also come without any of its members paying bribes to anyone or government officials before getting their allocations delivered to them.
IPMAN’s Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman, Alhaji Sharif Abubakar Usman said this when the eastern zonal executive of the association was recently inaugurated in Abuja.

His assertions were further buttressed by IPMAN’s President, Okoronkwo who explained that the CBN’s planned increase of access to foreign exchange (forex) would lead to a fall in the pump prices of petroleum products.

He added that the association will take advantage of that opening to sell at affordable prices to Nigerians at its filling stations across the country.

“Very soon, the products DPK and AGO will be in circulation under the leadership of Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo. Those that are not aware they are aware now. Sooner or later but I cannot say today or tomorrow but very soon AGO will arrive. DPK will arrive this country under the leadership of Okoronkwo.

“These products we got them from the federal government and it is in large quantity. Not small quantity that you will say is five or 10 metric tons. No, it is more than that and it will go round. Everybody will get his own share,” Usman said
He further told its members at the meeting that kerosene which is currently scarce in the country will soon be circulated sufficiently to them.

He noted that upon arrival, no member will be required to lobby or bribe to secure their allocations.

“And when it arrives each and every one of us will get allocations. Sit down where you are. You don’t have to bother yourselves because it is time to fight corruption

“We agree with that and we are in support of the federal government. I say sit where you are that you don’t have to come to Abuja to give bribe looking for allocation of two or three trucks of product. Go to your depots manager, go to your zonal chairman, you will get it, you don’t have to waste time going to Lagos or Abuja for the product,” he added.

Similarly, in his response as to how much the kerosene will sell at their filling stations, Okoronkwo said, “it will be lesser than what the NNPC retail outlets will be selling.”
Asked whether the prices of petroleum products will go up as recently speculated in some quarters, Okoronkwo said CBN’s expected intervention will culminate in the appreciation of the naira against the dollar.

He also stated that upon that, importers and marketers will take advantage of the opening to import products and sell at prices lesser than what it is today.

“Right now, you are aware that some Bureau De-Change have qualified to get the forex. And very soon there will be forex in the system, where people can now leverage.

“And if we have enough forex which means the price at which people are getting it now will drop. And it will now impact in every other business, and I think we should be following the trend. Very soon the CBN will release dollar and that will make the naira to appreciate and crash the dollar.
“For marketers, importers and manufacturers everything will begin to rejuvenate again. IPMAN will also leverage on this window to ensure that our products come at a price that members of this country will enjoy, at a price that will not be what it is right now,” Okoronkwo explained.



Man who named dog Buhari sent to prison


The man who named his dog Buhari, Joachim Iroko, aka Joe, was remanded on Monday at the Ibara Prison following his arraignment at the Ota Magistrate Court 2, Ogun State.

He was charged to court by the police with conduct likely to cause breach of the peace, in a case with suit number MOT/617c/2016.

The prosecutor, Inspector Itaita Ebibomini, said the accused committed the offence on Saturday, August 13, 2016, at the Hausa section of Ketere Market in Sango-Ota in the Ota Magisterial District.

The prosecutor told the court that the offence was punishable under Section 249 (d) of Criminal Law of Ogun State, Nigeria, 2016.

The accused, who was represented by a counsel, U. Michael, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The charge read, “That you, Joachim Iroko, aka Joe, and others still at large, on Saturday, August 13, 2016, at about 5.30pmat the Ketere area, Sango, in the Ota Magisterial District did conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause breach of the peace, by writing a name, Buhari, on a dog and parading same in the Hausa section of Ketere Market, Sango, thereby, committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 249 (d) of the Criminal Law of Ogun State, Nigeria, 2016.”

His counsel, however, pleaded that the accused should be granted bail. The prosecutor did not oppose the application for bail. The two witnesses in the case were present in court.

The Chief Magistrate, B. J. Ojikutu, admitted Iroko to bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum, adding that the sureties must be regular taxpayers in the state.

“They must attach four passport photographs each to the bail bond, depose to affidavits of being gainfully employed, and reside in the court’s jurisdiction,” he added.

The case was adjourned till September 19, 2016.

Iroko, who had been formerly identified as Joe Fortemose Chinakwe, was arrested on Saturday, August 13, after one of his neighbours, who is of Northern extraction, complained that he named the dog after his father, Alhaji Buhari.

The suspect was first taken to the Sango Police Station, from where he was transferred to the state police command headquarters at Eleweran, Abeokuta.

However, as of press time, his family members had yet to perfect the bail for his release. He was subsequently taken to the Ibara Prison.



Lagos police rescue 28 persons in chains, arrest suspect


About 28 persons found in chains in a house at Oke-Ira, Ojodu area of Lagos State were Friday rescued by the state Police Command.

The victims, which included 13 teenagers, comprised of six male adults, nine female adults, seven female children and six male children.

In a statement made available to newsmen on Monday, the command’s spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the command also arrested a suspect, one Emmanuel Adeyemi, alleged to have been responsible for the crime.

Badmos said, “The Command mobilised a team of policemen to a house at Oyinbo Unity Estate, Olamidun Close, Yakoyo, Oke-Ira, Ojodu on August 19, at about noon, after it received information that a child was in chain.

“On getting there, a 17-year-old boy, (names withheld) was found in a room with a chain around his legs. The victim was allegedly chained by the suspect who claimed to be his father to restrain him from going out.

“Further search of the premises led to the discovery of 27 others chained by the same suspect.

“The suspect, Adeyemi, is currently undergoing interrogations.”

While stressing that the command was working assiduously to get to the roots of the matter, the PPRO added that the rescued persons have been taken into protective custody.




43-year-old man bathed his married lover with acid


A 43-year-old man identified as Yisau Adeleke is currently cooling his heels in Agodi prisons in Ogun state for bathing his lover, Morufa Ajoke Odesanya, with acid.

Adeleke committed the offence on November 25, 2015, but was arrested nine months after, on August 7.

Speaking with Tribune at the weekend, Adeleke said he bathed his 36-year-old lover, a mother of five with acid after he discovered she was married, contrary to her claim of being a widow.

He said, “I had a wife, Ronke, who had two children for me but I later discovered that she had two children for two men before she married me. She also decided that she had had the number of children that she wanted, asking me to look for another woman if I needed more.

So I started dating Odesanya and she asked me to rent a room for her, which I did.

“She told me she was a widow with two children. She showed me a man who she claimed to be her brother, but I later discovered was her husband.

“She took me to her mother and I took her to my aunt, to introduce her as my wife-to-be.

“We used to have sex regularly to the level that even during her menstrual period; she would beg me to have sex with her, saying she could not keep off me.

”This continued until I came in contact with Magun (a charm in the Yoruba culture that when placed on a woman, any man that sleeps with her order than her husband, must die) in the course of our affair,” Adeleke added.

Speaking further, he said, “It was as if my navel was twisted and I also had a tongue twist. I started feeling dizzy. This made me raise the alarm and an Islamic cleric came to my rescue by making some incantations.”

The 43-year-old man said though he became a bit relieved, the stomach ache continued.

“The next thing Odesanya (his lover) said was that she believed that the Magun was the handiwork of her mother-in-law.

“I asked whether she went to her mother-in-law and for the reason she would want to harm her daughter-in-law’s fiancé since her son was dead. To my surprise, Odesanya called me the same day and asked about my condition. She then added that she had sex with one Baba Bidemi, and it proved that what I experienced was not Magun.

“Baba Bidemi was the man she called her brother. I was confused and this made me decide that I was no longer interested in the relationship if she could deceive me for about two years that we were together. She started begging me.

“So, when I discovered she was married, I ended the affair but we were still meeting because I wanted to collect the money I contributed as a member of a group we formed for the purpose of contributing money that we could collect in bulk.

“She collected hers and when I was to collect mine, she said that had given it to her husband to pay FRSC fine.

“To my surprise, when I saw the husband, he was riding a brand new motorcycle.

“This infuriated because I felt used and I planned and poured her acid,” Adeleke said, blaming the devil for the evil act.

Reports say the accused will be re-arraigned in court on November 9 for trial.

Griezmann: Manchester United are perfect club for Paul Pogba


The Atletico Madrid forward believes his international colleague has what it takes to impress on his world-record return to Old Trafford

France international Antoine Griezmann has assured Manchester United fans there is nothing to worry about following Paul Pogba’s big-money move from Juventus, as the 23-year-old will provide the spectacular.

The duo played in the same team under Didier Deschamps at Euro 2016, which saw Les Bleus fall to an extra-time defeat in the final against Portugal.

Pogba collected four consecutive Serie A titles in Italy and ex-Real Sociedad star Griezmann is of the impression that his international team-mate is in the perfect place to keep achieving.

“I think the supporters in England won’t be disappointed,” Griezmann told the Guardian.

“They can expect the spectacular from Paul. He deserves it, he works hard and he has the talent to be such an important player.

He loves that league. Manchester [United] is the perfect club for him, with [Jose] Mourinho they are making something new.”

Both Griezmann and Pogba suffered disappointment in the summer, as France went down to Portugal to miss out on Euro 2016.

It was the Atletico star’s second final heartbreak in three months, after falling short on penalties in the Champions League to Real Madrid.

“There was a lot of emotion, a lot of tension, it can leave you very tired,” he said.

“Two finals where we were so close to our target and close to getting the trophy. It just wasn’t the time.





7[b]James happy at Real Madrid – Zidane[/b]


Arsenal and Chelsea have been associated with a move for the playmaker, but he is quite happy to remain at the Bernabeu for now

James happy at Real Madrid - Zidane

Zinedine Zidane insists James Rodriguez is happy at Real Madrid amid speculation the Colombia international could swap La Liga for the Premier League.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea have been heavily linked with moves for the playmaker after he dropped down the pecking order in the Spanish capital.

James only made 17 starts in the league in 2015-16 – his second season with Madrid – and he was only given 13 minutes of their opening league match of this campaign against Real Sociedad on Sunday.

His lack of action has seen him linked with a move away, but Zidane has consistently echoed the comments of Madrid president Florentino Perez in insisting the 25-year-old is not looking to leave.

“He is well and happy,” Zidane said when asked about James after the 3-0 victory over Sociedad.



Adorable photos of Neymar kissing his cute son Davi as they celebrate Rio 2016 success


Adorable photos showing Brazil footballer Neymar Jr carrying and kissing his cute son Davi Lucca have just been released after Neymar inspired the host nation to win Gold in the Football event at the just concluded Rio 2016 Olympics.




Producer/manager who discovered Backstreet Boys and N’SYNC Lou Pearlman dies in prison at age 62


Lou Pearlman, the controversial producer/manager who discovered boybands, Backstreet Boys and N’SYNC, died over the weekend in prison at the age of 62.

Lou put the hit boyband together in the ’90s and became a huge success in the music industry before he was jailed for committing fraud.

Tributes have poured in from artists who worked with him over the years including N’SYNC’s Lance Bass.

Apart from N’SYNC and Backstreet boys, the acts he formed over the years included O-Town, LFO and Take 5, and he also managed artists including Aaron Carter and Jordan Knight.

However, by the 2000s, he was facing numerous lawsuits from his artists over claims he had swindled them out of their earnings.With the exception of US5, all of the musical acts who have worked with Pearlman have sued him in Federal Court for misrepresentation and fraud- Backstreet boys were the first to sue him.

In 2000, he was accused of running one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in history, leaving more than $300 million in debts. After he was arrested and arraigned in court, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding.

In 2008, he was convicted and sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. He died in prison over the weekend.

My wonderful girlfriend has supported me all the way – John Mikel Obi says


Nigerian midfielder John Mikel Obi has heaped praise on his girlfriend Olga Diyachenko saying she has supported him all the way. He also said him winning a Bronze medal at Rio 2016 is a wonderful achievement for him and his family.

Mikel started dating Olga in 2013 and they have twin girls together. Speaking to UK Standard on Monday he said;

‘I was obviously very clear before travelling to Brazil that my target was the gold medal. But to get the bronze is still an amazing achievement.

‘There was a celebration at the hotel afterwards, we were all jumping around. Everyone was so excited. I went to sleep last night with my medal beside me; I couldn’t and didn’t want to let it out of my sight.’

‘It really is a dream come true for me, for my family, my two little angels – my twin baby girls – my wonderful girlfriend, who has supported me all: the way.’

‘First off all I want to celebrate with my family, put it around my daughters’ neck, take pictures and make sure they get to see what daddy achieved.’



Mercy Johnson blasts critics, says she will have baby number 4


Renowned Nollywood actress, Mercy Johnson-Okojie has blasted critics who threw shades at her for not spacing the birth of her children.

The mother of three who was reported to be pregnant for her fourth child, said those criticizing her have nothing to do with their lives.

In a chat with Vanguard, the busty thespian said her fans should expect baby number four soon, since most of them had nothing better to do than to watch her stomach.

She said, “I feel that when you haven’t gone through life and you don’t have a bearing in life, that’s when you see certain decisions as unreasonable. Most of these people who make these statements have not even realized what they want to do with their lives yet. They should expect baby number four from me.

“I had planned my life right from when I was growing up. I arranged my life the way I wanted it to go. And that is why even when I was at the peak of my career and marriage came, I grabbed it because I know age keeps going and time waits for no one.

“It means that I can have all of my four kids and then still get back to shape and come back to what I love to do. So I am not going to say things like, ‘I don’t want to have kids yet’ or ‘I am not going to get married and I want to keep acting because the young shall always grow’, you are not going to be number one forever. That is why when it is time for you to do something, you do it.

“Yoruba will always say in their prayers that when the time for a child to talk has come, by the grace of God, she will talk. When it’s time to go to school, he will go to school. That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to define my life in a way my daughter will want to define her own life,” the comic actress said, noting that criticisms don’t get to her.



Actor Okechukwu Joseph says his relationship with Genevieve was a disaster


Popular Nollywood actor, Okechukwu Joseph, has recounted his aborted romance with legendary actress, Genevieve Nnaji.

Joseph said his relationship with Ms. Nnaji was very short, although he never disclosed this to the media.

The ‘Karishika’ actor further told the Sun that his relationship with the star actress was a disaster.

Joseph said, “My very short relationship with Genevieve was such a disaster. This is the first time I am admitting this publicly.

“Genny and I met and became friends on the set of Mark of the Beast. Of course in her very early days. It was as though we were in some type of experiment. But I learned a lot about her within that short period.

“Two unforgettable moments- the day she introduced her little brother to me and the day she told me literally everything about herself. She trusted me that much. My mind was racing like crazy and I kept wondering how so little people knew about this young Amazon who was out to play the Esther for her family and did she? She felt like family to me. She is my kind of woman – classy, clean and confident.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t go further because of my funny little ‘virgin’ secret. Not that she solicited or asked for anything but of course, my body language was downright repulsive to that effect and it didn’t take anything for any woman with brains to figure it out. She was so full of pragmatic energy and so on-the-go- like woman on a mission. Never ready to play around with stuff she couldn’t put up with. I hope she’s still that way. She has got an incredible story to her glory.”

On if he would take things to the ‘next level’ if he had another opportunity with Genevieve, Joseph said, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘the next level.’ But I would love to play by my rules book at this moment. However, there is not going to be any such opportunity. The young woman has moved on ever so predictably and I’m the happiest for her.”

The actor said he had difficulties in getting along with his colleagues, especially females because he was a virgin.

He said, “I had no difficulty mingling. What I had issues with was entangling- copulating. And like I said earlier, I wasn’t ready because I was a virgin and I didn’t want to tell anybody. I was always making excuses about why I couldn’t ‘get down.’”

He went further to say some of his female colleagues solicit sex from him during shooting.

He said, “Truth is a lot of people didn’t know that all that while that I was shooting movies everywhere I was still a virgin! I didn’t know how to explain this to ladies especially. People thought I had other strange feelings.

“One of my directors even confronted me at some point wanting to know if I was hiding some ailment. It was on the set of this director that two young women attempted to rape me in my hotel room. I will never forget this. It was Singapore Hotel, Ikeja, where we lodged. The movie was Karishika 2. We had returned from a shoot so I left my door open. They came in, stripped themselves halfway and pounced on me. I fought with them for nearly 25 minutes. They gave up when I threatened to stab them. I lied that I had a knife. That was probably the third time that I had had that kind of experience.

“They were upcoming artistes. They were also part of that movie. Everybody else was fair game, but I was ‘forming superman’ so I could understand their frustration. And they were a crazy bunch. You don’t come across girls like that every day, whether in Nollywood or elsewhere. It was something else,” he added.



NBET, CBN negotiate new N180bn stimulus for power sector


The acting Managing Director, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), Mr. Waziri Bintube has confirmed that the NBET and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are currently negotiating a new financial stimulus worth N180 billion to support electricity operators in Nigeria’s power sector.

Bintube in an interview, said that the CBN had in addition to the N213 billion it approved in its Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF) for disbursement to operators at a concessionary term, agreed to put another N180 billion into the facility. He also said NBET had not touched its $350 million capitalization fund under the Euro bond facility and that while the CBN expects to wrap up its first N213 billion to the market, the new N180 billion would immediately kick in.

He added: “If the power plants work, the manufacturers will have lesser problems, the banks will get paid for their products and then there will be less need for foreign products to come in and that reduces the request for foreign exchange. Just imagine that if our refineries are working, we will not need to depend on importation which takes away a lot from us including profits and jobs.”



Fake miracle syndicate nabbed, says pastor hired them


Members of a syndicate, which specialised in confirming fake prophecies for pastors, have been arrested by the police in Enugu State.

It was gathered that the group also faked healings for some men of God, who contracted and paid them for their services.

The suspected fraudsters were identified as Obi Ejike from Ubaho Okija in Anambra State; Mary Kuku from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State; Joy Oluwakemi from Ojo, Lagos State; Nwosu Chizoba from Umunze, Anambra State; and Peter Uchechi from Ebonyi State.

They were reportedly apprehended while on their way to Abakiliki, Ebonyi State, where they were contracted to stage phoney miracles and healings for an unnamed pastor in the state.

It was learnt that the suspects were apprehended on Friday during an argument while waiting to board a vehicle at Holy Ghost Park, Enugu.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the development on Sunday, explained that the argument among the fraudsters drew the attention of some policemen within the premises of the park, who interrogated them.

Amaraizu said two members of the syndicate, Ejike and Oluwakemi, opened up on the group’s activities.

Revelations made by the duo led to the arrest of other members of the group at P and T bus stop, Enugu, on Saturday, where they had assembled to board a bus to Abakiliki, the venue of a church service.

A member of the group, Uchechi, said they were usually recruited in large numbers and kept in a house from where they would shuttle to confirm fake prophecies and stage-manage miracles for pastors.

Uchechi said they were usually paid through a coordinator, who acted as a middleman between the syndicate and the pastors.

Upon their arrival in the church, a man, who works for the pastor, would instruct the syndicate on the nature of the assignment.

Uchechi explained that before the scheduled church service, they would list their names and the fake ailments they had, which would be given to the pastor while ministering to the congregation.

During the ‘prophetic hour’ session of the service, members of the syndicate, who were already known to the pastor, would come out when people who had problems were summoned to the altar.

Subsequently, members of the syndicate would announce before the congregation that they had received healing following the pastor’s ministrations.

In other cases, according to Uchechi, members of the syndicate would come out to ‘confirm’ a prophecy, which would be made by the pastor in the course of the service, based on the information they provided before the session.

She added that the members of their group usually fell under the ‘influence’ of the pastor’s anointing, during worship sessions.

“Some pastors use us to grow their churches and ministries and we are paid later through our coordinator, depending on our roles,” Uchechi said.

Ejike, who explained that he worked with the coordinator, admitted that he was in charge of the Abakiliki job, which the group was going for when they were apprehended.

He said he decided to go into the fake prophecy business after his business collapsed in Lagos.

Ejike added that he was mostly involved in the recruitment of personnel for various assignments.

Another member of the group, Chizoba, said she started the ‘business’ in Abuja, after finding it difficult to fend for her baby, who she had out of wedlock.

According to her, she eventually relocated to Onitsha, Anambra State, to team up with the syndicate.

Two other members of the syndicate, Oluwakemi and Kuku, claimed to be widows with four children each, adding that hardship pushed them into the crime.

The police spokesperson, Amaraizu, said investigations were ongoing.





How kidnappers forced Activist to drop case of 15-year-old rape victim


An activist, Dr. Ime Stephen, who escaped from the Kidnappers den on Saturday, has narrated how he was forced to drop the case involving a 15-year-old Mary Udo, who was allegedly raped at gunpoint by a police inspector in Akwa Ibom State.

Stephen told journalists on Saturday that he had dropped Udo’s case, including other cases he intended to bring against the Nigeria Police for human rights abuses.

He said, “I can’t really say or speculate the people behind my kidnapping. Investigation is already on and I leave that one for the security operatives. There was a rape case of a 15-year old girl, Mary Udo, who was allegedly defiled by a police inspector that I have been following up. And since then, a lot of things have been happening to me

“My abductors clearly asked me to leave all the cases I have been handling. I have dropped all these cases for the sake of my life and my family. All these things are happening to me because I committed myself to the defence of the defenceless.

“One of the kidnappers spoke in Ijaw language and blended it with English but they didn’t know I could hear them as they thought the injection I was given was still active.

“I heard one of them saying that I should not be killed because it will be a problem for them as some people have seen them already. This brought argument among them and one of them shot the other and he died on the spot. Although I was blindfolded I knew that was what happened.

“I want to still call on the Inspector General of Police, the DSS and relevant security operatives to wade into this matter and launch an intensive investigation. I have been shouting and crying all these while that my life is in danger but nothing was done about it. Several assassination attempts have been made on my life before I was eventually kidnapped.”

On his escape from the abductors, he said, “I will say it is God’s grace. They were transferring me from one place to the other. And then they took me to one uncompleted building in Nsit Ubium along Oron Road. The place is called Akai and it is slightly isolated because houses are not close to one another.

“They tied me up, both legs and hands, and left me in order to come for me later. Sometimes they go out to smoke and do some other things before returning. I was then fortunate that the sedation cleared from my eyes a little and I began to shout for help with my last strength.

“A cyclist heard my voice and came to my rescue. He managed to lose my legs but couldn’t lose my hands that were tied behind my back. It was in the night and he then took me to the police post in the area before I was handed over to the highway patrol team.

“It was at the police post that my hands were untied. The boy who rescued me was also frightened as he was taking me to the police post so that we don’t run into the kidnappers who dumped me there,” he said.




Man studying in Malaysia killed in Kaduna


It was gathered that Rabiu, a student, who just returned from studies in Malaysia, was shot and killed in Kaduna.

Jafar Ibrahim Ali, a close friend that witnessed the incident, narrated that Rabiu was shot in his car after driving from Abuja to Kaduna

According to him, they drove straight to see one of Rabiu’s friends in his house along Lugard Hall but were told he had gone out.

Ali, who survived the incident said, they requested for his number, ”We were waiting to be given the number before a tricycle parked near us and three men alighted from it and made straight to where we parked and demanded we hand over our phones.

“Initially, we thought they were policemen because they were pointing guns at us, ‎but the next thing I heard was a gun shot,”he narrated.

He further narrated that the gunman that stood by Rabiu’s window and was pointing the gun at him shot.

“The men kept firing as they opened the doors of the car pushing us out as they entered the car and drove away with it.

“All these happened in less than 2 minutes, as I struggled with them, they kept firing but somehow the bullets from the locally made guns missed me, but they shot my friend.

“It was when they left that we got a car from the house, which took him to the hospital, but he was confirmed dead in less than an hour after the incident,” he explained.

Though he said the matter was reported to the police, who came and conducted preliminary investigation, it was yet to be established whether it was a case of robbery or assassination.

Family sources disclosed that Rabiu came back to Nigeria on the completion of his studies in Malaysia. He was buried according to Islamic rite.

Puel: Mourinho will struggle to keep Man Utd stars happy


The Southampton manager warns his Old Trafford counterpart about trying to fit all of his best players into his team on a regular basis following the arrival of Paul Pogba

With so many stars at Jose Mourinho’s disposal, Southampton manager Claude Puel has questioned how his Manchester United counterpart will keep his players happy at Old Trafford.

Paul Pogba – the world’s most expensive player – is set to make his long-awaited return for United in Friday’s Premier League clash against Southampton after arriving from Italian champions Juventus.

The Frenchman will bolster a midfield already including Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini, Morgan Schneiderlin, Ander Herrera, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial are all in the starting XI.

And as Southampton prepare to face United at Old Trafford, Puel insists Mourinho will have his hands full.

“Pogba has qualities and is a different player who can make a difference in an offensive game and also defensive,” Puel told reporters.

“He is always dangerous on the run, but I don’t know how his manager can make all these great players work together.

“It is difficult to remain a collective and to have two or three players for every position on the pitch. I’m sure they can be one of the favourites to win the championship. But I hope we can slow them down and take one or all three points from Manchester United.

“The most important thing for us is not to consider them as a great team with great players but to consider them as opponents with good opportunities to make a good game and to make a good result.”

Southampton were held to a 1-1 draw by Watford in their opening fixture, whilst United beat Bournemouth 3-1 with Ibrahimovic scoring on his debut.



Amber Heard to give away her $7M divorce settlement from Johnny Depp

Two days ago, Amber Heard dismissed her domestic violence restraining order petition against her estranged husband, Johnny Depp, as the case has settled, since he agreed to pay Amber approximately $7 million to walk away.

However, Amber Heard plans to give the whole settlement money to Charity.

Speaking to TMZ, she said:

“The donation will be divided equally between the ACLU, with a particular focus to stop violence against women, and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, where I have worked as a volunteer for the past 10 years.”

According to Amber, the divorce wasn’t about financial gain.

“Money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully, help those less able to defend themselves.”

She also claims to have forfeited all residuals Johnny earned from movie deals he made during their 15-month marriage (which she’d be entitled to because there was no prenup).



T.I.’s wife Tiny denies claims they are getting divorced


Rapper T.I. and his wife, Tameka ‘Tiny’ Harris have been plagued with relationship troubles, fabricated by people. Recently, there were reports that the couple was getting divorced.

On Thursday, Tiny’s rep denied recent reports that the star and her husband are headed for a divorce adding that they were not having marital issues. The rep also denied that T.I. had cheated on his wife.
The rep said:

‘Tameka Harris has read so much about her marriage in the past few weeks that it’s time to set the record straight and really educate everyone on the facts. Certain blogs have ‘reported’ that she’s going to be a single mom, she’s getting a divorce, she has a new residence and everything in between.

‘On behalf of Mrs. Harris this is the truth – Tameka and T.I. are good. They love each other and they have a beautiful family with 7 amazing children. ‘For them it will always be family over everything.’

The couple has been together since 2001 but got married in 2010. They have three children together, two boys and a daughter they welcomed in March.




Cindy Crawford’s 14-year-old daughter lands her first solo magazine cover

Cindy Crawford was 16 when she made it onto a magazine cover but she has been outdone by her 14-year-old daughter, Kaia Gerber. The teen who landed on the cover of POP magazine expressed her delight at living her modelling dream.

Kaia who covered Vogue last year along with her mother said: ‘It’s not like I never dreamed it could happen because it’s really all I dreamed about,’ she explains. ‘But I never thought it’d happen this early. It didn’t hit me until Mum and I got the French Vogue cover – even after that I was like, “wait is this really happening?” I’m still kind of shocked.’

According to the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POP Ashley Heath; “Kaia Gerber will be the biggest model in the world within 5 years.”



Couple have sex on Live TV while BBC reporter hosts sporting action at the Rio Olympics


This is the hilarious moment BBC Olympics presenter Dan Walker was interrupted by a couple who appeared to be having sex behind him on a beach in Rio. As Walker talked on Live TV, he realized that social media viewers were tweeting about the ‘amorous’ positioning of a couple behind him in the shoreline background.

He looked back and saw what was going on and tried to laugh it off by telling viewers that the scene behind him wasn’t “that” and that the pair were ‘having a hug’ or ‘reading a book…. in a strange pose’. Walker also informed viewers that his camera team were not going to zoom in on the couple to find out what was really going on…to the disappointment of some.

Four schoolgirls impregnated by their fathers in our custody — LASG


The Lagos State Government has said that it is keeping four infants born by schoolgirls impregnated by their fathers in its custody. The decision, according to the state government, is to allow the girls “come of age” before they decide whether to keep the babies.

Director of Child Development, Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Alaba Fadairo, said this recently in Lagos.

Fadairo, spoke on the topic, Sex and Sexuality, as a guest speaker during a programme, Talents for Master’s Use, organised by the Redeemed Evangelical Mission, Alimosho.

“Anybody can sexually abuse you. Your father, his friends, drivers, teachers can abuse you. I know there are also good fathers. I am only trying to caution our children. I have four children who were impregnated by their fathers and they have put to bed. We have kept the babies apart until the girls are old enough to decide if they want to keep their babies or not. One fundamental thing we have discovered is that people close to children constitute a major percentage of those who abuse children,’’ she said.

Adding that six cases of child abuse are reported to the ministry every week, Fadairo urged participants at the event to be wary of people who swear them to secrecy.

“Äbusers are very friendly with children. Their power is in the ignorance of children. The abuser knows that you don’t know that he is dangerous. When someone starts giving you sweets and taking you to solitary places, he or she may be an abuser. Whoever tells you not to tell your parents about him or her is an abuser. It could be an uncle or aunty. Run away or shout,’’ she said.

Meanwhile, childcare experts have also urged parents to be extra cautious of how their children would spend the long holidays. According to them, the third term holiday, which usually lasts for as long as two months, could be an avenue for child abusers to exploit young children. They, therefore, call on parents and guardians not to be casual on who their children come in contact with.

Speaking to Punch correspondent in a telephone interview on Thursday, a Child Protection Specialist, Mr. Taiwo Akinlami, lamented that many families leave the decision of where to keep their children during the holidays to the last minute. Akinlami, a lawyer, advised parents who are salary earners to be deliberate about whom they would engage to mind their children during the holiday.


Nigerians, Give Nigeria a Chance


The best picture that fits the present development in Nigeria is that of near-gloom, but I refuse to accept the tag of being called a pessimist.

Hardly does a day go by without the report on any of these in the front pages of major Newspapers: Boko Haram insurgency, corruption, unemployment, politically-motivated violence to name but a few. In the midst of these obvious unwanted reports, I sat down and pondered asking myself the question: Will Nigeria ever get mature?

Maturity literally means a state of ripeness. To be mature can also mean to possess the emotional balance to handle certain responsibilities at one’s disposal. A palm tree does not depend on a plantain tree to mature, it depends on the plantain on its roots. A child understandably needs to depend on family support, educational centres, peer group before s/he gets matured. It will be ridiculous if a full-grown adult sees it as a “right” to be catered for as a child since s/he, at adulthood, is expected to have outgrown all these rudimentary processes and left them behind.

Whatever the case, these processes have to occur for one to become mature. Permit me to term this process as the child’s root/foundational background.

Nigeria can be said to have come of age (at 55). So, to be different from the rest of the world, we must look back at our background, our root. Our rich history with its vivid display in our diverse cultures must be considered our major strength.

Among virtually all African countries, we had one of the most civil struggle for attainment of independence as against the armed rebellion that took place in other places like Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and others too numerous to mention.

We could achieve this feat because we had some of the most civil, well-educated, charismatic, intelligent personalities who fought for the Independence we now enjoy.

A foreigner does not need to stay too long in Nigeria to begin to appreciate our rich cultural heritage, beautiful landscapes and tourist attraction centres; enormous unexploited mineral resources; human resources capacities and capabilities; energetic and talented youths steaming for success, what else can a nation ask for?

I have gone this route to remind us so that we begin to understand why we should go back to our roots. We need to learn about our source; re-orientate our mind-sets and have a new mentality of love and self-reliance.

There is no gainsaying the fact that our country is even a playing field for expatriates. They come here, see what we do not see and exploit things we left unexplored and do we still wonder why they have more opportunities than us Nigerians in Nigeria?

The so-called Multinational Companies (MNCs) have more gains staying in this country than the indigenous companies. We have refused to diversify our economy. We still live in the fool’s paradise of “oil money”. What happened to our groundnut pyramids, palm production and cocoa plantations? Why should we be importing tooth picks, zinc and aluminium, chairs, coffee, and the likes, when we have the raw materials back home?

In Aba, the commercial capital of Abia State, we have talented young minds who can produce all sort of economic goods. They are fiercely talented, hugely educated and hiding under the brand of international producers they flood our markets with ‘Made in Aba’ products packaged as ‘Made in Italy’.

Unless you have the intelligence of Albert Einstein you may not easily know the difference. It still baffles me why anyone or any nation with such abundance of talents hides them in the slumps of Umuahia, Mushin, Alaba and such other places when they should be producing and competing in New York and Chinese markets.

The place of the so-called state or federal government is to control the production process; promote and enable production of standard products at fair prices; train local producers to adopt a brand instead of brandishing other brands so as to prevent the possibility of the consumers buying fake products.

If these producers are enlightened and assisted by government to make better products and brands, who says Aba cannot be the China of Africa? Nigeria is almost officially the dumping ground of Western products. In addition to the Chinese, Japan and a host of other countries want to invest in Nigeria. We have opened our palms again but we have not digested what these people have seen.

Foreign Investments boost the economy of a country but when Foreigners become the major lead and decisive factor of the economy, it often turns out that there is need for more answers than questions.

Nigeria’s bail out to these despotic tendencies is a must. We need to re-evaluate our mind-sets and restate our core values. This orientation must start from the cradle and must be all inclusive.

An average American child wants to die, live and work for the American Dream. We should not be surprised that this Dream today is having strong impacts on our world in several fronts, be it Technology, science, innovation, power and what have you. The American Dream is a reality because of development, training and empowerment. I have almost searched in vain for answers to the question: “What is the Nigerian Dream?”

The status quo of poverty in Nigeria shouldn’t be our identity. The government of Nigeria should and must love Nigerians and provide the basic amenities for the suffering masses in other not to repeat avoidable mistakes of the past.

Nigerians needs to be self-reliant. By self-reliance, I mean, the ability to depend on one’s own abilities and efforts to get things done and to meet his/her needs. We need to learn and study our environment, problems and provide workable solutions.

Nigeria has her inherent problems and indigenous models should be adapted to resolve our problems, originality is glamorous as Chimamanda Adichie the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun has shown. She is a model of an intrinsic example of originality. She writes about Nigeria in an unexplored manner which has taken her to places many before her have never been to!

The place of research cannot be overemphasised. Knowledge is power. Government through its Ministry of Education should anchor on provision of Research institutes in secondary and tertiary institutions. These institutions should have standard qualities for conducting research and enable people to explore critical areas in medicine, technology, humanities and the likes with the aim of providing practical solutions to our multi-phased challenges.

When I say research I do not mean the “copy and paste” projects in the Ivory Towers in Nigerian tertiary institutions, I mean research!

Nigeria can be a producing nation, instead of consumerism.

As Nigerians are trooping out in masse seeking for greener pasture elsewhere, the nation is losing its best minds. It’s a clarion call to Nigerians to re-orientate ourselves. Nigeria is our country and we have no other place to go. We must also learn to love one another; learn and relearn for a better tomorrow.

I end on this wise quote from Pastor Samuel Ibiyeomie who said: “A Politician thinks only about tomorrow but a statesman thinks about the next generation”.

May God bless Nigeria.

Ezinne Torti writes from Lagos, Nigeria. She is an MSc (Political Science) candidate at the University of Lagos, Akoka. She sent this piece via ezinnetorti@gmail.com


Kelechi Iheanacho signs new deal with Manchester City to stay until 2021


The Nigeria wonderkid has been handed a new two-year contract extension by the club

Nigeria international Kelechi Iheanacho has signed a new two-year contract extension with Manchester City to extend his stay at the club until 2021, the Premier League side announced on Thursday.

The 19-year-old established himself in the City first team last season, scoring 14 times in all competitions including eight goals in 26 Premier League outings.



SKY P invades South Africa for musical projects


Nigerian Musical Artist Peter Amuchie Aka Sky P is definitely doing it big, the AYANMA crooner and CEO Sky Diamonds Entertainment was spotted in Johannesburg South Africa. Sources Gathered that a collaboration is in works with South Africa’s foremost Rapper Casper as the duo are reported to have hit the studio since Sky P touched down in South Africa.

There has been more speculations that the much anticipated song titled “ARAB MONEY” of which it’s video was shot in Dubai is to drop before the first week of September 2016. Reports has filtered in since his visit to the Southern African country that Sky P has sealed a promotions deals with a South African based Promotions outfit which will oversee South African market promotions of musical content from the Nigerian born talent. Sky P since his debut single has definitely hit the ground running.



[Photos] Daughter of former Taraba state gov, Danbaba Suntai, weds


One of the daughters of former Taraba state governor, Danbaba Sunati, got married to her man at a private wedding ceremony recently.



EFCC arrests man for duping ‘wife’ of N6.7m


The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has arrested one Chike Nnaemeka, for allegedly tricking an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps into marrying him and paying for the wedding.

Nnaemeka, aka Dr. Justified, was said to have duped his victim, Nkechi Ani, of N6.7m.

The EFCC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said Nnaemeka, who claimed to be a gynaecologist, allegedly collected the sum under different requests. The victim was reportedly introduced to him by one of her classmates at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State.

The suspect was also said to have tricked Ani into marrying him and they were joined in a traditional wedding on June 6, 2015, without informing her that he was married with three children.

In her petition, the complainant said, ‘‘During the wedding preparation, Justified brought up so many stories bordering on cultural issues that I or anyone from my family is not supposed to visit his home town until after my marriage. He also said that the tradition of his place as a lone prince demanded that I sponsored every financial aspect of the traditional marriage, but that he would refund me to the last one naira I spent.”

According to the commission, the suspect continued to deceive his victim and even claimed to have property that both Zenith Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc were purportedly interested in buying.

The suspect was said to have shown the complainant some documents of the property, and requested her to raise some money to enable him to complete the process.

The complainant allegedly transferred some amounts to the suspect, after being assured that he would refund her.

But on December 23, 2015, the suspect allegedly left the house on the pretext that he was going to sign the agreement papers with the banks to finalise the transaction. Ani also alleged that the suspect stole the sum of $3000 belonging to her boss.

“Meanwhile, investigation has revealed that the suspect, who is married to another woman who had three children for him, also lied that his mother passed on some years back. The suspect will soon be charged to court, after investigation is concluded,” the statement added.

OFFICIAL: Mahrez signs new Leicester City deal


Having been strongly linked with Arsenal in the current window, the Algerian PFA Players’ Player of the Year will remain at the champions after penning an extension

Riyad Mahrez has ended speculation linking him with a move away from Leicester City by signing a new four-year deal.

The reigning PFA Player of the Year had been tipped to join Arsenal this summer, although interest had recently cooled, and he has now committed himself to the Foxes until 2020.

And the club could not hide their delight at tying down their “magician” for four more seasons.

Having been strongly linked with Arsenal in the current window, the Algerian PFA Players’ Player of the Year will remain at the champions after penning an extension

Riyad Mahrez has ended speculation linking him with a move away from Leicester City by signing a new four-year deal.

The reigning PFA Player of the Year had been tipped to join Arsenal this summer, although interest had recently cooled, and he has now committed himself to the Foxes until 2020.

And the club could not hide their delight at tying down their “magician” for four more seasons.



Neymar breaks Olympic record to fire Brazil to Germany rematch


The Brazil captain scored the fastest goal in the competition’s history by netting with just 15 seconds on the clock against Honduras to help secure a place in the final

Neymar broke an Olympic record on Wednesday by scoring the fastest goal in the football competition’s history to help secure a place in the final against Germany.

The Brazil captain netted after just 15 seconds against Honduras to better Janine Beckie of Canada’s women’s team, who scored with just 19 seconds on the clock against Australia on August 4.






‘We are ready to spend the money we have’ – Wenger on Mustafi signing


The Gunners are actively looking to sign a central defender, according to the Frenchman, though he has refused to discuss details of any potential deals

Arsene Wenger has made it clear that Arsenal are poised and ready to continue spending money this summer.

The Gunners are in talks to sign Valencia and Germany centre-back Shkodran Mustafi amid a defensive injury crisis, but the French boss has remained coy on the deal’s progress.

“I believe it’s better if I don’t talk about individual players, but we are ready to spend the money we have,” Wenger told a press conference.

It is very difficult to identify people and you have many examples of people in England who spend huge money on CBs and not made it.

“It’s important to spend money the right way – it’s not my money.”

Arsenal new boy Rob Holding started alongside Calum Chambers in the centre of defence in the 4-3 loss against Liverpool in the club’s opening Premier League game of the season.

Injuries to Per Mertesacker and Gabriel, who is out for eight weeks with an ankle problem, means Wenger is determined to sign a high-profile centre-back before the end of the transfer window.

Arsenal mocked on Twitter after player of the year Riyad Mahrez signs new deal with Leicester city


Arsenal Football club have been panned mercilessly on Twitter after Leicester City’s star player Riyad Mahrez signed a new four year deal with Leicester City.

Rumours were rife that Arsenal was planning to sign Mahrez in a £30m deal giving Arsenal fans hope seeing that they haven’t made any reasonable transfer this summer, only for the Algerian, who is also the PFA player of the year to sign a new deal with the premier league champions- Leicester city last night. Arsenal and other football fans took to twitter to mock the club.





Why I named my dog after Buhari – Chinakwe


Detained trader, Joe Fortemose ‎Chinakwe has explained why he named his pet dog ‘Buhari’.

He explained that he had been an ardent supporter of the President and saw nothing wrong with his action.

The 30-year-old trader has since been released after three days in the police cell following the intervention of both the Serkin Hausa and President-General of non-indigenes in the state.

The complaint has also withdrawn the case against the accused after both parties signed undertaking not to cause any breach of peace again.

Speaking to Vanguard after this release, the trader, a father of two from the Niger Delta, who trades on second hand clothing lamented that he was made to suffer for no just cause.

Chinakwe said “It is annoying because the complainant is from Niger Republic and I am sure he is one of those illegal aliens in this country. He connived with one Police Sergeant from the Northern part of Nigeria called Musa, who works at Sango Police division to humiliate me. Worse still, the Divisional Police Officer there, did not help matters as he refused to entertain any plea from me after I was arrested that Saturday night. He simply ordered his men to throw me into the cell.”

On why he named his pet dog Buhari, he said “I did not commit any offence. I named my beloved pet dog Buhari, who is my hero. My admiration for Buhari started far back when he was a military Head of State.

“It continued till date that he is a civilian President. After reading his dogged fight against corruption, which is like a canker worm eating into the very existence of this country, I solely decided to rename my beloved dog which I called Buhari, after him. I did not know that I was committing an offence for admiring Buhari.

“I was intimidated and thrown inside the cell with hardened criminals for about three days. While I was there, the complainant from Niger Republic and Sergeant Musa from the North kept on taunting me saying people from my part of the country are trouble makers and that after detaining me, they will throw me into prison where I will die unsung.

”Even when my wife came with our baby on her back, they stopped her from giving me food. One of my friends that came to see me was also maltreated. “While taking me to Eleweran the next day, they handcuffed and chained me together with that my friend.

“Fortunately, when we got to police headquarters, both the Commissioner of Police and other officers were angry with their colleagues at Sango-Ota.

”They were wondering loudly why I was brought to the headquarters over such a minor case.

“It’s very unfortunate that I have to be so humiliated in my own country because of the antics of a foreigner in connivance with my brother from the North.”




[Photos] 31 year old Chinese man can’t stop drinking detergent liquid


31 year old Chinese man, Zhang Yue has been stuck with a bizarre addiction, he can’t stop drinking liquid detergent. Originally from southwest China’s Chongqing city, Zhang said his addiction started in 2012. He said what initially began with a few sips later turned into an uncontrollable appetite for anything from dishwashing liquids to shampoos.

Zhang’s obsession with consuming detergents has gained him an unusual fame but that has come with a cost. His habit, he said, has turned away women, making his love life unstable.

Amazingly, medical checks on him has shown that he is healthy despite all the detergents he has consumed. Doctors say he could have a condition called pica, an eating disorder that is characterized by the desire to eat items with little or no nutritional value, including stones, sand, paint, and in this case, detergent.

However, the disorder is rarely seen in adult men, and mostly affects children and pregnant women. Although hormonal changes and deficiencies are commonly attributed to explain the cravings, there has been no conclusive evidence to prove this.


Assassins kill couple, abduct three children


There was pandemonium in Okwelle community, in the Onuimo Local Government Area of Imo State after a couple was murdered by some suspected assassins.

It was learnt that the assailants had stormed the couple’s house on Saturday evening wielding cutlasses and other weapons.

They were said to have taken turns to rape the woman in the presence of her husband and their children, after which the couple were hacked to death.

It was learnt that the assailants subsequently fled with the deceased’s three children.

The Imo State Police Command, which confirmed the incident, said the cause of the attack had yet to be ascertained, He added that some arrests had been made in connection with the killings.

However, a resident of the community, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the husband had a serious disagreement with a woman lately.

He said, “I got to know about the incident from a friend, who is a neighbour of the couple. I learnt the husband had a quarrel with a woman who followed the assassins to deal with the family. His wife was raped and given matchete cut and the killers went with their three children. The woman has been arrested.”

The Imo State Police Public Relations, DSP Andrew Enwerrem, said the police were making efforts to arrest the killers and to rescue the abducted children safely.

He said, “The couple were murdered and their three children were taken away and the police have made arrests of about three suspects, who are undergoing investigation. The children have not been recovered. I don’t have the names of the couple with me now.”


Dead child belongs to my mentally ill daughter – Woman explains


The Lagos State Police Command has released an old woman, Kuburat Ayinde, who was caught with a dead baby.

Ayinde, suspected to be a ritualist was on Monday apprehended by an angry mob with a dead baby alleged to have been kidnapped in Oshodi area of the state.

The aggrieved mob had tortured the old woman and made her to walk around with the dead baby strapped to her back.

Ayinde, who was reported to have confessed to kidnapping the baby alive, however, did not disclose how the baby died.

But confessing to the police, after she was rescued, the old woman said the dead baby was her grandchild whom she was rushing to the hospital to get medical care.

Reacting to the development, the Commands spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, said the police detained the old woman, after disclosing that the deceased baby belonged to her daughter who is mentally ill.

Explaining further, Badmos said Ayinde’s claims were later verified by the said daughter and other family members who showed up at the station.



Wife of Babcock University staff commits suicide in Ogun

One Mrs. Omolola Atejioye, 35, Tuesday evening committed suicide inside her apartment located along Ago-Iwoye road, Ilishan-Remo, in Ikenne Local Government Area of the State.

Ogun acting Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said her remains has been deposited at Babcock University morgue, where her husband works.

He said, “A member of staff of the Babcock University reported to our men in Ilisan-Remo, that he returned from work around 5.30pm, and met the body of his wife dangling from the ceiling of their apartment, after the door was forced open.

“The policemen later brought the body down and it had been deposited in the mortuary of the Babcock University in the same town. The deceased did not leave any suicide note.

“A post mortem would be carried out on the corpse.”

BOOK REVIEW: Mavi S. Isibor’s The Art of Refinement


By Olalekan Adigun

I commend the writer and publisher of this wonderful book, The Art of Refinement, for their acute understanding of times and seasons. Asides the book being the first I have ever read on the question of manners, public poises and etiquettes, written by a Nigerian and by extension, an African, it has my endorsement – it is well-written.

More than ever before, the country needs people with good manners, young men of valour and poise, women of virtue and confidence, to populate our public space and entrench decorum in everything we say and do.

With indecorous acts such as fighting in public, littering the environment, and employing irreverent ways and mannerisms as tools for expression, taking their toll on several spheres of the society, including the National Assembly, the book could not have been written at a better time than now.

Essentially, it addresses the dearth of matters concerning etiquette, noticeable among Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike. The call for values and decorum clarification, especially in our political and corporate circles have largely gone unheeded, hence Mavi Isibor’s book provides the economic importance and benefits of having refined minds to promote the country’s brand.

The Art of Refinement is beautifully divided into six parts each addressing its own unique theme.

Part one deals with the essential topic of the book, Refinement. The author does her best to define refinement and the value of a refined person. She posits that a refined person is conscious of boundaries, that is, they know what to do and when to do them per time.

They do not settle for less. They always strive for excellence.

The “Ko Mean” (it doesn’t matter) syndrome which makes people just accept anything in the name of “managing” is defined by the author as “an attitude of complete and absolute disregard for excellence.

Whenever you accept a bad job from the mechanic and excuse his ignorance, you accept that it is okay to be ill-treated. (p. 25)

Part two deals with adjustments we must make to become really refined personalities. It is no surprise that this part is the longest section because it contains practical tips and steps we need to take deliberately to become truly refined personalities. Our attitudes, actions, attentions, relationships (with same or opposite sex; in office or social gatherings); in public or private and the likes are addressed in this section.

Mavi cites examples like peeing and fighting in public; which cannot be classified as civilized actions. She also maintains that fighting in public is not only demeaning, but a show of disrespect for oneself. She says: “The truth is that a show of physical strength in public is a gross display of lack of decorum, self-dignity and self-discipline; not to mention the fact that it is outright dangerous. Fighting in public is a complete no!”

She continues: “Nobody, including your wife for whom you are fighting respects anyone who leaves his dignity shredded on the ground. You lose respect from everyone, most especially from people who do not know why you went into a fight in the first place.” (p. 75)

Part three deals with our speech, communication, and the way we relate with people through words. The author advises us to maintain decorum in speech always. She insists on us putting our brain to work before putting our mouths into gear. Decorum in speaking can save us most of the time, just like the opposite is also true. As the author writes: “Our words reveal our refinement; they reveal the quality of our upbringing, the environment we grew up in, the type of school we attended and the quality of our education, the company we have kept and our values.” (p. 161)

The book also advises us to always avoid “toxic communication” or speaking when we are angry. It covers tactful ways of conversing with others without bringing up offences in them. The courtesy of official and casual conversations are addressed in this section.

Part four focuses on speech delivery and conversations. Your means or manner of communication shows how much class you have. Learning a language is important, but if we must speak in that language we must learn the correct pronunciations, not just the grammar, so as not to be misunderstood.

In part five, Mavi addresses the question of appearance as a determinant of a person’s character and personality. This section contains advice on how to dress for different occasions. What to wear; how to wear what you wear and several of such questions are answered in this section.

The book covers social gathering and the rules that govern it in part six. A well-planned event can be marred by a poorly chosen master of ceremonies (MC), Mavi says. It can be embarrassing if one does not know how to hold the fork and knife or how to put down the cutleries to show that one is no longer eating or flagging the stewards to collect the plates. It also contains general rules governing protocols for public events, not just at social gatherings.

The Art of Refinement will serve as a great companion to you. It will also be a treasured companion to a business owner in relating with his/her employees or anyone who places premium value on decorum and etiquettes. Politicians and all those in public office are not left out.

Everyone who values personal branding should get a copy of this book. It is a stepping stone to personal achievement and greatness.


Kaka: AC Milan will return to the top of world football


The Brazilian star won the Ballon d’Or during his stint at San Siro but says the club have to go step by step back to the summit – just like Juventus once did.

It has been a difficult period for AC Milan but club icon Kaka is confident the struggling Italian giants will return to the top of world football.

Kaka enjoyed his best football in Milan, leading the way as the club won Serie A, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup glory in his first spell at San Siro from 2003 to 2009.

The World Cup winner – who returned to Milan in 2013-14 after a four-year stint with Real Madrid – also claimed the 2007 Ballon d’Or thanks to his exploits with the 18-time Italian champions.

However, Milan have declined badly since winning the Scudetto in 2011, having gone from runners-up in 2012, to third, eighth, 10th and seventh last season.

It is a situation that hurts Kaka but the 34-year-old – now captain of MLS outfit Orlando City – has backed Milan to work their way back into contention under Vincenzo Montella.

“I had very good moments there, I saw Milan at the top of the world, and to see the team like this now, it’s sad,” Kaka told Omnisport.

“They’re still a big club with a great history. Of course the history doesn’t go on the field but when you have history like this, it is just a period, so they can come back and be the best in the world.

“I think in a few years we will see Milan fighting for the Champions League again and winning Serie A. I’m sure Milan can do this again.”

Kaka played his second spell at Milan under Clarence Seedorf, but turmoil has never been far away in the intervening period, with Filippo Inzaghi, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Cristian Brocchi all taking the reins since.

With reported long-term coaching target Montella now in place, as well as potential investment from a Chinese consortium, Kaka believes it could be a winning combination.

“I think he [Montella] is the man. It’s not easy. I don’t know how the Chinese will handle it but I think they will make some changes,” Kaka continued. “I hope these changes will take Milan to the top again.”

Montella arrived in Milan after a forgettable 2015-16 season, which saw the club finish seventh, ending the campaign 34 points adrift of five-time defending champions Juventus.

And if Milan want to return to the summit of Italian and world football, Kaka believes his former team must take a leaf out of Juve’s book.

The Turin powerhouse bounced back from second-tier football in 2007, rebuilding from the ground up to eventually dominate Serie A.

“In my opinion, Milan have to understand that in this moment they have to go step by step,” he added as Milan prepare to open their league campaign at home to Torino on Sunday.

“The first step will be qualifying for Europe again and playing Europa League and Champions League, because the favourites again are Juventus. They are doing very well and have a very good team.

We saw Juve playing Serie B a few years ago and they took advantage of that to build the team again and build a new stadium. After that, they made the Champions League final and they have continued to win Serie A. It’s a good example for Italian teams to follow.”



Pogba NOT as good as John Obi Mikel – Parker


The former Manchester United defender believes the France international is not on the same level as the Chelsea man in terms of breaking up play in a holding midfield role.

Ex-Manchester United defender Paul Parker has questioned where Paul Pogba will fit in at Old Trafford, arguing John Obi Mikel is a better holding midfielder than the France star.

Pogba recently became the world’s most expensive player when moving to United from Serie A champions Juventus for £93.8m on a five-year deal.

The 23-year-old is set to make his first appearance for United since leaving them in 2012 against Southampton in the Premier League on Friday, but it remains to be seen which position he will operate in.

Pogba was used as an anchoring midfielder for France at Euro 2016 but Parker does not believe he is good enough in the role.

“Can he be as good as Roy Keane or Bryan Robson? I wonder about him playing that midfield role,” said Parker, speaking exclusively to 888Sport.

“I worry about him making tackles and getting across to close players down because he is rangy. He doesn’t have quick feet and his game is about going to ground. That’s going to be a problem.

“In a holding position it would be a waste because he’s not a Makelele or even a John Obi Mikel because one thing Mikel can do is close people down. Pogba can get forward, and score goals, and pass the ball but in a high-tempo game he won’t be very good in a deep role.

“We saw that in the Euros where he looked lost for long periods of games when France didn’t have the ball. So when United don’t have the ball what’s he going to be like? Fellaini can’t do that either. Or Rooney. They can’t get around. Behind Ibrahimovic and Martial there will be changes because there is no way that midfield can last.”

Parker, who won two league titles with United, also reckons the club are “embarrassed” to have spent so much to land Pogba.

He added: “If United had signed Messi for a hundred million not many would have complained. The same with Ronaldo who scores goals and has a presence that scares teams.

“With Pogba you do wonder when you look at his style of play for Juventus can he play that way for Manchester United? Where is he going to play? It would be a waste if it’s in a holding role. If he plays behind Ibrahimovic that puts Wayne Rooney in doubt and Rooney has to play – not that he deserves a place but they have to play him. So it’s a difficult situation.

“I think United in certain quarters are quite embarrassed by how much they’ve had to pay for him but did he do enough in his three seasons at Juventus to warrant that fee? The answer is no, not at all and you have to wonder why Real Madrid disappeared very quickly. They don’t get out-bid.”



Madonna celebrates 58th birthday


Madonna celebrated her 58th birthday Tuesday in Havana, dancing to Cuban beats during a night on the town and drawing crowds as she toured the city.

The Material Girl’s visit got a write-up in the Cuban Communist party’s official newspaper, Granma, which reported that she “toured different city squares to start the first day of her visit, which will last until Wednesday.”

It said the US pop superstar was in Cuba with her eldest daughter, Lourdes, a 19-year-old model whose father is Cuban dancer and fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

American photographer Steven Klein and stylists B. Akerlund and Andy Lecompte are travelling with them, it said.

Madonna posted a picture of herself to her Twitter account with the caption “Cuba Libre.” It shows her wearing a revealing black dress with yellow flowers and smiling as she tips a black hat.

Videos posted online by fans show her dressed in the same outfit strolling through the streets of Old Havana and dancing to Cuban beats at a restaurant in the historic city center as onlookers cheer.

The news site Cubadebate said Madonna was planning a “big party” Tuesday with the “rhythms and flavors” of Cuba.

Madonna is the latest in a string of US celebrities to visit Cuba since its historic rapprochement with long-time enemy the United States was announced in December 2014.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Kanye West, Usher, Paris Hilton, and Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian have all toured the Caribbean island recently.

US citizens are still officially banned from travelling to Cuba as tourists under the embargo Washington has maintained on Havana since the 1960s.

But President Barack Obama’s administration has loosened travel restrictions, enabling more Americans to make the trip under permitted categories such as “cultural exchanges.”



Justin Bieber deletes Instagram account


In the 1970s, an angry, maligned rock star would throw his television out of his hotel window, but Justin Bieber has gone for the millennial-style nuclear option — deleting his Instagram account.

The baby-faced Canadian musician, 22, committed online hara-kiri after becoming upset by a barrage of negative comments about his new friendship with Sofia Richie.

The pair have been pictured stepping out together several times in recent weeks, amid a frenzy of rumors linking them romantically.

Reacting to insults posted by fans alongside pictures of the 17-year-old model — singer Lionel Richie’s daughter — Bieber told his 77 million followers: “I’m gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don’t stop the hate.

“This is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn’t be so mean to people that I like.”

But the millionaire singer appears to have gone a step further, as clicking on links to his Instagram page now yields an error message.

Fellow singer Selena Gomez, Bieber’s former girlfriend, took the opportunity to twist the knife before the account was deleted.

“If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol — it should be special between you two only,” the 24-year-old posted.

“Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you. They were there for you before anyone.”

“It’s funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love,” Bieber countered.

“Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times, are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive, no wonder fans are mad. Sad. All love,” Gomez retaliated.

Bieber is the latest in a series of celebrities dealing with abuse on social media by closing their accounts.

Actress and comedian Leslie Jones quit Twitter temporarily in June — devastated by a torrent of racist and sexist abuse aimed at her by trolls.

Bieber recently shut his Snapchat account too, and announced in May that he would no longer be taking pictures with fans in public.

“It has gotten to the point that people won’t even say hi to me or recognize me as a human,” he wrote on Instagram.

“I feel like a zoo animal, and I wanna be able to keep my sanity.”

Bieber and Gomez dated for almost two years from January 2011, but spilt up citing busy schedules.

Some fans interpreted “Sorry,” from Bieber’s album “Purpose,” which came out in November last year, as a message from the former child star to Gomez.

Bieber has had a string of legal run-ins for incidents including throwing eggs at a neighbor’s house, driving under the influence of alcohol without a license and allegedly assaulting a photographer.



Johnny Depp, Amber Heard end 18-month marriage


Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have reached an out-of-court settlement to end their 18-month marriage, they said Tuesday, after the actress withdrew allegations that her husband physically abused her.

Heard filed papers to withdraw her claims of abuse, dropping an application to extend a restraining order against the Oscar-nominated actor, Los Angeles Superior Court said in a statement.

“Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love,” Depp and Heard said in a statement.

“Neither party has made false accusations for financial gains. There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future.”

The statement said Heard would be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity.

The two have agreed that Depp will pay Heard $7 million, according to entertainment news website TMZ.

The announcement comes a day before the pair were due in court to discuss extending Depp’s restraining order. It brings to an end an acrimonious and bitter three months of accusations and counterclaims.

Heard dismissed the case with prejudice, according to TMZ, which means she cannot refile it.

The 30-year-old initially filed for divorce from Depp, 53, in May and subsequently obtained a restraining order that requires the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star to stay away from her.

She made a police statement accusing Depp of domestic violence, saying she had endured “years of physical and psychological” abuse.

She subsequently appeared in court with a black eye that she said was the result of Depp hurling a cell phone at her face.

The former couple met on the set of the 2011 film “The Rum Diary,” when the actor was still in a relationship with French actress Vanessa Paradis, mother of his son Jack and daughter Lily-Rose.

They married in February last year.

“God will fight my fight for me’- laments Nigerian player pained after he’s thrown out of Rio Olympics hotel

Two out of Nigeria’s footballers sent back to Nigeria from Rio de Janeiro after they were told by Nigerian Football officials that their feeding and living expenses can no longer be catered, has lamented how they were thrown out of the team’s hotel and had to spend their own money to pay for the two nights they spent in Brazil before coming back to Nigeria.

The Nigerian Football Federation ordered two alternate players Stanley Dimgba and Yusuf Mohammed as well as several unnecessary officials to head back to Nigeria as they could no longer be catered for, and one of the players who prefers to remain anonymous has now cried out.

“God will fight my fight for me. It was heart-breaking when we were told to quit the team’s hotel in Sao Paulo,” said the player to AfricanFootball.

“When we returned to Sao Paulo (from Salvador) they gave rooms to only the 18 players registered for the competition and even some team officials did not get hotel rooms too. For the two extra nights we spent in Brazil, we had to pay with our own money for our hotel and feeding. That is life for you.”

A top NFF Official speaking to The cable said,

“Yes, it is true that the curator, media officer as well as the two alternative players have been asked to go back to Nigeria. The ministry can only take care of 18 players and seven officials. The ministry cannot afford to be paying for extra rooms, feeding, allowances out of the 25 people that are supposed to make up the team to the Olympics. The aforementioned people have already left the team’s hotel and are no longer with us.”




Annular eclipse to occur all over Nigeria on September 1st

An annular eclipse will occur in all parts of the country with different degrees of totality on Thursday September 1st . This is according to a statement released by the Head, Media and Corporate Communications of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Felix Ale yesterday August 16th.

An annular eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon is smaller than that of the sun, hence, the sun appears as a very bright ring or annulus surrounding the dark disk of the moon.

According to the statement, the highest degree of obscurity in Nigeria during the annular eclipse would be in the Southern part of Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, where it was expected to have 80 per cent obscurity, while the lowest degree of obscurity would be about 45 per cent and this would be observed in the Northern part of the country, particularly in Sokoto. in Abuja, the annular eclipse will be observed at about 60%.

The eclipse is expected to occur between 7.15 a.m. and 10.03 a.m, with slight variations in actual timing across the country. In Lagos, the first contact will occur at about 7.15 a.m, while the maximum eclipse will occur around 8.30 a.m. and will end by10.03 a.m.

The eclipse is expected to commence in Abuja around 7.17 a.m, with maximum eclipse to be recorded at about 8.32 a.m. and the eclipse will end around 10.00 a.m. The statement warns that the eclipse is not a spiritual issue but a natural occurrence that can be accurately predicted by science. It warned that nobody should observe eclipse with naked eyes as such act can lead to permanent damage to the eyes.

The Space agency appealed to the general public not to panic or attach any mystical interpretations to this event





Charlyboy says being gay is not evil


Controversial Nigerian entertainer, Charles Chukwuemeka Oputa, popularly called Charlyboy, has revealed his stance on why being gay is not evil.

The Area Fada had been in the news over his alleged kissing eccentric presenter, Denrele Edun.

He has again taken to the social media to scrutinize public opinions about the lingering question of his sexuality despite being married with children and grandchildren.

He wrote, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2

“The Nigerian social media highway is most times polluted by silly, rude, reckless, stupid, careless judgmental comments, this reminds me of the drivers I see on our roads.

“Check out comments on some blogs, even on my facebook page, some comments are obviously ignorant, stupid or down-right off the hook in relationship to the issue.

“Some of our social media junkies have an opinion as if anybody sends them and a lot of times it is so crazily judgmental.

“I consider myself a liberal minded fella. I try never to judge, even though total strangers have been ignorantly unkind and judgmental about my treasured brand, Charlyboy.

“I have walked my journey guided by the philosophy, “live and let live”.

“Recently, there was this trending story of an American who married his Nigerian gay partner, David Shoen-Ukre, in New York on July 30, who accused Nigerian bloggers, of causing the couple harm by publishing their stories without permission.

“The rain of curses, and the terrible judgmental comments that ensued after the story broke, was incredible.

“Many concluded that the couples were evil, I have never seen hate and ignorance come so alive in words.

“I cannot speak louder than the stupidity of other people who will disagree with me on this.

“NO, being gay is not evil.

“A man marrying a man maybe a hard pill for a lot of us to digest, but the world has changed even since I took a dump this morning.

“Don’t judge others simply because they sin differently than you. Every aspect of humans are diverse. Skin color, tribal marks/culture, height/weight, religious beliefs/tastes, everyone thinks differently and are different.

“Speak evil of no one, avoid quarreling, be gentle, and show perfect courtesy towards all people.

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Speaking further, the Social Engineer cum showbiz impresario concluded as he said: “Let’s make sure our comments are germane to the topic.

“I have always said that people’s sexual preferences are their cup of tea. Even though many will swear that I am gay too.

“I however must confess that I have a few close associates, casual friends who are Gay, and I truly don’t mind their company or friendship.

“In fact I have found the few of them, with very warm hearts, and fantastic soul.

“And for those who would want to come and quote bible for me, this is a piece from the same Holy book. Titus 3:2-7

“Let’s be concise in our comments, demonstrating respect for people and ideas whether we agree or disagree with them and limit ourselves to decency.

“Make we no they show how small our mind dey.

“We see what we see from where we stand, what is evil to me, are the men in Agbada/Uniform who sold our country, our future and rendered most of us hopeless, future-less, obnoxiously poor in a land filled with plenty.

“They are the VERY EVIL ONE’s, and we are feeling the effect of their EVIL.”




SunTrust Bank will finance SMEs to stimulate economy – CEO


The Chief Executive Officer of SunTrust Bank, Muhammed Jubrin, has said the bank will focus on the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises by providing financing for them to enable them to play their roles in the economy.

Jubrin was quoted in a statement to have said this at the official opening of the bank to the public in Lagos.

He said, “In line with our strategy, we are going to drive SMEs transactions certainly and part of our strategy is retail banking; we want to create a retail bank of choice and certainly, SMEs are the engine room for the growth of any economy.

“And to provide financing services to support the SMEs will be the only way we can support the growth of the economy and particularly in line with the vision of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the current administration.”

He noted that over 90 per cent of banking transaction were being transacted electronically worldwide.

Jubrin said, “Banking is no longer where you go to; the only financial institution that can stand in the future is no longer those with physical branches but only by banking services that will be driven by technology and, therefore, most customers oftomorrow will no longer be interested in going to the banking halls.

“We are a financial technology bank that will bring banking to your home rather than make you come to us. We will be everywhere but we will be nowhere. We will have the minimum branches required to operate as a bank but we will drive financial services through technology.”

The SunTrust Bank’s CEO said the bank would offer telephone, mobile and Internet banking underpinned by the traditional banking ethics of probity and integrity.

He said, “The bank’s competitive edge will be the strong reliance on technology and the bank will be encouraging customers to access its services from the comfort of their homes and offices and as such the bank will not be engaging in a proliferation of branches.




FG needs $7bn to kick-start mines, steel industry


The Federal Government is seeking investments worth $7bn in mining and steel over the next decade as it targets the development of gold and iron ore extraction industries to diversify the nation’s oil-dependent economy.

One of the government’s priorities is to meet the annual steel demand of 6.8 million metric tonnes, from a current output of a third of that, produced mainly from scrap iron, according to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

“About $5bn will kick-start the mining sector. In two to five years, we want to have started production of iron ore, lead, zinc, bitumen, nickel, coal and gold at a serious scale,” Bloomberg quoted Fayemi as saying. “Companies considering investments in Nigeria’s mining industry include Lagos-based Multiverse Mining & Exploration Plc and Kogi Iron Limited, based in West Perth, Australia,” he said.

Boosting mining output, along with developing agriculture and infrastructure, is part of plans to broaden the economy, which is Africa’s second-largest oil producer. Crude accounts for around 70 per cent of the country’s revenue and 13 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, according to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.

Global oil prices, which fell from over $100 a barrel of Brent crude in 2014 to under $50 a barrel currently, and reduced output due to militants’ attacks on pipelines in the Niger Delta region, have squeezed state finances and caused a chronic dollar shortage.

Fayemi will this month present a mining plan to President Muhammadu Buhari and later a bill proposing the creation of a regulator for the sector.

“Currently, the ministry does everything: licensing, monitoring, inspection, and it shouldn’t be like that,” Fayemi said.

Prospective investors had expressed concern about an uncertain regulatory environment, he said.

An autonomous agency would be better positioned to focus on performance and efficiency of the sector, according to the minister.

Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris spotted making out with boyfriend


Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris and her rocker boyfriend were photographed making out in public. They have been dating for almost a year now.




Chinese diver He Zi gets engaged after winning silver medal at the Olympics [Photo]


Chinese Olympian He Zi who won silver in the Diving race at the ongoing Olympics, got a diamond ring from her longtime boyfriend, Qin Kai, moments after she received her silver medal at the award podium. No sooner had Zi stepped down from the podium, Qin got down on one knee to pop the question in front of the crowd and global TV. Luckily, He Zi said yes and hearts melted throughout the grandstand.

Qin held up a small red box with a ring, slipped the ring on He’s finger and handed her a rose contained in a glass case. “I didn’t know he would propose today and I didn’t expect to marry myself off so early. I’ve forgotten most of what he said [during the proposal], but it was largely what you might have expected, like promises, but what touched me the most was that he said he was willing to be ‘bullied’ by me for life.”

Zi told newsmen afterwards He Zi has been dating the 30-year-old Qin for the past six years. The couple received a big cheer from the crowd as they left the pool. Athletes from other countries came forward to Zi to congratulate her and admire the ring



Justin Bieber claps back at Selena Gomez for getting involved in his relationship


After Justin Bieber threatened to make his Instagram account private because of the hateful comments towards his new girlfriend, Sophie Richie, his ex-girlfriend, singer Selena Gomez got involved in his business and he clapped back at her.



Singer/Jehovah witness Marques Houston shares photos from his baptism


Former Immature/IMX singer Marques Houston, who converted to Jehovah’s Witness and now goes door-to-door preaching to folks and giving out pamphlets, had his first baptism over the weekend. He described it as a life changer.


Halle Berry welcomes age 50 with open arms


She shared this lovely photo and wrote “With open arms, I welcome 50. I’m so blessed to be here. Beautiful woman!”



[Photo] Kevin Hart’s ex-wife Torrei congratulates him & his new wife


Comedian/actor Kevin Hart wed his fiance Eniko Parrish in the upscale community of Montecito, California, over the weekend and his ex wife Torrei Hart, whom he was married from 2003–2011, congratulated them both via her Instagram page. Now that there’s a new Mrs Hart, will Torrei still keep Kevin’s last name?

Catholic priest sacked for secretly marrying two wives in Kaduna


A Catholic Priest, Very Reverend Father Peter Zuni, 54, of the Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, Kakuri parish, Kaduna State, has been sacked for allegedly marrying two women.

One of the wives is deceased, while the surviving one decided to open up on the long-kept secret about 3 weeks ago.

The Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Bishop Ndagoso Manoso, confirmed the report to Sunday Sun.

Bishop Manoso, who said Father Zuni actually committed the sin, dissclosed that the woman at the centre of the controversy confronted him with a baby said to belong to Father Zuni, and that after due investigation by his office, it was confirmed that the priest was her secret husband.

Bishop Manoso said, “It is true that he had affairs with two women and they both had children for him, but one of the women is late already. We are not God, we did not know on time until now that he was having affairs with two women.

“The church said the priest has to go because the church doesn’t allow priests to marry. So he had to go and look after his children and his matrimonial home. By December he will be 30 years in the priesthood, and he is now 54 years old, so at this age what can he do with his life?

“Nobody can employ him now. He spent seven years in the seminary and 30 years in the priesthood, and that is 37 years, so what can he do with his life at 54? The church too is going through a lot of trauma, so we need everybody’s prayers for us to put this incident behind us.”



Police arrest two friends for killing Okada rider in Ondo


The Ondo State Police Command has arrested two friends who allegedly killed a commercial motorcyclist, identified as Thomas Amusan on Ile-Oluji/Ipetu Ijesa Expressway in Ile-Oluji Oke Igbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Mr. Femi Joseph, the suspects are: Rilwan Rasheed and Sheu Akande.

The incident occurred on August 8, 2016.

The PPRO who spoke to DAILY POST on Sunday said the suspects asked the commercial motorcyclist to take them to one of the villages in the area but later killed the deceased on the way and took away his motorcycle.

He said, “They asked the deceased to take them to a nearby village; on getting to a junction, they asked the man to stop and as they were trying to snatch the motorcycle from him, he resisted so they had to start matcheting him till he died”.

“After they have succeeded in killing him, they dumped his lifeless body in the bush and took the motorcycle away.”

He added that when the men of the command got the information about the incident, they swung into action and through an intelligent move, the suspects were apprehended.

Joseph saaid the suspects would soon be charged to court.

Similarly, the police spokesman said the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the command had arrested two suspected cultists, identified as Wale Olakole and Gbenga Francis at Iyere in Owo Local Government.

He explained that Olakole was the leader of Ave Confraternity.

Joseph said the suspects had confessed to the crime and they would be made to face the wrath of the law.

Some of the items found on the suspects, according to the PPRO included: two locally-made pistols, cutlass, charms and some other dangerous weapons.




Lagos seals hotel in Ikorodu for being used by criminals


The Lagos State Government on Sunday said it had sealed off the Western Lodge Hotel, located on Isawo Road, in Ikorodu area of the state, over alleged illegal and criminal activities.


This is contained in a statement issued by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde.

According to Ayorinde, recent security investigations in the Ikorodu area of the state have revealed that the hotel has been associated with criminal activities.

He said that the state government had decided to seal it until further notice.

The commissioner said that government would immediately reinforce the presence of security agents in and around Ikorodu to further reassure residents of the determination of the government to safeguard lives and property in the area.

Ayorinde urged members of the public not to allow any building to be used to harbour criminals or serve as a base for criminal activities.

“The State Government warns that it will not hesitate to prosecute and confiscate any building found to have been used or is being used to aid criminal activities.’’

According to him, the government advised that the general public should be extra vigilant and report any suspicious activity in their immediate environment to the Police or any of the security services within the state.

He reassured the general public that the lives and property of well-meaning and peace-loving residents remained government priority. (NAN)




3 Nigerians fraudulently obtained $650,000 from victims’ credit cards in US


United States, US, financial crimes investigators have reportedly nabbed three Nigerians – Shalewa Olayinka, 53, Christy Tifase and Maxwell Ezenwa for their alleged connection in a large-scale credit card scheme that allegedly used two Southwest Houston businesses to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Daily mail is reporting that Olayinka had applied for 116 credit cards which he subsequently obtained from eight different financial institutions in 12 other people’s names.

He allegedly applies for the credit card using a victim’s information and then steals the card out of his or her mailbox when the card arrives.

According to investigators, the 53-year-old had a square card reader attached to his cell phone under the business name “Sleek Auto Sales” and would run the fraudulent credit cards in his southwest Houston apartment. The money was then deposited into his bank account.

The two other suspects, said to be his accomplices, run a cartel which operates within the US and have allegedly stolen more than $650,000.

Olayinka reportedly conspired with the two local business owners, Ezenwa, who owns Lace Warehouse and African Fashions on Bissonnet and Tifase who owns Lagos Island Café on Highway 6 South, a west African food restaurant.

The cartel is accused of also running the credit cards for payments at their businesses.

Investigators also revealed that the trio will be facing a charge of engaging in organized criminal activity, felony.




“When my dad was leaving, he made it clear if I go with my mum I was gonna suffer” – rapper Yung6ix


Turns out he was wrong! According to Nigerian rapper Yung6ix, when he was 17, his dad left his mum and also threatened him, saying that he would suffer if he stays with her. Yung6ix choose his mum and is also making strides in his career.

India, Spain, Netherlands Buy 43 Percent of Nigeria’s Crude Oil – NNPC


India, Spain and The Netherlands have emerged biggest buyers of Nigeria’s crude oil over a 12-month period, from June 2015 to May 2016, according to a document obtained, yesterday, from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

According to the NNPC, Nigeria exported a total of 319.747 million barrels of crude oil to the three countries in the period under review, representing 42.98 per cent of its total crude oil exports of 743.958 million barrels.

Specifically, India imported 157.527 million barrels of crude oil from Nigeria, representing 21.17 per cent of Nigeria’s total crude oil export, while Spain purchased 84.491 million barrels of the country’s crude oil, representing 11.36 per cent of total exports.

The Netherlands followed, accounting for 10.45 per cent of Nigeria’s total crude oil export, with the purchase of 77.729 million barrels of oil.

Despite claims that it had stopped import of crude oil from Nigeria, the NNPC stated that 58.976 million barrels of crude oil was exported to the United States of America, USA, in the 12-month period, representing 7.93 per cent of Nigeria’s total crude oil export in the period under review.

In Africa, Nigeria’s biggest partner in terms of crude oil trade was South Africa, which purchased 46.175 million barrels of crude oil from June 2015 to May 2016, representing 6.21 per cent of Nigeria’s total oil export for the period.

Nigeria’s crude oil export to France in the period under review stood at 51.467 million barrels, representing 6.92 per cent of total crude export for the period, while the United Kingdom accounted for 5.35 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil, as 39.824 million barrels of crude oil was exported to the country.

Brazil, Indonesia and Cote D’Ivoire accounted for 5.l19 per cent, 3.91 per cent and 2.69 per cent of Nigeria’s total crude oil export, with 38.62 million barrels, 29.094 million barrels and 20.036 million barrels respectively.

In its Monthly Financial and Operations Report for June 2016, released a couple of days ago, the NNPC stated that from June 2015 to May 2016, a total volume of 761.38 million barrels of crude oil and condensate was lifted by all parties in the petroleum sector, while it put the value of the transaction within the same period at $3.462 billion.

It said, “Total export crude oil & gas receipt for the period of July 2015 – June 2016 stood at $3.42 billion. Out of which the sum of $3.41 billion was transferred to Joint Venture (JV) Cash Call in line with 2016 Approved Budget and the balance of $0.487 billion was paid to Federation Account.

“However, this amount falls short of the calendarised appropriated amount of $712.46 million. This is due to worsening production and fall in crude oil price.

However, commenting on recent petroleum industry statistics, the NNPC said, “In May, 2016, Crude Oil production in Nigeria plummeted to 1.69 million barrels per day (mb/d) following uptick in pipeline vandalism in the volatile Niger-Delta region.

“Subsisting Force Majeure at Forcados Terminal mean that about 380,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) remains shut-in. Cargoes were deferred until repairs are completed.

“Also, the nation has lost over 1,500 megawatts to the damage at Forcados which accounted for 40-50 percent of gas production. Furthermore, Force Majeure was declared on 10th May, 2016 for repair works on Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) and the resultant shut-in of about 275,000bopd. Other far-reaching incidents include production shut-in at Usan, Que Iboe and Brass Terminals.”


Beyonce walks barefoot to dinner with Jay Z in Italy (photos)


Beyonce walked barefoot as she went to dinner in Capri, Italy with her husband Jay Z.


Jennifer Lopez is pregnant with her 3rd baby at 47


See what Radar Online is claiming…read their report below…

Jennifer Lopez is pregnant at age 47 with boyfriend Casper Smart‘s baby, RadarOnline.com has confirmed, and the couple could not be more thrilled! A family source told Radar that Lopez is three months along – but they are waiting until she starts showing to officially announce the big news!

“Casper told all of his relatives this week and they are all so excited,” the insider said, adding, “They do not know the sex of the baby yet and they are just praying that they will have a healthy child and that there will be no complications.”

“His family really loves Jennifer and they are certain that she is going to make an excellent mother!”

Lopez — who is already a mother to eight-year-old twins with ex Marc Anthony, Max and Emme — briefly split with Smart in 2014. However, the duo remained best friends, which eventually brought them back together!

“Jennifer is so good to Casper and when the two of them are together, she is just an ordinary woman. They really ground each other and are very much in love,” the source told Radar.



Phelps wins 200m individual medley for 22nd gold


Michael Phelps seized another slice of Olympic history Thursday with a dominant victory in the 200m individual medley at the Rio Games, his fourth straight in the event.

Phelps joined discus thrower Al Oerter and Carl Lewis in the long jump as the only Olympians to win the same individual event at four straight Games.

He took his total of Olympic golds to 22 — with a crack at two more in Rio in Friday’s 100m butterfly and the 4×100 medley relay on Saturday.

For fans who tune into swimming only when the Olympics roll around, Phelps’s longtime coach Bob Bowman had a message: Phelps may make it look easy, but it isn’t.“You just have no idea how difficult it is for anybody to win an Olympic gold medal,” Bowman said.

“Michael has done it so frequently it really is hard to put it into perspective because every one of those was hard.

“Look at his numbers compared to everybody else. It’s not because of the talent it’s because of the work. It’s a combination, but work is the thing that did it — particularly this time around.”

At 31, and with a bevy of younger swimmers eager to claim a victory over a hero, Phelps’ prospects in Rio were unclear. Medals certainly, probably at least one gold.

Now he seems capable of sweeping all six of his events.

“I don’t know if I’m in better shape than I was in 2008,” Phelps said of his fitness now compared to the year he won eight gold medals in eight events in Beijing.

He said his 200m medley final, closely followed by a 100m butterfly semi-final in which he secured his spot in the final with the fifth-fastest time “hurt a lot”.

Lurking in second until the end of the breaststroke third leg of the medley he surged home on the closing freestyle lap to win in 1min 54.66sec.

That was almost two seconds in front of silver medallist Kosuke Hagino of Japan, the 400m individual medley champion who powered from fifth at the final wall to touch in 1:56.61.

China’s Wang Shun was third in 1:57.05.

Phelps’ old foe Ryan Lochte led at the halfway point, but the world record-holder in the event couldn’t keep up and finished fifth.

Brazilian contender Thiago Pereira, buoyed by an ecstatic crowd, led after the opening butterfly lap and was equal second at the halfway point, but faded to finish seventh.

The 32-year-old Lochte, who said he would take a break from swimming now as he ponders his future, said he would have liked to have put up more of a challenge.

But he savored what was billed as his final duel with Phelps.

“Going against him is a dream come true,” Lochte said. “He’s one of the best, not swimmer ever, best athlete in the Olympics.”

Solomon Dalung With Aruna Quadri In Brazil (Photo)


Minister of Sports and Youth Development,Solomon Dalung,was pictured with Aruna Quadri in Brazil.Aruna made history by being the first and only African to get to the quarter finals of an Olympic table tennis event.




Fayose respectfully greets Ooni of Ife at Abuja Airport (Photos)


Ekiti state governor Ayo Fayose met the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II at the airport in Abuja yesterday and respectfully greeted the monarch, who is younger in age than himself, by bowing.



I find ‘baby bump’ irritating says Chimamanda


At a time when it has become a trend for celebrities to flaunt their pregnancies online, award-winning writer, Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie, has said that pregnancy is a sacred state that a woman ought to be discreet about.

According to her, this is the reason she did not make it a public matter when she was expecting her child.

In a recent interview with UK’s Channel 4 News, where she spoke about racism in America and the UK, among other matters, Chimamanda said, “I wanted my pregnancy to be something I shared with the people I love, with the people who know me. There is a kind of pregnancy as a trendy thing that I find very uncomfortable with and I deeply dislike expressions like ‘baby bump’.

“I find it very irritating. It was a very deeply introspective time, thinking about (how) my life is going to change forever and the enormousness of bringing a baby into the world. It was a sacred time for me and I wanted to share it with the people I love.”

Such approach to family matters also affects the way she has been keeping her child who, she, for instance, would want to lead an ordinary but meaningful life.

“I don’t want her to think it is normal to have her picture in newspapers, because it is not. Just because your mother happens to write and sometimes have her pictures in the newspapers, doesn’t mean you get to,” Chimamanda adds.

Although Chimamanda has lived in the US where she has phenomenally flourished as a writer, she is one new-generation Nigerian novelist who has not lost a sense of home.

From one book to the other, she edifies the Igbo spirit and seeks to get answers to socio-political questions that Nigeria still battle with.

Based on the stories she passionately tells in her works, such as Half of a Yellow Sun and Amerikana, she seems to have redefined phenomena such as westernisation, colonisation and globalisation – as she has proved that you can be at home even when you live away from home.



MTV Video Music Awards to honour Rihanna


The MTV Video Music Awards will honour pop diva Rihanna with its Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, which recognises an artist’s cultural impact, the network said Thursday.

Rihanna will receive the award and perform at the annual awards extravaganza to take place on August 28 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, MTV said in a statement.

Rihanna, while just 28, has emerged as one of the most successful musicians of her era. She holds the all-time record for sales of digital singles with more than 100 million.

Rihanna has twice won the Video of the Year award at the MTV gala. In 2007, she took the night’s top prize for “Umbrella,” a technologically advanced video in which liquids appear to move in synch with Rihanna, who is covered by silver body paint.

She won again five years later for “We Found Love,” which depicted Rihanna — who was notoriously beaten by then boyfriend Chris Brown — in a turbulent relationship that ranges from playful frolicking to intense fighting.

“We Found Love,” a collaboration with DJ Calvin Harris, was shot in Northern Ireland by Melina Matsoukas who more recently directed Beyonce’s politically charged “Formation.”

Beyonce leads the year’s VMA nominations amid acclaim for “Formation” and other work from “Lemonade,” her intertwined album and film.

Named for late King of Pop Michael Jackson, the Video Vanguard Award recognizes contributions to music and pop culture and is not given every year.

Last year Kanye West received the award and used the occasion to declare, with an unclear level of seriousness, that he will run for US president in 2020.

A similar announcement would seem unlikely from Rihanna, who was born in Barbados.




Armed robbers attack Lagos journalists, kill production manager


Armed robbers have attacked some freelance journalists who were returning from a programme at the Lagos State Televisionstudio, in the Ogba area of Lagos State.

Punch correspondent learnt that the pressmen, who were in two vehicles – a Toyota Camry and a bus– were ambushed by the gunmen in the front of a company on Acme Road, Ogba, around 2am on Sunday.

It was gathered that the journalists – who worked with a popular radio and television presenter, Soji Omotayo, aka Baaroyin – were ordered by the gunmen to come out of the vehicles and prostrate on their faces.

It was learnt that while the robbers operated and shot continuously, one of the journalists, Segun Abayomi, identified as the production manager, was accused by the robbers of standing up and they shot him in the head.

The robbers reportedly collected the money, phones and other valuables of the journalists and beat them up before escaping with the journalists’ Toyota Camry.

It was learnt that Abayomi, a father of three children, was rushed to a hospital where he was confirmed dead.

The other victims were said to have reported the robbery at the Pen Cinema Police Division and the Area G Command, Ogba.

It was gathered that Soji, who was also injured by the robbers, was admitted to the hospital since Sunday and was discharged on Thursday.

The presenter’s elder brother, Dele, told Punch correspondent that the robbers came in a black Toyota Corolla.

He added that the deceased was a hard-working journalist, who had been with Soji for years.

He said, “Soji and his media crew have a programme at LTV 8 which runs from 11.30pm on Saturday to 1am on Sunday. They had just concluded that programme and were returning home. They were around a generator manufacturing company on Acme Road when the robbers waylaid them.

“The hoodlums drove a black Toyota Corolla. They ordered everyone to come out and lie on their faces. It is unfortunate that the robbers killed Abayomi, one of the crew members. In fact, Abayomi was the one who drove the bus, while Soji drove the Toyota Camry.

“They collected their phones and other valuables. It was after the robbers had escaped with the Toyota Camry belonging to Soji, that the crew discovered that the production manager had been shot. There was confusion as they tried to rush him to a hospital.

“The deceased was Soji’s manager. We hope the police will do everything necessary to get these robbers.”

A source close to the crew said Abayomi would be buried on Friday (today) in Ifo, Ogun State.

He said, “Soji was also admitted to the hospital since Sunday. He was discharged on Thursday. The police told us that no arrest has been made, but they assured us that the robbers would be caught. The stolen car has been recovered in the Ilupeju area.

“We are planning to bury Abayomi on Friday in Ifo, Ogun State. My annoyance is that Acme Road is an industrial area, where you expect to find police patrols. But the robbers had a field day and they escaped after killing one of us.

“With the continuous shootings on that morning, you expected the policemen to be alerted and come around. Abayomi’s death is very shocking.”

Punch correspondent gathered that the case might be transferred from the Pen Cinema Police Division to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident.

She added that two suspects had been arrested.

She said, “The case is under investigation. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the robbery. The command is working on the available clues to get to the root of the matter.”



Police parades Rivers university student for kidnapping, robbery


A student of the Rivers ‎State University of Science and Technology is among other forty-one suspects paraded by the state Police Command.

The paraded suspects include alleged perpetrators of heinous crimes in different parts of the state, including kidnapper, armed robbers, car theft, cultism among others.

Some of those paraded confessed to committing the crime.

One of the suspects told DAILY POST that, “I was arrested when I went to deliver the ransom we collected from one customer. I went to give the ransom to the boys that did the job when police came. The person we kidnapped is our tenant. My brother’s tenant. One lady and one Igbo man. We took them to Abia state. But when I went to give them the ransom, they gave me five thousand naira before police now came to arrest us.”

Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Nnamdi Omoni who addressed the media on behalf of the Commissioner of Police said the Police had continued to make gains against criminals in the state.

DSP Omoni‎ said the Command carried out successful operations in Ahaoda-West, Ahaoda-East, Emohua, Degema, Asari-Toru, Gokana, Eleme and other flash points in the state.

The Police spokesman also confirmed the arrest of the kidnappers of a thirteen year-old girl at Oyigbo area of Rivers state.

According to him, “It is with great pleasure that I welcome you this morning to share with you and by extension the general public about the activities of the Command since my assumption of duty of CP Francis M. Odesanya. It would not be out of context for me to say that our efforts in crime fighting in the State are yielding significant results. These can be predicated in our sustained and improved response time to distress calls.

“Given the prevailing circumstance, it has become increasingly necessary to highlight some of the significant breakthroughs the Command has recorded since my assumption of duty.

“The Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit, on the 21st of June, 2016, arrested Chukwuma Ekekenta, Eluwakwe Nwato and two others. They were arrested in connection with the kidnap of one Elizabeth Onyeabor, 13 years old girl who was kidnapped from their home at Egberu Afam community Oyigbo. She has been rescued and has since reunited with her parents.

“Again, men of the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit based on credible intelligence rescued some hostages who were abducted along Elele-Owerri Road, the Police had a fierce gun battle with the hoodlums but overpowered them and rescued the hostages at a forest in Ubima. Weapons recovered from them include,Two AK 47 Riffles, Four Magazines , Sixty Rounds of Ammunition

“The Anti-Kidnapping Unit again on the 6th of August, 2016, rescued one Okechukwu Njoku aged 45 of Road 20 Rumuoahuru, Port Harcourt who was abducted on the 29th of July, 2016. He was rescued at Mercy Land Port Harcourt after a protracted gun battle with the kidnappers, two of the kidnappers were arrested and are helping the Police.

“At Ihugbogo Community, Ahoada East Local Government Area, the Anti-kidnapping Unit arrested one Don Chigbembudu Ewoh ‘m’ a notorious kidnapper/ armed robber who has been terrorizing the Ahoada/Omoku axis.

“The Command’s Anti-Cultism Unit acting on credible intelligence, arrested the following cultists, Promise Nweke, Bobo Prince, Highenss Ogbuchi, Chile Owhor, Wisdom Weche, Glory Nnamdi, Promise Oligwe‎. They belong to Dey-gbam Secret Cult and are responsible for the various cult activities and killings around the Rumuji/ Emohua axis. They have confessed to the crimes and are helping the Police in our Investigation.

“The Anti-Cultism Unit of Command acting on a tip-off also arrested the following persons at Buguma who have been terrorizing the Buguma/Abonnema/Degema axis. They confessed to belong to Ice-Lander Secret Cult. They are: Ibim Michael, Apuo West, Cotterell Adiebia, Tamuno Braide, Ugochukwu OBI,Trinity Gorge, Tonye Karibo, George Goodluck.Investigation is on-going.

“At Eleme, two suspected cultists were arrested, who confessed belonging to and Vikings Secret Cults. They are:Emmanuel Dickson, Uche Nwosu ‘m’ aka Baby

“The arrest of the above listed young men has brought peace to their respective communities as people are now going about their lawful business unmolested.

“On the 21st of May, at 1000hrs, while the Operatives of Anti-Kidnapping Unit were on routine patrol at Ozuzu Etche LGA, one Anayo Nwanyanwu aged 21yrs was caught robbing one Uche , surname not yet known of his QLINK Motorcycle and was immediately arrested. One locally made gun and live cartridge were recovered from him.

“The State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) arrested, Noble Blessing, Owakeme James and Progress Lazarus. They were arrested at Ahoada West. On interrogation they confessed to armed robbery and took the team to Ubio forest where the following items were recovered. One AK 47 Rifle with S/No.6313201D, Magazine with One Round of live Ammunition, One Cut to Size English Double Barrel Gun with S/No. BUL14788, One Locally made Single Barrel Gun, One Cut to Size Pistol like Iron, One Locally made Barrel Gun

“Furthermore the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Command is investigating one Gaage Freedom who with his gang were said to have killed a Police Inspector and collected his riffle at Kpor in Gokana LGA. The riffle was recovered during a raid at K-Dere.”

Banky W shares sweet photo with his parents


The music star ‎shared this photo with his parents as he prepared to leave Washington DC for Atlanta. His parents recently celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary.




UNILAG Students Dress As NURTW Officials To Celebrate Their Costume Day [Photos]


It was all humor and fun as the final year students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) celebrated their costume day. The students from across various departments wore different costumes ranging from National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) uniform to Egyptian apparels.

Costume day celebration is an annual practice among final year students of the institution. People from around the school were at the Department’s premises to watch the event.




Police discover thousands of bullets buried in Anambra community [PHOTOS]


There was shock and panic in Agulu, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State on Tuesday as policemen uncovered a cache of bullets buried underground.

The bullets were buried on a piece of land in the area.

While members of the community denied knowledge of how the bullets got there, the state Commissioner of Police, CP, Sam Okaula, briefing newsmen at the site where the bullets were buried, said several buckets of bullets have been unearthed and that there were still some left which was yet to be brought to the surface.

“The bullets were discovered while the foundation of a building project for a community member was being dug

“Investigations is ongoing to find out the purpose the bullets were acquired, when the bullets were acquired and who bought and buried the bullets.

“A full investigation will be carried out and we will be able to establish the purpose why they have been found in the area,” Okaula added.





15 inmates escape from prison in Enugu


At least 15 inmates have escaped in a jailbreak that occurred at Nsukka Prison in Enugu state.
Quoting a source at the prison, NAN reports the inmates broke their cells and scaled over the perimeter fence late Tuesday.

“The inmates carefully opened their cells and scaled the perimeter fence of the prisons,” the source was reported as saying.
“Before prison officials on night duty knew what was happening, about 15 inmates had escaped.”

Lawrence Okonkwo, controller of prison, confirmed the jailbreak but declined to give the number of inmates that escaped.

“Yes there was a jailbreak last night in Nsukka prison but I am not in a position to say how many prisoners escaped,” he said.

“We are expecting the Enugu state prisons controller, Mr Isaiah Amariri, in Nsukka prison so that we brief him on what happened last night.

“He will be the one to tell the public the number of inmates that escaped, the re-arrested ones and efforts put in place to arrest those still on the run.”

However, unconfirmed reports say that two escapees had been rearrested.

Officials of the Nigeria Prisons Service were seen in parts of Nsukka and its environs on Wednesday searching for fleeing inmates





Lagos prophet who abducted Muslim teenager says he wanted to cast out spell from her


The Lagos State Police Command on Wednesday paraded a prophet who abducted a 16-year-old Muslim girl.

The 26-year-old man, David Ifunaya, a prophet with Immaculate Ministry in Satellite Town confessed to the crime.

According to him, he did it to liberate the victim’s family from a spell.

The state Commissioner of Police, CP, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect before newsmen at the command headquarters, said the suspect abducted the victim for three weeks after the victim told him that her father is a herbalist.

Owoseni said, “Throughout her stay in his place, neither did he nor his victim call her parents, who were searching everywhere for her. She was later traced to the suspect’s home in Satellite area of Lagos, following which her parents reported the case to police,” the CP added.

In his confession, the suspect claimed he did what he did to cast out a spell from the teenager.

Speaking before newsmen, Ifunaya said, “I met the girl earlier this year and ministered to her. I told her that her family was under a spell and later gave her a handbill, which she rejected saying that her aunt would be angry with her for collecting a Christian handbill, since they are Muslims.

“She, however, requested for my number which I gave to her. Since then, she calls me for prayers and counselling. I even prayed for her and she passed her JAMB exams. When she called and told me she was coming to my house without the knowledge of her parents, I refused but later agreed because she kept pleading that she needed spiritual help.

“She also lamented that nothing was going on well for her and her family and attributed it to the spell in her family.

“She said she was convinced I am a man of God because since I prayed for her, things have been going on well with her,” the prophet added.

On her part, the teenager said she was carried away by the accurate prophesy Ifunaya gave concerning her and her family, adding that she was on her way to her uncle’s place on July 31, only to find herself at the prophet’s house where she stayed for eight days.

The unnamed girl said, “While in his house, he introduced me to his pastor as his sister.

“I slept in his bedroom and he never made any advances on me,” she added.

The CP further stated that investigation into the case had begun.




Osun: Alleged female ‘touch and follow’ kidnapper paraded naked


Residents of Ilesha area of Ogun state, on Wednesday, meted jungle justice on an alleged female kidnapper.

Eyewitnesses claim that the lady was attempting to kidnap a 9-year-old girl when she was caught.

They claim the child, who had allegedly been hypnotized, was following her without being aware of where she was being led to, an act they described to newsmen as ‘touch and follow.’

They raised the alarm and an irate mob apprehended the light-skinned lady who was stripped, beaten and paraded stark naked on the street.

In a video clip that has gone viral online, the suspected kidnapper was seen struggling with the mob who tried to strip her naked.

Speaking in Yoruba language, the mob followed the parade, chanting ‘ole’ (thief), ‘your own don finish today’.

She was reportedly led to a police station in the area but as at press time, the Ogun state Police spokesperson had not responded yet to a text message sent for comments.





54 Benue students denounce cultism


No fewer than 54 students from various tertiary institutions in Benue State have denounced cultism.

The students left different cult groups during an interactive session between heads of tertiary institutions in the state and the Coordinator of Campus Cult Eradication Foundation, an NGO.

The students made the decision at a meeting co-sponsored by the police.

Miss Blessing Ibrahim, a student of Benue Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, who renounced her membership at the meeting, told newsmen that she did so owing to the non-beneficial nature of cultism.

The ex-cultists said that they were tired of their association with the groups and willingly denounced their membership.

Speaking during the interactive session, Prof. Mathias Nder, Rector, Katsina-Ala College of Education, Katsina-Ala, said cult activities posed serious security challenges to the institution.

Nder said that most lecturers in the school lived under threats of physical harassment from cult groups who demanded money in exchange for attacks.

“The increased cases of insecurity in the state is as a result of the collapse in the social values of our society today.

“Therefore, we need to include ethics and moral courses in the academic curriculum since the culture of a people is buried in the people’s language”, he stated.

Alex Iwobi shows off his gift from Premier League to mark season of debut (photo)


Arsenal player Alex Iwobi, one of the 67 homegrown players to have made competitive debuts in the premier league last season, posed with a framed version of the gift given to him by the English Premier league to mark his first appearance for Arsenal in Arsenal’s 3-0 win at Swansea City in October of last year.




The Rock calls out his Fast and Furious male co-stars in Instagram post


Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who plays the character of Luke Hobbs in hit franchise, Fast and Furious took to his Instagram page yesterday to call out his male co-stars. He accused them of being unprofessional and ‘candy asses’. While the 44-year-old actor didn’t mention names, the movie has a stellar cast which includes Vin Diesel, Ludacris, Tyrese, Jason Statham and Scott Eastwood. None of the aforementioned has commented on the post but insiders now say that the guys are very annoyed, especially as there’s still a week and a half to go until filming wraps.




Klopp: On our day, no one would like to play Liverpool


The Reds boss has seen enough evidence from his squad to be enthusiastic about 2016-17, and wants his players to surprise themselves and the league in the new season.

The Liverpool manager has just added the word ‘encourage’ to his English vocabulary, but that is not the primary source of his excitement.

The 49-year-old is thoroughly enthused by overseeing his first full campaign at the club, his effervescence activated by what he believes the squad are capable of. “The skills and the character of my players – I really, really like it,” Klopp tells Goal in an exclusive interview as he contemplates the 2016-17 season. “They want to learn, they want to improve, they want to work together, they believe in what we are doing, and I am lucky to have this.”

Since his appointment as commander-in-chief at Anfield on October 8 last year, the German has seen enough evidence to suggest his enthusiasm is not misplaced. There have been occasions where Klopp has stood on the touchline in wonder, watching an unrelenting and uncontainable Liverpool.

Reviewing his opening spell in charge, each month provided a snapshot of how formidable Liverpool could be on their day. Chelsea discovered as much in a 3-1 home defeat at the end of October, before Manchester City were mercilessly mauled 4-1 at the Etihad in November.

The festive period began with the 6-1 scorching of Southampton at St Mary’s in the League Cup, and on Boxing Day, eventual champions Leicester were ousted in a tight test. The turn of the year brought exhilarating late comebacks against Arsenal and Norwich, which fed into Klopp’s “we decide when it’s over” demand. That was followed by the 6-0 Valentine’s Day massacre of Aston Villa, before both Manchester clubs were played off the park at Anfield in March.

The month after, Thomas Tuchel admitted he was at a loss for an explanation when his Borussia Dortmund side – 2-0 up on the night at half-time – exited the Europa League quarter-finals after an unthinkable 4-3 defeat on Merseyside. Everton were embarrassed soon afterwards as Liverpool toyed with them in a 4-0 derby victory; the scoreline flattering the Goodison Park outfit.





Ranieri pens extended Leicester deal


The Italian has signed a new contract with the Foxes ahead of the club’s Premier League defence and Champions League debut

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has signed a new four-year contract, the Premier League champions have confirmed.

Former Chelsea, Valencia and Juventus boss Ranieri, 64, enjoyed the crowning moment of a nomadic career last season when he masterminded Leicester’s improbable title triumph in England’s top flight.

Leicester begin their Premier League defence against newly promoted Hull City on Saturday and the likable Italian has confirmed his intention to stay at the King Power Stadium for the foreseeable future, with the Foxes’ Champions League debut next month a particularly mouth-watering prospect.

“From the moment I talked to the owners about their vision for Leicester City, I knew it was something I wanted to be part of for a long time,” Ranieri told Leicester’s official website after his deal was confirmed on Wednesday:

“The energy that exists at this club – from the owners and the staff, to the players and supporters – is something very special. I am very happy and proud that I will be part of it for years to come.

“Last season, that spirit and our hard work helped us to achieve something magical. If we can continue to work hard, maintain our passion and continue to fight with all our hearts, I am sure we can continue to be successful together.”

Leicester were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United in the Community Shield last Sunday but have largely kept their title-winning squad intact, with N’Golo Kante’s departure to Chelsea the only significant loss to a group bolstered by the signings of Ahmed Musa, Nampalys Mendy, Ron-Robert Zieler, Luis Hernandez and Bartosz Kapustka.

The Foxes’ vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “Twelve months ago, we brought to Leicester City a man whose knowledge and experience, we felt, could lead us into the next phase of our long-term plan.

“What he would go on to help us achieve, in the time we have achieved it, has been beyond anything we could have anticipated.

“Claudio’s qualities, both as a man and as a coach, have been very clear since the moment he arrived – qualities that have helped Leicester City to progress on every level. We have strong foundations from which to keep moving our club forward and I’m delighted that Claudio will continue to be part of that journey.”

Dino Melaye shares pics from his summer vacation with his kids


Dino Melaye pictured with his kids from his estranged first wife, during their summer vacation in the UK.



Shipping Firms Spend $21.8billion On Fairly Used Vessels


Shipping firms across the world spent over $21.8 billion on second-hand vessels in the first half of 2016, a new report by the Vessels Value, a United Kingdom based research firm has shown.

The report made available to The Guardian by Head of Public Relations, Claudia Norrgren, showed a dwindling investment in ship buying representing about 52 per cent reduction from $14.8 billion spent last year.

In July alone, the firms spent over $1.6 billion on second-hand vessels against $3.1 billion recorded in July 2015, representing a drop of 48 per cent in the total value of second-hand sales concluded in the period.

It was noted that new ship building orders also dropped by 65 per cent from 689 vessels in 2015 to 238 in the same period this year.

Bulker and tanker sales were down 13 per cent in the period, while the largest drop was seen in the container sector where only two sales were concluded compared to 31 in July 2015.

The bulker sector saw the largest number of sales as 44 vessels were sold during the month, worth up to $450 million, followed by the tanker sector with 41 sales valued at $1.1 billion. Gas and containers were the lowest with three ($72 million) and two sales ($12 million) respectively.

Only 12 new building orders were placed in July 2016, including six tankers, five containerships and one bulk carrier, a significant drop from July last year when 79 tankers, 82 containerships and 26 bulkers were ordered.

According to the report, modern bulker values firmed throughout July, with Panamaxes showing the greatest rise. Older tonnage remained fairly constant; however, there were slight decreases within older Supramax vessels.

“Capesize values remain steady. The biggest deal of the month was the sale by ZOSCO of the Zosco Jiaxing and Zosco Shao Xing (176,000 dwt blt 2009 Jinhai) at $14.80 million each to Sinokor.

“Supramaxes also remain stable at the modern end with older tonnage declining in value due to scrap prices. This is evidenced by Darya Maya and Darya Rani (64,000dwt blt 2016 Huangpu) sold for $16.90 million with Vessel Value valuing at $16.87 million and Atlantic Altamira (51,000dwt blt 2001 Oshima) sold at $3.65 million.

Vessel Value said scrapping of older bulker tonnage has been much talked about but is yet to materialise. Demolition sales have increased by only 10 per cent in July 2015. Even with this increase in bulker scrapping the total on water bulk fleet has grown by 2m dwt in July 2016 (3.2m dwt delivered and only 1.2m dwt scrapped).

The report noted that container fleet has had a quiet July, while a small decline can be seen within the values especially for older Panamax vessels, however two sales have taken place within the Sub Panamax sector.







Princess Chioma explains why she added her voice in support of girl-child campaign


After a real life event placed her in the shoes of abused girls, Princess Chioma has through her NGO made a very bold statement against those traumatizing the girl-child through abuse. For her, it’s not just about speaking, but hers comes from an experience after she explained in this interview on how she got abused at a very tender age. Read and find out more on why she wants the government to support projects against the girl-child abuse.

Can you briefly tell us what Save A Child International Foundation means?

Save a child international foundation is a non-profit oriented charity organization that extends humanitarian gesture to the less privileged, and the destitute. This is an offer of hope through enlightenment seminars, health support schemes and extending of needful materials to the orphanage homes.

What is the aim?

We aspire to emerge as best supportive organization to the less privileged that stimulates human esteem built on social justice. We are working out a world where every child has a well defined sense of belonging with team work alloyed with compassion. We care for lives and guarantee excellence in our services to promote social justice.

What are the ranges of projects based on four core of SACIF?

First, it is giving hope to the hopeless. Then, youth leadership, health awareness raising and support to the orphanage. We intend to educate other young people, setting up youth clubs, carrying out research into health service access, or creating campaigns for social change.

Do you have business oriented programmes?

The world has made incredible progress for children over the last 25 years – malnutrition is down and more children are in school. But that progress hasn’t been fair. Millions of children have been forgotten. Forgotten because they live in the wrong place, or because they are girls, refugees, disabled or from a minority.

Today, discrimination is the biggest threat to the world’s poorest children. At its worst, this discrimination is deadly. For those who do survive, it blights their lives as they are denied access to education or healthcare. If we are ever going to end extreme poverty, these are the children we must reach now.

What steps are you applying to help reach every last child?

To be rich is not what you have in your account, but what you have in the heart as the saying goes. The gap between the world’s rich and poor has been wider while wealthy individuals are relishing in the lavish life of luxury, millions are being forced to endure an insufferable daily reality of poverty. The time for a drastic change has arrived. It is up to you and l to make a difference before a significant proportion of the world’s population drowns in an ocean of poverty.

How would you feel if you were one of the eight hundred million people who went to bed ravenously hungry each and every night? You would lay, shivering, listening to the unbearable sound of your stomach crying out in starvation.

What considerations have you shortlisted?

You need to understand that human infant pays attention to the faces and people who we are talking. Human infant likes listening to human speech. Human infant babbles long before they are able to produce words. Then, you go on to ask yourself questions over all these. Why? It may be that nobody believes in the children.

And why should anyone do? Whenever I pick up a biro and a book to start writing, people around me shout at me saying, ‘you have started again!’ A lot of discouraging words, but I knew that they cannot see what I was seeing and can’t understand even if I explain to them. The children cry out for your help and support to be a change in their own generation. They are being called the leaders of tomorrow while their grandfathers are leading them to corruption and letting child abuse grow more and more. Abuse had made our youths to be on the lane different characters. Like prostitution, fund embezzlement, kidnapping and etc. And basically, these are things that are not meant to be.

Do you suggest that the youths should fold arms or at worse trigger riots to claim their rights from government, because of the economic situation of the country?

The answer is no. As a youth that is seeking solution to problems, you are expected to produce, invent, launch, extract, unveil and what have you? You need to know what the world is awaiting you for. So do it right so that your work will be justified after you left.

In conclusion, it is the responsibility of the educated generation to stir revolution for saving the children. We need to educate those educated as well as the uneducated ignorant ones who commit such crime as children infanticide. Let’s get going, I will expose you to too many ideas loading. Let’s save the life that needs our help today and make a better change in our time.

What would be your main focus for now?

It will be on child abuse. Child abuse is a global problem that is deeply rooted in cultural, economic and social practices. It is a state of emotional, physical, economical and sexual maltreatment meted out to a person below the age of eighteen and is a globally prevalent phenomenon. However, in India, as in many other countries, there has been no understanding of the extent, magnitude and trends of the problem.

The growing complexities of life and the dramatic changes brought about by socio-economic transitions in India have played a major role in increasing the vulnerability of children to various and newer forms of abuse. Child abuse has serious physical and psycho-social consequences which adversely affect the health and overall well-being of a child. Why can’t we look into it and set up the right of wellbeing for the girl child? As a victim I stand to fight against abuse, I stand to fight for those girls that abuse and neglect has turned their life into a mess. I stand to fight my fear.

Why are you restricting it to girl-child alone?

Girls are equally as important as boys in the society to maintain the social equilibrium. Few years ago, there was huge reduction in the number of women in comparison to the man. It was so because of the increasing crimes against women such as female feticide, dowry deaths, rape, poverty, illiteracy, gender discrimination and many more. To equalize the number of women in the society, it is very necessary to aware people greatly about the save girl child. Government has not taken some positive steps regarding save girl child such as protection of women from domestic violence act 2005, ban of female infanticide, immoral traffic act, proper education, gender equality, etc. What can we do to make this change in our time should be on every lip.




FG committed to desirable change – Osinbajo


Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Tuesday that the Federal Government is committed to bringing desirable change to the country.

Osinbajo spoke at a town hall meeting and policy dialogue for good governance organised by the Alumni Association of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (AANI) and Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the workshop was: “Towards Effective Implementation of the 2016 Budget.’’
The vice president, who was represented by the Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Sipeolu, said the priorities of government are security – tackling of corruption, improved economy and well-being of the citizens.

He said the government has adopted strategic implementation plan for the 2016 budget with 34 priority actions across six intervention areas.

Osinbajo added that the intervention areas included the diversification of the economy, power, rail and roads, oil and gas, ease of doing business for investors and security.



Couple who met on twitter, finally get married [Photos]


Mr and Mrs Ibe met on twitter in 2014 and got married on July 30, 2016. Ibe stumbled on his wife’s [Peace] twitter handle and trolled her for a long time before she granted him audience and now they are finally married. Congrats to them.





Cultists kill 3 persons in Lagos


Gunmen suspected to be cult members have invaded Abule Nla Road in the Iponri area of Lagos State, shooting at youths in a restaurant.

During the shootout, three persons were reportedly killed.

The victims comprised a student of a polytechnic in Ogun State, Damilola Adegoke, and two of his friends, identified only as Kehinde and Junior, aka Hypo.

It was learnt that another friend, who sustained gunshot injuries on both legs, was recuperating in a private hospital in the area.

It was learnt that the attackers, who reportedly came in a car, stormed the restaurant – Iya Illa Mini Mart – on Abule Nla Road by Vaughan Street at about 8pm on Sunday and opened fire on the drinkers.

It was learnt that 20-year-old Damilola died on the spot, while Kehinde and Junior, an auto mechanic, were rushed to a hospital where they were also confirmed dead.

It was gathered that policemen from the Iponri division came to the area to remove Damilola’s corpse and to examine the restaurant which had chairs smeared with blood.

The policemen, assisted by members of the Vigilantes Group of Nigeria, reportedly arrested two of the gunmen on Ilaje and Otumara streets in the area.

When our correspondent got to the area on Tuesday, a crowd of sympathisers gathered at the restaurant and Damilola’s house.

A member of the vigilance group, who identified himself only as Musibau, said the attack looked like a reprisal.

Musibau, who was an eyewitness, said, “There were five friends at the restaurant on that evening. The polytechnic student brought four of his friends to catch fun at the junction. Around 8pm, the gunmen came in a car and started shooting. The poly student and three other friends were hit.

“The policemen later came to remove Damilola’s corpse. But the families of the two other victims had earlier removed their corpses from the scene. I saw blood all over the place. One of the deceased was taken to his father’s place on Moore Street before the police arrived.

“The two other boys killed were said to belong to a gang called Kogbagidi boys. But Damilola, the poly student, was said to be easy-going. The attack looked like a cult reprisal. That restaurant is usually where the youths stay to drink and have fun. The vigilantes, together with the police, were able to arrest two suspects with guns in the Otumara area.”

Damilola’s father, Folorunsho Adegoke, said his son had come home from school to collect pocket money before he met the untimely death.

He said, “Damilola came back on Friday. He came home to collect some pocket money. He was a student of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ogun State. He and his friends were having fun at the restaurant when they shot him.

“The policemen were here on that evening. They said the attack was cult-related. I have put my comfort in God.”

A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kehinde and Junior died at the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute -Meta,on Monday.

She said, “We thought violence had stopped in our area; we did not know those gangs were only regrouping. The other families did not release the corpses of their boys to the police. The families were afraid that the burial would be delayed. Three persons died in the attack.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the attack.

She said, “The police recorded one death. Preliminary investigation reveals that it is a cult reprisal. Investigation is ongoing, while effort is on to arrest the fleeing suspects.”







Armed robbers kill cashier in Lagos


Armed robbers have shot dead a cashier, identified only as Genesis, in the Ilupeju area of Lagos State.

It was learnt that Genesis, a cashier with a plastics company in the Ilupeju Industrial Estate, was shot dead last Wednesday while he was heading for a bank with his colleagues’ salaries.

It was gathered that Genesis was shot three times by the gunmen, who also injured the company’s driver.

The matter was said to have been reported at the Ilupeju Police Division which removed Genesis’ corpse.

A source in the company said the robbers, however, could not take away the money with the cashier before they escaped.

He said, “The incident happened in the morning. The news came as a shock to all of us. The deceased is in his early 30s. He was on an assignment to pay the salaries of the workers when he and the driver were attacked.

“The money with them was not taken.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident.

She said, “The case is under investigation. No suspect has been arrested yet. The exact place of attack on the victim is unknown.”





Man stabs wife with screwdriver over loan


A 31-year-old father of one, Sunday Dennis, was on Tuesday brought before a Badagry Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State for allegedly stabbing his wife, Blessing, with a screw driver.

The accused who resides at No. 6, Aro St., Ajara area of Badagry, was arraigned on a two-count charge of assault and threat to life.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Innocent Uko, told the court that the accused committed the offences on July 25 around 8: 00 p.m at the mentioned address.

He said the incident occurred when the accused was arguing with his wife over a certain amount of money.

“They were arguing because his wife borrowed him a certain amount of money and he had yet to return it.

“In the middle of the argument, the accused threatened to kill her with a screw driver and stabbed her at the back.

“She is presently at a hospital recovering from the injuries she sustained from the assault,’’ he said.

Uko said the offences contravened Sections 56 and 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Counsel to the accused, Mr Adeleke Ojo, pleaded with the court to admit his client to bail on liberal terms.

The Magistrate, Mr Abioldun Etti, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N200, 000 and two sureties in like sum, who must provide evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

The case was adjourned till Sept. 6, for further hearing.





Two kidnapped Chinese in Abuja freed


Two Chinese nationals kidnapped by gunmen in Abuja, last weekend, have regained freedom.The men, aged 45 and 50, working for a construction company, were held for 24 hours of captivity after they were ambushed.

A spokesman for the Police, Umar Nurman told AFP on Tuesday, that the duo have undergone tests in a hospital in Abuja and appear to be in good health.

Their release followed “extensive pressure from the search party”, Nurman added.

It was unknown whether a ransom had been paid.

Obaseki has nothing to offer Edo – Ize-Iyamu


Are you not intimidated by the profile of Godwin Obaseki, the candidate of the APC?

How can you be intimidated by a man you don’t see? Every time the APC campaigns, the only man who is speaking is Adams Oshiomhole while the governorship candidate, Obaseki, is pushed to the background. So, if the APC candidate is content with hiding under him, no problem. With due respect, even if one wants to be modest, when you want to talk about governance, the best Obaseki can lay claim to is that he was the chairman of a non-existent economic team. I have been Chief of Staff, Secretary to the State Government. The experience I have he cannot come near it. The economic team they talked about, have they ever told you who the members are? How many times did they meet? What were the policies they churned out? For a state like Edo, with the level of the economic mess that the state is in, it is shocking that somebody can stand up and say ‘I was in charge of the economic team’. Here is a man who has never voted in Edo. A man who prides himself as being a very strong businessman who wants to govern our state, have you asked him, ‘Sir, where are your business outfits in Edo?’ ‘How many people have you employed in Edo?’ You haven’t done all these things and you said you want to come and take the number one position in Edo. It shows the disdain you have for us.

The APC-led administration has been credited for constructing roads. Do you agree?

When you do one road, people will expect that another one is coming; but the roads were deliberately chosen to deceive. He deliberately chose roads that a casual visitor would want to pass through without going deep into the city. So, if you land at Benin airport and you drive to the Government House, and then you drive back to the airport, you might have a very good impression about Benin on the state of roads; but if you take the pains to go outside the city, you will find out that the roads that have been done are less than three per cent. It will shock you to know that the road to the palace is in a deplorable condition. If not for the rains, I have contacted a construction company to go and fix it because it is a disgrace. We are planning the coronation of the new king. Visitors are coming into the state and the road to the palace is impassable. If the road leading to the king’s palace is bad, you can imagine other roads. The greatest achievement of Oshiomhole in his first term was the cosmetic renovation of schools.

What is the basis for the confidence that your party could win this election?

Our confidence is the fact that Oshiomhole has failed woefully and you can see that every campaign he has gone to, rather than show Edo people his scorecard, he has resorted to name-calling, insulting Ize-Iyamu, insulting Chief Tony Anenih and everybody in the PDP; but the truth about it is that the PDP is no longer in government. So, to continue to talk about when the PDP was in government many years ago is laughable.

The reason why you were elected is to correct what you felt was wrong with the PDP administration and you have eight years to effect that correction. I can understand if you are complaining a year or two years after; but eight years after, you are still blaming the PDP, then it means you are not the right person for the job. If you take your mind back to the 2015 presidential election, the APC was demystified in Edo which resulted in the PDP having two out of the three senators representing the state.

We have five out of the nine members of the House of Representatives. Many people do not know that of the 17 local government councils that were announced in that election, the PDP won in 15 while the APC managed to win in only two. That result tells a story. I believe that in the forthcoming governorship election, if the election is free and fair, I think the PDP would do better than what they did during the presidential election.





Soulja Boy and his girlfriend call each other out on Instagram



Rapper Soulja Boy took to Instagram to call out his on-and-off girlfriend Nia Riley after she posted a photo of herself eating a hot dog on a city sidewalk. Pissed off about something, Soulja Boy left a comment on the photo “Take off them shoes I bought you b**ch.”which was followed by “F**k you b**ch’.


Nia, who is the daughter of legendary producer Teddy Riley, fired back at her man/ex. The two have been dating for years, but they fight a lot which is shown on their reality show, Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood.


We’ve defeated Boko Haram, says Buratai

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said that the Nigerian Army has defeated the once-dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, and has also degraded their capability to re-group in any part of the country.





Embattled House of Reps member, Abdulmumin Jibrin, shares photo with his daughter


Abdulmumin Jibrin who is currently battling with Speaker Yakubu Dogara and 13 other lawmakers over allegations and counter-allegations of budget padding, shared this photo with his daughter Fadiya, on his Twitter handle this morning and wrote “My new obsession, baby Fadiya.






Serena Omo-Lamai Secures Admission to 13 Universities


A 17-year- old girl, Serena Omo-Lamai, has been granted admission to study in 13 universities in America and Canada.

Omo-Lamai, who graduated from Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, last year, however, opted for Syracuse University, United States, to study Bio-Medical Engineering.

Some of the universities where she was offered admission include Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, New York University, among others.

Speaking in a telephone interview with Punch correspondent on Monday, Omo-Lamai said she settled for Syracuse University because of the institution’s world-class research laboratory and a $51,000 scholarship offer.

The teenager, who aspires to be a medical engineer, disclosed that she would study medicine as a second degree.

“I feel very honoured and I feel it is an opportunity to work harder. I know that I have to justify the offer. I chose Syracuse University because it has a very good research lab and the offer came with $51,000 scholarship. I have always loved Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geography.

“My hope is to study medicine for a second degree, but I would love to be a medical engineer. Most of the medical equipment in the country are imported and I would like a situation where medical equipment is manufactured here in Nigeria.

“My parents are my role models, but I am also inspired by anyone who is hard working, anyone who puts so much efforts into what they do,” she said.

A statement from the Vice-Principal, Dowen College, Mr. Muraina Olusesi, on Monday, said Omo-Lamai was the valedictorian of the school last year.

He said, “Alumni students of the school have continued to show the stuff they are made of in the world of academic excellence. Serena Omo-Lamai was our best graduating pupil in the 2014/2015 academic session and she has done it again.

“She secured admission to 13 universities across the globe, but she has settled for Syracuse University where she signed up to read Bio-Medical Engineering, with an annual scholarship of $56,000.

“Also, Daniel Obaseyi Buraimo, Class of 2010, graduated with First Class honours degree in Computer Science from the University of San Francisco, California, USA. According to the university, he is the first Nigerian to attain this height.”





Man who trekked from Lagos to Abuja for President Buhari goes on Hajj


Suleman Hashimu, the man who trekked from Lagos to Abuja in support of President Buhari last year is going for the 2016 hajj. He shared the photo above on his Facebook wall and wrote.

“Salam, dear families and friends. InshaAllah dis afternoon we will begin our journey (hajj) to the holy land of mecca. Please forgive us if we’ve made mistakes, pls pray for our safety travelling going, during and coming back, wasalam..”.




Mimiko Meets With Pastor Kumuyi In Akure


Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (left), with the General Overseer, Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, at the special crusade of the Church tagged: “An Unforgettable Encounter with the God of Miracles” held at the New Stadium, in Akure, at the weekend.





Patoranking explains why he titled his debut album ‘God Over Everything’



Finally the much anticipated album of popular dancehall singer, Patoranking, is out to the delight of his teeming fans. In a recent chat with Punch the singer explained why he titled his album, God Over Everything. He said the title of his album has a spiritual ring to it because of his belief in the power of God.

“I want people to know that amidst having fun God still comes first, hence the choice of the name, God Over Everything. The album is about love, God , my life ,where I come from and where I am headed,” he said.

The lanky artiste also shed light on the inspiration behind his music.

He said, “I was raised in a small slum in Lagos known as Ilaje. My family lived in extreme poverty and my parents struggled to put food on the table. By the age of thirteen, I began hawking various goods to passengers on traffic because I desperately wanted to move my family out of the ghetto, in hopes of providing a better environment for my siblings to grow up and a more comfortable life for my parents. Then God blessed me with music. I learnt from life experiences I garnered over the years and I encapsulate the entirety of my being into my music.

He further added that he makes music that everybody can relate to and this also influences his choice of collaborations





Police battle mob over suspected kidnapper in Osun


An angry mob on Monday stormed the palace of the Oluwo of Iwo, Osun State Oba Abdurasheed Akanbi, and razed part of the palace in an attempt to stone a suspected kidnapper caught by some residents of the town to death.

It was gathered that the female suspect was arrested while making frantic telephone calls somewhere in the town and some youths, who suspected that she was a kidnapper, pounced on her.

The angry mob eventually dragged her to the Oba’s palace, demanding immediate interrogation to make her confess.

it was reported that while the ‘king was interrogating the woman, some policemen arrived at the scene and some youths, who became angry by the arrival of the security agents, started hurling stones at them.

The policemen made several attempts but were resisted from taking the woman away.

It was further gathered that the mob did not leave the palace until the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Femi Oyeleye, led a team of mobile policemen to the palace with an Armour Personnel Carrier.

The CP was said to have addressed the residents and assured them that the case would be properly investigated and the suspect would be charged to court if there were evidence against her.

Oba Akanbi said, “I was holding a meeting when they brought the woman, they said she is a kidnapper. Those who brought her to the palace said they believed she would confess to me if I interrogated her.

“I was asking her some questions when the police came to the place. The people started stoning the policemen because they said they did not have confidence in the police.

“They said the police would release her but I have no power ‎to detain the suspect or to order that she should be killed. The law must be followed, our law does not make provision for jungle justice but they refused to listen.

“The CP led his men and addressed them in front of the palace and the policemen eventually took the woman away. But while they were stoning the policemen, they broke some lights on the fence of the palace.”




Men divorce women raped by Fulani herdsmen in Enugu community


The Eke Town Union in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State has decried the increasing rate of divorce occasioned by alleged rape from suspected herdsmen.

The town union’s President-General, Mr. Anthony Enu, spoke about the issue when he testified in the commission of inquiry into the killing of people in Nimbo community on Monday.

Enu said that the situation had become scandalous because no man would take in a woman who had been messed up by suspected herdsmen.

“The herdsmen are consistently raping our women and daughters infecting them with serious diseases thereby causing indirect divorce in our communities,” he said.

“If my wife is messed up by the herdsmen, why should I take her in again? This will mean that what is holding her will hold me.”

According to him, communities in the area have had their fair share of attack by the cattle breeders, adding that no fewer than 10 people had died as a result.

Enu recounted how three residents of Ogui village, Iloafonsi Ofokansi, Aniago Egbo and Josephat Maduweke, were killed in cold blood by suspected herdsmen in 2002.

He said, “Mr. Isreal Eneje was working on his farm with his daughter when the cattle breeders took their animals to his farm. He protested and told them to go away and they ended up killing him.

“They have killed many of our people in the past and in each case we report to the police station at 9th Mile.

“The herdsmen are now assuming to be landlords and have been harassing our people. They should leave our communities in peace.”

Meanwhile, the Agu Umabor Town Union in Nsukka Local Government Area has said that it is opposed to the creation of grazing reserves in their area.

The Secretary of the union, Mr. Livinus Odo, said this when he testified in the tribunal on their activities of the suspected herdsmen in the area.

Odoh appealed to the South-East caucus in the National Assembly to give a block opposition to the legitimisation of any form of grazing bill.

“They should vacate our communities because we don’t have enough farmland not to talk of the one for grazing. The herdsmen have committed atrocities in our communities and it has been a difficult time for our people and we appeal to the government to save us from this menace,” he said.

He narrated the experience of one Nnabuike Odo, a commercial motoryclists, who on May 10, 2016, was almost killed because he made a comment, which some herdsmen found offensive.

“They shot at him but he was so fortunate to escape their bullets,” Odo said.

“We have abandoned a particular road leading to our community because of them. My people have abandoned agriculture because of the herdsmen and we are helpless.”

The Chairman of the panel, Justice Chukwuma Eneh, said that the commission would accommodate all complaints and forward same to the state government.

“We will accommodate your story in our report and see if the government will do something to help you,” Eneh said.

Rio Olympics: Nigeria’s Chierika Okogu celebrates as she qualifies for Quarterfinals


23-year-old first Nigerian rower at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Chierika Okogu, took to Instagram to celebrate her advancement to the Quarterfinals. She shared a photo of herself rowing to victory, writing:

“What a time to be alive…onto quarterfinals on Tuesday! #teamnigeria #NGR #rowing #olympics #rio #drake”




OFFICIAL: PSG sign Jese from Real Madrid


The 23-year-old forward has become Les Parisiens’ fifth summer signing under new boss Unai Emery, inking a five-year deal at the Parc des Princes until June 2021

Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain have sealed the signing of Real Madrid forward Jese Rodriguez on a five-year contract.

Unai Emery’s side confirmed the deal on Monday after agreeing a fee believed to be in region of €25m with Madrid.

Jese becomes PSG’s fifth signing ahead of the defence of their Ligue 1 title following the earlier arrivals of Hatem Ben Arfa, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Thomas Meunier and Giovani Lo Celso.

He played in 38 times – scoring six goals – for Madrid last season, although just 11 of those were starts due to stiff competition from the likes of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The return of Alvaro Morata from Juventus further limited Jese’s starting opportunities under Zinedine Zidane, prompting his move to Paris.

“I am delighted to join Paris Saint-Germain, who have become one of Europe’s most competitive clubs,” he told his new club’s official website.

Like Paris Saint-Germain, I have big ambitions for the coming seasons and it will be a great pleasure to work under the direction of Unai Emery, who has developed an excellent reputation in Spain, and across Europe, for his quality as a coach. I can’t wait to begin this next challenge of my career.”

Paris Saint-Germain Chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi added: “I am very happy to welcome Jese to PSG.

“His speed and creative qualities will complement our excellent attacking players. With Jese, our squad is now, more than ever, armed to confront the coming challenges and meet the expectations of our fans.”

Jese made his Madrid debut in March 2012, but was still playing for the Castilla team until the end of the 2012-13 season, from which point he became a full member of the first-team squad, winning the Champions League twice.




Pogba jets in for Man Utd medical


Manchester Airport have snapped a photo of the plane carrying the midfielder arriving in England as his world-record transfer from Juventus edges a step closer to completion

Paul Pogba’s move to Manchester United has edged a step closer after a photo of the midfielder arriving for his medical emerged on Twitter.

The France international, who left United to join Juventus in 2012, is closing in on a return to Old Trafford from the Serie A champions for a world-record fee.

And it has since been revealed that Pogba has touched down in England after Manchester Airport snapped a picture of a plane that they hinted was carrying the player.

An important passenger has just touched down at the airport. Can anyone guess who it might be?

Photographers also snapped Pogba arriving at United’s Carrington training ground ahead of his protracted £89 million move.

United confirmed on Sunday that they had reached an agreement for Pogba to undergo a medical on the back of winning the Community Shield with a 2-1 win triumph over Leicester City.




OFFICIAL: Inter sack Roberto Mancini


The Nerazzurri have dismissed the ex-Manchester City boss just under two weeks before the start of the new Serie A season, with Frank de Boer set to take over the San Siro reins

Inter have confirmed the sacking of manager Roberto Mancini just under two weeks before the start of the new Serie A season.

The Nerazzurri’s Chinese owners have decided to wield the axe following the club’s heavy 6-1 defeat against Tottenham in a pre-season friendly in Oslo.

Mancini, 51, had been under pressure at Inter due to the club’s failure to qualify for this season’s Champions League with a fourth-placed finish last term, having been top of the table as late as January.

And Mancini has since been dismissed on the back of just one win from five pre-season friendlies, with former Ajax boss Frank de Boer poised to replace him at the helm, Goalunderstands.

“Inter would like to place on record its thanks to Roberto for the work carried out with the team since joining in November 2014,” said a club statement.

“Last season the club led Serie A until the Christmas break, ending the season in fourth place and qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

“We thank Roberto for the work and commitment he has shown the club over the past 20 months.”

Mancini, who guided Inter to three Serie A titles between 2004 and 2008, returned to the club for a second spell in November 2014.

The former Manchester City boss led Inter to eighth during the 2014-15 campaign and brought in a number of big signings last summer in an attempt to lead the club back into the Champions League.

However, Inter finished 13 points behind third-placed Roma and were also beaten by Juventus on penalties in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.

Nigeria’s Foremost Etiquette Icon Launches Premier Book on Manners


Mrs Mavi Isibor, Nigeria’s foremost Etiquette Icon, yesterday launched a book on etiquette and personal branding titled, The Art of Refinement, in an elaborate event held at Poise Nigeria Limited in Lekki, Lagos.

When giving her speech on the dream behind the book, Mrs Isibor noted that the reason for writing the book, which is its first in Africa, is to address the dearth of matters concerning etiquette among Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike. She stated that the book is coming at a time when the need for such values has reached its peak.

Several speakers lauded the author’s efforts and commended her for her courage in getting “the word out there”.

Book reviewer and ace broadcaster, Adesuwa Oyenokwe, noted that, “The need for etiquette is stronger than ever before. We must never settle for less in the typical Nigerian situation where we often ignore manners.”

She also said, “If everyone creates a sense of sanity, in a short while Nigeria will be engulfed in sanity.” She spoke on several social situations where people display socially unacceptable standards, but are passed for what she described as the “Ko-mean” (It doesn’t mean) syndrome.

She continued: “This is the first ever book I know written by an indigenous African or Nigerian on etiquette. I am proud to be associated with this.”

Other speakers also spoke loftily about the book and its author. Professor Pat Utomi, Chairman, Poise Nigeria Limited; Mr Muda Lawal, DG, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mr Ify Sekibo MD/CEO, Heritage Bank (represented by Mrs Oluwatomi Ojo) and a host of others were present to witness the occasion.





Gas constraint reduces to 3,967MW


Constraint caused by shortage of gas to power reduced from 4,307Mega Watts (MW) of August 5th to 3,967MW on Sunday, 7th of August.

On the day under review, the Nigeria Electricity System Operator (SO) of the Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN) sent out 3175MW to the 11 distribution companies (DisCos).

The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) made this disclosure on its website on Monday, reported that line constraint was 240MW. It noted that water constraint that was 142MW rose marginally by 1MW.

All the constraints, on the day under review, said NESI, resulted in loss of an estimated equivalent of N2,088, 000, 000 on August 07 2016 due to constraints.

It said: “On August 07, 2016, average power sent out was 3175MWh/hour (up by 27MWh/h). The reported gas constraint was 3967MW. The reported line constraint was 240MW according to TCN. The water management constraint was 143MW.

It would be recalled that the power sector did not report any constraint due to water supply for over a month, first said that on August 5, it recorded 142Mega Watts (MW) water constraint.

Although the spokesperson of the company, Mrs. Seun Olagunju did not receive our Abuja correspondent phone call to inquire what led to the water constraint, The Nation learnt that it was due to some undisclosed mechanical issues in the Kainji Hydro Power Station.

The source that spoke to The Nation in confidence said that “they (TCN) are doing as much as they can possibly do with the mechanical constraint.”

Another source said that the company was trying to be more efficient by not using all its water and make some reservation for other days.

He said “they are restricting the water because the want it to last. There are two options with an hydro -electric dam. You can use all the water when you have it. You can manage it so that the day you don’t have water you have water in storage. They are not even using all their water.”

According to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) website that published the power performance daily summary, on the day under review, the Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO) sent out 3,135MW to the 11 distribution companies .

The report however noted that the sector recorded 265MW line constraint .

All the losses, said the NESI, was an estimate of N2.7billion .

It said: “On August 05 2016, average power sent out was 3135MWh/hour (up by 59MWh/h). The reported gas constraint was 4307MW. The reported line constraint was 265MW according to TCN. The water management constraint was 142MW.

The power sector lost the estimated equivalent of N2,263, 000, 000 on August 05 2016 due to constraints.”




PDP leadership tussle: 99.9 per cent of members are with Makarfi – Dokpesi


Former Chairman, DAAR Communications and Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has said that 99.9 per cent of PDP members are with Senator Makarfi, the party’s caretaker chairman.

He made the assertion while speaking with newsmen in Kano over the leadership tussle in PDP between former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi.

According to him, only a handful who goes about with Senator Sherrif has access to the media, the court and may be the police.
He however, said contrary to insinuations that there was leadership tussle between Senators Ahmed‎ Mohammed Makarfi and Ahmadu Sherrif over who pilots the party affairs,such insinuation is not correct.

Dokpesi who is running for the National Chairman of the party, was during a campaign tour to Kano‎ state clarified this position while speaking with newsmen, explaining that what looks like a leadership issue would amicably be resolved in no time in the overall interest of the party.

“Let me leave you in no doubt that 99.9 percent of PDP members are with Senator Makarfi as the caretaker chairman while only a handful who goes about with Senator Sherrif has access to the media, the court and may be the police.

“There is no querel between Makarfi and Sherrif because it is the party at the Port Harcourt gathering that mandated Makarfi to chair the caretaker committee to organize the national convention now scheduled to hold August 17th at portharcourt.
“‎Makarfi was in Kaduna when he was called upon to take this assignment being a two term governor, two term Senator and someone who has a good knowledge of the party, so he is not contesting any position with any body, it is the party decision as taken by the overwhelming stakeholders in Port Harcourt then,” he emphasised.

On his chances of emerging as the National Chairman of the party among other contestants, he said, “I am very ready to take on any contestant,” expressing optimism that his chances of emergence were very bright.

He explained that he had consulted widely and canvassed among party delegates who assured him of their support. ‎”I have gone round over 28 states canvassing for their support and their responses have been very encouraging and outstanding, so I am not afraid to take on anybody.

“My plans are to re-unite, re-energise, rebrand the party to its past glory,” he said.





Buhari Relaunches War against Indiscipline Brigade


The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, on Monday, relaunched the War against Indiscipline, WAI Brigade, in Abuja, saying in this era of insecurity, violence, kidnapping, and other forms of social vices, the role of the Brigade in civil intelligence gathering cannot be over emphasized.

Announcing the development on the occasion of the National and State Commanders meeting of the Community Support Brigade, CSB, also known as WAI, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Dr. Garba Abari said the President Buhari administration has declared the intention to relaunch the Brigade for better performance, as well as to bring its activities to the fore.




Okey Bakassi reunites with his family for a summer vacation (photos)


Comedian/MC, Okechukwu Onyegbule, popularly known as Okey Bakassi, shared photos of himself with his family (who are based abroad) on their summer vacation.

Comedian/MC, Okechukwu Onyegbule, popularly known as Okey Bakassi, shared photos of himself with his family (who are based abroad) on their summer vacation.

Basketmouth says exchange rate is set to spike as he shares his thoughts on CBN’s new money transfer policy


CBN has stopped all privately owned money transfer companies from wiring money, leaving only three foreign owned companies to do it. Comedian Basketmouth thinks this is a wrong move as it will make life more difficult for Nigerians




Ethiad Airways sponsors winner of ‘The Voice Nigeria’


Etihad Airways has joined with DSTV, one of Africa’s leading providers of premium entertainment, to sponsor the winner of The Voice Nigeria, a Nigerian version of the internationally acclaimed reality singing competition.

As part of the sponsorship, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates is providing the winner and their partner with air tickets to Abu Dhabi to experience some of the best entertainment and attractions the capital of the UAE has to offer. The winner will also be provided with four-night’s complimentary stay at one of the city’s leading premium hotels.

Around 50 of the best singers and bands in Nigeria took part in the competition – which was whittled down in the preliminary stages to a line-up of just eight contestants taking part in the finale, which took place at Sasani Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday, 31st July.
Following the closely fought competition, which was determined by public vote and verified by Deloitte, Agharese Emokpae, popularly known as A’rese, was announced winner of The Voice Nigeria.

George Mawadri, Etihad Airways’ General Manager, Nigeria, said: “We are delighted to support the first season of this show, which has proved to be a tremendous hit with the Nigerian public.
“I congratulate A’rese on winning the competition, and am sure that she and her companion will have a marvellous time when they fly with Etihad Airways, and during their stay in Abu Dhabi.”

Abu Dhabi is a unique and modern city which is fast becoming one of the world’s most exciting cultural and commercial tourism hubs, providing visitors with the opportunity to experience the best of traditional and modern Arabian hospitality.

Etihad Airways launched its service between Lagos and Abu Dhabi on 1 July 2012 and currently operates four-times-per-week using an Airbus A330-200 aircraft configured to carry 254 guests, with 18 in Business Class and 236 in Economy Class.



2face Idibia hosted at home of Legendary Italian inventor & Tycoon Gaspare Campari



His career is full of many splendid firsts. And he’s now added another remarkable one.
The pop giant is being hosted this week, at the Campari house situated on the outskirts of Milan, on the invitation of the respected Italian Organisation.

The singer and his team kept the news on the low, refusing to let the cat out of the bag, even after word leaked that they were spotted arriving in Milan.
2baba is a brand ambassador for Campari, the first African act to be so decorated in over 200 years. He now joins a global elite list of celebrities who have been invited to the home of Campari, where he toured the Campari museum, brewed his own Campari cocktails and had lavish lunch at the summer home of the company’s founder Gaspare Campari.

Two generations of Camparis lived at the sprawling property, which housed the first ever Campari bar. The property is now enveloped by the massive Campari global headquarters, housing corporate offices, a multi-purpose venue, first-class museum, and an academy.

Idibia joins the list of global celebrities like Eva Mendez, Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Milla Jovovich, Benicio Del Toro, Eva Green and Kate Hudson, that have either paid a visit or participated in signature Campari activities since the drink was first brewed in 1860.

The visit, Idibia says, is a continuation of his amazing relationship with Europe where he won his first-ever international award at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Portugal 11 years ago.

While in Milan, he has participated in a workshop at the Campari academy, visited Italian landmarks, taken a tour of relevant facilities and work with select experts to create his own special Campari cocktail.
He is accompanied by his friend and manager of many years, Efe Omorogbe. Also on the trip is Campari Head of Marketing Abayomi Ajao and public relations expert, Ayeni Adekunle from Campari’s PR agency BHM.

The team is expected back in Lagos by the weekend.




Budget padding: Probe Jibrin – Northern students tells Buhari


Northern Nigerian Students’ Association, NONSA, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to thoroughly investigate the alleged padding of the 2016 budget championed by the former Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Mr. Abdulmuminu Jibrin.

The students’ body also said the timing of the allegations against the members of the House of Reps by Jibrin, indicated that he had ulterior motives.

Briefing newsmen on Thursday, in Sokoto, President of NONSA, Comrade Basheer Gorau wondered why Jibrin did not make such revelation until he was fired ‎as chairman of Appropriations’ Committee.

He said, “The allegations made by Hon. Abdulmuminu Jibrin is quite surprising because he was the head of the committee.

“However, Jibrin as the former chairman of Appropriations Committee is constitutionally in charge of the budget and whatever happens to it, he should be able to tell the teeming population of Nigerians how the budget was padded.

“Jibrin as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations for one year failed to raise his allegations against the principal officers until he was removed; that shows that his intentions are not in the interest of the nation.’’




Military uncovers weapons in Lagos creek



No fewer than 95 arms and ammunition were picked up in the Isawo and Igbo Olomu creeks, Ikorodu, Lagos State, on Wednesday during the military’s mop up operation in the area.

There was tension in the area on Thursday when the acting Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, visited Isawo and Igbo Olomu communities to see the joint operation going on.

One of our correspondents gathered that in the operation codenamed Operation Awatsa, and headed by Lt. Col. Julius Ogbobe, the arms were found in camps destroyed by the Nigerian Air Force and other camps abandoned by the militants.

It was learnt that apart from the arms, the soldiers found the Independent National Electoral Commission’s voter cards, an Ecobank withdrawal booklet, and deposit slips of FCMB.

One of our correspondents gathered that 11 suspected militants had been arrested since the military intensified its activities in the last one week.

Ogbobe, who noted that the operation had challenges moving into some parts of the creeks, was, however, silent on the corpses recovered.

He said, “In the last 24 hours, we recovered eight locally-made guns, 33 live cartridges, two mobile policemen’s uniforms, one AK-47 fully loaded magazine and one GPMG gun. We also recovered two laptops, two generators, a pair of handcuffs, two mobile policemen badges, INEC voter cards, FCMB deposit slips and an Ecobank withdrawal booklet.

“We want to find out who the depositors and the owners of the phone numbers on the slips are. There are parts of the creeks which are inaccessible. We call on the state government to assist in bringing cutting machines to clear some parts of the creeks.”

Ogbobe said the operation was extended to the Arepo creek in Ogun State in an operation codenamed Target Alpha where the soldiers picked up more arms.

One of our correspondents learnt that the naval base in the Isawo area had arrested 11 suspected militants since the mopping up started.

The IG, Ibrahim, who met with the elders of Isawo community briefly, said the residents must work with the police and other security agencies in fighting the militants to a standstill.

He said, “Security is everybody’s business. It is not everywhere you see a policeman or a soldier. If you see any bad person, you report to us. I want to thank all of you for the cooperation and the support you are giving us.

Source: Punch Newspapers

“I urge residents to cooperate with the police by providing us with information on the activities of criminal elements within their vicinities. I want to encourage residents to support the police activities in the area.

“Every one of us has a responsibility to move the nation forward. I thank you for your cooperation and support to ensure that peace returns to the community.”

Meanwhile, the Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, told one of our correspondents on the telephone on Thursday that the troops involved in the ongoing Operation Awatse at Arepo had profiled the 11 suspected vandals now in the custody of the military.

Abubakar said the defence authorities had put in place elaborate measures to ensure that some of the vandals who were on the run were apprehended.

According to him, efforts have been made to put in place all the necessary military checkpoints to deprive the fleeing suspects free movement and to arrest them around the Arepo general area to as far as Tungezi, off the Badagry Coast.

The Acting Defence Spokesman said the security forces had also seized over 1,000 equipment used by the vandals to carry out their illegal activities.

He said, “The operation is ongoing. This is a gang now, that is why we are there, the ground troops are there now, and we will continue to dominate that general area to as far as Tungezi Island. Definitely, they will react, it is a few of them that remain.

“But definitely, they cannot go far because we have cordoned off all the areas and we have established all necessary machineries, all necessary checkpoints to ensure that the fleeing vandals are apprehended.

“As you know, they are on the run. See what we are having now in terms of materials, the things that they abandoned, over 1,000 facilities were captured and the equipment they used in siphoning fuel. We have got a lot of equipment and facilities they are using to perpetrate their crime.

“So far, many of them were arrested in the place. As of yesterday, 11 of them were arrested after we profiled them. Eleven are in our custody and a lot of equipment and facilities they used in siphoning their fuel were recovered.”

He said the vandals operated at Arepo as a syndicate with different people supplying equipment and loading the stolen fuel.

Source: Punch Newspaper



Abducted Lagos monarch’s family says govt have abandoned them



Abducted Lagos monarch’s family says govt have abandoned them

The family, who spoke with PUNCH Metro on Thursday, said the government had not called them for any update or briefing on the extent of investigation 19 days after the kidnap, alleging that the government was becoming indifferent to the matter.

About 16 gun-wielding militants had, on Saturday, July 16, stormed Oseni’s palace at about 8.30pm, shooting into the air, after which they whisked him away in two speedboats.

During the attack, four residents were shot dead, including a palace guard, identified as Sunday Okanlawon, and a barber, identified as Rilwan.

Six days after the abduction, the militants were said to have contacted the monarch’s family, demanding N500m.

It was reported on Sunday, July 24, that the family members pleaded with the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to assist in raising the ransom and securing their father’s release.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro on Thursday, one of the monarch’s daughters, who did not want her name in print, said the family had yet to hear from the state government or the police.

She said, “Baba (Oseni) has not been released. We are making efforts, but we do not know what the government is doing about this. Even if an animal gets missing, you look for it, let alone the king of a town, who has spent over 40 years on the throne.

“Having contributed much to the growth of the community and the state in general, his matter should be treated with more concern. The governor and his officials have not said anything lately about what is being done on the matter. As a family, we have not seen any green light from the government; we are in the dark.”

Another relation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the kidnappers were willing to release the monarch if some money was paid.

He said, “If the state government expedited action on this, Baba should have been released.

“The kidnappers are not saying they will not release him. If the government does what is necessary, the abductors will let go of the monarch.

“The state government is not serious about this. What the government is doing now, we do not really understand. For now, God is our hope.”

When asked whether the kidnappers had reduced the ransom, the family source said he would not want to make that public.

“The ransom is not the issue now. The kidnappers are ready to release Baba, but they want to get something. If one of the foremost rulers in the state has been abducted for 19 days and at that age, nothing significant has been done, this calls for serious attention,” he said.

The monarch’s son, Saheed, said he was not willing to comment on the incident.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said on Thursday that the police were still on a rescue mission.

She said, “Investigation is ongoing. The police are on a rescue operation.”

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, did not pick the calls by our correspondent.

A text message sent to his phone on the incident had also yet to be replied to as of press time.

Source: Punch Newspapers





Woman tells court husband disappears whenever she is pregnant


A 40-year-old petrol attendant, Seun Olaleye, Thursday told a Lagos Island Customary Court that her second child became crippled due to her husband’s negligence.

court

Seun, whose husband, Gbenga Olaleye (43), had approached the court for the dissolution of their 16-year-old marriage, told the court that her husband would abscond whenever she was pregnant.

The mother of three, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), told the court that her marriage was blissful until she was pregnant with their first child and her husband left the house to rent another apartment. She said: “Whenever I am pregnant, my husband disappears; he leaves me with no money.

Most times, I was going to his parents who could do little because they were aged. “I had three children for him, two girls and a boy, and once he knows I am pregnant he leaves the house only to return when the child is about a year or two.

“I needed to undergo surgery to be able to give birth to our second child but my husband refused to help. Eventually, the child was forced out of my womb and it affected him because he was born crippled. “Our boy, Matthew, is now 11 years old but he cannot do anything on his own.

“I and the children had been evicted from our rented apartment and now squatting with a friend while my husband stays in a three-bedroom flat at Egbeda with another woman.” Seun told the court that her husband had never been there for her when she needed him and urged the court to dissolve the marriage.

Oge Okoye & her cute kids go on vacation together


Nollywood actress Oge Okoye shared these selfies of herself and her children as they begin their summer holidays abroad. She captioned the photo on IG: “OMG!! Glam lovers.. my bunnies are here. I couldn’t contain that inner Joy inside of me….I felt like I was gonna burst open. Grinning all through.. Mums, I guess you know that feeling… Now my summer holidays Part2 begins… Counting down to my little princess’s day..#Augustbaby#UKTurnUpComingsoon#happytogether#




Nigerian medical students in the Carribeans arrested for stealing


Some Nigerian medical students studying in St Vincent and Grenadines in the Caribbean have reportedly been arrested for theft.

The students were awarded scholarships in 2013 under the Rivers State Scholarship schemes.

Two of the sixteen students were nabbed after they were caught stealing, Vanguard gathered.

The students, who reportedly said they resorted to stealing due to lack of funds, complained that the government abandoned them to their own fate for close to 2 years, alleging that they (government) refused to pay their tuition and starving them of their monthly upkeep allowances.

One of the medical scholars, Promise Adimele Amaechi, narrated his ordeal to newsmen while begging the government to intervene.

According to him, “We are supposed to graduate in October this year, but due to non-payment of our school fees, the school authorities have stopped us from our clinical clerkships. The school said we can’t graduate if our school fees are not paid; hence the school has to stop us from completing our remaining clinical rotations.

‘’Moreover, because our upkeep allowances are not paid, we cannot feed and pay our rent. Some of our landlords think we could leave the country without paying them, most students’ travelling documents have been seized and legal action taken against us to recover the debts.

“Two students among us, who recently engaged in stealing and fraud in order to make ends meet, were arrested.

“As I speak to you, I have not eaten for the past three days, this is how bad the situation is with us,” Amaechi added.

The students lamented they have resorted to begging for alms to feed and are now living on the streets as their landlords have ejected them for failing to pay rent.

Confirming the report, the Executive Director of Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, RSSDA, Mr. Larry Pepple, “Since I took over as the Executive Director of RSSDA in January this year, I met backlog of old tuition and backlog of unpaid living allowances.

“As at today, it has clocked 17 months that the scholars have not received their allowances.

“The ones that are in the final year, the governor has given approval for everything to be paid to them so that they can conclude and return.

“But unfortunately, this approval as we speak, is yet to translate to cash, because of the limited resources.

“We are currently working with the Minister of Finance,” Pepple said, adding that 328 others have returned home to continue their education due to the crippling economic situation.



Michelle Obama among of the most stylish first lady in America’s history


Michelle Obama can easily be crowned as the most stylish first lady in America’s history. She always seems to wow with her grace, lovely smile and designer outfit. Recently, she wore an iconic long sleeveless white gown to the 12th White House state dinner 2016 which left everyone talking and in the past 2 presidential terms, she really has become a fashion icon.





Kanye West, Khloe K & Kylie rush to be with Kris Jenner at car crash scene


Kris Jenner’s family rushed to be by her side as she was treated by paramedics at the scene of a nasty car crash involving her one-week-old $250k Rolls-Royce near her Calabasas home. Her daughters Khloe and Kyli, son-in-law Kanye West and boyfriend Corey Gamble arrived at the scene after they were informed about her accident. They surveyed the wreckage and watched as Kris was treated by medics, who didn’t want to risk injuring her further by removing her from the vehicle.




Justin Bieber rents a huge $10k a night mansion in Hawaii for his two-week vacation



Justin Bieber has rented an impressive ocean-side mansion for a planned two-week summer getaway. The singer is paying $10,000 a night to stay at the stunning Water Falling Estate on Hawaii. The spacious residence is worth approximately $7 million and covers 10,942 sq ft over three floors.

The mansion which is perched above two waterfalls, has five bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, elevators, 2 whirlpools sauna, a wet bar, exterior grill and dining area, 9 hole golf pitch, roof-top night-lit tennis/basketball court with stadium style seating for 450 spectators and a rooftop helipad.

It also has an ‘aquatic centre’ which features a high dive, 2 story water slide and comes with an Olympic sized salt water infinity pool. Not to mention, 2 ATVs were provided for ground transportation.

IGP visits communities attacked by militants in Lagos


The acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on Thursday visited Isawo and Igbo Olomu towns in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

The two areas have recently come heavily under the attacks of militants who killed and kidnapped many residents for ransom.

The IG, who arrived at the towns around 10.30am, asked members of the communities to be vigilant and to report suspicious activities to the police.

A soldier deployed in the area said some of the militants had fled from the creek into the community and were among those who welcomed the IG.




Desmond Elliot at Aso Excellence Awards In Lagos


The Queen of Aso Nigeria 2016 took another dimension this year as the opening preliminary fashion was held at the prestigious Oriental hotel Lagos Nigeria.

The Event which has its official hosts as Melvin Oduah and Winifred Iguwa registered the presence of key government officials and celebrities, Top Nigerian Designers Mccoyclothings, Ibile Vogue Academy, DiyaKulture and Keto couture.

This year’s event awarded the speaker of Lagos State Government Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa, Hon Desmond Elliot, Yaw, Artquake, Ibiye Vogue Academy, Chief Mrs Nike Okundaye, Dr Seye Kehinde, Juliet Ibrahim, Chief Mrs Abba Folawiyo, Otunba Olakunle Azeeze, Hon Dayo Israel, Mr Lekan Balogun CEO McCoy clothings,

It was remarkable to see Queen Yvette Meurer, Most Beautiful Model in Nigeria, receive appear on stage with Desmond Elliot as he received his award. She presented her titled book \’Path To Excellence\’ to the Lagos State House of Assembly member as one of the names she mentioned on her first Co-authored literary youth masterpiece.‎





A 21-year-old man who wanted fast money has been arrested after he attempted to behead his friend for rituals.


A 21-year-old man, Charles Ashitey, from the Tema Region in Ghana, is currently in police custody after he was arrested for allegedly attempting to behead his best friend, Daniel Norteye, 19, for money rituals.

Ashitey, who is popularly known as Zaga, was arrested by residents of Tema Newtown after his attempt to kill Norteye failedon Sunday, July, 31, Adom Online reports.

In a police report, the victim who had gone for a party in the area, decided to spend the night in his close friend’s room, not knowing that the man he thought was his friend, had other plans for him and that was to kill him for rituals.

In the police statement, it was gathered that at 4am, Ashitey decided to carry out his plans by using a sharp knife to slit the throat of Norteye but the victim woke up and began struggling with the suspect, resulting in multiple cuts in his palm and abdomen.

But luck was on his side as he was able to escape with the knife and was rushed to his aunt’s house where he was taken to the Tema Newtown Police Station to lodge an official complaint, before being taken to the Tema General Hospital for treatment.

When the police went to the search the suspect’s room, the decomposing head of snake was found alongside egg shells, and powder, which were sprinkled around the room, while a wooden doll was also found in the room.




I am still leader of Boko Haram sect- Abubakar Shekau insists in a new audio message


Abubakar Shekau yesterday released an audio stating that he remains the leader of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. He released the audio message hours after BBC released a report that ISIS in the latest issue of their magazine announced Abu Musab al-Barnawi as Boko Haram’s new leader. Shekau in the audio accused al-Barnawi of trying to stage a coup against him. In the 10 minutes audio, Shekau spoke in Haura and Arabic.

Below is excerpts of Shekau’s words in Hausa:

“All blessings be to Almighty Allah, and his His Prophet SAW. I am Imam Abubakar Shekau. This is the message to the world, to those who can understand Hausa and any other languages it can be translated for a clear understanding of the message, which is why we are sending this message to the world. The content of my message goes thus. We have heard news going round and attributed to people we had earlier pledge allegiance to. Even though we are not against them base on the message we heard in the world radio but we are still on our ideology. We know those we differ with, and I have written on this long ago. All we wrote have been documented with me, some eight pages and some nine pages stating their kind of ideology.

Because I stated it clear that I am against the principle where someone will dwell in the society with the infidels without making public his opposition or anger against infidels publicly as it is stated in the Quran. Anyone doing such can’t be a real Muslim thick and thin. This is what our ideology proved. And that is where I am, to them, a Muslim can dwell in the society and do his marketing compromising core foundations. I want the world to know that we are still holding our ideology and tied with the Quran, we will not derail and will not revolt but will continue to remain in the cause of Allah.

Following Prophet SAW is compulsory for us, and we will follow it to the end. This is our stand, and we are still in the cause of Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da’awati wal-Jihad and Allah will help us. May Allah strengthen us to remain in this cause. We are still members of Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da’awati wal-Jihad, no matter what they call us, we remain what we are. No matter what we have our basis in Quran.

No matter what they call us, what we aspire is to justify our ideology in the Quran which is ultimate because we have not derailed. We are on and in the future, we will not accept any emissary except the one we can attest he is sincere and truthful for Allah and His cause. In the first place, we sat and I was deceived, they said I should write my ideology to be taken if there is a mistake they will point out and bring back.

They now deceive me, and it is base on some authorities and today I found out that there is one who is following principles of infidel which they want me to follow, and Prophet has stopped us against such. We are still in the cause of Allah and will never depart in the struggle to establish an Islamic caliphate and standing by Islam. We will continue to work for the cause of Allah no going back. Anyone that caused this, no problem, if it’s possible may Allah show him the correct path and if it is not so may Allah protect us from his mischief.”




Landlord pour hot water on young boy over alleged theft in Akwa Ibom (Photo)


Mr. Aniete, a landlord in Atan, Oodukpani LGA of Akwa Ibom poured boiling water on the boy identified as Daniel Edet Inyang, severely injuring him. The incident is said to have happened on July 14th. According to reports, Mr Aniete, a Tailor had accused the boy of stealing a phone.




Nigerian woman, Franca Asemota pictured during her extradiction to the UK to stand trial for trafficking of minors



Franca Asemota from Benin, Edo State, who is currently facing trial on charges of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, is pictured at the airport being extradited to the UK earlier this year.

The 38-year-old was on August 3rd found guilty of eight counts of conspiracy to traffic people into sexual exploitation by a jury at Isleworth Crown Court. Ms Asemota forced dozens of teenage orphans into prostitution and slavery using the threat of witchcraft.

Known to her victims as ‘Auntie Franca’, she used Heathrow as a hub to traffic at least 40 girls and young women into Europe from remote villages in Nigeria. She promised them jobs, education and a better life, then used ‘witchcraft’, threats and violence to force them in to the European sex trade.





PRESS RELEASE: Poise Nigeria Launches Premier Book on Refinement!


Contact person: Nonye Cally-Bechi

Mobile: 08035676266

Email: nonye.cally-bechi@poisenigeria.org



Poise Nigeria Launches Premier Book on Refinement!

Join Poise Nigeria Limited at the official launching of the book, The Art of Refinement by Mavi S. Isibor- ‘The Etiquette Icon’. This event is scheduled to hold on Sunday, August 7, 2016, at its corporate head office 5, Pinnock Beach Estate, Jakande Roundabout, Lekki at 3.00 pm prompt.



LEKKI, LAGOS: 4 August, 2016- Poise Nigeria Ltd will be hosting the launching of the book, The Art of Refinement, this is the first of its kind written by a Nigerian Author. The book, which addresses the dearth of matters concerning etiquette among Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike, is coming at a time when the need for such values have gotten to its peak. The call for values & decorum clarification, especially in our political and corporate circles have largely gone unheeded, hence the book provides the economic importance and benefits of having refined minds to promote the country’s brand!

In addition to getting firsthand solutions to real life challenges, the book provides practical steps and solutions to positive living and ethical orientations which everyone needs in a fast-changing globalized world that places much emphasis on virtues like trust and decorum. The event will also feature networking opportunities with business experts and other top minds.

The book will be reviewed by ace broadcaster and TW magazine publisher, Adesuwa Oyenokwe. The Chairman of the Occasion and Chief Launcher is Mr. Ifie Sekibo, MD/CEO, Heritage Bank.

Also in attendance will be Professor Pat Utomi, Chairman, Poise Nigeria Limited; and other notable dignitaries.



Poise Nigeria Limited is Nigeria’s foremost etiquette company located at 5A, Pinnock Beach Estate, Jakande Roundabout, Lekki, Lagos.

Website: www.poisenigeria.org

Twitter handle: www.twitter.com/poise_nigeria

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/poisegroup

Wife of the President of the Fedaral Republic of Nigeria, Mrs Aisha Buhari was welcomed at the Us Airport amidst cheers and well wishes.

Half-caste Lady Scams Bovi of N5000


Comedian Bovi wrote an open note to two ladies who scammed him at different times.While one gave him a dud cheque of N500k, the latest one scammed him for N5k and he found out she asked the same amount from about 20 men..lol savage..
The comedian wrote: “In memory of the only lady and indeed human being to successfully scam me! Till today, as small as this Victoria Island and lekki is, I’ve never run into her again! Neither can I reach her on phone! Pls if you know her, tell her I have forgiven the debt!

She should stop hiding when she sees me. It’s more than 2 years now! Tell her that I went to EFCC and they laughed at me so hard! They started asking if she was my lover! Basically they had better amounts to pursue! So do I now. In other news there’s another half- caste girl that think she’s smart. She called me to pls send her 5k. Yes, 5 thousand Naira! She told me one disjointed long story. My dear, we are in the same industry! So I know I will find you. I know you borrowed 5k from like 20 of us that day! You promised to pay back same day but you have since evaporated into thin air! My sister if you know how shameless I am in dragging small money, you will pay me quick! I need my 5k! This is Buhari era! Every kobo count






ISIS Names New Boko Haram Leader



Islamic State, also called ISIL (Islamic State In Iraq and The Levant), has announced a new leader for the insurgent group, Boko Haram. ISIL referred to Abu Musab al-Barnawi, who was previously spokesman for Boko Haram, as the new leader replacing Abubakar Shekau.

Mr. al-Barnawi is featured in the latest issue of an ISIS magazine, the BBC has reported. The magazine makes no reference to Mr. Shekau.

The eccentric Mr. Shekau was last seen in a Boko Haram propaganda video in March 2015, one of many footages released in his years of leading a brutal campaign against the Nigerian state.

In one of the videos, Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIS, which was originally based in Syria and Iraq. ISIS has several offshoots now in other countries including Libya.

Mr. Shekau took over as Boko Haram leader after the group’s founder, Muhammad Yusuf, died in police custody in July 2009. Boko Haram became more deadly and radicalized under his leadership.



ETI Appoints Dan Sackey as MD, Ecobank Ghana and Regional Executive, Anglophone West Africa


The management of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) today announced the appointment of Dan Sackey as Managing Director of its Ghanaian subsidiary, Ecobank Ghana, and Regional Executive for Anglophone West Africa, subject to regulatory approvals.

Mr. Sackey has extensive experience and knowledge of the African banking landscape, having risen through the ranks in the Ecobank Group, which he joined in 1995 as a risk analyst in the corporate banking division of Ecobank Ghana.

In his current role as Managing Director for Ecobank Zimbabwe and Cluster Head for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) zone, he has been responsible for driving Ecobank’s businesses in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo, in addition to spearheading the expansion of the Ecobank franchise into Angola.

Mr. Sackey’s appointment follows a reorganisation at Ecobank earlier in the year, which created four geographical units: Nigeria with head office in Lagos; Anglophone West Africa with its centre in Accra; French West Africa (the francophone West African Economic and Monetary Union or ‘UEMOA’) based in Abidjan; and Central, Eastern and Southern Africa with its centre in Nairobi.

Dan Sackey’s previous positions include those as Managing Director of Ecobank Rwanda,

Deputy Group Risk Manager and Regional Risk Manager. His new appointment takes effect from 1 September 2016. He replaces former Ecobank Ghana Managing Director Samuel Adjei, who was appointed Managing Director of Ecobank Kenya and Group Executive, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa earlier this year.

Dan Sackey holds a Masters in Business Administration with specialisation in International Banking and Finance from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Science degree in Administration (Accounting Option) from the University of Ghana’s School of Administration..




Donald Trump’s remarks about women reflect ‘darkness of his soul’ – Will Smith



Top Hollywood actor Will Smith has criticised Presidential hopeful Donald Trump over history of misogynistic comments especially one where he called a woman ‘a fat pig’ and says Trump’s remarks reflect ‘darkness’ of his soul’.

“For a man to be able to publicly refer to a woman as a fat pig, that makes me teary,” Smith toldnews.com.au in an interview posted Tuesday. “And for people to applaud, that is absolutely f—ing insanity to me,” he added. “It’s absolutely collective insanity.”

Smith also said he would throw out any of his sons if any of them uses the kind of offensive language Donald Trump uses.

“If one of my sons — I am getting furious just thinking about it — if one of my sons said that in a public place, they couldn’t even live in my house anymore,”

The former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” acknowledged there was a lengthy list of offensive comments Trump has made, but his views on women were “such an absolute illustration of a darkness of his soul.”

“For me, deep down in my heart, I believe that America won’t and we can’t (elect Mr Trump). Of all the things he has said, and we could go through the laundry list, that was the one that was such an absolute illustration of a darkness of his soul. I just cannot figure out how people can clap for that.”

Some of the recipients of Trump’s vitriol include Rosie O’Donnell, Arianna Huffington and Bette Midler.

“I think as much as we want to believe that love is the greatest human motivator, it’s not. Fear is. Fear is the most dangerous and powerful motivator because when a human being gets scared, fights or flight kicks in. And there is this really separatist non-inclusive xenophobic, racist wave that is sweeping the globe that is making us pull apart farther than putting us together.

"The importance of leaders is that they have to be level headed, they have to be calm, because when people get scared, they lose their morality and that reptile mind takes over. It’s the type of thing that you see in all forms of nature, but our leaders can’t be that.” Clearly enraged, he continues. “So, we are not even going to pretend it is going to happen. I have faith in America. America has had really critical times but the good (people) tend to make their way to the top.”




Patoranking Arrested At Entebbe International Airport, Uganda for Failling to Adhere to Rules


Nigerian Singer Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie better known by his stage name Patoranking, was Yesterday afternoon arrested at Entebbe International Airport for failure to adhere to check in rules.

“He failed to adhere to check-in rules and above all he had not secured his entry visa,” said the source who was at the Airport yesterday.

The source further said that Patoranking thought he was too ‘big’ and he would receive VVIP treatment upon arrival.

“He was just told to remove his cap for security check-up but he chose not to listen to instructions. He was denied entry and arrested for disobeying lawful check in orders.”

Patoranking who arrived at the Airport at around 16:00hrs, was detained for over 7 hours.

After countless times of apologising and begging, Patoranking was later released and granted entry visa.

Trying to show that he is a known celebrity, Patoranking first refused to accept entry visa saying he was disrespected and harassed by immigration officers.

He later coiled his small tail and headed to Hotel Africana where he addressed journalists.

Patoranking was in Uganda to market his latest music album titled ‘God over everything’.

The album features Wizkid, Elephant Man, Olamide, Phyno, Sarkodie and more.

Track list

Patoranking
G.O.E
Cheating Zone
Money ft. Phyno

Killing Me

This Kind Luv ft. Wizkid

Writing on the Wall

Forever

No Kissing Baby ft. Sarkodie

Mama Aboyo ft. Olamide

Stammerer

Love Town

Hale Hale

Beautiful

Daniella Whine ft. Elephant Man & Konshens

Ayinde ft. Kwam 1

Tonto Dikeh thank fans for not body-shaming her after giving birth


Nollywood actress and mother of one, Tonto Dikeh-Churchill took to her Instagram page some hours ago to thanks her fans and others for not body-shaming her after she gave birth. She wrote,

“I have been smiling ear to ear for days now because of your lovely comments My #Instafam. Yessss of course I read all my comments,Who lied that we don’t. That’s what we Live for lol,Enjoying the Highs and Lows of it all

Y’all bursting my head oooooo with praises
Thanks my people,I couldn’t appreciate y’all individually(Baby drama) so I did this post to say
THANK YOU ALL FOR LETTING ME BE ME AND APPRECIATING MY NEW BODY AND NOT PUTTING ME DOWN••
I LOVE YOU ALL
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
#MRSX #MAMAKING#IYAWOCHURCHILL”



Souirce: http://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2016/08/thank-you-all-for-letting-me-be-me-and.html#more





Two children die in fire outbreak in Akwa Ibom


A couple identified as Mr and Mrs Francis Ekanem has lost their two children and home, in Ikot Usen, Ibiono Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, to fire caused by a lit candle in the house.

The couple are bean cake (akara) traders.

They were said to be outside grinding the beans needed to prepare their product later in the day while their children were asleep in a room where the lit candle was placed.

The candle fell and started a fire but the busy couple were not aware at the initial stage.

Eyewitness say the children cried for help and tried to escape from the house but could not because of the burglary proof.

The parents then rushed to neighbours for help after they were alerted to the fire outbreak.

Sadly, the children were burnt to death before they could be rescued.

Police say it has opened an investigation into the incident.




Cultists kill final year student in Imo University



A final year student of the Imo State University, Owerri, IMSU, has been murdered in a cold blood by yet to be identified suspected cultists.

The deceased, whose identity was given as Ibekwe Obrien, was a final year student who was doing his clearance in school before he was gunned down at the IMSU extension front gate area of the campus.

It was also learnt that another student, Triple, was shot at the back gate area of the Campus. Though he sustained gunshot injuries, he was said to still be alive at the time of filing this report.

The police Public Relations Officers, PPRO, in the state, Mr Andrew Enwerem, a Deputy Superintendent of police, DSP, said that his office had been briefed on the incident.

He disclosed that the police had moved into action as investigation to unravel the circumstances was ongoing while manhunt for the killers was intensified.





Yeni and Seun Kuti remember dad



Seun and Yeni Kuti have paid tribute to their late father, Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, 19 years after his death.

“Nineteen years ago our Icon father, leader and father of the Nation left the world stage. He lives in us forever and continues to guide and protect us,” Yeni Kuti, who uploaded a photo of her late dad on Instagram wrote.

“That is why Nigeria didn’t go to war against all predictions. Rest in peace Fela. We miss you.”

Seun, on the other hand, used the occasion to call on Nigerian youths to learn lessons from the late music icon and honour the country’s heroes.




My husband will never renounce struggle – Nnamdi Kanu’s wife tells Buhari



The wife of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, has denied her husband is giving up on the fight for independence.

This is coming following reports that the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) was negotiating with the Nigerian federal government on the possible release of Kanu, on the condition that he would renounce Biafra.

But Uchechi Okwu-Kanu in a statement maintained that the recent allegations against her husband Nnamdi Kanu were incorrect and insulting.

Anybody thinking that my husband will renounce Biafra is certifiably insane,” she said, adding that “MEND does not speak for her husband.”

“This type of news as distressing as it is, is laughable because no group can postulate what my husband can or cannot do or say. This is not only an insult to our belief and of our rights as a people, perpetrated by dishonourable minds”, she further stated.

Kanu’s wife added that “It is now apparent that the charges against my husband are politically motivated and not a judicial process as President Buhari would have the world believe.

“This singular act of tyranny and injustice against my husband amongst others is reprehensible to every reasonable mind and is one of the critical reasons for the emergence of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) who have in their quest, consistently called for the release of my husband, which President Buhari has underplayed.

“Subsequently, Nnamdi Kanu should be present at any negotiations and I can refer President Buhari to F.W. de Klerk of South Africa on how to negotiate with a freedom fighter.”

The IPOB had equally released a statement stating their leader had not “consented to any agreement”

Chief priest Arrested for killing daughter while trying to beat wife with cutlass



A 30-year-old chief priest, Eno Akpan, has been arrested by the Akwa Ibom State Police Command for allegedly killing his one year and three months old daughter, Favour.

Eno, a native of Ikot Akpan Udo village in the Ikot Abasi Local Government Area, was said to be the custodian of the village’s shrine.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Murtala Mani, said in Uyo on Monday that Eno had a misunderstanding with his wife, Blessing, and beat her up.

The CP, who spoke through the state Police Public Relations Officer, Cordelia Nwawe, explained that during the squabble, Blessing ran to her mother and left her daughter with the suspect.

He said Eno called Blessing to take Favour with her, adding that when she refused, he inflicted machete injuries on the girl’s back and head.

The girl died from the injuries.

He said, “On July 23, at 7.30pm, the complainant, Blessing, had a misunderstanding with her husband, Eno Akpan. In the process, the husband beat her up.

“She left the house for her mother’s place, leaving her daughter behind. The husband asked her to return home to take the child along, but she refused. The husband then used a machete to inflict cuts on the back and head of their daughter. She died on the spot.”

The CP noted that investigation was ongoing into the matter.

Confessing to the crime, Eno, however, said he had a disagreement with his wife after she returned home late from the market where she sold oysters.

According to him, he used his fists on her, but by the time he picked up a machete to strike her, it cut through their daughter.

He said, “She went to sell oysters in the market. When she came back, I tried to inquire why she came back late and that it was becoming a habit for her to return home late from the market.

“Her reply incensed me and I had no other option than to beat her. The moment I picked up a machete to strike her, she threw my daughter at me and the machete landed on her head and back.”







Police engage armed robbers in shootout in Lagos, two robbers dead



A group of armed robbers on Monday caused mayhem on Okunola Road in Idimu area of Lagos State after they allegedly attacked a police inspector.

The three-man gang, which came on a motorcycle at about 11:45am, were said to have robbed the inspector, who had just come out of a bank in the area.

They reportedly shot the inspector in the jaw and dispossessed him of his money.

It was gathered that a police patrol team attached to the Anti-Pipeline Vandalism Intelligence Unit engaged the robbers in a shootout in their attempt to escape from the scene; during which two of the robbers were killed.

The injured police inspector was rushed to a general hospital in the area.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations officer, PPRO, in the state, SP Dolapo Badmos, told our reporter that a surviving member of the gang, Gafaru Ismail, has been arrested and taken to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja.

The PPRO stated that two pistols were recovered from the gang.





Steph-Nora Okere Says She Is Married To Jesus



Nollywood actress Steph Nora Okere has relocated to Ibadan temporarily for the completion of her upcoming TV series.
The actress who was recently honoured by City People revealed why her wedding was cancelled about 10 years ago and why she is still single.

In her words:

Right now, I’m shooting a new series, Broken Heart in Ibadan that is coming out soon. It is my latest work. I only left the set to come down here to receive my Award from City People because I value this Award so much.

I was in the process of getting married but ended up not getting married. Where I come from, there is the process of marriage when you start the process, the Ibo people will go and make research on the other person’s background and If they find out negative things about the man or woman’s family, that means they will put an immediate stop to the marriage. That was what happened in my own case.

I was never married but the Press got me married to Lanre Falana. I was involved in a marriage process which got truncated along the line. Marriage begins with paying the woman’s dowry, traditional and white wedding. All these did not take place. My family didn’t support marrying a man who kept one woman in one place and plans to keep another one in another place. I attend Catholic Church and the marriage process in Catholic begins with the intended couples tendering a marriage certificate issued by a court to the church. This was the main reason we were in court in the first place.

We were not living together, we had an Introduction where his family and mine were introduced to each other only. This was the beginning of our problem. For us to discover that we were not compatible. Our court marriage was in July and he went abroad in September only for him to be back a year and a half later.

It has not been easy. You hardly can differentiate between a man who truly wants you as a woman because he feels for you, or one who wants to be seen with a known actress. Some men can go as far as taking a bet on you because you are a known actress. But when a good man comes around, I will settle with him. However, my Bible has not told me I cannot make heaven as a single woman.
I hope to marry again when a good man comes but for now I am married to Jesus.

http://citypeopleng.com/marriage-crashed-veteran-actress-steph-nora-okere/




Charly Boy’s men-o-pause Story



Popular media personality Charles Oputa otherwise known as Charly Boy has come up with another write-up, this time, he is touching the medical line. Charly Boy wrote about menopause as it affects men which many men do not think The message is specifically directed at men who don’t know about their sexuality, particularly what he calls Men-O-Pause. He thinks he has attained a position to speak on it. Do men experience menopause? Charly Boy wrote: “If you are above 40yrs old, then you have every business reading this. If not, however, you still need to go ahead and read because your own time dey come. I mostly talk about the experiences I have been through, to talk to me and sometimes to heal me or some of the people I counsel.

I share things I have learnt, so others can pick any positives that may help them in their journey through life. Na so. The stage I am at now and what am going through, is what I have discussed with so many men including my father-in-law in the past 30yrs. I never thought or even imagined I would one day be wearing the same shoes myself. Some men right now are experiencing symptoms that include fatigue, serious mood swings, depression and wait for it….sexual problems; like not being as desirous of your spouse sexually as you have been in the past. Like noticing things you didn’t use to notice in the past in your house hold. Like being irritable and short fused or the feeling of being alone even when you’re surrounded by family.

Oyinbo people get name for am, dem dey call am Men-O-Pause.” The grandfather went further to enlighten the menfolk when he wrote: “When a woman is moody, it’s hormones. When a man is moody, it’s work related stress, money problems, or just one of those days, right? Maybe not!




Saraki Congratulates New NBA President



President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday, congratulated the newly elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Mahmoud Abubakar, SAN, and other national officials of the association.

Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, said the election of Abubakar could not have come at a better time in the life of the NBA and the nation’s legal system, considering his reputation and wealth of experience.

He specifically noted the use of electronic voting in the conduct of the NBA’s 2016 election which produced the new national officers of the Bar, describing it as a clear milestone which points the way to go, at the national level, in this era of digital revolution.

The Senate President called on the new national executive of the NBA to build on the legacies of his predecessors, work for the unity of the Bar and ensure that the principle of fairness, equity and justice comes to play in all their actions.

He reiterated his pledge that the National Assembly would continue to welcome the input from the Bar in its efforts to review the nation’s obsolete laws as well as the introduction of other progressive legislations that will help to improve the socio-political and economic development of the country.

He specifically commended the outgoing NBA executive, led by Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN), for its engagement with the Senate, through the Nigeria Bar Association’s Section on Business Law, to review laws which affect the ease of doing business in the country, an effort which has began to yield tangible results.

Saraki said: “The recent passage of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Bill, by the Senate is a testament to the many advantages that can accrue to the nation’s economy when the legislature and critical associations like the NBA collaborate.

“I sincerely congratulate the new NBA executive under the leadership of Mr. Mahmoud Abubakar. As a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, in Kano State, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), I have no doubt that Mahmoud has all it takes to take the elite body of lawyers in the country to the next level.

“I also believe the NBA will continue to strive for excellence as an association comprising ministers in the temple of justice by ensuring that both plaintiffs and defendants are accorded all rights and legal privileges due them before, during and after cases are dispensed with by the courts,” he said.

Today in History



YEAR DAY EVENT

10 BCE Aug 1 Claudius (d.54CE), Roman Emperor, was born. Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar Drusus, the nephew of Tiberius and grandson of the wife of Augustus, was made emperor after Caligula.

126CE Aug 1 Publius Helvius Pertinax, Roman emperor (193 AD), was born.

527 Aug 1 Justinus I, Byzantine emperor (518-27), died.

860 Aug 1 Peace of Koblenz involved Charles the Bare, Louis the German & Lotharius II.

902 Aug 1 The Aghlabid rulers of Ifriqiyah (modern day Tunisia) captured Taormina, Sicily.

1086 Aug 1 English barons submitted to William the Conqueror.

1096 Aug 1 The crusaders under Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople. Anna Comnena, a 13 year-old Christian in
Constantinople, watched as the crusaders marched into the city.

1137 Aug 1 Louis the Younger (1120-1180) of France was crowned King Louis VII. He had married Eleanor, the Duchess of Aquitaine, just a few months earlier.

1464 Aug 1 Piero de Medici succeeded his father, Cosimo, as ruler of Florence.

1485 Aug 1 Henry (VII) Tudor’s army set sail from Harfleur to Wales.

1589 Aug 1 Monk Jacques Clement attempted to murder French King Hendrik III.

1628 Aug 1 Francesco Gonzaga (37), composer, died.

1664 Aug 1 The Turkish army was defeated by French and German troops at St. Gotthard, Hungary.

1686 Aug 1 Benedetto Marcello, Italian author, composer (Lettera Famigliare), was born in Venice, Italy.

1689 Aug 1 A siege of Londonderry, Ireland, by the Catholic Army of King James II ended in failure. The Protestants were victorious and the event led to the annual Apprentice Boy’s March. The group is named in honor of 13 teenage apprentices, all Protestants, who bolted the city gates in front of the advancing Catholic forces at the start of the 105-day siege.

1711 Aug 1 Czar Peter the Great fled Azov after being surrounded.

1714 Aug 1 Queen Anne (1702-1714) of Britain died at age 48. By the 1701 Act of Settlement Prince George Louis (54) of Hanover succeeded her as King George I (d.1727).

1740 Aug 1 Thomas Arne’s song “Rule Britannia,” which celebrated Britain’s military and commercial prowess, was performed for the 1st time. It grew to become the unofficial anthem.

1744 Aug 1 Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine Monnet de Lamarck, French zoologist, was born.

1759 Aug 1 British and Hanoverian armies defeated the French at the Battle of Minden, Germany. The marquis de Lafayette was killed by a British cannonball and his son, Gilbert du Motier (2), inherited the title. In 1777 Lafayette joined the American Continental Army.

1770 Aug 1 William Clark, American explorer, was born in Charlottesville, VA. He led the Corps of Discovery with Meriwether Lewis.

1774 Aug 1 British scientist Joseph Priestley succeeded in isolating oxygen from air in Calne, England. He called his new gas “dephlogisticated air.”

1779 Aug 1 Francis Scott Key, author of the “Star Spangled Banner,” was born.

1781 Aug 1 English army under Lord Cornwallis occupied Yorktown, Virginia.

1791 Aug 1 Robert Carter III, a Virginia plantation owner, freed all 500 of his slaves in the largest private emancipation in U.S. history.

1801 Aug 1 The American schooner Enterprise captured the Barbary cruiser Tripoli.

1808 Aug 1 Joachim Murat (1767-1815), French marshal and Napoleon’s brother in law, became king of Naples (1808-1815) and Sicily.

1815 Aug 1 Richard Henry Dana (d.1882), US jurist, novelist, lawyer and sailor, was born. He wrote “Two Years Before the Mast.”

1818 Aug 1 Maria Mitchell (d.1889), the first female astronomer in the U.S., was born. She discovered a comet in 1847 and was the first prof. of astronomy at Vassar College. In 1869 she was the first woman elected to the American Philosophical Society.

1819 Aug 1 Herman Melville (d.1891), American novelist, author of Moby Dick, was born. In 1996 part one of a 2-part biography
was published by Hershel Parker: Herman Melville: 1819-1851. In 1951 Leon Howard wrote a biography. Melville wrote 5 books between
1845-1850. They included “Typee” and “White-Jacket.”

1825 Aug 1 William Beaumont, a US Army assistant surgeon at Fort Mackinac in the Michigan territory, began experiments to study the digestive system of Alexis St. Martin, a fur trader who was accidentally shot in the abdomen in 1822.

1831 Aug 1 London Bridge opened to traffic.

1843 Aug 1 Robert Todd Lincoln (d.1926), son of Abraham Lincoln, Capt (Union volunteers), was born.

1862 Aug 1 James Henley Thornwell (b.1812), Presbyterian preacher from South Carolina, died.

1863 Aug 1 Battle of Little Rock, AK, and start of the Chattanooga campaign.

1864 Aug 1 Union General Ulysses S. Grant gave general Philip H. Sheridan the mission of clearing the Shenandoah Valley of Confederate forces.

1872 Aug 1 The first long-distance gas pipeline in the U.S. was completed. Designed for natural gas, the two-inch pipe ran five miles from Newton Wells to Titusville, Pennsylvania.

1876 Aug 1 Colorado was admitted as the 38th state.

1880 Aug 1 Sir Frederick Roberts freed the British Afghanistan garrison of Kandahar from Afghan rebels.

1889 Aug 1 John F. Mahoney, developed penicillin treatment of syphilis, was born.

1893 Aug 1 Henry Perky and William Ford patented a machine for making shredded wheat breakfast cereal.

1894 Aug 1 The First Sino-Japanese War erupted, the result of a dispute over control of Korea; Japan’s army routed the Chinese.

1907 Aug 1 The US Air Force had its beginnings as the US Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division in charge of “all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines and all kindred subjects.”

1914 Aug 1 France and Germany mobilized.

1917 Aug 1 Frank Little, IWW organizer, was lynched in Butte, MT

1922 Aug 1 Lithuania adopted a new Constitution.

1931 Aug 1 Tom Wilson (cartoonist of Ziggy), was born.

1933 Aug 1 The National Recovery Administration’s “Blue Eagle” symbol began to appear in store windows and on packages to show support for the National Industrial Recovery Act.

1939 Aug 1 Synthetic vitamin K was produced for the first time.

1941 Aug 1 The Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo plane made its first flight.

1942 Aug 1 Jerry Garcia, lead singer of the Grateful Dead, was born.

1943 Aug 1 Race-related rioting erupted in New York City’s Harlem section, resulting in several deaths.

1944 Aug 1 Anne Frank’s last diary entry; 3 days later she was arrested.

1946 Aug 1 President Truman signed the Fulbright Program into law, establishing the scholarships named for Sen. William J. Fulbright.

1950 Aug 1 Lead elements of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division arrived in Korea from the United States.

1951 Aug 1 Jim Carroll, musician and writer of “The Basketball Diaries,” was born

1953 Aug 1 Fidel Castro was arrested in Cuba. [see Jul 26]

1954 Aug 1 The Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into two countries at the 17th parallel. U.S. complicity in the overthrow of South Vietnam’s president made it impossible to stay uninvolved in the war. The Geneva Accords called for elections in 1956 and put a limit on the presence of foreign advisors. US military advisors were limited to 685.

1957 Aug 1 The United States and Canada reached agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

1958 Aug 1 US atomic sub USS Nautilus 1st dove under the North Pole.

1960 Aug 1 Dahomey, just west of Nigeria, became independent from France with Hubert Maga as president. It was renamed Benin with the capital at Porto Novo.

1964 Aug 1 Beatles’ “Hard Day’s Night” single went #1.

1966 Aug 1 In Nigeria Gen’l. Yakuba Gowon (b.1934) was named head of state and ruled until 1975.

1970 Aug 1 The dance piece “The Fugue,” created by Twyla Tharp (b.1941), premiered at the Univ. of Massachusetts in Amherst.

1971 Aug 1 The Concert For Bangladesh, two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, played to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden.

1972 Aug 1 The 1st article exposing Watergate scandal was published by Bernstein and Woodward.

1976 Aug 1 Liz Taylor had her 6th divorce when she re-divorced Richard Burton.

1977 Aug 1 In Uruguay teacher Julio Castro disappeared. His remains were identified in 2011 using DNA tests.

1978 Aug 1 Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds, who had tied the National League record of hitting in 44 consecutive games, saw his streak end in a game against the Atlanta Braves.

1980 Aug 1 In Iceland Vigdis Finnbogadottir (b.1930) began serving as president and the world’s first female head of state. She was re-elected 3 times and retired in 1996.

1981 Aug 1 Paddy Chayefsky (b.1923), dramatist and screenwriter, died of cancer in NYC.

1988 Aug 1 Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting his nationally syndicated radio program.

1990 Aug 1 Robert Stempel took charge at GM.

1992 Aug 1 The US Supreme Court permitted the Bush administration to continue returning Haitians intercepted at sea to their Caribbean homeland.

1993 Aug 1 The city of St. Louis found itself besieged by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, which had swelled to record levels after months of flooding in nine Midwestern states.

1994 Aug 1 Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley confirmed they had secretly married eleven weeks earlier.

1995 Aug 1 In the second TV network takeover in as many days, Westinghouse Electric Corporation struck a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion. A day earlier, Walt Disney had agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC for $19 billion.

1996 Aug 1 In a political victory for President Clinton, a federal jury in Little Rock, Ark., acquitted two Arkansas bankers of misapplying bank funds and conspiracy to boost his political career; the jury deadlocked on seven other counts.

1997 Aug 1 Pres. Clinton announced that the 1978 ban on sales of high-performance aircraft and other advanced weapons to Latin America would be lifted.

1998 Aug 1 Dismissing as “an empty promise” GOP-backed legislation to create a patients’ bill of rights, President Clinton in his Saturday radio address pressed Congress to pass a measure that would allow patients to sue their health insurers.

1999 Aug 1 A US heat wave that had gripped the nation since mid-July finally broke; authorities attributed nearly 200 deaths to the heat and humidity.

2000 Aug 1 A US military court in Germany sentenced Army Staff Sergeant Frank Ronghi to life in prison without parole for sexually assaulting and killing Merita Shabiu, an eleven-year-old ethnic Albanian girl, while on peacekeeping duty in Kosovo.

2001 Aug 1 The US House passed energy legislation that included opening the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

2002 Aug1 The United States and a bloc of Southeast Asian nations signed a sweeping anti-terrorism treaty.

2003 Aug 1 The Belgian Senate gave final approval to a scaled-down war crimes law that the government hopes will repair relations with Washington and preserve Belgium’s role as NATO headquarters.

2004 Aug 1 The US government warned of possible al-Qaida terrorist attacks against specific financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J.

2005 Aug 1 President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton would only be able to serve until the end of the current Congress i.e. December 2006.

2006 Aug 1 Former President Clinton and mayors of some of the world’s largest cities announced an initiative to combat climate change and increase energy efficiency in everything from street lights to building materials.

2007 Aug 1 SF police and homeless outreach workers rousted people sleeping in Golden Gate Park and other parks and encampments.

2008 Aug 1 US Federal and state regulators closed First Priority Bank of Bradenton, Florida, the 8th US bank to fail this year. It would be acquired by SunTrustBanks Inc.

2009 Aug 1 The new US Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect to reimburse veterans for their full undergraduate tuition at public colleges. An amount equivalent to that tuition would go to veterans who choose private schools or graduate programs.

2010 Aug 1 In Alaska a Fairchild C-123 registered to All West Freight of Delta Junction crashed in Denali National Park killing all 3 people on board.

2011 Aug 1 The Obama administration sued to block enforcement of Alabama’s new immigration law, widely considered to be the toughest measure in the United States to try to crack down on illegal immigrants.

2012 Aug 1 It was reported that President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing US support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government.

2013 Aug 1 The United States and Pakistan agreed to re-establish a “full partnership”, hoping to end years of acrimony over US drone strikes on Pakistani soil, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and other grievances.

2014 Aug 1 US Pres. Obama signed the Unlocking Consumer choice and Wireless Competition Act.

Source: Timelines of History





Iran signs customs agreement with Nigeria, three West African states



Abdolreza Gholamali, an official affiliated to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration said that in order to facilitate economic ties with West African countries, Iran has signed customs cooperation and mutual administrative assistance agreements with Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea Conakry and Mali.

The African countries showed interest in boost of relations with Iran, the official added.

The new customs agreements will facilitate trade between Iran and these four West African countries and decrease bureaucratic procedures for trade exchange.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif returned to Tehran on Friday morning after a six-day tour of West Africa, which took him to Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, and Mali.

While in West Africa, Zarif met and conferred with president, parliament speaker and foreign minister as well as senior officials of the countries.

He was accompanied by a top-ranking economic delegation in meetings with entrepreneurs as well as government officials of his host countries.





Netanyahu to Attend West Africa Summit as Israeli Outreach to Continent Expands



The prime minister met Thursday in his office with ECOWAS’ president, Marcel Alain de Souza, where the two signed a joint declaration of intent for greater cooperation. Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold said that the meeting “brings the Prime Minister’s [Africa] initiative, that started with east African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, to the western part of the continent.” Both parties “positively viewed the participation of the prime minister of the State of Israel in the ECOWAS summit in the near future,” they said in the declaration. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who also met with de Souza, added that Israel and African nations “have excellent cooperation and we welcome the opportunity for Israel to contribute from its knowledge and abilities in the field of health, water, and agriculture – a sign of the friendship between us.”

In related developments, an African Christian delegation visited Jerusalem on Wednesday to give an award to Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency. “We believe that Africa’s future depends on our connection to Israel. … We have a great deal to learn from the Israeli people and we believe that we have a great deal to offer in return,” said Nigerian pastor Olusegun Olanipekun. South African pastor Linda Godobo, the founder of the Vuka Africa Foundation, explained to Sharansky that she and her foundation had organized “the largest rally in the world to support Israel during the summer conflict with Hamas in 2014,” when 12,000 people demonstrated in Johannesburg in support of Israel.

These two events are the latest examples of Israel’s successful diplomatic outreach to Africa. Netanyahu visited Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia earlier this month. Weeks later, the Republic of Guinea, a Muslim-majority African nation, restored diplomatic ties with Israel after a 49-year break. Netanyahu has made it a priority to strengthen Israel’s commercial, diplomatic, and security relations with African countries. Israel has a long history of sharing its expertise with African countries. Jerusalem hopes that increased ties with African nations will lead to a shift in their voting trends at the UN and other global fora, thus improving Israel’s diplomatic standing and reversing what Netanyahu called “the automatic majority against Israel.”

Power Tariff Reversal Will Threaten Sector Reforms – NERC Boss



The Head/Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Tony Akah, says the recent court order directing reversal of electricity tariff constitutes serious threat to power reforms in the country.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of the agency said if the court verdict is implemented, it will alter the commercial foundation upon which contracts for gas, hydro, coal and solar resources for the production of electricity have been predicated.

Akah explained that ultimate destination of a commercialized electricity market is to achieve stability and adequacy in the supply of electricity to satisfy the yearnings of Nigerians for adequate, safe and reliable electricity supply.

The court judgment, he added, is a setback to the gains made so far in the nation’s electricity sector.

He said: “We are a responsible commission and we respect the judgement of His Lordship. However, we are also entitled to explore other legal avenues allowed within the ambits of the law to challenge that decision. So, for clarity of the position of the commission, we are aware of the judgment delivered on Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at the Federal High Court in Lagos by His Lordship Mohammed Idris. In his judgment, His Lordship declared the electricity tariff regime, which became operational February 1, 2016, as illegal.

“The commission respects the decision of the court, but we are dissatisfied because it represents, in our view, the reversal of the commercial foundation upon which contracts for gas, hydro, coal and solar resources for the production of electricity have been predicated.”

Akah argued that it also extends to other service improvement contracts that were entered into by operators in the sector for the development of the electricity industry, as well as for the ultimate improvement in the quality of service delivery to consumers.

He said: “We have instructed our lawyer to appeal; consequently, the commission has filed for stay of execution and the notice of appeal of the judgement. We believe that ultimately everybody and all institutions will come to a better understanding of the value of the choice we have made as a nation to privatise the power sector.

“Therefore, we ask the investors in the sector, as well as customers in the electricity market, not to panic as we seek a resolution within the ambit of the established law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The commission remains committed to continuously provide the right regulatory framework that will promote private sector investment in the electricity supply industry and also protect the interest of the electricity customers as enshrined in the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005.”




Saudi Arabia’s oil price cut Threatens Nigeria’s Oil


Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, has cut all official selling prices for its crude sales to the United States and Asian clients in August, signalling mounting competition for Nigeria and others.

The country’s state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, lowered the pricing terms for Arab Light sold to Asia by the most in 10 months as refineries grapple with falling margins and oversupply.

The company said on Sunday that it would sell cargoes of Arab Light in September at $1.10 a barrel below Asia’s regional benchmark. That is a pricing cut of $1.30 from August, the biggest drop since November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

All other official selling prices for Asian clients were reduced. The biggest cut was by $1.60 for Extra Light crude. Pricing for Light and Extra Light grades for the US clients was cut by 20 cents and 40 cents, respectively, while the Medium and Heavy grades were unchanged. Aramco raised the pricing of all grades except Extra Light to northwest Europe and the Mediterranean.

The Head of Energy Research, Ecobank Capital, Mr. Dolapo Oni, said, in a telephone interview with our correspondent that Nigeria would have to offer discounts to be able to secure its market share, meaning lower revenue for the government.

He said, “Saudi Arabia is only reducing prices in places where it is still fighting for market share, because they are seeing higher production from Iran. There is no market share fight in Europe, whereas there is market share fight is Asia and the US.

“Lower prices just mean that Nigeria too will have to sell at a discount because the bulk of our oil is going to Asia and Europe. So, it means for us to be able to sell our crude oil, we have to offer massive discounts in Asia especially. It is not a good thing for Nigeria.”

Oni said whenever Saudi Arabia cut prices in the market, it would affect every crude globally.




Disarm Fulani herdsmen now – Anglican Church tells Buhari



The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has asked the Federal Government to urgently “disarm all Fulani herdsmen ravaging the country.”

The church said the call became imperative following wave of attacks and killings of harmless farmers in the country recently.

It also enjoined the Christian Association of Nigeria to map out strategies on how to curb the killings of Christians in the country.

The remark was contained in a communiqué issued on Sunday by Bishop Rev. Duke Akamisoko after the second session of the third synod held at St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral, Kubwa in Abuja.

The church expressed displeasure with the widespread attacks on farming communities by the herdsmen in different parts of the country, stressing that the situation was contrary to Nigeria’s desire to promote agriculture.

Akamisoko said, “The Synod notes with dismay the prevalent attacks on farming communities by Fulani herdsmen in different parts of the country and demand that more decisive actions should be taken by the government to disarm the herdsmen to stem the rising wave of attacks and killings of harmless farmers as this is inimical to its desire to diversify our economy through agriculture.”

The Bishop also called on the three arms of government to guard the constitutional provisions of freedom of worship and association.




UNICEF resumes aid to NE Nigeria after convoy attack


UNICEF will continue to provide assistance to millions of conflict-affected children in northeast Nigeria, despite an attack on its convoy by Boko Haram Islamists, the UN children’s agency has said.

The jihadists ambushed a humanitarian convoy that included workers from UNICEF, UNFPA, and IOM while returning from Bama in northeast Borno state on Thursday, injuring several people, including two soldiers, and prompting UNICEF to temporarily suspend relief assistance to review the situation.

“We are working at full strength in the Borno state capital Maiduguri,” UNICEF Nigeria Representative Jean Gough said in a statement late Friday.

“We continue to call for increased efforts to reach people in desperate need across the state. We cannot let this heartless attack divert any of us from reaching the more than two million people who are in dire need of immediate humanitarian assistance.”

The agency urged donors and humanitarian organisations to scale-up the response to the emerging disaster in Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram’s seven-year insurgency.

“The violence has disrupted farming and markets, destroyed food stocks, and damaged or destroyed health and water facilities. We absolutely have to reach more of these communities,” he said.

UNICEF estimates that 244,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year in Borno state alone.

And if they are not reached with treatment, one in five of them will die.

The agency has provided two million people with health services and treated 56,000 children for malnutrition in the three conflict-affected states of northeast Nigeria.

Thursday’s attack was the first such attack on aid workers in the volatile region.

Nigerian military said the attack left two soldiers and three civilians injured, including UN aid workers.

Some cities in the northeast, including Bama, had gone for up to 18 months without any humanitarian deliveries before aid agencies and the UN arrived in June.

Many areas can only be accessed under escort from the Nigerian army.

In May, the UN said 9.2 million people living around Lake Chad, which forms the border of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, were in desperate need of food. Seven million of them are in Nigeria.

Boko Haram, which seeks to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths and displacing more than 2.6 million people since 2009.





Ex-militants to Start Receiving Stipends from August 1- FG



The Federal Government through the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), has disclosed that former Niger Delta militants will start receiving their stipends on Monday, August 1.

He made this known via a statement issued on Sunday by the Head of the Media and Communication Department of the office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Abuja, Mr. Piriye Keyaramo.

The statement further called on the ex-militants in the region to stop the planned protests scheduled to hold on Monday.

According to the statement, “President Buhari attaches so much importance to the Amnesty Programme, which explains why the President in his inaugural address to the nation specifically promised to invest heavily in the projects, and programmes currently in place for the ex-agitators in the region.”

Boroh added that the Federal Government planned to improve the amnesty programme for the benefit of the 30,000 ex-militants and other youths in the region.

“President Muhammandu Buhari, is already putting together a youth development and empowerment package that would directly impact the ex-agitators and other youths in the region,” he said.

The Federal Government through the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), has disclosed that former Niger Delta militants will start receiving their stipends on Monday, August 1.

He made this known via a statement issued on Sunday by the Head of the Media and Communication Department of the office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Abuja, Mr. Piriye Keyaramo.

The statement further called on the ex-militants in the region to stop the planned protests scheduled to hold on Monday.

According to the statement, “President Buhari attaches so much importance to the Amnesty Programme, which explains why the President in his inaugural address to the nation specifically promised to invest heavily in the projects, and programmes currently in place for the ex-agitators in the region.”

Boroh added that the Federal Government planned to improve the amnesty programme for the benefit of the 30,000 ex-militants and other youths in the region.

“President Muhammandu Buhari, is already putting together a youth development and empowerment package that would directly impact the ex-agitators and other youths in the region,” he said.





Central bank pumps 100b Naira into Skye bank after sacking top management



Nigeria’s central bank has injected more than 100 billion naira ($315 million) into Skye bank after sacking the lender’s top management this month for failing to meet minimum capital requirements, its new managing director said on Friday.

Adetokunbo Abiru also said Skye, Nigeria’s eighth-largest bank, made a pre-tax loss last year, due to oil-related bad loans and withdrawals of public sector deposits amid a government anti-corruption drive, but he did not give a figure for the loss.

That makes Skye the only Nigerian bank to make a loss in 2015, according to Reuters calculations. The central bank stepped in after depositors withdrew assets and to avert wider troubles within the banking sector as Africa’s biggest economy struggles with its worst crises for decades.

The central bank installed a new management team on July 4 with Abiru as managing director. Central bank staff had been working for two weeks inside Skye headquarters in Lagos to support the lender, Abiru told a news conference on Friday.

The bank would conduct an audit to see “what we inherited” and establish how much liquidity was needed, he said.

He hoped to have an overview by December after which Skye could focus on being a “frontline retail” bank. Some branches would be closed to bring down costs, pending approval from the central bank.

Skye’s non-performing loans amounted to 13 percent of total loans at the end of last year, well above the central bank target of less than 5 percent, Abiru said.

The losses “largely arose from issues relating to the cost-income ratio” which was “above the industry standard”, plus “the liquidity challenge as well and asset quality issues, and the resulting effect of all that”, he said.

“There was a very high dependence on public sector debt deposits,” said Abiru, referring to a government order last year to have all official bodies move funds from lenders to a central bank account as part of an anti-graft drive.

“The bank was severely hit by that,” he said, declining to give an outlook for this year.

In addition, half of Skye’s loan book was in foreign currency from the oil industry which has been hit by low crude prices.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio was 10.4 percent last year, compared with an industry standard of 16 percent, and its cost to income ratio was “close to” 103 percent, rather than the standard of about 65 percent, he said.

Nigeria’s central bank governor Godwin Emefiele is urging people not to panic about the banking system, saying he is on top of any trouble resulting from the economic crisis.




Nigeria prepares troops for Niger Delta crackdown if peace talks fail



Nigeria is deploying troops into strategic positions in the Niger Delta to prepare to use force against militants if peace talks fail, defense chiefs said on Friday.

Last week the government said it was talking to militants who have attacked oil and gas facilities in the main oil producing region in recent months, cutting crude production by 700,000 barrels a day, pushing Nigeria behind Angola to now make it Africa’s second producer.

“We have allowed the ongoing dialogue between the federal government and the militants. Our troops are in position. My message to the militants is to ensure they go to the negotiation table,” the chief of defense staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, told reporters during a visit to the state governor.

On the possibility of using force if talks between the government and militants break down, Minister of Defence Mansur Dan-Ali, said: “It cannot be ruled out.”

Crude sales make up about 70 percent of government revenue and the attacks have deepened an economic crisis brought on by low global oil prices. The militants say they want a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth to go to the impoverished region.

Dan-Ali said local people would work alongside troops as part of a grassroots community security force, along the lines of an approach used to fight the Islamist group Boko Haram in the northeast.

“We will fuse them into the new security infrastructure for the region,” he said.

In June, government officials said a one-month ceasefire had been reached. But Niger Delta Avengers, the group that has claimed responsibility for the majority of attacks dating back to January, said it had not agreed a truce.

Since then the group has said it would not take part in talks unless international mediators were involv

If Okonjo-Iweala Said It, So It Will Be!


We have all, at one time or another, had cause to hear or maybe even use this age-old saying, “A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country.” These words, spoken by the Lord Jesus, aptly summarise the story of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s sojourn in the corridors of executive power in Nigeria.

Our prophet (for so she must be called), blessed with the dual gifts of foresight and economic prowess, saw the need for a country as endowed in natural resources as Nigeria to set aside reasonable savings.

Thinking about it; this is basic, practical economics really. When you earn more, regardless of how tempted you are to spend, and spend, and spend, there is a little voice whispering in your ear to set some of it aside.

This sounds sensible enough, until you realise that some people do not even have a modicum of sense left in them. Or how else does one explain

the obsession some of our public office holders have with spending?

Should we get common sense a megaphone, so it’s voice can be louder than the sound of their hearts beating excitedly at the very thought of how they intend to rape our commonwealth? Can some noble scientist come up with a new vaccine to help us once and for all rid this nation of professional politicians whose goal is to steal, kill and destroy?

But, I digress.

A few days ago I read a report on Premium Times reviewing the opinion of Nigerians on President Buhari’s administration so far. While it was somewhat interesting to read what people thought about his efforts, my thoughts kept taking me back to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. You see, things may or may not have become so bad for us in this country if we had listened to this intelligent and very detailed woman when we really needed a voice of reason. As Finance Minister, she set up an Excess Crude Account that was supposed to help keep us afloat regardless of what the dynamics of the economy would present, and it did help indeed during the first economic recession.

One would think that seeing how beneficial the ECA was, her work would be applauded. But she became the Number One enemy of lecherous governors who, with their salivating mouths, could not keep their hands off the ECA.

The constituted Governors’ Forum suddenly had nothing better to talk about than how to sue the Federal Government over their unwillingness to share the money saved in the Excess Crude Account. The Wise King whose proverbs are renowned certainly knew no such men, else he would have added Amaechi, Fashola, and Oshimhole to his list of the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty desert, the blazing fire; making them eight things that never cry “ENOUGH!”.

They drained our commonwealth, leaving those who ought to have been generous lenders become the most pitiful of borrowers. Even with her smart setting up of the Sovereign Wealth Funds; something, I might add that other oil-rich nations were doing, our beloved leaders were more obsessed with lining their robust foreign accounts than in investing for the future. When recession was in sight, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala began to talk of belt-tightening measures and the fight started again. Our thumb-sucking leaders didn’t want their ‘toys’ taken from them. No more holidays in Europe? No more study trips abroad? You mean we have to use local hospitals now? Our mummy is a bad mummy!

Shame on them, I say! And double shame on us! She saw it, predicted it, warned us about it, and we let these uncircumcised Philistines steal our heritage. Double shame on us! While it may sound glib simply to say, “If Okonjo-Iweala said it, so it will be”, it is sadly our reality today. We heard the prophet and did nothing about it. Despite her best efforts to keep us from experiencing the calamity she foresaw, here we are today.



Dan Osofisan writes from University of Jos

danosofisan@gmail.com



A Senate without Order


There is a reason countries like the United States and United Kingdom maintain bicameral legislatures. While some might argue that the US is so large and will want equal and qualitative representations for its citizens, that argument may not hold water for the UK because members of the Upper Chamber (the House of Lords) are not elected. The UK still maintains the largely unelected body, partly because of its tradition of maturity or because it has a history of order and decorum as against what applies in the Lower Chamber (The House of Commons).



Those who have witnessed debates at the Commons will know how busy the House can be as compared to the Peers in the Lords. This is not to say that there is no decorum, but because most of the debates are done by the Commons (or “Commoners”) this may sometimes get messy. The Senate, which is the Upper Chamber in the US Congress, has been largely quiet in recent times, save for a brief “noisy” moment President Obama appointed a Federal Judge. Again, like their British colleagues, there is much emphasis on order in the Senate. One can now guess why apart from President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden being former US Senators, a major presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, also has had a stint in that legislative chamber.



Let us come back home. In Nigeria, the National Assembly a body that is ordinarily meant to fight corruption, has itself become engrossed in the vice. Its members refer to themselves as ‘Honourables’ or “‘Distinguished’ senators” depending on which chamber they belong, but nothing is really “distinguished” or “honourable” in their behavior if the display of some of them is anything to go by. A Senate which has members like Buruji Kashamu, a wanted US drug baron helps explain this point better!

The Nigerian Senate is presently suffering from legitimacy crisis. The June 9, 2015 leadership election that produced the duo of Dr. Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy is still controversial till date. This is not because they “won” but because the very ground on which their election is based is faulty. The contentious Senate Standing Order 2015(?) is said to have been forged. Can we build something on nothing and expect it to stand? The forgery of the Senate rules is serious criminal issue if proven to be true. This country will start to get better if the so-called big men start going to jail for crimes they commit!

Some days ago, I saw a news piece, (I can’t remember on which media platform), “Forgery Trial of Senate Leaders: Buhari Threatened With Impeachment; Dino Melaye Threatens To Beat Up Senator Tinubu.” I told myself that Nigerians can be dramatic with the online media known to reel out (for want of better words) lies and half-truths just to get traffic, but the news has to be “fake”. I waited for Dino to deny making the unfortunate statement, but no he won’t. In reaction to the news, someone asked on Facebook: “Dino threatened to beat who?”



I immediately went online to seek confirmation, and alas, Dino did issue the threat. At the point, my empathy for the Senator (if he is not properly so-called) changed to sympathy. Senator Dino Melaye (APC – Kogi West) reportedly said in his remarks about the ongoing forgery trial of the senate rules involving Saraki and Ekweremadu that the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, must be brought before the Senate to be thoroughly grilled and humiliated for charging the Senate leadership with forgery in court. Melaye reportedly issued threats, including impeaching the President (which he will later deny).



The climax of the meeting was when it was Senator Remi Tinubu’s turn to speak. How dare Remi, a woman and a wife for that matter speak where Dino is talking? He is probably used to his wife keeping quiet while he is speaking, so Remi’s audacity was too much for Dino to bear. She has to be given some ‘home trainings’, so must Dino be thinking after he said and I quote “I will beat you up on this floor and nothing will happen…”



Melaye has a history of being a wife beater and women molester, so no one should be surprised that the Kogi-born Senator threatened to beat another man’s wife. There was a time Melaye physically assaulted his ex-wife Tokunbo even threatening to kill the poor woman. But Tokunbo, unfortunately for Dino does not have a surname that is Tinubu!



While one has no problem with anyone being ambitious, everything is wrong with being overambitious like Dino. One also understands that he is Saraki’s man Friday, who must dance to his masters’ music no matter how poor the melody is, there is need for order even in madness!

Dino should have grown (at 45?) after serving in the House of Representatives well enough to have learnt proper parliamentary conduct. Those encouraging his misdemeanor are only enjoying his public display, like everyone enjoys watching the madman dance in the market square. Not only does he have a history of harassing women, he has a glittering resume of defending corruption and corrupt people. He led the gang in his term as House of Representatives member in defence of Hon Patricia Etteh then House Speaker whose scandal includes refurbishing a house with N628million.



The present forgery case against the Senate President and his Deputy is not an attack on the National Assembly as it is being misconceived in certain quarters. The Senate alone has 109 members out of which only two (elected by other senators) are on trial for forgery. The House of Representatives has 360 members out of which no one is on trial for any criminal matter presently. So, the case should be put in proper perspective. Saraki, Ekweremadu and the two bureaucrats at the National Assembly are standing trial for offences they allegedly committed on their own, not on behalf of the Senate as an institution!

With persons like Dino, a woman molester; integrity-challenged Saraki and Ekweremadu; wanted drug baron Kashamu and others in the Senate, I am so convinced that I see a house that is not in order!




Swiss Re now has 25% stake in Leadway Assurance


Leadway Assurance Company Limited announced, yesterday, that Swiss Re has purchased a 25% stake in the company.
The acquisition of shares by the Swiss Re marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the history of Leadway

The Managing Director, Mr Oye Hassan-Odukale, said that the complementary capabilities and aligned underwriting philosophies of the two organisations would bring great opportunities for Leadway to emerge as a leading African financial institution.

A statement issued by Mr. Tunde Hassan-Odukale, the Executive Director, Financial Services, said that the Swiss Re, was selected as an investor because of the existing relationship between the two organisations and Swiss Re’s commitment to the insurance sector, expertise and direct investments.

The investment allows Swiss Re to deploy capital in line with its strategy of accessing new risk pools in emerging markets and support insurance development across the globe.
The investment happened after the exit of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank, which used to be the second largest shareholder.



India ‘gold man’ battered to death


An Indian man who bought one of the world’s most expensive shirts made entirely of gold has been allegedly battered to death, police said.

Datta Phuge shot to the limelight in 2013 when he bought a shirt made with more than 3kg of gold and worth $250,000 (£186,943).

A money lender based in western Pune, Mr Phuge was called “the gold man”.

Four persons have been detained for questioning. Police suspect a dispute over money have led to the murder.

The police said some 12 people attacked Mr Phuge, 48, in Pune on Thursday night.

One of the suspects had invited Mr Phuge and his 22-year-old son to celebrate a birthday at an open ground in Dighi area when the men attacked him with stones and a sharp weapon.

Police said the son had witnessed his father being murdered and had been spared by the alleged killers.

“However, we are investigating how Mr Phuge reached the open ground where he was murdered,” Dighi police station inspector Navnath Ghogare told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Mr Phuge often wore gold all over his body: his knuckles, neck, and wrists were weighed down by signet rings, chunky bracelets, and a medallion.

“Some people ask me why I’m wearing so much gold but it was my dream. People have different aspirations. Some elite people want to own an Audi or Mercedes, and have big cars. I chose gold,” he told the BBC in 2013.




Fitch Rating: Agency rates GTBank at B+ with Stable Outlook


Fitch, a global rating agency, revised the Outlook on the GTBank’s Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from Negative to Stable citing the Bank’s continuing strong earnings, and stronger-than-expected liquidity as the reasons for the revised outlook.

Fitch Ratings also affirmed GTBank plc’s Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B+’ with a Stable Outlook and Short-term IDR at ‘B’. In addition, the agency affirmed the Bank’s Viability Rating (VR) at ‘b+’, Support Rating (SR) at ‘4’ and GTB Finance BV’s senior notes, guaranteed by Guaranty Trust Bank: affirmed at ‘B+’/’RR4’

Fitch revised the Bank’s Support Rating Floor (SRF) to ‘B’ from ‘B+’ as a result of the Sovereign’s weak foreign currency position.

The IDR rating and outlook reflects Fitch’s opinion of the Bank’s relative ability to meet its financial commitments and the Bank’s rating of B+ remains the highest credit rating in the industry. The Viability Rating (VR) which is a component of the IDR measures the Bank’s intrinsic credit quality and capacity to maintain ongoing operations and to avoid failure.

Fitch affirmation of the Bank’s VR shows that despite the tough operating environment, GTBank’s strong and stable financial metrics as indicated by its profitability track record, healthy liquidity state, strong asset quality and capital ratios, have continued to impact positively on the Bank’s VR rating of b+ which remains the highest in the industry.

The Bank’s Long and Short-term National Rating remain affirmed at AA- and F1+ respectively, also the best in the industry. This rating denotes expectations of very low default risk and strongest capacity for timely payment of financial commitments relative to other issuers or obligation in the country. The F1+ rating also denotes a particularly strong liquidity profile.

GTBank’s VR, SR, IDRs, National and Senior Debt ratings reflect the Bank’s strong earning potential, excellent management strategy and corporate governance, solid track record in managing credit risk, strong liquidity management and sound capital ratios.

The Bank will continue to improve its financial profile and strengthen its risk management capabilities to improve its overall creditworthiness.


FG Suspends Ban On Wood Exports


In furtherance to its bid to diversify the nation’s source of income, the federal government on Tuesday announced that it has suspended the ban on wood exports.

The suspension, it stated, came with very stringent guidelines some of which include the issuance of a new international trade certification.

Other guidelines include the cut one tree and plant five trees’ policy with a view to arresting deforestation and preserving the environment.

The Director of Forestry at the Federal Ministry of Environment, Mr. Philip Bankole, who disclosed this yesterday, said Nigeria as country risks massive deforestation if it does not control the way and manner woods are cut and exported to other countries.

Bankole added that the federal government had raised concerns on the degradation of the environment due the activities of wood exporters who cut down trees without re-planting.

However, he stated that the lifting of the ban was partial after which government will further review the situation and know what next to do with regards to wood exports.

He explained that the forest is being conserved not only for wood export, but for other purposes, adding that Nigeria has fallen short of reserving about 25 per cent of its land for forest reservation which currently stands at less than five per cent.

According to him, “The solution to this problem is to plant more trees; those of you who are involved in the wood export business will know that there are some species of woods that have gone into extinction. The Iroko, the Obeche, the Mahogany, Ebony trees have all disappeared. So much is being taken from the forest and little or nothing is being ploughed back into it.”

Bankole said the government frowns at a situation where woods are being exported raw without any value addition.

He said so many jobs and economic value are lost to exporting these woods in their raw state, adding that only processed or semi-processed woods will be allowed for export.

The director said: “There is a need to add value at every stage of processing these woods for export, at every stage of production, you are creating labour within the country, and you are reducing poverty. So the concern of government is that if you cut one tree, you must plant five to replace it so as to safe guard the future of unborn generation.”

He warned that any consignment for export that is not accompanied by CITIES certification would be confiscated by the destination country.

Speaking in similar vein, the President of the Tropical Wood Exporters Association of Nigeria (TWEAN), Mr. Tayo Omotoye, lamented that members of his group suffered huge losses since the ban.

He however said now was the time to be re-committed to the preservation of the environment by ensuring that it is protected and preserved even while the wood export business is going on.

We will create ‘Special Force’ to Protect Agro-Investment – FG


As part of measures to stave off further attacks on farmlands as well as reduce incidences of cattle-rustling in some parts of the country, the federal government has concluded arrangements to create a ‘Special Force’ within the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC to tackle the menace.

Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd) announced this on Thursday in Abuja when he received a delegation from the Centre for Crisis Communication CCC led by its Executive Secretary, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (retd).

He said he was already working with his counterpart in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbe in that direction.

“It is necessary to partner with the CCC in the area of strategic communication because this ministry is the hub of public safety and basically what we do here is to enhance the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

“For people who are abroad, their major source of information is the media. If they keep reading negative reports about crisis in any part of the country, they will not come and invest because the impression they would have is that Nigeria as a whole is not safe.

“We are working with the Ministry of Agriculture to create a special force in the Civil Defence that will protect agricultural investments and products”, he stated.

On the situation in the North-East, Dambazau said government is currently doing a lot of training for the police and the NSCDC in order to deploy them in all liberated areas, charging the CCC to assist the government in her peace-building efforts.

He said; “the issue of crisis communication is fundamental towards not only resolving crisis but also in peace-building. So, you have a lot of role to play particularly now that we are experiencing all forms of crisis in addition to the one in the North-East”.

Earlier, Air Commodore Anas (retd) thanked the minister for accepting to be part of the centre’s forthcoming seminar on crisis communication in Port Harcourt.

He said the interior ministry has a strategic role in the security architecture of the country, considering that it superintends over the police and four paramilitary services.

“The Centre has been synergizing with the agencies under the ministry and we want to assure you of closer partnership in the area of managing crisis communication. This is especially necessary because information dissemination is a very vital component of the change agenda as timely and careful release of information is crucial to avoiding destructive rumours”, he stated.




Revenue Generation: FG Has Identified 1,000 Dormant Revenue Lines – Adeosun


Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, yesterday, in Kano, said the Federal Government had identified more than 1,000 dormant revenue lines, assuring, however, that such huge dormant revenue opportunities will be maximised.

Adeosun, however, assured that the Federal Government’s drive for enhanced revenue generation would not be a burden to Nigerians.

The minister, who spoke at the opening of a two-day National Revenue Retreat in Kano, said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was firmly committed to turning the economy around by mobilising capital for investment in the essential infrastructure which will drive the nation’s economic growth.

The retreat entitled: “Enhancing Revenue Generation for Sustainable National Development,” according to the minister was a very important gathering, which came up at a pivotal period in the nation’s economic history.

The Minister said the revenue focus will not burden Nigerians but will ensure that all revenue due to Nigeria’s government, irrespective of the source, is collected with a high degree of efficiency, fully receipted and properly accounted for. Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, had in his speech disclosed that the state government has identified about 106 dormant revenue lines which it was working assiduously to activate.

However, Adeosun, in her remarks, said the Federal Government has also identified over 1,000 dormant revenue lines, assuring, however, that such huge dormant revenue opportunities will be maximised.

Mrs. Adeosun also expressed the determination of the Federal Government to work with the private sector where required in order to maximise the nation’s revenue potentials.

She said the days when revenue generating agencies acted as autonomous entities outside of the budget cannot be allowed to continue, saying whether the funds are from fees and fines, from taxes or from projects, the law is clear that every naira must be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

She said “The administration has started the process of maximising our revenues with a number of initiatives. The most important change introduced is a reorientation in the thinking about public money. Discipline and accountability in the spending of public money is a trademark of the President Buhari led administration.

Making every naira count is a commitment and a policy focus and not a slogan. Citizens will not willingly pay revenues if the funds are seen to be leaking or being wasted.

“All spending must start with revenue and therefore we have commenced the work of plugging the leakages of government revenues. Such leakages can arise from a number of factors including inefficient collection systems, evasion of payments due, collusion and other malpractices, as well as obsolete tariffs.

Technology and resources

“The first step required is the preparation of a detailed revenue map which identifies the specific lines of revenue and understands how such revenues are generated. Disaggregating revenue into line items is an important first step. The triggers in our various processes that result in a revenue transaction must be clearly understood and well documented. To maximise revenue collection, the task of plugging these leakages must be undertaken. It is also important to understand the costs of collection. That is the essential equipment, technology and resources that are required to support revenue. The administration is committed to ensuring budgetary provision for these costs.

“We currently hold daily bilateral revenue meetings with revenue generating agencies to define targets and agree strategies,” the minister stated.

She disclosed that the Federal Government has commenced the review and revision of the cost profiles of revenue generating agencies to ensure that maximum operating surpluses are declared and remitted in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

She said, “In this regard, we have recently commenced a number of audits of a range of agencies that will give us improved visibility into the revenue and cost profiles. This will enable us to generate an indicative cost profile that can be used to establish reasonable budget targets going forward.”

Revenue Mobilisation to complement borrowing for Investment in infrastructure

The minister stated that need for investment in infrastructure is well documented as are the potential benefits from so doing. Given our low debt to GDP ratio, “we could have succumbed to the temptation to fund our needs purely by raising debt. However our approach to debt is a prudent one and we are firm believers in the critical role that revenue plays in mobilising funds. Thus the importance of today’s gathering in planning and developing attainable strategies for revenue mobilisation.”

She explained that revenue mobilisation provides a sustainable and predictable flow of funds that is not as vulnerable to external shocks as we have seen with the oil price. She added that the Ministry of Finance has committed itself to a Total Revenue focus, which will re-engineer revenue collection, explaining that the focus of the event will be around preparing for the enhanced government revenue opportunities that will arise as Nigeria begins to recover.

Revenue generation and accountability are patriotic responsibilities of every public servant.

The Minister said the responsibility for revenue generation must be vested at the highest level within every organisation. Revenue is not the responsibility of the Finance Team, it is a collective and indeed a patriotic responsibility of every public servant.

“The accounting officer must see themselves as the Chief Revenue Officers of the organisation. As we begin to streamline our public finances, we expect those organisations with high Revenue Generating Capacity to fulfil their responsibilities.

We have observed that in other countries some agencies like Passport Offices and Vehicle Licencing Centres, Airport Authorities and Ports are cash cows whereas in Nigeria their historical contribution has been sub-optimal. This is going to change,’ the minister stated.

According to her, “The focus of this conference is on non-oil revenue generation. The role of most of us, represented here, in oil revenue generation is minimal. Oil represents only 13% of GDP but contributes over 70% of government revenue. This cannot continue and as we move toward exploiting our solid minerals and agricultural endowments we must build robust revenue platforms to ensure that we take full advantage of the value opportunities.

“We must begin to see revenue maximisation as ‘The Business of Government’ that is government operating commercially where required and this will require a new mindset.

Management framework

Optimisation of revenue generation requires targets, incentives and penalties as part of the performance management framework. Thus in some cases, partnership and risk-sharing with private sector operators must and will be considered.”

“The ease of doing business has been cited as one of the key drivers of economic growth and Nigeria has already set targets for improvement in this regard. Accordingly, in our drive for revenue, we must look for opportunities for cooperations and synergy through the three tiers of government. Single collection of multiple levies must be pursued where possible to maximise the convenience and efficiency of our collections.

The responsibility for collection of revenue must reflect the fact that there is ‘one Nigeria’ and there is no Federal, State or Local Government Nigerians.”

There are just Nigerians and therefore we must have a collaborative approach rather than a confrontational approach. Where there is a need to review and update obsolete laws, this must be embraced by our Legislators.

“Nigeria can and must improve its revenue collection efforts. Our revenue to GDP ratio is far lower than that of our peers. Nigeria’s Tax to GDP is only 6% versus 26% in South Africa and 21% in Tunisia. This is actually good news as it reflects the opportunity for growth.”

The Minister charged participants “to take away concrete actions that you will begin to implement from Monday as part of the rebuilding of our public finances. Irrespective of your area of core responsibility, you must take full ownership of the need to maximise the revenue potential in your organisations.

Treat government business as an enterprise to be operated with best practice and with the type of results that Nigeria needs and deserves at this critical time.”



Onu says Nigeria must diversify energy source to industrialize


The Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said that Nigeria must begin the process of diversifying the source of energy needs of the county in order to achieve meaningful industrialization. The Minister stated this on Thursday, while declaring open a Two-Day National Technical Validation Workshop on Sustainable Energy for All action Agenda in Abuja.

Dr. Onu stated that it has become imperative for Nigeria to diversify its sources of energy to save the country from possible setback by a single energy source. “We have relied essentially on natural gas for the generation of electricity.

This has created a lot of problems for the nation, particularly when gas supply is interrupted in anyways including the breakage of gas pipeline”

According to the minister, “the geographical location of Nigeria in the tropics gives us great advantage in utilizing solar energy and also wind energy. we will also look at other renewable sources of energy . ‘‘Virtually all the developed and emerging countries including the United states of America, China, Germany and Russia , rely heavily on coal for electricity generation .

The Ministry intends to embark on research to see how coal fire plant can be made more friendly to the environment” “For me, this workshop is very important as it will help us meet the energy needs of our country. I urge you all to put your very best in the course of this workshop. Your recommendations would be useful to both the ministry and the nation”.

Earlier, the Director-General of Energy Commission of Nigeria, Prof. Eli Bala stated that energy is essential in driving and growing national economies as well as improvement in standard of living of mankind; with fuels electricity and process heat being the most relevant forms of the final energy.

“However, secured, available and affordable as well as sustainable energy has eluded many economies including Nigeria. It is against this background that UN secretary General, in September 2011, pronounced the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative , with the view to bringing all sectors of society , private, government, Civil Society and the Academia to support the three interlinked objectives of ensuring universal access to modern energy services by 2030,” he stated .

On his part, the Country Director, United Nation Development Programme UNDP , PA Lamin Beyai, said that the Sustainable Energy for All Action Plan is an articulated strategies and activities for the promotion of sustainable energy which Nigeria really needs.

Beyai stated that once validated the action plan will be a viable instrument to help coordinate strategies and activities to meet the objectives of Sustainable Energy for All Action plan In his keynote address, the lead consultant, ECOWAS Commission Prof. Ken Ike called on all the stakeholder to support the project which will put an end to energy poverty in Nigeria.

He noted that Nigerian have in abundance all forms of energy and call on the government to provide the enabling environment for private sector to invest in the energy sector. The workshop is organized by agency under the Ministry, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in collaboration with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Nigeria and the United Nations Development Programme .


PDP to hold national convention in Port Harcourt on Aug 17


The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will hold a fresh national convention in Port Harcourt on Aug.17, to elect a new executive, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party has said.

Makarfi spoke on Thursday in Abuja, while addressing newsmen at the end of the party’s national caucus meeting.

He also said that the party would amend its constitution to address some of the reasons why a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, nullified the last amendment done by the party.

“We discussed some programmes leading to the convention, meaning that the national convention will hold on Aug. 17 in Port Harcourt, where we will elect new national executive officers of the party.

“We have also discussed and agreed on a new amendment to the constitution in view of recent court judgments in order to align the constitution to the judgments that have been delivered by court of competent jurisdiction,” he said.

On zoning, he said that the party has set aside the previous zoning arrangement, adding that within the next few days a committee will be set up to arrived at a zoning formula.

Makarfi added that the meeting also received reports on its reconciliation process, saying it was now yielding positive impact, as Sen. Buruji Kashamu had pledged his full support for the committee.

“You can see by yourself, our brother, friend and associate, Sen. Buruji Kashamu; that is evidence of the reconciliation making progress.

“I can assure you that we will never foreclose full reconciliation with the disputed National Chairman, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff and another person that may still be associated with him.

“What we want is an all inclusive PDP, an equitable, fair and just system in the PDP.”

He added that the party had also set up a special reconciliation committee to be chaired by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, to further resolve the division within the PDP in the South West.

Sen. Walid Jubrin, the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), who also spoke, expressed joy on the return of Sen. Kashamu to the main PDP fold.

Jubrin also said that they had been meeting with Sen. Sheriff to ensure that the party’s leadership crisis was resolved amicably.




Government Revenue in First Quarter Reach only 55% of Target – Budget Minister


First quarter revenues in Nigeria reached only 55 percent of what the government had targeted, the budget minister said on Thursday, blaming attacks on oil facilities in the southern Niger Delta region.

“Up to April we have not been able to meet our revenue target. We have only realized 55 percent. The bulk of this constraint is the problem in the Niger Delta,” Udoma Udo Udoma told a parliamentary committee.

Africa’s biggest economy, where oil sales make up around 70 percent of government revenue, is going through its worst crisis in decades due to the drop in global oil prices.

Those problems have been exacerbated by attacks by militants in the Niger Delta which began in January and briefly pushed crude production in the OPEC member to 30-year lows in spring.

In May, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 6.06 trillion naira ($30.6 billion) 2016 budget into law, which assumes oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) at $38 a barrel.

Udoma did not provide a precise figure for first quarter revenue.

“Our budgetary production target of 2.2 million bpd could not be met. At some point in time it was down to one million. We have, however, been told by the petroleum ministry that it’s going up again, not withstanding the problems,” he said.

Earlier this month, Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said production was around 1.9 million bpd.

Barack Obama becomes first US President to publish an academic paper


In the article, Mr Obama discusses the advances made by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and outlines a blueprint for future improvements to the health care system in the US.

“I decided to prioritise comprehensive health reform not only because of the gravity of these challenges but also because of the possibility for progress,” he wrote.

The paper – called United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps – was published by the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and has been viewed more than 500,000 times.

Although the article – published as a ‘special communication’ – was not formally peer-reviewed, the journal’s editor-in-chief Howard Bauchner told Bloomberg it had been revised and edited.

“While we of course recognised the author is the president of the United States, JAMA has enormously high standards and we certainly expected the president to meet those standards,” he said.

Mr Obama, occasionally derided as ‘Professor Obama’ by right-wing populist critics who claim he is too intellectual, admitted in the paper that he had not solved all the problems with the American healthcare system.

“Too many Americans still strain to pay for their physician visits and prescriptions, cover their deductibles, or pay their monthly insurance bills; struggle to navigate a complex, sometimes bewildering system; and remain uninsured,” he said.

However, he added: “The ACA experience… makes me optimistic about this country’s capacity to make meaningful progress on even the biggest public policy challenges.

“Many moments serve as reminders that a broken status quo is not the nation’s destiny.”

According to the paper, around 20 million Americans have gained insurance coverage since the launch of the policy, with the number of uninsured people falling to historic lows.

The sharp decline in readmission rates also suggests the policy has improved the quality of care, Mr Obama said.

While Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton has said she will continue to work on the ACA, the Republicans’ Donald Trump has said he will scrap the policy and replace it with something better, although he has given details of his scheme




DSS arrests Obanikoro’s wife


Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) yesterday stormed the Ikoyi residence of the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, and picked up his wife, Alhaja Moroofat Omolola. The agents raided the house for hours.

DSS had reportedly gone to search the house for possible documents to nail Obanikoro, who is being accused of transporting hundreds of millions in cash via Akure airport during the 2014 election campaign of Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose

Mrs. Obanikoro was afterwards taken to their office on CMD Road, Shangisha. She was later transported to the Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), where she was eventually released.

The raid follows a similar one by the EFCC mid-June.

Obanikoro, who is still out of the country, had via his twitter handle condemned the EFCC raid, describing it as witch-hunt and injustice.

He further accused President Muhammadu Buhari-led government of promoting “ethnic divisions, political persecution and official gangsterism.”



At least 84 dead as lorry ploughs into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France


At least 84 people have been killed, and around 50 injured, after a lorry drove into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France on Thursday (14 July).

The driver ploughed on for 2km (1.4 miles) along on the Promenade des Anglais at about 23h local time, before being shot dead by police.

The driver also opened fire on people in the crowd, according to local reports, and has been identified locally as a 31-year-old man of Franco-Tunisian origin from identity papers found inside the lorry. However, police are yet to confirm these details.

Police found guns and a grenade inside the lorry, but later said these were fake. It was not initially clear if he was acting alone. In the area around Nice, the anti-terror alert has been raised to its highest level. President Francois Hollande was flown back to Paris from a visit to Avignon, joining Prime Minister Manuel Valls in a crisis room. President Hollande said it was “an attack whose terrorist nature cannot be denied”.

Only hours before the Nice attack, President Hollande had announced that France’s state of emergency would be removed later this month. He has since announced it will be extended.

French National Front leader Marine Le Pen has said on the party’s website that “the war against Islamist fundamentalism” must begin. Meanwhile, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said on Facebook: “We are in a war that will last, with a threat that is constantly renewing itself. “Adapting and continuously strengthening our plan of action against Islamist terrorism remains a top priority.

“Exceptional firmness and vigilance is needed in every moment as well as over a long period of time. Nothing can be as before.”

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said terrorism is a threat that is “weighing heavily on France”. Valls said: “The goal of terrorists is to instill fear and panic.

“But France is a great country and a great democracy that will not allow itself to be destabilized.” He added that there will be three days of national mourning starting tomorrow (16 July).



Edo Election: The PDP engine is dead on arrival says Oshiomhole


Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole said the engine of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is dead.
He was referring to the party’s bid to reclaim the state in the September 10 governorship election.

Oshiomhole said the absence of PDP governors at the flag-off of the campaign of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was an indication that the party had rejected its flag-bearer.

He said this yesterday during a stakeholders’ meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benin, the state capital.

“The campaign of the PDP, for the forthcoming governorship election in the state, is dead on arrival. Whether you like it or not, the PDP engine is dead on arrival.

“The early morning signals are clear. For the first time since 1999, a candidate was presented to the people of Edo State for the most important single job and the key pillars were there fastened to their chairs and their tables; none of them could stand on their feet to say one word.”

The governor said unlike the PDP, which did not enjoy leadership support; the chairman APC and some governors would attend the launch of the campaign of Godwin Obaseki, the ruling party’s candidate for the election.



Global oil spending drops by over $1trn


A report by Wood Mackenzie released Wednesday, said global upstream and exploration spending has dropped by more than $1 trillion since the start of the oil price slump in mid-2014.

Already, Nigeria is feeling the heat as majority of the oil service firms have downsized in huge numbers while many indigenous operators are finding it difficult to meet their financial obligations to their banks as a result of frequent cancellation of contracts by International Oil Corporation (IOCs).

The report equally said that most major conventional oil projects are at risk of cancellation or deferral if global prices remain at $50 a barrel.

Wood Mackenzie, which publishes regular assessments of the economics of the world’s oil and gas fields, said especially deepwater projects offshore west Africa and in non-OPEC nations won’t make any money at the current market price of $50 a barrel.

“In conventional oil projects, deepwater west Africa is a tough place to be. A number of projects in Angola and in Nigeria have been pushed out of our analysis,” Simon Flowers, Wood Mackenzie’s chief analyst, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Angola’s state oil company, Sonangol has suspended all talks relating to assets sales and in Nigeria, the government has warned about using funds set aside for oil projects to fill budget shortfalls.

Nevertheless Wood Mackenzie’s analysis showed that aggressive cost cutting had increased the percentage of projects viable below $60 a barrel to 70 percent, up from 50 percent a year ago.

Reductions of around 15 percent in global oil service costs, including payments for drilling rigs or personnel, have helped boost some project economics, especially in the U.S. tight oil market, the report said.

As much as 9 million barrels per day (bpd) of potential fresh oil supply is currently commercially viable at an oil price of $60 a barrel, compared with 7 million bpd in the previous study.

“You will begin to see more FIDs (final investment decisions) come through by the end of this year and early 2017,” said Flowers, adding that U.S. tight oil and near field projects will be targeted as they are cheaper to bring on stream.




Apologize to Tinubu – Group Tells Dino Melaye

A Coalition of Civil Societies and Media Executives for Good Governance, COCMEGG, has described the lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye as a disgrace to the senate for allegedly threatening to assault ‎Senator Oluremi Tinubu‎, the wife of the All Progressives Congress, APC, National leader, Bola Tinubu.

Melaye had on Tuesday during a closed-door session of the senate allegedly threatened to beat up Mrs Tinubu; this he, however, denied.

But the group which viewed Melaye’s utterance as unparliamentary and ungentlemanly, in a statement by its President, Kenneth Aigbegbele and Secretary, James Okoronkwo called for an unreserved apology from the lawmaker.

“Dino Melaye is a huge disappointment to his constituency, the Senate and the Nigeria’s democracy. It is unfortunate and reprehensible that Senator Dino had resorted to maligning the constituted authority on whose platform he rose to become a senator.

“We, therefore, condemn this despicable unparliamentary behaviour in its entirety and demand an unreserved apology on the floor of the Senate, failure of which, we will be forced to mobilize and commence recall proceedings against him.”