₦airaland Forum

There was pandemonium in Kaduna State on Wednesday as twin bomb blasts rocked the city, killing more than 70 persons.
A former Head of State and a chief of the All Progressives Congress, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), narrowly escaped the second blast.
The blast occurred at two different parts of the state. One at the Alkali/Isa Kaita road in the highbrow area of the state while the second one occurred near the Kawo bridge, close the 1. Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna State.
In the second blast, a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Buhari and hauled the explosive device on his convoy.
It was learnt that one of the cars in the convoy was badly damaged while the car (Prado Jeep) conveying the former Head of State was torched.
An eyewitness said: “The suicide bomber hauled the explosive on the convoy of the former head of state but one of the cars in the convoy was hit and the Prado jeep of Buhari was hit. His bodyguards and escorts had to move Buhari from his car into another car (Sienna) to take him away.”
Another version said the suicide bomber, who rode in a Sienna car rammed into the convoy of the former Head of State.
“In fact, the car in the convy was badly damaged. Buhari escaped narrowly. We doubt whether some of his security operatives were alive,” he said.
More than 50 cars were damaged in the second blast, according to the eyewitness.
Also, in the first blast which took place along Alkali/Isa Kaita road occurred at about 12.30pm while the second one was near the Kawo overhead bridge and occurred two hours later.
Sheik Darihu Bauchi, a renowned Islamic cleric, was the target of the suicide bomber who followed his convoy after delivering a Ramadan lecture (Tafsir) at the Murtala Square, in Kaduna State.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government immediately imposed a 24-hour-curfew on the state.
Governor Muktar Yero, who condemned the despicable act, noted that the curfew was imposed to enable security operatives to restore normalcy.
Yero, through his Director-General, Media and Public Affairs, Ahmed Mayaki, described the bomb blast as the height of ‘cowardice’ by those bent on creating tension in the state.
The statement said, “The Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero has condemned the bomb blast that occurred today in the metropolis, describing the acts as the height of ‘cowardice’ by those bent on creating tension in the State.
“Following the unfortunate situation, a 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Kaduna metropolis with immediate effect, to enable security agencies restore normalcy.”
Governor said the blasts were clear manifestation of the resolve by ‘agents of darkness’ to soak the land with blood of innocent people for no just cause.
He said, “Enemies of peace have visited us with their ungodly venom of wanton destruction of human lives. This blast, coming in the Holy Month of Ramadan is a clear indication that those behind the act have no iota of fear of God as they have none for the sanctity of human life.”
Yero noted that in spite of the success recorded in improvement of security in the state, it was obvious that more still needed to be done to ensure safety of people at all times and in all places.
He therefore called on people of the state to see such unwarranted attacks on innocent people across the state as aggression by evil against good that must be collectively condemned by all.
The Governor therefore urged the entire people in the state to be more vigilant, and to also avoid unnecessary crowded areas.
He said, “The time has come for us to eschew all our differences and confront these brazen attacks as united people.
“Those behind these attacks have no regards for whatever diversity as their victims cut across all ethnic and religious divides. It is a responsibility on all of us to unite against this common enemy.”
While commiserating with families of victims of the blast, the governor called on the entire citizens of the state to provide more support to security agencies by providing useful information on suspicious movements and persons within and around their communities.
Officially, the state police commissioner, Shehu Umar, put the death in the first blast at 25 while the second one, according him, claimed more than 14 persons.
However, eyewitness said the dead were more than 14.
According to the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, “for now we have recorded 25 dead bodies. People have just closed from the Ramadan Tsafir led Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, and we provided enough security at Murtala Square, the venue of the Tafsir but the bomb was planted far away from the venue, to target him through the route he was taking to go home. We are doing our best to safeguard the country, so we are appealing to the perpetrators to lay down the arms.”

Ninety-nine days after their children and wards were abducted in a midnight raid on their school, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Tuesday met with parents of the girls abducted from Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on April 14.
Journalists were barred from covering the meeting which was held inside the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
That was contrary to a statement released last week by the Presidency, saying the parley would be “open to the media for coverage by Nigerian and international press.”
Those who attended the meeting included 51 girls who escaped from their abductors including their principal, parents of escaped girls, parents of the girls still in captivity, opinion and community leaders from Chibok as well as officials of the Borno State Government.
They were conveyed to and from the venue in four red luxury buses belonging to the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Limited amidst tight security provided by a combined team of men of the Department of State Security and armed policemen.
The security operatives shielded them from journalists before and after the meeting that lasted about three hours.
The venue wore a somber look with the escaped girls who looked traumatised being the cynosure of all eyes.
The meeting started with the arrival of Jonathan who was joined at the meeting by the President of the Senate, David Mark; Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State; Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State; members of the Federal Executive Council as well as security chiefs among others.
Immediately the meeting commenced at about 11.20am, journalists were asked to leave the venue.
The doors were only re-opened for journalists shortly after the President had made his closing remarks only for photojournalists to capture him in a group photograph with the escaped girls.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, later told State House correspondents that the meeting was an interactive session during which the President had the opportunity to listen first-hand to the various categories of persons.
Abati described the meeting as a successful event and a good development because the President had always been looking forward to such an opportunity, having met with other stakeholders on the matter before then.
The presidential spokesman said, “Statements were made by all the representatives of people. They spoke their minds and conveyed their feelings to the President.
“The girls who escaped also gave an account of what they went through. Mr. President reassured them of the Federal Government’s determination and his own personal determination to ensure that the girls that are still in captivity are brought out alive.
“That is the main objective of the government. Mr. President also used the opportunity to empathise with the parents and the girls and to reassure them that everything will be done to make things easier for them, especially those who have escaped and the ones that will also be rescued, that their education will not in anyway suffer and he is convinced that evil will never prevail over good.
“Mr. President further assured them that after the battle has been won and the girls are brought back home, he, together with the parents and the state government will focus on development, on building Chibok, on building all that the terrorists had destroyed and on ensuring that every child, either in Chibok or in any other part of the country, has his/her dream realised.
“At the end of the meeting, the parents are happy. Everybody is in high spirit.”
Abati added that Jonathan told the gathering that government would ensure that the girls’ eduction is not truncated.
To this end, he said efforts were being made to place the escaped girls in other schools.
He said Jonathan urged them not to be afraid about their future because everything would be done to protect their right to education.
On media reports that most of the real parents of the abducted girls were not part of the meeting, Abati said the parents who attended made it clear that they are representatives of other parents.
He said over 200 people attended the meeting from Chibok.
“The girls spoke in great details about their experiences and their observations. It was an open and frank session in which everybody expressed their minds,” he concluded.

Promises better life for Osun people…
For the people of Osun the coming August 9 governorship election in the state will determine the future of the state.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola said this in Ejigbo town where the nineth of his electioneering campaign was taken to.
Aregbesola emphasised the need for his supporters to have their voter cards ready before the election, saying its the only power they have to return him into office.
He encouraged them to guard their voter cards from some dubious politicians who are ready to win by all means possible.
Aregbesola promised that all the ongoing projects in the area will be completed and commissioned soon, stating that the Ejigbo High school will be completed before the resumption of the next academic session.
The Governor used the rally to stress that government does not intend to to increase the due that is being paid by owners of private schools in the state.
According to the Governor,”Our administration is on the path to development and nothing can stop us because our this administration remains focused to the development of our state.”
“We want to put an end to poverty, bad roads, dilapidated school structures, joblessness, bad leadership, hunger and other evil vices.”
“I urge you to go and check for your voter cards and collect them and do not be scared of security operatives on election day, they are meant to maintain peace on election day.” He stated.
Earlier In a remark, the governor of Oyo state Senator Abiola Ajimobi lauded the achievements of his Aregbesola, adding that the turn out at the rally, showed their love for him.
“Aregbesola has done so much in his first term, he deserves your vote for another term in office, I urge you to troop out enmass and vote for Aregbesola on August nine so that the development you are experiencing will continue.” Ajumobi said.
Speaking the speaker of the state house of assembly and the chairman of the constituency campaign committee, Rt. Hon Najim Salaam appreciated the people of the four local government areas in the constituency for coming out to show their unalloyed support for the re-election of Aregbesola in the coming election.
He admonished the residents of the area to vote massively for Aregbesola for continuity of selfless service.
In their separate messages, the first executive governor of the state, Senator Isiaka Adeleke and Senator Mudashir Hussein representing Osun West senatorial district, implored the people of the area to vote wisely.
The premises of Unity school Ejigbo, venue of the rally was filled to its capacity with APC faithfuls and Governor Aregbesola’s supporters from across federal constituency.”

Former Minister of Petroleum, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, is dead. He died this morning in Austria at the age of 76.
Lukman, who was born in Zaria, Kaduna State, on August 26, 1938 held several ministerial positions before he became the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2000.
A trained mining engineer, Lukman was on December 18, 2008, appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources during the administration of the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua, a position he held till March 2010.
Lukman obtained his higher degree in mining engineering from the University of Mining and Metallurgy in Leoben, Austria, between 1967 and 1968, before which he had received training as a mining engineer at the College of Arts, Sciene and Technology, Zaria (now Ahmadu Bello University).
A brilliant engineer who traversed the world, he obtained a degree in Mineral Economics from McGill University, Montreal, in 1978, and also an honorary doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Bologna, in Italy.
It is on record that his first job in the mining industry was as an Assistant Mining Engineer with A B Statsgruvor of Sweden, a position he held between 1962 and 1964, before returning to Nigeria, to be appointed as Inspector of Mines at the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power, Jos, Plateau State.
In 1970, he became General Manager of the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, a position he held till 1974.

As Nigerians, both home and abroad, continue to wait anxiously for the 2015 general elections, the Witches & Wizards Association of Nigeria (WITZAN) has predicted what would happen after the polls.
According to a communique signed by Dr Okhue Iboi, President WITZAN, the All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will be betrayed in 2015 by his close aides.
“Tinubu will be betrayed. He will be sold out by those he trusted. This betrayal will affect his political empire. Tinubu’s political dynasty is under threat of crumbling.
“Tinubu is a good man, but the bitter truth he must swallow today is that APC is going nowhere. Many top notchers of PDP that are in APC now will go back to PDP. Witches said so in November last year and it happened.
“I’m telling the whole world again today that many former PDP leaders that are now in APC will betray Tinubu and other APC leaders, they will go back to PDP this year, and before 2015 general elections,” the communique read.
Commenting on why they decided to hold the meeting, Iboi said the association had a meeting following a distress call by witches in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno.
He added that the issue of Boko Haram insurgency was the highlight of their discussions.
* Ex Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu
“Witches and Wizards in Nigeria are deeply worried by what is going on in the country especially Boko Haram insurgency. As stakeholders in the Nigerian project, we can no longer afford to fold our hands while the nation burns. Enough is enough,” he said.
The 55-year-old wizard also stated that President Goodluck Jonathan will win the presidential elections come 2015.
“Jonathan will win re-election. Although there will be pockets of violence, Jonathan will win.
“I will also have to appeal to Buhari and Tinubu, they should not waste their money, time and energy on the poll. They should go home and rest. They should forget about becoming President or Vice President of Nigeria. APC will still lose more governors to PDP before this year runs out,"Iboi said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced that the 2015 Election would start in February.

In Oyo State, the fear of the possible impeachment of Governor Abiola Ajimobi heightened last week with a series of secret political moves by members of the state House of Assembly.
The development in Oyo is coming just as one of our correspondents gathered that there was apprehension in Borno State over the rumoured defection of the former Governor of the state, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, to the Peoples Democratic Party. There are fears the defection might ignite a political crisis in the state.
In Oyo, a source told one of our correspondents in confidence that, at least, 24 House members had been meeting secretly and that more members were being wooed to join the group. He said 10 legislators from the APC had joined the 14 other legislators from the PDP and AP and that they were holding secret meetings on the modalities to impeach either the governor or the speaker, Monsurat Sumonu.
The House has 32 members with the All Progressives Congress having 18 members; Peoples Democratic Party nine; while the Accord Party, which had seven, now has five members.
The source said, “The House has been calm because the speaker is dancing to the governor’s tune. Once she is removed, the new Speaker can go ahead to implement the impeachment plan. But the problem is that the group has yet to agree on who will be the next Speaker. For the PDP to have that power, it must improve on its present figure in the house. I am aware that it is being worked on with a move to woo AP legislators and possibly some APC legislators in the house,” he said.
Signs early in the week that impeachment plans were being hatched were denied by the majority leader of the House, Oyeniyi Akande. Speaking on behalf of the 18 APC members during an emergency press conference, Akande said a report that APC members were part of a meeting held with the PDP and Accord last weekend could not stand the test of time.
He said, “I am using this period to debunk that statement that APC members were part of that meeting; they were not part of that meeting at all, none of our members was in that meeting. I am saying it categorically that we are solidly behind our governor, Ajimobi, beyond 2015. We have the positive opinion that he is going to win the second term election.”
The minority leader in the house, Rafiu Adekunle, however said that some members of the ruling APC were part of the meeting, and that for safety reasons, he would not give their names.
“For political reasons, no member of APC can boldly come out and affirm my claim publicly. Let me tell you emphatically, immediately after plenary, four other members signified their readiness to associate with the project.”
On Tuesday, a release signed by all APC members where they denied holding any meeting with a group was issued. This was a confirmation of the source’s claim which also backed the fact that there was an impeachment fear in the state.

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has said engaging Governor Rauf Aregbesola in a public debate may be risky because the governor may attack him.
Omisore said this in an interview with our correspondent in Osogbo.
Aregbesola had earlier challenged Omisore to a public debate to tell the people their manifestos.
Although Omisore said he was ready for the challenge he added that he must be assured that Aregbesola would not assault him withstate boysand thugs allegedly being raised by the All Progressives Congress’ candidate.
Omisore said, “How can I be afraid of engaging him in a debate? But when argument is being drawn between two unequal parties, the weaker of the two may result to physical assault and harassment. We don’t want this to happen.
“Aregbesola has not hidden the fact that he has personal hatred for me and people tell me all sorts of lies he fabricates to disparage me. You don’t expect more than that from a barely literate politician like him.
“You remember that Aregbesola presented O’level to INEC. So we need an assurance that Ogbeni will not resort to assault if he is confronted with hard facts with evidence.
“Once we are assured that decorum will be allowed and that our safety is guaranteed, I am ready for the debate.
“Ogbeni Aregbesola has state boys, a group he is rearing and going to participate in a debate with violent people with array of thugs will be too much of a risk to take for us.”
Omisore, who also accused the APC government of massive corruption, said that contracts were awarded without following the provisions of the Procurement Act.
According to him, sidestepping the due process in contract award is a serious offence, which any leader who professes to be transparent must avoid.
He said, “Transparency and accountability are very important in governance. You are put in office based on the trust of the people. But as soon as the APC government came on board, Aregbesola scrapped due process. Now, there is no way you can track down government expenses.
The PDP candidate further alleged that the administration awarded contracts to godfathers, relations and party leaders, especially persons from outside the state without executing the projects.
“Let us go to the so-calledopon imo. This is an N8.4 billion scam handled by his own biological son. Now, they are withdrawing them from the pupils. The device is valueless and it is just for profit-making and nothing else.But the Director of Publicity of Aregbesola Camapign Organisation, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, when contacted, said Omisore had shown that he was afraid of engaging Aregbesola in a debate.
Oyatomi said the PDP candidate was aware he would have no answer to some questions which would be directed at him and decided to give “lame excuses to cover up.”
He said, “Omisore is afraid of his own shadow and that is why he is giving such excuses. But I think we have gone beyond that.

Women use an average of 20,000 words a day, compared to the mere 7,000 that men utter. At least that’s the assertion of a number of self-help and popular science books. Quoted by apparently authoritative experts and widely reported, it’s a statement that bolsters the stereotype of the fairer sex spending their days gossiping, while the stoic men folk get on with it, whatever it is, without the need to chatter. But is it actually true?
Talkativeness can be measured in various ways. You can get people into a lab, give them a topic to discuss and then record their conversations. Or you can try getting them to record their everyday conversations at home. You can count up the total number of words spoken, the time each person spends talking, the number of turns an individual gets in a conversation, or the average number of words spoken in a single turn.
By combining the results of 73 studies of children, US researchers found girls did speak more words than boys, but only by a negligible amount. Even this small difference was only apparent when they talked to a parent, and was not seen when they were chatting with their friends. Perhaps most significantly it was only seen until the age of two-and-a-half, meaning it might simply reflect the different speeds at which boys and girls develop language skills.
So not much difference among kids, but what about adults? When Campbell Leaper from the University of California, Santa Cruz, the psychologist who found the very small difference in young children, carried out a meta-analysis on the subject, it was men who talked the most. But once again the difference was small. It was also striking that lab-based studies in which pairs or groups were given specific topics to discuss found greater differences than those carried out in more real-life settings. This suggests that perhaps men were more comfortable in unusual, novel laboratory settings.
Leaper’s findings supported a review of 56 studies conducted by linguistics researcher Deborah James and social psychologist Janice Drakich published in a 1993 book on male and female conversational styles. Only two of the studies found women talked more than men, while 34 of them found men talked more than women, at least in some circumstances, although inconsistencies in the way the studies were done made them hard to compare.
Real life conversations have traditionally been the hardest to study because of the need to get participants to record all of their conversations. But then the psychologist James Pennebaker, of the University of Texas, Austin, developed a device that records 30-second snippets of sound every 12.5 minutes. People can’t turn Pennebaker’s EAR, or Electronically Activated Recorder, off, so it’s gives a more reliable sample of what’s really happening. In research published in theJournal Sciencein 2007, Pennebaker found that in their 17 waking hours the women they tested in the US and Mexico uttered an average of 16,215 words while the men spoke 15,669. Again, a negligible difference.
Not all types of conversations are the same of course. Perhaps what matters is who else is listening. An analysis of a hundred public meetings carried out by Janet Holmes of the Victoria University of Wellington , New Zealand, showed that men asked, on average, three quarters of the questions, while making up only two thirds of the audience. Even when the audiences were equally split gender-wise, men still asked almost two thirds of the questions.
But despite all the evidence to the contrary, we seem wedded to the idea that women talk more. In fact it’s just one of many areas of life in which we expect significant differences between the sexes, but when the research base as a whole is taken into account, men and women are often far more similar than popularly believed.

President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the House of Representatives to grant approval to his government to borrow an external loan of $1bn(about N165bn).
The President’s letter, seeking the lawmakers’ approval to borrow the money, was read during the House’s plenary in Abuja on Wednesday.
Jonathan said the money would be used to upgrade the equipment of the Armed Forces.
Details later..

The Chairman of the Victims Support Fund, Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.),on Wednesdaysaid members of the committee would not visit Sambisa Forest believed to be one of the strongholds of the Boko Haram sect except President Goodluck Jonathan was ready to take the lead.
He spoke just as Jonathan vowed that the days of the sect were numbered.
Danjuma, a former Minister of Defence, spoke while responding to Jonathan’s inauguration speech in which he tasked members of the committee to be ready to visit all parts of the country including the dreaded forest.
“Mr. President, we won’t go to Sambisa Forest. As the Commander-in-Chief, you should take the lead and we will follow,” he said amidst laughter from those who attended the inauguration.
Danjuma also shocked those in attendance when he told the President that the insurgents, who were wreaking havoc in parts of the country were having the upper hand.
He stressed the need for the war to be won quickly.
The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), agreed with Danjuma that the war must be won quickly.
He said the government had realised that it was time to draw the line.
“We have realised that the time has come to draw the line. We will win the war and do so quickly,” he promised.
Jonathan, in his inauguration speech, said the days of the Boko Haram sect were numbered and that it was a matter of days for their violent campaign to come to an end.
He regretted that members of the sect had wasted unimaginable human and material resources since they started their campaign of violence.
He noted that the sect members had been brainwashed into believing that they were doing God a favour, describing them as enemies of humanity.
While saying that there would be no hiding place for the sect, Jonathan said his government would expose them.

The founder and the General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, has revealed why iOS (iPads, iPhones) and Android devices were banned in his Church some weeks ago.
A lot of criticisms had trailed the decision of the pastor to prohibit the use of smartphones in his Church.
However, according to Encomium Weekly, the ban was placed by Pastor Kumuyi because the members of the Church were pretending to read their Bibles, but instead they were surfing the web and not paying attention to the sermon.
The headquarters of Deeper Life Bible Church is situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
Pastor Kumuyi is the author of several books. In the early 1970s Kumuyi worked as an education lecturer at the University of Lagos.
He was born into a Christian family in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State, Nigeria.
William Kumuyi completed his secondary school education in 1961, and in 1962 started teaching mathematics at Mayflower School in Ikenne, Ogun-State, from where he proceeded to the University of Ibadan. In 1967 he graduated with a first-class honours degree in mathematics. He became a born-again Christian in April 1964.
Kumuyi remarried in October 2010 in London, about 18 months after the death of his first wife.
In April 2013, Kumuyi was named as one of the "500 most powerful people on the planet" and Deeper Christian Life Ministry named as "the World’s largest Megachurch" by Foreign Policy magazine.

LEGISLATORS in the Nasarawa State House of Assembly on Monday adopted alleged impeachment offences to be served on Governor Tanko Al-Makura.
The development coincided with the submission of the report of the panel that investigated impeachment allegations against Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako.
Both Al-Makura and Nyako belong to the opposition All Progressives Congress.
Speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Musa Ahmed, on Monday, directed the Clerk of the House to serve the governor with notice of impeachment for acts of gross misconduct.
The Speaker’s directive followed a motion of public interest raised by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Mr.Yahaya Usman (PDP-Umaisha/Ugya), during the house plenary in Lafia.
The lawmaker presented a document containing allegations of gross misconduct against the governor, which he said was signed by 20 of the 24 members of the Assembly.
He said “I am on my feet to raise a motion under a matter of public interest and I will go direct to read the document I have in my hand. This is a notice of impeachment of Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State for gross misconduct.
“And for the violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, today being the 14th July, 2014, the 20 members of the 24 members of this House unanimously endorsed to serve Governor Tanko Al-Makura notice of impeachment.”
The Chief Whip of the House, Mr. Mohammed Okpede, (PDP-Doma North), seconded the motion to serve Al-Makura with the impeachment notice over alleged misconduct.
Alhaji Musa Ahmed (PDP-Nasarawa Central), who doubles as the Speaker of the House, officially received the impeachment notice and noted that the House had complied with the provision of the constitution to serve the governor with an impeachment notice.
The Speaker subsequently directed the Clerk to serve the impeachment notice on Al-Makura on Monday.
He said, “While in the event that the governor could not be reached for service, the clerk is directed to serve him with the impeachment notice through the media.”
The Chairman, House Committee on Information and Security, Baba Ibaku, toldThe PUNCHthat the governor had siphoned state funds and should not be allowed to continue as the chief security officer of the state.
Ibaku, who represents Loko/Udege constituency, alleged that Al-Makura had spent over N2bn from the local government joint account without recourse to due process.
He said the governor allegedly used one Mr. Usman Saraki as a front to swindle the state of over N800m as a consultant to SUBEB. He also said over N700m was missing from the SURE-P accounts.
He said the governor had sacked over 10,000 workers from the state payroll without following due process.
“The governor has gone beyond his constitutional boundaries and must face the law like every other Nigerian because he is not sacrosanct to the constitution of our land,” Ibaku declared.
The state chairman of the APC, Philip Shekwo, said the party would respond at the appropriate time.
Also reacting to the impeachment notice, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Yunna Iliya, said he had not been briefed about any impeachment notice to the governor.
In Adamawa, however, the seven-man panel set up by the former acting Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ambrose Mamedi, to investigate the alleged gross misconduct levelled against Nyako and his Deputy, Mr. Bala Ngalari, submitted its report on Monday.
The report, in four volumes, has been forwarded by the panel chairman, Mallam Buba Kaigama to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Ahmadu Fintiri.
While receiving the report, the Speaker congratulated members of the panel for being found worthy of handling such a sensitive assignment.
Fintiri said, “I assure you the committee members and the people of Adamawa State that the Assembly will consider the report meticulously at the plenary in due course before deciding on the next course of action.”

Five of the schoolgirls who escaped from Boko Haram captivity joined the members of the BringBackOurGirls Coalition rally in Abuja on Sunday to drum up support for their colleagues who are still being held captive by the Bioko Haram Islamic sect.
Over 200 girls were abducted in their hostel at the Government Secondary School. Chibok, Borno State on April 15.
The girls were brought to the BBOG sit-out meeting at Unity Fountain, Maitama, Abuja on Sunday.
The young girls who sat quietly throughout the duration of the sit-out, looked subdued and withdrawn.
The girls are Awa Alhama , Hauwa Musa, Hauwa John, Kanna Bitrus, and Rebecca Ishaku.
Maina Yega, whose daughter was among those abducted, said that many affected parents could not come to Abuja to participate in the rallies on account of the distance and the fact that they were psychological disturbed by the incident.
“Many parents could not come because they are psychological traumatized by the abduction,” he explained.
Shetimma Haruna, whose daughter, Margret, was also kidnapped, thanked the members of the BBOG for their relentless efforts in campaigning for the releaseof the girls.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani girl-child education campaigner, Malala Yousafzai, will be addressing the #BringBackOurGirls coalition members and seeking more international support for the campaign for the release of the 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls in Abuja on Monday (today).
Malala, who arrived Abuja on Saturday, is expected to bring more pressure on the Federal Government which has been unable to secure the release of the girls 90 days after they were kidnapped.
The child activist, who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban, would use the occasion to mark the Malala Day (July 14,) a day set aside to champion her cause for free and compulsory education for every child around the world.
The Coordinator of the BBOG, and a former Education minister, Oby Ezekwesili, said that about 35 members of her movement would also actively participate in the rally which would hold at the conference hall of Sheraton Hotel.
Ezekwesili stated that the campaign to free the Chibok girls was not confrontational, noting that the movement was meant to partner the government and security agencies in their efforts to secure the release of the girls.

Ekiti State Governor-elect, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has advised the All Progressives Congress to stop looking for scapegoats to blame for itsfailure.
He said that no amount of name calling and campaign of calumny would deter him from championing the cause of the down-trodden and that of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Fayose spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in a press release on Sunday, while reacting to a statement credited to the Oyo State chapter of the APC warning him to stay away from the state.
The Oyo APC had criticised Fayose for the sensitisation rally held in Ibadan last Thursday by the PDP during which he was among the lead speakers.
The statement wondered when the APC became the agency that was monitoring how Nigerians would move within the country and where theycould go at any point in time.
It said, “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees freedom of association and movement among many freedomsenshrined in it. It is in exercise of the freedom that people came together to form the PDP and which people also freely joined.
“So, that His Excellency Ayo Fayose and others are members of the PDP, I don’t know how that has injured the APC. Also, it is in the exercise of the freedom of movement that PDP members and leaders converged on the PDP secretariat in Ibadan, Oyo State to hold a sensitisation rally and necessary, legally-mandated security agencies performed their duties that led to the success of the event.
“No doubt the APC has become jittery not only in Oyo State, the South-West geo-political zone, but in the nation at large. The peoplehave seen their deceit and are determined to shove them aside and they have done that in Ekiti State.
“The APC felt disappointed that PDP leaders in Oyo State, who they thought would never see eyeball to eyeball, came together and areready to work as a united front to chase them out of Agodi Government House next year.
“The day of judgment and reckoning for the APC is coming one by one. Soon, the APC will meet its waterloo in Osun State and in other parts of Nigeria come 2015 general elections. Let them wake up to that reality and the reality that there is no way they can cage Fayose or any PDP leader,” the statement added.

Governors of the states currently being controlled by the All Progressives Congress, and other leaders of the party held a closed-door meeting in Osogbo, Osun State to restrategise on how to save the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, from losing the state in the upcoming August 9 governorship election.
Details of the meeting, which was held at the Government House, Osogbo from Wednesday night until around 2.30am on Thursday was not disclosed to journalists who kept vigil at the venue of the meeting.
However, the National Deputy Chairman of the APC in the South, Mr. Segun Oni, who briefed journalists after the meeting said the leaders of the party were ready for the election.
He said the APC would prevent the PDP from repeating what they did in Ekiti State.
Asked what the party was doing to save the Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, from being removed from office, Oni said the party would make known its position on it very soon.
Some of the governors who were present at the meeting included, Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, and the host governor, Aregbesola.
Others included, Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori; Senator Chris Ngige, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Alhaji Kawu Baraje.
Oni said, ” What happened in Ekiti was a new dimension to election rigging. We will not allow that to happen here.
“Ekiti election is a new dimension to election rigging in Nigeria, but we as a party will challenge the outcome. We have seen and studied the election’s outcome and for posterity sake we know the election is not the will of the people.
“APC is going to defend the constitution of Nigeria and we shall start that with the election in Ekiti State. We won’t allow the election in Osun State to go the way of Ekiti.
“The congratulatory message of Governor Kayode Fayemi does not deprive us from exercising our rights. The Governor of Ekiti State said ‘if this is the will of the people of Ekiti, we are not going to against it’ and we are still sure that that is not the will of the people.
“Osun will not go the way Ekiti went, God will not allow it to go that way.”
Fashola and Ameachi declined to speak to journalists.
Ngige said Osun State belonged to the APC. He added that the party would do everything to retain the state.
He said the party was not jittery because of the outcome of the election in Ekiti State but he said that the party would not allow the PDP to rig out the APC candidate this time.
Mohammed, on Wednesday issued a statement where he alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan was spending the $20bn missing oil fund to prosecute the Osun governorship poll for the PDP candidate.
But the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Osun State, Mr. Bola Ajao, described the allegations as spurious.
He said the party had resorted to fabricating lies and feeding the public with the same, because it had become obvious that the people of the state had moved against “their deceits.”
He said, “This is APC sinking ship diplomacy. Sanusi (former governor of Central Bank) who made that spurious allegations has a date to keep with Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.

The embattled Adamawa State Governor, Alhaji Murtala Nyako, on Wednesday, vowed not to appear before the seven-member investigative panel set up by the immediate-past Acting Chief Judge of Adamawa State, Justice Ambrose Mammadi.
Nyako spoke through his Director of Press and Public Relations, Ahmad Sajoh, via the telephone with one of our correspondents.
The governor spoke just as the panel set up to investigate allegations against him and his deputy, Mr. James Ngilari, secured a new venue for its sitting.
The panel was thrown out of its former venue, the J&J Holiday Villa by the owners who cited security concerns.
The hotel management was said to have rejected the panel on the grounds that a large presence of soldiers at the venue would scare away customers from the hotel.
The committee was also turned back at others hotels in Yola, which it contacted, after it was ejected from J & J Holiday Villa.
The panel was rebuffed at the Nigeria Labour Congress Club and Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre.
Members of the panel spent the better part of Tuesday, searching for alternative venues but failed to secure one after they were turned down by other organisations.
Reprieve came the way of the panel on Wednesday, after the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria agreed to allow the panel use its conference hall for its deliberations.
The decision of the union to allow the panel use its facility is also a subject of controversy as the state chairman of the union, Mr. Jeremiah Nkyekwar, told reporters he was not aware of any agreement to allow the panel the use of the facility.
The panel has, in continuation of its activities, announced Friday, July 11, 2014 as the date for its next sitting.
A notice to this effect was pasted on the gate of Government House Yola, at about 3: 45pm.
But armed riot policemen prevented journalists from approaching the gate to read the contents of the notice as of the time of filing this report.
Nyako, however, said he had no intention of honouring any invitation by the panel because “it is an illegal body which has no basis in law.”
Speaking through Sajoh, Nyako said, “They are not supposed to paste the notice. They are supposed to serve it. Besides, the panel was illegally constituted because those behind it ignored a subsisting court order.
“The composition of the committee itself is faulty indicted persons as well as card carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party are among the panelists.”
Seemingly unperturbed by happenings at home, Nyako who was in Abuja to attend the inauguration of the Steering Committee of the Safe School Initiative at the Presidential Villa, told State House correspondent’s that the situation was under control.
He told reporters that the matter had not reached a point where he would call on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene.
When asked to confirm if he had been trying to reach out to the President for his intervention, the embattled governor simply said, “Not yet. It has not reached that crisis point.”
The governor, however, said he would not hesitate to seek Jonathan’s assistance whenever he felt the need to do so.
“We have supported him (the President) all this time; he has supported us and in situations like these, when Mr. President’s support is required, we will seek it,” he said.

A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, is dead.
A source close to him said the vibrant legal mind died of high blood pressure on Wednesday. He was age 49.
Aturu, who was reportedly rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja in the early hours of Wednesday, was confirmed dead by medical personnel later in the day.
The late Aturu obtained a first degree in Law from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. Until his death, he was the Principal of Bamidele Aturu and Company in Lagos.
Commenting on the sad incident, a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, said he received the news as a shock.
“I just heard it but I am still trying to confirm; I was told he died of high blood pressure-related ailment. It is sad and I’m still in shock,” he said.
Another lawyer, Mr. Fred Agbaje said he was speechless.
Another legal luminary, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), who told one of our correspondents that he had yet to confirm the death, said he wished it was not true.
Meanwhile, lawyers and rights activists have expressed shock over the death of the human rights lawyer.
A former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Monday Ubani, who sounded too shocked to talk, described Aturu as the best Nigerian, “whose activism was not targeted at attracting public attention or government’s appointment.”
Others such as the Chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran, the National Coordinator, Legal Defence and Assistance Project, Mr. Chino Obiagwu and the Chairman of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, Mr. Lanre Suraj, simply said they were too shocked to comment on his death in separate text messages to one of our correspondents on Wednesday.

Residents of Ejigbo town in Osun State were on Wednesday woken up by the noise of the structure which collapsed at the newly completed Ejigbo High School.
Our correspondent gathered that part of the school which had been completed and ready for inauguration collapsed at around 5.30am.
Some persons were reportedly injured, but there was no death recorded as the structure had yet to be occupied by pupils.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola had on Tuesday at his campaign rally in Ede listed the new school as one of the most beautiful schools in the country.
The administration built the school following the introduction of school restructuring by the incumbent governor.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Ayo Olowe, told our correspondent that the building collapsed around 5am.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the state, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, said the school building came down due to heavy wind.
She said that the preliminary investigation by the police revealed that the building collapsed following a heavy wind on Wednesday morning.
She said, “The building collapsed due to heavy wind which blew this morning. Two artisans laying tiles sustained injuries. They were treated and have been discharged.”
The governor, while reacting to the incident in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said, “The Government of the State of Osun regrets to inform members of the public about the suspect incidence of the collapse of the main hall of the newly completed ultra-modern Ejigbo High School.
“Information at the disposal of the government indicates that the main hall which had been completed along with other classrooms of the school came down at about 6am Wednesday after a loud bang.
“As a responsible government, it is too early for us to say what the exact cause of the collapse is until we have full investigations and advice of professionals.
“However, it must be stated here that all necessary quality assurance tests were carried out to ensure structural durability and integrity of the project.
“Engineers from the Osun Ministry of Works and engineers from the Structural Engineering section of the Nigerian Society of Engineers have been dispatched to the site to establish the real cause of this unfortunate incident.”
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Sunday Akere, had earlier in a telephone interview with our correspondent blamed the collapse on sabotage.
He said that some residents of the town claimed that low calibre explosive was used to blow up part of the structure.
The Director of publicity, Research and Strategy of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, accused the Peoples Democratic Party of being behind the collapse.
He said, “I can tell you this categorically that the PDP sabotaged the structure. Investigation is going on.”
But the Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Bola Ajao, denied the allegation. He said it was unfortunate that the school building collapsed.
Ajao said, “They are driven by what they will gain from everything. They used substandard products and now they are blaming it on PDP.”

The Coordinator, National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, has said the Federal Government has started investigating some unnamed politicians with alleged link to terror activities in the country.
Omeri, who spoke in Abuja on Wednesday, added that this followed the successful raid of the Balmo Forest in Bauchi and Borno states, where some foreign mercenaries were also apprehended by the operatives of the Nigerian Army.
Details soon…

Former Nigeria international Joe Erico has said Super Eagles first choice goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama is replaceable should the Lille shot-stopper decide to retire from the national team.
Nigeria exited the tournament in the round of 16 after a 2-0 loss to France but Enyeama was on form at the World Cup, pulling daring saves as the Eagles progressed from the group stages.
While there have been calls for Enyeama to stay on longer in the team, Erico believes that the 32-year-old keeper will not be missed.
“The goalkeeping department has never been a problem to Nigerian teams because we have abundant goalkeeping talents everywhere in the country,” Erico told our correspondent on the telephone on Monday.
“If Enyeama decides to leave now, there are a million and one goalkeepers around. When I was on the scene, people thought there would be no other keeper like me, same for Peter Rufai, Ike Shorunmu and others.
“It’s a generational thing. When one generation goes, another one will definitely come. Since Enyeama still has to leave, some other keepers will arrive to take that place. As at present, he is in the form of his life.”
The former Eagles assistant coach added that the bonus row which generated a lot of heat in the Nigerian camp at the World Cup in Brazil could have been avoided if the game’s administrators had done the right thing.
“The money is the players’ rights. There ought not to be any issue about its payment. In other climes, they pay the players upfront before their games. And anything that comes after the match, win or lose, is an addition to what is rightly theirs,” he said.
“Even since our own time, the issue has always been between the administrators and the players.

The Kano State Government said on Tuesday that it had recruited 998 new teachers for public secondary schools in the state.
Gov. Rabiu Kwankwaso made this known when he distributed appointment letters to newly recruited teachers employed into the state civil service.
NAN reports that those recruited, included teachers, laboratory attendants and library assistants.
Kwankwaso said that the introduction of free education necessitated the recruitment of the teachers to boost the manpower in the teaching profession in the state.
“The recruitment also became necessary so as to provide qualified staff with a view to improving teaching and learning in schools,” he said.
He further appealed to the new employees to be good ambassadors of the state wherever they found themselves.
“Our administration is vigorously pursuing mass literacy campaign to stamp out illiteracy from the state.”
In his remark, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sunusi, represented by Waziri of Kano, Malam Sa’adu Gidado, tasked the newly employed teachers to regard their positions as a trust bestowed on them to breed future leaders.

After a number of widespread protests, the
management of Obafemi Awolowo
University (OAU) has released a new school
fees regime.
A statement from the management reads:
The Management of Obafemi Awolowo
University (OAU), Ile-Ife wishes to inform
parents/guardians of Obafemi Awolowo
University students and the general public
that the new regimes of charges for students
are as follows:
FRESH STUDENTS:
Faculty/Programmes Charges Per Session
LAW/ARTS/SOCIAL SCIENCES/ADMIN/EDU.
ARTS N43,700 Per Session
SCIENCE/EDM/EDUC. SCIENCE/TECH/AGRIC
N54,700 Per Session
MEDICINE/PHARMACY/HEALTH SCIENCES
N57,700 Per Session
And a Development Levy of Eighteen
thousand naira (N18, 000.00), which is paid
once and for all by Fresh Students throughout
the duration of their studentship in the
University.
RETURNING UNDERGRADUATES:
Faculty/Programmes Charges Per Session
LAW/ARTS/SOCIAL SCIENCES/ADMIN/EDU.
ARTS N19,700 Per Session
SCIENCE/EDM/EDUC. SCIENCE/TECH/AGRIC
N30,700 Per Session
MEDICINE/PHARMACY/HEALTH SCIENCES
N33,700 Per Session
The University Management also wishes to
inform parents/guardians and the general
public that figures that may be brandished
about by individuals or groups, different from
the above are false and are not from the
University authorities.

Sixty-three women abducted by the Boko Haram Islamic sect from Kummabza village in the Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State two weeks ago have escaped from their kidnappers, security sources said on Sunday.
The women, the security sources said, had reunited with their families.
Some witnesses said that their unexpected freedom was facilitated when the insurgents left them in the camp to embark on an operation where they attacked military formations on Friday.
This, the sources said, presented the women with an opportunity to flee from their abductors.
It will be recalled that 70 women were allegedly abducted by insurgents from Kummabza village two weeks ago.
The Federal Government denied the abduction but the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, set up an inquiry into the kidnap.
The panel had yet to submit its report when security sources told journalists that the women had escaped from their captors.
Also, investigations into the incident revealed that there was a grand conspiracy to cover up the abduction as the nation was still going through the embarrassment of the abduction of the over 200 schoolgirls from the Government Secondary School in Chibok on April 14.
A top Borno State government official had revealed that though 70 women were kidnapped, the state government was handling the issue with caution in order not to be drawn into another confrontation with the Federal Government who had allegedly believed that the abduction of the Chibok girls was masterminded by the state government.
However, security sources and eyewitnesses told journalists that 63 out of the 70 abducted women had escaped from captivity and made their way back home.
Some residents of the villages where the women were abducted told journalists that the women who looked unkempt returned home on Saturday.
One Adamu Suleiman, a member of the youth vigilante group said, “I have just received an alert from my colleagues in Damboa area that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home. They took to their heels when their captors left them at the camp to go for a major operation.
“We don’t have the details of their escape yet, but we believe God gave them the opportunity at the time the insurgents came in their large numbers to attack Damboa on Friday.”
“We still believe seven women could still be in the camp or perhaps something must have happened to them.”
A top security officer, who did not want his name in print, said half of the escaped women had already reunited with their families while some others found wandering in the bushes near Adamawa State were in the custody of soldiers in Gulak town.

The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a 21-year-old undergraduate, Tolani Ajayi, of Redeemers University along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, for allegedly killing his father, Mr. Charles Ajayi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
The incident, according to the police, occurred on Tuesday, July 3, at their residence on Canaanland Street within the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Redemption Camp.
Tolani was said to have slaughtered his father with a knife and later butchered him with a cutlass.
PUNCH Metrolearnt that Tolani afterwards allegedly packed his father’s remains in a box and dragged them into the bush within the camp.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the police later recovered the remains of the 60-year-old lawyer in a bush along Canaanland Street.
He said, “The policemen who noticed the ground mark created by the box as Tolani dragged it, followed this lead which led them to the strange discovery.”
He said Tolani, a 300-level undergraduate in the Department of History and International Relations, was arrested the same day in his late father’s residence after the discovery of the corpse and police preliminary findings.
Adejobi added that the Divisional Police Officer of the Redemption Camp Police Station, Olaiya Martins, a Superintendent of Police, had led a team of detectives and some members of the community who noticed the strange attitude of the suspect while dumping the box.
He said, “They traced the ground marks made by the box to the point where the body of the SAN was dumped and thereafter traced the mark to the house of the deceased.
“When the police got to deceased’s house, the suspect was in a relaxed mood.
“When interrogated, the suspect earlier lied that his dad had gone on evangelism, but he eventually confessed to the crime when he was taken to the Redemption Camp Divisional headquarters.”
The suspect was said to have told policemen that problem arose when his late father confronted him for not responding to all the prayer points he (the deceased) was raising, adding that he (father) later slapped him.
He said he got angry and made a dash for the kitchen and picked up a knife, with which he stabbed his father, adding that he later used a cutlass on him.
It was leant that the police had recovered the knife and cutlass used in committing the alleged crime.
Adejobi told our correspondent that the Charles’ corpse had been deposited at a morgue in the Sagamu area of the state.
PUNCH Metrogathered that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, had transferred the matter to the Department of Criminal Investigation Eleweran, Abeokuta, for further investigation and necessary action

The Nigerian military just released a statement in which they ‘explained’ why they have not yet – after three months – brought back our precious Chibok abducted girls. In the statement as presented in the media, the military claimed that their problem was ‘bringing back the girls alive.’
Director of Information, Defence Headquarters, Major General Chris Olukolade said, “To the best of our knowledge, they are still accessible. If we tried to force our way in, they may be killed. If we force our way there, they will kill them. This is what we want to avoid at all cost; rescue operations of that nature should not be done in a hurry. Sambisa (forest) is not impenetrable. But let me say it here: they mined almost everywhere around where they are keeping these girls.”
The position of Nigeria’s security department under Chief of defense staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, Security head, NSA Sambo Dasuki, Minister of defense, ex-NSA, Spy Aliyu Gusau and ultimately the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is shameful, wicked and embarrassingly treacherous to put it mildly.
The girls are dead already. Quit the BS. The girls – being raped and killed in Sambisa forest are no better than dead. Our lazy, unwilling, unable and impotent, corruption riddled and grossly sabotaged security services are a sham and disgrace. They are afraid of dying on mission to rescue the girls. This is the truth about their position; harm to the girls who are harmed already beyond human redemption, is the least of their worries. Nigerians and the observing international community are no idiots. We are not in the least fooled into believing that the preservation of life is the least of the Nigerian security department’s worries. The military should just quit already and step aside so the willing coalition of Nigerian civilian patriots demanding the right to be armed and allowed into Sambisa to do the dignified, can go ahead and rescue the girls, dead or living-dead.
We call on all international organizations to initiate and enforce strict sanctions against Nigeria’s government and military personnel who have demonstrated indignant dereliction of duty to protect life and defend the nation against militants armed from the nation’s armory.
According to media reports, 7 more parents of the abducted girls have recently passed. The pain and trauma to the direct victims, families and larger nation can no longer ever be meaningfully reversed. The Nigerian military continues to stand aside and allow Boko Haram unlimited ability to reign full and uninhibited terror on Nigeria, including the continued abduction of even more innocent victims, with over 90 including 60 females, being abducted again this past month.
We the people vote no confidence in the Jonathan regime and the current military leadership of Nigeria.

The Osun chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has issued a strong warning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, its governorship candidate in the August 9 election, Senator Iyiola Omisore, its supporters and others to stop causing chaos in the guise of political campaigns.
The warning came on the heels of a rising wave of planned violent political attacks on the supporters of the APC across the state.
In a statement by the Director of Publicity, Strategy & Research, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, the party cautioned all agents and promoters of conflicts and chaos to refrain from such acts or face the wrath of the law.
The party issued the warning yesterday after political violence was averted by the State Police Command in Obokun Local Government area of the state; a development which followed series of other similar attacks against supporters of the APC.
The statement catalogued series of attacks on the supporters of APC in some areas of the state in recent times, which it said could snowball into full violence but for the understanding attitude of the government.
The party listed the attacks on its members at Ila-Oragun, Iwo, Ikirun, destruction of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s campaign billboards along Osogbo-Ilesha Road and Ibokun and Ile-Ife, where unknown hoodlums had also planted minor explosive devices to scare people a few days ago as some of the instances in which APC supporters have been at the receiving end of PDP’s crusade of violence. The statement noted that it is the restoration of peace after a long reign of PDP’s terror government that endeared Aregbesola to the people of the state.
Oyatomi said the peace-loving people of the state would rise up and defend the peace which they had enjoyed for almost four years now.

In the aftermath of the failed suicide bombing attempt on a military facility by a female terrorist who blew herself up in Gombe recently, troops have arrested three suspected female terrorists who have been secretly recruiting ladies into the female wing of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
The suspects, Hafsat Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar, were arrested while travelling to Madagali from where they were to transit to the Sambisa forest to reunite with their accomplices.
A statement by Col. Onyema Nwachukwu on behalf of the Director, Defence Information, in Abuja on Friday, said investigations revealed that the suspects, led by Bako, were on a mission to recruit members into the female wing as well as spy for the sect.
Bako’s link with the terrorists group had earlier been a subject of investigation in 2012, when security agents on a man-hunt for one Usman Bako, her husband who was identified as a terrorist, stormed their residence in Jimeta.
This, the statement added, resulted in the discovery of an AK 47 rifle and two loaded magazines.
The statement said, “Though Usman Bako later died in an encounter with troops in Sokoto where he had relocated to continue his terrorist activities, Hafsat continued with the terror group, specialising in surreptitious recruitment of female members.
“The suspects were luring ladies especially widows and young girls by enticing them with male suitors who are mainly members of the terror group for marriage.”
The Defence headquarters, however, said the female terror suspects had been operating with members of the intelligence team of Boko Haram, adding that their arrest had yielded information being verified by security agencies.

The Federal Government on Friday expressed hope that the ongoing strike would be called off on Monday after the association’s emergency meeting.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, during a press briefing in Abuja, said, “I also want to remind all health workers that the ethics of their professions dictates that at all times emergency care must not be denied to those that need them. I thank you all.”
While describing the strike as unnecessary, he said, “Almost all the issues in contention were either those that had been satisfactorily resolved or issues that could be treated merely through administrative mechanism.”
The minister said he had expected the NMA to attend to all emergency cases in public hospitals.
He recalled that a few weeks after the strike notice, the Federal Government held a 14-hour marathon meeting with the association on June 25, 2014 during which the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding that addressed all the 24 issues presented by the NMA.
Chukwu said, “The MoU was to have apprehended the nationwide strike that was threatened by the association. However, the NMA jettisoned the MoU and proceeded on strike on July 1, 2014. Despite reneging on the MoU, the government immediately invited the NMA to series of meetings on July 1 2014; yet this could not dissuade the NMA from the strike. Another meeting that was planned for July 2, 2014 was aborted when the NMA officials failed to show up.”
The NMA, however, honoured another meeting scheduled for July 3 attended by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and other relevant stakeholders.
Chukwu said, “At the end of the meeting which lasted for 10 hours, another MoU was signed. As I speak to you, the government has met its own side of the MoU and it is expected that the members of the NMA would from Friday (yesterday) begin to attend to all emergency cases in public hospitals in the spirit of this understanding.
“It is also expected that the NMA will call off the strike after its emergency meeting scheduled for Monday, July 7, 2014. The Federal Government is not unaware of the suffering and hardship that the strike has imposed on the generality of Nigerians, but wish to reassure Nigerians that not only does the government disapprove of this unnecessary industrial action, but has made efforts to negotiate with the NMA and ensure the immediate resumption of services in government hospitals.”
Meanwhile, the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Friday assured that the ongoing strike embarked upon by the NMA would soon be called off.
Uduaghan told journalists in Asaba that he had met with all the parties involved in the industrial action and they agreed that if they could not call off the strike, skeletal services would be rendered to patients.

Ekiti State Governor-elect, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has distributed no fewer than 14,500 branded 5kg bags of rice to Muslim faithfuls across the state.
Fayose, who distributed some of the rice at Ado Ekiti Central Mosque and Ansarudeen Central Mosque said the gesture was in the spirit of Ramadan.
Speaking through the Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Olusola Eleka, he said the bags of rice would be distributed simultaneously across the 16 local government areas in the state.
Elega said, “You know the Governor-elect is a man of the people and he so much has the love of the people at heart.
“He is doing this to demonstrate his love for the people and to identify with them especially during this season of Ramadan.”
Elega who appreciated the people for their massive vote for the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate assured that the incoming government would deliver on the promises made during the campaign.
He urged Muslims in the state to use the opportunity of the month to pray for the country and Ekiti state.
According to him, the peace being experienced in the state is as a result of the prayers of both Muslim and Christians.
“The governor-elect appreciates your prayers for him, this state and the country at large and I urge you not to relent especially now that a new government is on the way,” he said.
Elega pleaded for harmonious relationship among all religious groups saying without peace, no useful development could take place.
Receiving the commodities, President, Ekiti State League of Imams and Alfas, Alhaji Jamiu Kewulere, thanked the incoming governor for the gesture.
He assured that Muslims in the state would not relent in their prayers for the state.

Have you prayerfully considered these characteristics when choosing a potential marriage partner?
it wasn’t difficult to draft this list. These are the women I tell my spiritual cronies to avoid:

1. THE UNBELIEVER - In my previous column, I reminded women that the Bible is absolutely clear on this point: Christians should not marry unbelievers. Second Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (NASB). Apart from your decision to follow Christ, marriage is the single most important decision you will ever make. Don’t blow it by ignoring the obvious. You need a wife who loves Jesus more than she loves you. Put spiritual maturity at the top of your list of qualities you want in a wife.

2. THE MATERIAL GIRL - One young friend of mine was engaged to a girl from a rich family. He saved up money for months to buy a ring, but when he proposed she told him he needed to go back to the jewelry store to buy a bigger diamond. She pushed her fiance to go into debt for a ring that fit her expectations. She wanted a Tiffany’s lifestyle on his Wal-Mart budget. I warned my friend that he was stepping into serious trouble. Unless you want to live in debt for the rest of your life, do not marry a girl who has dollar signs in her eyes and eight credit cards in her Gucci purse.

3. THE DIVA - Some macho guys like to throw their weight around and pretend they are superior to women. Divas are the female version of this nightmare. They think the world revolves around them, and they don’t think twice about hurting somebody else to prove their point. Their words are harsh and their finger-snapping demands are unreasonable. Some of these women might end up in leadership positions at church, but don’t be fooled by their super-spiritual talk. Real leaders are humble. If you don’t see Christlike humility in the woman you are dating, back away from her and keep looking.

4. THE DELILAH - Remember Samson? He was anointed by God with superhuman strength, but he lost his power when a seductive woman figured out his secret and gave her man the world’s most famous haircut. Like Delilah, a woman who hasn’t yielded her sexuality to God will blind you with her charms, break your heart and snip your anointing off. If the “Christian” woman you met at church dresses provocatively, flirts with other guys, posts sexually inappropriate comments on Facebook or tells you she’s OK with sex before marriage, get out of that relationship before she traps you.

5. THE CONTENTIOUS WOMAN - A young man told me recently that he dated a girl who had serious resentment in her heart because of past hurts. A friend of mine told me "Before I would propose, I told my fiancee she had to deal with this,” he explained. “It would have been a deal-breaker, but there was a powerful breakthrough and now they are engaged.” This guy realized that unresolved bitterness can ruin a marriage. Proverbs 21:9 says, “It is better to live in a corner of a roof than in a house shared with a contentious woman.” If the woman you are dating is seething with anger and unforgiveness, your life together will be ruined by arguing, door-slamming and endless drama. Insist that she get prayer and counseling.

6. THE CONTROLLER ÷ Marriage is a 50/50 partnership, and the only way it works is when both husband and wife practice mutual submission according to Ephesians 5:21. Just as some guys think they can run a marriage like a dictatorship, some women try to manipulate decisions to get their way. This is why premarital counseling is so important! You don’t want to wait until you’ve been married for two weeks to find out that your wife doesn’t trust you and wants to call all the shots.

7. THE MAMA'S GIRL - It’s normal for a new wife to call her mom regularly for advice and support. It is not normal for her to talk to her mother five times a day about every detail of her marriage, including her sex life. That’s weird. Yet I have counseled guys whose wives allowed their mothers (or fathers) total control of their marriages. Genesis 2:24 says a man is to leave his parents and cleave to his wife. Parents should stay in the background of their children’s marriages. If your girlfriend hasn’t cut the apron strings, proceed with caution.

8. THE ADDICT - So many people in the church today have not been properly discipled. Many still struggle with various types of addictions—to alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription medicines or pornography—either because we don’t confront these sins from the pulpit or we don’t offer enough compassionate support to strugglers. Jesus can completely set a person free from these habits, but you don’t want to wait until you’re married to find out your wife isn’t sober. You may still be called to be married, but it is not wise to tie the knot until your girlfriend faces her issues head-on.

“We should all continue to pray for Osun and the governorship election slated for August 9. We want a violent-free transition. Election is coming up, keep your children far away from evil politicians who are promoters of violence,”

The senate on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano), Mr. Adedayo Adeyeye (Ekiti), Dr. Stephen Orhu (Delta), and Dr. Abdul Bulama (Yobe) as ministers. The nominees who answered questions from the senators on the state of the nation, agreed that an urgent review of the country’s education curriculum remained the best way to tackle unemployment, poverty and insurgency. Senate President, David Mark, congratulated the new appointees and urged them to see themselves as ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who are not in office to satisfy their party and sectional interests.