MORE TROUBLE FOR PDP AS 27 OUT OF 30 LAWMAKERS IN SOKOTO DEFECTS TO APC

The PDP were punched hard yet again when the majority of the members of the Sokoto State House of Assembly defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Twenty seven out of the 30 members of the Assembly took the decision to move the APC on Wednesday, lawmakers said.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Malami Basakkwace, informed that the that the members decided to move to the APC to follow the state governor, Aliyu Wamakko, who was one of the five governors that defected to the APC.

“We are moving in line the decision of his Excellency Governor Aliyu Wamakko to also move over to the APC,” he said. The defectors include the speaker of the assembly and other principal officials.

GOVERNOR KWANKWASO'S FATHER ESCAPES DEATH IN KANO

KANO State Governor’s father, Alhaji Musa Saleh Kwankwaso, on Tuesday night escaped death when unidentified gunmen attacked and opened fire on worshippers  at a mosque  in  Kwankwaso town, in Madobi Local Government Council of the state.

The governor’s father was said to be among the congregation at the time the gunmen struck.

It was gathered that it was a long gun battle between the gunmen and the police attached to the mosque. However, at the end of it all, three persons were killed, while 12 others sustained varying degrees of injuries. They were said to be receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.

PASTOR FIREMAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED OVER ALLEGED MURDER OF 12-YEAR OLD VIRGIN GIRL FOR RITUAL PURPOSES

Pastor Ofuche Ukoha popularly called "Sign Fireman, a controversial Lagos miracle Pentecostal priest  has been implicated in a ritual murder scandal involving a boy in his church who strangled 12 year old teenage girl while trying to obtain feces from her for ritual purposes.

The disclosure of Pastor Fireman's involvement in the scandal was made by an eighteen year old boy paraded by the police in Lagos. The teenage suspect stated during the parade that he was sent on the ritual mission by Pastor  Fireman.

He said he had always dreamt of becoming rich and had approached the pastor personally, after years of attending the church without his own financial miracle happening, Mr. Fireman reportedly told him the way to get his Sign for finance was to get the feces of a virgin girl. The suspect said Pastor Fireman promised him a reward of N100,000 for the assignment.

TANKER EXPLOSION AT APAPA AREA OF LAGOS KILLS FIVE

Tragedy occured at Apapa area of Lagos earlier today as five people were killed as a result of a fuel tanker that exploded.

The driver of the tanker carrying fuel lost control after the brakes failed, resulting in it somersaulting, and resulting in an explosion. The accident, which occurred along the Berger bus stop, Mile 2 area, also resulted in the injuries of a number of residents in the area.

The General Manager of the Lagos Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Olufemi Osanyintolu, confirmed the incident.

TEN ARTISTES WHOSE ALBUMS SHOULD DROP IN 2014

It is 2014 already and the Nigerian entertainment industry, particularly the music sector, is gearing up for a busy year. With some artistes failing to release their anticipated album in the previous year -2013, we expect loads of albums in 2014. Take a look at singers whose albums will most probably be released this year.

WizKid

Star Boy and EME artiste, Ayo ‘Wizkid’ Balogun, whose second studio album was postponed thrice in 2013, is expected to release the anticipated musical work this year. Expected to be loaded with international and local collaborations, and top notch productions from top producers, Wizkid’s yet-to-be titled second album might go the way of the first album; an all hit musical work.

Wande Coal

Remember he trended worldwide on social network, Twitter, when he released three singles back in 2011. Wande who ended the year 2013 with a Glo endorsement deal after a split with his former label boss, Don Jazzy, is expected to release his second long awaited album under his Black Diamond imprint.

STELLA ODUAH ATTEMPTS TO COVER UP CERTIFICATE FORGERY SCANDAL

Embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, and her associates have spent the last several hours scrambling to clean up the minister’s biographies on the Internet, following allegations that she lied about her academic qualifications.

SaharaReporters, had Monday quoted authorities at St. Paul’s College, where Mrs. Oduah claimed she studied for Bachelor and Masters degrees, as saying they did not award her an MBA at anytime as the university does not  even have a graduate school or graduate programme.

The minister is yet to respond to the allegations. Efforts to get her to comment for this story were unsuccessful. Joe Obi, her special assistant on media, did not answer or return calls.

TOP ENTERTAINMENT STORIES OF 2013

The year in entertainment started on a low note with the death of Goldie Harvey. However, it was also a triumphant year for afro-pop music with the likes of Kcee, Iyanya and Flavour topping the charts. Wazobia rappers also made themselves felt: Olamide, Phyno and belatedly, Reminisce.

It was also the year celebrities uncensored themselves on Twitter and Instagram: Tonto Dikeh and her marijuana advocacy, Maheeda and her nudie. We were also blessed/cursed with another season of the show we all love to hate, Big Brother Africa. On the foreign scene, we were entertained by the epic rants of rapper, Kanye West, and former Hannah Montana star, Miley Cyrus, trying to make twerking “happen” (twerking, a series of booty shaking dance moves that black Africans have been doing since God created hips.).

However, despite the midyear high, the year is ending on another low note for music artistes as BON/IBAN throw down the gauntlet, banning most of the biggest stars (Tuface, Dbanj, MI) from the airwaves.

Here is a rundown of the stories that really made news:

JEALOUS FRIEND DISGUISED IN ISLAMIC DRESS BEFORE CARRYING OUT ACID ATTACK

This is a continuation of the report on the horrific acid attack on a Nigerian, Miss Naomi Oni in Britain. A university  student disguised in a Muslim veil stalked her before throwing acid in her face, a court heard yesterday.

Mary Konye, 21, was captured on CCTV using the niqab to hide her identity as she followed her victim home, before allegedly attacking her because she was jealous of her good looks, the jury heard.

Her victim Naomi Oni, also 21, gave evidence about her ordeal yesterday, describing her shock when she was attacked late at night on a London street.

FORMER MISS VENEZUELA AND EX-HUSBAND MURDERED IN FRONT OF THEIR FIVE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER

A British man and his beauty queen ex-wife have been murdered in front of their five-year-old daughter in a horrific robbery in Venezuela.

Thomas Berry, 39, from London and Miss Venezuela 2004, Monica Spear Mootz, 29, were gunned down by thieves after their car broke down on the Puerto-Cabello to Valencia highway at about 10pm on Monday. Police made five arrests in connection with the case earlier today, including two who were said to be under 18.

LATE SESAN OGUNRO SET TO BE BURIED IN LAGOS THIS FRIDAY

Mr. Sesan Ogunro Snr. father of OAP "Fade Ogunro" & Award winning video director "Sesan Ogunro", who was murdered during a robbery incident in Lagos on December 22, 2013 will be buried this weekend,

Family picture

The burial ceremony will take place  at the Vaults and Gardens, Ikoyi, Lagos on Friday, January 10, 2013.

Gov Fashola visited the family

The late media guru and successful businessman is survived by his wife and four children.

May his soul rest in peace.

NIGERIAN GIRL WAS BATHED WITH ACID BY A JEALOUS FRIEND WHOM SHE ONCE CALLED "UGLY" DURING A FIGHT

A university student threw acid in the face of a friend in a copycat version of the attack on model Katie Piper because she was jealous of her good looks, a court heard yesterday.

Mary Konye, 21, allegedly disguised herself in a Muslim veil and followed Naomi Oni home before attacking the Victoria’s Secret lingerie shop assistant, who is said to have once called her ugly.Miss Oni, also 21, screamed and could smell her skin and hair burning, the jury heard. She ran home where her family tried frantically to wash off the acid.

NAOMI BEFORE THE ATTACK

But she lost the skin from her face, and has permanent scarring over her body, the court was told. Her clothes tested positive for sulphuric acid.  Konye – who had allegedly told a friend she wanted to throw acid at Miss Oni – denies the attack and being jealous.

PASTOR BAGS 10 YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPING SIX YEAR OLD GIRL IN ABUJA

A man, who claimed to be a pastor in Galadimawa Village in Abuja, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a High Court for the rape of a six-year-old girl. The  self-acclaimed pastor, Micheal Dimowo, was arraigned by the police  on December 3, 2012 on rape charges,  which contravenes the provisions of Section 283 of the Penal code.

Delivering judgment on Monday, Justice Maudashiru Oniyangi said;  “Based on the forgoing I find the accused guilty of the offence of rape which contravenes the provisions of Section 283 of the Penal Code.

STELLA ODUAH EMBROILED IN CERTIFICATE SCAM

Stella Oduah, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation is a cat with nine lives. She is embroiled in a scandal of towering proportions in the ministry and faces new integrity questions as her Masters’ degree has been challenged by the United States school which supposedly awarded it in a report by Sahara Reporters.

Her resume, which she presented to the Senate as a ministerial nominee in 2011, indicated she obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States. But SaharaReporters has learned from the President of the college that it has never in its 125-year history had a graduate school or graduate program. The Provost Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Vice President of Institutional Development said in response to our inquiries, “We don’t offer any graduate programs here.”

Similarly, the school’s website states: “Saint Paul's College is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate [bachelor’s] degrees.”  There is no mention of graduate degrees.

(VIDEO) OKONJO IWEALA VS HOUSE OF REPS FINANCE COMMITTEE

When on December 19, 2013, members of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance gave Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, 50 questions on Nigeria’s current economic situation, they asked her to respond within two weeks.

A reliable source in the House said that the minister was, as at Monday evening, yet to respond to the questions, three days after the two-week ultimatum given by the lawmakers expired. The source, however, said the minister could still answer the questions before the lawmakers resume from their Yuletide vacation next Monday.

                                            IWEALA VS HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO       CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

However, the presentation of the questions to the minister had its own drama, with an exclusive video, showing the minister initially making jest of the lawmakers after they informed her of their decision to hand her the 50-question homework.

APC HUNTS VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

In preparation for the 2015 general elections, the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC) has began its search is for the party’s vice presidential candidate right.

Popularly, it was assumed that former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, may get the presidential slot. In case this option fails, the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, former Federal Capital Territory (FCT), minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido are slated for a replacement.

However, Governor Lamido has always maintained that he won’t leave People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as he is a founding father of the party. It was, however, learnt that the stakeholders who met behind the closed-door last weekend, have no mandate of the party or of any of the candidates being considered for the vice presidential slot, which was the highpoint of the parley.

GUNMEN KILL 30 AND BURN 40 HOUSES IN PLATEAU

No fewer than 30 people were reportedly killed and 25 others injured on Monday  when gunmen struck  at Shonong    in Bachit District of the Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The latest round of killings came barely  12 days after  the burial of the acting heads  of   Shonong  and Attarkar, who were murdered on December 23. A correspondent gathered from eye-witnesses that apart from those killed, over 40 houses were torched by the gunmen believed to be Fulani cattle rearers . Also affected were domestic animals belonging to the villagers.

The attackers were said to have stormed the village around 7am on Monday  in a commando-like  manner, shooting sporadically. Those killed were caught in the pandemonium that followed staccato bursts of gunfire.

Shom Toma, one of the survivors, who is receiving treatment  at the Vom Christian Hospital, Jos, told journalists  that the attackers  numbering over 100  struck  at a time  most of the villagers had gone to their farms.

JONATHAN'S 11TH PRIVATE JET - THEOPHILUS ILEVBARE

The Presidency has made a proposal for an upfront depositof N1.5billion for a brand new private jet, which will become the Presidential Air Fleet’s (PAF) 11th aircraft. This figure is contained in the details of the 2014 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan through the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The Federal Government has budgeted another N1.52b for the maintenance of the 10 aircraft currently in the PAF in 2014 and it is now set to spend just about that amount on a new one. This prodigious squandering of taxpayers’ money is reckless and unacceptable.

The PAF already boasts two Falcon 7X jets, two Falcon 900 jets, Gulfstream 550, one Boeing 737 BBJ (Nigerian Air Force 001 or Eagle One), and Gulfstream IVSP. Others are one Gulfstream V, Cessna Citation 2 aircraft and Hawker Siddley 125-800 jet. The combined estimated value of the PAF is about $390.5m (N60.53bn). According to industry experts, it costs a minimum of 20 per cent of that figure to maintain them annually. So we’re looking at about $58.57m (N9.08bn) yearly for maintenance. Private jets are money guzzlers either in the air or on land.

The proclivity of this administration for frivolous spending is well documented.  The government has been severely criticised in the past for the colossal amount of embezzlement, rip-off and wastage that have been its hallmark. The rationale behind this new aircraft in the PAF must be condemned .

#STATEOFTHENATION - HIGH COURT BOMBED IN PORT-HACOURT

Ahoada East High Court in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State in southern Nigeria was razed today after a bomb explosion this morning. The bombers are yet to be identified.

The bombed court belongs to Justice C. N. Wali, the judge who on 16 December last year made an interim order barring Evans Bipi, a member of the House of Assembly, from parading himself as the speaker of the house.

Bipi has been a pretender for the position of Speaker of the Assembly, since an aborted attempt in November to unseat the authentic speaker, Amachree . Bipi leads a group of six members, compared to the 26 members in support of Amachree. According to reports from Port-Harcourt, the court was billed to continue the case today, when it was bombed.

JONATHAN'S WASTEFUL SPENDING ON PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT FLEET

SOME of the details contained in the 2014 budget proposals of the Federal Government currently awaiting the approval of the National Assembly are as outrageous as they are disquieting. Those details have, as usual, exposed the government’s propensity for frivolities and plush living.

Global trends however suggest that public officials should scale down the cost of governance and roll back casual luxuries in public office. But President Goodluck Jonathan is again making a public statement of opulence in a country where the majority of the people live below the United Nations poverty threshold. It is obvious that what the government has succeeded in doing with the budget, as usual, is to use it to promote the ostentatious and wasteful lifestyle of government officials, while further impoverishing the Nigerian citizenry. When the government is not budgeting N2.2 billion for a “befitting banqueting hall in Aso Rock Villa,” as was the case last year, it is proposing N34.5 million for the feeding of lions in the Aso Rock Zoo.

$10.8BILLION CRUDE OIL MONEY IS NOT MISSING - NNPC

Dr Omar Ibrahim, General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has dismissed the claim that the sum of $10.8billion, out of the alleged unremitted $49.8 billion crude oil fund, was missing.

In a  statement released on Sunday in Abuja, Ibrahim, said that the issues surrounding the allegation of unremitted $49.8billion against the NNPC, had since been explained last December at a joint press conference by NNPC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

“There was no where it was admitted by any of the parties in the course of the press conference, that the sum of $12billion or $10.8billion, out of the alleged unremitted $49.8billion, is missing,” the statement read. “The truth of the matter is that as at the time of the press conference, $30 billion of the alleged unremitted oil revenue, had been reconciled by all the parties involved.