RESCUED WOMEN NARRATE ORDEAL IN BOKO HARAM'S CAPTIVITY.

Boko Haram fighters killed older boys and men in front of their families before taking women and children into the forest where many died of hunger and disease, freed captives told Reuters on Sunday after they were brought to a refugee camp in Yola, Adamawa State.

The Nigerian army rescued hundreds of women and children last week from the Islamist fighters in Sambisa Forest in a major operation that has turned international attention to the plight of hostages.

After days on the road in pickup trucks, hundreds were released on Sunday into the care of authorities at a refugee camp in Yola, to be fed and treated for injuries. They spoke to reporters for the first time.

BODE GEORGE DESTROYED PDP IN THE SOUTH WEST - PDP SECRETARY.

There appears to be no end to the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party as its National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo, on Sunday accused the South-West leaders of the PDP of sowing a seed of discord in the party.

Oladipo, who was reacting to a call on Friday by the South-West leaders on the members of the PDP National Working Committee   to resign their positions, said it was unfortunate that they ( the South-West leaders) who should know better had   resorted to divisive politics.

The leaders had   in a statement after their meeting in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti hinged their call for   the resignation of the NWC members, including the National Chairman of the PDP, on the party’s poor performance in the just concluded general elections.

WHO IS AFRAID OF TINUBU'S WAR CHEST???????????????

Who is afraid of Tinubu’s  ‘war chest, vast network and very effective political structures?’ These are valuable outstanding points that the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has used to achieve results that are being widely applauded today. 

slimy terrain of politics, it is possible that insiders can paradoxically play oppositional roles, and the media can be used to carry out a programme to discredit a power player of distinction such as Tinubu. Could this be the case in the developing drama of Tinubu denigration? Whether the stones are being thrown from within his camp or from outside his circle, it is futile because the individual they seek to bring down is up and standing like the Rock of Gibraltar.

WHY JONATHAN'S MEN ARE FIGHTING WITH PDP CHAIRMAN, ADAMU MUAZU.

The crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP deepened at the weekend just as reasons stoking the conflict that has pitched President Goodluck Jonathan and his aides against the National Working Committee, NWC of the party began to unfold. At the heart of the crisis, Vanguard learnt is the struggle for the soul of the party ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

Vanguard sources gathered that associates of President Jonathan are determined to shove away the Adamu Mu‘azu-led NWC in favour of a more pliable executive for the purpose of ensuring the return of President Jonathan as presidential candidate or in the alternative a candidate of their choice in 2019.

The NWC, Vanguard learnt was, however, looking beyond Jonathan with their eyes fixed on the Northeast for the 2019 presidential candidate with a leading chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC from that region in their sights.

214 RESCUED GIRLS FROM THE JAWS OF BOKO HARAM ARE PREGNANT.

The latest rescue of additional 234 women and children by the Nigerian Army from the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, indicated, yesterday, that a sizeable number of the rescued girls were visibly pregnant, even as unofficial reports put the latest number of pregnant girls in one of the camps in Borno as at last Saturday at 214.

Giving this indication in Lagos, Executive Director, UNFPA, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, also disclosed that in the last one year, the organization had taken deliveries of over 16,000 pregnancies in the troubled North East part of the country.

Osotimehin, while giving update of the response to the rehabilitation of the rescued women and children,  said the organization, in anticipation of the magnitude of the problem on hand, had put in place a formidable team in collaboration with the Federal and state governments, to first restore the dignity of the girls, who, he said, are facing severe psychosocial trauma.

I AM GRIEVED BY JONATHAN'S DEFEAT. - IFEANYI UBAH.

National Coordinator of Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah in this interview barres  his mind on the outcome of the 2015 general elections among other issues. It was reported that he recently wept publicly because of Jonathan's defeat.

To what extent was TAN significant during the electioneering period?

We are happy about the  impact we have made in the polity. I believe that within a  very short period of time we will be able to make our mark on the political landscape. We were able to draw attention to the activities of government as well as mobilise the grassroots for a more robust political engagement.

Our activities generated incisive discussions regarding the choice of candidates and also added colour and substance to the political space. The best outcome is the inputs of associations like TAN other than political parties in enlarging the political space.

POLICEMAN ARRESTED FOR RAPING 7-YR OLD MINOR IN KANO. #SAYNOTORAPE.

The Police in Kano State have arrested a serving policeman, Cpl. Sani Salisu, for allegedly raping a minor. This is contained in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Magaji Majiya, in Kano on Friday.

“The command wishes to inform the public that, in its effort to flush out the bad eggs from the force, it has arrested a serving member of the force, Cpl. Sani Salisu.

“He was arrested for luring and taking advantage of a seven-year-old girl inside a kiosk located at Mangoron Mahauta Brigade quarters, Kano,” it said.

THE EKITI CRISIS CONTINUES AS APC LAWMAKERS SHUN MEETING ORAGANISED BY CHIEF AFE BABALOLA (SAN).

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers of the Ekiti State House of Assembly on Thursday shunned the peace meeting convened by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) to reconcile them with Governor Ayodele Fayose.

The lawmakers in a statement by Speaker Adewale Omirin’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, explained that while they appreciated the peace moves initiated by the eminent lawyer, surrounding circumstances gave away the governor as not prepared for any resolution of the crisis.

Specifically, the lawmakers said the security measures put in place for the peace parley revealed that the governor had a plan to attack and arrest some of them.

NO LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL AS POWER GENERATION DROPS TO 2800MW. (DARKNESS CONTINUES).

Nigeria’s total electricity generation has dropped to a meagre 2,800 Megawatts, the lowest in nearly a year, as Nigerians struggle with mini-heat waves due to rising temperature.

The Ministry of Power said Thursday that power output dropped from a recent peak of 4,500MW on April 3, to 2,800 as of March 30.

Godknows Igali, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry blamed the huge cut on “vandalism of gas pipelines”.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN FAULTS CREDIBILITY OF THE ELECTIONS THAT SACKED HIM FROM ASO ROCK.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday picked holes in the results of the March 28 presidential election, saying “the Peoples Democratic Party couldn’t have got those kinds of scores” it had in some places.

Jonathan, who spoke shortly after receiving the report of the Senator Ahmadu Ali-led PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, however, believed that since the general elections were over, the country must be allowed to move forward.

He added that apart from himself that quickly conceded defeat to the All Progressives Congress candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, many PDP members also made sacrifices because they were persecuted in the course of electioneering.

JONATHAN & HIS TEAM ARE PLANNING TO SABOTAGE A SMOOTH HANDOVER - APC CRIES OUT.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday accused the out-going President Goodluck Jonathan administration of plotting to hinder a smooth handover of power to the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) on May 29. President Goodluck Jonathan had, on Wednesday, accused the APC of acting like a parallel government and trying to stampede his administraton out of office by making impossible demands in the terms of reference of the President-elect’s transition committee.

Briefing newsmen after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, Minister of National Planning, Abubakar Suleiman, a member of Jonathan’s transition committee, said the council frowned at the terms of reference of the in-coming government and warned that the President’s magnanimity should not be construed as cowardice. He said the council agreed that Dr Goodluck Jonathan remains the President of the country until May 29 and the in-coming government should avoid creating a parallel government.

PICTURES OF WOMEN & CHILDREN RESCUED FORM SAMBISA FOREST.

 

Pictures of women and children rescued from the once dreaded Sambisa forest...

FUEL SCARCITY CONTINUES AS OIL MARKETERS DENY RECEIVING ANY PAYMENT FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

Despite the claim by the Federal Government that N156 billion was released on Thursday to oil marketers to facilitate the quick resolution of the current fuel crisis, the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), has said normal lifting of fuel will not resume till their members’ accounts are duly credited by the banks.

As at 4.35 p.m. on Thursday, the Executive Secretary, Depot & Petroleum Products Marketers Association(DAPPMA), Odufemi Adewole, said that none of its members and their counterparts in the Major Oil Marketers Association(MOMAN), had confirmed receiving any payment.

“The money government said it was paying to marketers has not yet hit our accounts. So, there is little we can do about the situation,” Mr, Adewole said. “The money the Minister of Finance promised to pay us last February did not get into our hands till about four or five weeks later.

JEFFREY OKAFOR FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER AFTER SIX YEARS ON THE RUN.

KILLER - JEFFREY OKAFOR

 A teenager who knifed a CBBC star to death outside a nightclub before confessing the crime to his girlfriend and fleeing to Nigeria has been found guilty of murder.

Jeffrey Okafor was just 18 when he stabbed 19-year-old Carl Beatson-Asiedu outside a nightclub in Vauxhall, south west London, as two groups of clubbers brawled. Within an hour of the attack, Okafor, now 24, rang girlfriend Merissa Anderson to say he had been involved in a 'madness', jurors at Woolwich Crown Court heard.

A few days later he confessed to stabbing Mr Beatson-Asiedu, who was known as 'Charmz' and had appeared in CBBC's 'MI High', in the stomach.

JONATHAN'S SACKING SPREE CONTINUES AS CHAIRMAN OF NPA IS KICKED OUT OF OFFICE.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday sacked Mallam Habib Abdullahi as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority.He has also named Alhaji Sanusi Bayero as his replacement.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President said Bayero’s appointment would take effect from Thursday (today). As usual, no reason was given for Abdullahi’s sack.

The statement partly read, “President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has approved the appointment of Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Ado Bayero as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

THE MANY BATTLES OF PATIENCE JONATHAN.

The wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, was not a contestant for any political office in the just concluded general election. However, she was more prominent at the various campaigns of her political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, was involved in – during the countdown to the polls.

She was optimistic that her intervention in the campaigns would save from defeat her husband, who was the presidential candidate of the PDP – and whose public rating had plummeted.

Popularly referred to as ‘Mama Peace’ by admirers, Patience was a delight to watch as she danced to various songs by popular musicians on magnificently decorated podiums draped in the party ’s green-white-red flag colours. And she had no patience when lambasting the opposition All Progressives Congress, which was at the receiving end of her outbursts. Indeed, Patience poked direct verbal attacks and innuendos at the presidential candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari.

4-MONTH OLD BABY RESCUED FROM THE RUBBLE OF NEPAL'S DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE AFTER 4 DAYS.

The earthquake in Nepal has now killed over 5,000 people since Saturday April 25th. A 4 month old baby was however rescued by he Nepal Army after 4 days of being trapped in the rubble.

ANOTHER APPROCAH TO SOUTH AFRICA'S XENOPHOBIC ATTACKS - BOLA TINUBU.

The destructive attacks in South Africa on Nigerians and other sub-Saharan Africans are tragic and mindlessly wrong. The assaults sorely bruise the objective of inter-African harmony. They also put an eraser to the idyll of progress and domestic tranquility many people saw when gazing at South Africa.

The xenophobia is actually a lethal show of misdirected anger. The attacks point to deep, underlying ruptures within the South African political economy that actually have little to do with the presence of Nigerian or other Black Africans in that nation. Nigerians have become scapegoats in a fundamentally domestic struggle.

The Black populace is roiling because their economic plight has worsened since the end of apartheid. If prosperity had come to them, they would not have come to this. The political and economic accommodation between the traditionally White-controlled economic superstructure and the post-Mandela Black political elite is under challenge.

FG DECLARES FRIDAY, MAY 1ST PUBLIC HOLIDAY.

The federal government has declared Friday, May 1, as a public holiday to mark the 2015 Workers’ Day.

The Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, made the declaration yesterday on behalf of the federal government in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Abubakar Magaji

Moro congratulated all Nigerians for their resilience and commitment in the face of the challenges of daily living.

He enjoined them to sustain the support for President Goodluck Jonathan,  in his efforts to build a stable, peaceful and economic vibrant nation. The minister wishes all Nigerian workers a joyous and peaceful celebration.

SENATE PRESIDENCY SEAT - TINUBU DUMPS FOR AKUME, LOBBIES FOR AHMED LAWAN.

The battle for the principal offices of the National Assembly has taken another turn with the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, withdrawing his support for the former Governor of Benue State, Senator George Akume, as his preferred candidate for the Senate presidency.

By jettisoning Akume, it is a clear indication that the North-central geopolitical zone may have lost out in its bid for the number one position in the National Assembly to the North-east zone.

THISDAY gathered that the former governor of Lagos and his wife, Remi Tinubu on Monday night decided to pitch their tents with Senator Ahmed Lawan from Yobe State.