KOGI 2015 ELECTIONS - THE BATTLE BETWEEN WADA & AUDU.

Barring any legal upset, Kogi State will be electing its next governor in November. The choice is between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Idris Wada, who is the current governor, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abubakar Audu, who was twice governor on the platforms of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) between 1990 and 2003 and the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) between 1992 and 1993 under the Gen Ibrahim Babangida transition programme. Mr Wada is a retired pilot, and Prince Audu a banker and accountant. Both will lock horns brutally and fiercely in about two months from now to determine who will run the affairs of the largely silent and bucolic state for the next four years.

EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS - ASP DETAINED FOR KILLING SENATOR'S SON.

The Force Criminal  Investigations Department (FCID) of the Nigerian Police force has arrested and detained an Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, and six other Police officers over allegations of extra-judicial killings in separate incidents that occurred in Abuja and Benin, the Edo State capital.

The first case resulting in the arrest of the ASP (Mohammed Yusuf) and two officers (Corporal Agada Lawrence and Corporal Agada Kenneth, involved the extra judicial killing of the son of the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Fidelis Okoro, in Abuja last year.

According to Police sources, Mr. John Chukwuemeka Okoro (son of Senator Okoro) and a friend of his (Sunday Markus alias Sunday Black) were at the Durumi district of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, on the 11th  of August 2014, when a Police Patrol team received a distress call from Mabuchi District that that some suspected robbers snatched a Toyota car from the owner.

AREPO: WHERE VANDALS RULE OVER A NIGERIAN TERRITORY. - (CC: @MBUHARI @PROFOSINBAJO @GOVSIA @AKINWUNMIAMBODE @POLICENG}.

Nigerians woke up Wednesday, with  news of the gruesome murder of nine operatives of the Department of  State Security,DSS in Konu area of Ikorodu Lagos, Tuesday night,  by vandals who were returning from  Arepo creeks  in trucks loaded with siphoned petroleum products  belonging to the Nigerian .National Petroleum Corporation.

The operatives whose identities are yet to be ascertained owing to the silence of the DSS over the incident, had gone to effect the arrest of the  vandals.

As they embarked on that operation, apparently hoping to  actualise their aim, little did they realise that would be their last assignment as operatives of the revered security agency. As barely had they reached Konu than they were taken unawares by an  unwelcome  sporadic shots from their  enemies- the vandals, who laid ambush for them.

(HIGHLIGHTS) Manchester City 1 West Ham 2

MAN CITY 1 WEST HAM 2

(HIGHLIGHTS) Newcastle 1 vs Watford 2 . ODION IGHALO SCORED 2 GOALS.

NEW 1 WAT 2

(HIGHLIGHTS) Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0.

CHE 2 ARS 0

HID AWOLOWO IS DEAD.

Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, wife of the legendary politician, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is dead.

She was aged 99, just a few weeks to her marking a century in this world. She was born on 25 November 1915.

The woman, who was once described by Awo, as a jewel of inestimable value, has now gone to join her husband, who died in 1987.

DIAMOND BANK STAFF DOCKED FOR N111.2M FRAUD.

A staff of Diamond Bank Obioha Okengwu was yesterday arraigned before Justice Mohammed Yunusa of a Federal High Court, Lagos over a nine count charge of fraud. He is accused of allegedly defrauding the bank of N111.2 million.

According to prosecuting counsel, Obioha, a graduate of Abia State University, committed the offence between April and August 2014 while working at the e-Business unit of the bank, handling daily settlement entries of transactions done on Point of Sales (POS) and Automated Teller Machine 

Obioha unlawfully credited huge sums of money into his family’s account instead of the bank’s accounts.

COURT ORDERS INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE TO ARREST BUKOLA SARAKI.

The Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja has ordered the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase and other relevant security agencies in ‎the country to arrest the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

In a ruling this afternoon, the tribunal headed by Justice Danladi Umar issued a bench warrant against Saraki following his refusal to appear in court to face a 13-count criminal charge that was preferred against him by the Federal Ministry of Justice.

FG had through a deputy director in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. M.S. Hassan, asked the tribunal to order Saraki’s arrest.

THE FIVE WIVES OF LATE OONI SIJUWADE TO MOURN FOR ONE YEAR.

The five wives (oloris) of the departed Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, would mourn for one year as a mark of respect for the monarch who passed away on July 28, 2015, a family member has said.

Speaking in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday, the family member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said all the wives of the departed monarch were barred by Ife tradition not to speak to journalists for one year after the death of the king.

“The wives cannot talk to the press within one year of the monarch’s death. They cannot even attend flamboyant parties or events. There’s nothing the wives can do about that.

AGE CATCHES UP WITH 91-YR-OLD MUGABE AS HE READ WRONG SPEECH.

Zimbabweans generally don't laugh or get excited about President Robert Mugabe's speeches, given the level of poverty and reported human rights abuses in the southern African country.

But an unprecedented slip-up in a speech by the 91-year-old leader on Tuesday has changed the mix.

Instead of a speech officially opening Parliament, Mugabe read his State of the Nation Address, which he had already delivered on August 25.

After the incident, his spokesman George Charamba issued a statement saying: "There has been a mix-up of speeches resulting in a situation where His Excellency the President delivered the wrong speech.

"The mix-up happened in his secretarial office therefore the delivery in Parliament should be set aside. The error is sincerely regretted and corrective measures are being considered."

But commenters on social media would not let it go that easily.

"What if Mugabe had been given a speech about his resignation? We could be far by now," reads a message from Tomaz Madhuku he says he got from a WhatsApp group he belongs to.

Jonathan Moyo, former minister of information, struggled to defend his boss. He said U.S. President Barack Obama had had the same thing happen to him.

But critics of Mugabe weren't buying it.

"It doesn't help being defensive, this is a sign that he is too old and must resign!" wrote one person identified only as Mr X, responding to that tweet.

Mugabe, who turns 92 in February, rarely made this kind of mistake until recently.

Last December, he shouted, "Down with Zanu PF!" -- but Zanu PF, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front, is his own party.

His critics say age is working against him. And with the Tuesday incident, the calls for his resignation got louder.

"He has seen better days. I think it is now clear that he is no longer fit for purpose. In fact if Zimbabwe was a democracy, Parliament was supposed to go and invoke Section 96 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe," said Obert Gutu, spokesman for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, speaking to journalists on Wednesday in Harare.

"He should actually be impeached. He is now clearly unable to discharge his duties as head of state."

CNN

#CCBvsSARAKI - COURT SUMMONS SARAKI, CCB & OTHERS OVER FALSE ASSETS DECLARATION.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, summoned the Federal Ministry of Justice, Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, Mr. Sam Saba and that of the  Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Justice Danladi Umar, to appear before the court on September 21, to show cause why Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki should be prosecuted.

Saraki is facing 13-count charge bordering on alleged corruption and false declaration of assets, levelled against him by the CCB.

Equally summoned to appear before the court was the deputy director in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. M.S. Hassan, who signed the charge against Saraki. The court order was sequel to an ex-parte motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/775/15, which was filed and moved in chamber, yesterday, by Saraki’s lawyer, Mr. Mahmud Magaji, SAN.

OONI'S THRONE - COURT STOP GIESI FAMILY FROM PRODUCING CANDIDATE.

Following the formal announcement by the kingmakers in Ile-Ife requesting nomination of candidates from the Giesi Ruling House for the selection process of the new Ooni of Ife, an Osogbo high court yesterday granted the Lafogido Ruling House of Ile-Ife an injunction restraining the Ife king makers and Osun state governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesolsa from allowing the Giesi ruling house from presenting candidates for the vacant stool of the Ooni of Ife.

The injunction, which was granted Wednesday evening by Justice A. A. Aderibigbe is sequel to a suit filed by the Lafogido ruling house seeking the restraining order against the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola; the Obalufe of Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin and the Lowa of Ile-Ife, Chief Joseph Ijaduola, pending the determination of the matter before the court.

BRIBE-TAKING POLICEMAN SHOOTS WOMAN TO DEATH, KILLS HUSBAND. CC: @POLICENG.

Motorcycle drivers on Thursday shut down the Ijegun Road in the Alimosho area of Lagos State, after a woman, Idongesit Ekpo, and her husband, Godwin, were shot by a team of policemen attached to the Isheri Osun Police Division.

While Idongesit died on the spot, Godwin was said to be in a critical condition at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where he was taken for treatment.

It was learnt that the couple was returning from a church programme on Wednesday in a tricycle belonging to the family.

NDLEA ARREST SIX FOR SWALLOWING $156,000.

Operatives of the of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, yesterday arrested a Bureau De Change operator and five other suspected money laundering syndicate for   swallowing $156,000  (N31, 083, 000.00) at Excel Oriental Hotel along Airport Road, Lagos.

The six suspects were arrested in the hotel while they were busy swallowing the large sums of money with the intention of exporting $156,000 to Brazil.

Speaking on the arrest, the chairman of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said  the six suspected members of the group, including a Bureau de Change operator, had been apprehended in connection with swallowing $156,000.

SECRET LOVER SPENDS NIGHT ON LEDGE SEVEN FLOORS UP AFTER WOMAN'S HUSBAND ARRIVED UNEXPECTEDLY.

A man in China spent the night on a narrow ledge seven floors up when his lover's husband came home early.

He escaped out of the apartment window in Shishi, Fujian Province, in the early hours so that the unknowing spouse didn't catch them out.

The cheating wife only called the fire service to rescue her stranded lover once her husband had left for work the next morning.

MILITARY SEIZES POWER IN BURKINA FASO.

The military in Burkina Faso has taken to the airwaves to declare it now controls the country, confirming that a coup has taken place - just weeks before national elections.

In the announcement aired early on Thursday on national television and radio, the statement said that the transitional government had been dissolved.

The statement came a day after members of the elite presidential guard unit of the military arrested the transitional president and prime minister.

MY BEST FRIEND MARRIED THE MAN WHO RAPED ME. #SAYNOTORAPE.

RAPIST & HIS WIFE

A bridesmaid today revealed how her life was ruined after she was raped by the groom who went on to marry her best friend.

Army captain Daniel Howard, 29, was jailed for seven years last week for the sex attack but his new wife April, 26, has stood by him and dumped her friend.

Howard raped his victim when she was a guest at his home as his fiancée, now his wife, slept in the room next door.

NBA REJECTS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR CONVICTED RAPISTS.

The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has opposed capital punishment for corruption  convicts.

NBA’s President Augustine Alegeh (SAN), who made the position known when he received the national president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the Bar House in Abuja, said other countries were moving away from capital punishment.

He said the government should evolve measures to prevent people from looting the treasury, adding that the  Treasury Single Account was a measure in the right direction.

OSUN STATE DRAMA - SALARIES AND PRIMARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATE SAGE.

Osun State is one of the states owing workers’ salaries for several months. Like in other affected states across the country, the situation has foisted untold hardship on the workers and their families. Some of them have been sending SOS to their friends and relations. Feeding has become difficult and their children sent out of schools over inability to pay fees.

It was therefore a great relief for all when the federal government bail-out came the way of the affected states.   However, reports emanating from Osun are totally at variance with the expectations of many, particularly the workers.

Much to the chagrin of many, the Osun    State Government (OSG) has instructed civil servants to produce their First School Leaving Certificate as a pre-condition for payment of their salary arrears. To this effect, screening forms were issued to some of the workers last week. The forms, according to reports, bear a specific instruction to attach the primary school certificates.