#ABUJABOMBBLAST AND PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S INSENSITIVE RALLY IN KANO

President Goodluck Jonathan made a mockery of his sympathy visit to the site of Monday’s devastating bombing at the Nyanya Motor Park, near Abuja, in which 75 innocent Nigerians died, while 254 others were injured, by attending a political rally in Kano, barely 24 hours after the horrendous incident. Jonathan led party chiefs to Kano where they received Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor, who recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party. His televised dance and backslapping while the dead were yet to be buried and with the fate of survivors still hanging in the balance were another blunder.  No wonder the President’s action has provoked national outrage.

But the Presidency says the public indignation is an attempt by politicians to score cheap political points. Labaran Maku, the Information Minister, says, “You will notice that whenever there is any significant story, something will just come negatively. So the purpose is to demoralise, disrupt government, society and to set people against each other and create paralysis…So if we are to say we will do nothing because of the strike, then it means that terrorists would have succeeded in putting a stall each time they strike on our country.” As he put it, going to Kano was a loud statement that terrorists will not stop this country from working.

#POLICERAPECASE - DPO AND TWO OTHERS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED.

The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Onikan Station,Mr. Adekunle Awe has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for alleged rape and threat to life. Two other policemen of the rank of inspector were also arrested as part of ongoing investigations.

Recall that a 31-year-old cook, Idowu Akinwunmi, had accused Awe of raping her in his office on April 15, 2014. Read the publication HERE.

A reliable source told our correspondent on Friday that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, the Lagos State Government and other human rights groups were interested in the matter.

THE MILITARY LIED ABOUT THE RESCUE OF KIDNAPPED SCHOOL GIRLS AS MOST OF THE GIRLS ARE STILL MISSING.

 

Nigeria’s armed forces have formally issued a retraction to the unfolding story of the kidnapping of more than 100 female students in the country’s northeast Monday.

The statement, issued by Chris Olukolade, a Major General who also serves as Coordinator, and the Director of Defense Information, centers on a discrepancy of fact, and concerns a mis-quote from the School Principal whose students were abducted in the Monday siege. In an attempt to set the record straight, Olukolade’s statement reads as follows:

The controversy that has been generated around the efforts at securing the lives of the abducted students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok is unfortunate. The ongoing frantic efforts of security forces along with vigilante groups including hunters working to locate and free the abducted students have continued to be keenly monitored at the Operation Centre of the Defense and Army Headquarters as regular progress reports are being received from troops on the ground.

HOW DPO OF ONIKAN POLICE STATION RAPED ME - MOTHER OF TWO.

A 31-year-old cook, Idowu Akinwunmi, has narrated to PUNCH how the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Onikan Station, SP Adekunle Awe, allegedly raped, extorted and threatened her life.

The victim said that the incident occurred on April 15, 2014. She explained that  on April 14 she was arrested by the police for “spurious” reasons.

#MURDA - @Iamseyishay Ft @Patorankingfire @Shaydeeboi

This is the kind of song you will put on replay for a very long time. Easily one of the best HipHop collaborations in 2014... Seyi Shay, Patoranking and Shaydee killed this track... Enjoy it.

BOKO HARAM ABDUCT ABOUT 200 SCHOOL GIRLS IN BORNO.

Scores of girls have been abducted in an attack on a school in north-east Nigeria, parents say.

Gunmen reportedly arrived at the school in Chibok, Borno state, late last night, and ordered the hostel's teenage residents on to lorries. Parents told the BBC's Hausa service that at least 200 girls had been abducted. The attackers are thought to be from the Islamist group, Boko Haram.

On Monday, bombings blamed on the group killed more than 70 people in Abuja.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, has been waging an armed campaign for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

UPDATE ON #ABUJABOMBBLAST!!!! - 71 CONFIRMED DEAD AND 121 INJURED AS JONATHAN VISITS SITE.... (GRAPHIC IMAGES)..

A bomb blast rocked a crowded bus station near Abuja the capital city of Nigeria early this morning.

The loud blast rocked Elrufai Park Nyanya Bridge, packed with commuters heading to the capital Abuja on Monday, with many people feared injured, the rescue agency spokesman told AFP.

The confirmed toll from the twin bombing is 71 killed and 124 wounded so far, police spokesman Frank Mba said.

The twin blasts rocked the Nyanya station roughly five kilometres (three miles) south of Abuja at 6:45 am (0545 GMT) and destroyed some 30 vehicles, mostly large passenger buses, officials said.

WEEKEND OF BLOODSHED IN BORNO AS BOKO HARAM INSURGENTS MURDER ABOUT 60 PEOPLE.

Barely 48 hours after suspected Boko Haram terrorists massacred more than 200 persons including students who were writing their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, in Borno, the insurgents, yesterday, continued their killing spree as they killed no fewer than 60 persons in Ngoshe and Kaigamari villages of Borno close to the border with Cameroon.

The terrorists also set ablaze many houses, shops, telecommunication masts and other property worth millions of naira. This came as the troops deployed to the North Central zone of the country to checkmate herdsmen/ farmers’ clashes as well as cattle rustling that has claimed hundreds of lives have recovered a cache of arms from militia men in Kaduna and Plateau states.

70-YR OLD HIV PATIENT RAPES 13-YR OLD GIRL IN PLATEAU.

A 70-year-old man has been arrested for raping a 13-year-old girl in Barkin Ladi Local Government of Plateau State.

The man whose name has been withheld was said to have raped the girl last Thursday. The suspect said to be  in police net is infected with HIV and is on anti-retroviral drugs.

The old man was said to have been caught in the act by the son of the landlord, who immediately reported the matter to the police.

NORTH CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT CRUDE OIL REVENUE - LAMIDO OF ADAMAWA

A delegate to the  National Conference and the  Lamido of Adamawa,  Alhaji Muhammadu Mustapha, has said that the North can survive  economically without proceeds from petroleum resources.

The controversial monarch noted that but for the laziness on the part of the people of the region, the proceeds from agricultural produce would have made the region less dependent on oil.

He argued that while a litre of palm oil is sold for N300, the same measurement is sold for N97 per litre when it is petroleum.

(PHOTOS) GUESTS GET CUSTOMIZED GOLD PLATED IPHONES AT THE WEDDING OF PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S DAUGHTER.

Guests who attended the wedding of GEJ's daughter went home with gold-plated iphones and many more expensive gifts.....

Display of affluence by the man who once had no shoes.... He currently presides over a country where majority of the citizens live in abject poverty despite oil revenues running into billions of dollars.

NO LELE!!!!!

2015 ELECTIONS - MUSLIM/MUSLIM TICKET - APC GOVERNORS SET FOR A SHOWDOWN WITH TINUBU & BUHARI - BY JIDE AJANI

There were very strong indications at the weekend that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors who defected to the All Progressive Congress, APC, are ready to fully engage leaders of their new party, former military head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari, and former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over the growing suggestion that both men are plotting to contest as presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2015  elections, Sunday Vanguard can reveal.

In addition, information pieced together in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, and Lagos, over the weekend by Sunday Vanguard suggests that the disquiet in the APC over who flies its banner in the 2015 presidential race may not be a mere rumour after all.

The plot to ensure that Buhari and Tinubu both emerge is  thickening.

By the same token, opposition to the scheme heightened at the weekend based on contacts with some  APC  governors.

The other leg of the twist to the emerging katakata in APC is the position of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is said to favour the emergence of Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, as the party’s presidential candidate.

CURBING RISING INCIDENCES OF CHILD ABUSE.

Recent news reports highlighting various cases of child abuse in the country call for a concerted effort to stem the tide of an evil and uncivilised trend. While an outright elimination may seem impossible, a reduction in the number of child abuse cases is achievable. But it will require the strict enforcement of the extant laws and the enactment of new ones, where necessary, to force habitual abusers of children to mend their criminal ways.

One of the child abusers who should be made to face the full weight of the law is a certain Joy Amodu. The 27-year-old security guard reportedly visited a most violent form of cruelty on her 10-year-old niece recently, for alleged bedwetting. After administering a severe beating to the child, reportedly kept in her custody by the father, she went ahead to rub some ointment with a severe burning sensation (known locally as Aboniki) into the little girl’s private parts and eyes, leading to her lapsing into a coma.

14-YR OLD CHILD- BRIDE KILLS HUSBAND AND THREE OTHERS IN KANO

WASILA

Child-bride, Wasila Umar, accused of killing her husband and three of his friends while injuring many others after she served them poisoned food, in Kano, says she regrets her action.

“Mine was a classical example of youthful exuberance; it dawned on me shortly after that it was a joke taken too far to resolve a forced marriage question”, Wasila, 14, said. The killings happened only 17 days after their marriage.

The suspect, in tears as she spoke at Bompai police headquarters, Kano, where she was being detained, added: “I have never enjoyed the opportunity of going to Islamic school or acquiring Western education. My father forced me into this mess by stubbornly forcing me into a relationship I was not prepared to live in “.

EXPERTS SAY NIGERIA IS UNDER THE THREAT OF EBOLA VIRUS.

The news of the outbreak of Ebola fever in some countries in West Africa, including several parts of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia has sent shock waves across the region, and reverberated in other parts of the world.

West African countries like Senegal have since closed their land borders to check inter-border spread of the disease.

With death tolls rising in the affected countries, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Keiji Fukuda, recently described the outbreak as ‘one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks’ the organisation has ever faced.

#FLASHBACK- TRUE STORY - TIMAYA

TRUE STORY

Quick reminder of One of Timaya's earliest efforts in the music industry... This song remains an anthem amongst his fans.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

MTN SIGNS BANKY W, SOUND SULTAN, DR. SID AND HARRYSONG AS BRAND AMBASSADORS IN MULTI-MILLION NAIRA DEAL.

Nigeria's generous and biggest telecoms organisation, MTN, have signed Banky W, DR SID, Sound Sultan and Harrysong as MTN Nigeria Ambassadors.

This news does not come as a shock to these four artistes as there has been series of meetings and negotiations before now.

These four were also featured in the 2013 November-December Naija tour in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Ibadan.

This decision to sign more ambassadors by MTN was made possible by the raving success of the current ambassadors Don Jazzy, D’Prince, Iyanya, Praiz, Chidinma, Tiwa Savage, Davido, Wizkid, and KCEE.

#TRENDING - UNITED STATES OF SONGHAI - PROFESSOR OYEBODE PROPOSES NAME CHANGE FOR NIGERIA.

Prof. Akin Oyebode yesterday caused a stir at the National Conference when he proposed that Nigeria should change its name to United States of Songhai (USS). 

The professor, who is representing Ekiti State in the Conference, said that Nigeria should be changed to United States of Songhai just like Kwame Nkruma changed the former Gold Coast to Ghana. He said that it was obvious that Nigeria as the name of the country has outlived its usefulness. 

He said, “I propose that we change the name of Nigeria to United States of Songhai just like Nkruma changed Gold Coast to Ghana,” adding that the country is operating caricature federation. Oyebode noted that the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, aptly said the country is running ‘feeding bottle’ federalism. 

TRAGEDY IN LAGOS AS SIX PEOPLE WERE ELECTROCUTED TO DEATH INCLUDING 4 MEMBERS OF THE SAME FAMILY

A fallen high tension wire has electrocuted six people in Oworonshoki area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria. The incident happened in the early hours of today while it was raining.

The tragedy occurred at Onabanjo Street, Oworonshoki around 2.00am. It was gathered that the high tension wire cut into two as a result of the heavy rain.

Mr. Kabiawu Babajide, General Secretary, Council of Oworonshoki Youth Forum said the high tension wire cut and fell across a drainage channel and caught fire when it came in contact with wood, adding that two vehicles parked beside the wood were burnt by the fire ignited by the wood.

FG CHARGES MUHAMMED ABACHA WITH THEFT OF N446.3B

The Federal Government has filed a new charge against the son of the late General Sani Abacha, Mohammed, accusing him of unlawfully receiving about N446.3billion allegedly stolen from government’s coffers between 1995 and 1998.

In the nine-count charge, FG accused Mohammed of “dishonestly receiving stolen property” and “voluntarily assisted in concealing money.”

The charge replaced the earlier one of 121 counts in which Mohammed was charged with Atiku Bagudu.

The government has now excluded Bagudu from the fresh charge, leaving only Mohammed.

According to the new charge marked CR.21-24/2008, the stolen money allegedly received by Mohammed, and which he was accused of concealing include 141,100,000 pound sterling and 384,353,000 UD dollars made up of cash and travellers cheques.