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.

NNPC ACT GIVES IT POWER TO SPEND WITHOUT LIMIT OR CONTROL - PWC

President, Goodluck Jonathan’s order that the forensic audit report of the NNPC be made public is generating furor in some quarters and curiosity in others. Here is the executive summary of the findings  of the report unedited as submitted to the federal government by PWC  

Actual revenue generated $69bn

Corporation operates an unsustainable model.

Forty six per cent of proceeds of domestic crude oil revenues spent on operations and subsidies.

International crude oil prices averaging $122.5 per barrel

$3.38 billion was spent on kerosene subsidy for the review period.

Presidential directive needed to stop kerosene subsidy

Refund $1.48billion

Over claim for subsidy $98million

Unpaid signature bonus for divested assets $1.75bn

Continue to read after the cut.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BANK VERIFICATION NUMBER.

The Bank Verification Number, BVN, is an-other important step the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is using to strengthen the security of banking transactions and to ensure that fraudulent transactions are minimised, if not totally eliminated. The campaign is on, but the public may not realise its importance until it closes in June 2015.

Yet as the public embraces the initiative with enthusiasm, it should be aware that some fraudsters are trying to undermine the exercise by providing seemingly easier registration options for bank account holders. They request these details online and threaten that the account would be closed if the owner does not provide them the details. Their target is the account holder’s money. The best way of enrolling remains direct communication with one’s bank.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN & OTHERS TO GET N3.24BN SEVERANCE PAY

The Nigerian general elections have come and gone. Many politicians will not be performing their former duties due to one reason or the other.

According to Punch, President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice-president Namadi Sambo, non-returning federal lawmakers, ministers and   presidential aides will collect N3.24bn as severance allowances,

The severance allowances   are contained in the Remuneration Package   put together by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

INDONESIA EXECUTES EIGHT CONVICTED DRUG SMUGGLERS INCLUDING FOUR NIGERIANS.

Indonesia has executed eight convicted drug smugglers -- including two of the so-called "Bali Nine" -- the Reuters news agency has reported, citing local media.

The prisoners faced a 12-man firing squad on Nusa Kambangan island in Central Java.

The government had announced that nine prisoners would be executed, but according to local reports, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso was spared, at least for now.

Lawyers fighting to delay the death of Veloso, a domestic helper and mother of two, have said they've given up their bid after her second legal review was rejected on Monday. This came despite a last-minute personal appeal from Philippines President Benigno Aquino to Indonesian counterpart President Joko Widodo.