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Last week, posted a story about a 'prayer warrior' woman who kidnapped her neighbour's 7 year old son (Here) ..According to new information by Punch, the mother of four, Mrs. Rosemary Chukwu, in Majidun area of Ikorodu, Lagos,claimed in her statement given to the police after her arrest, that Pastor Ernest Nwankwo of the Holy Family Happy Family Ministry (aka House of Mercy) offered to pay her N2.5m if he could deliver the child.. According to Chukwu’s statement, the pastor had appeared to her many times in her dream and had even made love to her in dreams before she decided to do his bidding. Chukwu, who was said to have been a choir mistress at House of Mercy, had alleged at the time that the popular pastor sent her to kidnap the child, whom she gagged and stuffed in a large luggage. Chukwu, who was nearly lynched by residents of the area before police intervention last week Wednesday, has now told the police that the genesis of the kidnapping plan w...

Following the unabated terror attacks being perpetrated by the Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, across Nigeria, Reuters has published a report that explains how Boko Haram insurgents move cash around Nigeria. According to the report, when the US imposed sanctions on Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in June 2012, the terrorists leader dismissed it as an empty gesture. It was gathered that two years later, Shekau’s skepticism appears well founded as the militant group is now the biggest security threat to Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria. The report stated that Boko Haram is now richer than ever, more violent and its abductions of women and children continue with impunity. According to investigation carried out by Reuters, more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials who closely follow Boko Haram provide the most complete picture to date of how Boko Haram finances its activities. Just as the United States, Nigeria and others in the international communities st...

A shouting session ensued yesterday at the ongoing National Conference following the use of foul language by Alhaji Magaji Dambatta a delegate representing the North West geo-political zone on the South East zone. While contributing to the report of Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government, Dambatta described the South East as “so called South East.” This did not go down well with other delegates especially those from the Southeast as his comments were immediately trailed by shouts of point of Order from the hall. A delegate representing Borno State, Dr. Haruna Yerima who was not comfortable with the statement made by the Elder-statesman from the North asked Dambatta to apologise against the backdrop that if the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto were to be alive, he would not use such statements against another part of the country. Following his refusal to apologise despite the intervention of Yerima, an infuriated Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, a ...

The United States Mission in Nigeria has issued a security alert to its citizens staying in the country following the ongoing Ramadan season. The alert which was contained in a statement signed by Stephen P. Brunette, Executive Director of the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) urged its citizens to take extra precautions for their personal security in this period. Stephen P. Brunette According to Daily Independent, the statement is however, believed to issued following the July 25 bombing that rocked Emab Plaza in Wuse II area of Abuja. The US mission claimed that insurgents attacks usually takes place on weekends associated with holidays. Below is an excerpt from the alert: Related: "Following the June 25 bombing in the Wuse II neighbourhood of Abuja, the Government of Nigeria has increased security measures in Abuja. This weekend also marks the commencement of the month of Ramadan. Given the history of bombing attacks on weekends (some associated with holid...

Maryland gang member, Tavon White, is accused of running a scheme to smuggle contraband into the prison by persuading 13 female prison guards from behind bars. But for four of those women, that persuasion included getting it in…and eventually getting pregnant. A federal indictment says Tavon White has been charged in the plot to smuggle drugs, cell phones and other contraband into the Baltimore jail and other corrections facilities, along with the prison guards, six of his fellow inmates and five others with gang ties who allegedly operated outside the jails. The indictment also says the ring involved sex between the inmates and guards, which led to four of the officers becoming pregnant by White, the leader of a jailhouse gang called the Black Guerrilla Family. White is accused of “corrupting” the female officers through personal and sexual relationships and other bribes. Eventually he convinced them to join his ring. According to MyFoxDC: The ring became incr...

Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike | credits: File copy The Federal Government on Thursday raised the alarm that about N53.6 billion has not been accessed by some states under the Universal Basic Education intervention grants. The government however stated that its intervention in tertiary education has greatly improved access such that universities in the country can now admit over 1 million candidates. The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, stated this in Abuja at a forum to present a ministerial scorecard of the education sector under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. While lamenting the inability of some states to access the UBE grants for intervention in the basic education sector, he said prior to the establishment of 12 new federal universities in each of the nation’s geo-political zones, the existing universities could only admit a paltry 400,000 candidates, leaving almost 2 million candidates who might have emerg...

Dr Bukola Saraki, a member of the Nigerian senate representing Kwara central senatorial district, on Wednesday flagged off the distribution of raw foods items worth about N80 million to his constituents. The distribution, which took place at the senator's political office in Mandate, Adewole area of Ilorin, was said to be his Ramadan gifts and was shared in all the 832 polling units that made up the Ilorin- Kwara central. Senator Bukola Saraki Leadership reports that Engineer Musa Yeketi, the Director General of Saraki's constituency office, said the move was to assist the fasting Muslims in the Holy Month of Ramadan. Saraki who is the chairman, Senate committee on Environment and Ecology, while presenting the items to six executives members of the All progressive Congress (APC), of the polling units on behalf of the senator Yeketi, pleaded with them to ensure that the items get to all fasting Muslims in their respective zones. Yeketi, who revealed that the sena...

 With the current spate of insecurity in the country, the pan northern socio-political organization, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on Wednesday condemned deadly attacks by Boko Haram sect in the country. According to Nation, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in a statement, signed by its the National Publicity Secretary Muhammad Ibrahim, described the bomb attack on a market in Maiduguri, Borno State on June 30, 2014, Monday, as wicked, gruesome and condemnable. The statement reads: “The bomb blast that occurred on Monday morning at the Maiduguri market in Borno State was wicked, gruesome and condemnable considering the huge number of children and old women that were killed in the blast and also the destruction of property it caused. “In the last 10 days, over 100 people were killed in various bomb blasts in Borno, Abuja, Kano, Bauchi and Kaduna.  Many states in the northern region including Abuja have witnessed and experienced too many bomb blasts in the ...

    The delegates of the ongoing National Conference agreed with a recommendation by Conference’s Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government which advocated creation of 18 new states in Nigeria and rotation of the presidential post between the South and the North. In case the Federal Government embraces the suggestion, Nigeria will have a total of 54 states located in six geo-political zones, nine states per each of the zone. An additional state would be created for the South East zone, which currently has only five states, i.e. Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. The Conference also offered rotation of the presidency between the North and South and among the six geo-political zones. The governorship seat would be subject to rotation among the senatorial districts in each state. Ike Nwachukwu and Mohammed Kumalia, the two co-Chairmen of the Committee, emphasized that the idea of creating new states in Nigeria remained a highly-controver...

Jonathan signs Pension Reform Bill into law President Goodluck Jonathan has signed the 2014 Pension Reform Bill into law. The new law repeals the 2004 Pension Reform Act No. 2 and prescribes a 10-year jail term for pension thieves. The Senate and the House of representatives had respectively passed the new 2014 Pension Reform Bill which also accommodates employees of private firms in the Contributory Pension Scheme. The Act, among other highlights, provides stiffer penalties that would serve as deterrent against mismanagement or diversion of pension funds' assets under any guise. With the new law, operators who mismanage pension funds would be liable on conviction to not less than ten years imprisonment or fine of an amount equal to three times the amount so misappropriated, or diverted, or both imprisonment and fine. The law also empowers PENCOM to institute criminal proceedings against employers who persistently fail to de...

Obama vows to act alone if Congress gridlocks, taunts Republicans: ‘So sue me’ President Barack Obama speaks about transportation and the economy, Tuesday, July 1, 2014 President Barack Obama defiantly dared congressional Republicans on Tuesday to try to block his efforts to act on his own and bypass a divided Congress that has thwarted his policy initiatives. 'So sue me,' he taunted on a sweltering day, as he pushed lawmakers to pay for road and bridge repairs. 'I'm not going to apologize for trying to do something.' Obama struck an aggressive tone in the face of a lawsuit threat from House Speaker John Boehner and in the wake of two defeats before the Supreme Court, including a unanimous decision from the court that he overreached when he appointed members of the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was in recess. His remarks came a day after Obama declared that he would act on his own to address weaknes...

African Union gives presidents immunity from war crimes Closing Ceremony of the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union and the Final Press Conference, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, 27 June 2014 The African Union (AU) has adopted a resolution granting sitting presidents immunity from prosecution for war crimes at a continental court set up to try grave crimes. But the decision to exclude sitting heads of government from prosecution at the African Court of Justice and Human Rights reached by leaders during the AU Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on June 26 has sparked condemnation from civil rights groups. Tuesday, Amnesty International (AI) termed the decision a 'backward step in the fight against impunity and a betrayal of victims of serious violations of human rights'. In a statement, AI said African heads of state and government voted to adopt an amendment granting incumbent government lea...

SAN FRANCISCO, July 02, (THEWILL) - Ndigbo Lagos, the umbrella body of all Igbo organisations in Lagos, has expressed worry over the news that 486 Boko Haram suspects were arrested in Abia State by Nigerian soldiers. Lamenting the development, the group, in a statement issued Tuesday by its Director of Communications and Strategy, Chief Chuma Igwe, and obtained by THEWILL, the group said even more condemnable about the incursion is the official information that amongst those arrested was a notorious and wanted Boko Haram kingpin. 'It is instructive that the apprehension of these 486 suspected Boko Haram members in 33 Toyota Hiace buses in Abia State, along Enugu-Port Harcourt road at about 2.00 am, occurred just a few days after the timely discovery of six time-bombs at the Port Harcourt Road branch of Winners Chapel Church, Owerri, a church that reportedly has over 10,000 worshippers on Sunday services,' the statement said. Ndigbo Lagos ...

   SAN FRANCISCO, July 02, (THEWILL) - The Borno State Government Tuesday raised the alarm over what it alleged as a grand plot to set President Goodluck Jonathan against the state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, over the battle against the Boko Haram insurgency. Special Adviser to the governor on media, Mallam Isa Gusau, who raised the alarm, pointed accusing fingers at a political cabal which he said was out to undermine the ongoing effort to end the Boko Haram crisis ravaging the Northeastern part of the country. In a statement issued on Tuesday and obtained by THEWILL, Gusau alleged that the cabal had perfected a plan to cause disunity among the major proponents of the battle against Boko Haram, namely President Jonathan, Governor Shettima and the military. Gusau said it had become necessary to alert Nigerians and other concerned stakeholders 'on the activities of a political cabal, working very hard to ensure there is complete disunity bet...

The Nigerian Football Federation has come out and vehemently denied that Coach Stephen Keshi has stepped down from his post as Super Eagles Head Coach. After yesterday's loss to France, coupled with Enyeama and Yobo retirement, Rumours have been going around that the Big Boss had retired. Even though Keshi said: “It's time for me to go back to my family and face fresh challenges." An NFF spokesman has come out and said: “Coach Keshi has not submitted an official resignation letter. He was not employed in the mixed zone [after the France game] or on Facebook.” It has also been ascertained that Keshi does not have a Twitter account and the alleged tweet where he says he is done is not from him. Sources: Naij.com news, Goal.com

As the Nation is still reeling from the recent attack on Maiduguri, Borno state, The Nigerian police has confirmed an explosion going off in Ile Ife, Osun state. Witnesses had earlier said that the bomb was planted in house and after it exploded the police anti-bomb squad arrived  to defuse other devices planted close by. Gladly no casualties where recorded but the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Maishanu told reporters that the bombs was planted by “mischievous persons.” He also confirmed that no one was injured because the bombs where placed in an isolated area. He said: “it was a dynamite of a low calibre and it was placed in an area where it cannot hurt anyone or damage property. When first one exploded police bomb unit went to the site and the second one was found at the same location and it was detonated by our anti-bomb squad,”. Osun State Governor"s media aide, Semiu Okanlawonal further revealed that the dynamites were planted close to the f...

A bomb explosion rocked Kaduna today, June 1, according to reuters. The bomb explosion is said to have occurred around the Asikolaye/Bakin Ruwa along Nnamdi Azikwe expressway. The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police Umar Shehu  who confirmed the explosion told Reuters that the blast which occurred around 8.30 p.m injured two people who are receiving treatment at the hospital but caused no deaths, he said. According to sahara reporters, the explosion reportedly shattered many of the glass windows of some of the business premises around the area where the explosion occurred and caused serious traffic grid in the area but security agents have reportedly cordoned the area. A resident in the area told Premium Times have denied it was the hot, big tea kettle used by a tea and bread seller (mai tea) that exploded while on fire. This is coming a week after gunmen carried out mass killings in Kaduna on June 24. However official details of the cause of the explosion is yet to be ...

Conflicting data keep reaching media regarding the number of people killed and injured in the explosion that rocked the busy market in Maiduguri, Borno State. Scene of Maiduguri market bombing According to Vanguard, 50 people, including 16 members of Civilian JTF, died while 68 others sustained serious injuries. Leadership puts the figure at 56 and 69, respectively. The previous reports said 18 people have been killed in the course of the attack allegedly launched by a suicide bomber who planted the explosives in the car. Eyewitnesses tell their stories Vanguard refers to the words of an eyewitness who said that the IEDs were hidden in a Peugeot 505 saloon car parked in the busy area. Some people noticed the suspicious auto and alerted Civilian JTF men. "Unfortunately, when about 20 of the Civilian JTF men approached the vehicle, it exploded, leaving about 16 of them dead as well as 30 innocent civilians. 68 people, including the Civilian JTF men were also seriously ...

Following the terror attacks perpetrated in the North-eastern part of the country recently, the Catholic Church of Nigeria has commenced a programme of hope for the over 2,000 women widowed largely by the Boko Haram insurgencies in its parishes in Borno, Yobe States and part of Adamawa State. THISDAY reports that this disclosure was made by the Bishop of Maiduguri Diocese of the Church, Most Rev. Oliver Dashe Doeme, while speaking with journalists at a workshop on financial management organised for the first batch of the widows who were selected to benefit from the rehabilitation programme. According to the bishop, the initiation was in keeping with Christ's teaching that the less advantaged members of the society should be supported. Most Rev. Doeme stated that the widows needed to be empowered, having been made to go through a lot of suffering after their husbands’ death. "The widows suffer a lot once the husbands are gone, they become neglected, most of the ...

    Peter Pham, a Nigeria scholar at the Atlantic Council think-tank in Washington has revealed that most of Boko Haram's weapons are not bought, but stolen from the Nigerian military troop. This was disclosed as Reuters interviewed more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials who closely follow Boko Haram and the information gotten, provides the most complete picture to date of how the group finances its activities. Speaking in an interview with Reuters, Pham said the terrorists pay local youths a few pennies a day to track and report on Nigerian troop movements. U.S. officials acknowledge that the weapons that have served Washington so well in its financial warfare against other terrorist groups are proving less effective against Boko Haram. On how the group finances its activities, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said they suspect the insurgents are surviving on very lucrative criminal activities th...

Following Nigeria's 0-2 defeat to France, Super eagles' goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama and Super Eagles forward, Peter Odemwingie have reportedly quit the Super Eagles team. Osaze Odemwingie                                                   Vincent Enyeama This is coming a day after Super eagles coach, Stephen Keshi and the team's captain, Joseph Yobo quit the national team. Osaze in an interview at the Mix Zone made the announcement that he has quit the team saying: ‘I am confident I should go now, and I can say I have no bad feelings.I am happy we played well but lost. I am not too sure now whether to wish we played badly and win or the other way round. ‘Whatever the case, I am happy I am leaving the team in the hands of capable you...

  A Security Consultant, Captain Umar Aliyu (Rtd), on Monday, said that Nigeria was not getting any wiser and not learning anything in the fight against insurgency, four years down the line. Captain Aliyu, who was part of a conversation about the State of the Nation on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, feels that the effort of the authorities in the fight against Boko Haram does seem to be going anywhere. “I will like to put it this way. If you draw a learning curve on activities as it concerns insurgency since 2011, you will see that we are not learning. A learning curve is simply the graphical representation of a theory which believes that the more you do something (the more) you get better at it. Time and effort should bring about experience. “But if you look at it, taking it from 2011, four years we are not wiser and don’t seem to get anywhere with the insurgency problem”, Captain Aliyu said. Reacting to a statement made by the Senior Special Assis...

An official statement by President Goodluck Jonathan was released in reaction to the deadly attack on churches in Kautikari and some other villages of Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State by the suspected Boko Haram sect on June 29. Goodluck and Patience Jonathan Speaking in a Ramadan message signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Rueben Abati, in Abuja, the President said,  “I urge all lovers of peace and unity to wholly condemn the resurgence of efforts by agents of global terrorism to disunite and destabilise Nigeria by callously instigating violence among religious groups.” Ramadan Starts Saturday, June 28 – Sultan In the statement Goodluck Jonathan stressed out that he fully agrees with the Islamic leaders and scholars that no true Muslim at any time, especially during the sacred month of Ramadan, will resort to the mindless killing of innocent people. It expressed the President’s belief that Boko Haram attacks showed that its leaders and m...

The opinion below is written by Azuka Onwuka, a popular Nigerian writer on social issues and it was first published by PUNCH online. You can follow him on Twitter @BrandAzuka. Former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, unwittingly did Nigeria a big favour regarding our democracy. On May 29, 2014 Nigeria celebrated its 15 years of unbroken democracy in the Fourth Republic, which is about three times longer than the longest period of democracy we had had hitherto. If not for Abacha, this could not have been possible. The First Republic had lasted five years and three and half months. The Second Republic lasted three years and exactly three months. That showed retrogression. After many postponements about handing over to the civilians, the Third Republic kicked off in a peculiar way: Gen. Ibrahim Babangida conducted governorship and legislative elections while he was still ruling the nation. That experiment, which started in 1991, was supposed to culminate in the conduct of t...

Senator Bala Mlohammed Embarks on operation ‘know your neighbour campaign’ Senator Iroegbu In his determination to secure  lives and property in Abuja, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, has directed all hotels to forward a list of their guests to the FCT Directorate of State Security Services (SSS) and the FCT Police Command on a daily basis. Mohammed announced this directive in a statement signed yesterday by his Special Assistant (Media), Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi. According to him, the hotels are equally required to install their individual security cameras within their vicinity and ensure thorough check of all vehicles entering the hotel and within their surroundings. The minister also directed all residents and residents associations in various parts of the territory to embark on ‘operation know your neighbour’ campaign. He noted that the measure was to ens...

Babuji Ya’ari, Captures female Boko Haram armourer Nigerian security forces have busted a terrorists’ intelligence cell headed by a businessman who purportedly participated actively in the abduction of 279 schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State on April 14. The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Major-General Chris Olukolade, disclosed this in a statement  Monday, saying the suspect had also coordinated many deadly attacks in the northern part of the country. Olukolade said the man, Babuji Ya’ari, who is also a member of the Youth Vigilante Group popularly known as Civilian JTF, which he uses as cover while remaining an active terrorist, also spearheaded the murder of the Emir of Gwoza. Details to follow