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Showing posts from May 15, 2016

MURDER: 45yr old man stabs girlfriend to death

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David Ogundele, 45, ran away after allegedly stabbing his 30yr old girlfriend, Oluwatosin Ashinwo, to death in the Tanke area of Ilorin, Kwara state, on Monday, April 25. Oluwatosin an MTN customer care executive, had turned down his marriage proposal, causing a frustrated Ogundele to stab her and her mother multiple times in her apartment. Oluwatosin later died from her stab wounds, while her mother survived and is undergoing life-saving surgery. Ogundele was arrested three weeks after he committed the crime, on May 14, in Osun state, after he was tracked down by undercover agents. No matter whatever investment he had put into her life was not enough to fuel such a demonic act.

KIDNAP: APC Chairman and Secretary of Kwara state kidnapped

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Hon. Ishola Balogun Fulani and Chief Bode Adekanye, Chairman and Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC) respectively have been kidnapped at gun point along Lokoja Okene road in Kogi state The Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari confirmed the incident last night in an interview with journalists. He explained that the incident occurred at about 10am on Friday May 19 while Balogun Fulani and Adekanye were returning to Ilorin on their way from Abuja. ā€We received a call from the line of the chairman around this time, (10am) telling us of the kidnapping issue. No ransom was mentioned and all attempts to make further enquiries from them proved abortive as the line was no longer availableā€, Alhaji Buhari said. ā€œWe are on it to see if we can still establish a link with them. We have taken all the necessary steps and linked up with relevant security operatives to ensure their safety and eventual releaseā€.He concluded.

Sultan of Sokoto makes move to end Fulani herdsmen clash with farmers a

In a bid to end the violence that results from clashes between herdsmen and farmers, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Saā€™ad Abubakar has met with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN). The meeting was held on Monday, May 16 in Abuja and Daily Trust reports that a communiquĆ© signed by Baba Othman Ngelzarma who is the national secretary of MACBAN noted that top on the agenda were the challenges facing the pastoralists and herders, especially the incessant clashes with farmers and the growing discontent against Fulani herdsmen. Seven committees were raised to deliberate further on finding a lasting solution to the crises. The Sultan was made the chairman of the committees and coordinators were appointed to report back to him directly on their progress and challenges. include the committees on internal governance and funding, politics, dialogue and community relations, grazing reserves and pastoralism, international crisis and networking, media an...

TOBACCO SMOKING: The reality

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Dr. Frank Omo-Ehijele Odafen, President of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN), said over five million people die worldwide as a result of tobacco intake. He disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at a press conference organized in commemoration of the Family Doctors' Day while quoting a World Health Organization (WHO) report. The theme for this year was tagged: "Smoking Cessation and the Family." The association urged the federal government to put some laws in place which is expected to protect non- smokers in order to stem the tide which has killed approximately half of long- term smokers when compared to age mortality rates faced by non-smokers. He said that the Government should institute high taxation on tobacco products. It should equally ban smoking in public places and transport systems. The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), should run advertorial on TV and radio to discourage smoking, government should d...

TOMATO SCARCITY: New pest causes tomato scarcity in Nigeria

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A pest known as Tuta absoluta has caused scarcity of tomatoes by destroying the fruit harvest of the year in producing farms across Nigeria, particularly, farms in Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Plateau states. This has caused an over 400% increase in the market value of the vegetable, at the risk of the buyer ā€“ as the quantity once purchased at fifty-naira few months back is presently sold at five-hundred naira. Tuta absoluta is a species of moth in family Gelechiidae known by the common names tomato leafminer and South American tomato moth. It is well known as a serious pest of tomato crops in Europe and South America. Nigeriaā€™s Ministry of Agriculture stated that Nigeria produces about 1.5 million tons of tomatoes a year, but over 900,000 tons is lost to rot just as Dangote Farms Tomato Processing Factory halted operations in its $20 million tomato paste facility due to a scarcity of tomatoes, barely two months after beginning operations. Tuta absoluta is also known b...

NYSC: 2016 Batch A Stream II Orientation programme postponed

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The management of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has announced the indefinite postponement of the 2016 Batch ā€˜Aā€™ Stream II orientation programme, which was earlier billed to start on Saturday. The management of the scheme, in a statement issued today, May 19, said a new date would be made public in due time. The statement reads, ā€œThe Management of the National Youth Service Corps regrets to announce the postponement of the 2016 Batch ā€˜Aā€™ (Stream II) Orientation course scheduled to commence on Saturday, 21st May, 2016 due to logistics reasons. ā€œWe enjoin all Prospective Corps members to watch out for a new date to be announced later; all inconveniences are highly regretted, please.ā€ It would be recalled that the scheme had earlier postponed the orientation course from March 30 to April 30, owing to logistics problems, only to further reveal its lack of funds. Director-general of NYSC, Sule Kazaure, who spoke on Monday when he appeared before the senate c...

FIRE: 40 shops burnt in Lagos

Not less than 40 lock-up shops with different auto spare parts worth millions of naira, were destroyed early this morning, May 18, by fire at the Ladipo Auto-Market in Mushin, Lagos State. The Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Mr Rasak Fadipe, who confirmed this said that the information about the inferno got to his office at 1:20a.m but his fire fighters were unable to access the scene of fire due to a clash that happened in the area during the night. ā€œWe got a call at about 1.20 a.m., but we could not move into the complex at Odushina Street, Papa-Ajao, Mushin, scene of the fire due to a fight going on in the area. ā€œThe Divisional Police Officer at Olosan Police Station, Mushin, led us with his patrol vehicles to the scene before we were able to put out the fire at about 4.46 a.m. ā€œThere were no cases of death or injuries recorded from the inferno. ā€œMy men, however, saw some people with blood all over their bodies, which they suspected were inju...

Fresh attack: ENI gas pipeline has been attacked

Unknown attackers have blown up a gas pipeline belonging to Italy's ENI in Nigeria's Niger Delta, residents and the company said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the impoverished region. The attack occurred on Tuesday in Ogbembiri in Bayelsa state, residents said. A wave of attacks in the Delta, where many complain of poverty despite sitting on much of Nigeria's oil wealth, has cut oil output to 1.4 million from 2.2 million barrels per day. "It is not clear if it is connected to militant activities or ordinary vandals or people paid by contractors to do so so as to get repair contracts," said Eric Omare, a spokesman for the Ijaw Youth Council, an umbrella organisation of youth groups in the southern region. A spokesman for ENI said "sabotage" of the pipeline had affected 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

NLC GOES ON NATIONWIDE STRIKE

Despite all attempts by the Federal Government of Nigeria and even with the support of the National Industrial Court to avert the strike, the Nigerian Labour Congress has gone on a nationwide strike. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) announced that the strike would go ahead after walking out of talks with the government. The NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) called the strike after the government raised fuel prices by 67%. The TUC, however, has said that it is suspending strike action. Earlier, the National Industrial Court had ruled the strike should not go ahead because of the risk of civil disorder. "The decision... is that strike continues. We have reached a dead end," NLC President Ayuba Wabba said after the union's delegation walked out of a meeting with government officials. The government called the decision by the NLC, which represents millions of workers, "regrettable". "Government, therefore, calls upon and advises all workers to...

The National Industrial Court halts proposed strikes by NLC

The National Industrial Court has asked the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, to put its planned strike on hold, pending the hearing and determination of a suit brought before it by the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN. Malami had dragged NLC to the Industrial Court, seeking an order of the court restraining the congress from proceeding with the planned strike on the ground that the strike would paralyse the nationā€™s economy. The AGF wants the court to decide whether the NLC complied with conditions precedent in law before threatening to embark on strike, even as he told the Industrial Court that its refusal to grant the application would render the suit useless. When asked by the presiding judge, Justice Babatunde Adejumo how he got to know that the NLC was planning to embark on strike, Malami said he saw a statement issued by the labour union on their website and that the statement had been published by the media. Ruling o...

NYSC: Lack of funds may delay orientation for corpers

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Brig.-Gen. Suleyman Kazaure, Director-General, National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), on Monday told the Senate that lack of funds may stall mobilising 2016 Batch A Stream 2 prospective corps members for orientation. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that orientation for the batch is expected to commence on Friday in 37 camps across the country. Kazaure told the Senate Committee on Sports in Abuja that the money required for the exercise was yet to be provided. He said that the NYSC had written several letters requesting for the money but that as at Monday, it was yet to receive response from the Federal Government. According to him, we had written to Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, Finance, Budget and the Presidency even before the end of the orientation camp for Batch A, Stream One. ā€œWe are presently at a loss in NYSC now as there is no money for us to mobilise thousands of prospective corps members in the Batch A Stream 2 to camp this Friday. ā€œThis is in ...

OIL WAHALA: Minister claims Nigeria loses 800,000 barrels per day to vandalism

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, said today, May 16, that Nigeriaā€™s crude oil production had declined from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day due to pipeline vandalism. He made this known at a special session of which the House of Representatives convened over the recent petrol price hike. He condemned the incessant attacks on oil installations in the country, saying ā€œwe declined from 2.2 million barrels which was the focus of the 2016 budget to 1.4 million barrels as of todayā€™ā€™. He, however, expressed the ministryā€™s commitment to ensuring that destroyed facilities were repaired and effectively protected. ā€œWe are going to work hard to see how we will get these issues resolved and get our production back,ā€™ā€™ the minister said. Kachikwu restated the need to develop infrastructure, which he described as ā€œkeyā€™ā€™ to promoting increased and efficient crude oil production. ā€œThere are still a whole lot of things...

KIDNAP: The wife of popular comedian kidnapped

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Photo of comedian  WIFE of popular comedian in Rivers state, Mrs Chime Mike Ogbolosingha has been kidnapped in Obio Akpor local government area of the state. The comedian and husband, Mr Mike Ogbolosingha stated that the gunmen, who were 6 in number, stormed their Elenprawon residence on Sunday, abducted her and also carted away with valuables in the house. He said the kidnappers had not established contact with any member of the family, pleading also that they should release his wife unconditionally. He said he had alerted the Police of the ugly development. ā€œAbout six of the kidnappers came to my house. I was coming back from Bayelsa when I got a call that my wife had been kidnapped. They broke into my house, took away every valuables and still went with my wife. I am begging for the release of my wife. The kidnappers have not called me or any member of the family since the incident on Sunday. They should please release my wife, I am begging tho...

Federal Government meets with Labour Leaders to avert impending nationwide strike

IN a desperate move to avert a nationwide strike by organised labour and its civil society allies over the N145 per litre new pump price of petrol, the Federal Government has invited labour leaders in the country for a meeting today. However, leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, their counterparts in Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and civil society allies had on Saturday, given government up till  midnight tomorrow to reverse the pump price to the pre-Wednesday, May 11 rate of N86.50 or face a nationwide strike and street protests. Leader of the NLC faction, Joe Ajaero, contended that what the government had done was simply to hike price to get more money without considering its overall implications on the masses of the country who were already struggling to survive in the midst of high cost of living. The Nigerian House of Representatives will also hold a special plenary today and take a...

Two members of MASSOB killed by police in Nnewi, Onitsha

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Two members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign state of Biafra, MASSOB, were reportedly killed by two policemen attached to Okpoko Police Division, Onitsha suburb, Anambra State, while others sustained injuries while a shop was razed yesterday. Trouble was said to have started for the MASSOB members when a woman reported a case of assault against one of them, but he allegedly put up a fight when the Police tried to arrest him. The deceased was said to have called his members numbering about 20 on phones and on arrival at the scene, Udeaja/Ibe Street, they reportedly attacked the policemen, who gripped the suspect. The policemen in self-defence used the suspect as shield while the attack was on and in the process a team of policemen arrived on a tip-off, which made the members to run away, while the suspect was arrested. At the Police station, the deceased was said to have complained of severe pains as a result of the attack on the policemen that used him...

Nigerian military makes arrests after militant attacks on oil facilities

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Nigerian troops have made several arrests following recent attacks on oil facilities that have hit production. "We made some arrests over the weekend. They were picked up around scenes of recent attacks in the Niger delta," said a military source from the joint task force involved in security in the region. The source further said, "It will be pre-emptive at this stage to conclude that the suspects are the militants that bombed the oil pipelines and installations until after investigation." There is growing concern about the impact of the unrest on oil production at a time when the government is facing a cash crunch because of the global slump in crude prices. The Niger Delta Avengers group claimed responsibility for a recent attack on an offshore facility operated by US energy group Chevron and the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell. That caused an output slump from about 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) to under 1.7 million bpd - the lowest recorded since 1...