A Sierra Leonean, who specialises in trafficking women out of Nigeria for prostitution has been arrested by the Nigeria Immigration Service, Enugu State Command. The Immigration Comptroller, Mr. Bashir Ismail, disclosed this in Enugu, yesterday, that Mr. Koffi Hassan, the human traffic kingpin, who had been on their wanted list, was arrested following a tip-off. “Human trafficking has been a challenge in this part of the country,” he said. “Just last month, we succeeded in arresting one notorious human trafficker called Koffi Hassan, who has been involved in trafficking of women for prostitution. “We have been tracking him and finally,…
Author: Wale Adebayo
BOKO HARAM: FG turns to Russia, China as USA, UK fail Nigeria The battle against Islamist sect Boko Haram has stretched the Nigerian military, prompting it to ask for help from its Western allies, especially after the Chibok girls were abducted, but the nonchalant attitude of the West may be pushing Nigeria towards russia and China. It has been more than 100 days since the allies promised support in the rescue of the Chibok girls who were abducted from their school on April 14. While it was reported that they were helping with intelligence, no concrete results have surfaced. While…
A defence lawyer in Iran says six young Iranian men and women videotaped dancing to Pharrell Williams’ Happy and the video’s director have been sentenced to suspended jail terms and lashes. Lawyer Farshid Rofugaran said on Friday the seven have been sentenced to six months in jail and 91 lashes each, though the verdict won’t be carried out unless the defendants commit crimes and are found guilty in the future. He says the suspended jail term is the punishment for acting in the video and the lashes are over ignoring Islamic norms. He says one of the defendants also received…
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has approved the release of results of promotion exams held from March 15 to March 22, Dr Olujobi Ososanya, Chairman, Lagos State Civil Service Commission on Friday has said. He said this shortly after a meeting with management and staff of the commission. He said that letters would be distributed to successful officers from Oct. 1. “About 3, 967 officers were presented for promotion, while 70 per cent of them were successful,’’ the chairman said. He said that the exercise was for both the senior and junior officers. “The promotion exercise is a yearly event…
A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Ezemagu Nnamdi has made President Goodluck Jonathan happy after donating N10,000 towards the president’s re-election bid. The President’s excitement was expressed in a statement issued by Dr Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity in Abuja. Abati said that Jonathan was deeply touched and encouraged by the immense support from Nigerians in a letter to the young Nigerian identified as the donor, currently serving. The President was quoted as saying he would continue to count on the support, goodwill and prayers of patriotic Nigerians as he strives to…
South African authorities said 84 citizens of the country have died in the collapse of a building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos. President Jacob Zuma had earlier said 67 South African died as a result of the collapse, but the death toll is said to have now risen to 84. “The number has risen from 67 to 84, with more bodies discovered on Thursday,” Lulu Mnguni South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Friday told AFP, adding that the toll could rise. “The number of South Africans who were in the church might be higher, as we…
South Africa has described Nigeria’s explanations on the $9.3m cash seized from two Nigerians and an Israeli citizen in a chartered private jet, as flawed with discrepancies. The money, which was meant for the procuring of arms for the Nigerian intelligence services was intercepted in South Africa earlier in the week. The Federal Government, in a statement by PRNigeria, an agency that releases statements for the military, police and other security agencies said “The Federal Government has submitted relevant data and documents on the transaction to South Africa and insisted that the transaction was legitimate. It also clarified that the…
All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived in Lagos last night with the declaration that he is as fit as a fiddle. Looking hale and hearty, Tinubu arrived Nigeria via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport aboard a chartered jet around 9.50pm. The former Lagos State governor said he was never admitted in any London hospital, wondering where his “detractors” got the information that he was very ill – a rumour that gained grounds in the past two weeks. He attributed the rumour to the handiwork of the ruling party, whose members, he said, were spreading bare falsehood…
Ahead of his formal declaration for a second term in office, President Goodluck Jonathan said Thursday he was “humbled and overwhelmed” by the decision of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to endorse him as the sole candidate for the 2015 presidential election. The president said he will not disappoint the party that trusted him well enough to offer the mandate, and promised to raise the bar of his performance if “re-elected”. Mr. Jonathan was reacting to his endorsement by the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, the governors and the Board of Trustees, between Wednesday and Thursday. Rising from…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to come clean on the circumstances surrounding the $9.3 million that was impounded in South Africa, which it said has become the latest in a series of global ridicule to which the scandal-prone Jonathan Administration has subjected Nigeria and her people. In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC also called on the National Assembly to commence an urgent probe into the issue, saying the silence of the peoples’ representatives on the issue is deafening, unfathomable and unacceptable. It said there…
The Senate Committee on Defence and Army has invited the National Security Adviser and the military top brass over the $9.3m cash seized by the South African government. Chairman of the committee, Senator George Sekibo, said this in an interview with reporters in Abuja, on Thursday. Those invited include Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.); Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh, and Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, over the alleged $9.3m controversial arms procurement deal. Media reports from South Africa on Monday indicated that authorities there arrested two Nigerians and an Israeli with the undeclared huge sum of cash,…
The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, has called on youths to shun violence and not allow themselves to be used as agents of blood shedding during 2015 general elections. Maku gave the advice when he received a youth group from Nassarawa State known as “Like Minds” in his office in Abuja on Thursday. He described as unfortunate the pockets of communal clashes which the state had witnessed in recent years that resulted in loss of lives and property. Maku said that the government of President Goodluck Jonathan had contributed greatly to the advancement of all Nigerian states, including Nassarawa.…
The Federal Government has said that it had put in place strategies at various levels aimed at addressing the issue of unemployment in Nigeria. Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolemenmen, who stated this in Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State, explained that the strategies were not just providing the enabling environment for the jobs to be created, but massive investments in infrastructure which will serve as catalyst for growth to mitigate the harsh conditions that unemployed youths go through. The minister who was at the graduate internship opportunities fair, organised SURE-P called on the private sector to…
Northern Emirs and Chiefs on Thursday asked President Goodluck Jonathan and governors of the 19 northern states to implement the various reports on security in the region as a way of finding a lasting solution to the security challenges in some parts of the North. Under the aegis of Northern Traditional Rulers Council, the traditional rulers noted that government’s inability to muster the political will to implement the various reports was responsible for the continued attacks on innocent people of the North. In a communiqué after a one day meeting, signed by the Estu Nupe, Dr. Yahaya Abubakar, on behalf of the Chairman…
The Lagos State Government yesterday marked two building within the Synagogue Church of All Nations premises in Ikotun-Egbe, for structural integrity test. The government declared after last Friday’s building collapse that the church did not obtain permission to raise additional structures within its premises. It, however, added that investigations were on going. Marked for integrity tests are one of the church’s guest houses, directly opposite the collapsed building. The church also yesterday released a video of purported South African survivors of the mishap, who recounted their ordeal. The survivors, Shadrack Mamzini; Thobile Bhaku; Mick Milambo and Charles Thawane from the…
A group in Bayelsa Sate, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), has described as “double standard” and “a national disservice,” the death sentence passed on 12 soldiers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Borno State, who were found guilty of mutiny. The group therefore called on the military authority to review the sentence or face a coordinated protest from civil society groups and the entire people of the six geo-political zones of the country. In a statement by its Chairman, Chief Nengi James, the CLO said “though the Nigerian Army has once again shown its posture and intolerance…
Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno on Thursday expressed optimism that the Nigerian military will soon end the Boko Haram insurgency in the country. Shettima made the statement at the launching of the new 64 page e-passport in Maiduguri. He said that the recent victory by the military in different encounters with the insurgents had brought back hope of ending the crisis soon. “The military has brought back hope to the minds of the people with its renewed efforts in fighting the insurgents. “With the recent victory, I belief that peace will soon be the restored and normalcy will return”, he…
A former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, has vowed to stop corruption if his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, is elected to power. Mr. Buhari said the APC has a clear objective of securing and efficiently managing Nigeria. “We will stop corruption and make the ordinary people, the weak and the vulnerable our top priority”, he said. The former head of state spoke while inaugurating a 250-bed Orthopaedic Hospital worth N1.12 billion constructed by the Sokoto State Government in Wamakko, Wamakko Local Government Area. Mr. Buhari was on a two-day official visit to the state to inaugurate and inspect…
The Minister for Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, on Thursday failed to appear before the House of Representatives joint committees on petroleum and gas resources. The committees on Wednesday summoned the minister and others to explain the cause of the current fuel crisis in the country. Others summoned were the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Joseph Dawah, and the leadership of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN. The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers, NUPENG, was also invited. The Chairman, Petroleum Resources Committee (Upstream), Muraina Ajibola, condemned the absence of the invitees,…
Prophet T.B. Joshua has finally spoken on the building collapse that killed 80 at his Synaggue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos, denying lack of cooperation as alleged by rescuers at the site of the collapse. The popular televangelist stuck to his theory of possible aerial sabotage, while he disclosed that several foreigners were involved in the mishap. The death toll from the tragedy climbed after 10 more bodies were pulled from among the twisted metal and shattered masonry of the building on the sprawling SCOAN compound. In a statement by the pastor, he sympathied with victims’ families and…