adebukola adebanji's blog

The Federal Government has condemned the execution of four Nigerians by Indonesian authorities over drug-related offences, despite pleas for clemency by President Goodluck Jonathan, describing it as a disappointment. The government however extended its condolences to the families of the deceased, demanding the repatriation of the corpses of the executed persons for them to be given a decent burial in their various communities. A terse statement on Wednesday night from the Public Communications Division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, gave the names of the executed Nigerians as Martin Anderson, Okwudili Oyatanze, Jaminu Abashin and Sylvester Obiekwe. The government however warned all Nigerians to desist from drug trafficking and other offences, which attract maximum punishment in several countries of the world. The statement read, “The Federal Government of Nigeria has received with deep disappointment, news of the execution of four Nigerians, Messrs Mar...

Michael Igbinedion, younger brother of Lucky Igbinedion, former governor of Edo state, was on Wednesday convicted by a Federal High Court, Benin Division, presided over by Justice A. M. Lima, in a N25 billion money laundering case instituted against him and five others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Others convicted in the 81-count charge of money laundering are Patrick Eboigbodin, a former Accountant-General and the four companies are Gava Corporation Limited, Romrig Nigeria Limited, PMI Securities Company Limited and PML (Nigeria) Limited. ‎ The offence was committed during the administration of his brother, Lucky, when was he Governor of Edo State between 1999 and 2007. Reading the judgement that lasted for over three hours, Justice Lima convicted the junior Igbinedion on counts 79, 80 and 81 which bothered on collecting cash payment above N500,000.00, while ‎Patrick and PML (Nigeria) Limited were convicted on count 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, ...

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). 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. “Alhaji Sanusi, a lawyer, from Kano State takes over from Mallam Habib Abdullahi who has been relieved of his appointment as Managing Director of the NPA. “The appointment of the new NPA Managing Director takes effect from Thursday, April 30, 2015 (tomorrow). “President Jonathan thanks the outgoing Managing Director for his services and wishes well in his future endeavours.” It will be recalled that...

The military authorities have taken the 293 women and girls rescued by the Special Forces during a raid on the dreaded Sambisa Forest to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, Borno State. An intelligence officer, who made this known to one of our correspondents on Wednesday, also said the women and girls were undergoing a series of tests, including pregnancy and HIV in the hospital. The officer also said that seven of the girls had gunshot injuries which were being treated by the medical officials of the UMTH. Findings indicated that out of the 293 ladies, 200 were aged between 13 and 18, the age brackets of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14, 2014. When one of our correspondents contacted the Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris. Olukolade, to confirm the officer’s information on the rescued females, he said, “We will talk about it when we are through; we are busy moving them off the line of dut...

President- elect, General Muhammadu Buhari yesterday painted a gloomy picture in the economic development of his administration as he said that the decline in the revenues due to fall in oil prices poses a great threat to his administration’s development agenda. Buhari who visited the newly elected Senators and House of Representatives members who are undergoing induction course in preparation for the 8th National Assembly in Abuja also said that the decline in revenue would affect the reconstruction of devastated areas in the country as a result of insurgency. He reminded the elected members of the 8th assembly of the challenges the nation had been facing which he also said would continue in the near future. The challenges according to him include general insecurity and insurgency that has caused extreme human hardship and destruction of lives, livelihoods that would take over a decade to rebuild across most of North Eastern Nigeria and some parts of North western ...

Messaging services including Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and Tango have been cut off in Burundi amid protests over the president seeking a third term. The regulator ordered telecoms operators to block mobile access to certain sites, reports AFP. The government has banned protests, deployed the army and shut down the main independent radio station. There have been days of protests over President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to stand for re-election in June. Social media messaging services have been used to coordinate the protests which are the biggest in Burundi since the civil war ended in 2005. African Public Radio, known as "voice of the voiceless" , is one of three radio stations whose live broadcasts have been stopped. The government said the radio station was disrupting the peace. Mr Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader, has warned that anyone who wants to create problems for the governing party would find himself "in trouble". At le...

Girls rescued from Boko Haram terror camps in Sambisa Forest on Tuesday are “not the Chibok girls,” Nigerian Army spokesman Sani Usman said. However, one official did not rule out that captives from other Boko Haram camps that were raided might include some of the 200 girls abducted in April 2014 from a school in Chibok. Nigerian troops rescued 200 girls and 93 women Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest in the northeastern part of the country, the Nigerian Armed Forces announced on its official Twitter account. The forest is a stronghold for the militant Boko Haram group and is not far from Chibok. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade said the rescued girls and women are still being screened and none has spoken to their families yet. The 2014 mass abduction from Chibok led to an international social media movement, #BringBackOurGirls , to rescue them. Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, has been kidnapping females for years and has hundreds in their custody. The Tokumb...

A day after the expiration of the three-day deadline given by Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, to stop lifting petroleum products due to debts owed them by the Federal Government, fuel scarcity has hit Lagos and environs. The crisis worsened as motorists spent an average of 12 hours at petrol stations in their quest to purchase the commodity. Also, majority of the fuel stations had altered their pump price, selling between N100 and N130 per litre. The prolonged scarcity had also brought in its wake, a hike in transport fares, prices of commodities and services both in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. In Oshodi, Ojuelegba and Ojota areas of Lagos, commuters were seen stranded, as there were few vehicles plying the roads. In Abuja, large crowd of pedestrians were seen at almost all the bus stops, as one of the cab drivers revealed that commercial drivers are left with no other option than to hike their fares, as most of them had to purchase ...

Four Nigerians and four others from other countries who were convicted drug smugglers have been executed by firing squad in Indonesia. The executions took place in Besi prison on the island of Nusakambangan early on Wednesday morning local time, local media reports say. They were executed by firing squad on Tuesday, despite pleas by the Nigerian government, UN and Amnesty International for the death sentence to be lifted. The men had tried to smuggle heroine into the country. The four Nigerians, had originally been sentenced between 1999, and 2004, for different drug-related offences. They were; Martin Anderson, who was found guilty of possessing 50 grams of heroin. The 50 year old had travelled to Indonesia on a false passport, and was reportedly shot in the leg, during his arrest. Raheem Agbaje Salami, 50, was arrested in Surabaya, with 5.5 kg of heroin, and was initially handed a life sentence Final Goodbyes Four other convicts are being held at the high-secur...

he Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, has confirmed that the troops of the Nigerian Army have rescued 200 girls and 93 women during a raid on Sambisa Forest in Borno State. However, Olukolade could not however confirm whether the rescued girls were the Chibok girls, who were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in April last year or not. The Defence spokesman told our correspondent on the telephone that the tweets on the twitter handle of the Nigeria military supplied the true information about the military operation in Sambisa. The Defence authorities had stated in three tweets that the soldiers rescued the girls and the women during an invasion of the Boko Haram stronghold. It was further stated that the freed girls and women were being screened and profiled. The Defence authorities stated specifically that the military had not been able to confirm whether the girls were part of the Chibok girls, who were abdu...

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Following a petition from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has decided to probe the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and other African citizens in South Africa. SERAP had in a petition dated 23 April 2015 and sent to the Court requested the Prosecutor Mrs. Fatou Bensouda to use her “good offices and position to investigate allegations of hate speech by the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, which has resulted in killing, violence and discrimination against Nigerians and other African citizens living in South Africa, as well as the complicity/negligence of the country’s law enforcement agencies to prevent these crimes against civilian population.” In response, the ICC in a letter dated 28 April 2015, and signed by M.P. Dillon, Head of Information & Evidence Unit of the Office of the Prosecutor said, “The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court acknowledges...

In the wake of the xenophobic attacks which happened over the last few weeks in South Africa, the country's president Jacob Zuma has said South Africans are full of anger. Speaking at the Union Buildings in Pretoria during a Freedom Day event, Zuma called on South Africans to reflect on the progress made over the past 21 years, adding that there were underlying issues affecting South Africans which must be addressed. According to him, “We have to address the underlying causes of violence and tension which is the legacy of poverty, unemployment and inequality in our country and our continent.” He further said the Mozambican man who was killed inAlexandra two weeks ago was an illegal immigrant using a false name. He said: “Emmanuel Josias, who was identified by the media as Emmanuel Sithole, he was killed during a careless robbery in Alexandra township.” At least 7 people were killed in the latest wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

The families of two Australian drug smugglers due to be executed in Indonesia have been mobbed by reporters as they arrived for prison visits. Police had to shield relatives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from a crowd as they walked part of the way to a jail on Nusakambangan Island. Sukumaran's sister collapsed and had to be carried. Chan and Sukumaran, along with seven others, could be executed at the jail by firing squad on Tuesday night. They were formally notified on Saturday that they would be executed. Under Indonesian law, criminals must be given 72 hours notice. Another convicted drug trafficker - a French national - is appealing against his conviction. On Tuesday, there was a media scramble as the families of the two Australians walked from the Cilacap port towards the prison - for what could be their last meeting with the prisoners. Chan's mother, Helen, was seen breaking down in tears after arriving on the island. Other family members we...

Xenophobic attacks in South Africa against migrants from other parts of Africa have severely damaged the country's reputation . The government has been accused of implementing xenophobic policies, particularly when it comes to education. South Africa's constitution states that everyone has a right to access public schools. However, some migrant children have been turned away.

21 people are said to have died in Yobe State after an attack by Boko Haram terrorists. The insurgents were said to have opened fire on the victims on a highway along Bultaram Village over the weekend. The deceased reportedly fled their communities for fear of the terrorists and had been living in Damaturu until they decided to return home for supplies and were caught by the Boko Haram members. “They opened fire on all of them, we believe they cannot be soldiers but insurgents dressed in military camouflage,” a source told Punch. The victims were said to have returned to their villages after they heard that the area had been recaptured by the Nigerian Army. “We all received the good news that the military had taken over the place. That is why they went,” an indigene, who chose to remain anonymous, told Punch. Nigerian soldiers were recently forced to retreat from Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram stronghold after three people were killed in a landmine explosion.

Bayern Munich clinched the Bundesliga title with four games to spare Sunday, thanks to a little help from traditional rival Borussia Moenchengladbach. ‘Gladbach forward Max Kruse scored in the last minute to inflict a 1-0 defeat on second-place Wolfsburg, removing the mathematical possibility of Bayern being caught. Kruse lifted the ball over Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio for his side to move third. With 76 points from 30 games, Bayern has an unassailable 15-point lead over Wolfsburg, one of only two sides to have beaten the Bavarian powerhouse this season. Moenchengladbach is the other.

Five passengers in a taxi were believed to have died Sunday evening in Kano when a pedestrian bridge under construction on Sheik Jafar road collapsed on the moving cab. The pedestrian bridge which is located at Karshen waya by Gidan mai was designed to check and curtail risk associated with pedestrian crossing at the densely populated Doroyi suburb. Eyewitness, Salisu Ibrahim revealed that the incident occured around 5.00 pm at a time. Malam Ibrahim said that the taxi cab had five passengers including the driver, adding that “it would be miracle if any passengers survived this accident. The eyewitness further disclosed that the passengers were trapped, pointing out that it would take a crane to rescue the battered automobile and its occupants When contacted, the police Image Maker in Kano, ASP Magaji Musa Majia said that rescue effort is on to free the trapped passengers.

The Piritunu Crooner Anthony Ezenwa popularly known as Tony Yankee is here again with a hot new love song.  After releasing his last single Piritunu in 2014 which got massive air play on radio stations and online. This time around, Tony the Yankee Boy is intoxicated with love as he said "Kpo Kpo Mi" is a love song that every girl should listen to because love is the strongest thing in this world.    In this particular song he featured Katty Bella: produced by Diemz; mix and mastered by OnePlus. Enjoy and Download here: http://www.datafilehost.com/d/ a0f4c60f

The President- Elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday pledged to revisit the allegation that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) could not account for $20 billion of oil revenue. He told a delegation of the Adamawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that visited him in Abuja that the way the issue was handled was not to the best standard practice as government only resorted to sacking the whistle blower. “Somebody raised the alarm that the money was missing and the only thing that government could do was to sack the person as governor of Central Bank; but he was made the Emir of Kano later. This issue would be revisited for us to know what happened,” he stated. Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan last year after he alleged that the NNPC had not turned over about $20 billion of oil revenue to the government, which earns two-thirds of its rev...

Villagers were killed in an air strike by the Sudanese Air Force on the village El Tomat, south of Tullus, on Sunday. Serious fighting between armed rebels and government forces took place in Tullus and surrounding localities that day, with both sides claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on each other. El Tomat is located about 50 km south of Tullus. Two witnesses in the area told Radio Dabanga that an entire family was among the sixteen dead. They were in the market at the time of the strike. More than eleven people sustained injuries Other witnesses reported government-rebel clashes in the area of Dimsu and Nakhara, and fighting in Antakina area. Speaking from Nyala, they said that dozens of wounded government troops have arrived at the military hospital in the state capital. Sudan's army confirmed the fighting in Nakhara, which is south of Tullus, on Sunday morning. It claimed inflicting "heavy losses" in lives and battle equipment on the s...

The recent xenophobic violence in South Africa against migrant workers has sparked a new diplomatic rift with Nigeria, with the South African government condemning Nigeria's decision to withdraw its envoys from Pretoria. On Sunday, the South African government released a statement calling Nigeria's move "an unfortunate and regrettable step" and said the gov ernment and a wide range of civic organisations had been "decisive and unequivocal" in condemning the attacks on foreign nationals in the country. The statement by South Africa's Department of International Cooperation, however, goes on to deride the Nigerian government over its inability to reign in the Boko Haram insurgency in the north of its country. It also points out that South Africa did not blame the Nigerian government for poorly handling the aftermath of the collapse of a church building in 2014, which left 84 South Africans dead. Nigeria's acting high commissione...

Boko Haram fighters on Sunday attacked a military camp in Dosso, a border community in Niger Republic and killed many Nigerien soldiers. A security source, who confided in our correspondent on Sunday, said that the Boko Haram members invaded a military camp in Dosso through a riverine community on Sunday morning. It was learnt that the insurgents stormed the camp from different directions and killed some of the soldiers and injured many. The source said that the Nigeriens suffered a heavy casualty because the soldiers were caught unawares by the Boko Haram fighters. The soldiers were said to have relaxed their guard because of the feeling that the Boko Haram members had either been wiped out or weakened. The source said, “The Boko Haram fighters attacked a military camp in Dosso, a border community in Niger. They came into the camp from several directions. “The insurgents sneaked into the military camp when the soldiers were relaxed; they were not expecti...

Temitope Adebamiro, 35, a Nigerian, has been charged with killing her husband, Adeyinka Adebamiro, 37, over infidelity claims.  The culprit told New Castle County police that her husband cheated severally on her, including with her sister and their nanny’s daughter. She, however, did not own to the crime, initially claiming her husband stabbed himself. Following a distress call from the couple’s 1300 block of Healy Court home early Thursday, the police said they found Adeyinka in a pool of blood and a knife pierced into his neck. Adeyinka died some hours after then. Temitope told investigators her husband had been cheating on her with various women and had ordered her back to Nigeria and back multiple times to enable him time to frolic. Temitope, with who Adeyinka had two children, explained they had been married for more than 10 years, during which time she told investigators that he’d physically abused her, even while pregnant with their children. She said ...

A Google executive and self-described adventurer was among 10 people killed at a Mount Everest base camp in an avalanche triggered by a major Nepal earthquake Saturday, the company and his family said. Dan Fredinburg was killed in the avalanche that buried parts of the base camp where hundreds of mountaineers were gathered for the start of the climbing season. He was with several colleagues who survived the tragedy, Lawrence You, director of privacy at Google, said in a blog post. “Sadly, we lost one of our own in this tragedy. Dan Fredinburg, a long-time member of the Privacy organization… was in Nepal with three other Googlers, hiking Mount Everest. He has passed away,” “The other three Googlers with him are safe and we are working to get them home quickly.” You said Google.org was contributing $1 million to the response efforts. Fredinburg’s sister Megan said he died of a head trauma. “We appreciate all of the love that has been sent our way thus far and know his sou...

The founder and Head of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, has dismissed a report that listed his name as one of prophets whose prophecies about the 2015 elections particularly the presidential segment that pitted President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, did not come through.   The Ikere, Ekiti State-born prophet, said there was nothing he said in his book, ‘Warnings to the Nation’ about the elections and the two major contenders that did not come to pass. Quoting from the warnings, Ayodele said he was seeing his negative prophecies come through as a result of nonchalance on the part of the people concerned. During a press briefing in his church office, in Lagos, he repeated some of the warnings especially as published and asked which among them did not come through. He started by quoting what he said the Lord said through him as published in Saturday Vanguard of December 28, 2013: “President Goodluck Jonathan’s ...

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State on Saturday secured the mandate of his people to govern them for another four years as he won the governorship rerun election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. Okorocha beat Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party by polling 416,996 votes while Ihedioha 320,705. The Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Abia, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, however, won by beating Dr. Alex Otti of the All Progressive Grand Alliance with 248,459 votes to 165,406. The PDP’s Darius Ishaku of Taraba State was also coasting ahead of Sen. Aisha Alhassan of the APC going by the results that came in as at press time. For instance, in Kofar Sarki in Takum Local Government polling unit, the PDP had 588 votes against the APC’s 7. At Suntai Daaji in Donga Local Government Area, the PDP got 1,139 against APC’s 74. At Asibiti ward in Donga Local Government Area PDP scored 4,412 while APC had 604. The election which took place ...