adebukola adebanji's blog

According to the President at the Presentation of the 2016 Budget on Tuesday, December 22, Petrol will remain at the current rate of N87 per litre.   President Buhari said yesterday while presenting the 2016 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly that the price of petrol is subsidised in Nigeria because the country imports refined products even it is Africa’s biggest producer of crude oil.   Buhari said he had directed the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to adjust its pricing template to reflect competitive and market driven components.    “We believe this can lower input costs and attain efficiency savings that will enable PPPRA to keep the selling price for all marketers of petrol at N87 per litre for now”, the president said.    He noted that the current fuel scarcity “with long queues at petrol stations all over the country causing social dislocation” was very unfortunate.    He, therefore, apologised to Nigerians for th

A former student who burned her lover’s genitals with a hot iron while they were having sex has been jailed for nine year by a UK court. Kenya Alozie, 31, of no fixed address, pressed the hot iron down on the man’s legs and genitals before slashing his hand with a broken bottle. The attack, which took place in May at a property in Plumstead, south east London, and left the victim needing surgery for burns and deep wounds. Alozie has now been jailed for nine years after being found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of GBH. The court heard the attack took place while Alozie and the man, who was in his 30s, were having sex at accommodation where she was living with friends. At the time of the attack, Alozie’s student visa was due to expire and she was expected to return to her family in Nigeria a few weeks later. She was caught on May 24 at Heathrow Airport as she was preparing to leave the country and charged with GBH with intent. Alozie had studied at Coventry Un

Fuel scarcity, which had disappeared since April, resurfaced yesterday in Lagos and some parts of Ogun State with long queues at several retail outlets. It was learnt that there was a huge supply deficit because some oil marketers refused to import the product, leaving only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as the sole importer of premium motor spirit (petrol). A marketer told our correspondent in confidence that demand far outstripped supply, adding there were over 200 retail outlet owners who had paid for petrol in the last three months but could not get supply. The marketer said his colleagues told the NNPC that they did not have money, besides being owed over N200 billion in verified subsidy claims. He said this was why many marketers could no longer import fuel. “It is only the NNPC that currently imports, and its focus is on Abuja and Lagos. Other states have been experiencing scarcity in the last three months. Fuel trucks from such states ha

The incident in the Dala Yazaram area of the city happened a day after at least 55 people were killed in attacks in the northeast, including 28 in Maiduguri. A local resident said he saw two female suicide bombers enter the neighbourhood of Dala Yazaram, some six kilometres (four miles) from the city but one of them was stopped by people nearby while the other blew herself up. “Three people have been killed and many injured. One of the terrorists was arrested before she could detonate,” resident Shuaibu Umara, a security guard at a nearby NNPC petrol station, told AFP. A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said one person, a member of the civilian vigilante group assisting the military in the fight against Boko Haram, was killed and 10 injured in the blast. “Four female suicide bombers at about 7:45am today in the morning attempted to enter a Dala Ajeri area of Maiduguri but were intercepted by the civilian JTF (joint military task force),

The Borno Police Command on Wednesday confirmed the death of seven persons, including three suicide bombers, in Tuesday night’s explosion at the outskirt of Maiduguri. Mr Aderemi Opadokun the State Commissioner of Police, made this confirmation while speaking with newsmen in Maiduguri. “At about 7.41 pm on Tuesday, there were Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in three locations at the outskirt of Maiduguri. “The locations are Gidan Shanu behind Bakassi estate, Sajeri and Bulumkutu,” Opadokun said. “Seven people, including three suspected suicide bombers, died, while eleven persons were injured. “All the casualties have been removed from scene and taken to the hospital and normalcy has been restored,” he said.

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, on Tuesday said the number of Nigerian pilgrims killed during the September 24 stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, had risen to 168. More than 769 pilgrims from across the world were confirmed dead and 1,000 injured during the stampede on one of the roads leading to the Jamarat Complex (stone throwing site) in Mina. Speaking to newsmen on the incident in Mecca, the Director of Public Affairs of the commission, Uba Mana, said the number of Nigerians who died rose following ongoing analysis on the corpses by the Saudi government. He said the number of pilgrims earlier declared missing had reduced from 165 to 144 due to the discovery of additional bodies. He said that seven out of the 42 pilgrims injured during the stampede were still on admission in Saudi hospitals. On the ongoing airlift of pilgrims back to Nigeria, Mr. Mana said 47,128 pilgrims had already been transported back to their respective states in 123 flights. (NAN)

Residents of Jenta Magoro in Jos North local government of Plateau state, were thrown into shock following the news of a young man who matcheted his own mother to death. The incidence which occurred at about 6am Thursday morning was said to have come after a heated disagreement between the victim and her son. The Plateau Police command who confirmed the incidence gave the name of the dead woman as Mama Wollo Inde. According to the Police Public Relation Officer DSP Abu Emmanuel, “The 63 year old son known as Bravo Kunde attacked her 75 year old mother Wollo Inde with machete.” Close neighbors confirmed that they heard the voice of the old woman crying for help as early as 6am. “We rushed to the old woman’s room to discover she was attacked by her own son with whom they have been living together for long. “Another neighbor who pleaded anonymity said, “We noticed a very deep cut on the head of the old woman with blood rushing from the cuts when we came in to help her. Some of the neighbo

Robbers laid siege in Festac Town, Lagos yesterday shooting indiscriminately from a machine gun reportedly mounted at 23 Road Junction. It was like a movie scene as they shot their way into two banks, carting away millions of naira. However sadly, their stray bullets hit mother and daughter at Block 8, 23 Road House, killing the child instantly. The mother reportedly died an hour later because help came late. Eyewitnesses said some of the robbers wore hoods; others were in military camouflage. Mrs. Jane Beluchukwu-Ndirika, a nurse and her 14-month-old daughter Nmesoma, were inside their two-bedroom apartment on the top floor of their three-storey building when the bullets pierced through the door and hit them. The late Mrs. Beluchukwu-Ndirika was a nurse at the Igando General Hospital in Lagos. Area E Commander of the Lagos Police Mr. Frank Mba whose jurisdiction covers Festac and environs, visited the house and confirmed that mother and daughter had died. Yesterday’

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, says the government is ready to start the reconstruction of two roads in each of the 20 local government and 37 local council development areas in the state. The governor, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Monday during the monthly meeting with the executive secretaries of the 57 councils, added that the council bosses must ensure that the projects meet the international standard. He also told the executive secretaries to review the progress report in their various communities as well as their challenges. He said, “The decision to embark on the road rehabilitation is in line with the reforms at the local government level. The first phase will commence with the reconstruction of 114 roads ─ two per local government ─ at the cost of N19bn. “The execution of the project will be left in the care of the local government areas, and I expect the executive secretaries to ensure that only the best contractors are engaged to ensure

Suspected armed robbers on Friday morning raided a micro finance bank located in the Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport, as well as the offices of Arik and Air Peace Airlines in Imo State. Over N20m and other valuables were said to have been carted away in the robbery that lasted just a few minutes. According to an eye witness, the armed robbers who besieged the airport in two unmarked vehicles, overpowered the security men attached to the bank. The source who stated that the noise of banging of doors and windows by the robbers coupled with their gunshots scared people away from the scene. An employee of Arik, who didn’t want to be named, said their offices were broken into, company and personal valuables of the workers were stolen. He said, “We are still in shock how the robbers could have been able to operate freely without being challenged, with the number of security men at the Airport, calls for serious concern because if the Airport cannot be safe, where else can be.

The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency has warned that 27 states across the country may be affected by floods this year. The agency said 25 states had already experienced different levels of flood, as it advised people living in flood prone areas to evacuate such locations in order to avoid being caught up by flash floods. NIHSA, in its Annual Flood Outlook for 2015, said findings revealed that most states in Nigeria would be hit by flood this year, as it stressed that the situation may be severe due to the heavy rains experienced in many parts of the country. The Director-General, NIHSA, Mr. Moses Beckley, in a document obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Monday, said the rise in sea levels and ocean surges had already caused flooding in some coastal areas. He said, “NIHSA, in fulfillment of its statutory mandate, which includes amongst other functions, the responsibility of monitoring all rivers in Nigeria as well as the Trans-boundary Rivers of Niger and B

while a man was trying to escape after stealing a motorcycle along Abu King Shuluwa road, Makurdi, Benue State, he crashed into speed bumps and was badly injured. This was after he snatched the bike from a commercial rider whom he told to take him to Tse-Ayihe, Makurdi. But instead of those chasing him to have compassion on him, they beat him till few minutes to Death O'clock. The police later came to rescue him.

Two suicide bombings by militants from Islamist extremist group Boko Haram left five civilians and a policeman dead in Niger on Sunday, a humanitarian worker said. “There were 10 deaths in total: a policeman, five civilians and the four suicide bombers,” said the source, based in the southeastern city of Diffa where the blasts occurred. “Apparently, the assailants, all armed with explosive belts, were going after military targets but they were unable to hit any,” the source said, adding some people with light injuries were taken to hospital. “They were chased by inhabitants who informed the army and they swiftly went after them.” A municipal official earlier had given a toll of three civilian deaths in Diffa, a city near the border with Nigeria. The region had experienced several weeks of relative calm but 15 civilians were killed in a Boko Haram attack in a southeastern village in the Diffa area on September 25 and two soldiers died in an ambush last Thursday. Ni

The Edo State Police Command on Friday said it has uncovered the lifeless body of a lecturer of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Professor Paul Erie, who was abducted by kidnappers, three months ago. It also said it had arrested five persons suspected to be members of a criminal gang, one of whom “confessed to the kidnapping and murder” of of the lecturer. Those arrested were “Awulu Sam‎son aka SASEKI, Lucky Owuadegbe, Jeremiah Amayo, Chucks Edobor and Stephen Usiagwu.” The late Professor of Agricultural Economics was kidnapped by suspected hoodlums on June 16 at about 7:45pm along Agbor-Uromi road, by Igbanke village in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the state, and taken to an unknown destination. His prolonged absence had sparked protests from the AAU chapter of Academic Staff Union and his family members who had earlier said his abductors had demanded huge sums of money as a ransom to release the victim. It was learnt from unconfirmed sources that the gang had k

Uche, who was employed as a night guard at Iyana Iyesi community in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state, allegedly led his gang to rob the residents. Other members of the gang were Mohammed Aliu, Ojulari Sakiru, Akinniyi Ademola and Odeh Benedict. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said Uche, who is the leader of the gang, deceived the members of the community when they were calling on him while the robbery operation lasted, as told the embattled residents that he was in charge. The suspects were said to have been terrorising the residents Itele, Ijagba, Iyana Iyesi and other places in the same local government area. Adejobi said they were arrested by detectives attached to the Special Anti- Robbery Squad of the command, while acting on a tip-off. Police said items recovered from the bandits included three locally-made single-barreled guns, a dummy gun, some live cartridges, assorted charms and 13 handsets. Adejobi added that th

The first occurred in front of the police station, while the second occurred at the town’s main market, 15 minutes apart from other. A third explosion was reported at Nyanya Bus Station thereafter. Nyanya was the scene of two bombings in 2014, leading to scores of death. NE learnt that another explosion rocked Kuje, another satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory late in the evening. A female suicide bomber was said to be on her way to bomb a police station in Kuje when the explosives went off, killing her instantly and injuring passers-by. It was learnt that the twin blasts at Nyanya went off around 9.45pm at the roadside market popularly known as yankuje. NE gathered that the explosion occurred close to the spot where an explosion killed over 70 people on April 14 and on May 1, 2014. A resident of the area, Lambert Tyem, explained that he had just passed the scene when he heard two loud explosions which sent everyone running helter-skelter. He said, “I just pas

A riot policeman and three other persons were said to have been killed in Lokoja, Kogi State, following the invasion of the state headquarters of the Department of State Services. It was gathered on Saturday that a band of gunmen, armed with with sophisticated weapons, at about 9.45pm on Friday, invaded the DSS office. A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the heavily armed attackers appeared to overwhelm the DSS operatives in a gun duel, prompting a Deputy Director of the agency, whose name is yet to be ascertained, to quickly put a distress call to the police at about 10. 40pm. It was gathered that patrol teams with combined efforts of the military men, who were later drafted in, engaged the invaders in a gun battle for over seven hours. The source said the security operatives later overpowered the attackers while some of the invaders fled into the bush. He added that at the end of the shootout, the lifeless body of a riot policeman and three of the atta