Barely 24 hours after the Boko Haram islamist sect called for truce, some gunmen believed to be members of the group yesterday shot dead a civil war commander and former member of the Supreme Military Council, General Muhammadu Mamman Shuwa. Shuwa, who fought the Civil War between 1967-1970 alongside his associate and former President Olusegun Obasanjo was killed in his house at Gwange 1 ward opposite Customs area of Maiduguri at noon almost an hour before the Friday (Juma’at) prayers. Residents  said the retired General usually receives guests in front of his house almost on daily basis, where long mats are spread for the guests, friends and other relations to seat in line with Kanuri/Shuwa tradition. “It is a usual thing for people to come to his house and today’s case was not different. He was seated with some guests and four people also came. Everybody thought they were there to greet him and then proceed to mosque with him unknown to them the four men were ...

Sounds like apocalypse but this is no dooms day prediction as experts have alerted that in 50 years to come, Lagos risks being washed away by tidal waves. It is the only Nigerian costal city that might go under if nothing serious is done to stop it.Climate Change and the poor environmental attitude of the residents are already assisting this prediction to come true. Earlier, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) based in France, had, in a study entitled Ranking of the world’s cities most exposed to coastal flooding today and in the future, revealed that Lagos was at risk of being submerged in the next 50 years. Lagos was among cities in the developing world facing similar fate. Cotonou, Liberia and Abdijan in West Africa were in the number. OECD said that “in the 20th century, sea level rose by an estimated 17 centimetres but conservative global mean projection for sea level rise between 1990 and 2080 ranges from 22-34 centimetres. Oceans wh...

Uneasy calm now pervades the air as residents of Shagamu Road, Ikorodu, Lagos, are still in shock over the recent arrest of a 25-year-old man who specialises in exhuming and selling human parts for rituals. Frail looking Rahaman Abdul was caught with a fresh human head in a cemetery along Shagamu Road Ikorodu, on October 5. Confirming the shocking news, which threw residents of the area into confusion, Mr. Ade Bayo, who claims to be the personal assistant to the vice chairman of Ikorodu Local Government Area squealed that before Abdul was arrested on that fateful day, the security men at the cemetery had always complained bitterly on how they usually find the cemetery in bad shape with body parts littered around the vicinity almost every morning. Continuing, Bayo disclosed that the men became more alert in their quest to unmask those behind the weird happenings around the vicinity without knowing that one of them, was working hand in hand with the corpse rogue. Unfortun...

A 22-year old man who was arrested for impersonation by the police has confessed that most of the security equipment he allegedly stole or acquired illegally was sold to police officers in various divisions in Lagos. The suspect, Samuel Johnson revealed this when he was paraded at the Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos State. He was dressed in army camouflages when he was arrested. In the course of further investigation, army uniforms and walkie-talkies among other military and police security equipment, were found in his possession. Johnson claimed that his major suppliers are traders at Alaba from whom he buys the equipment and sells to the police officers at cheap prices. He however denied selling his equipment to armed robbers, as he was being investigated because he was suspected to have been selling the gadgets to armed robbers. He said he wore the uniform whenever he hawked the items at police stations pretending to be a soldier in order to safeguard his ...

Environmental officers have arrested two men identified as Tolu Makanju and Jonathan Ogbeide, for allegedly being in possession of 85 dead chickens they were processing as frozen food for sale. The suspects were arrested at 3/5, Olusegun Babatunde Street, Igando, by officials of the Environmental Health Unit of Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area, Lagos State. Sources say the dead chickens after being processed were usually neatly packed and sold to eateries as frozen foods and also supplied to caterers who cook for big events such as birthdays and weddings. They had since been handed over to the police at Igando police station for prosecution. A police source at the station who pleaded anonimity said that they would be charged to court after a thorough investigation into the matter. The council’s Chief Environmental Health Officer, Mrs Omowumi Onibudo said concerning the suspects; “some of the women working for them became jittery when we caught them unaw...

Imiefan Omokaro, a   three-year old pupil of Kingdom Heritage Model School along Sapele road in Benin City, was on Thursday afternoon, found dead in the toilet of her school. She was said to have tumbled into a bucket half-filled with water. A source disclosed that little Imiefan was found by a teacher in the toilet who immediately raised alarm and the girl was taken to the Winners Chapel Church, operators of the school, where pastors engaged in series of prayers to revive the girl. Strange enough, at the close of school, when Imiefan’s mother came to pick her, the teacher said they were looking for her. The source added that it was not until two hours after Omokaro fell into the bucket that she was taken to a hospital where she was confirmed dead by the nurse on duty. Father of the girl who gave his name as Omokaro Jolly, said he dropped his daughter at school hale and hearty and was surprised that the school authorities could not tell him what happened to his da...

The escalating incidence of students shot dead by dare devil men of the underworld is frightening to say the least. And this is happening as government is busy fighting Boko Haram on all fronts while other evil vices seem to have taken over- as armed robbers, cultists, rapists and ritualists are having a field day unperturbed. According to popular blogger Linda Ikeji, classmates and friends of the slain student sent the story to her. The student, Wunmi Adebayo, was shot at point blank last night when she went to visit a friend of hers in his house at Golden Estate in Ijebu Ode, Ogun state. The 200 level student was visiting the said friend when they were suddenly attacked by armed robbers who robbed them of their possessions and later shot Wunmi in the face because she fought them off as they attempted to rape her. Her corpse has been deposited at the mortuary. Wunmi was the first child of her parents and friends say she was very jovial, friendly and kind hearted. Her...

Black magic and evil spirits have captured the soul of a new-born baby in Colombia who can apparently already walk by himself and produce fire, his own mother has claimed. Ana Feria Santos gave birth to her son last month but says her joy quickly turned to fear when she noticed that he had ‘several abnormalities’ – leading to fears in her community that he is the ‘devil in disguise’. She says the boy can already stand up and walk – quite a feat for a child of just four weeks. Much like the 1976 horror film The Omen, the mother-of-five says he frequently hides around the house, cackles in an ‘adult’ way for hours on end and has an ‘intimidating’ pair of eyes. She told the RCN Radio station: ‘He walks like an adult, sometimes going off and hiding underneath the bed, in a suitcase, in the washing machine or in the fridge.’ Her neighbours in the town of Lorica, near the Caribbean coast, also say he is possessed by a ‘malign spirit’ and that he is capable of producin...

A woman who was dragged into an alleyway and raped after a night out was subjected to a second horrifying ordeal by another man as she lay recovering from the attack. Mustafa Yussuf was the first to prey on the woman as she walked through Manchester city centre on New year’s Eve, marching her into Church Street car park and raping her in a nearby lane. After the assault the then 20-year-old fled the scene, leaving the woman helpless. It was then that, instead of assisting her, another man pounced on the woman and raped her. The distressing details of the double rape emerged as Yussuf, now 21, from Manchester, was jailed for seven years for the attack. He claimed to have had a consensual encounter with the woman but denied rape. But a jury at Manchester Crown Court trial rejected his account and found him guilty. Judge Martin Steiger QC, sentencing, said he ‘hadn’t the slightest doubt’ that Yussuf was ‘perfectly aware’ the woman was too drunk to consent to any a...

A 61-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl says he now wants to sue the child, the Hartlepool Mail reported today. In July, John Thompson of Hartlepool, England, pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge, but told the court that his victim instigated the encounter. Thompson received an 8-month suspended sentence. He was also ordered to undergo treatment and banned from contact with anyone under the age of 16. The former brewery employee claimed that the young child “flirted” with him before pushing him down and forcing her tongue into his mouth, according to the Sun. “I knew it was wrong,” Thompson reportedly said in a police interview, “but somehow our mouths became open. I could not push her off.” In court, he admitted to reciprocating and kissing the girl back. Judge Gillian Matthews noted that Thompson was “potentially high risk” to young girls, but said that suspending his sentence was the only way he could receive treatment, according ...

Some lecturers of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, under the auspices of the Coalition for Transparency, have petitioned the Minister of Education and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), claiming that a former Dean of the school’s Law Faculty, Professor Nuhu Mohammed Jamo, embezzled N16m which was donated by the alumni to the faculty. The petition signed by Dr. Armiya’u Dingyadi Umar accused the former dean who served between 2010 and 201 of handing over only N400,000 to his successor, and also that he didn’t account for 20 desktop computers donated by the Federal Capital Territory High Court, as well as two new photocopiers and a set of five white leather settees for the Dean of Law’s office that were received as donations from alumni. The sum of N4m released to Prof. Jamo by the bursar as faculty-specific charges in 2011 for faculty development was also converted by the former dean to his personal use. According to the petitioners, efforts to get Prof Jamo ...

More facts emerged yesterday on how the bloody attack on Dogon Dawa village near Birnin Gwari town in Kaduna State was executed, leading to the death of no fewer than 25 people. The Chief Imam of Dogon Dawa community, Malam Muhammad said he took cover inside some old tyres that were abandoned near the mosque and watched how the gunmen numbering about a 100, shot and killed early morning worshippers who were coming out of the mosque at dawn. “The killers were saying they came to make real their threat, they shot and killed even children; it was sad indeed,” he said. Also speaking to newsmen, the traditional title holder of Danlawan Birnin Gwari in Dogon Dawa, Alhaji Abdurauf who could not hide his anger said, a former governorship aspirant, Alhaji Shuaibu Mikati, had earlier alerted the police to the threats to life and property in the area by armed bandits but nothing was done until the dawn attack on Sunday which had turned the entire area into deep sorrow and mourning. According...

Zamfara State Police Command has said that two supected members of a syndicate that specialized in kidnapping and trading in human parts have been killed during a raid on their hideout. Malam Usman Gwary, Zamfara State Commissioner of Police stated on Monday at a press briefing in Gusau, the state capital that a 5-year-old girl was rescued in the raid. According to Gwary, the two suspects were killed in a cross fire with the police along the Sokoto-Gusau highway. The suspects had earlier been intercepted as they tried to negotiate the sale of the 5-year-old girl in Zamfara, after the police acted on a tip-off. NAN reports that the suspected criminals abducted the girl from a private school in Imo state sometime last week. The police commissioner said the girl was to be delivered for sale to another syndicate in Niger Republic through the Sokoto-Zamfara boarder. He addded that the police were ready to get back the kidnapped girl through a phony purchase deal after being informed th...

The Hong Kong billionaire playboy who offered nearly £40 million to any man who could turn his homosexual daughter straight, has now said that he hopes the ‘change’ will come naturally. When Cecil Chao found out about his daughter Gigi’s marriage to her partner of eight years, he publicly denied the union and retorted by offering 500 million Hong Kong Dollars to the man who could convince her to marry him. The 76-year-old property magnate has now accepted 33-year-old Gigi’s ‘gay tendencies’ but has made some heavy hints that he wants her to ‘re-consider her choice’. ‘I’m not saying that she’s not okay to be gay,’ Cecil Chao told ABC News 20/20. ‘I mean it’s her own choice and her own tendency, but she should make sure she knows what she wants. Maybe what she wants today is different [than] what she wants in the future.’ Ms Chao married her long-term partner Sean in a church ceremony in Paris earlier this year, but it was not until news of their union was printed in the Hong Kon...

At age 11, Ghulam was married off to 40-year-old Jaiz in a rural Afghan village, making her only one of more than 10 million young girls who are being forced to wed men old enough to be their fathers or grandfather every year. In an effort to start a global conversation about the devastating effects of early marriages, which are currently practiced in more than 50 developing countries, the United Nations designated October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child this year. To mark the occasion and draw attention to the problem of child brides, photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair teamed up with National Geographic to create a series of heart-breaking photos depicting girls as young as five years old being married off to middle-aged men in countries like India, Yemen and Ethiopia. Although child marriage is against the law in many countries, and international treaties forbid the practice, it is estimates that about 51 million girls below age 18 are currently married, often under ...

A baby boy suspected to be eight-day-old was found wrapped inside a bag and abandoned at a cemetery in Kakuri, Kaduna South local government area of Kaduna State yesterday. The boy, who had maggots coming out from every opening on his body, was still alive, according to two good Samaritans who located him in the area. Mr. Robert Ogbole, a student of Bayero University Kano and Miss Grace Yahaya, a Kaduna State athlete who found the baby, narrated their experiences to newsmen at the Kakuri police station where it was taken to after receiving first aid at a nearby hospital in Kakuri. Ogbole said: “I was at home at about 11: 30 am when my younger brother (Mike), who passed through the cemetery to the football field came with a report that he heard the sound of a baby inside a bag at the cemetery. So, I quickly called my neighbour (Grace), and we ran to the place. “On getting there, we found this baby boy rapped all over with cloth and was kept in the cemetery, so we picked him and thi...

14 people were brutally murdered by suspected herdsmen on Wednesday morning in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau state. The assailants reports say raided three villages in the early hours of Wednesday, armed with dangerous weapons while the villagers were still asleep; killing and destroying their properties. According to reports, the attack came following an incident on Tuesday in which three people were killed in neighbouring Barkin Ladi Local Government Area. Speaking on the attack, representative of Barkin Ladi/Riyom federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr Simon Mwadkom said four members of a family were shot at close range in Dallyam village, in Tahoss district and several others were injured. During the attack however, another set of terrorists killed eight people in Ranghol in Sopp ward of the local government, and another two were murdered in Lotton village of the same local government. Mwadkom accused Fulani herdsmen for the attacks which were well org...

In a very embarrassing mistake, Florida Governor Rick Scott gave out a phone s*x hotline number to citizens of the state who are seeking information on a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak. During a update about the nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak to the Florida Cabinet Tuesday, the governor inadvertently gave out a number that will do nothing to help people looking for information about the condition – an adult phone line number. Scott had announced what he said was the hotline’s toll-free phone line. However, the governor’s office was alerted by a public radio station which was monitoring the cabinet meeting and posted the number on its website immediately! The station said it was “quickly notified by a reader that the number instead connected to an adult telephone line.” Callers to the said line are greeted with the recording of a woman’s voice saying: “Hello boys, thank you for calling me on my anniversary…” Eventually, spokesperson for the governor, Jackie Schutz said the ...

Amidst the controversies and numerous investigations into the tenure of former governor, Bukola Saraki, and claims by the police of his involvement a N9.2b loan scam, burglars have made an unprecedented break-in at the Kwara State Ministry of Finance, carting away undisclosed amounts of money as well as all documents, including their electronic backups, which detailed government transactions since 2003, Sahara Reporters have claimed. According to a top government functionary, the burglars first attempted to break into the Accountant General’s office in the Ministry in the early hours of Friday, September 21, but the guards and the burglary-proof doors foiled the attack. However, the attackers returned on Saturday night armed with different tools, grenades and even a power generator with which they broke into the offices where the documents and money were kept. The incident, according to another source, is fuelling speculations about official cover-up of certain transactions that hav...

Pope Benedict XVI has delivered a prayer in Arabic for the first time during his weekly general audience. More than 20,000 people heard the Pope’s prayers in Arabic, part of a new effort by the Vatican to show support for Christians in the Middle East. The Vatican Is Reaching Out To Middle Eastern Christians, Making Arabic The Seventh Translated Language, Alongside The Original Italian The Pope today first delivered his own brief greeting in Arabic: ‘The pope prays for all the Arabic-speaking people. God bless you all.’ Then a priest translated the Pope’s prayers into Arabic. The Vatican said it was adding Arabic to the six languages, aside from the original Italian, typically spoken during the general audience, to remind Catholics to pray for peace in the Middle East. The prayers are usually delivered in English, French, Spanish. German, Polish and Portuguese. Khalid Hussain, a Pakistani-born Muslim tourist visiting St. Peter’s Square, praised the initiative, saying ‘I...

It is said that when a man is pushed to the wall, he turns around and fights back. Is there any particular means to fight back? In the past, people spilled their own blood in protest, others embarked on hunger strike to fight an injustice but there appears to be a growing trend now where humans use themselves as ‘human torch.’ It has happened in Gaza where a teenager set him ablaze over poverty; Mohammed Bouaziz did it in Tunisis – matter of fact, that singular act of martyrdom is what led to the violent protests that swept away president Ben Ali after 23 years in power; an Egyptian also set himself ablaze outside the country’s parliament building; a Tunisisian youth also set himself ablaze in 2011 due to his economic problems… the list is endless and more are adding to that number. But is that the way out? Will there ever be a time when this trend will catch up with Nigeria? This time around, an Albanian man became the second human torch this week in the escalating r...

How we love to kill a fly with a sledge hammer baffles me sometimes. Nations that value the sanctity of life and see youths as valuable assets, they use almost every legal means available to ensure that even while bringing down the heavy hands of the law on crimes committed by young persons, their future is not jeopardized. But that is not the case in Nigeria as two students, Vershima Kaachi and Akaazua Akpen, have been sentenced to death by firing squad for armed robbery. The ruling was delivered by Justice Theresa Igoche of the Makurdi High Court on Tuesday.The convicts were arrested on the eve of Christmas in 2007 for criminal conspiracy and armed robbery, contrary to Sections 5(b) and 1(2) of the Robbery and Firearms Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990. In his testimony, the victim of the offence, Jonathan Usenge, told the court that five armed men came to his house, attacked and robbed him of some valuable items on that day. He stated that the robbers collected his Nok...

Following the flood that ravaged her community, Mama Rhoda Tamunu, an elderly woman, allegedly aged 120 years, has been rescued from a flooded house in Bayelsa State. Mama Tamunu was rescued by the state Emergency Medical Services at Agudama in Yenagoa, the state’s capital on Wednesday after concerned residents raised the alarm. Apart from Tamunu, many Bayelsa residents have been displaced by floods which ravaged the state recently. The Seriake Dickson administration, in wake of the disaster, inaugurated the state Emergency Response Flood Management Committee for immediate evacuation of flood victims and provision of relief items. Already, many residents have been confined to the relief camps awaiting government’s next move even as president Jonathan has approved a cash donation running to billions of Naira for states devastated by flooding. -Olu Famous

Based on a prediction that his fortune would experience a leap, should he be married to a 12-year-old, a septuagenarian is hell bent on exchanging marital vows with the pre-teen girl despite the protestations of the mother. Olalekan Olabulo reports.    Twelve years old Aminat Hamisu, a Class 1 student of Ansar Ud Deen Junior Secondary School in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government is in dire need of someone to save her life from impending disaster. She is a subject of a forceful marriage to a man, old enough to be her grandfather. She lost her father in the course of the confusion that ensued over her planned marriage to a septuagenarian. Aminat is supposed to be a Junior Secondary School 2 student but had to miss a whole academic session as a result of the fact that she had to escape from being forcefully engaged to a man, who should have been her guardian rather than husband. The insistence of the old man to marry her has also resulted in her missing classes. Forty three years o...

It must have been a moment of shock for those who were at the Muritala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, to witness a Kano-bound IRS Airlines plane colliding with an abandoned truck beside the taxiway on Wednesday morning, forcing the pilot to cancel the flight. Statement from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the owners of the truck, had said that the truck, a gully emptier with registration number XT 461 LSD was on official assignment and “accidentally fell into a drainage in the taxiway ramp of GAT and could not be evacuated immediately.” This was at about 8.30 on Tuesday night (October 9, 2012), It was the wing of the Fokker-100 aircraft that collided with the truck which subsequently fell into a drainage on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the 91 passengers on board the flight were later disembarked and put in another plane which left for Kano three hours later. According to statement by the Managing Director of IRS, Mr. Yemi Dada, confirming the incident, “This morning our flight LV...

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with theft in Germany after pawning his mother's jewelery to fund visits to a brothel. The boy had exchanged the jewelery worth between 2,000 and 3,000 euros ($2,500-$3,800) for 300 euros ($380) before paying for himself and a friend to visit a brothel in the German city of Karlsruhe, German police said. Police spokesman, Ralf Minet, said the boy admitted the theft, and that the mother was pressing charges while the brothel involved is also under investigation by police. However, the operator of the brothel said it had turned the boys away because they were under age. Prostitution is legal in Germany, but customers must be at least 18 years old. Mr Minet had told Reuters: “We don't know what the mother's motives are for pressing charges. It's possible she wants to teach him a lesson or it's possible that she felt she had lost control.” Meanwhile, a German newspaper, Die Welt, which saw the police reports says that the two boys w...

Mrs. Jane Toku, the mother of Lloyd, one of the four undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt that were lynched at Aluu community in Rivers State, says her son’s death will always haunt her.   She also expressed shock that the crowd could watch how her son and his friends were gruesomely murdered. Jane spoke with Punch correspondent amid tears on Monday in Port Harcourt.   Jane said, “When we got there, one of them was still breathing. He was gasping for breath, but the crowd…they were all there watching while my baby (Lloyd) was butchered. Come to my area and ask questions about my child; the child I trained.   “Penultimate Sunday, we went to church, Salvation Ministry; that is where he worshipped. We all went together for the second service. He stayed back for the remaining service. When he came back, he started preparing to go to school. I can still see him as I talk to you. “He brought out a book; ‘How Faith Works’ by David...

The revelation by Tony Uranta, a public affairs analyst, today, that two different patrol teams were on hand at the scene where the four UNIPORT undergraduate students were murdered, is a clear indication of complicity and dereliction of duty by Nigeria’s security forces. Mr Uranta confirmed that the location where the incident took place was within five different outposts of police and JTF. He further said that the Police did not attempt to disperse the crowd before the boys were killed and left to him the DPO and others should be charged to court. According to Mr. Uranta, who was a guest on Sunrise Daily, “the problem we have in this country is that no government official can be charged to court and if the issue is not properly taken up he will go on a one-man protest”. Mr. Uranta said he was not pleased with President Goodluck Jonathan for not making a mention of the Mubi or Port Harcourt killings in his address yesterday and he felt the president lacked emp...

Reports have it that mother of Ugonna, one of the four UNIPORT students recently killed in Aluu Community died of shock yesterday Ugonna’s mother had been devastated by the death of her only son and she never recovered from the heartache. Late Ugonna Kelechi Obuzor was reportedly close to his mother and he was a beacon of hope for her, but he was taken from her and her heart gave in. As the news circulate on social media, former lawmaker, Dino Melaye also tweeted the sad news yesterday.

A Lebanese man, who was kidnapped by hoodlums three weeks ago in Rivers State, was found dead in a bush near Shell Road in Omuawa community of Ikwerre Local Government Area. Security agents had combed every area leads pointed at in the past three weeks, but the search had been fruitless. Reports say the decomposing body of the foreigner was found by women in the community after a trace of an offensive odour they perceived while in the bush. It was learnt that the women immediately reported the matter to members of their community in Omuawa. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, an eyewitness explained that the expatriate, whose name is still unknown, was abducted while on duty on Azuaha Road in Ikwerre LGA. The Lebanese was an official of JMS Construction Company in Rivers State. It was gathered that those who abducted the expatriate might have killed him when the ransom they were expecting was not forthcoming. Rivers state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbu...

           The Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja on Tuesday sentenced 10 people to 10 hours of community service each for hanging on coaches of the Mass Transit Train Service, NAN reports.   The Magistrate, Mrs. I. O Omotosho said in her judgment that the community service would be determined by the Lagos State Community Services Department. She also said she was lenient with the convicts because they had spent one week in custody since their arrest at Ikeja Train Station on October 3. “I hope that this will serve as a deterrent to others,” she said. The men had been accused of endangering their lives and that of others by hanging onto a moving train. They were also accused of assaulting policemen. “When ASP Idris Muritala and Cpl. Azeez tried to ar rest them, they assaulted them and injured the corporal,” the prosecutor, Mr Tunde Sunmonu said.         The ten men, ag...

  One Desmond Utonwen, a Senior Correspondent with The News Magazine has been awarded N100 million as damages by an Abuja High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja. Utonwen was on December 11, 2009, brutalised by men of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF . The court which was presided over by Justice U. P. Kekemeke, maintained that the attack, the beating to unconsciousness, bundling into Police vehicle and detention of the applicant for many hours without access to medical treatment, was inhuman and degrading and thus amounted to a violation of his right as enshrined in Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Utonwen had gone before the court to enforce his fundamental human right, after he was severely beaten by policemen when he attempted to cover a protest that broke out at Garki Area 3, Abuja, in 2009. Though Justice Kekemeke concluded hearing on the matter on July 12, the judgment was handed down on October 4. The Court ordered Police to p...

         Finally, today, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Dr Goodluck Jonathan made his nationwide broadcast and the focus was on the flooding that has swept through major states across the country leaving tales of destruction, sorrow and lose of lives and properties.          In light of the foregoing, the President announced the donation of N17.6bn to flooded states in the country. Although the donation is coming several days after many states were ravaged with flood, which led to the death of about 147 people, the move is geared towards alleviating the sufferings of the people and states affected as well as assist the relevant agencies and bodies to discharge their responsibilities well – hence, it is a welcome development. He said, “This include immediate provision of a total of N17.6 billion in direct financial assistance to the affected st...