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...

A source yesterday said security agencies have arrested over 100 suspects, including students, in Mubi and adjoining communities over Tuesday’s killing of 25 people, many of whom were students of the Federal Polytechnic and the School of Health Technology, Mubi in Adamawa State.                 Although the Adamawa State Police Command refused to give the exact number of those arrested and their identity saying that doing so at this stage would jeopardise investigation, a source within the security circle said over a hundred suspects had been arrested as hunt for the killers continue. A source in the students’ affairs unit of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi also said one of those killed was among the newly elected executive members of the Student Union Government. Police spokesman, DSP Muhammed Ibrahim told reporters that “many arrests” had been made, and that investigators were following leads. He said details of the arrests made will ...

One of the most respected Governors in Nigeria as of today, Governor Rochas Okorocha, was caught on camera buying roasted corn from one of his state corn sellers on a popular road. Over the years the Governor has been known to be of great impact to his state in terms of building of new infrastructures and recently it was confirmed that his foundation was planning the provision of a tertiary institution that will be free for all. To many Nigerians this is a sign of Humility, and he has proven to be a man of the people.

                     Yesterday, October 8th 2012, Governor of Imo state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha added a year. The date also coincided with the 10th anniversary celebration of the Rochas Foundation college. The Ceremony also marked the graduation of the RFC students. The ceremony which attracted very important dignitaries like Morgan Tsvangirai; The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and Gov. Peter Obi, had Tuface, Bracket and AY the Comedian perform.

Oyo State police command, on Thursday, paraded 26 suspects, including five students of the Lead City University (LCU), Ibadan, Oyo State. The state Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, while speaking at the parade at the police headquarters, disclosed that the suspects were arrested for crimes ranging from internet fraud, armed robbery, car snatching to stealing of jewellery worth N25 million. He added that they were arrested at different parts of the state. Mbu said the five students were arrested at a hotel in Ojo, Akinyele Local Government Area of the state, with five laptop computers. The police boss also said after interrogation, it was discovered that the suspects were using the laptop computers to defraud people. According to the police boss, the students allegedly defrauded some people of $10 million, $500 and $27,000, part of which they used to purchase three vehicles, including a Range Rover worth N6.2 million. He said another suspect, Kingsley John, b...

                     Sagir Musa, spokesperson of the JTF in Maiduguri on Monday confirmed that two of its soldiers have sustained injuries after they were attacked along Lagos Street in Borno State. He said a JTF patrol van was attacked with Improvised Explosive Device. “There was a bomb blast involving a JTF Hilux vehicle at about 7:15 am today along Lagos Street in Maiduguri metropolis. It is feared that two soldiers sustained injury. Details on the incident if any will be communicated,” he said.                          According to Col. Musa, the bomb was buried along the highway of the popular Lagos Street of Maiduguri by the hoodlums who were targeting the JTF on routine patrol of the town. The blast led to a suspected gun battle between the JTF and...

             Assistant Superintendent of Police, Supol Funminiyi and Inspector Haruna were yesterday killed by suspected armed robbers who went away with their rifles. Reports say that the two officers attached to New Oko-Oba Police Division were on patrol with two other police officers when they ran into three vehicles conveying the suspected robbers who allegedly used the cars for their robbery operation at about 2am at Paying Junction near Olaniyi Street, New Oko Oba, Agege, Lagos.              The policemen who mistook the robbers’ vehicles to be Area G Police Division Patrol van parked to give way for the van to move but instead the robbers shot sporadically at them. ASP Funminiyi while trying to escape was shot first in the legs and later shot all over his body. Inspector Haruna made frantic efforts to reach their office through his mobile phone to ...

      Reports say members of the government’s Joint Task Force (JTF) yesterday killed at least 30 civilians in Maiduguri. According to AFP, the soldiers were retaliating the killing of one of their officers, a lieutenant.        “The attack came from soldiers attached to a special military unit on guard in Maiduguri, the spiritual home of the sect known as Boko Haram, in an effort to supposedly protect its citizens from the violence gripping the city. The killings likely will further antagonize a population already alienated by checkpoints, security force harassment and the threat of being killed by soldiers who are targets for the sect’s increasingly bloody guerrilla attacks,” the AFP report said. The strange attack on civilians who thought they were safe with the presence of the military has reportedly made some residents of Maiduguri flee their homes for fear of further attacks.

Cynthia, as we gathered, was picked up by an Alhaji, and after they had fun, he took her to his guest house, and gave her $2000 to suck and sleep with his monkey. She refused at first but after looking at the money again, she concurred. After the ordeal the alhaji went to drop her and drove off and few hours later she started complaining of stomach ache, she thought it was a normal thing, but from the few things we gathered from the source, fews hours later, maggots started coming out from her private parts; her friend tried to rush her to the hospital but it was too late.She died before they could do anything. ‘It is true the poverty level of the country is driving everyone mad, but Nigerian ladies need to be careful with some extremities in their search for a means of livelihood’. So much information wasn’t released concerning the lady, and it’s very understandable judging by the circumstances surrounding her death. Prayer is for her to find rest, even i...

Since news of the October 1 overnight attack on Federal Polytechnic, Mubi in Adamawa State, in Northern Nigeria broke out, the same questions ring out: Who are the men who perpetrated the act? For which reason? What will the government do to secure the lives of Nigerians? And, how soon will these victims and thousands of their family members who have been thrown into endless trauma get justice? Many citizens say they get more questions than answers. This latest killing coincided with the marking of the 52nd year of Nigeria’s Independence. As at the time of filing in this report, several students are fleeing Mubi while many are stranded. Report say the school has been shut indefinitely as the Adamawa State government has also imposed a 24-hour curfew. Adamawa State Police Command spokesman, Ibrahim Mohammed, DSP, confirmed that 25 dead bodies have  so far been deposited at the General hospital, Mubi. He also stated that the figure is likely to rise as se...