Missing goat found in Pastor’s house

A 45-year-old pastor, Chukwuemeka Okoro, and his wife, Esther, 39, were on Friday arraigned in a Mararaba Upper Area Court for allegedly intimidating their neighbour whose missing goat was found in their house after several searches.
A 45-year-old pastor, Chukwuemeka Okoro, and his wife, Esther, 39, were on Friday arraigned in a Mararaba Upper Area Court for allegedly intimidating their neighbour whose missing goat was found in their house after several searches.
The couple, who reside in New Karu, Nasarwa State, were arraigned on a three-count of intimidation, mischief and intentional insult contrary to sections 397, 327 and 399 of the Penal Code. The complainant, Onuh Joseph, of the same address, told the court that since the couple moved into the neighbourhood in 2014, they have been creating trouble with him for no reason.

``Sometimes in 2015, the accused blocked a channel in which water flows out of his compound and diverted the channel to my compound which led to erosion that damaged my property. ``I did not complain because I never wanted trouble, but I spent so much money in repairing my house and the property the erosion destroyed.

``In the presence of the police officers the accused persons and their daughter insulted me and told me that they will make sure they drag me to the gutters or kill me. ``We have been to the police station on so many occasions because of their trouble and threat but that did not stop them.

``I never had problem with them but they always intimidate me and threaten me over nothing,’’ he said.

The couple, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The presiding officer, Ibrahim Shekaru, granted bail to the accused persons in the sum of N100, 000 each with one surety each in like sum.

Shekaru said that the surety must have a reasonable means of livelihood, submit two recent passport photographs and reside within the jurisdiction of the court. He said the surety must write an undertaking stating that the accused persons would be of good behaviour throughout their trial, and adjourned the matter till Sept. 27 for further hearing.

President dies, funeral will be held tomorrow

Uzbekistan president, Islam Karimov, is dead, the state television has said; adding that the funeral will be held on Saturday.

Karimov’s daughter Lola said earlier this week that the 78-year-old had suffered a brain haemorrhage, but the government had remained silent, making its first announcement on Friday following days of unofficial report that Karimov was critically ill or even dead.

Dear compatriots, it is with a heavy heart that we inform you that the health of our President has sharply deteriorated in the past 24 hours to reach a critical state, according to the doctors,” the statement said.

The Reuters news agency said on Friday that three diplomatic sources had told it Karimov was dead and a further government announcement would come on Friday that would also name the head of the commission in charge of organising the funeral.

Uzbekistan on Thursday celebrated its independence day and it has been widely assumed that if the government was to make an announcement on his condition, it would not break the news until after the festivities.

Karimov took power in 1989.

Born on January30, 1938, Karimov was raised in an orphanage in Samarkand, and ascended the Communist party ranks to become head of Soviet Uzbekistan, and he continued as leader after the collapse of the USSR two years later in 1991

PDP’s Call For Buhari’s Resignation, Preposterous – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the call for resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the economy is “preposterous”.

The minister stated this on Friday in Abuja at a forum with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Mohammed said “it is very painful in a situation where the armed robber is now the one sympathising with the victim.

I read in the dailies that the PDP said that the President must resign because of the economy.

“While we are not going to indulge in blame game, I think we should also be honest enough to admit that we will not have been where we are today if they had done what they ought to do.

“For the party to ask the President to resign is just a big joke.”

The minister said that though the government was not interested in blame game, it was important to set the records straight.

He noted that “agree that Nigeria is not the only country hit by the recession and crash in price of crude, but other countries made savings.

“Saudi Arabia today has about 600 billion dollars in reserve and this is by planning and saving for the future which the past administration failed to do during surplus.

“This is not about blaming other administration, but we believe that one should be honest when criticising.”

Mohammed then assured that the Federal Government would do everything possible to bring the country out of the
economic situation.

The PDP new Media Director, Deji Adeyanju, had in a statement in Abuja, asked the President to resign “for destroying” the economy.

Adeyanju was reacting to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) issued on Wednesday which stated that Nigeria was in recession. (NAN)

Former Governor's Daughter, Orode Uduaghan Confirms Her Marriage Is Over

27 year old first child of former governor of Delta state, Emmanuel Uduaghan - Orode Uduaghan confirms her marriage is over. She put up a picture of herself and her kids on her restaurant IG page with the caption "Im Orode, a proud single mother of two amazing heroes....

Rumours have been going around that her marriage was having issues at the time she was pregnant with her second child but crashed immediately she had him in Jan 2015.

Boko Haram resort to using micro finance and promises of safety to get fresh recruits

TERRORIST sect Boko Haram has resorted to wooing young men across northeast Nigeria with informal micro credit schemes and promises of safety in a bid to get fresh recruits as the military onslaught it is facing has depleted its ranks.

Over the last year, Boko Haram has suffered serious setbacks as the Nigerian Army has stepped up its attacks on the sect's bases, regaining control of the 14 local government areas it once held. Backed up by air attacks, the army has also launched a ground offensive into Boko Haram's main stronghold of Sambisa Forest, forcing many of its fighters to flee.

Faced with a dearth of fighters, Boko Haram is now desperately trying to woo young men from northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic with sweeteners. International aid organisation Mercy Corps has revealed that the sect is now using informal micro credit schemes and promises of safety to recruit hundreds of youths and pupils as fighters.

It added that the beneficiaries receive amounts ranging from N10,000 to N1m in order to buy motorcycles, restock their trading stores and grow their small-scale businesses. Mercy Corps' lead researcher and global director of conflict management Rebecca Wolfe, said that many of the locals did not know that the credits were from the insurgents, however.

She added that roughly one out of three respondents had completed secular secondary school and about the same number had completed some sort of Islamic schooling. In a report titled Motivations and Empty Promises: Voices of former Boko Haram combatants and Nigerian Youth and Gifts and Graft: How Boko Haram uses Financial Services for Recruitment and Support, Ms Wolfe revealed that peer pressure and the availability of girls were also incentives to the beneficiaries.

According to Ms Wolfe, 47 former members of the insurgent group, comprising 21 females and 26 males, 45 community members and seven others, who refused the sect’s incentives were interviewed during the study. Her report recommended that the government should, in the post-conflict era, increase the quality, availability and diversity of financial services, particularly to youths with small, informal businesses.

“One male recipient shared how he was complaining to a friend that he wanted a job so he could better provide for his parents. The friend then liaised with Boko Haram leaders to secure a motorcycle to allow the recipient start a business,” she said.

A member of the Mercy Corps team, Ballama Mustafa, who urged the government to make its presence felt in remote communities in the region, added that its intervention should be interest-free and should not exclude locals, who are not literate. He also recommended that communities and schools should create counter-narratives to dissuade youths and pupils from joining the sect.

VIDEO: Nigerian Air Force jet attacks Boko Haram commanders’ hideout

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said on Thursday that one of its fighter jets had carried out an attack on a location where some injured top leaders of Boko Haram were hiding inside northern Borno.
The Boko Haram leaders were believed to be part of those that survived the August 20 air raid that led to the death of well over 300 insurgents according to the military records.
Spokesman for the NAF, Ayodele Famuyiwa, a Group Captain, who made this public in a statement, said the air raid was effected following intelligence that revealed that some of the Boko Haram commanders had fled to take refuge at secret camp called Tumbun Rego where they were to get medical care.
NAF had also released a link to the video footage showing how the camp was being bombarded.
Group Captain Famuyiwa statement reads;
“The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), in a series of another well-coordinated air operations conducted on 29 August 2016, successfully attacked a Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) camp at Tumbun Rego in Northern Borno where some wounded commanders of the notorious sect were believed to be receiving treatment.
“Intelligence report has it that some BHT commanders, who survived the air assault on the night of 20 August 2016 leading to the death of over 300 insurgents, had sustained serious injuries and were said to have relocated subsequently to the Camp at Tumbun Rego for medical treatment.
“The latest strike followed the trail of this piece of intelligence to neutralize these suspected leaders of the sect who are high value targets. While the NAF is yet to ascertain the casualty figure, post-strike Battle Damage Assessment mission shows that the degree of damage achieved was devastating as the buildings were engulfed by large fire as can be seen from the declassified video of the air operation”.

Smugglers change tactics, now disguise rice as corpse

Rice smugglers have devised new method of importation by packaging the commodity in form of a corpse. The smugglers now wrapped bags of rice as a corpse and smuggled them in an ambulance.

Confirming the recent trend, Mr Selechang Taupyen, the Spokesperson, Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Command on Thursday said it had seized 11 bags of imported rice wrapped as a corpse.

Taupyen said that the smugglers used an ambulance for their operation to deceive unsuspecting officials.

He also confirmed that one Moses Degbogbahun had been arrested over the incident.

``The smuggler concealed the smuggled bags of rice in a Volvo ambulance with Reg. No. DV 74 EKY and he was arrested along Aradagun toll gate area of Badagry. ``The mobile patrol team led by Chief Superintendent of Customs M. Ozah, noted the frequent movement of the ambulance and this aroused curiosity of the team and the vehicle was stopped for proper examination.

``During the examination, 11 bags of imported rice were discovered and they were carefully arranged and wrapped as a corpse.

``The suspect is still undergoing investigation for possible prosecution,’’ he said. Taupyen, however, warned smugglers to desist from such habit, adding that all smuggling antics along the borders would not go undetected by its officers and men on patrol.