UPDATE ON CHIBOK ABDUCTION: 14 CHIBOK GIRLS REUNITED WITH THEIR FAMILIES

The Borno State Government announced yesterday that fourteen more students of the state-owned Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, are presently are out harm’s way following their escape from Boko Haram’s camp.

The state Commissioner for Education, Mr. Musa Inuwa Kubo, who gave an update on the abduction, said 11 of the girls escaped to a town on the Damboa/Biu Road, while the remaining three found their way to the school.

The commissioner, who has temporarily relocated his office to the school to take charge of the situation, said: “I am glad to say that fourteen (14) more students have escaped from their abductors.

“Out of this number, three are currently with me at Government Girls’ Secondary School,Chibok, the scene of the unfortunate abduction, while my Governor, Kashim Shettima, has confirmed to me today that 11 girls have escaped to a town along Damboa/Biu Road in Borno State after they escaped from captivity.

“The 11 ladies were immediately moved from the location to other parts of the state to reconnect with their families.

“The remaining 33 students in Chibok have also been moved out of the school to different parts of the state to join their families. The steps were taken to safeguard them.

“Meanwhile, with this development, we have 44 out of our 129 students at the hostel on the day of attack on the school. This means that we have 85 students yet to join us”.

Thirty students had returned from the custody of the terrorists by Thursday.

Of that number, 14 escaped from their abductors, while 16 were returned by their parents and guardians after they ran home on the day of the attack. The 16 were not abducted, he said.

The commissioner pleaded with parents/guardians whose children and wards ran home to return them to the school so “we could take proper account of our 129 students to know the number of those missing”.

85 of the abducted students are believed to still be in captivity.

Mr. Kubo said that the combined efforts of the security agencies and youth volunteers also known as civilian JTF for the intensive search “may have piled up pressure on abductors and possibly contributing to the escape of 28 students from captivity”.

He added: “We continuously pray that all our students return in good health as well as all the security agents and volunteers safely return.

“We are indeed grateful for the patriotic efforts being displayed by all those involved in the search and rescue operations. We are also very grateful to all Nigerians, institutions and governments within and outside our country for their unflinching support that has remained indelible to us in the education sector of Borno State.

“We once again call on parents and all sympathises to remain prayerful and hopeful that by the grace of God all the students will safely return to school.

“Once again, on behalf of the Borno State Government, my ministry, staff and students of the affected school, parents and relations of affected students, I very well appreciate the Nigerian and international media organisations for their most helpful support.

“I will keep updating any time there is something new which I hope will be positive”.

INDEFINITE STRIKE: HEALT WORKERS SHUTS DOWN LAUTECH

Workers at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Osogbo yesterday declared an indefinite strike action.

The decision was taken at a congress held by various workers unions at the institution on Wednesday. The workers complained about their unpaid salaries between October and December 2013, and March 2014.

The Medical and Dental Union in the Institution had commenced strike action a day earlier, Tuesday, 15th April 2014.

PHOTOSTORY: YOUTHS IN ONDO RIOT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT

According to  Sahara Reporters, the Young people in Akure, Ondo State took to the street to protest cancellation of their annual festival by Governor Olusegun Mimiko over what they described as flimsy excuses by the governor.
The rioting started after heavily armed anti-riot police chased the youth from two venues where they had converged for the carnival.

The youths, claimed they had already taken permission from the State government through a written letter and there was no objection from them prior to today. Fuji Star Saheed Osupa was already in town to play at the festival as well as other guests who had come into town to celebrate with them. Continue to see more photos..

 

According to government officials, they stopped the youths from holding the carnival for fear of the event being hijacked by hoodlums or exposing the state to other security challenges such as an attack from the dreaded Boko Haram.

NIGERIAN MILITARY LIED ABOUT RESCUED GIRLS SAYS PRINCIPAL, PARENTS IN CHIBOK

Yesterday, the military released a statement that about 107 of the students have been rescued that only 8 of the girls are missing, but the principal of the school has said that the statement issued by the military are lies. When she spoke to Premium Times, this morning she said the girls are still missing and the military should stop deceiving the world about the issue on ground. Read what she said to premium times below:


“There is nothing in the military statement that is true about our abducted girls,” Mrs. Kwambura said. “Up till now we are still waiting and praying for the safe return of the students; all I know is that we have only 14 of them, and the security people especially the Vigilante and the well meaning volunteers of Gwoza are still out searching for them.”

She continued, ”The military people too are in the bush searching. So we have not received any information that they have gotten the students yet. So let it be clear that all the information passed on the media by the military concerning 107 girls is not true.

“I, as the principal did not tell any body any figure on released students other than what our Governor, His Excellency Kashim Shettima had informed the media.”

The Principal said she was contacted by the military headquarters in Abuja yesterday and some person was asking her to confirm the number of girls released.

”I told them that I don’t want to be seen to be contradicting myself on that because what the governor said was what we know about; and I told them there may be additional rescue of the girls, but up to this moment we have not received any of them apart from what we had before,” the principal said.

” What the governor said is still the true picture of the whole issue and that information given by the military is totally wrong.”

The military spokesperson at the Defence Headquarters, Major General Chris Olukolade, had Wednesday issued a statement claiming that 107 abducted girls were freed; adding that only eight of the girls were still missing and the military was searching for them.

He also claimed that a member of the Boko Haram sect that participated in the abduction was also nabbed by the military.

Borno state Governor, Kashim Shettima was also quoted by the BBC Hausa service this morning faulting the claims of the military.

He reportedly said, “We have recovered 14 of the girls and we have announced a N50 million reward for any credible information that will help us get our girls released and rejoined with their families.”

PREMIUM TIMES also enquired from a top official of the Department of State Service (DSS) in Maiduguri who ordinarily should know about the rescue of the girls.

“We have no such information apart from the 14 that escaped; if there is anything like that, no one would want to hide it from the media; may be the military have their own intel on that, which we probably are not aware of for now,” he said.

Some relatives and parents of the abducted girls said they were not happy with the way the military “is misleading the world about the innocent girls”.
A female senior Civil Servant with the Borno state government, who requested not to be named said, “What kind of nonsense is this for God sake? Why are they playing politics with the lives of these innocent girls; I had just called some of my relatives in Chibok and they told me none of the girls had been released apart from the 14 that escaped back to town. We hope the military is not doing some thing funny with this very sensitive issue”.

When contacted late last night, Mr. Olukolade insisted it was the principal of the school who told the military that only eight girls were now missing.

NIGERIAN ARMY RESCUES ABDUCTED STUDENTS

More students from the Government Girls' Secondary School, in Chibok, have been freed this evening in the ongoing Search & Rescue operations to free the abducted students.

On Monday, members from the Boko Haram Islamic sect had kidnapped upwards of 200 students in a nighttime raid on the school. They were heavily armed, and some wore military uniforms in an attack that included several fires, with an exchange of gunfire on the state run school.

With this new development, the Principal of the school has confirmed that only 8 of the students are still missing. 16 of the reported 200 students had escaped as one of the vehicles driven by the Boko Haram sect had broken down during the Monday evening raid. One of the terrorists who carried out the attack on the school has also been captured.

The military remains in hot pursuit of Boko Haram militants in their intervention and search and rescue operation. A Nigerian military spokesman had said the operation will continue to ensure the safety of the remaining students is ongoing in the suspected areas.

BOKO HARAM KILLS 18 TRAVELLERS IN BORNO

Barely few hours after the dreaded boko haram sect abducted some 100 girls they went on killing about 18 travellers yesterday in borno state.

The incident occurred in Gwoza when travelers in a convoy of cars into the sect's road block, well armed sect members in military uniforms repeatedly opened fire on the helpless passengers and fled before Nigerian troops got to the scene.

According to the soldier, only few passengers escaped to the forest and later appeared when the reinforcement got there.

"We picked 18 corpses back to mortuary. They are very heartless and inhuman boys (Boko Haram) but we are advancing towards their base."

BOKO HARAM KIDNAPS 103 FEMALE STUDENTS FROM BORNO

According to reports, members of the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, have abducted 103 students in a daring raid at the Girls Secondary School in Chibok, a town on the border between Borno and Adamawa States.

The group’s assault on the all-female high school took place on Monday night. A security source disclosed that members of the extremist Islamist group killed a soldier guarding the school and inflicted injuries on several villagers before abducting the students.

The police commissioner in Borno State, Lawan Tanko, confirmed the kidnapping of the students to reporters in the state.

The mass abduction lasted between 9PM -3 AM as sect members made several trips picking and choosing their victims out of the 250 students enrolled in the school. The militants also razed 100 homes because some of the residents initially resisted the militants.

14year-old child-bride charged with killing husband, 3 others in Kano

Wasila Tasi’u, the 14 year old bride who killed her 35 year husband Umar Sani, and three others in Kademi village in Gaya Local Government Area in Kano has been charged with murder.

She was charged today April 14th before a Rijiyar Zaki Magistrates Court in Kano for alleged culpable homicide.

The prosecutor, Inspector Yusuf Sale, while testifying before the Magistrate, Binta Muhammad, said the accused killed her husband and three others with food mixed with local rat poison. Sale said her husband and the three others died on the spot while six others who ate the meal fell ill immediately and were rushed to General Hospital Gaya, but were later treated and discharged.

The girl however pleaded not guilty and was remanded in prison on the order of Magistrate Binta.

This me writing now,she commited a crime punishable by law but is there no way this child can escape jail terms, i mean there should be Juvenile rehabilitation centre . what do you all think?

PHOTONEWS: MORE PHOTOS FROM THE BLAST SITE

FIRE GUTS PDP PRESS CENTRE IN ABUJA

The headquarters of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was engulfed in fire around 7:30 PM according to eyewitnesses.
Two portakabin stacked on top of each other which the party uses as its press center were completely razed to the ground.
 The party’s publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, said the fire started from an air-conditioning unit in one of the cabins and had been put under control.
A short statement he issued in Abuja said the party rules out sabotage.

PDP BLAMES APC FOR NYANYA BOMB BLAST

This is so much like them, throwing tantrums at each other instead of finding solutions to the already existing problems. Well, Yesterday, the PDP called out Apc blaming them for the Nyanya Bomb Blast


Apportioning the blame in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemned the bomb explosion as barbaric, monstrous and extremely wicked.

The party said the blasts could not be justified under any guise, insisting that they were politically motivated and can be traced to the utterances and comments of desperate persons, especially in the opposition, who seek to undermine and discredit the present administration and make the nation ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan by creating an atmosphere of terror against the people.

The statement said: “We stand by our earlier statements that these attacks on our people are politically motivated by unpatriotic persons, especially those in the All Progressives Congress (APC) who have been making utterances and comments, promoting violence and blood-letting as a means of achieving political control.

“Nigerians are also aware of utterances by certain APC governors which have been aimed at undermining our security forces and emboldening insurgents against the people.

“Those who have been promoting violence through their utterances can now see the monster they have created. They can now see the end product of their comments; a country flowing daily with the blood of the innocent.

“The question is; how do they feel when they see the mangled and blood-soaked bodies of their victims? How do they feel when they hear the voices of the dying and the injured?

“Of course they feel nothing. Their hearts have been hardened and they are embittered by the fact that they have been rejected by the people. They are bitter because the people have chosen to rally round the government they love and voted for; but must they choose the path of violence and bloodletting as a response to the wishes and aspirations of the people?”

The ruling party said it was shocked and grief- stricken since it received the news of the gruesome attacks and killing of Nigerians pursuing their legitimate endeavors.

“The PDP weeps. We are indeed grief-stricken. Our hearts go out to the bereaved, especially those who have been orphaned and widowed and those now deprived of their bread winners by this evil act”.

UPDATE: JONATHAN CANCELS TRIP TO IBADAN, VISITS VICTIMS AT THE HOSPITAL

President Goodluck Jonathan cancelled his scheduled trip to ibadan to visit the scene of the deadly bomb blast in a suburb of Abuja today where he saw firsthand, the damages caused by the explosion as well as injured survivors, who he also visited at the hospital.

More Photos of the Visit Below:

President Goodluck Jonathan addressing the media at the Bomb explosion site

JONATHAN COMMISERATES WITH THE BEREAVED FAMILIES OF THE NYANYA BOMB BLAST

President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed sadness at the explosion which rocked a highly populated motor park in Nyanya, less than ten minutes’ drive from the Abuja city centre killing over 50 Nigerians on Monday morning.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, President Jonathan directed the medical services to do their very best to save the lives of those injured in the explosion.

While expressing his “heartfelt condolences to bereaved families”, the president has ordered heightened security in the Federal Capital Territory as a result of the bombings.

May their Soul Rest in Peace.

CHARLES NOVIA GIVE DETAILS OF ACTIVITES BEHIND-THE-SCENE ON THE GEJ's DAUGHTER'S WEDDING

Charles Novia

This is an insight to activities that took place behind the camera on the wedding of the daughter of President Goodluck Jonathan. Some Call him a controversial producer but i actually think he is the only one who had the guts to tell us how the real deal went down.....This is the Charles Novia Version of the Wedding Tale.

Read what he had to say below: -

I just attended the wedding reception of President’s Jonathan’s daughter, Faith and her husband, Godswill. I am sure most of you saw it live on television but I just might write a behind-the-scene review of what happened in the hall which you could not see. I might write that later.

Let me just give a slice of it; all these big men you guys see in power and out of it are all hustlers like you and me! The rush to enter the hall, ehn? Captains of industries and Government officials were in a flux and fight to enter the hall which was barricaded by stern security men at the International Conference Centre.

The protocol is that once the President enters the hall; the doors are shut and no one gets in or out till the President leaves. So, there was a scramble to enter. Me sef shame for some people. Chai!There were rumpled and creased clothes on people after the scamble. A couple of ladies lost their headscarves and headties and gave us shocking glimpses of their ‘Abolo’ heads! Chai!

The President’s Security detail at the venue were stern but professional. They didn’t give a hoot who you were. Orders are orders. Everyone who entered; those that mattered wanted to be seen by the President or First Lady and a small line of diffident favour-seekers or friends was formed but many could not pass through the security detail to just greet Mr President.

Let me shock you guys a bit. The biggest critics of President Jonathan, the opposition parties or cliques, the rabble-rousers and all were mostly there at the wedding! I was shocked! Ehn! Politicians! That’s how they deceive you all by crying wolf and abusing the President yet they run to him to prostrate at night or in private!Those of you who follow blindly these people una go see! Be careful!

I even saw Dele Momodu, who lambasts President Jonathan every week for the past four years on Thisday backpage on Saturday, taking pictures and going round shaking hands. He shook my hands too. Egbon! Look, in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies: just permanent interests!

I must hand it to GEJ, he shielded his family from public glare. I mean; how many of us know he has three biological children and three adopted with this new bride being an adopted child he took in about 15 years ago? Very touching. The couple got gifts of over 60 brand new cars as presents from what a close source told me. ‘Bastardly rich’ Nigerians fell over themselves to give presents. Chai! There was a group of orange-scarved women who caused a stampede in the hall after the wedding rushing for gifts and stuff! Wetin? People nor get shame? The presents given to the guests were magnifique! Not anything ostentatious but just cool.

This Nigeria is great, sha! Odiegwu!

BREAKING NEWS: BOMB BLAST HITS ABUJA, OVER 100 FEARED DEAD

A loud explosion was heard this morning in Abuja as a bomb blast hit a motor park in the the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The blast was reported around Nyanya axis of Abuja, beside El-rufai bus stop, near Nyanya bridge, Abuja. Some residents of the FCT said the bomb blast occurred at Nyanya motor park, killing about 200 persons.Casualties have been reported, with injured persons being rushed to the nearby Nyanya General hospital as well as the 50 confirmed dead.

It is unclear how the bomb got to the park, but witnesses suspect it was planted by a suicide bomber.Several vehicles were destroyed in the attack as they caught fire following the blast.

Some of the affected buses were said to be loaded with passengers when the explosion occurred. 

More Details, Soon.....

THE MISSING JAIL BREAK TWEETER IS FREE, BUT THE PROTEST HELD TODAY IN LAGOS

The guy who tweeted live photos of soldiers during the Boko haram escape attempt on Sunday March 30th has been released days after he was picked up by the SSS. @Ciaxon was reportedly released late last night to his family but because there was no visual confirmation of his release, some activists stormed the Lagos office of the DSS this morning to protest, demanding his immediate release. Pics from the protest after the cut...

Source: LIB

UPDATE: MISSING JAIL BREAK TWEETER GETS MORE MEDIA AWARENESS ON BBC

Yussuf Isiaka "Onimisi Ciaxon"

The sudden disappearance of the guy who tweeted about the Boko Haram Jailbreak on the 30th of march, has continued to generate loud whispers in the air. Presently, the international media, BBC has taken up the story to create more awareness. Read BBC's story below;

A man who live-tweeted from the scene of an attempted jailbreak in the Nigerian capital Abuja 12 days ago, has disappeared. Activists believe he may have been arrested, and have launched a Twitter campaign for his release.

The hashtag #FreeCiaxon and the Twitter handle @ciaxon have been trending in Nigeria since late on Wednesday. There's also a lot of discussion about it on Facebook. On 30 March, the man who runs the @ciaxon account found himself at the scene of a dramatic fight between Nigerian security forces and detainees trying to escape from the State Security Service (SSS) headquarters.

It was big news in Nigeria. The SSS HQ is a stone's throw from the presidential palace, and the detainees were - according to officials - suspected militants from the notorious group, Boko Haram. Official sources say more than 20 people were killed.

Much of the news came from social media sources at the scene - like @ciaxon. It's believed Yusuf Siyaka Onimisi - also referred to as Isiaka Yusuf - runs @ciaxon. He tweeted developments, including a series of images showing both the attackers and Nigerian soldiers. The pictures were picked up by news outlets in the country. But since then, there has been complete silence on Twitter from @ciaxon. And the silence has not been just virtual. Yusuf Siyaka Onimisi's brother Sanusi told BBC Trending that he has not been able to reach him since that day. His car has been left abandoned. "Nobody has given us any information. We are in the darkness. It's inhuman, it's very, very unfair," he says. When a friend contacted Yusuf Siyaka Onimisi's workplace to ask where he was, he was told he had been arrested.

The SSS has not responded to confirm or deny Yusuf Siyaka Onimisi's detention. But Nigerians have taken to social media to demand answers. "How can you arrest people for taking pictures - this is the 21st Century," says Fola Lawal, a Nigerian now based in Qatar, who started the Twitter hashtag #FreeCiaxon. "I would have done the same in his shoes. It's called citizen reporting."

Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission has started an investigation into his whereabouts. High-profile figures, including the World Bank's former Africa vice-president Obiageli Ezekwesili, have tweeted calling for his release. "It's very, very important this gets attention," says lawyer and writer Ayo Sogunro, who's been researching and tweeting actively about the case. Critics say the government is trying to regulate social media. The irony in this case, says Sogunro, is the tweets from the @ciaxon account were broadly supportive of the security forces.

ASARI DARES PATIENCE JONATHAN, CALLS FOR OGONI GOVERNOR IN RIVERS COME 2015

Alhaji Mujahedeen Asari Dokubo has said the first Lady Dame Patience Jonathan has no right to impose supervising Minister of Education Nyesom Wike as Rivers state Governor come 2015. This came after the first lady openly pledged her support to Nyesom Wike On Tuesday . He had this to say in his interview with LEADERSHIP NIG

“To make Wike a governor in Rivers State in 2015 is not morally right. All the fellows endorsing him for whatever reason should know that it will injure PDP, it will injure Goodluck Jonathan. If Goodluck’s name is brought into it, that he is in support of the perpetuation of an Ikwerre hegemony in Rivers State, which is not right by population, which is not right under any calculation, it will injure him and PDP,” Dokubo stated.


He further said Wike could not become the next governor of the state in view of the interests of the three ethnic clusters in the state, and that an ikwerre man had no business in Rivers government house come 2015 having ruled for 16 years. He called attention to the two other clusters in the state, the Ogoni's and the Ijaws to be given a chance to Rule.

“As far as we all know, there are three ethnic clusters in Rivers State: the Ijaws, the Igbos (Ikwerre is part of the Igbo cluster) and the Ogonis. After Bayelsa was excised from Rivers State, the Igbos have ruled for many years. Odili was an Idoni Igbo; he ruled for eight years. Omehia/Amaechi, who are also Ikwerres, by 2015 would have ruled for more than eight years, making over 16 years,” he explained.

Insisting that it is impossible for an Ikwerre man to emerge as successor of the incumbent governor Rotimi Amaechi, he said: “It is morally wrong for any anybody to say that Igbo cluster should produce the next governor in 2015. I am an Igbo man also, by virtue of my origin, and so I am not against the Ikwerre people or against the Igbo. I repeat, I am an Igbo man; I can narrow it down: I have Ikwerre blood flowing in my veins.

“Having said that, the next cluster are the Ijaws, made up of the Kalabaris, the Obolo and Ibani people, the Wakrike; Okirika is just one town in Wakrike, Ukoro and others. These people have produced a governor. In terms of local government spread, they are in 11 local government areas out of the 23 local government areas; the Igbos are spread in eight and the Ogonis in four local government areas.

“In terms of population, when you remove the cosmopolitan population of Port Harcourt and Obiakpor, which is about 80 per cent of the population, is non-indigenous of those local governments. That is old non-Rivers indigenes and Rivers indigenes, who are not indigenes of Port Harcourt and Obiakpor local governments. If you remove those populations, the Ijaws are the majority as a single block.

“When you look at that, for somebody to say another Ikwerre man should become governor is wrong. Yes, constitutionally, he has a right to aspire, everybody is free to aspire, but it is not moral, it is not right. Something can be legally right but it might not be morally right.”

Making a case for the Ogoni, Dokubo said the age-long domination and oppression of the Ogoni people must end in 2015.

According to him, it would be unjust and unfair to continue to exclude the Ogoni in the scheming for the highest political office in the state. The Ogonis are the only people who have never produced governor because the whole Bayelsa that left were Ijaw people, he stated.

“So if we are saying there should be justice in Rivers State… if we are crying against domination by others, we should not also oppress other people. The people that morally should be allowed to produce the next governor of Rivers State is the Ogoni cluster made up of the Ogonis proper and the Eleme people.”

“The first lady need not to be told that it is morally and politically wrong for her to support another Ikwerre man by 2015, after the Igbo bloc would have spent over 16 years. She has every right to support who she wants but that must be done in a morally and politically correct direction and manner.”

Debunking the claim of his Ijaw kinsmen to the coveted seat in 2015, he said: “The arguments of the Ijaws are weaker. That an Ijaw governor should come in 2015 is weaker because Ada George and Melford Okilo have been elected governor; they can say it was old Rivers State — even in old Rivers State, the Ogonis should be in the right position to contest for the governorship. Yes, I will prefer an Ijaw man to become governor any day, anytime but when you are fighting oppression, you should fight it anywhere you see it. When you fight discrimination, you should fight it anywhere you see it.

“And in Rivers State, I believe the people who have the moral authority to produce the next governor of Rivers State are the Ogonis.”