HELLO

For over three hours yesterday, the ever-busy Awolowo Way in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital was tied up in a snarling traffic caused, this time, not by flood, but by a road accident. Fortunately, nobody died in the accident that occurred at about 1.00p.m. and allegedly caused by an operational vehicle of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which ran out of control and literally, ‘climbed almost unto the roof of a Peugeot car and a Lagos commercial bus popularly called ‘Danfo’. Although no one died, an elderly man in the Peugeot car sustained what could turn out to be serious injuries, while over 10 passengers in the bus escaped unscathed. “The bus passengers were lucky, their escape nothing but a miracle”, an eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, told The Guardian. According to him  “The accident happened after the driver of the PHCN van with Registration Number, FG343N41, lost control while attempting to make a U-Turn on the busy road.” A...

The Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] governor of Nasarawa State, Malam Al Makura appears burning the candle from both ends – in his efforts to stabilize the government in Nasarawa State. Information recently made available to 247ureports.com through sources conversant with the goings on in the government house of Nasarawa State, reveal that one of the sons to the 1st Lady of Nasarawa State was arrested and detained in Malaysia by the security agencies in Malaysia for possession of hard drugs and gun running. According to the information received, the son who goes by the name, Kali Umar, who is the son of the first Lady, Hajiya Salamatu Al Makura – used to be a student at the Nasarawa State University in Keffi where he majored in Social Sciences. During his sophomore [second] year at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, his father, the governor of Nasarawa State sought admission for him at a school in Malaysia – and flew Kali Umar to Malaysia to further his studies. The gov...

Tiwa Savage has covered the June-July 2012 edition of OK! Nigeria. The barrier-breaking R&B singer speaks about her relationship with label boss Don Jazzy and how the pair who have been rumoured to be dating have been friends before she joined the MAVIN team. Earlier in a news story on June 20, 2012, Nigeriafilms.com authored that aside the signing of Miss Savage onto Mavin Records, there was more than meets the eye to the duos relationship. "What you've not been intimated yet is about the cupid arrow that has just struck the two young adults. Don Jazzy, according to the information at our disposal, is rumoured to be having a secret affair with Tiwa Savage." The website quoted their source, a staff of Mavin Records as saying, "Boss has been at different places with Tiwa even at odd hours. In fact, whenever the two are together, we dare not move closer to disrupt them. I am sure, there is more to this than a mere business relationship," Tiwa Sava...

Field Offshore Design Engineering, or FODE, which hired the subcontractor KS Drilling, declined to comment, citing confidentiality clauses in its contract with KS Drilling preventing them from making public any information about work for Chevron. Newly obtained testimonies from Chevron workers paint a sharply different picture of the days leading up to the deadly Jan. 16, 2012 blowout at a drilling rig that took two lives. According to the U.S. oil company, there were no requests to evacuate the KS Endeavor rig and that staff on board did not call a halt to work although they were entitled to. But new accounts from four of the platform workers describes workers pleading to be evacuated as smoke billowed for a borehole. The subsequent explosion engulfed the rig in flames, causing the two deaths. The new information was shared with an investigative reporter from Reuters by Britain’s Rail, Maritime and Transport trade union, or RMT. The union claims the documents - transc...

First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan was one of 19 permanent secretaries appointed by the Bayelsa State government yesterday. The state broadcasting station, Radio Bayelsa, referring to a statement signed by the state’s head of service, Mrs. Gloria Izonfor, said Governor Seriake Dickson made the appointment on the strength of the constitutional powers conferred on him under Section 203, Sub-section 2C. Governor Dickson later confirmed the appointment to LEADERSHIP. Jonathan had worked in the Rivers State and later Bayelsa State Ministry of Education before her husband became deputy governor and later governor of the state. Her elevation to the status of permanent secretary was described as “routine” by the senior special assistant to the governor on media and public affairs Markson Iworiso, who also confirmed the appointment in an interview with LEADERSHIP last night. Others on the list of permanent secretaries were Mr. J.E. Oye, Samson Ayibeboa, Mrs. Antonia Koroye, Ziwari Bil...

Brief Decription: Saint Francis De-Sale College (Affiliated to University of Bangalore), India and the Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bangalore (Affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgium,) is making available 64 scholarships worth $63,000 for 64 Nigerians, who wish to be admitted to any of the approved undergraduate courses in the school by August, 2012. A total of 64 Nigerian Students who successfully emerge winners of the scholarships will join the 2010/2011 batch of Nigerians who won the scholarship in the previous academic year in India this August. Approval & Examination Conduct: The Oredian Education Resources Limited (OERL) Study in India Scholarship is fully approved by the authority of the participating Indian Institutions. The scholarship examination is overseen and will be conducted by the NABTEB Integrated Services Limited, a consultancy arm of National Business & Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) in three zones of Nigeria (The Wes...

CALABAR - Mixed reactions have continued to trail the Supreme Court judgment which awarded the 76 disputed oil wells between Cross River and Akwa Ibom states to the latter just as the chairman of Bakassi Bakassi Local Government Area Dr. Ekpo Bassey has said that the judgment was capable of causing serious security threat to the nation’s coastal line. Deputy National Secretary of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla said that the state lost the oil wells in 2002 when the International Court of Justice, ICJ, sitting in the Hagues, Netherland ceded the oil-rich peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon, saying that without Bakassi the state could not be regarded as a littoral state. Obono-Obla said, “I had no doubt that the Supreme Court will not rule otherwise. We lost it in 2002 when the ICJ in its judgment held that Bakassi belong to Cameroon. Without Bakassi, Cross River State cannot be regarded as a littoral State. The elite of the State were too busy pand...

WARRI - No fewer than five children have been killed at Foutorugbene, 1, 2, 3 and Apodubigha communities in Ekeremor Local Government of Bayelsa state following an oil spill that allegedly polluted the river, which  is the source of  drinking water to  the people. Leaders of the Forutorugbene Federated Communities: Mr. Prey Warri, Emmanuel Jebbi and Samuel Jebbi, who addressed reporters in Warri, Tuesday, said pregnant women were having complicated delivery and ovulation discharge due to intake of the polluted water. They identified the five children as Arekekedomene Pigha, Blessing Facados, Adiborere Tabode, Premobeowei Debowei and Timiebi Peretu. According to them, the oil spill occurred on May 21 from the Benisede flowstation, operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC,  in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state, but since then, the oil company has not carried out clean-up exercise. “Our fishing activities have been greatly affected...

HELLO: FAROUK GATE: I Am Ready For Police On $620,000 Bri... : Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs/Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Mr. Adams Jagaba, said on Monday that he was...

There are many a story about bad girl hurting good man. But you hardly publish stories about a good girl getting hurt by a bad man. Here’s is a story to open your eyes to that: I used to be a good girl, but I was foolish too. I loved, and lost badly. My heat’s broken, so is my spirit. My name is Fon. I am a 19 year-old Thai girl. I attend one of the most recognized universities in Thailand. I come a from an upper-class family. I can speak English and Japanese fluently. My parents are very strict. They have never allowed me to have a boyfriend. They want me to finish my studies first. I have met many admirers at the university, but I was never the one for Thai men. Their sole intention is to sweet talk me into bed. I would never fall for that. One day, a foreign man added me on ICQ. He said he is 25 and that he lived and worked in Thailand. He surprised me because he was able to chat with me in Thai. He sounded very intelligent. He knew a lot about Thailand, and the world. ...

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs/Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Mr. Adams Jagaba, said on Monday that he was prepared to tell the police all he knew about the $620,000 bribery allegation involving Mr. Farouk Lawan and businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola. “I see myself and the police as co-partners in the fight against corruption,” the lawmaker told The PUNCH in Abuja. According to Jagaba, as the chairman of the committee, which oversees the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, he will not be doing the nation any good if he withholds information from an investigation agency. Jagaba confirmed that he was aware of a letter sent to the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, requesting him to assist the police with information. He, however, deplored the “weeks of unfounded speculations” over a purported ultimatum given to him by the police to appear before them or he would be arrested. Jagaba said, “First, they said that I had been invited and given a...

The House of Representatives Committee on Ethics came under further scrutiny, yesterday, after oil magnate, Mr Femi Otedola, accused one of its members of lying in his account of Otedola’s controversial appearance before the committee last Tuesday. Responding to published comments where Rep. Ibrahim Bello, a member of the committee was quoted as saying that Otedola told the committee that he did not have the video recording of his transaction with Rep. Farouk Lawan, Otedola affirmed that he never told the committee anything as such.   Otedola had in the past insisted that he is in possession of audio and video recording of Lawan negotiating and collecting the bribe money. The misrepresentation, he said, was another reason why the Ethics Committee must be prevailed upon to hold its investigations into the scam in public.   Responding to the comments by Bello, Otedola speaking through his lawyer, Babajide Koku, SAN said: “For the avoidance of doubt...

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to wake up from slumber and end the perennial killings going on in Plateau State. “If the government wants peace to reign in this country, then it must go beyond the usual condemnation and rhetoric by exposing the sponsors of these so called Fulani Herds men that have continued to cause havoc to Christians in Plateau, Benue, Taraba and the Southern part of Kaduna state,” it said in a statement signed by Pastor Sunday Oibe, the spokesperson of the Northern Chapter of CAN. “We want to state categorically that we are not accepting the usual condemnation by government which has become a mere slogan,” the statement said, stressing its belief that there are some powerful elements who are behind the activities of the so-called herds men. “The Government must not just condemn it; it must fish out the perpetrators and sponsors of this wickedness and bring them to justice for the sake of peace and...

Veteran Nigerian satirical poet and novelist, Professor Niyi Osundare today lampooned the Nigerian political class, describing them as people who owe Nigeria no responsibility but who are only holding the country hostage. The professor made this statement in a public lecture on the state of the nation organized by the Save Nigeria Group [SNG] in Lagos today. Professor Osundare in his assessment of the Nigerian political system critiqued the performances of the Nigerian politicians, portraying their psyches as one entrenched with corruption. Speaking on the topic "Why we no longer blush: Corruption as the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," the Professor described Nigerians as strong people but whose zeal have only been damaged by the sordid activities of the corrupt ruling class.  The professor, who also blamed the retardation of the people and the denial of prosperity and development of the Nation on the tainted practices of the civil ru...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave 76 oil wells in contention between Cross River and Akwa Ibom states to the latter by a unanimous decision. It also dismissed an application filed by Cross River State last Friday to stop the judgment. Cross River had gone to the Supreme Court claiming ownership of the wells. It also joined the Federal Government as a defendant in the suit. The state asked the court to compel the Federal Government and Akwa Ibom State to pay N15.5 billion to it as 13 per cent derivation from November 2009 to March 10, 2010. The plaintiff had filed an application at the apex court on Friday, asking it to stay action on the judgment because Akwa Ibom presented a doctored map of the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary as part of the documents it submitted to the court. It had urged the apex court to expunge the map. More details later.

LAGOS – Motorists and commuters who do not have imperative reasons to move between the Island and Mainland have been advised to stay off the roads for the next few months as repair on the 3rd Mainland Bridge entered its second day. The advice became necessary as residents, motorists and commuters in Lagos, yesterday, had hectic time getting to their destinations as they were locked up in gridlock primarily caused by the ongoing repair on the bridge. Despite the efforts of hundreds of traffic managers, comprising the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, members of the Nigeria Police, stationed at strategic points to ensure free flow of traffic, motorists, commuters and residents of the state lamented the traffic situation, urging government to work out modalities that could reduce the traffic logjam, apart from the diversion routes provided. The partial closure practically slowed down business activities on the Island ...

As earlier reported by SaharaReporters, the Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad sect, popularly known as "Boko Haram" which claims responsibility for the mass killings last weekend in Barkin Ladi local government area in Plateau state, has officially stated that there is no going back in its jihad in Nigeria. In a statement obtained by SaharaReporters the sect also stated in Hausa language that the newly appointed National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki lied in his claims that he was in contact with their leadership and plans to facilitate a ceasefire during the upcoming Ramadan season. The statement which was signed by the sect's spokesperson Abul Qaqa also noted that they will continue trailing and killing security operatives and government officials the same way security agencies kill their members. Boko Haram also warned residents in northern cities, towns and villages collaborating with security agencies in revealing their locati...

Nigeria’s top nine banks that featured in the Banker’s top global 1000 banks 2012 have a combined tier one capital of $11.699 billion as against the $11.332 billion they had in last year’s top 1000 banks. This showed a slight improvement in the tier one capital of the Nigerian banks. However, the combined tier one capital of the nine banks is this time around slightly above the $9.842 billion of Standard Group of South Africa, the biggest bank in Africa and the 112th in the world. Standard Group’s tier one capital dropped from last year’s figure of $12.6 billion to this year’s $9.8 billion. This fact is contained in the 2012 edition of The Banker magazine top 1000 global banks, a publication of Financial Times of London. Bank of America which occupies the first position in the global ranking has a capital base of $163.626 billion. It is followed closely by JPMorgan Chase with a capital of $142.450 billion. The third position is occupied by HSBC, a British bank with...

At least 50 corpses have been discovered in the house of a pastor in Plateau State. The pastor is reported to belong to the Church of Christ in Nigeria. The corpses were suspected to be those who ran for safety in the pastor's house as they were being pursued by Fulanis. The discovery was made in Matse in Riyom area of the state. The state has been in crisis in the last few days with Fulani men attacking. As reported on Saturday, not less than 20 persons were killed in nine villages in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of the state.

An Umuahia Chief Magistrate Court, presided over by Chief Magistrate, John Ukpai has sentenced a pregnant woman, Ijeoma Amarachi, 25 to 17 years imprisonment for conspiring to attack a man with acid in addition to stealing. In the first offence of acid bath, Ijeoma and another accused, Johnson Ndubuisi,  said to be her accomplice were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In the second charge, Ijeoma and Kelechi Okorie were sentenced to seven years imprisonment each for stealing the sum of N14 million, property of their employers. On the whole, the pregnant woman would spend 17 years behind bars for acid bath and stealing, having been found guilty of the two offences preferred against her. The court found her guilty of conspiring with another to pour acid on one Anyalewechi Onwuchekwa, their fellow worker at Bawas Filling Station in an attempt to murder him, While in the second charge, she was found guilty with another for stealing the sum of N14 million. ...