60-year-old woman killed as truck crushes commercial buses

There was pandemonium at Oke Fia area of Osogbo, the Osun State capital when a goods-laden truck lost control and crushed two commercial buses and four  other vehicles.

Our correspondent gathered that although the occupants of the vehicles escaped with varying degree of injuries, a  woman of around 60 years of age  was unlucky as she was crushed to death.

Eye witnesses told journalists at the scene of the accident  on Thursday  that the truck was ascending the hilly section of the road but could not make it to the top and instead the vehicle started rolling backwards.

One of the eyewitnesses, Mr. Waheed Mohammed,  said  four passengers   were injured in the accident which happened on Wednesday evening.

He said the truck which was loaded with various household items was going toward Iwo and the driver lost control while ascending the hilly road.

Mohammed added that the driver made efforts to control the truck but he did not succeed and in the process, it crushed the woman who jumped out of one of the commercial buses and tried to escape.

Mohammed said, ” The scene was a gory one. The trailer was ascending the hill but could no make it to the end. The trailer started coming back and passengers in the buses behind it noticed this and they jumped out and fled.

” Some of them hid inside the drainage but one woman was not that lucky- the truck ran over her head. She died on the spot.”

Another eye witness said policemen arrived at the scene promptly and towed the truck and the damaged vehicles away.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, confirmed the accident when contacted on the telephone.

She said the remains of the woman had been deposited in the mortuary while the police had begun investigation into the accident.

She urged motorists to always ensure that their vehicles were in good condition before putting them on the road.

It will be recalled that a fuel laden truck fell on a mini commercials bus in Osogbo in September but no live was lost in the accident.

Court sentences Shiite to death, jails 22 for forming terrorist group

A Bahraini court sentenced a Shiite citizen to death and jailed 22 others for life Thursday for forming a “terrorist group” that killed two people, including a policeman. This is the second such ruling this week in the tiny Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom, where members of the Shiite majority population have led an uprising.

The court also revoked the citizenships of the 23 convicts and fined two of them 200,000 dinars ($530,000/480,000 euros), terror crime prosecution chief Ahmed al-Hammadi said in a statement. Judicial sources said that all the defendants were Shiite and that 16 were tried in absentia, without giving further details.

Hammadi said members of the group were convicted of carrying out bombings in two Shiite villages last December. One of the bombings, in Damistan village, killed a Jordanian policeman working in Bahrain under a security and training exchange agreement.

The other one in the nearby village of Karzakan, killing an elderly Bahraini man. Both bombings were carried out by the same “terrorist group” formed by the defendants and “specialised in making explosives to target policemen,” Hammadi said.  Meanwhile, an appeals court upheld the death sentence Thursday against a Shiite convicted of forming and leading a similar “terrorist group” that killed a policeman in a bombing in the Shiite village of Aker last year, Hammadi said.

The court also confirmed stiff jail sentences handed down in April to 11 other members of the group.  Seven of them have been sentenced to life, and four others to 10 years, said Hammadi in a statement. The appeals court also approved revoking the citizenship of all the defendants convicted of attempting to kill three other policemen.

On Tuesday, Bahrain handed down sentences ranging from five years to life in prison to 29 people for the attempted murder of a policemen in a bombing later in December 2014. Attacks against police are common in Bahrain, a Western ally and home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, across the Gulf from Iran.

The kingdom has been rocked by the Shiite-led uprising since February 2011, with demands ranging from a constitutional monarchy to overthrowing the ruling Sunni dynasty altogether. Scores of opponents have been detained, with many facing trial, while others convicted of involvement in violence have been handed heavy sentences, including loss of citizenship and life in prison.

NCC ready to force MTN to pay fine as deadline expires

Nigeria said it was expecting telecoms giant MTN to meet a deadline for paying a record $3.9 billion fine which expires Thursday, despite the South African operator challenging the penalty in court. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s telecoms regulator, had in October fined the firm for missing a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards, citing security concerns in a country plagued by frequent kidnappings and an extremist Islamist insurgency Boko Haram.

It imposed a whopping $5.2 billion fine, later reduced to $3.9 billion (3.6 billion euros) following an appeal by MTN.  “If MTN fails to meet the deadline today (Thursday), the regulatory body will enforce the fine,” Nigerian communications ministry spokesman Victor Oluwadamilare told AFP.

Oluwadamilare said the pending legal proceedings had nothing to do with the payment deadline, saying “the court case is not tantamount to extending the deadline.” Johannesburg-based MTN declined to offer a detailed response on Thursday, but said earlier this month it would launch a legal challenge in the Federal High Court in Lagos against the fine, and expected all parties “to restrain from taking further action” until the case was concluded.

MTN disconnected the millions of unregistered subscribers in Nigeria at the end of August, it reported in its quarterly performance update in October, adding that 3.4 million of those subscribers had since been reconnected.  Nigeria’s four major phone companies have routinely been fined in the past for regulatory infractions but none has received as big a punishment as MTN.

The initial fine of $5.2 billion was more than MTN’s total sales in Nigeria in 2014 and the equivalent of about 37 percent of the group’s total revenue, according to Bloomberg News.  “The fine is really unusual, it’s far and away bigger than anything we’ve seen globally and anything we’ve seen in Nigeria,” Amy Cameron, telecoms analyst at BMI Research, a market research firm, told AFP.

“Normally when it goes to arbitration like this, it would make sense that the NCC can’t impose the fine until there’s a decision from the court,” Cameron said, speaking from London. “I would expect that it’s highly unlikely that MTN would pay anything.”

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of 170 million people, is MTN group’s largest market with 62.8 million subscribers. It operates in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East. “MTN is committed to Nigeria and it’s going to stay there. Nigeria is its most profitable market and it has no intention of leaving,” said Cameron.

Breaking news: Asia welcomes year 2016

Following the variations in global time zone, some countries have welcomed year 2016 while others are still expecting.

Samoa and Kiribati were the first countries to usher in 2016 followed by New Zealand which put up an impressive fireworks display, reported to be the biggest in the city’s history.

Nigeria and some other African countries will welcome year 2016 at exactly 12:00 midnight.

Ericsson Confiscates Radio Biafra’s Transmitter On MTN Mast In Enugu

Ericsson Nigeria has admitted that a contract employee working with it was actually responsible for the Radio Biafra transmitter installed on an MTN mast in Enugu.

In a statement signed by its Managing Director, Johan Jemdahl, the firm said it had confiscated the transmitter and had notified the authorities.

The statement reads: “Illegal FM transmitting equipment was discovered connected to an outsourced MTN mast, managed by Ericsson, in Enugu in Eastern Nigeria. The equipment was immediately confiscated and the authorities were notified. A contractor to Ericsson has subsequently been taken into police custody after his involvement was discovered. He has been discharged from his contracted responsibilities with Ericsson.

“Ericsson views this incident in an extremely serious light. It is the result of a violation of its process that permits access to its mast sites. As a result, Ericsson has initiated immediate action to foil any similar attempts. All mast sites in Enugu and Port Harcourt regions have been audited while FM scanning was conducted. Critical attention was given to all high masts and sites located in mountainous areas, i.e. locations attractive for illegal activities. In addition, the Site Access Process will be reviewed for all employees and third parties.

“We sincerely regret the unfortunate incident, which violates our code of business ethics and code of conduct, contracted responsibilities as well as our company’s values.”

An MTN source had disclosed that the engineer, David Nwawuisi, “was able to install the transmitters because he worked with Ericsson Nigeria Limited, one of the companies to which the telecommunications firm outsources the maintenance of its base stations.”

MTN owns 12,000 base stations across the country, and Huawei, a Chinese networking and manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, is the other company that is responsible for the maintenance of these base stations.

However, Nwawuisi, who is currently standing trial with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, is a field maintenance engineer with the Swedish technology company.

The MTN source, who did not wish to be mentioned, said Nwawuisi’s role was to grant access to IPOB engineers to mount the transmitters on MTN’s masts under his care.
“The transmitters, which were used in boosting the signals of Radio Biafra allegedly transmitted from London, the United Kingdom, were discovered by the security agencies on MTN masts in Enugu and Anambra states,” one of the sources said.

According to him, the second suspect, Benjamin Madubugwu, helped with the installation of the transmitters in Anambra State, also in concert with IPOB engineers.

Both men were contacted by Chidibere Onwudiwe, a suspected IPOB member, for the job, according to court papers filed by the Federal Government.

Recruited lady Into Dr□g Trafficing Via Facebook Marriage Proposal ,Arrested By NDLEA

A lady, who was unwittingly recruited into drug trafficking by a fiancé she met on Facebook, residing in Malaysia, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The suspect, Gloria Ezeabata, was arrested during screening of passengers on an Ethiopian airline flight on her way to Malaysia at the departure hall.

Ezeabata, who works with an accounting firm in Lagos, admitted having a Facebook relationship that got her involved in drug trafficking. She said: “I met a man on Facebook some months ago who lives in Malaysia. He told me while chatting online that he is from my state, Anambra in South-East, Nigeria. After some months, he proposed marriage and I told him to come to Nigeria to meet my parents as our custom demands. He promised to fulfil every marriage rite. “Months later, he invited me to Malaysia, promising to pay all the travel expenses. After several appeals, I decided to visit him.

The day I was to travel, he told me to take along a bag of foodstuff sent by his mother from the village. I was given the bag at the airport but in the process of checking it in, drug was discovered inside packs of noodles in the bag and I was arrested.”

Substances that tested positive for methamphetamine weighing 1.325kg were detected in her luggage.

The drug was concealed in 26 packs of noodles in a bag of foodstuff containing plantain, pepper, melon and other spices.

Further investigation led to the arrest of one Mr. Philip Akpaka, 39, who allegedly coordinated the travel arrangement for Gloria and gave her the bag containing the drugs. NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba said that Gloria was arrested following the discovery of methamphetamine in her luggage.

Akpaka also admitted preparing the travel documents of Gloria on the request of his friend based in Malaysia. He said: “I’m a transporter. My friend in Malaysia asked me to prepare travel documents for Gloria. He also asked me to give a bag to Gloria to take to Malaysia.” Both suspects will soon be charged to court for conspiracy, unlawful possession and exportation of narcotic drugs.

Lady Murdered For Rituals_ Port-Harcourt

One needs to be careful of whom he or she visits especially the ladies who travel to meet guys they barely know anything about. This pretty girl was reportedly murdered by desperate guys for ritual on Wednesday (Dec 23, 2015) in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state. May her soul rest in peace. See photo below.

Two Airforce Officers Arrested For Locking Boy In Car Boot

Two cadets’ officers, Peters O. Solomon and Abdullahi Fahad were Wednesday apprehended by the convoy of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode in Mile 12 area of the State while dehumanizing an artisan, Dahiru Lawal for allegedly breaking the windscreen of their Chrysler Stratus car with registration number KRD 267 DV.

The cadets who claimed to be Airforce personnel attached to the Airforce Base in Ikeja, had forced Lawal into the boot of their car after dragging him on the ground for the said offence.

Governor Ambode, who was returning from an inspection tour to Agbowa in Ikorodu, saw the situation and swiftly intervened to save Lawal who was gasping for breath.
The Governor wondered how such inhuman treatment could be meted to a fellow citizen just for slightly breaking the windscreen of a car.
When questioned by journalists, the cadets admitted putting Lawal in the boot of their car.

According to them, Lawal tried to escape after breaking the windscreen and ran into the nearby market where they eventually chased and apprehended him.
Peters said: “What happened is that the boy broke the windscreen in front of my car. When I stopped, I asked him to come, the boy ran away. We have to drag him back and put him in the boot.

“I kind of threatened his boss that he is working with and when his boss came and looked at what he did to me, that was when I put him inside the boot for the remaining ones to go and call the boss. Not that I locked the boot, I only put him inside, but I did not lock it,” he said.

Also Abdullahi said himself and Peter were along Mile 12 after visiting a friend when the Lawal damaged their windscreen and he was attempting to escape.

“We now ran inside the market and dragged him (Lawal) down. I was even asking who he is working with because I want to see his Oga since I know he cannot repair my damaged windscreen. I want to see the man he is working with so that we can settle everything with him. I now told my colleague that we should hand him over to Airforce police at the Airforce Base,” Abdullahi said.

While narrating his ordeal in the hands of the cadets, Lawal who hails from Kaduna State, said he mistakenly damaged the windscreen with the load he carried, and that he took to his heels because he was afraid of what they might do to him.
He said: “I ran into the market and they pursued me and caught me inside the market. They started beating me and dragged me to their car.”

“I ran because I was afraid of what the cadets might do to me, while my boss and people around begged on my behalf, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.”

“The police also came to plead with them to open the booth but they insisted on taking me away and it was at that point that the convoy of the Governor arrived to rescue me from the booth of the car where they kept me,” Lawal narrated.

He added that he lost his cell phone and the sum of N5, 000 which he was having on him at the point that he was being dragged on the floor.

The Governor had since ordered that the suspects be handed over to the police for further investigation and possible prosecution.

Lagos Serial Wedding Thief Exposed

 
According to the lady that exposed her, this beautiful young girl goes around wedding venues to pose as a relation to both the groom and the bride families. She helps in money collection and then disappears with the money after the ceremony.

Lecturers warn Aregbesola against admission stoppage

The Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State-owned Tertiary Institutions has asked Governor Rauf Aregbesola to rescind his order directing the managements of the four tertiary institutions in the state to stop admission of students for the 2015/2016 academic session.

The union, in a letter written to the governor and a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Monday by its Secretary, Mr. Olusegun Lana, said the managements of the Osun State Polytechnic in Iree and Esa Oke as well as the colleges of education in Ilesa and Ila Orangun had stopped admissions of students for the 2015/2016 academic session.

The lecturers’ union gave the government a 14-day ultimatum within which to withdraw the directive or be ready for a fresh industrial action.

The letter partly read, “The managements of the state-owned colleges of education (Ilesa and Ila-Orangun) and polytechnics (Iree and Esa-Oke) respectively have put the admission of students for the 2015/2016 academic session on hold under the guise of complying with a directive from the state government that admission must not be conducted in the next two years.

“Consequently, we are using this medium to demand that the government should come out clean on this issue and withdraw any directive stopping the admission within the next fourteen (14) days to prevent industrial crisis in the sector.”

The union described the alleged stoppage of admission as an attempt by the state government to stop admission into the schools, saying the action would eventually throw its members and other workers out of job.

It also said the stoppage of admission would affect the institutions’ reputation and cause litigation because the institutions had already advertised for the admission and collected application fees from prospective students.

“It will leave the large number of students under the preliminary programmes stranded as their chance of transition to Year 1 class is so abruptly nullified.

“It will open wide room for suspicion and speculation of clandestine move by government to scrap the institutions through the back-door and thus throw members of staff out of job,” the union added.

But the Consultant to the State Government on Information, Mr. Sunday Akere, when contacted said he was not aware of such a directive.

He said, “There was a meeting between the governor and the chairmen of the four institutions last Wednesday. I cannot say what the outcome of their meeting is but I will know that by tomorrow.”

Delta Rep aspirant vows to petition NJC over alleged travesty of justice

Accord Party candidate in the 2015 National Assembly election in Ika federal constituency, in Delta State, Doris Uboh, has threatened to petition the National Judicial Council, NJC, over what she called ‘travesty of justice’ in her case at the Court of Appeal, Benin, Edo State, challenging the judgment of the National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal, delivered in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Mr. Victor Nwokolo.

Doris-Uboh

Doris Uboh, in a statement by the Media Director of her campaign organisation, Mr. Chiedu Godwin, said that she might have no alternative than approach the NJC to seek redress over the way her case was handled at the Appeal Court.

She noted that when the case first came up, the appellate court set aside the decision of the tribunal and ordered that the case be remitted to be tried on its merit within the 180 days, contending that the case was again struck out as a result of the expiration of the 180 days constitutional provision for elections related petitions to be disposed of when she went back to the tribunal for the continuation of the case.

“This development made me to approach the Court of Appeal for the second time where the appellate court ruled on December 10, this year, that the decision (judgment) of the lower court was a nullity,” she said, adding that with the ruling of the appellate court, she had only seven days left to further prosecute the case.

According to her, efforts made by her legal team to get a copy of the ruling from the appellate court failed to yield the desired result as the document (ruling) was neither given to her nor her lawyers until December 16 when she had only one day left to continue with the case.

“The latest judgment by the Court of Appeal nullifying the judgment of the tribunal of October 19, means that the court order issued by Court of Appeal on October 16, 2015 is still valid and the that case remains open,” Uboh added.

Mixed reactions trail proposed reintroduction of toll gates

A Potpourri of reactions has continued to trail the proposed re-introduction of toll gates on Federal highways across the country. While built environment experts welcomed the reintroduction because tolling is a universally accepted procurement standard for the maintenance of roads infrastructure, labour unions opposed the move because in the past, proceeds from toll collection were never effectively deployed for the maintenance of roads.

Toll gate

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had at his maiden press briefing announced the intention of the Federal Government to re-introduce toll gates on federal highways across the nation. He explained that the revenue generated would be channelled towards sustaining and maintaining quality federal roads.

Maintenance regime

Fashola who promised that money generated from the toll gates will be properly accounted for and judiciously put to use, said maintenance would be the watchword of the Buhari administration. “ We are setting up a robust maintenance regime to keep our highways in good shape. This shows that tolling is necessary to support government funding. So, it will not be too much if we ask every road user to pay a little to augment government funding for road maintenance. It is eminent commonsense for us to find that money. We will use technology; so if you don’t pay cash, you will pay by tokens or tickets and the money is accountable and it will go to the right place. We will manage that fund properly and we will hold those who we put there to account,”Fashola who during his tenure as Lagos State Governor defied public pretests to introduce tolling on the Lekki-Epe Expressway said.

Prior to the formal announcement by Fashola, the kite had already been flown by the Senate which advised the Federal Government to re-introduce toll gates on all Federal roads.

The Red Chamber explained that reintroducing tollgates would not just to boost the income for the Federal government but will also to generate more revenue for road maintenance. The Senate took the decision after the adoption of recommendations of its Ad hoc Committee on Works, which investigated the total collapse of federal roads in Nigeria and prevalent gully erosion sites.

Besides, the Senate advised the Muhammadu Buhari administration to introduce weighbridges to protect roads and to discourage overtaxing highways that were not constructed for ferrying heavy vehicles and trucks. The committee further recommended that there should be rehabilitation and constant maintenance of existing roads infrastructure.

Reacting to the proposed reintroduction of toll gates, the President of the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy, CASLE, Mr. Olusegun Ajanlekoko described the move as the “only plausible alternative” to raise funds for roads construction and maintenance in the country. Ajanlekoko who is a past president of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, NIQS, described tolling as a universally accepted procurement method for maintaining and building roads. He however called for the engagement of credible private sector partners with proven tract record of service delivery to man the toll plazas.

Toll gate system

According to him, government can no longer continue to build roads and allow them to decay without putting in place the measures to carry out regular and routine maintenance.

Caveat

In his own reaction, the Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV, Mr. Sam Ukpong said the land professionals support the reintroduction of toll gate system in the country but added a caveat. “We must state that the former toll gate system failed because of the inconsistencies in government policies. .If we want to introduces these toll gates, let us look at growth centres. It is a very good thing . It can be cited in one remote location so that people could drive long distances and rest there. If there are accidents on the highways , treatment of the victims can be handled in these growth centres . Let everything not be concentrated in urban centers . Some banks could be established there, industries could be established there, even if it is a cottage industry.

From these areas where there are toll gates, the government can do 100 kilometres of roads to link the major highway and the infrastructure will attract new settlement to decongest the densely populated urban centres. The traffic situation in cities like Lagos is very serious now because of congestion . when we turn these toll points to growth centres, it will help us to grow and decongest the centre”, Ukpong who spoke at the end-of year party of NIESV, Lagos branch said.

Repair roads first: The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC however opposed government’s move to reintroduce toll gates on federal highways as well as the proposed increase electricity tariff and pump price of petroleum products.

A communiqué signed by NLC President Ayuba Wabba and the General Secretary Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said the enormous public resources expended in the past on the construction and demolition of toll gates, and the proceeds from toll collection were never effectively deployed for the maintenance of roads, but lined the pockets of favoured collectors. “Convinced that proceeds from any new toll collections will suffer the same fate, NLC disagrees with the planned re-introduction of toll gates”, the union leaders declared.

Toeing NLC’s position, the Lagos Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ called on the Federal Government to repair roads across the country first. The union made the call in a communiqué issued penultimate Wednesday at the 2015 end-of-year congress.

The communiqué, which was signed by the Chairman of the Council, Mr Deji Elumoye called for major repair of federal roads across the country in the interest of the citizenry, before the planned re-introduction of toll gates on highways in the country.

Edo NLC hails Oshiomhole over payment of Dec salary

THE Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Edo State has commended the state governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, for the prompt payment of workers’ salaries, describing the state as lucky, unlike some other states in the country.

Oshiomhole-and-Edo-workers

Chairman of NLC in the state, Emmanuel Ademokun, in a statement, described Oshiomhole’s seven years reign as a huge success, pointing out that the governor’s efforts in blocking leakages in the ministries had yielded fruit.

He appealed to governors of other states to emulate Governor Oshiomhole in the payment of salaries, saying, “It is very sad today that some of our colleagues went home for Christmas and New Year without getting their November and December salaries.

“That is why we sincerely thank our governor for his unflinching commitment in the payment of worker’s salaries up to date. Our governor has clearly shown that he is a man of distinction who sees workers as assets and not liabilities.”

It will be recalled that Edo workers went into jubilation on the 21st of December after they received alerts for the payment of December salaries from the state government.

Anxiety in Prisons Service, as officers kick over planned change of uniforms

There is a growing wave of discontent among some officers and men of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) over the decision of the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau to effect a change of the current fatigues uniform of the personnel.

Gen. Dambazau had at a recent meeting with the management team of the service announced his resolve to change the fatigues of its personnel in an effort to boost their morale.

NPS officials-Dambazau

The current prisons uniform is light-green and entry-level officers are often made to part with N6, 000 to procure them before the end of their stay at the training schools.

However, many junior-level officers who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity described the move as providing an official leeway for extortion.

They opined that rather than change the uniforms, the new minister should endeavour to change the fortunes of both the service and its personnel.

According to them, aside the issue of stagnation in rank, there is the vexed issue of lack of logistics for effective execution of their mandate.

“The service now has only about 18 functional Black Marias. We still have prisons built with mud. We lack escort vehicles. Many of us have stagnated on one rank for years. These are issues that should be addressed and not a change of uniform which is at best, merely cosmetic”, said one of the officers.

Another officer told our correspondent that except the uniforms would be given to them free, many state controllers are likely to put their own price tag different from the official price.

“I can bet that even when they are asked to give us the uniforms for free, there are those who would still place their own monetary demands on top and tell you it is for logistics,” he stated.

Iraq declares Ramadi liberated from IS, sweeps for bombs

Iraq declared the city of Ramadi liberated from the Islamic State group on Monday and raised the national flag over its government complex after clinching a landmark victory against the jihadists.

Fighters brandishing rifles danced in the Anbar provincial capital as top commanders paraded through the streets after recapturing the city they lost to IS in May.

Pockets of jihadists may remain but the army said it no longer faced any resistance and that its main task was to defuse the countless bombs and traps IS left behind.

“Ramadi has been liberated and the armed forces of the counter-terrorism service have raised the Iraqi flag above the government complex,” Brigadier General Yahya Rasool announced on state television.

The former government headquarters in Ramadi was the epicentre of the fighting but Iraqi forces did not rush in when IS pulled out.

“Daesh has planted more than 300 explosive devices on the roads and in the buildings of the government complex,” said Brigadier General Majid al-Fatlawi of the army’s 8th division.

Several local officials said IS used civilians as human shields to escape the battle when it became clear their last stand in Ramadi was doomed.

A senior army commander told AFP that his forces were still sweeping the outskirts of the city for potential pockets of jihadists.

IS had an estimated force of around 400 fighters to defend central Ramadi a week ago. It is not clear how many were killed and how many were able to pull back to positions outside the city.

– Mosul next? –

The Iraqi authorities did not divulge any casualty figures for federal forces but medics told AFP that close to 100 wounded government fighters were brought to Baghdad hospitals on Sunday alone.

“The dead bodies are taken directly to the main military hospital” near the airport, said one hospital source, explaining why he could not provide a death toll.

The US-led anti-IS coalition praised the performance of the Iraqi forces in retaking Ramadi, an operation in which it played a significant role, training local forces, arming them and carrying out what it said were 600 air strikes since July.

French President Francois Hollande called the liberation of Ramadi the “most important victory yet” in the fight against the jihadists.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said “it shows once again that IS is not unbeatable”.

The jihadists’ loss of Ramadi came on the heels of the recapture in neighbouring Syria of a key dam on the Euphrates by an alliance of Kurdish and Arab rebels.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated the fighters who retook Ramadi, vowing to liberate the second city of Mosul and rid the entire country of IS in 2016.

“We are coming to liberate Mosul, which will be the fatal blow to Daesh,” he said in a televised address.

– Boost for army –

Anbar residents account for more than a third of the 3.2 million Iraqis who have been displaced by conflict since the start of 2014.

Ramadi is devastated and a return to normalcy is some way away.

Sohaib Ali, 27, fled with his three children and the rest of his family to the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region Arbil nearly two years ago when violence first hit Ramadi.

“We do not intend to return for now, although this liberation makes us very happy. We can see that huge damage was caused in the city and I don’t think that basic services will return for a while, nor will security,” he said.

Iraq’s defence minister, Khaled al-Obeidi, said a week ago that Iraqi forces had reconquered more than half of the territory lost to IS in June and August 2014.

The victory in Ramadi follows others in Baiji, north of Baghdad, and Sinjar, the hub of the Yazidi minority in the northeast of the country.

Ramadi was recaptured by federal forces, with the Popular Mobilisation — a paramilitary force dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militia groups — remaining on the fringes.

Many of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s political rivals had questioned his strategy of excluding those groups and relying on the US-led coalition’s air power.

“The prestige goes to the Iraqi military,” said political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari.

“As an institution, it’s the first time since the Daesh invasion (in June 2014) it has achieved a victory without the support of the Popular Mobilisation force,” he said.

The Iraq army collapsed when IS attacked Mosul in June 2014 and swept across Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland virtually unopposed.

P-Harcourt Chamber of Commerce advocates diversified economy

Worried by the dwindling oil revenue in the country, the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce has called for a diversified economy.

The Chamber made the call during the official opening of the 11th edition of Port Harcourt International Trade Fair 2015, at the Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt.

Speaking, the President of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Emi Membere-Otaji, said that the dwindling oil revenue accruable to all levels of government occasioned by global fall in crude oil price was a wakeup call for the diversification of the Nigerian economy.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Kenneth Kobani commended the Chamber of Commerce Port Harcourt for its consistency in organizing the annual trade fair.

Kobani said the fair was key to stimulating the local economy, adding that the governor had directed the Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority to liaise with the Chamber for the allocation of land for the establishment of a permanent site for the International  Trade Fair Complex.

DESOPADEC empowers 200 Ndokwa indigenes

Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, has empowered over 200 indigenes of Ndokwa nationality with various categories of starter packs to enable them set up their own businesses and be self- sufficient.

The beneficiaries, drawn from  Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West and Ukwani Local Government Areas, received starter packs such as tricycles, motorcycles, hair drying machines, electricity generating sets, grinding machines and cash to carry out their trade.

Also, widows were given cash gifts and wrappers, while physically challenged persons received wheel chairs, through the state chairman of persons with disabilities, Omor Obruche.

The event at Ashaka, in Ndokwa East, saw the interventionist agency also disbursing cash to traditional rulers, Community Development Committee Chairmen and community youth leaders as part of her Christmas package for the communities.

Man Electrocuted While Trying To Steal Electric Cable

An unidentified middle age man was electrocuted at the early hours of Sunday while trying to steal electric cable at a power supply installation in Kaduna.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident happened at Accra Crescent by LEA Primary School, Unguwar Rimi.

The traditional ruler of teh area, Dan Iyar Unguwar Rimi, Alhaji Muhammad Gidado, confirmed the incident.

Gidado said that the corpse of the vandal was evacuated from the scene by the police from Unguwar Rimi Division.

According to him, the vandal was unknown to them in the area and urged law enforcement agencies to step-up patrol as the community has suffered from the activities of vandals lately.

Gidado explained that the deceased tried to steal the 150mm four core up-riser cable at the distribution sub-station along Accra Crescent when nemesis caught up with him.

The Head, Corporate Communications of Kaduna Electric, the operator of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Mr Abdulazeez Abdullahi, also confirmed the incident.

He appealed to customers of the company to be more vigilant and report suspicious movement around power supply installations to the police, especially in the night.

Abdullahi lamented that the activities of these hoodlums was causing set back to the company’s effort at providing steady power supply to its customers.

He warned criminal elements to desist from damaging or removing power supply equipment as the consequence could be very tragic.

Meanwhile, the police said it was investigating the incident with a view to arresting the collaborators of the act and preventing reoccurence.

Pastor Buries Charm In Church In Benin

The police in Benin arrested one Apostle Ikenna Okafor on Sunday for allegedly burying charm in his church premises in Benin.The identity of what the suspect buried was unknown even though residents around the church located along Esigie St. in Benin alleged it was a live animal.

The police took away the suspect to avoid being lynched by angry residents who stormed the church.

An eyewitness, Mr Chinedu Nnamdi, said his father woke him up around 2 a.m. on Saturday night to watch what the Pastor was doing.

According to him, the pastor buried something in front of the church and later performed a little ritual by walking round the church several times.

Confirming the report, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Edo Police Command, DSP Osifo Abiodun, said the suspect was under investigation.

The spokesman explained that the suspect has made useful statements that will assist the police in their investigation.

Pastor Allegedly Marries Corpse Of Church Member He Impregnated In Akwa Ibom

A certain pastor, Augustine Mendie, in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, who reportedly impregnated his church member and tried to procure abortion for her, has been allegedly made to marry her corpse.

According to reports, Mendie, the General Overseer of an unidentified Pentecostal church in the area, is married with children.

Reports allege that the man of God is a ‘randy one who sleeps with many ladies in his church, both married and single till he got his fingers burnt.’
The unnamed lady, reports further claimed, was the praise and worship leader of the church but also the pastor’s secret lover. No one in the church knew what was going on between them until the lady took in and informed the pastor.

The pastor, who allegedly did not want to take responsibility, decided to procure an abortion for her. The lady who had earlier confided in her friend about the development lost her life in the process of the abortion.

As the story goes, trouble struck when the said friend reportedly told the family of the deceased that the pastor was responsible.

Reports further alleged that the pastor initially tried to deny responsibility but after he was threatened with the community’s deity, he agreed that he was actually the one responsible and as such, ready to appease the gods. He was allegedly made to marry the corpse of the woman as tradition demands.

Mother embarrassed over cloth Wore On The Street.

No matter how much you condemn a wrong, there will be people who will see that wrong as the only good thing for them, and this is one of such. People were shock by her dressing. See full pic…

Unemployed Graduates, Civilian JTF To Benefit From N5,000 Stipend

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, says the Federal Government will target unemployed graduates, market women and the Civilian Joint Task Force in the north-east as beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s campaign promise to provide stipends for the poor and vulnerable.

The Minister made further clarifications in Abuja during an interview with journalists. He explained that the 5,000 Naira stipend will be disbursed through a social security scheme.

Ngige gave the assurance that while the Federal Government empowers unemployed graduates through a teacher conversion scheme,other unskilled individuals, including market women and the civilian JTF in the north-east will undertake training at various skills acquisition centres across the country.

The Minister also said that the promised stipend for the unemployed will vary, depending on the programme a candidate is engaged in.

Addressing Youth Unemployment

Dr. Ngige recently called on Nigerian youths to embrace technical skills in order to wriggle out of joblessness.

He was speaking to Channels Television after President Muhammadu Buhari’s presentation of the 2016 budget at the National Assembly on Tuesday, December 22.

With a promise that the 2016 budget would focus on addressing youth unemployment and cater for the vulnerable, Channels Television sought to know the plans of the Ministry of Labour and Employment on the implementation of this key feature of the 2016 budget.

“We will give employment that will be decent. For example, one of the programmes we are going to execute is the conversion of graduates into the teaching cadre. We’ll give them training after Youth Corps, 1-year post Youth Corps, 2-year post Youth Corps, that is the bar and we will start form there; get them into teaching.

“Whether you are an engineer or lawyer, we will convert you and use that as a transition job for the time being.

“We are also going to do skill acquisition. All our skill acquisition centre scattered all over the country are going to be raised into performing their roles,” he said.

28 Killed In Two Separate Attacks In Maidug

About 28 people have died in two separate early morning suicide bomb attacks in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

One of the blasts occurred near a mosque in Suleimanti area behind the Central Bank of Nigeria while the other was targeted at a residence behind an Internally Displaced People’s camp known as Bakassi, killing all 18 members of the family.

Hospital sources said at least 75 people are receiving treatment for wounds sustained from the explosions.

The injured are mostly worshippers from the Suleimanti Mosque who were attacked shortly after the early morning prayers.

Meanwhile, Civilian Joint Task Force sources had confirmed 15 people dead from last evening’s encounter when assailants stormed Ali Duwari and Jiddari Polo area of the capital city.

Witnesses said the insurgents looted food items and set houses ablaze while beating a retreat.