Cultists Chop Off Female Corps Member’s Hand in Bayelsa

A female corps member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in the Obuah community in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State, Miss. Folakemi Akinbode was on Monday night attacked by suspected cultists who chopped off right hand.

Miss Oluwakemi Akinbode ,a 26-year- old Ondo State indigene is Batch A Corps member and graduate of Nursing from the Madonna University, Elele in Rivers State, was attacked at about 8.30pm, while returning to the Corps Lodge near the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobori, near Yenagoa.

According to a corps member, who gave his name simply as Fred, told LEADERSHIP that the attacked corps member was serving at the university teaching hospital for primary assignment.

According to Fred, the attack was a shock to many other corps members in the area.

The attacked Corps member is presently receiving treatment at the Teaching Hospital.

Confirming the incident, the Paramount Ruler of the Community, the Ibolou XI of Obunagha, H.R.H Godsgive Apoh, condemned the incident and summoned an emergency meeting of the Youth Vigilante Association to investigate and apprehend those involved in the atta

Mob Roasts Suspected Kidnapper Alive In Kwara State

Odota area along Airport Road in Ilorin, Kwara State, was on Sunday evening thrown into a momentary state of frenzy as a middle-aged man who hid under the cover of insanity to carry out his nefarious activities was beaten to a pulp, then set ablaze by a mob.

The victim, who feigned insanity to avoid detection, was nabbed while trying to abduct a nine-year old child.

When interrogated, the suspect, who identified himself as Raimi Wasiu, a native of Osogbo in Osun State, confessed to being a kidnapper alongside seven others and blamed economic hardship for his predicament.

He was also said to have confessed to be working for an Islamic cleric who lives around Hajj Camp, Ilorin.

An eyewitness disclosed that "People of the area have been watching the man who lived in an abandoned building by the roadside. And true to their suspicion, he was caught attempting to abduct a little child".

The mob, after dispossessing the victim of charms, rings and amulets, set him ablaze.

The police, who we gathered were called, did not arrive until after the victim had been roasted alive and took his remains away.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Olufemi Fabode, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident, saying investigation has commenced. He however added that the police were yet to make any arrest.

Usher's Son Raymond Hospitalized

Usher and Tameka Raymond's 5-year-old son, Usher Raymond V,
was rushed to the hospital after almost drowning in the family pool.
Usher's son Usher Raymond V is in the ICU at an Atlanta hospital after a serious accident in the singer's pool Monday, TMZ has learned. Sources say the accident occurred around 6 PM yesterday. Usher was not home at the time.

Here's what we know ... The child was playing in the pool with his aunt and saw a toy in the drain. He dove down to get the toy and his arm got stuck in the drain. The aunt immediately dove in to rescue him but couldn't get his hand out. The maid then dove in and tried but was also unsuccessful.

The maid screamed for help. Two men working in the house came out, dove in and freed the boy. He was given CPR immediately and rushed to the hospital. Usher arrived and drove in the ambulance with his son.

5-year-old Usher Raymond V is the oldest of Usher's two sons with ex-wife Tameka Raymond. We're told Usher and Tameka are currently at the hospital.

Doctors have been running a series of tests and doctors say he'll be ok.

This is the second accident to strike a child in Usher's family. Tameka's 11-year-old son Kile from a previous relationship passed away last year from injuries sustained during a jet ski accident.

Drunk Policeman Shot Three Men and A Pregnant Woman In Lagos

Three gun-shot victims rushed to the Accident and Emergency Ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, on Monday night are in stable condition, while the fourth person died on arrival, Daily Sun learnt yesteray.

The victims, three men and a pregnant woman, were allegedly shot by one Corporal Mohammed Abubakar from MOPOL 17, Akure, Ondo State at Diamond Estate, Festac Town, following a disagreement over an unconfirmed matter. It was gathered that the four victims were allegedly shot in a fast food joint by the corporal who was suspected to be drunk at the time of the incident.

Eyewitnesses said the disagreement and flaring-up of tempers occurred that night at the fast food joint where noodles is the main delicacy. The angry corporal opened fire on the victims and fled.  The policeman who is not attached to the Lagos Police Command, was said to be on an unofficial visit to a company in Diamond Estate.

Meanwhile, when our reporter visited LUTH, the three surviving victims were being attended to by doctors who assured  that they will make it. The consultants regretted the death of one of the victims, blaming his demise on the site of the bullet wound and the time of arrival of the patients to the hospital.

A consultant, who spoke to Daily Sun on condition of anonymity, disclosed that of the three surviving patients, the two men will go for surgery because of the nature of wounds they sustained from the gunshot and also to retrieve bullets and pellets from their bodies.

"The pregnant woman who appears to be a bit more lucky, will not need surgery, she will undergo intensive and general care and be discharged. One of the men was shot in the eye, ophatalmologists are working hard to ensure the wound does not degenerate, he will be operated soon.

"The second man was shot in the thigh, he will also undergo surgery, apart from the damage done on the site of the wound, there are indications that bullet pellets lodged in the muscles must be retrieved," he said.

Confirming the incident, LUTH's spokesperson, Mrs Hope Nwawolo, said the three victims are in stable condition and are responding to treatment. "The hospital has drafted a team of experts to ensure that they are well taken care of medically", she said.

The state Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Umar Manko, confirmed that a police corporal from MOPOL 17, Akure, Ondo State was responsible for the shooting. "The corporal is not from the Lagos State Police Command. He is from MOPOL 17, Akure. He was attached to a company in Festac Town, but I wonder what a mobile policeman from Akure is doing in Lagos.

The CP said he has asked the Area Commander for Festac area, Mr Dan Okoro, to contact his Squadron Commander to explain what the policeman from his unit was doing in that company at that time. Manko disclosed the force has declared manhunt for the corporal who took to his heels after committing the crime.

Another eyewitness said that the corporal went to the fast food vendor to eat noddles when a quarrel broke out between him and other customers. The source said in the process, he fired sporadically and took to his heels. "The policeman would have been lynched by a mob, but they were afraid to go after him as he was fully armed," the eyewitness said.

Presidency Denies Been Turned Down By IBB In Minna

Presidency has denied the report that former President Ibrahim Babangida turned down a request made by President Goodluck Jonathan to break the fast with him in his Minna Hilltop home.

.The presidency described the report as completely untrue and demand a retraction of the report.

This was made known in a statement signed by the Presidents Special Adviser on Media & Publicity, Reuben Abati

Part of the reports reads "former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), Monday turned down a request made by President Goodluck Jonathan to break the fast with him in his Minna Hilltop home, a reliable Presidency source told Peoples Daily.

The source told our reporter that Jonathan had reasoned that it would be inappropriate for the Holy month of Ramadan to elapse without him showing the spirit of comradeship with the former military president.

"The president (Jonathan) sent word to IBB indicating he wanted to join the former leader for a breakfast with him in Minna", the source disclosed.

According to the source, IBB turned down the request on the ground that such a visit could be misconstrued, especially when the host governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, is currently observing the lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia"

The Presidency Statement reads thus

The mischievous lead report in the Peoples Daily newspaper today that President Goodluck Jonathan sought to visit former President Ibrahim Babangida in Minna to show him "the spirit of comradeship" during Ramadan is completely untrue.

Although President Jonathan participates in the Ramadan fast every year in solidarity with Nigerians of the Islamic faith, he has never as Vice President or President of the country visited the residence of any individual to break his fast.

Rather, it has been the President's custom to regularly invite Moslems from all strata of society to break their fast with him at the Presidential Villa during the month of Ramadan.

In keeping with that established practice, President Jonathan has been busy hosting Moslems, most evenings of the current Ramadan season.

As much as he respects and holds former President Babangida in high regard, President Jonathan has never indicated any interest in visiting him at Minna during the current Ramadan.

Therefore, there could not have been any "turning down" of a visit by President Jonathan by the former president.

We condemn the decision of the editors of the Peoples Daily to publish such arrant falsehood in spite of our vigorous rebuttal as a further manifestation of a continuing effort to sow the seeds of discord in the polity.

Although the newspaper cites a phantom "reliable presidency source" and "a source close to the former president" to buttress its fictitious report, the editors of Peoples Daily know fully well that they can never prove the veracity of the false claim that President Jonathan either offered to break fast with General Babangida in Minna or was turned down by the former president.

We therefore demand a full retraction of the totally false report which demeans the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and an apology by the newspaper.

ASUU, FG Fail To Agree Once Again, Meeting Postponed To Next Week

(Premium Times) – Tuesday's meeting between striking university lecturers and the federal government delegation did not resolve any of the contending issues,we have learnt.

At the penultimate meeting last week, the government's delegation had set up a sub-committee headed by the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, to review the areas of controversy in the 2009 agreement between the lecturers and the government.

While the lecturers, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, insist on the full implementation of the 2009 agreement, the government wants a renegotiation of some parts of the agreement.

Speaking to us on Tuesday's meeting, the President of ASUU, Nasir Fagge, said the meeting was postponed because the sub-committee did not finish their task and so there was "nothing much to discuss."

He confirmed that the meeting had been adjourned to Tuesday next week and explained that ASUU was not part of the sub-committee.

Mr. Suswam had said last week that the ASUU strike could be called off in two weeks when his committee, which is same as that set up the federal government on the NEEDS assessment of universities, completes its task.

The committee has already recommended an immediate ingestion of about N1 billion on capital and educational projects in six chosen universities across the six geo-political zones, a project expected to launched by President Goodluck Jonathan soon.

Mr. Suswam and the federal government have repeatedly appealed to the lecturers, whose strike entered its sixth week, to call off the strike.

However, the ASUU president, while reacting to the appeals of students and the government to call off the strike while negotiations continue, said, "If the government does what is right, the strike will be called off tomorrow; So it is in the hands of the government."

APC Will Push PDP Out Of Power In 2015 – Buhari •He Is Day-Dreaming – PDP

A veteran presidential candidate and a major stakeholder in the newly-registered All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) on Tuesday said the new party was determined to push out the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in 2015.

"The APC is focus-driven to push the PDP out of power by 2015," Buhari told members of the Democratic Emancipation Movement who paid him a courtesy visit in Kaduna.

But the PDP said on Tuesday that Buhari, who ruled Nigeria as a military Head of State between 1983 and 1985, was day-dreaming.

"There is no way the APC can win the election in 2015. He (Buhari) is day-dreaming," Acting National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Tony Okeke, said in reaction to the ex-Head of State boast.

Buhari contested the presidential election on the platforms of two political parties in 2003, 2007 and 2011 and lost to the PDP candidates in all.

In the 2003 and 2007 elections, he was the candidate of the All Nigeria Progressive Party against PDP's Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Yar'Adua respectively. In 2011, he contested against incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change, now a third of the new APC.

The APC is the product of a merger of CPC, ANPP and the Action Congress of Nigeria.

But Buhari said whether he would run in the 2015 poll or not would depend on whether the APC wanted him or not.

"My decision will be tied to the constitution of the APC. If the party chooses me as its candidate, I will contest. If the members do not consider me, I will not contest but I will still support the party. My decision to run for 2015 will solely be that of the party," Buhari said.

He said that the APC would give Nigerians a new lease of life and hope that would make the country rank top in the comity of nations.

He also lauded the nation's electoral umpire the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for mustering the courage to register APC.

The former Head of State noted that he had thought of a merger of political forces to wrest power from the PDP in 2007.

He admitted that in the past, the opposition parties in the country had made mistakes because "we made ourselves vulnerable."

He added that for the country to survive, the main opposition parties had to come together to wrest power from the PDP.

Buhari said, "I thought about this merger in 2007. This is because I found out that none of the opposition parties can challenge PDP successfully. But if we come together with those that have representation at the National Assembly and the Houses of Assembly and go back to sensitise our constituencies, even if the PDP want to rig they would find it impossible to rig.

"I discovered that by being so divisive, we made ourselves very vulnerable. So, the best way to survive and for this country to stabilise we just have to come together and I believe, along the line, we made necessary sacrifices.

"The tension in the country has already come down; people now think that they have a viable alternative. These feelings and belief is across the country, not only in the North or in the South-West. There is a good feeling about the party in all the political zones of the country.

"Our next important step is the mobilisation of constituencies to make sure that elections are conducted according to the law.

The ex-Head of State lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission for registering the APC.

He said, "To be honest, we have to thank INEC because when we thought we had applied according to the 2010 Electoral Act, INEC drew our attention to the Electoral Act provision that said that there must be a headquarters at the federal capital that is good enough to be called headquarters of a national party. Then there was the issue of our constitution, our manifesto, and the harmonisation of the main three parties.

"We thought that the initial nine signatories were enough to manage the party on the interim between registration and convention, but INEC advised us and told us that we needeed to get between at least 25 or 35 people to come out from the whole geopolitical zones to sign.

"If INEC wanted to be wicked, they could have kept mute and just sent us a letter that our application was not complete. They could have done that. But for them to send us an observation which was later corrected, I believe they have been very impartial and we thank them for that."

Buhari's optimism about the APC notwithstanding, the PDP said the new party was incapable of winning in 2015.

Okeke said, "Nigerians have realised that the PDP is the only political party that has their interest at heart. The APC on the other hand is merely lusting for power and that its members don't have the interest of Nigerians at heart.

"The APC is a party of despots, dictators who love to impose candidates on the people. Nigerians are tired of such people."

Meanwhile, the APC's interim chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, has said the new party will welcome Jonathan into its fold if the President is tired of the crises in his party.

Akande at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday said, "We don't even close our door to the PDP. If Jonathan is tired of the crises in the PDP, he is welcome in the APC."

But Jonathan's Special Assistatnt on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, said that Akande's call to the President was a final vindication that Jonathan was God-sent.

Okupe said there was no crisis that was insurmountable in the PDP and described Akande's ''invitation'' as a welcome development.

Police Arrest Gay Pastor In Aba For Sleeping With A 23yr Old Guy

The Aba Police Area Command has arrested a 40-year-old Prophet/Pastor, Benjamin Ndubuisi, for having unlawful carnal knowledge of a 23-year-old man.
Investigations revealed that the prophet whose church is located at 89 Ukaegbu Road, Ogbor Hill has been involved in the unholy act with the victim since he engaged him as a worker in his church.

Trouble started for the prophet when his victim who gave his name as Ndukwe took ill two weeks ago and worried by his continued deteriorating health condition, confessed to his family about the secret love affairs between him and the gay prophet.

Residents of the area hinted that Ndubuisi, who is a prophet in one of the white garment churches in Ogbor Hill, engaged his victim as a worker in the church as a ploy to always have him around to satisfy his sexual urge.

The gay prophet is alleged to have administered oath to Ndukwe to stop him from divulging the details of the love affair between them to his relatives and members of the church.

Worried by the shocking revelation, Ndukwe's parents alerted policemen leading to the arrest of the homosexual prophet.

The Prosecutor, Cpl. Galadima Rubies, told the court that the accused committed the offence at Ogbor Hill in Aba on July 28.

According to him, Benjamin had a carnal knowledge of a man's son through the anus.

Rubies said the offence contravened Section 214 (1) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Abia 2005.

When the suspect was arraigned in court, he pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail in the sum of N200, 000 with a surety in like sum.

Magistrate K. I. Udo said the surety should be resident within the court's jurisdiction as part of the bail conditions.

The accused may be sentenced to 14 years imprisonment on conviction.

The case was adjourned to September 9 for further hearing.