France Bans Twitter Term ‘Hashtag’

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The French government has included the Twitter term ‘hashtag’ in a list of words to be avoided in order to protect the national language.

The Académie Française is responsible for maintaining standards of French and has identified the English social networking term as a word that undermines linguistic purity, The Mirror reports.

Women Lagging Behind In Internet Use, Research Reveals

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Women and the Web; a new study carried out by Intel Corporation and Dalberg Global Development Advisors reveals that women and girls are far behind in Internet access.

With over 40 Million Nigerians on the Internet, there are yet no statistics on how many of them are women or girls, but experts say there is a serious gender inequality in Internet access, not only globally, but also in developing countries such as Nigeria.

Lifeless Body Of Man Found Hanging From Mango Tree

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Mando Afaka area of  Kaduna State was Monday morning thrown into a gloomy state when the lifeless body of a middle-aged man was found dangling from a mango tree. The victim whose name could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report, is suspected to have hanged himself. However, men of the Kaduna state police command have retreived the body and taken it to a hospital for further examination. The victim’s mobile phone was also retrieved from his pocket while efforts were made to establish contact with his relations. More details later.

Masquerade Arrested By Police In Abeokuta For Murder

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The ancient city of Abeokuta was thrown into pandemonium on Monday after a masquerade allegedly shot dead an Islamic cleric identified as Lateef Sabiu during Egungun festival.

The attack on the Islamic cleric led to a reprisal attack as Islamic youths allegedly razed down a building belonging to traditional worshippers in protest against the murder of one of their members.

The 22-year Islamic Cleric was allegedly shot dead Sunday evening while he was on a motorcycle during a ‘stop and search’ in Ijaye area of the city.

Assassins Attach Rapper Rick Ross

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Early Monday morning, Rick Ross' silver 2011 Rolls-Royce was the apparent target of a drive-by shooting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to multiple reports.

Shots were fired at the artist's Rolls-Royce, causing the driver of the Ross' vehicle to make a turn and crash into an apartment complex, the Sun-Sentinel reported. "An unknown vehicle shot a couple of rounds," a police spokesman told the newspaper. "The [Rolls Royce] was not struck."

NBC Denies Banning Music Videos After P'Square Lashes Out

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The Nigerian Broadcast Commission, NBC, and National Films and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, on Monday denied banning the broadcast of some musical videos by Nigerian artistes.

Mrs Maimuna Jimada, the Acting Public Relations Officer of the Commission, disclosed in Abuja that the commission was not aware of the ban.

According to her, NBC was not in charge of banning musical videos. “NBC has not banned any videos as we are not in-charge of placing a ban on music videos.”

Anambra’s Floating Bodies

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MORE than a week after bodies were found floating on a river in Amansea, Anambra State, the security agencies appear helpless about identifying the bodies or making any headway about the cause of their death.  Governor Peter Obi’s promise of N5 million to anyone with information that could help unravel the “mystery” has yielded no results.

A few more weeks and the event would be off the news radar until a deadlier incident, when this one would be used as a reference. It is a shame that such low levels of performances are associated with the security agencies and the public accepts them.

Coscharis Boss Cosmas Maduka retires from Access Bank’s board

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By Omoh Gabriel & Peter Egwuatu
LAGOS — The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has sanctioned Access Bank Plc for violating the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, BOFIA, 1991 in 2011.  This came as Dr Maduka Cosmas has retired from Access Bank’s Board of Directors.

The apex bank, in the sanction, fined Access Bank N3 million for violating its rules and regulations on granting of loans.

However, CBN told Vanguard, yesterday, that the issue at stake is not new. The CBN official said the said sanction was based on the examination the CBN carried out on the bank on September 30, 2011.

Concede presidency to S-East – Ohanaeze

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LAGOS—Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo weekend, said the turn of the Igbo to occupy the Presidency had come, warning that any attempt to rip the South East of its due after President Jonathan’s tenure would be resisted.

This came on a day former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, insisted that it was the turn of Ndigbo to produce the president of Nigeria in 2015, urging the people to work hard to actualize it.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, new National Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Osita Oganah, stated emphatically that Igbo Presidency was not negotiable and, therefore, called on the Igbo to begin to prepare themselves towards achieving the goal.

Boy Buries His 7 Years Old Younger Brother In Beach Sand While Playing

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A seven-year-old boy has died after being buried alive by his younger brother as they played in a pile of sand at their rural home.

Wyatt McDaniel was pulled unconscious from the mound of sand after his five-year-old brother alerted their father.

Despite desperate efforts by Charlie McDaniel to revive his son with CPR and later by paramedics the boy went into cardiac arrest.

McDaniel was pronounced dead after being airlifted by helicopter from the family's horse farm in Bexar County, Texas.

Assassins kill 60-year-old woman, 2-year-old grandson in Ogun

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Suspected assassins have murdered a 60-year-old woman, Amoke Musuru, and her 2-year-old grandson, in Ago-Oba area of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the suspected assassins at about midnight on Sunday broke into the one-room apartment of the woman in the storey building located within the Ajiko compound. The building is a family house that belongs to the victim’s husband’s extended family.

Gaining access into the room while the woman and her grandson were asleep, the suspects smashed the head of the duo with an iron rod, causing prompt death. The rod was left behind.

Woman Threatens Couple With Knives For Refusing Threesome

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Give a woman what she wants or the knives come out....

After the promise of a lascivious threesome with her neighbors did not come to fruition, a Maine woman to the reject to heart.

Valerie Niles, 44, was arrested late Tuesday evening inside the home of Edward Sabatino, who called 911 to report that Nile was “intoxicated and was threatening him with a knife.”

Man Plucks Out Wife’s Eye With Broomstick

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A 28-year-old man has been brought before the court here for gouging out his wife’s eye with a broomstick during a domestic dispute while accusing her of infidelity.

The accused, Leonard Kadowonda, a Zimbabwean teacher was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment wholly suspended for five years after the complainant filed an affidavit to withdraw the case against him.

The court heard that on June 7 last year the complainant, Babra Samkange (21), was walking home from a nearby primary school in the company of her male friend when her husband spotted her. On arriving home, she was confronted by the husband.

6 killed, 25 injured as driver tries to avoid potholes

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Bindawa (Katsina State) -  No fewer than six persons perished while 25 others were injured in a ghastly motor accident in Bindawa local government area of Katsina State on Sunday.

An eyewitness told a correpondent who visited the scene that the accident occurred at about 2 p.m. when a truck with registration number BRE 06 XN crashed along Bindawa-Charanchi road.

According to the eyewitness, the accident happened when the driver of the lorry carrying 40 passengers and 15 cows from Baure town to Charanchi market in Charanchi local government area of the state, lost control.

Prosecutor: Farouk Lawan’s Trial Starts This Week

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After several months of delays, criminal charges will be filed against the former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Education, Farouk Lawan, the prosecutor, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), has informed THISDAY.
Lawan, who was also the Chairman of the House Ad Hoc Committee on the Monitoring of the Fuel Subsidy Scheme, had been accused by the Chairman of Zenon Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Femi Otedola, of demanding and accepting a bribe of $620,000 to alter the report of the committee, in which Zenon had been indicted.

Daughter exposes father whose gang killed four policemen

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A17-year-old girl identified simply as Simi has exposed the hiding place of her robber father to the officials of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, Lagos State Police Command.

Her father, Ife, was the alleged leader of a 10-man robbery gang that killed four policemen in Ajah during a robbery operation two weeks ago.

THE PUNCH had reported on January 15, 2012 that the dead policemen were responding to a distress call when they were ambushed by the robbers.

Simi did not give her father up easily. She gave the information the police needed to arrest her father after a four-hour non-stop interrogation.

2015: Asari, Boyloaf, Ateke, others cannot blackmail Jonathan – Ajube

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As intrigues preceding the 2015 presidential election continued to play up, strong indications emerged weekend that the Presidency has succeeded in splitting the ranks of the leadership of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND.

 Asari Dokubo, Ebikabowei Victor-Ben(Boyloaf), Ateke Tom and Pastor Reuben, in the past three weeks, have expressed misgivings about the reported aspiration of President Jonathan to seek re-election in 2015, saying the President had done little or nothing to deserve a re-run in the next presidential election.

Lagos State Assembly to regulate activities of fast food producers

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Suuru Avoseh, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, says that the House will soon enact a law that would check the excesses of fast food producers.

Avoseh, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Health Services, told said on Sunday in Lagos that most of the foods prepared by various restaurants were ``junk foods. ``And these junk foods are harmful to human health,’’ he stressed.

See How Much Money Police Colleges Got In 2012

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Almost half a billion naira was budgeted for the upgrade and rehabilitation of facilities at police colleges across the country in 2012,  investigations by SUNDAY PUNCH have shown.

A breakdown of the N307bn budget of police formations and commands, obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation, Ministry of Finance, showed that N296.75m was budgeted for the upgrade of facilities in the following police training institutions – Detective College, Enugu State, PMF training schools, Gwoza (Borno State) and Ila-Orangun (Osun), ATS Training School Nonwa-Tai, (Rivers) Police colleges, Ikeja (Lagos), Kaduna, Maiduguri (Borno), Oji-River (Enugu),  PTS Iperu (Ogun),  Ibadan (Oyo), Oyin-Akoko (Ondo), mounted and dog training schools, communication training schools, Ikeja and Kaduna.

Former Delta State University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ekoko, Kidnapped

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Abedgnigo Ekoko, a former Vice Chancellor of Delta State University, was abducted this morning as he left a church service in Uzere, Isoko South Local Government Area.

It was gathered that Prof. Ekoko, who is the current chairman of the governing council of Delta State Polytechnic in Ogwashi-Uku, was snatched shortly after coming out of St. Paul Anglican Church.

Ogwashi-Uku, it would be recalled, was the scene of a recent similar drama when the mother of Coordinating Minister and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was kidnapped in the royal palace. The police at that time claimed to have swept up all known kidnappers in the area.