Somali pirates release seven Bangladeshi crew of hijacked ship

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Somali pirates have released seven Bangladeshi crew members of a Malaysian-flagged ship hijacked more than three-and-a-half years ago, the government in Dhaka said Saturday.

The Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry said the crew of the hijacked MV Albedo was flown to Nairobi by a special aircraft of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.  The MV Albedo with 23 crew on board was hijacked on November 26, 2010, in Somali waters.  "All seven Bangladeshi nationals are in good health and would be staying at a local hotel in Nairobi where they will be provided with food, medicine and clothing," said the ministry.  It did not mention the other crew members, who are from Pakistan, Iran and Sri Lanka.

Vatican signs deals on financial intelligence with Britain & France

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The Vatican announced on Saturday that its financial crimes watchdog had signed cooperation deals with Britain, France and four other nations - Malta, Poland, Romania and Peru. A statement said that under the agreements, the Financial Intelligence Authority agreed to "exchange of financial information to fight money laundering and combat terrorist financing".

Similar deals are already in place with nine other countries, including Italy, Germany and the United States. Last year, the AIF was admitted into the Egmont Group, a worldwide association of financial regulators. In recent years, the Vatican has acted on international pressure to clean up its act in financial matters.

Storages of explosive materials are set on fire in Donetsk region

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Unknown criminals have set aflame the state storages of explosive materials of “Pavlovgrad chemicals producer” in Donetsk region, informs the Ukraine General Prosecutor office in their report on Saturday.

According to the report, unidentified masked and camouflaged individuals assaulted the storages of research and production association “Pavlovgrad chemicals producer”, located on the skirts of the city Ambrosievka.

30 killed in inter-ethnic conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo

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At least 30 killed in east Democratic Republic of Congo inter-ethnic conflict - official says.

At least 30 people, including women and children, have been killed overnight in inter-ethnic fighting in the province of South Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - local sources said on Saturday.

A town councillor said "eight women, 14 women, 10 children and a soldier" were killed in the fighting in South Kivu's Mutarule village. According to AFP, the victims of the attack were people of the tribe bafuliru. Jean-Julien Miruho​​, Interior Minister of South Kivu province, said that an armed attack is brobably an act of revenge for the kidnapping of cattle.

The victims had been shot, stabbed or burned inside their homes. Some of the bodies lay inside a village church, according to a Reuters cameraman on the scene.

Just in: Prof. Dora Akunyili Dies

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We've heard rumours of her death several times before but unfortunately now it's for real. Former Director General of NAFDAC and former Minister of Information Prof. Dora Akunyili has died. She died in the Indian hospital where she was taken fully to on May 11 to get medical treatment after her health deteriorated.

Various reliable sources have confirmed her passing. She was only 59.
RIP

Boko Haram: Army court-martials officers for cowardice, others

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As security operatives and top government officials intensify moves to ensure the release of the abducted girls of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, the military authorities have started the court martial of some of its men and officers for cowardice and negligence among others.

Saturday PUNCH investigations revealed that the military authorities opened two centres for the court martial at the Headquarters of One Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, under Maj.- Gen KC Osuji and the Army Headquarters Garrison Command, under Brig.-Gen Ndiomu, at the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja.

Chilling revelations: escaped chibok girl raped 15 times by 15 men every day

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More chilling revelations have emerged to shed some light on the agonising experience of the missing Chibok girls, based on the account of one of the escapees.

Three of the girls have so far escaped from the terrorist group, Boko Haram, who abducted over 200 girls from a government secondary school in Chibok, Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014.

A clergy and expert on counter-terrorism, Oladimeji Thompson, of The Omoluabi Network, who has been working with other groups to assist victims of the abduction overcome their pains, gave a chilling narration based on an account of one of the escapees.

He said, “One of the girls I interviewed was being raped 15 times by 15 men every day.” He said the girl was traumatised and confused.

“It’s obvious this girl needs to be managed. She looked confused. She found it hard to talk to me but after much prodding, she confessed to me that she was raped 15 times by 15 men throughout the time she was with the Islamic insurgents before she could escape from their den.

Gratuitous military, SSS assault on the press

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IN an unprecedented assault on the press, not seen since the dark days of military dictatorship, soldiers and State Security Service personnel fanned out across the country on Friday morning to intercept, seize and, in some cases, destroy newspapers as they were being distributed. The brazen assault on press freedom signposts the rapid descent of a discredited government and its security agencies into undisguised tyranny.

They will not succeed. Nigerians and the press have endured and triumphed over tyrannical forces – colonial and home-grown, military and civilian – and this latest violence to our cherished freedoms will certainly not be different.

Police Arrested Group claiming Biafran Members

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 A photo of the Biafra Zionist Movement members, BZM, led by Barrister Benjamin Onwuka, who yesterday launched an attack on the Enugu State Broadcasting Service, ESBS, has been released. 

According to reports,  Onwuka, a United Kingdom-based lawyer, armed with a CD Rom for a broadcast to declare a “Republic of Biafra”, had yesterday, as early as 4:30am, sneaked his members, numbering about 20, into the premises of the radio station where he intended to broadcast the rebirth of the Republic of Biafra. 

Popular Yoruba Leader Killed in Kano; they Ripped his Stomach

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Violent crimes is gradually becoming order of the day. A prominent Yoruba leader, Alhaji Ganiyu Akanbi Bello has been found dead at his residence at Race Course general area of Nasarawa GRA in Kano metropolis after he was allegedly murdered by yet to be identified assailants in his sleep.

A strange situation of not seeing Alhaji Bello at his sitting room since dawn till about 11.00am made family his members raise the alarm and the eldest son, Nuru Bello to report to the police.
Armed officers were then sent over to the house by the police, who were said to have broken into his room on arrival and found Alhaji Bello in a pool of his own blood...

38 Men Gang Up-molested A Teenage Girl

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Malaysian police on Wednesday detained 13 men and looking for other suspects following allegations that a 15-year old girl was molested by 38 men in an abandoned hut.

Media accounts, quoting information from District Police Chief, Azham Otham, said 38 men were involved.  Report says the assault took place in the northern state of Kelantan on May 20 when the girl met a girlfriend and was lured to an empty hut said to be a local drug haunt.

Terrible: 18-Yr-Old Girl Shot Twice, Thrown In Canal For Marrying The Man [PIX]

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As the world is still reeling from the gruesome death of a Pakistani woman who was stoned to death and had her head smashed by her family because she married for love, the trend of “honour killing’ has affected yet another victim.

18-year-old Saba Maqsood was attacked by her her father, uncle, brother and aunt and she was shot twice, put in a sack and thrown in a canal.

UNILAG students march to the street over hike in registration fee, shut down campus

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There is a protest currently going on at the University of Lagos. Students are protesting UNILAG authority demanding that some students pay N20,000 for late editing or registration of Course Forms.

The students first converged at the University's Senate Building where they shouted slogans and sang protest songs, demanding that the school ends this kind of exploitation today, while accusing their VC of corruption. They left the senate building and proceeded a rampage through all of the faculties in UNILAG demanding their rights.

Soldiers invade office of The Nation and Leadership newspapers, destroy today's edition

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 Going by tweets on the timeline of the Nation newspapers and a report on their site, military men this morning stormed company of the Nation newspapers in Benin City and Warri and confiscated their publication for today. The soldiers from the 3 Battalion of the Nigerian Army at Okwuokoko, Delta State seized a van conveying the day's newspapers to Warri and Benin City.

 

According to the newspaper, a source near to the soldiers said they are working on orders from above.  

See more tweets after the break....

Sanusi could be next emir of Kano.

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Good or Bad news for Jonathan ?
Things just got tighter for President Goodluck Jonathan: former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (SLS), is a potential candidate to be the next emir of Kano after the death of Alhaji Ado Bayero.
Kano is considered strategic in the 2015 presidential election ─ in which Jonathan is expected to run ─ because of its voting population.
Even 25% of Kano’s 5.1 million registered voters ─ second only to Lagos’ 6.2 million ─ could make a significant contribution to the overall score of a presidential candidate.

Chibok Girls Update: Pressure Mounting on Jonathan to Adopt American-Taliban Swap Model

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The Presidency is under pressure to adopt the America-Taliban prisoner swap model in getting back the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls, it was gathered yesterday.

Under the deal, the United States (U.S.) got back its soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Sources said the Presidency is being prevailed upon to follow the U.S. example and reconsider its stand not to swap the girls for detained Boko Haram members.
Last month, the Presidency rejected the sect’s demand for a prisoner swap, saying to accede to the request would amount to fueling insurgency.
the nation

Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, dies @at 83

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Among Nigeria's most prominent traditional rulers, Ado Abdullahi Bayero, the Emir of Kano has died. The Emir died early today June 6th in Kano based on family sources.  Ado Bayero has been the Emir of Kano since 1963 and was a former ambassador to Senegal. 

LASU students storm Fashola’s office with beds, pots

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In a letter to Fashola, titled, ‘Save our future’, which was made available to PUNCH Metro, the students alleged that the tuition hike had taken education beyond their reach.  President of the LASU Student Union Government, Mr. Yusuf Nurudeen, said the students had resolved to fight their cause until their demands were met by the government.

He said, “Our school has been shut down. Students are dropping out of the university on a daily basis. We decided not to engage the party leaders because the people in government do not understand any language. The only language they understand is protest.
“We have resolved to fight this struggle by ourselves. We are a pressure group in the country. We can do this alone. We do not want any person to fight for us. We elected Governor Fashola. We elected all the members of the House of Assembly. They must listen to us.
“Fashola promised us a ‘Better Rewarding Future’. How can we have a rewarding future without education? He has denied us education by the tuition hike. Section 3(1) of the law that established LASU stated that the university should be made available for all people irrespective of their socio-economic background and status. Now, the governor has made LASU the university of the rich.
“We will not leave until we hear something from the government. We have gone everywhere and the police shot at us. That is why we decided to come here today and tell the governor what is on our minds. Also, our colleagues arrested by the police must be released unconditionally.
“If the governor refuses to come out, we will remain here until he comes out. If the governor can respond to issues that are less important than this, he should come out and respond to the students of the state he governs.”

As of press time, no official of the state government had attended to the students.

Fashola was said to have left for Port Harcourt to join his colleagues for the Nigerian Governors Forum retreat holding at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge on Friday (today).

However, the commissioners for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba, and Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, had on Wednesday, said the government would not be able to reach a conclusion on the tuition till June 9.

Shale Oil Not a Threat to Nigeria

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Contrary to general concern, George Osahon, director, department of petroleum resources, says the discovery of Shale oil in the US and other countries won’t affect Nigerian oil

GEORGE Osahon, director of department of petroleum resources, DPR, has dismissed the concerns that the discovery of shale gas by some countries would affect the export of Nigeria’s conventional gas. Instead, he opined that the new discovery would rather stimulate competition among oil and gas exporting countries. Osahon, who was speaking in Abuja recently, said the discovery of shale gas would help countries to employ relevant technology to identify their competitive advantages over other countries.

US Stops Importation Of Nigeria's Crude Oil

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The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke yesterday disclosed that the United States (US) has finally stopped the importation of crude oil from Nigeria. The US has recently begun stepping up its utilisation of shale oil and this might be the main reason for the shift away from Nigerian oil.