JTF invades Azuzuama for suspected criminals

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Operatives of the Joint Task Force, JTF, yesterday invaded Azuzuama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government area of Bayelsa State in search of some suspected criminals hiding in the area.

The presence of the JTF operatives generated tension among inhabitants of the coastal community. National Mirror could not confirm as at the time of filing this report if the JTF personnel arrested any of the suspected criminals.

It was learnt that the manhunt for suspected kidnappers and sea pirates by the security agency was one of its routine operations to ensure sanity in the creeks. It will be recalled that some ex-militants ambushed and killed 11 policemen at Azuzuama on April 5, along the waterways.

JTF destroys 294 drums of seized diesel

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The Joint Task Force, JTF, Operation Pulo Shield, Calabar Zone, on Monday in Calabar, Cross River State, continued its onslaught against illegal merchants of petroleum products as it destroyed over 294 drums of diesel it impounded last week in the state capital.

The task force, made up of soldiers from the 13 Brigade, Calabar also destroyed one truck load of diesel, six generating sets, one J-5 bus and several hoses seized alongside the diesel from oil bunkerers.

Speaking during the destruction exercise at the JTF dump site in Odukpani, near Calabar, the General Officer Commanding, GOC, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major-General Olaniyi Adebayo, described bunkering as economic sabotage.

Olaniyi said the Chief of Army Staff was committed to fighting oil bunkering, adding that the command was doing everything within its powers to wipe out the menace.

Offshore-onshore dichotomy responsible for terrorism –Kwankwaso ( Do you Agree?)

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Kano State governor, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, yesterday said the offshore/ onshore dichotomy issue was responsible for the Boko Haram insurgency in the North.

Kwankwaso said the dichotomy also brought about a high level of poverty and hopelessness in the region, resulting in the insecurity currently being witnessed.

Kwankwaso’s declaration came even as the Kaduna State governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, rejected the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, bill yesterday, saying it would further alienate other parts of the country economically.

Four varsity students paraded for drug trafficking

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•Police recover 33 stolen vehicles

The Imo State Police Command yesterday paraded three undergraduates of the North American University based in Cotonou, Republic of Benin and two others for being in possession of substances suspected to be hard drugs.

The suspects, who smuggled the narcotics neatly wrapped with plastic tapes, were apprehended when they were about to sell the drugs at Nekede in Owerri West Local Government Area.

The command also recovered 33 stolen vehicles and 12 motorcycles in the last two months. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohammed Musa Katsina, said that the university undergraduates were arrested with nine compressed parcels suspected to be hard drugs by the command’s Ambush Squad following a tip off.

Reps intervene in Kogi-Anambra oil well dispute

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The House of Representatives yesterday directed its committees on Special Duties and Disaster and Emergency Management to liaise with the National Boundary Commission, NBC, on the lingering clashes between Enugu-Otu, Nkpunado and Eziagulu-Otu communities of Aguleri in Anambra East Local Government of the state and Olu communities of Ibaji Local Government of Kogi State, over the oil rich land.

The decision of the House to give the committees the mandate, arose from a motion sponsored by Hon. Chriscato Amaeke (PDPAnambra), seeking the intervention of the House.

FG hires SAN to prosecute Leadership reporters

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The Federal Government has hired an Abuja-based member of the inner bar, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, as private lawyer to prosecute the Group News Editor, Mr. Tony Amokeodo and Political Correspondent, Mr. Chibuzor Ukaibe, of Leadership newspapers, over allegation of forging a document containing a presidential directive.

The journalists are also accused of fraudulent publication of a bromide of the controversial document, inciting members of the public against the government to dislocate the nation’s peace and forgery of the seal, signet or sign manual purported to be the signature of President Jonathan Goodluck.

But, the government which concealed a number of crucial documents containing details of the forgery allegation against the journalists, however, failed yesterday to arraign them as they insisted on full disclosure of the entire case against them before they would know the type of plea to enter.

Northern Governors To Meet On Thursday Over State Of Insecurity

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A special meeting of Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) is scheduled to hold on Thursday April 25, 2013 at Niger State Governors’ Lodge in Abuja.

A statement signed by Coordinating Chairman, Forum of Secretaries to the Governments of Northern States, Saidu Ndako Idris disclosed that the NSGF will receive the report of the Northern States Committee on Reconciliation, Healing and Security.

The statement reiterated the Forum’s commitment to put an end to the unacceptable wanton carnage as well as security challenges in the region by collaborating with all relevant stakeholders.

37 Not 185, 6 civilians,1 soldier Died In Baga Clash, We Were Never Unprofessional – MJTF, Brig. Gen. Austin Edokpay

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Contrary to reports that 185 people died as a result of last weekend’s clash between the operatives of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) and members of the radical sect, Boko Haram in Baga town of Borno State, the military says not more than 37 were killed in that incidence.

A statement issued on Tuesday and also made available by the commander of the MJTF, Brig. Gen. Austin Edokpaye to newsmen in Maiduguri gave the breakdown of the casualties as 30 members of the Boko Haram insurgents, six civilians caught up in the crossfire and one soldier.

He also disclosed that five of the insurgents who attacked his men during the deadly clash have been arrested and are awaiting interrogation. The statement claimed that the soldiers exercised restraint for so long under intense provocation from the sect as the two-day clash was highly provoked by the insurgents.

Jonathan: US report on Nigeria corruption ‘over amplified’

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Ayo Oluokun/Abuja
President Goodluck Jonathan has described claims that his administration is dogged by massive corruption in a report by the United States Government as untrue as “over-amplified’, though he agree that there are ‘issues of corruption in the country’.
Speaking at the signing ceremony of power reforms transactions held at the Banquet Hall of Presidential Villa on Monday, the President said the report submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Secretary of State John Kerry failed to recognize the fact that his administration has done a lot to curtail corrupt activities as shown by the way government has been conducting its business.

FG seeks $3.4bn foreign loan for power projects …says Nigerian banks charge high interest rates

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The Federal Government is looking beyond Nigerian banks to raise $3.4bn needed to fund power projects in the country because of high interest rates being charged on loans by local banks.

The Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power, Mr. Beks Dagogo-Jack, said Nigerian banks had not done enough in terms of understanding how the ongoing reforms in the power sector worked.

He spoke with journalists on the sidelines of the Presidential Power Reform Transaction signing ceremony in Abuja on Monday.

Nigeria: On the throes of infrastructural boom?

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NIGERIA, home to over 160 million people, has, over the years, been called the giant of Africa, due particularly to its large population and abundant natural resources. However, the ‘giant of Africa’, over the years, has been plagued by the corrupt attitude of its leaders and people in power. This has stalled the economic and infrastructural growth of the nation and encouraged the scourge of poverty among its citizens.

For decades, the nation depended on its agricultural products and later, with the discovery of crude oil, petroleum resources which till date, has helped grow the country’s economy but not without attendant crises from the Niger Delta region from where the bulk of the crude oil is extracted.

Nigeria, USA set to collaborate in defence sector ( Good idea in Right direction ?)

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Nigeria and the United States of America is to strengthen bilateral relations in the defence sector, says Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim.

Ibrahim said this when the United States House Armed Services Committee Congressional Ddelegation, led by the Vice Chairman, Mr Mac Thornberry, visited the Defence Headquarters.

“America qualifies to be friend of our country and the spirit underlines their visit here today to relate with us on defence and related issues on one hand, how we manage our local matters of insurgence, and on the other hand, how we participate in the African meeting support mission in Mali.”

Army parade 2 men who kidnapped, raped & demanded N10m from Victim

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The Nigerian army paraded two men they said allegedly kidnapped a staff of Petroleum Training Institute Warri, took her to an undisclosed hotel, raped her, took photographs of the act and threatened to release the photos if she does not pay N10m. Watch the Channel TV report above...

TRAGEDY: Over 30 houses, shops razed in Ibadan petroleum tanker accident

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The sad incident occurred yesterday afternoon Monday April 22nd in the Omitowoju area of Ibadan, in Oyo State. The fire started after a fully loaded petroleum tanker passing through a residential area fell off the road and spilled its 33, 000 litres of petrol.   Over 30 houses and and at least 30 shops in the area were burnt to ashes. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) eventually put out the fire but couldn't say for sure if anyone was killed by the fire.

Guardian tortures 12-year-old girl for getting raped

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According to Punch, the Ogun State Police Command arrested a man named Edwin Alagbaso, for allegedly torturing his 12-year-old ward who was a rape victim. The man basically blamed her for 'causing' the rape and tortured her with razor blade, knife and iron rod. The young girl sustained injuries to the scalp, had swollen fingers, bruised abdomen, swollen eyes and mouth.

The 12 year old victim was raped on April 15th by a 22 year old man named Uche  Chibueze, near her guardian's home in Akute. Uche told police it wasn't rape, that it was consensual sex. 

You have to be sick in the head to have sex with a 12 year old girl.

Advance Slavery: Nigerian girls sold into s-ex slavery & trapped in Italy's s-ex-slave trade

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Naples mafiosi were convicted last week of forcing a Nigerian cancer patient, Lilian Solomon, into prostitution. The situation is worse that we think. Read a report from Daily Beast about how Nigerian girls, as young as 13, are sold and forced into s-ex slavery in Italy...

Across Italy, Nigerian women are forced into the s-ex trade, essentially kept as slaves who are bought and sold and moved according to a moribund supply and demand. Some of the prostitutes are young girls, just 13 or 14 years old. Others are in their 20s or 30s. Many have children. Some are still married to men in Nigeria. They usually sit on white plastic chairs under umbrellas to protect them from the rain in the winter and the harsh sun in the summer. 

The highest concentration of Nigerian forced s-ex workers is in and around Naples, but they are not limited to the southern reaches. On Thursday, in the central region of Abruzzo, four Nigerian gang members and an Italian taxi driver who allegedly procured prostitutes across the country were sentenced to between nine and 15 years in prison for making 23-year-old Nigerian Lilian Solomon prostitute herself even though she was in the late stages of lymphoma cancer.

OUTRAGEOUS: Lady Mechanic, Sandra Ekperuoh's mechanic workshop in VI Locked

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This is an outrage! Over 40 policemen and officials from the Waste Water Management and Sewage Board, an arm of the Ministry of Environment, this morning stormed the mechanic workshop of Nigeria's first woman auto mechanic, Sandra Aguebor-Ekperuoh, and sealed the place. Her auto workshop, where she employs only female mechanics, is situated by 1004 in Victoria Island. 

Sandra, who has been an auto mechanic for the past 27 years, runs an NGO that empowers women called the Lady Mechanic Initiative where she has empowered and graduated over 150 women in Lagos State alone. Sandra has over 150 women mechanics in Abuja and 100 women mechanics in Benin where 50 of the girls are graduating in three weeks time. 40 of them will be employed by Sandra immediately after graduation in her Lagos, Benin, Kaduna and Abuja workshops. Some of the girls who have passed through her are now self employed with their own mechanic workshops and even training other female mechanics. This woman has done so much to empower women in this country and helped to reduce prostitution in her home state Edo, so it's so sad to see this happen to her. We should be celebrating this woman, not taking land from her. 

She trains these girls for free, still gives them a salary and accommodates them. The land that was sealed today houses the Lady Mechanic Workshop and a hostel for her girls where the girls, some of them orphans, stay rent free. 

Their reason for sealing the place? They are saying the land belongs to the Lagos State government. Thing is, Sandra has been on that land for the past 10 years. I've spoken with Sandra myself and she's devastated but staying strong for her girls. See photos of the sealed workshop after the Break.

Sound Sultan Robbed At The Airport [PHOTOS]

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 Sound Sultan Was Robbed At the airport today, here are photo's of what he shared on his instagram account.

ACTOR, SEGUN ARINZE SENTENCED TO 13 WEEKS IMPRISONMENT…Check out all details.

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Uncle Segun Arinze, I would have pardoned you on this one like I used to, but for the fact that you are a terrible dresser and in this occasion you also stepped out with your wife, the more reason I am much more disappointed in her.  In the first place Uncle Sege, with all your exposure in the movies and beyond, nobody has ever told you or you’ve never heard that you don’t nut a tie on a laced sneakers? Talk more of a suit added to it?

Bros, you disappointed all of us seated in this court,seriously.

Nigerian lady raped and buried alive in Bonny Island ( Video)

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