Pension fraud trial Judge suspended for one year by NJC

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The judge who presided over the pension scam trial and gave light sentence to one of the accused persons, has been suspended for one year without pay by the National Judicial Council (NJC). JusticeAbubakar Talba of the FCT High Court imposed a mere N750,000 to convicted felon, John Yakubu Yusuf, who stole billions of pension fund.

A statement from the council’s spokesperson, Mr. Soji Oye, read

“The National Judicial Council under the chairmanship of the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, at its meeting which was held on 24th and 25th April, 2013 suspended Honourable Justice Abubakar Mahmud Talba of the FCT High Court from office for a period of 12 months without pay.

Honourable Justice Talba was suspended from office sequel to the findings by council that he did not exercise his discretion judicially and judiciously with regard to the sentences he passed on one of the accused persons, Mr. John Yakubu Yusuf, in the Police Pension case of FRN Vs Esai Dangabar and 5 Ors.     

FG Plans To Create 5m Jobs By 2015 – Aganga

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Dr Olusegun Aganga, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, on Thursday said that the Federal Government was working to create at least five million jobs by 2015. Aganga, who stated this in Ibadan at the opening of the 6th National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment (NCITI-06), said it would be achieved with industrialisation of the country.

According to him, the economic transformation of the country requires the support and contributions of every Nigerian.The Minister said the nation had in recent times became the number one investment destination in Africa, saying the country had grown by seven per cent in the last 14 years.

Lagos Police Smash Kidnap Syndicate, Arrest 6

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The Lagos State Police Command, yesterday, said it had smashed a kidnap syndicate which recently relocated to Lagos from the eastern part of the country and arrested six suspected members of the gang.

According to the command, the suspects confessed during interrogation to have one of their hideouts somewhere around Ibeju-Lekki, where they have successfully kidnapped four persons.Also, the command said investigation into the kidnap and subsequent release of the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area Chairman, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan, showed that some of his abductors had fled to Ghana.

EFCC Arrests 33yr Old Banker Over ₦100m Fraud

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested one Onyekachi Nwosu, the relationship/account officer of a new generation bank in Enugu over a case of multiple conspiracies, forgeries and bank fraud involving over a hundred million naira.

The 33-year-old  native of Mbaise, Imo State is purported to have provided false information to his bank to facilitate the approval of a loan of N50 million to Floxy Aluminium Odiofele Products Limited in 2010.

The suspect claimed that Anyaso Chinedu, the managing director of Floxy Aluminium Odiofele Products, approached the bank for a N30 million loan facility but could not secure it because of insufficient collateral. He claimed that a non customer, Femi Akintobi approached the bank for a N40 million facility and came with sufficient collateral which he then use to secure a N50 million loan from which Akintobi got N40 million while Floxy Aluminium  was given N10 million.

Youths Urge FG To Forget Amnesty For Boko Haram

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Barely 24 hours after President Goodluck inaugurated a 25-man committee to work towards disarming members of the Boko Haram sect and granting them amnesty, thousands of unemployed youths have asked the Federal Government to jettison the idea or risk their wrath.

The youths, who converged in Abuja, yesterday, described the attempt by the government to dialogue and settle violent groups in the country as a step in the wrong direction capable of truncating the fragile peace in the country.Although the angry youths drawn from the 774 local government areas of the country, did not say what the form of their action would be, their leader who gave his name as Okey Felix Nwachukwu, warned that they would take steps to compel the government to address their plight.

EU Contributes ₦193bn To Support Water Supply, Sanitation In Nigeria – Minister

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Anambra, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Osun and Yobe are the benefitting states.

 

The European Union, EU, has contributed 94 million Euros (about N184.24 billion) for the implementation of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) to support water supply and sanitation programmes in Nigeria.

 

A statement in Abuja on Thursday said the head of the National Planning Commission, Shamsuddeen Usman, said this while signing a financial agreement with the beneficiary states and local governments in Abuja.

OAU Student Escapes Assassination Attempt, Shot Twice By Assassins

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Taiwo Pelumi, a student of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife Osun state is happy to be alive after he escaped an assassination attempt.

According to an eye witness, the Chemical Engineering student was shot twice on the 12th of April by some unknown gunmen off Ede Road in Osun state.

We learnt Taiwo Pelumi was making a phone call beside his car when 2 men suddenly approached him.

He was pushed to the ground and shot twice. A female student of the same school who was walking towards him at the time was kidnapped by the gunmen who eventually stole Taiwo’s car.

Taiwo was immediately rushed to an undisclosed hospital by some Good Samarithans.

“For you all who heard I was shot several times on Friday night that was me and I am still breathing. Thank Almighty God.” – said Taiwo in a Tweet.

South Korea Threatens ‘Grave Measure’ If North Rejects Offer To Talk

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South Korea has warned of an unspecified “grave measure” if North Korea rejects talks on Kaesong, a jointly run factory park shuttered for nearly a month.

In a television briefing, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk refused to describe what Seoul would do if Pyongyang does not respond by Friday to a demand for formal working-level talks on the industrial complex in the town of Kaesong.

But Seoul’s talk of a “grave measure” may be an attempt to signal it will pull out its remaining workers from the complex.

“There is no change on our stance to support the stable operation and improvement” of Kaesong, Kim said on Thursday.

Customs intercept air gun, pellets at Lagos airport

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Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command in Lagos on Thursday have intercepted an air soft gun otherwise known as Zinc Alloy Shell G15 pistol and five sachets of pellets from a passenger at the premier airport.

The items were found on the passenger, identified as Mr. Ukeje Joseph, with passport number A04206153, during the inward clearance of Kenya Airways flight KQ532 from Johannesburg in South Africa.

The event occurred during routine examination by the Customs and other relevant agencies at the Lagos Airport on passengers’ luggage.

Serbia President ‘Apologises’ For 1995 Massacre Of 8,000 Muslims

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Serbia’s nationalist President Tomislav Nikolic has personally apologised for the first time for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims. “I kneel and ask for forgiveness for Serbia for the crime committed in Srebrenica,” Nikolic said on Thursday in an interview to be aired on Bosnian national television parts of which have been released on You Tube. “I apologise for the crimes committed by any individual in the name of our state and our people,” he said in the interview.

Nikolic’s office confirmed to AFP news agency the authenticity of the statement. Thousands of Bosnians, mostly Muslims, were killed by Serb soldiers during the Balkan War between 1992 and 1996.

WAEC: Three Killed, 200 injured as examination hall collapses

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THREE pupils, including a girl, were killed and hundreds injured on Wednesday when a building in which they were writing the West African Examination Council School Certificate examination (WASCE) collapsed on them.

 

The incident occurred in Alpha Academy, a private secondary school in Mararaba, Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State.

Some 560 candidates were writing the examination in Alpha Academy. Many of them complained of the cracks before the building came down on Wednesday.

Child Abuse: See Photo

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An 18 month old boy tied to a stick while the mother washed. This was to prevent him from wandering off. 

R.I.P: Nigeria's Deputy Ambassador to Switzerland, Bashir Musa, dies at 56

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Nigeria’s Deputy Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr Bashir Musa, died on Tuesday April 23rd in Bern following a brief illness, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. He was 56. Bashir Musa was appointed ambassador in 2012, and had previously worked at the Nigerian High Commission in London. May his soul rest in peace...a

4 Reliable Reasons to exploit SEO Articles

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A load of webmasters would merely shrug and shy away from writing lot of articles in addition to posting them to any website or article directories. The effort does crave a lot of skill also understanding, however, who said success does not involve hard work? The process of writing in addition to submitting SEO articles is indispensable in today's online market place also is crucial to your SEO efforts inasmuch as they are the only way to construct skilled and permanent back-links in addition to long lasting goodwill for continuity of business organization.

Question Of The Day: Nigerian leaders, Past and present; who's your best and worst?

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From top left: Yakubu Gowon, Ernest Shonekan, Murtala Mohammed, Umar Musa Yar'Adua, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sani Abacha and Muhammadu Buhari.

Rate them from 1 to 11. And if your favorite and worst isn't listed here, just name them...

I Ran Out Of Bathroom Nakéd ––Woman Who Lose Houses To Tanker Fire

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Victims of the Ibadan tanker fire disaster at Omitowoju area of Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday narrated their sad experience, during the inferno that nearly claimed their lives but consumed 12 houses and shops. The victims who were still in sorrowful mood are counting their losses.

In an emotion-laden manner, Mrs Aminat Wasiu, one of the victims while speaking with Daily Sun, said she ran out of the bathroom nakéd when she heard people shouting her name...

“I was taking my bath when I suddenly heard people shouting fire and my name. I had to run out nakéd because I was too scared. Somebody later gave me a cloth to cover my body.” She said she was shocked to the marrow when she later discovered that both her shop and house were burnt to aches. 

Nigeria: Malpractice - WAEC NEC Vows to Cancel Entire Results

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The Examination Committee (NEC) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has concluded that the sanction on the council's rules and regulations for those indicted for malpractice in more than one subject should be reviewed from Cancellation of Subject Results (CSR) in only those subjects, to Cancellation of Entire Results (CER).

This was resolved at the communique issued at the end of the 55th meeting of the Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) of the West African Examinations Council which held in Lagos.

Two Police Officers Killed, Houses Torched, In Fresh Borno Gunbattle

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At least two policemen were killed in Bama Town, 75km from Maiduguri, the Borno Statecapital, when gunmen attempted to kill the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of a police station on Thursday afternoon.

Police sources and residents of Bama said several houses around the Police Divisional headquarters were torched in ensuing shootout between the gunmen and security forces.

Hundreds of residents of Kasubula area of Bama, where the incident took place have so far fled their homes and are currently taking refuge in the surrounding bushes.

Nigeria May Not Meet 2020 Target, Says Usman

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Hopes that Nigeria could be counted among the 20 developed economies in the world  by 2020 may have been dashed as the Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, said the target may not be realised.

Usman disclosed this on Tuesday when he presented his scorecard to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC).

He blamed the crisis in the power sector on the more than 30 years of military in power.
The minister said when government started the documentation of vision 20:2020 in 2009 to be among the top 20 economies in the world, Nigeria was number 44, adding that if by 2020 the nation rises to number 25, he will be a proud man.

Tackling vaccines’ rejection in Northern Nigeria

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HAUWA Ibrahim is a Muslim from Kano State; she resides in one of the villages in the federal capital territory that is fast becoming an urban slum.  She is in our early forties with six children the third of which is a polio victim.  She is married the Islamic way to a man who already had two wives so Hauwa is the third and for now the youngest of her husband’s wives.  She is not sure yet if her husband, a security guard would not marry a fourth wife, because Islamic injunctions entitles him to four wives.
Hauwa would not disclose the total number of children her husband has, in her innocence she said she did not believe her polio infested child is as a result of her not exposing him to the vaccines to stop the virus in its track.  Her husband would hear none of that she confessed.   After all there are other children in the family and they are all on their feet except her third child.  The condition of the child must be the will of Allah she reasoned.