Court Jails Iranian For Smuggling Arms Into Nigeria

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Azim Aghajani, a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been found guilty of smuggling weapons into Lagos and sentenced to five years in prison by a Federal High Court in the city.

A Nigerian, Ali Jega was also convicted alongside Azim Aghajani.

The Nigerian Customs Service in 2010 made a seizure of 13 containers loaded with rockets and grenades, shipped in from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The shipment including rockets and other explosives were hidden in containers of building materials.

2-year-old boy roasted to death while mum (20) was busy having s-èx with boyfriend

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A two-year-old, left unattended, was last month burnt to death when the house he was sleeping in caught fire while the mother was out for a beer binge.

The mother, Vongai Maseure (20), her boyfriend Owen Ncube and another companion Rumbidzai Masunda, have since appeared in court facing charges of culpable homicide.

The three this week appeared before Kwekwe provincial magistrate Taurai Manwere for allegedly negligently causing the death of two-year-old Wayne Dhururu.

It is the State's case that on April 27, Maseure left her son sleeping alone at her Nheketwa home in Silobela while going for a beer drink at Nheketwa shopping centre. Masunda and Ncube, who are lovers, then asked to use Maseure's house to have fun and were given the green light to do so.

Gunmen launch fresh attack on police barracks in Borno, chanting Allahu Akbar

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Barely a week after the military, police and prison formations in Bama, Borno State were attacked by Boko Haram gunmen, police barracks in the outskirts of the township were attacked by the terror suspects with Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, and petrol bombs in the early hours of yesterday.

An anonymous female resident of the barracks said in a telephone chat: “The gunmen came on motorcycles and tricycles at about 3 a.m. and started chanting Allahu Akbar(God is great), before detonating the bombs that triggered the burning of these houses. We had to flee in the night.

Private jets used to smuggle cash, fugitives – FG

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The Federal Government on Sunday said illegal consignments and cash in local and foreign currencies were being smuggled on daily basis in and out of the country aboard private jets.

 

It also said some persons that securities agencies had declared wanted were being airlifted out of the country aboard private and chartered jets.

 

As a result, it insisted that pilots flying such jets must declare the passenger manifest before being allowed to take off.

 

Terrorists May Over-Run Nigeria, Mark Warns

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The Senate President David Mark warned, Sunday, that unless everybody comes together to tackle the security challenge, the perpetrators might over run the country.

This came as the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday, directed the AIG in charge Zone 4, Mike Zuokumor, to relocate to Lafia, Nasarawa State, following last Wednesday’s killing of scores of Policemen in the state by the Ombatse sect group and the delay in investigation to apprehend the culprits.

The Senate President who expressed grave concern over the continued killings and wanton destruction of property in the country argued that foreigners who might be accused of being sponsors of members Boko Haram sect currently terrorising some parts of the country would not succeed if Nigerians were not involved internally as willing tools for the deadly act.

Viewers Discretion Advised: Man crushed to death by mast during heavy rain

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A 52 year old man identified as Adeolu Adeleke was crushed to death at Marina Car Park, Lagos Island, on Friday May 10th during heavy rain when a communication mast fell from a 2-storey building and crushed him to death.  The roadside trader met his untimely death as he went to protect his wares from heavy rain and winds. He'd dashed across the street to fetch something to cover his wares but the mast fell on him as he made his way back to his shade. See more photos after the cut. *viewer discretion advised*

‘Dokubo-Asari Should Learn From Civil War’

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Alhaji Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, the National President of the Kaduna-based Arewa Youth Forum (AYF), in this interview with Regional Editor Northwest,  Hassan Ibrahim, expresses dismay at the recent comments (Click Here to watch If you missed it) by Mujahid Dukobo-Asari, leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), that there will be crisis if  the Goodluck Jonathan presidency did not continue in  2015. Excerpts:

Dokubo-Asari recently threatened to ensure that Nigeria will no longer know peace if President Goodluck Jonathan is not returned as president in 2015. What is your take on this?
Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have taken issue with Dokubo, but it seems that silence is no longer golden. Looking at his antecedent as a militant, during the amnesty programme in Niger Delta and after he was granted amnesty by late President Umaru Yar’Adua, we have come to the conclusion that he is not somebody that should be taken seriously in the Nigerian polity. 

Video: Recent Interview With Asari Dokubo

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Why The Nigerian Diaspora Won’t Return Home

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VENTURES AFRICA – Recently New York Times published an article about the increase of U.S. immigrants going back to their native countries to start up their own businesses. It is safe to say over the past decade the countries grouped in the BRICS have been fortunate to receive a brain-gain, as many of their best and brightest have seen their own countries as land of opportunities.

On one of my social media networks I spotted a comment that said “By the time Africans get featured in an article like this the gold rush will be over.” Of course you can easily interpret this statement in several ways but it spoke volumes about how Africans tend to always be last in everything.

Nigeria not using force-based approach on insurgents, Abati tells U.S.

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The presidential spokesman said this at a press conference in Abuja.

The Presidency on Friday refuted a statement credited to the U.S. Embassy that Government was adopting a force-based approach in addressing the current security problem in Nigeria.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, stated this in an interview with State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday.

“It is not true that the administration is adopting a force-based approach. The approach to the insurgencies by the government has many dimensions.

“One of those dimensions is the consideration of the option of dialogue and what has become known as amnesty.

The World’s Richest City (SEE)

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China may soon be the birthplace to half the world’s billionaires but Singapore – the world’s richest city – is where they go to play. Some of the rich and famous who have moved to the tiny Southeast Asian island republic include Indian telecom tycoon Bhupendra Kumar Modi, Chinese movie superstars Gong Li and Jet Li, New Zealand billionaire Richard Chandler, and famed US investor Jim Rogers.

One in six households in Singapore have a net worth of $1m, reflecting the flow of wealth eastwards as the centre of global economic activity shifts to Asia.

Russia pursues hypersonic weapon research

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Russia is developing a hypersonic weapon program. It involves more than 60 companies and is scheduled for completion this summer. Launched in the former USSR, hypersonic weapon research was resumed in post-Soviet Russia in 2009 under the umbrella of the state-owned Tactical Missiles Corporation.
Viktor Litovkin, senior editor of the Independent Military Observer magazine, notes that work in hypersonic weapons did not begin from scratch.

Syria denies involvement in deadly car bombings in Turkey

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Syria denied Turkish accusations on Sunday that it had a hand in twin car bombings that killed more than 40 people in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli on Saturday.
"Syria did not and will never do such a act because our values do not allow this. It is not anyone's right to hurl unfounded accusations," Syrian Information Minister Omran Zubi was quoted as saying on state media.
Turkey sees Assad's hand in car bombings - foreign minister
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday that he believed fighters loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were behind twin car bombings that killed more than 40 people in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli on Saturday.

Couple sues doctor for beheading newborn baby

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A doctor delivering a newborn baby beheaded it and then tried to cover it up, according to a new lawsuit filed. A Missouri obstetrician separated a baby's head from his body during labor and then pushed back the newborn and then performed an emergency caesarean on the mother to cover up the dreadful mistake, a couple of claims in court documents.

Arteisha Betts and Travis Ammonette, Florissant, filed a 10 count lawsuit in St. Louis County Circuit Court claiming doctors pushed her to have a vaginal birth, beheaded his son and then tried to hide it, according to news media reports. The details in the lawsuit are shocking. During a meeting, the couple said Dr. Susan Moore told them that their baby will be delivered by cesarean section because her belly was too big for a normal delivery.

Gunmen kidnap Supreme Court Justice’s wife, daughter

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Gunmen on Friday night, abducted the wife, daughter, and driver of a Supreme Court Justice, Bode Rhodes-Vivour. 

The victims were travelling to Edo State, ahead of the Justice’s daughter’s wedding ceremony.

 It was learnt that they were kidnapped between Ekiadolor and Okada along along the Ore-Benin Expressway.

 

When contacted on the telephone, Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Moses Eguavoen, said he was unaware of the development.

 

He said, “I am not aware of that, but let me call the control room and get back to you.”

REVEALED: “How al-Qaeda, Boko Haram smuggle arms into Nigeria”

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Proliferation of  small arms and light weapons is increasingly and dangerously becoming a transnational organized crime in Nigeria with Boko Haram’s insurgency, re-emerging Niger Delta crisis and escalating kidnapping, communal crises and armed robbery in the South East providing impetus for arms trafficking.


Some border towns, particularly in the North Eastern flank, serve as a hub for trafficking of arms as well as stolen goods, drugs and hostages by criminals, terrorists and their collaborators. The recent kidnap of a French family at a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon is an example. Similarly, many arms and ammunition of various types, sizes and calibre have been intercepted and confiscated by security agencies.

2015: US not interested in who rules Nigeria

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The United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, Terence McCulley, said yesterday that his country was not interested in influencing the outcome of Nigeria’s Presidential election scheduled for 2015.

Speaking on the Kaduna- based Liberty Radio programme’s Guest of the Week, the envoy said that the US does not have any candidate for the 2015 election, and that its only concern is a credible and transparent election better than that of 2011.


The US Ambassador was asked to react to a request by the President’s Assistant on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku, that the US government is in support of the President’s re-election bid in 2015.

Boko Haram’s Secrets: Kabiru Sokoto Ready To Let The Cat Out Of The Bag

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The kingpin of the Boko Haram Sect, Kabiru Umar, a.k.a Kabiru Sokoto, currently undergoing trial for his role in several bombings across the country in 2011, has volunteered names of the sect members that bombed St. Theresa’s Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State, in 2011, the Nigerian Police Force, yesterday, told the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.

The 2011 attack resulted in the death of 44 persons and wounded 75 others while Christmas day church service was in progress.

However, a lead Police investigator who was masked for security reasons, in his testimony before the court yesterday, stressed that Sokoto, who is facing a 2-count terrorism charge, confessed that though he got prior information that the attack would take place, he was not part of the terror squad that eventually struck the church.

Supreme Court Upholds Phone Thief’s Death Sentence

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Nigeria’s Supreme Court on Friday in Abuja ordered that the ring leader of a notorious armed robbery gang, Mr. Salisu Isiaka, who has been terrorizing the people of Kwara state is to die by hanging for stealing a handset.

In a unanimous decision, the apex Court restored the decision of the High Court which had earlier sentenced Isiaka to death by hanging.

The convicted armed robber had pleaded not guilty at the trial court and had contested the death by hanging judgment passed on him.

Dissatisfied with the death sentence thrown at him by the High Court, Isiaka appealed the sentence at the Court of Appeal. He recorded a temporary reprieve at the appellate court as the death by hanging sentence was set aside and his release from prison custody was also ordered by the court.

His joy was however short-lived as he soon ran into yet another trouble.

Catholic kicks against gay marriage, amnesty

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Director of Catholic Communications Commission, Catholic Diocese of Ilorin, Rev Fr. Pius Ogunyebi, has said the Catholic Church is opposed corruption, gay marriage and granting of amnesty to the Boko Haram sect.

He stated that gay marriage was unscriptural and negated African lifestyle, adding that corruption was detrimental to national development.

Ogunyebi spoke in Ilorin on Saturday at a media conference on the church’s Communication Week, titled, ‘Social networks: portals of truth and faith: new spaces for evangelism.’