Graphic pics from scene of the blast at Yobe secondary school

of today's blast at the Government Science Secondary School Potiskum in Yobe state. Above are some injured students being attended to by doctors at the Potiskum General Hospital. 47 students have been confirmed dead, while 79 were injured

Africa’s fastest woman, Blessing Okagbare weds in Delta

Nigeria’s and Africa’s fastest woman, Blessing Okagbare, has now tied the knot and now capped off an exceptional year for herself.She got married to her sweetheart Otegheri Jude Igho.

Blessing has enjoyed a spectacular year, breaking Africa’s record and commonwealth record, she also picked up two gold medals at the 2014 commonwealth games in Scotland.

Blessing will still have her eyes on the Olympic gold medals in Brazil, in 2016

Nuhu Ribadu's brother kidnapped in Adamawa State

Unknown gunmen this evening November 9th kidnapped the younger brother of former Chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu. According to reports, Sani Ribadu was kidnapped around 5pm today at his farm along Fufore Road in Yola, Adamawa state capital. The kidnappers are yet contact the family.

Myles Munroe, Wife and Daughter Killed in Airplane Crash

UDr. Myles Munroe, internationally-known author, bible teacher, governmental consultant and leadership mentor, was one of nine passengers on a plane that crashed in Grand Bahama on Sunday afternoon, according to multiple news reports.

A Lear 36 executive jet left the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) for the Grand Bahama International Airport, the Department of Civil Aviation reports. The plane departed at 4:07 p.m. and carried nine people. The vessel crashed while making its landing approach, the Department of Civil Aviation said.

News reports indicate his wife, Ruth, and daughter were also killed in the crash.

Myles Munroe's ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Stay tuned   for an update to this story. And please keep his family in your prayers.

Charismanews

PDP, INEC have merged to become one political party- Tinubu

A former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission have joined forces to ensure that the All Progressives Congress does not retain power in Lagos next year.

Tinubu said that just as three parties merged to form the APC and become a more formidable opponent of the PDP, the INEC had also merged with the PDP to ensure that the PDP wins overwhelmingly in 2015.

Tinubu spoke during a press conference to address the “shoddy” Permanent Voter Card distribution in Lagos on Saturday.

The APC leader, who berated INEC over the manner it conducted the PVC distribution, said the commission had no excuse for failing to put its house in order.

He said, “Just as we (APC) merged to form a formidable opposition party, they have merged with Jonathan to form a formidable rigging machine.

“This exercise is a colossal failure. INEC has the responsibility to give us a date when the exercise would start which they did. They were the ones that picked the date. On the eve of the exercise, they announced they could only carry out the exercise in 11 Local Government Areas out of the 20 recognised by the Federal Government.

“Rather than outright boycott, we endured the frustration and appealed to the public to participate. Our field report and personal experiences indicated that the exercise in those 11 LGAs failed and it is unacceptable. In some instances, you didn’t find INEC and then in some, they did not start on time.”

Tinubu said if four months to the election, INEC had yet to put its house in order, it was safe to say that the commission could not conduct a free and fair election next year.

The former governor said INEC must explain in full detail why it reduced the number of registered voters in Lagos from 6.2 million to 4.8 million.

He argued that INEC’s excuse that it reduced the figure because there were many cases of double registration in 2011 was not tenable. He therefore questioned the commission’s right to “disenfranchise 1.4 million Lagosians without recourse to a court of law.”

He said, “You cannot automatically, without a court of law, disqualify them, you can only suspend them and give them another opportunity to register. To me, this exercise has failed, it is not acceptable, and we consider it as a rigging exercise. INEC has colluded with the presidency and the opposing party to rig the election from the data to the end.”

He stated that the APC would embark on protests across the state if things were not corrected and urged INEC to publish the names of those who were removed from the voter register.

He told INEC to return to the drawing board and start the exercise afresh.

Reacting to the APC chieftain’s allegation, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, said there was no reason for the commission to merge with the ruling party.

“INEC has not filed any paper with the country’s Corporate Affairs Commission to be merged with the PDP. It is not a political party,” Idowu said.

15 passengers drowned as Vehicle plunges into Sokoto river

No fewer than 15 passengers drowned at the weekend when their vehicle plunged into River Rima in Goronyo local government of Sokoto State.

The deceased, according to reports, were said to be travelling back to their hometown, Dan-Wauru village, from Takakume village in the same locality.

Reports further stated the passengers were returning from a religious ceremony when their driver fell asleep.

The spokesman of Sokoto Police command, DSP Al-Mustapha Sani, confirmed the incident yesterday.

Sani said that the ill-fated Avensis Toyota model vehicle was conveying 17 persons at the time of the accident with only two surviving.
He said that the remains of the deceased had been evacuated by the men attached to the Goronyo Police Division.

Sani said that the dead persons had since been buried by their respective families, according to Islamic rites.

Governor Aliyu Wamakko condoled with families of the deceased.

He urged the bereaved families to regard the incident as an act of God.

Wamakko, who was apparently shocked by the incident, prayed God for the repose of their souls.

Emir Sanusi receives seized travel passports from SSS

The SSS yesterday November 8th returned the international travel passports (diplomatic & standard)  of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, which they seized a few months ago after he was removed as the head of the Central Bank.

His diplomatic passport was seized at Lagos airport on his return from Niger Republic while his standard passport was seized at the Kano Airport when he tried to travel to France.

The passports was returned to him at his Palace yesterday following his recent reconciliation with president Jonathan

Hospital Worker Caught Having Sex with Female Corpse

Police authorities in Papua New Guinea have arrested a man for violating a corpse. The man, a hospital worker, was allegedly caught having sex with a female dead body.

David Terry, speaking for the police, said this happened at the Port Moresby General Hospital on Wednesday.

The man was found by a security guard who noticed that the lights in a room behind the main morgue were turned off so he went in to investigate.

The security guard entered the unlocked room and found the suspect making out with the dead body.

The woman’s body had been moved from the emergency room that day after she had died from a hit-and-run accident.

The suspect’s DNA was found on the woman and the man has been arrested and he faces charges of interfering with a corpse.

Wish Granted As Dying Woman And Horse Reunite

A dying woman lying in her hospital bed was reunited with her favourite horse for a final time hours before she passed away.

Sheila Marsh, who had terminal cancer, was granted her last wish as she was wheeled outside Wigan Royal Infirmary to say goodbye to Bronwen after the 77-year-old's condition deteriorated.

A photo has been released showing the animal gently nuzzling up against her owner near a medical unit after Bronwen was transported to the hospital premises.

Her family have thanked bosses at the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust for helping to organise the meeting which has been called a "beautiful moment".

Her daughter Tina Marsh, 33, said: "I was crying my eyes out and all the nurses were crying too. She took comfort out of it and it was a beautiful moment."

She told the Manchester Evening News: "She loved her horses and she loved and adored all animals. She had six horses, three dogs, three cats and other animals.

"Her condition did not get any better and the hospital allowed us to bring Bronwen in. It was a matter of hours later that she passed away. I want to thank the hospital and all the nurses.

"It was very important for my mum. She was one of the most hard-working people that you could meet and she would do anything for anyone."

Andrew Foster, chief executive of the trust, posted the image on Twitter and said it highlighted how trust staff went 'the extra mile' to make Mrs Marsh feel comfortable.

He wrote: "With the family's permission here is how @WWLNHS go the extra mile to deliver the wishes of a dying patient."

The telegraph

Careful how you order: Man mistakenly orders $3,750 wine thinking it was $37.50

An occasional wine-drinker asked a waitress to recommend a decent wine for him and his guests at a meeting. She recommended one and said it cost "thirty seven fifty". Thinking she meant $37.50, Joe Lentini ordered the wine and was given a huge bill $4,700.61, including tax.

It was bottle of the vintage wine, Screaming Eagle, Oakville 2011.
‘I asked the waitress if she could recommend something decent because I don't have experience with wine. She pointed to a bottle on the menu. I didn’t have my glasses. I asked how much and she said, “Thirty-seven fifty.” Joe said
When the dinner was over and the waitress brought the bill, Joe, who hadn't paid much attention to the wine, sat up...
We were shocked. We couldn't believe it. The total bill was $4,700.61, including tax. The bottle of wine cost $3,750. I thought the wine was $37.50," Lentini said.

Lentini said he called the waitress over and said there was a problem. He said he explained that he never would have ordered such expensive wine, and repeated that when he asked about the price, the waitress said "thirty-seven fifty," not "three-thousand, seven-hundred-and-fifty."

The waitress disagreed, and a manager was called over. He offered to give separate bills, so the dinner bill, which wasn't being disputed, could be paid.

Next, Lentini said he was told the best price the restaurant could offer was $2,200.

Lentini said he couldn't afford that, but to be able to leave, he and two other diners agreed to split the $2,200 bill.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: Why I wear the same T-shirt every day

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg holds his first Q&A session, and reveals why he made 1.3bn people switch to the Messenger app

Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has opened up about the controversial Messenger app, how Hollywood has hurt him and why he wears the same T-shirt every day, in his first-ever Q&A session.

The 30-year-old billionaire spent an hour at Facebook's Californian headquarters answering pre-submitted questions from across the world as well as from those who attended the event.

Why has Facebook made everyone download Messenger?
The social network's 1.3bn users were undoubtedly keen to hear Mr Zuckerberg's reasons for forcing them to download a separate app for Messenger, after the chat function was disabled on the main site.

Mr Zuckerberg admitted that he didn't get the transition right but insisted that mobile phone users, who send 10bn messages a day, would benefit from the move.

"On mobile, each app really can focus on doing one thing well, we think," he said.

You're probably messaging people 15, 20 times a day, and having to go into an app and wait for it to load and then go through a bunch of steps to get to your messages or send a message is a lot of friction.

"Maybe we didn’t handle that as smoothly as we could, in terms of the transition."

I want to make Facebook as vital as electricity
This attempt to make the website quicker and easier to use is at the heart of Mr Zuckerberg's vision of where the company will be in the future. He admitted that he wants to make Facebook as vital as electricity.

"The services that we aspire to be like in the world are kind of these basic things that you rely on," Mr Zuckerberg said.

"My goal was never really to make Facebook cool. I am not a cool person, and I've never really tried to be cool. Our model for Facebook has never been to try to make it particularly exciting to use - we just want to make it useful."

The Social Network was hurtful
Facebook took a large leap into the mainstream in 2010, when a Hollywood film depicted how Mr Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, created the social network while studying at Harvard.

The Social Network suggested Mr Zuckerberg only created Facebook to attract women following a break-up. The tech tycoon admitted the film makers had "made up" a lot of the events in the film and this had hurt him.

"I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about that movie in a while. I kind of blocked that one out," he said.

"I think the reality is that writing code and then building a product and building a company is not a glamorous enough thing to make a movie about, so you can imagine that a lot of this stuff they had to embellish or make up.

"They went out of their way in the movie to try to get some interesting details correct like the design of the office, but on the overarching plot... they just kind of made up a bunch of stuff that I found kind of hurtful.

"[I met] the guy who played me in the movie [Eisenberg]. I tried to be nice."

A key part of the film he pointed to as being factually incorrect was the suggestion he was single while creating Facebook. Mr Zuckerberg said he had been dating his now-wife, Priscilla Chan, at the time.

"There were pretty glaring things that were just made up about the movie that made it pretty hard to take seriously," he said.

Does Mark Zuckerberg wear the same T-shirt every day?
One aspect the film makers did get right was Mr Zuckerberg's wardrobe, including the famous grey T-shirt that he reportedly wears every day.

Mr Zuckerberg said he owns multiple versions of the same T-shirt, as clothing, along with breakfast, is a "silly" decision he doesn't want to spend too long making. He is also too busy looking after the world's largest social network.
"I really want to clear my life so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community.

"I'm in this really lucky position where I get to wake up every day and help serve more than 1bn people, and I feel like I'm not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous about my life, so that way I can dedicate all of my energy towards just building the best products and services."

Soldiers kill 16 Yobe worshippers, cleric missing

Nigerian soldiers have reportedly killed 16 men in the country’s northeast just hours after they were arrested leaving a mosque, according to nurses at a hospital that received the bodies.Troops rounded up 17 people, including a Muslim religious leader, as they left morning prayers at a mosque on Wednesday from the Dogo Tebo area of Potiskum in Yobe state.Residents and hospital staff said the bodies of 16 men were found dead with bullet wounds. “All the bodies have gunshot wounds on them,” a nurse speaking on condition of anonymity said.

      Residents said the Muslim religious leader was not among the dead, and said they were “worried about what they could do to him”.Community leaders believe the 16 men were picked up and killed because all of them were from the Kanuri ethnic group that forms the bulk of Boko Haram’s membership.“We demand a probe into this unjustifiable murder,” said one community leader, adding “our fear is we don’t know what they will do next”.

   

Human rights groups in Nigeria and abroad have previously accused the military of carrying out extra-judicial killings in the fight against Boko Haram.

Amnesty International, the UK-based rights monitor, said in March that there was “credible evidence” that more than 600 people were summarily executed in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, after a Boko Haram jail break.

Two residents said the heads were put on spikes and paraded through the town.

“It was like hunters displaying their game after a hunting expedition,” Silas Buba, a resident, said.Human Rights Watch, the US-based rights monitor, said the alleged beheadings were consistent with the vigilantes’ recent conduct.

Source: Newsnigeria

Nigeria donates drugs to Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone

Nigerian government has offered drugs and supplies worth more than $249,000 to Sierra Leone, a statement by the Ministry of Health said here on Thursday.

This offering was made apart from a $3.5m donation promised by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan toward the fight against Ebola scourge in the sub-region, said the statement signed by health ministry’s spokeswoman, Ayo Adesugba.


“Nigeria made the donation at the request of the government of Sierra Leone,” the statement said, noting Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, had already mobilized and trained over 600 health workers as volunteers to support the containment effort in affected countries within the region under the leadership of the Economic Community Of West African States.

Nigeria was recently declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO), having recorded no new cases of the highly- contagious disease after six weeks since Aug. 31.

The government said it was in this light that the West African country was willing to share its experiences and offered support to other countries in terms of building necessary capacity, management of information and actual case management in their efforts to contain the Ebola Virus Disease.

Authorities in Nigeria ascribed its success in containing the disease to responsive governance, driven by appropriate political will, a clear leadership role, and strong multi-sectoral teamwork.

The government said an all-inclusive national response to the Ebola outbreak was crucial to the African nation’s rapid containment of the disease.

Do your job, you control the army - Senator Saraki tells GEJ

                  
Former Governor of Kwara state, Senator Bukola Saraki, just posted this on twitter...

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are launching on Friday 14th, and you can pre-order yours today

Be the first to get your hands on an amazing and authentic Apple iPhone 6 or 6 Plus with the iStore’s pre-order system.

The wait is almost over for one of the most anticipated launches in Nigeria – the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will be available at iStore Ikeja Mall in Lagos next Friday, the 14th.

The iStore knows how much everyone wants the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and to make sure you get your stock on the day, you can pre-order yours here. 

  

It’s easy to pre-order, and you can choose the model, colour and storage size that you want.

I love that when you buy an iPhone from iStore, you not only get genuine Apple products, but the lowest launch price. You also get a one-year waranty, plus you’ll be eligible for the official trade-in offer next year when the next iPhone is launched. 

With your authentic Apple iPhone, you’ll also get free and expert advice, training and support. You’ll also have the added peace of mind of knowing that your device has all of its stunning features fully activated, including FaceTime for video calling over cellular or wifi networks, which iPhones from Dubai might not have.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are available in silver, space grey and gold, in storage sizes 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB. Prices for the iPhone 6 range from N135 500 to N175 000, and for the iPhone 6 Plus from N155 000 to N195 000.

So for the most beautiful and smart cellphone at your fingertips, and in good time, pre-order now.

For more info, go to http://myistore.com.ng to pre-order your very own iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus

New owner finds a decaying corpse on the bedroom floor of home he bought at auction for $96k

A Florida man who bought a home at auction got a gruesome surprise when he went to look over the property on Tuesday and found a corpse on the bedroom floor.

Cape Coral, Florida police are now conducting a death investigation at the home, where neighbors say they haven't seen or heard from the last resident in years.

New owner William Wilson bought the home on SE 19th Lane for $96,000 and went over to the home earlier this week to mow the lawn and trim the hedges when he found the body next to the master bedroom bed.

'You couldn’t tell who it was,' Mr Wilson told the News-Press. 'You couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female ... it’s disappointing and a sad thing that nobody cared enough to check.'

He said the house was a cluttered mess, like someone was in the process of moving and that there were pictures of children on the fridge.

There was also a bird cage and a pile of feces on the living room floor. The most recent piece of mail was from November 2011 and the property taxes hadn't been paid for the past three years.
Neighbors say the home was last occupied by an older woman from Miami who lived with her sister.

According to public records, the home was previously owned by a Carmen Garcia-Viso.

They thought she had moved or disappeared since they hadn't seen her in years.

Neighbor Gary Oben Jr, 30, said the woman was nice although she was reclusive and didn't speak much English. He says he only ever saw her when she went to get the mail or watered the lawn.

Source: Ukdailymail

Man kills girlfriend and uploads photos of her body on the internet

33 year old David Kalac strangled his live-in girlfriend 30 year old mother of 4 Amber Lynn Schraw, and posted photos of her body to 4chan. David killed Amber either on Monday night or Tuesday morning at their home in Washington and posted three grisly photos of her lying dead on a bed with what appeared to be strangulation marks on her neck to 4chan on Tuesday afternoon, writing
"Turns out its way harder to strangle someone to death than it looks in the movies. She fought so Damn hard." Then he wrote again when people doubted the story "Check the news for port orchard Washington in a few hours,”  then he wrote that Amber son's “will be home from school soon. He’ll find her, then call the cops. I just wanted to share the pics before they find me.”
35 minutes later, Amber's body was found by her teenage son, who called his father who then called the police. David, who fled the house after committing the murder, turned himself in to police on Wednesday night in Oregon, and is said to be cooperating with investigators. He has been charged with second degree murder.

Man caught eating dead woman's face in hotel room in the UK

A 34 year-old man, Matthew Williams nicknamed Fifi, was allegedly found eating a woman’s eyeball and face in a hotel room.

The horrified security staff at The Sirhowy Arms Hotel in Argoed, South Wales, burst into the room after the murder suspect refused to let them in.

The hotel staff called police who hit Matthew Williams with a high voltage taser which knocked him to the floor. He was formally arrested but died moments later due to high voltage.
His victim, a 22-year-old woman who he'd just met, was also confirmed dead from her injuries.
Williams had just been released from jail two weeks earlier, where he'd served half of a five-year prison sentence for a violent attack on his partner.
According to Jill Edwards, who lives near the hotel, he said: ‘This animal was eating this girl to death. Security said they told him no girls in his room and he didn’t answer, when they opened his door he was eating her face.’
A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: ‘We were called at 1.23am after a reported that a man was attacking a woman in the Sirhowy Arms Hotel. On arrival both the male and female were still at the location. A taser was discharged and a man was arrested. The woman was located with injuries and has since been pronounced deceased. While under arrest, the man became unresponsive. Officers and paramedics administered first aid but he has since been pronounced deceased. A murder investigation is underway into the death of the woman.’

Pictures: PA Wire

Niger: Gov Aliyu Can’t Stop Me – Deputy Gov

The deputy governor of Niger State and gubernatorial candidate, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, has said that his party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the electorate would determine his emergence as governor and not his boss, Governor Babangida Aliyu.

The deputy governor, who stated this yesterday when he came to submit his gubernatorial forms at the national secretariat of the PDP, described the state as a democratic society where people are given the chance to contest, addng that democracy in the country had matured.

“Let me say that I do not think that it is by design that governors do not hand over to their deputies. Let me also tell you that there is remarkable difference between 1999 and 2014.

“You see our democracy has matured to the extent that people determine who succeeds someone in office and not really an individual. I believe that as a democrat, I am presenting myself, first and foremost, to the electoral college of my party, that is, the state congress, and I assure that I will emerge victorious; so in that case, it is not the governor that determines whether I succeed him or not but the general electoral body in the state.”

He, however, hailed the recent PDP ward congresses in Niger State, saying “for my state it was a very remarkable display of democracy in action.”

Also, a governorship aspirant from Katsina State, Arch. Ahmed Aminu Yar’Adua, yesterday said former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, will not win in 2015 just like his previous attempts at emerging president of Nigeria.

After submitting his form at the PDP national headquarters, Yar’Adua said “this is not the first time, this will be the third time Gen Buhari is contesting; all in opposition to PDP, so nothing has changed.

“He contested two times, this is the third time, still our party, the PDP won. In 1999, our party won, we won the second part of the late President, we won in 2007, we won in 2011 and I believe we will win in 2015.”

Boko Haram renames captured Adamawa town, Mubi, “Madinatul Islam” (City of Islam)

The action is further confirmation that the sect was in total control of the town which it recaptured last week after troops stationed there withdrew. Boko Haram had earlier hoisted its flag in some parts of the town, including the Palace of the Emir, which serves as its administration headquarters.

On Monday, the sect announced the introduction of Sharia and the amputation of 10 people in the town, the second largest in the state.

Aliyu Bala, one of the residents, who could not leave Mubi at the time of the invasion of the town by the insurgents, disclosed this in a telephone chat with journalists. He said the insurgents had taken complete control of the town.

“They mounted check points and surveillance at strategic locations, brandishing riffles but asking us not to panic or run away,” Mr. Bala said.

The trapped Mr. Bala said despite assurances of safety given to them by Boko Haram, thousands of the trapped residents have been sneaking out preferring not to take any chances.

Sunday Wugira, a Yola-based legal practitioner who went to Maiha town to pick up his aged parents that fled Mubi when it was captured said, despite the assurance by the insurgents several trapped residents are still fleeing, including soldiers.

‘’I was in Maiha few hours ago,” he said “The pathetic plight of the people I saw was simply beyond imagination. We were in a commercial bus when some fleeing soldiers said we must adjust for them to get space in the bus to flee, which we objected to. It’s unfortunate that even soldiers joined civilians to run away.”

Meanwhile, Boko Haram have urged displaced residents of captured communities of Adamawa state to return home, assuring them of safety in the “Islamic Caliphate.”

Four local governments: Michika, Madagali, Mubi North and Mubi South of Adamawa State, have fallen under the grip of Boko Haram leading to the displacement of thousands.

A resident of Uba town, Salisu Baba, said normal activities have picked up in the captured territories as Boko Haram enjoined residents to go about their normal activities and open their shops for business.

The resident added that the insurgents have warned politicians not to try to hold any election in the state, vowing to frustrate such actions.

The terrorists also vowed to capture the entire state soon.

“The insurgents have assured people of freedom and have been telling shop owners to open their shops threatening that anyone who fails to open their shop will have it broken into,” Mr. Baba said.

“Whenever the insurgents want any commodity, they pay for it. This encouraged meat sellers, tea sellers and others to open for business,” another resident disclosed.

“They provided security during the market day of Uba town last Thursday while promising to continue to give marketers and residents who come to the area utmost security as long as they comply with Islamic rules.”

“They have opened one of the filling stations belonging to A.A Garba in Uba town as motorists’ troops to buy the commodity due to high demand,” Mr. Baba said.

ECOWAS leaders head to Ouagadougou for crisis talk

President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to Ouagadougou tomorrow as a member of the three-man delegation of Heads of State and Government raised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to facilitate the rapid resolution of the current political crisis in Burkina Faso.

Other members of the delegation of ECOWAS leaders are President Macky Sall of Senegal and President John Mahama of Ghana who is the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

During their one-day visit to Ouagadougou, President Jonathan and his Ghanaian and Senegalese counterparts are expected to meet with Burkina Faso’s interim Head of State, Lt.-Col. Isaac Zida, opposition leaders, members of civil society and other political stakeholders in the country.

Recent political turmoil in Burkina Faso led to the resignation of former President Blaise Compaore and the assumption of power by Lt.-Col. Zida

The African Union’s democratic charter requires its 54 member-states to act against the forceful overthrow of elected governments on the continent.

The Union has given the Burkina Faso military an ultimatum to transfer power back to a civilian administration within two weeks or face sanctions.

President Jonathan will be accompanied to Ouagadougou by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed and some of his principal aides and advisers.

Reuben Abati

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

November 4, 2014

Russia destroys Apple statue after CEO comes out as gay

A human-sized iPhone statue featuring a screen that displays a photo and video tribute to Apple Inc founder, Steve Jobs, which was erected in St Petersburg, Russia in 2013, was dismantled by the people who put it up, a day after Apple CEO, Tim Cook, came out as gay.

The Russian group of companies that erected the monument released a statement today saying it was taken down on Friday Oct. 31st, because they needed to abide by 'a law combating gay propaganda". Whatever that means.

Pastor Tunde Bakare Reveals Why He Left Pastor Kumuyi's Deeper Life Church

The Latter Rain Assembly pastor who will be 60 years in few days time made it known in a new interview with TheNewsNigeria why he left Pastor Kumuyi’s Deeper Life Church. The pastor who has received national and international attention for his televangelism, which has sometimes been critical of the Nigerian government made the real reasons why he left the church known.
He also talked on various issues bothering from pastors using anointing oil, handkerchiefs for miracle, members of a church not being able to attend schools which church money was used to build and many more.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

You were in Deeper Life and The Redeemed churches. At what point did you decide to open your own and why?

That’s what you call memory lane. I was in Deeper Life for five years, between 1978 and December 1983. Brother Kumuyi was and is still a great teacher of the Word. The person that put the fear of God in me was Brother Kumuyi. He laid the foundation for systematic teaching that many people see me do today.

However, I rose through the ranks. I preached while I was there and conducted youth meetings. I was doing some legal works for the ministry also. I registered some of their companies.

But one day, while I was ministering and a brother was interpreting, I was giving example of the “faith cometh by hearing and hearing the word of God” and I said, ‘Supposing you go to a supermarket to buy soap, you might not know what soap to buy but because you watched the advertisement of Joy soap on television, then you would look for Joy soap because you have been hearing about it.’ And my interpreter said: “If you have been watching the devil’s box…”

I told him I didn’t say devil’s box but television, and he repeated saying the devil’s box and Brother Kumuyi was behind us. I said I didn’t say devil’s box and that the normal interpretation is amu ohun mu aworan, (the box that captures both the voice and the visuals). Anyway, he still said what he said. The following Sunday, Brother Kumuyi came up with what he called “Sunday Exaltation”; he said that even if you repair television, you are a child of the devil. Then I took my Bible and left. I went home and said I would serve my God, but was not interested anymore in church.

So I returned to Surulere Baptist Church. And one day, my photographer came to me and said I should not just sit like that and that I should come and join his church because I would enjoy it. I asked, ‘What is the name of your church’ and he said The Redeemed Christian Church of God. I said okay and that I would come one day since I was not interested at that moment.

The first Sunday of March, 1984, I invited my wife and said we should go (we were not married then). I borrowed a car because I had no car then. We drove to that church and I discovered I had been to that church before. That was the place Deeper Life was doing their Bible study in 1978. Then there was this gentleman who walked up, they called him G.O. He is still G.O. today, but they call him Daddy G.O. He was the one who preached that day and the message was titled: “The Mercy of God.” I said this seems better than the background of what seems I was coming from, because, in fairness to Brother Kumuyi, he himself eventually went on television. He must have changed his mind, because that time he was very hard on such things.

By the way, looking back today, there is a lot of evil on television. It is not the television that is the devil’s box, it is the programmes that people put on it. So you can choose what you watch.

How would you react to what is happening in the churches now, including how pastors now buy private jets?

It is not wrong to buy private jet, but that is if you can afford it and it is not at the expense of the work. I like to be upfront and don’t sweep anything under the carpet. In 1993, for example, this ministry and some other partners in this church, two captains in this church – Captain Sambo and Captain Benson – brought a proposal to me and they wanted me to invest. I brought Chief Oluwole Adeosun (of blessed memory) of First Bank and we bought a Boeing 707.

You could see the logo of the Latter Rain Assembly on the Boeing 707 and it was christened the Latter Rain. But it was for cargo business. I entered that plane only once in my life with my wife to take photograph and they were carrying cargo to Saudi Arabia, up and down, to East and to West. And when they banned Boeing 707, we stopped the business.

But all these things they are doing now…Look, that is why they run into trouble; when fuelling it and parking it would almost run you into bankruptcy. I am only volunteering the information to you. I don’t take glory in such.

Let me tell you, in America there s a pastor who has two jets. He preaches in Atlanta one session. By afternoon, he would be in New York for another session. In those economies, you don’t even need to put capital down; you can wet-lease, you can lease a jet and if you have a private jet, you can pay for it like you pay for a mortgage.

Life is not that miserable and the interest rate is not as high. But in a depressed economy like ours, the jet represent three things: number one, a tool of business for the likes of Dangote who could afford it because they have many places to go and things to attend to at the same time; a toy for the money-miss-roads who would just think because A bought it I must buy it; or a trap from those men who would buy you and shut your mouth. So, you would have to judge which one it is. Is it a toy? Is it a tool? Or is it a trap?

BABY FACTORY:52yr old woman arrested in Imo

"She said she is a retired midwife and she runs a maternity home that has no name and no certificate." he said

A search carried out at the supposed maternity home which she opened about a year ago revealed she had four women and two one-week old babies in the premises. The NSCDC boss alleged that the woman bribed his men with N100,000 which they collected but presented before newsmen.

When interrogated, a distraught Mrs Akunmadu who spoke in pidgin English denied running a baby factory but admitted bribing the officials with N100,000. She said the day the men came to raid her maternity home, she was about going to the market to buy biscuits and sweets which she also sells and that when she saw the seriousness of the NSCDC officials, she gave them the money so that they could leave her alone and not drag her into any trouble. 

When interrogated, one of the young girls found at her supposed maternity home, said her mother actually brought her to Mrs Akunmadu for treatment until she delivers her baby but does not know if there was any other agreement between her mother and the accused woman as she had only stayed barely a week at the maternity home.

SOURCE: Channels tv

Families of Chibok girls shocked at marriage claims

Families of the 219 schoolgirls held for more than six months by Boko Haram militants on Saturday said they were shocked but not surprised at fresh claims that the teenagers had been married off.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau made the claim in a new video obtained by AFP on Friday, in which he also said that all the girls had converted to Islam and rejected claims of a ceasefire and peace talks.

The head of the Chibok Elders Forum in the northeast Nigerian town, Pogo Bitrus, told AFP: “It (the claim about marriage) is shocking to us, although we know that Boko Haram is not a reliable group.

“We were sceptical about the talks to release our girls and we never took the ceasefire seriously because since the announcement, they have never stopped attacking communities.

“Therefore the information that our girls have been married off is not surprising to us,” said Bitrus, whose four nieces are among the hostages.

“We are only hoping the government will step up whatever efforts it is making to quell the insurgency.”

Nigeria’s military and presidency said on October 17 that they had reached a deal to end five years of deadly violence in the country’s northeast, as well as agreement to release the Chibok girls.

But violence has continued unabated, including a triple bomb attack on a bus station in the northern city of Gombe on Friday, which killed at least eight and injured dozens more.

Shekau indicated in earlier video messages that the girls would be sold as slave brides and that some, but not all, had converted to Islam.

His latest claim that they were now all Muslims and had been “married off” chimes with testimony from former hostages that forced conversion and marriage are commonplace in Boko Haram camps.

Human Rights Watch said in a report published this week that upwards of 500 women and girls have been kidnapped since 2009, although some estimates put the figure at more than 1,000.

Enoch Mark, a Christian pastor in Chibok whose daughter and niece are among the hostages, said the girls’ families were “lost for words”.

“Since they were kidnapped we have no certainty about the situation they are in. We keep getting conflicting information,” he added.

They were “ironically lucky” that world attention has focused on the Chibok girls, he added, but said their situation was part of a wider issue.

“Only God knows the number of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram,” he said. “We only keep hoping that they will be returned to us and if they are not we take solace in God.”

Over 150 Benue students in Adamawa state university reported missing

Over 150 Benue State indigenes, schooling in Adamawa State University, Mubi, are missing.

Seventeen out of the over 200 of the students were rescued and conveyed to Makurdi, the state capital on Friday night.

The distressed students, who spoke to newsmen on Friday might at the Makurdi State Government House, where they were lodged, said they escaped the attack on Mubi through “divine intervention”.

One of them, who identified himself as Terna, a 200 Level Business Administration student, said they spent two nights in the bush while trying to find their way to Maiha Local Government Area, the closest area to Mubi.

According to him, the fleeing students were in company with some military officers, who were also on the run during the escape to Maiha.

He said, “Only God knows how many kilometers we walked through the bush and mountains in two days.

“We had to leave some of our school mates in Katsina Ala Local Government Area for treatment while some of us were brought in here.”

While appreciating the state government, he appealled to the state government that a search party be constituted to get the other missing students.

He said, “Frankly speaking, we are over 200 from Benue State in that university and as you can see, we are just 17 here with few other weak ones in the hospital receiving treatment and I appeal that a search party be urgently instituted to know the whereabouts of the others.”

Broadcaster, Dayo 'D1' Adeneye and singer, Muma Gee join politics

This is the first time in the country's history, dozens of Nigerian entertainers will be showing political ambition to run for different position in the country's general elections.

Recently two more entertainers registered interest in next year's polls.

Award winning TV and Radio broadcaster, Dayo 'D1' Adeneye, is going for Ogun State House of Assembly, Odogbolu Constituency under APC in the 2015 elections, while singer Muma Gee is going for House of Reps, Abua/Odua and Ahoada East LGA, Rivers State under PDP.

They join other Nigerian entertainers like, Kenny Saint Best, 9ice, Julius Agwu, Tony Tetuila, Kenneth Okonkwo, Kate Henshaw, Desmond Elliot, Bob-Manuel Udokwu, Funke Adesiyan, Yemi Solade and so many others.

So who will be the next?

Lobatan : Another day, another bird turns into woman in Lagos

Is it not possible that these people are mentally disturbed individuals instead of witches? I just received these photos and according to the people who claim they witnessed it, a bird suddenly dropped as it was flying by and it turned into the woman above. When people gathered around her, she allegedly confessed to killing four people this week.

This incident happened at Imulokanle street, Ishaga bus stop off Ebule Egba Ekoro road, Lagos. They say she's been wondering around since she fell and they want the police to come take her out of their area