10-yr-old girl suicide bomber kills seven in Yobe

A girl, about 10 years old, carried out a suicide attack at popular Tasha Market/motor park in Damaturu, Yobe State capital, yesterday, killing seven and injuring 31, witnesses said. The killings came on a day it was revealed that Boko Haram Islamists had recaptured a strategic town in Borno State.
“A girl aged about 10 detonated an explosive under her clothes as she approached the market’s perimeter fence,” said Danbaba Nguru, a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack.
The head of the local Sani Abacha General Hospital, Dr Garba Fika, said six bodies and 32 injured had arrived there with one person dying after being admitted.
The Damaturu market has been repeatedly targeted in a string of previous suicide attacks.
“I was in the station when I saw the young girl arrive,” said bus driver Musbahu Lawan.
“I think she noticed the guards checking people at the gates and decided to detonate the explosive in the middle of the crowd outside the gates.”
Nguru added: “The road leading to the gates is always full of small traders… I was lucky not to have been hit.”

Oshiomhole’s wife, Iara performs first role as First Lady

Iara, the newly wedded wife of Adams Oshiomhole, governor of Edo state, has performed her first official role as the first lady of the state, less than 24 hours after her wedding.

PRESENTATION: Mrs Iara Oshiomhole, Edo State First Lady presents a trophy to Tanui Nkele of Kenya, winner of the 1st prize with 33.34 minutes in the 3rd edition of the Annual IAAF certified 10km Okpekpe race, on Saturday.
PRESENTATION: Mrs Iara Oshiomhole, Edo State First Lady presents a trophy to Tanui Nkele of Kenya, winner of the 1st prize with 33.34 minutes in the 3rd edition of the Annual IAAF certified 10km Okpekpe race, on Saturday.
Iara in the company of her husband presented trophies and medals to winners at the Okpekpe Road Race.

OSHIOMHOLE: I CAN DO WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE DO •Runs 10km 24 hrs after wedding

Barely 24 hours after he wedded former Miss Lara Fortes, Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday participated in the annual 10 kilometers Okpekpe road race.
The governor, who completed the 10 kilometer race under the VIP section, was joined by Chief Mike Ozekhome, Chief Oseni Elamah, Nollywood artistes and other dignitaries.
In his speech after the race, Oshiomhole said he worked very hard to ensure he emerged winner of the race.
He said: “I worked hard but was not successful. To do 10 kilometers after the wedding assured me that I am capable and strong to what young people can do.”
Oshiomhole urged businessmen to key into his administration’s rural development by setting up cottage industries, hotels and amusement parks in Okpekpe community in Etsako East local government area to boost the economic potentials of the community.

JONATHAN HANDS OVER ASO ROCK CHAPEL TO OSINBAJO TODAY

President Goodluck Jonathan will today hand over the Aso Rock Villa Chapel to the vice president-elect, Professor YemiOsinbajo.
A presidency source confirmed yesterday that the handing over of the chapel would take place at 9.00am.
The source said a valedictory prayer session would hold in honour of the president and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan.
He added that prayers would also be offered for the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari.

Jonathan betrayed me, Niger-Delta — Ex-gov Sylva

A former Governor of Bayelsa State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Timipre Sylva, in this interview with  ASHIWAJU.ORG MEDIA in Abuja, talks about his relationship with the Peoples Democratic Party, among other issues

What is your relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha like?

I would say it’s neither here nor there. Sometimes, you think you are very good friends or brothers with some people, but it turns out that you are not really brothers or friends. That’s the way it has always been. I sometimes feel like the biblical Joseph that was sold by his brothers. That’s actually the way I feel sometimes, when I think about the way I was treated by my own people — the people I call my brothers.

You sound betrayed.

Plots To Cause Disharmony Between Buhari And Tinubu Heightens

                                 
A gigantic test of wills is rocking the All Progressives Congress just 12 days to the inauguration of President-elect Mohammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s substantive President.

Impeccable sources within the party told Ashiwaju.org over the weekend that some ex-governors, Buhari’s associates and mutinous party members from the South-West are trying to whittle down the influence that the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will have on the incoming government.

Tinubu, the party’s undisputed leader in the South-West, is widely feted as the force behind the merger of all the major opposition parties in the country which led to the emergence of the APC as Nigeria’s major opposition party.

On several occasions, Buhari, who defeated President Goodluck Jonathan in the March 28 presidential elections, winning 15,424,921 votes to Jonathan’s 12 853,162 votes, has also acknowledged the efforts of the former governor of Lagos State, fondly referred to as Jagaban by his admirers.

IBB May Have Returned ‘Part’ Of $12.4bn Looted Gulf Oil Windfall For Fear of Buhari

Unconfirmed reports indicates that former Nigerian head of state , Gen Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida has allegedly returned ‘part’ of $12.4bn Gulf oil windfall money. According to a source within the presidency, the retired gap tooth general “secretly returned the money this weekend to the nations coffers”.

Though our source could not elaborate on the details surrounding the sudden action of the retired Minna general. We recalled that a Federal High Court in Abuja had dismissed the suit filed by civil society groups against the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The presiding judge, Justice Gabriel  Kolawole, delivered the ruling on Thursday November 29 2012 in Abuja. The judge averred that the applicants lack the locus standi to institute the case. Justice Kolawole however said the plaintiffs should not be seen as busy bodies but patriotic citizens.

How APC fraudulently declared man dead to deceive INEC into substituting him

A scandal appears to be brewing in the All Progressives Congress over an allegation that party leaders in Delta State, alongside the national leadership of the party, corruptly substituted the name of one of APC’s candidates for the elections, claiming he was dead.
The affected candidate, Christopher Anirah, has accused some leaders of the party, including the National Chairman, John Oyegun, and the party’s governorship candidate in Delta state, Otega Emerhor, of conspiring to fake his death.
Mr. Anirah, who was returned winner of the Sapele/Okpe/Uwvie Federal Constituency APC primary held December 7, 2014, said the APC leaders faked his death to substitute his name with another member of the party, Gibson Akporehe.
PREMIUM TIMES has obtained correspondences purportedly from the party at different levels leading up to Mr. Oyegun, despatched to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, resulting in Mr. Anirah’s substitution.

PDP PLOTS ATIKU, KWANKWASO’S RETURN ■ Offers 2019 presidential ticket as bait ■ We’ll love to have them back- Party

The undying presidential ambi¬tion of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has now be¬come the talking point among close associates of President Goodluck Jonathan who have already begun moves to woo him back into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Saturday Sun gathered that initial meet¬ings on how to get Atiku back into the PDP fold have been held in Abuja where it was decided that “to get the former VP back into our fold (PDP), the party’s 2019 presidential ticket will be placed before him.”
A source, who attended one of the meet¬ings, disclosed that the task of getting Atiku into the PDP has been given to the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih “who is very close to Turaki (Atiku’s traditional title) and main¬tains a strong influence on him.”
Should Atiku decline the offer, Saturday Sun gathered, Kano State governor, Dr Ra¬biu Musa Kwankwaso has been penciled down as a fallback option.

DON’T LET HIM DIE

That there’s something enigmatic between the Nigerian Army and the human rights activist family, Ransome-Kuti, is not in doubt. This is amply evident in the cross-fire between the family and the NA. At least, the family’s past three generations have had an axe to grind with the army on different count charges.

• Fela’s family pleads for Beko’s son facing court martial
The Ransome-Kuti family has a history of radicalism even though they had a celestial background. Over the generations, the family, which was deeply involved in activism, crossed the path of the Nigerian authorities.
Funmilayo, the matriarch of the family, was a celebrated women’s right activist. She was a hard core lady, prolific woman nationalist and representative of the feminist cause in her time.
This trend continued with the late King of Afrobeat and the most vocal of the second generation Kutis, Fela. His younger brother, Beko, was equally an enigma of some sort.
Together with Fela, they both experienced the harsh condition of the numerous cells as they were variously imprisoned in the cause of fighting for the oppressed masses.
Enitan, son of the late pro-democracy activist, Beko, and nephew to Fela in line with the family tradition has again defied the norm as he joined the army against all expectations and rose through the ranks to become a Brigadier-General in the Nigerian Army.
The army, trusting his capability, handed him the task of routing the dreaded Boko Haram sect that has terrorised the country for so long a time now. That task, however, has again brought the family face to face with the authorities.