IBRAHIM BABANGIDA: Saving Nigerians from Nigeria

Policy & Execution By  Ibrahim Babangida

In less than a year, in about 11 months and a few days, we as Nigerians will be celebrating 100 years of our existence as a legal united entity. We have cause to rejoice.  During these 100 years, Europe has endured two world wars; Russia had gone through a revolution, a Civil War and finally gone from being Russia to Soviet Union and back to Russia.  During this time, Spain and Yugoslavia have gone through horrendous civil wars.  During this time, several countries in Asia including China went through civil wars that almost brought them to their knees.

Yet, during the past 100 years of our existence, we also have gone through a horrendous civil war.  The events that led to the war and the war itself have left lasting effects on all of us, including those who were not even born during those events.

FG Vows to Halt Further Attacks on Nigerians in Bakassi

Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro

The federal government Thursday condemned the attack on Nigerians living in Bakassi Peninsula, which is under Cameroonian sovereignty, and assured the people that it was taking measures to protect them from further attacks by that country’s gendarmes.

Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, told State House correspondents in Abuja at the end of the meeting of the Presidential Committee on Bakassi and Rights of the Displaced People that the government would ensure that the belligerence on the part of the gendarmes is checked.

CAN Warns against Jihad By Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen

Fulani herdsman with his cows

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has described the recent attacks by Boko Haram sect in some parts of the North and the continuous killings of families in communities in Benue State by Fulani herdsmen as a declaration of a new Jihad on none Muslims in the country.

CAN made the statement through its state Chairman, Dr. Yimam Orkwar, at a press briefing at the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) House in Makurdi.

Again, Court Denies Akingbola Permission to Travel

 Dr. Erastus Akingbola

Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of an Ikeja High Court Thursday refused the application of the former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank), Dr. Erastus Akingbola, seeking to travel abroad for medical treatment.

The judge however granted the other applications by Akingbola and his co-defendant, Bayo Dada, seeking a variation of their bail conditions that mandated them to report at the EFCC office every first working day of the week.

Air Force Acquires Boeing Aircraft for Troops

CAS, Air Mashal Bade and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Alhaji Aliyu Ismaila inspecting the aircraft

The Nigeria Air Force (NAF) in its continuous quest to complement its operations and build its airlift capability as a strategy to enhance military effectiveness in support of United Nation and African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Africa has acquired a new range of aircraft to its fleet; a Boeing 737-500 series for airlifting troops.

The Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada, inaugurated the aircraft yesterday at 209 Executive Airlift Group Hanger, Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja.

EXCLUSIVE: Gunmen in Police Uniform Kill Two in Lagos

Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

Daleko Bridge in Mushin area of Lagos was like a war zone Thursday as people fled in different directions as gunmen, who were said to be dressed in police uniform, struck in the area. The gunmen were said to have killed no fewer than two persons while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries in the ensuing melee.

It was gathered that one of the victims, a foreigner, Mr. Santos Korie, who was shot while driving a Toyota Highlander sport utility vehicle (SUV), later died from gunshot wounds while he was being rushed to a nearby hospital.

EXCLUSIVE: Task Force Arrests 251 Aliens in Lagos Raid

Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ngozi Braide

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

A combined team of security operatives from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Navy (NN), Nigerian Army (NA) and the State Security Service (SSS), Tuesday, raided and arrested 251 aliens in Lagos. The arrests, it was gathered, came as part of the stringent security measures put in place to checkmate the recent plot by suspected terrorists to bomb some landmarks in the state.

Finally, Kanu Nwankwo Joins Twitter

So finally, Soccer star, Kanu Nwankwo (Pappilo) joined twitter
on April 3, 2013 and he already has 4255 followers. Meanwhile, he
just tweeted for the first time yesterday where he urged his followers
 to treat him well. Currently, the super star is following only 9 persons.
 ITZ good to be a star sha! We say welcome PAPILO! Remember that
Peak Milk advert? (We KNOW SAY ONE DAY U GO DO
NIGERIA PROUD)

LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER ARREST: International Press Institute Flays Draconian Gag on Media

President Goodluck Jonathan

The Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI) had expressed concern over the travails of journalists working with the media house. The  IPI, which is the global platform for a free press, in a statement signed by its Nigeria National Committee Chairman, Kabiru Yusuf, noted that: “Although the police have released the journalists after two unwarranted, agonising nights in detention, we see nothing to celebrate in their release because they ought not to have been detained in the first instance.”

Abati: Jonathan Didn’t Order Arrest of Leadership Journalists

President Goodluck Jonathan

Following the arrest, detention and subsequent release of four journalists working for Leadership Newspapers, the presidency Wednesday said President Goodluck Jonathan did not instruct the police to arrest them.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a statement said the president did not have to issue an order to the police to perform their constitutional responsibility of forestalling incitement and the breakdown of law and order that may have arisen from the publication of the ‘bromide’ story.

Boko Haram: Buhari Commends Jonathan on Amnesty Committee

Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd)

Former military Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), Wednesday threw his weight behind the federal government's consideration of clemency for Boko Haram, and lauded President Goodluck Jonathan for the establishment of the amnesty committee.

This is just as the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said that the federal government was still working on the proposal to grant amnesty to the Islamic sect, and will provide information to Nigerians in a timely fashion as events unfold.

Test-tube Baby Pioneer Dies, Aged 87

The IVF pioneer and Nobel prize winner Professor Sir Robert Edwards has died aged 87. His work led to the birth of Louise Brown, the first "test-tube baby" in July 1978. The University of Cambridge, where Prof Edwards was a fellow of Churchill College, said his work "had an immense impact throughout the world".

He was knighted in 2011, a year after being awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. Professor Martin Johnson was, together with Sir Richard Gardner, Prof Edwards's first graduate student at the University of Cambridge.

SEGUN ADENIYI: The Hobson’s Choice

The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

"Whichever option I choose, men are going to die.’  That statement was made by a fictional President of the United States in Frederick Forsyth’s novel, “The Devil’s Alternative” which explores the dilemma that leaders most often confront whenever they have to take decisions based on choices that are not necessarily palatable. I have in recent days read commentaries which tend to suggest that such is the sort of situation President Goodluck Jonathan has to confront with the contentious issue of whether or not to grant amnesty to Boko Haram. I slightly disagree with that summation because the more one looks at the current challenge, the more one comes to the conclusion that some form of accommodation with Boko Haram seems more like the only plausible option readily available for the president to either accept or reject.

US Maintains Stand on Alamieyeseigha’s Pardon

Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Dipreye Alamieyeseigha

The United States of America Wednesday said its position on the pardon granted the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Dipreye Alamieyeseigha by President Goodluck Jonathan, had not changed. The Political Counsellor of the US Embassy in Nigeria, Gregory Lawless, told journalists at a teleconference on US-Nigeria Bi-National Commission in Abuja, that “The situation has not changed.”

He said his country had not departed from its earlier statement where it condemned the action. He, however, added that whatever the disappointment was, the US had since moved on with its relationship with Nigeria.

Two Nigerians Named Yale World Fellows

President of Yale University, Richard C. Levin

Two Nigerians, Tokunboh Ishmael and Lai Yahaya, were yesterday named as Yale World Fellows. “While Ishmael is an impact investment pioneer, Yahaya is an oil sector transparency advocate,” the President of Yale University, Richard C. Levin, said as he announced them as the 2013 Yale World Fellows.

Ishmael is an investment professional with over 20 years’ experience spanning investment banking, private equity investing, technology and new business development. She is co-founder and Managing Director of Alitheia Capital, a fund management and investment firm based in Nigeria that channels private equity investments into businesses and broadens access to finance, energy and housing for 

SMEs and low-income households.

Ishmael's previous roles include Country Partner for Aureos West Africa, and Mergers and Acquisition banker at Salomon Smith Barney. Ishmael is passionate about transforming lives through meaningful investments that drive job and wealth creation.

Yahaya, a policy entrepreneur, is currently Team Leader of the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform (FOSTER), a donor-funded programme that supports government and civil society in a bid to push for greater transparency, accountability and reform in the Nigerian oil sector.  Previously, he was a technical adviser on the Nigerian Presidential Taskforce on Power and worked on the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform. He is an ardent activist for probity, efficiency and best practice in government and the private sector.

Three Arrested for Murder of 12 Policemen in Bayelsa

Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar

Following the killing of 12 policemen by aggrieved militants in the creeks and waterways of Bayelsa State, the police in conjunction with operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Wednesday arrested three members of the group who allegedly carried out the killing.

The policemen, who were among a 50-man contingent deployed in Azuzama to provide security at the   burial of the mother of a repentant Niger Delta warlord, Kile Selky Torughedi, alias General Young Shall Grow, were killed in an ambush in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

The bodies of 10 of the slain policemen were recovered Tuesday and deposited at the mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa.

Psquare's Paul Okoye and long-time girlfriend welcome son

The new father with his son, Andre

With his twin brother's girlfriend and constant

 baby mama; lola omotayo, popping out two 

kids already, Probably not ready to be seen 

as slacking in the baby-making department, 

P-Square's Paul Okoye and his longtime girlfriend 

Anita welcomed a son, Andre Okoye, today in 

Atlanta, USA.