Netanyahu Seeks Re-election as Israel Goes to Polls

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

Israelis have begun voting in a general election, with opinion polls suggesting PM Benjamin Netanyahu will return to office but with a reduced majority.

Campaigning in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said the choice was between parties that would lead to "a divided and weak Israel or a united and strong Israel". Analysts say Netanyahu is likely to form a new right-wing coalition.

Finally, Peter Okoye and Lola Omotayo Welcome Daughter

Finally, Peter Okoye and Baby Mama, Lola Omotayo welcomed their new daughter whom they named  Aliona. Peter, the better half of the famous PSQUARE group already has a son with Lola, Cameron. Here's wishing the couple a big congrats.

EXCLUSIVE; COUPLE, ACCOMPLICE FINGERED IN THEFT OF N20M GOLD

pix; The suspects; Hassan (the jewelry dealer) and the couple

By Chiemelie Ezeobi No fewer than five suspects were arrested by the Area F and M Commands of the Lagos State Police Command in different robbery operations in the state. The Area F had arrested three suspects identified as Mrs. Freedom Maddy and the husband Mr. James Maddy and one Alhaji Hassan Bawa for conspiracy and stealing of gold worth N20million.

Funke Aboyade; The Cat, the Bell and President Jonathan

The Wig & Skirt, By Funke Aboyade. Email:Olufunke.aboyade@thisdaylive.com

Like countless many others no doubt, I have been thoroughly shocked, saddened and scandalised by the graphic images and sorry facts revealed by the Police College Ikeja documentary run over a period of several days last week by Channels Television for its 2013 CSR. Night after night, just when I’d think surely it couldn’t get worse and I couldn’t possibly be more shocked than I’d been the previous night the images confronting me in bold relief would assure me that actually it could, and I could.

I was particularly stunned the night they featured the meal times of the trainees. Their meals were served from buckets, that’s right buckets! The soup looked more like swill. Worse, I learnt that once again we have the ability to best and break all records in the negative sense; I learnt it was physically possible for 50 cadets to share one fish head! My jaws hung open and all I could do was shout for my daughter to come quick, seeing after all was believing. To my shock, she was neither shocked nor moved. Her NYSC camp, she calmly informed me, had been just as bad!

Rot in LAGOS POLICE COLLEGE; Presidency Summons Minister

Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd)

The Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd), Monday spent the greater part of his day answering questions on the rot at the Police Training College, Ikeja, Lagos, which was brought to the public’s attention after a Channels Television documentary trailer on the college was broadcast last week.

The documentary had forced President Goodluck Jonathan to pay an unscheduled visit to the college last Friday, the first of such visits by a sitting president to the 73-year-old college.

Three Feared Dead as Hoodlums, Police Clash in Lagos

Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide

By Chiemelie Ezeobi 

Pandemonium erupted Monday at Ikotun, a suburb in Lagos State, following a violent clash between policemen and some suspected hoodlums which left  about three persons dead and others with varying degree of injuries.

Although police said only one person died in the clash, THISDAY gathered that the figure could be more owing to the violent nature of the clash.

EXCLUSIVE; Anti Pipeline Task Force Arrests 2 Indians, Others for Vandalism

Lagos State PRO, DSP Ngozi Braide By Chiemelie Ezeobi The operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, has arrested two Indians and three other suspects for pipeline vandalism. It was gathered that the task force arrested the suspects at Osogbo in Osun State shortly after the Indians took delivery of two truck load of suspected stolen crude oil from Nigerians National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) pipeline.

Okah’s Road to Jail

MEND Leader, Henry Okah

By Yemi Ajayi

Whichever way the trial went, it was only a matter of time before Henry Okah, leader of a Niger Delta guerrilla outfit, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), got justice. Given the grievous charges against him, the weight of evidence proffered by the state and his own robust defence, the pendulum of justice could have swung either way. When it swung yesterday, it was against Okah, a man who made his name and fortune from militancy in the Niger Delta area.

NBA Calls for Judiciary’s Overhaul as S’African Court Convicts Okah

Henry Okah

A South African court Monday found Nigerian militant leader, Henry Okah, guilty of masterminding the 2010 Independence Day car bombing, which killed 12 people and injured several others. Okah was convicted of 13 counts related to acts of terrorism.

In a reaction, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called for the overhaul of the judiciary in order to speed up the dispensation of criminal cases in the country.

Kano: Gunmen Kill Five, Injure Two

Kano Police Commissioner, Ibrahim Idris

Unidentified gunmen riding on motorcycles on Tuesday evening shot dead five persons and injured two others in Dakata area of Kano metropolis.

According to a source, the gunmen stormed the area about 100 meters away from Dakata bus stop and starting shooting as residents scampered for safety.

It was also learnt that the gunmen escaped after the killings before operatives of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) arrived the scene.

Suspected Islamist Gunmen Kill 18 in Borno State

IGP Mohammed Abubakar

Suspected Islamist gunmen opened fire on residents of a market town in Borno State, killing 18 people in one of the deadliest attacks for several weeks, a local government official said on Tuesday.

The attack late on Monday apparently targeted local hunters in Damboa who sell bush meat from animals such as monkeys and pigs, which strict Muslims are forbidden to eat, the local government leader told journalists.

EXCLUSIVE; ANOTHER KIDNAPPER ARRESTED IN LAGOS

Tope the kidnapper


By Chiemelie Ezeobi

Meanwhile, in a similar development, the Ketu Police Division also arrested another suspected kidnapper, one Tope Akingbemila, who had attempted to kidnap a 5-year old boy simply identified as Dayo. THISDAY gathered that the suspect and three others had already dragged the victim into a tricycle popularly known as Keke Marwa and had attempted to flee with him before he was caught by by-standers.

EXCLUSIVE: Suspect Strangles 7-Year Old Boy to Death, Still Demands N5M Ransom

Patrick the Kidnapper

By Chiemelie Ezeobi
Man's inhumanity to man was recently enacted at the Ikotun area of Lagos State when one Onyeka Patrick sold his soul to the devil by strangling the 7-year-old son of his neighbour to death and still went ahead to demand for the sum of N5million from the deceased's parents.

The deceased was said to have strolled into Patrick's compound to play on January 12, when he was abducted and strangled within minutes. From the suspect's interaction with this reporter it was gathered that the boy had unsuspectingly answered his call as he was a familiar face in the neighbourhood.