EXCLUSIVE: IG Task Force Arrests Informant, Other Suspected Pipeline Vandals

The Inspector General of Police Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, Force Headquarters Annex, Lagos, has arrested one of their informants and three other suspected pipeline vandals at the Sagamu area of Ogun State.

The operatives of the task force also impounded a fuel tanker with registration number XP453SMK, laden with 33,000 litres of petroleum products. 

EXCLUSIVE: Seven Dead as Police Engage Robbers in Shootout

No fewer than seven persons were yesterday gunned down in different operations at the Ajah and Ajao Estate area of Lagos, when police operatives engaged an eight-man armed robbery gang in a gun duel.  It was gathered that although the police had succeeded  in killing five members of the armed robbery gang, two policemen were however caught in the line of fire.

According to report, the gang had first stormed the Ajah area of the state at about 1am, where they snatched a Honda Odyssey space bus reportedly headed for Ajao Estate.

George Zimmerman found not guilty of murder in Trayvon Martin's death

George Zimmerman never denied shooting Trayvon Martin, but he said he did
 so in self defense but Late Saturday night, a Florida jury found him not guilty in the
 teenager's death. The six jurors -- all of them women -- deliberated for 16½ hours.
Five of the women are white; one is a minority. When he heard his fate, Zimmerman
had little visible reaction. He turned and shook the hand of one of his attorneys
before sitting back down, smiling only after court was adjourned.

SIMON KOLAWOLE: We’d Soon Start Drinking Our Oil

Simon Kolawole Live!: By Simon Kolawole, Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

Did you watch the thugs in the Rivers State House of Assembly last Tuesday? I later learnt that they were, in fact, legislators. A group of five, led by Babakaya Bipialaka, had ridiculously tried to remove the Speaker, Otelemaba Amachree, with a fake mace. Bipialaka is an opponent of the state governor, Chibuike Amaechi, while Amachree is pro-Amaechi. Shortly after Bipialaka was “elected” Speaker, a group of 27 pro-Amaechi lawmakers entered the chamber. In the videoed fracas, Amaechi’s loyalist, Chidi Lloyd, grabbed the fake mace and began to use it as a weapon of mass destruction. He later narrated how he was eventually given the beating of his life. In the “movie”, Amaechi’s security aides also contributed some useful punches and whiplashes to the show of shame. And so on and so forth.

DELE MOMODU: Our Leaders Have Gone Mad Again

Pendulum By Dele Momodu; dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, please allow me to quickly confess that the title of this column is not my full creation. It is only an adaptation of the original title of the extremely hilarious play, Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again, by Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi, who was famously known as Ola Rotimi. Rotimi was one of Africa’s greatest playwrights and Directors. Believed to have been born in Sapele, on April 13, 1938, to a Yoruba father, Engineer Samuel Gladstone Enitan Rotimi, and an Ijaw mother, Mrs Adolae Oruene Addo, Ola spent his early years at St. Cyprian’s School, Port Harcourt from 1945-49.

Halle Berry 'Marries' Olivier Martinez

Halle Berry (R) with French film star Olivier Martinez

American actress Halle Berry has married French film star Olivier Martinez, according to reports. Berry, 46, and Martinez, 47, are believed to have tied the knot on Saturday at a chateau in Vallery, Burgundy. America's People magazine and French website Pure People said the pair were married at the small Chateau des Conde. They were reportedly wed in a civil service at 4pm followed by a religious ceremony in the village chapel 90 minutes later.

Shekau Denies Boko Haram Ceasefire

Abubakar Shekau        

The spiritual leader of the Islamist militant sect, Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lidda’awati wal Jihad – popularly known as Boko Haram – Abubakar Shekau, has denied entering into any ceasefire deal with the Federal Government.

This denial contradicts last week Monday’s claim by Minister of Special Duties, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts in Northern Nigeria, Kabiru Turaki to the effect that the committee has secured a ceasefire deal with the sect.

Task Force Rescues Eight Kidnapped Persons in Jos

Operatives of the Special Task Force

The Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crisis saturday  rescued eight victims of kidnappers in Jos, capital of Plateau State. The STF, which disclosed this in a press statement signed by its media officer, Captain Salisu Mustapha, said following intelligence reports at  the early hours of Saturday, the task force’s anti-kidnapping Squad carried out a raid operations at Chiwarana Hotel at Zinaria layout in Jos North Local Government Area and rescued victims who were kidnapped by a group of criminals .

Afenifere Decries Al-Mustapha’s Acquittal

Al-Mustapha

Afenifere Renewal Group has decried the acquittal of the former Chief Security Officer to the former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha, Major Hamzat Al-Mustapha by the Court of Appeal, Lagos on Friday.

Major Al-Mustapha regained his freedom from the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons after 14 years of incarceration. He was sentenced to death by hanging on January 30, last year by Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court, Igbosere alongside the former Personal Assistant to the late Kudirat Abiola, Lateef Shofolahan over the alleged murder of the wife of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.