Gale Of Demolition Rocks Lagos Again

Roadside traders salvages what remains of their wares after the demolition

TORN BETWEEN ITS DRIVE TO BUILD AFRICA’S MODEL CITY AND THE POLICY AGAINST ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES THAT THREATEN THE DREAM, LAGOS STATE TASKFORCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND SPECIAL OFFENCES (ENVIRONMENT) UNIT PENULTIMATE WEEK DEMOLISHED SHANTIES AND DENS OF OIL THIEVES in Lagos. GBOYEGA AKINSANMI WRITES

She never expected she could be caught and displaced so soon. But she knew long before now that what she was doing for a living truly violates the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Law as well as the new Road Traffic Law.    

Nine-month-old Baby Kidnapped in Kwara Found in Ibadan

Gov Abdulfatah Ahmed

More and more bizarre acts are happening in Kwara State, some of them stranger than fiction. Or how does one explain that a woman on hearing that her friend was delivered of a new born baby and went to share in her joy only to steal the baby and abscond with it?  The incident has set tongues wagging in Oke-Ola area of Oro in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, where the visiting friend stole the nine-month-old baby, Funke Alaba.

40 Nigerians Repatriated from UK, Spain, Says Official

deported Nigerians

About 40 Nigerians have again been repatriated from the United Kingdom and Spain, a senior embassy official said on Thursday in London. Head of Immigration at the Nigerian High Commission in London, Mr. Lawal Isah, disclosed this in an interview with the Western Europe Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He said the deportees, who are due back in Nigeria today, consist of 40 persons from the UK, with an uncertain number from Spain. Isah said among those repatriated were people who had served jail terms in various prisons across the UK, and others arrested for illegal stay.

Rights Commission, Group Laud Soldiers’ Dismissal over Rape

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Global Association of Female Attorneys (GAFA)  have commended the Nigerian Army for responding quickly to requests  to investigate allegations of abductions and rape by soldiers attached to the Guards Brigade, Abuja. A statement signed by the commission’s Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Muhammad Nasir Ladan, quoted NHRC Executive Secretary, Professor Bem Angwe, as saying  that the punitive action taken by the army in dismissing the four soldiers involved in the incident was a clear signal to all that no one was above the law.

A must read; Memories of Biafran Nightmares

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

Agu Imo has been a friend and elder brother for almost two decades now, so when he called about two weeks ago to say there is an old man he wanted me to meet, he knew I couldn’t say no to his request. When he mentioned the name, Rev. Moses Iloh, I was even more enthusiastic since the man remains one of the most respected Christian leaders in Nigeria today. But what Imo said next shocked me: “I want you to meet Rev Iloh because he is now 83 and he is someone with whom I am close and he has some interesting perspectives to share about our country. He is not getting younger and I don’t want him to die without telling his story and, for me, you are the only person who can do justice to his account. You know of course that Rev. Iloh was the head of Red Cross in Biafra…”

Four Suspected Vandals Arrested over Attack on Pipeline at Arepo

NNPC pipeline At Arepo-fire

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

Determined to crack down on the menace of pipeline vandalism, the Inspector General of Police Special Task Force on Anti Pipeline Vandalism Thursday arrested four suspected pipeline vandals in connection with the attack on pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), at Arepo in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State. Earlier, the Civil Defence Corps had arrested some 15 suspects who would be arraigned soon. This is just as it was gathered that NNPC would soon commence the pumping of petrol through the same pipelines given that the fire has been successfully put out.

Chime Undergoing Treatment for Cancer

Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime

By Olawale Olaleye

Enugu State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime, who has been out of the country since September, is being treated for cancer, investigations by THISDAY have revealed. But following the intensive treatment the governor underwent in a London hospital, the cancer is said to be in remission, a source said Thursday. Chime had left the country last September, ostensibly on a six-week vacation, and he had not been seen or heard of until Tuesday when a photograph of him and a delegation of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which had visited him in London, was released to the press.

High-handedness, Politicisation Forced Catholic Church to Leave CAN

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

There are indications that the disagreements between the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and one of its major stakeholders, the Catholic Church may be deeper than what the public has been made to believe.

THISDAY gathered Wednseday  that besides the reason so far adduced for its temporary suspension of its membership with CAN, the Catholic Church has an axe to grind with the national leadership of the organisation for its inability to carry other stakeholders along in its decision-making process.

Ezekwesili: Yar'Adua, Jonathan Frittered $67bn Obasanjo Left

Dr. Oby Ezekwesili

A former Minister of Education in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has stated that the squandering of $45 billion in foreign reserves and $22 billion in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) by the Yar’Adua-Jonathan administration is “the most egregious” instance of Nigeria’s failure to make the right developmental choices.

Ezekwesili, also a former vice-president (Africa) at the World Bank, stated Thursday at the convocation lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) that Nigerians had lost dignity because of the ravaging poverty arising from poor choices of the elite, corruption and lack of investment in education.

Court Sentences Independence Day Bomber to Life

Edmund Ebiware

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday  sentenced one of the four suspects, Edmund Ebiware standing trial for their involvement in the October 1,2010 twin bombing, which occurred at the Eagle Square in Abuja, to  life imprisonment.

The is coming few days after a South African court also sentenced the mastermind of the bomb blast, Henry Okah to  life imprisonment.

Ebiware was initially arraigned along side three others Charles Okah, Obi Nwabueze and Tiemkefa Osuvwo, who eventually died in Kuje Prison in the course of the trial.