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Cross River monarch, three others nabbed for kidnapping
The Cross River State joint military outfit code-named, Operation Akpakwu on Monday arrested a traditional ruler along with his two wives and son for alleged kidnapping. The royal father named Etiyin Akamba Eyo is the Clan Head of Ikot Atambi in Akpabuyo Local Government Area and was arrested for using his houses as base for kidnapping activities. His shrine and two houses where kidnappers and militants are fortified with juju were demolished by the security outfit The operation was led by the State Security Adviser, Mr Leo Nyambi, where the chief confessed that his son was involved in kidnapping. Also on Monday, a building at the Eta Agbo Satellite Town was demolished after kidnappers who abducted a medical consultant in the University of Calabar were kept some weeks back. Get more storie...
How love affair gone bad led to imprisonment of Prophet Israel Oladele
When the Lagos State Court of Appeal granted the Senior Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Genesis Global, Prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe, a post-conviction bail last week, on grounds of failing health, quite a number of people, particularly members of his congregation, were very happy with the news. This is because the televangelist’s previous bail applications were all turned down. Oladele was arraigned on seven counts bordering on obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretences, unlawful conversion of property and forgery, fraudulently collected N14m and £12,000 in various tranches from the complainant between August 30, 2002 and 2005. He was found guilty on two counts of stealing and unlawful conversion of property not delivered. And on November...
Prince Charles pays tribute to ‘my dear papa’ Philip for devoted service
Britain’s Prince Charles paid a personal tribute on Saturday to his “dear papa” Prince Philip, saying the royal family missed him emormously and that the 99-year-old would have been amazed at the touching reaction across the world to his death. Philip, the husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth who had been at her side throughout her record-breaking 69-year reign, died at Windsor Castle on Friday. “As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father enormously,” Charles, the couple’s eldest son and heir to the throne, said outside his Highgrove House home in west England. “My dear papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him and from that point of view we are, my family, deeply grateful f...
Nasarawa first lady restates commitment to fight violence against women
Nasarawa State First Lady, Hajiya Silifat Abdullahi Sule, has reaffirmed her resolve to fight all forms of violence against women. Silifat Sule, stated this while playing host to a delegation from Adogi who were in her office on Tuesday, on a thank you visitfor sponsoring the medical treatment of an infant, Ruqayya, who was raped last year. Recal that on May 27, 2020, a three-month-old baby, Ruqayya from Adogi, Lafia local government area of Nasarawa state was brutally raped by a 27 year old serial rapist, Ahmadu Yaro. Yaro had since been nabbed by Personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Nasarawa state command. Wife of the governor, who was overjoyed seeing Ruqayya looking healthy and playful after several surgical procedures at Jos University Teaching Hospital (J...
More than 90 killed in Myanmar in one of bloodiest days of protests
Security forces killed more than 90 people across Myanmar on Saturday in one of the bloodiest days of protests since a military coup last month, news reports and witnesses said. The lethal crackdown came on Armed Forces Day. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade in the capital Naypyitaw to mark the event that the military would protect the people and strive for democracy. State television had said on Friday that protesters risked being shot “in the head and back”. Despite this, demonstrators against the Feb. 1 coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns. The Myanmar Now news portal said 91 people were killed across the country by security forces. A boy reported by local media to be as young as five was among at least 29 people killed in...
Zimbabwe president gets coronavirus vaccine dose, urges citizens not to hesitate
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some opposition politicians received China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in the tourist resort of Victoria Falls on Wednesday as part of efforts to encourage citizens to get inoculated. Zimbabwe has registered vaccines from China, India and Russia for emergency use but none so far from Western manufacturers. In a country where suspicion and scepticism often trump facts, Mnangagwa’s vaccination at a public event, together with opposition leaders, was meant to assure citizens that the vaccines were safe. The southern African nation had planned to administer the Sinopharm vaccine to 53 000 health workers and selected security forces when it rolled out the first phase of its programme on 18 February, but only 44 135 people had been vaccinated by Tuesday...
Polls open in Congo as main opposition party boycotts election
Polls have opened in the Republic of Congo’s presidential election that is boycotted by the main opposition party and attacked by critics as tilted toward veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso. Voting centres opened at 07:00 (06:00 GMT) and will close at 17:00 (16:00 GMT). More than 2.5 million voters have registered to take part in the election which Nguesso, 77, is widely expected to win against six contenders. The list of contenders is led by economist and 2016 presidential runner-up Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who was hospitalised on Saturday. Kolelas’ campaign did not say what illness had struck the 60-year-old but a family member told the Associated Press he had been diagnosed with coronavirus. Nguesso, a former paratrooper, first rose to power in 1979 and has since accumulated 36 years...
Italian priest recalls coronavirus ‘nightmare’ of coffin-filled church
On the wall of St. Joseph’s Church hangs a black-and-white photograph with a caption remembering when the Italian parish of Seriate gave 270 people emergency “hospitality” last year – coffins of the dead from COVID-19, sometimes up to 40 at a time. The hosts were Father Mario Carminati, 65, and Marcello Crotti, 46, who opened up the church to give the deceased a dignified temporary place of rest so they would not have to wait in a warehouse for burial or cremation. “For me it was a nightmare, but I didn’t have the opportunity to think about it a lot because when you find yourself in the middle of an emergency you have to rush and act according to your instinct,” Carminati, the senior priest in Seriate, said. A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic in northern Italy was spiralling and the provinc...
Senator Okorocha meets VP Osinbajo over feud with Governor Uzodinma
Rochas Foundation The former Governor of Imo State and Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Wednesday took the feud between him and Governor Hope Uzodinma to the Presidency. Senator Okorocha after meeting behind closed doors with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo told State House correspondents that he would not want an escalation of the conflict arising from the government’s sealing of some of his property in Owerri, the Imo State capital, insisting that he wants peace to reign in the state. The proponent of ‘Iberiberism’ doctrine also said that becoming governor was a sacrifice for him. According to him, “The whole thing to me sounds like a movie, a joke, a dream that does not reflect any practical reality, but I am a father, I’m a leader of that state an...
#EndSARS: Oba Akiolu accuses youths of stealing $2 million, N17 million from his palace during protests
Nigerian Ports Authority Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu has said that youths that invaded his palace during #EndSARS protests in October 2020 stole $2m and N17m from his palace. The monarch said the youths wouldn’t have committed the offence if they knew the implication of what they did. Akiolu said this during the commissioning of the Glover Hall Memorial in Lagos on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. It would be recalled that Akiolu’s palace at Iga Idunganran on Lagos Island was attacked by youths a day after soldiers shot at #EndSARS protesters at Lekki tollgate on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. The youths vandalised vehicles and carted away several artefacts including the monarch’s staff of office. Describing the destruction that followed the shooting of protesters as enormous, Akiolu said he had appe...
Former NAF chief Nsikak Eduok laid to rest in Akwa Ibom
It was a harvest of tributes for a former Chief of Air Staff, late Air Marshall Nsikak Eduok as his remains were laid to rest in his hometown in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom state on Saturday. Chief of Air Staff, Oladayo Amao who spoke at the Ibom Hall grounds Uyo during the funeral service conducted by United Evangelical Church, Founded as Qua Iboe Church, described late AM Eduok as a man of valour, integrity and a great achiever with unprecedented strive for success. Based on these sterling attributes, the Force has decided to immortalise him by naming Ultrafit Gymnasium center at the Nigerian Air Force Base Yola after him. According to him, late Eduok was one of the best hands the force had, one who changed the landscape of the service and was mentor to many retired and serving officers. ...
CAN: Isa Pantami serving President Buhari’s interest
File Photo The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, says President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Isa Pantami as Nigeria’s communications minister to serve a predetermined purpose, noting the government will not cast him away no matter how loud the call for his removal becomes. CAN’s position was relayed by its General Secretary Joseph Daramola in an interview with Punch. The comments come less than 24 hours after the presidency defended Mr Pantami of his alleged support for terrorist groups. Mr Daramola said the Christian body is not surprised that the presidency swiftly came out to exonerate Pantami, saying those who tapped him for the job were quite aware of his antecedents and must have given him specific instructions to carry out in government. “Government studies the characters they pu...