Gist Arena

The Federal Government of Nigeria on Wednesday evening confirmed the arrest of Abubakar Sadiq Ogwuche, one of the masterminds of the Nyanya bombing, in which 100 persons were killed and many others wounded, PR Nigeria reported. On Monday, a sum of N25 million was placed on the head of Ogwuche and the main mastermind, Rufai Abubakar Tsiga.  On Tuesday, International Police (Interpol) issued a warrant of arrest on the man, who was said to be hiding in Sudan. During the Monday briefing by Directorate of State Service (DSS) spokesperson Marylyn Ogar, five suspects were paraded in connection with the incident. They include Ahmad Abubakar (aka Abu Ibrahim/Mai Turare), Mohammed Ishaq, Yau Saidu (aka Kotar Rama) Anas Isah and Adamu Yusuf and all confessed to being privy to the plot to bomb Nyanya. At the daily briefing of the National Information Centre on Wednesday however, the Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, announced that ...

Read the EFCC press release below... The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned the duo of Nnanna Kalu, 26 and Ukaegbu Arisa Oti, 27, before Justice F. A. Olubanjo of the Federal High Court Umuahia, Abia State on a 28-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretense and forgery. The two are alleged to be part of a five-man syndicate that defrauded one Michael J. Firm (a South African) of the sum of $60,000 (sixty thousand dollars) under the pretense of registering his company with National Agency for Foods Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to enable it supply the Federal Ministry of Defence with pre-cooked meals in sachets. Continue... One of the charge reads: “That you Nnanna Kalu, Ukaegbu Arisa, James David Njoku (at large), Lekwauwa David Emeragh (at large) and Anyaso Okoro  (at large) on about 3rd June 2013 in Aba Abia State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria with the intent to defraud o...

Radar Online  has released some photos from Kelly Rowland's small, intimate wedding to Tim Witherspoon which took place on May 9th in Costa Rica. See more photos below

There was pandemonium in Owerri for the greater part of Tuesday morning, when news of the alleged escape of a hungry lion from the Nekede Zoo spread like wild fire. While most residents of community quickly closed shop and ran into the safety of their homes, some parents were seen racing to schools to pick their children. Vanguard recalls that not long ago, the State House of Assembly set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate an allegation that a lion in the same zoo was said to have killed and consumed its kind. It was not clear a press time if the House Committee had finished their investigation and given a report on their findings about the story before the current alarm rented the air. When contacted on his mobile line, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Andrew Enwerem, confirmed that the Police Command got wind of the alarm and quickly reacted appropriately. “The Command received this distress call and quickly reacted appropriately by putting the citizens on...

  37year old prophetess Bose Oluwole (pictured above) of the Celestial Church of Christ in Epe, Lagos has been arrested by the police for allegedly setting her 9 year old daughter, Damilola, on fire. The woman said her child was possessed with witchcraft and was trying to deliver her according to God's instruction to her. She allegedly poured kerosene on the little girl's body and set it ablaze.   Damilola is currently at the Epe General Hospital where she is being treated for first degree burns in the emergency ward.   PM News reports that residents of her Ijebu-Ode Road, Odomola, Epe home where the incident happened immediately informed the police of her hideous crime. Continue...  During interrogation, she confessed to the crime but said she was only obeying the command of God "I saw in my vision while praying that my daughter is from the witchcraft world. When I prayed to God over it, I received the instruction through Holy Sp...

The only people who know why Solange attacked Jay Z on Monday night is Solange, Jay Z, Julius the bodyguard and Beyonce. Others who claim to be insiders can assume what they want, but until the parties involved speak or we get the audio to what was said in that elevator, we will never know. NY Daily news  is claiming the reason real reason Solange attacked Jay Z is because he planned to go to Rihanna's Met Gala after party without Beyonce. (makes no sense to me). Report below .. The dispute that prompted Beyoncé’s sister to attack Jay Z at a Manhattan hotel centered on the rapper’s wish to keep the party going at a shindig hosted by RiRi, the Daily News has learned. Tensions were already running high when Jay Z — while walking to the now-infamous Standard Hotel elevator — said he was going to the Rihanna bash rather than heading home with Beyoncé. “Why can’t you go home?” a drunken Solange Knowles said to her brother-in-law as they left the swanky May 5 Met Gala after-p...

In an interview with Yes! magazine this week, Nollywood actress, Halima Abubakar says she is not a runs girl as being peddled around.   "Yes. You all have been guessing about that, but una get strength, why una wan know my guy? Do you know if I have? I laugh when I hear stuff like this. I just laugh at the assumptions. I have always loved being with just one guy. I don't do runs. Because I bought a car, gullible people are saying I do runs. So because I bought a car, I will have to sleep around before I can get it? That's silly. Everyone has become a judge and the main judges don't have work to do again. Please I am too young to be in a hurry to get rich. God can bless you anytime with just one breakthrough, if you are okay, cool and contented" she said. Continue...   Halima also said a woman can sleep her way through the top but it would never last. She revealed that she has been working since she turned 13years old. "I am not controversial. Peop...

One of the world's richest black women, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija has opened up on how she got into the oil business that has made her a billionaire. Speaking during the Women Inspiration & Enterprise WIE event that held two weeks ago, the chairman of Famfa Oil & Gas, said she got into the business through perseverance and hard work "It was not a planned thing at all. A friend actually contacted me that some people wanted to buy crude oil and she was wondering if I will be able to get them to make the purchase. I got an appointment with the Minister of Petroleum and he told me that it's not the way to go because there wasn't much profit in selling it and because it's a foreign company that Nigeria is imposed at selling its crude to international market. That it will be better to look at other things. I went back to my friend and told her what the Minister said. Then it seemed as if that door was shut but something else came up. I chose not to walk away so ...

The US military should rescue the 200 schoolgirls abducted in Nigeria by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, even if the Nigerian government disapproves, Sen. John McCain says. Meanwhile, negotiations on a prisoner-hostage exchange appear to be advancing. According to Reports The longtime US senator and two-time presidential candidate told The Daily Beast that the US should feel no compunction to withhold sending special operations forces to find the kidnapped girls – especially in a country led by “some guy named Goodluck Jonathan.” “If they knew where they were, I certainly would send in US troops to rescue them, in a New York minute I would, without permission of the host country,” McCain said on Tuesday. “I wouldn’t be waiting for some kind of permission from some guy named Goodluck Jonathan,” he declared, in reference to Nigeria’s president. As he suggested last week in a CNN interview, McCain insisted that if he were US president, his administration would have prepared...

The Jihad Against Boko! Civilians Kill 200 Boko Haram Terrorists In Borno Attack: The rise of the civilians against terror took the Boko Haram saga to a new turn in the early hours of Tuesday when citizens of Rann, headquarters of Kala-Balge local government, Borno northeast, who had fore-knowledge of an impending Boko Haram attack, decided not to remain sitting ducks but prepared for battle. According to reports we received from Civilian sources in Borno, over 400 Boko Haram terrorists stormed Rann and neighboring villages in the early hours of Tuesday, with their usual convoy of hilux trucks, motorcycles and Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) only to meet villagers ready for them this time. The civilian villagers pounced on the terrorists with mere rocks, bows and arrows, local Dane guns, swords and “charms” . But as we have earlier reported, Boko Haram are more frightened of Civilian-JTF than they are of the Nigerian army, and run from the civilians even if they — the...

Wonders shall never end. Following information from her boyfriend, the 323 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Akure, Ondo State, has arrested a woman, Angela Omieh, for operating as a soldier illegally. Sets of military uniform, police extract and a sworn affidavit for loss of her military identity card were said to have been found with Angela. She admitted that she is fake, claiming it was meant to make ends meet. In the words of Angela:  “I bought the uniform from Army depot in Zaria. I attended the Nigerian Army depot in Zaria, Kaduna State. I could not continue my education when my father died, so I decided to buy the kits to help me travel to Cotonou, Benin Republic for business with ease.” The Public Relations Officer of the brigade, Captain Ademola Adegoke, said Angela was arrested following tip off by her boyfriend. According to him, Angela Omieh, who resides in Mile 3, Diobu, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was discovered to be in possession of two ...

When you go to their  website , this is the main pic you will see there...drawn by The Times' political cartoonist, Peter Brookes.

The father of a kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirl has revealed photographs of his daughter pictured before she was snatched by blood-crazed Boko Haram fanatics. Mary was taken alongside her closest friend who lives next door to her. Speaking to ITV News, Mary's father said he is desperate with worry and the thought of what his daughter is going through. Five of his nieces have also been snatched by the militant group Boko Haram which is holding 276 female students. This week it released a video showing around 100 of the girls and said they will only be freed after the government releases jailed militants. Mary's father was shown the video in the hope he may recognise his own child or nieces. Despite not seeing his own daughter he did recognise a girl, he believes to be around 16 or 17, who lives opposite to his family's home. +13 Snatched: Mary was taken alongside her closest friend who lives next door to her +13 A group shot ...

Boko Haram is preparing to announce a list of key militants that it wants released in exchange for its schoolgirl hostages, The Telegraph has learned. Sources close to the group say that an Islamic cleric from northern Nigeria will be authorised to negotiate on its behalf with the Nigerian government, and to seek a freed prisoner for every one of the kidnapped girls. The name of the cleric involved and of the key commanders to be freed is expected to be revealed as early as Wednesday. The group will give the cleric "clear terms of reference" for how it wants the negotiations to be conducted, and will also spell out the practical details of how it would set the girls free.   As well as senior commanders, the list of prisoners to be freed is expected to include a number of militants' relatives who have been detained by Nigerian government to put pressure on the group's leadership. Details of the proposed deal were reve...