Gist Arena

A senior official of the Enugu State Ministry of Justice and a police investigator say they would treasure international assistance to help track down two notorious suspects in a major kidnap case now under trial. A former junior police officer, Desmond Ibezimako Chinwuba, and a Divisional Police Officer, Sam Chukwu, remain on the run after prosecutors in Enugu fingered them in the 2009 kidnap of Lotachukwu (aka Lota) Ezeudu. Lota Ezeudu was a 19-year-old second year accountancy student at the University of Nigeria (Enugu campus) when he was kidnapped in September, 2009. He has not been seen since. Investigations by police and prosecutors determined that DPO Chukwu was the mastermind of a kidnap ring that featured Chinwuba, Ernest Okeke, and several others. The detained suspects include Uche Moses Amajor, whose father, Charles Amajor, resides in Kaduna but owned Prosper Hotel in the Trans-Ekulu area of Enugu, Ernest Okeke, a former police officer, and Nnaemeka Chukwu, the son of DP...

The Goodluck Jonathan government is in the process of recruiting an international public relations firm, at the cost of nearly $1 billion dollars, to improve its battered image, SaharaReporters has learned. The effort, brokered by Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, who is embroiled in corruption allegations of her own that are currently being probed by the House of Representatives, is aimed at countering the blistering negative publicity that has followed the government’s atrocious response to last month’s abduction of over 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants, and public outrage over $20 billion in allegedly missing crude export earnings.  The authoritative “Holmes Report,” which focuses on such high-level image-making deals, noted during the week that Alison-Madueke and some other unnamed government officials met with several PR firms in London to finalize the cushy contract, for which the Jonathan administration is sufficiently desperate to put on the table over...

Scene of the Wednesday twin bombing at the Jos Terminus market Another bomb blast this night rocked the city of Jos, capital of Plateau State in Nigeria's Middle Belt. It was the third bomb explosion in the formerly quiescent city in less than a week. A security agent and two Jos residents told SaharaReporters over the phone that today's blast occurred around 9 p.m. Nigerian time around a center where people had gathered to watch a soccer match. There was no information regarding casualty figures as at press time. Audu Yohana, the NEMA Zonal Information Officer in Jos  said the bomb had exploded on Murtala Mohammed near the main campus of University of Jos . He said  emergency responders were afraid to approach the scene of the latest explosion for fear that another bomb might be planted nearby. Four days ago, two major bombs exploded 30 minutes apart, killing over 200 people at the city's crowded Terminus market.

They've spent millions, flown hundreds of guests across the Atlantic and monopolised the world's attention. And as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West said their vows on a hilltop overlooking Florence, it all came together in spectacular fashion. The first picture to emerge shows the pair standing together in front of rows and rows of their 600 guests - who MailOnline understand did not include Kanye's friends Beyonce and Jay Z. With Kim dressed in a modest white, the guests stand as she comes face to face with Kanye West, who appears to be wearing black. Kim's bridesmaids, clad all in white, are placed at the front of the guests, as the couple appear to clasp hands. A wall of white peonies and roses at least 20ft high, partially shields the couple from onlookers on the hilltop at the 16th century Forte di Belvedere. The wedding spot: The huge floral backdrop was hand made, and is a larger version of Kanye's extravagant Mother's Day g...