Gist Arena

Say what? The Nigerian Army has denied the involvement of its men in the vandalism and burning of some BRT buses this morning at Palmgrove, Ikorodu road. Speaking with Premium Times, the Nigerian Army spokesperson, Olajide Olaleye, blamed area boys for the attack. "It’s not true that the soldiers destroyed buses or set any bus on fire. What happened was that a BRT bus knocked down a soldier and killed him. As usual in Lagos, area boys gathered and a few soldiers stopped at the scene as well. The GOC has dispatched military policemen to the scene to help restore law and order,” Mr. Olaleye said. Lol. Blame it on the area boys when there's photo evidence. 6 BRT buses and 3 other cars were burnt after the soldier's rampage this morning. Even a woman soldier waka join inside...continue... A female soldier pictured vandalizing a BRT bus this weekend...

Popular Nollywood comic actor John Okafor fondly referred to as Mr Ibu has been appointed Brand Ambassador in Nigeria by GOtv, the digital terrestrial pay-TV. Explaining the rationale behind the choice of the comic star, Elizabeth Amkpa, General Manager, GOtv Nigeria, said the company sought an individual that has a strong acceptance by a wide audience, and the actor fits in. “Given John Okafor’s successes in Nollywood as Mr Ibu, his popularity is not limited to any particular geo-political zone in Nigeria. Mr Ibu has a strong emotional appeal among GOtv audiences and he is a star that the man next door can relate to,” Amkpa said. The endorsement deal was signed recently and Okafor confirms that both parties are happy with the terms of the contract. He will feature in GOtv’s future commercials, make special guest appearances at GOtv launch events and promote the brand among GOtv’s grassroots audience, amongst other activities. Mr. Ibu is versatile and remains a role model ...

Pictured above is the security man who was allegedly brutalized earlier this morning by soldiers at Palmgrove Estate after a BRT bus killed a soldier (Read   HERE ). He's currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Lagos. See another photo below

Residents of Ohafia in Abia State were jolted yesterday by reported discovery of bombs in the community. This was coming barely three weeks after Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs) were discovered at the headquarters of the Living Faith Church (a.k.a Winners Chapel) in Owerri, Imo State and the arrest of 486 Boko Haram suspects at Aro Ngwa Junction and Imo Gate, near Aba. But when contacted, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of Abia State Command, Geoffrey Ogbonna, denied the discovery of any bomb in the area, saying what happened was just a bomb scare. Reports said at about 9.00a.m. yesterday after some herdsmen had passed the area, between the house of Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, Chief Ojo Maduekwe and that of the member representing Ohafia South in the state House of Assembly, Mba Ukaha, soldiers on duty along the Ebem/Asaga Road received information about some strange objects found in the area. The soldiers were reported to have, after seeing the object...

A bus conductor was alleged shot twice at close range by soldiers at the Oba Akran area of Ikeja Lagos this afternoon. The person who took the pic above and posted it online, wrote "Soldiers just shot a conductor beside me!! Jesus!! Two shots!! At Oba Akran. Jesus!! At close range fa!!" Will bring details later. Guess these soldiers are still angry. They need to stop please

Maigari who arrived Abuja early Friday with a depleted Super Eagles team and members of his board from Brazil where the Eagles played their final match with France on Monday was immediately invited into a waiting police vehicle and taken to an unknown destination for questioning. The President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Aminu Maigari, was whisked away by security operatives on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja yesterday. Maigari who arrived Abuja early Friday with a depleted Super Eagles team and members of his board from Brazil where the Eagles played their final match with France on Monday was immediately invited into a waiting police vehicle and taken to  an unknown destination  for questioning. However, the Secretary General of the NFF, Musa Amadu  denied that the incident was an arrest, instead he claims  that Maigari was only invited for a chat, cautioning that the  situation shouldn’t be blown out of propor...

Investigations revealed that the suspects, led by Hafsat Bako, have the mission to recruit members into the female wing as well as conduct espionage for the group. Hafsat’s link with the terrorists group had earlier been a subject of investigation in 2012, when security agents on a manhunt for one Usman Bako, her husband who was identified as a terrorist, stormed their residence in Jimeta. In the aftermath of the failed suicide bombing attempt on a military facility by a female terrorist who blew herself up in Gombe recently, troops have arrested three suspected female terrorists who have been secretly recruiting ladies into the female wing of the terrorists group. The suspects, Hafsat Usman Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar were intercepted while travelling to Madagali from where they were to transit to the forest to reunite with their cohorts.   Investigations revealed that the suspects, led by Hafsat Bako, have the mission to recruit members into the female wing as ...

A  British girl was filmed performing sex acts on 24 men at a nightclub in Majorca's notorious party capital, Magaluf in Spain. The 18 year old girl (pictured right), whose identity is being hidden, was told by the organizers during an event at a bar called Alex's Bar that she would win a 'holiday' if she participated in a game. But the prize turned out to be a £4 cocktail called 'Holiday' made from gin, vodka, peach schnapps, blackcurrant liqueur and fruit juice. The girl was cheered on by the crowd as she went from one man to the other, asking them to take down their pants and performed the sex act.  "The girl was being encouraged to drink more and more and was told she would win a 'holiday' if she took part in this game. Unfortunately the 'holiday' turned out to be the name of a cocktail. I feel sorry for her now. She must feel awful.' Someone who witnessed the incident told The Sun A 2-minute footage, which also showed seve...

So it's been confirmed that a BRT bus killed a soldier at Palmgrove bus stop in Palmgrove, Lagos this morning, which caused the soldier read HERE and HERE The BRT driver who hit the soldier ran into Palmgrove estate in order to avoid the wrath of other soldiers present. Upon noticing that the driver ran away, the Army men ran into Palmgrove estate and when they couldn't find the driver, seized one of the Estate's security men. (pictured above) According to eye-witnesses, the soldiers beat the man mercilessly and took him away. He was released hours later badly beaten and traumatized. He had nothing to do with the incident but paid for it. Sad! Heard they even burnt down a BRT bus. Is their anger justified?

Favour A four-year-old girl, Favour Anani, has been stolen through the window net while asleep with her mother in their home in Shasha, Alimosho area of Lagos. PUNCH Metro learnt that Favour and her mother, Janet, a trader, were sleeping around 4am on the fateful day when an unknown hand tore through the net of their one room apartment and snatched the child from the bed. The 20-year-old mother of three was said to have raised the alarm on discovering her child had been missing. Despite intense search by residents of Yahaya Street where the incident happened, the girl could not be located. The matter was said to have been reported at the Shasha Police Division, and was subsequently transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba for investigation. Although the culprit could not be identified, the mother of the victim was said to have told policemen she suspected a neighbour who had been showing interest in the girl and had joked that he would marry her o...

Soldiers are on rampage at the Obanikoro area of the ever-busy Ikorodu expressway in Lagos, maiming people and physically destroying BRT buses. According to report, one of the BRT buses that rides on a dedicated lane hit a soldier, and his fellow soldiers decided to take the law into their hands. See more pix... Someone should call those Khaki Boys to order, this act is animalistic!

Throw Back photo of Ruben Abati on the Left with his pal Clement Gbemudu. Matriculation Day 1981, UNICAL. Notice Camera in his Hand. I've been Media since. Live your Dreams! #tbt #life #longtimecoming #ilovewhatido. He posted this on his Instagram  TL

The Nigerian government did not adequately communicate with the press about the nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala admitted to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. “This is a very delicate situation with an unpredictable group. And I think that maybe this is one of the areas where we have not been able to communicate as well as we can.” “The President has two daughters,” she said. “These children are our children. But we did not communicate that well.” Critics say that far from just releasing bad information, the government released demonstrably false information. Just days after the kidnapping in April, the Nigerian military announced that all but a handful of the girls had been released; that claim was soon disproved, and the girls are still missing. “I don’t know how that happened,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “The issue now is not whether we are criticized or not criticized unfairly. I think we should forget about al...

We are living in desperate times now and it’s becoming clear as the days go by that the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan’s burning ambition to be re-elected would come at all cost even with the blood of Nigerians. The recent bomb explosion in Ife, Osun state has all but exposed the hands of the PDP and shown that Boko Haram is of three types - There is the religious Boko Haram led by Abubakar Shekau which all know, there is the criminal minded ones and  there is the political Boko Haram which in the run-up to the 2015 elections everyone would find out is the militant wing of the Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP). In my article some months back on Boko Haram I mentioned the three forms of the terrorist group including the political one. I gave the example of Kano during the 2012 fuel subsidy protest and reminded Nigerians of the church worshippers who were killed according to eyewitness account with semi-automatic rifles, the type issued to government secret ser...

A former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, has asked the British government to send troops to Nigeria to help secure the release of the abducted pupils of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. The girls, well over 200 of them, were kidnapped from their hostels on the night of April 14. Brown, who is also the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, while speaking during a debate at the House of Commons, said that in view of the possibility that the kidnapped girls might have been divided into groups and hidden in separate places, his home government should send the UK forces to assist Nigeria’s army. He said, “These wholly innocent young girls—Lugwa Abuga, Rhoda John, Comfort Amos, Maryamu Yakubu and 200 others—are now incarcerated in the forest areas of Borno State. Some have perhaps been dispersed across three other countries: Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Their physical and mental health is a worry for everyone. “If the girls have been ...

     In an interview with SaharaTV, the senator describes a video, in which a young girl who had been raped was on her knees begging her attacker. “They [the girls] said when they rape them, they shoot them,” the senator said to SaharaTV’s Rudolf Okonkwo, “therefore the girl after being raped, she curled down to the man, kneeling down and begging him to please be patient.” This report comes two months after the girls were abducted from their school in Chibok. The senator stopped by SaharaTV’s New York studios on the 24th of June, the same day he visited the United Nations to appeal that they send aid to his constituents who had fled to Cameroon for fear of Boko Haram attacks. In the extensive interview, he discussed the condition of the kidnapped Chibok girls, conspiracy theories surrounding Boko Haram, the ramifications of the group’s terrorism, as well as his reasons for visiting the UN, amongst other issues. The senator expresses that he doesn’t think t...