Gist Arena

D ame Patience Jonathan has resigned her appointment as 'Super' Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa state Civil service, a position conferred on her in July 2012 by the Governor of the state, Dickson Seriake. Seriake said he gave the appointment to Mama Peace  based on  her good service to the state and nation. A  source in the state Ministry of Education who pleaded anonymity with  The Nation  confirmed the First Lady's voluntary resignation and said her resignation may likely not be unconnected to her deepening rift with the state governor.  " The whole thing is political. It appears Madam Peace is not happy with the governor. With her resignation, the battle line has been drawn.  I feel the President’s wife resigned to enable her to have the moral right to slug it out with Dickson ahead of the governorship poll in the state. Let no one deceive you, the whole thing is politics. After all, she is 57 and the retirement age is 60.” h...

Find the EFCC press statement below...  Relief came for a blind teacher, Mary Ihekanacho on Wednesday October 22, 2014 as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, presented her with a draft of N550, 000 which the anti- graft agency recovered from a gang of fraudsters that swindled her of N 830,000 in a job scam.  The syndicate conned the woman by promising to facilitate her son’s employment with one of the oil majors.  Mr. David Iloyanomo who made the presentation on behalf of the Executive Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, said that “the EFCC stands for justice for all and called on the general public to ensure that they assist the Commission in carrying out its duties by coming forward to give evidence in court when it is required”. He also praised the passion with which officers of the Commission handled the matter which made it possible to get justice for Mrs. Ihekanacho.  An overwhelmed Mrs. Ihekanacho commended the...

Special Assistant to the Ekiti State Governor on Information and Social Media, Mr Lere Olayinka has described claims by Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon Adewale Omirin that his filling station, T5 Petrol Station was sealed up for political reasons as the height of mischief and misrepresentation of facts.  He said as a public office holder, "the Speaker does not have legal rights to own private business, and one wonders how someone prohibited by law to own private business while in office can be said to be the owner of a filling station that is under construction." Olayinka, in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti  on Thursday , said; "as against the falsehood being spread by the Speaker and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Speaker's Petrol Station, alongside three others were sealed up for contravening environmental laws." The governor's aide listed the four filling stations affected by the governme...

The soldier who was shot dead yesterday Octob er 22nd at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Canada (read  here ) has been identified as 24 year old Nathan Cirillo (pictured above).  The father of one was shot dead as he stood guard at the War Memorial by 32yr old Muslim convert Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who later  opened fire at the Canadian Parliament building in a terrifying attack that left the capital on lock-down

A citizen journalist named Dr María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio from Reynosa, Mexico, who spoke out against organised crime in her city was tracked down and brutally killed by Mexican drug cartel who then hacked into her twitter account and used it to announce her death and then posted a photo of her bloody, lifeless body. The cruel pic was accompanied by a series of tweets, which started by saying: 'Friends and family, my real name is María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio. I am a physician. Today my life has reached its end. Do not make the same mistake I did.' From UK  Daily Mail She was known for tweeting under the name Felina and @Miut3 handle with the hashtag #reynosafollow to warn others about crime in her city, which has a reputation for corruption. The Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office says it is investigating whether Dr Fuentes Rubio has been killed after being reported kidnapped by a gunman on Thursday. Dr Fuentes Rubio was an admini...

Superheroes. #Lagos #Nigeria #GreatPeople If not for these people, i wonder what our case would have been by now. Here are the faces of the team at the First Consultant Hospital, Lagos whose prompt action helped contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Lagos. P ictured above: The Chief Medical Director of the hospital Dr Benjamin Ohiaeri (middle) Dr Adaora Igonoh (2nd left),  Dr Ibeawuchi Morris (3rd left) Dr Fadipe Akinniyi (2nd right) who got infected but got healed.  Unfortunately four of their colleagues including Dr Stella Adadevoh and nurse Justina Ejelonu died from the deadly viral disease. (Photo credit: Who Health Organization)

The son of a rural Oklahoma newspaper publisher fatally shot his father, mother and sister, believing that by killing his family, he would inherit money to pay off mounting debts, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Prosecutors in Duncan filed three charges of first-degree murder against University of Oklahoma student Alan Hruby, 19, in the killings of his father, John, 50; mother, Tinker, 48; and his 17-year-old sister, Katherine, court records show. Alan Hruby did not yet have an attorney. Stephens County District Attorney Jason Hicks said Hruby owned money to a loan shark. Hicks did not say why Hruby had so much debt, only that his spending was out of control. "The reason we were given for the murders was that he was having financial difficulties," Hicks said at a news conference in Duncan. "He felt if he murdered (his family) he would be the only heir to the estate." Hicks said Hruby shot his mother and father twice each and his sister once. H...

A woman seemed to experience a brain snap after she couldn't get any cash out of the ATM prompting her to tear apart the machine with her own hands. The lady created quite a scene in a shopping mall in Dongguan in the Chinese province of Guangdong when she astoundingly dismantled the machine within a matter of minutes. The extreme behaviour drew an intrigued crowd of shoppers to gather around and watch the strange event unfold while taking photos on their phones. However, despite at least three security guards attending the bizarre scene - no one attempted to stop the woman from damaging the machine.  The woman was seen mumbling to herself and hitting the machine at the Shilong Jingshawan Shopping Mall at 5.50pm on October 16, a centre representative told the Southern Metropolis Daily, according to the  China Smack  website. The representative said that the security guards were called to the scene after reports of the woman pulling apar...

B arely a week after assuming office as governor of Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose yesterday October 22nd shut down a fuel station belonging to the Ekiti state House of Assembly speaker, Dr Adewale Omirin, and a few others saying that the fuel stations posed environmental hazard to where they were located. Reacting to the closure of his filling station, the Speaker said the governor was only out to victimize him for not defecting from his political party, APC to the PDP which Fayose belongs to. Continue.. "Hon. Joseph Olugbemi had told me two days after the governor’s inauguration that he (the governor) had made up his mind to close my filling station over refusal to join PDP. Olugbemi defected to PDP on the day Governor Fayose was inaugurated.  I had earlier told the governor that in the interest of Ekiti people, the House of Assembly would work with him to deliver dividends of democracy to the good people of Ekiti State. " I called the governor to confir...

Nigerian-German musician, producer and activict Adegoke Odukoya popularly known as Adé Bantu shaved h is dreads recently after carrying it for 23 years. He posted photos of him having the dreads shaved and his new look on his Facebook page yesterday and wrote; " After 23 years I decided it was time to let go and move on. It wasn't easy, but hey the only constant in life is change and sometimes we must embrace it fearlessly. " See his new look below

Banker turned gospel musician, Obiwon (Obiora Agu) celebrated his 3 years wedding anniversary yesterday .He took to facebook to share the sweetest message.. Dear Jesus,Thank You. Thank You. Thank You...Again and again and again. Thank you for Nkechi, amazingly beautiful inside out. TODAY we celebrate 3 Years of Marriage...it feels like 3 days! Thank You for the great gift she is, from You to me.Thank you for our daughter Nmesioma, a great bundle of joy she is to us. Now thank You for this great additional bundle of joy, our son Chimdalu Michael, born few weeks ago, on the 23rd of September,2014.(Continue).  I know where I was, where I was headed, before You plucked me out, saved me and asked me to walk with You. I have indeed seen Your wonders, my life a testimony that You are good. I’m a living testimony that when You forgive any who truly come to You, You wipe the slate clean totally, Your Mercy removing what I deserve, Your Grace giving me gifts I don’t des...

The girls in the house have started letting down their guards and letting things happen in the eyes of the ever willing cameras all around the corners to record them. Go check out the latest video: It's the cute chicks - Goitse, Samantha and Ellah this time. CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO

5 people lost their lives this morning October 23rd in an accident on Kaduna road. The people who lost their lives were traveling in a bus marked NNPC Retired Staff Association. Eye-witnesses say the cause of the accident was over-speeding and a burst tyre. May their souls rest in peace, amen. See more photos below...*graphic content*

People from this little girl's school just reached out to me. They said the girl's father's lover has been allegedly battering her. Her name is Blessing Osayande and she's a Pry 2 pupil of South Royal School in Benin. The girl's school authority said they have called the father and spoken to him several times after seeing injuries on her body but apparently the abuse has not stopped. Today, the girl came to school with a broken head and said her father's lover slammed her head against a table. The welfare office in Benin has since taken up the case but they still wanted the public to be aware. They didn't give the lover's name or photo. That I would have loved to share...

Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha's wife Nkechi turned a year older two days ago and he threw her a small get together at their home. The couple, who have been married for 17 years, looked very much in love as they danced and laughed together. See more photos below

No fewer than 60 women have now been confirmed abducted by Boko Haram militants from Wagga Mangoro and Garta villages in Adamawa State, north east Nigeria. And the militants to boot have paid a dowry of N1,500 on each woman taken away. The abductions were carried out by the insurgents at the weekend, just hours after government announced a ceasefire, that even had to the bargain, the release of the 219 schoolgirls captured in April from the town of Chibok, in Borno state. But rather than the Boko Haram attacks reducing, they have increased. A resident of Garta, Tizhe Kwada, who escaped the attack on Saturday told the Daily Trust newspaper that hundreds of militants stormed the village on motorcycles and vans on Saturday, burnt houses and abducted women and young girls. Wagga Mangoro and Garta are situated in Madagali and Michika local council areas. Kwada said many residents fled the area which has been under Boko Haram for about two months. Here is an excer...