Gist Arena

The European Union observer group to the 2015 general elections in Nigeria has described President Goodluck Jonathan’s conduct as a shining example that other world leaders should emulate. Leader of the delegation, Mr Santiago Fisas, gave the commendation after holding a closed door meeting with the outgoing President in his office. The five man delegation was at the Presidential Villa to congratulate Dr. Jonathan for allowing a peaceful electoral process and conceding defeat. The group, which came to present the preliminary report on the outcome of the elections, said that the fact that President Jonathan conceded defeat saved Nigeria from degenerating into chaos as predicted by many pessimists. The meeting with the president lasted for about 30 minutes before the Chief spoke to State House correspondents congratulating him for exemplary display of statesmanship for the entire world to see. The leader of the observer group said that many poli...

After 16 years of majority power in Nigeria’s two houses of parliament, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has finally lost the Senate to the now ruling party-elect, the All Progressives Congress, APC. The APC secured 60 seats out of 109, according to PREMIUM TIMES’ tally, based on results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission. At Saturday’s National Assembly elections, the PDP swept through the South East, taking all 15 senatorial seats, and all but two of South South’s 18 seats. If the PDP wins the Edo State’s South Senatorial district, which is yet undecided, the party will take 17 seats in the South South. But the two big wins are a far cry from the party’s bleak national performance in the Senate. Elsewhere – North Central, North West, North East and South West – the APC, whose presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, won Tuesday, took a sweeping lead. In the South West, the APC won 13 out of 18 seats. The party lost Ekiti’s th...

17yr old  Siobhan O'Dell from North Carolina applied to study at Duke University in her home state and got rejected. The school's  admissions department sent her a letter on March 26th telling her she'd failed to make the grade. After she got a rejection letter from them, she refused to take no for an answer & sent them a letter of her own, rejecting their rejection. See the letter above. Quite hilarious

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has called on all Nigerian women to show support to the incoming first lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari. In a congratulatory message signed by her media aide, Ayo Adewuyi, Mrs Jonathan wished Mrs Buhari well in her new task as First Lady of Nigeria... “The First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan (Mama Peace) has congratulated the wife of the President elect, Hajia Aisha Buhari on the election of her husband, Gen Muhammadu Buhari. The First Lady appeals to the Nigerian women to work with Hajia Aisha Buhari and give her the maximun support to make her succeed in her new assignment. The First Lady (Mama Peace) wishes her well in her new task.” the message read in part

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has written the President elect, Gen Buhari a letter. In the letter, Chief Obasanjo charged Gen. Buhari to embark on reforming all of Nigeria's national institutions, particularly the military. The full text of the letter below... I hasten to congratulate you on your success and victory in the Presidential Elections of March 28, 2015. Your success and victory after three previous unsuccessful attempts must be great object lessons for you and for all politicians, particularly in Nigeria. For me, the totality of 2015 elections hold many lessons for our democracy and democratisation process, which are both maturing. On this occasion, the system has been unnecessarily overheated before and particularly during the campaigns when emphasis was more on trivialities and hate, divisive, undignifying and disrespectful statements and comments rather than on pressing issues requiring attention. I know that in victory, you will be magnanimous to...

There was a minor fire incident at the "E" arrival wing of the International terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at about   1.13pm   today,   Wednesday , April 1st. T he fire was said to be from offices at the E wing on the ground floor of the terminal by a combined team of FAAN’s electrical engineers and fire officers. Investigations has commenced to ascertain the cause of the fire. The airport authority in a statement said the traveling public and other airport users were in no immediate danger as a result of the incident and neither did it affect flight operations at the terminal. 

31 year old Rilwan Oshodi (left) was jailed for 8 years and has been ordered to repay money he stole from his victim. According to the story, he bought Karen Budow's bank details & spent her £1million life savings on a luxury lifestyle. Full story from Mail Online below... A scammer who was the ringleader of a fraud gang has been ordered to repay nearly £1million which he stole from the life savings of an innocent victim. Rilwan Oshodi bought Karen Budow's bank account details for just £3,200 and spent her savings on cheeseburgers, bottles of champagne and top-of-the-range computers. He now claims he is so broke he can't even pay his lawyers - but a judge told him today that if he doesn't return his ill-gotten gains he'll have to spend four more years in prison. Nigerian Oshodi, 31, bought Ms Budow's Santander details from an Egyptian hacker Tamer Abdulhamid, who had persuaded her to hand them over as part of a fishing scam. His gi...

Big meeting at Buhari residence: two jeeps with blacked out windows carrying a "secret guest", then US Ambassador walked in just after... — Christian Purefoy (@purefoyAMEBO) April 1, 2015 From this tweet GMB received a very important guest in his Abuja residence, but the tweet did not disclose who the guest is. So who do you think that the US Ambassador will escort to Buhari;s house. Someone thinks that is may be Linda Thomas-Greenfield. US Secretary of African Affairs from the Department of State. She's still in Abuja.

According to DAILY TRUST , Official activities are yet to pick up at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja hours after President Goodluck Jonathan was officially certified to have lost his re-election bid. The offices of Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo and First Lady Patience Jonathan were under lock and key as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday afternoon. Although the president was in his office, none of his ministers were sighted at the State House. Our correspondent reports that the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting did not hold. Many of the aides of the president were also nowhere to be found at the seat of power. Those sighted at the State House included Comptroller-General of Customs Dikko Inde Abdullah, Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Emeka Ezeh, Executive Secretary of the National Christian Pilgrims Commission John Kennedy Opara and the Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and V...

A victim of accident during victory celebration Seven persons lost their lives in Kano state during the celebration of the victory of General Muhammadu Buhari victory on Tuesday night, emergency workers have said. Our correspondent reports that five out of the seven persons were children who were crushed by a motorist riding on high speed along Kofar Dawanau in Dala local government area of the state. An emergency worker at the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital told Daily Trust that seven persons were confirmed dead at the hospital on Tuesday night. He said the deceased were brought to the hospital from different locations were residents trooped out to celebrate Buhari’s victory. When our correspondent went to the hospital around  10.am  on Wednesday, nine persons who sustained various degrees of injuries were seen at the Emergency unit receiving medical attention. In an interview, Rabiu Adamu who was at the emergency unit said he was hit by ...

From the front, the stag e costume looks decent enough, then Nicki Minaj turns her back and you do a double take. The rapper showed off her big butt in a fishnet bodysuit during her show in Dublin yesterday evening. 

The news from Nigeria today is wonderful. Africa’s largest country has concluded a peaceful election process. Furthermore, the incumbent has already gracefully conceded and congratulated his successor – a first for Nigeria and a benchmark for other African countries to follow. Today, we Africans are all proud of Nigeria and President Jonathan. Thank you Mr President. If you are seeking a legacy, you have definitely achieved it. Mo Ibrahim Mo Ibrahim Foundation

(Reuters) - Nigeria's main shares index soared to its single biggest daily gain this year on Wednesday while bond yields fell sharply and the naira currency surged in the black market as investors cheered Muhammadu Buhari's presidential election victory. The main shares index rose 8.4 percent as financial markets in Africa's biggest economy welcomed the peaceful outcome of the closely-fought elections, marking the first time in Africa's most populous nation where a sitting president was voted out of power through the ballot box. Buhari takes charge of Africa's biggest oil producer and one of the continent's most turbulent democracies, three decades after seizing power in a military coup. The naira firmed 0.46 percent to 217 against the dollar on the parallel market, a black market dealer said. The currency traded at 197 naira to the dollar on the interbank market, a level it has traded at since February, after the central bank pe...

The Die is Cast Acceptance Statement by General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President-Elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria April 1st, 2015 I am immensely grateful to God for this day and for this hour. I feel truly honoured and humbled that the Nigerian people have so clearly chosen me to lead them. The official announcement from INEC was the moment the vast majority of Nigerians had hoped and been waiting for. Today, history has been made, and change has finally come. Your votes have changed our national destiny for the good of all Nigerians . INEC has announced that I, Muhammadu Buhari, shall be your next president. My team and I shall faithfully serve you. There shall no longer be a ruling party again: APC will be your governing party. We shall faithfully serve you. We shall never rule over the people as if they were subservient to government. Our long night has passed and the daylight of new democratic governance has broken across the land. This...

Speech given by President -elect, General Buhari after he was declared winner of the 2015 elections Your Excellency, the Vice President elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, your Excellency, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, the Director General of APC Presidential Campaign, 2015, your Excellency, the former Governor of Edo State and National Chairman of our great party, your Excellency the Governor Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, your Excellency, the former Governor of Imo State, Dr Ogbonaya Onu, Your Excellency, the former Governor of Ekiti State, Engineer Oni, your Excellency the former Governor of Kwara, Bokola Saraki, your Excellency, the Speaker of the House of Representative, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, Please, let me stand on existing protocol. At exactly 5:15 yesterday (Tuesday) evening, President Jonathan called to congratulate me on my victory. For this, I want all Nigerians to join me in congratulating and appreciating Mr President for his statesmanship. President Jonathan was...