Gist Arena

Attahiru Jega, chairman of the independent national electoral commission (INEC), says the commission will not cancel the result of the governorship election in Rivers state, despite numerous allegations of voter intimidation, ballot-box snatching and phantom voting. However, he admitted that the commission made a mistake in cancelling the results of three local government areas in the April 11 governorship election in Abia state. The professor of political science, who made this known while addressing Nigerian civil society situation room in Abuja on Tuesday, promised that his team would make amends within the ambit of the law, on the Abia cancellations. “When there are issues but announcement of result has been made, there is nothing we can do. If a mistake was made and we could correct it within the legal framework, then we intervene and make corrections,” he said. “It was a mistake to cancel elections in the three LGAs in Abia. We said particular affecte...

Nigerian High Commiss'n in Botswana during the apartheid era issued over 300 Nigerian passports to black S/Africans to travel the world with South Africa's ex-President,Thabo Mbeki was on exile in Nigeria from 1977-1984.Occasionally, Maj. Gen. Shehu Yar'adua's wife cooked for him

He shared this photo above and wrote - " Another wonder of the 21st century.  Believe it or not Doyin Okupe floats in water!  No matter the circumstances in the next 4 years as the Lord liveth we shall remain Afloat"

Find the EFCC Press statement below The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, April 20, 2015 arraigned one Stephen Omaidu before Justice M. A Nasir of Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Jabi, Abuja on a two count charge bordering on theft to the tune of N68, 028, 000, 000.00 (sixty eight billion and twenty eight million naira). Omaidu, in connivance with Alhaji K. B Kabiru, Godswill Oyegwa, Ben and Oliver (all at large) allegedly hacked into the server of a second-generation bank and transferred the sum of sixty eight billion, and twenty eight million naira into different accounts for personal gains. The offence is punishable under section 287 of the Penal Code Act. Following his “not guilty” plea, counsel to EFCC, S. A Ugwuebgulam asked the court to fix a date for trial to commence. However, defence counsel, Gabriel O. Sanifu urged the court to admit the accused to bail pending trial saying, the offen...

Press statement from the office of Buruji Kashamu. Read below... My attention has been drawn to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reaction to the innocuous congratulatory messages that I sent to him and other leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the aftermath of the general election.  First, I must say that I doubt if the statement was approved by him. However, if it was, I must state that I am taken aback by the unwarranted attacks against me as if we were still campaigning. It is unbecoming of someone of his stature and calibre.  For me, it is high time politicians and leaders rose above petty issues and raise the bar in constitutional democracy. We should not just be democrats in words but also in deeds. We should play politics without bitterness. It is on record that no Nigerian politician has taken former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the cleaners even as a sitting President like Asiwaju Tinubu did. Yet, Chief Obasanjo forgave him. As for me a...

A 34-year-old man, Monday Ekwekoba, has been docked in Lagos at an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly killing one Wisdom Okafor, his friend. Ekwekoba, a factory worker, who resides at No. 72, Clem Road, Ijaiye-Ojokoro Road in Agege, a Lagos suburb, appeared on a charge of manslaughter. Police prosecutor, Feddy Asu, had told the court that the offence was committed on March 22 on Clem Road at Ifako-Ijaiye. Asu said the accused on returning to his house saw Okafor having a conversation with his fiancé and acted out of jealousy. The prosecutor said the duo engaged in heated argument during which Ekwekoba pursued his victim with a pestle. Asu said the victim while running away for his dear life ran into an on-coming vehicle which crushed him to death. Asu said the offence contravened Section 227 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 227 says that any person who commits th...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the “inconclusive Ilaje Constituency I and II election” into the Ondo State House of Assembly, held penultimate Saturday. In a statement issued on Tuesday by the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Segun Agbaje to journalists in Akure, the capital city, said the commission decided to uphold the verdict of the Returning Officer from the April 11, Ondo Assembly election for the two Ilaje Constituencies. The electoral body had declared the results of the election from the two constituencies into the State House of Assembly as “inconclusive”, after stating that the Returning Officer who oversees the election was “forced” to announced the results under duress following reported cases of irregularities in the coaster area. SaharaReporters first broke the news of the hijacked election materials by hoodlums working for the Peo...

This lady can take a good picture. A shot from a wine commercial

The Oodua People's Congress, OPC. has given a 48-hour ultimatum to the South African government to stop the xenophobic attacks going on their country or incur the wrath of the group. At a press conference in Lagos today April 21st, the founder of the group, Dr Frederick Fasheun warned that nobody has the monopoly of violence. "While the Nigerian government and the rest of the world seek a diplomatic solution to this season of madness, the OPC hereby warns that South Africa must end this rash of xenophobia within 48 hours. These ill-advised attacks are capable of bringing out the beast in the best of men. And we will not watch as fellow Nigerians are wantonly killed in cold blood.  Enough is enough. South Africans must know that nobody has a monopoly of violence. They must halt the killings, the maiming and the looting of foreigners’ shops in their country. These incidents of xenophobia will provoke reprisals against South Africans and their interests in other lan...

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has given the South African Government 72 hours to stop xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other Africans resident in the country. NANS President Tijani Usman conveyed the ultimatum during a protest march by the association against such attacks on Tuesday in Abuja. NANS had on April 18, issued a seven-days ultimatum to the South African Government to end the attacks. The students who had placards with the inscriptions “Say no to Xenophobia’’; “Xenophobia is Evil’’; “South Africa, Enough is Enough’’, marched to the MTN office and the South African High Commission both in Maitama. “The purpose of this protest is to register our grievances and solidarise with our people in South Africa because of the xenophobic attacks; Africa is our own and we should not be racists in our own continent. “We condemn such acts and we call on President Jacob Zuma of South Africa to address this issue with immediate ...

Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of American Bishop Robert Finn, who in 2012 was convicted for failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest in his diocese, the Vatican said. Despite the US conviction, the 62-year-old bishop had stayed on as the head of the Catholic diocese in Kansas City, Missouri. Finn had pleaded guilty to failing to inform police in 2010 that one of his priests, Father Shawn Ratigan, was sexually abusing a minor. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and placed under investigation by the Vatican in September last year. Victims’ groups in the United States have been calling for him to step down for some time and Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley had also called on the Vatican to take action. US bishops have looked into sexual abuse allegations on an annual basis ever since a scandal over paedophile priests took the spotlight in 2002. In the fallout, senior church officials acknowledged they had protected priests responsible ...

THE President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari, rtd, Sunday said his administration would accord priority to ending the Boko Haram insurgency to bring stability in the north east geopolitical zone as well as focus on re-activating the Lake Chad. Buhari however said that his third priority would be to deploy the enormous resources in the region through vigorous search for oil along the Chad Basin and parts of Borno State. He spoke at his residence in Kaduna while responding to requests made by Governor Kashim Shettima, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Elkanemi and some elders of the state who formed the delegation from Borno State that travelled to pay him a congratulatory visit. Buhari said he was very much aware of the problems of the north east region and would not waste time in resolving them one after the other. On Boko Haram, he said his administration will enhance collaboration with neighbouring countries governments like Chad,...

Bamaiyi A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (retd.), on Tuesday, narrated to a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, how he was allegedly swindled by an alleged serial fraudster, Fred Ajudua, with the aid of a suspended court registrar, Mrs. Oluronke Rosulu. Bamaiyi, who served under the late military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, appeared as a witness on Tuesday before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, where Rosulu, then registrar to Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, is facing two counts of conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretences. According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Rosulu allegedly connived with Ajudua to defraud Bamaiyi of $330, 000 on November 20, 2004. The money was allegedly obtained from Bamaiyi by Ajudua with the aid of Rosulu, under the false pretence that the sum represented the professional or legal fee demanded by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN). Then, Bamaiyi was standing trial before Justice Oyewole over the allegation of ...

Two soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram rocket attack on a military vehicle in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga, residents told pressmen on Tuesday. Six other soldiers and a civilian vigilante were critically injured when their vehicle hit a mine planted by the Islamists just outside the town in Borno state on Sunday, they added. The attack and the mine explosion happened as the military escorted some 1,200 people from Baga on a brief return visit to their hometown from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri. Boko Haram seized the town on the shores of Lake Chad on January 3 and is suspected of killing hundreds in what was feared to have been the worst massacre in the six-year insurgency. Nigeria’s military said it had recaptured the town in late February, as an operation also involving Chad, Niger and Cameroon stepped up to drive out the militants from occupied territory. “Boko Haram fired a rocket-propelled grenade on a military van in an ambush in Bag...

B ritish-Nigerian actor & writer, Kalu Ikeagwu says he will only get married when he finds a woman he can't live without.. "I'm yet to find the right person to settle down with. I mean, that person that I love so much and want to spend the rest of my life with. I will get married but let it be according to the will of God. Marriage is an important institution, so it has to be the will of God. I want to be successful in my marriage just as I am successful in my career. I will get married when I find the right person and when I see the lady who is showing the right sign of a wife material." He told Encomium magazine About what he expects from the woman he wants to marry " There are a lot of things I would like my ideal woman to possess. Number one, she must have an unshakeable love. And even if it's the only thing she has, I am okay. But she must also have a close relationship with God which is very important."

The Lagos state Governor-elect, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has inaugurated a transition committee to ensure a seamless transfer of power to his government come May 29. The governor-elect disclosed this in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, on Tuesday According to the statement, the committee will be headed by the Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Oluranti Adebule. “Other members of the team are, Prof. Ademola Abass, Mr. Babatunde Rotinwa, Mr. Fola Lasisi, Mrs. Rafiquat Onabamiro, Mr. Tunde Durosimi-Etti, Dr. Femi Onanuga, Mr. Ade Akinsanya, Mr. Akeem Sulaimon and Mr. Dele Onabokun. “The transition committee is expected to begin work immediately and will submit its report with work for four weeks,” the statement read.

Soldiers have been deployed to volatile areas in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal in a bid to quell anti-immigrant violence that has killed at least seven people in several weeks of unrest, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, South Africa's defence minister, has said. The government had vowed to crack down strongly on the unrest, but the decision to put soldiers on the streets on Tuesday came after two nights of relative quiet in both cities. "We come in as the last resort, the army will serve as a deterrent against the crime that we see," Mapisa-Nqakula told reporters, declining to give details on how many troops would be involved. "There are people who will be critical but those who are vulnerable will appreciate this decision," she said.  "Now we deploying because there is an emergency." Mapisa-Nqakula made the announcement in Alexandra, a Johannesburg township where a Zimbabwean couple survived a shooting overnight.  ...

MTN joins Africans in condemning the attacks on foreign nationals in SA.We Stand Against Xenophobia! #NoToXenophobia

Press statement from Ekiti state. Read below... A pressure group in Ekiti State, the Ekiti Democratic Coalition (EDC) has hailed the removal of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, accusing the sacked IGP of collaborating with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to subvert the mandate of Ekiti people freely given to Governor Ayodele Fayose.  Reacting to the sack of Suleiman Abba, EDC, in a statement signed by its Convener, Comrade Boladale Adeniyi, alleged that the sacked IGP and the immediate past Commissioner of Police in the State, Taiwo Lakanu aided the APC lawmakers in their evil plot to remove Governor Fayose.  The group alleged that Suleiman Abba was to be used by the APC to subvert democracy in Ekiti and some other PDP controlled States. "Lakanu was removed unceremoniously as Ekiti State Commissioner of Police. Now, Suleiman Abba too has been sacked. "The major lesson to be learnt here is that Fayose’s mandate is being guarded by God ...

Many of Didier Drogba's team mates at Chelsea attended his foundation charity ball which took place on Saturday night April 18th at London’s Dorchester hotel. Eden Hazard, Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic and Chelsea captain John Terry were all in attendance. Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and former Tottenham Hotspur duo Edgar Davids and Jermain Defoe along with former Manchester United ace Louis Saha were all there. The event was to raise money to help give young Africans access to better healthcare and a chance to gain an education. Christina Milian provided the night's entertainment. See the photos below. Thierry Henry Former Premier League footballer Louis Saha and his partner Former Tottenham Hotspur footballer Edgar David ormer Tottenham turned Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe   Chelsea duo John Terry and Ivanovic attended at the event with their partners Toni and Natasa Chelsea midfielder Nemanja M...