Gist Arena

Emefiele in the middle The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday hurriedly abandoned President Muhammad Buhari in the United States following his open admonishing of him on Monday.  A Presidency source told SaharaReporters that Mr. Emefiele asked to see President Buhari and then requested to leave for an “important” meeting in London. The President is said to have granted the request. On Monday, the president had warned his aides against smuggling Nigerian businessmen into meetings during his visit. Later that evening, he openly admonished the CBN governor for smuggling the former Managing Director of Zenith bank, Jim Ovia, into a dinner organized by the US Chamber of Commerce.  Presidency sources said the CBN governor’s request to leave Washington DC came as a surprise, as he had not previously informed President Buhari of any other meeting he had to attend, especially one that would deprive the President of a pr...

President Buhari met with some of his former colleagues at the US War college from 1980. More photos below

Multiple bomb explosions have been reported in two motor parks in Gombe state this evening. Two bomb explosions went off at the Dadin kowa motor park while the another one went off at Tashan Dukku motor park. Many people are feared dead. Details la ter

A woman shocked friends after she posted a photo of a little boy with Down's syndrome inside a washing machine on Facebook. Courtney Stewart, 21, (pictured above) shared the photo saying the 2 year old boy had climbed into the machine by himself because he has a 'washing obsession', and said she was sharing the photo 'as a laugh'. The child was in her care when the photo was taken. Her neigbours in Erskine, Renfrewshire, UK, didn't think the photo was funny and reported her to police. The police visited her but she was not arrested. She told police that the door to the washing machine had not been closed on the boy, and the machine was unplugged as she was waiting for a new one to be delivered.  Speaking of the decision taken by someone who had seen the picture on Facebook to report it to police, she said: 'I don’t know who reported it. I don’t really know why they would do that. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.' Ms Stewart c...

President Buhari this afternoon called on the US government to provide Nigeria with aids against Boko Haram without any strings attached. President Buhari made the call while delivering his speech at the US Institute of Peace. Tweets and video of what he said below.

The Rivers state police command today paraded robbers, cultist and kidnappers apprehended by men of the state police command. While parading the suspects before newsmen, the state police commissioner, Chris Ezike narrated how some of the robbers in the state were arrested. See that below "On 7/7/2015 at about 1400hrs, a three-man armed robbery gang operating with a black Highlander Jeep was intercepted by the Police along Rumuobiakani Road, after robbing a man of over N 2million withdrawn from a Bank. In the ensuing encounter, one of the robbers was arrested with bullet wounds, his accomplices escaped. Their operational vehicle was recovered and when searched, two AK47 rifles, with four magazines loaded with 92 rounds of 9.62mm ammunition, including 2 extra plate numbers BRR 490 BZ and KRD 09 DK as well as the robbed money were recovered. Similar feats were recorded in three other instances in the State. On 1/7/2015, SARS operatives tracked down a five-man armed robbery sy...

A middle-aged man, Juma Kabigi, has emerged champion of a food competition in Uganda, reports The Daily Monitor, one of the country’s newspapers. The Daily Monitor, in a series tweets, said Kabigi ate among other things – three loaves of bread, eight chapatis, 10 eggs, two raw cabbages, four apples and two bundles of raw green vegetables. Mr Kabigi it was reported won 10, 000 Ugandan shillings ( $3, £2, N625) for all his trouble. Juma Kabigi getting set for action Juma Kabigi in action Kabigi munching the food Kabigi taking his time… -

The Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, has slated Monday to decide whether it has the jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions challenging Governor Nyesom Wike’s election, outside Rivers state. The Justice Pindiga-led panel adjourned for ruling after ‎it heard a preliminary objection that was moved this morning by counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN. ‎In its motion, INEC challenged the legality of the tribunal ‎which it said ought to have in line with section 285(2) of the 1999 constitution, as amended, conducted its proceedings in Rivers state instead of Abuja. It insisted that going by the aforementioned section of the constitution under which the tribunal was established, “a tribunal sitting in Abuja cannot qualify as a tribunal established in Rivers state”. Besides, INEC contended that the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, lacked the powe...

A 23-year-old woman, who was arrested by men of the Rivers State Police Command, has confessed how she stole a five-year-old boy from his parents. The suspect, Chisa Ejionwu, said she decided to steal the boy after she was told that her chances of having a baby were slim. Ejionwu, on Tuesday said that she stole the boy, Michael, at Ogbogoro in the Obio/Akpo Local Government Area. Southern City News learnt that the suspect stole the boy on April 17, 2015, and took him to Ogbakiri in the Emeoha Local Government Area where she registered him in one of the schools in the area. Luck, however, ran out her when she was seen by a neighbour to the boy’s parents while she was taking him (Michael) to school in the morning. Ejionwu, who engaged the neighbour in a quarrel, was immediately dragged to the traditional ruler of the place in Emeoha. It was learnt that the boy’s grandfather, Mr. Michael Ibiamana, was contacted and he went to the traditional ruler’s palac...

The daughter of former President Umaru Yar’ Adua and wife of former Kebbi State Governor, Saidu Dakingari, Zaina Dakingari, has been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged fraud to the tune of N2billion perpetrated during her husband’s tenure as governor of the Northwest State. Also invited for questioning for alleged money laundering is Toyin Saraki, wife of the Senate President and former governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki. Mrs Saraki, a source at the anti-graft agency disclosed, is wanted in relation to questionable inflow of funds into companies where she has interest. She is expected to report at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja on July 28, 2015; where a crack team of investigators have already been assembled to grill her. Mrs. Dakingari on the other hand was initially expected to report for questioning at the EFCC headquarters today. However, Premium Times gathered that the former Kebbi first lady sent words that she was ...

Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, has clarified that Buhari did not discuss the issue of same sex marriage with President Barrack Obama but with lawmakers from the United States. Recalled that Adesina had earlier posted on his Twitter handle that “the issue of gay marriage came up here yesterday. PMB was point blank. Sodomy is against the law in Nigeria, and abhorrent to our culture”. Following reactions from Nigerians that the issue was not on the agenda with the U.S president;  Adesina made further clarification that the same sex marriage issue came up at the joint session of Senate and House Committees on Foreign Affairs, not in direct talks with Obama. He added that talks shifted to another matter once Buhari emphatically stated Nigeria’s stand on same sex marriage. “The same sex marriage issue came up at the joint session of Senate and House Committees on Foreign Affairs, not in direct tal...

The Abia State House of Assembly has approved a request sent to it by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to raise a loan facility of N30 billion from commercial banks. Ikpeazu had sought the approval of the House for a loan to enable his administration meet up with its financial obligations. Speaker of the House, Martins Azubuike, who announced the approval at the plenary sitting on Tuesday, said the request had been duly considered by members earlier at an executive session. He noted that the approval had become necessary following the decline in the federal allocation accruing to the state as well as apathy of residents in tax payment, a development, he said, that had adversely affected the revenue of the state. The Speaker said the House, after due considerations of the prevailing circumstances, decided to approve the request for a loan to enable the Governor function effectively. In another development, Information reaching  Abia Facts Newspaper ...

The Nigeria police says it discovered these high caliber bombs and IEDs in Yobe state recently. Yobe has recorded a series of suicide bomb attacks in recent times. More photos below..

Such a sad day for families of 28 people killed in the suicide bombing in Suruc, Turkey a few days ago. Some of them were buried today. More photos below.. The woman circled in the background was the suicide bomber

Pres. Buhari rejected the issue of gay marriage during one of his discussions in the US yesterday .

file photo Hell was let loose, last week, in Oto-Owori area, Ijanikin, Lagos State, after a 16-year-old member of the famous Abogun family, made startling confessions about how she was initiated into cultism and lesbianism by the younger sister of her uncle’s wife. Parents of the victim who were shocked by the confession reportedly alerted the police after she was caught while attempting to sneak out of the house with some items demanded by her cult members. According to the victim (names withheld), who completed her secondary education in June,  “it was Tope who introduced me into lesbianism and cultism early last year. On Friday, at about 7-8pm, I received a call from Tope that I should bring my red jacket, which is the cult uniform and a jack-knife for her.   While I was attempting to sneak out of the house to meet her, I was accosted by my brothers who checked the bag I was carrying and found the cult jacket and the jack-knife. They called on my p...

Ahead of President Barack Obama's official visit to Kenya next week, military planes have been flown in. The Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft (which can fly at a maximum speed of 500km or 78 percent faster than the average large helicopter and is used to transport the SEAL Teams) will be on standby to protect the President and his family in case of an emergency during his visit. Here's one of the military plane at the Jomo Kentatta International airport. More photos below

Reports from Nigeria say soldiers cooperation by ground - to - ground have arrested a senior dealer arms of Boko Haram . A security source told the BBC that the Nigerian army in collaboration with the Chadian arrested Babagana Gwange in the Chad region on Tuesday . Data indicated that Babagana Gwange is the main cause of the Boko Haram arms . It has long been trying to find out where Boko Haram is a major arms and attacks on civilians . Countries Nigeria , Niger, Cameroon , Chad , and Benin have formed a civil partnership for an end to acts of Boko Haram has thrown millions of people in danger . At the end of this month is the host to start working for defeating the militants.

Photos from the formal handing/taking over ceremony between the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh and the new Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin which held at the Defence Headquarters yesterday July 21. More photos below