Gist Arena

The governor of Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson, is not the only politician hacking phones and intercepting communication of political peers and rivals in Nigeria. Almost all recent governors of the South South region of Nigeria intercepted calls and hacked phones and computers, an illegal practice that gave them backdoor access to many people’s private lives, an ongoing PREMIUM TIMES investigation has revealed. Our findings show that Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers state governor; Godswill Akpabio, former Akwa Ibom state governor; and Emmanuel Uduaghan, former Delta state governor illegally acquired technologies that allowed them conduct mass surveillance and hack people’s gadgets, mainly to eavesdrop on their conversations, know who they talked with and what their plans were. These three formers governors are the latest privacy violators and spymasters weeks after Mr. Dickson was exposed for similar illegal practice. They all exited office as governors in May, followin...

The former Aviation minister is head over heel in love with Precious Chikwendu...You can see the love in his eyes!

Boko Haram terrorists converted an abandoned chemistry laboratory at ​Dikwa ​College of Education in Borno State​,​ to a bomb-making factory, ​before the town was retaken by government troops last week, the Nigerian military said Saturday. The spokesperson for the army, Sani Usman,​ said troops from the 7 division discovered the laboratory during a mop​-​up operation in the area. Mr. Usman, a colonel, said some equipment including a welding machine and a mine detector were found at the makeshift factory. Also recovered from the operation we​re four Toyota Hilux ​pick ups.​ “The gallant troops are in a very high spirit and more determined to further pursue the fleeing terrorists to all known enclaves and sanctuaries,” Mr. Usman said. Premium Times

Cecil (right) the lion's brother Jerciho (left) has been shot dead in a park in Zimbabwe  Cecil the lion's brother Jericho has been shot dead by poachers in a park in Zimbabwe.  The beloved animal was protecting Cecil's lion cubs after he was shot dead by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer earlier this month, sparking outrage around the world.  Jericho is believed to have been gunned down during an illegal hunting operation in Hwange National Park on Saturday afternoon during. Johnny Rodrigues, Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said in a statement: 'It is with great sadness and regret that we report that Jericho was shot dead at 4pm this afternoon.  'We are absolutely heartbroken. We have no further details but will advise as soon as we know more.'  Before his death there had been concerns Jericho would not be able to hold the territory of Cecil's cubs alone and could be chased away by rival lions.  Unprotected, the...

Donjazzy and his ''children' Korede Bello and Reekado Banks are at the NBA Africa games in South Africa..Korede and Reekado performed...Supermodel Oluchi is also attending the games...

A petition from the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) that protests 'a policy that calls for the decriminalization of pimps, brothel owners and buyers of sex - the pillars of a $99 billion global sex industry' has been signed by more than 400 people, including A-list Hollywood celebrities; Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet, and Meryl Streep along with prominent church leaders like Judah Lawrence Couch, director, National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd; Rev. Michael Carrion, Evangelical Covenant Church and National Latino Evangelical Coalition; Rev. Adrian Dannhauser, chair, Task Force Against Human Trafficking for the Episcopal Diocese of New York; Major Katie Stoops and Salvation Army. An excerpt from the letter reads, "The decriminalization of pimping, brothel owning and sex buying, it will in effect support a system of gender apartheid, in which one category of women may gain protection from sexual violence and sexual harassmen...

Nick Gordon with Bobbi Kristina Brown. He has reportedly begged her father Bobby Brown for an invite to her funeral on Saturday The funeral of Bobbi Kristina Brown descended into chaotic and rancorous scenes as a furious Leolah Brown left the service half way to tell the gathered media, 'Whitney Houston will haunt Pat Houston from the grave.' Dressed in brown and dressed in a white hat and jacket , Bobbi's great aunt said that everything was going well until Pat Houston started to speak about 90 minutes into the service. Addressing reporters outside St. James United Methodist Church, Brown declined to say exactly what Pat Houston had said that so incensed her, but did say that she felt compelled to get her frustrations off her chest. 'This is going to be a long drawn out process,' said Leolah, was  reportedly kicked out of the service which began at 11am. Earlier, mourners including Grammy award winning singer Monica and actor Michael Jai White gathered ...

The Peoples Democratic Party Staff Welfare Association has described as “an absolute bunkum, a clumsy, and blundering blackmail”, an allegation by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, that staff members were being sponsored by the APC to destabilize the PDP. The association said such a weak shot from a mortally crippled arsenal of witch hunt is incapable of breaking the resolve of the staff to expose the thieving band in the PDP’s National Working Committee and restore the core vision of the party. “We are not surprised that the allegation will become the most fashionable means of covering tracks,” the staff said. The staff are challenging the PDP’s move to sack half of its work force and cut by 50 per cent the pay of the remaining workers, just two months after leaving power. The workers have accused the NWC members of squandering over N12 billion of party funds, and destroying the former ruling party. In a statement Saturday, the cha...

Stumbled on these photos on Facebook. The female fan who posted them said the photos were taken at Club Escape in Lagos last night. She's a big fan of Peter and Paul Okoye and couldn't contain herself when she met them. Lol. She took some intimate pics with them. Lucky fan or overzealous fan? And who did she get to take the photos? Lol. Some fans eh! More photos when you continue...

An eight-year-old girl has narrated how she was allegedly raped by their 48-year-old neighbour, Mr. Peter Christopher, one afternoon in the building her family shared with another tenant. The girl, Blessing (not real name), explained to  Saturday PUNCH  that on Thursday, June 18, 2015, she was about to enter her parent’s apartment when, Christopher, a carpenter, whose lives just two doors away from their apartment, dragged her into his room, locked the door and defiled her. Blessing was a jovial girl, she smiled a lot. But when it was time to tell the story of what she went through. Her face creased into a frown as tears streamed down her face. Her elder sister urged her on to tell everything that happened. Blessing said,  “His (Christopher’s) wife had gone for a wedding programme that day. He was alone in the house.“I was playing outside before but as I came in and was about to open our door, he moved near me and dragged me by hand into their room....

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Henry Chibueze, a notorious kidnapper terrorizing South East and South South parts of the country, stormed the home of his girlfriend, Sandra Ijedinma, at Igando area of Lagos State, with an AK47 assault rifle and opened fire on everyone present in the apartment, killing his girlfriend, her elder sister Praise Ozor, and her two children. Not satisfied, Henry proceeded to a nearby street where one of Sandra’s elder sisters resided and killed the woman and three of her children, before fleeing. His anger was said to have been that Sandra, who was an optician with Madonna University, had called off their relationship, when she learnt that he was a kidnapper. Sandra’s twin sister, Katherine who sustained a bullet would during the attack had told vanguard in 2013 that the assailant was familiar with everyone in their family but nobody knew he was a kidnapper .  She explained that her late sister used to visit Henry at his base in Delta ...

A former member of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Missa Bobbo, and a notorious drug baron, Bappa Madu, of Ngurore town have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment each by a Federal High Court in Yola. Bobbo was arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in connection with unlawful possession of narcotics in 2013 while Bappa, who has twenty-five children, was arrested in June 2015. According to a statement by NDLEA spokesperson, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, Bobbo was convicted for possessing 81.9kg of cannabis sativa while Bappa was found guilty of possessing 61.6kg of tramadol. Justice Balkisu Aliyu described the involvement of the former legislator in drug trafficking as shameful during his sentencing. Bobbo was a member of the House of Assembly in Adamawa State representing Leko-Koma Constituency between 1991 and 1993. He was also a member of the national constitutional conference in 1995. Apart from the dried weeds of cannabi...

No fewer than 12 close aides of former President Goodluck Jonathan have been stripped of their official passports.This comes two months after they left power. Saturday Vanguard reports that ,a competent source said that the decision to withdraw the official passports of the former aides of Dr Jonathan was to prevent misuse and conflict with new aides and officials of President Muhammadu Buhari, who assumed duties on May 29, 2015. It could not be established last night whether the affected officials were ordered by the Presidency to surrender the passports or whether they did so voluntarily. But Saturday Vanguard learned that the affected former aides of Jonathan had already returned the passports to the Presidential Villa preparatory to being handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS. Among those whose passports have been retrieved are former Special Adviser to the President on Media Reuben Abati; former Aide-de-Camp, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe and former Chi...