Gist Arena

According to France's Defence Ministry, the alleged abuse and killings took place between Dec 2013 & June 2014 at a centre for displaced people at M'Poko airport in the capital Bangul. The UN mission in the Central African Republic on Tuesday, August 11th launched a probe into the allegations. The probe was opened following allegations made by London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International, which said the alleged incidents took place on August 2 and 3 as Rwandan and Cameroonian peacekeepers were conducting an operation in the capital, Bangui. In an initial response, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "dismayed and disappointed" by the latest claims of sexual abuse by peacekeepers, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. "Our evidence strongly suggests that a UN peacekeeper raped a young girl and that other UN peacekeepers indiscriminately killed two civilians," said Joanne Mariner, Senior Crisis Respons...

The West African Examinations Council, WAEC, Wednesday explained why it would release the results of the , May/June 2015 West African Senior School Certificate, WASSCE, that was earlier withhold due to indebtedness by the states, said it was because of the prevailing economic challenges facing the country. Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Mr. Charles Eguridu, stated this while briefing journalists in Abuja of the outcome of the meeting between WAEC and the Governors forum. He said the council has decided to hearken to appeals and because of the affected candidates would need the results for admission purposes. According to him, “Our decision to open this window of opportunity, that is the resort to advance payment guarantees for affected states, was as a result of our appreciation of the prevailing economic challenges facing the nation and in order not to jeopardise the educational progress of the candidates of the affected states. “However, f...

A helicopter belonging to Bristow Helicopters with 12 people on board Wednesday, crashed into the Lagoon near the Oworonshoki end of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. According to an eyewitness, the aircraft marked 5NBGD was said to be coming from one of the oil rigs in Escravos area of the Niger Delta and was said to be heading for Lagos Island when it went down around 3.p.m. According to reports, three of those on board were confirmed dead while four wounded ones were moved to the nearby Gbagada General Hospital. The crash was said to have occurred at the back of Oworonsoki Police station after a loud bang was heard from the helicopter. First respondents, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, its Lagos state counterparts, LASEMA, and policemen are said to have embarked on rescue operations. According to the Divisional Police Office, DPO, Oworonshoki, Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP Chijioke Nduka, who led officers to the scene to ...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) kick started pre-election meetings for the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections today, Wednesday, August 12th. The Resident Electoral Commissioners for the two states have been summoned, with their retinue of staff, to the Commission’s headquarters for the first set of preliminary meetings leading up to the elections by the Acting Chairman, Amina Bala Zakari. The Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections are scheduled for Saturday, 28th November and Saturday 5th December 2015 respectively. Already, critical departments have forwarded their budgets and schedule of activities for the two elections which were approved by the Commission last week. The Commission is also to meet on Thursday this week with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs). This would be the first such quarterly meeting under the watch of the Acting Chairman, Amina Bala Zakari. Highlights of the meeting, according to sources close to the Comm...

A helicopter has crashed behind the king’s palace in the Oworonsoki area of Lagos, Nigeria commercial capital, emergency rescue officials have told source Details of the accident are still unclear but rescue efforts are already ongoing. “Our men have already commenced rescue operations and we would have an idea of what happened in the next one hour,” an official of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency told source over the telephone. Details soon…

The Oba of Aramoko community in Ekiti state, Oba Adegoke Adeyemi, led his subjects to protest the poor state of electricity supply in their community. The king and his subjects blocked a major road in the community. Now, that's a leader! More photos below

The Civil Society Network Against Corruption, a coalition of anti-corruption organisations in Nigeria, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the “questionable expenditures” of the administration of Babatunde Fashola, the immediate past governor of Lagos State. In a petition dated August 10 and addressed to the EFCC Chairman, the group called for the probe of the controversial N78 million spent on the personal website of Mr. Fashola There was outrage last weekend after analytic firm, BudgIT, revealed that Mr. Fashola approved, before he left office, N78.3 million from the state’s treasury for an upgrade of his personal website. The contract for the refurbishment of the website was awarded to Info Access Plus Limited by the office of the Chief of Staff to the former governor. The company, however, denied receiving the amount, insisting that it was paid N10 million. Other ‘questionable expenditures’ In addition to the amount purport...

These traditional chiefs were sighted on the streets in Ile Ife, Osun state this afternoon as they officially announced the demise of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuwade.

Abubakar Shekau,  the head of the Boko Haram has been ousted as its leader.. Idriss Deby, the president of Chad  made the comments in a press conference on Tuesday in which he claimed Boko Haram would be finished "by the end of the year". "There is someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakr Shekau and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government,"For my part, I would advise not to negotiate with a terrorist." It was not clear how Mr Deby had obtained his information, although rumours have been circulating in recent months that Shekau had gone on the run or even fled Nigeria altogether as a result of  increased military operations  against Boko Haram.

Several reports claim the burial rites of  Oba Sijuwade, the Ooni of Ife has reportedly been stalled after the Abobaku fled the town.The Abobaku is “The one who dies with the king”.He is usually appointed upon a king’s coronation, and has to be buried with the king when he eventually dies.His job is to serve the king even in the world beyond. The early announcement of the Ooni's death is said to have alerted the Abobaku of the King's death ,possibly enabling his to escape.

VENUE: COURT 3 UMUAHIA HIGH COURT , ABIA STATE CASE BETWEEN DR ALEX OTTI THE PETITIONER ,DR OKEZIE IKPEAZU ABIA STATE GOVERNOR IST RESPONDENT , PDP AND INEC 2ND AND 3RD RESPONDENTS PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING ABBREVIATIONS : P = Petitioner, R = Respondent, PW = Petitioner Witness, RW = Respondent Witness, J = Judge. ATTENDANCE/APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL Judges headed by W.B Wakali, (APGA): Lead counsel Chief Akin Olujinmi(SAN), Chief Awa Kalu(SAN) and 65 other lawyers Chief Theo Nkeire is leading the Council for 1st Respondent Ikpeazu today and he is ably supported by Emeka Etiaba. Chief Paul Ananaba, SAN, lead counsel for the 2nd respondent is also present with his team of lawyers S.O Hagla Esq leading the 3rd respondent counsel with his team of lawyers BUSINESS OF THE DAY/ CROSS EXAMINATION OF PW3 to PW10 Petitioners asked to present witness presenting PW 4 (names withheld), 3 respondents asked all manner of questions and PW 4, maintained no electi...

President of Chad, Idriss Deby says Boko Haram, which has terrorized the West African sub region for a while now, is decapitated. He said the sect has a new leader named Muhamat Daoud who is calling for negotiations with the Nigerian government. He said this yesterday August 11th while speaking to journalist in N'Djamena, Chad on the of the 55th anniversary of Chad’s independence from France “Boko Haram is decapitated. There are little groups (of Boko Haram members) scattered throughout east Nigeria, on the border with Cameroon.   It is within our power to definitively overcome Boko Haram. The war will be short, with the setting up of the regional force, it will be over by the end of the year. There is someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government. For my part, I would advise not to negotiate with a terrorist,” he said

PDP Rivers state chapter has petitioned EFCC over claims that the immediate past governor of the state, Rotimi Amechi engaged in corrupt practices while he served as governor. The deputy chairman of the party who made this known to newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday August 11th, called on President Buhari to be fair in his fight against corruption and ensure that Amaechi is investigated by EFCC. He said the EFCC was petitioned over alleged corrupt practices the former governor's administration was involved in between December 1-8th 2014. "Since the President of Nigeria, President Buhari, has told the world that he is a man with zero tolerance for corruption, we, the people of Rivers, are asking that there should be no sacred cow. We are saying that corruption in Rivers State should be investigated and justice should be done. As we speak to you, we cannot trace the proceeds that emanated from all the government’s transactions that that took place in Rivers St...

Plateau state governor, Simon Lalong has given government officials in the last administration led by Jonah Jang two weeks to return all government money they stole while in office or face the full wrath of the law. Governor Lalong gave the ultimatum yesterday August 11 when he received a report from a 12-man transition committee set up by his administration to investigate cases of misappropriation of public funds during the immediate past administration “In line with the advice of President Muhammadu Buhari, who urge past government officials to return stolen public funds in their procession, I am giving two weeks to government officials in our state to return monies taken illegally, even before government begins the implementation of the recommendations of the committee."he said.

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In an interview with EFCC's periodic magazine, Zero Tolerance, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka described president Buhari as a born-again phenomenon in Nigerian politics, saying although Buhari is yet to apologize for some of the things he did in the past, he has accepted some of his mistakes and has paid some debts to the Nigerian community. “Buhari has not brought himself round to apologise; if he had done that, I might have been less ambiguous about him. But I think from my findings about him, he is a born again phenomenon. If I am wrong, well, too bad. Though I don’t believe in ‘born-againism’ but I think this may be an exception.” Soyinka said

The director-general of the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Onyeka Onwenu, has finally honoured the invitation of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over the alleged N17million contract bribe and was granted administrative bail. According to a reliable source at the ICPC office, the NCWD DG appeared before the anti-graft agency on Monday and after answering some questions, she was allowed to go home on recognition, while investigation into the alleged bribe continues. The source, however, would not confirm the outcome of the investigation on whether the renowned songstress was indicted or not but promised to make the matter public when the need arises. The NCWD boss had declined to appear to before the anti-corruption agency when invited last week, claiming that she had to attend to her health first. Other key persons interrogated on the issue include Mukhtar Usman, Jauro Jibrin and Sadeeq Uma...

Former military head of state Lieutenant General Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd) and other members of the National Peace Committee for the 2015 general elections were rattled by the stubborn posture and utterance of President Muhammadu Buhari during a meeting with him earlier today. Mr. Abubakar had led members of the so-called Peace Committee in yet another mission to plead with Mr. Buhari not to probe the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.  However, several participants at today’s meeting told SaharaReporters that the president remained obstinate and made no secret of his determination to proceed with the probe.  SaharaReporters learnt that today’s meeting was a stepped up version of previous failed attempts to sway Mr. Buhari from his determination to probe acts of corruption by officials of Mr. Jonathan’s administration. SaharaReporters had revealed that former Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku visited President Buhari to press the cas...

A 30-year-old man and a lady have been arrested over the death of his girlfriend in Bauchi. According to Vanguard, Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Mohammed, who confirmed the incident to newsmen in Bauchi, said the deceased, known as Iklima Alhassan, aged 28, and an indigene of Bukuru village in Plateau State, visited her boyfriend, Nasiru, who resides at Rafin Makaranta area, behind Awala Hotel in Bauchi. He said trouble started when the deceased met another lady, Fatima Baba Isa, 22, of Makera ward in her boyfriend’s apartment, a situation that allegedly resulted in a fight between the two women. Mohammed said: “On August 9, at about 12:50a.m., an uncon-scious young lady was found along Maiduguri by-pass, near Awalah Roundabout, Bauchi.“The police patrol team attached to Tafawa Balewa Housing Estate Division visited the scene and rushed the victim to ATBU Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, were she was certified dead on arrival by a medical doctor and the...

A baby less than two weeks old who is battling pneumonia has been stabbed in the head with a 12inch knife by another hospital patient. The 11-day-old tot is fighting for his life after the shocking attack that left the blade stuck 11cm into his brain as he slept in a hospital ward with his mother close-by. Frantic doctors in Vietnam performed a life-saving operation to remove the massive knife from his head.The horrific attack on the child, who has not yet been named, just missed his eye.  Mum, Vo Thi Hong Duyen, 32, described the moment she allegedly saw 51-year-old Nguyen Thi Van, who was sharing a room with the pair, attack her baby. She claims she was woken at 3.40am by a noise in the room and saw a shadowy figure approach her bed, where she lay with her son... She said:  "She jumped at me and we struggled and I heard a scream."I saw my baby crying and looked to see the knife in his face full of blood."When I started to cry, she ran away." ...

An 81 year old South Korean man identified simply as Choi set himself on fire this morning Wednesday, August 12th outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul during a large protest over Japan's forced recruitment of sex slaves to service military brothels during World War II. Other protesters tried to douse the fire with blanket and bottled water before emergency services arrived. He was eventually removed to an ambulance and rushed to the hospital. Fortunately his condition is not critical and he is expected to recover eventually. The protest on Wednesday drew close to 1,000 protestors to the embassy ahead of Saturday's 70th anniversary of the end of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula. Although Japan insists the issue was settled in the 1965 bilateral agreement that restored diplomatic ties between the two nations, which saw Tokyo make a total payment of $800 million in grants or loans to its former colony, South Korea says Japan has s...

 Award winning artist, Ed Sheeran decided to solidify his latest achievement with a massive chest tattoo.Ed who is said to be in a relationship with Nicole Sherzinger told the BBC, that he planned on getting a massive chest tattoo after selling out a trio of shows at Wembley Stadium. Originally I was going to get the floor plan tattooed on my side, but that seemed a bit ridiculous," he said  Instead he chose the lion, which is the logo of the English National Team...

A sickening footage has shown callous French farm workers disposing of unwanted male chicks by tossing them into shredders while still alive or leaving them to suffocate in plastic sacks. The gruesome footage recorded undercover at a hatchery  and broadcast on French TV shows staff putting the chicks on a conveyor belt that leads them towards fast moving blades. The video was filmed by a seasonal worker at the hatchery, which only sells female chicks to factory farms and egg production units as the quality of their meat and eggs is considered superior. He described his horror at being powerless to intervene as the tiny male chicks were shredded, suffocated and tossed into skips by uncaring colleagues while they were still alive . The film begins by showing tiny chicks on a fast-moving conveyor belt heading towards the blades of an industrial shredder. The next shot shows a hatchery employee piling scores of chicks into a black bin bag and pressing dow...

A University of Michigan professor who describes himself as a 'boy lover' traveled 1,300 miles to meet a father and young son he had met online for sex - but was caught in an FBI sting, police have said. James Cavalcoli, 51, an assistant professor at the university's department of computational medicine and bioinformatics, reportedly started chatting with the father, 'Jim', on a child pornography website. He arranged to meet Jim - whom he believed to be a fellow 'boy lover' - and Jim's 14-year-old son for sex and traveled from his Ann Arbor home to Florida, armed with condoms and lubricant, it is said. But after making the 1,350-mile trip to Broward County, Cavalcoli discovered the father he had been speaking to was actually an undercover officer working with the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force. Cavalcoli, who also allegedly sent naked photographs to Jim ahead of the trip, was arrested and booked into Broward County Jail,...