Gist Arena

Former President Goodluck Jonathan authorised the withdrawal of a whopping N67.2 billion in cash money from the Central Bank of Nigeria between November 2014 and February 2015 for “special services,” PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today. The two cash withdrawals were made in the build up to the 2015 general elections. Our sources said even more ‘curious’ large withdrawals were made from the bank during the period but we were unable to obtain documents to authenticate the claims. But highly classified documents obtained by this newspaper, Friday, showed that at least N67.2 billion were withdrawn in cash from the banks in two tranches. Insiders at the CBN said the huge cash were carted away in bullion vans. One of the withdrawals was made through a memo which originated from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, allegedly based on Mr. Jonathan’s instruction. The second memo was generated by the National Petroleum Investm...

A thief 'died' twice in hospital after being stabbed in the stomach by the owner of a house he had robbed. The thief, 38 year old Craig Norman, spent nearly six months in Manchester Royal Infirmary and is now facing the threat of being jailed. The courts heard how he used a spring-loaded punch to get into the home of 44 year old Lee Fellowes and his wife Kelly, 33. Mr Fellowes went into the kitchen of their home after hearing the sound of smashing glass and when he looked towards the front door he saw a hand reaching for a bunch of keys in the lock, said prosecutor Subhanur Chowdhury. He kicked out at the hand but Norman managed to grab the keys and disappear. “Bare-footed and in his pyjamas Mr Fellowes ran out of the back door. On the way he picked up a kitchen knife to protect himself and his young family,” said Mr Chowdhury. Outside he saw a vehicle driving away at speed and thought the intruder was driving. So Mr Fellowes went back into the house an...

Former military leader late Sani Abacha and his wife Mariam when they were a young couple..

Chief (Mrs) Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, the matriarch of the Awolowo family and wife of late Obafemi Awolowo has died.  She passed on in her sleep today September 19th at her Ikenne, Ogun state home at age 99, just two months before turning 100. She was born on November 25, 1915.  May her soul rest in peace, Amen.

The Lagos State Police Command has dismissed killer police corporal, Aremu Musiliu, for opening fire on a couple in Ijegun, Alimosho, Lagos State. The 28-year-old was arraigned on Friday before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court on two counts of murder and causing grievous body harm. The PUNCH had reported that Museliu and some other policemen attached to the Isheri Osun Police Station had mounted a checkpoint on Wednesday at the Obalagbe bus stop, Ijegun Road. The men were reportedly extorting some tricycle operators in the area, when the victims, Mr. Godwin Ekpo and his wife, Idongesit, were returning from a church programme in their tricycle. Godwin was said to have mistakenly brushed the policemen van while trying to evade them. Museliu was alleged to have opened fire on the couple, after another policeman smashed their windscreen. While Idongesit died on the spot, her husband, Godwin, sustained serious injuries and was admitted at a general hospital i...

A Nigerian preacher has been robbed and racially abused by two men as he walked to his church in north Glasgow. The 46-year-old was on his way to a church in Ashfield Street when he was attacked on Bardowie Street by two men. He was hit with a glass bottle and punched before the men ran off with his rucksack at about 23:35 on Friday. Police Scotland are treating the attack as a hate crime. The preacher sustained only minor injuries but was "very shaken", officers said. The suspects were white and in their late teens. One is described as medium to heavy build, with a short dark crew cut hairstyle and wearing a grey hooded top, black tracksuit trousers and white trainers. The second man has a slim build with short light brown hair, wearing a black hooded top and red tracksuit bottoms. The preacher had just got off a bus on Saracen Street before the attack. The two men stole his rucksack which had a Bible and other possessions inside. ...

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN said on Friday that 19 of the 36 states of the federation have so far benefitted from the workers’ salary bailout package. The states that applied for and received various sums from the aid include Kwara, Zamfara, Osun, Niger, Bauchi, Gombe, Abia, Adamawa, Ondo, and Kebbi, the CBN states. Others include Ekiti, Imo, Ebonyi, Ogun, Plateau, Nassarawa, Sokoto, Edo and Oyo which were granted their packages this week. CBN spokesperson, Ibrahim Mu’azu, said the bailout, which was in line with the recent resolution by the National Economic Council, NEC, was to enable the affected states to pay the backlog of workers’ salary arrears. The package has a 20-year repayment tenor for all states, except Ogun State, which opted for a 10 year tenor. Mr. Mu’azu explained that contrary to reports that Ogun state accessed N20 billion from the bailout, the state actually received a total of N18.9 billion. The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC had on T...

The prince of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the first son of Dubai’s ruler/Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has died. He died very early this morning from what the family say is a heart attack. He wasn't the heir apparent to the throne though, his younger, Sheikh Hamdan, is. The prince, who was an avid sportsman, businessman and owner of one of the largest horse stables in the country, will be buried later today. Dubai has declared three days of mourning and UAE flags will be flown at half mast during the mourning period. May his soul rest in peace, amen.

An okada rider raped a 14 year old teenager who was returning home from visiting her aunt's shop. According to a report by  Punch , the teenager, currently an apprentice at her aunty’s cake shop was a virgin, until she lost it violently to the okada rider. (pictured rigft after he was caught and beaten) The teenager who was visibly and emotionally in pain said she'd never forgive her rapist, identified as Sharafa Wasiu, for violating her, she also wished him death, “because of what he did to me. I feel sad anytime I remember that day.” She said she had tried everything she could to remain a virgin until she was married but all that was for naught after being raped by Wasiu who after dropping her infront of her house, trailed her into the house and raped her in broad daylight. She said, “That Saturday, I stopped a bike from the front of our shop to take me home. When we got home, he dropped me in front of the house, I paid him and I went in, not knowing...

He could easily pass for someone who was tired of everything around him, not even with the way he carried himself, but beyond his gloomy demeanour, he is truly hurting, angry and deeply frustrated, all at once, though he tried to hide it with some fake smiles. Iduh Lucky, as he introduced himself to our correspondent when he came to share his story with Saturday PUNCH at the PUNCH headquarters recently, is not only sad about the unemployment crisis in the country, but more so because he has been duped of thousands of naira by a senior immigration officer who offered to help him secure a job and is now nowhere to be found. The way Lucky strapped his brown envelope to his armpit as he entered the waiting room at PUNCH PLACE gave a clear impression that he had ground-shaking documents in the weather-beaten pack. He left no one in doubt about this as he held on to it tightly until it was time to unveil the content, which he later did, carefully. Lucky said he met the offi...

Nnadikwe Christian Sunday (in grey) struggles with a police officer at an appeal court in Da Nang September 18 after it was adjourned as his interpreter did not come. Photo: Nguyen Chung A Nigerian man shouted angrily and fought against police officers after an appeal hearing of his fraud conviction in Da Nang was suspended on Friday, due to the absence of his interpreter.  Nnadikwe Christian Sunday stood trial again with his accomplices, Nigerian Deke Collins and Vietnamese Le Thi Kim Quyen. The interpreter for the two Nigerians was absent due to health reasons. The judge panel decided to adjourn the court. Sunday, then handcuffed, stood up and shouted at the panel in English. Police asked him to sit down but he fought back, and they had to bring him out of the courtroom. The three filed an appeal after a court in August sentenced Quyen to 15 years in jail and the Nigerians 12 years each for two cyber fraud cases that earned them more than VND3.3 bill...

The wailing of 11 months old Elijah Ekpo yesterday, at Jakande Estate Oke-Afa , Isolo Lagos, sprang the curiosity of other commuters at the bus-stop on whether the woman carrying him was his biological mother. The crying baby held unto the blouse of the woman , wanting to force her breast out of it. From all indication it was obvious that he wanted to be breast- fed. Curious commuters urged the woman to find a place to sit down and breast feed the baby. Rather than heed the advice, the woman burst into tears, an action that attracted this reporter. Mr and Mrs-Ekpo Her reason for breaking down was not far fetched as it was discovered that the mother of the 11-month-old baby was lying stone dead at the Igando General Hospital morgue. Fate played a cruel role in the life of young Elijah Wednesday night at Obalagbe , in Ijegun area of the state, after his mother was added to the list of victims of the recklessness of trigger happy cops. Her father, Mr Godwin ...

  Mrs Oluwatoyin Nwosu, wife of the Deputy Managing Director of The SUN Newspaper was kidnapped  after her Ago residence was invaded by a seven-man robbery gang  Though the robbers reportedly operated in other buildings located on same street with the Nwosus theirs took a worrisome dimension following the abduction of Toyin. For three days , her distraught husband was a shadow of himself , as he ran from pillar to post , looking for how to raise the N100 million requested as ransom for his wife’s release by her captors. In this interview with Crime Guard , an elated Toyin who was full of gratitude to God for sparing her life, disclosed that she was kept in a bush at an unknown destination by her abductors. “They came unannounced to our house while we were sleeping. They packed some things; jewelries, gold wristwatches and other valuables. I don’t know why they chose to take me away . But I was taken in a boat to God- knows- where. I do not...

Three women were publicly flogged  in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.The women were arrested for having unmarried sex.They were joined by 14 men arrested for sexual offences and gambling and were caned in front of a mosque following Friday prayer. Gay sex, gambling and drinking alcohol are already punishable by caning in Aceh which began implementing Sharia law after being granted special autonomy in 2001, an effort by the central government in Jakarta to quell a long-running separatist insurgency. Daily Mail

The WHO has advised all male survivors of Ebola to be tested three months after the onset of symptoms and then monthly until they know they have no risk of passing on the virus through their semen. Bruce Aylward, Head of the WHO’s Ebola Response, said on Thursday in Geneva that isolated flare-ups of Ebola may point to a higher risk of transmission via the semen of male survivors than previously thought. “It’s not the sex that is dangerous; it’s the semen that is dangerous. How people actually get exposed, in soiled linens or whatever, is not clear.  “Transmission through semen may explain why a few cases continue to occur even though the outbreak has been almost completely eradicated by an intense international effort, recently bolstered by the deployment of a trial vaccine in Guinea and Sierra Leone,’’ he said. Aylward said the latest flare-up, in a village on the northern border of Sierra Leone, followed the death of a 67-year-old woman late last month, 50 day...

In his days as the governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, otherwise known as DSP, was fondly referred to as the Governor-General of Izon Nation, because he presided over the only state with entirely Ijaw extraction and was seen as the leader of the struggle for the proverbial Resource Control in the Niger Delta. But his popularity and political career was cut short when he was impeached towards the end of December 2005 and replaced by his then Deputy Governor, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who later became Nigeria’s President following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010. DSP landed in prison and he was in a sordid state until his godson, Jonathan granted him state pardon, lifting him out of the political doldrums. Today, Alamieyeseigha still respected in Bayelsa, speaks on Jonathan, Obasanjo , Governor Seriake and Bayelsa State. Excerpts: Let’s start by asking what informed your choice of former President Jonathan as your...