Gist Arena

Two Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt for broadcasting false news have been freed after receiving pardons from President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. Mohammed Fahmy, a Canadian, and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian, were among 100 prisoners whose release was ordered. State media said a third person from the case was also pardoned. It is not clear if this is the Australian Peter Greste, who was deported in February. They were sentenced to three years in prison last month after a retrial. Prosecutors accused them of collaborating with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood after the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi by the military in 2013. The journalists denied the allegation and said they were simply reporting the news. Legal experts said the charges were unfounded and politically motivated. 'Long nightmare ends' A statement from President Sisi's office issued on Wednesday  said  Fahmy and Mohamed were named on a decree pardoning 100 young people "who had recei...

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Wednesday gave a narration of how former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, imported thugs to the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, venue of the All Progressives Congress primaries for the December 5, 2015 gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, and scuttled the exercise. Oshiomhole, who also said Sylva threatened his life and that of other members of the Electoral Committee of the primaries, challenged Sylva to produce his Certificate of Return presented to him by the party if he truly won in a free and fair primaries. He said: “I was appointed along with six others to conduct the primary election in Bayelsa State. The exercise took place on Tuesday, but somehow, thugs took over the venue of the exercise. They prevented the actual delegates from participating and accessing the venue of the exercise. As a result, we could not proceed with the exercise. “The committee was virtually held hostage, including myself, and th...

Former President Goodluck Jonathan was among dignitaries who thronged the Ikenne country home of the Awolowos to pay tributes to their matriarch, Chief Dideolu Awolowo, who passed away on last Saturday. He arrived the home at exactly 1.17pm in company with his wife, Patience; a former Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola; and a former Chairman of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, Mr. Jide Adeniji, among others. Jonathan said the death of HID Awolowo forced him and his wife out of their “hidding” place, adding that he had resolved not to go out for one year, after leaving office. Condoling with the family, the former President noted that the deceased enjoyed a rare privilege of living for extra 29 years, when compared to the biblical prescription of three scores and 10. He further described her as a rare mother, whose milk of kindness, milk of encouragement as well as milk of advice Nigerians still needed. He said, “M...

A newborn baby girl was found dumped in the parking lot of Safeer Market in Sharjah’s Al Majaz area, UAE, on Sunday, September 20, with her umbilical chord still attached. She was spotted around noon by an Arab motorist lying dangerously close to the front wheel of his SUV as he was about to get in the car. "What if the child had not caught his eye? I dread to think what might have happened,” said Indian parking attendant Subhash, 35, who dashed to the spot after being alerted by the Arab man. "The sight that greeted me was gut- wrenching," Subhash recalled.  "The baby was wrapped in a white towel, a nylon rope wound tightly around her body. Her face was covered with just a part of her head sticking out. For a moment I thought she was dead but when I picked the little bundle and loosened the rope, she stirred. As I gently parted the folds of the towel, the blazing sun hit her squarely in the face and she squinted her eyes. I will never forget that mom...

Nigerian Boko Haram ISIS leader by name Yusuf (left) can't pray or read the Quran. Watch the video below

8 suspected kidnappers and three armed robbery suspects were killed in a shoot-out with men of Rivers State Police Command in the last two weeks, Mr Musa Kimo, the Commissioner of Police, has said. Kimo, who made the disclosure at a news conference  on Tuesday  in Port Harcourt, the state capital, said that six armed robbery suspects were arrested in the state. He said that during the period, seven suspected kidnappers were arrested while six kidnapped persons were safely rescued. He added that six suspected cultists were arrested and 32 firearms were recovered from various criminal gangs during the period under review. The commissioner said the firearms included three AK-47 rifles, 11 pump-action guns, 10 locally-made pistols, three double-barrel guns and three single-barrel guns. He said that 101 assorted ammunition and nine vehicles were also recovered from the gangs. Kimo said nine suspected stolen vehicles were recovered  including BMW X...

Article written by Dr. Peregrino Brimah of Ends.ng. Read below   When we were in school and we were to be punished, or for those still in school, do we prefer to get beaten first or last? I was one who preferred to be first in line to receive my koboko and get it over with than to be last in the line. Nigeria's Senate president Bukola Saraki should be happy that he has been put somewhere in the front of the line to receive his judgement and possible punishment early in the game and get it over with on time. He should be happy at this privilege. By submitting for his case and not continuing to run away, indeed he will prove to Nigerians that he is a true leader in good and bad times. But by running away, demonstrating that he is "above the law" and sponsoring youth to go protest for him, he is committing further crimes and cementing his guilt in more places than one. Literally every thing can be blamed on politics. Hanging it on politics is not an excuse to run f...

This is the bullet ridden pickup van of former Presidential candidate Chief Olu Falae after he was kidnapped at his farm in Akure in Ondo state on Monday September 21st by Herdsmen. See more pics below Photo credit: Sahara Reporters

After an online romance Angharad Lovering, 38, from South Wales, flew to the Caribbean for a three-week holiday to meet Loric Bullock, then 19,and says she knew it was 'meant to be' when she came back pregnant. Her new lover then proposed by text and despite having only met him once she accepted. In October 2013 she gave birth to their baby boy, Tyrese - with a doctor holding her hand and Loric 5,000 miles away on the end of the phone. It was not until March 2014, when Tyrese was five months old, that Loric got his visa thanks to her £3,000 loan and could fly to the UK to meet his son for the first time - and his fiancé for the second - before marrying in the May. The couple now live together in Cardiff with their son, now one, and Angharad's daughter from a previous relationship, Daisy, 15. Ms Lovering admits that people often mistake Loric for for her son or her teenage daughter's boyfriend. She said: 'A lot of people confuse him for her boyfri...

According to Twitter User @SlymanAbkr, a Mechanic driving a customer's hilux bashed his uncle's 2 weeks old car.  He then started rolling on the floor begging. The guy said the mechanic has since been arrested.

Doctors at the Central Hospital in Benin City are battling to save the life of one Alex Aigbogun who was stabbed in the stomach by his landlord, simply identified as Enogieru. The victim was brought to the hospital at about 9:00am Wednesday by policemen in a Hilux van. Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred at about 12:00midnight, but the victim’s family has no vehicle or money to take him to the hospital. A neighbor to the victim said police told them there was no fuel in their vehicle to convey the victim to the hospital and that was why the victim was covered with cloth till daybreak. The incident occurred at No. 5 Ogiemwenken Street, Off St Saviour Road, Ikpoba Okha local government area of Edo State. A witness who gave his name as Peter Igbinosun said the landlord ran away after stabbing the victim. Igbinosun explained that trouble started on Tuesday night when both the landlord and tenant went to a joint to take a drink. He said the duo fought ove...

These photos of fake bottles of coke and sprite being produced under the most eye-churning conditions has gone viral.The location is unknown at the moment .. God help us...

Press statement from Rivers state PDP in response to Amaechi's N300million defamation lawsuit The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, says its attention has been drawn to a news report in a section of the media over threat by the former State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to have sued the Party, its State Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah and two others to court over allegations of corruption against him. Reacting to the news report, the State PDP described the litigation threat as diversionary in the light of shocking revelations, testimonies and discoveries of acts of lawlessness, fraudulent and injudicious spending of State resources by him while in office being witnessed before the Commission of Inquiry into the Sale of Valued Assets of the State by his administration for which he was invited but he refused to appear to defend himself. While not wishing to join issues with Amaechi until he makes real his boost by serving the processes of the ...

Please recall that yesterday advancing troops along Banki axis were making tremendous progress in which they cleared 2 Boko Haram terrorists camps at Jangurori and Bulatori villages. In addition to that, the troops have also arrested 43 suspected Boko Haram terrorists including one of the Boko Haram kingpins in the area, Bulama Modu who is an ‘Amir’ of Bulakuri. The troops also rescued 241 women and children during the operation. To further confirm what was said earlier about the terrorists abandoning their commanders and burying weapons, one Mohammed Modu led troops to where he buried his AK-47 rifle at Jangurori village. Apart from arms and ammunitions, bows and arrows recovered from Bulama Modu, the kingpin. He confirmed that the terrorists also gave him a horse to enhance his deadly pursuits. Similary, the gallant troops arrested one suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Aji Gambo, at Wudla village who revealed that the Boko Haram terrorists that attacked Kirawa an...

The singing ace shared photos of snakes on his instagram page and writes that it's what he sees when he looks at the Nigerian music industry. what ever this means, i don't know

Popular Kenyan actress Nana Gichuru died  on Tuesday  morning September 22nd in a horrific road accident along Nairobi's eastern bypass in a head on collision with a lorry. Police and eye witnesses say the actress appeared to have been trying to overtake a number of vehicles in her BMW convertible when she collided with the parked lorry. Few days ago, precisely on September 11, she posted about death in a message on her Facebook Page. See that below

Faith Sakwe and husband Godswill Edward have welcomed their first child together, a baby girl. Faith gave birth at a US hospital in the early hours of today. The couple got married in April 2014. Congrats to them!

18 year old Uzbek national Jafar al-Tayyar is pictured crying as he's told to drive an armoured vehicle packed with explosives into a village in Syria. He was obviously unwilling and not ready to die but knowing he had no choice, he drove into the village and the vehicle up, sending a huge mushroom cloud into the air (bottom right). Moments later, his fellow jihadis in the Uzbek-led Imam Bukhari Jamaat militant group - which fights alongside Al Qaeda in Syria - stormed the villages & unleashed terror.

It will be recall that the musician popularly known as MI took to his official Twitter handle to call Mr FFK "a joke" for calling on the FG attention to the kidnapping of Chief Olu Falae. Here are some screenshots of some reactions of his followers on Twitter.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife Patience are presently in Ikenne Ogun State on a condolence visit to the Awolowo family on the death of Chief Mrs. Hannah Dideolu Awolowo. More photos below..