Gunmen storm Abuja hotel, kidnap owner, 6 guests

 

There was tension at Tunga Maje village, near Zuba, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), when gunmen stormed a hotel and abducted about six guests and the owner of the hotel.

The guests, whose names were given as Hon. Friday Sani Makama, Prince Frederick Adejoh and others yet to be identified, were taken away in a commando style from the Hilltop Hotel, where they lodged in the early hours of yesterday.

Makama, who is said to be a former lawmaker in the Kogi State House of Assembly, recently defected from the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), while Prince Adejoh is the Oma Onu Aya of Igala land.

Residents told Daily Sun that the armed men, who came in their numbers, had shot sporadically into the air, causing residents of the village and security guards on duty at the hotel to run for their lives, while they got inside and kidnapped the guests and the owner of the hotel.

For some time now, Tunga Maje and the Kaduna-Abuja Highway had become dens for kidnappers and hoodlums who, on a daily basis, rob motorists, villagers and other road users.

The management of the hotel has since reported the incident which happened in the early hours of yesterday to the police.

It was gathered that other guests, who were lucky to escape from being kidnapped, have relocated from the hotel to a safer place.

When contacted, FCT Police public relations officer, Mariam Yusuf, who confirmed the incident, said the command has launched a manhunt to rescue the kidnapped victims alive and arrest their abductors.

BREAKING: Buhari Postpones London Medical Trip

President Muhammadu Buhari has postponed his medical trip to London indefinitely.

Femi Adesina, Presidential spokesman disclosed this in a statement on Friday,

No reason was given for the development which was announced hours before the scheduled medical trip.

“The medical follow-up visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United Kingdom earlier scheduled for today, Friday, June 25, 2021, has been postponed.”

“A new date will be announced in due course,” the statement read.

Since he assumed office on May 29, 2015, Buhari has embarked on medical trips abroad at least five times, covering a period of no fewer than 170 days of the five years he had been in power.

The following is a timeline of the President's trips for medical treatment; on February 5 to 10, 2016, the President took a six-day vacation in the United Kingdom, saying that his doctors lived in England. 

Between June 6 and 19, 2016, Buhari went on a 10-day medical trip to England for an ear infection surgery. He extended his trip by three days to rest.

On January 19, 2017, the President was back in London again on a medical vacation.

On February 5, 2017, he wrote to the National Assembly, seeking an extension of his London medical leave. Later on March 10, 2017, Buhari returned to Nigeria but didn't resume work immediately at Aso Villa.

The Presidency had claimed that "he was working from home." On May 7, 2017, Buhari embarked on a trip to London for another medical vacation. He returned after 104 days – the longest he had stayed outside the country.

On August 19, 2017, Buhari returned to Nigeria, and it took him a while to resume work because rats had reportedly damaged furniture in his office.

The Presidency had announced that he would be working from home. On May 8, 2018, Buhari went to London for a four-day "medical review."

On April 26, 2019, Buhari again left for the UK on a 10-day private visit to seek medical care. He came back to the country on May 5.

In 2020, Buhari had not minimised his foreign medical trips to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown and strain on medical facilities.

Also, from March 30 to April 6, 2021, the President embarked on another trip for a routine medical check-up in London.

Source: SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK

Dot Nation: Senate Minority Leader, Abaribe Speaks On Alleged Arrest By Department Of State Services

Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has described a report circulating on social media that he has been arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) as false.

The report had claimed the senator was arrested at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, where he had gone to attend a function.

Reacting through his spokesman, Uche Awon, Abaribe said he was not arrested nor accosted by security operatives.

“It’s not true, we are here in the office together, I’m with the senator here. Some guys are mismanaging social media, because this thing pops up to remind them that he was arrested three years ago.

“Three years ago, he was arrested, today is the anniversary of it. So somebody just quickly claimed he has been arrested. The senator is here in his office,” his media aide told SaharaReporters.

Abaribe has been very critical of President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration’s policies in the last six years.

Abaribe earlier in the week wore a T-shirt branded: 'The Dot Nation'.

This was clearly in reference to a statement made by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in June when he described the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a dot nation with limited access.

"So that IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they’ll have no access to anywhere. And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and properties. I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about,” he said. 

I Started Robbing From Age Seven, Hoped To Be Popular Like Oyenusi, Anini, Shina Rambo

Kikiowo made the confession after he was arrested and paraded by men of the Ondo State Police Command at the state police headquarters in Akure, the state capital.

A 28-year-old suspected armed robber, Gbenga Kikiowo, has said that he chose to become an armed robber when he was seven-year-old to command international respect like some infamous notorious robbers in Nigeria.

 

Kikiowo made the confession after he was arrested and paraded by men of the Ondo State Police Command at the state police headquarters in Akure, the state capital.

According to him, he was caught by the policemen with one of his gang members, Tope Aladeloye, 25, on their way to buy bullets ahead of an operation within the Oke-Aro area of the state.

He disclosed that his motive was to be as popular as past notorious armed robbers in the country such as Ishola Oyenusi, Mufu Olosha Oko, Lawrence Anini and Shina Rambo, adding that he had performed robbery operations in Ghana, Daily Post reports. 

The suspect began his robbery operation at his home town in Igbara-Oke, headquarters of the Ifedore Local Government Area of the state at a tender age, and revealed that he had been jailed three times as he blamed spiritual attacks for his engagement in social vices.

“I called my partner who normally goes with me for operations. I informed him that I had a gun with me but there was no bullet. So he told me to bring the gun down to Akure from Ife which I did. It was on our way to buy the cartridge that we were arrested by the Scorpion Squad of the police.

“Honestly, I don’t have any genuine reason for what led me to crime because I was born into a very rich family. I suddenly started stealing from my parents. They believed in traditional custom and that’s what they practice, so the more they use spiritual solutions for me to stop my criminal act, the more I steal.

“I even went to Ghana to rob. After a while, I brought my squad to Nigeria and we were arrested during an operation in 2015 and remanded in the Olokuta prison.

“My father’s name is Kikiowo Ayodele. He’s a very popular man in Igbara-Oke axis and married six wives with 24 children. He’s a well known retired soldier and also a farmer. He is rich in his own capability, not educated but believes in his rugged life and farming.

“My last hope was the gun I was caught with because I had made up my mind to quit local crime for big ones, like going internationally. That’s why I took the risk to look for a gun. I wanted to become an international armed robber like Mufu Olosha Oko and Oyenusi because I wanted my name to reign. I believed that it’s through crime that it could reign,” he said.

Kikiowo boasted that if not for the gun, there was no way the police would have arrested him, stressing that he believed more in using intelligence to operate.

He also said he did not engage in searching for money when he went to steal from his victims, adding that he knew where exactly the money was.

“Through intelligence you can operate and do all things and you will achieve it. Let me tell you, I don’t look for money when I enter your room. I smell money,” he said.

The state Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Salami, said on May 24, 2021, the command received from a reliable source information about the move of a gang of armed robbers to carry out a robbery operation in Akure metropolis.

The police boss said on receipt of the information, detectives swung into action and in the process, one Kikiowo and Aladeloye were arrested at Oke-Aro, Akure.

“The suspects also confessed to have been involved in other robbery operations within and around Ondo State. Items recovered are one pump action gun,” he said.

Salami added that Kikiowo and other paraded suspects will be charged to court soon.

Northern Coalition Sues National Assembly Over Constitutional Review, Demands Support For Biafra

The suit was filed by the leadership of the group, Nastura Ashir Shariff, Balarabe Rufa’i l, Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman and Aminu Adam joined against the defendants: Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and the National Assembly.

The Coalition of Northern Group (CNG) has dragged the National Assembly to court, asking that the ongoing constitutional review across the country be stopped with immediate effect.

The suit was filed by the leadership of the group, Nastura Ashir Shariff, Balarabe Rufa’i l, Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman and Aminu Adam joined against the defendants: Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and the National Assembly, Daily Trust reports.

File Photo: National Assembly

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the coalition's spokesman, Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman, argued that instead of the ongoing constitutional review, the defendants should immediately provide a framework for the actualisation of agitators’ demand on self-determination.

The Coalition on June 11, had urged the National Assembly to suspend the constitution review to enable the Government to organise a referendum on the actualisation of a Biafra Republic.

It also urged the National Assembly to invoke the doctrine of necessity to organise a Biafra referendum as the final step towards the separation of the Igbo from the rest of Nigeria.

The group argued that the unrelenting disturbances created by certain interest groups in the South-East, in the form of the agitation for a separate State of Biafra, had turned violent.

It appealed to the government to invite the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to initiate the process of self-determination that will mandate the Biafrans out of the Nigerian union by leveraging the several relevant international treaties and conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.

ECOWAS Court Rules Against Government Prosecution, Arrest Of Anyone Using Twitter In Nigeria — SERAP

ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, in its ruling on Tuesday, stopped the Nigerian government from intimidating or arresting anyone for using the microblogging platform, Twitter in Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a tweet by Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP) on its verified Twitter handle.

 

The tweet read, “Victory: The ECOWAS Court of Justice, Abuja in a landmark ruling today has stopped the Buhari administration and its agents from intimidating, sanctioning, arresting or prosecuting anyone for using Twitter in Nigeria, pending the final determination of the suit. Details shortly.”

VICTORY: The ECOWAS Court of Justice, Abuja in a landmark ruling today has stopped the Buhari administration and its agents from intimidating, sanctioning, arresting or prosecuting anyone for using Twitter in Nigeria, pending the final determination of the suit.

Details shortly.

— SERAP (@SERAPNigeria) June 22, 2021

SERAP had earlier said it would sue the Nigerian government over its suspension of Twitter indefinitely. 

The Nigerian Government on June 4 suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service in Nigeria.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement signed by his Special Assistant Segun Adeyemi citing the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

The Minister said the Federal Government had also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.

The development comes after Twitter deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet where he threatened to treat Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”.

Buhari had in one of his tweets stated that his government would get “harder” on those hell-bent on destroying the country.

Following widespread condemnation of the tweet, Twitter deleted the message.

The platform said the message by the Nigerian President violated its rules.

SERAP, shortly after the government's suspension, tweeted, "We're suing Nigerian authorities over their ILLEGAL indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.

"Nigerians have a right to freedom of expression and access to information including online, and we plan to fight to keep it that way.

"@NigeriaGov, we'll see you in court."

Culled from Sahara Reporters.com

BREAKING: NLC threatens El-Rufai, warns of resuming Kaduna strike

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Tuesday threatened to resume its suspended strike in Kaduna State.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba disclosed this during a press conference after an emergency National Executive Council meeting of the congress in Abuja.

Wabba said state councils and affiliate unions have been directed to mobilise for the latest action.

Wabba accused the State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai of failing to respect the Memorandum of Understanding brokered between the NLC and the state government by the Federal Government.

He said the congress “after exhausting all avenues, including writing letters to President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the Union has decided to resume the strike.”

People mistake me for Davido – Nollywood filmaker, Chima Okoroji

Nollywood film maker, Chima Okoroji has said people take him to be Davido especially kids. The filmmaker recounted times he had to run in other not to get mobbed when people think he is the music star. He made the revelation in an interview, saying;

“My brother, I don’t know whether it is this beard or something else. I am fair complexioned and I look older, I don’t know why people especially kids think I am Davido.

*The other day at the fuel station watching the metre, some kids inside their parent’s car, I guess, pointed at me calling me Davido and people started looking in my direction.

“My saving grace was that my tank got filled on time and I zoomed off. At the supermarket, the same thing happened. I was crossing the road some time ago, the same thing happened. I wish I am as rich as Davido, and then I can really enjoy the fame. Na wah o.”.

Breaking: A tanker explodes on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, causing several vehicles to catch fire.

A tanker exploded on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday morning, engulfing several vehicles and causing extensive damage.

On the basis of information available, the fire incident occurred at 6:20 a.m. in the Romona trailer park in the Ogere area of Ogun State.

In an interview with our correspondent, Ahmed Umar, Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps in Ogun State, verified the occurrence and stated that the state Fire Service was now on the scene putting out the flames...

“The command received a report of a burning tanker in the vicinity of the Romona trailer park in Ogere,” he explained. As a result of the severity of the blaze, it is not yet possible to determine the exact number of vehicles involved.

In response, the Ogun State Fire Service was alerted, and FRSC operatives are on the scene attempting to manage the traffic situation. It has been reported that firefighters have arrived on the scene.”

Your boxers aren’t part of your body, wear it once and wash it – BBN Star tells men

Former Big Brother Naija housemate, Alex Asogwa- Alex Unusual has urged men to wash their boxer shorts frequently especially after wearing them once.

She pointed out that some men have the habit of not washing their underwear.

She also claimed that some men only bath when they are attending a social event or a girl is paying them a visit.

Her words;

“Random thought. Guys, please, your underwear (what you call boxers and pants) isn’t a part of the body. Wear it once and wash it. Don’t think it only applies to ladies. Also, some guys feel it’s not a problem when they wake up in the morning and not have their bath or brush all day but they’ll wear designers and gold chain , make videos living the life , work and go about their activities. You are a pig, you just haven’t been told.

It’s not about having a bath when you need to go out for parties or when a girl is coming over. It’s also not about wearing perfume and not having a bath. Your whole house can be clean but you are still dirty. You can have all the money in this life and still have odor. (An excuse is accepted if it’s a health condition).
Take a lot of water too.

Neatness is key. Dear dirty people, you are allowed to have a problem with this post. If you don’t have a health condition and feel attacked thereby attacking me, your brain should be exchanged for soap.
Enjoy your week good people.”