PaulNaija

Increasing wave of violence and insecurity casts a shadow on the Independence Day celebrations, writes CHUX OHAI A s Nigeria marks its 53rd anniversary today, the fear of possible attacks by Boko Haram and other insurgents appears to becloud the celebrations. Scared by the violent events of the last few days, it is easy to imagine how most Nigerians might spend Independence Day. The majority, no doubt, may consider staying away from crowded spots to avoid falling victim to terrorist attacks. Hardly any day passes without newspapers announcing yet another deadly attack by unidentified gunmen in screaming headlines. Only two days ago, about 50 students of a College of Agriculture in Yobe State were reportedly murdered in cold blood by gunmen believed to be members of the violent Islamic group known as the Boko Haram.  Most of the victims of the attack were said to have been killed while they slept. The rest were taken outside and simply cut down in a hail of bullets by ...

In 53 years, Nigeria has operated varied policies in the transport sector under different guises of transformation. Successive administrations at federal and state levels have always found reasons to tinker with whatever transport programme their predecessors left behind. They often sweet the old schemes aside, initiating new ones. This, experts note, offers them a good excuse to vote huge amount for the execution of the new projects. Opinions are divided on the level of progress the nation has attained in the transport sector under eight military rules and seven civilian administrations since independence. Some say every segment has received appreciable attention in terms of budgetary allocations; but many note there is hardly any justification for the allocated funds, insisting that it is all ‘motion without movement’. Corruption has denied the nation the expected gains of its moderate investment in the transport sector. For instance, virtually all the 50 new locomotive...

The teenagers The Airport Command of the Nigeria Police Force has arrested three teenagers for allegedly attempting to illegally board some international flights in Lagos. Commissioner of Police for the command, Salahu Waheed, said the suspects, Lateef Popoola, 13; Amadi Joshua, 14; and Ukpabio Onyedikachi, 14, were arrested at different times at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja. Waheed, while handing over the suspects to their mothers, said there was a need for their respective state governments to rehabilitate them like the Edo State Government did with teenage stowaway, Daniel Ihekina, who was arrested on August 24, 2013 after sneaking into the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik plane. He said, “These boys were found at different times at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. Their aim was to get into any plane and travel out of Nigeria. “I decided to hand them over to their parents so they will be well taken care of and stop dwelling on ...

Obafemi Martins | credits: File copy Seattle Sounders forward, Obafemi Martins, reportedly snubbed coach Sigi Schmid following his substitution with Marc Burch in the 82nd minute of their game against LA Galaxy which ended 1-1. Martins was visibly upset at being substituted and made a point of avoiding Schmid as he walked toward the bench. But while Schmid admitted players could be emotional during matches, he said he and Martins had settled the misunderstanding. “It’s an emotional game. Emotional players are emotional. That’s what you expect. Nobody is going to be happy when they come off the field,” Schmid told Seattle Times .

Ethiopia has confirmed a definite date for the first leg match against Nigeria in the final playoff leading to Brazil 2014 World Cup. The first leg of the World Cup qualifying clash will take place on Sunday, October 13 in Addis Ababa, their football association officials have confirmed. All ties will take place between October 11 and October 15 and the Ethiopia Football Federation has only now confirmed which day the match will be staged. “We have played our home games on Sundays and the match against Nigeria will not be an exception,” commented EFF general secretary Yigsaw Bezuayehu. The return match will be held on Saturday, November 16 at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar. The Nigerian federation has also retained Saturday as match day for the Super Eagles and Calabar as the venue for all the qualifying games.

Mike Ozekhome There were indications on Wednesday that a major financier of a  kidnapping ring in Edo and other surrounding states, Kelvin Oburuvbe might have been arrested by men of the Department of State Security. It was reliably gathered that the kidnap kingpin was picked up in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, by operatives of DSS and is currently being interrogated. There were however conflicting reports that the arrested kidnapper might be the one who recently issued a 60-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to declare amnesty for him and his gang, otherwise his group would blow up oil installations in Urobo speaking areas of the country. It was further gathered that Oburuvbe was instrumental to the recent abduction of human rights lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, his driver and a leader of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Athansius Ugbome on Saturday, August 24, 2013. Ozekhome and Ugbome were released about one week apart after over two weeks in the kidn...

File photo of a street in Benisheik, the Borno State community where Boko Haram killed scores of people on September 17. A video believed to have been released by the wanted leader of  the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, surfaced in Maiduguri on Wednesday. In it, a man claiming to be Shekau, debunked earlier claims by the Nigerian military that he died from gunshot wounds on August 19, 2013. The  then JTF spokesman in Borno State,   Lt Col Sagir Musa, had in a statement said, “Intelligence report available to the JTF  Operation Restore Order revealed that  Shekau, the most dreaded and wanted terrorists’ leader may have died. “He died of gunshots wounds received in an encounter with the JTF in one of their camps in Sambisa Forest on  June 30 , 2013. Shekau was mortally wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide-a border community in Cameroon for treatment from ...