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The Oluwo Of Iwo Land’s Nigerian Made Suv Geep Cause Comotion In Lagos


Oluwo of Iwo land,Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi “TELU 1” who recently visit Unilag for an occasion with his New Nigerian made geep.

The geep caused stir in lagos to extend that everybody want to stop him and take a pics with the very resemble Gwagon geep.

We says Kabiesi ooo for elevating our local products.
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I Will Sign Death Warrant Of Any Person Convicted of kidnapping Without Looking Back –Wike

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has said he is willing to sign death warrant of any person convicted of kidnapping.
The governor, who made this known on Thursday, said stiffer penalties had been approved to discourage those who might want to be involved in the act.
Wike assented to the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Law No. 8 of 2018, the Rivers State Secret Cult and Similar Activities (Prohibition) (Amendment) Law No.6 of 2018, and the Rivers State Kidnap (Prohibition) (Amendment) No. Law No.7 of 2018, in a bid to improve the security of communities.
The Rivers House of Assembly had passed the bills.
“If you are a cultist and you are caught, it is life imprisonment. If you are a cultist and you kill during cult activities, you will face the death penalty,” the governor said during the signing.
“If you are convicted of kidnapping and the Supreme Court affirms your conviction, I will sign the death warrant without looking back.”
He also said the state government would battle cultism and kidnapping to a standstill, noting that ‘enough is enough’.
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Why I Had An Elaborate Wedding – Banky W

EME Music record label boss and husband to actress Adesua Etomi, Banky W had, before his wedding, emphasised his dislike for elaborate weddings.
The singer, songwriter and actor took to his Instagram page to state that it was never his decision or that of his wife to have a lavish wedding.
According to him, wedding is not just the coming together of a man and his wife, rather it is the coming together of families whose opinion should be respected.
He said, “I have learnt to grow thick skin and almost always ignore the online chatter, but every once in a while, I feel the need to respond. So here are my 2 cents.”
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N13.5 million pay: Saraki, Dogara’s salaries will blow up Nigeria, says Sagay

The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, has declared that he will make public the monthly earnings of the leadership of the National Assembly soon.
He said the N13 million allowances being received by senators is only a tip of the iceberg as Nigerians will be shocked when he releases details of the allowances of the principal officers.
Sagay said this while fielding questions from Punch on the revelations by the lawmaker representing Kaduna-Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani.
Sani had disclosed that senators receive N700,000 monthly and a separate N13.5m as running costs.
The senior lawyer said, “There are many things the press doesn’t know yet. If you come to know the allowances that the leadership of the two houses are getting.
“My God! It will blow up the country. What is the Senate President getting? It is not the ordinary N13m.
“What does he get as Senate President? What is the leader of the House getting, what is the deputy leader of the House getting?
“What is the Deputy Senate President getting? What are the minority leaders getting in both houses? Go and find out. It is an explosive stuff, I tell you.
“Eventually, I will come out with the figures. I am working on them now. When I am ready, I will come out with them.”
He called out the pokesman for the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, for saying that the N13.5m allowances were already in the public domain.
Sagay pointed out that it was hypocritical of the lawmakers to have berated him last year when he released details of their allowances.
He added that Sani’s revelation was at variance with the details released by Saraki last year.
He added, “What they released then was their salaries which the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved for them. What they are hiding now are the allowances they voted for themselves.
“The salary details released was just about N700,000 but what they voted for themselves is about 20 times that amount. That is the whole point and they were hiding it.
“I came out with the figures last year and they wanted to cut off my neck and now it has come out in the open and Sabi Abdullahi is saying it is nothing new but you were denying it in the past. So, they have a guilty conscience because they know what they are doing is shameful.”
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Osinbajo has proven that Buhari is incompetent — Abimbola

If Vice President Yemi Osinbajo expected a public outrage at his latest revelation that the whopping sums of N100 billion and $289 million were embezzled by the Goodluck Jonathan administration weeks to the 2015 elections, he must be disappointed by now. Up till now, nobody is exactly asking for Jonathan’s head on a spike. Osinbajo has confirmed people’s suspicion: that Buhari, the man who was elected to tear down the temple of corruption in Nigeria is not as potent a force as he was marketed. Nigerians that thought they were getting two raging bulls must be wondering how they ended up with these hand-wringing jokers. Osinbajo should not be surprised at the yawns and wrinkled noses he got from Nigerians for his exposé, people now think that still blaming Jonathan is an old subterfuge considering everything else that has befallen us under Buhari. If Jonathan and his merry band stole so much and up till now, the best you do is throw out repetitive lines of how much he stole; maybe you should not be in government. Nigerians voted you to fight corruption, not to join them to moan about it.
This day three years ago, it was five days before the presidential elections. Everywhere you turned at that time, you heard “Sai Baba” chanted to the tune of “anti-corruption.” Followers of the candidate and now President, Muhammadu Buhari, evangelized about the coming of this messiah whose no-nonsense stance will cleanse Nigeria’s Augean stables for good. Even his former foes forgave him without him asking. Buhari himself, aware of the weight of expectations imposed on him, sold himself as the karma of corruption in Nigeria. Everywhere he went, he sang about fighting corruption and Nigerians rocked themselves to its sonic sensation.
When Buhari was first sworn in, bragging about what Jonathan’s administration had done wrong was the most priced and bestselling share on the stock market, and the APC — still basking in the euphoria of unexpected victory — made huge dividends out of it. Almost three years after he was sworn in, the folks who rhapsodized about Buhari’s anti-corruption agenda have found that he was no different from his predecessor. He is just as clueless, and corruption — Nigeria’s Frankenstein monster — has once again swallowed another one of its creators. Post-2015 Nigeria is still in the doldrums of ineptitude, nepotism, tribalism, and uncontained violence.
Osinbajo is still talking about what Jonathan did wrong when their government has barely been able to do a single thing convincingly right. Osinbajo was also quoted as saying that at some point, those who promoted strategic alliance contracts between the NNPC and the NDPC made away with almost one-tenth of our national reserves! That is a mind-boggling amount. Such a theft ought to be thoroughly investigated and punished, and not just crunched into a sensational speech at an occasion. Osinbajo, again, said that it was only in talking about such mega-thefts that we could resolve such thieving. True, he has a point that such scams need to be addressed, but he seems to forget that talking is all Buhari’s government has done till now. People are tired of accusations; they are tiring and demoralizing. What we want to see is what the government under his watch has done about such embezzlements. How many of those people have been tried and how many are on their way to jail now? If nothing of the sort has been done, then what is the point of informing us who stole what? You are only confirming that you are weak, and your government is more or less a paper tiger. Mentioning Jonathan’s name alone used to be a potent means of whipping Nigerians into frenzied outrage about “corruption,” but people seem to be fatigued about the unending talk of what is wrong; they want transparency, reforms, and action. They are bored with people like Osinbajo constantly revving the engine of a vehicle that has no wheels.
Not only are officials of this administration adept at just talk, they, in fact, act as a striptease. Just a few days ago, the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), also said that if he released details of the allowances of the principal officers of the National Assembly, Nigerians would be shocked. But what exactly would be shocking to Nigerians about his revelations considering that Sagay already informed Nigerians last year that lawmakers earned as much as N29m monthly? What else is “shockable” about what he has to reveal? At worst, he will reveal that Senate President, Bukola Saraki possibly earns N1bn monthly. Even if we find out that things are that sordid, what exactly is the reaction he expects the shock we will experience to solve?
Sagay thinks Nigeria will explode if people find out what the lawmakers cost them but most people know, just like they know that Buhari’s budget is just as padded as was his predecessors’. They just insist on keeping their sanity intact by ignoring their thieving leaders. I think Sagay — much like Peter Obi who also teased us with information about what governors earn — is overestimating the capability of Nigerians to be still shocked with the mindless looting that goes on in the country every day. Nigerians have come to realize that both the APC and the PDP are bad for their mental and moral health, and there is nothing one side can accuse the other of that it is not guilty of too. That is why Osinbajo’s revelation did not get much more than sneers and jeers. He is working in an administration whose anti-corruption agenda has become more or less reduced to accusations and counter-accusations, and he wants us to be moved by Jonathan’s profligacy.
Since Buhari became president, his cronies too have been accused of corruption, seven million people have lost their jobs between 2016 and 2017, and Nigerians have yet to recover from the effects of a recession. Think of the degree of violence that has occurred under Buhari, from the killings in Benue to Kaduna, Enugu, Taraba, and the abduction of girls in Dapchi. How about those for “shock” and explosion?  If the country did not go on the streets to protest after Buhari spent half of last year abroad, and up till now he has still not accounted for how much his health cost the country, then what is Sagay worried about?
There is every possibility that Osinbajo is right that Jonathan plundered the nation for his re-election. All the money Jonathan’s administration spent in 2015, particularly in the last few weeks of the election when he was crawling on his knees from churches to traditional rulers must have come from somewhere other than his pocket. But Osinbajo will not get the reaction he expects from Nigerians this time because Buhari himself has not shown superior morals when it comes to the issue of dipping your hands into the national pockets. 1n 2015, Buhari did not finance his campaign with five loaves and two fishes. The money too came from somewhere, and we know it was not his putatively untainted pockets. In fact, Buhari has that mystique about him: he has a way of making people believe he is personally not corrupt even though whenever he has needed money to finance his ambition, somebody’s dirty hands have picked up the invoice. Up till now, nobody in the APC has had the honour or dignity to account for their campaign spending yet they cry about others’ faults. By 2019, they are likely to do exactly what they accuse Jonathan of: take money out of the national reserves to finance their campaigns too. That is why their moral posturing moves nobody whose head on his/her shoulders can think their way out of a paper bag.
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It has now become a crime to be a Christian in Nigeria, says Olapade drags Buhari to ICC, issues 72- hour ultimatum

The national chairman, National Action Council (NAC), Dr. Olapade Agoro on Saturday gave President Muhammadu Buhari a 72-hour ultimatum to ensure the release of Leah Sharibu from the Boko Haram’s captivity.
Agoro while speaking in a telephone interview with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, however threatened to drag President Buhari before the International Criminal Court (ICC) if the President fails to ensure the release of the only Christian student among the 110 Dapchi female students kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists.
The NAC Presidential aspirant lamented that, “it was unfortunate that Leah is being subjected to further physical and psychological trauma because she insisted on holding on to her religious faith, which is Christianity.”
Agoro also expressed his readiness to surrender himself to the Buhari led Federal Government to be swapped with the innocent Dapchi girl, saying that, “it has now become a crime to be a Christian in Nigeria.”
He said, “I am ready to walk freely to the President Buhari’ negotiators to take me to the Boko Haram for them to take me to replace the innocent girl. I am ready to sacrifice my life to get Leah released unconditionally.”
“President Buhari should engage his negotiating machinery to get Leah released unconditionally from Boko Haram latest by Wednesday. The innocent girl must not be raped or subjected to any other form of inhuman treatment because of her faith.
“I am giving the Federal Government the ultimatum to get her released latest by Wednesday. If she is not released, by Friday, I will be dragging President Buhari before the ICC”.
Agoro noted that, “since it is obvious that the Federal Government negotiated to get the other Dapchi students released, Buhari should come out and tell Nigerians, the terms and conditions of the negotiation.”
Agoro insisted that Nigerians deserve to know, if it was part of the negotiation that only those who are Muslims or ready to embrace Islam would be released by the Boko Haram, adding that Buhari’s failure to give convincing explanation will rekindle the suspicion of attempts to Islamize Nigeria.
He said, “The innocent girl is being made to suffer because of her faith. That should be a concern to all Muslims, Christians and parents in Nigeria. Nobody should be made to suffer, human life should be protected in Nigeria irrespective of religion.”
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FG declared one-week ceasefire to secure Dapchi girls’ freedom – Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government disclosed on Sunday that a week-long ceasefire was declared from March 19 which enabled the insurgents to drop off abducted Dapchi schoolgirl without attack by the military.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this in Lagos at a media briefing to give update and clarifications on the release of the schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe state.
The minister said there were no conspiracy theories as to how the insurgents were able to return the schoolgirls to Dapchi un-attacked despite troops presence,
“The talks helped to secure the release of the police officers’ wives and the University of Maiduguri lecturers recently. And the talks did not stop thereafter.“Unknown to many, we have been in wider cessation-of-hostility talks with the insurgents for some time now.
“Therefore, we were able to leverage on the wider talks when the Dapchi girls were abducted.
“As I said earlier, the insurgents decided to return the girls to where they picked them from as a goodwill gesture.
“All they demanded was a ceasefire that will grant them a safe corridor to drop the girls. This is not new.
“Even in larger war situations, safe corridors are usually created for humanitarian and other purposes.
”Consequently, a week-long ceasefire was declared, starting from Monday, March 19. That is why the insurgents were able to drop the girls.
“This counters the conspiracy theories being propounded in some quarters concerning why it was so easy for the insurgents to drop off the girls without being attacked by the military’’.
“This is a fact, irrespective of how a section of the press has tried to spin the story.The minister reiterated that the government neither paid ransom nor swapped any Boko Haram member to secure the release of the girls.
“The insurgents brought the girls back to the location of the kidnapping themselves as an apparent gesture of goodwill.
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Deputy Senate Ekweremadu Sells Two US Properties Below Market Value To Stop Nigerian Gov't From Seizing Them

Deputy Senate President, Mr. Ike Ekweremadu, has sold two of his three properties in Kissimmee, Florida, United States of America. The properties, which were recently exclusively reported by SaharaReporters as owned by him, are townhouses at 2747 Club Cortile Circle and 2763 Club Cortile Circle, Kissimmee, Florida. The properties which were bought in 2008 for $200,000 each were put on the market in January and sold for $150,000 to the same buyer on February 20 2018.
SaharaReporters’ investigations revealed that both properties were sold below prevailing market value in Mr. Ekweremadu’s apparent bid to avoid forfeiting them to the Federal Government. He has also put the third one, situated at 4507 Stella Street, Bellavida Estate Kissime, Florida, up for sale, but he is yet to find a buyer.  The owner of the property said to be worth $500,000, is still listed as the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu with his Enugu address clearly stated on the property did.
The two houses already sold were bought in January by a company, Y-Kat Enterprises Inc., with an address at 10143 Foxhurst Ct Orlando, Florida.
When SaharaReporters contacted the person listed as the owner, Mr. Russel Daya, he declined to speak with our reporters, claiming it was too late in the night. When asked if he knew Nigeria's deputy Mr. Ekweremadu, he answered in the negative and hung up immediately.
The fire sale of the properties has, however, not concealed that they were previously owned by Mr. Ekweremadu.
Documents exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters from Osceola County Tax Collector show  Mr. Ekweremadu as the taxpayer on the property at 4507 Stella Street, Bellavida Estate Kissime, Florida, till the end of 2017.
A notice of Ad Valorem and non-Ad Valorem taxes from the tax collector, bearing Mr. Ekweremadu’s address of 4 Iyienu Street, Independence Layout, Enugu, showed that the Deputy Senate President paid a total of $6, 728.37 as tax on the house as at December 2017.
On the property at 2747 Club Cortile Circle, Kissimmee, Florida, the tax collector’s documents showed that the Deputy Senate President paid a total of $1,665.91 as at December 2017. The document similarly bears Mr. Ekweremadu’s Enugu address. Likewise, the Deputy Senate President paid taxes on the one at 2763 Club Cortile Circle, Kissimmee, Florida.

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Nigeria Customs Service promotes 775 Junior officers

Nigeria Customs Service?promotes 775 Junior officers
At least 775 junior staff of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been promoted to various ranks in the service by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), retired Col. Hameed Ali.  

Ali announced the approval of the staff in a statement issued by the Service Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah on Thursday in Abuja.  Attah said the promotion was strictly based on merit, as the cumulative marks of annual performance evaluation scores, written examination and availability of vacancy determined those who emerged as the most eligible for promotion.  

He said that the promotion took effect from Jan. 1, 2017 as effective date.  Attah said a breakdown of the promotion showed that seven Assistant Inspectors of Customs were promoted to the rank of Inspectors of Customs, 473 Customs Assistant 1 to Assistant Inspectors of Customs.  

Three Customs Assistant 3 were promoted to Customs Assistant 2.  On the Support Staff Cadre, he said the following were promoted: Fifteen Assistant Inspectors of Customs were promoted to the rank of Inspector of Customs, 40 Customs Assistant 1 to Assistant Inspector of Customs.

He added that 152 Customs Assistant 2 to Customs Assistant 1 while 85 Customs Assistant 3 were promoted to Customs Assistant 2.  Attah said the CGC congratulated the personnel and expressed the hope that their elevations would serve as motivation to effectively deliver on the Service mandate. 

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NBC bans Olamide, Davido, 9ice’s songs

Less than 24 hours after the National Broadcasting Commission banned one of his recent songs, Wo, among others, from being played on the airwaves, popular rapper, Olamide Adedeji, has said that he never intended to cause harm to music fans with the song.
The rapper, popularly called Olamide, on Tuesday tweeted, “No intentions of promoting tobacco to get people killed. I love my people, I love my country. One love, one Nigeria.”
It named Olamide’s Wo and Wavi Level;  a remix of Davido’s If and 9ice’s Living Thingsas the culprits in a current list of banned songs and music videos that it released to the public.The NBC, on Tuesday,  placed a ban on works by three of Nigeria’s top level music artistes for an alleged violation of its rules and regulations.
Although the commission did not give specific reasons for banning the songs, the decision may have been influenced by a recent reaction from the Federal Ministry of Health to the music video of Olamide’s new song.
Last Friday, in a message posted on Twitter, the ministry kicked against the video of Wo,  released a few days ago and described the content as contravening the Tobacco Control Act of 2015.
The Ministry of Health also noted that the video contained scenes showing youths of different ages openly smoking substances believed to be either cigarettes or narcotics and concluded that such scenes could encourage second-hand smoking among underage children anywhere in the country.
However, this is the third time that the NBC has brought down its hammer on a popular song by Olamide.
The last time was 2016, when two other songs by the rapper were slammed for what the commission described as “obscene and indecent” lyrics.
Also, before the ban on 9ice’s Living Things, the song had been fingered as the subject of a statement by fellow rapper Falz, which urged Nigerian musicians in general to be mindful of the kind of messages that they passed to the public in their songs.
Falz had appeared to be genuinely concerned about the impact of such messages on the youth. He pointed out that artistes who saw nothing wrong about glorifying Internet fraud, drugs and other anti-social behaviour were not doing the society any good.
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Court stops Lagos from enforcing hotel tax law

The Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained the Lagos State Government from enforcing the provisions of its new Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant (Fiscalisation) Regulations 2017.
The law introduced a five per cent consumption tax in addition to a five per cent Value Added Tax on every purchase or service rendered by hotels, restaurants, fast food outlets, event centres, bars and night clubs.
The judge said the law would remain suspended until the final determination of a suit filed against the government by the Registered Trustees of Hotel Owners and Managers Association of Lagos.But in a ruling on March 21, 2018, Justice Rilwan Aikawa restrained the state from further enforcing the law.
The judge also temporarily struck down the Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption Law Cap H8, Laws of Lagos State 2015.
He particularly restrained the state from enforcing or implementing paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11 of the Lagos State Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant (Fiscalisation) Regulations 2017.
Justice Aikawa stopped the state and its agents from visiting the plaintiffs hotels “for the purpose of installing fiscal electronic device and any other purposes whatsoever in furtherance of the law and the regulations.”
He made the interim order following an ex parte application taken before him by the association of hotel owners in Lagos through their lawyer, Mr. Olasupo Shasore (SAN).
Shasore, who is a former attorney general and justice commissioner in Lagos State, had prayed the court to stop the state and its agents from visiting his clients “between March 1 and March 10, 2018 or any other period before or thereafter,” pending the hearing and determination of his clients’ motion on notice dated March 7, 2018.
Justice Aikawa, after granting the interim restraining orders, adjourned till April 17, 2018 to hear the plaintiffs’ motion on notice.
Joined as defendants in the suit, marked FHC/L/CS/360/2018, are the Attorney General of Lagos State and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
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[BREAKING] Buhari offers repentant Boko Haram members amnesty

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed his readiness to offer amnesty to members of the Boko Haram sect that are willing to drop their arms.
Buhari said this at a meeting he had with schoolgirls abducted from their school in Dapchi, Yobe State and were released on Wednesday.
Details later.
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[BREAKING] Buhari meets freed Dapchi girls, parents at Presidential Villa

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently meeting the girls who were abducted from their school in Dapchi, Yobe State. They were released on Wednesday.
The girls’ parents are also attending the meeting holding inside the Press Gallery of the Presidential Villa’s Council Chambers.
Details later….Some top government officials and security chiefs joined Buhari at the meeting, which started at 12.10pm.
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FG confirms release of 76 Dapchi girls

Boko Haram Islamists who kidnapped 110 schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe State, just over a month ago have returned 76 of the students to the town, the government said on Wednesday.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the release was “unconditional” and the result of “back-channel efforts” with the help of “some friends of the country”, without elaborating.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said last week the government had “chosen negotiation” to secure the return of the Dapchi girls rather than use military force.“The 76 are those who have been documented so far,” he said, adding that they were released at about 3:00 am (0200 GMT) and that a full head-count was under way.
Mohammed said: “For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was the preferred option.
“Within the period when the girls were being brought back, (an) operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost.”
Nigeria’s presidency said separately that the girls were in the custody of the country’s intelligence agency, the Department of State Services.
The Dapchi kidnapping on February 19 brought back painful memories of a similar abduction in Chibok in April 2014, when more than 200 girls were taken.
Aisha Alhaji Deri, a 16-year-old student who was among those kidnapped in Dapchi, told reporters they were not mistreated during their time in captivity
“They brought us back this morning, dropped us outside the motor park and said we should all go home and not go to the military because they will claim to have rescued us.”
Parents earlier told AFP the girls were brought back to Dapchi in nine vehicles at about 8:00 am. Some of the students headed to their homes in surrounding villages.
Bashir Manzo, who heads a parents’ support group in Dapchi, said: “These girls were not accompanied by any security personnel.
“Their abductors brought them, dropped them outside the school and left, without talking to anyone.”
Parents in the remote town said the girls had been taken for medical check-ups after their ordeal and that security was tight in the town
– Ransom payment? –
Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during its nearly nine-year insurgency which has claimed at least 20,000 lives and made more than two million others homeless.
The Islamic State (IS) group affiliate has not claimed responsibility for the abduction but it is understood that a faction headed by Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi was behind it.
In August 2015, IS publicly backed Barnawi as leader of Boko Haram, or Islamic State West Africa Province, over Abubakar Shekau, whose supporters carried out the Chibok abduction.
Analysts have attributed a financial motive to the Dapchi kidnapping given government ransom payments made to Boko Haram to secure the release of some of the captives from Chibok.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International claimed that the military ignored repeated warnings about the movements of Boko Haram fighters before the kidnapping.
The military rejected the allegation, calling it an “outright falsehood”.
Similar claims were made about the hours leading up to the Chibok abduction, which brought sustained worldwide attention on the conflict for the first time.
The Chibok abduction also triggered a global campaign for their release, spearheaded by the US former first lady Michelle Obama. There was no similar campaign for the Dapchi girls.
Since May 2016, 107 Chibok girls have escaped, been found or been released as part of a government-brokered deal with the jihadists.
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WHO warns Nigeria, 15 other African countries of listeriosis outbreak

World Health Organisation on Wednesday warned Nigeria and 15 other African countries of a listeriosis outbreak that started in South Africa in 2017, confirming its support for their preparedness and response to the disease.
The other African countries are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Listeriosis is a bacterial infection most commonly caused by Listeria monocytogenes.
Listeria is ubiquitous and is primarily transmitted via the oral route after ingestion of contaminated food productsIt can cause severe illness, including severe sepsis, meningitis, or encephalitis, sometimes resulting in lifelong harm and even death.
According to WHO numbers, nearly 200 South Africans have died since January 2017 as a result of contaminated ready-to-eat meat products that are widely consumed in the country and may also have been exported to two West African countries and 14 members of the South African Development Community.
South African health authorities recently declared the source of the outbreak as a factory in Polokwane, in the country’s northeast.
This prompted a national and international recall of the food products.
However, in light of the potentially long incubation period of listeriosis and the challenges relating to large-scale nationwide recall processes, further cases are likely to occur.
Whole genome sequencing of isolated strains of the Listeria bacteria was used to make the link between the contaminated products, the producing company and strains of Listeria isolated from the patients.
The WHO is currently supporting further genome sequencing to determine which cases are linked to this ongoing outbreak.
The ministers committed to regional collaboration, exchanging information and strengthening national food safety systems in line with international standards.In March, South Africa hosted a meeting of SADC health ministers to address regional preparedness and response to listeriosis.
The WHO, however, does not currently recommend any trade-related measures in relation to the current outbreak of listeriosis in South Africa, other than the recall of products identified as sources of infection.
The United Nation health agency is working with the 16 priority countries to improve their ability to prepare for, detect and respond to potential outbreaks.
Immediate steps include increasing awareness on listeriosis, enhancing active surveillance and laboratory diagnosis, ensuring the readiness of Rapid Response Teams, and strengthening coordination and contingency planning.
Experts have been deployed to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland to support these efforts.
“This outbreak is a wake-up call for countries in the region to strengthen their national food safety and disease surveillance systems,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.
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18-year-old nursing mother drags lover to court for declining marriage

An 18-year-old nursing mother, Maryam Magaji, on Wednesday dragged one Badamasi Salihu, 20, whom she claimed was her lover, to a Sharia Court at Magajin Gari, Kaduna, for refusing to marry her.
She told the court that Salihu dated her for a year and promised to marry her, only to turn his back on her after getting her pregnant.
According to her, she had earlier reported the matter to the district head of their community where the defendant accepted the pregnancy and agreed to marry her after delivery.
Maryam begged the court to compel the defendant to accept the three weeks old baby she was nursing.“I reported the matter to our district head, and he agreed to marry me after I deliver but he denied me after giving birth to his child saying he cannot marry me,” the complainant lamented.
In his response, the defendant denied the claim, saying his relationship with her was that of a friend.
“She normally comes to my shop where we gist, crack jokes and laugh which made me attached to her, I see her as a friend that’s all,” Salihu told the court.
He also denied being responsible for Maryam’s pregnancy, saying the child she was nursing wasn’t his.
The judge, Malam Musa Sa’ad, requested the two parties to present their guardians and witnesses in court.
The case was adjourned till March 26, to enable the two parties present their witnesses.
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BREAKING: FG confirms release of 91 girls, one boy


The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has confirmed that 91 girls and a boy have so far been released by their abductors.
Mohammed disclosed this to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
“Many of the girls that were released were not dropped in one place.He said, “As of now, I can confirm that 91 girls and one boy have been released. The event is developing.
“Some were dropped on the road and they went back naturally to their parents Houses.
“They are now being asked to come and be documented at a centre and as at five minutes ago, I was told 91 girls and boy had been documented.”
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Messi joins Argentina training ahead of Italy clash

Lionel Messi joined up with his Argentina team-mates on Tuesday as they trained at Manchester City ahead of their World Cup warm-up against Italy.
Messi’s side are based at the Football Academy of Premier League leaders City while they prepare for the friendly at Eastlands on Friday.
Also present but not participating was City striker Sergio Aguero, who has been sidelined with a knee injury recently.The Barcelona forward arrived to start working with the rest of the squad on Tuesday and was present at a training session open to media in the afternoon.
Another City player, defender Nicolas Otamendi, was involved along with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria, Javier Mascherano and Marcos Rojo.
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