Happenings

The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers,  NUPENG , yesterday in a statement signed by its President, Achese Igwe threatened to stop fuel distribution and shut down the nation’s oil sector over alleged unfair labour practices and other nefarious activities by major oil marketers and multi-national oil companies in  Nigeria . “NUPENG has watched with great concern the activities of oil majors and multi-nationals in the industry and warns of imminent fuel scarcity if their nefarious activities are not checked by embarking on nation-wide strike without notice. “The new drive of the oil majors and multi-nationals amounts to sabotage and that if not controlled will lead to an unhealthy atmosphere in the sector. We call on Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Minister of Labour and the National Assembly to quickly intervene before the bubble bursts,” the statement said.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the    People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of using public funds to lure back some of the federal lawmakers who have defected from the ruling party to the APC, condemning what it called political horse trading carried too far. In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Mr Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP, in an unprecedented show of desperation, has rolled out a mouth-watering enticement package that promises $2 million to each Senator who returns to the PDP; $1 million to each member of the House of Representatives, and $10 million to each ‘leader’ who abandons the APC for PDP. It said the price tag for the federal legislators from Rivers State is even higher, at $5 million each. But the APC said there is no cause for alarm, as no amount of inducements will stop the change that is in the horizon, because the long-suffering people of Nigeria are ready and eager to vote out the PDP next

Two National Youth Service Corps members, O’tega Daniel, 27, and Sulaimon Abari, 26, were arraigned on Monday in an Ibadan Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting at Iyaganku for engaging in homosexual acts with a student. Abari, a graduate of the Lagos State University, Ojo, and O’tega were performing the national service at St. Louis Secondary School 2, Molete, Ibadan. The duo were arraigned on a three-count charge of conspiracy, procuring as well as getting hold of their victim. The prosecutor, Insp Olufemi Eyiaromi, told the court that the two accused persons conspired to commit the offence. Eyiaromi alleged that Daniel procured and got hold of the male student, took him into a room, laid him on a bed as well as caressed and orally sucked his manhood until the minor released sperm. He also alleged that Abari committed the same offence on the victim. The offence was said to have been committed sometime in November 2013 at Osungbade, Odo-Oba area of Ibadan. Eyiaromi said the of

Few hours after the presidency claimed that Chief Mike Oghiadomeh resigned his position as Chief of Staff to the President Goodluck Jonathan, Chairman Daar Communications PLC, operators of African Independent Television, AIT, Chief Raymond Dokpesi has been named as  successor of Oghiadomen. Both Dokpesi and Oghiadomeh hail from from Edo State. Prior to his appointment, speculations have been rifed for months about the enlistment of the media mogul into President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. Political observers argued that the choice of Dokpesi is premised on his robust contacts and goodwill both in the media industry and in the political circles which is expected to enhance the public perception and boost the acceptance of President Jonathan among Nigerians. It would be recalled that Dokpesi was appointed as the Director General of Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organization in 2010 in the build up to the 2011 presidential election before the former head of state withdrew from

A father has allegedly beaten his four-year old son to death, padlocking his mouth to prevent him from shouting while the beating lasted. The incident occurred on Monday afternoon at 7, Adetola Adelaja Street, Meiran area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria. P.M.NEWS  gathered that the man, Mr. Chris Elvis, who claims to sell computer accessories, allegedly locked his son, Godrich in the room, padlocked his mouth and beat him to death with an object that inflicted deep cuts all over his body, claiming that the boy was an Ogbanje (evil child that dies and reincarnates repeatedly). •Little Godrich after he was beaten to death by his dad The man landed in trouble when his landlady, Mrs Popoola who was in the market, was informed that something was happening in her house. She rushed home and discovered that the boy had been beaten to death by his father. She rushed to Meiran Police Station to report the matter. The police stormed the house around 9 O’clock last night to arrest Elvis w

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , EFCC, today charged a female banker with negligence, leading to the loss of hundreds of millions of Naira. The accused, Grace Akpojiyouwi, a former staff of Union bank was accused of complicity in the mega scam that rocked the bank early this year when some fraudsters hacked into its data base and pulled out hundreds of millions of naira. Akpojiyouwi allegedly failed to conduct due diligence as the account officer of Dan Kawu Bureau De Change before confirming and authorizing the payment of N450,000,000 (Four Hundred and Fifty Million) to the company. The case is being heard by Justice Babajide Lawal-Akapo of the Lagos High Court sitting at Ikeja. When the charge was read, the defendant pleaded not guilty. Based on the plea of the defendant, the prosecution counsel prayed the court to fix a date for trial and to remand the defendant in prison custody pending trial. Justice Lawal Akapo adjourned the case to February 19

CIVIL SOCIETY STATEMENT ON SENATE COMMITTEE PROBE ON NON-REMITTANCE OF OIL REVENUE TO THE FEDERATION ACCOUNT 11 FEBRUARY, 2014 The SAY NO CAMPAIGN–NIGERIA is a platform of non-governmental organizations, media, labour, organized private sector, faith-based organizations and community groups committed to fighting corruption, impunity, poverty, violence and other governance challenges in Nigeria. The central focus of the Campaign is built around the twin issues of corruption and impunity, especially as manifest in the Presidential pardon granted to corrupt public officers in the country.  The Campaign uses different national and sub-national strategies such as advocacy, press conferences, street protests to mobilize Nigerians from all sections of the country and sectors of the economy to push for necessary administrative, legal, policy and legislative changes required to reverse ongoing trend of democratic rollback as well as promote good governance and people-centred development.

This is certainly not the best of times for a Nigerian lady based in the United States of America, Miss Veronica Okwara, who has accused an inspector in the Nigeria Police, Anthony Chukwu of defrauding her of N9 million under the false pretence of marrying her. Veronica, a medical director (administration) in North Carolina USA, had thought the romance between her and Chukwu was genuine only for her to discover that her lover merely played some pranks by hiding his wife in Nigeria to be married to her in United States. She alleged that Chukwu, attached to the ‘X’ Squad Section, Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Lagos, having succeeded in luring her into a fake marriage, converted the proceeds from the sale of vehicles and other imported items she asked him to sell on her behalf to his personal use. Narrating her ordeal in a petition to the Inspector General of Police, a copy of which was made available to LEADERSHIP, Veronica said she returned to Nigeria on va

  Ganiu Mustapha    Victor Akintunde  An Ikeja High Court on Tuesday remanded two MTN employees in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly stealing N1.3 billion belonging to the firm’s cooperative society. Justice Kudirat Jose remanded the employees— Victor Akintunde and Gani Mustapha— in custody after they appeared before the court. Akintunde, 41, and Mustapha, 46, are former President and Secretary of the MTN Employees Multi-purpose Cooperative Society (MEMCOS) respectively. They were charged to court alongside a property developer, Mutairu Babatunde and two other companies—Primavera Engineering and Construction Ltd. and Mabo Dredging Ltd. The defendants are facing a 17-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, issuance of dud cheque and forgery. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the arraignment of the defendants was, however, stalled due to Babatunde’s absence. Following the develop

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, February 10, 2014 arraigned one Dr. Chidi Barns Okpaluba and a Company, Quartermasters Limited before Justice L.B Lawal-Akapo of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on a 13-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, stealing and publication of false statements. Okpaluba had in 2008 allegedly approached Prince Kalu Otisi to invest in his Company, Quartermasters Limited and offered him shares valued at N135, 000,000.00 by private placement. The volume of shares allotted to the new investor earned him a place on the board of the company and was subsequently named the chairman of the board of Quartermasters Group Limited. Once on the board, Otisi gave a soft loan to the tune of N7, 000,000.00 (Seven Million Naira) to facilitate the running of the company. He also personally guaranteed a loan of N50, 000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira) from First Bank of Nigeria Plc using his property situated at Aba, Abi

After winning the team gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Kyla Ross and her “Fierce Five” became overnight A-list celebrities, making appearances at the MTV Video Music Awards, meeting President Obama at the White House, throwing out first pitches at baseball games and appearing on TV shows up and down the dial. There was one important distinction, though: Ross was the only one who wasn’t able to cash in on the success. Ross, who at 15 last summer was the youngest member of the “Fierce Five,” looked at the numbers. She could have gone professional, she found, but she calculated her potential earnings would have equaled about the same amount as a college scholarship. So with all things being equal, she decided she would rather go to college as an amateur. That way she could compete in college gymnastics, too. “I know that college is really expensive, so sometimes going pro and then going to college you don’t really gain very much,” said Ross, who will compet

By: Aarav Sen A woman sat through many hours at the tattoo parlor to cover her entire body despite the fact that she will never be able to see the tattoos. Fran Atkinson, 52, of Wales, United Kingdom, became addicted to getting inked. She spent 416 hours covering her entire body in tattoos. Atkinson has spent the last three years getting a “body suit” of colorful ink despite having no idea what it looks like. The mother of one, who lives in Rhyl, said that her husband, Ron, and tattoo artist Greg Bowman, acted as her eyes. They describe the details of the intricate work of art done from her neck to her ankles. Atkinson suffers from retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a hereditary disease, which causes serious vision impairment and can lead to blindness. Atkinson was not always blind. She began losing her eyesight as a teenager and now is left with only three to five percent of the vision, but said she has always had a passion for body art. Now,

•Insists he had nothing to do with NNPC •President shops for replacement By Chuks Okocha and Jaiyeola Andrews After years of ignoring the advice of those who had counselled against the retention of Chief Mike Oghiadomhe as his Chief of Staff, President Goodluck Jonathan, Monday, finally relieved him of his post. THISDAY learnt from presidency sources that in order to give him a soft landing, Jonathan asked Oghiadomhe to resign. His resignation was confirmed by the president’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who said there was “nothing extensive to add other than to confirm that the chief of staff has resigned his appointment” and it had nothing to do with a speculative report published by an online news medium linking him to the allegation on the non-repatriation of oil revenue to the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). However, sources informed THISDAY that by asking Oghiadomhe to resign, Jon

The Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, has made unsuccessful attempts to hold a meeting with the Director-General of the State Security Service, Mr. Ekpenyong Ita, in Abuja. It was learnt on Monday that the minister went to the SSS headquarters on Friday to discuss the eviction of SSS operatives from the nation’s six international airports. “The whole thing happened in the night; the SSS did not know anything about it; there was no meeting with our operatives to tell us anything.  “As we are talking now, the SSS are not at the airports because there is nowhere for them to sit to do their job.” A source told Punch after its exclusively report on Monday that the minister barred SSS operatives from the nation’s international airports. It was gathered that SSS DG, Ita, was engaged in critical functions and referred the minister to the officer in-charge of the Directorate of Airport Operations. A source said the meeting between Oduah and the SSS leadership could not hold as the mini

US authorities say young Mexican women were driven to rural New Jersey and forced to have s*x with 25 farm workers a day or were confined to dingy brothels in the New York City area, being paid very little or nothing at all. A criminal complaint charges 13 people with smuggling dozens of women into the United States and forcing them into prostitution. Some of the defendants were to appear Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan to face multiple counts including s*x trafficking and interstate transportation for prostitution. The ring “lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell,” US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. The investigation was among several aimed at “blockading the repugnant s*x trafficking corridor” used to exploit victims from Tenancingo, Mexico, said James Hayes, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York. Tenancingo, an impoverished town in Tlaxcala state, has long been a notorious

Have you ever REALLY looked at a baby, man? A resident of Jupiter, Fla. is accused of smoking weed inside a maternity ward. David Bastin, 28, was arrested at Martin Medical Center in Stuart, Fla., last Tuesday evening, WPTV reported. Someone called the cops because they smelled marijuana in the delivery and infant unit, according to a police report obtained by TC Palm. The responding officer said the scent was coming from the room where Bastin’s girlfriend was admitted. After confronting Bastin, he allegedly coughed up a vaporizer, and, the officer wrote in the report, “a green leafy substance that I know from my training and experience to be raw cannabis.” Bastin was charged with possession of cannabis under 20 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to ABC Action News. His bond was set at $1,500.

Despite warnings by the government, security agencies and concerned groups that passengers using rail transportation in Lagos should stop hanging on doors and roofs of trains, many passengers have continued, the dangers involved regardless. The situation however went awry yesterday as a passenger hanging on a train coach had his hand chopped off by the moving train. The incident, according to an eyewitness, occurred when the passenger who was simply identified as Ernest, allegedly fell from the moving train which had a hitch in movement around 9 a.m. in Oshodi area of Lagos State. Mr Olu Atoyebi, who witnessed the incident told Vanguard that Ernest fell from the moving train while his hand was stuck in between the coaches resulting to the hand being chopped off. Writhing in pain, Ernest was said to have shouted for help, attracting sympathisers who rushed to the scene to offer assistance. They took him to an undisclosed hospital and invited his relations. Atoyebi told Vanguard