Barcelona clinch LaLiga title for the 25th time

 
Barcelona have won LaLiga for the 25th time in their history after beating Deportivo La Coruna 4-2 today. The Catalans have completely dominated Spain's top flight this season and completed the job with four games to go thanks to a goal from Philippe Coutinho and a Lionel Messi hat-trick at the Riazor.

It marks a LaLiga and Copa del Rey double in Ernesto Valverde's first season in charge and completes a remarkable turnaround in fortunes over the past eight months.  Last August, Barca had been battered 5-1 over two legs by Clasico rivals Real Madrid who triumphed in Spain and Europe last season in the Supercopa de Espana and had seen one of their MSN triumvirate depart following Neymar's lucrative sale to Paris Saint-Germain.

Andres Iniesta will also now leave Camp Nou with a ninth LaLiga triumph with the Spain great having announced he will leave the Catalan giants after a trophy-laden 22-year association with the club.

Nine school children stabbed to death, 12 injured, by "bullied pupil" in China

Nine students have been stabbed to death and 12 others were injured after a former student attacked them outside a school in northern China.
The former student allegedly stabbed them in a revenge plot after being bullied at the school in Shaanxi province. It took place outside the No3 Middle School in the rural area as classes were being dismissed for the evening.
The Mizhi county government reports the 12 people who suffered injuries during the stabbing rampage and are in hospital. .

Volunteers donate blood for victims

Police have arrested a 28-year-old suspect identified by the surname Zhao who had been a student at the school. The Mizhi government said on Saturday that the suspect was apparently seeking revenge for being picked on when he was a student of the school.
Gun ownership in China is restricted, making knives and homemade explosives the most common weapons in violent crimes. In 2010, nearly 20 children were killed in knife attacks outside school gates. In June last year, a 22-year-old man made a bomb that exploded at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China, killing eight people, including himself.

Governor Ortom warns Fulani herdsmen: The fact that we have chosen to be law-abiding does not mean that we are weak

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom on Thursday, cut short his leave abroad and returned to Nigeria following the killing of two priests and worshipers by Fulani herdsmen.

Speaking with newsman at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, he appealed to Nigerians to rise and stop the ongoing killings nationwide.

"The fact that we in Benue have chosen to be law-abiding does not mean that we are weak. I call on every Benue man and woman to remain resolute. The enemies cannot take our land away from us." he said.  Excerpts:

Question: You have cut short your vacation, what informed that decision?

Governor Ortom: There is no way my state would be on fire with the magnitude of what we are seeing today and I’ll still be on vacation. I cannot be on vacation when the entire state is on fire to this magnitude. I never expected what is happening to have taken place. I know my Deputy, the Acting Governor is doing his best. I’ve been in touch with him on daily basis but at this particular time he needs me and other stakeholders of the state to come together, and of course the Presidency, to stop this pogrom that is going on. 

This is unwarranted. There is no basis for this whatsoever. The fact that we have chosen to be law abiding should not be seen as weakness on our side but we’ve chosen that we’ll support government and ensure that at all times we follow due process, we respect the laws of the land and that is why we’ve not taken laws into our hands. I’ll continue to appeal to our people to be law abiding but this thing has to stop. Like I keep saying after Benue it’ll be another state. So it’s not just about Benue. You can see the killings going on all over the place. But the climax of this is the killing of clergymen worshiping in the house of God. That is what has led me not to even think about sleeping but to come back. I believe that the Presidency would definitely act on this. We appreciate Mr. President for coming out to condemn this act and I believe he will also direct that these people must be arrested because they are known. The security operatives know where they are and there is every need for us to support the security agencies because I’ve also appreciated the fact that they’re really overwhelmed with the situation. The communities must come together and do everything that is law abiding to defend themselves. I’ve always said that self preservation is the first law of nature. There’s no point running away. I’m aware that people who ran away to IDP camps were also killed so why are you running? Those who did not run were killed, those who ran were killed. So it is better, if you make some attempts and support the security agencies, you may have some way of helping so there is no point running away. 

The Federal Government is aware of this, the state Government is aware of this, and the security agencies are aware of this but they are completely overwhelmed. Nigerians, Benue State people must rise up so that together we can work with security agencies and see where we can come in whether by way of logistics, by way of physical support to the security agencies to ensure that they overcome this. It’ll be better for all of us. There is no point running away. Every Benue State man and woman must be prepared because Benue State is under siege and we have no other place to go. We can’t go to any other state and take over the land of another state. It’s a land we have and we must stand to defend it but we must be law abiding in all that we’re going to do. I believe that based on the statement from the Presidency action would be followed and these killings would stop. I want to condole Benue people especially the Catholic Church. This is unwarranted, people who have made sacrifice of their lives to preach peace and bring love for mankind to pass through this kind of thing I think it’s unwarranted and this will not be accepted.

Question: The National Assembly summoned the President to appear before it and explain the killings in Benue and other parts of the country. What’s your reaction?

Governor Ortom: I’ve reacted on the operations of the security agencies before and I’ve just said it now. The Federal Government and the National Assembly also have a role to play. They’re doing their role, let’s see how it ends. All that I’m calling for is that let’s all team together. Let’s all work together. There’s no point in a blame game but the focus should be how we can overcome this and whatever can be done whether by the National Assembly or the Presidency should be done to stop this killings, that’s what I’m saying. This has to stop. It is not right and nobody will accept this. This has been going on since 2011 in Benue State so it is time now to effect a change. That is what our government represents. The All Progressives Congress, APC government represents change. We must change the way of doing things in this country by ensuring that we stop the killings. Life is precious and when it goes to the point of killing Reverend Fathers in the church who were not armed then that is where it is more daring on all of us so every leader in this country should bury his head in shame on this matter because it’s something that we must collectively work together to surmount at this particular time.

Question: Some people blame you for doing an amnesty programme and disarming Benue people thereby making them vunerable for the ongoing killings. What’s your reaction?

Governor Ortom: I can never support lawlessness, I can never support it. I still stand by the amnesty programme I did. I did the amnesty programme to disarm youths who were using their weapons to terrorize the people. They acquired these weapons illegally. I did not do amnesty to collect arms from various communities. I never did. If I did to one community let them come out and say it. But I collected arms from criminals and destroyed them in the presence of the Presidential Committee of Small Arms Proliferation, PRESCOM, and the United Nation’s observers. This is the right thing to do, you cannot continue to be lawless in a society. Two wrongs can never make a right. The people that I collected arms from were all criminals. It was not community weapons that I collected and so if people come out to blame me for collecting weapons, I dont understand what they mean. As far as I’m concerned I did the right thing and given another opportunity I’ll do the same thing. Even today the criminals don’t go to fight the insurgents. They stay around and rob market women, rob our fathers and mothers and children and business men. These are the kind of people I collected weapons from and I challenge any one who has a contrary view to bring it up on this matter. I want to also say that for those who are blaming me also for enacting a law, I did not just enact it. A Governor cannot enact a law alone. It’s a whole process generated from the people to me in the executive. The bill went to the State Assembly, there was public hearing and as I talk to you the bill that I signed into law is a very popular law in Benue State. Even the small children, the old men and women who are displaced and all the people are still in support that there is no going back on this. And if those insurgents, if those who are perpetuating this, if those powers that be somewhere and are sponsoring these insurgency against Benue State and are thinking that one day we will have a rethink to rescind the law, they are wasting their time. This law is a popular law generated from the people and the people are standing with me and I have their firm commitment that I should stand with it. There’s no going back on the law. It’s not accepted that they think that they will use this as opportunity to do ethnic cleansing and bring Jihad and so on it will not be accepted. I want to continue to say that security agencies should arrest the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who threatened and are perpetuating these acts. They brought these foreigners whether they are from Libya, they are ISIS or ISWA or where ever they are, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore led by Bodejo and Hassan Saleh brought them into this country. I’ve reported them to security agencies. Until they stop these killings, we’ll continue to cry out. Whatever it will cost us we are ready to pay the supreme price for this cause that we’re fighting that is right, it’s just and the only way that can restore peace in this country.

Bill Cosby found guilty and convicted on all three counts in indecent assault trial

The jury in Bill Cosby's retrial found the TV icon guilty of all three counts of aggravated indecent assault today for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in a Philadelphia suburb in 2004.

The 80-year-old comedian faces up to 10 years in prison on each count, but is likely to serve them concurrently. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, and he remains out on bail. Cosby did not have an audible reaction to his conviction, but erupted shortly afterward.

Minutes after the verdict, prosecutors asked the judge to revoke Cosby's bail because they say he is a flight risk and has a private plane.

Cosby, who did not testify in the trial and has sat quietly throughout the proceedings, then stood up and yelled in a loud, booming voice: "He doesn't have a plane, you asshole."

Judge Steven O'Neill ruled that Cosby should not leave his Pennsylvania home, and that he would need to be fitted with a GPS tracking device. The case was the first celebrity sexual assault trial since the #MeToo movement began last fall, and as such, represented a test of how the cultural movement translates into a courtroom arena.

Lagos IGR hits N103.4 billion in first quarter of 2018... Capital Expenditure Gulps N93bn

 
The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said its internally generated revenue for the first quarter of Y2018 stood at N103.476billion, as against N96.7billion recorded in the previous year, thereby accounting for 81 per cent of the total revenue of N141billion generated in the quarter.

Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Segun Banjo who disclosed this during the annual Ministerial Press Briefing to mark the third year in office of Governor Ambode’s administration held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, said the records so far shows that the performance of the State’s Y2018 budget of N1.046trillion was heading in the right direction.

Giving a breakdown of the figures, the Commissioner said the budget performance for the first quarter has a pro-rata size of N261.530billion and in absolute term, it had performed N163.491bn, compared with N120.206billion reported for the same period in Y2017.

In terms of revenue generation, Banjo said that the sum of N141billion (63 per cent) was generated as Total Revenue against N124.141billion (77 per cent) achieved in 2017, adding that this year’s first quarter performance was N17.816billion higher than the previous year’s performance in absolute terms.

He said out of the total revenue of N141billion the State internally generated N103.476billion representing 57 per cent, as against N96.7billion in the previous year, thereby accounting for 73 percent of the total revenue for the current fiscal year.

The Commissioner explained further that the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) generated N84.1bilion in the first quarter, which accounted for 81 per cent of the total revenue generated, a feat, he attributed to proper planning and research by the government.

“What we have said now is that in the first quarter which we just concluded of 2018, LIRS generated a total of N84 billion compared to the N74billion that was generated in 2017. Due to the research and the planning done, LIRS has been able to improve their performance and we are very glad about it,” he said.

Banjo however noted that the N84billion generated by LIRS was excluding revenue from Land Use Charge (LUC), noting that it was from the strict application of taxes from Pay As You Earn (PAYE), withholding taxes, direct assessment and other taxes.

Besides, he said that Federal transfers for the first quarter Y2018 contributed N38.481billion (87 per cent) compared to a performance of N27.364billion out of which Statutory Allocation contributed N13.868billion and N24.4billion from VAT for the same period in 2017.

“Under Capital Expenditure, Quarter 1 performance stood at N93billion (53 per cent) as against N46.7billion (37 per cent) as at the same period in Y2017. As at the end of Q1 2018, the Capital:Recurrent ratio closed at 57:43 as against 39:61 recorded same time in Y2017.

“This is a pointer to the fact that all efforts geared towards tighter control of overhead is beginning to yield fruits even though more needs to be done in this area,” he said.

He said the State Government would do everything within its powers to sustain the budget performance in the second quarter, adding that the ultimate goal was to meet the target of a Capital: Recurrent expenditure ratio of 67:33 throughout the year.

Responding to questions on the reduction in the rates payable by property owners under the Lagos State Land Use Charge Law, vis a vis the 2018 budget and its effects on the plans by the government to deliver all ongoing projects in the State, the Commissioner allayed fears, adding that the present administration had already fashioned out strategies to ensure prompt delivery of critical projects this year.

“Definitely we have made a projection but because this is a very responsive government, we have decided to give rebates and when you give rebates, automatically the revenue will go down, the expectation might not be there in terms of what we intended in the first instance. But we can assure you that whatever we lose from the rebate we would get it somewhere else because we would continue to up our game,” Banjo said.

Yomi Casual shares adorable photos with his family

Yomi Casual who welcomed a baby girl three months ago with his wife shared these beautiful photos on his Instagram page.  More photos below

Facebook deletes 1.9m terror related posts in 3-months

Social network giant, Facebook found and removed 1.9 million social-media posts by the Islamic State and al Qaeda terrorists during the first three months of 2018, using new anti-terror algorithms.

“In Q1 (first quarter) we took action on 1.9 million pieces of ISIS [Islamic State terror group, outlawed in Russia] and al-Qaeda content, about twice as much from the previous quarter. Taking action means that we removed the vast majority of this content, and added a warning to a small portion that was shared for informational or counter speech purposes” Facebook said.

Detection technology has been critical to progress detecting terrorist posts, with the Facebook counterterrorism team growing from 150 last June to 200 at present, with plans to continue expanding the team, the release explained.

“In Q1 2018, 99 percent of the ISIS and al-Qaeda content we took action on was not user reported. We found this material due to advances in our technology, but this also includes detection by our internal reviewers” it added.

The median time for newly uploaded terrorist content to be flagged was less than one minute, Facebook noted. However, because content receives less attention the longer it remains on line, the Facebook team also went back and reviewed older posts, accounting for 600,000 removals in the January-March quarter.

Five people dead and several others injured after rental van plows into pedestrians in Toronto

 
A white van has mowed down at least eight pedestrians in Canada. Police have confirmed there are 'multiple casualties' although the number is not yet clear after the van struck up to ten people on Yonge St. near Finch Ave, Toronto, at just before 1.30pm on Monday afternoon.
The extent of the injuries isn't confirmed, and police are investigating whether the incident was an accident or intentional.
According to reports, the van fled the scene after striking the pedestrians but cops were able to stop the driver a few blocks away and the suspect has since been arrested.

Footage from the scene appeared to show him pointing something at police before he was ordered to drop, and was arrested. He was taken into custody a few yards from a large white Ryder van which had serious damage to the front of the vehicle.

Toronto Police are at the scene and have shut down the street as first responders treat some of the injured on the sidewalk, which shows blood stains from the impact.

Football Star Kanu Nwankwo Gives Accolades To Arsene Wenger

Football Legend and Former Super Eagles captain, Nwankwo Kanu, has admitted that Arsene Wenger has left a big vacuum for Arsenal to fill after the Frenchman announced he will leave the club at the end of the season after 22 years.

Actress Stephanie Linus and hubby, Idahosa, celebrate 6th wedding anniversary

 
Award winning actress, Stephanie Linus and her hubby, today celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary. The couple got married in Paris in 2012 and have a son. Taking to her IG page to celebrate their union, Stephanie wrote;

''Happy Wedding Anniversary to #mysoulmate. Thank you for filling my heart and our home with so much joy and laughter.
On this day you married me like a princess, I still remember how you stood gallantly like the Prince that you are, poised to sweep me off my feet. I’m eternally glad I chose right.
May our Father continually give us the Wisdom and Strength to be instruments of change to our world.
Love you with everything that is in me. #HWA''.

Nigerian youths are so angry it will take magic and miracle to get them to reconnect with President Buhari like they did in 2015'' Dele Momodu

 
In a new article titled ''President Buhari As a Public Relations Nightmare'' publisher Dele Momodu, chronicle the many mistakes President Buhari has made since assuming office and how it has distanced him from Nigerian youths who were so eager to have him come into office in 2015.

According to Momodu, the Nigerian youths who said they would vote President Buhari in 2015 even if all he had as an academic credential was a NEPA bill, are so disappointed in him now that it will take a miracle and magic to get that kind of reconnection.
Momodu went on to say that President Buhari has a lot of media practitioners around him but lacks a public relations expert that would handle any gaffe he creates professionally. Read his piece below...
Fellow Nigerians, these are not the best of times for our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari. And it must be much worse for his media handlers. Let me state matter-of-factly, from the onset, that President Buhari gets into regular trouble, indeed, too frequently, because he has invested heavily in a media team but lacks a public relations team. In Nigeria, most leaders fail to realise that being a good journalist, Editor, Publisher, Broadcaster, and what have you, does not make you a good or excellent public relations guru. The other problem is I’m not sure the President is surrounded by those bold or brave enough to look him straight in the eye to tell him the honest truth. His earlier persona as a military ruler has also not helped matters in this respect. The fear of a military dictator is the beginning of wisdom, according to the view of an average Nigerian.

I must confess that I have been a latter-day convert and ardent fan of President Buhari. I signed up only after he decided to contest the 2015 elections for a record fourth time. I took the view that he was the best man for the job particularly because the Jonathan administration was fumbling and not prone to correction. I played my part in articulating the President’s attraction for me and those like me who felt that he was what Nigeria required at the time, a stop-gap in the mould of Mandela option. Without being immodest I can say that I successfully played my own part in the eventual victory of APC and the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket.
I first had a significant interaction with Buhari in 2011, when he asked Dr Lanre Tejuoso to bring me to his house in Abuja and we got on quite well. The camaraderie was palpable. And he disarmed me with his candour and passion. Prior to the 2015 election, I met Buhari in London at a flat in Mayfair, the day he spoke at Chatham House. He sprang to his feet as soon as I walked in and appeared happy to see me. We chatted briefly and took several pictures with Rotimi Amaechi, Hadi Sirika, Festus Keyamo, Hadiza Bala Usman and others. He was as effervescent and excited as everyone else at the prospect of becoming Nigeria’s new leader. His optimism for the country was infectious and I believed I had made a wise decision in deciding to follow and publicly support him.

I vividly recollect my meeting with President Buhari shortly after he assumed office in 2015. This was at his behest. I found him very relaxed and jocular. We again got on well.  Contrary to the public misconception and rumours about his taciturnity, he was witty, chatty and freely spoke his mind. He certainly did not appear dictatorial or aloof.  Many of those who saw our interaction on television, as well as the pictures in different media, could not believe how freely we had bonded. I was surprised when a few Ministers asked what I did to make him feel so comfortable with me. Even before I went in to see him, a few people had pleaded with me to help talk to him frankly. I started getting the feeling that they considered me a suicide bomber who should carry away the sins of the earth. But the Buhari I met was not as difficult as he was made out to be. Everyone says when you hold meetings with him, it is a monologue, you are forced to do the talking while he does the listening. And that you never know whether he has heard you or what is on his mind. That was not the Buhari I met. He was receptive and we exchanged ideas on the various issues of national and social interest that we talked about.
It is one of those inexplicable ironies that the same man who generated and galvanised so much love and passionate affection has lost and squandered most of that uncommon goodwill. No one since the June 12, 1993, election, which was clearly and undoubtedly won by Chief MKO Abiola, has had such monumental, widely acclaimed and fair victory as President Buhari did in 2015. The youths of Nigeria were so much in love with him that they studiously ignored all his shortcomings and embraced him warts and all. The same youths are so angry today that I’m almost certain it would take some magic and miracle to get them to reconnect with our President like they did in 2015. There was nothing anyone could have said negatively to Buhari that they would have believed at that time. As a matter of fact, the youths said if Buhari presented NEPA bills as his school certificate result, they would accept it as genuine and further, that they were ready to march for Buhari all the way to Aso Rock.
So what went wrong? It is difficult to point at just one thing. It has been an amalgamation of conflicting issues and signals. The first was the attitude exhibited early in the life of this government that there was no real urgency and Buhari could take forever to handpick his team. The government lost the much-needed steam at that moment. And when the team was announced, it was déjà vu, because there was no difference and no big deal about their composition. Next was the witting or unwitting decision to start a war of attrition within his own party.  I warned against this very quickly, but was dismissed as raising false alarm. The APC became a house divided against itself. Till this day they couldn’t hold regular meetings, they couldn’t make most of the necessary political appointments, they couldn’t select their board of trustees, they couldn’t even hold a convention to celebrate their victory not to talk of one to elect a new national executive and so on.
The Party’s highfalutin campaign promises soon became its albatross. The grandiloquent manifesto had been packaged to entice everyone like babies to lollipop but when the day of reckoning and delivery came, the chocolate boxes were suddenly and strangely empty. The schools feeding programs could not be achieved. The social security and welfare packages of arranging stipends for the unemployed youths reached a cul-de-sac because government could not muster such resources. The President’s avowed fiscal policy target of parity between the Naira and the US Dollar – One Naira to one US Dollar proved to be a pipe dream that all discerning members of the public knew it would be. Indeed, it was much worse as the Naira slid to its lowest ever price against all currencies including African ones.
Buhari’s biggest attraction was the belief that he would easily wipe out, or at least significantly reduce, corruption in Nigeria. Those who believed the hype saw him as the only saint in Nigeria, but they forgot that sinners are probably the only ones capable of catapulting the saint to power. He tried his best in fighting the demons of Nigerian democracy, but they were much smarter than he ever bargained for. Pronto, the demons lined up in a long queue and migrated from PDP to APC where they are now comfortably ensconced and protected. Several corruption allegations and scandalous revelations involving members of the government or trusted aides and associates have either been ignored or swept under the carpet. Thus it has become difficult for the ruling party to stand on any moral ground and sermonise or pontificate about fighting corruption. For every finger pointed at others, four fingers pointed back at them. The sacred cows, otherwise known as the cabal, and other members of the Politburo have remained mysteriously and monstrously powerful and untouchable.
The most nauseating to many people has been the blame game. This has irritated so many people, including former Head of State and President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who exploded and told Buhari frontally to deliver on his promises instead of his regular lamentations. He effectively said everyone knew the former government did abominably badly and that is why it was sacked. The blame game seemed to have backfired as Nigerians are bored sick of hearing the same jejune tales over and over, instead of government telling us the good news of their own kingdom, and juxtaposing their own achievements against that of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The government should have known that hungry people hardly listen attentively to preaching and sooner than later would request for the way forward. Using the past as an excuse can only work up to a point. The people want action and not this litany of woes.
The other problem, and this is grave, is that the President hardly talks to Nigerians in Nigeria. And when he speaks, the words are so scanty and not much can be grabbed from them. Our President was critically ill and had to domicile himself abroad for several months cumulatively, yet no one knows what was wrong till this day. A public figure cannot afford to be too secretive in this manner. It only fuels curiosity and promotes ugly rumours. Significantly, the President who does not speak at home picks the wrong places and occasions to talk abroad and attracts controversies and public ridicule to himself and his country. The headlines have always been for the wrong reasons rather than the right mileage for the country and himself from the international media exposure and interest. On those trips, we’ve expanded the lexicon with such phrases as “the other room”; or as the latest gaffe goes “young people who want to sit and  want to be paid free money and free health…”
I have been inundated by calls since President Buhari made his latest remarks in London in answer to a question at the end of his keynote address at the Commonwealth Business Forum. To say most of the comments have been quite bad is an understatement. To properly understand I listened to the video and transcribed it myself, although I also had access to my dear brother, the Special Adviser Media to the President, Femi Adesina’s transcription. Below is my humble effort:
“We have ah, a very young population. Our population is estimated conservatively to be ah, a hundred and eighty million. Ah, this is a conservative one. More than 60 per cent of the population is below the age of (sic) thirty. Ah, a lot of them haven’t been to school. They are claiming ah, ah, you know, that Nigeria has been an oil producing country, therefore ah, they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare, ah, education free.”

The furore and fury the latest controversy has generated on social media is almost unprecedented. It is like touching the tiger by the tail. A seemingly harmless statement credited to President Buhari has ignited a huge conflagration everywhere. I felt bad for Femi Adesina as he struggled to defend, explain and transliterate what the President said or meant to say to an unwilling and unyielding audience. It has become a very heavy cross he must carry every time his boss speaks these days and it cannot be easy. It is true the President did not use the word lazy or say that all Nigerian youths sit at home and do nothing. It is also not true that he used the word half-educated. However, what he said about the youths suggests something worse, although that is clearly not what was meant. “a lot of them did not go to school”, translates to a lot of them are uneducated which is even worse than half-educated. One may pardon the President because empirically this is true of the educationally disadvantaged States with which he is very familiar, but it is blatantly false about the south where education is much advanced. Similarly, to say somebody sits down and does nothing and wants to claim freebies is to say that person is irresponsible.  In my view, this is much worse than laziness. Factor in the fact that free health, free education and affordable housing for all, were the campaign slogans of the APC and no one begged for it. So you can see a public relations disaster right before your very eyes.
President Buhari indeed has become a public relations nightmare. He is seriously in need of experts and coaches in public speaking and etiquette, especially now that he has decided to challenge fate by aspiring for a second term in office. If the plan is to throw in combatants, trolls and internet warriors to bully his opponents into submission, it would not fly. He needs all the gentility in the world to cajole, coax and convince Nigerians that he means well; that he knows what he is doing; that he is tackling the difficult challenges; that he is not a religious bigot or ethnic supremacist or jingoist; that he would reduce the menace of, if not wipe out, Boko Haram; that he would destroy the rampaging invaders called herdsmen wherever they are coming from; that he would revamp and improve the economy; that he would create opportunities for all Nigerians including jobs for our restive youths; and above all that he will keep all the brightest people closer to him …
I pray it is not too late

Dr Sid harassed by SARS officials after they mistook him for a yahoo boy

Dr. Sid was harassed by SARS officials along Freedom way, Lekki phase 1 today after they mistook him for a yahoo boy.
According to reports, Dr. Sid was in a car with Reekado Banks and Ksolo when they were stopped by SARS officials. Their car was searched and when the officials found nothing incriminating, they seized his phone.
The SARS officials later released him after they realized that he is a celebrity.

Photos from the Commonwealth Business Forum where President Buhari said Nigerian youths just want to sit and do nothing

 
President Buhari today participated in the Commonwealth Busines Forum, a sideline of the Commonwealth of Heads of Governments meeting. At the forum, President Buhari told the world leaders that many Nigerian youths just want to sit down and do nothing, believing that Nigeria is an oil-rich nation and that their needs will somehow be met by the government. See more photos from the meeting below

IDPs in Nasarawa go on rampage, throw stones at convoy of the state governor

Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in Nasarawa state today threw stones at the convoy of the state governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, during his assessment visit to some of the IDP camp in Obi local government area of the state.

The aggrieved IDPs were protesting the killing of their relations by suspected Fulani herdsmen. They alleged that the state government was doing little or nothing to protect them and stop the incessant killings. 32 persons were reportedly killed in a recent attack by armed bandits in the state.

Reacting to the incident, governor Al-Makura said the action of the protesting IDPs is “understandable in view of the psychological trauma they are passing through,”.. He vowed to ensure that peace returns to all the communities that have so far been attacked.

The riot policemen on the governor’s convoy were able to disperse the aggrieved IDPs through the use of tear gas, paving the way for his escape.
Speaking on the incident, the state commissioner of Police, Bello Ahmed, said the attack was politically motivated. Ahmed added that a number of arrests have been made.
The governor could not proceed to Keana IDP camp as arranged after the attack.

Kenya Airways sacks 22 of its 26 Nigerian workers

Kenya Airways has sacked 22 out of its 26 Nigerian employees, representing 86.4 per cent of its Nigerian workers.

According to a report by Punch, only four Nigerian staff are currently retained by the management of the airline after the exercise.  Those retained are Country Manager, Afeez Balogun, the Station Manager, and two other staff.

The report also states “the sacked staff were issued the disengagement letters at the airline’s office in Lagos in the presence of stern-looking police officers who were engaged by the airline to scare away the affected staff and prevent possible breakdown of law and order”.  The source also said that the “affected staff were only given four weeks wages on disengagement by the management”.  

And that the abrupt sack of the Nigerian workers “happened when the airline was still negotiating a new condition of service with the industry unions.

Lagos police arrest primary school dropout who has practiced as a medical doctor for four years

 
The Lagos state police command today paraded a primary school dropout, Abdulrahman Mohammed, who has practiced as a medical doctor for four years in the state.
Parading the suspect before newsmen, the state police commissioner, CP Edgal Imohimi, said Mohammed operated a clinic at Idi-Araba area in Mushin, where he administered intravenous injections to patients and also collected blood and urine samples for diagnosis.

“Detectives from the Area D Command, Mushin, arrested one Abdulrahman Mohammed, a native of Ran Village in Gamboru Ngala local government area of Borno State for operating as a medical doctor at 3, Bamishile Street, Idi -Araba, whereas his education stopped at primary school level. Further investigation into the activities of Abdulrahman Mohammed, who has been impersonating as a medical doctor for the past four years revealed that he had been administrating intravenous injections, conducting medical test on his patients and taking urine and blood samples from his patients. He is cooperating with the police and we are working with him to ensure all unregistered drug stores are clamped down.” he said
However, Mohammed has denied practising as a medical doctor. According to him, he only operates a chemist where he sells drugs to people living in his area.

“I was a hawker. I was hawking drugs before I decided to open a pharmacy. I did not finish my primary school and I was not taught to sell the drugs. My pharmacy was not licensed. I do not treat people. I do not collect blood or urine samples. I only sell the kits and people come to buy it. For the thermometer, people used to come and check their temperature and other things by themselves. If someone comes and complained of headache and fever, I give them Panadol or Boscopan and blood tonic.” he said

Black teen, 14 gets shot at by a white man for knocking on his door to ask for directions to school after missing his bus

A 14-year-old black boy nearly became a victim of the violence against an unarmed black person in the US.
On Thursday, Brennan Walker, a high school student in Michigan, was shot at by a white man when he knocked on the man’s house to ask for directions.

According to Miami Herald, Walker, a 14-year-old student at Rochester High School in Rochester Hills, Michigan, had missed his bus and decided to walk to school. When the teen got lost, he decided to ask for directions.
When Walker knocked on the door of one home, a white woman who answered said she feared he was trying to break into her house.
"I knocked on the door, stepped back, knocked, stepped back, and then a lady came downstairs yelling at me," Walker told Click On Detroit. "She asked me, 'Why are you trying to break into my house?' and I told her I was just looking for directions to Rochester High."
Walker then saw a man come down the stairs with a gun. The man aimed at Walker and shot at him as he ran away but was not hit.
'My mom says that, black boys get shot because sometimes they don't look their age, and I don't look my age. I'm 14; but I don't look 14. I'm kind of happy that, like, I didn't become a statistic," Walker added.

The man identified as Jeffrey Zeigler, 53,  a retired firefighter who is white was taken into custody by Oakland County Police. He has since been charged with assault with intent to murder and a felony firearm charge, local news outlets reported, and his bond was set at $50,000.
He faces as much as life in prison, according to Rochester Patch.
Reacting to the incident, Brennan’s mother, Lisa Wright, said she had heard that the man missed only because he forgot to take the gun’s safety off.
After seeing the surveillance video of the incident police showed her, she said: “One of the things that stands out, that probably angers me the most is, while I was watching the tape, you can hear the wife say, ‘Why did these people choose my house?’ ” Wright said. “Who are ‘these people?’ And that set me off. I didn’t want to believe it was what it appeared to look like. When I heard her say that, it was like, but it is.”
In a statement by Bryan Barnett, the mayor of  Rochester Hills, he condemned the shooting saying he was “personally sickened by the initial reports and they suggest behavior completely unacceptable and inconsistent with the character and values of our community.”

Barcelona break LaLiga's all-time unbeaten record with today's win over Valencia

Barcelona have become the first team in LaLiga history to go 39 consecutive matches without defeat, surpassing Real Sociedad's record. Barcelona broke the LaLiga's all-time record of consecutive matches unbeaten with a 2-1 win over Valencia today.

Goals from Luis Suarez and Samuel Umtiti secured the victory and made it 39 matches without defeat for Ernesto Valverde's men in Spain's top flight.

The victory takes them one beyond the previous record set by Real Sociedad in May 1980, with their run starting 13 months earlier.  The result temporarily moves the Catalans 14 points clear of Atletico Madrid at the top of the table, with only six matches left to play.

They need just seven more points to win the title back from holders Real Madrid.

Nigerian sprinter, Oluwatobilolba Amusa, makes history as first Nigerian to win 100m hurdles at commonwealth games

Nigerian sprinter, Oluwatobiloba Amusa, has made history as the first Nigerian to win a sprint hurdles title at the Commonwealth Games. She broke the record today at the Carrara stadium in Gold Coast, Australia.

She ran 12.68 seconds to win the race making her Nigeria’s first gold medallist in track and field at the ongoing games.
Watch a video of her during the race below

Another Nigerian, ThankGod Okoro killed in South Africa

 
The Nigerian community in South Africa has again been thrown into mourning, following the latest extra-judicial killing of a Nigerian in the country.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the killing of 30-year old ThankGod Okoro from Ogbaku in the Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State, is the latest in what has been described as recurring pre-meditated murders of young Nigerians in South Africa.

Records show that no fewer than 117 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa since February, 2016.  Unofficial estimates put the number of Nigerians residing in South Africa at about 800,000 majority of whom are young people. The Publicity Secretary of the Nigeria Union in South Africa, Habib Miller, who is based in Pretoria, confirmed the killing of Okoro saying he was allegedly shot in the head by a South African police officer.  “The union is not happy with the latest murder of ThankGod Okoro on April 9 by a member of the South African Police Flying Squad at Hamburg, Florida West Rand in Johannesburg.

“The officer, who shot Okoro claimed that the young man attempted to stab him during a stop-and-search operation. Miller said that the Acting President of the Nigeria Union, Mr Joshua Ogade, and the head of the union’s legal team, Mr Omoreige Ogboro, had visited the area Okoro was killed to gather information on the incident.  “Our team has gone to the Florida Police Station to ensure that due process is followed in an attempt to seek justice on the killing. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate has been notified of the killing of Mr Okoro,”  Miller said that the police in Florida State had commenced investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to the killing of the Nigerian.

The spokesman said, however, that the union learnt from investigators that the trigger-happy police officer had boasted few weeks before the incident that he would kill Okoro.  He pleaded with the South African authorities to wade into the matter to discourage wanton killing of Nigerians by policemen in the former apartheid enclave.  “Anyone suspected or found on the wrong side of the law should be arrested and tried at the appropriate court rather than killing Nigerians extra-judiciously,” he said.

Son of billionaire businessman, Anselm Tabansi, Jesse, dies in car crash

Jesse, the son of billionaire businessman, Anselm Tabansi, Jesse, has died. Jesse died in a car accident A few days ago. He was said to have been riding with his friend when their car got involved in an accident. Jesse died on the spot while his friend survived the accident.
Jesse's father, Anselm is the owner of popular Lagos hotel, Maison Fahrenheit and Svengali furniture.

Jesse was just in his 20s. Until his death, he was a fast rising pop star who had singles like Ki lon waso, Last Time, Shake, Boma Ye among others and was being groomed to take over his father's businesses.

His last post on IG on March 15th

Prosecutors narrate how husband killed Nigerian artiste Alizee and poisoned their daughter as court remands him in custody

A Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday remanded a Danish national, Peter Nielsen, who was suspected of killing his wife, Zainab Ali- Nielsen and their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Petra.

Chief Magistrate Kikelomo Ayeye remanded Nielsen, 53, in Ikoyi Prison, following an application by the police. Nielsen was docked on a two-count charge of unlawful killing.

Nielsen’s plea was not taken. He was represented by Frank Udoka Amah. Prosecuting counsel, Effiong Asuquo, tendered a three-page application, containing 15 grounds for Nielsen’s remand in prison.

He said: “There is overwhelming forensic evidence linking the defendant to the assault and murder of his wife and daughter. Investigation has also shown that the defendant was habitually violent to his late wife, Zainab.”

According to Asuquo, a fight broke out between the couple in their flat at about 3:00 a.m. on that fateful day. Nielsen was allegedly seen fighting and hitting the deceased’s head on a wall by her two relations, Mimi, 11, and Faith, 13 who lived with them.

She died from injuries sustained from the assault. The prosecutor alleged that Nielsen then poisoned Petra before dragging her body into the kitchen.

Asuquo said: “He took the lifeless little girl and put her under the mother’s body and then put on gas stove burners in the kitchen so that it will be believed that the wife and daughter were suffocated to death by the cooking gas.

It is in the national interest that the suspect remain in prison pending legal advice and his arraignment and trial.” Chief Magistrate Ayeye upheld his prayer. She remanded Nielsen in prison and adjourned the case till May 8 for the DPP’s advice.

Obafemi Martins undergoes successful surgery in UK

 
Nigerian footballer and Shanghai Greenland Shenhua striker, Obafemi Martins has undergone a successful surgery on his ruptured quadriceps tendon in the United Kingdom.
The former Newcastle United star suffered the injury during Shanghai Shenhua’s Asian Champions League game against Kashima Antlers which ended 2-2 in midweek.
Shanghai Shenhua’s Instagram account posted a picture of the striker in bed with his right leg strapped. “Martins had a successful surgery in the UK,” the account wrote.

The club also confirmed that the striker will be out of action for up to seven months.

Pippa Middleton’s father-in-law accused of raping two women - a minor and a "family friend"

A second woman has accused Pippa Middleton's father-in-law of rape and this woman is believed to be a former family friend.
Multi-millionaire, David Matthews, 74, was initially interrogated by French prosecutors over claims he raped a minor, which he strenuously denies. Now, a second person, a British woman, is accusing the business tycoon of rape too.

The woman, who is now thought to be in her 60s, reported David Matthews to South Yorkshire Police earlier this week. She is said to have accused him of assaulting her in Sheffield in the 1980s, when she would have been in her twenties or thirties.
Just last week, Mr Matthews was arrested at a Paris airport and held for 48 hours before he appeared in court after a woman, now aged 35, told police he raped her between 1998 and 1999, when she was 15 and he in his fifties. One of the assaults allegedly took place in Paris and the other on the Caribbean island of St Barts, where he and his wife Jane own a £5,000-a-night hotel.

Mr Matthews has vehemently denied the younger woman’s allegations, with friends suggesting he is the victim of a "revenge" plot and he is being "set up". He has, however, not commented on the latest claims made by a second woman.
David Zara, who has known the former racer and property magnate for decades, said the rape allegations were completely out of character. He said the Me Too movement has now made it "hunting season on powerful people".
He said: "David is not that sort of person. He is certainly not a rapist and certainly not a child molester."
Another friend said of the first woman’s claims: "It’s outrageous. I feel very sorry for David. He’s being completely set up just to cause family embarrassment."
Mr Matthews financer son James Matthew married Prince William's sister-in-law Pippa Middleton last year.