Chibok Girls: President Buhari's Speech in France

Buhari explained, during a meeting with the Nigerian community in France, that his administration was in negotiation with the terrorists to secure the girls’ release

Here are five important things Buhari said about the Chibok girls during the meeting:

1. “The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the country and the world. The government is (looking into possibility of) negotiating with some of the Boko Haram leadership.”
2. “Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate; I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absorbed in the community.
3. “We have to be very careful; the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one only imagines if they got a daughter there between 14 and 18 and for more than one and a half year, a lot of the parents who have died would rather see the graves of their daughters rather than the condition they imagine they are in.
4. “This has drawn a lot of sympathy throughout the world; that is why this government is working very hard in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are alive.”
5. “It is a very sensitive development in the sense that first we have to establish, are they genuine leaders of the Boko Haram. That is number one. Number two, what are their terms, the first impression we had was not very encouraging.”

Boko Haram: No Freedom of Movement for Insurgents to Slaughter Our Citizens or Capture Our Military Units. - NAF

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Wednesday said.

The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), AVM Sadique Abubakar, has given an assurance that Boko Haram terrorists would no longer be allowed to move freely to slaughter citizens or capture military units in the North-East. This was contained speech at a 2-day seminar on Standards and Evaluation tagged "The Imperative of Standards and Evaluation in the Nigerian Air Force’’. The seminar was organised by NAF.
In his words, "So far, the air operations in the North-East are creating the enabling environment for the army to move unhindered in the conduct of their operation.
"We have substantially degraded the capacity of the terrorists to move freely in Toyota Hilux vehicles ravaging villages and murdering innocent citizens.
"God willing, they will never move freely again to slaughter our citizens or capture our military units.
"We will continue to do our best to meet our statutory responsibility of defending the territorial integrity of the nation, acting singly or in concert with other security agencies, " he said.
Abubakar said that NAF regarded safety as a core function and as such it would strive to develop, implement, maintain and constantly review its safety strategies to ensure that operations were conducted with acceptable risk level.
He said that the Standard and Evaluation Branch was one of the most important branches in the NAF.
"Because once you have a sound standard and evaluation branch, people would operate according to standard.
"This will prevent us from running into problems of safety, because people will be operating according to the laid down regulations of safety, especially at times such as now when you have scarcity of resources.
"We cannot afford to lose anything, whether our pilot or equipment," he said.
The CAS, however, urged the standard and evaluation branch to sensitise all stakeholders on how to properly maintain the equipment, personnel and assets entrusted to them in order to derive maximum value from them.

Buhari, Osinbajo Make Assets Public

President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo have made known their assets, with the President declaring less than N30 million and his deputy a cash balance of N94 million and US$900,000 in his bank accounts. The assets, which were still being verified by the Code of Conduct Bureau, it was learned, also showed the President to have shareholdings in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank with a total of seven houses including two mud houses. The President has two houses in Kaduna and one each in Kano, Daura and in Abuja. The two mud houses are in his native Daura. One was inherited from his late elder sister, another from his late father. He reportedly borrowed money from the old Barclays Bank to build two of his homes. President Buhari, according to the documents, has two undeveloped plots of land, one in Kano and the other in Port Harcourt. He is believed to be still trying to trace the location of the land in Port-Harcourt. The President also has farms, an orchard and a ranch. The total number of his holdings in the farm, according to sources privy to the declaration, include 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees. The President is also reported to have a number of cars, two of which he bought from his savings and the others supplied to him by the Federal Government in his capacity as a former Head of State. The rest were donated to him by well-wishers after his SUV was damaged in a Boko Haram bomb attack on his convoy in July 2014. Vice-President Osinbajo, according to the assets declaration has a 4-bedroom residence at Victoria Garden City, Lagos;  a 3-bedroom flat at  2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi and a 2-bedroom flat in the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The Vice-president also has a 2-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England. The Vice-President also has shareholdings in his law firm, SimmonsCooper and in six private companies based in Lagos, including Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa, Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd. and MTN Nigeria. The Vice-President’s bank balance, at inauguration showed him to have about N94 million, US$900,000 and £19,000 in Nigerian banks. The foreign currencies are in domiciliary accounts in Nigerian banks. His vehicles, according to the declared assets include one Infinity 4-Wheel Drive SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado SUV. 

Source: Vanguard (online)

Mourinho: Working With The Whole Team

Last season’s home match against Crystal Palace burns bright in the memory and immediately following the title-clincher back in May, Jose Mourinho highlighted the performance of Alan Pardew’s side as indicative of the Premier League.

He stated: ‘Palace played like it was a crucial game for them and that was the pure feelings of football.’

Speaking at his pre-match media conference this Friday afternoon ahead of a rematch with the Eagles at the other end of a football season, the Chelsea manager expects another tough test.

‘This is a different match but with the same need to get the three points,’ Mourinho said. 

‘Last season was to win the title, this season it is to try to recover positions we lost with two bad results at the opening of the Premier League.

‘Crystal Palace are always a difficult opponent and they have even better players than last season and an even better team than last season. A London derby is always a London derby and for them Stamford Bridge is a huge motivation.

‘But I see my team coming and we had a good game and good result last weekend,’ he emphasised, adding that another good week of training has followed the one that heralded the win at West Brom.

‘That result had a bit of an influence on the happiness of the group and hopefully we can get three more points before the period of international games.

‘We have worked on a few things on defending in training, such as defending with nine men. We also worked on tactical aspects to improve the team. I didn’t just work the defenders, I worked the team because you have to defend as a team. You cannot blame defenders for goals conceded because a team is a team and good one defends as a team.’

Mourinho told reporters he is unsure whether Crystal Palace will play an open game at the Bridge on Saturday afternoon, or more defensively and without a main striker with the hope of profiting from counter-attacks, the tactic Alan Pardew deployed in his 1-0 defeat against us at the end of last season. The quality of the strikers currently at the Eagles’ disposal may influence the thinking reckons the Blues boss.

A win for Chelsea will take us back above the Selhurst Park side who are currently fifth after the three games played, and Mourinho finds it hard to understand why there have been so many stories analysing his side at such an early stage of the campaign.

‘The most important thing of this start of the season is that it is not normal in three matches to have two penalties against and you play with 10 men twice,’ he added.

‘We have played one match at home, two matches away and have four points which is not what we want but it is not a drama. We know we can improve and are going to improve. This is the Premier League and when you are five points behind the leader in another league, that can be complicated. In the Premier League it is not complicated.'

Missing Co-Pilot, Peter Bello Confirmed Dead.

 
Such a tragedy. Rescuers this morning recovered the body of the pilot and co-pilot of the ill fated helicopter that crashed into the Lagos Lagoon yesterday. Peter Bello was the co-pilot. Friends have taken to social media to express their grief. Heard he was the only son of his parents. So sad. May his soul rest in peace,

Helicopter crashes into Lagos Lagoon, two people rescued alive

A Bristol helicopter crashed into the Lagoon at the Oworonshoki area of Lagos this afternoon. Spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the incident and said a rescue team is on their way to the scene of the incident. Two people have been rescued from the scene.

National Hospital Live-Tweeted An Open Heart Surgery

 
National Hospital Abuja live-tweeted the surgery earlier yesterday on its official account. The operation was an open heart surgery (Ventricular Septal Defect Repair) on an eight-year-old patient. Dr. Tayo Haastrup told BBC that it was done to show Nigeria's expertise to the world. Source: Nat. Hospital

Nicki Minaj Says She's Not Pregnant

Nicki Minaj says she is not pregnant with Meek Mill's baby. Yes she called Meek her “baby father" on Saturday in Pittsburgh but sources close to her say she uses the phrase "baby father" a lot, that she has used the term at least twice on this tour, but it's not the same as "father of my child." They say it's just a term of endearment for those she likes. She's even referred to Lil Wayne as her baby daddy in the past, even though they're just friends. She maintains that there will be a wedding first before they have a baby.

Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuwade Dies At 85

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, has died at the age of 85. Family sources say he died at about 5pm yesterday after a brief illness. He was reportedly flown to UK in an air ambulance after he became unconscious following his illness. The late Oba is survived by wives and children. May his soul rest in peace Amen.

President Buhari sacks all Service Chiefs

President Buhari has sacked all Service Chiefs. Their sack was made known by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina while he spoke to state house correspondents this afternoon. The fired service chiefs include the Chief of Defence staff, and the heads of Army, Navy and the Air Force. More details later.

Detained ex Jigawa gov, Sule Lamido and two sons flown to Abuja

Nigerian Prison sources say ex Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido and his two sons Aminu and Mustapha, have been flown to Abuja this morning ahead of the court hearing for their bail application holding tomorrow July 14th. The former Governor and sons who are standing trial for allegedly collecting bribe totaling N1.35 billion from government contractors when he was governor, were on July 9th ordered to be remanded in Kano Prisons by Justice Evelyn Anyadike.

How A Brave Nigerian Soldier Fought Boko Haram Militant In A Hand Combat

Kate Henshaw Finally Speaks On Fire Incident At Her Home

Actress Kate Henshaw, whose Lekki home was gutted by a fire last week (see here) took to her Instagram page today to thank all who have reached out to her. She wrote; 'With a heart full of immense gratitude, I want to thank all my fans, friends on social media, who sent messages and words of encouragement for the incident that happened last week. I appreciate the love, care and concern. The good Lord bless you all and cause His face to shine on you, may He be gracious unto you and give you peace!! Have an absolutely blessed weekend. Huge hugs all round.'

Photo: 9 year old Nigerian girl writes a book on Terrorism

9 year old girl Splendour Joe Abisoye has written a book on terrorism which she titled 'Effects of Terrorism on Children'. Little Miss Splendour presented her book to the Director, Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade in Abuja yesterday July 2nd. In the book, Splendour shared her experience when she visited an IDP camp in the North and what some of the children there told her. Splendour was accompanied to the Army Headquarters by her parents Rev. and Mrs Joe King Abisoye. Receiving the book, Gen Olukolade applauded her for writing it

Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian teen in West Bank

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank on Friday after he threw stones at their patrol, Palestinian medical and security sources said. Mohammad Kosba, 17, was killed by two bullets after launching the stones at an Israeli military vehicle close to the Qalandia checkpoint, south of Ramallah, the sources said.

Boko Haram reportedly slit the throat of 11 of its own members

Boko Haram members this morning reportedly slit the throat of 11 of its own members for fleeing one of their camps located near Miringa village in Biu local government area of Borno state. The fleeing members were on their way to surrender to government forces when the sect members pursued them, caught up with them in Miringa village, tried them there and slit their throat in the full glare of the villagers, according to Sahara Reporters

Former Miss Nigeria and Hank Anuku's sister, Rita Anuku, dies

Former Miss Nigeria and sister to famous actor Hank Anuku, Rita Anuku, has died. Rita, who won the Miss Nigeria pageant in 1986, died yesterday July 2nd in a hospital in Abuja after a battle with cancer. The mother of four was just 47 years old. May her soul rest in peace, amen.

"Even Satan Wasn't Gay" - President Mugabe Allegedly Says

Following the legalization of gay marriage across America by the Supreme Court last week, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who is known for his extreme anti-gay views has been making headlines. Earlier this week was a marriage proposal to president Obama and yesterday, he allegedly said what you see below during another interview; "Even satan wasn't Gay, he chose to approach naked Eve instead of naked Adam." - President, Mugabe on homo sexuality.

CBN Extends Deadline For BVN Registration To October 31st

It has been a serious war in most of the banks in the country as CBN set today as deadline for the BVN registration but now, the Good News! Central Bank of Nigeria has extended the deadline for the Bank Verification Number, BVN, registration to October 31st. . Hopefully people will be more serious this time to get registered before the new deadline.

Buhari Appoints Hamidu Ali As Chief of Staff

The Buhari's Led government appointment saga took another turning. Sahara Reporters reports today  the  appointment of ex-military administrator of Kaduna state, Hamidu Ali as Pres. Buhari new Chief of Staff.  Many people hoped Fasola may be the candidate but now a new twist.

President Buhari dissolves board of NNPC

President Buhari has dissolved the board of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The directive to dissolve the board was conveyed in a letter signed by the Head of Civil Service, Danladi Kifasi dated today June 26th.

Former presidential aide Reno Omokri lands US TV deal

Former Special Assistant on New Media to Pres. Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has landed a US TV deal. He will be hosting a Christian program titled ‘Transformations With Reno Omokri: The Measure of Faith'. Contracts for the weekly show which is being shot in California was finalized yesterday June 25th. The show is being produced by the Mind of Christ Christian Center, which was founded by Omokri. A few weeks ago, Reno announced that he's retiring from politics to focus on evangelism

Ondo governor, Mimiko emerges chairman PDP governors forum

Ondo state governor, Olusegun Mimiko has emerged the new Chairman of the PDP governors forum He was elected new chairman at the PDP governors meeting in Abuja today June 17th. He takes over from Akwa-Ibom state governor, Godswill Akpabio, who is now a Senator.

Buhari Tells Nigerians In South Africa To Be A Good Ambassador Of Nigeria...

During his visit to Nigerian residents in South Africa yesterday, President Buhari told them to conduct themselves with respect in the country, promising to look into how to strengthen Nigeria's relationship with South Africa and also look into the recent Xenophobic attacks.

"Those of you who have the opportunity to come here and represent us, make sure that you are representing Nigeria, you are all ambassadors of Nigeria. This means a lot of patience, restraint and self-respect and pride. You must have all these.”

Speaking about what he plans to do to make Nigeria better, president Buhari said

“Government is determined to secure the country, manage the economy, create employment and fight corruption. Some articulate writers have said if we do not kill corruption in Nigeria, corruption will kill Nigeria. This APC administration intends to kill corruption in Nigeria. We will do our best, I assure you."

NAN

Multiple Bomb Blast Rocks Chad, Police Headquarters Targeted

Multiple bomb explosion rocked the Chadian capital, N’Djamena this morning. Reports say suicide bombers who are believed to be members of Boko Haram attacked the Police Headquarters. One of the suicide bombers attacked the police academy where a graduation ceremony was going on. Unconfirmed reports say at least 30 cadets were killed in the attack.

FG Bans The Consumption Of Ogogoro Nationwide

The Federal government has officially banned the consumption of local gin popularly known as Ogogoro, following reports of the deaths of quite a number of people after consuming the alcoholic drink. Worthy of note is the incident in Ondo state in which many people died after developing a strange ailment after consuming the local gin contaminated with methanol. The DG of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii announced the ban today. He added that 38 persons have died from consuming contaminated local gin in Rivers state recently.

National Assembly leadership: PDP members pick Saraki, Dogara as candidates

As the crisis rocking members of the APC in the National Assembly deepens over choice of candidates for the election of National Assembly leadership, the PDP Senators and House of Representative members have picked the two main aggrieved APC contestants, Senator Bukola Saraki and Honorable Yakubu Dogara as their candidates for Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives respectively. The National Assembly members will be electing their new leaders for the 8th assembly today June 9th.

Nigeria military's control centre has now reportedly moved to Maiduguri

According to BBC, the Nigerian Army's spokesperson Colonel Sani Usman says the Nigerian military's command center has now been relocated to Borno state as directed by President Buhari in his inaugural speech. "The team has already commenced work in earnest," Col Usman said in a statement released today. The statement also added that all senior military officers will relocate to the north east., the bedrock of Boko Haram crisis.

Caitlyn Jenner breaks world record by becoming the 1st person to hit 1m twitter followers within 4 hours

Caitlyn Jenner formerly known as Bruce Jenner, broke the world record formerly set by Pres. Barack Obama by becoming the first person to garner 1 million Twitter followers within four hours. The 65-year-old reality star gushed about this feat on the new twitter handle @Caitlyn_Jenner.

Buhari Finally Arrives Nigeria After 6 Days Trip To UK (Photos)

After six days in the UK,President-elect,Muhammadu Buhari arrived Nigeria at 5:20am this morning.His plane touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja ahead of the inaugaration ceremony on the 29th of May.

Buhari, Osinbajo To Tour Aso Rock Today

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari and VP-elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo will be led on a facility tour of Aso Rock by President Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo today May 28th. This is part of the procedures leading to the handing over ceremony which takes place tomorrow May 29th.

President Jonathan To Formally Dissolve FEC Today

In preparation for its final handing over to the incoming administration, the Federal Executive Council, FEC, will be formally dissolved today. The session which will be headed by President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to witness a formal speech by the President, where he notes his achievements while in office since May 29, 2011. Ministers are also expected to make speeches on their experiences under President Jonathan. The meeting which is expected to start at 11am today will give each minister an opportunity to share their experience while in office.