20-year-old man arrested for allegedly raping 19-year-old girl

The Imo State Police Command has arrested a 20-year-old-man identified as Victor Onumajuru, and his accomplice Chibyke Chikere for allegedly raping a 19-year-old girl.

The state Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, Parading the suspects told newsmen that the suspects abducted and raped the 19-year-old girl at their hideouts.

Galadanchi said that the operatives of the command’s Anti-kidnapping Unit swung into action on receipt of the information and arrested the suspects.

He said, “On August 29, a gang of five men kidnapped the victim and took her to their hideout.

“The operatives of the Command’s Anti-kidnapping Unit acted on a credible intelligence, rescued the victim and subsequently arrested the suspects in possession of the victim’s GSM handset.

“The suspects unlawfully had carnal knowledge of the victim while in captivity. They have made useful statements and they are helping the police in the investigation process.

“It is a case of kidnap, armed robbery and rape. The suspects are Victor Onumajuru, 20, of Amauzari in the Isiala Mbano LGA and Chibyke Chikere, 25, of Anara in the Isiala Mbano LGA.

“The victim is a 19-year-old girl from Mbieri in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State. One handset belonging to the victim was recovered from the suspects as an exhibit.

“It is very unfortunate that children who ought to give their lives good meaning by either going to school or learning a trade are engaging in this kind of crime.’’

The CP also added that the command will not spare criminals, saying, ‘’ I assure Imo people that we will continue to close in on the bad elements.’’

Galadanchi, however, promised to prosecute the suspects to serve as deterrent to others. - Daily Post

Even the days of NPN weren’t this bad, says PDP agent on Osun rerun

Ebenezer Adeniyi, an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Orolu local government area of Osun state, has described the supplementary election as “terrible”.

Speaking with journalists on Thursday, Adeniyi said things that happened during the rerun election were worse than the days of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

NPN was the dominant political party between 1979 and 1983, the second republic.

Adeniyi said PDP members and agents were attacked and prevented from going near the polling centres to exercise their franchise on Thursday.

“I am a party member and I was at Orolu overseeing all the happenings, the process was very bad, in all my years in politics, I have never seen something as terrible as this,” he said.

“Since yesterday, we noticed the presence of some hoodlums and we drew the attention of the security agents to it. We have our field boys and immediately there is any observation, they call us. See, there is a chieftain of APC in Orolu that harboured those guys, in fact, let me tell you, he is the care taker chairman committee in that local government.

“They were doing so many things and there were no checks put on them. We drew the attention of the police and they pretended as if they did not see anything and what we envisaged yesterday came to fruition today.

“There were a lot of attacks on us, our people were not allowed to move even near the voting centres at Kajola, at Ikiya and Gbogbo, that is ward 8 and ward 9, they didn’t allow anybody to move near except the APC people.

“So many people were arrested, as I am talking to you, most of our people are still in the station, no charges against them, just to take them away from circulation until after the election.”

He alleged that the harassment was a conspiracy between the APC and the security operatives deployed in the state.

He said: “The same way you were molested, the way journalists were harassed was the same way our agents were harassed and driven away. Our people are in the hospital, they were wounded, and the police were looking without doing anything. One boy, Moshood, as I am talking to you, he is still in detention, the party secretary in that local government is also in detention for no just cause. The police turned their backs on us.

“It is a grand conspiracy, I stand by this. The security agents are the main tool they used to harass us. They are to keep peace and are expected to belong to everybody, not only in a context like this but on any issue that involves every citizen.

“Honestly, it is very sad. My hands were weak; I’ve never witnessed an election like this all my life. I’ve been in active  politics for over 27 years, even during NPN days, it wasn’t this bad, this is rape of democracy.” - TheCable

'We are scared, but we have Jesus': China and its war on Christianity

Pastor Jin Mingri has felt firsthand the pain of one of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s harshest crackdowns on religion in years.

Jin’s Zion Churchin Beijing, one of the biggest unofficial congregations in the country, was abruptly demolished by authorities this month, who then sent him a bill for 1.2m yuan (£133,000) for the related costs. Jin had preached there every Sunday for decades.

“Before, as long as you didn’t meddle in politics the government left you alone,” he said. “But now if you don’t push the Communist party line, if you don’t display your love for the party, you are a target.

“Of course we’re scared, we’re in China, but we have Jesus.”

Zion belonged to a vast network of unofficial “house” churches that function outside of the government mandated system, and for decades were tolerated by authorities.

They have long been vulnerable, but have become more vulnerable as China’s leaders call for the “Sinicisation” of religious practice. New regulations that came in in February require tighter control of places of worship, with some forced to install CCTV cameras that fed live footage to local authorities. In the months that followed, officials across China have removed crosses from church buildings and demolished others perceived as too large in the hope of reducing the public visibility of religion.

The crackdown comes as the Vatican and Beijing signed a provisional agreement last week that would give the Pope a say in the appointment of bishops in China, an issue that has long caused friction between the two. As part of the deal the pope will recognise seven Chinese bishops who were appointed unilaterally by Beijing and had been excommunicated by the Vatican.

But some even within the church have called the arrangement “an incredible betrayal” of underground Catholics who have remained faithful to Rome despite facing potential repercussions.

At the same time, an estimated 1 million Muslims have been detained in “re-education” camps in Xinjiang province. The measures ultimately have the same goal: to give Beijing tighter control over groups officials see as a potential threat to their grip on power.

Bob Fu, founder of the religious rights group ChinaAid, said Chinese officials were trying to shrink both the official and unofficial branches of the church. He said he had received reports of dozens of rural village chiefs forcing residents to sign papers denouncing Christianity, lest they lose state welfare benefits.

But Fu said the church would survive.

“I have hope for the future, these campaigns were done in Roman times, under Stalin and under Mao, and none succeeded,” he said. “It will only have the opposite effect, and if Communist party cadres studied history they would see this. Crackdowns will cause the church to grow faster, and help church be more united.”

‘Burning Bibles, destroying churches, and jailing Muslims’

US lawmakers held a hearing this week on “China’s war on Christianity and other faiths”, and focused extensively on the crackdown on house churches and the agreement between Beijing and the Vatican.

Chris Smith, a US congressman who led the hearing, accused China of “taking a hammer and sickle to the cross”.

“Burning Bibles, destroying churches, and jailing Muslims by the million is only part of the Chinese Communist Party’s audaciously repressive assault on conscience and religion,” he said.

For decades after the Communist revolution in 1949, believers in any religion were harshly persecuted as Mao Zedong pursued his socialist dream. In 1982, China adopted a new constitution that technically guaranteed freedom of religion, but it has not stopped authorities from shutting churches, demanding patriotic loyalty from pastors and imams and even dictating how the faithful can pray.

Even while religions were technically allowed to exist – there are 60 million Christians in China – the constitution says “religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination”, a key hurdle for the Catholic church. China limits the number of officially sanctioned religions to five: Buddhism, Taoism, Protestantism, Catholicism and Islam.

Pamela Kyle Crossley, a history professor at Dartmouth College in the US, warned that the Vatican agreement could be just the first step in an escalating series of demands and said the church was being naive in its negotiations with Beijing.

“If the Vatican is willing to give the [Communist party] the right to appoint amenable bishops in China, the [Communist party] will soon point out that it has a distinct interest in promoting amenable bishops in many parts of Asia, and certainly in Africa, probably in Latin America, and very possibly in Italy itself,” she wrote in a recent blog post.

“Where Chinese investment goes, [Communist party] interest in acquiescence and harmony follow. Nobody advises on turning the other cheek or handing over your cloak with your tunic like the Church.” - The Guardian, UK

Joke Silva: An actor’s salary can’t fund lifestyle flaunted on social media

Joke Silva, a popular Nollywood actress, says the lifestyles flaunted on social media by celebrities cannot be funded by earnings from acting.

Silva, who is married to Olu Jacobs, a fellow Nollywood veteran, made this known in an interview with Genevieve Magazine.

“Don’t be deceived by what goes on on social media. Obviously, there is something else such actors are doing, perhaps other businesses to shore up their income,” she said.

“The reality is that on the earning capacity of an actor in Nigeria, you cannot have that sort of lifestyle in this economy. Yes, part of our industry is to have glamour but also the other part is to have reality.”

When asked about body shaming in the industry, Silva who is the MTN Project Fame house principal, said she lost roles because people found it strange to work with her face.

“Of course I have lost a lot of roles, not because of my colour or body but because of my face. People find it a strange face to work with.

“It is not your conventional fine face and in the early years I didn’t know how to handle the face and as a result of that people found it easier to use me as a character actor.

“I was bothered because I was being cast for “Mama” roles. At that age, I was meant to be diverse in my role but I was already boxed in.” - TheCable

Two men in trouble over false whistle blowing on bank MD

The Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property has arrested two whistle blowers for allegedly misleading it with false information.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the alleged false information was provided against Mr Emmanuel Mbaka, foremost real estate developer and Managing Director of Platinum Mortgage Bank.

The male suspects, Prince Jeff Ove, 37, from Bayelsa, and Mohammed Sanusi, 39, from Kogi, were presented to newsmen by the spokesperson of the panel, Lucie-Ann Laha, in Abuja on Friday.

“We received information from the suspects that the victim was a politician who looted a large amount of money and stashed it in his house.

“We have found out that the person is not a politician. I don’t think association with politicians automatically makes you a politician.

“We were told there was a large cache of money in his house. The panel has carried out a thorough investigation, turned the house inside out and we found nothing,’’ she said.

Laha, who apologised to Mbaka on behalf of the panel, said the suspects would be prosecuted to show that the Federal Government’s Whistle-blower Policy was not an instrument of character assassination.

“The policy is meant to encourage Nigerians to assist anti-corruption agencies with credible information to apprehend those that have looted the commonwealth of Nigerians.

“Anyone who brings information to the panel and any other anti-corruption agency is assured of confidentiality and certain rewards.

“Conversely, when Nigerians try to circumvent this policy by giving false information in a bid to malign other Nigerians, the law says we should reprimand them, which is what we are doing here today,’’ she said.

Speaking to newsmen, the two suspects said they were misled by informants, and apologised to Mbaka while pleading with the panel for forgiveness.

Ove said, “I was in Bayelsa when I got information that there was a fund that a politician kept in Abuja here.

“We came and someone introduced me to a friend, who also corroborated the information that has turned out to be false, and that was why I approached the panel to report.

“Once again, I apologise to the man, I am very sorry, I have learnt my lessons and I promise this will never happen again.’’

On his part, Sanusi said sometime in March, 2017, one Aliyu told him that he knew a house in Abuja where stolen money was being kept.

He said he never bothered to take the information to anti-corruption agencies because Aliyu had said he wasn’t too sure of its authenticity.

“But the brother of this very man (Ove) standing beside me here came all the way from Bayelsa and said he had a special power to enter the house and search it.

“He said all I needed to do was to show him the house, and he made me to understand that with the power he acquired from India he would be able to know whether the money was there or not.

“When we got there, he told me that the spirit had told him that there was money in the house, and that we should give him a little time to work on it,’’ he said.

Sanusi said he never knew that Ove and his unidentified brother had already approached the panel to inform it about the supposed money. - Daily Post

JOS : Gunmen kill 9 family members, 4 others

There has been pandemonium in the city of Jos, the Plateau State capital and environs following the killings of 13 persons on Thursday by yet to be identified persons along the road to the Rukuba Military Barracks, Jos.

DAILY POST gathered that among those killed were nine members of a family and one said to have been shot by soldiers.

The gunmen were said to have invaded the Rukuba road, at about 8 pm, shooting at random.

It was further gathered that the gunmen carried out their operation unhindered and left without intervention.

When DAILYPOST visited the community, the community was enveloped with grief and anger.

Also angry youths who said the security men could not stop the perpetrators from the attacks, destroyed a police station at Gada Biyu area, linking to Rukuba road where the incident occurred.

Schools especially private ones had to hurriedly close and messages were sent to parents to come and pick their wards.

Confirming the attacks but could not give the casualty figure, the Plateau State Police Command through its Spokesman, DSP Mathias Terna Tyopev, said, “On the 27/09/2018 being Thursday at about 22:05 hours, the Plateau State Police Command Control Room in Jos received a distress call to the effect that there were sporadic gunshots at Rukuba Road, opposite Kowa Hotel, Jos.

Tyopev said, “The Command after receiving the report mobilised patrol teams immediately to the scene of the crime.

He, however, said, “The unknown gunmen who took advantage of the ongoing rain in the area to attack residents were forced to run from the scene by the combined superior gunfire of the Police and the Operation Safe Haven (OPSH).

According to the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, “Some people who reside close to the hills were rescued while some persons lost their lives as a result of the attack and some others sustained gunshot injuries and were rushed to Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos and are currently receiving treatment.

“The combined security is out to contain the situation in Jos. As such, members of the public are to remain calm and law abiding.

”Meanwhile, patrol of the area is being intensified and investigation in the crime has commenced.” - Daily Post

US reveals what may befall Nigeria in 2050

The United States has warned that Nigeria was in danger of a looming population explosion by 2050.

The US Deputy Chief of Mission in Nigeria, David Young gave the warning in Kaduna on Thursday.

He advised the Nigerian government and other stakeholders to gear up to withstand the challenges of population explosion.

He said the country’s population would double to 400 million by the year 2050.

Young expressed concern that the population will create more problems than opportunities for the nation in future if not well manage.

He said this during an interactive forum with members of the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Fellows held at Government House in the Kaduna state capital.

Advising on the on the way forward, Young said government must focus attention on human capital development, health, education and curbing corruption to the barest minimum.

“We are in Kaduna to speak to young people who are the future leaders of the country. As we have discussed, the challenge in 2050 for Nigeria are both opportunities and challenges, particularly with the great population that is coming. By 2050, Nigeria will have over 400 million people.

“I think it’s very important to face these challenges. Investing in the people, the leaders of the future, is really important.

“I think all Nigerians recognize that addressing the issue of corruption is very important to be able to free up the funds to be able to invest in education, health for the future leaders of this country,” Mr. Young said. - Daily Post

Hate speech: Governors monitoring citizens’ conversations, says Nwankwo

Clement Nwankwo, executive director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), says state and federal governments are using the campaign against hate speech as a room to clamp down on citizens.

He said governors, as well as security agencies, have been discovered to be monitoring citizens’ conversations in a bid to detect whatever is critical of them and their actions.

Nwankwo said this on Thursday while speaking at the Peace and Security Network confab series on preventing electoral violence amid the campaign for hate speech and free speech in Abuja.

He said there is a need for proper classification of hate speech as governors have been seen to spend huge resources “going after individuals that they find offensive to them”.

According to him, “we have seen hate speech being interpreted by officials of government to represent attack on them. We have seen a lot of people being arrested by officials of government, especially governors who have set up a mechanism for monitoring conversation and communications between citizens.

“Several governments and states and the federal level, security services have acquired and recruited huge numbers to be able to monitor private communication between citizens and comments made by Nigerians online.

“So, it is a big challenge trying to distinguish, for government officials, the difference between hate speech in the context of its effect on people of specific attributes and themselves as individuals.”

Patricia Taft, programs director, Funds for Peace, said citizens’ usual perception of various administrations as ineffective and the rising rate of inequality have contributed to election violence over the years.

She added that even though Nigerian youth are often perpetrators of political violence, “they also have the capacity to promote peace through their growing influence as leaders within the electoral system and as activists outside of it”. - TheCable

PL News : Hazard denies new contract has been agreed at Chelsea

Eden Hazard appears no closer to signing a new deal at Chelsea after denying that a contract has been agreed.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Hazard was quizzed about his future following his stunning performance at Anfield midweek.

“I haven’t signed a contract. Not yet, not yet.”

The club are desperate to tie him down a long-term deal with just two years remaining on his current contract.

There are fears that should the player not agree to new terms soon, they could be forced into selling him on the cheap as they did with Thibaut Courtois.

Talks over a new deal at Stamford Bridge are believed to be ongoing, with the Belgian showcasing just how important he is to the club with his form so far this season.

Hazard came off the bench to turn the game against Liverpool on its head and show exactly why people are lauding him as not only the best in the Premier League but one of the best players in world football currently.

Transfer News : Barcelona want cut-price Pogba deal

Barcelona will try to sign Paul Pogba for half of Manchester United’s valuation, according to Mirror Sport.

United value the French midfielder at around £200million, and Pogba is reportedly keen to push through a move to Spain.

However, Barça value United at around £100million, and are already bracing themselves for a negotiations war.

The Catalan giants are only interested in making a move next summer too, with a January swoop out of the question, despite Pogba’s ongoing reported feud with manager Jose Mourinho.

With Pogba said to be keen on a move to Barcelona, the Catalonia club feel confident that they have an advantage over rivals Real Madrid, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. - Read Sport

NCC: Telecoms sector lost N1.06trn to call masking in two years

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the telecoms industry has lost N1.06 trillion to call masking, call refiling and SIM boxing in two years.

Umar Danbatta, the commission’s executive vice chairman, made this known on Thursday at the 85th edition of the Telecoms Consumer Parliament which held in Lagos.

Danbatta, who was represented by Felicia Onwuegbuchulam, director, consumer affairs bureau at NCC, said the revenue loss started in September 2016 when the NCC reviewed the call termination rate for international inbound traffic from N3.90k per minute to N24.40k per minute.

He said the operators involved in call masking and refiling tampered with international calls and terminate them as local calls to avoid paying the new rate.

“The Commission is set to take the bull by the horn towards putting an end to call masking menace in the country. NCC is leveraging different consumer platforms to deepen awareness campaign on call masking and we advise consumers to report the local numbers through which they receive foreign calls as masked calls to the Commission for proper tracking,” he said.

According to Danbatta, the NCC has barred 750,000 lines assigned to 13 operators in the course of their investigation.

 A situation where international call IDs are tampered with and appear like a local number is call masking. - TheCable

How 12-year-old girl was crushed to death along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway

A 12-year-old girl was on Thursday killed in a lone accident at Awowo on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway while five others were injured.

Babatunde Akinbiyi, the Public Relations Officer of the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abeokuta.

Akinbiyi said the accident, which occurred at about 1: 45pm, involved a Nissan Murano with registration number FST 764 HB coming from Lagos and inbound Abeokuta.

Narrating the incident, Akinbiyi said: “Six people were involved in the accident, two male adults, two kids and two female adults.

“We learnt the vehicle was inbound Abeokuta from Lagos when the accident happened around Awowo axis on the old Lagos -Abeokuta Expressway.

“Due to the speed, the driver lost control while approaching the bend along the axis and the vehicle somersaulted. The girl died on the spot.”

Akinbiyi added that the injured victims were taken to a private hospital at Papalanto due to the ongoing strike at the General Hospital while the corpse was deposited at the morgue of Ifo General Hospital.

He, therefore, appealed to drivers to maintain a safe speed while approaching bends and the top of a hill.- Daily Post

ASUU rejects proposed hiking of university fees by FG’s chief negotiator

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the hiking of school fees of university students as proposed by Dr Wale Babalakin, the chief government negotiator in the ASUU/Federal Government renegotiation exercise.

Prof. Lawan Abubakar, the Bauchi Zonal Coordinator of the Union made the disclosure at a press conference in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Abubakar said, “One of the major issues our union wishes to bring to public domain is the wild idea of sharing the cost of education between the government and parents proposed by Dr. Wale Babalakin. This idea of sharing the cost of education since government alone cannot fund education, and that parents need to pay for it too.

“He proposed a minimum of N350, 000 as tuition fee for undergraduate students of Arts and Humanities, and N500, 000, for those in Sciences.

“Our union rejected the proposal based on the fact that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly states that funding education is the sole responsibility of Governments at various levels and not parents,” he maintained.

He added, “In his response, he proposed the idea of an Education Bank, where students will obtain a loan of N1 million each, every session to pay the tuition fee and sustain themselves.

“However, our union also rejected the idea of Education Bank, because for one, not all the students will have access to loan, and for those who will access the loan, it is the same parents who served as sureties, and subsequently pay back the loan, considering the very high rate of unemployment in the country.

“Supposing that the student is able to secure a job after graduation, he cannot start a life while paying back a loan of 4 to 6 million naira, as the case may be.

“In this kind of situation, the graduate would be subjected to, when will he finish paying the loan and establish himself? He asked.

“Frustration will gradually set in and make them live a life of misery”, he further lamented.

The Zonal Coordinator said Babalakin, who owns a private University, gave all the aforementioned proposals because they are aimed at guaranteeing funding for private Universities.

He also said that the federal government owed the Universities revitalization fund of N1.1 trillion.

According to him, the federal government had in 2013 agreed to disburse the sum of N1.3 trillion for the revitalization of Nigeria universities, between 2013 and 2018, but said out of that amount only N200 billion has been released.

“The Bauchi zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), hereby reiterates its unflinching support to the National Leadership of the Union towards its untiring efforts and commitment to the implementation of the 2017 Memorandum of Action (MoA), and by extension the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the 2012 NEEDS Assessment Report, the 2012 Roadmap, the 2011 (MoU), indeed, the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement”.

On the financial situation bedeviling the university system in the country, the Zonal Coordinator lamented that it has continued to remain pathetic.

“The 7% of total budget allocated to the education sector in 2018 budget by the federal government of Nigeria is, to say the least, grossly below the UNESCO recommended minimum of 26%.

“As if this mirage is not bad enough, State Governments across the country are establishing State Universities and abandoning them to TEFUND, the brain child of ASUU as an intervention agency in the funding of education”, he decried.

He denied claims of a report credited to the Acting Minister of Finance, that N20 billion has been release to the Union.

“This is not true as common sense would not take this since ASUU is not an organ of government”, he stressed. - Daily Post