B*R*E*A*K*I*N*G News!
ESUT VC Kidnapped.

The Vice Chancellor of Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT), Prof. Cyprian Onyeji has been kidnapped.


Prof. Cyprian Onyeji was kidnapped this morining on his way to the University by a gang of 10 fully armed kidnappers attacked his convoy.
His police escort was shot and was driven away with the VC in his official vehicle to undisclosed location.

No Ransom has been demanded by the kidnappers yet.

The founder and senior pastor of Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome on Sunday told all who cared to listen that since the Bible does not expressly condemn both Cigarette and Alcohol, then there is nothing wrong with these stuffs.

It all started when a viewer of his television programme wrote in to enquire from the popular pastor if it was wrong for a ‘Christian to work in a Cigarette company’. .

Below is the response from Pastor Chris:

There is nothing wrong with Cigarette, the Bible doesn’t say anything was wrong with it… I know a lot of people do complain about it because of the relationship attached to it with some sicknesses like cancer…but if they really believe it is wrong why not ban it totally.

It is the same thing when you have Christians working in the Breweries. The Bible doesn’t condemn alcohol. The only reference made to alcohol in the Bible is ‘do not take too much of wine’. So you see these things has to do with the individual state…if they are convince something is not good they should just ban it…”

What do you think about the Pastor’s position? Share your thoughts

A 50-year-old man, Lucky Emafewa, on Thursday, appeared before an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrate Court in Ekiti State for allegedly beheading his wife.

Emafewa, who is standing trial with three others, was alleged to have committed the offence between July 4 and July 5 at Ajowa Street and Glory Farm, Aromoko-Ekiti.

The three others are Tijani Tajudeen (42), Oluwadare Adekunle (42), and Pius Olanrewaju (42).

The Police Prosecutor, Cpl. Bamidele Olasunkanmi, said the suspects conspired to cause the death of the deceased and cut her private part and hands. 

"Aside from beheading his wife, Emafewa also led others to cut her private part and her two hands," the prosecutor said.

According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened sections 516 and 319 of the Criminal Code Cap. C16 Laws of Ekiti State of Nigeria, 2012.

Christopher Omokhafe, the counsel for the defence, urged the court to give the case speedy hearing.

The magistrate did not take the accused persons' pleas, but ordered that they be remanded at the Ado-Ekiti Federal Prisons, pending the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Sprint king Usain Bolt said he had lost all respect for Carl Lewis after the US sprint legend restated his concerns over the toughness of Jamaica’s drug-testing policy.

Speaking after winning the 200m at the London Olympics to seal a second consecutive sprint double, Bolt said he held sprint icon Jesse Owens in high regard but said Lewis was merely attention-seeking.

“For me Jesse Owens I have a lot of respect for. He’s a great athlete. He has done great things for his country. He has really pushed athletes to their best,” said the 25-year-old.

“I’m going to say something controversial right now. Carl Lewis, I’ve no respect for him. The things he says about the track athletes is really downgrading for another athlete to be saying something like that about other athletes.

“I think he’s just looking for attention really because nobody really talks about him so he’s just looking at attention,” said Bolt, who emphasised that Jamaica’s incredible sprint success was all down to hard work.

“So for me for that was really sad for me when I heard the other day what he was saying so for me it was upsetting. So for me I’ve lost all respect for him, all respect.”

Bolt — the 100m and 200m champion at the Beijing Games in 2008 — has five gold medals compared to Lewis’s nine won between 1984 and 1996.

Lewis has consistently questioned the performances of Jamaica’s sprinters, refusing to join in the universal applause for Bolt after he raced to his first Olympic double at the Beijing Games in 2008.

“No one is accusing anyone,” Lewis said in an interview shortly after the Beijing Games. “But don’t live by a different rule and expect the same kind of respect … I’m not saying they’ve done anything for certain. I don’t know. But how dare anybody feel that there shouldn’t be scrutiny, especially in our sport?

“The reality is that if I were running now, and had the performances I had in my past, I would expect (doping critics) to say something.

“I wouldn’t even be offended at the question. So when people ask me about Bolt, I say he could be the greatest athlete of all-time.

“But for someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don’t question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you’re a fool. Period.”

WORRIED by the activities of militant groups in Mali, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon has warned that Mali was becoming a safe haven for “terrorist and criminal” groups.

The warning came as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) pushed for the UN Security Council to back the deployment of troops to stabilize the country.

The sub-regional bloc is pushing for the deployment of a 3,000-strong intervention force in Mali to restore stability in the capital of Bamako, and then improve Mali’s defeated military to help it retake the north.

The 15-member group aimed at promoting regional cooperation, has intervened militarily in past African conflicts, such as the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Ban told the UN Security Council that the Islamists had illegally imposed Sharia law in the north of Mali, where the security situation was now volatile and unpredictable. Mali was once seen as a rare stable democracy in a tumultuous region.

“With the influx of regional and international Jihadists, there is reason to be concerned that the north is becoming a safe haven for terrorists and criminal elements,” he said.

Islamist militant groups control about two-thirds of Mali after hijacking a secular rebellion earlier this year, and then seized more territory after a March 22 military coup toppled President Amadou Toumani Toure in the southern capital Bamako.

Ban said the conflict has displaced more than 174,000 people within Mali and more than 253,000 had fled to neighbouring countries. In addition, he said 4.6 million people in Mali and more than 18 million people were affected by a severe food crisis.

The UN scribe also said Ansar Dine had deliberately destroyed nine of the 16 mausoleums in Timbuktu that had been UN classified as part of the “indivisible heritage of humanity.”

The UN Security Council last month endorsed political efforts by West African leaders to end the unrest in Mali, but stopped short of backing force. It said it was ready to examine a request by ECOWAS for a UN mandate for intervention once more details were provided on the plans.

The Security Council has also called upon UN member states to submit names of al Qaeda-linked individuals, groups or entities connected to Mali’s unrest to the council’s al Qaeda sanctions committee for inclusion on a UN al Qaeda blacklist.  So far no new names from Mali have been added to the blacklist.

Ban encouraged “the Security Council to give serious consideration to the imposition of targeted travel and financial sanctions against individuals or groups in Mali engaged in terrorist, religious extremist or criminal activities.”

ECOWAS Commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, told reporters that ECOWAS needed a formal request from Mali for a stablisation force, which it expected to receive soon.

Suleiman told the Security Council time was running out in Mali and that “a council mandate to deploy a stabilization force in Mali will constitute concrete and decisive action.”

“Every day that we postpone concrete action offers the terrorists and criminal networks yet another opportunity to consolidate, another opportunity to commit atrocious war crimes and worsen the plight of populations in the north,” she said.

The lead mediator in regional efforts to end the unrest, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole, travelled to Mali’s rebel-held north for the first time this week and told rebels they must cut ties to “terrorist movements” like al Qaeda before any peace talks could begin.

Sanda Ould Boumama, spokesman for al-Qaeda linked group Ansar Dine, said on Wednesday that the question of imposing Sharia was “not negotiable” and he did not make any commitment to distancing themselves from terrorism groups.

“We are defending what is written in the Koran. We are not terrorists but (warriors) who want to bring people back onto the right path. The mediator has his point of view on terrorism and we have our own,” he told Reuters.

Mali’s UN Ambassador Oumar Daou told the Security Council that while progress had been made in restoring order in southern Mali, the situation in the north was of great concern. He said the Mali government would work with ECOWAS, the United Nations, the African Union and others to reclaim the north of Mali.

 ???Bayelsa State Government House in Yenegoa



By Premium Times

Citing amongst others, Osun state, which recently provoked a row with the federal government over a similar move, Bayelsa state, President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state, announced on Wednesday it was rolling out its flag, coat of arms and an anthem.
 
The customized insignia are to be released once the law establishing them is signed by the governor, Seriake Dickson.
 
Mr. Dickson said the decision was taken to forge a common identity for the Ijaws with the state reputed as their homeland, and assured it was nothing different from what was obtained in the other nine states that have towed a similar path.
 
“In line with the vision of the founding fathers of our dearly beloved state and given this administration’s stand on Ijaw mobilization, Ijaw integration and the need to promote Ijaw fundamental interest, which clearly is not subordinate to any other interests, the government of Bayelsa State has given its approval to have a state-owned emblem to mark and strengthen our sense of identity as a state,” Mr. Dickson said in a statement signed by his Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson.
 
The decision was taken at Monday’s State Executive Council meeting, the statement adds.
 
The move brings to 10, the number of states with known state paraphernalia with the rest being Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, Kwara, Cross River and Rivers States.
 
But more than any other state, it was a similar declaration by the Osun state government, led by the Action Congress of Nigeria’s Rauf Aregbesola that triggered a collision between the state and the federal government in April.
 
Mr. Aregbesola introduced a new anthem, coat of arm, new school uniform and other emblems which the governor maintained were to promote the state culture.
 
Federal officials viewed the move as “secessionist” and reportedly had Mr. Aregbesola closely monitored by the Department of State Security and other security agencies. He was also accused of having links with Islamic militants outside the country.
 
The allegations were fiercely rejected by the ACN and Mr. Aregbesola, who accused the federal security units of “overzealousness”.
 
Justifying its decision to behave like Osun and the other states, the Bayelsa state governor said the emblems are to brand the state, and are cardinal to the development effort of the oil-rich state.
 
“This decision also underscores government’s belief that this state, like any other state, is where the Ijaws, the fourth largest ethnic nationality, has as its home. Bayelsa is home to all Ijaws both at home and abroad,” the statement said.
 
“The emblem therefore will help serve as a unifying force and rallying point for all our people.  It says a lot about the preservation of our culture, our essential values as a people and as a race.”