A prophetess with a Celestial Church of Christ in Epe, Lagos State, western Nigeria, has been arrested by the police in Epe Division, Lagos for allegedly setting her 9–year old daughter on fire in a bid to deliver her from witchcraft.
The girl was rescued by the police and was taken to Epe General Hospital where she is receiving treatment at the emergency ward of the hospital for first degree burns.
It was alleged that the 37-year old prophetess, Bose Oluwole, committed the offence at Ijebu-Ode Road, Odomola, Epe, Lagos.
The suspect was arrested following a distress call by the residents of the area alleging that the suspect poured kerosene on her daughter, Damilola and set her ablaze.During interrogation, according to the police, the suspect allegedly confessed to the crime.
She said she set her daughter abalze in obedience to God’s instruction to cleanse her of demonic spirits.
In her alleged confessional statement to the police, the suspect said: “I saw in my vision while praying that my daughter is from the witchcraft world. When I prayed to God over it, I received the instruction through Holy Spirit to burn my daughter’s body in order to deliver her from the evil society.”
After investigation, the suspect was charged before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos on a two-count charge of felony to wit, and attempt to commit murder..
The offences, the police prosecutor, Inspector Emmanuel Nwankpoma said, are punishable under Sections 171 and 228 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the crime, but the presiding magistrate, Mrs. C. J. Momodu directed that the matter be transferred to Family Court 2 because of the age of the victim.
The magistrate in charge of the Family Court, Mrs. O. O. Oshin, ordered that the accused be remanded in Kirikiri Prisons, Lagos till 2 June, 2014 for mention.

Two witch doctors in Tanzania have been arrested after a woman with albinism was hacked to death, police say.

Her attackers removed one her legs and several fingers on Tuesday morning.

Albinos have suffered widespread persecution in Tanzania, where witch doctors say magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good luck.

Such killings have declined in recent years, but this latest attack has prompted a human rights group to call for all witch doctors to be banned.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Under The Same Sun said the current regulation of witch doctors was clearly not working.

It was said that currently all witch doctors have to apply for a certificate from the ministry of health and welfare to practice.

The attack occurred in the village of Gasuma, in Simiyu province - a remote rural area in the north-west of the country where there have been killings of albinos before, our reporter says.

The woman's left leg, two fingers from her left hand and a nail from one of her thumbs were removed.

According to reports, campaigns against the discrimination of people living with albinism, the last killing of an albino in Tanzania was in February 2013.

In recent years, the government has been also been trying to address the problem, and an albino MP was appointed several years ago.

Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, who won an Oscar for his 2012 documentary “Searching for Sugarman”, committed suicide in Stockholm, his brother said on Wednesday.
“I can confirm that it was suicide and that he had been depressed for a short period,” the 36-year old film-maker’s brother Johar Bendjelloul told newspaper Aftonbladet. “Life is not always so easy.”
Bendjelloul was found dead in his apartment on Tuesday. Police spokeswoman Pia Glenvik did not specify the cause of his death but said no crime was suspected.
He won the Academy Award for best documentary feature last year for “Searching for Sugarman”, telling the story of a musician who became famous without knowing it.
Sixto Rodriguez made two albums in the early 1970s but then quit music. After disappearing, his records became huge hits, particularly in South Africa.
“Searching for Sugarman” won various other awards, including best documentary prizes from Britain´s BAFTA and the Directors Guild of America, as well as two world cinema prizes at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Rodriguez told newspaper Expressen that he was shocked over the filmmaker’s death following a concert in Chicago.
“Malik was a fantastic person,” he said. “He was both unique and very friendly.”
Born to an Algerian father and a Swedish mother in 1977 in the small southern town of Ystad, Bendjelloul moved to Stockholm as his career took off.
He first discovered Rodriguez while travelling for six months in Africa in 2006, and was fascinated by his story.
Rodriquez, the son of a Mexican immigrant family, was discovered by two producers in a bar. They helped him record his first album, “Cold Fact,” in 1970.
It was a critical success, but did not sell well. His second album, “Coming from Reality” also showed talent, but flopped commercially.
Rodriguez gave up his musical ambitions and ended up working in the construction industry.
But while his records failed to take off at home, a bootleg copy made it to South Africa where it struck a chord with progressive young whites exasperated with the apartheid system.
With the artist untraceable, bizarre stories began to emerge about him, including one that claimed that he had committed suicide by setting himself on fire on stage.
In the end, the curiosity of two young fans broke through the myths: they found he was still alive, living in the United States. They brought him to South Africa where he was greeted as a hero in 1998, playing six sold-out concerts.
“Searching for Sugarman” tells the story of those two fans’ search for Rodriguez, and of his musical renaissance.
Since the film gained international success, Rodriguez has relaunched his career filling arenas with new fans.

Former Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi said he was once a bus conductor as he struggled to make ends meet. Alhaji Abdullahi revealed this while delivering a paper at the annual public lecture of the Association of Business and Social Science Students, University of Ilorin on May 8th.
"I was a bus conductor in Ilorin because I didn’t have money to go to school and I know what poverty means because I grew up with it. We must stop pretending about our problems,” he said.
He urged students to see themselves as economic changers and advised that they become skillfull in any craft that they desire as this would go a long way in solving the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria. "I want to call on our youths to be skilful because you are winners,” he said.

KANO – A bloody clash between supporters of All Progressive Congress and rival Peoples Democratic Party Sunday in Kano claimed the life of middle age man that left scores injured.
The victim was identified as Bello Shehu of Kofar Mata quarters which eye witness says was slaughtered during the chaos.
Eyewitness who preferred anonymity told Gistmania  that hell was let loose when people suspected to be sympathizers of PDP invaded a political rally organized by APC ahead May 17 council poll at Kabara quarters in the municipality.
The account stated that the ensuing violence left so many supporters from either side with various degree of injuries.
The eyewitness said that the timely response by the police thwarted its spread to other part of the volatile city, pointing out that ” the situation was brought under control as the dead and the injured were taken to Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital. ”
Although, officials from both parties were not available for comments as at press time but the police in Kano confirmed the story.
The police image maker in the city, ASP Magaji Musa Majia revealed that ” We have extended our dragnet to apprehend the perpetrators of the dastardly act.”
ASP Majia disclosed that “The corpse of one Bello Shehu who was stabbed to death by yet to be identified persons during the fracas have been released to his family for burial. ”
He revealed that the force convened a meeting of stakeholders where it was impressed on them to conduct themselves within the dictate of electoral act to ensure peaceful council poll.
ASP Majia warned that the police would move against anyone found culpable of endangering the peace in the state.
He revealed the preparedness of the police to ensure a hitch free local government election coming up this weekend.

LAGOS—A 50-year-old grandmother escaped death by the whiskers yesterday, in the densely populated Ajegunle area of Lagos, after she was attacked by a mob that thought she stole a day-old baby.
The woman, whose identity could not be immediately ascertained, was reportedly seen cuddling the day-old-baby whom she wrapped in a cloth.
Some curious persons were said to have raised alarm that she kidnapped the baby which made the mob surround her.
She reportedly tried in vain to explain that the baby was her grand-child and that the mother was still recuperating in the hospital, as the mob descended on her.
An eyewitness, who identified herself as Ubani Amara, said: “When they asked her at first where she got the baby from, she ignored the question.
“That gave room for suspicion that she could have kidnapped the baby because of the spate of kidnappings in Lagos. Again, she looked  too old to give birth.
“A man among the crowd was the first to hit her, followed by slaps. That was when she said the baby belongs to her daughter. Nobody believed the claim because they expected to see the mother with her.
“The mob even tried to take the baby from her but the woman held tight to him, causing the baby to start bleeding from the cord.”
The swift  arrival of policemen from Ajegunle division saved the woman from being lynched.
Preliminary investigation, according to sources at the division, revealed that the child was indeed the woman’s grandchild.
Sources disclosed that the medical  doctor at an undisclosed private hospital around Aiyetoro where the grandmother claimed her child was, was  invited to ascertain the claim.
According to the source, “when the doctor arrived, he confirmed  that  the biological mother was still in the hospital, explaining she developed some complications after birth.  The doctor said she also could not Bosom  feed the baby and advised  the grandmother  to take the baby home in order to give him proper bath and water, while the mother was being treated.
“The doctor said the baby was delivered around 8.45 a.m. and that any attempt by his mother to Bosom  feed him could lead to her death because she has lost so much blood and was weak and pale.”

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested Osun state born 51 year old Odeyemi Ademola Ayodeji for being in possession of 3.870kg of suspected Methamphetamine worth over N2.4 million.

Odeyemi, who hid the illegal substance inside a white transparent polythene inside his luggage containing soup ingredients(crayfish, melon) was arrested during the outward screening of passengers on a Kenyan Airways flight at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport.

When he was arrested, Odeyemi said he was neck deep in debt which forced him to venture into this illegal business and said that he had tried it before
"I am owing people. I couldn’t sleep because of debts. I have two wives. But the first one left to live with her parents because of  my condition. I would have made a profit of $15,000 (N2.4 million) had I succeeded in selling the drug in Nairobi. I intended paying my debts and start a business with the money realized.” he said
Describing the illegal drug, NDLEA  Airport Commander, Hamza Umar said
“Methamphetamine often called ice or meth is a crystal-like powdered substance that sometimes comes in large rock-like chunks. It is odourless, bitter and dissolves easily in water or alcohol.”

A tale of history that needed reminding is how I would summarise  former U.S. ambassador Dan Simpson’s contribution on the tact to pursue in getting back the kidnapped Chibok girls.

The horrible drama of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram, a violent Islamist group in northern Nigeria, hits me particularly hard because I lived in rural Nigeria for two years, as a just-out-of-college schoolteacher in the early 1960s, right after Nigerian independence from the United Kingdom, Dan narrated.

(He continued…) It was a different place. I drove all over the country in a Volkswagen beetle, finding a place to stay in each town where I stopped, with no advance reservations. There were always young British or American teachers in the schools. The reason was the precipitous departure of the British colonial officers at independence, leaving the Nigerians with insufficient teachers of their own, needing to fill the positions temporarily with foreigners.

There were a few schools like Chibok, where the girls were abducted, although at that point, particularly in the north of Nigeria, predominantly Muslim, there were many more boys’ schools than girls’ schools, reflecting the Nigerians’ priorities.

There were no military roadblocks. One saw no serious weapons at all, although men did hunt game with muskets, what people called “bush rifles.” For those who know Nigeria only more recently the idea of circulating freely and never feeling threatened is unknown.

But, to put the current situation into context, it is necessary to review some of Nigeria’s more violent history, before and after the time I was there.

First of all, get rid of any gooey ideas about the “civilizing” role of British colonial rule. It lasted from 1900 to 1960. To secure control over Nigeria, the British had to fight, particularly in the north, the military forces of what was left of a number of kingdoms. They were not that easy to defeat, although, in the end, local forces were no match for European troops and weaponry.

In the place where I taught, Benin City, the British had not been able to assert control until 1897,within the living memory of some of the Edo (Bini) people who lived and had ruled there, the remnants of the Benin Kingdom. British forces arrived in Benin to find human sacrifices hung on crosses along the road, to deter their entry. My household staff and the non-Edo-speaking students at the school were firmly persuaded that the Binis were night-raiding homicidal cannibals; they would not venture off campus at night.

The Bini king (the oba), Akenzua II, was an apparently mild-mannered man who wanted to review his sons’ report cards with me over a game of pool, although I also attended a tribute ceremony over which he presided during which various sub-chiefs brought him living animal sacrifices whose throats were cut on the spot and whose blood was then smeared on his forehead in a cross.

In the category of other intra-Nigerian violence, five years after independence came a military coup d’etat, and then, in 1967, a three-year civil war, the Biafra war of attempted secession, which claimed as many as 3 million victims. It was based not only on tribe, the Igbos against the rest, but also to some degree on religion. The Igbos were mostly Catholic, those opposing them were Protestant or Muslim for the most part. Forced conversion, as with the Chibok girls, is not new.

The Biafra war was ferocious, including blockades, attempts at starvation and scorched-earth practices. In the end, the Biafran secessionists, despite help from surprising sources, including the Catholic Church, lost. At that point, the Lagos-based victors got smart. They sought reconciliation with the former Biafrans, not revenge.

That particular action can serve as the best hope that Nigeria can somehow get past this awful Chibok kidnapping without dividing the country into unbridgeable north-south, Christian-Muslim schisms.

What happened to Nigeria between 1960 and 2014 to make the current situation possible? It could be equally fair to ask what has happened to the world in the past 50 years to make possible the Abu Ghraibs, Syrias, Ukraines, Sandy Hooks, Somalias and South Sudans?

One answer is the proliferation of guns. People now kill each other daily with weapons that were not generally available 50 years ago. The parents of my students in Benin in 1961 were farmers and fishermen, scmolesting together enough shillings to pay their sons’ school fees each term only with difficulty. Now, given the fact that the region is the oil-rich Niger River delta, many of them no doubt own automatic weapons. They steal oil from pipelines, at great danger to themselves. The fish have been killed by petroleum runoff. Nobody is going to try to make a living there these days through small farming.

A second answer, particularly relevant to Nigeria, is that respect for the authority of central and state governments has dropped steadily to near-zero. People still seek public offices because they provide golden opportunities to steal, but everyone knows that and respect for the offices and office-holders no longer exists. In other words, goodbye to self-imposed law and order.

On the one hand, ordinary Nigerians, particularly women, are incensed to the level of fury at the central government’s inaction in the face of the Chibok kidnappings. They find the flaccidity of President Goodluck Jonathan, a Southeastern Christian, enraging. They know the story of the Nigerian military, whose leaders pocket their $5 billion-per-year budget and which itself is divided between Muslims and Christians, Northerners and Southerners, but they don’t forgive them for the loss of their daughters.

The United States should help if it can. At the same time, there is among Nigerians a tendency to try to pass off problems to foreigners if they can, thus avoiding taking responsibility for solutions themselves. As much as we want to help — and we cannot do otherwise as human beings — Nigerians must accept responsibility for what is happening and take appropriate action, as they did during and after the Biafran war, for the Chibok girls’ fate. Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader, is a Nigerian, just as Goodluck Jonathan is

A 22-year-old single mother, identified as Chinelo Ituma has been arrested by the police in Enugu State for allegedly trading off her new born baby.
We gathered that Chinelo, an indigene of Ebonyi State, residing at New Artisan Market Enugu sold the baby girl for the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand naira.

In a statement issued by the spokesman of the Enugu State Police Command, Ebere Amaraizu, DSP, he said the command has “commenced a full scale investigation into the alleged incident of human trafficking/selling of baby.“The mother of the three months baby girl, a 22 year old woman identified as one Chinelo Ituma from Mgbo Town in Ebonyi State but residing at New Artisan Market Enugu, sold the child to one Maria Asomba from Ubahu Okija in Anambra State, who lives in Asaba”.

He added that “before then, one Esther Obi from Nise in Awka South, residing at woliwo in Onitsha had earlier collected the sum of four hundred and thirty thousand naira from one Nkechi Uzochukwu from Ezegbogu Aboh Mbaise as payment for the same baby”.

We learnt that Uzochukwu opted for buying a child after 10 years of childless marriage.

Amaraizu further stated that “the baby girl was eventually bought from Chinelo Ituma, who gave birth out of wedlock and who also claimed that she cannot handle the child’s upbringing.

“She eventually sold the baby girl to Maria, who resold the child to Nkechi Uzochukwu.


All the suspects are now helping the police in their investigations as the baby girl has also been recovered by the operatives.

Nigeria is ready to talk to Islamist militants Boko Haram for the release of more than 200 abducted schoolgirls, a minister has told the BBC.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said on Monday that captured girls who have not converted to Islam can be swapped for jailed fighters.

Special Duties Minister Tanimu Turaki said that if Shekau was sincere, he should send representatives for talks.

The girls were abducted last month from a school in north-eastern Nigeria.

A video emerged on Monday showing about 130 of the girls reciting Koranic verses.

Mr Turaki - who is chairman of a committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to find ways of reconciling with Boko Haram - said that Mr Shekau should send people he trusts to meet the standing committee on reconciliation.

CNN this afternoon reports that not all the girls that were seen in the new video just released by the leader of Boko Haram sect, were all abducted from Chibok last month. According to them, no parents have come forward to claim any of the girls abducted from the school raid, but instead relatives have said they have identified their relations (girls) who have been missing for close to two years now.

Borno State Governor also says they are currently investigating the video to know how genuine it is.

Michael Jackson is long gone but he is being sued once again for segxwal molestation. So that you understand, since Jackson is dead, it is his Estate that the man is suing, for what he claims Michael Jackson did to him…
According to the man suing, the singer segxwally abused him from the time he was 10 until he was around 15 … this according to a new report.
This latest claim was added on to the lawsuit filed by Wade Robson last year, reports  The Daily Beast. The filing is sealed, but the site reports the claims are being made by James Safechuck, who appeared as a child alongside Jackson in the below 1987 commercial for Pepsi.
Though Safechuck has always denied being segxwally molested by Jackson, he has had a change of heart—let’s say so, and has decided to come forward after Robson made his claims public.

Wizkid and Tiwa Savage now have more reasons to smile.
The two Pespsi ambassadors have just had their endorsement deals with the global beverage company renewed for another 5 years.
Tiwa & Wiz signed on as Pepsi ambassadors two years ago. The multi million Naira deal was initially for a year, but got extended for another year last year (2013). Pepsi took a chance of signing Tiwa back when she hadn’t even released and album, making her the first female act to represent the global brand in Nigeria.
The deal was negotiated by Paul Okoye of Upfront & Personal and he revealed the news of the contract extension saying, “Best ambassadors by far. Another 5 years Deal for Pepsi. Amen Tiwa and wizzzzzzz.

An official of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, Mr. Saliu Mutiu, has been dismissed and arraigned before a Lagos court in western Nigeria, for allegedly receiving N1,000 bribe from a motorist.
The 34-year old Mutiu was arraigned before Oshodi Magistrates’ Court on a three-count charge of conspiracy to wit, impersonation  and extorting  money from motorists.
The Level 4 officer  was sacked after the LASTMA  management  received several reports about  Mutiu’s  illegal collection of bribes from motorists.
Subsequently, the management of LASTMA tried him and found him guilty and dismissed him from service.
After he was sacked, Mutiu continued extorting money from motorists.
He reportedly met his waterloo when he paraded himself as a LASTMA official and collected a bribe of N1,000 from a motorist, Muritala Hakeem, for committing an undisclosed traffic offence.
The matter was reported to the police attached to Mosafejo, Oshodi, and he was arrested while wearing LASTMA uniform.
 When he was arraigned, he pleaded not guilty.
The presiding Magistrate, Mr. A. A. Fashola granted him bail in the sum of 100,000 naira with two sureties in like sum.
He was remanded in Kirikiri Prison pending when he will meet his bail conditions.
The matter was adjourned till 16 July, 2014.

 Torch carrying popular 90s singer Zaaki Azzay has remarried two years after his first wife & mother of his three children, Hadiza Yadoo, left her marriage claiming domestic violence.

Zaaki quietly married his new wife, 24 year old Hembadoon Ugema  at the bride's family home in Ushongo in Makurdi, Benue state this past Saturday May 10th.

According to people in the know, Zaaki's new wife is kinda related to his ex-wife. Hembadoon's mum is married to Hadiza's father's younger brother (Hadiza's uncle) and this family drama forced the girl's family to suspend the wedding, which was supposed to hold in April, until it was resolved. Congrats to them

The pic above showing rapper Phyno and good friend Kcee talking closely at the MAMA nominees party in Lagos went viral yesterday. Fans went crazy with the photo saying that the two men were kissing but Phyno says its the camera angle. Come on, if they wanted to kiss, will it be in public?
check out Phyno's reaction to the picture below.....

Rochelle Bathew, 22, had never been happy with her natural 32B-sized frame, and, after Bosom feeding her two children, she hated herself even more - saying her 'saggy and lifeless' Bosom s made her 'depressed'.

So the mother-of-two told her fiance Ryan she would not walk down the aisle until he paid for her to have surgery.  She said:
 'I’d always hated my small "oranges", but after I had my two children, they were saggy and lifeless, they looked like a Cocker Spaniel’s ears. It made me feel depressed when I saw other girls with big "oranges", they always seemed happy and confident.
'Ryan turned to me one day and said, "if we’re going to get married soon then you’ll need to get a "orange" job." 'I knew he loved me as I was but equally he wanted to see me happy.' 'Ryan paid for my surgery, it was my wedding gift, they cost him £3950.  
He wanted me to look my best just as much as I did. In December 2013 my dream came true - I went from a deflated, uneven 32B to a 30FF.'
Eventually, the teacher handed over £4,000 for the full-time mother to increase her Bosom s to a 30FF.
That is the before and after picture above.

There are reports that a lion escaped from the Nekede Zoo in Owerri, the Imo State capital last night. The State's local radio station Orient FM made the broadcast. It is said the police command and the management of the zoo are doing their best to track down the lion as the public is also advised to be on the lookout and be safety conscious. A resident says she took her child to school only to be told no school cos of the lion's cage break

ENUGU—A Professor of Criminology, Femi Odekunle, has warned that the country may face widespread public disorder, chaos or a semblance of undeclared civil war if the forthcoming general election in the country lacks credibility and acceptability among Nigerians.
Odekunle, who was a guest lecturer at the ‘2014 Feast of Barracuda’ of the National Association of Seadogs (Pirates Confraternity) Enugu Zone, weekend took a critical look at the possible scenarios of the 2015 election from the most optimistic to the most pessimistic position.
He identified the major threats to the 2015 elections as lack of leadership ethos by the irresponsible political class, corruption before, during and after elections, partisanship of operatives of the electoral body among others, saying he envisaged a situation where elections do not hold at all.
He would not also rule out a situation where elections hold with minimal violence and/or rigging and qualifies as ‘relatively/grudgingly’ credible/acceptable election.
“There is also a possibility where elections hold but excludes the North Eastern states and therefore considered inconclusive but situation saved by some contraption designed by the so called elder statesmen,” he said.
According to the don, the most critical situation would be where elections hold but are actually or allegedly massively rigged resulting in post election violence on a scale that makes the 2011 violence a child’s play and/or resulting in blockage or sabotage of oil and gas facilities leading to widespread disorder or even a semblance of war.
Odekunle, who spoke on the topic ‘Security and Political Temperature of Nigeria: Implications for 2015 General Elections called for a committed presidential leadership with the political will to do what is right and for deliberate re-education of the political class, INEC, the police and other security agents on the importance of free, fair and credible elections to the survival of the polity.

A mother of an abducted Nigerian schoolgirl has identified her daughter in the video posted by Islamist rebels, Boko Haram, yesterday that showed dozens of girls in captivity, a school leader said on Tuesday.

Reuters reports that the mother watched the video on television on Monday evening and spotted her daughter among the girls sitting on the ground and wearing veils, said Dumoma Mpur, parent-teachers association chairman at Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, northeastern Nigeria.