President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to re-elect him. He made the plea in a video release by the presidency on Sunday ahead of the presidential election this Saturday.
Buhari said: “It’s been over three years since you gave me the mandate to oversee the affairs of our dear country.
“It’s not been an easy journey but with sincerity of purpose, perseverance, dedication and most importantly support from individuals like you, we have made great progress.
“Some of these achievements are visible for everyone to see, some are still in the works.
“I hereby humbly ask for your support again in the coming election to enable us to move to the NEXT LEVEL and consolidate on the successes recorded in making our country a better place.
“I don’t take your support for granted. We will continue to work to protect your interest and deliver our mandate.”
This is shocking. The Creative Director, Image World Visuals, Emmanuel Chetan, and Annie Akhadelor, were found dead in a parked car, whose engine was running at Mende, Maryland, Lagos State, on Saturday.
“The two appeared to be coming from a club. Some bottles of drinks were found with them when the police eventually got to the scene and forced open the vehicle.”
Residents said Chetan lived at 37A Atiba Osborne Street, Mende, Maryland.
The Punch correspondent, who visited the area on Sunday, discovered that the two gates of the house had been locked with no resident around.
An eyewitness, James Odion, said Chetan and Akhadelor were probably returning from a club in the early hours of Saturday.
He stated that the two died on Olugbade Street, Mende, Maryland, about 72 metres from the man’s residence.
According to him, the two were suspected to have taken poisoned drinks, which might have led to their death and not the car’s air conditioning system as being suggested in some quarters.
He added that when the police eventually arrived and forced open the car, they found containers of the drinks they allegedly consumed.
Odion explained that on Olugbade Street, where Chetan parked his vehicle, a resident approached him and asked him to remove the car, noting that the place was where he (the man) often parked his car.
He said Chetan begged the man, saying that he was feeling uncomfortable and that in a short while, he would move the vehicle out, adding that about one hour later, Chetan and Akhadelor were found dead.
Odion stated, “Chetan was in his 30s. I knew him very well but I had never seen the lady, who was with him.
“He parked his car on Olugbade Street, a distance of not more than 70 or so metres to his house. A man who usually parks his car at that place, approached him and asked him to move the car away so that he could park his own car.
“Chetan asked him not to worry that he would soon leave the place as he was feeling uncomfortable in his stomach, same as his partner."
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Chike Oti, confirmed the incident, saying the corpses of Chetan and Akhadelor had been recovered and deposited in the hospital for autopsy.
He said, “The corpses of the man and the woman were recovered in a car. They were there for about one hour until residents became curious that a car whose engine had been running for almost two hours could be stationary.
“But on a close examination, they found out that a man and a woman were inside the car. The residents were unable to wake them up.
“The residents had to call the police and when the police got to the scene, they opened the car and found the two persons to be motionless. The police took them to a hospital where they were confirmed dead. Their corpses are in the hospital for autopsy.”
He added that the state Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Mu’azu, had instructed the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department as well as the forensic unit to commence necessary analyses and investigations into the case.
Fitness Expert and Toke Makinwa’s ex, Maje Ayida has found love again. After divorcing Toke Makinwa, getting a side chic pregnant while still married to her, and having a son from a woman named Crystal, Maje is in love again.
His new love interest is, Yinka Mathews who is an interior decorator. Ynka Mathews story of surviving a gas explosion in 2013 went viral last year when she shared her transformation pictures.
According to sources, Maje and Yinka have known each other for over 16 years. They broke up in 2012 and rekindled their love in 2017, soon after divorcing Toke.
Their love however got more into limelight when the couple last week Wednesday were spotted on a date at Pearl Garden in Lagos. They also hit Ilashe beach for a romantic gateaway and Maje declared his undying love for her by writing 'Maje loves Yinka’ on the beach sand.
PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar was yesterday in Kano state to continue his campaign against February 16th election and he was welcomed by a large crowd. Continue to see more photos below...
Virginia’s embattled governor insisted he would not resign over a racist yearbook photo, but said the state’s lieutenant governor would have to step aside if s-xual assault allegations against him were found to be true.
In a CBS interview to be broadcast on Monday, Governor Ralph Northam said he had learned from the controversy that erupted on Feb. 1 when a racist photo surfaced from his medical school yearbook, and that as a former pediatrician he could help Virginians heal.
“There’s no better person to do that than a doctor. Virginia also needs someone who is strong, who has empathy, who has courage and who has a moral compass,” Northam told CBS “This Morning” co-host Gayle King. “And that’s why I’m not going anywhere.”
According to excerpts of the interview provided on Sunday by CBS, Northam was asked about allegations of s-xual crimes, including r-pe, that have been made by two women against Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, a fellow Democrat who is African-American and the state’s second-highest elected official.
Fairfax, who has denied the allegations, has also faced widespread calls from Democratic leaders to step aside.
Northam told CBS it must have taken tremendous courage for the women to come forward, and that he supported Fairfax’s call for an investigation.
“And if these accusations are determined to be true, I don’t think he’s going to have any other option but to resign,” Northam said.
Lol... reality sets in yeah? A follower of Desmond Elliot has tweeted at him begging that his faulty generator be replaced by the actor and politician since it got knocked. According to the man, he is a barber and does not have money to get another one.
Desmond then replied him, making it clear that he also ringed his own generator and he can come around to collect money for RINGING instead of expecting a new one. LOL...
There was a surprise to start the 61st Grammy Awards ceremony with former First Lady Michelle Obama taking to the stage alongside host Alicia Keys.
The 55-year-old appeared alongside Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Jada Pinkett Smith, as the four of them discussed the importance of music in their lives.
Michelle is reportedly a good friend of Alicia and the singer had been to the White House on a couple occasions, while the Obamas were in power.
Alicia introduced the segment at the ceremony by saying: "Music is what we all love, music is what it’s all about.
"Everybody is out here shining and I’m so proud to bring us together to honor this moment because music is what we cry to, it’s what we march to, it’s what we rock to, it’s what we make love to.
"It’s our shared global language.”
Gaga and JLo shared their thoughts on this matter, followed by Jada but the biggest reaction was given to Michelle, who spoke out.
She said: "From the Motown records I wore out on the South Side to the Who Run the World songs that fueled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story, and I know that’s true for everybody here.
Michelle continued: “Whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves, our dignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys.
"It allows us to hear one another to invite each other in.
"Music shows us that all of it matters — every story within every voice, every note within every song, is that right ladies?”
With the four of them on stage, Alicia referred to Beyonce's song when she playfully said: "Who run the world?"
Having already thrown an extravagant birthday party for one-year-old Stormi Webster over the weekend, parents Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott still found time to put in an appearance at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy Awards party at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Saturday night.
In true Kylie form, the make-up mogul wore a strapless red gown with an extremely revealing thigh-high slit. Completing the look with a simple pair of nude pumps, and a matching lip kit making her look completely flawless.
As usual, Jenner and Scott exhibited the sweetest PDA at the event.
Mohammed Salah has ditched his beard as he sports a fresh clean shave - to the shock of fans and team-mates. The Liverpool star, 26, took to Instagram yesterday to show off the new look. You like? One mor epic below...
Many political observers are worried, and they are asking questions concerning President Muhammadu Buhari and his outspoken wife, Aisha. Where has she been? Why is she not coming out to tell Nigerians why they should vote for her husband?
By this time in 2015, Buhari's wife, Aisha was all over the place campaigning for her husband, to the extent of frying akara and yam. What has changed?
Fast forward to 2019, few days to a very important election, no one now hears from the wife of the president.
Rumours are flying around in Abuja, the seat of power and to other parts of the country. Some say Madam Aisha is not feeling well, some say she's not happy with many of those around Buhari, yet others say her fight with the cabal controlling the Presidency got worse and she decided to abandon everything. Hopefully, we will known the true story sooner than later.
Intelligence analysts and political risk researchers agreed the leading opposition party's presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP would defeat the incumbent, APC's Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria election scheduled for February 16, 2019, will be a straight fight between the APC and the PDP. Atiku may likely emerge as the winner of 2019 presidential election.
Nigerians do not trust APC again because of broken promises, and President Buhari is not as popular as he was in 2015. Buhari seems not to have the backing of the International Community, which he had in 2015.
Insider Threat – we confirm that a significant number of people are supporting APC, and not Buhari. Most of them are government appointees, including some ministers. While PDP has remained united, stronger and has gained momentum since her presidential primaries, the outcome of APC primaries that pitched some governors against their party candidates may likely affect its fortune in those States like Rivers, Ogun, Imo and Zamfara states.
The incumbent President Buhari faces stiff opposition in the northern part of Nigeria, which has remained his stronghold for several years. His primary challenger Atiku comes from the same zone with him. Buhari lost out in a similar contest against his fellow Hausa/Muslim candidate, Umoru Yar’dua in 2007.
Also, the Middle Belt of Nigeria has been a battleground and deciding factor since 1979. Whoever emerges President must show strength in Kwara State, Kogi State, Benue State, Taraba State, Plateau State, Nasarawa State, Niger State, Adamawa State, the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), as well as the southern parts of Kaduna, Kebbi, Bauchi and Gombe states.
Analysis
Nigeria had 19 States in 1979. Chief Obafemi Awolowo cleared the entire South West, Azikiwe maintained his South East as a clear leader. Aminu Kano Party won in the core North (known as NW of today). President Shagari emerged as the winner courtesy of the vote from the Middle Belt states and today’s SS (Rivers and Cross River).
In 1999, Former President Obasanjo lost in the SW, divided NW and emerged strongly in the Middle Belt States, SS and SE to become President.
In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan lost in NW and NE but won in NC, SW, SS, and SE.
In 2015, the main reason Buhari defeated former President Jonathan was because Jonathan lost in Benue, Plateau, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, and other part of the Middle Belt states.
As at today, monetary inducement will fail and has proved to be less effective when a candidate is not favorite in Nigeria. It will take sophisticated manipulation or forceful declaration by INEC for President Buhari to win those critical Middle Belt states, according to Casa.
Most importantly, some core Northern elders are suspicious Sof Buhari's health. They would not want the repeat of Yar’adua/Jonathan scenario that will make the North relinquish power to SW. They are passing this message silently to their people.
Overall, we project Atiku as the winner of the February 2019 election with 55 percent.
The 37 years old mother of little Precious Eromosele on Saturday abandoned her in a public taxi after returning from market. According to report, the mother of three identified as Mrs Cynthia Eromosele is under police custody for carelessness and child neglect.
Mrs Cynthia had gone shopping with her daughter at the popular
Oyingbo market in Port Harcourt to purchase items for a social event the family is hosting. After shopping, she hired a taxi to take her to her residence somewhere at Eleme. While in the taxi, she let her baby sleep on the taxi seat.
When she got home, she alighted to offload the goods she bought while her visiting in-laws took them inside.
She paid the driver and he zoomed off without realising that Little Precious was still at the back seat unnoticed.
The driver who was also unaware of the presence of the baby got to a police checkpoint where he was flagged down for stop and search.
Trying to explain to the policeman that he had passed a few minutes ago, the policeman saw little precious and the driver was nabbed immediately for child theft.
Every explanation to the policemen that the mother of the baby might have abandoned her in his taxi fell on deaf ears as the police insisted that he is a child thief.
Meanwhile, trouble already started at the home of Eromosele as heated accusations and counter accusations about the whereabout of Little Precious was alleged.
The mother insisted that after alighting from the vehicle, she handed over Precious to one of the guests who denied anything of such as she only carried the make up kits she bought.
The arguments nearly resulted to fisticuffs before it was suggested that the matter should be reported to the police.
The panic stricken couple arrived at the police station to find little precious and the driver of the taxi in police custody.
After every proofs of being parents of the baby, the police asked that the mother be locked up for child neglect till Monday when she will be handed over to the ministry of women affairs for discipline.
All pleas to allow the mother return home were turned down by the police who insisted that Mrs Eromosele will serve her punishment as a deterrent to other would be careless mothers.
A national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has advised Foreign Election Observers who came to Nigeria for the presidential election to write their reports in peace and "go home".
His words: "I want to sympathise with our friends, our foreign observers. You are truly welcome. Observe what you need to observe, write your report in peace and go home."
Speaking at the All Progressives Congress, APC rally in Lagos on Saturday, Tinubu said, "This is our democracy. America is still questioning its own democracy. We are watching CNN, Trump and Russia, China.
"Interference in the largest Africa democracy is what we are saying. The G20 in 2007 asked President Umar Yar’Adua, what are you going to do with the election in Nigeria? The election that brought me in as the president is flawed and [he said] I will reform it..."
In six days, Nigerians of voting age will clarify not only whom they are, but whom they wish to be.
Four years ago, I helped bring to the leadership of Nigeria a man I had equally endorsed at the 2011 election: General Muhammadu Buhari, as President. In 2015, there really wasn’t much of a choice.
This year, there is: Anybody Else.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo unintentionally captured the situation a few days ago during a campaign stop in Owerri.
Reaching down to his evangelical side, the pastor told the crowd: “The most important thing is that when the righteous are in power, the people rejoice.”
Then he asked, “Are you rejoicing now?”
The crowd erupted: “NOOOO!!!”
The vice-president seemed to think that he might have been misheard, or that his audience had perhaps got its cue wrong.
He tried again: “Under this government…are you rejoicing?” Louder came a thunderous tumult, as if the crowd thought Osinbajo was hard of hearing: “NOOOO!!!”
But here is the punchline, and I am going to quote the vice-president comma by comma in a statement he made as if it were 2015 and he was waxing delirious about the Goodluck Jonathan administration his APC presidential ticket was trying to defeat:
“Very good. The reason, the reason, the reason why we cannot rejoice under this government is because the Scripture says, ‘when the righteous are in power, the people rejoice.’”
I don’t know who wrote the screenplay of Osinbajo’s Nollywood appearance at that Owerri rally. Clearly, the answer to his question was supposed to have been a resounding “YES!”
In which case his conclusion, something about righteousness and political power, was supposed to be that Nigerians are happy today because the right people are in power and should be re-elected.
The louder rejection of his proposal the second time appeared to have thrown the vice-president out of his tradermoni heart and the law professor adlibbed into a verdict against his very purpose.
Now, I believe that Osinbajo, speaking before an audience he understood to be mainly Christians, had hoped to take advantage of their faith. In which case it is wise to look at the segment of the Holy Book he unwisely — but incompletely — drew from: Proverbs 29:2.
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn,” it says.
It is not surprising that the vice-president avoided that second part, but his conclusion was unavoidable: Nigerians are suffering because its rulers — whatever they think of themselves — are wicked.
Osinbajo’s testimony against his own cause says almost everything anyone would like to know about where Nigerians find themselves this week as they vote.
Buhari himself continued the effort to market the same theme three days ago, calling on the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria to stand for righteousness and truth, and preach against all forms of corruption, as “only righteousness” can elevate Nigeria.
Mercifully, he was not standing before an incredulous crowd to preach righteousness. But before Osinbajo spoke, Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai had inflicted a different kind of righteousness.
I have praised el-Rufai in this column for what seemed to be his clarity of vision, notably in March 2017 when the second of two powerful memos he sent to Buhari, leaked. The first was in April 2015, before Buhari took his oath of office, and the other in September 2016.
Citing “the progress of our party, our president, our government and our country,” the governor offered Buhari a 30-page, well-reasoned strategic plan in which he challenged the president to revamp the entire apparatus of government so that APC would not leave Nigeria worse than it had met it.
Stressing that the Buhari administration had so far failed to manage the “change” expectations of Nigerians or ‘to deliver even mundane matters of governance’ outside of fighting Boko Haram and corruption, he urged him to “act decisively.”
“Overall, the feeling even among our supporters today is that the APC government is not doing well,” the governor observed. He encouraged Buhari to consider communicating actively and directly with the Nigerian public to enunciate the government’s plans, strategy and road map to take Nigeria out of her economic mess.
For that purpose, he suggested that Buhari use a mechanism “akin to a State of the Union address…preferably in a joint session of the National Assembly,” during which he would explain some perceptions and lay out his vision.
Among others, he pointed out that APC could shape Nigeria’s political culture in (Buhari’s) image through active stakeholders and process engagement, saying, “We are not engaging at all, and (are) taking things and important matters for granted.”
El-Rufai counselled that the institutional weaknesses that enabled corruption to thrive under Jonathan and the persons involved, were still very much in control, “and many are around you.”
He wanted stronger hands and minds closer to the president, describing (former SGF Babachir Lawal) as “inexperienced, lacking in humility, (and) insensitive and rude to most VIPs,” and Chief of Staff Abba Kyari as “totally clueless.”
El-Rufai then spelled to Buhari the time: “You have both a crisis and opportunity in your hands to turn around our country in the right direction.”
But APC and Buhari’s ineptitude were just fermenting. They ignored all progressive voices inside and outside the party, and rotted in ambition, focus and performance. Buhari, for his part, never read any of el-Rufai’s memos: he handed them to the same key officials the governor had criticised, who shredded them and demonised him.
Last week, with days before the election, a key measure of the depth of the Buhari rot emerged: the same el-Rufai appearing on television to threaten the massacre of foreigners who “intervene” to disrupt Buhari’s desperation to remain in office.
“Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for the person that will come and intervene,” he said, threatening: “They will go back in body bags.”
It was a strange response to international expressions of concern about the elections being free and fair. Ambition and power clearly overrunning good judgement, el-Rufai threw away every benefit of the doubt.
But he illustrates what faces voters in Saturday’s ballot: the mind-boggling reality that a government that was enthroned with such overwhelming support is baying for blood for re-election.
Sadly, Buhari has been fully exposed as fickle of conviction, frail of body and fragile of mind. To say that he will rise beyond himself to inspire and elevate Nigeria is to bathe our children in sewage.
The truth is that the very deficiencies identified by el-Rufai in 2016 were not symptoms but chronic diseases that have now mutated, with APC politicians now contradicting everything they said in 2015. This has nothing to do with PDP, but everything to do with Buhari’s character and poverty as a man.
In the real world, when there is an infectious disease, you flee. This week, Nigerians should free themselves by voting for Nigeria.
A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has urged Nigerians not to vote for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, President Muhammadu Buhari, because “he has plans to enslave Nigerians if he returns to power for a second term.”
The former minister, who expressed support for the Peoples Democrative Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, however said he would personally lead a revolt against the PDP candidate if he wins the election and fails to perform to the expectation of Nigerians.
Fani-Kayode spoke in Jos on Saturday night during a forum organised by Dachung Musa Campaign Organisation.
According to him, Nigeria during Buhari’s first tenure has been visited with violence and maladministration to the extent that only the exit of the President can guarantee the country’s continued existence as a united and prosperous country.
He said, “Buhari has done so much harm to Nigeria and its people as President.
“With all the killings, lopsided appointment in favour of only the Muslim North, is that how a federation should be run?
“He has so much promoted the notion that some people have the monopoly of violence while others don’t have the rights to defend themselves to the extent that Nigerians are now slaves in their own country.”
A housewife, Bisola Anthony, who was on the run after allegedly using a stirring rod to assault her two-year-old daughter because of her inability to properly recite numerals, has been apprehended by the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps attached to the Child Development Centre of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
Punch Metro gathered that Bisola, while teaching the victim numerals around 8pm, on Tuesday, at her place of residence on Danjuma Street in the Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, allegedly beat the child with the stirring rod when she realised that the victim had failed to comprehend the lesson.
Punch correspondent learnt that the cry of the victim prompted neighbours to enter her parent’s apatment to plead with the mother, only to realise that the girl had sustained some injuries as her body was stained with blood.
A neighbour, Tope Boyede, who posted the news of the assault on his Facebook page, when contacted on the telephone by Punch Metro, condemned Bisola’s action, saying that the fact that the child could not comprehend what the mother was teaching her did not mean she should be assaulted to that extent.
Boyede, who said the father of the victim acknowledged that his wife was fond of beating their daughter, added that when child protection officers from the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, visited the victim’s house to arrest her mother, Bisola ran away.
The civil servant said, “The victim’s mother and I live in the same compound on Danjuma Street. How we got to know about the child being molested was that when the mother was beating her with a stirring rod, because she could not recite the numerals from one to 200, the neighbour, whose room is close to that of the child’s parents, heard the girl crying.
“Neighbours tried to rescue the girl from the mother, but what they saw was very bad; there was blood on the victim’s body. Apparently, the mother was teaching her daughter the numerals but when the victim could not recite them, the mother started beating her with a stirring rod. The child is just around two year old and the fact that she could not comprehend what the mother was teaching her shouldn’t make the mother beat her to the extent of inflicting injuries on her.
“I still saw the mother this morning (Tuesday) before I went to report at the ministry. When I got there, the ministry released some officials, who accompanied me to the house to arrest her. But when we got home, she had already fled with her children. I believe she went out as usual, but the officials have assured us that she would be arrested.”
When contacted, the Director, Child Development, Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Oluwaniyi Ogunleye, confirmed Bisola’s arrest, and the recovery of the child in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Saturday.
The Creative Director, Image World Visuals, Emmanuel Chetan, and Annie Akhadelor, were found dead in a parked car, whose engine was running at Mende, Maryland, Lagos State, on Saturday.
Residents said Chetan lived at 37A Atiba Osborne Street, Mende.
An eyewitness, James Odion, said Chetan and Akhadelor were probably returning from a club in the early hours of Saturday.
He stated that the two died on Olugbade Street, Mende, Maryland, about 72 metres from where the man’s residence.
According to him, the two were suspected to have taken poisoned drinks, which might have led to their death and not the car’s air conditioning system as being suggested in some quarters.
He added that when the police eventually arrived and forced open the car, they found containers of the drinks they allegedly consumed.
Odion explained that on Olugbade Street, where Chetan parked his vehicle, a resident approached him and asked him to remove the car, noting that the place was where he (the man) often parked his car.
He said Chetan begged the man, saying that he was feeling uncomfortable and that in a short while, he would move the vehicle out, adding that about one hour later, Chetan and Akhadelor were found dead.
Odion stated, “Chetan was in his 30s. I knew him very well but I had never seen the lady, who was with him.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Chike Oti, confirmed the incident, saying the corpses of Chetan and Akhadelor had been recovered and deposited in the hospital for autopsy.
