Why many were sleeping at home on Friday night, hoping that the elections would commence by the time they got out of bed, corps members deployed as ad hoc staff were abandoned to their fate in various parts of the country.
While some managed to sleep on benches, others were “packed like sardines” on bare floor.
The corp members, numbering hundreds of thousands, were deployed to each of the 36 states for the presidential election initially scheduled for Saturday, as well as the other polls. Like has always been the tradition, they were to assist official staff of INEC in election activities, usually acting in supervisory roles in the various polling units.
But while INEC held a meeting that lasted well over five hours to decide on the way forward regarding the elections, members of the NYSC deployed were unattended to in some parts of the country, forcing them to find solace wherever they could: in cars, benches and even open fields.
A 31-year-old man, Travis Kauffman, has shared details of how he was able to kill a mountain lion with his bare hands while out running.
Travis said he had gone out for a hike when he started hearing some sounds and within seconds the lion jumped out from no where and pounced on him.
According to CNN, he explained saying; ”It was going up towards my face so I threw up my hands to kind of block my face, at which point it grabbed onto my hand and wrist and from there it started to claw at my face and neck.
“And that’s when my fear response turned into more of a fight response. Because I’m a recent cat owner, I know that the back claws are pretty dangerous when it comes down to an attack. And I was pretty worried about its claws just sinking into my stomach and groin area. “I was able to shift my weight and get a foot on its neck... I stepped on its neck with my right foot and just slowly after a few minutes I thought I would be getting close and then it would start thrashing again and I had a few more scratches that resulted from those thrashes at that point, and I’d say another couple minutes later it finally stopped moving.
Rebecca Ferrell, who works with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said “It’s definitely not something you hear every day. We know it sounds hard to believe, but his survival instinct kicked in and he did what he had to do.”
The dreaded terrorist group, Boko Haram, has bombed a Mosque in Maiduguri, capital of the troubled Borno state, killing as much as eleven persons.
The commissioner of police in the state, Damian Chukwu, who confirmed the incident, said it happened around 5:40am. He said two suicide bombers, accompanied by a gunman, infiltrated the mosque located at Kushari village behind old CBN quarters in the ancient city.
His words: “On-the-spot assessment at the scene revealed that at about 0540hrs gunmen suspected to be BH terrorists & suicide bombers infiltrated Gwozari/Kushari in Polo general area, Maiduguri shooting sporadically & detonated IEDs strapped to their bodies.
“Eleven people including three bombers died while fifteen others sustained injuries and are currently hospitalized at the State Specialist Hospital Maiduguri.”
The senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial district, Magnus Abe, on Friday claimed that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi once asked him to bomb the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
He said this while rubbishing Amaechi’s claim that
he was working with the State Governor, Nyesom Wike against the interest of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
In a statement he signed, Abe, who is a factional governorship candidate of the APC in the state said: “I have received several calls this morning that the the Minister of Transportation Rt Hon Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi was on air this morning alleging that I am being used by Gov Wike to destabilise the APC in Rivers state.
“It’s unfortunate that the only time we met, at the office of the national chairman of the APC to try to find some working solution to crisis in the party, the Hon Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, spent over two hour abusing me, and calling me names.
“He did not mention Rivers state or the APC once in the course of his entire diatribe. The national chairman could not call him to order or remind him of the purpose for the meeting that day. Instead the party was bullied into participating in an illegality.
“Today, rather than discuss how we can come together despite our differences to mobilise Rivers people to vote for our party and our President, Minister Amaechi was busy telling Rivers people that I am being used by Governor Wike.
“Amaechi as governor worked with me and he is aware that several times he ordered me to do things that I considered wrong, or incompatible with my principles, I not only refused to carry out such orders but I always told him to his face that I would not do them and I never did.
“When he ordered me to go arrange to bomb the INEC office in Port-Harcourt after the 2015 elections, I told him to his face that I cannot be part of any action that would involve violence and death because of politics. When he ordered the attacks on GDI at the time Governor Wike started GDI in Rivers state, Gokana was the first local Government in Rivers state that disobeyed that order, even though there were those hell bent on carrying out his orders in Gokana at time.
“So Minister Amaechi knows from personal experience that I cannot be used by anybody to do something I do not believe in. His refusal as a leader to accept responsibility for his actions is the reason the party is in this state. The bulk of the fight against Wike in 2015 was in my senatorial district, I led the fight in person from the front even in the face of clear personal danger. It is unfortunate that rather than face the real issues the Minister has continued to engage in name calling, inciting violence, and abusing those that can help to find solutions.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in Abuja from his home town in Daura, Katsina state, where he had gone to vote in the 2019 presidential and other elections. This was after the elections were postponed by a week by INEC due to issues with logistics.
"President @MBuhari has returned to Abuja from Daura, Katsina State after a sudden postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections by the INEC, scheduled to hold today (Saturday)," he media aide tweeted.
Following the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) decision to postpone the 2019 General Elections, the international and local observers for the polls met on Saturday, at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
The meeting, which had in attendance Commonwealth Observer team, EU Observer team, AU Observer team and ECOWAS Observer mission, and others, lasted for about an hour.
Some of the leaders of the local observer groups sighted by newsmen included Mr Clement Nwankwo, Convener, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room and Ms. Idayat Hassan, Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD). Others were Mr Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Mr Samson Itodo, Executive Director, YIAGA AFRICA, among others.
Shortly after the meeting, correspondents approached the Head, ECOWAS Election Observation Mission and former Liberian President, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, on what the meeting was all about and her reaction to the election postponement.
Johnson-Sirleaf, however, declined to comment saying that newsmen would be briefed later. "I cannot say anything now. We are still on talks. I will brief you later,” she said.
They're reportedly having a 'mind-blowing' time together after first being publicly spotted in January. And now Liam Payne has been spotted outside Naomi Campbell's apartment in New York City.
He was spotted yesterday just hours after Valentine's Day.
The former One Direction star, 25, who has a 23-year age gap with the supermodel, 48, tried to keep a low profile as he swiftly left her home into a parked car.
Liam looked dapper in a pair of black skinny jeans and a black jumper, which he layered with a tailored camel coloured coat.
The Bedroom Floor singer was surrounded by a huge entourage as he exited Naomi's apartment just hours after Valentine's Day.
It's her first valentine's Day since splitting with her on-off beau, One Direction alum Zayn Malik. And beautiful Gigi Hadid was spotted leaving a party in New York City alone on Thursday.
The 23-year-old model showed off her fashion creds in a low-cut, cropped wrap top that revealed a flash of flesh above her ankle-length black jeans. She swept her long brunette tresses back off her face, revealing her porcelain complexion and bright red lips. And she hid her eyes behind dark glasses. One thing was clear, she really didn't look happy!
She celebrated Valentine's Day over a romantic date night with her husband of 10 years, Jay-Z. And Beyonce continued spreading the love as she posted photos of her ravishing red look to instagram.
The songstress, 37, ignited Instagram feeds as she posed up a storm in her latex mini dress with lace sleeves. In pose after pose, the songstress exuded glamour and confidence.
The Crazy In Love singer even showed off a hint of her playful side, as she flashed a cute smile while posing with her heart-shaped purse.
Katy Perry has confirmed that she got engaged to Orlando Bloom on Valentine's Day, following a three-year on-off romance in front of her entire family.
The singer, 34, took to Instagram to share a picture of herself and her actor beau, 42, as she showed off her 'wildly valuable' engagement ring, estimated to be worth $5million.
Andrew Brown, President, WP Diamonds told E! News.'Katy's ring would retail in the range of $5 million.
'It appears to be a four-carat fancy vivid pink oval shaped diamond arranged with eight white diamonds around it to assemble a flower "in bloom" - this ring is truly one-of-a-kind and wildly valuable.'
Katy captioned the image, writing: 'Full bloom.' Orlando shared the same snap, writing: 'Lifetimes.'
The singer's mother, Mary Hudson, broke the news of the engagement on Facebook, sharing images of the emotional proposal and captioning them with: 'look who got engaged last night'.
According to The Sun, Katy was 'shocked and surprised' to walk in and see her family and friends as well as balloons and candles.
The actor had asked for both Katy's mother and father for permission to ask her to marry him.
Nollywood actress, Funke Etti has revealed her only regret in life – not given birth to her kids early enough. According to the actress, she envies her colleagues who have grown up kids and it’s one thing she will advise her daughter to do on time. Hear her;
“I only have one regret in life; if I could turn back the hands of time to when I was 25, I would have loved to achieve a lot of things. For instance, at that age, I would have been done with childbirth. When I see some of my colleagues that have grown children, I admire them. I also consider myself to be lucky and I give glory to God because there are some of my colleagues that are still hoping to have children. I also know that God does things at the appropriate time. When I have a daughter, I will advise her to get married by age 26.
“Motherhood is a very lovely experience but it is not an easy task. I remember those days before I had kids, I could go out around 1am. Once in a while, I would go to a club, just to enjoy myself but now, I have to think of the children before taking any action,” she said.
In few months time, the actress would join the league of entertainers who have clocked 40. She confided in Saturday Beats that unlike last year when she took some photos partially naked during a photo shoot to celebrate her birthday, this year would be different. According to her, she would do something more subtle.
“I would not say that I was half naked in the photo shoot for my birthday last year. I only took the pictures while I was covered with a bedspread. I just felt like doing something different. This year, I would be 40 years old and I would also love to do something different.
“I own my life and I do not care about what people say as long as I am happy. The only constant thing in life is change; there are times people see me and say that I am a quiet person. I took the picture just to do something crazy. As I clock 40, I may not do something crazy because once you have kids, you have to give them some respect,” the actress said.
This is how Capitalng who are in the know of this reports it;
In the hitherto enviable and exotic world of Lucky Igbinedion, the former governor of Edo State, the sky is no longer a silvery and opalescent delight; it is now pitch black and brackish. And sadly, it would take almost forever for things to return to normalcy for Lucky and family.
Early hours of yesterday, his second son, Osaretin, was involved in a ghastly motor accident in the United States of America. Alas, details of his death are still sketchy, leaving his parents in deep mourning because he was an otherwise lively and lovable young man, same with his friends and acquaintances whose outpouring of deep-seated grief has been heart-wrenching.
It was a devastating and distasteful death that has plunged the entire Igbinedion clan into a pall of gloom. Everybody with the Igbinedion suffix, friends, associates and relatives of Lucky particularly have been unanimous in their grief. What was even more befuddling was that Osaretin was planning to come to Nigeria when death sneaked in, mowing him down in his prime.
The INEC chairman has spoken out about why the highly anticipated general elections had to be postponed. Prof. Mahmood Yakubu says there were attempts to sabotage the commission during preparations for the elections.
He said this in Abuja while explaining the reason for the postponement of the general election.
Yakubu said the postponement was not as a result of incompetence, security lapse or political interference. He listed the fire incidents in Abia, Plateau and Anambra states, saying the commission did its best to make sure that the challenges were tackled.
“About thirteen hours ago, I conveyed to Nigerians the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reschedule the 2019 general elections by one week. Presidential and National Assembly earlier scheduled for 16th February 2019 will now hold on Saturday 23rd February 2019 while Governorship, State Assembly and FCT Area Council elections scheduled for 2nd March 2019 will now hold on Saturday 9th March 2019. The one-week adjustment was a painful one for lNEC but necessary in the overall interest of our democracy,” he said.
“Nigerians will recall that when this Commission was appointed in November 2015, we promised Nigerians two cardinal things. First, we shall work hard to consolidate the improvements made in the management of elections in Nigeria since 20”. Secondly, we shall always be open, transparent and responsive. We have strive diligently to keep these promises in very trying circumstances.
“Apart from these logistical challenges, we also faced what may well be attempts to sabotage our preparations. In a space of two week, we had to deal with serious fire incidents in three of our offices in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State, Qu’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State and our Anambra State Office at Awka. In all three cases, serious disruptions were occasioned by the fire, further diverting our attention from regular preparations to recovery from the impact of the incidents. In Isiala Ngwa South, hundreds of PVCs were burnt, necessitating the recompiling of the affected cards and reprinting in time to ensure that the affected voters are not disenfranchised. I am glad that all the cards were quickly reprinted and made available for collection by their owners.”
Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), hit hard on Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), over the postponement of the elections.
Oshiomhole came down hard on him at the press conference INEC held to explain the reasons for shifting the elections by a week, just few hours to the start of voting.
The APC chairman described the action of the commission as an embarrassment to the country, demanding that INEC should tender an apology.
“Why at 2am on the day of the election? Why? You have explanations to do. If you had told us since, we would have planned... Spent money to mobilize polling agents.
“Why didn’t you tell us 48 hours ago? You must apologise to Nigerians because you have embarrassed us as a nation,” Oshiomhole insisted.
International makeup artist, Buntricia Bastian has waved the world goodnight after losing the battle to cancer. In June 2018, she took to instagram to bid her clients and fans bye, but somehow, she fought on and even thought she had defeated cancer, before passing on yesterday, February 15, 2019.
Her daughter, Roxanne Nicole Crayton confirmed her death in an Instagram video saying; 'today at 9:45am, my mother passed away'.
The police have launched a manhunt for the daughter of a landlord on Odunsi Street, Bariga, Lagos State, for allegedly killing her father’s tenant.
The fleeing suspect, identified simply as Damilola Martins, reportedly hit the woman with an object during a scuffle in their compound on Wednesday evening.
City Round learnt that the deceased, Mrs Mojisola Olasehinde, and Martin’s mother, who is the wife of the landlord, had been having a running battle over time.
When a fight ensued between the two of them that day, Martins reportedly took sides with her mother.
She was said to have picked a heavy object and slammed it on Olasehinde, making her to be unconscious.
The woman was rushed to a hospital in the community, where she died.
It was gathered that Martins subsequently fled the neighbourhood while the case was reported to the police at the Bariga Division.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, CSP Chike Oti, confirmed the incident. He said Martin’s brother witnessed the incident and had been arrested by the police to explain his role in the matter.
He said, “Around 11pm on February 13, 2019, one Mr Olakunle reported at the station that one Damilola Martins fought and killed his wife. Preliminary investigation revealed that the deceased and the landlord’s wife had been having issues for a long time.
“On that day, the prime suspect and her mother fought the tenant. In the course of the fight, the suspect (Martins) hit the woman with a hard object. The woman slumped and was rushed to a hospital.
“The main suspect is on the run, but his brother who witnessed the incident has been arrested and is assisting our investigation.”
Oti added that the corpse had been deposited in a mortuary for autopsy.
When Afro-beat musician, Rotimi Martins, popularly known as Alariwo of Africa, posted on his Instagram page that the pioneer of Yoruba rap music, Lord of Ajasa (real name is Olusegun Osaniyi), was seriously ill and urgently in need of funds for a Peptic Ulcer surgery, many movie fans, who knew about Ajasa’s contributions to the growth of Afro-hip hop music and Yoruba rap in Nigeria, were alarmed.
Alariwo’s timely post did not only achieve its intended objective, which was to drum up quick financial support for Ajasa; but it also ensured that the ailing artiste survived the critical stage of the illness.
Ajasa is back home now. He was discharged from the hospital last Tuesday. At the moment, he is getting better and awaiting another surgery to remove some stones in his gall bladder.
The rapper, in a telephone interview with Punch said his doctor had placed him under observation, preparatory to the surgery. “I would have had the surgery done, but the doctor said we should delay it to enable me rest for a while. I have lost weight and I need to regain my strength,” he said.
Ajasa was excited that some of his friends and colleagues had donated funds for his treatment. “I am very happy that they did this for me. In fact, I am still shocked at their quick response to my condition. I pray that God will remember them in their time of need,” he said.
He also complained bitterly that some successful artistes he had helped to achieve stardom abandoned him in his hour of need.
Refusing to mention the names of the artistes, he said, “I am surprised that they changed their attitudes toward me. I don’t want to mention names now. They know themselves. Some of them are well known to members of the public. Although I have done a lot for these people, when I needed help from them, they were nowhere to be found. Some of them even avoided contact with me. I am very disappointed in them. All I can say is that in this music business, some people are ingrates.”
The rapper waved aside the insinuation that he had shunned the entertainment scene these past years and withdrawn into his shell. “That is not true. I did not withdraw into my shell. I have been busy working on a new album and attending shows. Before I fell ill, I was spending a lot of time in the studio working. I have a new album in progress. I was planning to shoot the video when this illness came.”
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has described the postponement of the February 16 Presidential and National Assembly elections as a `rude shock’.
The organisation however, said that it would not draw conclusions on the matter yet until after the stakeholders meeting slated by the Independent National Electoral Commission to clarify the circumstances.
The Assistant National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr Chuks Ibegbu disclosed this on Saturday in Enugu while reacting to the shift in the dates of the general elections.
The INEC in its preliminary reports cited logistical challenges as the major reason for the shift in dates.
Ibegbu said that such uncertainty in the implementation of plans was characteristic of human nature.
“Human activities are filled with uncertainties. Therefore, we will not pre-empt INEC until they come out to give us the full details of why the elections were shifted,” he said.
Ibegbu however, said that it was regrettable that the elections did not go on as planned considering the fact that the electoral body had told Nigerians of its readiness to conduct the polls.
An aide to Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Lawrence Ngozi Akpomiemie, has been shot dead by unknown persons.
It was learnt that Akpomiemie was killed in violence-prone in Ekpan, Uvwie local council area of Delta State on Friday night.
Until his death, Akpomiemie was the special assistant to Okowa on youth development. The cause of the violence that led to his death was yet to be ascertained .
