Parents of the 27 abducted students of Government Science College, Kagara, have commended Niger state government for securing their release, along with 15 others.
Gunmen on 17 February abducted the students, three staff and 12 family members.
They were released today after spending 10 days with their captors.
The students arrived Minna amidst tight security at about 9.45 a.m.
They were received by the state government officials at the Niger state Development Company Suites.
A Team of medical personnel was deployed to the facility, to check the health status of the former captives.
Aliyu Isah, said his wife and five of his children were among the victims who regained freedom.
“I just want to thank God for the safe return of my wife and children. I went through sleepless nights because I didn’t know the condition they were in,” he said.
Isah lauded Gov Bello for his concern since the incident happened.
”I am very happy and pray such thing will never occur again in our state .
”I went through trauma. It is something you don’t wish for your enemy”, he added.
Another parent, Abubakar Musa said he and other family members had prayed for the safe return of their wards.
“Six of my children are among the victims. Even though I have not met with them, I am optimistic that I will meet them in good health.
“I want to thank God for the safe return of the children. I am happy and glad that they have been released,” he said.
A woman said her sister was among the released victims.
” I can not tell you what I went through just by thinking of what condition my sister was in, but I thank God for her safe return,” she said.
Mobile Police and civil defence personnel were seen at the hotel as journalists were barred.
A rooster fitted with a knife for an illegal cockfight in southern India has killed its owner, sparking a manhunt for the organisers of the event, police said on Saturday.
The bird had a knife attached to its leg ready to take on an opponent when it inflicted serious injuries to the man’s groin as it tried to escape, officers said.
The victim died from loss of blood before he could reach a hospital in the Karimnagar district of Telangana state earlier this week, local police officer B. Jeevan told AFP.
The man was among 16 people organising the cockfight in the village of Lothunur when the freak accident took place, Jeevan said.
The rooster was briefly held at the local police station before it was sent to a poultry farm.
“We are searching for the other 15 people involved in organising the illegal fight,” Jeevan said.
They could face charges of manslaughter, illegal betting and hosting a cockfight.
Cockfights are banned but still common in rural areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha states — particularly around the Hindu festival of Sankranti.
Specially-bred roosters have 7.5-centimetre (three-inch) knives or blades tethered to their legs and punters bet on who will win the gruesome fight.
Thousands of roosters die each year in the battles which, despite the efforts of animal rights groups, attract large crowds.
Civil society organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, have joined other Nigerians to demand the immediate release of Salihu Tanko Yakasai, who was allegedly arrested by the Department of State Services.
“We condemn the unlawful arrest of journalist Salihu Tanko Yakasai simply for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.
“Nigerian authorities should stop shutting up critics. Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Mr Yakasai,” SERAP tweeted.
The group also criticized the Kano State government for sacking the journalist, saying the state authorities “are making a mockery of the Nigerian Constitution”.
Kano State authorities are making a mockery of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and international human rights obligations by sacking journalist Salihu Tanko Yakasai simply for allegedly criticising the government of President Buhari. Peaceful dissent is not a crime.
Yakasai, Special Adviser on Media to Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, was sacked on Saturday for criticising the All Progressives Congress and the regime of the President Muhammadu Buhari over the growing insecurity in the country.
The Kano State Government has on Saturday ordered immediate shutting down of tertiary institutions in border areas of the state.
This was as a result of the abductions of about 317 female boarding students of Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State last Thursday night by bandits.
The State’s Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure said the students of the affected four institutions are expected to vacate campuses as soon as possible.
Dr Bunkure said a new date for the reopening of the institutions will be communicated later.
The affected schools include Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso college of Advanced and Remedial Studies, Tudun Wada, School of Environmental Studies, Gwarzo, School of Rural Technology and Entrepreneurship Dev ( SORTED) Rano and ABCOAD, Dambatta.
The Department of State Services has arrested Salihu Tanko Yakasai, a social media aide to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, barely hours after he criticised President, Muhammadu Buhari.
Yakasai had in a series of tweets on Friday in reaction to Friday abduction of about 317 female students of Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State, said the kidnappings had become too frequent.
The governor’s aide had also said if it was under another President’s watch that the abductions had happened, there would have been more outrage in the North.
He tweeted, “Clearly, we as APC government, at all levels, have failed Nigerians in the number one duty we were elected to do which is to secure lives and properties. Not a single day goes by without some sort of insecurity in this land. This is a shame! Deal with terrorists decisively or resign.
“Just last week it was #freekagaraboys, today we have a new hashtag #RescueJangebeGirls, who knows tomorrow what hashtag we will come up with? Perhaps one for ourselves when we get caught up in one of these daring attacks.
“This is sad and heartbreaking, I feel helpless and hopeless. “I completely agree. Hypocrisy is in our DNA. Imagine what’s happening in the North now under GEJ or OBJ, what you will hear is he’s the enemy of the North and Muslims, but here we are, being ravaged by all sorts of insecurity but no collective rage, sai useless lamentations. SMDH.”
However, barely hours after Yakasai’s viral tweets, it was learnt that he suddenly disappeared even as friends and relations began to panic.
Confirming his arrest, one of Ganduje’s aides on Twitter, @sadeqhenry tweeted, “Alhamdulillahi we just confirmed @dawisu is at DSS office.”
Nollywood actor, Adeniyi Johnson is a year older today. And his wife and colleague, Seyi Edun took to her Instagram page to celebrate him on his special day.
She penned sweet words to him, reminding him of her love to him.
She wrote;
''Dear Ademi, you are amazing, unique, incomparable, hard working, handsome, funny, strong, incredible, intelligent I could go on forever.
Through the good and bad times, you continue to be by my side. Loving you is always easy.
Life is so precious and should be treasured. I treasure every moment with you and I’m so grateful for another year to spend with you.
All I wish for today is to see you happy and loved, thanks for all you do oko mi🥰🥰
The two missing French bulldogs of Lady Gaga have been found, two days after they were stolen by gunmen, who shot her dog walker in Los Angeles.
Reports said an unnamed woman on Friday brought the dogs, named Koji and Gustav, to a Los Angeles Police Department Station.
The return came moments after Lady Gaga promised a $500,000 rewards for finders.
Thirty four year-old Lady Gaga, real name, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, had called the dogs ‘beloved’ members of her family in a tweet on Friday.
“My beloved dogs Koji and Gustav were taken in Hollywood two nights ago. My heart is sick and I am praying my family will be whole again with an act of kindness. I will pay $500,000 for their safe return”, she wrote.
Detectives and a representative for the singer went to the Olympic Community Police Station – which is just over six miles from the scene of the robbery – and confirmed the identity of the unharmed dogs.
The dogs have been reunited with Lady Gaga’s representatives, as she is away in Rome, filming a movie.
According to the LAPD, the mystery woman who dropped off the dogs appeared to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the Wednesday night attack on Gaga’s dog walker.
The SUN reported that it was unclear how the woman obtained the dogs or if she would be in line for the $500,000 reward offered by Gaga for their safe return.
Fuji music icon, General Ayinla Kollington, has narrated how he escaped being attacked by some of his music rivals and antagonists while he was under the tutelage of his late musical godfather, Ayinla Yusuf, popularly known as Ayinla Omowura.
The late Apala legend who died over 40 years ago at the peak of his career is considered to be one of the most original Yoruba singers of post-colonial Nigeria who gained notoriety in South-West Nigeria in the 70s.
In a biography about Omowura, titled ‘Ayinla Omowura Life and Times of an Apala legend’ written by media intellectual and lawyer, Festus Adedayo, Kollington succinctly reminisced on some of his musical escapades with his godfather and revealed that he was fortified with juju by the latter after a widely successful album that was a response to Fatai Olowonyo, arch-rival of Omowura.
Going down memory lane, the 67-year-old, further noted that this was the beginning of his quarrel with his friend, late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister.
Kollington claimed that Olowonyo, after the release of the album approached Barrister to do a reply to both him and Omowura.
He said, “I ran to him (Omowura) countless times to tell him that Olowonyo’s fans said they will kill me. He said they could not do me any harm, that I should forget that… He then took me inside his room and began administering all manner of fetish objects on me. He would ask me to steep some inside a cornmeal (eko) and some of them, he would bath me with them. He would call his younger brother, Dauda, and ask him to go and bring a razor and some of the fetish objects in his room, with which he would incise my body and rub fetish objects. That was how I sang the song and no reprisal came to me from the Olowonyo group and his gangs.”
“Olowonyo enlisted Sikiru’s help in attacking and replying to my diatribes in “Omo Iya onipako.” Sikuru too behaved like a child in that he ought to have thought about the fact that I was his friend and instead of acceding to Olowonyo’s request, the best thing for him to have done was to call me and seek to find an end to the feud. Rather than do this, he also went to the studio to sing against me. He sang “Ba o ba to ja la…” (If we are not up to stopping a feuding party…) That was how the fight against (sic) us began.”
Even though Kollington and his musical godfather eventually parted ways over some misgivings, the former noted that Omowura was a great and brave man.
He continued, “When we went to Mecca and the feud between him and Olowonyo was sorted out, upon returning home, he (Omowura) did a track singing the praises of Olowonyo. He ought to have mentioned me as one of the persons who fought on his side during the feud but he didn’t.I saw that jealousy was already entering the relationship… I later found out that was the nature of man, the nature of Yoruba people.
“He was a very great man. Death is very powerful. Ayinla Omowura was also a very brave man. I liked him beyond description. I loved his songs as well.”
A New York woman is recovering after a nose piercing infection led to a life-threatening condition, causing her to need a liver transplant.
Queens resident Dana Smith, 37, got a nose piercing shortly after Thanksgiving, CBS New York reported Thursday.
About a month later, Smith started to have stomach pains but was hesitant to go to the hospital because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking to CBS New York, Smith described her symptoms as "stomach pain. I felt like I kind of lost appetite."
"I didn't want to go to the hospital with COVID going on," she explained to the outlet. But the pain got so bad that "it got to the point where I felt like I didn't have a choice."
"I was just drinking water, I couldn't hold the water down," Smith told ABC 7, revealing that her symptoms escalated so much that she "started to throw up blood."
Her sister took her to Long Island Jewish Medical Center on Jan. 12, where doctors quickly assessed that she needed a liver transplant and was suffering from fulminant Hepatitis B.
According to Merck Manual, fulminant Hepatitis is "a rare syndrome of rapid (usually within days or weeks), massive necrosis of liver parenchyma and a decrease in liver size" that "usually occurs after infection with certain hepatitis viruses, alcoholic hepatitis, or drug-induced liver injury (DILI)."
Smith was transferred to North Shore University Hospital and placed into a medically-induced coma while waiting for a match for the transplant. One was found within 48 hours, and she had surgery on Jan. 17.
Though doctors were quick to diagnose Smith, what caused the fulminant Hepatitis B was initially a mystery.
Through a process of elimination, medical professionals determined that the culprit was an infection from the nose piercing that had gone undetected.
"This was the one unique change that had taken place in her life, this nose ring," said Northwell's Transplant Services Director Dr. Lewis Teperman. "And it's the perfect time for the virus to incubate."
Smith, who returned home on Jan. 26, credits the decision to finally go to the hospital with saving her life — and is sharing her story so that she might help someone else who needs to go to the hospital receive treatment.
"It's very overwhelming. Emotionally, everything, mentally''.
Smith added, "Even with COVID going on, you should still go get checked out because you never know. That one decision saved my life."
Shamima Begum, who left the UK for Syria to join the Islamic State group as a teenager, will not be allowed to return and fight her citizenship case, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The court said in a unanimous ruling that her rights were not breached when she was refused permission to return.
Ms Begum, 21, wants to come back to challenge the home secretary's decision to remove her British nationality.
She is currently in a camp controlled by armed guards in northern Syria.
Ms Begum was 15 when she and two other east London schoolgirls left the UK in February 2015 and travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
In 2019, the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Ms Begum of her citizenship on national security grounds.
Last July, the Court of Appeal ruled that the only fair way forward was to allow her into the UK because she could not effectively appeal against the decision from the camp in northern Syria.
The Home Office subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court to reconsider the Court of Appeal's judgement, arguing that allowing her to return to the UK "would create significant national security risks".
On Friday, Lord Reed, president of the Supreme Court, said the government had been entitled to prevent Ms Begum from returning to the UK.
Announcing the ruling, Lord Reed said: "The Supreme Court unanimously allows all of the home secretary's appeals and dismisses Ms Begum's cross-appeal."
He said the Court of Appeal's judgment "did not give the home secretary's assessment the respect which it should have received" given the role's "responsibility for making such assessments" and accountability to parliament.
Lord Reed added the Court of Appeal had "mistakenly believed that, when an individual's right to have a fair hearing... came into conflict with the requirements of national security, her right to a fair hearing must prevail."
He said the right to a fair hearing did "not trump all other considerations, such as the safety of the public".
Actress, Tayo Sobola, aka Sotayo Gaga, has urged her fans not to judge her and other celebrities based on what they read on social media.
The actress stated this during an Instagram Live chat with her fans that was monitored by Saturday Beats. She said, “Life is short. I am not one of those people that come on social media to abuse people. I don’t judge people. Let people write about others; the question is, who are you behind your keyboard? Who are you behind closed doors? Do not judge anybody.
There is always a reason for whatever is put out there about anybody. There are a lot of things I see on social media that I look at and smile, because it is not my business.
“I would not judge anyone based on what I read on social media. Even if it is something written about me, I just smile and look away. However, looking away sometimes does not mean I am stupid. Try not to be in a position to judge anybody.”
Sotayo also urged her fans not to inherit enemies from others without knowing the cause of the enmity. She said, “I would not judge anybody, so please do not judge me for any reason. But, if you feel you want to judge me for any reason, that is your problem. I don’t care.
“I would not fight with someone just because someone I know is fighting with that person. That can only happen if the person has done something bad to me.”
The kidnapped students and staff of Government Science College Kagara have finally regained freedom from the armed bandits in Niger State.
A top security source involved in the counter-kidnapping operation in the State told The Punch.
The boarding students were abducted by the bandits who were dressed in military uniforms on February 17, 2021.
A total of 27 students, three staff members, and 12 members of their family were abducted after the attack on the Kagara school in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has intercepted 554 cartons of tramadol and 989 cartons of unwholesome pharmaceutical products concealed in ceramic tiles at Lagos port.
The Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the drugs, according to the Controller of the Command, Mr. Malanta Yusuf was N223.2 million.
He said the drugs were traced from Indian to Port of Lome in Togo before it was finally shipped to Apapa port where it was intercepted.
He said: ‘’Upon 100 percent physical examination to ascertain its true contents, he said it was found to contain 554 cartons of tramadol capsules (120 milligrams) concealed with 1000 cartons of ceramic tiles.
“Furthermore, with the support of my management team, we are able to make the following intervention, one 40ft container loaded with sacks of mosquito coil products but falsely declared as ground paper and packaging paper bag, seven containers loaded with bales of used clothing and shoes, and one container of unregistered pharmaceutical product (989) cartons of mixagrip tabs wrongfully declared as Winches and gaskets,” he said.
‘’The Command has launched a preliminary investigation with a view to identifying the consignee’s for arrest and possible prosecution in connection with this criminal and unlawful importation.’’
Some armed robbers have attacked the residence of the acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Akin Oke.
Daily Post gathered that the residence of the acting Chairman located at Oluyole area was attacked on Friday.
The armed robber stole a vehicle belonging to the political party.
Caretaker Publicity Secretary of the party, Dr. Abdulazeez Olatunde confirmed the attack to Daily Post on Saturday.
Olatunde urged anyone with useful information about the vehicle to report to the nearest police station or contact the APC Secretariat in the state.
Olatunde said, “This announcement is intended to notify members of the Public, the theft of the white hummer bus with the inscription of All Progressives Congress Oyo State on it; it was stolen, Friday 26th February 2021 at the Premises of the State Party Chairman.
“This is to alert scurity operatives within and outside Oyo State and members of the public that wherever the white hummer bus is found should be reported to the nearest police station or the nearest APC office or better still call 080-3463-1890.”
The police in Ogun State have arrested the Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Oludare Kadiri.
Kadiri was said to have been arrested on Friday over an alleged attack on some politicians in his constituency, Oru-Ijebu, Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The Ogun Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed Kadiri’s arrest to Daily Post.
Oyeyemi disclosed that Kadiri was arrested following a petition against him.
He was said to have led some thugs to the house of a constituent, beating him and vandalising his house.
“He was arrested because a case was reported against him by some people in his area. He was alleged to have led some thugs to attack one Honourable at Oru-Ijebu.
“The house of the Honourable was vandalised and some things were damaged there.
“During the APC registration exercise, he was alleged to have attacked a Supervisory Councillor in Oru-Ijebu and he led some people to beat up the man in the presence of the police.
“That’s why he was invited for questioning and we are investigating him,” Oyeyemi said on Friday evening.
Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine, has reacted to the fresh abduction of Nigerian school girls. Recall over 300 students in the early hours of friday were abducted from their school hostels in Zamfara.
Bobi while reacting to the abduction says it's becoming too many.
He says in Nigeria terrorists are the ones abducting, while in his country Uganda -- where he almost won the Presidential election - the Government are the ones doing the abduction.
He therefore called on leaders to Bring Back Africans.
Reacting hours ago, Bobi on twitter wrote;
''In Nigeria, people are being abducted by a terrorist group while in Uganda, people are being abducted by the government.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Friday, called for the arrest of Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, for saying journalists are criminals for calling bandits criminals.
The union expressed reservation on Gumi’s remarks during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday where he labelled journalists as criminals for calling bandits criminals.
In his interview, Gumi said: “You are emphasising on criminality, I don’t know. Even the Press (journalists) are criminals too because they are putting oil into fire [sic]. These people are listening to you, don’t address them as criminals”.
“It is instructive to note that one of the gangs that were recently interviewed by Nigerian journalist, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz and published in Daily Trust of today where the bandit leader insisted on being introduced properly as “Kachalla Halilu Sububu Seno, Leader of all Terrorists. He is the Leader. Yet Malam Gumi insists they are not criminals.”
In his reaction to the statement, Chris Isiguzo, the National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), in a statement issued on Friday said, “We do not see any correlation between journalism and criminality.”
The statement in part reads; “This unnecessary and unprovoked attack on members of the media by a hitherto respected cleric who decided to embark on strange errands, is unacceptable and it is becoming clearer now that he is pursuing a different agenda.
“We equally recall a recent statement credited to Sheik Gumi where he was inciting bandits, by encouraging religious biases among soldiers on the battlefield.
“We are more shocked that the same Sheik Gumi who has used the media to speak to leaders and to advance the course of his mission to the bandits across the Northwest, is at the same time attacking the Journalists for simply describing bandits as criminals.
“Sheik Gumi’s attempts to seek amnesty for killers and abductors of innocent citizens, especially school children is most unfortunate.
“We invite Sheik Gumi to explain to Nigerians why despite his recent negotiations with bandits in Zamfara State, the criminals have continued maiming, killing, raping and kidnapping innocent citizens, including the 300 female students just abducted in the same State.
“In saner climes, Sheikh Gumi, a non-state actor involved in negotiations with criminal elements, should have been behind bars, but alas, thanks to the weaknesses of our leaders, he continues with his reckless comments and forays into bandit territory unabated.
“By insulting the Press as “Criminals” Sheikh Gumi has exposed himself the more as an intolerant person who will not want his activities closely scrutinised by the media. It is instructive to remind Sheik Gumi that by embarking on such an errand and choosing to speak for the bandits, the Press will continue to scrutinise his activities and also hold him accountable for his actions as enshrined in the Constitution.
“His reaction was totally unacceptable, dishonourable and reprehensible and we demand a retraction of his untoward, irritating and awkward utterances which negate simple decorum and civility. We, therefore, caution him to remember that “riding the tiger might be an exhilarating experience but the consequence is bound to be unpleasant. He should thus be guided.
“We equally invite the global community to document the utterances and actions of Sheik Gumi and to hold him to account for any bandit related mishap that may happen to Journalists around the country.”
A Nigerian, Julia Oparah, has been named the provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of San Francisco (USF) in the United States.
Mrs Oparah is currently the provost and dean of the faculty of Ethnic Studies at Mills College where she had served as a member of the faculty for almost 20 years before being named provost and dean of the faculty in 2017.
This was revealed by the President of USF, Paul J. Fitzgerald, on Thursday.
“Our community has identified a leader in higher education with extraordinary scholarly, administrative, and service credentials to lead USF as provost,” he said.
He said she will begin her tenure on July 12.
Mr Fitzgerald said he was delighted to welcome Mrs Oparah and her family to USF and that ”he looked forward to working with her as a partner in mission while continuing to build on the planning and implementation that had taken place across the campus during this challenging year of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Also speaking, the outgoing Interim Provost of USF who chaired the search committee, Tyrone Cannon, said Mrs Oparah ”rose to the top of a deep and distinguished pool of candidates”.
“In both her scholarship and administrative decisions, she has exhibited a deep commitment to collaboration and partnership, gender and racial equity, global social justice, and the transformative power of education,” he said.
