28-year-old lady escapes from ritual killers

The Ogun State Police Command has uncovered another suspected ritual killers’ den in Unity and Peace Estate along Itele-Lafenwa Road, Ota in the Ado Odo-Ota Local Government Area.

The latest discovery was made possible by the escape of a 28-year-old lady, who had been kept in an uncompleted building in the estate, bound hands and feet.

The lady was said to have been abducted, blindfolded, gagged and dumped in the den. She was reportedly told by her captors that they would come for her in the night on Wednesday.

But she was said to have struggled to free herself and rolled towards the entrance of the building.

It was learnt that some passersby in the area saw her and came to her rescue.

Policemen from the Itele Police Station, who were later invited to the scene, were said to have cordoned off the area.

When the policemen combed the surroundings of the uncompleted building, decomposing bodies of two female victims were said to have been found.

Suspected bones of other victims also littered the place.

The lady told PUNCH Metro that she had met one of her captors two weeks before the incident, and they started a relationship.

She explained that the man called her on Monday that he had secured a contract of N1.5m for her at a site in the estate. She added that the man told her that she would supply bags of cement worth that amount.

The victim said on getting to the site, the lover, was joined by another person, who abducted her.

She said, “I met one of the ritual killers about two weeks ago and we started a relationship. The guy told me that he was a contractor and promised to link me up with people who would give me juicy contracts.

“The man called me two days ago and told me about a contract worth about N1.5m, but I could not meet him because I was sick. The man later came to my residence in Lagos and still persuaded me to come for the deal.

“On getting to the Unity and Peace Estate, we headed for an uncompleted building. One other person joined us. When we got to the building, I saw that the house had been plastered and the floor had been cemented.

“But both of them pounced on me, beat me up and attempted to rape me. I was having my monthly flow and that dissuaded them.

“They then tied my hands and legs, blindfolded and gagged me. They promised to come back at night to complete their assignment. It was a miracle that passers-by rescued me.”

Some residents of the community, who spoke with journalists, said they were startled at the discovery.

Some of them claimed that they always smelt some unpleasant odour from the area, but believed it emanated from a poultry farm nearby.

It was gathered that the policemen had arrested the owner of the building, while the suspected ritual killers had fled.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident.

He said two decomposing bodies and some human skeletons were recovered from the scene.

He said, “The command has taken over the building and our men will take some samples from the scene for forensic analysis to assist in investigation.”

Source: The PUNCH

Jonathan, Buhari hold secret meeting

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday night met behind closed doors with the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.

The meeting was held inside the President’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

That was the third time the two leaders would be meeting after the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Buhari winner of the March 28 presidential election.

The Wednesday meeting, just like the first one they had on a public holiday (Good Friday), was described as “private” and so it was not opened to journalists.

Buhari was said to have arrived for the meeting in a convoy of about four cars at about 9pm.

The meeting was said to have lasted less than 30 minutes.

Although there was no official communication on the meeting, it might not be unconnected with the ongoing transition programmes and preparation for Buhari’s inauguration on May 29.

At the end of their second meeting, Jonathan had told State House correspondents that a date would be picked during which he would conduct Buhari round the Presidential Villa before his inauguration day.

When contacted, the Director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Mallam Garba Shehu, said although he heard there was a meeting, he could not confirm it.

He said, “I heard there was a meeting but I have no idea where or when it held or what was discussed.”

However, it was learnt that the little or no progress being made by the transition committees they both set up might be the major agenda of the meeting.

It will be recalled that the President’s Political Adviser, Prof. Rufai Alkali, had in a statement he issued in Abuja, on Wednesday told the APC that it could not stampede Jonathan out of office.

He accused the APC of failing to set up its transition committee long after the President had constituted his own.

In response, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accused the presidential adviser of being economical with the truth.

This, he said, was because the President’s transition team had been stalling and refusing to meet with that of the president-elect.

Source: The PUNCH

Patience Jonathan now in Congo, says Presidency

Mrs. Patience Jonathan
The Presidency on Thursday morning broke its silence on the whereabouts of President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience.

The Media Assistant to Mrs. Jonathan, Mr. Ayo Adewuyi, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja said the President’s wife is currently in Congo.

He said Mrs. Jonathan was in the country to join her colleagues from Africa for the celebration of the 30th anniversary of a non-governmental organisation, Congo Assistance Foundation, floated by the Congolese First Lady, Madam Antoinette Sassou-Nguesso.

Adewuyi however did not indicate when Mrs. Jonathan arrived Congo or when she is expected back in Nigeria.

He only said his principal was received on arrival by Nigeria’s Ambassador to Congo Brazzaville, Princess Onipede, in company of top Congolese officials.

The President’s wife has not been seen attending any public event inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja, since her husband lost his re-election bid in the March 28 presidential election.

She was conspicuously absent during the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services held inside the Aso Villa Chapel.

Mrs. Jonathan did not also join her husband for the funeral service held in honour of his top aide, Oronto Douglas, in Yenagoa last Saturday.

While she voted alongside her husband in the presidential election in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, she stayed back in her home state, Rivers, during the April 11 governorship election.

She had expressed fears ahead of the elections that she would be thrown into prison if Muhammadu Buhari wins the election.

The Presidency had so far kept mute on her whereabouts, therefore, giving room for speculation.

Adewuyi’s statement read, “First Lady, Dame Patience Faka Jonathan, is in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, joining other African First Ladies for the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Congo Assistance Foundation, an NGO of Congolese First Lady, Madam Antoinette Sassou-Nguesso.

“The Foundation established in 1984 has engendered social action in the areas of health, education, skills acquisition in favour of indigent people of Congo.

“Dame Patience Jonathan runs similar organisation in Nigeria, the Aruera Reach-out Foundation which also focuses on the uplift of women and children, the needy and imprisoned.

“The First Ladies of Benin Republic, Senegal, Mali, Tchad, Niger, Guinea Conakry are also in Brazzaville for the grand finale of the week-long programmes, during which a National Centre for Sickle Cell Disease was inaugurated.

“Dame Patience Jonathan was received on arrival by Nigeria’s Ambassador to Congo Brazzaville, Princess Onipede, in company of top Congolese officials.”

Source: The PUNCH

Transition: Jonathan’s handover notes not yet ready, says APC

With barely 22 days to the May 28 handover date, the transition committee set up by outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan has yet to meet its counterpart, set up by the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.

This is even as it has come to light that the handover notes, which the Buhari team is to study and ask questionson, are not yet ready.

It was gathered in Abuja on Thursday that the bickering between the two teams over terms of reference of the Ahmed Joda-led Buhari Transition Committee is largely responsible for the stalemate.

The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, confirmed this in a statement he made available to newsmen in Abuja.

Mohammed, who is a member of the Buhari Transition Committee, explained that while the Jonathan Inauguration Committee had been meeting with its counterpart in the Buhari team, “its transitional committee has yet to even meet with ours.”

The APC spokesman also chided the Political Adviser to President Jonathan for attacking the APC over the issue.

It described as provocative and ill-intentioned the statement credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Prof. Rufai Alkali, that the APC should talk less and plan more for the nation, and that the party (APC) was seeking to stampede the President out of office.

Mohammed said, “Prof. Alkali doesn’t know what he is saying. How does he expect us to plan when the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government has bluntly refused to cooperate with us in ensuring a successful transition? As we write, the transition committee of the Federal Government has yet to hold a single meeting with our own transition committee, neither have they given us a line of handover note.

‘’As a matter of fact, the Jonathan administration has said the handover notes will not be ready until the third week of May, meaning just a week before the handover.

“What time then do we have to scrutinise the handover notes? How can we plan when we don’t even know which projects they have and which ones they have completed and which ones are outstanding? How can we plan when we don’t even know how many barrels of oil are sold per day?’’

The statement also said, ‘’Is it part of their transition mode that President Jonathan has been engaged in a rash of feverish last-minute appointments that, though may not have breached any known law, are patently in bad faith, morally repugnant and indecorous.

“They say they are in office until May 29, but are appointments the only function of a government? Are there no problems crying for attention, such as the intractable fuel scarcity, the worsening power situation, the grounded economy and the missing Chibok girls?”

The APC also urged President Goodluck Jonathan to caution his aides against overheating the polity with their incautious statements, especially relating to the transition of power.

The party said while “the PDP may be deeply traumatised by its loss in the last general elections – and the party itself has said it is indeed suffering from post-election (defeat) trauma – that should not be a reason for it to disrupt the nation’s peace by displaying crab mentality.”

The APC wondered if it is part of the transition mode of the Jonathan administration that the Minister of Power has virtually been reading the riot act to the incoming government, condescendingly warning it not to even consider reversing the power sector privatisation because its gains are ‘’very obvious?’’.

“Do they understand the implication of their gratuitous and unsolicited advice? If their power sector reforms have been so successful, would Nigeria’s power situation have hit perhaps its lowest point in a long time as we have it now?’’ It queried.

Read more: http://www.punchng.com/news/transition-jonathans-handover-notes-not-yet-ready-says-apc/

Brazilian football legend Pelé undergoes second surgery

Pelé was in stable condition in a Sao Paulo hospital on Thursday after undergoing surgery for an enlarged prostate, doctors said, just the latest health scare for the Brazilian football legend.

The 74 year old had the surgery Tuesday and is to have tests to see when he can be released from the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, the same facility that treated him for two weeks last year for a urinary infection.

It said he was resting in his room after a “transurethral resection of the prostate,” or TURP.

The Urology Care Foundation says the surgery “has excellent outcomes and is the gold standard” in caring for benign prostatic hyperplasia, or non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate, a common condition in aging men.

Brazilian media reports said the surgery was aimed at preventing a repeat of the urinary infection that put him in hospital last year.

That health scare, which included five days in intensive care, came after he underwent surgery for kidney stones on November 13.

After developing an infection, he was readmitted to hospital.

His only kidney – the other was removed following a rib injury during his playing days – had stopped working and he had to be treated with hemodialysis, a procedure that involves filtering a patient’s blood through an artificial kidney.

After a hospital stay that worried fans worldwide, he was released on December 9, walking gingerly but joking with reporters: “I am preparing for the Olympics!”

Pele, whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time.

The only player to win three World Cup titles, he was named the athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999.

Nicknamed O Rei (The King), Pele was born in a humble home in the city of Tres Coracoes and exploded into Brazilian football as a young phenom.

He made his professional debut for the Brazilian side Santos at 15 and won his first World Cup aged just 17, scoring twice in the 1958 final win over hosts Sweden.

He would go on to score a total of 77 goals in 91 games for his football-mad country across a remarkable career that included two more World Cup titles, in 1962 and 1970.

In 1977, he inspired the New York Cosmos to the US national title in his final season with the club, which also featured fellow greats Franz Beckenbauer, Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia and former Brazil captain Carlos Alberto.

He scored a total 1,281 goals in his sparkling career.

APC govs fault Okonjo-Iweala on unpaid salaries

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | credits: blogs.cfr.org
The All Progressives Congress has called on the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to probe the individuals responsible for the inability of government to pay workers’ salaries.

The Imo State Governor and Chairman, APC Governors’ Forum, Rochas Okorocha, said this on Thursday.

He said that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, must take responsibility for unpaid salaries and the poor state of Nigeria’s economy.

Also, two APC governors faulted the claim by the Federal Government that many state governments could not pay salaries because they did not prioritise the payment of workers’ salaries.

They included Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi; and his Osun State counterpart, Rauf Aregbesola.

Speaking in separate interviews, the governors on Thursday laid the blame for the inability to pay workers’ salaries on the doorstep of the Federal Government.

Okorocha decried a situation where state governments had found it difficult to pay workers’ salaries, maintaining that the President and the minister should own up to their mistakes.

The governor, who spoke on Thursday through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemedo, argued that Okonjo-Iweala should not have shifted the blame since the complaint of the inability to pay salaries was also coming from some of the Peoples Democratic Party-controlled states.

Okorocha said, “God has begun to do something for Nigerians. The man, Buhari, who is coming in now, is a person who does not joke with discipline. When you talk about discipline, it is all-embracing. He will bring financial discipline into the system.

“By the time the man takes off, most of these things would be corrected. When the man at the helm of affairs is disciplined, invariably, other people must follow. Have you asked yourself the issue of the missing $20bn? All of a sudden, it was linked to somewhere. Nigeria is a rich country because God blessed this country. It will only take a strong leadership to get things moving.

“Buhari must set the ball rolling. Nigerians know why they voted for him. Even though he has said he will not probe anybody, but in the current situation we are, when it becomes necessary, with all these monies taken away by individuals, he should recover them for the country. If need be, he (Buhari) should put some of them on trial so that others will be very careful.

“A few Nigerians cannot be holding the entire nation to ransom. Whatever it takes to recover Nigeria’s money, it does not matter whose ox is gored; he should go ahead and do it. He must deviate from the old system for this country to move forward.”

Mr. Festus Adedayo, who is the special adviser (media) to Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, said the Federal Government was wrong to pass the blame on state governments.

A statement by Adedayo on Thursday said that the fall in the allocation accruable to the states was responsible for the financial challenges being faced by states.

The statement read, “The Federal Ministry of Finance needed to be told the equivocation in its own statement. According to it, the FG had gone to banks in the last few months to meet its salary obligations.It also acknowledged that allocations to state governments had reduced by 50 per cent. Truly, the Oyo State government, which used to collect about N4bn, has had same reduced to a little more than N2bn now.

“Before now, we were paying our workers on or before 26th of every month. How do we meet our salary obligation of about N5.3bn with such colossal reduction?”

Reacting, Rauf Aregbesola said his administration had prioritised payment of workers’ salaries, adding that the state had been augmenting workers’ salaries with its hard-earned savings since 2013.

Read more: http://www.punchng.com/news/apc-govs-fault-okonjo-iweala-on-unpaid-salaries/

Floyd Mayweather Says No Rematch With 'Coward' And 'Sore Loser' Manny Pacquiao

Floyd Mayweather described Manny Pacquiao as a "sore loser" and "coward," and said he has no interest in a rematch.
In an interview set to air on Showtime this weekend, the middleweight champ ripped Pacquiao for blaming his loss at Saturday's title fight on a shoulder injury -- one he failed to disclose beforehand.
"Excuses, excuses, excuses," Mayweather told sportscaster Jim Gray in excerpts released in advance and cited by The Associated Press.

Culled