PDP looses a strong member, former Governor....

Former Bauchi Governor, Isa Yuguda, dumps PDP

Mr. Yuguda says he can no longer stay in the PDP because the party has lost focus.


The post Former Bauchi Governor, Isa Yuguda, dumps PDP appeared first onPremium Times Nigeria.

Kelechi Iheanacho bags brace as City down Stoke

Kelechi Iheanacho has scored 11 goals in 30 senior appearances this season

Manchester City moved up to third in the Premier League with a routine win over Stoke ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid.
Fernando headed the hosts in front from a corner before a Sergio Aguero penalty – awarded for Ryan Shawcross’s foul on Kelechi Iheanacho – doubled the lead.
Iheanacho, 19, added the third from close range, then the teenager rounded the keeper to seal an emphatic win.
Stoke conceded four goals for the third straight Premier League game.

Man City ready for Real test

Manuel Pellegrini rested a number of players, including captain Vincent Kompany and midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, with the first-leg visit of 10-time champions of Europe Real Madrid in mind.
Yet his side go into one of the biggest games in the club’s history with confidence high after moving above Arsenal, who play at Sunderland on Sunday, in the table.
Manchester City’s place at the top of table of European football next season is by no means certain but, a slow start notwithstanding, they showed their ruthless side to dispose of a Stoke team that missed several good chances.
Such was their dominance, Pellegrini could afford the luxury of bringing off influential players David Silva and Sergio Aguero to rest legs for the heavyweight meeting with Real.

Will Iheanacho play against Real?

The biggest roar of the game came five minutes from time, when Iheanacho was announced as man of the match.
Just as neighbours United have an exciting young forward in Marcus Rashford, so do Manchester City in the shape of the young Nigeria international, who has had a hand in 11 goals (seven goals, four assists) in eight competitive starts in 2015/16.

After Fernando had got the better of Geoff Cameron to glance home the opening goal from a corner, Iheanacho won the penalty that Aguero promptly dispatched before scoring twice himself in the space of 10 second-half minutes.

His first, to make it 3-0, was a cool finish from Pablo Zabaleta’s clever run and pass, while Iheanacho showed maturity beyond his years to round the keeper and slot home after being sent clear by substitute Wilfried Bony.
He now has 11 goals in 30 senior outings for City and is turning into a real prospect. Real Madrid will offer different level of test to Stoke City but Iheanacho’s pace off the bench could be a useful weapon for Pellegrini.

What now for Stoke?

Mark Hughes’ side started well, missed several chances at 2-0 down, and eventually caved in. They have now conceded 12 goals in three games.
Their task was not helped by the absence of Ibrahim Afellay, the Netherlands midfielder who suffered a serious knee injury on the eve of the game.

The Potters, whose hopes of a top-10 finish are diminishing after one win in seven games, were also forced to replace 40-year-old keeper Shay Given at the start of the second half due to a suspected groin injury.
Joselu squandered a great opportunity to reduce the deficit at 2-0, while Mame Biram Diouf went close with a header before City took the game out of sight.

Stoke still have to face Sunderland (home), Crystal Palace (away) and West Ham United (home) and manager Hughes faces a battle to rouse his players and ensure the season does not end on a flat note.

TRAGEDY:  A YOUTH FROM AWARA IN OHAJI /EGBEMA LGA MURDERED

The people of  Awara Community in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area LGA of Imo State was shocked to receive the news of the gruesome murder of a vibrant youth from the Community in the person of Mr Lawrence Ochianwaigwe.

This happened on Wednesday in Umuobi Obor kindred in Awara autonomous Community. Information from grape vine source has it that the cause of the death is not farfetched .the source alleged that it’s likely to be the outcome of a cult war between the dreaded the “Deywell” and “Deybam” confraternities.

Further information is pointing to the fact that he could be a victim of mistaken identity.

Ochianwaigwe the source informed, was beaten to stupor with weapons on Tuesday and he died the next day after efforts made by medical personnel to save his young life proved abortive.

He disclosed that the dead Ochianwaigwe and his friend, was ambushed by the members of the “deywell” confraternity who battered them, leaving them half dead, disclosing that Ochianwaigwe’s friend whose identity is yet to be ascertained as at press time is battling to live.

He said “I can swear with my life that he was never a member of any of the heartless groups, neither was he sympathetic to any of their demonic acts.

A released signed by Comrade Kelechi Opara, Interim Publicity Secretary of Awara Court Area youth summit, condemned the killing and called on the state Governor, Rochas Okorocha to quickly intervene.
Part of the statement reads “it is on this note that I call on the State government to intervene on the continuous murder and killings of innocent citizens in some part of our community all in the name of cult wars.

The youth body equally beckoned on the Commissioner of Police, CP, Taiwo Lakanu and other heads of security agencies in the state, to quickly come to their rescue so that normalcy would return in the volatile community.

According to the enraged youth organization , the people of cult war prone community can no longer sleep with their eyes closed and that they live on the daily bases in the fear of the unknown, adding, that if nothing urgently was done, more calamities will befall the community.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the state Mr. Andrew Enwerem, a Deputy Suprientendent of Police, DSP, said that he was not yet aware of the development.

REVEALED : 2016 Budget Padding, shocking update

REVEALED :

Shocking details of how Saraki re-Padded the 2016 Budget in order to funnel Billions into the pockets of Senators Loyal to him.

                        Senator Bukola Saraki,
                   President of the Senate, FRN

Senatorial sources disclosed that Saraki used Senator Danjuma Goje, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the wicked diversion of funds from the critical Lagos—Calabar Railway Project into dubious Constituency Projects.

One senator alleged that pro-Saraki senators also used the budgetary padding to garner political support for the embattled Senate President.

One source explained that almost every member of the Senate was either a chair or vice-chair of a committee as Mr. Saraki had intentionally increased the number of Senate standing committees from 57 to 70.

“The budget was padded in a way that each Committee chairman and vice-chair would receive at least N2 billion in ‘special projects’ while the Senate leadership would get at least N4 billion each in such projects,”
one source stated.

 He added that new Senators who are neither chair or vice chair of committees were each allocated N400 million in special projects.  Ekwe Scott

VIOLENCE : TARABA STATE BOILS... SCORES KILLED

TARABA STATE BOILS.... 

At least 10 people have been killed and several houses burnt in fresh violence that erupted on Friday in Taraba State, witnesses say.

But police said only two people died in the clashes between the Shumo and Wurkum ethnic groups in Karim Lamido Local Government area of the state.

Residents said the violence started around 2am Friday when a village, named Shumon Gwaye, belonging to Shumo ethnic group, was attacked by suspected Wurkum youth.

             Executive Governor, Taraba State 

The attack on the Shumo village led to reprisals attacks on Didango, a Wurkum community.

The Police Public Relations Officer for Taraba State, Joseph Kwaji, said only two people were killed in the conflict.

“Some suspected Shumo youth invaded and attacked Didango village,” the PPRO said.

“Two people were killed,” he added

Mr. Kwaji, a deputy superintendent of police, also confirmed that 11 houses had been torched.

He said the police had drafted more operatives to the area to quell the crisis.

UNILAG REOPENS.....

UNILAG reopens

The Authorities of University of Lagos, UNILAG, yesterday in Lagos directed that full academic activities will resume on Monday, 2nd May, 2016 while examination will commence on 9th May

The post UNILAG reopens appeared first onVanguard News.

Crime : Is Supreme Court really Supreme ?

Murder: Supreme Court affirms death sentence for father of five

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the death sentence passed on a farmer and father of five, James Afolabi.

Afolabi, who hails from Kogi State, was earlier convicted and sentenced to death by a High Court in the state capital, Lokoja, in 2012 for the murder of a Fulani man, Abubakar Mohammed.

The court relied on Afolabi’s confessional statement to the police, where he claimed to have shot Mohammed on the chest for straying into his yam and cassava plantation on February 27, 2009.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja on March 22, 2012, dismissed Afolabi’s appeal and upheld the High Court judgement.

On Friday, a five-man bench of the apex court unanimously dismissed a further appeal by the convict, holding that there was no basis to disturb the concurrent findings of the trial and appeal court.

Justice John Okoro, who delivered the lead judgement, in the appeal marked, SC/181/2012, held that although the prosecution could not produce an eyewitness at the trial, it provided sufficient evidence to prove the guilt of the convict. He held that the evidence provided by the prosecution gave vent to the confession of the appellant.”

 He added, “And in any case, this court held in Mohammed v State (2007) 11 NWLR (pt 1045) 303 at 230 paragraph F that where an accused person confesses to a crime, in the absence of an eyewitness of the killing, he can be convicted on his confession alone.

“For all I have said, I hold a strong view that the court below was on a strong wicket when it upheld the conviction and sentencing of the appellant upon reliance on his confessional statements,” he said.

Justice Okoro also sided with the lower court in concluding that the intention of the appellant was to kill the victim.

“In the instant case, the appellant states emphatically, in Exhibit D (confessional statement), adjudged to have been freely and voluntarily made, that he aimed his gun at the chest of the deceased at close range and shot him.

“It was his further evidence that the deceased fell down and could not move again. At that point, he ran to the village head and reported that he had killed a man.

“In the circumstance, did he intend to kill the man? I had earlier stated in this judgement that a person is taken to intend that natural and probable consequences of his act.

“So, when the appellant aimed his gun at the chest of the deceased and shot it, did he intend to keep him alive? I do not think so. At least he intended to cause him grievous bodily harm.

“And, in view of the force of a gunshot aimed at the heart, the engine room of a man’s life, it can safely be concluded that the appellant intends to kill the deceased on his action, the report he made to the village head notwithstanding.

“Had the appellant shot the deceased on the leg, maybe, one would have thought otherwise. At the age of the appellant, he ought to have known that the part of the body of the deceased he aimed at (the heart) was the last that could have entered his mind if he had intended the man to stay alive.

“I agree with the lower court that the appellant intentionally shot and killed the deceased. All the arguments of the learned counsel for the appellant, which had nothing to do with whether or not the killing was intentional, are of no moment.”