Global Naija Info

Jose Mourinho Manchester United produced a lacklustre display as their Europa League campaign began in defeat at Feyenoord. Jose Mourinho made eight changes from the team beaten by Manchester City and an Anthony Martial shot going wide was their only first-half chance. Zlatan Ibrahimovic came on for the visitors and headed wide as he failed to turn around his side’s fortunes. Instead, Nicolai Jorgensen, who was offside, crossed for Tonny Vilhena to drive in Feyenoord’s late winner. Ibrahimovic went close to an equaliser with a drilled free-kick but it was saved at the second attempt by former Liverpool keeper Brad Jones. The defeat means United have lost four successive European away games in a row for the first time. Paul Pogba, who re-joined United in a world-record £89m move from Juventus in August, had his lack of discipline and positioning heavily criticised by ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher following Saturday’s derby defeat by City. If playing alongside Ander Herr...

Godwin Obaseki, APC governorship candidate for Edo State The National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) has endorsed Mr Godwin Obaseki as the next Governor of Edo State to continue with the development strides of Governor Adams Oshiomhole. General-Secretary of the Union, Comrade Issa Aremu, at the Annual National Education Conference of the union in Benin City, Thursday, said: “I want to say, I want to confirm, I want to reaffirm that Edo is working and Edo has worked. “National Union of Textile Garment has affirmed, confirmed and reaffirmed continuity in Edo State and we have endorsed the candidature of Godwin Obaseki.” Aremu said the Textile Workers’ Union aligns itself with President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘Change begins with me’ but that the Government look at resuscitating the textile factories to provide jobs for the teeming youths.” On his part, Governor Adams Oshiomhole said Nigeria must continue to hold the PDP responsible for the failures a...

Lagos Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday approved a total sum of N740,461,432.00 as compensation for host communities of Parcel B comprising Yegunda, Abomiti and International Airport site of the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ). The State’s Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, who announced the approval of the Governor at a media briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, said the development was in line the commitment of the Ambode administration to engender a sustainable cordial relationship between the host communities and investors in the LFTZ. Ogunleye, who addressed the briefing alongside the Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce, Hon. Benjamin Olabinjo; Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Hon. Muslim Folami; the Managing Director of Lekki Worldwide Investments Limited, Dr. Tunde Sodade, among others, said ever since coming on board, Governor Ambode...

•Patience Jonathan The four companies charged alongside a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo Dudafa, and two others with money laundering have pleaded guilty to the offence. The four companies pleaded guilty to conspiring with Dudafa and the two others to launder a sum of $15,591,700 before a Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday. The companies are Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development & Investment Co. Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Development Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had since frozen the $15.6m found in the four companies’ accounts in Skye Bank. But wife of ex-President Jonathan, Patience, has sued the EFCC and Skye Bank, laying claim to the money. She said the money was for her medical treatment.

Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy Rev. Chris Oyakhilome, the General Overseer of Believers Love World, aka Christ Embassy who is separated from his wife, in a statement in a short video clip posted made a case against divorce. Oyakhilome also described as stupid and frivolous some allegations made against him by some media houses in Nigeria and South Africa. Hear him, “I understand that some media houses, particularly in Nigeria, and may be in South Africa, have been writing some real stupid things with frivolous charges. That’s crazy. I wasn’t accused of those things you said, nor did I commit those stupid things that you said…” “…I’m not a preacher, I’m a man of God”. “When it comes to Rev. Anita, pray for her. If you are married to a man of God, it doesn’t make you automatically mature, you can make mistakes..” “Christians should not have a divorce, it shouldn’t be. But that doesn’t mean a Christian should not take this step, they may, but that doesn’t make it right, and we ...

Governor Willy Obiano of Anambra State A mother of seven, Mrs Uzoamaka Onu, 39, has been abandoned by her husband at the New Mayor Hospital and Fertility Centre, Nkpor in Anambra over a bill of N520,000. The woman had stayed in the hospital for four months following the non-payment of the bill. Uzoamaka, a food vendor from Okpoto community in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi, disclosed that the husband had absconded and abandoned her to her fate. She said that she had lived in the hospital for four months and every attempt to reach her husband had failed. “My husband stopped visiting the hospital after I successfully underwent a surgery on my right breast,” Uzoamaka said. She said she did not blame her husband for absconding because he had suffered a lot since 2013 when signs of cancer started manifesting. “My husband sells rat poison and cannot afford the money to pay the balance and I think that is why he has run away. “I am appealing to good spirited Nigerians to com...

A teacher, Mrs Precious Anthony, who resides at Karu Village, Abuja, has asked a Jikoyi Customary Court to dissolve her marriage that her husband plans to kill her by stabbing her to death. Precious, the petitioner told the court while testifying in the case on Thursday. She said, “My husband almost stabbed me to death after he has consumed excess alcohol. “This has been his usual behaviour, anytime he comes back drunk, he never lets me be. “He sometimes beats me up for doing nothing.” She said her husband recently threw her out of the house with their only daughter. “When my husband drove me and my daughter out, I did not know Who to run to, so I had to go back to my parents’ house in Jos,” she told the court. The petitioner also said that her husband did not come to see them in Jos until after Six months. According to her, even when he managed to come and see us, he came drunk. “He even beat me up in my parents’ house and threatened to kill my brother who came to defend me ...

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), in a group photograph with graduands of Ready, set, Work programme, Class of 2016 during the Graduation Ceremony, at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday, September 15, 2016. Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday donated N5 million to two students of the Lagos State College Of Health Technology who designed new technology of generating Biogas through the treatment of animal waste. The students-Sarunmi Oluwafemi and Dada Samuel, were among the 422 successful graduates of the Ready, Set, Work (RSW) programme of the State Government targeted to equip graduates of tertiary institutions in the State with necessary entrepreneurial skills and to make them emerge as ready products for the increasingly competitive labour market, as well as job creators. Oluwafemi and Samuel, who emerged as first place winners of the pitch competition of the programme, were equally given N1million seed funding and...

A Pakistani mother-of-three and the man she was allegedly having an affair with were hanged from a tree on Thursday, with police blaming her husband, brother and father for carrying out the killings. The grisly murders occurred in the village of Chak 56 around 55 kilometres (33 miles) northeast of the central city of Multan. Hundreds of so-called “honour killings”, in which the victim, normally a woman, is killed by a male relative or relatives for bringing shame to the family are carried out in Pakistan every year. “A woman and her alleged boyfriend were hanged to death by the woman’s father, brother and husband after the woman was caught on a date with her boyfriend in the backyard of her house,” Sardar Afzal Dogar, chief of the local police station said. The victims were named as Khalida Bibi, who was in her late twenties, and Mukhtiar Muhammad, who was around 19. He said all three suspected murderers were arrested and had confessed to their crimes, adding the woman’s husband ...

For allegedly stabbing his tenant to death over space to dispose of used water, Gbade Metibemu is to be remanded at the Ikoyi Prisons, pending legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP). Metibemu, 34, was presented to face trial on a charge of murder before Magistrate Mrs. K.A. Ariyo of an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Thursday, but his plea was not taken. The prosecutor, Insp. Cpl. Hafsat Ajibodu said that the accused committed the offence on July 21 at No. 10, Apollo St., Makoko, Lagos. She said that the accused and the deceased, Bright Chineme, had an argument over where the deceased’s wife should dispose of her used water in the compound. In the course of the argument, Metibemu picked up a kitchen knife and stabbed the deceased to death, the prosecutor told the court. The offence contravenes Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, and can not be tried in lower courts, including magistrates’ courts. The section 221 prescribes a death s...

The gavel of justice For allegedly pouring a poisonous substance in a neighbour’s pot of soup, a trader, Gordon Daniel, on Thursday appeared before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos. The accused, 39, is facing trial on a charge of attempted murder. When the charge was read to the accused, he pleaded not guilty. The prosecutor, Cpl. Hafsat Ajibode said that the offence was committed on Aug. 17 at about 10.00 a.m. at No. 7, Baale Ayetoro St., Ajegunle, Lagos. Ajibode told the court that the accused had attempted to kill his neighbour by pouring the substance into her pot of soup. She said the offence contravened Section 228 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. The Magistrate, Mrs K.A. Ariyo, granted the accused bail in the sum of N500,000, with two sureties in like sum. Ariyo ordered that one of the sureties must be a blood relation of the accused and must show proof of tax payment to the State Government. The case was adjourned to Oct. 11 for receipt of advi...

The gavel of justice A father of three, Olanrewaju Aluko, on Thursday said he prepared a fake charm for his wife, Tolu, to swear with that she was not flirting around Aluko made the disclosure when he testified in a divorce petition instituted by his wife in an Ikole Customary Court in Ekiti “I am not fetish and occultic. I only asked Tolu to swear with a fake fetish substance which I prepared to confirm her innocence when I suspected her to be flirting around,” he said. He urged the court to grant him custody of their third child, saying the child, a girl, was the only that needed care. Tolu had asked the court to dissolve the 16-year-old marriage because Aluko was irresponsible and did not care for the three kids since they were born. She further accused the husband of being occultic and was always threatening her with charms and other fetish substances. “I left his house with my kids in 2012 when I could no more cope with his care-free attitude toward me and the children bu...

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has charged apex public officers in charge of Human Resource Management in the State to develop a road map that will lead to the re-affirmation of a strong unified public service. Governor Ambode ‎who gave the charge in Lagos on Thursday while declaring open a 3-day retreat for members of the various Commissions and other related boards in the State Public Service explained that a unified and non-discriminatory public would guarantee the much desired efficient and effective service delivery. “Given the experience I have gathered in the mainstream service and Local government service, l am convinced that a unified and non-discriminatory public service will guarantee the much desired efficient and effective service delivery. This will naturally result from the application of uniformed rules, standards and procedures across the various service commissions”, he said. Ambode noted that the clear understanding of the essen...

Army Spokesman Col. Sani Usman The troops of the Nigerian Army have killed four Boko Haram members near Jororo and Tombaeji villages in Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State. Col. Sani Usman, the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, in a statement on Thursday said that the troops of the Operation Lafiya Dole who carried out the clearance operation in which the insurgents were killed also captured one of them alive. Usman said the insurgents were killed in an encounter at Gajire village which lasted 15 minutes on Wednesday. According to him, “the troops recovered two General Purpose Machine Guns, two AK-47 rifles and 144 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition from the terrorists. Two Kasea-branded motorcycles were said to have also been recovered from the insurgents”. The Acting Army Spokesman also said the troops were continuing with their routine operation designed to prevent the insurgents from carrying out any attack in the area. He said, “Following reported activiti...

A 29-year-old woman, Christiana Waheed, was on Thursday ordered by an Oshogbo Magistrates’ Court to sweep the court premises for seven working days as punishment for contempt of court. The Magistrate, Mrs Olubukola Olowolagba who gave the order, said the woman should embark on the sweeping exercise due to the magnitude of the offence committed. The Prosecutor, Insp. Taiwo Adegoke told the court that the convict refused to show up in a case on September 5 when the case was mentioned by the court clerk. Adegoke said the convict took the court for granted knowing fully the date and time her case was to be mentioned. He said the offence committed contravened section 133 of the criminal code cap 34 vol.11 laws of Osun State, 2003. Counsel for the convict, Mr Najite Okobie, who pleaded with the court, prayed the court to be lenient with his client. The convict pleaded guilty to the count charges against her.

An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Thursday remanded at the Kirikiri Prisons, Apapa, an unemployed man, Jubril Aja, who confessed to stealing water taps valued at N10,000. The Magistrate, Mr. A. Adesanya, remanded Aja, 28, in prison after he admitted stealing the taps from a Mosque. Adesanya adjourned the case till September 21 for sentencing. Aja, a resident of Agege area of Lagos, was arraigned on a one-count charge of stealing. The prosecutor, Insp. George Nwosu, told the court that that the accused stole the taps on September 11 from the Allahu Walidu Central Mosque at Sunday Farm Estate, Dopemu, Agege, Lagos. Nwosu said, “The accused came into the mosque with the pretext to pray. He sat at the water side pretending to do ablution and removed two installed tap heads, packaged them inside his bag and took to his heels. “When a worshiper got to the tap to wash before entering the mosque for prayer, he discovered that the tap heads had been removed again and he raised alar...

Gov Atiku Bagudu Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi has announced the removal of 17 Local Government Sole Administrators in the state. Bagudu told newsmen after a meeting with the local council’s officials on Thursday in Birnin Kebbi that four sole administrators would retain their seats. He explained that those who were removed had completed the one-year tenure approved for them by the State House of Assembly. The governor further said that the sole administrators were initially appointed to serve for a period of three months which was later extended by the assembly after a request by the executive. Bagudu thanked the officials for serving the state and assured that the government would utilise their experiences as appropriate. He said, “The government will consequently appoint acting caretaker leaders from among appointed councillors of various local government councils. “The Sole Administrators of Arewa, Kalgo, Koko Besse and Fakai are to continue in office because their ten...

Sen. Aliyu Wamakko Sen. Aliyu Wamakko, representing Sokoto Central in the Senate, has said that the National Assembly would work closely with President Muhammadu Buhari to take Nigeria out of its present predicaments. Senator Aliyu Wamakko Wamakko said in Sokoto on Wednesday night during an interactive session with journalists, that the National Assembly would not work against anything that would be beneficial to Nigerians. According to him, the assembly is an amalgam of Nigerians, with diverse backgrounds and statuses, as such will strive to push for Nigeria’s recovery. “We will continue to support the president to take Nigeria to greater heights, as well as ensure the improvement of the living standard of Nigerians. “We are representing all Nigerians, and we will continue to do this diligently. “National Assembly will not work against anything that will better the situation in Nigeria and for all Nigerians. “As lawmakers, we are closer to the people in the grassroots and all ...

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister The chairman of President Muhammadu Buhari’s transition committee, Ahmed Joda, says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of finance, might never be found guilty of corruption. Joda said this in Yola, the capital city of Adamawa state while speaking to journalists on Tuesday. He said that while Okonjo-Iweala knew of the shady activities going on, she always sought the approval of Goodluck Jonathan, the former president, thereby protecting herself from prosecution. He said it was alarming that Okonjo-Iweala knew about the spate of corruption going on during the past regime, but held onto her job, presiding over fraudulent withdrawals from the economy. Joda said: “Okonjo-Iweala is a professional and she guarded herself. Whenever, they said this happened, she was able to produce papers to say, ‘Look, we had a meeting presided over by the president and attended by the national security adviser and others’. “And she would go back and wr...

The mother of a 10-year-old girl killed last month in a gruesome crime that shocked the United States told police that she had solicited men to rape her daughter, according to reports. Victoria Martens’ dismembered body was found in her home in the western state of New Mexico in August after police were called to the scene. Officials said that Martens, who was killed hours before her 10th birthday party, had been given methamphetamine and was sexually assaulted, stabbed, strangled and dismembered. Her mother Michelle Martens, Fabian Gonzales as well as Gonzales’s cousin, Jessica Kelley, have been charged in connection with her murder. Michelle Martens, 35, told investigators following her arrest that she had sought men online and at work to rape her daughter, the Albuquerque Journal reported. It said that Martens had set up encounters with at least three men, one of them a co-worker and two she met online, including Gonzales. The paper, quoting search warrants related to the cas...

Unity Bank Plc, on Wednesday, sacked no fewer than 215 of its employees as part of its reengineering strategy for greater performance. The workers according to information gathered from sources close to the bank, were sacked based on their inability to cope with the new ideas and strategy of the institution. Unity bank is said to have made significant strides in its repositioning drive with the attraction of specialist skills to its workforce since the relocation of its head office from Abuja to Lagos in sync with its plan to grow market share in viable clusters of the retail market. Speaking to newsmen, a source close to the bank said the new focus of the bank’s business has led to the significant enhancement of human capital in its various business units. This is with a view to injecting fresh ideas, initiatives and energies to strengthen the various departments of the bank with capabilities to pursue the attainment of strategic business focus in the Agricultural financing, reta...

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture Photo: Femi Ipaye/PM News The Federal Government has slammed the PDP for once again asking President Muhammadu Buhari to quit, calling the former ruling party a shameless irritant which is bent on distracting the government from its rescue mission and returning the country to ”Egypt”. ”We are on a rescue mission to resuscitate Nigeria after the PDP left it in a coma, and the noise from the same PDP seems designed to sabotage the rescue efforts. But we are not deterred,” the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement in Abuja on Thursday. The Minister said if the PDP had understood the meaning of shame, it would never have dared to even make a single comment on the same economy that it did everything to kill. ”While the PDP was emasculating Nigeria on all fronts, including social, economic and political, the rapacious party was deceiving Nigerians by giving them the illusion of growth and prosperi...

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump greets supporters during a campaign rally at the Canton Memorial Civic Center in Canton, Ohio, on Sept. 14, 2016. Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed doubt about Hillary Clinton’s ability to campaign for an extended period of time in a hot, crowded room, making his remark at a time when the health of both presidential candidates is under intense scrutiny. Although Trump has voiced skepticism about Clinton’s stamina in the past, he has refrained from doing so since she fell ill in public on Sunday. Later in his speech, Trump wished Clinton a speedy recovery. During a rally at a civic center here Wednesday evening, Trump, after talking about people “making less real wages” compared with 18 years ago and having to work harder, bragged about how hard he has been working on the trail. “Me? I’m working harder also, so I don’t feel sorry for any of you,” he quipped. He continued: “Oh, you think this is so easy? In this beautiful room that’s 1...

Wayne Rooney given time to rest by coach, Jose Mourinho Striker Wayne Rooney has been left out of Manchester United’s 20-man squad for Thursday’s Europa League tie in Rotterdam against Dutch side Feyenoord. Despite training on Wednesday, the 30-year-old captain will miss the club’s European opener, as will Luke Shaw, Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard. Manager Jose Mourinho said Rooney had been rested in advance of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Watford. Phil Jones is also absent after suffering lateral knee ligament damage. The injury could sideline the defender for up to a month. Mourinho wants a ‘fresh’ Rooney “Wayne has played every game since the start of the season,” said Mourinho of his decision to leave his captain in Manchester for the Group A opener. “He has also played 90 minutes for England and he played 90 minutes last weekend and I want him to be fresh for the next match. In the position he plays, I have lots of solutions.” The former Chelsea and Real Madrid m...

One of the regberegbe groups at the festival Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has commended the organisers of the annual Ojude Oba Festival, saying it has helped to promote the state government’s tourism drive. Amosun gave the commendation when he delivered his goodwill message at the event held at the Golden Jubilee Centre, Ijebu-Ode on Wednesday. The governor said the festival, which commemorates the Muslim Ileya celebration, had over the years gained popularity both nationally and internationally. “This festival remains a symbol of unity to celebrate the life of our kabiyesi, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona. “It remains a forum to highlight the level of development in Ijebuland being a rally point for all Ijebu indigenes to promote their values. “It has emerged as one of the frontline events in Ogun state and It is our belief that these festival represents one of the cardinal points in our tourism development agenda. “It also makes me proud that everyone, ...

Two Niger Delta militants arrested earlier by soldiers The Nigerian Navy on Wednesday said it would continue to clampdown on militant groups and criminal elements in the Niger Delta. This is contained in a statement signed by its Director of Information, Commodore Christian Ezekobe, in Abuja. It said that it had arrested one of the top leaders of a group called Bakassi Strike Force (BSF), adding that nabbing the suspected was part of efforts to eliminate unwholesome activities by criminals in the Niger Delta. “The suspected militant, Mr Uduak Thompson aka SANGATA, was arrested on Sept. 12 in his hideout in Calabar by a joint team from Nigerian Navy Ship VICTORY and Defence Intelligence Agency,” it said. The statement recalled that some top members of the BSF had earlier been arrested. In a related development, the patrol team deployed by Naval Outpost (NOP) Ikuru has arrested four suspected sea robbers, who were alleged to be responsible for several attacks and robbery incidents...

Josephine Orji Josephine Orji won a gold medal in women power-lifting’s +86 kg category for Nigeria’s 8th gold medal at the Rio Paralympics Games on Wednesday. Orji’s victory gave Nigeria its 11th medal at the Games, where it is taking part in three sports only. The 37-year old Nigerian lifted 154kg to win her medal, while she lifted 160kg to set new world and Games records in the event. Marzena Zieba of Poland won the silver medal with a lift of 134kg, while Melaica Tuinfort of The Netherlands won the bronze medal by lifting 130kg.

Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, former governor of Katsina State Former governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In a statement signed by the Commission’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC said Shema was first summoned in December 2015 and has since ignored all invitations extended to him to appear before the Commission. EFCC declares former governor Ibrahim Shema wanted The poster declaring him wanted stated the former governor is wanted for alleged criminal conspiracy, inflation of contract, abuse of office, diversion of funds and embezzlement running into billions of naira.

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu The United States will give Israel $38 billion in military aid over a decade, the largest such aid package in U.S. history, under an agreement disclosed this week and signed on Wednesday. The deal, whose details were reported by Reuters earlier, will allow Israel to upgrade most of its fighter aircraft, improve its ground forces’ mobility and strengthen its missile defense systems, a top U.S. official said. While the package constitutes the most U.S. military aid ever given to any country, it entails concessions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to officials on both sides. Those include Israel’s promise not to seek additional funds from Congress beyond what will be guaranteed annually in the new package, and to phase out a special arrangement that has allowed Israel to spend part of its U.S. aid on its own defense industry instead of on American-made weapons, the officials said. ...