BREAKING NEWS ....NIGERIA

Reports had emerged recently that the Nigeria Army had, over the weekend, launched a military operation in the Niger Delta region codenamed “Operation Crocodile Smile”. Armored tanks of the Army were pictured on some streets in Delta state. The Army says part of the aims of the new operation is to provide adequate security for residents in the region as well as critical national economic assets in the region. See More Photos Below

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, has pledged to use Nigerian languages in offering services on Facebook. Zuckerberg, who is currently on a business visit to Nigeria, made the promise at a meeting with software developers and ICT entrepreneurs on Wednesday in Lagos. He said that social media application currently allowed the use of Hausa language on Facebook. “I am glad we support Hausa and we are planning on supporting a lot more languages soon.” Zuckerberg also expressed his willingness to work with local content providers in bringing Nigerian communities to the internet. He said that having local contents on the Facebook platform would ensure that more people were connected. According to him, in the next 10 to 15 years, Facebook hopes to get everyone in the world connected online. Zuckerberg is currently meeting with developers, entrepreneurs and startups. His first stop is the Co-creation Hub Nigeria (CcHUB), a social innovation centre in Yaba, dedicated to accelerati...

He said: “few weeks ago, both the clergy and the laity gathered and showed their anger over the activities of these Fulani herdsmen; we were able to calm people down; we said let us give government a chance; but you can see the climax, a student has just been butchered; it looks like we are being targeted every year, we are being attacked. “The government should do something about this; it is very painful; it is very sad. This is not the way to do things; all of a sudden these people have assumed another efrontery, they have assumed another boldness, they have assumed another attitude. “If they cannot live with us together, let them quietly go; this is our land, we cannot pack out of this place. “We are pleading with all the security agencies to look into this because at a time, people may not hold their patience again, there may be free range of anger and violence. “Of course we are not prone to violence but at a time we can really be stretched so much that we will have no optio...

There seems to be trouble in agitation group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Nnamdi Kanu as the group has split into two with the breakaway group spotting the name, The Rebranded Indigenous People of Biafra (TRIPOB). The breakaway group, TRIPOB, has picked October 1, Nigeria’s Independence Day, to publicly denounce Biafra Republic and burn its flag. According to Chima ‘Phillip Effiong’ Osuji, who released a statement on behalf of the group on Wednesday, the decision was taken on Monday at the end of an emergency meeting of “disaffected” IPOB members. TRIPOB said it now sees the Biafra question “from a different perspective”, as Biafra will now become “a powerful metaphor for change, development and greatness of the Igbos inside a united Nigeria”. It said it had “accepted the fact that the Biafra Republic is not a reality but an anachronism”, and doubts that the south-south region will ever become a part of a Biafra Republic, except by force after a declaration of another...

The Nigerian army has claimed that Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau has been “fatally wounded” in an unprecedented air raid that also killed several top commanders of the Islamist group. The claim is yet to be independently verified but the Nigerian Army confirmed the news through its twitter handle. In the early hours of Tuesday (23 August), the Nigerian army wrote on Twitter: “Breaking News: Nigerian Air Force raid kills Boko Haram terrorists commanders… ‘Abubakar Shekau’ fatally wounded.” The army’s claims come a day after the Nigerian air force said as many as 300 Boko Haram insurgents were killed during operations in the state of Borno, a stronghold of the Islamist group. Over the past few days, the Nigerian army has been conducting aerial operations against the extremist group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (Isis) group and seeks to abolish Western influence in the African nation.

The Dream Team have gotten their rewards from Japanese surgeon Katsuya Takasu – Samson Siasia and Mikel Obi were each given $200,000 and $190,000 respectively Japanese surgeon Katsuya Takasu has fulfilled his promise to give the U-23 Dream Team cash rewards for their efforts at the Rio Olympics.

The Ogun State Police Command has rearrested Joe Chinakwe, the man who named his pet dog Buhari. He would be arraigned in court on Monday. According to the state’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, Chinakwe, who was earlier released a few days ago, was picked up again based on the belief that the suspect’s action was capable of provoking an ethnic religious crisis. He said, He is going to court on Monday because what he did was highly provocative. It can cause an ethnic and religious crisis. We have to be proactive, we cannot fold our arms and allow the state to be plunged into crisis. In fact, the arrest was made to save the suspect’s life because the complainant and his group have threatened to kill him if he comes back and this may trigger violence.”

Nigerian Army, Friday said, claims by the Boko Haram insurgents that, 40 of the Chibok girls abducted were killed by military fighter jet was an attempt to draw empathy through manipulative means as according to the military, the bodies shown on the video clips did not lool like people killed by fighter plane but those killed by Ak47 rifle. Speaking at a press conference at the Media Centre of the Garrison Command of the 7 Division Nigerian Army Maiduguri, the Theatre Commander, Major General Leo Irabor explained that, it is a matter of common sense for people to understand that, the Boko Haram insurgents are using all forms of propaganda to arrest public attention and to show that, they are still strong in the ongoing crises in the northeast. According to him, “Boko Haram’s days are numbered, their future is disastrous, but they can save themselves from the disaster that awaits them if they see rea...

Srey Makny, a substitute prosecutor at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said the eight, along with one Cambodian woman, were arrested after police caught the group allegedly trafficking one kilogram of crystal methamphetamine in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district in January 2015 Presiding Judge Khy Chhay named the nine on trial as Okorom Nhabu Favor, 36, Izuchukwu Chuwuma, 40, Nnamezie Victor, 30, Simon Maduka Ukadu, 45, Sunday Nwabusi, 31, Okorom Kizito Chimedu, 35, Francis Nnamedi, 30, Tony Mmaduka Chuwuonye, 34, and Morn Vinyung, 31. They were all charged under article 40 of the Drug Law. Despite an admission of guilt from Ms. Vinyung, Mr. Chuwuonye’s girlfriend at the time of their arrest, all eight men denied the charges against them, saying they were Christian missionaries who came to Phnom Penh to open a church. Captain Proeung Pheap, deputy chief of the Anti-Drug Unit at the 9th Intervention Police Office in the Ministry of Interior’s anti-drug department, said the group wa...

Former President Goodluck Jonathan is to lead the African Union Elections Observation Mission, AUEOM, to the Zambian general elections scheduled take place on October 11, 2016. A statement posted on AU’s website yesterday stated that Jonathan would be leading members of the short term mission to join the continental body’s deployment of long term election experts who are already on ground in Zambia, adding that the chairperson of African Union Commission, AUC, approved it. The statement read, “The Chairperson of the AUC has approved the deployment of African Union Elections Observation Mission, AUEOM, to the General Elections scheduled to place in the Republic of Zambia on October 11, 2016. “The deployment of the AUEOM will take place in two phases. The first phase comprise the deployment of long term election experts and took place from July 14 to August 22, 2016 and it is made up of 10 observers. “For the first time, the AU long term experts include election/ legal political/media/c...

Liverpool wonder-kid Sheyi Ojo netted their consolation goal against Italian giants AS Roma on Thursday night. English Premier League (EPL) giants suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Roma in the International Champions Cup game. The pre-season encounter was played at the Busch Stadium, a baseball park located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America (U.S.A). Ojo, who restored parity for the Reds towards the half-time break with a great header, is looking forward to the 2016/17 campaign. “Dejan (Lovren) headed the ball across, I just assumed he was going to do that and luckily for me I was there to head it into the net,” Ojo told Liverpool’s official website. “The most important thing is the team and everyone got fitter and we are getting stronger and looking forward to the new season.” The 19-year-old whose full name is Oluwaseyi Babajide Ojo, recently represented England at the 2016 UEFA Under-19 Championships in Germany. The England-born winger is still eligible to play for Nig...

The head of an international criminal network behind thousands of online frauds has been arrested in a joint operation by INTERPOL and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). The 40-year-old Nigerian national, known as ‘Mike’, is believed to be behind scams totalling more than USD 60 million involving hundreds of victims worldwide. In one case, a target was conned into paying out USD 15.4 million. The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the US, with the financial victims mainly other companies dealing with these compromised accounts. Heading a network of at least 40 individuals across Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa which both provided malware and carried out the frauds, the alleged mastermind also had money laundering contacts in China, Europe and the US who provided bank account details for the illicit cash flow. Following his ar...

The Concessionaire of Alade Shopping Mall, Master Reality International Concepts Limited on Sunday said the relocation of shop owners and traders from old Alade Market to the new one followed due process. The concessionaire also debunked allegations of unlawful invasion into the market and forceful ejection of the traders which some aggrieved traders under the aegis of Association of Concerned Traders in Alade Markets leveled against it. Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Master Reality International Concepts Limited, Lai Omotola made the clarification in a statement he issued in response to an open letter a legal practitioner, Jiti Ogunye wrote to the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday on behalf of the concerned traders. In the letter to Ambode, the concerned traders had alleged that the officials of Ikeja Local Government and by extension Lagos State Government continued “to invade the market and eject traders therefrom.” However, Omotola said the letter contained some ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the abortive coup attempt in Turkey by a group of rebel army officers and men, which resulted in the reported death of more than 100 people. Reacting to the tragic events in Ankara, Istanbul and other centres, President Buhari said he was “deeply saddened by reports of a violent attempt to dismantle constitutional authority and disrupt the democratically elected government of Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey.” “The removal of a democratic government by force is no longer acceptable. Violence can never solve any problem but only complicates them and sets back the progress of democratic societies.” The President also noted that President Erdogan was one of Nigeria’s close international partners and sincere supporters in its current war against terrorism, adding that all should resist the “destabilization of democratic countries through coups d’état in the 21st century.” According to the President, “democracy provides peaceful options of changing ...

A group of suspected Muslim youths, yesterday, attacked St. Philip’s Catholic Parish, Baki Iku, close to Zuma Rock in Niger State, destroying properties worth thousands of naira. This is coming just some days after a female Evangelist in the Redeem Christian Church of God, Mrs. Eunice Olawale, was brutally killed by suspected Muslim extremists. According to the Vicar-General of Parish, Revered-Father Gobep Luka Sylvester, about 200 Muslim youths stormed the Church premises yesterday and destroyed properties of the church. According to Thisday newspaper, some Catholics had gone to the church to pray and were attacked by the Muslims who claimed that Friday was their day of prayer and that the Church only had right to worship on Sundays. According to Reverend Sylvester, “Sometime around 2pm, some Muslim youths in numbering 200 left their Mosque after their Friday Jumat prayer and rushed to the Church premises, climbed the wall and destroyed everything in the Church: the windows, t...

ne of the militant groups in the Niger Delta, the Ultimate Warriors, on Saturday rejected the position taken by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta to lead the agitators’ negotiations with the federal government. The group, in a statement by its spokesman, Sibiri Taiowoh, accused MEND of lacking the credibility to take on such a huge task, noting that the ex-militant group would only worsen the current situation. “Furthermore, MEND should stop playing itself up as if they are one credible body to reckon with in respect to the renewed agitations. “We did not embrace the dialogue initiative because of MEND; so, it is not for MEND to dictate and set the pace for us. Let them not give us or any of our affiliates bogus criteria… otherwise, they would only succeed in worsening the situation”, the group said. But MEND, while recently accepting the dialogue option, held that the aegis under which all militants would negotiate should be its Aaron 2 Peace Initiative to be...

A Niger Delta group, Urhobo Monitoring and Development Group, on Saturday called on President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to fix the country’s ailing economy from sliding into total collapse. Prince Kingsley Oberuruaria, National President of UMDG, told journalists that Nigerians are hungry noting that the economy needs proactive measure to prevent it sliding into eminent ‘recession.’ Oberuruaria stressed that there was nothing wrong for a government to wedge war against corruption but the same attention should also be accorded to the nation’s dying economy where the average Nigerian can hardly afford a meal per day at present The group said it has observed that the APC-led federal government was not doing enough to tackle the economy which it reminded the government that hunger knows no political or religious affiliations. It also expressed reservation with the ongoing diversification into economy and other sectors saying that the Niger Delta region was being ignore in ...

Troops of the 29 Brigade Reaction Force, QRF, in conjunction with Civilian Joint Task Force during a mop up operation on Friday killed two suspected Boko Haram members in Marguba, Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State. Disclosing this in a statement, the Army spokesperson, Col. Sani Usman said the two insurgents were killed while several members of the group escaped with gunshot wounds. The statement reads, “In their bid to clear the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists hiding in some parts of the North East of the country, troops have intensified efforts in clearance operations. “It is in this regards that the 29 Brigade Quick Reaction Force (QRF), in conjunction with Civilian JTF carried out an ambush against Boko Haram terrorists east of Marguba village in Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State yesterday, Friday. “The troops killed two of the Boko Haram terrorists, while some of them sustained gun shot wounds as could be seen from traces of blood during mopping up.” Usm...