INFO-WORLD

A teenage bride, Wasila Umaru, has allegedly killed her 35-year-old husband, Umaru Sani, and three others in Ungwar Maisoro, Gaya Local Government Area of Kano State, with a rat poison which she administered on the food she served the victim and 14 of his friends. Spokesman of the Kano State Police Command, ASP Musa Magaji Majiya, who revealed this at a press conference yesterday, said 14-year-old Wasila reportedly bought the rodent pesticide known in local parlance as Shinkafa Bera, at a village market for N8. The unsuspecting husband and three of his friends were said to have eaten the poisonous food and gave up the ghost in the process. Two of the friends, Nasiru Mohammed and Alhassan Alhassan of Yansoro Kademi, died on the spot, while the other female victim, Indo Ibrahim, lost her life at the hospital. The ten others who ate the food alongside the deceased were treated and discharged at the hospital. Wasila confessed to the act, justifying it on the ground of ...

The State Criminal Investigation Department, Lagos State Police Command, has arrested a 27-year-old man, Lekan Adelaja, for allegedly cutting off the penis of his one-year-old nephew, Basheeru Akintoye. The police also arrested one Obinwanne Onukwo who was accused of sending Adelaja to carry out the dastardly act. PUNCH Metro  had reported last week that Basheeru’s penis was cut off when his 20-year-old mother, Abidemi, went to a nearby house to have sex with one Fatai who was a friend to her husband. It was reported that the police subsequently arrested Fatai for the alleged crime, while Abidemi was arrested for her negligence. The baby was said to have been rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba. Our correspondent, however, learnt that the police arrested the prime suspect and also recovered the penis. The penis, it was learnt, had already decayed. A source said, “We knew that Fatai and Abidemi were not the ones that cut off the penis so ...

A 17-year-old boy has died after being beaten up with sticks by men of the Enugu State Waste Management Agency. Before his death, the boy, Chidiebere Edeh, lived with his parents at 20 Ifenze Street in the Abakpa area of the state and was sitting for the ongoing Senior School Certificate Examination. PUNCH   Metro  learnt that he died at about 3pm on Monday, nine hours after being beaten up by five ESWAMA agents and a police officer. It was gathered that a scuffle between ESWAMA agents and Chidiebere ensued minutes after the deceased allegedly disposed of a bag of rubbish at one of the approved dumpsites. Apparently not happy with the manner he discarded the rubbish, residents who live close to the dump site told our correspondent that the ESWAMA agents immediately began to hit him with sticks. “All attempts by the boy to explain to them that the rubbish was tied into a big black nylon bag, as recommended by ESWAMA, and neatly dumped proved abortive,” said o...

An unemployed engineering graduate of Ekiti State University, Mr. Sunday Omotayo, was on Wednesday prevented from committing suicide by the police and prison officials. Omotayo, who caused a stir along Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, when he deliberately jumped out of a speeding Toyota Hiace bus, expecting to be crushed to death by other vehicles, said he was tired of life as he had been searching for a job for the past 10 years after graduation. Some policemen, who were on patrol at the time of the incident, told our correspondent that Omotayo had in the morning gone to the state prison asking the officials to either kill him or make way for him to rot in the prison. A prison officer, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that they saw him – well dressed and wearing a tie – running towards them. He added that his action forced them to become alert with their guns. He said, “The next thing he said was ‘shoot me, shoot me, I want to die, I...

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided by President Goodluck Jonathan has approved a fine of between N50,000 to six months  imprisonment or both for individuals who smoke in areas not designated. The penalties for corporate offenders varied from N1million to N5million and one year to two years imprisonment for the chief executives of such firms. It has also approved the total ban of all forms of advertisement of tobacco and would not accept gifts of any kind from the tobacco firms. These are all contained in the approved draft National Tobacco Control Bill 2004 that would be sent to the National Assembly as an Executive Bill for promulgation into law. Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, the Minister of Information, Mr. Laban Maku; and the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, disclosed  that considering the several health implications prevalent with consumption of tobacco, government needs to take actions that would delibe...

The Ebola Virus Disease, which has caused the death of scores of people in Central and West Africa may be heading towards Nigeria, the Federal Government has said. Over 100 people have died from the disease in Guinea, while about 10 deaths have also been recorded in Liberia. Mali, Ghana, and other West African countries have also reported cases of the disease. The disease is believed to be spread through physical contact or contact with fluid of infected persons. The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that it expects the disease to continue in West Africa for the next few months. Speaking to journalists after the weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, FEC, on Wednesday, the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, however, said no case of the disease has been reported in Nigeria. “Like you pointed out, Ebola has been moving eastward towards Nigeria. We are already facing danger from Central African Republic, even with what is happening in Congo; peo...

AT a closed door meeting with the leadership of the House of Representatives, members of the House, on Wednesday, reportedly demanded for increase in their quarterly allowance to N45 million, Nigerian Tribune can report. Findings revealed that each member of the House currently enjoys  N27 million per quarter as allowances. Nigerian Tribune gathered that members of the House from both ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and opposition parties were in unison on the clamour for increase in the quarterly allowance. It was also learnt that members, at the closed door meeting, held at hearing room 028 at the House of Representatives building, queried the leadership of the House on its inability to accommodate their “interest” in the 2014 budget estimates still awaiting the passage of the House. The meeting, held before the Wednesday’s plenary session, according to the Nigerian Tribune, dwelt on members’ welfare. According to a member who pleaded anonymity, “members of t...

FOR safety, security agencies have restricted the movement of some dignitaries. On the list of the Very Important Personalities (VIPs) are the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, former-President Shehu Shagari, former military President Ibrahim Babangida, former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and others. Also affected by the “protective” restriction are prominent emirs, governors, former-governors, ministers, former-ministers and some highly-placed Nigerians. Those concerned are to depend on travel advisory from security agencies before visiting any part of the Northeast – the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has claimed thousands of lives. It was learnt that where visits are inevitable, security will be strengthened to guarantee the passage of such personalities. The travel advisory followed threats by Boko Haram to attack Gen. Babangida and a former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari. Others targeted by the sect are Kano State Governor R...

The Senate yesterday passed the 2014 budget totalling N4.695 trillion, an amount which is N52.2bn higher than the N4.642trn submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan. In the same vein, the House of Representatives will today begin consideration of the report of the 2014 budget which was presented to the House yesterday by the chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Hon. John Enoh. The co-ordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had, on December 19, last year, submitted the budget proposal to the National Assembly. The Senate passed the budget after a clause-by-clause consideration of the budget. Highlights of the 2014 budget as approved by the Senate are statutory transfers (N408,687,801,891), debt service (N712,000,000,000), recurrent expenditure (N2,454,887,566,702), and capital expenditure (N1,119,614,631,407) while the aggregate expenditure is N4,695,190,000,000. Though the executive pegged $74 per barrel as benchmark oi...

President Goodluck Jonathan is set to run as the sole candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at its November 2014 presidential primary. Reason: the national leadership of the party has secretly agreed to allow the president take the presidential ticket without any opposition from within. By implication, the deal on the much-touted automatic ticket for President Jonathan has been sealed. Regardless of the automatic ticket deal already struck in favour of Jonathan, the leadership of the PDP will not entrench it in the constitution of the party “in order to avoid needless crisis in the future”, LEADERSHIP was told in confidence. According to an impeccable source, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), the decision to give President Jonathan the “right of first refusal” became necessary for two reasons: the need to avoid bickering and deepen internal party democracy and the absence of any serious presidential aspirant in the party. Nonetheless, the sour...

A 30-year old man, identified as Chukwudi Nwode, a native of Egwudinagu Obegu Village in Ebonyi local government area of Ebonyi State was, yesterday, paraded by the Ebonyi State Police Command for allegedly be-heading his 56-year-old biological father, Micheal Nwode Awam. Parading the suspect, the Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, ASP Chris Anyanwu said that the suspect who returned to the village from Owerri, Imo State, where he works as a brick-layer, met his father at home when most of the family members had gone to the farm. According to the PPRO, “it is suspected that immediately the suspect returned home and observed that there was no one else at home, he rushed into the house, grabbed a pestle and cutlass. He hit the man with the pestle and when he fell, he chopped off his head. “Surprisingly, the suspect ensured that he chopped off the head from the base of the neck and, immediately, he succeeded in doing that, he began to suck the blood and che...

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau likely has little control over his fighters, the International Crisis Group said on Thursday, calling the terror group “more dispersed than ever”. A new report from the Brussels-based think-tank said many of Boko Haram’s senior commanders are probably based outside Nigeria, including in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger. Shekau, declared a global terrorist by the United States which put a $7 million bounty on his head, frequently issues fiery video messages that claim credit for attacks. But little is known about the insurgent commander, including his potential whereabouts or the extent of his influence in the Islamist militia blamed for killing 1,500 people already this year. Boko Haram’s “isolated leader, the violent Abubakar Shekau, probably has little daily control over cells,” the Crisis Group said. The insurgents were “more dispersed than ever, with many leaders in (Nigeria’s) Adamawa mountains, Cameroon, and Niger”, it added. ...

The social media has been agog with a footage of a student of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, dancing stark naked. The student, identified simply as Bisi, was filmed in the three-minute 44-second video dancing to the rhythm of a popular hip-hop song in a sexually provocative manner. The video was shot in the university hostel with the aid of a webcam attached to the laptop of one of her female friends, Jacklyn. In the video, which has since become an Internet sensation, Jacklyn and another female student were seen joining Bisi in the dance, but with their clothes on. The video was said to have found its way to the Internet when Bisi and Jacklyn’s mutual male friend who had been making unsuccessful advances to Bisi allegedly got hold of the video on the laptop that was used for the recording. Checks by  iPUNCH  on Thursday on the Twitter pages of Bisi and Jacklyn showed that the duo had expressed regrets for their actions since the video went trending onl...

After Lupita Nyong'o got news of Beyonce's husband Jay z giving her a shout out in his verse of Jay Electronica's 'We Made It' song, The lovely actress is soo happy. The Oscar award winner tweeted yesterday that she is really honoured to have been mentioned and feels part of the culture. Despite Jay also going negative in the track and dissing Canadian rapper Drake in the same track, Lupita loves the accolade Mr Carter gave to her. Lupita was born March 1 1983 and has two citizenship as Mexican and Kenyan, she gradueted from Hampshire where she studied theatre studies and has a master's degree in acting from Yale school of Drama. Her huge role on 12 Years A Slave earned her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and she is reported to be dating Canadian-Somalian Rapper K'naan.

‘Skelewu’ crooner David Adeleke aka Davido, has made successful plans to take on the armour of acting in Nollywood. The artiste, who is to work under veteran Nollywood director Teco Benson, is delighted to have a feel of the acting industry. According to reports making the rounds, Davido we learnt got the movie role courtesy his cousin, Ikechukwu Ojeogwu, an actor cum producer. “This is Davido’s first movie appearance, I, as the producer, have been able to work out things in such a manner that it would be beneficial to us all. I’ve crafted out a role that I know would put him in a comfortable position and won’t make him either excessive or otherwise.” Ikechukwu added that the script has been done in such a way that he (Davido), doesn’t over shadow the beauty of the script but to add his weight to the success of the project.

The Nigerian music industry is replete with phenomenal musical groups, which held everyone spellbound, but shockingly separating to abysmal solo careers.  E-gist  in retrospect, takes a look at some of the musical groups, perceived cause of breakup and performance as solo artistes. They made great hits and were loved by all. They gained fame and fortune, and suddenly, when everyone thought they would stick for life, they split. What followed was unimaginable; an amazingly disappointing solo careers, for most. Interestingly, however, there are a few who are doing well for themselves. This is the mixed fortunes of the Nigerian music industry where it appears that musical groups are increasingly becoming extinct. Have you ever given thought to what is happening to individual members of the Plantashun Boiz or the Remedies? How about Kush, Mandators, Xclusives, Zule Zoo, Tribesmen, JJC and the 419 Squad, Oriental Brothers, Junior and Pretty, Maintain and countless others...