INFO-WORLD

Jageer Mirgind was left blind and scarred for life after 51-year-old Manjit Mirgind slashed her wrists and stabbed her in the eyes screaming “I am going to kill you.” Mrs Mirgind’s children, just three and six years old, watched the horrific attack at their mother’s home in Kensington Gardens, Ilford, East London and pleaded with their grandfather to stop. The mother has been left partially-sighted in both eyes while the children can no longer sleep alone and have recurring nightmares The crazed attacker wrongly believed his daughter-in-law was ‘sleeping with a Paki’ and that she had ‘ruined his family’, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. Tragically, Mirgind misunderstood the situation when his daughter was the victim of a series of prank calls.  After punching her in the face he dragged her into the kitchen where he savagely kicked her before grabbing a knife. He eventually left and went home as his wife called an ambulance for Mrs Mirgind. He later turned himse...

Policemen attached to Orile division, Lagos have arrested a 38-year‑old man for allegedly being in possession of a fresh human head. The suspect, identified as Mustapha Bakare was arrested, Tuesday evening, around White Sands by a team of anti‑robbery policemen on patrol. Bakare was reportedly sighted with a polythene bag and was stopped for a search. Rather than comply, he reportedly took to his heels, holding firm to the polythene bag, an action that was said to have aroused suspicion. The policemen reportedly chased and apprehended him. When asked to disclose the contents of the bag, he hesitated. Confirming the arrest, spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braide, said when the bag was eventually searched, a fresh human head was discovered. According to Braide, “The Police team that arrested the suspect was led by Inspector Bernard Oyinlade while they were conducting a stop-and-search operation near White Sands area of Orile. “The team stopped ...

Boko Haram terrorists are reportedly asking for 40 cows as a precondition for the release of each of the 20 abducted Fulani women, whom they had held in captivity for about a week now, husbands of the abducted women and security sources have said. The insurgents who picked up the women in Garkin Fulani, a nomadic settlement near Chibok town last week Thursday are now reaching out to the husbands of the kidnapped women with what could be described as ransom. A police official in Maiduguri who spoke to LEADERSHIP under strict condition of anonymity said many Fulani herdsmen had reported cases of abduction to them in various police Divisional headquarters and outposts around Damboa and Kaga local government areas of Borno State. The police source said, the husbands and fathers of the abducted women were not ready to part with even a single calf as ransom for the release of their wives and daughters. ‘You know the Fulanis hold their herds more dearly, because without it ...

AMERICAN Marines are likely to remain in Nigeria for the foreseeable future after US State Department officials revealed that their troops will not leave the country until the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram are found. On April 14, Boko Haram abducted about 234 pupils from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State, prompting an international outcry. Military experts from the US, UK. Israel and France all arrived in Nigeria to help with the search, with Drones and spy planes brought in to help with aerial reconnaissance. In May this year, US Marines were seen patrolling the streets of Abuja as Nigeria hosted the seventh World Economic Forum on Africa in a bid to provide security for the hundreds of delegates amid the terrorist threat from Boko Haram. Later that month, General David Rodriguez, the former deputy commander of US Forces in Afghanistan and commander of the United States Africa Command (Africom), arrived in Nigeria. Yesterday,  Marie Harf, ...

Residents of Jones Street and Daodu Lane in Ebute Meta, Lagos State, in the early hours of Wednesday, confronted some suspected armed robbers in the area. They succeeded in apprehending two of them and handed them over to the Iponri Police Division. The suspects were said to have been part of a gang that had spent hours robbing several houses in the area. PUNCH Metro  learnt that the robbery started about 11pm on Tuesday evening when the gang members, who residents claimed were also cult members, stormed several houses, wielding cutlasses, axes and machetes. Our correspondent further gathered that the men, who were six in number, were led by one Kingsley, a notorious cult leader with no fixed address. One of the residents, identified simply as Mr. Ademolu, who sustained machete wounds, said he engaged the robbers in a combat because they wanted to kill him. He said, “It was about 5am when they got to my house. Everywhere was dark. I was aware that they had been...

Residents and traders of Nosamu Street and Boundary Market, Ajegunle, Lagos, yesterday, took to the streets, protesting the killing of a father of three by some hoodlums known as ‘One Million Boys’, weekend. The protesters, who raised alarm on activities of the thugs and called on the state government and security agents to come to their aid, also expressed fears that their lives were in danger . Vanguard  gathered that the deceased, identified as Yusuf Ademola, was stabbed to death by the rampaging thugs, who attempted to unseat the chairman of Nosamu tricycle union. How he was killed Explaining how life was snuffed out of Ademola, 28, who was a night guard at Boundary Market, one of the protesters who identified himself as Nurudeen Shoyega said: “The incident happened in broad daylight, when the ‘One Million Boys’ armed with dangerous weapons, including guns, stormed Nosamu Street and started shooting indiscriminately, in their bid to take over  Keke Nap...

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, yesterday warned corps members not to report to any of the troubled northern states despite monetary inducements by the state governments. The affected states are Borno, Adamawa and Yobe where further posting of corps members have been suspended over security concerns A state of emergency has been in force in the states for over 13 months due to sustained attacks by the Boko Haram sect. NYSC authorities said that corps members who flouted the directive were on their own and should be ready to face the consequences of their actions. NYSC Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, who spoke at the Annual Management Conference of the scheme in Calabar yesterday said that the stand of the management followed the discovery that some stubborn corps members posted outside these violence-prone states found their way there to make quick money offered by state governments. According to him, until normalcy returns to the three states, NY...

A 24-year-old, Olaoluwa Oluwadara, has bagged a Ph.D degree in Mathematics at the just concluded 2012/2013 session convocation ceremony at the University of Lagos. Olaoluwa, who bagged his first and second degrees in  Mathematics and Physics  in 2007 and 2008 respectively from the Universite de Bangui in Central African Republic, graduated with a Cummulative Gross Point Average (CGPA) of 5.0 [first degree]. Olaoluwa’s feat supersedes that of Olabisi Adeyemi, a 26-year-old female who bagged a Ph.D with a CGPA of 4.98 in 2012 and Opeyemi Shodipe, 25 of Babcock University. While speaking during the convocation, the Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, Professor Rahmon Bello, appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan  to urgently intervene in the resolution of the over 10-month strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and the Academic Staff Union of Colleges of Education of Nigeria (ASUCEON). He appealed to the Federal Government to consider ...

We know that many of the sugary foods and drinks we take have consequences on our oral health. But many do not know that using the wrong tooth brush can damage their teeth and gums. One habit that wrecks the teeth, according to dentists, is the use of hard tooth brushes, especially smokers tooth brush, when it has not been recommended by an expert. Consultant dentist, Dr. Evelyn Eshikena, notes that using hard toothbrushes can erode the tooth’s enamel, reduce its quality and cause tooth loss. She states,“ Hard brushes are only recommended for those with stained teeth – maybe coffee drinkers and smokers because they will need something hard for soft polishing. If you don’t have this, you are supposed to be using soft or medium-textured brushes; or else you may develop teeth sensitivity and damage your enamel.” Eshikena say for kids, only soft brushes should be used. Another habit that the experts note may compromise ones oral hygiene is self medication. Consultant Denti...

LAGOS State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday, approved a reduction in the school fees charged by the Lagos State University (LASU) authorities by 60 per cent, as part of measures to resolve the lingering crisis rocking the institution. The Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr Fatai Olukoga, made this known at a press conference, which he addressed on Wednesday. Olukoga, flanked by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Aderemi Ibirogba; Special Adviser to the Governor on Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Raji and the Special Adviser on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello, said the state executive council had ordered the university governing council to implement 34 to 60 per cent school fees reduction across board without delay. However,  president of the institution’s Student’s Union, Mr Yusuf Temitope, vehemently kicked against the decision of the government to slash the school fees, saying such decision was not acceptable to the entire s...

There is serious trouble brewing in the camp of the All progressive Congress(APC). As matter of fact its forthcoming convention may trigger an implosion that may rip the party apart. As the party struggles to manage its image of a party that is insensitive to religion considering the muslim/muslim package kite flown by some big wigs, the APC top shots are preparing for a showdown at the convention. The showdown, Pointblanknews.com sources hinted, will be as a result of struggle over structure of the party between the power blocs. The power blocs today are Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on one hand and General Muhamadu Buhari and Senator Modu Sheriff on the other. Hitherto Tinubu who parades himself as a ceremonial ‘leader’ of the party to the consternation of men like Modu Sheriff, had favored a situation where some key officers holding interim offices would be unopposed. But Modu Sheriff had insisted there must be an election across board. This matter led to a heated debate a...

Former chairman, House of Repre­sentatives  Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Farouk Lawan and its ex-secretary, Boni­face Emenalo were yester­day re-arraigned before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Gudu, Abuja. The seven-count charge against them bordered on receiving of bribe and abuse of office. This include the  allega­tion that they received $620, 000 as bribe from the Chair­man,  Zenon Oil and Gas, Femi Otedola, to exclude the names of Otedola’s com­ panies-Zenon Petroleum and Gas as well as Synopsis Enterprises Limited, from the list of companies found to have allegedly defrauded the Federal Government of billions of naira. The lawmakers were ear­lier arraigned on the same charge before Justice Mu­dashiru Oniyangi formerly of the FCT High Court, Abuja before his elevation to the Court of Appeal some months ago. Justice Oniyangi’s eleva­tion informed the transfer of the case to a new judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko...

It was pressure from President Goodluck Jonathan that forced the profligate Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, to back down on his scandalous pension law, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report. A flustered Mr. Akpabio had last week said following nationwide outcry, he was requesting the state assembly to immediately review the law, with a view to expunging one of its obnoxious provisions. “This is a democracy and you must listen to the voice of the people,” Mr. Akpabio had said. “What I have decided to do, in consultation with the state executive council, is to appeal to the house of assembly to immediately expunge the obnoxious provision or that which is interpreted to be obnoxious.” Mr. Akpabio had indicated he would only expunge the provision of the law which provided for N100 million medical allowance for ex-governors. “I hope that will satisfy Nigerians,” he said. He is, however, unwilling to give up his request for a mansion in Uyo or Abuja and a d...

The bid by the minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, to become the next secretary-general of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was yesterday dashed as the body decided to extend the tenure of the incumbent secretary-general, Libya’s Abdalla Salem el-Badri amidst protests against her bid. The conference decided to extend El-Badri tenure for a period of six months from January 1, 2015, but gave no reasons for the extension. LEADERSHIP gathered that Diezani was almost sailing through as the Secretary-General OPEC until a petition and protests of the alleged$20billion oil missing money in Vienna yesterday, spearheaded by the Director of Gatekeepers Nigeria, Mr Blessing Agbomhere, scuttled her bid. Without the protest and petition Diezani perhaps would have been the first female Secretary-General of OPEC. Speaking to exclusively LEADERSHIP, Agbomhere said he was in Vienna to ask Diezani to refund the missing $20billion or explain to...

Contrary to reports, the new Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, is not operating outside the Emir’s palace due to security concerns, but because of “certain normal arrangements that precedes any emir’s grand entry into the palace,” a source familiar with the workings of the emirate council informed PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday. He said the presence of the police within the emir’s palace area is to safeguard it against protesters. He added that most of the emirs in the past, including the immediate past emir, Ado Bayero, took sometime before they went into the palace. “Traditionally, a new emir does not even go into the palace through the front door,” he said. “Rather, he chooses within the wall of the palace a specific location in which he wants to use to enter the palace. That portion of the wall is then opened for him to enter.” He explained that the late Mr. Bayero used a part of the western end of the fence to enter the palace. “If you notice towards the western end, along Yola r...

Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, yesterday, raised alarm that the Federal Government was trying to harm him and his family by withdrawing a substantial number of his security aides and policemen. The governor has also accused the Federal Government of sponsoring those he described as the enemies of the state to embark on violent protests across the state with a view to bringing down his administration. Kwankwaso, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with four other governors to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, last December, told journalists in Abuja that he was concerned about the current standoff in his state by agents of the Federal Government. The governor said: “I know that they are playing a lot of games. We do not know their intention and what they are going to do next. But I have to say like all other people in this country that everybody is concerned about his/her security, otherwise our lives are in the hands of the Almigh...