Okada rider rapes pregnant NYSC member

Men of the Ondo State Police Command have apprehended a 20-year old suspected rapist, Tumi Ayileka, who allegedly raped a two months old pregnant National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member at Imoru in Ose local government area of the state.

Ayileka, who claimed to be an Okada rider in the community, was among the 27 suspected criminals paraded by the State Commissioner of Police, Isaac Eke during his monthly press conference held in Akure, the State Capital.

‎Eke said the rape victim (name withheld) boarded a motor cycle from Ifon to Imoru where she was posted to by the NYSC.
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He narrated that the suspected rapist allegedly dragged the youth corps member into the bush and raped her.

Confessing to the crime, Ayileka admitted that he raped the young youth corp member unknowingly.

He said it was his first time of committing the crime , saying he drove

Corpse of kidnapped medical doctor found in Port Harcourt on February 27, 2015 / in News 7:58 am

By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT—Rivers State Police Command, yesterday, confirmed the discovery of the corpse of Dr. Samson Okpara, who was kidnapped last week in a cassava farm at Borokiri area of Port Harcourt.

State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, who confirmed the discovery to Vanguard, said the corpse had since been moved to a morgue.
He said two other doctors kidnapped at

Air Force men brutalize bizman, as Dame Jonathan visits Delta on February 27, 2015 / in News 2:42 am

By Egufe Yafugborhi

A Warri-based businessman, Mr. Larry Otu, has called for investigation and justice into the brutality allegedly meted out on him by men of the Nigerian Air Force at the Osubi Airstrip, Warri, where security was beefed up over Dame Patience Jonathan’s visit to Delta State, yesterday.

Mr. Larry Otu

Narrating his ordeal to Vanguard, Otu, Chief Executive Officer of LYM Consult, said he was at the airstrip to receive his technical partners from Canada when

Rivers: Why Wike is a walkover — Peterside on February 23, 2015 at 1:02 am

 

The risky situation of Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the All Progressives Congress, APC governorship candidate in Rivers State was brought to attention last Tuesday on national television when gunmen attacked his campaign rally in Okirika, Rivers State. As the crowd scampered for safety amid unrelenting gunshots, Dr. Peterside stood almost alone on the podium, his flesh and bones seemingly mocking the bestial instincts of the hoodlums.

Dr. Peterside is determined to sustain the legacies of Governor Chibuike Amaechi, the man that has steered Rivers State in the last seven years through landmark infrastructural developments, but who has lately instigated a redirection of the political bearing of the state.

Dr. Peterside, presently chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Downstream Petroleum was in Lagos last weekend for an interactive session with the media. He spoke on the challenges of the campaign, the emerging culture of violence and his determination to sustain some of the policies and programmes of the present administration. He showed himself to be a man of character, content and capacity. Excerpts:

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

You have claimed that Nyesom Wike is your friend. Are you thus surprised by the allegations of violence attributed to him and his party in your state?
Yes, but there are many friends you have you cannot predict what they can do!

How are you sure you will get the security agencies to implement the plans you have outlined to protect the citizens of Rivers State?
Everything you deal with in life depends on season and context. For those of us who are Christians, the book of Ecclesiastes says that there is time for everything. I know that if I get there, the contexts will be different, the factors at play will be different and I am optimistic that I will get all the cooperation I need to implement my security programme. Rivers State will be peaceful again, safe and secure again.

Are you optimistic that the votes will count?

I am optimistic the votes will count. Rivers people are optimistic to install the government that they deserve. They won’t be intimidated by anybody, they won’t be harassed by anybody, they won’t submit to all that threat and intimidation. It is a matter of time and we will rise to the occasion. We will cast our votes, we will defend our votes and we will ensure that our votes count. I am very optimistic and I am very convinced.

Security agencies


Chief Dakuku Peterside, APC governorship candidate for Rivers State.

Chief Dakuku Peterside, APC governorship candidate for Rivers State.

I am also optimistic that we will get the cooperation of security agencies and will continue to spotlight what is going on in Rivers State and will attract the attention of the nation and the international community. It is not optional, because if votes don’t count in Rivers State, there is no guarantee that it will count elsewhere in the country.

Today, we might isolate what is going on in Rivers State and say this is Rivers. If this trend of violence in Rivers continue, people in other areas may be emboldened and the whole country will turn into crisis if we don’t tackle what is going on in Rivers.

So, we must all work concertedly to ensure that we stem the tide of political violence in Rivers, it is in our collective interest and I am sure that Nigerians are listening.

What is your fallback option?

I have no fallback option than to work with other stakeholders to ensure that the elections in Rivers State are free and fair. Till now, nobody has found a better form of government than democracy. Democracy is our only option and we need to make sacrifices to make it work and I know that Nigerians yearn for democracy.

Will you follow the pattern of Ekiti in petitioning the National Human Rights Commission over the spate of violence?

The situation in Ekiti is not as bad as it is in Rivers. Ours is worse than Ekiti and it is degenerating daily. We have done a few petitions to the National Human Rights Commission and we will continue to petition, hoping that somebody, sometime will give attention to our cry in Rivers.

Arresting the situation

So, it is not about following the Ekiti example and we will continue to act within the ambits of the law; we will not go outside the law to arrest the situation.
The alternative is to have a lawless state and that is anarchy; that is not the option in any civilised society. We are civilised men and women and will not resort to self help.

You have repeatedly stated you would continue with the policies of the present administration. To what extent?

Governor Amaechi has laid very good foundations for the state and we will continue with the things he has started, but that does not mean that we will adopt all his policies and programmes.

No two governments can be the same just as no two individuals can be the same even if they are Siamese twins. We will progress based on contexts and challenges that we confront, but if we are going to continue with most of his programmes, the answer is yes.

Would you continue with Amaechi’s policy of giving the model schools to Indians to manage?

The teachers are being retrained as you are aware and the retraining is for a maximum of one year, some in Oxford University and other UK based universities and some in Nigerian universities under a phased programme and after some time you wont have Indians run the system again because we would have improved the capacity of our people so that we can get world class education.

We shouldn’t compromise our standards because we are scared of what people will say, a leader shows the people the way and not the people showing the leader the way.

How are you sure that you will win the election on April 11?

I am not a man who will waste my time on things that are not viable. I can feel the pulse of Rivers people, I know what the issues are and I

Woman in court for theft of N3m Brazillian hair on February 23, 2015 /in News 11:12 am

By Bartholomew Madukwe:

A 33-year old woman, Nneka Amadi, has been charged before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly stealing Brazillian and Indian Hair valued N3.1 million.

The accused, whose address remain unknown, was also said to have stolen a diamond wristwatch, property of one Chioma Ngwolo.
Amadi (accused) was arraigned by the police

Ex-militants vow to bar Obasanjo from N-Delta on February 17, 2015 / in News 7:am

Following Chief Olusengun Obasanjo’s vituperations against President Jonathan Goodluck, hundreds of ex-militants thronged the Ohoror Junction axis of the East-West Road, promising to bar the former president from stepping foot on the Niger Delta region.

INEC postpones elections on February 08, 2015 / in News 8:20 am

By Jide Ajani, Soni Daniel, Emmanuel Aziken, Henry Umoru, Johnbosco Agbakwuru and Jude Opara

STATUS REPORT

*Over 45million PVCs collected *Non-guarantee of security *Training manual not ready *Presiding Officers yet to be trained
*700,000 ad hoc staff not recruited yet *PVCs still being printed abroad *RECs yet to print Voter Register *Printers for Register still in Abuja

*No full complement of ballot boxes *Fake printing ink sent to states from headquarters rejected *Many states yet to get balance of Card Readers
The presidential and National Assembly elections, earlier slated for Saturday, February 14, 2015, will now hold on Saturday, March 28, 2015.
The governorship and state legislative elections will hold on April 11, 2015.

This shift in dates was announced yesterday by Professor Attahiru Jega, National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
He made the announcement at a world press conference, invoking the provisions of the following in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended: Section 76(2), Section 116(2), Section 132(2) Section 178(2).

He also quoted Section 25 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
The Commission Chairman explained that INEC was prepared but the security challenge and the need not to deploy men and materials when the security agencies had issued an advisory.

Jega made it categorically clear that “we are not being forced by anybody to take this decision.  “This is a decision that we had to take by ourselves.  They were not pleasant decisions to take but we had to take the decisions.  Nobody has forced us; nobody has coerced us.  We stand by this decision”.

Interestingly, the Chairman admitted that with the new dates, the Commission stands a better opportunity of fine-tuning some of its processes.
Apart from the security challenges presented to INEC, Sunday Vanguard has been reliably informed that some of its vendors did not meet deadlines.

Consequently, timelines that Jega and the Commission had set could not be met.
In fact, Sunday Vanguard was made to understand that whereas “there was unanimity on the part of the commissioners to postpone the elections, the point of divergence of views was the reasons to give to Nigerians”

Sources at the Commission disclosed that the security situation, as presented by the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, dampened the morale of the Commissioners.
Indeed, the reason for the long delay by Jega to announce his postponement was the disagreement between Commissioners on what the excuse for the postponement should be.

It was learnt that whereas some Commissioners wanted the election management body to come clean, explain to Nigerians the true reasons for the postponement, especially based on its own serious challenges, some Commissioners simply wanted the security situation to be the sole excuse.

At Jega’s press briefing, he burnished the real reasons the elections had to be postponed.
But he was unfazed by some of the questions regarding his integrity.
He lampooned those calling for his resignation on spurious allegations of orchestrating an agenda to favour one candidate over another.

Although he made it categorically clear that the level of preparedness of INEC this year was far better than what obtained in 2011.
In fact, Jega charged that he “believes that the security agencies will do their best in ensuring that the new dates are sacrosanct”, pleading that there was need to keep hope alive.
Elections shift in national interest – PDP Presidential Campaign

Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO), last night, concurred with the INEC decision to shift the general elections since “it is in the best interest of deepening democracy and in the national interest”.
Director of Media and Publicity of the PDPPCO, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in a statement, said INEC ”must be commended for showing the courage to shift the elections after acknowledging the fact that its state of preparedness was not 100 per cent.”

“Since this decision has been taken in the interest of deepening democracy and in national interest, we accept it in good faith and we commend INEC’s courage and obvious commitment to ensuring a free and fair election.”, Fani-Kayode said.

“With this decision, INEC has allayed the fears of many of our citizens that they may not have had the opportunity to vote for the candidates and parties of their choice on Election Day.
“INEC has, by the decision, ensured that no one will be disenfranchised and has helped to guarantee the safety and security of every single one of our citizens during the course of the elections.

Election postponement: US deeply disappointed – Kerry on February 08, 2015 / in News 3:59 pm

Criticism mounted on Sunday over Nigeria’s decision to postpone national elections by six weeks because of Boko Haram violence, with some insisting President Goodluck Jonathan’s political woes were the true cause of the delay.

Election body chairman Attahiru Jega announced the postponement for presidential and parliamentary polls from February 14 to March 28 late Saturday, citing guidance from the national