Tension in Kaduna as death toll hits 114

 

 

 

 

Kaduna State Governor Mukthar Yero

Tension rose in  Kaduna town and environs on Sunday, following the killing  of no fewer than 100 people in  three  villages in Kaduna State on Friday night.

There was a  heavy security presence at all churches in the state capital and environs where  the Christian faithful had converged to worship.

Our correspondent observed the movement of combat-ready policemen and other security agents in trucks at the Sabo Tasha and Refinery areas of the city to maintain law and order as people spread rumours that all was not well in those parts of the state capital.

The victims of the massacre were said to have been buried in mass graves on Sunday.

The umbrella body of the Southern Kaduna people in the state, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union,  on Sunday put the  death toll from the attacks at  114.

It said over 40 attacks had been recorded so far in the Southern Kaduna communities since 2011. The group also accused Fulani herdsmen as being behind the attacks.

Addressing newsmen on Sunday in Kaduna, the National President of  SOKAPU, Dr. Ephraim Goje,  noted that the people of the area had been under severe attacks from  Fulani herdsmen without any efforts from the authorities to stop them.

He   warned that the people might be forced to defend themselves.

Goje said, “I am addressing you this afternoon with a very heavy heart and shock over the barbaric and brutal massacre of about 114 innocent and peace-loving children, women and the aged, and burning down of over 60 houses, food, animals and assets of the people of  three villages in the Kaura Local Government area of Kaduna State by Fulani murderers on Friday night,  March 14, 2014.

“This incident is one out of the over 40 attacks on Southern Kaduna communities since 2011. In all these attacks, we have identified the perpetrators as Fulani herdsmen, but each time we raised this observation, the Fulani socio-cultural organisation within the state has always denied the involvement of its people by asking for proofs.”

PDP owes me, says Atiku

 

 

 

 

Former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
| credits: File copy

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said his former political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, owes him a debt of gratitude.

Abubakar, however, said he  did not owe the ruling party anything.

It will be recalled that the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, had recently said that Abubakar owed the party a debt of gratitude for providing him a political platform that helped him to emerge as the former Vice President.

But the former Vice President said in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, that contrary to the claim by the leadership of the PDP, it was indeed his former party that owed him a debt of thanks.

The former Vice President, who resigned his membership of the PDP in February to join the All Progressives Congress, noted that the insinuation being peddled by Metuh that he was ungrateful to the PDP was a distortion of history.

The statement particularly noted that neither Metuh nor anyone currently in position of authority in the PDP today was there when the PDP was formed.

He said, “If the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP doesn’t have the knowledge of how the party came into being, then it will be in order that he goes into the archives and read about the history of the party and the roles certain individuals, particularly former Vice President Atiku Abubakar played in building the party.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku Abubakar does not owe the PDP. Rather, it is the PDP that owes him a debt of thanks. Where were Metuh and his paymasters when the PDP was in its formative stage? If he and his paymasters came as free riders into the party, that shouldn’t mean they have the licence to distort history.

“The demagogic outburst and the repeated innuendoes by which the PDP has been nursing its wounds following the exit of its founding fathers will do no good for the party to reverse the trend of how it is fast losing acceptability by the Nigerian people.”

                                  Jonathan empowers new   panel to dialogue with Boko Haram

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PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan  has constituted an eight-member committee to work outside the public view towards negotiating for ceasefire, amnesty and demobilisation of members of Boko Haram.

  The constitution of the panel is one of the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North headed by Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN).

  The Kabiru Turaki-led committee had while submitting its report to President Jonathan in Abuja on November 5, 2013 recommended, among others, the setting up of an advisory committee on continuous dialogues that will have powers to advise the President on all matters related to dialogue and resolution or crisis. It also recommended the setting up of a Victims Support Fund for casualties of insurgency to be administered by a new agency established specifically to assist the victims.

Missing funds: Jonathan approves forensic audit of NNPC

President Goodluck Jonathan

The Presidency said on Wednesday that it had authorised the engagement of reputable international firms to carry out the forensic audit of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

It, however, did not give details of the firms.

The Presidency made this disclosure in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, in reaction to the claim by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, that his decision to expose corruption in the management of oil revenue led to his travails.

It said Sanusi’s suspension had nothing to do with an attempt to cover up his allegation that funds due to the Federation Account were unaccounted for by the NNPC.

It described the various statements credited to the suspended CBN governor in the media lately as cheap blackmail and attempts to incite the public against the Federal Government.

The Presidency said it was unfortunate that instead of trying to provide reasonable response to the query on his official conduct as the governor of the central bank, Sanusi had chosen to whip up public sympathy for himself and anger against the government in recent press interviews.

The statement read, “We have noted with disappointment the unrelenting attempt by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to falsely portray his recent suspension from office as an attempt by the Presidency to bury his allegation that huge sums of money due to the Federation Account are unaccounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Watch DAVIDO & EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR dance to Aye, Somewhere in London. 

OPC MEMBERS RESCUE RAPED 14 YEAR OLD GIRL IN AGEGE

Members of the O’odua People’s Congress, OPC, and concerned Lagosians rescued a teenager, who was raped, robbed and abandoned by an unidentified man in Agege area of Lagos, PM News reportsThe OPC members saw the secondary schoolgirl on Sunday, 9 March in a traumatized state at a public toilet near NITEL Office, at Oko Oba, Agege
And after giving her first aid treatment, the teenager was handed over to the police at the Agege Elere Police Divisional Headquarters, who referred her to Orile Agege General Hospital, Agege for a comprehensive medical treatment.
The teenager, who will be 15 by August, narrated that she came from Osun State and was on her way to Badagry to stay with her aunty who had just given birth, but decided to have a stay the night at Agege, when it became late (around 9.p.m.) and she couldn’t get a bus to her destination. Continue…
The traumatised girl told the OPC members that when it became dark she decided to sleep in front of a shopping complex, near Elere Police Divisional Headquarters, till the next day.
The victim said that shortly after she spread some cartons and was about to sleep, a man pushed her from behind and she fell on the floor.
She narrated that the man used her belt to tie her neck and used a cloth to cover her face and started raping her.

18 year old Student Reveals She’s Paying her N9.6m School Fees by Being a Porn Star, Sparks Outrage

An 18 year old Duke University student, Miriam Weeks, has caused nationwide outrage in the US for revealing she is paying for her $US60,000 tuition fees, about N9.6m, by acting in blue movies. Ironically, since the story emerged last week, Miriam has become the hottest name in porn.

Miriam — known as “Belle Knox” to porn fans — began her thriving porn career quietly, until she was outed by a fellow student a couple of weeks ago. A fellow Duke student, Thomas Bagley, had noticed her online, and she confided her secret in him.

However, Bagley revealed the secret that very night to a couple of fraternity brothers, and word spread
like wild-fire. Bagley later apologized, but the damage was done already. Criticism and bullying hit Miriam from all sides, forcing her to publicly come out.