Chibok: Police halt protest march on Presidential Villa

   

Protesters during a protest on the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, in Abuja … on Thursday
| credits: Olatunji Obasa

The plan by a civil coalition group to march on the Presidential Villa, Abuja in protest over the abduction of the over 200 female students of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, was halted by the police on Thursday.

The police blocked the National Assembly junction with personnel and trucks and prevented the protesters from accessing the road that leads to the Presidential Villa.

The police operation was led by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba and FCT Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu.

The coalition group under the name, “#Bringbackourgirls” had earlier written to the Presidency about its intention to take their daily protest to Aso Villa, but got no response from the authorities.

The group, led by a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, led the protesters wearing red T-shirts, from the Unity Fountain along Shehu Shagari Way to the Federal Secretariat, where their march to the villa was cut short by the police.

The crowd of protesters caused a traffic jam along the ever busy way and policemen had to divert vehicles to other roads as the demonstrators took over the entire Shehu Shagari Way.

Chanting solidarity songs intermittently, the group massed at the junction to the National Assembly where they were addressed by the FCT Minister of State,Olajumoke Akinjide, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan.

                B’Haram kills 29 in Borno

Boko Haram members

Nigerians have fled into Cameroon as Boko Haram attacked another Borno village, killing 29 persons.

It will be recalled that about two weeks ago the outlawed sect attacked Gamboru Ngala, a border town with Cameroon, killing about 300 persons and destroying million of Naira worth of property.

It was gathered that some suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, laid ambush on the village on Wednesday morning.

The attack, according to a resident, Mallam Bakura Mustapha, occurred barely 10 days after the withdrawal of troops from the village.

Sources said the gunmen drove into the village in 15 vehicles and several motorcycles and were armed with AK47 rifles, Improvised Explosive Devices and petrol bombs.

It was gathered that they stormed the village at about 11am on Wednesday and opened fire on armless residents killing 29 people and burnt many buildings.

Another source said, apart from those killed, there were several injuries sustained and many residents of the village who sustained gunshot wounds “are now receiving treatment at one of a hospital in Cameroon Republic.”

Efforts to get the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin, to comment on the attack failed, but a top security source who is not authorised to speak to the press, confirmed the incident

Football | Ghana

Kwesi Appiah © Action Images

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Appiah to get new two year deal

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The Ghana FA are concluding contract renewal talks with coach Kwesi Appiah before reaching Brazil.

Appiah will be given a two-year extension after his current deal is expected to expire after the World Cup.

“We have met with the coach and have had initial discussions over his contract renewal,” Ghana FA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi told Peace FM in Ghana's capital.

Toure wants no regrets

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Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure on Thursday urged his national teammates to work hard and make sure the Elephants do not return from the World Cup with regrets.

The 33-year-old Liverpool centre back and the rest of the 28-member squad are fine tuning in Dallas, Texas, after which two friendly matches will be played against Bosnia on May 30 and Salvador on June 4.

Pitted against Colombia, Japan and Greece in Group C, the former Arsenal and Manchester City defender said the Ivorian team fell in a balanced group this time.

“Our Group C is balanced unlike in previous editions when we had difficult situations,” Kolo said.

“We played against Brazil, Portugal and Argentina and those times were our first and second appearances in the World Cup finals. This time, we feel the group is quite balanced and we’ll be able to have our say.”

“But beside our initial objective of progressing from the group stage, we don’t want to return home with regrets, that is being unable to do the things we were capable of doing. That’s what I have been telling my mates,” he said.

Football | Africa

Yaya Toure © Action Images

Kanu lauds Yaya Toure

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Nigerian football legend, Nwankwo Kanu has nothing but praise for Ivorian midfielder, Yaya Toure whom he rates as the best in his position in the world.

Kanu feels there is no other midfielder in world football who can currently match the Manchester City star.

The former Inter Milan forward believes Toure, who pipped his compatriot, John Obi Mikel, to the post in the latest African footballer of the year poll, is world class.

"If you say who is the best midfielder in the world now, for me I would say Yaya Toure. Not only in Africa, but the world," Kanu told africansoccer.weebly.com.

Kanu also took the time to salute the goalscoring exploits of the 31-year-old insisting that the Ivorian “scores goals like a striker.”

Football | Super Eagles

Emmanuel Adebayor © Backpagepics

Adebayor backs Eagles at World Cup

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Togo striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, has tipped Nigeria as the African country that will produce the best finish at the Fifa World Cup in Brazil.

Apart from Nigeria, there are four other African countries that will take part at the World Cup from next month. Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast are the four other nations.

But the Tottenham Hotspur forward has picked the African champions to shine at the World Cup ahead of the other African representatives saying they "have all the ingredients to be good in the World Cup."

He explained that Nigeria's Super Eagles because of their coach, Stephen Keshi, who managed Togo between 2004 and 2006 and qualified them for the 2006 World Cup.

The former Arsenal and Manchester City man also talked on the influence the trio of John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses and Vincent Enyeama will have in the Nigerian team during the World Cup.

"Out of these teams, it [my choice for which of the African teams will go the furthest] would be Nigeria because of their concentration. Because of Stephen Keshi [the coach] - he knows a lot about football and everything. He has been there as well as a player for Nigeria.

Aye was inspired by God, not a girl – Davido

Music Star, Davido has revealed that his latest hit track, Aye was inspired by God and not by one Adeola Bamisile, daughter of ex-Ekiti State Chief Judge, as initially reported.Chatting with R! the “Aye” crooner said “A lot of things have been going on the social media, especially my relationship with one girl or the other, which I don’t believe isthe best thing to be discussing right now. But for the case of this session, I want to categorically state that I am not in any relationship with any girl that you might have read about. In fact, this is coming as news to me because I don’t even know something like that has been said about me”.

Speaking on the girl she featured in Aye, Davido said “the truth is that I wanted to feature the winner of the most beautiful girl in Nigeria beauty pageant in the video, but her manager said she would not be available for the shoot. So, I decided to use my make-up artist, who eventually did well in the video. I am neither dating her nor other girls as I speak with you. Disregard any rumour linking me with any girl”, he said.