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Tag: Abuja

  • 8 out of 10 Nigerian women wear wigs – Survey

    No fewer than eight out of ten Nigerian women wear wigs as part of their fashion items for their day-to-day activities, a survey by the News Agency of Nigeria reveals.

    The study, conducted on 1, 100 urban and suburban women from Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, showed that 81.8 percent of respondents own wigs and prefer them to sew-in weaves.

    showing statistics of women who wear wigs

    While a sew-in is a weave sown onto the wearer’s hair, a wig is a head covering made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber.

    The lace front wig is fast becoming a favourite, replacing the weft wig. The illusion of hair growing from the scalp is the feature that makes this wig the most preferred.

    The survey also showed that 54.5 percent of them own between 1 to 3 wigs and the remaining 45.5 percent owned up to six or more wigs for rotation purposes.

    Chart showing number of wigs respondents own

    Explaining their preferences, the women told NAN that convenience, ease of use and cost-effectiveness were the major reasons they preferred wigs to sew-in weaves.

    Bolaji Osofisan said, “Its super comfy because I can take it in and out at ease. It is durable because I can reuse over and over after a wash. It is trendy, doesn’t smell and my hair gets to breath daily.”

    Similarly, Akpezi Ikede stated it was easy to take out and style by oneself thereby reducing frequent salon visits and saving cost.

    However, the 18.2 percent who preferred sew-in weaves to wigs told NAN that they were more customisable to fit the head and not as heavy as some wigs.

    Read Also:‘New wigs’ reward is in heaven’

    Some others added that they were afraid of the wig falling off and that the cost of wigs keep rising everyday making it difficult to keep up with.

    NAN gathered that prices of wigs start from N15, 000 to as high as N500, 000 depending on the quality of human hair used and the illusion of the lace front.

    Commenting on the wig trend, celebrity hairstylist, Ada Kanu of Dugykay hair said, “Wigs are trending now because of the weather and the fact that it is an alternative to sew-ins.

    “They are time-saving, very convenient to wear and can change one’s look in seconds. I would advise clients to go for convenience – either sew-ins or wigs.

    “Hairstyle should be about what best suits you and how comfortable you feel wearing it,” she said.

  • Melaye, domestic staff arraigned in Abuja

    Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West was on Tuesday arraigned by the police on allegation of obstruction and resisting arrest.

    Melaye was arraigned with his domestic staff, Silas Omenka on a 9-count charge before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitaima, Abuja.

    They both pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them.

    Defence lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) moved the bail application he filed for his client and urged court to grant them bail.

    Ozekhome urged the court to retain the conditions attached to the bail it earlier granted Melaye on January 18 this year, which had already been fulfilled but the police refused to release Melaye.

    Responding, prosecution lawyer, Magaji Labaran did not oppose the bail application, but prayed the court for stringent bail conditions.

    Read also: Sagay: Obasanjo suffering from power withdrawal syndrome

    While responding on point of law, Ozekome argued that Melaye  is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Ozekhome added that Melaye had been given his passport to travel abroad before now and he returned, so the question of jumping bail or interfering with investigations does not arise.

    He equally argued that the question of his client tampering with investigation does not arise as the police have concluded with investigations before arraigning the defendants.

    He said Melaye is standing election for the senatorial seat on the February 16 this year and as such would not run away.

    Ruling, Justice Halilu granted on the conditions attached to the bail earlier granted Melaye on January 18.

    The judge adjourned to February 25 this year for trial.

    The judge had on February 18 ordered Melaye to produce three sureties, two of which must have landed properties in Abuja metropolis.

    Justice Halilu said the third surety must be the Clerk of the National Assembly, who must undertake to produce Melaye in court.

  • Court discharges man who stole his own car

    A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Tuesday discharged one Shehu Adamu, docked for stealing his own car from the police station.

    Adamu, who resides at Utako Village, Abuja, and arraigned on a charge of theft, pleaded guilty after admitting to committing the offence.

    He begged the court for leniency.

    “I plead with this court to reduce my punishment for I know I am guilty of all the allegations.’’

    The Judge, Alhaji Inuwa Maiwada, after listening to Adamu, discharged him and warned him not to commit the crime again.

    He ordered him to sign a bond to be of good behaviour.

    Maiwada also ordered the police to release the car to the defendant.

    Read Also: Court sacks Ondo lawmaker as PDP candidate

    The Prosecuting Counsel, Mrs Ijeoma Ukagha, had told the court that one Ugochukwu Ogbonna, a Mobile Police Officer attached Utako Police Station, reported the matter at the station.

    “They were at a checkpoint when the officer stopped the man to search his car and discovered that the man had no driver’s licence, and the car was later taken to the police station.

    “The defendant later went to the station and fraudulently took the car without the consent of the police officer that arrested him,” Ukagha said.

    She said that during police investigation, the defendant could not give a satisfactory account of his actions.

    According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened the provisions of Section 288 of the Penal Code.

  • Boko Haram: EYN seeks reconstruction of 1,125 churches

    The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria better known by its Hausa derivative Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa A Nigeria ( EYN ) has appealed to the federal government and relevant authorities to rebuild 1,125 of its churches destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents.

    The EYN has most of its branch churches in the Northeast where Boko Haram’s violent activities have been most pronounced.

    The church lamented it has lost properties over the years to the insurgency, calling on government to intervene by reconstructing some of them.

    The President of EYN, Rev Joel Billi, who made the appeal for the reconstruction of the churches Tuesday during the 2019 Ministers’ Annual Conference at the EYN headquarters in Kwarhi, Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, said: “We want to call on Adamawa and federal government to expedite action to rebuild places of worship, houses and shops that were destroyed by Boko Haram.”

    He added: “For how long are we going to wait in vain? We are tired of fictitious promises.

    “Are worship places not included in the rebuilding of the Northeast? Is Adamawa State excluded from the rebuilding of the Northeast?”

    He charged that the church as an institution should not be made to feel it has to pay the price for the Boko Haram insurgency, saying, “Why are we flagrantly neglected as if we deserve to be punished?

    “If not for the inadequacy of our security forces and political undertone, Boko Haram would not have overrun us.

    “So, why do we pay for the sin that was not committed by us?”

    The EYN Ministers Council Secretary, Rev Lalai Bukar, pointed out many members still live in fear because of the incessant attacks, calling on the federal forces to help out.

    The EYN 2019 Ministers’ Conference with the theme understanding the gravity of the Pastoral call, was attended by 836 branch pastors drawn from Adamawa, Taraba, Borno, Yobe and Plateau states as well as Abuja.

  • MFM Overseer Olukoya for church dedication, crusade in Abuja

    The General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM)  Worldwide, Dr.  D. K.  Olukoya, will on January 26 dedicate the Church Auditorium of the MFM, Law School Region 41 in Bwari, Abuja.

    The General Overseer of the church is also expected to hold Deliverance Crusade on the same day tagged: ‘’Unlocking Your Hidden Treasures.’’

    According to the Regional Overseer of the church, Pastor Joel Idaye, the coming of the General Overseer is a unique opportunity which the Region will not take for granted.

    He attributed the visit of Dr. Olukoya, to the favour of God which the church enjoys and added that the Region is privileged to have him.

    According to information on the Church website, the church was inaugurated in May 2011 at an hotel in Bwari, before moving to the Nigeria Law School Chapel in June 2012.

    The church latet moved to its present and permanent location on 16th November 2012.

    “To the Glory of God Almighty, the beautiful church edifice will be dedicated by Dr. D. K. Olukoya, on the 26th January, 2019 by 10:00am”, Pastor Idaye said.

  • Journalist loses property to fire

    A fire incident which occurred in the early hours of Saturday has claimed the life of a 19-year- old boy and destroyed properties worth millions of naira. Among the properties destroyed was a pharmaceutical shop in Mpape area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The landlady occupied one of the apartments and the other by a tenant, Oludare Richards who is a reporter with The Guardian Newspapers.

    The journalist and his family, who were not at home when the inferno began, lost all their properties.

    Narrating his ordeal, Richards told Abuja Review that the landlady and three out of her five children had gone out for the business of the day while the other two were left at home.

    One of the two teenagers, he said, included a 19-year-old boy who was a survivor of an accident seven years ago died in the fire and was burnt almost beyond recognition.

    Richards said the remains of the boy was moved to a mortuary when the landlady and her other children arrived.

    Explaining the cause of the inferno, he said: “The other child of the landlady who was supposed to be home on her turn for the rotation for care-taking of the boy, left a pot cooking on a lit burner and went to the market.”

    However, when her family arrived at the scene, the narrative changed as the girl later denied cooking.

    The police on the other hand, were quick enough to arrive at the scene of the fire incident and it was put out by youths in the community.

    The police, Richards said, have begun investigations into the matter.

    Richards also lost properties including documents to the inferno.

  • INEC uncovers plan to use food vendors for vote-buying

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it had uncovered plans by some political actors to use food vendors around polling units for vote-buying in the forthcoming general elections.

    Chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this when he received a delegation European Union (EU) Observation Team, led by Chief Observer, Mrs Maria Arena, on a visit to INEC on Monday, in Abuja.

    Yakubu said that in INEC’s determination to improve elections and ensure that votes counted, the commission had taken steps to address the disturbing trend of vote-buying by politicians.

    He said that the steps included modification of the administration of polling units to make it difficult for voters to expose their marked ballot papers on day of election.

    He said that the commission had also introduced partial ban on the use of mobile phones and other electronic devices by voters while in the voting cubicles.

    “We are also introducing the rolling and flattening of ballot papers by voters on day of election.

    “We are training our election duty staff, in addition to voter education and sensitization, on this new innovation. We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring the sanctity of the ballot.’’

    The chairman explained that political actors planned to use food vendors “around polling units with large voter populations as collection points for cash-for-votes as well as other forms of material inducement to voters on election day’’.

    “We are aware of this trick. It will not work,” he, however, said.

    Yakubu also denied the claim that INEC had outsourced the recruitment of election duty staff to partisan actors.

    He said that the Commission had established clear criteria for recruiting its ad hoc staff and Collation and Returning Officers, which, according to him, has been the practice over several electoral cycles.

    “In addition, there is a clearly established system of vetting all election duty staff before they are engaged.

    “Therefore, the claim that the Commission has outsourced the recruitment of election duty staff to partisan actors is the usual allegation on the eve of elections and should be disregarded.

    “With 25 days to the 2019 General Elections, the Commission’s attention is firmly focused on the conduct of credible elections. We will not be distracted into a fatuous debate.’’

    Yakubu stated that complaints arising from the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were being addressed.

    “We are committed to ensuring that all voter cards are made available for collection by registered voters who should collect the cards in person.

    “There will be no collection by proxy.”

    Read Also: We are not under pressure to rig – INEC

    He said that the commission had enhanced the functionality of the Smart Card Reader that would be used for the elections.

    “Clause 10 of the Regulations and Guidelines recently released by the Commission make the use of Card Readers mandatory. It is an offence to accredit a voter by any other means.”

    Yakubu described the EU as one of the long-standing partners of INEC in deepening Nigeria’s electoral democracy, through the EU-Support for Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN).

    “We have implemented all the recommendations made by the EU Mission in 2015 that are within the powers of the Commission to do.

    “These include simultaneous accreditation and voting system which we introduced on Jan. 9, 2016 and used it to seamlessly conduct off-season elections into 194 constituencies.

    “We have similarly introduced the continuous registration of voters. Over a period of 16 months, from April 27, 2017 to Aug. 3, 2018, over 14 million new voters were registered,” he said.

    He assured the EU that INEC preparation for the 2019 general election was on course.

    Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Arena, had said that EU would deploy 40 observers to all states of the federation during the elections.

    Arena added that the EU would also have its Parliamentary observation mission on ground during the exercise.

    “We will issue two preliminary reports after the elections. We will work strongly with all the stakeholders of this country.

    “We will also have the final reports two months after the elections, with recommendations.

    “We really appreciate the work that INEC has done with the previous recommendations after the 2015 elections,” Arena said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Yakubu also received a delegation of the ECOWAS Observers Mission led by former Chairperson of Electoral Commission, Ghana, Ms Charlotte Osei.

    Osei said that the mission was to let INEC know that ECOWAS would be deploying long-term and short-term observer missions for the elections.

    She added that the mission would focus on legal, media, operations, gender and disabilities during the elections.

    NAN

  • Secondus to APC: Don’t kill Buhari with undue pressure

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus has warned the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to kill President Muhammadu Buhari with undue electioneering campaign pressure.

    Secondus accused those he described as power grabbers in the ruling party of putting undue pressure on the President for selfish reasons, even as it’s evident that he can no longer cope.

    The PDP chairman spoke in Abuja on Friday while inaugurating the party’s 27 presidential election campaign committees at the party’s campaign office.

    Secondus said with what Nigerians and the international community are witnessing around the President lately, it’s apparent that he is tired and incapacitated but they would not let him be.

    “There is no way this President can cope given what we are witnessing, added to this is the incompetence in leadership Nigerians have been seeing in the last three years”, the party chairman said.

    Prince Secondus warned that Nigerians are not ready to take anything less than free, fair and credible poll in the upcoming elections.

    He said, “Our fear is that the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu lacks the will and courage to ignore the pressure from the APC to conduct free and transparent election.

    Read Also; It’s strange Secondus is backing Adebutu, says Kashamu

    “But he should know that he would be held responsible for any fall out from a rigged election”.

    The opposition party chairman reiterated his call on the new Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to clear the mess left behind by his predecessor by running a professional and responsible police force.

    Prince Secondus also explained why the PDP would continue to protest the membership of Mrs Amina Zakari as a National Commissioner in INEC.

    Restating the call for Zakari’s resignation, the party chair said the PDP would continue to oppose her continued stay at the electoral body because she is a “master rigger”, adding, “we have evidence of what she did in Ekiti and Osun states.

    He announced that the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was in the United States, meeting with top American politicians and government officials.

    Secondus said the visit has doused the blackmail against the party’s presidential candidate, stressing that if elected, an Atiku Presidency would restore the battered image of the country.

    The party chairman charged members of the PDP presidential campaign committees to give their all to the job, saying that the party’s reward system now gives prime attention to electoral performance at the grassroots.

  • Badeh for burial Jan. 23 – Military

    The late Ex-Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), retired Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh will be buried on Jan. 23 at the National Military Cemetery in Abuja.

    According to a statement by Brig.-Gen John Agim, the Acting Director Defence Information, DDI, the remains of late CDS will be committed to mother earth at 12.30 p. m. after a Church Service.

    Agim said the service will take place at the Nigerian Airforce Base, Protestant Church, Bill Clinton Drive Airport Road at 10 a. m.

    Read Also: Badeh: Even a villain has right to life

    He added that there would also be a service of song on Sunday by 5 p.m. at the Air Force Base, Protestant Church, Bill Clinton Drive.

    Badeh, who served as CDS under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, was shot dead on December 18, 2018 by unknown gunmen, on Keffi-Abuja highway, while returning from his farm.

  • Abuja-Kaduna: We are yet to sell online tickets, says NRC

    The Nigerian Railway Corporation ( NRC ) has said it is yet to commence the online sale of ticket to passengers for the Abuja-Kaduna train service.

    The Managing Director, Engr. Fidet Okhiria said it was imperative to set the record straight following news on social media that passengers should purchase tickets online.

    The Corporation while describing the information as untrue and fraudulent urged passengers not to visit such sites

    According to him: “It is not true and we have been making efforts to let people know that we have not started. The present website asking people to buy tickets online is fraudulent.

    “We will inform people when we start the sale. We are yet to start because we require it to be very secure so that people will find it difficult to hack.

    “So, I appeal to passengers not to patronise a site for ticketing issues, we still sell our tickets in hard copy at the stations,” he said.

    He, however, noted that the process for the e-ticketing was ongoing stating that it was going to be under Public Private Partnership (PPP) which would go through due process.

    He also stated that the processes to commence the automated tickets would be finalised by ICRC in the first quarter of 2019.

    “We have gone very far, we want to partner with private companies so that there will be reliability. It is presently with ICRC so that all due process will be met, I hope by first quarter of 2019, we would have finished the processes.

    Read Also: NRC warns against eviction of officials from quarters

    “We are trying to do PPP arrangements, there are some infrastructure that needs to be put in place so that the stations can have one entry in and one entrance out. It is only then that e-ticketing will make sense.”

    Also reacting to the ticket sale, the Manager of Abuja – Kaduna Train Service, Mr. Paschal Nnorli, also urged passengers not to yield to messages requesting them to buy and reserve tickets online noting that such messages didn’t emanate from the Corporation.

    He said: “The attention of management of Nigeran Railway Corporation(NRC) has been drawn to a fake online message requesting prospective passengers on Abuja – Kaduna train route to buy or reserve tickets online by visiting a certain website.

    “The general public especially our esteemed passengers on Abuja – Kaduna Train Sevice (AKTS) are please advised not to patronise any of such calls as they did not emanate from NRC.

    “For clarity sake, NRC train tickets, for now, are obtainable in hard copy only from designated railway stations. Prospective passengers are therefore advised to buy their tickets only from NRC designated ticket offices and not through any other means”, he said.