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  • Insecurity: 27 bandits renounce banditry in Niger

    Twenty-Seven bandits have renounced kidnapping and banditry and have been granted amnesty in Niger state.

    The Niger state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello presented the bandits during the second General Abdulsalam Abubakar foundation annual peace lecture in Minna.

    He said that they have signed a peace pact with the bandits who are from kontokoro in Magama local government area.

    “Here I present to you, these men, whatever name you want to call them, we have engaged in dialogue with them, they have mentioned their grievances and we have tried our best to meet some of them.

    “To this end, we have signed a peace pact with them and we are ready to enforce our side of the fact. They are also ready to respect their part of the pact.”

    The Governor then said that dialogue is ongoing with bandits in Erena, Rafi and Kontagora local governments to ensure peace in the state.

    He stressed on the need to use dialogue as a way to promote peace in the nation stating that military solution is not the best way of resolving crisis.

    “Military solution is not always the best way of resolving crisis. Dialogue provides for a win-win situation. We need to use dialogue more as a way to promote peace in the nation and there is no need for military solution.”

    Read Also: Air Force neutralises several terrorists in Borno

    The Governor emphasized the need for eminent Nigerians to lead the way out of the insecurity crisis bedevilling the nation lamenting that no region is safe in Nigeria today.

    “We cannot continue this way. No region in the country is safe today, these violent conflicts have destructive effects on the very fabrics that hold our nation together and must be dealt with utmost sincerity.

    “The experience so far shows that finding lasting solution to the violent conflict situation rests squarely in our soldiers. There is too little for members of the international community to do towards helping us.

    “I like to use this lecture to make appeals to the eminent persons in different parts of he country to come up with suggestions on how best we can reduce tensions around the country. Nobody would do it for us better than ourselves.”

  • Brazil to unleash Neymar, Firmino, others on Eagles

    PSG of France striker, Neymar; Liverpool’s Firmino, Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus and Bayern’s Philippe Coutinho are among the 23-man squad released by Brazil for next month’s international friendly against Nigeria’s Super Eagles.

    Brazil will play against Senegal and Nigeria on October 10 and 13 in Singapore.

    Brazil coach Tite released the list of the 23-man squad yesterday at the Brazilian soccer confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

    Tite has also called up striker Gabriel Barbosa for the first time in three years for friendlies holding in Singapore.

    After flopping at Inter Milan and Benfica, the 23-year-old striker is now the top scorer in the Brazilian championship with 16 goals while playing on loan for leader Flamengo.

    He was also the competition’s top scorer in 2018 when playing for Santos.

    “Gabriel has matured. His performance this year speaks for itself,” Tite said.

    Read Also: Brazil good test for Super Eagles, says Rohr

    Inter Milan reportedly paid 25 million euros ($27.5 million) for the Brazilian known as Gabigol in 2016, but he has scored only once for the Italian club and is spending a third straight season out on loan.

    Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson is expected to be the starter in both matches, with Liverpool’s Alisson out with a calf injury.

    Goalkeepers: Ederson (Manchester City), Weverton (Palmeiras), Santos (Athletico Paranaense).

    Defenders: Daniel Alves (São Paulo), Danilo (Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Renan Lodi (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Éder Militão (Real Madrid), Rodrigo Caio (Flamengo)

  • Bayelsa PDP convenes stakeholders’ meeting

    The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has scheduled an expanded meeting of the State Caucus of the party and the Elders Advisory Council for 4pm on Sunday.

    Read Also: No division in Bayelsa PDP, says Diri

    The state party Chairman, Cleopas Moses, said the meeting would discuss the issue of the preparedness of the party for the election, strategies, approval of the campaign council and team and other topical issues.

    “The meeting will also receive a brief from the party’s candidate, Senator Douye Diri, on the issue of running mate,” he said.

  • Oshoala scores brace in Barcelona rout

    Asisat Oshoala ended her three-match goal drought in the Spanish Primera Iberdrola this season with a brace in Barcelona’s 6-1 comeback thrashing of Atletico Madrid.

    Saturday’s encounter was the fourth for the three-time African Women’s Footballer of the Year in all competitions this season after her stunning pre-season form, netting eight goals in five games.

    After being denied by the woodwork this season, the Nigeria international scored in both halves to ensure Lluis Cortes’ ladies bounced back from a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano in style.

    Read Also: ASISAT OSHOALA: I want to change world of girl-child

    The 24-year-old broke her Primera Iberdrola duck this term with a calm finish as she scored the hosts’ fourth goal of the game on the brink of half time.

    Two minutes after the restart, the Super Falcons star grabbed her second of the match to make it 5-1 for Barcelona before being replaced by Claudia Pina in the 73rd minute.

    Her brace means she has now scored 21 goals in 19 matches in all competitions for Barcelona since she teamed up with the Spanish giants in January.

    The win helped Barcelona return to the summit of the log with seven points from three matches and they host Juventus in the Champions League Round of 32 reserve fixture on Wednesday.

  • CAN lauds El-Rufai’s decision to save 110-year-old Church from demolition

    The Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has commended Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s government’s decision to safe the 110-year-old St. George Anglican Church, Zaria from demolition.

    The CAN Chairman in the State, Rev. Joseph Hayab made the commendation on Saturday following Friday’s clarification by the Director-General of the Kaduna State Urban Planning Development Agency (KASUPDA), Ismail Dikko that the Church won’t be touched because of its historical value.

    The Nation learnt that KASUPDA had served the 110-year-old St. George Anglican Church, Sabon Gari, Zaria, the seven-day quit notice which it claimed was a directive from governor Nasir El-Rufai.

    Following Thursday’s alarm raised by the CAN, the KASUPDA’s boss reversed the eviction order on the Church.

    “The Church will remain base on its historical value…while the market source for expansion elsewhere,” the DG had said.

    The CAN Chairman commended the state government for listening to the yearnings of the people by reversing its earlier decision to halt any demolition plan on the church.

    Hayab noted that democracy could thrive only when government harken to the cry of the people it governs.

    The CAN leader said, “We commend the government for this act. What we are saying is that govt should remain a listening government. Democracy thrives when government listens to the people but when government don’t listen to people, people think negatively about every action it takes.

    “What we are doing is simply to remind government that we are not at war with them. We are just raising alarm; we are just another added eyes for them to see and know what is happening to people.

    Read Also: Between el-Rufai and free speech

    “So, if they do good, we will clap for them but if they don’t, we will tell them that something is wrong and that people are crying.”

    The chairman, however, pleaded that the DG’s reversed order be documented for future references.

    He said, “but we want to quickly draw their attention to three things – that our cry about the quit notice and the clarification or response on it shows that the DG knows about it and therefore not made. It was a true quit notice.

    “We want them to document the response by the DG so that their officials when they come in future, we will show them the document by them. So that it won’t just be a mere paper statement. If they do that, we will appreciate them.

    “The last one which we feel strongly about is when they said we don’t have valid document; we are saying probably, they have not checked their records well. But we have already instructed the Church that by Monday or Tuesday, they should go with their valid documents to reconcile so that in the future, we will not be saying someone is wrong when in the real sense, he is right.”

  • I won’t resign, daring Bayelsa Speaker tells Dickson, others

    Bayelsa Speaker, Tonye Isenah, has vowed not to resign his position contrary to the directive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders including Governor Seriake Dickson.

    Isenah came under intense pressure to relinquish his office in the House of Assembly to enable his party balance political equations ahead of the November 16 governorship election.

    The speaker was said to have reached an agreement with Dickson and other PDP leaders to vacate his office in the event that Senator Douye Diri, who hails from his Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area, emerged the candidate of the PDP for the election.

    Following the emergence of Diri, PDP leaders were said to have asked Isenah to surrender his position to another lawmaker from Southern Ijaw to enable the party garner votes from the council.

    But Isenah was said to have insisted that he would not let go of his position before the governorship poll.

    The Speaker in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Aotendeike Boloigha, said he had served the PDP faithfully and had yet to see how his resignation would help the party in the forthcoming poll.

    Read Also: Bayelsa governorship: fresh crisis hits PDP as pressure mounts on Speaker to resign

    He also denied the insinuations that Dickson was after him because he failed to carry out the governor’s request to initiate an impeachment proceeding against his Deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd).

    Isenah was compelled to officially react on the matter following a social media post by his Senior Special Assistant in New Media, Mr. Dickson Didi Opuene, that the speaker was undergoing the travail for refusing the governor’s request.

    Opuene in the post that went viral wrote: ““First they asked him to impeach the deputy governor for no just reason and he refused, now they want him to resign just to perfect their aim and plan. No way, he will not resign, they should come and impeach him and lets see.

    “Rt. Hon. Tonye Emmanuel Isenah remains the Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and he has not resigned or will ever contemplate of doing so, please disregard any rumour of his resignation”.

    Debunking Opuene’s claims, Isenah described the posts as generated and authored by over ambitious politicians taking advantage of the present situation in the assembly.

    Isenah said the claims were not only untrue but misleading and aimed at heating up the system.

    He said at no time had the governor imagined anything relating to impeachment of his deputy, whom he constantly described as a dependable ally adding that Dickson had never given such directive to the assembly.

    He said: “My stand on the issue of resignation has been that I have served the party PDP and  Govermor Seriake Dickson faithfully and with unflinching loyalty and I will not resign as doing so at this time will not in anyway help the party succeed in the November 16, governorship elections.

    “I call on my teeming supporters to distance  themselves from making unnecessary statements and posts in the social media. When the need arises, I will make official statements on his stand”.

  • We’ll retake Adamawa in 2023, APC vows

    Stakeholders of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State have taken stock of how the party lost the state in the 2019 election due to disunity and resolved to put the past behind them and take back the state in 2023.

    The stakeholders came out of a reconciliatory meeting in Yola on Friday night saying they had learnt their lessons and would henceforth work together for the success of the party at all levels.

    A former member of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, and Hajia Aisha Buhari’s brother, Ahmed Halilu (Mudi) had been bitterly against Sen Mohammed Jibrilla (Bindow) after Bindow as the state governor at the time, won the APC governorship primary which Ribadu and Mudi discredited.

    The two rejected Bindow’s candidacy up to the general election and were believed to have worked against Bindow at the election, a development believed to have contributed greatly to the failure of Bindow and of course the APC at the election.

    Ribadu who attended the Adamawa State APC Steering Committee/State Exco/Stakeholders Reconciliatory Meeting of Friday night, stressed that the intra-party conflict which cost the party the chance of retaining the state at the 2019 governorship election would never occur again.

    “Never again will we let that happen,” he said during a review remark at the end of the meeting.

    The meeting was the first in what may be a series of similar meetings following the constitution of a 39-member Central Steering Committee of the APC to reconcile misgivings and reposition the party for future success.

    Ribadu said, “We are here saying enough is enough. We will work together, we will never allow anything to come between us that will affect our fortunes and the fortunes of our party.

    “APC is a progressive party, our opponents are conservatives. It was so unfortunate that we were not guided in the past as a result of which our political enemies benefitted.”

    Read Also; ADC collapses structure, joins Ondo APC

    Urging a demonstration of the new resolve in the council-level elections scheduled for the state in November, Ribadu said, “It will never happen again in Adamawa. We have an election coming, the local government election. We intend to do it properly and fairly and we will not allow anybody to cheat us again.

    “We have all assembled here, all the leaders of the party from the local government to state levels. We have all resolved to work together for the victory of our party.”

    Earlier in his remark, chairman of the APC Steering Committee and one time Minister of Defence and Internal Affairs respectively, Abdurrahman Adamu, said that disturbed by the lingering precarious relationship among members of the party, elders took the gauntlet to restore sanity and orderliness after the party waded through misunderstanding for a long time.

    Also speaking, Adamawa State APC chairman, Ibrahim Bilal said with the resolve of the elders of the party to address grievances within the party, APC in Adamawa has become well organised, strengthened and ready to take the state by storm.

    The Chairman Sub-Committee on Reconciliation, Dahiru Bobbo, said his committee was delegated to reconcile aggrieved members and put the party on the threshold of prosperity.

  • TONTO DIKEH: I saved a lot of 40-seconds men

    POPULAR Nollywood Actress, Tonto Dikeh has said that she has saved a lot of men suffering from premature ejaculation and still giving out the solution.

    The actress who was formerly married to businessman, Olakunle Churchill, took to her Instagram handle to reveal that she has dealt with so many 40 seconds men in her life.

    According to her, she just could not understand why a man who could not last long in bed would have the desire to be adulterous.

    Read Also: Tonto Dikeh’s ex-husband gets new lover

    However, she believes that after calling her ex-husband ’40 seconds’ man, the infamous tag has forced men with sexual weaknesses to chase after solutions to dodge embarrassment.

    She shared a picture with the words, “I really have saved a lot of 40secs men, I mean, today everywhere you turn, there is a solution for it….Everyone is selling a cure, wish the buyers well…May the Lord take away your shame.”

    Going further, she wrote: “If I  didn’t talk now, yall would have been dying in silence.”

  • Man drowns attempting to propose to girlfriend underwater

    A man has drowned attempting to propose to his girlfriend underwater during their “once-in-a-lifetime” holiday.

    Steven Weber dived into the ocean to pop the question to Kenesha Antoine through the window of their submerged cabin in Tanzania.

    Video footage shows Mr Weber pressing a piece of paper against the glass with the message: “Will you please be my wife?”

    He then opened a ring box before swimming up out of view towards the surface.

    Ms Antoine, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, posted the film on Facebook on Friday morning with her response: ”Yes! Yes! Yes!”

    However a few hours later she revealed that he “never emerged from those depths” to hear her answer.

    “We never got to embrace and celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives together, as the best day of our lives turned into the worst, in the cruellest twist of fate imaginable,” she wrote.

    “I will try to take solace in the fact that we enjoyed the most amazing bucket list experiences these past few days, and that we both were so happy and absolutely giddy with excitement in our final moments together.”

    Read Also: Man beheads mother after raping own daughter

    Ms Antoine, a lawyer, added: “You were a bright light to everyone you encountered.
    You never met a stranger, and you brought so much joy to so many people. You were kind, compassionate, you regularly made me cry with laughter, and you showered me with a love like none I’d ever experienced.”

    She also wrote that a few days earlier he had described the holiday as a “once in a once-in-a-lifetime thing that people want to experience before they die”.

    “I will find you and marry you in the next lifetime, and the next, and the next, and the next,” added Ms Antoine. ”I love you so much, and I always will.”

    The couple were staying at a resort on Pemba Island off the coast of East Africa.
    An official at the US Department of State said they were aware of the death of a US citizen in Tanzania.

    “We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” a spokesperson said.

    “We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.”

  • VIDEO: Fans of BBNaija housemates clash in Lagos

    Fans of Big Brother Naija housemates clashed on Saturday in Lagos.

    The fans were campaigning for their favourite candidates at the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos.