Socioscope News Agency

Christians in a village in Kaduna state, in north-central Nigeria, don’t understand why Muslim Fulani herdsmen shot a 70-year-old Christians and wounded two others there last month. They do know the herdsmen’s cattle destroyed several of their crops last year, that since the attack many Christians have fled, and that many of those who have stayed are afraid to go to church meetings. Christians in Ginden Dutse village, near Jagindi in Jema’a County, reported the destruction of their crops by the Muslim Fulani’s cattle, but they have not retaliated in any way, they said. “We cannot fight back, because we as Christians are law-abiding citizens of this country,” Abel Bako, 48, secretary of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Gindin Dutse, told Morning Star News. “However, it is the responsibility of the Nigerian government to protect us from terror activities of herdsmen.” The herdsmen attacked at 11 p.m. on Dec. 4, according to the ECWA church’s pastor, the Rev. Williams Yak...

The Deputy Chief Observer, European Union Election Observation Mission, Hannah Roberts, in this interview with IFEANYI ONUBA, speaks on Nigeria’s elections, among other issues Did you anticipate the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections? We at the EU Election Observations Mission met with all the stakeholders concerned, including the Independent National Electoral Commission and we had many meetings with INEC and they gave assurances on the status of preparations for the elections. We of course then followed the announcement and along with other observer groups and then encouraged INEC to work during this week to get the election ready for this coming Saturday (today) and to give clear confirmation on what they are doing. From your experience, do you think the postponement will affect the credibility of the elections? As an observer mission, we look at election process to see how it complies with the commitment the country has under its own nationa...

Few weeks ago, four students from the school won a scholarship that worth $60,000 in the Conrad Challenge. Now, another set of students from the school in the Lekki campus have won $2,000 in the School Enterprise Challenge 2018 edition. The School Enterprise Challenge is an initiative of “ Teach A Man To Fish” a UK charity organisation. Over 1000 schools across the globe participated in this program. The aim of which is to help students learn valuable 21st-century business skills they can use to support their schools and local community. Greensprings School Lagos, (Lekki campus) participated in this enterprise challenge, and came up with a business called “GREENY-G Mini Mart.” The aim of the business is to provide toiletries, stationery and healthy snack foods to members of the school community. With its establishment, the students have learnt skills such as planning, finance, sustainability, teamwork, research, sales and marketing. In addition to this, they have also learnt how...

A newborn baby was , on Thursday , found dead in Nnewi , Anambra State . The baby, who was placed in a carton by unknown persons, was dumped by the roadside . A resident , who spoke to PUNCH Metro on condition of anonymity because of the fear of being arrested , said , “ The incident happened this morning ( Thursday ) . We suspect that the baby died of cold because we understood he was left naked overnight . “The discovery was a shock to many residents of the vicinity . “The incident occurred on the Bank Road , Nnewi. We were left in shock after discovering that the baby had died . He was dumped by somebody suspected to be the mother . “The incident left many passersby and sympathisers in tears . This is wickedness of the highest order.” Efforts to get the police to react to the story were not successful as calls put across to the mobile telephone of the Police Public Relations Officer in the state , Haruna Mohammed , rang out . A text message sent to him on the matter had no...

Popular Yoruba actress, Lizzy Anjorin went out of her way during the week to rain curses on a follower who called her out following the deteriorating health of veteran actor, Babatunde Omidina (Baba Suwe). The actress derided the follower known as jedegelejoe who called her out for poking his nose where he has no business. According to Anjorin, it’s her choice to choose whom to help when the need arises. She recalls how none of her so called colleagues never stood up for her or supported her when she needed them in the past. She further mentioned how they neglected her, gave her no roles and shunned her mother’s burial ceremony. Anjorin also referred to 2017 when Saidi Balogun boycotted her premiere and was supported by all other colleagues. “My mother battled stroke for good four years, I was in the court with a thief that stole my car all alone at this same time …what did my colleagues did to help me? Though they help to spread bad rumours. If you come to my page to drop a...

Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, has sought more collaboration with the Nigeria Army in the training of the corps personnel. He made the call when he hosted the Commandant, Army War College, Maj. Gen. Charles Ofoche, in Abuja on Thursday. Oyeyemi said that FRSC had enjoyed much support from the army in terms of capacity building of its personnel and needed more of such assistance. Capacity-building is very critical. We will not be here today if we have not passed through different levels of training. When we talk about inter-agency cooperation, we have one of the best relationships with the Nigerian Army,Navy and Air Force, he said. He expressed appreciation to the Chief of Defence Staff for granting the corps, opportunities in the usage of some facilities for training of its officers. Earlier, Ofoche said that the army had enjoyed some level of synergy with the corps which was geared toward nation-building. According to him, nation-building...

The Ogun State command of the Nigerian Police Force has announced the arrest of four persons, suspected to be political thugs and members of a secret cult group over alleged involvement in the shooting and murder of one person in Sagamu area of the state. The suspects, Olushola Adedeji, Olusegun Olalekan a.k.a Musket, Azeez, alias Anene and Abolore a.ka A.B were arrested by men of the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS), Obada, Abeokuta, last week Thursday at their hideout in Sagamu, for killing a Sagamu resident popularly known as Arsenal-Nice. Their arrest followed a complaint lodged at the ZIS that the suspects invaded the residence of the victim and shot him dead. The complainant, who added that the suspects were on the payroll of a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly, equally informed the police that the suspects have been terrorizing Sagamu and its environs. The investigation revealed that the suspects, who were arrested with some arms and ammunition and presently ...

The International AIDS Society (IAS) has appointed five leaders in HIV prevention research, implementation and advocacy as Co-Chairs for the HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) conference. This is contained in a statement signed by Mandy Sugrue, IAS Communications Director and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Thursday. The five include Linda-Gail Bekker, Pontiano Kaleebu, Sheena McCormack, David O’Connor and Mitchell Warren. HIVR4P conference is the world’s only scientific meeting dedicated exclusively to biomedical HIV prevention. Sugrue said that the newly appointed leaders would co-chair the fourth biennial HIVR4P 2020 conference scheduled to hold in Cape Town, South Africa. He quoted Anton Pozniak, IAS president, as saying the IAS has assumed the role of HIVR4P conference secretariat as part of its collaboration with the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, which organised the first three HIVR4P conferences. “Since 2014, the biennial HIVR4P conference has br...

MORE than 72 million Nigerians have been cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to vote in tomorrow’s presidential and National Assembly elections. They represent 86.63 per cent of the 84 million registered would-be voters who collected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said yesterday at his daily news briefing. Besides, the INEC boss said he was not contemplating resigning from office. He said that 72,775,502 million of the 84,004,084 registered voters collected PVCs before the commission withdrew all the 11,228,582 uncollected last week Monday. The withdrawn PVCs will be kept until after the elections on March 9. Only PVC holders will be allowed to vote. Briefing reporters and observers, Prof. Yakubu said he had never contemplated resigning his job. “I see no reason why I should resign,” he stressed. On INEC’s preparation for the polls, Yakubu said 19 states had fully deployed electoral materials to local government areas. ...

The Kwara Police Command has confirmed an attack on the campaign train of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday in Ilorin. The Public Relations Officer of the command, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed this to newsmen in Ilorin. He said the vice president was not at the scene where the unknown gunmen shot at the mammoth All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters, who came out to hail the Prof. Osinbajo at Isale Aluko area in Ilorin. The Kwara police spokesman confirmed that two persons sustained gunshot injuries while others who ran for safety suffered various degrees of injuries. He said first information available to him has it that the attack was allegedly carried out by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) thugs in the state. Okasanmi said investigations into the matter had begun and promised that the police would unravel and bring those involved to justice. The vice president was in Ilorin to conclude the door-to-door campaign to mobilise votes for the reelec...

A Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the former Super Eagles Captain, Austin Okocha, a. k. a. Jay Jay Okocha for failure to appear in court severally to answer to why he has allegedly failed to pay his income taxes. Okocha was dragged before the court by the Lagos State Ministry of Justice for failure to furnish return of his personal income tax. On June 6, 2017 complain was filed before the court against the former Super Eagles Captain, the case came up for the first time on Oct. 5, 2017 but he failed to appear in court. However, after several adjournments without him appearing in court when service have been served on him, the prosecutor urged the court to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. The Presiding Judge, Justice Adedayo Akintoye, on Jan. 29 issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the ex-Supper Eagles Captain and adjourned until February 19, 2019, for him to be produce in court. However, on Feb...

Nigerians have been cautioned to adhere strictly to the laws of the land so as to make the 2019 general elections a successful one. As Nigerians prepare, again, to go to the polls for the 2019 general elections, there are quite a few things the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will love to make very clear. As part of its public awareness campaign, the commission has revealed seven cardinal sins that should not be committed anywhere around the thousands of polling units where Nigerians will cast their votes on Saturday, February 23, 2019. The Election Day Offenses listed by the commission are: 1. No campaigning for votes, or persuasion of voters to not vote for a candidate. 2. No shouting of slogans concerning the election, or in support of any party. 3. No one should be in possession of an offensive weapon or wear any apparel calculated to intimidate voters. 4. No one is allowed to use a vehicle bearing the colour or symbol of a political party or candidate...

Detectives attached to Anti- Cultism Unit of the Lagos State Command have smashed an inter-state syndicate which specialised in snatching vehicles in any part of the country and selling same at give-away prices. Arrested, was a suspected member of the syndicate, Idowu Popoola, who was driving in a KIA Spot Utility vehicle with registration number MUS 910 DA, which the gang snatched from its owner in Akure, in Ondo State. During preliminary investigation, policemen attached to Ijanikin division discovered that Popoola drove the car from Akure and was taking it to a ready buyer around Agbara, when a team of policemen intercepted him at Ijanikin. An elated owner of the recovered vehicle, Mr. Olaniran Olanusi, who was at the command headquarters yesterday, explained that he was accosted by three members of the gang at gun point while returning from a function. He said: “They apparently trailed me to my house on a motorbike. As I was hooting the horn for the gate man to open the doo...

The poor remittance levels of the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) in Nigeria’s privatised power market may have defeated the aim of the N701 billion bailout by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the power generation companies and gas suppliers, THISDAY has learnt. Following the declaration last week by the federal government through the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mr. Louis Edozein, that the government might soon discontinue its payment of financial shortfalls to the Gencos, THISDAY gathered from the market records from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) that the intentions of the bailout scheme may not be met after all. From the analysis of the market records obtained Thursday in Abuja, the original intentions of the bailout funds was to support the Gencos to continue to produce electricity for at least two years when the Discos would be able to pay substantially for power sold to them. However, there are strong indications that this obje...

Joyce is HIV positive, and was told in the call that this information - along with details of more than 14,000 other infected people in Singapore - had been made public in a massive data breach. "I'm still very shocked and sad at how this happened," Joyce told the BBC. "How is it that the place that I thought was safe is now not safe for us?" The scandal has gripped the Singaporean media for weeks. The government has blamed the leak on the American partner of a local doctor, who had access to the records kept on all known HIV-positive people in Singapore. Authorities say the leak has been contained, but this is little relief to a vulnerable community in a society that continues to stigmatise the condition. Joyce, who didn't want her real name or nationality revealed, contracted HIV more than two decades ago from a boyfriend who went on to die from it. She says she was unaware of her condition when she married her Singaporean husband and moved here ...

Nnewi—Human, vehicular movements and trading activities were yesterday grounded for over two hours along Niger Street, Fegge Onitsha, following protest by over 150 traders of City of God Plaza, Fegge Onitsha, who shut the market in protest against the break-in and carting away of over N4 million from one of the shops in the market. Hundreds of stranded traders crossing River Niger to transact businesses in Onitsha Main Market and other surrounding markets, through Niger Street, particularly those from Delta and Edo States, were prevented from free entry and exit by the protesting traders. The traders displayed various placards with inscriptions indicating their disappointment with the management of the Plaza and the security they are providing for the traders in the plaza. Spokesmen for the traders, Mr. Chukwudi Nwolisa and Elochukwu Ajima, alleged that the Tuesday night break-in and stealing from the shop was the third since last year without any arrest made by the security emp...

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has postponed the mock examination of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination slated to start from Saturday because of the presidential and National Assembly elections . The board also said on Wednesday it might reschedule the 2019 UTME if the elections were not concluded . JAMB ’ s Head of Information , Dr Fabian Benjamin , said the board could announce a new date for the UTME if the elections were not concluded on March 9 when the governorship and state Houses of Assembly polls will hold . Benjamin added that a new date for the mock examination would be announced later. “We have fixed a date for our examination . They have shifted the elections and we are also looking at the elections . If for any reason they affect our examination , we will certainly change . But if they don’t affect our examination , we will let it be . “If there is a need for run - offs and the elections enter another week , of course it will affect our p...

  Akinleye was accused of impersonating a business tycoon, Tony Woods, alongside his wife Stephanie Woods, in order to defraud unsuspecting potential investors. The money was said to run into hundreds of British pounds. He was said to have been arrested on November 24 by the Paddington State Police in London. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) has been asked to probe allegations of financial crimes said to have been committed by a House of Assembly aspirant in Ekiti State, Otunba Lekan Akinleye. The candidate, who seeks to be a lawmaker in the Ekiti State Assembly, was declared wanted by the London Metropolitan Police after he had jumped bail while awaiting trial for cross border crimes. A petition by the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), a coalition of over 150 civil right groups want the EFCC to investigate the grievous allegations. The Chairman of CSNAC, Olanrewaju Saraj, on behalf of the group stated that Nigerians deserve to know ...

9mobile has announced the commencement of its newly launched reward scheme- Magic Hour promo- to reward customers for three months. According to a statement by the company, beginning from this month, the network would be celebrating and rewarding its customers with amazing prizes such as free airtime, smart phones and cash prizes running into millions of Naira as a way of appreciating them for their unwavering loyalty and brand affinity over the past one decade. The statement also stated that the reward scheme which would run for 90 days, would see some customers move up the social status ladder as millionaires would emerge in the promo draws holding across key cities in Nigeria. Prizes up for grabs include the N20 million grand prize for one winner at the end of the promo, and N5 million cash to be won by one lucky customer in each of the three months, at the monthly draws. Also, one lucky customer each day will win N250,000 throughout the 90-days promo duration while 5 customer...

The nation ’s power sector lost N 69 .1 bn between January 1 and February 19 this year as a result of the persistent challenges in the industry . Data obtained from the Advisory Power Team in the Office of the Vice President on Wednesday showed that the loss in the sector was due to insufficient gas supply to power generation plants as well as inadequate distribution and transmission infrastructure . It was gathered that a total of 2, 332 .95 megawatts of electricity was not generated due to the unavailability of gas on February 19 , 2019. Also , 32 . 5MW of power was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure , while 543 MW was not generated due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure . On the same day , 150 MW of power was recorded as losses due to water management constraint . The APT said , “The power sector lost an estimated N 1. 468 bn on February 19 , 2019 due to insufficient gas supply , distribution infrast...

Shuaibu Shahu, an investigative officer of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has told the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, how Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation, received the sum of N350million from the Ministry of External Affairs through his Zenith Bank account without executing any project or rendering any service to the ministry. Shahu said this on Wednesday before Justice Rilwan Aikawa, while giving a report of the commission’s investigation into the N4.9billion fraud allegation against the former minister, who also served as the campaign director of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Led in evidence by Rotimi Oyedepo, counsel to the EFCC, Shuaibu stated that the sum of N800million was transferred from the Ministry of External Affairs to a company called Joint Trust Dimension Ltd. on January 16, 2015. He said the funds were transferred without evidence of prior engagement with the ministry. Alleging that the Joint Trust Dimension was used to ...

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that Automated Teller Machine (ATM) recorded transactions valued at N39.15 trillion in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018 from selected banks across the country. According to NAN, the bureau stated this in its “Selected Banking Sector Data for Fourth Quarter, 2018”, posted on its website on Wednesday. It said that the N39.15 trillion was derived from 616,528,697 transactions recorded as data on “Electronic Payment Channels in the Nigeria Banking Sector” during the period. The bureau added that NIBSS Instant Payments (NIP) transactions dominated the volume of transactions recorded in the quarter. According to the report, 228, 209, 423 NIP transactions valued at N23.57 trillion were recorded in the quarter under review. In terms of credit to private sector by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the period, the report said the total value of credit allocated by the bank was N15.13 trillion. It said Oil and Gas and Manufactur...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has broken its silence over a purported judgement by an Abuja High Court nullifying the candidature of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Delta South Senatorial candidate, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan. Addressing journalists on Wednesday at INEC headquarters in Asaba, Delta State, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Cyril Omorogbe, said the Commission was not aware of such judgement against the former governor. Dr. Omorogbe said the court had at no time ordered the electoral umpire to delete Dr. Uduaghan’s name from the list of contestants in the election. “I am only aware of the case of eight wards in Burutu that later came to 10. We have postponed the matter until after elections. I will not talk much about the court case in Ethiope West (involving Hon. Halim Agoda, a former member of the House of Representatives and Chief Edojah) until I get information from the high command of the commission. We are not aware of ...

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday assured the electorate that the rescheduled presidential and National Assembly elections slated for Saturday would hold . It said only an ‘act of God’ could stop the conduct of the polls . The INEC Chairman , Prof . Mahmood Yakubu , stated this in Abuja while addressing a cross- section of the diplomatic community and international election monitoring groups in Nigeria on the elections . Yakubu , who was represented by an INEC National Commissioner , Dr Mustapha Lecky , categorically stated that everything needed to ensure the conduct of the polls on February 23 had been put in place , adding that the commission had no reason to feel things would go wrong. The commission, he added , had developed a six - point agenda of what needed to be done to ensure success , noting that it had completed the deployment of materials as of Wednesday ( yesterday) . The INEC boss said , “We have no reason to believe that anything , excep...

It seems that for President Muhammadu Buhari , there appears to be one solution to national problem : more of it. Is Nigeria facing the challenge of financial corruption ? The approach is not to understand corruption as a primal behaviour that will be inevitably unleashed on any society whose social and political mechanisms operate with loose nuts and bolts. Instead, corruption is treated by a further loosening of the system ; undermining the rule of law and staging a public crucifixion of those labelled corrupt. To solve the problem of corruption , they thus entangle us in even more corruption . On Monday , Buhari did it again when he said at an All Progressives Congress caucus meeting that thugs who snatch ballot boxes on Election Day do so at the expense of their lives . He said he had given instructions to the police and the military authorities to be ruthless with alleged election riggers . In essence , the President is saying that his method of dealing with a primitive and c...

NUTRITION INFORMATION OF DATE FRUIT 1 serving = 94 g (125 mL) High in magnesium (16% Recommended Daily Intake per serving) Source of Vitamin B6 (9% Recommended Daily Intake per serving) Source of folacin (8% Recommended Daily Intake per serving) Source of iron (7% Recommended Daily Intake per serving) Source of phosphorus (5% Recommended Daily Intake per serving) Very high in fibre (7.5 g per serving) Sodium-free (2 mg per serving) Fat-free (0.4 g per serving) LOOK FOR Plump, evenly coloured specimens. All dates have a single long seed. The fruit should not look dry or withered and no crystals should appear on the exterior of the date. TO STORE Fresh dates can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. TO PREPARE Date fruit can be eaten raw or dried. Include it in an assortment of desserts.

Isaac Oluwole Newton-Wusu, Director of the Stephen Centre International School, Abeokuta, on Wednesday appeared before an Ogun high court over alleged rape and indecent assault on five female students of the school. The police arraigned Newton-Wusu on a five-count charge, but he pleaded not guilty. According to the police, the director indecently assaulted and raped two students aged 12 years and 14 years in 2008 and 2010 in his office. The police also said that Newton-Wusu indecently assaulted three other female students by squeezing and fondling their breasts in 2007 and 2008, in contravention of Sections 358, 359 and 360 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2016. Justice Solomon Olugbemi granted the defendant bail in the sum of N5 million with two surties in like sum. Olugbemi ordered that the surties must own landed property within the courts jurisdiction and have building plan approval. He also ordered that the sureties must show evidence of three years tax payment to Ogun...