13 Killed, 30 Injured in Car Accidents Yesterday

Nine persons were yesterday confirmed dead and 19 others seriously injured after two commercial vehicles collided yesterday along Maiduguri-Kano road.

According to officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the accident occurred after one of the buses got a tyre burst that forced it to swerve into the opposite lane where it ran into an oncoming vehicle.

Eyewitnesses said nine of the passengers in the two buses died on the spot, while 19 others who sustained clinical injuries were rushed, by FRSC rescue team, to Maiduguri University Teaching Hospital about 60km away.

FRSC, Operations Officer, Amos Thiza, who issued a text message to journalists at about 4:30pm, said, “the accident occurred at about 9am today (Tuesday) near Benishiekh on the Maiduguri-Damaturu road, where two commercial buses crashed, as a result of tyre burst by the vehicle with registration number, LG 09 MFA, which ran into the other bus marked XA 519 GUB.”

The passengers in the two buses, according to Thiza, were 33.

Similarly, four persons died in a ghastly auto crash that occurred on Monday night, on Enugu-Onitsha expressway, in Ezeagu local government area of Enugu state.

Also, 11 persons were injured in the accident that involved a DAF Truck with registration No XA805 FUN and a Toyota Hiace bus, with registration number, XZ 192 ENU, in a head-on.

The state Police Relation Officer, (PPRO), DSP Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the incident when contacted on phone.

He said the dead bodies have been deposited at our Saviour Hospital mortuary, while the eleven injured persons were rushed to unity Hospital Ngwo for medical attention.

The South-east zonal commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Chike Nwakama, described the auto crash as “unfortunate.”

He called on the Chinese Construction Company (CCC Ltd) handling the reconstruction of the road to speed up the work, saying that 96 per cent of road crashes on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway was caused by bad roads.

 TalkOfNaija

Buhari must run for presidency in 2015 – CPC

By Ameh Comrade Godwin

Gen Muhammadu Buhari

The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Tuesday said that Former Head of States and presidential candidate on the platform of CPC in the 2011 election, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) is not giving up on his quest to rule the nation, saying that he would give it a try come 2015 election.
“It is not true that Gen. Buhari is stepping down. He will make himself available for the 2015 election if he is accepted by the new arrangement. If he is not accepted, he is a democrat, he will not force himself on the party,” the spokesman for CPC, Rotimi Fashakin asserted.
According to Fashakin, the one-time All Nigeria Peoples Party presidential candidate was electable and that the CPC wanted him to run for the highest seat come 2015.
The CPC, ANPP, Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Progressives Grand Alliance are currently engaged in a merger talk and had since declared that All Progressives Congress is the new platform under which they intend to contest.

The merging parties said, it would provide a strong platform with which they will confront the ruling Peoples Democratic Party that has monopolised power at the centre since the return of democracy in 1999.
Fashakin said Buhari would be accepted by the APC because of his high electoral value.
He said, “Many people do not understand the average Northerner. The preponderance of these people is in rural areas. These are people Gen. Buhari is popular with. The general belief is that Gen. Buhari is adjudged as a leader.
“There are not many of these northern elements that have the kind of popularity that Gen. Buhari has. The electoral value of Gen. Buhari is never in doubt. It is a fact. He has created a niche for himself.”
Explaining why the CPC wanted Buhari to contest the 2015 poll, Fashakin said the former Head of State would provide transparent leadership for the country.
“The truth of the matter is that Buhari is a man with amazing and remarkable character. He is a dependable leader in terms of service delivery,” he said.At the meeting, which held in the Lagos Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, were Geidam, Almakura, Yari, Okorocha, Oshiomhole, Fayemi, Abiola Ajimobi, Oyo; Babatunde Fashola, Lagos; Rauf Aregbesola, Osun; and Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun.
DailyPost

Two Sisters Brutally Attack Ex-husband For Marrying Their Third Sister

A man was beaten outside a courtroom in Gujranwala on Wednesday by his two ex-wives.

 

According to Pakistan's Express Tribune, the man (identified as Adnan) was attacked by the sisters for allegedly kidnapping their youngest sister and forcing her into marriage. Moments before the beating occurred, Judge Mansoor Ahmed Khan dismissed an appeal filed by the bride's father, Muhammad Riaz, and ruled in favor of the marriage after hearing the bride (identified as Anum) say she married Adnan of her own free will and was not forced.

 

As the newlyweds were exiting the courtroom, the bride's father and two sisters attempted to separate her from her husband. When she refused, her father and two sisters turned on Adnan.

 

According to reports, bricks from a nearby construction site were used in the beating. Adnan escaped and was aided by relatives and police. Six years prior, the man had married the oldest sister, Tabassum. They split after her father allegedly lived in Adnan's house unlawfully. Riaz then offered his second daughter Tehmina in marriage to Adnan to settle the conflict, which he accepted.

 

However, three years into the marriage, Adnan claimed Riaz demanded either he pay $1,500 (Rs.200, 000) or divorce Tehmina. Adnan also claimed Riaz allegedly threatened to file a fabricated case against him if he refused to pay. Adnan divorced Tehmina because he could not afford the money.

 

Riaz denied his son-in-law's claims and said Adnan divorced his two daughters because he could not pay their dowry. When he discovered Adnan had married his third daughter, Riaz filed kidnapping charges against him in January. Although she denied being kidnapped or forced to marry her husband, Riaz is said to be concerned for his third daughter. There are no reports as to whether charges will be filed against Riaz and his two daughters for the beating.

Naij.com

Newly Formed Opposition Party, APC, is also Open to Individuals: Are You Interested?

As Nigerians continue to regard with suspicion the recent merger of four major opposition parties in the country, the National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Rotimi Fashakin, has said that the merger will strengthen democracy and ensure better governance in Nigeria.
Mr. Fashakin, who was speaking in Abuja recently, said that one of the primary aims of the merger is to restore the lost glory of Nigeria via good governance. He said that CPC strongly believes that the success of the merger would make a great difference, soonest, in the history of Nigerian politics.
His words: “As a party, we have endorsed the entry of the All Progressive Congress, APC, into Nigeria’s politics as an ideologically based political association.” He said the APC is essentially structured to provide an alternative platform to Nigerians. He also gave the assurance that “it (APC) shall be open to all patriots that are ready to join”.

The party, he said, “has absolute respect for the rights of individuals or groups on whether or not to associate within a democracy”. He also said that other political parties, progressive individuals, and groups are also welcomed to the new party.
InformationNigeria

VP Sambo In Desperate Move To Scuttle APC

 UCHENNA AWOM

The first signs that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party feels threatened by the merger of the major opposition parties have started to emerge with Vice President Namadi Sambo making clandestine moves to scuttle it.
LEADERSHIP reliably learnt that the vice president on Monday approached former Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff to map out plans on how to get state party chairmen of the ANPP to denounce the merger of the four opposition parties and pull out of it.
While the vice president and Sheriff met in Abuja, LEADERSHIP also learnt that this was not the first meeting they held in their efforts to kill the All Progressive Congress, the joint platform adopted by the opposition parties.
We were unable to confirm if Sheriff had accepted the offer.
But the office of the vice president has denied that any such meeting took place. A media aide to Sambo, Umar Sani, told LEADERSHIP yesterday, “I read it on twitter and I laughed. I showed it to the vice president and he laughed. How can he stop a merger? The merger is moving on. All we can do is get more supporters.”
Sani however made no categorical statement suggesting that the vice president and Sheriff did not meet. He said, “I did not ask on other issues. All I asked the vice president was whether he met with Sheriff to scuttle the merger and he said no.” 
Nonetheless, the governors of the merging parties, who established zonal contact and mobilisation committees yesterday, also unfolded the new party’s priority areas that have as base the aim to rescue Nigeria from decay. The governors declared the new grouping as “Social Democrats”.
 Also, the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, debunked speculations over his seeming lukewarm attitude towards the merger plans. He declared, at the end of over five hours’ meeting at the Lagos State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, that he was all for it, since it is appropriate at this point to have a credible alternative platform for Nigerians.
This was even as Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State insisted that his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), is in the merger despite some minor internal problems.
However, LEADERSHIP learnt of a clandestine plot allegedly being championed by Vice President Sambo not only to undermine the successful launch of the APC, but also to discourage any cohesive merger of the political parties.
Sources disclosed last night that Sambo had allegedly been holding secret consultations that could culminate in dissuading top members of the ANPP, including the state chairmen, from being part of the merger arrangement.
“The idea is to encourage the members of the party to protest and issue statements disowning a section of the leadership of the party, who are at the forefront of the alignment. They simply want to paint an image of a still-birth and create an impression that the merger is in disarray,” said the source.
The source added: “We understand that some of the state party chairmen may be in Abuja tomorrow (today) for a press conference to discredit the All Progressive Congress and the merger.”
 It was also learnt that there are also moves to reach out to Sherriff’s close allies like Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, former governor of Kano State, and former of governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa.
An aide of the former governor of Kano State, Sule Yau Sule, confirmed the plot to LEADERSHIP, though he distanced his boss from it.
He said: “Yes, we are aware of the plot to scuttle the merger, but it will not succeed because Nigerians including even a large segment of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are in support of the realignment. We know that the government will deploy the apparatus of government to scuttle the merger. They will not succeed; Nigerians are already dissatisfied with the way PDP is governing. So they will not succeed by the grace of God.”
However, the governors of the merging parties told newsmen, at the end of their second meeting over the merger process, that based on the overwhelming support that greeted the announcement of the merger, they were compelled to announce the establishment of the zonal contact and mobilisation committees headed across the six geopolitical zones by Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State (north-east), Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State (north-central),  Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State (north-west), Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State (south-east), Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State (south-south) and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State (south-west).
Speaking through Governor Al-Makura, the governors declared that the committee would mobilise support for the party across political, social, religious, ethnic and professional interest groups in the country.
“We reiterate our clarion call on all Nigerians to understand and see this initiative as a credible process to deepen democracy and for national renewal,” he said. “Given the desire of Nigerians for change, our party will undertake to facilitate radical social, economic and political reformation of the country. Our programme priorities shall be agricultural development, jobs creation, free education, affordable healthcare, infrastructural development, adequate power supply, eradication of poverty and corruption and rapid technological advancement and industrialization.”
He said the members of the new group would pride themselves on being social democrats that are committed to organise the society based on the values of justice for all and individual freedom where everyone’s basic needs are fulfilled
On the name, the governors said they were pleased with the name adopted by the merger committee because it captures the spirit of cooperation and compromise that “we espouse and it underscores the imperative of rescuing Nigeria from decay”.
Meanwhile, Governor Okorocha said the authentic APGA is in the merger, adding that when the time come Nigerians would know the APGA/PDP and the real APGA.
“All the regional parties like ACN, CPC and the ANPP are all in the merger; so APGA cannot be an exception,” he stated. He spoke against the backdrop of the dissention in his party over the merger arrangement and the question of what he was doing to bring them along.
Leadership

Buhari not dropping out of 2015 race –CPC • Ambition will tear APC apart –Tukur

 by Niyi Odebode, John Ameh and Olusola Fabiyi 

Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)

VETERAN presidential candidate and former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) is not dropping his ambition to take another shot at the presidency in the 2015 general election, the Congress for Progressive Change said on Tuesday.

“It is not true that Gen. Buhari is stepping down. He will make himself available for the 2015 election if he is accepted by the new arrangement. If he is not accepted, he is a democrat, he will not force himself on the party,” the spokesman for Buhari’s CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, told The PUNCH.

Fashakin said the one-time All Nigeria Peoples Party presidential candidate was electable and that the CPC wanted him to contest the 2015 poll.

The CPC, ANPP, Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Progressives Grand Alliance are currently engaged in a merger arrangement and had announced the All Progressives Congress as the new platform under which they intend to contest.

The new party, the merging parties said, would provide them the strong platform on which to confront the ruling Peoples Democratic Party that has monopolised power at the centre since the return of democracy in 1999.

Fashakin said Buhari would be accepted by the APC because of his high electoral value.

He said, “Many people do not understand the average northerner. The preponderance of these people is in rural areas. These are people Gen. Buhari is popular with. The general belief is that Gen. Buhari is adjudged as a leader.

“There are not many of these northern elements that have the kind of popularity that Gen. Buhari has. The electoral value of Gen. Buhari is never in doubt. It is a fact. He has created a niche for himself.”

Explaining why the CPC wanted Buhari to contest the 2015 poll, Fashakin said the former Head of State would provide transparent leadership for the country.

 “The truth of the matter is that Buhari is a man with amazing and remarkable character. He is a dependable leader in terms of service delivery,” he said.

The clarification on Buhari’s ambition for 2015 came even as the PDP National Chairman, Bamangar Tukur, said in Abuja that “ambition will tear the APC to rags” and an APGA lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Victor Ogene, said the new party could not guarantee a president from the South-East.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Tukur said, “Don’t worry, this is not the first time Nigerians would hear about merger. Let elections come and everyone will see the problems within them. They will be torn to rags because of ambitions.

“PDP is a united party, even when we disagree; we are able to reconcile our differences because of our belief in the unity of Nigeria as an indivisible entity.”

Ogene, representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency of Anambra State, said APGA was not dead and described as erroneous the thinking “of some politicians” that APC would ensure the enthronement of a president of Igbo extraction.

He spoke in response to Senator Annie Okokwo (APGA) who had expressed interest in the APC.

He said, “The leader of a political party is distinct from its national chairmanship, as the absence of one does not distract from the powers and functions of the other.

“For the avoidance of any doubt, therefore, Governor Peter Obi remains the national leader of the APGA.

“It is also laughable that politicians are flirting with the new party because of their erroneous belief that APC holds the key to the realisation of a ‘President of Igbo extraction”.

Meanwhile, the governors of the four parties fusing into APC on Tuesday met in Abuja and rolled out the programmes for their new party.

The governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Almakura, surrounded by his colleagues from nine other states, read the communiqué of the meeting and said the state chief executives were happy at the APC name adopted by the merging parties.

He said, “Our programme priorities shall be agricultural development, job creation, free education, affordable healthcare, infrastructural development, adequate power supply, eradication of poverty and corruption and rapid technological advancement and industrialisation.

“We shall pride ourselves as social democrats that are committed to organise our society based on the values of justice for all and individual freedom where everyone’s basic needs are fulfilled.”

He called on Nigerians to understand their (the governors’) call and see the formation of the new party as a credible process to deepen democracy and national renewal.

The governor also said that the overwhelming support that greeted the announcement of the merger had made the governors to establish Zonal Contact and Mobilisation Committees across the six-geopolitical zones.

Those named as leaders of the committee were Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam (North-East); Almakura (North-Central), Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari (North-West); Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha (South-East); Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole (South-South); and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi (South-West).

At the meeting,  which held in the Lagos Governor’s Lodge in Abuja,  were Geidam, Almakura, Yari, Okorocha, Oshiomhole, Fayemi, Abiola Ajimobi, Oyo; Babatunde Fashola, Lagos; Rauf Aregbesola, Osun; and Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun.

Punch

How Security Guard Stole N76,000 From His Boss' ATM Account

A 29-year-old security guard, Benjamin Nyiynogo, was yesterday, sentenced to two months imprisonment by an Ikeja Magistrate Court, for stealing N76,000 through an Automated Teller Machine, ATM.
According to the magistrate, Mrs Dan Oni, “you are hereby sentenced to a two-month imprisonment with hard labour and without an option of fine for pleading guilty to the charge against you.
“You are to pay the N76,000 to the complainant upon your return from prison.”
The Police  Prosecutor Edet Okoi had told the court that the defendant stole the money belonging to one Mr Jimoh Aliu, his supervisor at work.
He said the complainant gave his FirstBank ATM card with the pin no to Nyiynogo to help  him withdraw N40,000 from his account but when he got to the bank, he withdrew N76,000 from the account and absconded with the money.
He said that the offence was committed on January 24, 2013, at Mobolaji Johnson, Alausa, Ikeja.
According to Okoi, the alleged offence contravened Section 285, Laws of Lagos State 2011.
Naij.com