Nedu Echianu's Blog

President Goodluck Jonathan has effected a minor cabinet reshuffle by swapping the Minister of State for Power, Gauis Dickson, with the Minister of State for Niger Delta, Zainab Kuchi.   A statement released by the President's spokes person said the  change takes effect from next week .

The Lagos State Government has told people living in coastal areas to be watchful as a strong surge from hurricane Sandy ravaging the East Coast of the United States may hit the state in less than seven days. The Commissioner for Waterfront and Infrastructural Development, Segun Oniru, in a press briefing, Tuesday, said the alert is necessary as the state lies parallel to the American coast and may be hit by ripple effect of the super storm.

Gunmen numbering about 20 on Tuesday attacked the Kaboro community in the Dansadau Emirate of Zamfara, killing 18 people, including the village head. A survivor, Sani Abdullahi, who narrated his ordeal to newsmen in Gusau, said the bandits, swooped on the village at about 4 a.m. and began shooting sporadically. “It was when the shooting started that the village head, identified as Alhaji Maiyara, came out to plead with the gunmen to stop the heinous crime. But they got at him and killed him. “He was killed instantly when they felt that he was disturbing them with his endless begging after he was warned to shut up and keep off.

No matter what part of the country you're in, it's nearly impossible not to be aware of the devastation and destruction that superstorm Sandy wrought as it pummeled the East Coast of the United States. In fact, with 24-hour news coverage, there are seemingly endless photos and videos being shared via social media. But not all the images -- nor the captions that accompany them -- are real.

Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, has lamented the low quality of leaders in the country. He frowned on the educational quality of some National Assembly members, saying they can barely write their names. Ekweremadu stated this in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Monday while delivering the 2012 Zik Lecture Series organised by the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.  The lecture was entitled, ‘True Federalism and the Political Ideology of the Great Zik’.

The death toll of Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia has risen to 21 from 14, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. NAN quotes the National Hajj Commission’s weekly public health bulletin “No. 1” dated Oct. 29, which showed that the male pilgrims had the highest mortality rate of 13. The bulletin shows that Katsina State has the highest figure of four; Sokoto, three, Kano, Lagos, Zamfara and Ogun recorded two deaths each. Oyo, Gombe, Yobe and the Nigerian armed forces recorded one death each.

Family of Lucy Ukpong, the 18-year-old sales girl killed by some policemen in Apo, Abuja on October 12, have said nothing short of justice will be acceptable to them. This is just as Lucy was buried amid tears at Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Saturday. It would be recalled that the police authorities had earlier pleaded with the family to accept an amicable settlement of the matter.

A suicide bomber has hit St. Rita's Catholic Church in  Ungwar Yero  area of Kaduna metropolis, online news medium Sahara reporters has just reported. It said the attack which seriously injured the Reverend father in the church occurred around 8:45 AM during the morning mass. SaharaReporters claims that eye witnesses informed it that a lone car bomber approached the church gate hoping to quietly drive into the church before exploding the bomb but the security men at the gate refused him entry. The bomber then reversed his car and rammed it forcefully against the gate of the church, the gate caved in as the bomb exploded injuring several churchgoers. Nigerian troops have cordoned off the area while the police and Kaduna state government officials are calming down  christian residents in the area to avoid religious confrontations that typically follows such attack in the state.  

Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba state was flown to Germany in an air ambulance for medical attention at about 3.05 p.m  on Saturday, the governor’s spokesperson  has said. The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Hassan Mijinyawa, confirmed the development to newsmen in Jalingo on Saturday.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud. Mr Berlusconi and others were accused of buying US film rights at inflated prices via two offshore companies under his control.

An arms dealer has been convicted of helping to organise a shipment of weapons from China to Nigeria without a licence. Gary Hyde, 43, from Newton on Derwent near York, was accused of shipping a "huge quantity" of guns and ammunition. Southwark Crown Court heard how 40,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 30,000 rifles and 10,000 9mm pistols, had been shipped in 2007.

First Lady of Nigeria , Patience Jonathan yesterday marked her 55th birthday at the State House, Abuja, in company of her children , President Goodluck Jonathan; his mum, Mama Eunice Jonathan and friends of the family.   Mrs. Patience Jonathan while giving thanks to God for sparing her life to witness and mark her birthday added that whatever might have happened to her was God’s design for her life. 

As many online news organisations yesterday broke the news o f the death of Taraba State Governor, Danbaba Suntai who along with some of his aides were involved in a plane crash while approaching Yola International Airport in Adamawa state , the Federal Ministry of Aviation has issued a statement saying the Governor and the other five passengers aboard the crashed plane are alive. The statement titled “Incident Involving Aircraft, Cessna 208, 5N-BMJ in Yola, Adamawa State, reads:

Beans really may be a magical fruit -- a new study in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine shows that for Type 2 diabetes patients, the more legumes you eat, the better your glycemic control and the lower your risk of coronary heart disease.

  The controversies surrounding the release of a memoir by globally acclaimed writer, Chinua Achebe has continued to reverberate. In a part of the memoir, he was quoted as saying that the then minister of Finance during the civil war between Nigeria and the breakaway Republic of Biafra, Obafemi Awolowo used starvation as a weapon of war to subdue the Biafrans and beat them back into the Nigerian Federation. In this interview, Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani Kayode rubbishes Achebe's stand on the matter...take a look.

From the memo you are about to read, it seems Popular blogger, Stella Dimoko-Korkus, has a score to settle with actor, Jim Iyke. In his memo , the livid Dimoko-Korkus pours so much venom on Jim Iyke for "setting her up" after she released an exclusive story o n the actor's 11 year old son... enjoy this special piece...lol  

Contrary to reports in some quarters that N ollywood actress, Ngozi Nwosu is down with kidney problems, a popular entertainment magazine -E247 Entertainment reports that the actress is actually down with HIV. Ngozi has been a shadow of herself in recent times as she has continued to lose weight rapidly.   Here is what E247 wrote about the illness: ( I Must state here that there has been no official confirmation of the so called HIV infection)

The Bauchi state Police Command has arraigned a civil servant in the state, Abbas Ahmed before a Chief Magistrate’s Court for allegedly defaming the character of Governor Isa Yuguda on Facebook. Ahmed was alleged to have accused the governor of spending huge public funds on the wedding of his son. Police prosecutor, Sergeant Rufai Ahmed, told the court that the State Criminal Investigation Department received a request from the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Barrister Almustapha Suleiman, to investigate the case of injurious falsehood and defamation contrary to Section 393, 394 of the Penal Code. Chief Magistrate Mohammed Kafin Madaki granted the application and remanded the suspect in police custody, and adjourned the suit to tomorrow for further mention. Source: Daily Post

Passengers on an Abuja-bound Arik Air flight yesterday arrested a man that was suspected to be planning to bomb the plane. But the spokesman for the Aviation Minister, Joe Obi, told reporters that it was not true that a bomb was found on the aircraft. He stated: “A passenger, Aminu Galadima, an indigene of Minna, Niger State boarded a Maiduguri-Abuja-bound Arik Air aircraft with registration number 5N MJE after going through all mandatory security screening. Nothing incriminating, no explosives or weapons whatsoever were found on him.

Miss Chidimma Ukachukwu, a 12-year-old pupil of a secondary school in Awka, Anambra State, has died after she was allegedly flogged by her teacher for failing to do her homework. The News Agency of Nigeria in Awka quotes a source as saying that the girl died on Thursday last week after she was flogged. The source further explained that the girl after being severely flogged by a female teacher, lost consciousness and was immediately rushed to an undisclosed hospital, where she died. This led to a closure of the school by the state’s Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Uju Okeke.

The management of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, KEDC, a subsidiary of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, has accused the Governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko, of assaulting three of its staff in the state for denying his community electricity. The Acting Managing Director of the Company, Mohammed Adamu, made this known at a press briefing late Monday at the company’s Doka office in Kaduna. Mr. Adamu explained that the staff was summoned by the governor and was beaten to a pulp by the Governor and some of his aides.

The mother of a member of Nigeria's House of Representatives, representing Ijebu North, Ijebu East and Ogun waterside Federal Constituency, South West Nigeria, Abiodun Abudu Balogun, has been kidnapped.   Online news medium, Premium Times has just reported that the victim, Obedatu Abudu-Balogun, was abducted by six gunmen from her residence at Ita – Otu in Ijebu, Ijebu Waterside Local Government area of Ogun State, around 9:30p.m. on Monday. The abductors were yet to contact her family as at the time of this report, The victim’s son is the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Internal Security. Mr. Balogun, 49, has described the incident as too painful to bear. He said he and his family were praying for the safe return of his mother. When contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command was yet to be informed about the kidnap. Mr. Adejobi said the police would commence its investigations as soon as the kidnap is rep

Hundreds of commercial cyclists, commonly called Okada, protesting government restrictions on their operation, went on the rampage on Monday morning in Lagos attacking government owned buses and obstructing traffic. The state government recently barred the cyclists from plying 475 routes in the metropolis. The protest was particularly violent in the Isolo, Mushin axis of the state; and along the Lagos-Ikorodu Expressway. 

Dana Air plane crashed into a residential area at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, killing all 153 passengers and crew and 10 people on ground The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said on Monday in Abuja that it had no regrets for choosing DANA Airline as “the best domestic carrier for 2011”. FAAN had on Friday named DANA Air as the best domestic airline in the “Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport 2011 Staff Awards”. The award which were in different categories, also include best staff, best airline (local and international), best oil marketer, best luggage handling company and best concessionaire. Mr Chris Bature, the Regional General Manager of FAAN, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that DANA Air deserved the award.

Dr Oby Ezekwesili says the reason why most graduates in the country remain unemployed is ‘because majority of them study courses that are in low demand in the labour market.’ The former Minister of Education in the Obasanjo administration and immediate past vice-president (Africa) of the World Bank, stated this at a programme titled ‘How to Build a World-Class Career,’ organised by The Baptising Church (TBC), in Abuja where she was a guest speaker. “So, why do employers often turn down applicants? Because of lack of competence,” she said. “We found out that the courses that most Nigerian students study are not what we need at the labour market; we call them warehouse courses. “So, instead of the market accepting them, it rejects them, so they go back to the warehouse.”

Ahmed Zanna, the Senator for Borno Central in whose Maiduguri home an alleged Boko Haram top commander was arrested late two days ago, “is a drowning man” who must be fully investigated. This verdict was passed in a press statement today by Senator Modu Sheriff, the former governor of the state, who called on the security authorities to fully investigate the incident and Senator Zanna’s possible links with Boko Haram. He also drew attention to Zanna’s “Hajj-by-road” activities for which, he said, the legislator was suspected to have used as a façade for the importation of arms and window for the training of terrorists.

A popular businessman in Ogoja, northern Cross River State, southsouth Nigeria, has been arrested for allegedly raping a two-year old girl (name withheld). The man, Mr. James Eze, was detained by the police after he was arrested for allegedly having carnal knowledge of the child. Eze, who owns a well-known Edoh Pharmacy located on I, Mission Road, Igoli Ogoja, allegedly lured the girl into his office where he defiled her and thereafter gave her N25 to buy sweets.

About 242 Nigerians, many from Bayelsa State, returned to the country from the Republic of Gabon after several years of harsh economic conditions, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has said. The South-South Zonal Coordinator of the agency, Umesi Emenike, on Monday, who received the returnees, said they voluntarily decided to return home after years of sojourn in that country. He noted that it was the constitutional mandate of NEMA to “facilitate such nostalgic operation’’ which, according to him, is a demonstration of patriotism. Mr. Emenike explained that the returnees were not repatriated, but decided to come home after discovering that Gabon was no longer conducive for their businesses. “Let no one misinterpret this return as repatriation; they were not repatriated but they felt things were not working well there.

The State Security Service (SSS) on Sunday invited Senator Ahmed Khalifa Zanna from Borno State in connection with the arrest of a suspected Boko Haram Commander, Shuaib Mohammed Bama. The Joint Task Force, JTF, had on Thursday announced the arrest of Mr. Bama in Maiduguri, the Borno capital, describing him as “a high profile Boko Haram Commander who has been on the list of wanted terrorists operating between Bama and Maiduguri.” The security agency later linked him to “a serving senator’s house along Damboa Road, GRA Maiduguri.”

  The internet has been awash with a report in the SUNDAY PUNCH alleging that Governor Rochas Okorocha got into an altercation with Governor Peter Obi's aide over a seat.   Contrary to the reports that the Imo State Governor punched the aide who attempted to challenge him, no physical contact was made. Responding to the inquiry on the altercation, the Imo State Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Chinedu Offor dismissed the report as an over-active imagination by the writer.   .....I was at the event. what they said never happened. Governors' seats are usually reserved for them by their advance teams of Protocol officers so this is someone's over active imagination at work.     Very funny that at an important event for a revered son of Igbo land, a paid hatchet person masquerading as a journalist wants to reduce it as a squabble for seats. Please take a look at the event pictures.     All the brother governors of Imo, Anambra, Abia, and the deputy governors

The story of the murder of four students of University of Port Harcourt  (UNIPORT) on October 5 at Omuokiri-Aluu community continued,  last week, with the parade of thirteen suspects by the police at its headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital. Among those paraded was the paramount ruler of Omuokiri-Aluu community, Alhaji Hassan Walewa. The suspects were later charged alongside others at large at a magistrate court in Port Harcourt on  a five-count charge which included conspiracy and murder. The court adjourned the matter to December 20. Magistrate of the court, Emanuel Woke, said his court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case because of its nature. He directed that the case file be handed over to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice and the accused be remanded in prison custody.  The charges were read to them but no plea taken. Meantime, literary icon, Captain Elechi Amadi (rtd),  has absolved his Aluu community of complicity in the killing of

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has apprehended an official of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Akinyele Adetula, for trying to launder $1.4m (N218m). The arrest came less than a month after the commission arrested a 24-year old man, Mr. Abubakar Sheriff, at the same airport with $7m (N1.1bn). The suspect was arrested at Murtala Mohammed Airport on Saturday.

Tonto Dikeh, the devil-may-care actress who recently trended after she dropped two new singles has released a video of herself in the studio recording one of her singles. Tonto shows her playful side in this session and has us thinking — “is this music thing really here to stay”? It seems so. Watch video after the cut...

Nollywood actress turned singer, Tonto Dikeh, has been in the news in the last few days as a result of two singles, Itz Ova and Hi which were greeted with widespread criticism. Ever since the songs were released on Wednesday, Dikeh has become a trending topic on Twitter and the butt of joke on Black Berry and major social media sites. She has been lampooned by the public and celebrities like M.I; her ex-lover, Wizkid; Basket Mouth; Seyi Law; and most recently by the equally controversial Nollywood filmmaker, Charles Novia. But away from scandals and controversies that have trailed the 27-year-old singer, here are 10 quick facts about Dikeh, who hit limelight after emerging the first runner-up in the Next Movie Star Reality TV Show, in 2005.

One of India's most influential film-makers, Yash Chopra, has died from dengue fever in Mumbai, aged 80. Over five decades, Chopra, dubbed the King of Romance, gave Bollywood some of its biggest blockbusters. His film studios Yash Raj Films helped establish some of Indian cinema's biggest names, including Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party (LP), was Sunday declared winner of the Ondo state governorship election held on Saturday, 20 October, 2012. Chief Returning Officer of the election and Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola while declaring the final result of the election, said  Mimiko polled the highest number of votes in the election.Governor Mimiko polled a total of 260, 199 votes to beat Olusola Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 155, 961 votes and Barr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with 143, 512 votes to the second and third places respectively.

Barely two weeks after four undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) were murdered at Omuokiri-Aluu, three persons including another student of the institution have been shot dead at Choba, one of the university’s host communities. Also killed in the Thursday night incident were the student’s girlfriend and a young man who had just completed his national service in Port Harcourt. There is uneasy calm in UNIPORT’s host communities, especially Omuokiri-Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State, over threats of reprisals by kinsmen of the four students who were lynched on October 5.

  The Nigerian Embassy in Berlin was attacked with paint bombs on Wednesday night by unknown persons, the police have said. According to police spokesman, unknown attackers threw glass bottles filled with a thick and sticky liquid at the front of the building in Neue Jakobstraße, (The name of the street where the embassy is situated). The spokesman said the police have handed over the investigation of the incident to state security authorities, adding that political motive may not be ruled out in the attack.

A high-profile member of the Boko Haram sect has been arrested in the home of a senator in Maiduguri, Borno state, Nort East Nigeria, according to a statement from the military task force. The official statement said: “The JTF have been successful in their ongoing anti-terror operations. A high-profile Boko Haram commander, one Shuaibu Mohammed Bama, who has been on the list of wanted terrorists, was arrested by task force troops in a serving politician’s house. He is in the custody of the JTF and assisting in the investigation and has since made startling revelations.” Although Sagir did not state the relationship between the captured commander and late Habibu Bama, who was killed in Damaturu, and the name of the serving Nigerian lawmaker, sources said the suspect was arrested in a high brow area in Maiduguri axis of Borno State. Another source said that crack security team have been trailing Bama, from Kano to Kaduna and finally Maiduguri where he was barbed on

Wyclef Jean has posed for plenty of respectable photographs while visiting the children of earthquake-devastated Haiti with former President Bill Clinton, and campaigning for the presidency of the country back in 2010.  But for some reason, the former Fugees singer chose to share a very different picture of himself with the world on Wednesday as he celebrated his 43rd birthday.  The snap that is surely burned into the minds of everyone who sees it shows Jean wearing only a barely-there pair of red-and-blue undies, appearing to be doused in sweat or perhaps baby oil, and — to top it all off — straddling a Ducati motorcycle that matches his briefs. 

A young Nigerian lady has fallen victim of another mob action barely two weeks after the gruesome murder of four students of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in Umuokiri, Aluu Community, Rivers State. The Sun newspaper reports that the lady, who was accused of stealing a phone, was shamefully assaulted in the video clip, which has gone viral on the internet. The incident took place at an upscale shopping mall in Lagos.

Didn't know that our own Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is capable of shaking her booty on the dance floor...take a look as she gets jiggy with Singer, Omawumi on stage...lol

Thirteen suspects involved in the brutal killings of four University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, students were on Wednesday charged on a five-count charge of conspiracy and murder at the Magistrate in ourt  Port Harcourt. Online news medium, Premium Times reports that the suspects were earlier paraded on Tuesday by the Rivers State police command for lynching Ugonna Obuzor, Toku Lloyd, Chiadika Biringa, and Tekenah Erikena, all students of UNIPORT. Some of the suspects who spoke during the parade claimed four police officers were at the scene before the student were brutally murdered.

Mavin Records First lady, Tiwa Savage drops this very beautiful video.

Just listened to this track "Deep Down" by Dat Ibo Boy, Ill Bliss off his upcoming Mixtape, “Position of Power." The track is the bomb, Ill Bliss, am proud of you bro... 

First lady hugs first man First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan finally arrived Nigeria today from Germany where she had gone for medical treatment for an undisclosed ailment. More Pictures after the cut...

The Nigerian police say they have arrested the man responsible for the false alarm which led to the abduction of the four students killed in Aluu, Rivers State. Police spokesman, Frank Mba, confirmed that the police have arrested Coxson Lelebori Lucky, alias ‘Bright’, who raised a false alarm that the four victims were armed robbers. The Inspector General of police , Mohammed Abubakar, in a statement on Monday, said the four University of Port Harcourt students were set up by Bright who owed one of the victims some money. “Findings have revealed that the victims had gone to the area where they met their unfortunate death earlier that morning to demand for money allegedly owed to them by Coxson Lelebori Lucky, alias ‘Bright’, who raised a false alarm that the victims were armed robbers. 

  A group known as Stand with Sunday, Nigeria has alerted the Federal government and the International community on what it called the racial persecution and discrimination of Pastor Sunday Adelaja, General overseer of Embassy of God church in Kiev, Ukraine. A statement signed by the group’s spokesperson, Temidayo Oriola said Pastor Sunday Adelaja an indigene of Idomila, Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State, South West Nigeria,  left the country on scholarship some years ago to study in Ukraine.

Former Nigerian international, Peter Rufai, on Tuesday night was reported to have slumped in his office in Lagos. Th is  sad news is being reported by TV Journalist Kayode Tijani on his face book and twitter accounts . T he retired goalkeeper was said to have been rushed to Toki Hospital, off Adeniran Ogunsanya, after he suddenly collaps ed . “I just got a call now from Bruce who is the younger brother of soccer icon Peter Rufai,” Mr. Tijani posted on his Facebook page.

The Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Hope Eghagha, who was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on September 30, has been released after 16 days in captivity. The Kidnap story was on this blog, check it out HERE Writing on his facebook page Mr. Eghagha  said “Out of the dungeon of kidnappers after sixteen days, thank God for answered prayers. Thanks to all Facebook supporters! More later…” It cannot be ascertained at the moment if a ransom was paid to effect his release.

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has confirmed that police officers were present when four students of the University of Port Harcourt were beaten and eventually murdered by residents of nearby Aluu community. The police boss, in a statement released on Monday, said the police got a call at 7.00a.m. on October 5 that some armed robbers had been arrested in Omukiri-Aluu, in Ikwere Local Government Area of Rivers State.

PICTURES IN THIS REPORT CONTAIN SOME BITS OF NUDITY, THEREFORE VIEWER DISCRETION IS ABSOLUTELY ADVISED... A strip or nude club is an adult entertainment venue or a  night club  where stripteases or other erotic or exotic dances are regularly performed.  A strip club  is  run like  a night club or bar, but  it can  also adopt a theatre or cabaret  form. This club, no doubt is gradually making its way into many towns and cities in Nigeria  and with increasing patronage by different sets of people.

How much is too much…lol