Scores Of Boko Haram Members Disguised As Refugees Arrested In Maiduguri

Suspected Boko Haram Insurgents,
who fled Bama alongside IDPs and
formed a syndicate along Bama road
at Yanshayi, in Maiduguri, the Borno
state capital have been rounded up
by security operative. While many
were arrested others escaped and
are at large at the moment.

Those who were arrested were
brought to the headquarters of
sector 3 around Gidan Madara 'Milk
shop' on Tuesday evening before
they were moved by soldiers to
Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri.

A civilian JTF, who identified himself
as Tanimu Shuiabu told our reporter
that, they have been arresting
members of the Boko Haram
insurgents who escaped during and
encounter with the Nigerian military
and stormed Maiduguri, the Borno
state capital as IDPs.

According to him, " Those who were
today arrested were said to have
been seen on several occasions
planning mischief. They have been
kept under close watch until when
we found out that, they were
members of Boko Haram who came
from Bama with the IDPs"

Asked on how they were able to
establish that those who were
arrested were members of the
Islamic sect,. Tanimu said, " they
had guns. They never wanted
anybody around to be friends with
them and they would always leave
other IDPs for private meetings.

" When they were confronted by
other IDPs over their nocturnal
meetings, they told them that they
were only planning on how to go
back to Bama, saying that it was
better to go back than to continue to
live under the present harsh
situation and that their major
concern was how to get back to
Bama through Konduga.

"Also one of the IDPs who saw them
with guns sneaked and told some of
our boys (civilian JTF) and we inform
the soldiers with all the details that
we had. After it was established that
they were Boko Haram members,
the soldiers stormed the place today
and many of them were arrested."
He said.
Posted By David Aniemeka

The man Prof. Osisioma Basil Chinedu Nwolise

Born on January 22, 1950, Prof. Osisioma
Basil Chinedu Nwolise obtained his first
degree in Political Science (Second Class
Upper Division) from the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka in 1977 from where he proceeded to
the University of Ibadan where he obtained
his second degree in 1981 as well as his Ph.D
in 1987.

He started his career in 1980 as a Teaching
Assistant in the Department of Political
Science, University of Ibadan.

Between October 1996 and November 1997,
he was the pioneer Acting Director of the
Department of Training and Programmes,
Centre for Peace Research and Conflict
Resolution (CPRCR), National Defence
College, Abuja. He was for two years, a Senior
Research Fellow at the centre.

In 2000, he became the pioneer Director,
Department of Conflict Prevention,
Management and Resolution, Institute for
Peace and Conflict Resolution, Abuja.

On his teaching interests, Prof. Nwolise
has been a core lecturer handling the
Statistical components of Political Science
Programme at the undergraduate and
postgraduate levels.

"My teaching field cuts across combined sub-
disciplinary areas of International Relations
and comparative Politics, Strategic Studies,
Political Leadership and Governance and
Research Methodology and Social Statistics",
he said.

Aside other scholarly endeavour, Prof. Nwolise
has successfully completed the supervision of
six Ph.D Theses.

He is currently supervising five Ph.D.
students in the Department of Political
Science, and four Ph.D. students in the
Institute of African Studies, under the Peace
and Conflict Studies Programme. Outside the
University of Ibadan, he has co-supervised a
Ph.D thesis at Covenant University, Ota.

While he has completed the supervision of
two Ph.D theses at Igbinedion University,
Okada, he is currently supervising five Ph.D.
thesis in the same school.

"My research interests have been in the areas
of Security Studies; Peace and Conflict,
Defence and Foreign Policy analysis; Political
Leadership and Governance, and Research
Methodology as well as Social Statistics. The
main focus of my research since 2010 is the
Spiritual Dimension of Human and National
Security; as well as Correctional Services", he
added.

An accomplished author, Prof. Nwolise has
published several books as well as
contributed to many scholarly publications.

In 2012, his well-researched article on
"Security Arrangements for the 2011
Elections" appeared in the June 2012 edition
of the Journal of African Elections,
Johannesburg.

The importance of his scholarly contributions
are reflected in the citation of his works,
purchase of his publications in bookshops,
and demands for his expertise through
teaching, invitations for radio and TV
discussions, solicited paper contributions to
books and journals, public lectures, external
examinations, advice, and consultancy by
varying important bodies.

Some of these bodies include the United
Nations, various services of the Nigerian
armed forces, the Nigeria Police, Nigeria
Defence Academy Kaduna, National Defence
College Abuja, National Institute of Policy And
Strategic Studies Kuru, Department of
Political Science of varying Universities and
others.

In June 2010, Prof. Nwolise was invited to
Namibia by that country's Ministry of Defence
as a resource person for teaching its military
officers who were on a Strategic Management
Course at the University of Namibia.

He is, at present, a professor in the
Department of Political Science, University of
Ibadan where since 2011, he has been
the Head of Department.

Posted By David Aniemeka

Collapsed building: Coroner suspends Joshua’s invitation

Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, presiding
over a Lagos State Coroner Court
investigating the collapse of a six-storey
guest house belonging to the Synagogue
Church of All Nations, yesterday, suspended
further actions on the invitation of founder of
the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, to
appear before it and give evidence.

Komolafe suspended Joshua's appearance
pending determination of his suit against the
coroner. The inquest was inaugurated by the
Lagos State government under the state
Coroner's System Law No.7 of 2007 to
investigate the cause and circumstances
leading to the death of about 166 people in a
collapse building belonging to the church on
September 12, 2014.

It would be recalled that Komolafe had issued
witness summons on relevant individuals and
institutions, including Prophet T.B. Joshua.

But instead of appearing before the coroner,
Joshua filed an application before Justice
Lateefat Okunnu of the Lagos High Court,
Ikeja, to stay further proceedings of the
inquest and suspend actions on his invitation
to appear before the coroner to give evidence.

In the application dated November 11, 2014,
before the high court and marked
ID/188MJR/2014, Joshua had asked for a
judicial review of the coroner's proceedings,
which began on October 13.

He had asked the court to declare that his
invitation to appear as a witness before the
coroner was a breach of his right to fair
hearing, as no case had been established
against his person before the coroner.

He further contested that the coroner had
been extending his inquisitions into areas
beyond its statutory purview. Justice Okunnu
had fixed December 22, 2014, to hear the
application.

Komolafe had last week Friday dismissed a
similar application filed by Joshua before him
on the ground that it was abuse of court
process.

The coroner, after listening to an oral
application by Joshua's lead counsel, Chief
Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, decided to suspend
Joshua's appearance pending the
determination of his suit before the high
court.

Earlier, a Deputy General Manager, Air Traffic
Control, with the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency, NAMA, Mr Rafiq
Olubukola Arogunjo, confirmed that a
Nigerian Air Force aircraft was on a training
mission within the Ikotun area on September
12 when the Synagogue church building
collapsed.

Arogunjo, testifying before the coroner said
the aircraft never flew directly over the
collapsed building. The witness added that
the aircraft maintained the statutory 1,000
feet flight distance in congested areas.

He said the "aircraft had to fly over the Ikotun
area for about six times due to the high traffic
on in-coming aircraft at the Murtala
Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja,
Lagos."

"Each of the six times the aircraft navigated
the Ikotun area, it maintained a 2,700 feet
distance from the collapsed building."

"The aircraft had five crew members, it
operated normally and maintained the
minimum distance between a flying aircraft
and the tallest building in an area," he said.

Posted By David Aniemeka

2015 Eligibility: Supreme Court Dismisses Suit Against Jonathan

ABUJA-The Supreme Court, Tuesday,
dismissed the suit seeking to stop
President Goodluck Jonathan from
vying for a re-election next year.

A five-man panel of Justices of the
apex court presided over by the
Chief
Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice
Mahmud Mohammed, struck out the
appeal which was filed before it by a
Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, from Adamawa State, Dr.
Umar Ardo.

Delivering the ruling, the CJN,
accused Ardo of inviting the
Supreme
Court to arrest a proceeding
pending
before the Abuja Division of the
Court
of Appeal.

He noted that the substantive suit
challenging Jonathan's eligibility
is currently before the appellate
court, stressing that Ardo lacked the
locus-standi to move the apex court
to either take over hearing on the
matter or compel the appeal court
to
join him as an interested party in
the
pending appeal.
Posted By David Aniemeka

Scores Wounded As Rival Cults Clash In Osun Secondary Schools

No fewer than 15 students were
wounded, while security agents
arrested about 15 others yesterday,
following bloody clashes involving
rival cults in two secondary schools
in Osogbo, Osun State capital.

It was gathered that the fracas was
a continuation of an initial clash at
the weekend involving some
students of Saint James Anglican
Secondary School, Kola Balogun
Area and Ansar-U-Deen Secondary
School, Iludun, who were believed to
be members of rival cult groups.

Eyewitnesses told Daily Sun that a
group of students from Saint James
had laid siege to Ansar-U-Deen
Secondary School as early as 9 am,
in what was said to be a reprisal
attack to avenge the treatment
meted out to a student of the school
and attacked many students with
dangerous weapons.

Policemen deployed to the scene
had to fire several shots into the air
to disperse the students before the
situation could be brought under
control.

The development, which
immediately sent passersby and
residents of the neighbourhood into
panic, saw fleeing students
scampering in different directions,
while vehicles and motorcycles
passing through Oba Adesoji
Aderemi, Osogbo East By-pass that
passes by the school, were not
speared by the rampaging students,
who were wielding dangerous
weapons.

Checks around hospitals in the area
revealed that some of the injured
students had been treated and
discharged, but a source among
staff of the school said members of
the group that was the main target
of the attack had moved the
seriously wounded members to an
undisclosed hospital in the
neighbouring town to Osogbo.

Although there were conflicting
reports about the cause of the clash,
a student of Ansar-U-Deen, who
spoke under condition of anonymity,
explained that some students of his
school had last week Friday
accosted an unnamed member of a
cult group being led by a student of
Saint James Anglican School simply
identified as 'Rado'.

He further explained that some
personal belongings of the student
were seized by Ansar-U-Deen
students, saying attempt by the
student from Saint James, to reclaim
his property from his attackers with
the help of his friends, however,
turned bloody.

"Students from our school, when the
Anglican student came to his friends
to get his phone and other property
back, attacked them with machete
and the student, whose property
were seized had his left arm badly
severed.

"This morning, just as we were
about settling down in school, the
friends of the Saint James' student
that was wounded last week started
using machete and charms on us,"
he said.

Asked how many students were
wounded in the clash, he said: "
Many students received varying
degrees of machete cuts. I know of
10 students from SSS 3 alone that
were attacked during the fracas."

Contrary to this claim, a final year
female student of Ansar-U-Deen told
Daily Sun that the clash was caused
by a fight over another female
student of Saint James said to be
the girlfriend of a leading member
of a cult group in the school.

She said: "The cult group in Saint
James attacked our school here
because the friend of 'Rugged', who
is the leader of a cult group in our
school (Ansar-U-Deen) snatched a
girlfriend of a member of the group
at Saint James."

As at the time of filing this report,
over 10 students arrested by police
during the clash were being held at
Iludun Police Station while a top
security source, who did not want
his name in print, said some ring
leaders of the groups involved in the
violence were being trailed by the
security agents.

Efforts to get reaction of the police
to the incident failed, as several
calls to the mobile phone lines of
the spokesperson of the command,
Folasade Odoro (DSP), were not
answered.

Speaking on the incident, the Public
Relations Officer of Osun Command
of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps (NSCDC), Ayo Olowe,
confirmed the clash, adding that the
command did not make any arrest
despite being at the scene.

Posted By David Aniemeka

Top 16 Celebrity Best Friends In Nollywood

Some celebrities don't like keeping their
fellow celebrities as close friends. They just
have good working relationships and
everything ends after work.

But these ones have been able to maintain
close friendship for sometime now.
Meet the top 15 celebrity best friends in
Nigeria, in no particular order.

1 KATE HENSHAW & RITA DOMINIC
After Kate fell apart with her erstwhile best
friend, Genevieve Nnaji, she became too close
to Rita. Rita is the most friendly Celeb in
Nigeria. She's been able to maintain cordial
relationships with many celebrities.

2 ALEXX EKUBO & IK OGBONNA
After Alexx fell apart with Uti, his erstwhile
best friend, he became very close to Ik
Ogbonna. They now grace events together
these days unlike before that he used to
attend events with his former best friend Uti.

3 OGE, EBUBE & RUKKY
The three are the hottest celebrity best
friends at the moment. They always hang out
together.

4 MERCY JOHNSON & YVONNE NELSON
They are close friends. No wonder Yvonne
Nelson served as her maid of honour at her
wedding few years ago.

5 MERCY, CHIKA IKE & EMEKA IKE
The three are quite close. Emeka is close two
both actresses. Emeka and Mercy supported
Chika when she opened her boutique in Abuja
by gracing the occasion.
When rumours went viral that Mercy and
Chika were at loggerheads, they both laughed
it off via twitter.

6 RUKKY SANDA & YVONNE NELSON
Both are close friends and they featured in
each others films and also graced each others
movie premiers. They hang out together too.

7 CHINEDU IKEDIEZE & OSITA IHEME
They are like Siamese twins. They appear
inseparable. They have been friends ever
since their paths crossed. They r like brothers.
No wonder Osita served as Chinedu's best
man on his wedding day few years back.

8 JUNIOR POPE & ZUBBY MICHAEL
They are very close friends. Apart from the
fact that producers often cast them together
in films, they also hang out together. Zubby
was Pope's best man few months ago when
he walked down the aisle.

9 EUCHARIA ANUNOBI & SUSAN PETERS
They are friends. Eucharia supported Susan
when her sister wedded few months ago.
They also hang out together.

10 MIKE EZURUONYE & NONSO DIOBU
The two are like twins. They are very close.
Nonso was Mike's best man on his wedding
day.

11 GENEVIEVE NNAJI & ELLA MARTINS
The Beninoise actress-cum-musician, Ella
Martins, who once dated Fally Ipupa, is a very
close friend of star actress, Genevieve Nnaji.
Their friendship sparked off a controversy
sometime ago.

12 UCHE OGBODO & UCHENNA NNANNA
Apart from the fact that they often feature
together in films, they also hang out with
each other quite often.

13 YUL EDOCHIE & NONSO DIOBU
The both are very good friends. Nonso
accommodated Yul Edochie for sometime
when he came to Lagos newly before he was
able to secure his own apartment in the same
neighbourhood.

14 DESMOND ELLIOT & UCHE JOMBO
The two have been friends for a very long
time now. Desmond was the only Celeb from
Nollywood that attended Uche's wedding in
Puerto Rico.

15 EMEKA IKE & MUMA G
Emeka Ike is quite close to singer Muma G
even before, during and after the Gulder
Ultimate Search, Celebrity Edition.

16 BENSON OKONKWO & QUEENETH HILBERT
Queeneth once told Vanguard that her best
friend in Nollywood is controversial Benson
Okonkwo.

"Benson, I will say, is one of the few people in
Nollywood that likes me for who I am.He's
real and becausehe is a guy, it works for me.
The girls, girls thing doesn't cut it with me.
Most of the girls are fake. It is not like I have
issues with anyone I just found out very few
of them like me."

The award for the best Nigerian celebrity
friends should go to ——-

Posted By David Aniemeka

FG doubles education budget in 4 years —Shekarau

The Federal Government doubled its budget
for the nation's education sector within four
years, Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim
Shekarau, said this in Abuja, yesterday while
unveiled new government's plan aimed at
rapidly transforming the nation's education
system.

Shekarau said at the unveiling titled "Public
Presentation of Consolidating Transformation
in the Education Sector" that since the
current dispensation came aboard in 2010,
budget for education in the country had
increased from N234.8 billion to N495.2
billion this year.

His words: "Allocation to the education sector
has increased from N234.8 billion in 2010 to
N495.2 billion in 2014. Intervention funds
specifically to basic and post-basic education
had also been on the rise consistently.
"Intervention funds to states to support
Universal Basic Education, UBE, has totaled
over N240 billion.

At the tertiary level, TETFund interventions to
tertiary institutions have been on the rise
with allocation to each public university rising
from N303 million in 2010 to N912 million,
and from N157 million to N581 million for
Colleges of Education.

"High impact interventions have also seen
selected universities receiving N3 billion each
and polytechnics and colleges of education
receiving N1billion to support their
development as centres of excellence," he
added.

Besides, the minister said the rehabilitation
of laboratories of all 51 federal and state
public polytechnics gulped N15 billion within
the last four years, while over N127 million
instructional materials in the core subjects of
English language, mathematics, basic
sciences and technology were given to
children in primaries one to three in public
schools between 2010 and 2013.

He disclosed that in pursuit of President
Jonathan's agenda for the education sector,
the Federal Ministry of Education developed a
4-year strategic plan for development of the
education sector, running between 2011 and
2015.

The plan, he said, has identified access and
quality as strategic goals of Nigeria's
education, and has provided a coordinated
approach to addressing the challenges of the
education sector over the years. Shekarau
listed government's fresh priorities for the
sector as monitoring and commitment to
safety of the nation's children in schools,
following security challenges in some parts of
the country.

This, he said, will involve providing facilities
for the children to continue their education
where their institutions may have been
affected; and ensuring industrial harmony in
the nation's schools.

The list includes addressing the challenge of
quality of teachers in the nation's schools by
identifying ways of attracting the best brains
into the profession. He said this would kick off
through the hosting of a National Summit on
Teachers.

Posted By David Aniemeka