Panic, confusion fills the air as strange cross is seen in Nasarawa mosque

Residents of Assakio Development Area in Lafia, Nasarawa State were thrown into confusion on Saturday following the sudden appearance of a strange cross five feet away from a central mosque in the community.

The mysterious sighting attracted a mammoth crowd from Assakio and its environs with many praying for forgiveness and blessings.

It was observed that the illuminated cross was projected on to the ground

A 15 year-old-girl, Hajara Hussaini , said she first sighted the sign of a cross at about 8pm on Wednesday.

Hussaini, who said she had been sent on an errand by her parents, explained that when she saw a strange light, she as gripped by fear and rushed back home to alert her mother, Matan Liman.

Confirming the incident to journalists, Matan said she had sent her daughter to visit her grandmother. The middle-aged woman added that her daughter saw the crucifix while returning from the errand.

The Chief Imam of Assakio Central Mosque, Muhammed Iliyasu, who confirmed the incident, told our correspondent that the appearance of the cross within the premises of the mosque was a revelation from God, affirming that “Jesus is also a prophet of God.”

Also confirming the incident to our correspondent, Very Rev. Micheal Dogo of the Evangelical Reform Church of Christ, Assakio, described the appearance of the cross as a sign of reconciliation in the community.

Other eyewitnesses, who spoke to newsmen at the scene of the sighting, expressed fear and bewilderment.

An Enugu State native, Grace Eze, who resides in the Ashige area of the community, added that she got healed after visiting the scene of the cross.

She said, “I underwent a surgery about two years ago after which I started to experience a movement in my body. But after praying before the cross, I got healed.”

A resident, Jonathan Amegwa, said he was overwhelmed by the appearance of the cross in the mosque.

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I will hand over to younger generation – Governor Okorocha

The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has called on young Nigerians not to imitate the bad side of their leaders just as he said, he will handover leadership to the younger generation.

Okorocha stated this in Owerri as part of his message during the 56th Independent day celebration of Nigeria in the state.

 He said, “we will soon hand over the nation to you, where we have failed as your parents, you cannot afford to fail, you must all work hard to build the Nigeria of our collective dreams and aspirations. You must stand firm and never repeat the mistakes of your past leaders.

Nigeria is on the path of greatness.” On the issue of the current recession Nigeria is passing through he said, “In the past few years, nobody was talking about Agriculture, but oil. And today, Agriculture has become the unavoidable issue in the nation’s debate or discuss.

All these point out the fact that the nation is moving to the fast lane of development and growth.” “Whatever challenges the country is facing at the moment could not be said to be strange because all the big nations of the world we celebrate today had also passed through such challenges and even more traumatizing challenges.”

The Governor also urged Nigerians to engage in activities that would strengthen the existing unity in the country and that inspite of the ethnic and religious differences that Nigeria has remained indivisible country.

“At 56 Nigeria has remained a united nation not minding the glaring diversities, and charged Nigerians of goodwill to begin to see light at the end of the nation’s tunnel both in her economy, politics, development and growth.”

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Buhari constitutes 24-man Electoral Reform Committee, headed by Nnamani

President Muhammadu Buhari

Perturbed by the current state of affairs in the country’s electoral system, President Muhammadu Buhari, has constituted a 24-man Electoral Reform Committee to be headed by a former Senate President, Dr. Ken Nnamani.

The Committee, whose members were drawn from the Civil Society Organisations, academia, legal profession, traditional institutions, as well as former legislators, will be inaugurated on Tuesday by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.

The AGF, in a press statement he issued through his media aide, Mr. Salisu Isah, on Sunday, said the Constitutional/ Electoral Reform Committee was set-up as part of concerted effort by the President Buhari-led administration, “to ensure an electoral process that would meet the global standard and satisfy the desire of the electorates”.

He said the Committee would be specifically mandated to re-jig the current process. “The Committee is expected to Review Electoral environment, laws and experiences from recent elections conducted in Nigeria and make Recommendations to strengthen and achieve the conduct of free and fair elections in Nigeria”, the AGF stated.

Malami, maintained that the former Senate President, Nnamani was okayed to head the Committee, with an expectation that he would “bring his wealth of experience to bear on the reform process”.

Whereas a don from Ado Bayero University, Kano, Dr. Mamman Lawal was appointed to serve as Secretary of the Committee, among its members included Dr. Muiz Banire, SAN, Dr. Clement Nwankwo, Chief A.C Ude and Mr. Tahir, the Director, Legal Drafting, Federal Ministry of Justice.

Nigerians have in recent times expressed concern over the spate of inconclusive elections in the country, urging the federal government to take urgent steps towards nipping the recurring electoral anomaly in the bud.

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FG summons Turkish envoy, demands release of detained students

The Federal Government, on Friday, summoned the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, over the detention of some Nigerian students in Istanbul by the Turkish police.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sola Enikanolaiye, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday, said the Nigerian government expected a reasonable explanation from Cakil regarding the poor treatment of the students and directed the envoy to ensure their release without delay.

Enikanolaiye stated that a Nigerian official in Ankara, Turkey had been directed to meet the Turkish government over the issue, stressing that the students must be released immediately.

He further explained that the MFA rejected some visa conditions the Turkish government imposed on the detained students.

The permanent secretary said, “We summoned the Turkish ambassador to the ministry on Friday and demanded the immediate release of the students.

“We also rejected the condition imposed on the students that they should return to Nigeria and obtain a fresh visa in line with their admission to a new university. We insisted that they must be issued the new visa in Turkey there.”

Enikanolaiye however noted that the detained students were not up to 50 as earlier reported, adding that the government was expecting a feedback from the Nigerian mission official that was directed to follow up the issue in Ankara.

The students were said to have been held and their passports seized by the police upon arrival at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul on Thursday.

The detention of the Nigerians, who were mainly students of Fathi University, a private university in Turkey, was believed to be in connection with the failed coup in the country in July, 2016.

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We don’t have enough money to pay Bayelsa workers – Dickson

Dickson

Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has affirmed that the state government does not have the capacity to pay civil servants in the state because of dwindling revenue.

A statement from the state’s Ministry of Information and Orientation, quoted the governor as making this remark during a meeting with members of the Bayelsa Elders Forum in Yenagoa.

The governor enjoined the elders to prevail on the civil servants from their different localities to accept the ongoing payment pattern.


The government had been paying workers in the state 50 per cent salaries since February 2016.

The statement quoted the governor as saying, “In the area of public service, I appeal to the elders to be part of the discussions by engaging civil servants from their localities to accept the ongoing payment pattern as government at this point cannot pay full salaries.

“Some of the major challenges our government is facing is dwindling revenue and security. We call for collaboration to ensure law and order in all the local government areas in the state.”

Also, Dickson paid glowing tribute to elders and founding fathers of the state who fought and persistently agitated for the creation of Bayelsa state in 1996.


Noting that the state was not where it should be, he nevertheless said it was not where it used to be.

Secondary and primary schools teachers in Bayelsa State had threatened to embark on indefinite strike if the state government failed to pay its outstanding salaries.

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Recession: Obasanjo tells FG to sell port authorities, NNPC to generate funds

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday stressed the need for Nigeria to borrow, spend less and earn more to get out of the current economic recession.
Obasanjo said this in Abeokuta at the opening ceremony of the National Council On Finance and Economic Development Conference (NACOFED).

The theme of the conference is “Enhancing Revenue Generation and Obtaining Best Value for Money in Expenditure”


According to Obasanjo, the major problem with Nigeria is that “we are spending more than we are earning and we have not been able to save for the rainy day”.

He, however, proffered a three-fold solution of borrowing, spending less and earning more to the economic challenges of the nation.

Obasanjo, who said that funds were available outside the country, advised that Nigeria needed to approach its allies who could lend to the country on reasonable terms.

He warned, however, that no such nation would part with its funds without observing that Nigeria was taking practical steps to come out of its challenges.



The former president said that Nigeria must encourage production to earn more and increase its revenue.

He said since the nation was not in control of oil, it should therefore diversify and concentrate on the things it could control.

Obasanjo, who stressed the need to develop agriculture, frowned at policies which tended to turn the nation into a dumping ground for other countries’ products.

“I was shocked when the ban on importation of toothpick which we imposed in 1977 was lifted four years ago.

“How can a nation seeking to rank among the best in the world continue like that?

“We must begin to do away with things that we can do without and if we must import them, let them attract very high duties,” he said.

Obasanjo who backed the call for the sale of some national assets to raise money, described such act as natural.

The former president said port authorities and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were part of assets that Nigeria could partly sell to generate fund.

“I do not see why 49 per cent of NNPC cannot be privatised.

“I think the problem is in the coinage “selling of asset” as if we want to throw out our inheritance.

“What we are actually doing by that is simply re-organising.

“It should however be done transparently and let it actually go public and not to cabals, relations and friends.

“This is always the fear of Nigerians when issues like this arise,” he said.

Obasanjo expressed confidence in the ability of the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, saying that ” she is doing a marvelous job in a difficult situation and that only time can prove her right”.

Adeosun, who spoke earlier, said that the Federal Government had till date invested over N700 billion to stimulate growth in the economy.

“We are working on an economic model that will change Nigeria from being consumption focused to investment focused,” she said.

Obasanjo, yesterday, spoke of how a letter by an academic helped him tackle payment of workers’ pension during his presidency.

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Woman causes stir in Ogun as she discharges maggot from private part [PHOTO]

Residents of Olakula area of Idiroko in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State were at the weekend thrown into shock as a certain woman identified as Iya Toheeb was reportedly discharging maggots from her private part.

Sources privy to the incident disclosed to the Nation that her condition allegedly defied orthodox medication, and that she might have been a victim of money-making ritual.

Doctors were said to have advised her relatives to seek alternative medicine to her ill-health because it could not be medically handled.


At the scene, sympathizers helped spread a sack on the car seat on which the woman sat when the maggots continued to drop even as a stench emanating from her body fouled the air.

She was reportedly uttering words like “This is what my beauty has done to me o.”

Reports say residents trooped out to see the woman who sat in a car with the assistance of family members and sympathizers and that the woman was brought to one of the men she was ‘associated’ with, a carpenter in the community.

The carpenter, according to the report, was her former husband.


An acquaintance to Iya Toheeb who spoke on condition of anonymity was quoted to have said, “Her family members believed that the man may be responsible for her worsening condition that defied treatment in hospital where she was admitted for months.

The woman had dated different men in the past and it is believed that she may have been used for money-making ritual going by what we heard from those who know her.

“She has no wound in her private part yet maggots keep dropping from her sexual organ and that sends a signal that there is more to her problem than meets the eye, particularly since doctors have asked her relatives to seek help from native doctors for solution to her problem.”

When DAILY POST contacted the state Police Command’s acting spokesperson, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi as at press time, his number was not available for comments.

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Money Ritual: See the Two Friends Arrested with Human Parts in Ogun State (Photo)

Suspected money ritualists arrested by the police

Two suspected money ritualists have been arrested by the police on the way to carry out their criminal activity.

Ogun State Police Command says it has arrested a  man, Wole Oke, 38, and his friend Wasiu Adesina, 30, for being   in possession of human parts .

The duo were arrested at Ijebu, Idi-aro area of Abeokuta while policemen attached to Oke Itoku Division, led by the DPO, CSP Abeni Farinre, were on patrol.

The Police Public Relations in the state,  Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement, said the suspects took to their heels with a leather bag on sighting policemen and they were hotly chased and arrested.

The suspects He said: “On searching the bag with them, it was discovered that it contained human bones. On interrogation, one of the suspects, Wole Oke, confessed that they were the bones of his sister who died four years ago.

“He further stated that one herbalist sent him to go and bring it for money ritual purpose.

“The Commissioner of Police  in the state, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the state Criminal Investigation  and Intelligence Department for further investigation.

“He also directed that the herbalist mentioned  be arrested without further delay."

Source: Punch

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Women Are The Ones Chasing Me – Mr. Ibu

John Okafor

Most Nigerians who have seen popular comic actor, John Okafor, aka Mr. Ibu, in action will agree that he is a talented comedian and one of a few Nollywood practitioners that are naturally cut out for the funny roles that they play in the movies.

Mr Ibu has, so far, been able to prove to his fans that he does not only live by making other people to laugh away their sorrows; he is also humour personified.
But the actor also reveals that despite his commitment to making people to laugh, he has had cause to be unhappy, even bitter, on some occasions.

Reflecting on his career, Okafor says he has been publicly embarrassed by fans at different times and in several places. “I quickly forgive them because I was the one that looked for trouble in the first place.

On one occasion, somebody came to me and said, ‘Ibu, because of what your jokes have done to me and my family, I promised God that anywhere I meet you, I would slap your face.’ I told him them to go ahead. Then he slapped me so hard that I couldn’t see clearly for two hours,” he says.

Mr. Ibu obviously relishes his status as a popular and relatively comfortable Nollywood actor. It is doubtful that, given a choice, he would have given up acting for any other career. Going down memory lane, the actor reveals that he used to be a boxer and a Karate practitioner.

Admitting that only a few people are aware of this aspect of his personal history, he says, “I practised Shotokan Karate for 16 years and I was a member of the Karate Federation of Nigeria. I happen to be the first instructor that was teaching Karate in federal government colleges in Nigeria.”

The actor, no doubt, cuts the picture of a man enjoying a blissful marriage. But, asked if he ever had a girlfriend before he got married, he replied, “I had problems with my relationships with women. Each time I had a new girlfriend, other men would always take her from me. Whenever I fell in love with a girl, somebody would snatch her from me.

But I don’t fear any sense of loss because I married the best woman on earth. My wife is a former beauty queen. She was the winner of the 2004 Face of Imo beauty pageant.”

But Okafor says that even now that he is happily married, women have not stopped coming to him for a date. “I don’t woo them, though. They are the ones chasing me. That is part of the price I have to pay for being popular.”

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SAD: Mr Ibu Recounts How LUTH Allegedly Killed His Son

Popular comic actor Mr Ibu in a recent interview recounts how he lost his young son at LUTH and the role played by the staff of the hospital. He recounted how the doctors felt no remorse for the death of his son. Rather, they were requesting to use his son’s body to teach their students.

Read the excerpts below;

“The matter was actually between the Paediatric Department of the hospital and me. It was in 2011. My wife and our two-year-old son had been kidnapped. After I paid the ransom demanded and they were released by the kidnappers, I returned to Lagos from Enugu.

“Then on January 18, 2011, my son fell ill.  He was diagnosed with inflammation of the liver. The hospital suggested that he should be scanned. At the same time, I was informed that I could take my son out of the hospital to get the scan done elsewhere. But the same people later declined, saying that everything had to be done in the hospital because he was too weak to be taken outside.

“After a while, I was told that there was no electricity in the hospital. When I asked if there was no standby generator, they said there was no fuel in it. I offered to pay for fuel only to be told that the man that operated the generator was not around. When I left the place and got back later, the man still had not returned. Then I was advised to write an application and to submit to the admin department.”

After writing the application, Okafor found that there was nobody to receive and treat it. While he was waiting, he was told that his son’s condition required blood transfusion. The actor did everything possible to ensure that the ailing boy was given treatment at the hospital, but his efforts were in vain. Finally, the little boy gave up the ghost.

“That was how my son died. Later, one of the doctors came to me and, without even sympathising with me, asked if I could release my boy’s corpse to him so that they could cut it open and use it to teach other medical students. In that moment, I felt like committing murder for the first time in my life.

“When I told my lawyer what happened at the hospital, he was shocked. He said it was actionable. I told him that I was ready to take the hospital management to court and sue it for $100 million in damages because my son’s death was caused by the carelessness of the professionals whose duty was to save his life. But my lawyer advised me to let go”.

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