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Showing posts from October 5, 2017

Police recover 38 bags of Indian hemp worth over N20m in Lagos

Police recover 38 bags of Indian hemp worth over N20m in Lagos The Police Command in Lagos State has recovered 38 bags of Indian hemp worth over N20m during a raid on suspected hideouts in Itire, Mushin. According to the Commissioner of Police in the state, Edgal Imohimi, 52 suspects were also arrested during the raid which was precedented by reports of a clash over a lady in the area where over 150 cars were vandalised. “In line with my avowed policing plan which is based on community policing, residents of the area were invited and based on the partnership we had built over time, they confirmed the incident and gave information on their hideouts. “Based on the information gathered that the hoodlums had been terrorising the neighbourhood, I ordered an overnight raid during which 44 male and 8 female suspects were arrested with 38 bags of Indian hemp. “They were also caught with other hard drugs which are very expensive and can not be less than N20m. “The drugs are u

Thousands march in second day of Togo protests

Thousands of protestors turned out in the West African state of Togo on Thursday for the second day running, in a campaign aimed at forcing out President Faure Gnassingbe. Demonstrators converged from three points in the capital Lome for what was billed as a “march of anger” against a family which has ruled Togo for 50 years, culminating in a rally on the seafront. “Demonstrators have used rocks to block the road from Gakpoto to St. Joseph’s school, and others are preventing cars from going through,” Amnesty International’s director for Togo, Aime Adi, said. In Atikoume district, angry youths refused to follow the march itinerary set down by the 14-party opposition coalition, and said they would block streets, an AFP journalist saw. However, in some neighbourhoods on the march route, tension that was noticeable on Wednesday seemed to have eased somewhat. Marchers said they would maintain pressure on the Gnassingbe regime. “I am not tired and I will never be tired

12 missing after Chinese fishing boat hits tanker off Japan

Twelve people were missing on Thursday after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized after colliding with a Hong Kong-registered tanker off Japan, the Japanese coastguard said. Rescuers were searching for 12 of the 16 crew members aboard the 290-ton boat after Chinese authorities called for help, the Kyodo News agency reported. The other four crew members were rescued by the Chinese coast guard. The Chinese boat collided with the 63,294-ton tanker Blight Oil Lucky on Thursday morning, 400 kilometres north of Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan also known as the East Sea, officials said. Japan launched three patrol boats for the operation. The Chinese vessel was identified as the 290 tonne “Lurong Yuanyu 378.”

Gas pipelines obstruct Apapa-Wharf road repairs

The ongoing rehabilitation work on the Apapa/Wharf road is taking longer than stakeholders had envisaged due to gas pipelines along the project site, our correspondent has learnt from parties handling the job. The Nigerian Ports Authority had in June signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Dangote Group and Flour Mills for the rehabilitation of the two kilometre road at an estimated cost of N4.3bn. Although the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, had said that the work might take one year to complete, stakeholders argued that it did not have to take that long because of the ordeal being faced by road users along that axis. Traffic in and out of Apapa had gone from bad to worse since the rehabilitation work commenced and one section of the road had to be closed. The line-up of trucks going into Apapa recently stretched from Ijora to Maryland end of Ikorodu Road. The situation had informed a recent directive by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwu

Ex-militant leader Reuben Wilson denies hand in travail of suspected October 1 bomber

A former militant leader, General Reuben Wilson, has described as ‘wicked blackmail’ and ‘misplaced facts’ claims by some sympathisers and relations of detained suspected bomber in the October 1, 2012 car bomb attack, Edmund Ebiware, that he (Wilson) was involved in his travail and detention by the Federal Government. Some supporters of Ebiware, advocating for his release from prison, had described his trial and conviction as ‘politically-motivated’ and accused some Bayelsa politicians and former Niger Delta Militant leaders’ ‎including Wilson of being behind Ebiware’s travails. Wilson, who broke his silence on the matter, in a statement issued, in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, said he had no hand in the continued detention of the suspected bomber as he has nothing to gain with his incarceration. According to him, since he embraced amnesty programme, he had been an advocate of peace working with the Federal Government through the Presidential Amnesty Office. W

Otto Warmbier's parents want North Korea added to list of state sponsors of terrorism

The parents of the American student who died after being released from a North Korea prison are looking to get the State Department to add the country as a state sponsor of terrorism, according to a report. Twelve senators -- six Democrats and six Republicans -- sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson requesting North Norea be added to the State Department's list at the urging of Warmbier's parents.  News confirmed the State Department did receive the letter. USA Today was first to report Warmbier's parents were making the push. "We have received the letter, are reviewing it, and will respond," the State Department told  News. There are currently only three countries officially on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism -- Iran, Syria and Sudan. The three countries have all spent decades on the list. Iran was added in 1984, Syria was added in 1979 and Sudan was added in 1993. Evidence inconclusive on Otto Warmb

Bayelsa govt investigates cause of monkey pox outbreak

The Bayelsa Government is investigating suspected cases of monkey pox outbreak in its communities, the Commissioner for Health, Professor Ebitimitula Etebu, has said, Etebu spoke in Yenagoa on Wednesday following reports that some 11 persons, including a medical doctor, had been placed on surveillance in Yenagoa. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that those with the suspected cases had been quarantined at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri, Yenagoa Local Government Area. NAN learnt that the centre was established by Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the epidemiological team of the state Ministry of Health to control the spread of the virus. NAN also learnt that NCDC and the epidemiological team were tracing 49 persons, who were in contact with persons suspected to have been infected. Etebu said that samples of the virus had been sent to the World Health Organisation laboratory in Dakar for confirmation. He describe