NUBDISH blogspot: 2015-03-01

Saturday 7 March 2015

Boko Haram prepares for battle in Gwoza

Boko Haram fighters are preparing in mass at their headquarters in the northeastern Nigerian town of Gwoza, Maiduguri, Borno State for a showdown with Multinational Joint Task Force, residents and an intelligence officer told The Associated Press.

A woman, who was trapped in the town since it was seized in July, 2014 told her daughter that the insurgents were urging civilians to leave town to avoid being killed in crossfire in an anticipated major battle.

Hajiya Adama said her mother told her that the insurgents had also released some young women being held against their will, including some made pregnant during their captivity.

Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc says Zlatan Ibrahimovic will play against Lens on Saturday to prepare for the Champions League clash with Chelsea.

The Sweden striker has missed the last two matches due to suspension. Blanc is planning to rest players ahead of Wednesday’s last 16 second-leg tie at Stamford Bridge, but wants Ibrahimovic to get match fit.

Andy Murray registered a comfortable victory in Great Britain's opening Davis Cup rubber against the United States.

Murray set the tone for proceedings as he dropped just one point in the opening two games against Donald Young in Glasgow on Friday.

Young struggled to return the world number five's serves throughout the first two sets and hit the net on countless occasions during his own service games.

McLaren have confirmed to Sky Sports that Fernando Alonso suffered 'temporary memory loss' following his accident in testing at Barcelona.

Alonso is reported to have believed the year was 1995 when he regained consciousness after being knocked out when his McLaren car hit the track wall at the Circuit de Catalunya on the final day of the second pre-season test.

"I'm Fernando, I'm in karts and want to become Formula 1 driver," Alonso told doctors, according to Le Pais newspaper.

There are indications that the national leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party might have perfected a fresh strategy aimed at stalling the March 28 presidential election.

Investigations gathered in Abuja on Thursday and Friday showed that the ruling party was actually the brain behind those who registered Young Democratic Party and that it may use this new party to achieve its objective.

The new party had on Thursday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the forthcoming general elections.

The party said this a day after the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the commission to register YDP as a political party.

At a press briefing in Abuja, the party called on INEC to re-schedule the general elections if it could not accommodate it on its ballot paper.

The Italian club, Parma, who have seen numerous matches postponed due to insufficient funding have been sold twice already this season, with players and staff not being paid in months.

The former UEFA Cup winners feared they may have had to pull out of the league due to their debts estimated at a value of 100 million euros, but after the vote the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) have agreed to give the club a loan of five million euros to cover their outgoings until May.

Novak Djokovic led the way with victory over Mate Delic as Serbia raced into a 2-0 lead over Croatia in the Davis Cup.

Viktor Troicki of Serbia also won a five-set match against Croatia's Borna Coric - the teenage sensation who eliminated Andy Murray from the Dubai Open. Croatia were without their top ranked player Marin Cilic, the US Open champion.

The All Progressives Congress is today holding a one-million-man march. The march, which kicks off from the Maryland area of Lagos at 8am to Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere in the city.

The march is expected to be led by stalwarts of the APC like the national leader, Bola Tinubu and the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, in an attempt to psyche supporters ahead of the March 28 and April 11 presidential and governorship elections respectively.

The Coordinator of the APC Campaign Organisation in Lagos, Mr. James Faleke, had told journalists that the one-million-man march was to prepare the minds of supporters of the party for victory ahead of the polls.

In the same vein, President Goodluck Jonathan will today lead government officials as well as sportsmen and women on an out-door physical training exercise in Abuja, the nation’s capital and seat of power.

Youths under the umbrella of National Youths Wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, issued a warning that they would go on a nationwide protest should the 2015 general elections get shifted again.

The youths said they will march on and occupy important places and government buildings across the country, including the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, should any further postponement of the elections be announced, as the March 28 date set for the presidential election draws nearer.

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, returned to Nigeria on Friday on a British Airways flight from London, following nearly 10 days in London on a campaign break.

Buhari, whose prolonged absence fueled a festival of negative rumors from his opponents, stepped out of the Nnnamdi Azikiwe international airport into the waiting hands of party faithfuls that arrived to wait for him as early as 5am yesterday.

The Independent National Electoral Commission will today test the card readers in 12 states amid controversy over the use of the new device in the conduct of the next general elections.

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress have been engaging in war of words over the use of the card readers in the forthcoming polls.

While the Director of Legal Affairs of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, had said that the party did not support the use of the device because it is illegal and unconstitutional and that it had not been tested in any election in the past, the APC described the PDP’s rejection of the use of the device as a vindication of its claim that the ruling party was desperate to rig the general elections.

Most entertainers have been having fun with President Goodluck Jonathan in recent times and earlier in the week, the President was in Lagos and hanged out with some of these celebrities.

Singer, Seyi Shay was among the entertainers and the pretty diva ‘broke’ the internet with the dress she wore to meet the president at the event. The picture where the singer, wearing an incredibly short dress, while sitting beside the president, went viral and so many fans and foes have expressed their feelings concerning Seyi’s outfit.

Many people, including celebrities and notable figures, took to their social media accounts to express their feelings over her choice of outfit.

She emphasised that she is a respectable lady and was not planning to seduce the president in any way.

Chibok girls alive – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed confidence that the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in their hostel in Chibok, Borno State last year are still alive.

Jonathan, who also said that his chance of winning the March 28 presidential poll was slimmer than in 2011, based his position on the fact that terrorists would naturally display the corpses of the girls if they had been killed.

He spoke while featuring on Kakaaki, a breakfast programme on a private television station, African Independent Television.

Mark Zuckerberg has a simple test for new staff: he will only hire people that he would be willing to have as a boss.

The Facebook CEO made the admission on Wednesday evening at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, during a “town hall” style question and answer session.

"I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person. It’s a pretty good test."

A rape suspect was forced out of a jail and lynched by a mob in northeastern India, local reports said, with anger raging over the high rate of sexual violence in the country.

The man, who stood accused of raping a woman multiple times and was arrested on February 24, was dragged out of the prison in Nagaland state before being beaten to death and strung up, according to media reports.

Football clubs should be relegated over incidents of racism - Blatter

FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes football should 'have the courage' to relegate sides over incidents of racism.

Despite the continuing efforts of anti-racism group Kick It Out, the English game has been plagued by a spate of problems involving racism of late - primarily involving people thought to be fans chanting on public transport - and Blatter insists firmer sanctions is the solution.

Ballter said: "The biggest problem we've had in recent days here in this continent is racism, discrimination. It does not respect the human beings through these demonstrations which are discriminatory."

Luis Suárez will return to Anfield later this month along with a host of former Liverpool stars and other international names for a unique charity match.

The game, organised by the Liverpool FC Foundation, will feature Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher each leading a side they have selected.

Players who have already confirmed their availability for the 29 March fixture include Suárez, who left for Barcelona in a £75m deal last summer, Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, Dirk Kuyt, Xabi Alonso, Thierry Henry, John Terry and Didier Drogba, to name a few.

A passenger jet skidded off a runway at LaGuardia Airport and crashed into a fence as it tried to land amid a blinding wintry mix Thursday morning, sparking a fuel leak in one of its wings and prompting evacuations, Port Authority officials and sources familiar with the situation tell NBC 4 New York.

At least 125 passengers and five crew members were on Delta flight 1086, an MD-88 headed to New York from Atlanta, Georgia, when it slid off the runway around 11 a.m., authorities said. The impact caused a fuel leak on the plane's left wing, a Port Authority source said; the extent of the damage was not clear but the leak was not believed to be significant.

Newcastle striker Papiss Cissé and Manchester United defender Jonny Evans have been charged under rule E1 (A) after allegedly spitting at each other in Wednesday’s Premier League match at St James’ Park, the Football Association has announced. Both players have until 6pm on Friday 6 March 2015 to respond to the charge.

The Manchester United defender said he was “shocked” to read reports that he had part at Cissé after Wednesday night’s Premier League game at Newcastle, which the visitors won 1-0. “Having woken up this morning, I am shocked to have seen the media coverage from last night’s match,” he said.

The US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, has been injured by a knife-wielding attacker in Seoul.

Mr Lippert, 42, was attending a breakfast meeting when he was slashed on his face and left hand. He was taken to hospital but his injuries are not life-threatening. (Graphic Image)

Four Nigerian political parties have threatened to pull out of the March 28 and April 11 elections if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, refuses to suspend the use of card readers.

The parties also called on the chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, to proceed on terminal leave, accusing him of exhibiting unprofessionalism and poor judgement.

“Since Prof Attahiru Jega has shown lack of professionalism and good judgment in his actions so far in the conduct of the 2015 elections and since he has about three months to the end of his tenure as INEC Chairman, we the stakeholders urge him to quietly consider proceeding on terminal leave so that a more competent person can handle the current election process,” the parties said at a press conference Wednesday.

Report says a new study carried out by Bloomberg on 74 countries puts Nigeria at the top of most Stressed-Out countries in the world.

PHOTO CREDITS: DAILYMAIL

Manchester United gained a vital 1-0 victory against Newcastle thanks to Ashley Young's late strike, but the match was overshadowed by allegations of spitting against Jonny Evans and Papiss Cisse.

Tim Krul's inspired form kept the visitors at bay until the 89th minute but it was the Dutchman’s error that handed three points to the visitors when he passed the ball straight to Young to tap into an empty net.

It was a fun filled football match on Wednesday evening at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta when a team led by former president Olusegun Obasanjo of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library slugged it out with a team of Ogun State Government led by the governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

At the end of the novelty match which was to commemorate the 78th birthday of Obasanjo, OOPL team beat the state government team 2-1.

Chelsea were made to dig deep as they maintained their five point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 victory at West Ham.

The Blues overcame a stern test of their title credentials thanks to Eden Hazard’s first-half header and a string of fine saves from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Preparations for the March 28 and April 11 elections may have suffered a major setback, as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to include the Young Democratic Party, YDP in the lists of its duly registered political parties.

By this judgement, INEC would be required to reprint new ballot papers for the elections which is three weeks away.

Alexis Sanchez scored his first goal for seven games as Arsenal beat QPR 2-1 to maintain their imperious Premier League form.

QPR had looked comfortable in the first-half but Olivier Giroud opened the scoring on 64 minutes and Sanchez doubled the lead five minutes later as Arsenal, who remain in third, extended their winning run to four league games.

The Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has shifted his meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners to Wednesday, March 11.

The meeting, which was initially scheduled to take place on Wednesday (yesterday), was to enable the commissioners to give the chairman feedback on the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards and other preparations for election.

It was gathered that on March 12, INEC would finalise preparations for the March 28 and April 11 general elections.

Chadian President, Idriss Deby(Left) and Shekau(Right)

President Idriss Deby of Chad on Wednesday called on Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, to surrender or face death.

Derby told a news conference in N’djamena, that he knows the whereabouts of Shekau, who, according to him, was sighted in Dikwa , a village in Borno State two days ago.

“Abubakar Shekau must surrender. We know where he is. If he doesn’t give himself up he will suffer the same fate as his compatriots,” he said.

World's oldest woman celebrates 117th birthday with 92-year-old son and grandchildren

The world's oldest person began her 117th birthday celebrations one day early as she blew out her candles surrounded by family and friends. Misao Ohkawa, who lives in a nursing home in the western Japanese city of Osaka, was actually born on March 5, but her official party kicked off today.

Ohkawa was officially recognised by the Guinness World Records as the oldest person alive in 2013 when Jiroemon Kimura - also of Japan - died in June 2013 at age 116 years, 54 days.

She appeared before local media, wearing a pink floral kimono as she posed with her 92-year old son and two-year old great-grandson.

Manny Pacquiao, wife and four of his kids

Manny Pacquiao says two of his children started pestering him about a fight with Floyd Mayweather as long as three years ago.

Pacquiao and Mayweather will finally meet in one of the sport’s most long-awaited fights on May 2 in Las Vegas. It is a fight fans have been waiting years to be finalised, one that has come close to happening on a number of occasions, and Pacquiao hopes he will be able to give his family plenty to cheer about.

The 36-year-old told CNN he will be fulfilling the wishes of the two eldest of his five children, saying: "My son and my daughter, they really wanted this fight to happen."

The Portuguese superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo has made sure that his own hairstylist goes and brushes up his mannequin on a monthly basis.

The Real Madrid forward, 30, has had a lifesize double at Madrid's wax museum since December 2013.

Gonzalo Presa, who works as the communication director at the Museo de Cera, told a radio show that Ronaldo sends his own hair stylist along once a month to ensure his likeness was perfect.

A woman has filed for divorce after claiming she could not cope with the size of her husband's huge third leg.

Mother-of-three Aisha Dannupawa, from Nigeria's Zamfara State, had been married to Ali Maizinari for just one-week when she asked a Sharia court for an annulment. And she cited his massive member as the sole reason.

The housewife is reported to have told the court how she tied the knot with Ali following the breakdown of her first marriage. But problems arose after she moved into his parents' home.

Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng turned down an offer to join Barcelona before the start of the current season. The German defender revealed he felt honoured by the offer, but insisted he was in the right place already to win silverware.

With 50 caps for Germany, Boateng was a key part of the squad which won last year's World Cup and has a contract in Munich until June 2018. Boateng also lifted the Champions League title with Bayern in 2013 when they become the first German side to win the treble of European, league and cup titles in the same season.

Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood insists his side are "still alive" after Christian Benteke's last-gasp penalty lifted them out of the relegation zone.

Benteke's strike sealed a 2-1 win over West Brom, their first Premier League win in 13 games and Sherwood's first since taking charge in February.

Sherwood said: "When I left home my wife said she'd done the Euro lottery with a £54m jackpot but I said I'd take three points all the way."

PHOTO CREDIT: VANGUARD (Fani Kayode-Left and Lai Mohammed-Right)

The director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has written to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its spokesman, Lai Mohammed, demanding an apology over some comments made against his personality.

The letter made available to DAILY POST on Tuesday and addressed to Lai Mohammed noted that Fani-Kayode has instructed his lawyer to sue the APC spokesman “in respect of a publication on Tuesday, the 3rd day of March, 2015 on Page 6 of Nation Newspaper wherein you made a statement and same was printed with the above caption, and hereunder reproduced as follows:

“Contrary to information being peddled by the Director of Media and Publicity of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the party does not wish him any ill-health, “even though it is seriously concerned about his ‘mental state.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) plans to conduct a ‘mock’ election to publicly test run its Smart Card Reader (SCR) machines, an official of the commission has revealed.

The public test run is part of INEC’s efforts to demonstrate the efficiency of the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) before the scheduled March 28 presidential election, said Olusegun Agbaje, the Ondo State resident electoral commissioner (REC). He disclosed that INEC plans to hold the ‘mock’ election in twelve states, including Ondo, Lagos and Ekiti in the southwest region.

General Muhammadu Buhari, the popular presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), will return to Nigeria on Friday, following nearly 10 days in London on a campaign break. He had campaigned in 35 states before traveling out of the country.

Buhari, whose prolonged absence fueled a festival of negative rumors from his opponents, is reportedly in great health. He responded to those challenges in one television interview by challenging his detractors to a road race, saying he would like to see how long they can last against him.

Ghana presidential jet caught fire on Tuesday at the Kotoka International Airport in the capital Accra. Reports say the Falcon 900, slowed down and caught fire while attempting to take off.

A press statement issued by the Ghana Armed Forces and signed by the Director of Public Relations, Lieutenant Commander, Andy La-Anyane noted that “the fire was caused as a result of friction between the wheels and the runway surface”.

Popular standup comedian, Julius Agwu, is in the news again for posting a statement on Twitter that seemed to mock Nigerian entertainers that have joined campaigns of candidates participating in the coming elections.

Agwu had tweeted, “I do not blame my entertainment ‘colleagues’ who want to grab what they can from Abuja because there is hunger in the land.”

Sony announced at the Game Developers Conference Tuesday it plans to release a virtual-reality headset in 2016.

The electronics company said the VR system nicknamed Project Morpheus will debut in the first half of next year. The headset will work with Sony’s Playstation 4 game console and camera by covering the users’ vision and simulating virtual worlds on the screen.

The prototype features a large 5.7-inch OLED screen that displays nearly a 100-degree field of view and is capable of rendering imagery at 120 frames per second. The headset will also have nine LED lights on its exterior used to track movement.

THE Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Tuesday, dismissed an appeal challenging the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the March 28 presidential election.

The appellant, Cyriacus Njoku, had appealed the judgment delivered by Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi (as he then was) of an Abuja High Court that dismissed his suit challenging the eligibility of President Jonathan to contest the forthcoming presidential election for lacking in merit.

A panel of five justices of the appellate court, headed by Justice Abubakar Yahaya, in an unanimous judgment delivered on Tuesday held that the appellant’s suit was speculative and imaginary.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has warned his defenders not to make Diego Costa angry in Wednesday's Premier League match-up.

Costa has scored 17 goals during an impressive debut season at Chelsea but has also courted controversy with his bullish and combative style of play. The 26-year-old was handed a three-match ban in January for stamping on Liverpool's Emre Can, and has picked up eight yellow cards leaving him just two cautions away from another suspension.

"We're not to get involved with him, our central defenders are not to get involved with how he might upset them," Allardyce said.

Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has awarded a N1.2bn contract to the Carpenters and Furniture Association of Ekiti State.

The association on Monday evening signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government on the contract.

Could this really be JESUS CHRIST'S childhood home?

A British archaeologist has identified what he believes could have been the house where Jesus was raised.

Dr Ken Dark said that the humble first century home in Nazareth, northern Israel, could have been where Mary and Joseph brought up the son of God.

The Reading University archaeologist said that an ancient text described precisely how it was located between two tombs and below a church.

Clerics from the Crusader period and the Byzantine era also put the ruins in the cellar of their churches, suggesting that it was of great significance and needed to be protected.

The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has denied that the fuel scarcity witnessed in some parts of Nigeria was caused by non-payment of oil marketers.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said this while briefing newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja. “I want to emphasise that contrary to some unfounded speculations, the queues are not caused by payment issues.’’

“As you know, we paid the marketers a total of N320.8 billion from the Excess Crude Account in two instalment in December last year. This underscores the fact that we are taking payment of marketers very seriously indeed.’’

Saturday 7 March 2015

Friday 6 March 2015

Thursday 5 March 2015

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Tuesday 3 March 2015