The Ailoba Ahonkhai Blog Spot

Tinubu to Run for President 2019 - Dumps PDP, Mega Party Alliance The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Tinubu, has been holding a series of meetings and consultations for his bid for the presidency in 2019, THISDAY has reliably learnt. According to sources close to the former Lagos State governor, he is also putting together a team, preparatory for the race and has developed an elaborative strategic plan to make a bold bid for the coveted office. In so doing, Tinubu, sources confirmed, has abandoned his initial plan of aligning with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to build a mega party to take on the APC in 2019. Instead, Tinubu, the sources volunteered, has decided to remain in the APC, a party that he played a pivotal role setting up in 2013 and leading it to a historic victory in the 2015 elections. Tinubu had hinted of his interest to contest for the presidency in Akure last Friday when he told reporters dur...

RAPE AND BE JAILED FOR LIFE - Father of Two Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Raping Girl Friend Having been found guilty of rape, an Ado-Ekiti High Court, yesterday sentenced a 35-year-old man, Tope Odeyemi, to life imprisonment. Justice Adekanye Ogunmoye, in his judgment, said based on the confessional statement of the accused and other corroborative evidence of the prosecution reinforced the conviction. He added that the culprit was guilty as charged and that he must face the consequences of his action, saying “he should face no other consequence than to go for life imprisonment,” the judge ruled. The judge, who observed that the act of rape and defilement was rampant in the state, said the sentence would serve as a deterrent to other potential rapists. During trial, the prosecution, led by the state Attorney General, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, told the court that the father of two committed the offence on September 4, 2014 in Iyin-Ekiti. Ajayi averred that the...

South Africans Attack More Nigerians Alex Enumah with agency report The Nigerian community in South Africa monday said that another shop belonging to a member was looted in the latest xenophobic attack at Jeppestown, Johannesburg. Mr. Ikechukwu Anyene, President of the Nigeria Union, South Africa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the phone from Pretoria that the shop was looted on Sunday night. “We have received information that there was an overnight attack on shops belonging to foreigners at Jeppestown, a business district in Johannesburg. “A shop belonging to a Nigerian was affected. “The goods in the shop were looted by the attackers. The Nigerian was not hurt during the attack. “We also learnt that shops belonging to other foreigners were also looted,” he said. Anyene stated that attempts made to loot another shop belonging to a Nigerian failed as the owner called the police. He said the value of items lost in the affected shop had ...

LECTURER CAUGHT SEXUALLY HARASSING STUDENT: Students force lecturer to mop floor, wash toilet A lecturer in the English Department, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, Isiaq Yusuf, popularly called I.G. Yusuf, has become an object of ridicule after he was caught naked in his student’s apartment. The fiancé of the 400-level student and his friend, who caught Yusuf while he was allegedly prepared to have sex with her, made him to mop the living room, wash the toilet, and took his nude pictures, which had gone viral. The lecturer had reportedly insisted on sleeping with the student so she could pass ENG 201 titled, “History of English Language in Nigeria”. PUNCH Metro gathered that the final year student, who had failed the course consecutively, became frustrated and feared the lecturer could fail her again, thereby extending her year of study. She was said to have told her fiancé about the problem she was having with the lecturer and a pl...

Abike Dabiri  Federal Government  blasts S-Africa minister over Xenophobic attack Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora Matters to the President, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has tongue-lashed South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Mr. Malusi Gigaba, over his negation of the death of 116 Nigerians in xenophobic attacks by his fellow countrymen. Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa in a strongly worded statement bemoaned as irresponsible the failure of the minster to realise the fact that xenophobia is a social disease which his countrymen needed to be cured of. Noting with irony that Nigeria’s past assistance to South Africa has fetched xenophobia, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa remonstrated with the South African Home Affairs minister over his lethargic response that the death of “more than 100 Nigerians” should be sorted out at the diplomatic level. She said: “It appears that Mr. Gigaba would rather dwell on and entertain himself with diplomatic niceties when the...

National Industrial Court: MTN bars 63 employees from seeking employment in any telecom industry after sacking them The telecommunication giant, MTN Nigeria, sacked 63 of its employees in 2009 and barred them from securing a job in the sector for four years. Last year, the National Industrial Court in Lagos, in a 2013 suit filed by the dismissed employees, delivered a judgment condemning the act and ordering the company to pay the workers four years gross salaries. “Terminating the employment of the claimant and (at) the same time restricting them from seeking employment from the sector generally and preventing them to be acting as agents, advisers, or to engage in any of their concern directly or indirectly for four years is clearly unreasonable in the light of global economic challenges occasioned by recession which has resulted in mass unemployment,” Justice Peter Lifu stated in his judgement delivered on October 26, 2016. “Consequently, I am satisfied that the clai...

Nigerian government found culpable, defies High court order on  El-Zakzaky andealscourtudgment The Nigerian government has approached the Appeal Court to challenge a High Court ruling that mandated the release of the leader of the Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. Mr. El-Zakzaky was arrested in December 2015, by soldiers, following a clash between the Shiite movement and the army over right of way. Over 300 IMN members were killed by the soldiers. Various human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the killings. A year later, on December 2, 2016, an Abuja Division of the Federal High Court ordered the release of Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife who have been held without trial for over a year. The court also ordered that accommodation be provided for them and that the government pays them N50 million as compensation for violating their rights. These were to be done within 45 days from the day of...

Nigerians attacked in South Africa lose all they ever had Jesusegun Alagbe Steve Edward’s voice shook terribly, laden with anger and frustration as he relived how he escaped being killed by a South African mob last Saturday in Pretoria West. “The men came in with machetes and other weapons and started making some arrogant noises. They first collected our money and goods. After then, they set our house on fire. They were happy,” he said. “We called on the police and some people to help us. But when they arrived, they joined our attackers in assaulting us.” Edward, an indigene of Ondo State (Nigeria), had only lived in South Africa for three years when he witnessed the horrible incident. He said, “The people we called on to help us also joined our attackers in looting us. They told us that we were dating their women and taking their jobs. “They also accused us of selling drugs. But I’ve never sold drugs in my life. I’m a forklift operator at an automobile compa...

groups vow to fight Trump’s travel ban as Nigerians are denied entry into U.S Following some complaints from some Nigerians that they were denied entry into the United States due to President Trump’s travel ban on some Muslim countries, the Nigerian community in U.S says it is prepared to legally defend any Nigerian traveller coming to the US  if targeted by immigration officials hiding under President Donald Trump’s new travel ban  on Friday. Already, the Nigerian Lawyers Association and the Organisation for the Advancement of Nigeria (OAN), two influential Nigerian community associations in the U.S., have embarked on sensitisation of Nigerians who have relatives travelling to the U.S. On Monday, the groups organised two sessions of teleconferences, in which NAN’s Correspondent participated, with many Nigerians calling in to seek further clarifications on the travel ban. Mr Francis James, a Member, Board of Directors of OAN, told newsmen that U.S. law enforcement...

Xenophobia in SA: Pastor stabbed, Nigerian arrested for defending self – Envoy Nigeria`s Consul General in South Africa, Amb. Uche Ajulu-Okeke while visiting Nigerian victims of Xenophobia, has described the recent xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and other foreigners in that country as unfortunate, saying while a pastor was stabbed, another Nigerian was arrested by the South African police for defending himself. Ajulu-Okeke, who visited affected homes and businesses, told our correspondent on telephone from Johannesburg, South Africa, that Nigerians suffered heavy losses. “ The Consulate General of Nigeria in South Africa went on a fact finding and  direct field assessment of the xenophobic attack sites. “ We visited seven locations in Pretoria West. At the first location, a garage, 29 cars, 80 Nigerian passports, welding and painting appliances and  a restaurant were burnt while cash totalling R140, 000(N3.360m) were  removed,” she said. The...

Buhari’s Lawyer: I Gave N500,000 to Justice Ademola One of the lawyers who defended President Muhammadu Buhari in the suit challenging his qualification to seek election to the Office of the President, Mr. Kola Awodein (SAN), has described as ridiculous the allegation that the N500,000 he gave to Justice Adeniyi Ademola for his daughter’s wedding was a bribe from the president. Reacting to news reports that he gave the judge, who is on trial before an Abuja High Court for corruption, the money at the behest of the president, Awodein said: “I am constrained to make in absolute good faith, in good conscience and in the interest of justice and fair play the following very short statement on account of the distorted news story currently being peddled as affecting the person of Mr. President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and my good and very noble self.” Awodein’s reaction was issued on his behalf by the president’s media aide Mr. Femi Adesina yesterday in Abuja. Awod...