Nigerian Soldiers in Katsina State on Thursday opened fire on a commercial vehicle with reg. number AY504KTN, killing one of the passengers, a student of the Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic in the city.
Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, the JTF spokesman in the state, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Katsina.
Iweha said that the soldiers opened fire on the vehicle when the driver attempted to beat a military checkpoint at Batagarawa area of the state.
Iweha confirmed said that one of the passengers in the vehicle was hit and that he died instantly.
The JTF spokesman said that the affected driver had been arrested while the vehicle had been impounded by the army.
Iweha said that investigation into the incident has also commenced.
Meanwhile, a witness, who pleaded anonymity, told newsmen that the driver allegedly attempted to overtake a truck at the checkpoint.
The witness said that the deceased was later identified as Umar Ali, 22, a National Diploma II student of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic, Katsina.
According to the witness, the deceased was travelling along with his friends to Minna, Niger, for a wedding ceremony when the incident occurred.

Why we arrested Governor Lamido’s sons – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested two sons of Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State for allegedly laundering N11 billion. The spokesman for the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the arrest of the duo to newsmen in Kano on Friday, gave their names as Aminu and Mustapha. Uwujaren said they were arrested on [...] 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested two sons of Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State for allegedly laundering N11 billion.
The spokesman for the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the arrest of the duo to newsmen in Kano on Friday, gave their names as Aminu and Mustapha.
Uwujaren said they were arrested on Thursday night in Kano by operatives of the EFCC in connection with money laundering.
The suspects had since been flown to Abuja for further interrogation.
The eldest son of the governor, Aminu, was earlier arrested by the EFCC on December 11, 2012 at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport for money laundering to the tune of $50,000.
He was convicted but not sentenced by a Federal High Court in Kano on July 12.

 

Burkina Faso’s dominance challenged at ECOWAS cycling tour

Riders from Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana and Mali finished in the top six positions on Thursday at the end of the first stage of the ongoing 3rd ECOWAS Cycling Tour, thereby challenging the dominance of Burkina Faso’s cyclists in the regional competition. The latest stage covered 117 kilometres from Lagos, Nigeria to Ouidah in Benin [...]

 Riders from Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana and Mali finished in the top six positions on Thursday at the end of the first stage of the ongoing 3rd ECOWAS Cycling Tour, thereby challenging the dominance of Burkina Faso’s cyclists in the regional competition.
The latest stage covered 117 kilometres from Lagos, Nigeria to Ouidah in Benin Republic, with Ivorian cyclist Bolodigui Ouattara finishing first, after arriving at the finish line in three hours, 20 minutes 36 seconds.
Ouattara was followed by Burkina Faso’s AbdoulAziz Nikiema, who clocked three hours, 20 minutes 36 seconds, while Anim Samuel of Ghana posted a time of three hours 20 minutes 37 seconds for the third position.
Two Malians, Sangare Oumar and Sangare Tidiani, recorded three hours 20 minutes 38 seconds and three hours, 20 minutes 39 seconds respectively, while Nigeria’s Ajibade Qodir, who has had a good showing in the tour so far, posted three hours, 20 minutes 42 seconds.
Most of the cyclists maintained an average speed of 33.2 kilometres an hour during the race.
Meanwhile, Burkina Faso’s Nikiema and Ivorian Ouattara were first and second in all three sprints, while Qodir was adjudged the third best in the three intermediate sprints.
The tour, which kicked off in Lagos on November 13, is over 450 kilometres across five countries (Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire), terminating in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan on November 17, 2013

 

FG begins monitoring of 2,399 constituency projects

The Minister of Special Duties and Inter Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, said this at the launch of the 2013 exercise

 The Federal Government on Friday began the monitoring and evaluation exercise of the 2,399 constituency projects nationwide.
The Minister of Special Duties and Inter Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, said this at the launch of the 2013 exercise.
Turaki said the monitoring would also cover other constituency projects in 2012.
He said the exercise would be carried out in phases, adding that the first phase would cover 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The FCT projects, he said, were located in Kubwa, Bwari Area Council.
He said: “The ministry has dispatched its officials to some states for the purpose of undertaking on the spot assessment of the actual status of the implementation of the zonal intervention projects.
“The monitoring teams apart from assessing the level of implementation of the projects will also interact with the communities, the key beneficiaries of the projects to ascertain their views on the implementation.
“The constituency projects are projects initiated by members of the National Assembly for the development of their constituencies and these projects are funded from the Federal Government annual budget.
“Records indicate that some of these projects date as far back as 2006, but for this year, a total of 2,399 constituency projects are captured in the Federal Government’s 2013 Appropriation Act.
“The site we are today is the provision of infrastructure to Kubwa satellite town, a project jointly sponsored by the senator and all members of House representing the FCT constituencies at the House of Representative.”
The minister said no excuse would be accepted from any implementing agency with relation to non-implementation of any project to ensure that Nigerians and the government gets value for their money.
“These is not the era where any constituency project will be allowed to be abandoned because there has been clear funding for the 114 implementation MDAs chosen by NASS,” Turaki said.
Earlier, the Minister of State for the FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, said the project was under the Satellite Town Development Agency for the provision of infrastructure for Kubwa satellite town District IV and V.
Akinjide said the project was awarded to Setraco Construction Company in 2007 for N42.6 billion.
She said the scope of the project included road walks, storm water drains, water supply, power supply and street lighting.
She said only 55 per cent completion had been achieved due to lack of funds, adding that this was why the senator and House of Representatives members combined their money.
Akinjide said: “If you have a project that has been on for six years without completion, it clearly shows that there is a difficulty with funding.
“So, the National Assembly members did a patriotic thing by deciding to complete this project rather than start a new one.
“They brought together the sum of N1 billion so as to help in the fast completion of the project and today we have made a headway.

Messi marks 10th anniversary of Barca first-team debut

Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of Lionel Messi’s first-team debut with Barcelona, when the Argentine came on as a 16-year-old substitute during a friendly against Porto in Portugal.
“It was a very important moment in my career because I realised a dream that I had had since I was very young,” Messi told Barca TV in an interview.
“I had fought hard to reach this moment, and it was very special.”
Barca’s Dutch coach, Frank Rijkaard, brought on Messi for Fernando Navarro in the 75th minute of the inaugural match at the Dragao Stadium in 2003, against a Porto side managed by Jose Mourinho.
Wearing the number 14 shirt, the floppy-haired youngster showed a few flashes of his talent, but Barca lost the game 0-2.
“We enjoyed the game, the experience with the first team, travelling and so on, because it was new for all of us, but when we returned we kept our heads focused on the Juvenile A team,” Messi said.
“(My parents and the coaches) told me to enjoy everything I was experiencing and that there was no reason to change, that I should continue in the same vein.
“I think I am still the same person. I still view things the same way, but many years have passed now and I have continued growing, learning and valuing everything.”
The 26 years old Argentine is Barca’s leading scorer of all time in the league.
He is in the running for a fifth World Player of the Year award in January but has been knocked off his stride by a hamstring injury that is expected to keep him on the sidelines for six to eight weeks.
Messi is working on the first part of his recovery in Barcelona and will return to Buenos Aires for the latter stages.
He is not expected to be back in action until after La Liga’s two-week winter break at the end of December.
Barca top the standings, three points ahead of Atletico Madrid and are six ahead of arch-rivals Real Madrid in third.
They have already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League which resumes in February, and meet third-tier Cartagena in the last 32 of the King’s Cup in December.
Reuters/NAN.

Nigerians mobilise for Mikel, Moses on Twitter

BCC African Footballer of the Year are doing online

The battle for the BBC African Footballer of the Year award is heating up for all the five contenders – Gabon’s Pierre- Aubumeyang, Nigeria’s Victor Moses and Mikel Obi, Burkina Faso’s, Jonathan Pitroipa and Ivory Coast’s Yaya Toure.

Although the winner will be announced on Monday, December 2, 2013, on BBC’s Focus on Africa radio and television programme, fans of these football stars are not resting on their oars at all.  All that matters to them, for now, is for their favourite to clinch the title.

On Twitter, where the bulk of the voting and ‘campaign’  is taking  place, Nigerians appear to be leading the pack,  taking  advantage of their huge population.

For contenders like Pitroipa and Aubameyang, being listed is a big deal, as they are the first time nominees from their respective countries.

It is also interesting to note that none of the five candidates nominated for this year’s award has ever won it. Even as Toure made the shortlist for the fifth consecutive year in a row, the organisers say the list is drawn up from votes by 44 journalists across Africa.

At the moment, nominees who enjoy a large following on Twitter and Facebook, appear to be having the upper hand and receiving the most attention. While it has been established that almost all the five nominees have various parody accounts on Twitter, a cursory look at the verified account of Moses, Toure and another  believed to be that of Ob i- who is said to have closed his Twitter account a while back – rule the day.

For instance, on Obi’s unverified Twitter account, @Mike12_Official,  which currently boasts  12, 656 , he appears to be ‘king’ already, with fan after fan regularly tweeting their support by the second.

A certain Ifeoluwa recently tweeted at him, saying, “You are just the best we have in our great country. So rule your world.”

Another fan, Brian Musekiwa,  lent his voice to the campaign,  saying, “Sure brother. I have voted you for 2013 BBC African Footballer of the Year award. You deserve it this time.”

Although the player who recently floated a record label, MMM Records, may not be the only contender, he is enjoying the most attention, as his fellow country man, Moses, seems not to be very aggressive in his campaign, at least, on Twitter.

On the latter’s verified Twitter account which currently has 550,260 followers, the Liverpool  player only tweeted, “Wow being nominated for BBC African Player of the Year really honoured”, and then provided a link to the voting page.

Among the other three contenders, Toure is the most active on Twitter. His handle @Toure_yaya42 is also verified and currently has 136,095, followers. He tweets majorly in English and occasionally in French languages. His most recent post read, “Vote for me! BBC African Footballer of the Year -  Manchester City FC.”

 He also doesn’t appear to have many fans from his home country tweeting at him.

Despite having a verified Twitter handle @Aubameyang7 and 125, 207 followers, Gabonese contender, Aubumeyang, appears pre-occupied with other things as none of his tweets have little or nothing to do with the competition. He hasn’t been interacting so much with his fans either.

But Pitroipa is the least active on Twitter;  his last tweet was posted in 2009.

At the moment the battle appears to be between Nigeria’s Obi and Moses while the competition’s Twitter hashtag, #BBCAfoty, is being dominated by Nigerians, who are seriously canvassing for votes for two of their own.

For instance, one Churchill Ebhodaghe retweeted, “Let’s mobilise to have 9ja vote for Mikel.”  Then LoudMouthedNigerian lent his voice to the cause, saying, “Nigerians, please let us use our massive numbers to help Victor Moses and Mikel Obi win the award.”

The campaign is not being left in the hands of fans alone, as sportscasters and journalists have joined in the frenzy.

 TV sports analyst Kayode Tijani has, for instance, already shown his bias for Obi in several tweets.

One of such read, “Simply put, I don’t see how anyone can tell me Mikel Obi will not be named the next African Footballer of The Year. “

BBC sports broadcaster, Oluwashina Okeleji, on the other hand, is throwing his weight behind both players.

 In one of his tweets, he wrote, “Mikel and Moses are both heavily involved as Nigeria won the AFCON Cup for the first time in 19 years. The duo also won the Europa League. No airtime? You can also vote online and vote for free.”