2 explosions heard near finish line of Boston Marathon!

2 dead, scores injured in Boston Marathon explosions 

 Two explosions were heard near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, witnesses said.
Will Ritter, the spokesman for a Massachusetts Senate candidate, said that he heard what sounded like two explosions and saw smoke rising near the Boston Public Library. He said that he saw three fire engines and police running to the site.

 

“We heard two really large explosions in rapid succession, about a second apart from each other,” Ritter said. “Everybody kind of ducked and hit the ground.”
Janet Wu, a reporter for NBC affiliate WHDH, said that she heard two loud explosions. Jackie Bruno, a reporter for New England Cable News, said on Twitter that she saw people’s legs blown off.
“Runners were coming in and saw unspeakable horror,” she said.

Neither race officials nor public officials could immediately estimate the number or degree of injuries.



About three hours after the winners crossed the line, there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another explosion could be heard a few seconds later.
Smoke rose from the blasts, fluttering through the national flags lining the route of the world's oldest and most prestigious marathon. TV helicopter footage showed blood staining the pavement in the popular shopping and tourist area known as the Back Bay.
"There are people who are really, really bloody," said Laura McLean, a runner from Toronto, who was in the medical tent being treated for dehydration when she was pulled out to make room for victims of the explosions. "They were pulling them into the medical tent."
Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race.
"I was expecting my husband any minute," she said. "I don't know what this building is ... it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don't know what it was. I just ducked."
Runners who had not finished the race were diverted straight down Commonwealth Avenue and into a family meeting area, according to an emergency plan that had been in place.

Boston police confirmed there was an incident but did not immediately give details. Police, fire and medical technicians were responding. New England Cable News reported that the emergency response came within seconds.

Federal authorities told newsmen that they had no immediate information.

Zuma to visit Nigeria on Tuesday!

The South African President, Mr Jacob Zuma, is scheduled to pay a one-day official visit to Nigeria on Tuesday, an official said on Sunday.

Mr Sonni Yusuf, the Nigerian High Commissioner in South Africa, said in Pretoria that the visit was to further strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

“Yes, I can confirm to you that President Jacob Zuma will be paying a one-day official visit to Nigeria on Tuesday, April 16.

“All the required visas have been issued to all the members of his delegation.

“I must say it is an official visit and not a state visit,’’ Yusuf said.

He said that Zuma and his Nigerian counterpart would discuss and consult on regional and continental issues during the visit.

How Daddy started sleeping with me when I was 10 – Orphanage rape victim recounts harrowing tale!

Female inmates at the Light of Hope Orphanage describe how the owner of the orphanage allegedly raped them repeatedly.

From the outside, the Light of Hope Orphanage in Akute area of Ogun State looks like every other orphange.

The facility which was founded in 1996 by Mr. Olatayo Atunde receives donations from multinational companies, non-governmental organisations, and other concerned members of the public. The orphanage, also has a nursery and primary school within the premises.

However, recent sexual allegations by some of the female inmates has shattered the positive image the orphanage once enjoyed.

It all started when two young girls from the home told their secondary school teacher that they were raped by Atunde, who runs the facility.

One of the orphans 14-year-old Atinuke (not real name) said Atunde, popularly referred to as, daddy, by the inmates, slept with her and many other girls at the orphanage.

Atinuke, who is now in custody of an NGO, Project Alert on Violence Against Women, said she lost her virginity to Atunde at the age of 10 and has lost count of the number of times he has had sex with her.

She said, “Daddy started sleeping with me when I was 10. I have two blood brothers at the orphanage who I reported to but they have not been able to do anything about it. On one occasion, when he was sleeping with me, I ran into another room but he chased me and warned me never to run away from him again.

“I also reported the matter to the orphanage administrator, Aunty Hannah, and she said she would address the matter but daddy continued to rape me. Daddy usually raped us around 2am in his room. His wife does not always sleep in his room. She sleeps at the crèche where the younger orphans are staying.”

Atunde was also alleged to have sacked one of the employees at the orphanage that dared to challenge him. Another orphan, Salewa (not real name), told SUNDAY PUNCH that she was barely 12 when Atunde started having sexual relations with her.

She said she had a sister at the orphanage who was in the university. She added that she had caught Atunde having sex with another orphan.

“Daddy has been having sex with at least 10 of us. We are mostly between the ages of 8 and 14. I reported to Aunty Hannah and when she challenged daddy, he laid a curse on me,” she said.

The PUNCH had reported that at the instance of Project Alert, the police at Zone 2 Command had begun investigations into the matter and had arrested Atunde, who was later released on bail.

Our correspondent, who visited the orphanage at No 2, Tunde Senbanjo Street, Akute, observed that the orphanage was deserted and the gate was locked. Neighbours told SUNDAY PUNCH that Atunde had relocated some orphans to different locations.

A resident, who is an employee of the orphanage said, “After Atunde’s release, he hired some trucks to move the orphans to different locations so that if the state government shuts down the orphanage, he would still be able to operate directly or through a representative.

“Atunde receives donations from banks, multinationals, churches and other members of the public and the smartest thing for him to do right now, is to relocate the children and open another orphanage in a different name if possible, he said.

“Most of the girls were relocated to another property within the area while others were taken to the Shangisha area of Lagos State. The police should not have granted him a bail.”

The Ogun State Ministry of Women Affairs said the orphanage was not properly registered.

The Director, Social Welfare Services, Olumide Sotunbo, said although Atunde claimed that the orphanage was founded in 1996, the ministry only got to know about the home last year.

Sotunbo said the institution could not be described as an orphanage because orphanages were meant for orphans, but that investigations showed that many of the children had parents.

He said, “In 2012, Atunde wrote us that he wanted to register his orphanage and in August, we gave him the requirements and told him if he could meet them in six months, we would approve the orphanage. Most times, when people come to us saying they want to register an orphanage, we try not to be too stern because if we do that, they may change location and you might not be able to contact them again.

“On March 14, 2013, we went to inspect 14 orphanages and Hope Orphanage was the only one whose records were not intact. Atunde claimed some of the orphans were brought to him by churches and some of them had lost their mothers at childbirth but they have fathers. We learnt that some of the orphans have parents that gave them to Atunde willingly for unknown reasons and he accepted them. This is not how to run an orphanage.

“We then told him to go and get a police report stating this and we gave him three weeks to do this. It was while we were waiting for this that the allegation of sexual assault came up.”

The Director, Child Development at the ministry, Salimotu Otun, said the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, had shown interest in the case.

Director, Project Alert on Dr. Josephine Effa-Chukwuma, also said the matter would be pursued to a logical conclusion.

Effa-Chukwuma, who stated that cases of rape had increased drastically in recent times, said the two girls had suffered psychological trauma and had been receiving daily counselling.

She berated the police for the manner with which it had carried out its investigations.

“We were told that there are many other girls that have been defiled by Atunde and yet the police released him and allowed him to continue to run the place. That orphanage needs to be shut down,” she said.

Atunde could not be reached on phone for his comments as it was switched off. However, the orphanage administrator, Hannah Atunde, who is Atunde’s daughter, said the allegations were baseless. She blamed Project Alert for initiating moves that would bring woes on the home.

Hannah said the children had not been relocated and that the home still operates normally.

She said, “We were not aware of the allegation before daddy was arrested. After he was interrogated and released by the police, we tried to question the girls but Project Alert people took them away.

“We believe that it is Project Alert that is spearheading this and hopefully, the truth shall come out. The orphanage is still being run and everything is going smoothly. I don’t believe any child was raped.”

Our correspondent learnt that the girls had been taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for medical examination. Result of the tests carried out showed that the vaginal hymens of the girls were no longer intact and that the victims have Pelvic Inflammatory Disease which requires urgent treatment.

Effa-Chukwuma said since it had been established that the two girls were brought to the orphanage at the age of two, the orphanage must explain how they lost their virginity.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 2, Femi Balogun, confirmed that investigations were ongoing. Balogun however said it was too soon to conclude if Atunde was culpable. Asked why Atunde was released on bail, he said, “The instruction given to us is that suspects should not spend more than 24 hours in detention and that was what we did. We do not have enough evidence to charge him to court yet but investigations are ongoing.”

Jonathan, Amaechi clash again!

The gulf between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State widened further over the weekend as the Presidency and the Rivers State Government locked horns yet again.

This time, the Presidency was reacting to a recent claim by Amaechi that Jonathan was after him.

The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, who spoke to one of our correspondents during a telephone interview implied that Amaechi had an agenda.

The relationship between the President and the governor has deteriorated in recent times with several reports saying the feud is all about 2015 politics.

There are speculations that a bloc within the Peoples Democratic Party, which is opposed to Jonathan, wants Amaechi to be the vice-presidential aspirant of a duo that will challenge Jonathan in the party’s future presidential primaries.

Amaechi had also said Jonathan was after him because he had opposed the fraud in the fuel subsidy regime, the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Excess Crude Account.

But Gulak, who said Amaechi had the right to contest the highest position in the country, warned the governor to pursue his agenda without accusing Jonathan wrongly.

He said, “If he has an agenda, he is entitled to pursue his agenda. He is a Nigerian. He is qualified to hold the highest office in the land.

“He is a politician and he is entitled to pursue his agenda but he should stop making frivolous allegations about the President.”

The presidential adviser added that the President had no reason to move against the governor, or any PDP governor, as they all belonged to the same party.

He said, “The President is a man who follows the provisions of the constitution. The President is a man who consults robustly before taking decisions.

“The governors are members of the National Economic  Council and that council, though advisory to the President, takes a lot of decisions about the Sovereign Wealth Fund, Excess Crude Account and everything. If they don’t agree, such decisions are not implemented.

“It is wrong for Amaechi to say the President is after him because of that. People should not play to the gallery. If people have agenda, let them pursue their agenda but let them not point fingers at Mr. President.

“Mr. President is not pursuing anybody. Mr. President is not pursuing Amaechi or any other governor; after all, they are all members of the same Peoples Democratic Party family.

“But that does not mean that things should not be properly done and agencies must be allowed to do their work.”

Similarly, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the President had more important issues to attend to rather than going after governors.

He said, “I will be surprised if the governor of Rivers State made such a statement. That statement does not apply to President Jonathan, he does not pursue anybody. He is not a vindictive person.

“President Jonathan does not abuse his office. I totally disagree with such a statement, it cannot be true. I know for a fact that it is not true.

“It cannot be correct. The President has nothing to gain or lose whether Amaechi remains the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum or he is removed.

“The President is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is not a governor and the activities of governors are not his business directly or indirectly.

“He has more serious issues to contend with, delivering on the promises of his transformation agenda which is what he is doing currently.”

Reacting to Gulak’s statement on Friday, the governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. David Iyofor, said Gulak had turned himself to the “Wada Nas of President Jonathan’s administration.”

The CPS said rather than build bridges for his boss, the special adviser to the President was burning bridges and picking up fights where none existed.

He said, “With each passing day, it is becoming too clear that Gulak is certainly an adviser that Mr. President does not need. Instead of building bridges for his principal, Mr. President, Gulak has embarked on a self-imposed, suicide-like mission of burning bridges for his principal and picking fights where none exists.

“Adviser Gulak has turned himself into the Wada Nas of this administration with his unguarded and uncouth statements.

“We will not condescend to his (Gulak) level or join issues with him. We are too busy delivering democracy dividends to Rivers people. We have no time for clowns and Wada Nas-like characters like Gulak.”

Also, a close associate of Amaechi, who preferred anonymity, said some of President Jonathan’s aides had failed to add value to the Office of the Presidency.

 “How can he (Gulak) say Amaechi has a hidden agenda or a presidential ambition? For somebody in the Presidency to say that Amaechi has a hidden agenda shows that they are the people carving out such an agenda.

“The truth is that the President’s aides are not adding value to the Office of Mr. President. All they (President’s aides) are doing is just to advance their interest.

“We contributed an aircraft to the Goodluck/Sambo presidency. His aides, who are now peddling falsehood, never contributed anything to President Jonathan’s success at the last election,” he added.

Amaechi, had said last week, at a seminar organised in Ikogosi Ekiti, Ekiti State, by the Future Project, that the Presidency was  not happy with him for insisting that transparency and accountability were needed in the payment of petrol subsidy.

The governor said it was because of this that the governors forum went to court to challenge the legality of the Federal Government’s action of using money meant for the three tiers of government to pay for petrol subsidy.

“It is one reason they don’t want me as the governors’ (forum) chairman,” Amaechi said at the seminar.

Similarly on Thursday, Amaechi had accused the Federal Government of not allowing a helicopter Rivers State bought into the country because the FG feared that the helicopter would be used for the 2015 elections.

Gov. Sullivan Chime’s son, Nnamdi weds in Anambra!

Governor Sullivan Chime’s son, Nnamdi got married yesterday to the love of his life, Nneoma in Anambra.

Reports say the traditional wedding took place a day earlier in Nnewi. 

We wish them a happy married life.

Body Of Ikoyi Golf Club Manager Found Day After Van Plunges Into Lagos River!

Lagos:
Emergency workers recovered and identified the body of Mr. Kolawole Ahmed the manager of Ikoyi Golf Club and driver the ill-fated Toyota Hilux Van that plunged into Majidun river yesterday morning.

Mr. Ahmed body was recovered today at 8:23 am by divers affiliated with National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA). NEMA spokesperson in Lagos, Ibrahim Farnloye released a short statement earlier stating that NEMA  workers are continuing search andrescue operations with the hope of finding more bodies.
Mr. Ahmed reportedly plunged into the river early Saturday morning with three other occupants in a van he was driving, according to eyewitnesses.
The account of the eyewitnesses raises natural curiosity that the accident may be homicide as Mr. Ahmed was said to be heading to Ikorodu to manage a property of his under construction. He lives originally in the Ikeja area of Lagos. Lagos is replete with notorious land grabbers who routinely kill people over land disputes. The body retrieved today had severe injuries to the head, NEMA recovered the vehicle yesterday but Mr. Ahmed's body was not found inside the vehicle.
NEMA states that the body of Ahmed has been deposited at the General Hospital in Ikorodu  an Islamic funeral is expected later tomorrow.

Bieber Anne Frank Comments Cause Controversy!

Justin Bieber has said he hopes Anne Frank "would have been a belieber", after visiting the museum at the Holocaust victim's former home.

The Canadian popstar has received widespread criticism for the comments, which he wrote in the guestbook at Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Fans - who are known as 'beliebers' - defended the 19-year-old, while a museum spokeswoman sought to play down any controversy caused by his remarks.

Bieber wrote: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber."

The Anne Frank Museum wrote about the visit in posts to its Facebook page , prompting a series of accusations over Bieber's perceived insensitivity.

But museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart said the museum was happy to receive the singer and did not see anything offensive in his remarks.

Ms Mostart said he had called ahead and was given a guided tour. The Buzzfeed website later reported that a tour guide at the museum had pointed out that Miss Frank was a fan of pop culture and may have been a fan of his.

Media commentators and some Twitter users expressed displeasure at the comment.

Comedian Ricky Gervais posted on his Twitter account: "I agree with Justin Bieber. Anne Frank would've loved his stuff. It's perfect for being played really really quietly so no one can hear it."

Scott Simon, host of US-based National Public Radio, said on Twitter: "Anne would be wise enough to just laugh."

Others commended Bieber for caring enough about Anne Frank's story to visit the Amsterdam museum, which is built into the house where she and her family hid before their arrest.

Anne Frank, who died at the age of 15 at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, is one of the most well-known and celebrated Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

First published in 1947, her diary has been read by millions across the world and details the deprivations and personal triumphs she and her family experienced in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.