Presidential jet mal - functions at the Minna Airport!

President Goodluck Jonathan and some top government officials on Saturday escaped an air mishap at the Minna Airport, Niger State, when a presidential jet developed a technical fault, while they were aboard.



According to reports, the presidential jet, Nigerian Air Force 001 (5N-FGT), had earlier conveyed Jonathan to Minna for the -Peoples Democratic Party’s North-Central rally which held at the Trade Fair Centre, Minna.
At the end of the rally, the President returned to the airport in company with top government officials, PDP state governors and party chiefs for a trip to Sokoto, from where he was scheduled to return to Abuja.
However, several minutes after Jonathan had bade farewell to those who accompanied him to the airport, and the door of the aircraft was shut, the aircraft failed to move.

After many attempts, crew members and engineers disembarked from the aircraft and made spirited efforts to fix the fault as armed security men took strategic positions around it.
While this was going on, Vice-President Namadi Sambo; President of the Senate, David Mark; all PDP governors, members of the National Assembly and members of the Federal Executive Council were watching under the scorching sun.
When it became obvious that the fault could not be easily fixed, the commander of the Presidential Air Fleet, Air Vice Marshal Uko Ebong, ordered that a smaller presidential jet, 5N-FGW, which conveyed the Vice-President to the state be brought to fly Jonathan.
Jonathan disembarked from the faulty jet at about 3.30pm and quickly moved to the smaller aircraft.
He later left the airport in the smaller aircraft at about 3:35pm, leaving behind some of his co-occupants in the bigger jet.


Sambo also had to join Mark in another smaller presidential jet, 5N-FGV, which had earlier conveyed the Senate President to the state. Senator Barnabas Gemade and a few other dignitaries also joined them.
Those who were with the President in the faulty aircraft before they disembarked included the National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Muazu; Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Tony Anenih; former chairman of the party, Ahmadu Ali; former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, and some presidential aides.
At the time of filing this report, engineers were still battling with the faulty jet on the tarmac in the deserted airport while officials of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria were seen taking notes.
Some security men were left behind to keep watch on the aircraft.


When asked for what was wrong with the aeroplane, an official of FAAN simply said, “The return engine refused to pick.”
Another source who pleaded anonymity, said the hot temperature in the city led to the fault.
“What the commander said was that the high temperature affected the engine of the aircraft,” he said.

When asked why the hot weather did not affect the two other presidential jets, the source explained that the Air Force 001 is “more digitalised than others.”

16 year old school girl who fled to France with jailed teacher 'dumps him for another teacher!

A 15 year old schoolgirl who sparked an international manhunt after eloping with her 31 year old maths teacher Jeremy Forrest is now said to be 'ridiculously happy' after falling for a 20-year-old PE teaching assistant and part-time security guard, while teacher Jeremy is currently serving a five-and-a-half-year sentence for abducting her.

The Sun on Sunday reported girl,' who cannot be named for legal reasons', posted a picture showing the new man giving her a kiss on the cheek while she sticks her tongue out.

And her mother is understood to wholeheartedly approve of the relationship, telling the newspaper: 'He is really nice and we have welcomed him into our family and I am very happy for my daughter.'

It is believed that because the girl is now 16 and the new teacher does not work at her current school, their relationship is not illegal.

Friends of the teenager are also said to be keen on the new man and see him as a positive influence.

The pair who reportedly spent two nights  together are said to have connected over a shared love of music and exchanged a series of flirty tweets before things became more serious in mid-February. 

Last week she posted on Twitter that she was annoyed when people said that when someone moves on it meant they did not love the person they were with before.

The news is expected to come as a devastating blow to Forrest who was arrested in September 2012 when the runaways were spotted in Bordeaux after spending a week on the run.

Just last month it was claimed the girl had written to him in prison to say she still loved him and wanted to rekindle their relationship when he has served his sentence.

It was gathered that Forrest, whose wife left him after his betrayal, was not allowed to read the letters and has been transferred to tough Dartmoor Prison after making a complaint.

Forrest, who taught at Bishop Bell School in East Sussex, first kissed the girl when she was 14. The pair had sex after she turned 15.

When police were alerted they fled to France by ferry, travelling under false names. 

He was spotted and arrested eight days later. Last June at Lewes Crown Court he was convicted of sex offences and abduction, and jailed.

Afterwards the girl said: ‘I love Jeremy so much. I want to spend the rest of my life with him and maybe once he’s out, we can marry and have children.

Forrest began his relationship with the girl on a school trip to Los Angeles when she was 14 and was seen holding her hand on the plane – something she claims he was doing to comfort her as she was struggling with bulimia.

She opened up to him about the break-up of her parents’ marriage before he kissed her in a classroom. She said they would have sex in his Ford Fiesta or hotels, which they would check into as Mr and Mrs Forrest.

They were on the run for eight days before being found in Bordeaux where he was arrested in front of her.

He was convicted of child abduction and five counts of sexual activity with a child at Lewes Crown Court last June.

Two on missing Malaysia flight used stolen European passports!

Rome and Vienna's foreign ministry officials confirmed Saturday that names of two nationals listed on the manifest of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight match passports reported stolen in Thailand. 



A passenger manifest issued by Malaysia Airlines after its plane went missing off the Vietnamese coast with 227 passengers and 12 crew included the names of Christian Kozel, 30, from Austria, and Luigi Maraldi, 37, from Italy, however, neither European was on the plane, which reportedly disappeared less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, officials said. 



The Italian was traveling in Thailand and the Austrian was located by police in his native country. The father of the Italian man told the Associated Press that his son's passport had been stolen a year and a half ago while traveling in Thailand. "He deposited it with rental car agency, and when he returned the car it was gone," Walter Maraldi said by telephone from his home in the northern Emilia-Romagna region. 

Walter Maraldi said authorities could not tell him whether the stolen passport or a counterfeit copy was used by a passenger to board the aircraft. The father said his son Luigi Maraldi, 37, called his parents from Thailand to tell them he was fine after hearing news reports that an Italian with his name was on board the missing airplane. 

Maraldi's mother told Reuters that her son's passport had been lost, presumed stolen, in Phuket in 2013. "He lost his passport in Thailand, and he reported it to the authorities... Maybe the one who stole it came to a bad end, we don't know, they have to investigate," 

Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss confirmed that a name listed on the manifest matches an Austrian passport reported stolen two years ago in Thailand. Weiss would not confirm the Austrian traveler's identity. "We have no information on who might have stolen the passport," he said. 

The Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "It's interesting that there were two cases on the same plane but we just know that our Austrian was not on board. "Someone used a document to get on the plane. But whoever used that, we have nothing to say about that, we don't know, that would be for the authorities to look into," he said. 


LA Times reported late Saturday that the United States will send FBI agents and experts to help investigate the jet's disappearance. According to the report, the FBI agents will help review video from the Kuala Lumpur airport for images of departing passengers that can be checked in the bureau's vast counter-terrorism database. 

At least three US citizens, and an infant who could be a US citizen, were on board the plane. "This gives us entree" to the case, the official told the LA Times, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The disclosure that two people on board were travelling on stolen passports raised questions about a possible terrorist attack, but US intelligence officials earlier told US media that stolen passports "don't necessarily say to us that this was a terrorism act.

"On Sunday it was reported that Malaysian authorities are investigating the identities of at least two other passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, in addition to two who were found to be using stolen passports. Investigators were verifying the identities with the elevant embassies in Malaysia, said a security official, who has knowledge of the investigation and declined to be identified. The passengers being checked had all bought their tickets through China Southern Airlines, the official said.

President Goodluck Jonathan attends the first Plenary Session of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Abuja, Photos!

President Jonathan at the First Plenary Session of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Abuja today;

Photos below:

Incredible....17 year old player who looks older than his age?

This Lazio player pictured below says he's 17 years old and no one bought his story. 

Joseph Minala from Cameroon was forced to shut down his instagram and Facebook accounts following abuse over his age. 

People think he is a guy in his 30s claiming to be 17.

It was gathered that the midfielder tried to convince his followers that he didn't lie about his age by sharing a pic of his passport which showed his birth date on his instagram page but that didn't convince anyone. 

The abuse continued and he was forced to shut down his instagram page. He also filtered out Twitter pictures of himself and deleted his Facebook profile.

"Envy is the weakness of man, and those with a poor soul hurt others when you are in Serie A. Love you! Forza Lazio." Joseph tweeted after deleting his Facebook page.

Minala joined the Italian giants in December 2013.

But bross, you should have applied as a couch instead....no hard feelings here....one love man....lol

Please add your comments

Obesere's rape case transferred to SCID!

According to Vanguard news, the case involving popular Fuji musician, Alhaji Abass Akande, also known as Obesere, arrested for allegedly raping a 29-year-old business woman, Miss Olanike Olaiya, in his Okota residence may have been  transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID.

The embattled musician preferred the SCID to the  Isolo Police division because the DPO had insisted on the matter going to court.

Normally, it is  the Divisional Police Officer at Isolo Division, Aminu Ibrahim, that should have ordered the transfer of the case to SCID for further investigations.

But Obesere was alleged to have used his contacts in the police to have the case transferred to SCID.

A Police source also disclosed that Obesere found it difficult to pressurize the DPO at Isolo into striking out the matter or persuade the victim to accept a settlement.

The source, who craved anonymity, also said Obesere contacted some top citizens to wade into the matter by persuading the DPO to soft-pedal on the  matter but they backed down when they discovered that the police have incriminating evidence against the musician.

Meanwhile, the victim, Olaiya, recently told Vanguard that she had relocated to her home town, Sagamu in Ogun State, where she is currently receiving treatment for the rape incident.

Olaiya, who reportedly spoke with Vanguard on the telephone, said:

“As I speak with you, I am in Sagamu, my home town, where I have been  receiving traditional treatment since the incident occurred.

I bled for more than two weeks —Victim

“I bled for more than two weeks after Alhaji Obesere raped me and inserted his ring into my private part. The incident occurred on February 12, 2013 and I have spent a lot of money treating myself.

“The DPO, Isolo Police division, took pity on me and refused to give in to Obesere’s pressure to  strike out the case and God will bless him for that.

“But last week I was informed that the case had been transferred to the SCID and my Investigating Police Office, IPO, at Isolo asked me to come to the station on Tuesday for the transfer.

“But when I got to the SCID, I discovered the IPO, who took over the case, one Mr. Jacob, I don’t know his rank, became hostile to me.

“You need to see how this man treated me. He started by asking me to write a new statement and when I tried to explain that I had written a statement at Isolo division, he rebuffed my explanation and insisted I wrote a new one.

They threatened to kill me

“Afterwards, they started threatening me. The IPO, Alhaji Obesere, and some of his brothers, who were present there, asked me to stop the journalists from publishing my story and if I don’t, I will be a dead person.

“I was so frightened when they said this and each time my phone rang someone would pick it up to know who was calling.

“Later, they discovered  I wasn’t going to break, then they started begging me and promised to take care of me. Alhaji Obesere even said he was going to take me to the best hospital for treatment.

“At the end, I rose to leave and they offered to drop me in my place. The IPO also insisted that I should follow them. Instead of taking me to my area, they took me to Obesere’s house and the woman who introduced me to him was also there.

“While I was with them I alerted the police at Isolo and told them where I was.

“But yesterday, they called after they saw the publication and started threatening again to kill me.

“I am highly terrified, that was why I travelled back  to my home to get some treatment.”

Source: Vanguard news

FG shuts unity schools in Yobe, Borno, Adamawa!

Following reports submitted by the principals of the unity schools in the three states, the Federal Government has shut down five Federal Government Colleges in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, following the killings of school children by members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, who have been attacking schools.

Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, communicated the government‘s approval for the closure of the schools in a statement by his Special Assistant (Media), Simeon Nwakaudu, on Wednesday in Abuja.

The schools affected by the closure are Federal Government Girls College, Munguno, and the Federal Science and Technical College, Lassa, both in Borno State; Federal Government College, Potiskum, and the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, both in Yobe State; as well as the Federal Science and Technical College, Michika, Adamawa State.

The schools were considered to be located “within the high security risk areas of the North-East geo-political zone.”

“The schools are to remain closed until security situation in the states improves. The teachers of the affected schools would also be absorbed by the new schools,” a source told our correspondent.

It will be recalled that Boko Haram members last Tuesday attacked Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, killing no fewer than 30 students.

The PUNCH news had in an exclusive report had said government was considering the option of closing unity schools in the North-East.