Thursday, 13 March 2014

Nigerian Student shot dead by the police in Malaysia!


A Nigerian student in Malaysia was reportedly shot dead by an unidentified police man.

The Nigerian identified as Adelabu Tunde was killed by a Malaysian police on Thursday; he was until his death a student of Lagenda University, Nilai, Malaysia.
According to a source, the victim who hailed from Ekiti State was shot in the head en route home from school.

The source said: “Police were raiding in another apartment when Tunde and his friends were coming back from school then the police car followed them. He ran and got shot in the head by a police man.”

The source argued that “he was not fighting, but was shot by the police who came for extra pocket money. The police left the scene as soon as he was shot”, the witness submitted.
The friends of the late Tunde called on the Federal Government to make sure that justice is prevailed and his murderers are brought to book.
It was gathered that although the University’s authority could not be reached to confirm the incident, the parents of the deceased has been informed of the incident. 
News Source: The Nation Newspaper

Malaysia Airline: Missing plane was airborne for 4 hours after last sighting, says US investigators!


US investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stayed in the air for about four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two people familiar with the details.

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The report comes as authorities remain uncertain about which ocean to search for the jetliner that went missing on Saturday after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

It raises the possibility that the plane, and the 239 people on board, could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky, the newspaper reported. 

The last definitive sighting of the aircraft on civilian radar screens came shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, as it flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand bound for Beijing.

Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co 777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program, the Journal said.



Malaysian aviation chief says no plane debris found at spot shown by China's satellite images:
Malaysia's civil aviation chief says no signs of the missing Malaysian jetliner have been found at a location where Chinese satellite images have shown what might be plane debris.

Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman says planes searched the location Thursday. "There is nothing. We went there, there is nothing," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Car Hits Crowd at Club During SXSW: Two Die, 23 Hurt!



Police and emergency officials confirmed that at least two people are dead and 23 others injured after a car hit a crowd outside a club in Austin - Texas.
View image on Twitter
According to reports, the crash took place during the SXSW (South by South West) digital conference, when a car ran through a barricade close to The Mohawk venue just after 12:30 a.m. local time (1.30 a.m. ET). 
The driver has been taken into custody.

Death toll rises in East Harlem's Twin blasts!


A gas leak triggered an earthshaking explosion that flattened two apartment buildings on Wednesday, killing at least five people, injuring more than 70 and leaving at least nine unaccounted for. A fire followed the blast.
It was reported that residents had complained repeatedly in recent weeks about "unbearable" gas smells.
A National Transport Safety Board team member Robert Sumwalt said investigators would be looking at how Con Edison handled reports of gas smells and issues with the pipe, and would be constructing a timeline of events.
"We'll be looking at their call system to see how they handle complaints - phone calls reporting the odor of gas," Sumwalt remarked. 
One of the side-by-side buildings had a piano store on the first floor, the other a storefront Spanish church.
The recovery was reportedly confronted with weather hardship. Temperatures were forecast to drop into the low 20s overnight, with rain. Some parts of the debris pile were inaccessible because of a sinkhole caused by a subsurface water main break, officials said.
The fiery blast, on Park Avenue at 116th Street, not far from the edge of Central Park, erupted about 9:30 a.m., around 15 minutes after a neighboring resident reported smelling gas, authorities said. The local utility, Con Edison, said it immediately sent workers to check out the report, but they didn't arrive until it was too late.
"The call came in at 9:13 a.m. from a resident who reported smelling gas inside the apartment, but the resident indicated the odor may have been coming from outside the building," Con Ed spokesman Sydney Alvarez told WCBS-TV. "Two Con Edison crews were dispatched at about 9:15 a.m. and arrived just after the explosion occurred."
The explosion shattered windows a block away, rained debris onto elevated commuter railroad tracks close by, cast a plume of smoke over the skyline and sent people running into the streets.
"It felt like an earthquake had rattled my whole building," said Waldemar Infante, a porter who was working in a basement nearby. "There were glass shards everywhere on the ground, and all the stores had their windows blown out."
Emanuel Rivera, 24, lives on the corner of 116th and Park Avenue, across the street from the blast site. He was at home sleeping with his wife Rehanna and their two children when it happened.
"All you heard was boom. The whole building shook. We looked outside and there was a bunch of smoke. Everything was in flames," he said.
Like several other neighbors, Rivera said they started smelling gas Tuesday night.
Hunter College identified one of the people killed in the blast as Griselde Camacho, a security officer who worked at the Silberman School of Social Work building. Hunter, in a statement on its website, said Camacho, 45, had worked for the college since 2008.
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Griselde Camacho
Another of the people who died was Carmen Tanco, 67, a dental hygienist.
At least three of the injured were children; one, a 15-year-old boy, was reported in critical condition with burns, broken bones and internal injuries. Most of the other victims' injuries were minor and included cuts and scrapes.
Fire officials said some people were unaccounted for but cautioned they may not have been in the buildings.
Pictures of smoke rising from the area as posted by some Twitters:
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

Man begs court to Dissolve 7-year-old marriage over 'Wife’s Low Education'!




A 36-year-old man, Mr Oladele Olatunji has asked an Ado-Ekiti Customary Court to dissolve his seven years marriage to his wife, Opeyemi, over her alleged unwillingness to be educated.
Oladele also complained that apart from very low educational standard, his wife causes him public embarrassments, fights frequently and leaks family secrets.
He told the court that he met his wife on a Valentine’s Day and thereafter she was pregnant for him and that being a graduate, he wanted his wife to further her education but she refused and insisted on being a fashion designer.
The father of two said whenever they had a quarrel, his wife would immediately inform his parents, a habit he said he could no longer cope with.
But Opeyemi, 33, denied the allegations, saying her education had been delayed because her husband said he would only sponsor her after completing his building project.
She alleged that her husband had abandoned her and the children without bothering about their survival and that he had a child from an earlier marriage which he did not disclose to her at the time their marriage was contracted.

'Do or Die' elections - Violence as voter registration begins in Osun!





The continuous voters registration exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission which started in Osun State on Wednesday was marred with violence in some parts of the state.
The exercise is part of the preparations of the electoral body for the conduct of the August 9 governorship election coming up in the state.
Our correspondent gathered that there were cases of attacks in Ife and Ilesa as  thugs unleashed violence on some people.
Also, some of those who turned out for the registration exercise could not be attended to because some of the direct data capture machines used for the registration were faulty.
It was not clear who started the violence but the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state and the Peoples Democratic Party accused each other of sponsoring the violence.
The Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, in a statement said that some thugs allegedly led by some leaders of the PDP unleashed terror on some of his party members and loyalists at Ile Ife.
One of the prominent governorship aspirants of the PDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore, is from Ile Ife.
The statement reads, “We also bring to the attention of the public and Prof. Attahiru Jega, the INEC Chairman, the acts of thuggery and brigandage being perpetrated by some leaders and agents of the PDP attacking registration centres and maiming agents and supporters of our party.
“In Ife East Local Government, some PDP thugs moved round the entire registration centres and attacked everybody on sight. They were in Okerewe Ward 1 and 2 where our party agents and many of our supporters were wounded. A number of them have been rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
“They particularly went to No 1, Mosalasi Lane, Itakogun, Ile-Ife, where they attacked the mother of the Executive Secretary of Ife East Local Government and some other people.”
But the Chairman of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, in an interview with journalists said that four members of the PDP were shot at Atakumosa while eight were brutalised by some thugs allegedly hired by the ruling party.
He said that APC thugs led by some of the party leaders went round and chased away known members of the PDP from registration units. Governor Rauf Aregbesola is an indigene of Ilesa where the attack allegedly took place.
Olaoluwa said, “We have been saying it that the APC is a violent party. They shot four of our people today and brutalised eight others. Some of the victims were taken to the hospital for treatment.
“ The party is jittery because they know that they are not wanted in Osun State. Osun belongs to the PDP and we are going to flush them out this August.”
The PDP chairman in Osun East Senatorial District, Mr. Joshua Ogunleye, also said that  some known APC thugs fired several gun shots at Ifewara and Okebode to scare people away from the registration exercise.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, when contacted said that he would find out and call back. She did not call back as of the time of filing this report.
News Source: PUNCH

President Jonathan Approves Forensic Audit Of NNPC!


Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has authorized a forensic audit of the NNPC, the state energy company, the presidency said on Wednesday, after weeks of public uproar over an alleged $20 billion in missing state revenues.
Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi wrote a letter last September to President Goodluck Jonathan saying almost $50 billion in revenues from oil exports from January 2012 to July 2013 had not been remitted to the federation account, in a clear violation of the law.
He lowered the estimate to $20 billion in testimony to a Senate committee investigating the case last month, days before he was suspended by Jonathan for what the president said was unrelated “financial recklessness” and “gross misconduct” at the central bank. Government sources and a wide spectrum of the public believe his removal was politically motivated.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has repeatedly denied Sanusi’s allegations and the presidency, which says they are unfounded, has not responded until now to calls for an independent audit.
Nigeria has a reputation for corruption but the scale of the alleged oil graft is unprecedented and Sanusi is the most high-profile figure to raise issues directly to the president.
Sanusi was an internationally respected central bank governor and financial markets were rattled by his suspension with the naira currency briefly dropping to a record low.
Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and a Senate committee investigating the graft allegations have both called for a forensic audit of NNPC since Sanusi presented evidence.
Jonathan’s opponents say the suspension of Sanusi shows he is soft on corruption, a year ahead of what is expected to be the most closely fought presidential election since Nigeria ended military rule in 1998.

UNPROVEN CLAIM
The Presidency wishes to reaffirm that Mallam Sanusi’s suspension has absolutely nothing to do with his unproven and inconsistent claim,” Reuben Abati, Jonathan’s spokesman said, referring to Sanusi by the title Mallam, given to learned Muslims.
Mallam Sanusi’s allegations are patently untrue. But Government is making no effort to bury them as he falsely claims,” Abati’s statement said, adding that “reputable international firms” would carry out the audit.
Abati did not indicate which foreign firms will handle the audit.
According to Sanusi’s testimony, the biggest gap in accounting is for $8.5 billion the NNPC says it retained from revenues during the 19-month period to cover subsidies it was owed on importing gasoline and kerosene.
A directive in 2009 by then President Umaru Yar’Adua, who died in May 2010, had scrapped kerosene subsidies. Petroleum Minister and NNPC chair Diezani Alison-Madueke acknowledged this but told the senate committee they were still paid, contrary to the law, to prevent hardship for millions of poor Nigerians.
NNPC says it buys kerosene at 150 naira ($0.91) a liter and sells it to suppliers at 50 naira per liter. But the retail rate is still above 150 naira, which Sanusi said proves the subsidy is a racket to benefit chosen friends in the kerosene business.
It is fine to have a forensic audit but I think it is merely a way to keep us satisfied for a little while,” Senator Bukola Saraki, who is sitting on the investigating committee, told Reuters this week.