From The Guardian,
If anyone had told Blessing Ikhumhi that Okosun Cyril, the man she once loved, would turn around and bath her with acid, she would not have believed it.
Neighbours and friends used to see the duo as Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. But they were wrong.
Their romance turned sour with tragic consequence for Blessing, a 23-year-old student of Edo State School of Health Technology. If she would ever regain her sight she would see all men as “monsters” because she has seen “hell” in the last three months as a patient at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City.
Hundreds of members of the militant Islamic sect, Boko Haram, who are fleeing military attacks in the border communities of Borno State, are regrouping in the mountainous forests of Adamawa State, a top Defence source reveals.
The source said that militants, who were dislodged from Sambisa Game Reserve and other camps in Borno, had sought refuge in the Adamawa forests, especially in the Zumo area of Song Local Government Area.
The Special Forces in Borno State on Monday said about 120 terrorists have been arrested in Maiduguri, the state capital, as they organised a burial ceremony for one of their commanders who died in an encounter with soldiers.
Defence spokesman, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, in a press statement disclosed that the arrested insurgents were in the custody of the Joint Task Force (JTF) where they were being interrogated.
The death toll of policemen killed by members of the Ombatse cult in Nasarawa State has climbed to 72 following the discovery of the bodies of 25 policemen that had been hitherto declared missing in a mass grave in an unnamed village in the state.
Security authorities had earlier confirmed 57 operatives, comprising 47 policemen and 10 agents of the State Security Service (SSS), killed in the attack that took place on May 7 when they were on a rescue mission to a village in Nasarawa State.
The police, which launched a manhunt for the killers, had declared the 25 policemen missing because their bodies could not be found to confirm if they were dead or alive and nobody knew their whereabouts.
The Senate on Tuesday approved the State of Emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States.
The 100 senators present unanimously approved the president’s declaration at a session of the whole house.
Wayne and Coleen Rooney were both 'delighted' after welcoming their second son into the world in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The proud parents, who are also parents to three-year-old Kai, took to their Twitter pages to announce the birth of their baby boy Klay Anthony Rooney.
Two former Premier League stars have been voted as the worst signings of the season in La Liga, by readers of Spanish newspaper Marca.
Luka Modric, who left Tottenham for Real Madrid after protracted negotiations, and Alex Song, who signed for Barcelona from Arsenal, were the worst rated, with Modric gaining 32.2 per cent of the vote.
More than 20 children are among 91 feared dead in the Oklahoma City tornado that flattened a school with an entire year of pupils inside.
Rescuers are frantically seaching for survivors after a the ferocious storm ripped through a region of the US known as Tornado Alley.
The kids aged eight and nine at Plaza Towers Elementary School sheltered in a hallway as 200MPH gales - less than 1 per cent of all tornadoes reach such wind speed - ripped through the building in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.
It is three days today before the remains of foremost novelist, Chinua Achebe, arrives Nigeria for a five-day burial rite that would culminate in his interment on Thursday, May 23, at his family compound in Ogidi, Anambra State.
But as organizers put finishing touches to the burial arrangement, a serious controversy has blown open over the decision of the late writer’s family to hand over the programme to the Nigerian federal government as well as those of Anambra and other states in the South-east geopolitical zone.
Troops yesterday used jets and attack helicopters to bombard Boko Haram Islamic camps in Sambisa Game Reserve, in Borno State, which is one of their strongholds killing a number of the insurgents. The Sambisa Camps are believed to be harbouring their training and enrollment base.
Over 3,600 military personnel comprising the Army, Navy, Police, the Department of State Security, DSS and other security agencies and men of Counter Terrorists Squad, CTS, are said to be involved in the campaign to rout the Boko Haram insurgents from their hideouts in the affected states.
Fresh facts have emerged that raw cash worth over N200 million were carted away by Boko Haram insurgents numbering over 200 who invaded the hometown of former Head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari between Thursday night and the early hours of today during which they attacked four banks namely First bank, Access bank, Keystone bank and Unity bank.
The Brigade Commander, 3rd Brigade of the Nigeria Army , Bukavu,Brigadier Illysu Abbah who briefed the media on the incident in Kano today confirmed that security agencies that suffered heavy casualties in the attack were able to recover some assorted arms and ammunition used by the insurgents.
Members of Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria, could face war crimes charges for deliberate acts leading to ethnic and religious cleansing, the United Nations, UN, has said.
Rupert Colvile, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said this in a statement made available at the UN Head quarters in New York on Friday.
He reiterated calls on Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria to cease their “cowardly attacks” against civilians, members of government institutions, security forces and foreign nationals.
Thirty one persons were killed when a tree at the Ukwu Uko evening market at Umuejinwaoke Umudagu village, Mbieri, Mbaitolu Local Government Area, Imo, fell on them.
16 others sustained degrees of injuries during the incident, which was caused by rainstorm on Thursday night.
A resident of the community, Mr Nnaemeka Emenyonu, said in Owerri that the tree fell on the affected persons around 8:00 p.m.
In these astonishing pictures, former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song and Barcelona teammate Gerard Pique look as if they are brawling while the bus makes its way around the Catalan city.
At one point, Song is seen grabbing the former Manchester United centre arm and cocking his clenched fist as if readying himself to throw a punch.
In another shot, Song is captured landing an open-handed slap on his team-mate as Puyol and Valdes watch.
There was a mild drama on Thursday as a magistrate’s court sitting in Ibadan ordered that a defendant, Segun Ogunmola, be caned in court for stealing.
Ogunmola was arraigned on one count of stealing N1,040 belonging to a motorist.
No fewer than 120 beggars and destitutes have been convicted and remanded in prison just as 1,708 beggars have been sent packing from Lagos State to their various states and countries by the Lagos State Government.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth and Social Development, Dr. Dolapo Badru revealed this yesterday at a ministerial press conference at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja, ahead of the sixth anniversary commemoration of Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration.
According to Punch News, there were indications in Abuja on Thursday that security aides attached to the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, may be withdrawn.
A highly placed security source, who briefed reporters in Abuja, said there were plans to withdraw the security aides of the governor.
The source insisted that the alarm raised by the Speaker of Rivers House of Assembly, Mr. Dan Amachree, that the security aides attached to the governor would be asked to return to their bases, was true after all.
Early reports of military operations in the three North-East states under emergency rule, on Thursday, indicated that Nigerian soldiers had recaptured three of the local government areas where insurgents had been in control in northern Borno.
The names of the recaptured councils could not be confirmed out of the lot in possession of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram. The areas where the insurgents were said to have been in total control before the military operation launched on Thursday were Marte, Magumeri, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadamin, Kukawa, Kaga, Nganzai and Monguno.
At least 20 insurgents were killed Friday as Nigeria's military carried out an aerial bombardment of militant Islamist camps in the country's northeast, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.
The raid by Nigerian Air Force jets and attack helicopters is part of what the military says is a "massive deployment" of Nigerian forces this week to tackle insurgent groups, including Boko Haram.
Confusion as Nigerian Senate says President has not declared any State of Emergency
President Goodluck Jonathan had on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in three states, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.
The mandatory two days required for the National Assembly to approve the emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states elapsed on Thursday without a formal notification from President Goodluck Jonathan to federal lawmakers, leaving a web of confusion whether or not, a vital constitutional requirement was breached.
Explosion and sporadic gunshots rocked the quiet town of Daura, Katsina state, home town of opposition leader, Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday night.
The attack started at about 10 p.m. and was still ongoing one hour later. Witnesses said the attackers brought down a police station and robbed banks and homes.
Some residents said the attack started around Daura Motel in the city centre before the attackers moved against banks and a police station.
The world's most expensive Toyota has been sold for a staggering $1.2 million.
For the same price - around £80,000 - car enthusiasts could pick up a sleek brand new sports car like the British Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
But one buyer was more than happy to break the record for the highest amount of money ever paid for a Toyota as this left-hand drive 2000GT was dubbed Japan's first ever supercar in the 1960s.
And, unlike the company's famous advertising slogan, it's unlikely you will spot one of these in front of you as only 62 were ever built and only a handful were ever exported out of Japan.
more pictures after the break
A magistrate of the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Yaba, Lagos State on Monday, sentenced Mrs. Abiodun Olajide, the woman who removed a man’s two teeth with a slap, to 120 hours of community service.
Olajide, 30, had pleaded guilty to the two counts of assaulting one Augustine Olukukoyi when she was first arraigned in April.
However, there was mild drama in the court when the magistrate was about to deliver her judgement.
A 24-year-old teacher, Phillip Ebong, was arrested on Wednesday by the Gowon Estate Police Division, Akowonjo, Lagos, for allegedly victimising a 14-year-old pupil (name withheld) and banning her from attending his classes.
Ebong, who teaches Physics and Chemistry at the Dee Jewels International College, Gowon Estate, Egbeda, was arrested during school hours after a complaint was lodged at the police station by Spaces for Change, a non-governmental organisation on youth development, on behalf of the pupil and her guardian, Mrs. Theresa Amaechi.
The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, on Wednesday said it was not part of any decision on the use of Hijab in Lagos State public schools as claimed by the government.
Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, was reported in the media to have said the decision not to allow the use of Hijab, except for prayers, was a consensus reached at a meeting chaired by the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture Mr Oyinlomo Danmole and attended by stakeholders, including MSSN.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved a medium term debt management strategy to address the structure and level of the nation’s domestic and foreign debts.
As part of the strategy, government will access concessionary windows or raise cheaper foreign loans and use it to offset the more expensive domestic debts.
Their project might not sound like much: The college students on Wednesday launched a tiny model of a satellite the size of a soda can on a big yellow balloon.
It went aloft to a height of 165 meters (yards) and then came back down attached to a parachute.
Yet in this developing West African country, ambitious organizers, —who recently launched the Ghana Space Science and Technology Center — see the test as a sign of bigger things to come.
Chelsea walked away with the UEFA Europa League - just 12 months after winning the UEFA Champions League - thanks to a 2-1 win against Benfica at the Amsterdam ArenA.
Fernando Torres broke the deadlock on the hour after racing past Luisao before calmly rounding Artur Moraes and slotting the ball into an empty net for his 21st goal of the season and his sixth goal in the competition. However, the Portuguese giants restored parity after Cesar Azpilicueta handled the ball in the box which allowed Oscar Cardozo to blast home for his seventh goal in the competition.
BlackBerry is to give its BBM software away to iPhone and Android users in a bit to boost its popularity and stop consumers switching to rival handsets.
Speaking at BlackBerry Live - a three-day annual event in Orlando - BlackBerry's CEO Thorsten Heins said the firm's popular BBM messaging software will be available on the iPhone and Android handsets for the first time.
Residents of Langbasa, Ajah, Lagos State are still talking about 18-year-old Olanrewaju Kayode-Aremu, who stabbed his father, Victor Kayode-Aremu, to death.
Police authorities said the suspect stabbed his 46-year-old father to death while the man was attempting to enter his room.
It was learnt that Olanrewaju was a student of University of Ilorin, Kwara State, but was expelled because he had poor grades.
