From Our News Desk

UPDATES: Mutiny: Trial of four Lt. Cols, 93 other soldiers begins. I’m alive, says Shekau in new video. Mimiko rejoins PDP, says it’s in national interest. Lagos EVD volunteer workers demand unpaid allowances. Obasanjo’s ex-spokeswoman, Remi Oyo, dies at 61. Panic as America quarantines 81 Ebola suspects. Prosecute Ekiti court attackers, NJC tells IG. Nobody can stop Fayose’s inauguration –Mark. Atiku’s enemies deceived him into fighting Obasanjo – Osuntokun. APC wants political candidates to undergo psychiatric test. NSCDC parades seven for fuel theft. I asked for divorce –Ini Edo. Multichoice introduces DStv Open House services. Nigerians are missing my late father –Abacha’s daughter. Outrage Over Mbu’s Detention Of AIT Reporter. Money Laundering EFCC Appeals Ruling Discharging Ikuforiji. 2015: Sambo Can’t Win Kaduna For PDP – El-Rufa’i. Creation Of Additional Polling Units: We’ve Good Intention – INEC. Victor Moses Tops Best African EPL Award. Okorocha frees 94-yr-old convict, others. UK Prime Minister David Cameron in Afghanistan after visiting RAF base in Cyprus. Oshiomhole abolishes 35-year retirement policy for workers. Heavy rains submerge houses, others in Makurdi. Police deploy 7,000 officers for Eid-el-Kabir in Kwara. Podolski hints at Arsenal exit. Cote d’Ivoire harvests 1.74m tonnes of cocoa in 2013/2014 season. UEL – Results: FC Zurich 1-1 Borussia Monchengladbach, Villarreal 4-0 Apollon Limassol, Torino 1-0 FC Koebenhavn, Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Besiktas, Celtic 1-0 Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Moscow 1-0 PSV Eindhoven, Inter 2-0 FK Karabakh, Slovan Bratislava 0-2 Napoli, Dinamo Minsk 0-3 Fiorentina.

Synagogue: Coroner’s inquest to commence Oct.13

The coroner’s inquest into the recent collapse of a building within the premises of the Synagogue Church of All Nations at Ikotun Egbe, a Lagos suburb, would commence sitting on 13 October.

This was contained in a press statement signed by Mrs Bola Akingbade, spokesperson of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, and made available to journalists on Friday in Ikeja.

The statement said the inquest would take place at the premises of the Ikeja High Court and would be presided over by Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe.

At least 86 persons were reportedly killed and 131 others rescued after the multi-storey building collapsed on 12 September.

The inquest was instituted under the Lagos State Coroner’s System Law No. 7 of 2007 for the purpose of establishing the cause and manner of the collapsed building incident.

The statement said those expected to give evidence at the inquest would include Prophet Temitope Joshua, general overseer, The Synagogue Church of All Nations, and the contractors handling the church building.

Others are members of the families of the victims of the incident, some media houses including NAN, Channels TV, Television Continental, Vanguard newspaper, Daily Independent, The Nation and Punch Newspapers.

The statement also stated that some ministries, departments and parastatal agencies (MDAs) of Lagos State, the state police command, security agencies and the Nigerian Red Cross, would testify.

2015: I’ll shun personal, sectional agenda, says Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday promised that he would jettison personal ambition or sectional agenda in deciding whether or not to seek re-election in 2015.

Jonathan, who has since been endorsed as the sole presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, said his decision on the calls for him to contest in 2015 would be based on greater interests of national harmony and cohesion.

The President made the promise in his Eid-El-Kabir message made available to journalists by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

He urged all other politicians to borrow a leaf from him by rising above selfish personal interests and divisive sectional agenda in the coming national elections.

He said, “I thank the many individuals, stakeholders, groups, associations, non-governmental organisations, unions and political leaders from across the country who have, in recognition and appreciation of our efforts and commitment to repositioning our dear nation for more rapid growth and development, urged me to seek a second term in office.

“In deciding on an appropriate response to such calls, I will place the greater interests of national harmony, cohesion, unity, security, political stability, progress, equity, justice and fairness above any personal ambition or sectional agenda.

“I urge all other political leaders in the country to do the same. Let us all rise above unedifying, unpatriotic and selfish personal interests and divisive sectional agenda in the coming national elections.

“Let us also commit ourselves more to the sustenance of democracy and political stability which are essential prerequisites for the advancement of good governance, inclusive economic growth and rapid development.”

The President urged all political leaders in the country to place the overriding interest of the well-being and progress of the country above all other considerations in the coming campaigns and elections just as the Independent National Electoral Commission has issued a formal notice of the impending general elections.

Jonathan said his administration had done its sincere best in the past four years to implement its agenda for national transformation and move the country forward on several fronts.

He regretted that in spite of the significant progress the nation had made in the past four years, Nigeria continues to face critical challenges in some areas.

Mark, Tinubu hold closed-door meetings with Obasanjo

Senate President David Mark and former governor of Lagos State and a National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Tinubu, on Friday held separate closed-door meetings with the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The meetings were held at the former president’s Hilltop residence in Abeokuta.

Both Mark and Tinubu said the issues discussed bordered on politics and the state of the nation.

Tinubu came ahead of Mark.

Emerging from the venue of the meeting, Tinubu said he discussed with Obasanjo “some of his former boys” who would vie for various elective positions in the 2015 general elections, especially the Presidency.

He said, “We are here to pay homage to our former president and have a number of discussions with him because he has a lot of influence in the political sphere.

“As a good merger, we need to talk. Because the merger will serve various branches. It is a very big tree. So, we need to talk, to find out his thinking about Nigeria and the future.

“We need to seek his observation as some of his former boys are running for presidency in our party. What can he say about them?”

When pressed further, Tinubu refused to expatiate on the crucial meeting which lasted about two hours.

But he later said there was nothing worth celebrating about 54th independence anniversary, since the
country remained “an invalid baby in the incubator.”

Mark, who arrived at the Hilltop residence at 2pm, left around 3.45pm.

He also described Obasanjo as the father of the nation with a wealth of experience.

The Senate President told journalists after the meeting that he had come with his team, which included the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan; Peoples Democratic Party Women Leader, Mrs Josephine Anenih; and Senator Polycarp Nwite, among others to discuss with Obasanjo and raise some basic issues that affect both the PDP and the nation at large.

He said, “They are discussions that would move this nation forward, because his passion for this nation is unquantifiable. So we have really had a good discussion with him.”

Boko Haram’s computer expert arrested, opens up

The Nigerian military has arrested a foreign computer expert who is said to be behind the several video shots sent to online media organization and foreign media houses.

He was said to have been arrested with some sophisticated equipment and copies of some of the videos the terrorists had sent to online media houses on their escapades including that of the abducted Chibok girls, it was learnt.

Military sources disclosed that the computer analyst who is currently being interrogated was responsible for configuring computer images website and internet accesses that enables the group fight media and psychological operations.

Sources said he was arrested after a shootout when a group of the sect members mobilized and attacked Konduga with a view to recovering the body of the impostor for burial in a site they would later earmark as their shrine.

It was also gathered that the foreigner has made shocking confessional statements about the terrorist’s plans and modus operandi as well as their backers that would aid the troop’s fast track the routing of the Boko Haram insurgency.

“We have made a very big break through; the computer analyst is opening up and has made very big revelations on the modus operandi of the sect”.

“We also discovered that the ICT expert is the back bone of the signals and communication links of late impersonator, Mohammed Bashir who always poses as Abubakar Shekau, whenever he is talking on “U” tube”.

With the breakthrough, the military is said to be better informed on how the Impostor of Shekau was able to reach out to the world and claim victory over Nigerian troops after several attacks.

While confirming that there is a successor crisis in the camp of the terrorists resulting from the death of most of their commanders by troops in Konduga, NE learnt that some terrorists are yet to be disarmed because they were yet to come to terms that their erstwhile leader, Shakau has been killed.

Ph.D in Theology will deepen my knowledge of God and help me serve him better – Obasanjo

former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who enrolled Tuesday for a Master/PhD in theology at the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, said he took on the course to deepen his knowledge of God and serve Him better and not because he aspired to become a pastor.

Mr. Obasanjo, who was speaking after completing his registration at the university’s main study centre in Lagos, also said that by enrolling for a Ph.D, he was out to prove that one’s position or age should not be a barrier for continuous learning.

“Learning should be a continuous process and if you can do it and learn without the formality of a university, all well and good. But I chose to learn and continue to learn by other means and through the discipline and the formality of the university system,” he said.

Mr. Obasanjo said the other reason he decided to enroll at the institution was to display the opportunity the institution provided for those aspiring to get a higher education but unable to get admission into conventional universities.

“I wanted to throw a bit of limelight on this institution; knowing fully well that this country at no time in the foreseeable future would be able to provide built and walled universities for all the Nigerian students who want to have higher education,” he said.

The former president is perhaps the biggest ambassador of the institution. In 2009, he enrolled for a postgraduate diploma in theology at the university and graduated with “flying colours.”

According to the Dean of School of Arts and Social Sciences, David Otubanjo, the number of students that enrolled at the university quadrupled following the former president’s enrollment in 2009.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Vincent Tenebe, said the number of enrolled students jumped from 32,000 with 16,000 of them being active students in 2010 to 308,000 enrolled students with 16,000 of them being active in 2014. He said its study centres had grown from 32 to 55 in the same period while the institution’s staff strength grew from 820 in 2010 to 25, 000 in 2014.

“Your intervention in educational development in Nigeria by resuscitating the National Open University, ensuring vigorous development of the institution, enrolling as a student and graduating with flying colours and yet today returning for a higher qualification of PHD can never be over emphasised,” said Mr. Tenebe to Mr. Obasanjo.

The former president called on Nigerians aspiring for higher learning to consider the opportunity provided by NOUN. He said the quality of study at the university was not inferior to conventional universities in the country.

Mr Obasanjo, whose real age is a source of controversy, declined to say how old he was but noted that age should not be hindrance to acquiring knowledge.

“I’ve told my children that when I have difficulty I’d tell them to come and teach me. This proves that there should be no shame in learning and any knowledge that you acquire becomes your own, nobody has to take it away from you,” he said.

Three Boko Haram members sentenced to 25 years each

The Federal High Court in Lagos today Tuesday September 30th sentenced 3 Boko Haram members to 25 years imprisonment each, The Nation reports.
However, journalists were not allowed to cover the judgment. Only lawyers in the prosecution and defence teams were allowed in court.
A source, who witnessed the verdict, but craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told reporters that the fourth defendant was acquitted.
The court, on December 3 last year, barred journalists from covering the trial of 17 suspected members of the sect.
Justice Ibrahim Buba made the order following an application by the Lagos State Attorney-General and prosecuting counsel, Mr. Ade Ipaye.

Men of the Department of Security Services (DSS) had prevented journalists from covering the suspects’ arraignment last November 27.

The accused are – Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi, Ibrahim Usman, Bala Haruna, Idris Ali, Mohammed Murtala, Kadiri Mohammed, Mustapha Daura, Abba Duguri, Sanni Adamu, Danjuma Yahaya, Musa Audu, Mati Daura, Farouk Haruna, Abdullahi Azeez, Ibrahim Bukar and Zula Diani.
The Attorney-General, it was learnt, had entered a nolle prosequi (Latin for “do not prosecute”) in respect of two of the defendants, who were subsequently discharged.
Later, another 11 were also discharged in the course of the trial following another nolle prosequi by the prosecution.

Only four – the first to fourth defendants – went through a full trial.
The suspects were first charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, illegal possession of firearms, and being members of a proscribed organisation.

They allegedly committed the offences on March 21 last year, at Plot 5, Road 69, Lekki Phase I Housing Estate, and at No. 24, Oyegbeni St., Ijora-Oloye, Apapa-Iganmu, Lagos.
They were alleged to have in their possession three packets of explosive construction pipes, 15 detonators, and 11 AK47 rifles with 30 rounds of live ammunitions.

Source: The Nation