Riot at Kuje Prison, Abuja

There is a riot currently ongoing at Kuje Prison in Abuja. The prison inmates who tried to escape have been teargassed while bullets have been fired into some of the prison cells. The new Comptroller-General (CG) of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Ja'afaru Ahmed, has arrived the prison premises. Mobile police officers have been drafted to the environment.

Duncan Mighty claims he had a successful meeting with militant group, Niger Delta Avengers

Duncan Mighty who is from Rivers state, shared the photo above on his IG page and wrote "With MA Squaddie. Proud of my Job.. Successful meeting with the Niger Delta Avengers. It is only peace that can bring about sustainable development in our region #nigerdeltayouthpresident #southsouthbrandambassador

EFCC blocks Fayose's account...governor kicks

Read the statement below...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has blocked the account of Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, he operates with Zenith Bank Plc. The governor, who spoke to reporters in Ado-Ekiti on Monday at the premises of the bank, said he had information that the accounts of some of his associates were also affected.

According to a press release by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, the governor accused some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a prominent lawyer from the state of being the brains behind the action.

While condemning the action, Fayose said under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially th‎e provisions contained in Section 308, he enjoys immunity and wondered why his personal properties should become the targets of Federal Government and it's agencies under the guise of fighting corruption.

"Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution gives me immunity just like the President. I wouldn't know why these people are intolerant of others and in a haste. Let them wait till 2018 when I will end my tenure for them to do their investigation.

The other time the EFCC accused me of embezzling N1.2 billion poultry project fund, I was the one who voluntarily reported myself to the EFCC.

"It was ‎when I got a hint of their move that I wrote a cheque to withdraw some money from the account and I came myself. I was denied access to the account as I was told the EFCC has placed restriction on it. That is executive rascality taken too far. Even when I had case with EFCC my properties were not affected.

"If they say they are investigating money spent on election, does it mean it is only Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that spent money on election? A lot of people and groups supported my campaign then. Where did APC and their leaders get the money they spent on 2015 general elections from? Now it is only in PDP that they find thieves, to them there are no theieves in the APC.

"A lot of petitions were written against former Governor Kayode Fayemi and the EFCC has not asked him a question up till now. The diversion of N850 million fund meant for Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board is there and nobody is asking Fayemi questions.

"Even the President cannot claim to be an angel. The estate he built in Abuja is known to us. His wife was indicted over the Halliburton Scandal. When that American, Jefferson, was being sentenced, the President's wife was mentioned as having wired $170,000 to Jefferson. Her name was on page 25 of the sentencing of Jefferson. We can serialize the judgment for people to see and read. "We will not allow this and we will defend our rights within the law of the land. Those who th‎ink they can silence me are mistaken. I am a person who is not perturbed by things like this. Let them wait till 2018 when I will finish my term and I will be the one to go and meet them. I won't run away and let them investigate the whole world, I have nothing to hide or fear," he said.

Fayose said he would challenge the action appropriately.

Faith Oyedepo shares a throwback photo with the 'love of her life', Bishop David Oyedepo

Faith Oyedepo celebrates her husband, Bishop David Oyedepo on Father's Day with a throwback photo. She captioned the photo thus:

"Happy Father's day to my husband, David Oyedepo Ministries International, the love of my life and the exemplary father of my children. May God only keep taking you higher. I love you! Happy Father's day to all men! May your families be filled with constant love and laughter. The best is yet to come"

Bianca Ojukwu bags Masters Degree in International Relations from a University in Spain (photos)

Bianca Ojukwu bags Masters Degree in International Relations from a University in Spain (photos)

Former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, Bianca Ojukwu, recently graduated from the Alfonso el Sabio University (UAX) in Madrid, Spain where she bagged a Masters Degree in International Relations. Her daughter, other members of her family and friends attended her graduation. More photos below.

Face of a Once Chance robbery gang member who steals ATM from bus passengers & clear their bank account

There has been an increase in 'One Chance Robberies' in Lagos State. People disguise themselves as passengers in commercial buses and pick up unsuspecting passengers, then steal valuables, seize ATM cards and demand for the pin. Rather than let you go immediately, some of their gang members will hold you down until they withdraw all the cash they can from your bank account, and then later drop you off.

A twitter user shared these photos of a guy who is allegedly a member of a one chance robbery gang that robbed his wife around Ikeja. According to him, she boarded a bus going to Ojota at Agindingbi but was robbed and dropped off around Iju. He shared some screenshots taken from an ATM footage of the thief withdrawing from her account at a bank and another twitter user familiar with his face confirmed it, saying the man's gang once picked him up around Yaba last year and also robbed him. See their tweets after the cut...

Heartbreaking pics: Hundreds face death in Bama IDP Camp, daily death toll of 18 to 21 is recorded due to starvation

Hundreds of the Internally Displaced Persons in Bama Camp are at the risk of dying, according to the International Centre For Investigative Reporting.

On May 5, 2016, health workers were alerted that some people needed help within the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp in Bama, 70 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. 

(pictured is a plate of soup meant for seven people!)

On getting there, five women were seen lying on the ground, some gasping while others were barely conscious. Three of the women were with children, including a little girl sucking her mother's breast while her brother lay on the ground with his head on the mother's leg.

The only means of transportation in the camp are handcarts but by the time some were brought to transport the women to the clinic, two of them had died, one of them being the woman whose daughter was still sucking her breast.

The little children were separated from the dead mother and handed over to their grandmother, an elderly woman sitting nearby, who herself was so weak that she could only watch helplessly while her daughter died. The little boy died the following day.

The women’s corpses were left there in the open and only buried after 24 hours. This was because the men who were called to prepare the bodies for burial refused, as there was no water to wash the corpses and bathe themselves after the burial.

“They told me they had not had water to drink since morning and were dehydrated and too weak to do anything,” a health worker in the camp told the icirnigeria.org on condition of anonymity.

Health workers, camp officials and security agents said displaced persons in Bama face serious humanitarian crisis unless something is done urgently.

According to a report by a local non governmental organisation, NGO, Bama Community Peace Initiative, BAM-COPI, to the Protection Sector Working Group of Borno State under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, a daily death toll of 18 to 21 is recorded in the camp due to starvation, thirst and lack healthcare and poor hygiene.

"Food is cooked on a day in a very poor quality and low ration in all the six designated kitchens (each) with an average population of about 4,000 and above eating virtually once a day,"  the report, signed by Ibrahim Mohammed, stated.

It added that from May 4 – 20, when the report was written, around 11 children aged between 0 – 15 were buried daily. Following the report, the icirnigeria.org learnt that a meeting was called by the UNHCR protection officer, with the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in attendance. At the meeting, a taskforce named Operation Save Bama was formed.

The taskforce met with the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, on June 1 and the following day the state emergency agency increased its presence in the camp.

Our reporter saw some trailers of relief items when he visited Bama on June 6, including one containing pots, but in spite of this, feeding has remained once a day. Most children in the camp look very malnourished and unkempt

WAEC Certificate: President Buhari hires 13 SANs, 10 other counsels to appeal court ruling

President  Buhari has employed the services of 13 Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and 10 other counsels to appeal the ruling of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja on May 26th this year, dismissing his preliminary objection to a suit filed by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe against him challenging the authenticity of his WAEC result.

Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had dragged President Buhari before the court, arguing that he did not meet the educational requirement to contest for President of Nigeria. Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe alleged that President Buhari did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate WASC) in 1961 as he claimed.

When the suit came up on May 26th, President Buhari through his counsel, raised an objection to the suit, challenging the mode of service of the originating summons on him and insisting that he ought to have been served at an address in Kaduna instead of by substituted means at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja. However, Justice Ademola, in his ruling, had held that it was incompetent and upheld the service of the originating court processes on Buhari.

The judge held that the service of the court’s processes on the president through the secretariat of the APC was in order as the court summons would get to him even though it was delivered at his party secretariat. Dissatisfied with this ruling, Buhari through his legal team has filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division on seven grounds of appeal.

Among President Buhari's legal team, which endorsed the notice of appeal, is Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Mr. Lateef O. Fagbemi (SAN), Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu (SAN), Kola Awodein (SAN), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Charles Edosomwan (SAN), Emeka Ngige (SAN), Femi Atoyebi (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN), Funke Aboyade (SAN), H.O. Afolabi (SAN), Muiz Banire (SAN), and 10 others.

Reacting to President Buhari's appeal on the case, Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe said the president has the constitutional right of appeal and was within his rights to exercise it particularly since he had not yet submitted a defence to the substantive action and had filed nothing in defence of the merits of the case.

Source: ThisDay

You can imagine the waste of scarce resources over rubbish! - blogger

List of 23 Conditions state governors must meet to access FG's N90bn loan

Here is a list of all the 23 conditions state governors have to fulfill to access the Federal government's N90 billion loan that was announced by Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun yesterday June 14th. The conditions include;

1. Publish audited annual financial statements within nine months of financial year end.

2. Comply with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS)

3. Publish state budget online annually

4. Publish budget implementation performance report online quarterly

5. Develop standard IPSAS compliant software to be offered to states for use by state and local governments

6. Set realistic and achievable targets to improve independently generated revenue (from all revenue generating activities of the state in addition to tax collections) and ratio of capital to recurrent expenditure

7. Implement targets

8. Implement a centralised Treasury Single Account (TSA) in each state

9. Have quarterly financial reconciliation meetings with federal government to cover VAT, PAYE remittances, refunds on government projects, Paris Club and other accounts

10. Share the database of companies within each state with the Federal Inland Revenue service (FIRS). The objective is to improve VAT and PAYE collection

11. Introduce a system to allow for the immediate issue of VAT/WHT certificates on payment of invoices. Review all revenue related laws and update obsolete rates/tariffs

12. Set limits on personnel expenditure as a share of total budgeted expenditure

13. Biometric capture of all states’ civil servants will be carried out to eliminate payroll fraud

14. Establish efficiency unit

15. Federal government online price guide to be made available for use by states

16. Introduce a system of continuous audit (internal audit)

17. Create a fixed asset and liability register

18. Consider privatization or concession of suitable State-owned enterprises to improve efficiency and management

19. Establish a capital development fund to ring- fence capital receipts and adopt accounting policies to ensure that capital receipts are strictly applied to capital projects

20. Domesticate Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 21. Attainment and maintenance of a credit rating by each state of the federation

22. Federal government to encourage states to access funds from the capital markets for bankable projects through issuance of fast- track Municipal bond guidelines to support smaller issuance and shorter tenures

23. Comply with the FRA and reporting obligations, including: No commercial bank loans to be undertaken by States; Routine submission of updated debt profile report to the DMO.

It took four firefighters and a vet to free a cow who somehow got her head stuck in a tree

One hapless cow in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England, got itself into a tight spot after it managed to get its head stuck in a tree trunk. The operation to free her took all of four fighters and a vet. She was sedated before they used straps, saws , and other tools to free her. North Yorkshire Fire Service tweeted pictures of their rescue, with the caption: 'it was a happy ending for all'.  More photos below:

Drama as some students in Osun State arrive school wearing church garments

Some students of Baptist High School, Adeeke, Iwo caused a mild stir when they arrived the premise of their school donning church robes. The students were reportedly hailed by colleagues as they headed to their various classrooms. 

Osun State Christian Association of Nigeria (OSCAN) had earlier directed all Christian students in both primary and secondary schools in the state to wear their church garments to schools, beginning from yesterday, June 13...if they wanted.

This is as a result of the judgement delivered by a  judge of Osun State High Court, Justice Jide Falola, in favour of a case instituted by Osun State Muslim Community against the State Government on the right of female Muslim students in public schools in the state to use hijab on their school uniforms.

Photo credit: Newest Rivers

Man claims that there is a Chinese Supermarket in Abuja where Nigerians are not allowed in

Aminu Idris took to his Facebook page yesterday to disclose that a Chinese Supermarket located at No 10 Bauchi Street War College Estate, Gwarimpa, don't allow Nigerians access. See his post above

Tweet of the day!

The Current state of the Nigerian Currency best explained in one tweet...

Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi & Olori Wuraola attend the 41st edition of Odunde in Philladelphia, USA

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and his wife, Olori Wuraola were present at the 41st edition of the Odunde Festival in Philladelphia. He also met with Mama Fernandez - the woman who started the Festival in Philadelphia, 41 years ago. The Odunde Festival is regarded as one of the largest African celebration on the east coast of the United States. It attracts up to 500,000 attendees from all parts of the world and covers up to 12-city blocks. See more photos after the cut...

Photo Credit: Facebook - Tunde Alabi-hundeyin Dudu

Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2B in cash, as Bill Gates makes big move into social media enterprise

Microsoft, today, announced that it is acquiring LinkedIn, the social network for professionals with 433 million users, for $26 billion, on $196 per share, in cash. The transaction has already been approved by the boards of LinkedIn and Microsoft.

 

LinkedIn is keeping its branding and product. It will become a part of Microsoft’s productivity and business processes segment. LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner will report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Read the letter Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent to employees about the buy after the cut:

Team,

I'm excited to share that today Microsoft announced a deal to acquire LinkedIn. You can see how Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, and I envision the opportunity ahead in this public presentation.

This deal brings together the world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading professional network. I have been learning about LinkedIn for some time while also reflecting on how networks can truly differentiate cloud services. It's clear to me that the LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business and an impressive network of more than 433 million professionals.

Given this is the biggest acquisition for Microsoft since I became CEO, I wanted to share with you how I think about acquisitions overall. To start, I consider if an asset will expand our opportunity — specifically, does it expand our total addressable market? Is this asset riding secular usage and technology trends? And does this asset align with our core business and overall sense of purpose?

The answer to all of those questions with LinkedIn is squarely yes. We are in pursuit of a common mission centered on empowering people and organizations. Along with the new growth in our Office 365 commercial and Dynamics businesses this deal is key to our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes. Think about it: How people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done and ultimately find success requires a connected professional world. It requires a vibrant network that brings together a professional's information in LinkedIn's public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics. This combination will make it possible for new experiences such as a LinkedIn newsfeed that serves up articles based on the project you are working on and Office suggesting an expert to connect with via LinkedIn to help with a task you're trying to complete. As these experiences get more intelligent and delightful, the LinkedIn and Office 365 engagement will grow. And in turn, new opportunities will be created for monetization through individual and organization subscriptions and targeted advertising.

Jeff and I both believe we have a significant opportunity to accelerate LinkedIn's growth and the value it brings to its members with Microsoft's assets and scale. In fact, when Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, and I spoke about the opportunity for us to come together, he called it a "re-founding" moment for LinkedIn and an opportunity to reach the mission the company set out on 13 years ago.

The opportunity for Office 365 and Dynamics is just as profound. Over the past decade we have moved Office from a set of productivity tools to a cloud service across any platform and device. This deal is the next step forward for Office 365 and Dynamics as they connect to the world’s largest and most valuable professional network. In essence, we can reinvent ways to make professionals more productive while at the same time reinventing selling, marketing and talent management business processes. I can't wait to see what our teams dream up when we can begin working together once the deal closes, which we expect will happen this calendar year.

A big part of this deal is accelerating LinkedIn's growth. To that end, LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand and independence, as well as their culture which is very much aligned with ours. Jeff will continue to be CEO of LinkedIn, he'll report to me and join our senior leadership team. In essence, what I've asked Jeff to do is manage LinkedIn with key performance metrics that accrue to our overall success. He'll decide from there what makes sense to integrate and what does not. We know that near term there will be no changes in who reports to whom so no reporting relationships at Microsoft will change in that regard. This approach is designed to keep the LinkedIn team focused on driving results while simultaneously partnering on product integration plans with the Office 365 and Dynamics teams. During the integration, we'll pick key projects where we can go deep together that will ultimately result in new experiences for customers. Kurt DelBene will lead the overall integration efforts at Microsoft in close partnership with Qi Lu and Scott Guthrie.

I'm on the LinkedIn campus today in California and will host a call for investors at 8:45 a.m. PT with Jeff, Brad and Amy – please join if you can. Following that, I'll then spend the day meeting with the LinkedIn team. Tomorrow, I'll host a special Microsoft employee Q&A — I hope you can make it.

So far, what I've learned about the LinkedIn team is how much our cultures share many of the same attributes. We both care deeply about individual and collective growth, and find deep meaning in the work we do to make a difference in our world. Together we'll do just that.

While I'm in northern California sharing our vision to empower professionals, the Xbox team is in southern California at E3 sharing our vision to empower gamers. I encourage you to check out the E3 press briefing, which starts at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time.

Finally, if you're not on LinkedIn, join up now and start using and learning more.

Satya

Elderly couple celebrate 64th wedding anniversary with a stylish fashion shoot

A 95-year-old man shot a series of photos with his beloved wife to celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary in Handan city of Hebei Province, China. The photos went viral online, as they were not some cliché look-backs, but a fresh take incorporating the latest fashion trends. The photos features the couple playing basketball in sportswear, drinking coffee in French-style outfits, and reading books like two young students. See more photos below;