Fire Guts Down the House of the SSA to Delta State Governor

A "Facebooker" going by the name Osaremen Okonoboh posted a disturbing video of a very beautiful house burning.

It is alleged that the house belongs to Hon. Chief Victor Okemena Egbo, SSA to Delta State Governor and that robbers set the house ablaze after carting away its entire contents when the owners of the house were out of town.

See the video below:

Below also is a screenshot of some comments from the post





Source:  Facebook - #Osaremen  #OsaremenGist

Balaraba Muhammad - the Little Known Girl Who Bravely Resisted Boko Haram

Many women have bravely resisted extremists' plans in quiet and unheralded ways.  One of such women is Balaraba Muhammad, who reportedly arrived at the Boko Haram camp in 2012.  The terror group had murdered her husband in front of her after he criticized the group.  Days later, they came back for her, throwing her baby to the ground and abducting her.

Dozens of abducted women have said that Boko Haram gave them a terrible choice:  Marry the group's fighters or be deployed as bombers.  Captives have said some women chose to blow up only themselves instead.

A very few survived this ordeal and want to tell their stories.  Balaraba Muhammad is one.

At the camp, Muhammad said she listened as two women began discussing ways to kill themselves in order to end their suffering there.  A militant overheard them and became exasperated.  "What is so difficult about killing yourselves?" he asked.  He shot them both to death. Muhammad was very scared.  At some point, she considered suicide, but the thought of her ailing grandmother who needed her as caretaker kept her from killing herself.

Muhammad was one of six women dispatched to blow up a mosque and everyone in it.  The women wanted to get rid of their bombs without killing anyone, including themselves. 19-year-old Muhammad who was kidnapped a few months earlier came up with a plan: they made a long rope out of their hijabs to which they attached the bombs and gingerly lowered them into a well, praying it was filled with water.

After letting go of the rope, the ran for their lives, she said.

Muhammad said to wriggle out of being married off to a fighter, she feigned sickness and to get out of weapons training she feigned mental illness.  When fighters gave her a bomb, she said she knew she would have to go or be shot too.

Which was how she found herself with five others at the edge of that well.

The bombs did not detonate and the young women scared and unsure what to do ran back to the camp.  They swore on a Qur'an to their captors they had accomplished their mission and that they ran so fast to escape and lost their hijabs on the way.  Cheers went up in the camp and the fighters convened a feast to celebrate the women they thought has become killers.

But the women's relief was short-lived as the fighters soon decided they were ruthless enough to be ready for weapons training.  The women were handed guns and captives were lined up for live targets.  One of the girls who was part of the six at the well was so distraught that she ran into hail of bullets fired by the firing squad, killing herself, Muhammad said.

After the trick at the well, fighters sent Muhammad and the other women on a second suicide mission, replacing the girl who died with a new captive.  Their target was to be a market in Banki, a once-bustling town in Maiduguri.  One of the fighters planned to escort the women but the new captive assured the militants she was from Banki and knew her way through the countryside.

The women collected their bombs and again used their hijabs to lower them into the well.  They sprinted back to the fighters' camp expecting the same joyous reception. Instead, the fighters were shocked to see them arrive so soon.  Just then the radio crackled with news; a bombing had been reported in Banki - not in the market,  but in a small village outside the main town. The fighters turned on the new captive, thinking she had led the women to the wrong place.  They shot and killed her.

Days went by and fighters came and went, engaging in fierce battles that claimed some of their lives.  They wanted revenge.  They prepared Muhammad and other women for a major operation: to blow up the Monday market, the biggest in northeast Nigeria.

They loaded some 20 cars, mototbikes and stolen military trucks with bombers and fighters and drove to the market.  Muhammad says she was sick and too weak to even get out of the car.  She sat inside as bombs exploded, and the vehicle sped away.

Muhammad was driven back to the camp and remained ill for several days, locked in a tin shack with other captives as they listened to fighters preparing for vigilante forces to invade the camp.

"I was saying in my heart that 'Oh God, even if I would die, let my relatives find my corpse'," she says.

She heard gunshots and a loud noise.  She lost consciousness.

Hadiza Musa, who had joined the local vigilante force to avenge the Boko Haram capture of her sister, arrived to find a horrific scene:  The entire camp was on fire, and there was carnage everywhere.  Musa said, in an attempt to distract the vigilantes, it appeared that Boko Haram had blown up their own camp and their captives and fled.

Musa said she sifted through the dead and came across Muhammad, who was unconscious with burns covering her body and blood pouring from what looked like a bullet wound to her leg.  Musa cried as she helped ferry Muhammad to a hospital.  She stayed by Muhammad, caring for her until she was conscious.  She also tracked down Muhammad's grandmother and told her the first good news she had heard in months:  her baby Hairat, whom the terrorists threw to the floor as she was being abducted, was alive.

Boko Haram is still plaguing Maiduguri where their movement began. On February 9, 2020, militants attacked vehicles lined up at a checkpoint at Auno, a town about 24 kilometres west of Maiduguri. At least 30 people lost their lives in the attack; some reportedly burnt to death while sleeping in their cars.

When President Muhammadu Buhar arrived in Maiduguri to console mourners, he was jeered.  The Nigerian military has long been struggling to gain upper hand against the fighters who are now better armed than the military.

Suicide bombings have declined as Boko Haram and its factions have focused on targeting military forces.  Yet the incidents persist; in January in nearby Chad, a woman bomber killed nine people and in Maiduguri two female bombers blew up a market killing two people.

Musa and Muhammad now consider themselves sisters.  Muhammad still bears scars from burns to her face, arms and legs.  In Maiduguri where she lives with Hairat who is now in school, some neighbors who know she was abducted are suspicious and think she might be loyal to Boko Haram.

"The best thing is for you to be killed," a neighbor once told Muhammad.

She tries to ignore those kinds of comments bearing in mind none of the ordeal was her fault.  She pays for Hairat's schooling by knitting caps and selling soft drinks from a rented mini refrigerator and makes regular trips to the morgue in search of her brother's body;  he disappeared after he dropped out of college to join the vigilantes to avenge Muhammad's capture.

Muhammad has commenced training to become a nurse.  She wants to give back.  But she couldn't afford fees for recent exams after an uncle kicked her out of his house, still suspicious of her time with the militants.

Until she can save up money to the exam, she keeps a first aid kit with her, in case she comes across anyone needing help.

A shout out to Muhammad and the women at the well and to the other women like them who have bravely resisted, foiling the extremists' plans in quiet and unheralded ways.  Most of them who broke away from Boko Haram keep their abductions secret for fear of stigmatization as terrorist sympathizers even though they were held against their wills.  We hail them for standing up to Boko Haram and all those who lost their lives for doing so.

Adapted from:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/women/boko-haram-women-suicide-bombing-nigeria-a9421166.html

© The New York Times

Nollywood's Halima Abubakar Welcomes Baby

Halima Abubakar - Photo Credit: www.tori.ng

Nollywood Actress Halima Abubakar has just welcomed a baby boy thereby becoming the newest celebrity mother in town.

The beautiful actress announced the arrival of her bundle of joy via her IG account.  In her words:  "A gift from God And I will cherish you for life 😩❤️❤️❤️Biggest miracle ❤️ A Boy 🙏🏻 3/4/20".

Halima is an influential Nollywood actress.  She started her acting career in Nollywood in 2001 who has won numerous awards among which are:

-  Afro Hollywood Best Actress Award

-  Actors Guild Icons Award

- Global Leadership Award

- Best Actress Awards

- Kogi State Youth Ambassador

Some of the most prominent movies under her belt include:

- Slip of Fate

- Tears of a Child

- Secret Shadows

- Gangster Paradise

- Area Mama

- Men in Love

- Okafor's Law

- Return of White Hunters, etc...

Halima, a Kogi State indegene, was born on June 12,1985 in Kano State, Northern Nigeria and holds a Bachelors Degree in Sociology.  She is also a model, TV Presenter, a Philanthropist and CEO of Modehouse Entertainment, a music label and entertainment management company. 

Congratulations to her on the birth of her baby.

ALSO READ: Fire Guts Down the Home of SSA to Delta State Governor

The One Proof that Love will Always find a Way to Come Shining Through

In this period of COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire world is faced with a bleak future darkened by uncertainty the depth of which seems beyond human comprehension, light, love and hope through fate will always find a way to come shining through as it did for Jeremy Cohen who found love in a way quite surprising and gave dating a new face.

Jeremy 'Jerm' Cohen, born in 1991, lives and works in Brooklyn as a freelance photographer.  Owing to social distancing brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, millions all over the world have been quarantined at their homes in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease.  Jeremy was cooped up in his apartment alone when he looked out of his window and noticed a girl dancing on the roof of a building next to his own house.  He waved at the girl who waved back and Jeremy, who hasn't been on a date in at least a year, took his drone and attached a piece of paper to it with his phone number and "Text Me" written on it.

The rest is now history as they say.  The video below explains what happened next.

Adapted from:
www.facebook.com
www.boredpanda.com
www.jermcohen.com

Nigeria Reduces Fuel Price to N123.50 per Litre

The Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, has reduced the pump price of petrol to N123.50/Litre from the current price of N125.00/Litre.  This new price is to take effect today according to the Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Abdulkadir Saidu, who announced the new pump price.

This comes precisely two weeks after the agency reduced the pump price from N145.00/Litre to N125.00/Litre.

This reduction is based on the reduced landing costs of petrol into Nigeria which is caused by the global decline of crude oil prices.

Maried Women in Kaduna, Nigeria, Protest Lack of Sex!

A group of women from the Rido community in Kaduna State, took to the streets on Wednesday, February 19, 2015 to publicly complain about their husband’s sexual weakness, asking that they start performing their matrimonial duties or face mass divorce.

The women, who were assembled at the NDA Junction in the state capital, blamed the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) for their husband’s inability to perform as a result of the chemical waste and fumes from the company into their environment.

Speaking to newsmen during the protest, some of the  married women complained bitterly that some of the men in the Mararaba Rido community were impotent due to the toxic waste from the KRPC.

They revealed that their husbands suffer weak erection and infertility, while the women suffer miscarriage and other health complications.

A married woman, Jummai Isaac, 27, said she has not taken in since she got married in the year 2000.

“I haven’t conceived since I got married in the last fourteen years, and doctors have, on several occasions, confirmed to me absence of any known cause of inability to get pregnant.

Initially, doctors thought I had fibroid in my womb, but after several scans and some medical tests, they dispelled that notion.”

However, a community leader, Mohammed Bashar, explained that, “Most of the complaints could be associated with secondary infertility, because victims have, in the past, given birth to children before they suddenly stopped.

There was widespread belief that smoke and poisonous gases emitted from the refinery have reproductive health effect on people living in the area, but no medical report has confirmed the allegation due to inability of villagers to seek comprehensive medical tests, perhaps owing to lack of awareness and poverty.”

An Ebola Survivor Describes What It's Like To Have The Horrifying Disease

This year's Ebola outbreak is the worst that the world has seen, full of horrifying scenes The Washington Post described as reminiscent of "post-apocalyptic films."

The virus has killed at least 961 people so far, with 1,779 suspected and confirmed cases in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Nigeria.

There is no cure for the virus, but it is possible to beat. The fatality rate for this year's Ebola outbreak hovers just under 60%, though that rate is expected to rise.

Saa Sabas, a former medical worker from Guinea, has spoken to various news outlets about his experience with the virus.

Sabas told Vice that he contracted the virus while caring for another Ebola patient. He went to the hospital when he came down with a persistent fever of up to 104 degrees and was told that he tested positive for Ebola.

Here's how he described it in the Vice interview:

This fever lasted two days; then the third day I got a diarrhea. That lasted four days, until, on the seventh day, I got dysentery. Then finally I had hiccups for four days. I was very worried at that point.

... I remember also that my throat was so sore that I couldn’t eat. I’ve had fever before, and I’ve had diarrhea before. All of that, of course, made me weak. But the hiccuping stage really scared me. I’ve heard that lots of people die at this stage of the illness.

Ebola can easily be mistaken for the flu at first, but it progresses quickly, often causing internal and external bleeding, organ damage, and death.

Sabas told the Nigerian Tribune that he was treated with oral medications and infusions and fed well. Over time, he started to feel better.

This kind of supportive care — replenishing patients' fluids, fighting secondary infections when necessary, and keeping a patient alive long enough for the immune system to fight back against Ebola — is thought to greatly improve outcomes. In the end, after about 13 days of sickness, Sabas survived a disease that many people see as a death sentence.

Once he left the hospital, doctors gave him a certificate noting that he was no longer sick so that other people would not fear him. Ebola is highly stigmatized in Africa because people fear contamination.

Culled from Yahoo! Finace

Netanyahu's Speech to Hamas' Prime Minister

Binyamin Netanyahu just made the following speech in front of the Knesset:

To Ismail Haniya, and the leaders and operatives of Hamas:

We, the people of Israel, owe you a huge debt of gratitude. You have succeeded where we have failed. Because never before, in the history of the modern State of Israel, has the Jewish people been so united, like one person with one heart. You stole three of our most precious children, and slaughtered them in cold blood. But before we could discover the horrible truth, we had 18 days of pain and anxiety while we searched for them, during which our nation united as never before, in prayer, in hopes, in mutual support.

And now, as you continue to launch deadly missiles indiscriminately, intended to maim and murder as many civilians as possible, while you take cowardly refuge behind your own civilians - you continue to

inspire us to hold strongly onto our newly discovered unity. Whatever disputes we Jews may have with each other, we now know that we have one common goal: we will defeat you. But we are offering you now one last chance. Within 24 hours , all rocket fire - and I mean all rocket fire - will cease. Completely. Forever.

I give you formal notice that our tanks are massed at the Gaza border, with artillery and air support at the ready. We have already dropped leaflets over the northern parts of the Gaza strip, warning civilians of

our impending arrival, and that they should evacuate southward, forthwith. If you fail to meet our ultimatum, we are coming in, and, with God's help, this time we will not leave. Every centimetre of land

that we conquer will be annexed to Israel, so that there will never be another attack launched at our civilians from there.

Even so, we will continue to keep the door open to allow you to surrender gracefully. The moment you announce that you are laying down arms, we will halt our advance, and there we will draw our new borders. If you continue to attack our citizens, we will continue to roll southwards, driving you out of territory that you will never again contaminate with your evil presence.

It pains me deeply that your civilians will be made homeless. But we did not choose this war; you did. And if our choice is between allowing our citizens to be targeted mercilessly by your genocidal savagery, versus turning your civilians into refugees, I regret that we must choose the latter. If only you loved your people as much as you hate ours, this war would never have happened.

To the rest of the world: Israel has tired of your ceaseless chidings that we should "show restraint". When you have your entire population under constant missile fire from an implacable enemy whose stated goal is to murder every man, woman and child in your

land, then you may come and talk to us about "restraint". Until then, we respectfully suggest that you keep your double standards to yourselves. This time, Hamas has gone too far, and we will do whatever we have to in order to protect our population.

Hamas, once again, I thank you for bringing our people together with such clarity of mind and unity of purpose. The people of Israel do not fear the long road ahead.

Am Yisrael Chai. — with Ruthie McGee.

Source: Savannah Reports

Lagos State Police Rescue a 9-year-old from Child Traffickers

Blessing

The Lagos state Police Command yesterday, July 10, 2014, presented 9-year-old Blessing a.k.a. Iyabo Farouk (pictured above) who they rescued from being sold by a three female child trafficking syndicate in Lagos.

Lagos state Police Commissioner Umaru Abubakar Manko while presenting the little girl to newsmen at the Ikeja Headquarters of the command said she was abducted from her parents about 3 years ago and has been sold to different people where she has served as a maid.

Her Abductors

Mysterious snakes, bees attack Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest(?)

If reports going round are anything to go by, it seems snakes and bees are fed up of playing host to Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest.

Some members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, arrested yesterday at Mairi ward behind University of Maiduguri by members of the Civilian JTF vigilante group, have confessed that most of them are fleeing the Sambisa Forest to areas across Borno State owing to what they believe is spiritual attacks from mysterious snakes and bees, which had killed many of their leaders.

According to Kolo Mustapha, one of the arrested insurgents, “most of us are fleeing because there are too many snakes and bees now in the forest. Once they bite, they disappear and the victims do not last for 24 hours.

“We were told that the aggrieved people who had suffered from our deadly mission, including the ghosts of some of those we killed, are the ones turning into the snake and bees.”

‘Our leaders fled, too’

He said some of their leaders have escaped to Cameroon because they are known to the Nigerian authorities and could be easily identified. According to him, those of them who lived all their lives in Maiduguri have nowhere to run to. So they returned and tried to sneak into town.

He said they came in last night and were trying to hide in some uncompleted buildings, when some members of the Civilian JTF saw them.

He said: “We are pleading with them to spare our lives. We were forced into the sect. But we know that it is not the right way. I personally have never killed anyone, but I have my friend here who had killed many people.”

Umar Abor, the other arrested sect member said Kolo Mustapha was lying as they had participated in all heinous acts of the sect.

He said: “We have fought together since 2010. We have fought in Marte, Bama, Buni Yadima and Gwoza. We were not in Chibok. We have not seen the girls, but we heard about the issue.

“Our leaders have been talking about it and we have been following all news from the radio. We decided to flee when almost all our comrades are leaving the Sambisa because of constant attacks by snakes and bees, which we were told was as a result of Chibok abducted schoolgirls.

“They (our leaders) told us that it was our enemies and aggrieved people that are hunting us through diabolical means. We were in the forest in 2010 and 2011. We left and came back last year but we have never experienced such attacks.

“That is why they believe the Chibok people are using juju to pursue us because of their children said to have been taken by our leaders.”

‘We‘ll reveal our hiding place’

According to him, they have realised their mistakes and repented, promising that if they are spared they would help the community in fishing out some of their comrades and will lead security agents where their comrades had fled.

One of the leaders of the Civilian JTF said many of the sect members had been fleeing the Sambisa Forest in the past two weeks and that most of them are being arrested and taken to the authorities, except when they resist arrest, in which case they are left with no option but to kill them.

He said: “These ones have not attempted to run or do anything bad. They promise to take us to where they hide their weapons. We are taking them to the chairman of our sector command before they are handed to security operatives.”

Source: Vanguard

Cameroon kills 40 Boko Haram militants

File Photo

Cameroon’s military killed at least 40 Boko Haram militants in the country’s northwest weekend, a government radio reported Sunday, a day after Nigeria labelled the Central African nation the weakest link in its fight against the extremist sect.

Report says the clashes occurred in the country's north-east.

The clashes leading to the killing occurred in the town of Kouserri, which borders Nigeria and Chad.

The Nigerian government regards Cameroon as not cooperative as Niger and Chad in the fight against Boko Haram.

After a security summit in Paris two weeks ago, Cameroon said it deployed 1,000 troops to its border to help contain the increasingly deadly group.

But Sarkin-Yaki Bello, the Coordinator-General of Nigeria’s Counter Terrorism Centre, was quoted by Reuters news agency, Saturday, as criticising Cameroon’s effort in rooting Boko Haram.

“Niger has been proactive and aggressive, Chad has shown zero tolerance for Boko Haram,” Mr. Sarkin-Bello said.

“Cameroon, we've engaged them to be more pro-active. They haven’t really. Not yet.”

One Cameroonian official denied the allegation, while another blamed funding for the country’s slow response.

Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin- all Nigeria’s neighbours, under a pact reached at the Paris summit, are to step up their action against Boko Haram by maintaining an intelligence sharing platform, improving border patrols, and coordinating their actions.

Currently, Niger allows Nigerian soldiers cross into its borders to pursue Boko Haram militants. A similar understanding is being worked out with Chad, but there is none with Cameroon.

Boko Haram has remained under an international spotlight after abducting more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State.

The girls remain in captivity as the Nigerian government, assisted by major world powers, has failed to rescue them.

Culled from: Premium Times

First picture of Sudan Death-Row Mother and the Baby she Delivered IN SHACKLES Inside Prison

Now she faces 100 lashes and execution for marrying a US Christian.

This is the first picture of the mother-of-two who has been sentenced to death in Sudan for being a Christian - from inside the prison where she is being held.

In an exclusive photo, Meriam Ibrahim puts on a brave face as she holds her newborn baby girl Maya who was born in the jail where she has been locked up for eight months.

But behind the smile there is a different story - Meriam's eyes have dark rings under them, her arms are alarmingly thin and her face looks gaunt.

Gone is the radiant glow from the day she married husband Daniel Wani, a U. S. citizen, and in its place is a woman struggling with the awful fate awaiting her.

In an exclusive photo, Meriam Ibrahim puts on a brave face as she holds her newborn baby girl Maya.  Maya was born in the jail where Meriam has been locked up for eight months for marrying a Christian.  Picture comes as it emerged Meriam's legs were chained as she gave birth.  The 27-year-old gave birth five days early after months shackled to floor.  Her husband, U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, was pictured with girl in barbaric jail in Khartoum just hours after the birth.  He was initially refused entry to jail but was eventually allowed in with lawyer.  The doctor was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity after marrying Mr Wani, who lives in New Hampshire.  She will never see Maya grow up as she refuses to renounce Christianity.

Lawyer told MailOnline: 'The family are taking time to enjoy the birth before they fight injustice'

Meriam has spent the past four months shackled to the floor in a disease-ridden jail after being sentenced to death by hanging earlier this month for converting from Islam to Christianity and marrying a Christian man.

Her lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour said the couple are 'happy and proud' of their new arrival and that it has brought a momentary ray of light to an otherwise bleak and desperate situation.

Mr Elnour: 'This is a special moment for them. Daniel is delighted that he is able to see his new daughter so soon.

'The family are taking some time to enjoy the birth before they return to fighting the injustice of Meriam's sentence.'

Mr Wani, a 27-year-old biochemist who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, also got the chance to hold his 20-month-old son Martin, who is being held in the barbaric prison with his mother.

The photo is especially poignant as Meriam will never see her beautiful daughter grow up. She is set to hang sometime in the next two years as the authorities said she will be executed when she has finished weaning Maya.

And before the birth, Meriam made the defiant claim that she would rather die than give up her faith.

In a heart-wreching conversation with her husband during a rare prison visit, Meriam told him: 'If they want to execute me then they should go ahead and do it because I'm not going to change my faith.'

An Islamic Sharia judge said she could be spared the death penalty if she publicly renounced her faith and becomes a Muslim once more.

Culled from: Daily Mail UK

Maya Angelou, Writer and Poet, Dies at Age 86

Maya Angelou, a child of the Jim Crow South who rose to international prominence as a writer known for her frank chronicles of personal history and a performer instantly identified by her regal presence and rich, honeyed voice, died May 28 at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C. She was 86.

 

Statement from Dr. Maya Angelou's Family:

 

"Dr. Maya Angelou passed quietly in her home before 8:00 a.m. EST.  Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension.  She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace.  The family is extremely appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking upon us with love."

 

- Guy B. Johnson

Nigerian military base Attacked by Boko Haram, 24 personnel feared killed

File Photo Source: www.maggiesnotebook.com

The attack on a security base in Buni Yadi, the headquarters of Gujba Local Government Area, which occurred on Tuesday evening, a few minutes after 5:00 p.m, left 13 soldiers and 11 police officers dead, residents said.

 

Residents of the town informed the BBC Hausa service that the attackers came in 10 Hilux vans, an armoured tank, and several motorcycles. The insurgents reportedly told residents to go back home and stay indoors as their targets were the security personnel in town.

 

The attackers reportedly torched some part of the traditional ruler's residence and several other buildings. "They also raided the Local Government Secretariat and burnt most of the vehicles inside the complex," said a resident who refused to be named for security reasons.

It would be recalled that Boko Haram had on February 25 attacked the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, killing about 59 students although the military said 29 male students were killed.  About 24 buildings of the school were also burnt down during the February attack.

Adapted from: PREMIUM TIMES

Meet Ahmad Salkida, the Only Nigerian Journalist with Unprecedented Access to Boko Haram

Ahmad Salkida was born in Borno State, where Boko Haram originated. He has known Boko Haram leaders all his life and has unprecedented access.

 

Nigerian journalist, Ahmad Salkida, fled Nigeria to Dubai two years ago after being accused of being a Boko Haram sympathizer.  He previously worked for Daily Trust and Premium Times and reported extensively on Boko Haram. He said he fled after 'his life and that of his family became endangered' after security agencies began to mistake his in-depth reporting on the terrorist group as evidence of his closeness to them. He went underground for several weeks before finally fleeing Nigeria. Salkida was perhaps the only Nigerian journalist/civilian to have access to Boko Haram, and he said at the time that he'd turned down Boko Haram's many requests for him to publish exclusive interviews and materials for them.

 

But two weeks ago, he was summoned out of exile by President Jonathan’s aides. He initially feared he might face arrest, but was then given a letter of indemnity signed by the President when he flew to Nigeria. 

 

Sources said Mr Salkida was able to travel by taxi to the group’s forest camp to talk to Shekau two weeks ago. ‘His mission was secretive and dangerous,’ they said.

 

It would be recalled that Shekau has released two shocking videos showing the girls dressed in hijabs and reciting verses from the Koran.

 

He reported afterwards that the group of girls he saw were alive and well, and being adequately fed and sheltered. They told him all they wanted was to go home.

 

He is probably the only civilian with access to Shekau. There is trust between them and Salkida had only one aim – to get the schoolgirls out.

 

Adapted from Linda Ikeji's Blog

Iran’s Supreme Leader: Jihad Will Continue Until America is No More

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, all but said on Sunday that negotiations over the country’s illicit nuclear program are over and that the Islamic Republic’s ideals include destroying America.

 

“Those (Iranians) who want to promote negotiation and surrender to the oppressors and blame the Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason,” Khamenei told a meeting of members of parliament, according to the regime’s Fars News Agency.

 

Khamenei emphasized that without a combative mindset, the regime cannot reach its higher Islamic role against the “oppressors’ front.”

 

He said, “The reason for continuation of this battle is not the warmongering of the Islamic Republic. Logic and reason command that for Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself”.

 

“Today’s world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honor, dignity and morality who are equipped with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretence of humanity easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of the world.”

 

In response to a question by a parliamentarian on how long this battle will continue, Khamenei said, “Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist. … This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought. … This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.”

 

Khamenei cited the scientific advancement of the country. “The accelerated scientific advancement of the last 12 years cannot stop under any circumstances,” he said, referring to the strides the regime has made toward becoming a nuclear power.

 

Adapted from: The Daily Caller

Another Bomb Explosion in Jos, Nigeria

Less than a week after multiple explosion killed over 200 people in Jos, the Plateau State capital, another round of explosion has gone off in the city Saturday night, residents and a security official say.

Residents say the explosion occurred along Bauchi Road  near the University of Jos, Jos North Local Government Area.

The sound of the explosion was heard in Jos South LGA, about 25 kilometres away from the scene.

A witness, Tank Shittu, who rushed to the scene five minutes after the blast, said the explosion occurred near a car park, few meters away from a security checkpoint.

The spokesperson of the Police State Command of the Nigeria Police, Felicia Ali, confirmed the incident but said details were still sketchy.

A resident said the suicide bomber died 20 metres from a viewing centre where football fans gathered to watch the ongoing final of the UEFA Champions League between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid. That could not be independently verified at this time.

Multiple explosions had on May 20 occurred around the ever-busy Jos Main Market, between Railway Terminus and the temporary site of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, killing over 200 people.

Source: Premium Times

Mariam Yahya Ibrahim Ishag: "I Was Never a Muslim. I Was Raised A Christian from the Start."

Mariam Yahya Ibrahim Ishag, 27, was sentenced to death last week for refusing to renounce her Christian faith in front of Sudanese court which considers her a Muslim.  She was also charged with adultery for marrying Christian Daniel Wani and sentenced to 100 lashes.

 

She told the Sudanese court: 'I was never a Muslim. I was raised a Christian from the start'. But Ishag is considered a Muslim by the court because her father was a Sudanese Muslim despite her being raised by a Christian mother.

 

She has been shackled at the legs in prison where she is being held with the couple's 20-month-old son Martin. The couple's lawyer is working on an appeal to the 27-year-old's sentence amid mounting international pressure.

 

Mr. Daniel Wani was born in war-torn Sudan but fled to the U.S. in 1998. He settled in Manchester, New Hampshire.  He says his son Martin is a U.S. citizen, but State Department would not confirm the boy's legal status.

 

The husband was allegedly asked to send a DNA sample to U.S. Embassy in Khartoum to prove Martin is his son.

 

Adapted from: DailyMail UK

Husband Dies Mysteriously After Wife Refuses Having 4-Way Sex

A would-be hotel tryst met a deadly end.

 

According to Michael A. Ochoa's wife, the 46-year-old had hoped to spend the wee hours of April 25 engaged in a foursome with his wife and another couple at a San Antonio hotel. Instead, he ended up dead, after falling 18 stories from his hotel balcony. Police last week released a report on the incident, which remains somewhat murky, in part because Ochoa's wife told them three distinct stories. What they do know is that when they arrived around 2am, she was crying, scratched, and missing a fingernail; video of the second couple exiting the Hilton Palacio del Rio indicated they weren't obviously injured, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

 

What went down, version one: Ochoa's unnamed wife agreed to the four-way sex, then changed her mind when the other couple showed up; they left, Ochoa started assaulting her; then he walked outside and vanished. In version two, Ochoa got in a fight with a member of the other couple; both that person and Ochoa punched Ochoa's wife when she tried to break it up. Again, the other couple left, Ochoa went outside, and she never saw him again.

 

Version three is essentially version one, except with Ochoa's wife saying her husband went to the balcony in order to flee security, who knocked on their door. Those guards were the ones who spotted Ochoa, who KSAT describes as an area real estate agent, in the river below; police say his wife didn't realize he fell or died, and they documented no signs of struggle on the balcony

(Graphic Photos) Dozens Feared Killed in A Blast in Nyanya Area of FCT Abuja, Nigeria

 

An explosion, suspected to be a bomb blast was heard in Nyanya area of Abuja on Monday morning, April 14, 2014 as people were busy boarding buses to work and their various businesses.

 

A bomb blast at a bus depot on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital Abuja killed at least 20 people during rush hour on Monday morning, witnesses said.  The bomb went off under Nyanya bridge where Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company garage is located. The location is a few kilometres to Abacha Barracks in the Federal Capital Territory.

According to reports, a car laced with bombs exploded under the bridge and the effect was heard at adjourning areas of AY, Asokoro, Nyanya, and Karu.  The blast at a bus depot on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital Abuja killed at least 20 people during rush hour on Monday morning, witnesses said.

 

A Reuters cameraman saw 20 bodies at the depot at Nyanya bridge, south of Abuja, and two witnesses said another 15 had already been removed by the emergency services.

 

Nyanya is about 33kms from central Abuja.

 

“I was waiting to get on a bus when I heard a deafening explosion then smoke. People were running around in panic,” said Mimi Daniels, who works in Abuja. Another blast followed, she said.