younglee's Blog

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Imo state has continued its raid on independent petroleum marketers who sell fuel above the government approved price of 145 naira per litre. During its routine monitoring of four Local Government areas in Imo state Aboh, Ezinihitte, Ahiazu Mbaise and Obowo Local Governments, seven filling stations were sealed due to hoarding, under-dispensing and selling above regulated pump price. The agency says it will continue to monitor petroleum marketers in the state until they all adhere strictly to the Federal government’s regulated price. Since the fuel crisis started in December 2017, most fillings stations in Imo state have continued to sell between 190 and 220 naira per litre of fuel. However, on several occasions, the DPR have sealed many fillings stations contravening the directives of the federal government but this has not stopped the marketers for selling above the normal pump price. The agency maintained that they will c...

The passengers of the near crash landing of Dana Plane at Port Harcourt International Airport are lamenting over what they describe as utter neglect being experienced since the incident occurred. According to them, no one has come forward to explain what transpired yesterday evening or inform them about how to access their luggage. One of the passengers also informed our correspondent that contrary to reports, the plane landed normally, but could not explain what happened thereafter. Meanwhile, Dana Air has refuted claims that they (passengers) have been treated with neglect. In a statement by the Media Communications Manager, Dana Air, Kingsley Esenwa, “We cannot neglect and will never neglect our guests. “We have been in touch with them since the incident and have also assured them of our willingness to assist where necessary. We have also provided logistics to ensure that all checked-in items are delivered to them as soon as possible”. However, it is business as u...

President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Nigeria’s former Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing, Femi Okunnu, on his 85th birthday. President Buhari also felicitated with all the family, friends and professional colleagues of the elder statesman for the grace of living a long and fulfilled life, looking back at his foundational contributions to the infrastructural growth of the nation, and its developmental strides. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Mr Femi Adesina, the President affirmed that Mr Okunnu was among the first administrators to set Nigeria on the path of physical growth. He said the elder statesman patriotically ensured a plan and implementation of a network of roads for the country in the 60’s, adding that they have become the landmark routes after more than half of a century. President Buhari further praised Okunnu for his nationalistic position and views at critical moments in Nigeria’s existence, especially the legendary...

A clash broke out on Wednesday between the people of Offa community in Offa Local Government Area (LGA) and the Ijagbo people in Oyun LGA over land ownership. The misunderstanding over the ownership of the portion of the land by both sides has been on for the past 10 years, during which a mutual understanding had been reached twice. Channels Television gathered that some youths from Offa reportedly stormed the disputed area on Wednesday morning, destroying the residential building and community hall built on the land while the Ijagbo youths retaliated. Efforts by police to calm the situation did not yield positive result as officers of the Nigerian Navy were drafted in to bring the situation under control. Sources also said the roads leading to the two communities were littered with burnt tyres while there were sporadic gunshots which led to three persons being injured. They added that the injured victims have been taken to the hospital, but residents of the troubled area...

The police have paraded four suspects allegedly involved in the killing of nine of their personnel and several civilians in both Benue and Nasarawa communities since January 1, 2018. The Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Mr Habila Joshak, paraded the suspects on Tuesday evening at the Benue State Police Command. “Mobile Police Officers ran into ambush and counter-ambush (and) we lost some officers; that also rather than discourage the police, we gathered courage. “We went in headlong and I’m glad to let you know that those who had been linked to the gruesome murder of these police officers and other members of the community, and the destruction of the properties, have been rounded up,” he said. Mr Joshak also informed reporters in Makurdi, the Benue state capital that credible intelligence and confessions of the suspects have led to more arrest of the perpetrators. According to him, the arrests were made in Tunga, a community in Nasarawa Stat...

Runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich are waiting to discover the extent of James Rodriguez’s calf injury amid grumblings of unrest in their star-studded squad. The Colombian international limped off after 44 minutes of Tuesday night’s 5-0 mauling of Besiktas in the Champions League last 16, first-leg tie. Bayern hope for good news when the attacking midfielder is examined on Wednesday. “I think the injury is not that bad, but I don’t know if it will take a few days or longer – we will have to see,” said head coach Jupp Heynckes. Heynckes said Rodriguez did not feel a sharp “sting, like a muscle tear, but it came on gradually, so it was better to take him off.” Bayern are waiting to see if the 26-year-old will miss Saturday’s Bundesliga game at home to Hertha Berlin. The Bavarian giants are on a 14-match winning run, 19 points clear in the Bundesliga table and on course for a sixth straight league title. When Rodriguez went off just before half-time, Arjen Robben...

The Northern Senators Forum has removed Senator Abdullahi Adamu, as the Chairman of the Forum and replaced him with Senator Aliyu Wamakko. During plenary on Wednesday, the Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Ike Ekweremadu read a letter on the floor announcing the removal of Senator Abdullahi Adamu. The Senate spokesman and Senator Shehu Sani who briefed journalists explained that Senator Abdullahi Adamu was suspended because he allegedly mismanaged N70 million belonging to northern senators. He added that the Senate is not targeting Senator Adamu because he disagreed with the Senate‘s resolution on the sequence of elections. Until his removal, Senator Adamu was a former Minister for State, Ministry of Works and Housing, a member of the Executive Council and a Senator in the 7 th National Assembly.

Russian meddling, national mourning for school shooting victims, the chaotic state of Donald Trump’s presidency: US political turbulence forms a dramatic backdrop as conservatives gather near Washington beginning Wednesday for their often controversial annual confab. Thousands of Republican activists, party heavyweights and national politicians — not to mention a scion of France’s ultra-nationalist movement — converge on a Maryland convention center to tout the health of a populist revolution that rocked American politics to its core in 2016 and ushered in the Trump era. Thirteen months after the brash billionaire entered the White House, Trump is the featured speaker Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Religious conservative Vice President Mike Pence addresses CPAC the day before, as does White House counsel Don McGahn — an odd choice for the high-profile event as he is under scrutiny in a White House security clearance scandal. CPAC was “getting ready...

Emergency teams on Wednesday began recovering bodies from a plane crash in Iran’s Zagros mountains but the operation had to be suspended due to bad weather, officials said. Aseman Airlines flight EP3704, carrying 66 people, disappeared from radar on Sunday morning around 45 minutes after taking off from Tehran on a domestic flight. No survivors have been found. Search helicopters located the crash site after a break in the weather on Tuesday at a height of around 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) in the Dena range. Helicopters were unable to land but officials said a recovery operation had begun on Wednesday, with emergency personnel carrying bodies on their backs to a road at the foot of the mountain. The Iranian Red Crescent later said the operation had to be suspended as the bad weather returned, news agency ISNA reported. It was unclear how many bodies had been recovered. One official reported seven bodies recovered but the Red Crescent said 32 “packages” had been brou...

At least 20 people were killed when a bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine in southern Peru on Wednesday, state news agency Andina reported. At least 20 other passengers were injured when the bus left the Pan-American highway and tumbled 80 meters (260 feet) down a jagged slope in the southern region of Arequipa. The accident happened around 1.30 am (0630 GMT), the agency said. Rescue teams “have been working since dawn, coordinating the transfer and care of the injured,” Arequipa governor Yamila Osorio wrote on her Twitter account. The injured were taken to hospital in the city of Camana. It was the second major accident on Peru’s roads this year. On January 2, a bus crashed into a ravine in the country’s central coastal area, leaving 52 dead.

A Malaysian woman was charged Wednesday with the murder of an Indonesian maid who was found with wounds covering her body and was allegedly forced to sleep outside with a dog. M. A. Ambika, 60, will be sentenced to death if found guilty of murdering Adelina Sau, in a case that has sparked new tensions between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur over a long-standing flashpoint issue. About 2.5 million Indonesians work in neighbouring Malaysia — both legally and illegally — including many as maids, but there have been repeated cases of abuse of domestic helpers over the years. The victim, in her 20s, died at a Malaysian hospital this month, a day afer being rescued by a migrant workers’ protection group. Her head and face were swollen and she had wounds on her hands and legs. A Malaysian lawmaker said she had been forced to sleep on a porch next to a dog. Ambika was charged during an appearance at the magistrate’s court in the northern town of Bukit Mertajam with the murder of th...

Reverend Billy Graham, the influential Southern preacher who became a spiritual advisor to several US presidents and millions of Americans via their television sets, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 99. The one-time backwoods minister who eventually became the world’s foremost Christian evangelist, spread a message of spiritual redemption at tent and stadium revival meetings, in a career that spanned decades. “Billy Graham is the closest thing to a national pope that we shall ever see,” journalist Garry Wills once wrote in The Washington Post. The Southern Baptist preacher was close to the family of President George W. Bush, who once said that a private meeting with Graham in 1985 helped him quit drinking. More recently his role as a sometime spiritual adviser to the young Queen Elizabeth II as she confronted the burdens of rule was featured in the Netflix mini-series “The Crown.” Graham was a pioneer of “televangelism” to convert souls to Christianity as tel...

Claudio Ranieri, who led Leicester City to an unlikely English Premier League title, has revealed he is ready to quit French Ligue 1 club Nantes if he is asked to become Italy coach. The 66-year-old has been one of the names touted as a possible replacement for Gian Piero Ventura who was forced to resign after Italy’s shock failure to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. “Any Italian coach would love to be in charge of the national side,” Ranieri, who guided Leicester to their first ever Premier League title in 2016, told Sky Sport Italia. “I have a contract with Nantes for two years and I have not received any messages, so I can’t say anything. “But if I were to be contacted for the Italy job, I’d go to the Nantes president and ask to be released,” said the widely-travelled Ranieri, whose former clubs include Juventus, Napoli and Roma in Italy, Premier League giants Chelsea and Valencia and Atletico Madrid in Spain. He also had a brief stint in charge of the Greek natio...

A Spanish court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant valid only in Spain for a former Catalan MP who is in self-imposed exile in Switzerland to avoid jail while she is investigated over her role in the region’s secession drive. The Supreme Court “ordered the arrest” of Anna Gabriel, who failed to turn up on Wednesday before a judge for questioning, it said in its ruling. The arrest warrant applies only “nationally”, a court spokesman told AFP. Public prosecutors had asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for Gabriel and ask Swiss authorities to extradite her. Asked earlier on Wednesday if extradition was a possibility, Swiss justice ministry spokesman Folco Galli said: “Switzerland does not grant, like most other states, extradition and any other form of mutual legal assistance for political offences. “If there is a request, we have to look at it thoroughly, and from what the media say, it seems to be a political offence, so there is no extradition,” he added. Gabr...

The Federal Government has evacuated a total of 2,091 Nigerians from Libya, since the outbreak of the illegal migration that has sparked global reactions. A data from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) showed a breakdown of the figures in batches as obtained by Channels Television on Friday. In the first batch of Nigerian returnees, 488 comprising 395 males, 88 females and five children arrived from the troubled North African country where they were subjected to dehumanizing conditions referred to as modern slavery. It was observed that Edo State topped the list with 273 males, 65 females and 2 children while Bayelsa, Benue, Kano and Nassarawa States, on the other hand, had the least representation with just one male. Kogi and Ondo states similarly had just one female representation each. Edo State also led the list of the second batch of Nigerians with at least 224 people comprising 171 males, 49 females, and 4 children. Next in line was Delta State with 51 peo...

Hundreds of African migrants launched a hunger strike to protest Israel’s implementation of its controversial policy to expel or indefinitely imprison them, a spokesman for the group said Wednesday. Israel has resolved to expel thousands of Eritreans and Sudanese who entered illegally over the years, giving them an ultimatum to leave or risk being imprisoned indefinitely. As the migrants could face danger or imprisonment if returned to their homelands, Israel is offering to relocate them to an unnamed third country, which the migrants and aid workers say is Rwanda or Uganda. Authorities on Tuesday transferred seven Africans from the Holot detention centre to a nearby prison, prompting the 750 men held in Holot to launch a hunger strike that evening, said Abdat Ishmael, an Eritrean held at the southern Israel open facility. On Wednesday, another five were taken to prison, Ishmael told AFP. A spokeswoman for the Israeli interior ministry confirmed they had begun implementi...

The Federal Government has commenced investigation into the accident involving an airline operated by Dana Airline. The investigation is being carried out by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB). AIB under the Federal Ministry of Transportation is set up to investigate any civil aircraft accident and serious incident in Nigerian airspace. It is aimed at improving aviation safety by determining the circumstances and causes of air accidents in Nigeria. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has also heightened safety oversight over the operator after the accident. The investigation by AIB is in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13. ‎ Spokesperson of the Ministry of State, Aviation James Odaudu, said this in a statement made available to Channels Television on Wednesday. He said efforts are in place to continuously enhance safety and security in the aviation sector. “Efforts are in place to continuously enhance Safety and Se...