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Security forces kill Don Wanny’s younger brother.

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A younger brother to the late serial kidnapper and mass murderer Johnson Igwedibia a.k.a Don Wanny, Oluchi Igwedibia, has been shot dead by security forces.

Oluchi, popularly known as “Obata Osu” was among the suspected gang members that allegedly participated in the brutal murder of 23 persons in Omoku, Rivers, on Jan. 1.

Gov. Nyesom Wike had on Jan. 9th, declared him and 31 other cult members wanted with huge bounty placed on their heads.

A security source said that the suspected killer was tracked and shot dead at Sabo Iykpe community, Etsako West in Edo.

“Oluchi Igwedibia, alias Obata Osu and brother of Don Wani, was the Field Commander of the murderous gang that killed 23 worshipers in cold blood on January 1.

“Igwedibia, after fleeing Omoku town (Rivers) went to Ughelli (Delta) to reside. He rented an apartment in Edo four days ago (Jan. 24) as part of his plan to avoid arrest.”

The source said the operation was carried out by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigerian Army.

“The DSS later tracked him down to his new hide out in Sabo Iykpe community (Edo) and thereafter called the Army for support.

“When we arrived at his house, Igwedibia hid in his ceiling and later tried to shoot his way out but was shot by operatives,” the source said.

The informant said the area had been cordoned off as search for arms and ammunition was ongoing, adding that the operatives also arrested and detained Igwedibia’s accomplice who allegedly helped him withdrew money from the bank.

The Rivers Director of DSS, Mr Tosin Ajayi, did not answer his calls or reply to text message sent to his phone.

The late Wanny, Igwedibia and his gang members received amnesty from the Rivers Government in 2016 but later went back to crime.

Wanny and his second-in-command, Ikechukwu Adiele, and another suspected gang member, Lucky Ode were killed by security forces in Enugu and their corpses paraded at 6 Division Nigerian Army Port Harcourt on January 7.

Meanwhile, Wike has commended the DSS and the Nigerian Army for the joint operation that led to the killing of Igwedibia.

A statement by Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Wike on Electronic Media, quoted Wike as saying that “all those who participated in the New Year Mayhem at Omoku and any other security infraction in the state will be traced and brought to justice’’.

He added that the governor said that the N20 million bounties placed for credible information that would lead to the arrest of the wanted cultists is still in place. 

NAN

Taxi robberies on the increase in Portharcourt.

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Some Portharcourt residents have taken to the social media platform, Twitter, to narrate their harrowing experiences in the hands of criminals posing as taxi drivers in the city.

The victims who were mostly females narrated how they were robbed of their valuables at gun points by these criminals , something they said has become an everyday occurrence.

https://twitter.com/ArchitectMaQ/status/957329263715405825
They equally identified routes where these robberies persistently occur while noting that stadium road to airforce flyover and genesis deluxe area have become very unsafe for female commuters boarding cabs on their own.

In one of the tweets, a man described how one of his colleagues was robbed in December and her bank account cleared off of all her savings.

They urged the state government to begin the policy of registering taxis that operate within the state capital as a measure to ensure that criminal elements do not take advantage of it to rob innocent commuters.

World’s tallest man meets World’s shortest women (Pictures)

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The world’s shortest woman met the world’s tallest man, who is four times her height, in Egypt on Friday (Jan 26).

Ms Jyoti Amge, who is from India and stands at 0.63m tall, holds the Guinness World Record for the shortest living woman who is mobile.

The 25-year-old met the world’s tallest living man, Turkey’s Sultan Kosen, in Egypt’s Giza city on the west bank of the Nile.

Ms Jyoti, who lives in Nagpur, India, has a condition called achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism.

The actress has starred in shows like American Horror Story: Freak Show, documentary films and Hindi film Pan Supari.

Her counterpart on the opposite end of the scale is from Ankara, Turkey.

Mr Sultan was the first man over eight feet (2.43m) to be measured by Guinness World Records in more than 20 years.

He first became the world’s tallest living man in 2009, when he was 2.47m tall. He has since grown taller.

His height is caused by a condition known as pituitary gigantism, where the brain produces abnormally large amounts of growth hormone from the pituitary gland.

Mr Sultan has four siblings and the rest of his family are of average heights. He was married in 2013.

Mr Sultan met Ms Jyoti for a photo shoot in front of the Giza pyramids on Friday.

They were visiting the country to promote tourism to Egypt.

World poverty clock: Nigeria, 16 others listed as extreme cases.

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Nigeria has been listed alongside 16 other countries as places with rising cases of extreme poverty, data compiled by a global poverty monitoring group has shown.

According to data released by the World Poverty Clock, Nigeria together with Gambia, Angola, Burundi, Belize and Congo made the list of countries where citizens are experiencing extreme poverty.

Other countries on the list include: Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Somalia, South Sudan, Suriname, Venezuela and Zambia.

Over 100 million people out of Nigeria’s estimated 180 million population are poor and live under 1 dollar (365 Naira) daily, according to World Bank statistics.

This is as a result of an overlap between political and economic power which bends the allocation of opportunities, income and wealth, to vested interests and biases policy-making in favour of the rich.

There is a rise in inequality and growth is compromised due to elite capture of resource management aided by massive corruption and rent-seeking, according to Oxfam inequality report of 2017.

However, the case is the same in most Sub-Saharan African countries.

The data indicated that a total of 19 countries will erase extreme poverty by 2030 while extreme poverty is declining in 46 countries but at a slower pace.

The data also indicated that 103 countries have wiped out extreme poverty while 8 percent of the world’s population is still living in poverty.

It showed that an average of 25 000 people fall into poverty everyday , mostly from Africa and other war-torn countries while an average of 100 000 people escape poverty everyday.

Global poverty rate has been halved since the year 2000, according to data from the group.

However, intensified efforts are required to boost the income, alleviate the suffering and build the resilience of those still living in extreme poverty, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It also recommended that social protection systems be expanded and risks mitigated for disaster-prone countries, which tend to be the most impoverished.

Source:Theportcitynews.com

Ethiopia release political prisoners.

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The government of Ethiopia has announced the release of 2,345 prisoners, who were sent to jail following the 2015 and 2016 protests in the country’s Oromia region.

Addisu Arega Kitessa, a government spokesman on Oromia affairs, said prisoners have been pardoned and would be released within “a few days”, in a statement posted to social media on Friday.

News of the pardon came a week after the government released Oromo opposition leader Merera Gudina, and 22 others, which rights groups say were political prisoners.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn had announced that political prisoners would be released “to build a national consensus and to widen the democratic space”.

Gudina was arrested in 2016, after he criticised the government’s human rights records and the country’s political situation.

Security forces have arrested tens of thousands of people and killed more than 900 protesters since the protests by the country’s Oromo people began.

Anger over allegations of land grabs widened into protests over political restrictions and rights abuses, and spread to the northern Amhara region, prompting the government to impose a state of emergency that was only lifted in April 2017.

Ethiopia denies that any of the detainees are political prisoners.

While activists and rights groups have welcomed the recent announcements, it also called for the release of “all remaining prisoners of conscience”.

In response to Kitessa’s similar announcement on Twitter, one commenter identified as Asnaketch Woldetensa wrote; “You need to release all political prisoners with no delay, even all who are in torture cells all over Oromia.”

Earlier Amnesty International said all detainees must be released “immediately and unconditional[ly]”.

“To continue holding them is to perpetuate the gross injustice that they already bravely endured for too long,” Amnesty said.

As Ethiopia announced the released of Oromia detainees, it was also accused of suppressing the rights of other minority protesters in the Amhara Region.

On Thursday, Ethiopia Observer reported that seven people, including a 10-year old child, were killed in the northern town of Kobo, after security forces reportedly fired at a crowd of protesters.

The demonstrators were reportedly gathered to protest a violent crackdown in another town, which reportedly also left seven people dead.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Philippines President offers 42 virgins to potential investors.

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told a group of Indian and Filipino business leaders in New Delhi that he would like to attract visitors to his country by offering “42 virgins”.

In a speech on Friday aimed at luring investors to the Philippines, Duterte also said Indian businessmen should “avoid Mindanao” because “there’s still martial law there”, referring to the southern Philippine island, where armed Muslim rebels and fighters continue to battle government forces.

Duterte was on a three-day trip to the Indian capital to attend a regional summit between India and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and participate in the country’s Republic Day celebration.

In a statement on Saturday, a women’s activist group called Duterte an “international embarassment”, Rappler reported.

“We deserve a president who can represent Filipinos: men, women and LGBT alike abroad. We deserve a president who has a regard for women’s rights and dignity,” the Akbayan Women’s rights group said. “He has no respect for Filipino women.”

While talking about the armed conflict in Mindanao, Duterte criticised the “totally bankrupt” ideology of the armed Muslim fighters, who laid siege to the southern city of Marawi for five months in 2017, “for nothing”.

“The come-on is that if you die a martyr, you go to heaven with 42 virgins waiting for you,” Duterte said in a rambling speech.

“Well, if I could just make it a come-on also for those who’d like to go to my country,” he said to faint laughter from the audience.

Declaring that he is “half-Muslim”, he said armed Muslim fighters in Mindanao “do not have the monopoly of discourse in this field”.

“And I said, one of the most is promising virgins when you go to heaven. I’d like to have the virgins here, not in heaven. God may not allow it,” he said.

In his speech, Duterte also assured investors that he is fighting corruption and drug abuse in the country.

The president’s office later announced that Duterte secured $1.25bn in “investment pledges” from Indian businessmen.

Rape ‘jokes’
The comments do not mark the first time Duterte has made off-colour remarks deemed offensive to women.

In July 2017, Duterte said he would congratulate someone who raped an international pageant winner.

“What I don’t like are kids (being raped.) You can mess with, maybe Miss Universe. Maybe I will even congratulate you for having the balls to rape somebody when you know you are going to die,” he said, referring to the death penalty.

In May 2017, Duterte told soldiers fighting in Mindanao that they could rape up to three women without getting punished.

“I’ll imprison you myself,” he said, referring to soldiers who commit violations. Then he said: “If you had raped three, I will admit it, that’s on me.”

In the lead-up to his presidential election win last year, critics were outraged when he recalled a 1989 prison riot in which an Australian missionary was killed, and inmates had lined up to rape her.

Duterte said the victim was “beautiful” and as mayor of Davao City, where the riot took place, he should have been first in line. He later apologised and said he did not intend to disrespect women or rape victims.

Duterte is known for his informal style and his speeches are often loaded with profanity, threats and jokes about taboo subjects, which offend some, but are taken lightly by many Filipinos.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

At least 95 people killed in Kabul car bomb.

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95 people have been reportedly killed and more than 158 are said to be wounded in a powerful suicide blast in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Saturday’s attack, the third major attack in the past seven days. An interior ministry spokesman blamed the the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, which has been behind many of the biggest attacks on urban targets in Afghanistan.

Attackers blew up an explosives-packed ambulance near an interior ministry building on a busy and heavily-guarded street in Kabul’s centre in the afternoon. The Jamhuriat hospital, government offices, businesses and a school are close to the site of the blast.

Ahmed Naweed, a witness,said that the attack happened near a check point.

“There were many dead bodies and blood everywhere,” he said. “People were crying and screaming and running away.”

Attackers blew up an explosives-packed ambulance near an interior ministry. said Afghan officials were calling the attack a “massacre”.

“In the immediate aftermath of the attack, we saw bodies scattered across the street,” she said. “The hospitals are inundated with the wounded and officials fear the death toll may rise.”

The driver passed through one checkpoint by telling police he was escorting a patient to the hospital, our correspondent said, and detonated the explosives at the second.

Huge plumes of dark smoke rose over the city following the attack, and vibrations of the explosion could be felt several kilometres away, according to witnesses.

Emergency vehicles rushed to the city centre, TOLO news reported.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said attackers must be brought to justice.

“Today’s attack is nothing short of an atrocity, and those who have organised and enabled it must be brought to justice and held to account,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, head of the UNAMA, said in a statement.

The incident comes a week after a Taliban-claimed attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in the city, which left more than 20 dead, and days after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) killed at least three people at the office of Save the Children in Jalalabad.

Commenting on Saturday’s bomb blast, Dejan Panic, coordinator at a hospital run by the Emergency NGO, said: “It’s a massacre.”

The organisation tweeted a photo of a makeshift medical ward, where patients were being attended to on the floor.

At least seven people were dead on arrival, Emergency said.

FG to Cancel Remodelling Contract of Port Harcourt Domestic Airport.

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Apparently miffed by what it described as antics of the contractor, the Federal Government has hinted on the plan to terminate the contract for the remodelling of the domestic wing of the Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers State.

Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, during an inspection of the airport, said government has had enough of the incomplete project, and will take a legal means to fix the problem.

Meanwhile, Sirika said the new terminal of the airport’s international wing is set to be completed by July this year.

Recall that The Guide to Sleeping in Airports 2017, survey rated the Port Harcourt airport as one of the worst aerodromes in the world, citing its rather unwelcoming ambience and officials’ extortion with impunity.

Speaking at the old terminal, which had been under remodelling since 2011, Sirika expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the contractor, Inter-Bua Construction Limited, in handling the project.

He said: “Unfortunately, this particular procurement started in 2011, and the contractor moved to site in 2012. Since then, he has taken his own speed the way he deems fit, and he has been indulged.

“He even changed the scope of work without approval, and subsequently went to the previous government and got approval to that effect. When we came in, we had no option than to continue since he had a legitimate extension and expansion approval from the then government.

“Since government is a continuum, we decided as a government to finish it in line with the thinking of President Muhammadu Buhari to complete all ongoing projects rather than create new ones.”

The minister noted that Port Harcourt is very important to the Nigerian economy; hence government is very keen on completing the project due to the current hardship being faced by travellers.

“I am disappointed with his slow pace of work and services. As the Minister of State for Aviation, I have invited him (the contractor) severally to my office to read him all the riot acts that I know how to.

Origin article from the Guardian.

Nigeria beat South Africa 6-0 to qualify for women’s world Cup.

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The female U-20 national team of Nigeria, the Falconets have qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup after thrashing their South African counterparts, Basetsana 6-0.

The match was played at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the Edo State capital on Saturday, January 27.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg match in Polokwane, the falconets pressed home their advantage early in the match by scoring five times in the first half to complete an aggregate score of 8-0.

Speaking in an interview after the game, Falconets Coach, Chris Danjuma praised the efforts of his side adding that the team will be reinforced with more players ahead of the biennial showpiece.

On her part, the South African coach, Maud Khumalo expressed satisfaction with the performance of her players despite the loss.

The 9th edition of the FIFA u-20 women’s world cup will be hosted by France between August 5 and 24, 2018.

Sunday night’s Royal Rumble.

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Alongside the traditional 30-man elimination match, there will also be a women’s Royal Rumble for the first time in company history.

As it stands, many of the spaces open in the women’s match remain open and so there are likely to be plenty of surprise entrants whose names have not yet been revealed.

The winner of each will be guaranteed a WrestleMania match, so there is a huge amount at stake at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Sunday night.

The singles and tag team titles from both Raw and SmackDown will also be defended at the Sky Sports Box Office live event.

Universal champion Brock Lesnar defends his belt in a triple threat match against Braun Strowman and Kane, while Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan put the red brand’s tag straps on the line against Sheamus and Cesaro.

Randy Orton issued his intentions for the Royal Rumble this Sunday in devastating style on this week’s SmackDown

WWE Champion AJ Styles finds himself in deep water, facing the combined force of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, and The Usos defend against Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin.

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