Nigeria News Forum

Niger State governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has condemned and described as unacceptable last Friday attack and vandalisation of St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Bakin-Iku in Suleja by a group of miscreants who paraded themselves as Muslim youth. The governor in a statement in Minna on Monday , through his Chief Press Secretary, Malam Jibrin Baba Ndace warned that his administration will not tolerate anybody or group of persons who want to turn the state into a theatre for religious war. It reads: “The attack on St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Barkin-Iku, in Suleja on Friday was a violation of the spirit and content of the 1999 Constitution and the action is condemned. The law of the land permits freedom of worship and nobody has the right to attack or challenge others for observing and practising his or her faith in accordance with the tenets of the profess religion. “I received the report of the attack on parishioners of St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Barkin-Iku by some youth wi...

Police detectives from the Delta State Command have quizzed a bishop of a new generation church in Warri over allegation of sponsoring the militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers. Report gathered that the bishop (name withheld), hails from Ogbinbiri community of Egbema (Ijaw) Kingdom in the Warri North Council Area of the state and is the presiding bishop of the New Salvation Zion Church of Christ at Igbodu area of the city. Security sources said the church leader was invited for interrogation following two petitions alleging that he was funding the militant group. The interrogation was conducted at the Warri Area Command of the Delta State Police Command. It was learnt that the clergyman was interrogated from 8am to about 8pm last week Wednesday before he was allowed to go and ordered to report the following day for further questioning. A close relative of the suspected clergyman confirmed the development It was gathered that the petitions also alleged that the cleric wa...

The things that really matter in life are surprisingly the seemingly simple things. Small things like patting someone on the back in the event of some achievement or simply saying “Thank you” after a meal to the person who offers one such delicacy, really go a long way. In some cases, one might not even be aware of the countless lives one has saved as a result of a small smile directed at someone in deep pain in the hospital ward or a depressed soul in a refugee camp. Life can be this simple, but unfortunately, we often make it unnecessarily complicated! On June 13, 2016, the immediate past minister of finance, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala turned 62. One of the pictures of the events marking her birthday celebration was the one showing her husband and Senator Ben Murray-Bruce “kissing” her during an indoor party. Apart from the media attention that went with the “formal” aspect of the occasion (by which I mean, the “dining and wining”), the media (especially the mainstream or tra...

No fewer than 37 soldiers were confirmed injured Friday following a lone car accident in Gaya town, Gaya local government area of Kano state. Eyewitness account revealed that, a driver of a military truck, who was heading to Maiduguri from Kano, lost control and ran into the bush around 8:30am today, resulting to injuring of 37 soldiers.  He said: “The driver missed his way at a junction in Gaya town. Instead of him to take Gaya-Dutse road, he followed Gaya-Jahun road and one of the commercial motorcyclists around followed him in his effort to notify him that he has missed the road. So, the driver noticed that the cyclist was stopping him, he applied sudden brake, hence lost control and run into a bush.” He said some of soldiers have sustained fractures, while others left with various degrees of injuries.  Confirming the incident, the Co-Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Kano State Sector Comma...

Nnewi—The Directorate of States, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Spain, has requested  doctors in South South and South East to treat every victim of Biafra day celebrations and forward the bill to IPOB headquarters in Spain for immediate settlement. In a statement, the Head of the Directorate of States in Victoria Spain, Mr. Uchenna Asiegbu, urged the doctors not to let non-deposit of initial money as demanded by doctors in their hospitals to be a reason to deny treatment to those that needed it. “IPOB will pay the hospital bill of every injured Biafran  in this quest for justice, from contributions from family members all over the world. We don’t want any politician to contribute to the treatment of those they ordered to be shot on sight. “Let no family member of IPOB accept any dime from Governor Willie Obiano or any other Nigerian politician. IPOB is equal to every task laid before it and will never allow its members and non- members who were wounded by gun toting...

The Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB and Biafra Independence Movement, BIM, yesterday stated that military coup d’tat or not in Nigeria, as speculated in some quarters, would not deter the movement from carrying out its non violent struggle to actualize Biafra. MASSOB/BIM contended that even if Nigerians wake up tomorrow morning and discover that the military has toppled the present democratic government in place, the movement would not mind because the MASSOB/BIM leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike had actually wanted to start the current agitations in 1997 during the Abacha military regime but one thing or the other shifted it to 1999 during Obasanjo’s regime. In a press statement issued yesterday to newsmen in Onitsha, Anambra state, shortly after the inspection of MASSOB/BIM’s information office at Umuaka, in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo state, MASSOB/BIM’s National Director of Information, Mazi Chris Mocha noted that the group met the requirement...

ABUJA – THE leadership of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN has said that its planned strike expected to commence Thursday because of the alleged insensitivity of the Federal Government to resolve some issues affecting the oil and gas sector will be total. This is just as the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige and the Minister of State, Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu are expected to meet with the aggrieved leaderships of PENGASSAN and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG this morning to find a way out of the unresolved vexatious issues. Speaking to Vanguard on phone in Abuja Wednesday, the National Public Relations Officer, PRO, of PENGASSAN, Emma Ojugbana said that there was no signal to the effect that the strike which he said would be a total shut down would be shelved. Ojugbana who said he was not aware of any scheduled meeting with the government today, stated, “As I speak with you as the ...