25-yr-old man docked for attempting to rape a pregnant woman

A 25-year-old man, Ismail Akorede, has been arraigned at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court sitting in Lagos State, for allegedly attempting to rape a pregnant woman, Busayo Olamide, on Monday, August 8, 2016, at Masaka Street, Oko-Oba, Agege area of the state.

Akorede who is facing a one-count charge of attempted rape, according to the police prosecutor, Inspector George Nwosu, had sneaked into Olamide's apartment at about 8pm and when he found her sleeping, he attempted to have sexual intercourse with her.

“The accused sneaked into the room of the complainant with intent to have carnal knowledge of her while she was sleeping.

According to the complainant, he unzipped his trouser, removed the complainant’s wrapper and was about to penetrate when she suddenly woke up and raised alarm. All the residents of the compound rushed out to rescue the complainant.

The accused was arrested when he wanted to escape and handed over to the police.”

When the charge was read to him, Akorode pleaded not guilty and the presiding judge, Magistrate A.A Adesanya, granted him N200,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum, while adjourning the case till September 5.

Over 801 persons have been displaced by flood in Maru town, Zamfara state.

Alhaji Sanusi Mohammed, the executive secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Zamafara state said the affected persons included 180 women and 621 children.

Mohammed told NAN that 52 houses and farmlands were also destroyed during the disaster which occurred on July 29, 2015.

He said: "NEMA and SEMA have visited the affected town and conducted a joint assessment of the disaster. We will forward such assessment to our respective agencies for immediate assistance."

Mohammad called on residents of the state to avoid blocking drainages or constructing structures on waterways to avoid similar disasters.

The Nigeria Meteorological Agency had recently warned people along major rivers in parts of the country to vacate their houses to prevent loss of lives and property due to anticipated flooding the rivers.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) hasadvised communities along the River Niger to evacuateimmediately to safer ground.

The agency warned in a statement it issued in Abuja on Saturday, August 6, 2016 that flooding might occur at any moment following intense rainfall and rises in water level.

'People are killed in your country weekly,' Minister replies US

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammedhas condemned a United States report which declared 20 Nigerian states "unsafe" and completely no go area,’’ saying the US is not better.

Speaking in Abuja on Thursday, August 11, when he received a delegation from the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN), Mohammed urged the media to desist from propagating negative news about the country, stressing that it would discourage investors and be counter productive to tourism growth.

He said: "Recently, all the newspapers carried the negative story that 20 states in Nigeria are not safe, according to a U.S. report.

"We are in Nigeria, how can we believe the claim that 20 states in Nigeria are not safe.

"That is not correct. There is no state in Nigeria that is not safe today.

"Is there any week they are not killing people in the U.S. by either shooting in schools or driveways or people committing suicide or mass bombing.

"How many of these stories do their media celebrate?

"If they want to tell their people not to come to Nigeria, it is not for us to help them propagate it.’’

The minister urged the media and members of the association to complement efforts of government to reposition the tourism sector.

He noted that tourism is driven by perception rather than reality, adding that every Nigerian must invest in perception management for the country.

The minister also urged leaders in the public and private sectors to help promote local tourism by spending their vacations and holidays at tourist sites within the country.

He said that the ministry will soon embark on visitation of major tourist sites in the country to assess their potential for development.

We have re-arrested 6 escaped prisoners – Prisons Controller

Aug. 11, 2016 (NAN) Mr Isaiah Amariri, the Enugu State Controller of Nigeria Prisons Service, said on Thursday that six of the inmates that escaped from Nsukka Prisons on Tuesday night, have been re-arrested.

Amariri, who gave the figure to newsmen in Nsukka, however declined to give the exact number of inmates that escaped from the prison.

He said the prison service was liaising with security agents and community groups to apprehend the remaining escaped prisoners.

"There was a jail break in Nsukka prisons on Tuesday night between 12pm and 3am, in which many inmates escaped, though six of them have been re-arrested.

"I cannot give the exact figure for now as investigations are still on.

"We will send our findings to the Controller General of Prisons who will make public the exact number and cause of Nsukka prisons jail break.

"The service is liaising with security agents and community vigilante groups to know the hideout of those still on the run in order to re-arrest them,” he said.

He assured that any official indicted the course of the investigation would be punished.

"After investigations on the jail break, any person in the service found to have been involved or aided the Tuesday jail break will be arrested and prosecuted no matter his or her position.

"Security has been beefed up in and around Nsukka prisons with serious surveillance on the prisons facilities, inmates and staff.

"The prisons authorities are on top of the situation and will put measures in place to avoid a repeat of what happened on Tuesday night in Nsukka,“ he said.

The controller solicited the help of the general public who might have information on the whereabouts of the fleeing inmates, to report to relevant security agencies.

"We solicit for help from the general public who may have information about the fleeing inmates to feel free and call prisons authorities or security agents to enable them re-arrest the escapees.

"We promise that such information will be given the confidentiality it deserves and source identity will be fully protected, “ he said.

On the condition of the Nsukka prisons, Amariri said it was established a hundred years ago with the original capacity of 168 inmates, but currently harbours 264 prisoners.

‘Nigeria is a poor country,’ President says

According to President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria is now a poor country due to the drop in global oil prices.

Buhari made the comment on Thursday, August 11, 2016, while meeting with the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), Professor Babatunde Osotimehinat the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President said:

“It has been a very difficult year for Nigeria. Before we came to office, petroleum sold for about $100 per barrel. Then it crashed to $37, and now oscillates between $40 and $45 per barrel.”

“Suddenly, we’re a poor country, but commitment to transparency and accountability is not making people know that there is severe shortage.”

President Buhari has been blamed for the economic crisis in the country with members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accusing him of brining negative change.

Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are believed to have won the 2015 elections due to their promise to bring change to the country.

‘Situation will be resolved soon,’ Oil company says

The management of Chevron Nigeria Limited has responded to reports of a protest which took place on its Escravos oil facility in Ugborodo Itsekiri community, Delta State on Wednesday, August 10, 2016.

Protesters were said to have blocked the entrance to the facility while making demands for jobs and housing.

A protest leader, Collins Edema, told Reuters that 300 people decided to demonstrate because Chevron had not fulfilled many of its promises to residents of the community.

However, the management of the company, in a press release issued on Thursday, August 11 by General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Deji Haastrup, said that it does not interfere in the internal relations of the communities where it operates.

The statement reads:

“Chevron Nigeria Limited (“CNL”), Operator of the Joint Venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and CNL (the NNPC/CNL JV), confirms that at about 13:00 on August 9, 2016, some members of the Ugborodo community gathered at one of the gates of our Escravos facility. They are agitating for the recognition of the Ugborodo Community Interim Management Committee and also requesting CNL not to recognise the Ugborodo Community Trust among others.”

“CNL does not interfere in the internal affairs of communities in the areas of its operations including Ugborodo. We continue to engage with the protesters and other key community leaders and stakeholders, including the Delta State Government (DTSG) and hope for a resolution of the situation shortly.”

“CNL advises restraint, respect for the Rule of Law and encourages constructive dialogue among the community members and other stakeholders to sustain enduring peace in the communities.”

Edema had told Reuters that Chevron promised to create jobs for young people from the area and also provide new accommodation after housing next to the depot had been "destroyed" due to the company’s activities.

New armed group says it blew up oil pipeline

A newly emerged armed group has said it had made good on threats to Nigeria's vital oil industry by blowing up a major pipeline and warned that more attacks were to come.

The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM) said in a statement late Wednesday they had shown they were "men of (their) word" by destroying part of the Urhobo pipeline in oil-rich Delta State on Tuesday.

The creation of the group was announced scarcely two days earlier by its spokesman, self-proclaimed "general" Aldo Agbalaja, who warned that the NDGJM would strike at oil installations within 48 hours.

A security source confirmed an attack using dynamite on the Uzere-Eriemu line in the Isoko South area of Delta State.

Communities near the pipeline, which is owned by the state-run Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), are suffering from pollution caused by leaking oil, the source added.

"We started noticing crude oil on our land only to be told that it is as a result of crude oil spill from a trunk line conveying crude from Isoko to the Eriemu manifold," said Victor Emuherie, leader of a youth movement in the affected village of Agbarha-Otor.

The populous Niger Delta region on the Gulf of Guinea has for decades seen attacks by local militants on oil installations run by the NPDC and by foreign oil giants, causing successive governments to deploy troops.

The NDGJM warned that Tuesday's attack was only a preview of its activities to come and urged multinational companies "to evacuate their personnel".

- 'Quite murky' talks -

The government last week resumed payment of allowances to former fighters under an amnesty scheme primarily involving ex-rebels of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

MEND is a historic armed movement demanding reparations and a fair share of oil revenue for residents of the Niger Delta, which has seen spin-offs by radicals who want independence for the region and refuse to recognise Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, as Nigeria's president. 

Attacks by another more active group, the Niger Delta Avengers, have led to a sharp fall in oil production since the start of the year in a country already hit by tumbling prices for crude, which accounts for 70 percent of state revenue.

Oil analyst Rhidoy Rashid said the renewed amnesty payments to MEND are unlikely to stop attacks on oil infrastructure.

"These payments don't actually include the Niger Delta Avengers," said Rashid, who works at the London-based consultancy Energy Aspects, "so they won't decrease the frequency of attacks". 

Rashid described rumoured talks between the Niger Delta Avengers and the Nigerian government as "quite murky".

"Perhaps there are discussions going on behind the scenes, but really we think it's going to be difficult because the government is not prepared to give into the new militants."

- Splinter group? -

A war of words stepped up early this month when a purported splinter group of the Niger Delta Avengers said that former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan was sponsoring the militants. 

Cynthia White, spokesperson for the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers, said in a statement that the breakaway group would "co-operate with the government by exposing the identities of our comrades who remain stubborn in their insistence to continue attacks".

In response the Niger Delta Avengers that their "household is intact" and dismissed White and her group as "government agents". 

Lagos-based security analyst Don Okereke said that the splinter group's origin and claims seem suspicious. 

"The so-called Reformed Niger Delta Avengers is a farce," Okereke said. "It's an attempt aimed at sowing discord in the ranks of the Niger Delta Avengers."