BlackBox Nigeria

The Lagos State Government Thursday declared Friday a work-free day for its workers just as state governor, Babatunde Fashola SAN, enjoined private sector employers to release their workers early to enable those of them who are yet to collect their Permanent Voter's Card to do so in their various polling units.

The Head of Service, Mrs. Oluseyi Williams, who gave the directive in a statement, said the state government was desirous of ensuring that all public servants in the state participated in the voting process adding that they should take the opportunity to go out and collect their cards at their polling units.

Enjoining private sector employers to release their workers early today for the same purpose, Governor Fashola said the desired prosperity and the
brighter rewarding future being sought after by the people, both for themselves and for their children, would be determined by their willingness
or otherwise to sacrifice time to key into the election process by collecting their Permanent Voters' Cards for the elections.

"The prosperity and the brighter rewarding future that we all seek, for ourselves and our children over the next four years, will be determined by what we do in the next few days", adding that no sacrifice could be too much a price to secure a better future over the next four years and beyond.

The governor, who noted that in order for democracy to be truly representative, it must be participatory, added that such participation confers eligibility and imposes a duty on all the citizens from the age of 18 years to vote in the elections even as it also enables them to have a say in the elections.

@blackboxupdate

Following the 7-hour meeting of the Council of State, the outcome is that the electoral body, INEC, will go ahead with conducting the presidential, National Assembly, and governorship elections this February.

Also confirming this on Twitter, the APC National Woman Leader, Sharon Ikeazor tweeted that "No postponement. Elections will go ahead".

According to the Council of State: "INEC and security agencies should continue consultation and assess the situation in the coming days. We don't have power under the constitution to call for the postponement of election or to advise INEC to shift the polls."‎

Following the 7-hour meeting of the Council of State, the outcome is that the electoral body, INEC, will go ahead with conducting the presidential, National Assembly, and governorship elections this February.

Also confirming this on Twitter, the APC National Woman Leader, Sharon Ikeazor tweeted that "No postponement. Elections will go ahead".

According to the Council of State: "INEC and security agencies should continue consultation and assess the situation in the coming days. We don't have power under the constitution to call for the postponement of election or to advise INEC to shift the polls."‎

Nollywood actress, Bisi Ibidapo-Obe believes that s3x toys users are more decent than s3x hawkers.
The top Yoruba actress, Bisi who sells s3x toys in her lingerie shop in Lagos said she sees no big deal in using s3x toys most especially those women who are heartbroken by men and wish to have s3x, turning s3x toys into their companion is a welcome idea.

Here is what she said in her interview with Encomium; "It's not a big deal. It is only our mentality here in Nigeria that is somehow. In the western world, they don't see it as anything big. Left to me, anybody using s3x toys is even decent compared to a prostitute. If you are using s3x toy, you are better than a woman jumping from one bed to the other. Before such a person realizes, she has contracted s3xually transmitted diseases. She can even be infected with HIV/AIDS. But with the use of s3x toys, nothing like that can happen to you."

@blackboxupdate

Tragedy struck at Akenfa, a suburb of Yenagoa metropolis, Bayelsa State, on Thursday, following the stabbing to death of a lawyer, Mr. Henry Gagariga, by his wife, Victoria.

It was learnt that the 28-year-old Victoria, killed Gagariga, 33, at their residence on Ebisam Road in Akenfa area of the state.

Victoria was said to have stabbed him on the neck with a kitchen knife following a bitter quarrel over "a minor domestic issue" in the early hours of Thursday.

Sources said they had co-habited for some years before legalising their union in Yenagoa in June 2014, although the union had yet to produce any children.

Gagariga was said to have given up the ghost at a hospital where he was rushed to after losing a lot of blood.

His corpse, it was further learnt, had been deposited at an undisclosed morgue in the state.

Victoria, said to be a daughter of a retired director in the state Ministry of Information from Brass Local Government Area, is said to be an employee of the Bayelsa State Council for Arts and Culture.

Her husband Henry Gagariga was an indigene of Sagbama Local Government Area, also in the state.

When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident.

"We will commence investigation to unravel the cause of death," he said.

@blackboxupdate

Twitter has struck a deal with Google to make its 140-character updates more searchable online.

In the first half of this year, tweets will start to be visible in Google's search results as soon as they're posted, thanks to a deal giving the Web company access to Twitter's firehose, the stream of data generated by the microblogging service's 284 million users, people with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. Google previously had to crawl Twitter's site for the information, which will now be visible automatically. Twitter's shares jumped in early trading.

There's no advertising revenue involved in the deal between Twitter and Google, one of the people said. That suggests Twitter will receive data-licensing revenue, which was $41 million in the third quarter, up from $16 million a year earlier.

The agreement underscores the progress that Twitter Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo is making in getting tweets seen by more non-users and generating more advertising revenue from a larger audience. Twitter, which also provides data to Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search service and Yahoo, is aiming to draw more people to its site as user growth slows. Twitter this week announced deals to show advertising in Flipboard's mobile application and with Yahoo Japan Corp.

Engineers from Twitter and Google are already working on the arrangement, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deal isn't public. The two companies had a similar deal from 2009 to 2011. Ali Rowghani, Twitter's former chief operating officer, had been against renewing the agreement to keep more control over Twitter's content and it lapsed, the people said.

Will Stickney, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Twitter, declined to comment. Jason Freidenfelds, a spokesman for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Twitter rose as much as 4.2% to $42.45 at 7:03 a.m. New York time. Through yesterday's close, the stock had advanced 14% this year.

Anthony Noto, Twitter's chief financial officer, said at the company's analyst meeting in November that it had been working to make tweets easier to find through search engines, and that negotiating with search providers could be a "unique opportunity" to distribute tweets to more people.

Twitter reports its quarterly earnings later today.

~Bloomberg News~

@blackboxupdate

THE National Universities Commission (NUC) has abolished the award of Pass Degree in Nigerian Universities with effect from the 2013/ 2014 academic session.

Prof Abdullahi Zuru, the Vice Chancellor of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, disclosed this on Wednesday at the 2014/2015 matriculation of 4,133 students of the institution.

This has far reaching implications on the grading system of students in universities.
This means that the minimum pass mark for courses in the universities will now be 45 per cent, that is, D-grade, instead of the previous 40 per cent which was E-grade.
It also means that the minimum class of degree to be earned by students will now be Third Class," he said.

According to him, no university student will henceforth graduate with a Pass Degree. He therefore enjoined the students to work hard to earn their stay in the university.
The vice chancellor also advised them to shun extremism, bigotry, violence, ethnicity, political intolerance and religious prejudice.

Zuru commended the Federal Government and its agencies for fully transforming the landscape of the university.

Earlier, the Dean of Students Affairs, Dr Adamu Aliero warned that any student that flouted the rules and regulations of the university would be sanctioned.

He assured the students that the management of the institution would continue to accord top priority to their welfare.

In a remark, Mr Aminu Wushishi, Chairman of the caretaker committee of the students union government, assured that the students would be law abiding.

(NAN)

@blackboxupdate

The Social Democratic Party, SDP, has announced the adoption of President Goodluck Jonathan as its Presidential candidate in the Feb. 14 presidential election.

Dr Abdul Isiaq, the National Publicity of SDP, declared this on Tuesday during a press conference in Abuja.

According to Isiaq, the party reached the decision following the report of a committee set up by its National Executive Committee on adoption of presidential candidates.

It would be recalled that the National Chairman of the party, Chief Olu Falae, had said the party would adopt a presidential candidate, due to its (SDP's) inabilty to produce its own candidate.

However, Isiaq said that the committee, in the report presented to the National Chairman of SDP, observed that of all the presidential candidates, only that of PDP formally requested for the party's support.

He said PDP had also accepted the SDP's required conditions to warrant the party's support.

The conditions, according to Isiaq, are;

"PDP would faithfully implement the 2014 National Conference report as a basis for restructuring Nigeria, adoption of policy of zero tolerance for corruption and intensification of efforts to defeat Boko Haram, among others".

Dr Isiaq while talking, said

"Based on the foregoing observations, the committee has unanimously recommended that SDP should endorse and support the candidature of Jonathan. This is to enable him to complete the restructuring of the polity based on the report of the National Conference 2014. The party has accepted these recommendations and hereby directed all its supporters and members throughout Nigeria to vote for Jonathan''.

Isiaq, who was also the Chairman of the committee, however, stressed that the support was limited strictly to the presidential election.

According to him, it does not extend to any other elections, adding that SDP has candidates for other elections.

"SDP is determined to contest and win all the elections for which it has sponsored candidates throughout Nigeria and thereby become the credible alternative which it aspires to be.''


Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.

@blackboxupdate

A trailer load with goods worth millions of naira, yesterday along Illah-Ebu expressway in Delta State, crushed a pregnant woman and three others to death, leaving two other persons who were by the road seriously injured.

Eyewitness said the driver narrowly escaped being mobbed by the irate youths in both communities (Illah & Ebu) where the incident occurred.

It was reliably gathered that the trailer allegedly rammed into the pregnant woman when one of its tyres pulled out while descending down the Illah hills, but, unfortunately, the driver's bid to veer off from where the victim stood waiting for a commercial vehicle, proved abortive.

The trailer with registration number AA169SL, after killing the pregnant woman and three others ran into the bush where the driver and his conductor sustained minor injuries.

Our eyewitness further said that the victims before help came their way, died on the spot, a situation where the angry mob almost set ablaze, the trailer.

DSP Celestina Kalu, police public relations officer in the state who confirmed the incident, disclosed that the trailer driver was arrested and detained at Illah Police Division to avoid breakdown of law and order by the angry youths, including relations of the deceased.

Sources said the pregnant woman was joined in holy matrimony barely a year ago to a highly placed businessman in Illah community as she was pregnant for her first baby. Relations of the victims as at the time of filing this report , were seen at the accident scene, wailing.

@blackboxupdate

Eight supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State were feared dead, following the outbreak of violent clash with supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna.

Supporters of PDP had been alleged to be defacing posters of the presidential candidate of APC, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and that of its governorship candidate, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.

It was gathered that while some supporters of APC accused the other party of the vandalism, it was hell let loose, as supporters of PDP allegedly swooped on their APC counterparts, with eight said to have feared dead.

In a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune and signed by the spokesperson of el-Rufai campaign organisation, Samuel Aruwan, in Kaduna, the APC confirmed the death of eight of their members, with many others said to have sustained injuries.

The statement said the party suspended its campaign tour of Zone 2, which is Kaduna Central, because of the incident.

But, in a swift reaction, Governor Yero said it was APC supporters who attacked his campaign team at Bakin Ruwa area of Igabi Local Government Area.

A statement by the media aide of the governor, Mallam Ahmed Maiyaki, alleged that the thugs were hired by the opposition party to attack the governor's convoy with the sole aim of throwing the state into confusion.

"It is unfortunate that the same APC that is chanting change has resorted to violence and threats," the statement declared.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Zubairu Abubakar, said the police were on top of the situation.

@blackboxupdate

Sixteen out of the twenty six registered political parties on Tuesday endorsed calls for the postponement of the general election slated for the February 14 and 28.

Also five out of  the 14 presidential candidates on Tuesday signed a statement urging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  to postpone the elections to a more appropriate date.‎
The parties are United Democratic Party (UDP), Citizen Peoples Party (CPP), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Action Alliance (AA), Peoples Democratic Congress (PDC) (ACPN), Labour Party (LP), (MPPP), United Party of Nigeria (UPN), Alliance for Democracy (AD), (ADC), (ACD) Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) and Independent Democrat (ID).
The five presidential candidates who endorsed the postponement were Godson Okoye (UDP), Chief Sam Okoye (CPP), Prince C.O Allagoe (PPN), Tunde Anifowose (AA) and Ganiu Galadima (ACPN).

The 16 political parties in a resolution calling for the postponement, said, "Fellow Nigerians, we the concerned leaders of political parties, run up to the 2015 February General Elections, have observed some dangerous trends, which if not checked may negatively and adversely affect our democracy".

The parties hinged their argument for the postponement on security, distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and people deserting their residence for their villages.

They  also threatened to boycott the elections if the opinions were not respected.

The leaders of the 16 parties  called on Federal government to take necessary steps to provide adequate security for Nigerians to go out and collect their PVCs in order to be able to exercise their civic and constitutional duty.

@blackboxupdate

The peace accord signed by the 16 political parties and their governorship candidates contesting in the forthcoming elections in Kwara State appeared shattered on Wednesday as political thugs attacked the advance team of Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed's campaign in Isapa, in the Ekiti Local Government Area of the state.

Ahmed is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara State and the attackers were suspected to belong to the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

Isapa is the home town of Kwara State PDP governorship candidate, Senator Simeon Ajibola.

Two members of the APC were shot while several others sustained injuries as they scampered for safety.

One of the shot victims was said to be in critical condition as of the time of this report.

Our correspondent learnt that one of the victims was shot on the left leg, while another victim's earlobe was attacked with a machete.

The APC governorship candidate and the state APC Leader, Senator Bukola Saraki, who were among the APC leaders in the campaign train defied the news of the attack and went ahead to address the rally.

Ahmed described the attack as unfortunate. He however said he was committed to peace and violence-free election despite the attack on his party members.

He said, "We have remained committed to a peaceful campaign everywhere we have gone and we have been to virtually all the communities in this state without any problem.

"It is quite unfortunate that as we were coming here our advance team was met with resistance by some misguided youths. Some of our people were shot and they have been rushed to the hospital.

"One of them was in very critical condition and we don't know what will happen to him but we are praying that he survives it.

"It is very unfortunate and it was not expected because we have been carrying out our campaign peacefully and we intend to continue to do so and we would not allow any misguided group to truncate our record of peace in the state."

@blackboxupdate

Five governors on the platform of People's Democratic Party, especially those from the northern part of the country will soon dump the party for All Progressive Congress, Chief Odigie Oyegun, the National Chairman of the APC said in Benin City, Edo State, on Wednesday.

Oyegun said he has held meetings with the said governors and he (Oyegun) has directed them to start the formalities for defection in their various states.

"Let me reveal to you people today that very very soon, you will hear of an earthquake that will consume PDP in this country. As I'm talking to you people now, I have held meetings with some governors that want to join the APC from the PDP. Let me not release the cat out of the bag. But let me assure you that few hours to the presidential and National Assembly elections, the PDP canoe will sink.

"You can see that our President and his party PDP have engaged in one character assassination or the other, yet we are focusing on our campaigns of issues and not names calling.

"The hand writing is so clear , February 14th , 2015 is love day , that date is a special day for our party , as from that day Jonathan will start to park his belongings away from Aso Rock .

"The elections cannot be postponed and they cannot rig it either. Just go there that day, vote and protect it. It is evidently clear that PDP and Jonathan are running scared.

"It is laughable that an NSA, Col. Dasuki, that cannot advice the President on how to tackle insurgency in Nigeria, is calling for elections' postponement."

@blackboxupdate

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has warned that pastors collecting bribes from politicians risk the wrath of God.

The renowned cleric said this on his official Facebook page on Wednesday while reacting to allegations by Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, that the Peoples Democratic Party had bribed some pastors with N6bn to work against the All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhri (retd.).

Adeboye, said, "I read in the newspaper this morning that one of the serving governors in Nigeria said that some pastors in Nigeria collected N6bn from politicians for the purpose of influencing their members to vote a certain candidate in the coming elections.

"May I humbly request that if there be any pastor or pastors who collected such money, they should please return such as quickly as possible before the fire of the Almighty consumes you."

Amaechi, had on Tuesday, told his supporters not to be deceived by pastors, whom he said, were campaigning against Buhari because he was a Muslim.

He had said, "Some pastors collected N6bn and they are circulating document and telling you not to vote for an Hausa man; not to vote for a Muslim; that they want to Islamise Nigeria. Tell them to return our N6bn.

"They gave them N6bn; they should return it to the Federal Government coffers. They will tell you that Buhari wants to Islamise Nigeria; tell them we are too educated.

"I am a Catholic, but no Catholic priest has told me that story right now in the Catholic Church because I will ask him how. If any pastor tells you that, tell him to return the money.

"Nobody can Islamise Nigeria; they have commercialised Jesus Christ. They should stop commercialising the Christian faith. You know what Jesus Christ did in the temple? He chased them away."

@blackboxupdate

The officers of the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps on Wednesday paraded five suspects for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl.

The state Commandant of NSCDC, Mr Andekin Musa, said the suspects, including a father of three, were labourers working at a construction site in Doma Local Government market.

Musa disclosed that the girl they raped hawks sachet water otherwise called 'Pure Water' in the same area.

He said four of the suspects had on Jan. 30, lured the girl into an uncompleted building beside the Doma market and took turns To Molest her.

"The suspects raped her in an uncompleted building near the market. They lured her into the building saying they would buy her water but instead raped her," Andekin said.

The commandant explained that the four suspects after their arrest implicated the fifth suspect who also confessed to raping the girl.

Musa said that officers of the command in Doma on a tip-off on Feb. 1 arrested two of the suspects near Tudun Laraba community in Doma.

He said the other three suspects were later arrested on the same day from the Doma market.

"The rape took place on Jan. 30, while their arrest was on Feb. 1. They are all around and they have all confessed to committing the offence." he said.

Musa said the suspects, Wada Mohammed (37), Tanko Adamu (36), Abubakar Ogachi (40), Yusuf Ogar (35) and Samaila Ali (35) would be prosecuted after investigation had been concluded.

"From our investigation, the suspects have been in the habit of raping underage girls and we have been receiving reports of similar cases in that area," he said.

One of the suspects, Samaila, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the devil pushed him to commit the crime as it was not in his habit To Molest women.

"I have a wife and three children and I have never done this kind of thing before. It is the devil that pushed me to do it," he said.

The father of the girl, Malam Umar Mohammed, thanked the NSCDC for promptly arresting the suspects and expressed optimism that justice would be done.

@blackboxupdate

A former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said he will henceforth maintain silence on the state of the nation until after the forthcoming general elections.

He said this on Wednesday while addressing traditional rulers from Egbaland who were attending a seminar organised by a non-governmental organisation, The Village Network Empowerment Initiative. The seminar held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.

The former president, who had in recent times criticised President Goodluck Jonathan's administration, said it was unfortunate that some people could misconstrue his good intention for the country.

Hence, he said he had chosen to keep mum until after the elections.

Obasanjo, who also flayed the situation in which teachers in some states were being owed salaries for upward of six months, said Nigerians had an opportunity from February 14 to play their own part in enthroning leaders of their choice.

He said, "Where we are now, I have spoken. I have used body language and whoever still does not understand all I have been saying, it would take such a person a long time to understand.

"It is something that is very clear for us all to see. Some people came to visit me from Benue State three days ago and told me teachers in that state had not been paid for six months.

"There are states where teachers have not been paid for four months, three months and two months. That is not good at all. It's only God that can help us to overcome all these problems.

"All I know is that God has done His own part and it's now left for us as human beings to do our own bit. Do we, as Nigerians, say that God has not been magnanimous enough to us?

"Is it human or natural resources that we do not have? We are blessed with a lot of fertile land. Shakespeare says the fault is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.

"God has done his own part and it's now left for us as human beings to play our own part. That our own part starts from the 14th and it's now left to you and me. I won't say more than that. I've said I won't say anything anymore until after the elections.

"You'll hear from me after the elections. But I've said it verbally and through body language and how you understand it all is now left to you. But whatever you still don't understand about all of these, I will put it in prayers that God should enable you to clearly understand it all better.

"But I won't say more than this until after the election."

Delivering a lecture to the traditional rulers on "Waste to Wealth, Health, Biogas productions as an alternative source of energy for sustainable rural development," the Director of the Zoo Park of the Federal University of Agriculture, Prof. Moses Oyatogun, enumerated the uses of different waste for energy production.

He advised them to take advantage of all manner of waste in their environment.

The initiator of the Village Network Empowerment Initiative Network, Oba Olufemi Ogunleye, said he organised the seminar to enable the traditional rulers to acquire knowledge and exposure towards the development of their communities.

@blackboxupdate

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega has threatened to rather resign his appointment than postpone the scheduled February general elections. He said nobody's demand, including that of the National Council of States (NCS), or any other institution, will make INEC to postpone the February general elections as scheduled. A source further said that Jega confided in them that he will appeal even a court order on this issue, and that only a Supreme Court order will make him shift ground.

A highly reliable source close to the INEC Chairman who pleaded anonymity disclosed that Prof. Jega told a group of close friends to which he belongs on Wednesday that he would would rather resign his appointment and save his personal and professional integrity as an academic than be humiliated by the act of postponing the elections. The INEC Chairman was said to have dropped this hint against the backdrop of stories making rounds in the media that the NCS may advise against holding the February election, using the inexcusable excuse of poor distribution of PVCs. He said in spite of all the efforts put by his commission and with over 80% of PVCs made available, it will be dishonest for anybody to use this exercise to call for the postponement of the elections.Our source said Jega told them that if postponement is forced on the commission, then the only honourable option open to him is to resign.

The source concluded by saying that it is Jega's view both as a professor of Political Science and his experience as INEC's Chairman that any postponement of the election would cause more harm to the country than good.


The issue of postponing the February elections has been making waves for sometime now, and it took a new dimension when the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Sambo Dasuki, joined the fray in London last week.

@blackboxupdate