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President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday faulted a claim by the All Progressives Congress that his Thursday visit to Lagos was to coordinate rigging plans for the Peoples Democratic Party in the Saturday governorship election.‎
He wondered why he would rig the governorship election for the PDP when he did not rig the March 28 presidential election in which he was a candidate.

Jonathan's position was contained in a statement made available to journalists by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.
Abati insisted that there was nothing unusual in people paying homage to the President when he is on a visit to Lagos or any other part of the country.
He said the APC spokesman lied as usual and was rude to insinuate that Jonathan met with people in Lagos for the purpose of rigging the elections.

The presidential spokesman said Muhammed and his paymasters were only cooking up meaningless tales in order to change the commendation Jonathan had received across the globe for conceding defeat in the presidential election.
He said, "Lai Muhammed is wrong to say that the President came to Lagos to rig the governorship and State House of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, April 11. He is of course lying as usual. And rude.
"President Jonathan visited Lagos. He arrived on Thursday and left on Friday. People visited him. So what? Anytime the President is in Lagos or any part of the country, a lot of people come to pay homage to him.
"Nothing unusual happened during his last visit to Lagos. Senator Musiliu Obanikoro's visit to the President in Lagos is not something that anybody should use to play politics. Koro is a Minister of the Federal Republic. He came to see his boss.
"Mr. Jimi Agbaje is the governorship candidate of the PDP in Lagos. I don't see how his visit to the President, who is also the leader of his party, the PDP, should become an issue.
"Yes, Gani Adams also visited, but so did a lot of other people."

Abati added that the President did not hold meetings with INEC officials, neither did he meet with the police, polling officials or with anybody who is involved in organising elections.
He said to claim that the President went to Lagos to supervise the rigging of Saturday's election was most uncharitable and cruel.
"After the presidential election, the President immediately congratulated Gen. Buhari and the whole world has commended him for saving Nigeria.
"President Jonathan's sportsmanship, statesmanship and leadership saved this country at that critical moment. He has demonstrated his commitment to free and fair election, the rule of law and due process. He has shown that he is a man of character, honour and integrity. Nigerians generally are proud of him.
"He has left a worthy legacy and shown a great example. That, obviously, is the narrative that Lai Muhammed and his masters want to change, so they are now cooking up meaningless tales.
"Lai Muhammed should look for another target and leave the President alone. His fatuous tale does not make any sense. I repeat: we will like to advise that the APC should just leave the President alone.
"President Jonathan was a candidate in the presidential election; he did not rig the election. Why would he want to rig tomorrow's elections? he added.

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Add BBN on 2BAFB965‎
Nigeria turned on in grand style to thrash Mali 8-0 in an All Africa Games qualifier in Abuja on Friday.

En Avant Guingamo striker Opara Anozie looked like a lady in a hurry as she prodded home barely three minutes in at the Abuja National
Stadium to give the hosts an early lead.
Fifteen minutes later, it was 2-0 to Nigeria with Francesca Ordega getting a goalscoring contribution to practically put the tie to bed.
Oshoala, a livewire all evening, was always going to score and duly got her due in the 36th minute via a tap-in from close range after
an exemplary bit of play from Oparanozie.

The African champions were not taking their foot off the gas and a minute before the interval Oshoala provided a stunning assist for Oparanozie to complete her brace.
The Malians, at this stage, had their tails firmly between their legs but more was to come.
It was now a question of how many goals the Falcons would score on the day and they soon got their fifth through the impressive Oshoala a minute after the interval.
Ordega then completed her brace in the 62nd minute as the dispirited Malians unsuccessfully tried to keep the rampant Nigerians at bay.

Nigeria captain Evelyn Nwabuoku led by example and scored the goal of the game a pile driver from range - to make the score 7-0
in the 69th minute.
It was now getting embarrassing for the Malians who were soon 0-8 down after substitute Esther Sunday scored a simple goal 19 minutes from time.
The Falcons thus completed a 9-1 aggregate win and sent a stern message which will reverberate all across the continent.

Yhemmie_blaq‎

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The LFP has decided to ban Ibrahimovic for
four games, meaning he will miss the Ligue 1 champions' upcoming clashes with Nice, Lille, Metz and Nantes.

Ibrahimovic was banned because of his anti-France tirade following Paris Saint- Germain 's Ligue 1 loss at Bordeauxlast month.

The ruling is a major blow for PSG, given the outspoken attacker had announced his return to his very best form with a hat-trick in Wednesday's Coupe de France rout of Saint-Etienne.

The capital club are also just one point clear of Lyon at the top of Ligue 1, with just seven rounds of the season remaining, only three
of which Ibrahimovic will now be eligible for.

Ibrahimovic will also have to sit out PSG's Champions League quarter-final, first-leg clash with Barcelona next week through suspension, after being sent off in theirprevious fixture against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Yhemmie_blaq‎

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Ahead of the elections slated for tomorrow, President Goodluck Jonathan has just shared this message on his Facebook page.

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The All Progressives Congress has raised the alarm over President Goodluck Jonathan's unannounced visit to Lagos State a day to the governorship election.‎
National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement, wondered why Jonathan arrived in Lagos late on Thursday.
He said Jonathan had a closed-door meeting with the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje; the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs II, Musiliu Obanikoro; and the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Gani Adams.

Mohammed alleged that the meeting was obviously to strategise on how to manipulate the polls.
He said Jonathan was using the general perception, that he is a 'good sportsman', to deceive Nigerians.
He said the President was on a "revenge mission" to rig in Lagos because he failed in the state on March 28.

The APC spokesman added that the PDP had brought in fake result sheets, which it would use to record doctored figures on Saturday.
He said the PDP was desperate to win Lagos because having lost the centre, Lagos was the only means through which the party could be funded.
Mohammed said, "Before the meeting, eagle-eyed Nigerians, who are appalled by the PDP's rigging plans, have widely circulated on the social media the details of the planned electoral malfeasance, including the airlifting from Abuja to Lagos of a Black Kia Mohave SUV, with number plate DHQ 340, which was packed with election materials (especially result sheets).
"The meeting in Lagos was aimed at devising a strategy to distribute the fake result sheets that were packed into the SUV, which will be free to move around (because of its plate number) despite the restriction on vehicular movement during the elections.
"The same President, who conceded defeat in the presidential election and then followed up with a speech in which he said he would like his 'legacy' of free and fair elections to endure, is the one who is presiding over a desperate move to steal the people's votes on Saturday.
"How can President Jonathan's 'legacy' endure when one of his last acts in office is a seeming vengeance mission to lead his party to capture Lagos, because the PDP sees the state as a cash cow that they can milk to death, with the party's gravy train at the federal level, having derailed?"

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A Nigerian Air Force training helicopter crashed in Lagos earlier today. NAF Director of Information, Air Commodore Dele Alonge, who confirmed the crash, however, said no casualty was recorded in the Super Puma helicopter accident, which crashed during training.

The Air Force spokesperson, further revealed that the training helicopter which crashed in Lagos Friday morning developed a hydraulic failure before the accident occurred. According to him, the helicopter, which suffered severe damage, was returning to the Apron after the completion of the training exercise. He said the crash occurred while the copter was on taxi to the hanger. He said there was no casualty but that the main Rotor debris caused damage to some ground equipment on location. He added that the Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosun, had ordered an immediate investigation into the crash.

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39-year-old South African, Nosisi Nqgula, was arrested on Thursday evening by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for allegedly smuggling foreign currencies worth about N710.7m to Nigeria.

According to reports by Punch, the suspect was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos with $373,725 and €2,120 concealed inside packs of oats.
The discovery was made during an inward screening of passengers on a South African airline flight en route from Johannesburg.

According to the agency, two Nigerians ─ Damian Akamelu and Prophet Cyprian Chigere ─ were also being interrogated in connection with the seizure.
In her defense, Nqgula said she was sent by a Nigerian to deliver the money to one Akamelu. Accoding to her, "I live in Johannesburg. I was given a bag by a Nigerian to deliver to Damian Akamelu,".

The NDLEA Commander at the airport, Mr. Hamza Umar, said, "The mode of concealment presents reasonable grounds for money laundering.‎
"Five packs of oats were found to contain $373,725 and €2,120. Two Nigerians are also being interrogated."

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The Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has reinstated about 1,000 local government workers his government sacked last year.‎
The governor said he had also waived the outcome of the last promotion examination conducted for workers in the state.
The 1,000 workers were laid off because the Ondo State government said it discovered that their employment was illegal.

A statement by the state's Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, on Thursday indicated that the workers, about 50 in each of the 18 local government areas in the state, had been reinstated and the irregularities in their employment process corrected.
The statement added that Mimiko had approved promotion of every worker that was due for promotion, irrespective of their performance in the promotional examination already conducted.
The statement read, "The state government has re -absorbed   and properly employed about 1,000 local government workers identified to have been illegally employed during the last screening exercise in the state.
"About 50 workers from each of the 18 local government areas in the state were discovered during the last screening exercise to have been employed illegally and were consequently laid off.
"Governor Olusegun Mimiko has however graciously ordered the re-instatement of the affected workers and their employment perfected. The governor has also ordered the promotion of workers due for promotion to the next level of their career without recourse to the result of the promotional examination earlier conducted for the same purpose."

The information commissioner further said that the state government had decided to commence preparation for the conduct of local government election in the state "as soon as the state assembly election is done with on Saturday."
The Mimiko's administration had in 2014 embarked on a staff audit during which the government said it discovered that the councils had been engaged in illegal recruitment of workers.
The state government also said salaries were being paid to non-existent workers.

In the build-up to the 2015 general elections, Mimiko had promised that elections would be conducted to the 18 local councils in the state after the general polls.

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GOVERNOR Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has warned that members of his All Progressives Congress, APC,will not vote in tomorrow's election if they do not see result sheets at polling centres.
He also said that an alleged renewed upsurge in militancy in parts of the state ahead of tomorrow's governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections was as a result of the alleged quest by Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the First Lady, to control the affairs of the state and further mastermind the rigging of the elections in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The governor, yesterday in Port Harcourt, at a stakeholders meeting, said: "We will not vote if we don't see result sheets. Ask the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officials for the result sheets. If they fail to produce them, then form a human ring around the INEC officials and together with the security men escort the ad-hoc staff to the local government headquarters and lodge your complaints. But make sure nobody votes in any unit where the original result sheets are not produced. We will not accept photocopies.
"We will do what we did in our village; we call it the Obima formula. Our youths usually lock down the village. No one comes in and no one goes out. I am pleading that INEC should not endanger the lives of its staff by holding on to the original result sheets.
"Don't allow any INEC official to leave your unit or your village if he or she fails to do the right thing. This time nobody will write fake results and go scot free. Don't allow voting to commence until you see the result sheets. And also ensure that the results of your units are announced and pasted by the INEC officials before they leave," he said.
The governor also said he had assurances from security agencies that adequate security arrangement had been put in place to secure lives and property during and after the elections.

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The Imo State Police Command on Thursday said it had uncovered a bomb factory at Umuokirika village in Aboh-Mbaise Local Government Area of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Andrew Enwerem, said this in a meeting with journalists in Owerri, the state capital.
Enwerem said acting on a tip-off, a team of policemen from the Command had raided the site of the factory in Umuokrika and arrested two members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign States of Biafra suspected to be the brains behind the illegal factory.
One of the suspects found at the site of bomb factory gave his name as Love Davidson, a resident of Nguru in Aboh-Mbaise LGA of the state, while his accomplice is named Eze Charles from Nsukka in Enugu State. A third suspect is believed to be on the run.
Although Davidson, in whose residence the bomb factory was allegedly sited, denied ever being a part of the syndicate involved in the illegal manufacture of Improvised Explosive Devices, the Police recovered a drilling machine, gunpowder, tins of paint, threads, a bucket and a bore used as shrapnel from the suspects.

However, the head of the Bomb Squad at the Command, Omowaye Timothy, has since identified the items as components used in making IEDs earlier found in some parts of the state a few months ago.

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Eight Vanguard staff narrowly escaped death yesterday, after a 40-foot container fell off a truck and landed on five vehicles, four of which were Vanguard's, at Berger Yard Bus Stop, along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos.
Time was 4am.

The vehicles, two Toyota Hilux pick-up vans with number plates AKD 509 AH and AKD 507 AH; a bus, AGL 51 BJ, and a black Hyundai Verna, JJJ 513 CM, were for circulation of Vanguard newspapers.
The fourth vehicle belongs to a staff of Julius Berger Construction Company.
The vehicles were parked by the entrance to Julius Berger's Euro 65 facility premises because of the perennial traffic gridlock along the expressway, which usually affected the circulation of the national daily.
Vanguard's circulation staff usually cross the expressway with piles of the newspaper on their heads, to load the vehicles, for onward distribution in Lagos and the South-West.
However, yesterday, the circulation staff were said to have finished loading vehicles leaving for the South-West states.
They were on the verge of loading those heading for Ikorodu, Badagry, Kakawa and Ajah areas of Lagos, when a speeding truck, with number plate LND 258 XL, veered off its lane. Its container fell on the parked vehicles.
The truck driver, his escort and the Motor Boy were flung in different directions.
Motorists trapped in traffic also abandoned their vehicles and ran for safety, apparently thinking it was a bomb explosion.
The truck driver and his motor boy were said to have been rushed to New Nigeria Hospital on Dillion Street, Kirikiri, from where they were referred to Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba.

'Driver was smoking Igbo'
The escort and a clearing and forwarding agent were arrested by policemen from Trinity Street.
At the station, the escort revealed that the driver was smoking Indian hemp, when the accident happened.
He said: "We left Tin-Can Island Port at 2am and the driver took out a wrap of hemp.
"As we were approaching Berger Yard Bus Stop, he asked the motor boy to wrap a second one for him.
"He had barely puffed four times when the accident occurred. I do not smoke and I did not feel comfortable with the whiff of the Marijuana. But there was nothing I could do."

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A driver with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Delta State got mobbed on Thursday for trying to allegedly divert election materials.‎
The angry mob descended on the driver and gave him a savage beating in Asaba for allegedly diverting from the route taken by other drivers.

After loading election materials for Ethiope East and West from the Central Bank premises in the INEC pick-up van, the driver is said to have been stopped by the suspicious mob who also observed that he had no police escort.
The crowd thereafter descended on him when he could not provide any satisfactory explanations for his action.
It took the intervention of the police to save the driver form being lynched.

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National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has expressed  his disappointment over the loss of five House of Representatives seats to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
Tinubu stated this at an emergency stakeholders meeting to review the recent election, as well as, strategise for Saturday's governorship and state house of assembly election, held at the APC Lagos Secretariat, Ikeja.
Those in attendance at the meeting were: State Chairman of the party, Chief Henry Ajomale, Senators Oluremi Tinubu, Gbenga Ashafa and Olamilekan Adeola, among others.
Tinubu, who reeled out the House of Representatives election results across local government areas in the state said, "You, the party leaders have disappointed us. For the first time, we lost five House of Representatives seats to the opposition party. This is unacceptable. It is a huge disappointment. Though in politics, you win some , you lose some, you have failed. So there is no excuse to fail this time."
"Also, you did not come out in large numbers. Were you afraid? You have no cause to be afraid as there was adequate security to protect you and your property. So don't be intimidated by the sporadic shootings, meant to scare you away from doing your civic rights. The Hausa communities had a very good and encouraging turn-out, we expect better performance this time."
Tinubu who lambasted the leaders for failing to adequately mobilise their people, including party agents across the wards, charged them to redeem their image or be changed, according to the slogan of the party.
He said that , although the APC is confident of victory, the party cannot afford to be complacent in tomorrow's election as it's too risky to leave Lagos in the hands of inexperienced hands.

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The Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has urged Igbo across the state to push the All Progressives Congress 'into the lagoon' by voting for him on Saturday.‎
Agbaje said this while addressing Igbo traders at the Alaba International Market on Thursday.

The PDP candidate urged them to ignore the threats made by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, that if they do not vote for the APC governorship candidate on Saturday, they would die in the lagoon.
"Nobody can push you into the Atlantic Ocean. Rather, you should use your votes to push the APC into the Atlantic Ocean by voting massively for the PDP on Saturday," Agbaje said.

He urged the people to ignore the scare tactics being marshalled by the APC, saying, it was the antics of a drowning party.
Agbaje said, "Election is like a snake. You have to make sure you win by killing the snake completely by using your votes to drive the APC out of power. The reason why they are harassing you is because they fear Igbo votes. They will try to do 'shakara' for you but you must vote massively for the PDP and protect your votes."

Agbaje, who was accompanied by his running mate, Alhaja Safuratu Abdulkarim; and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, said the APC had become arrogant because the party had been in power for too long.
He said, "In the last 16 years, the APC has been full of arrogance. This arrogance must end once and for all. Saturday is the time to say enough is enough."

Counselling the audience to eschew violence and refuse to be intimidated at the polling venue, Agbaje urged them to guard their votes.
He said, "God is on our side and power will change hands on Saturday and life will be better for you and your businesses. There will be no oppression again because this election is about freedom from bondage."

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A nanny, Mary Akinloye(probably not real names), who allegedly kidnapped three kids in the Surulere area of Lagos State has demanded N15m from the victim's parents, it has been learnt.‎
Our correspondent learnt that the family was contacted on Thursday by the suspect and others, who were suspected to be members of her group. They were said to have demanded the N15m as ransom.

It had earlier been reported on Wednesday that the Orekoya family had posted information on OLX, an online sales portal, seeking the service of a nanny.
Our correspondent reported that Akinloye indicated interest and gave the Orekoyas the contacts of two people who she said were her relatives.
It was reported that the family agreed to formalilse documentation with the purported relatives before the week ran out.

After the 23-year-old resumed for work on Tuesday, she was said to have taken the three children ─ Aderomola (11 months old), Adedamola (4 years old), Demola (6 years old) ─ out, while their parents were away.
She had since not returned.

A family friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the kidnappers contacted the family and demanded N15m on Thursday.
The information was confirmed by another friend who put up the post on a social medium, Facebook.
He said, "Is it a crime to employ a house help? The kidnappers have demanded N15m."

The Police Public Relations, Kenneth Nwosu, said investigations were on.
He said, "Investigations are on and that is all I can say for now.
"There are things you do that can jeopardise investigation.
"What is important in a case like this is to ensure that the children are returned hale and hearty. There are information you may have and if you disclose it, you could break the line of communication. So, we are still on the matter to ensure the safe return of the kids."

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