Abuja:8 Women Jailed For Prostitution

A Zuba Grade 1 Area Court in the FCT, on monday,November 4, 2013, sentenced eight women to six months imprisonment each for prostitution.

The sentenced hooker were identified as Felicia Dominic, Vivian Agubuzor, Ifeoma Patrick, Comfort Jacob, Gift Obi, Tina Osagie, Mercy John and Joy Ayo, of no fixed address in Zuba.

Momoh Ibrahim, the Prosecutor, had told the court that the offence contravened Section 405 (Paragraph 1(b)) of the Penal Code.

Mallam Alhassan Kusherki, the judge, sentenced all the accused persons after they pleaded guilty to the one-count charge of soliciting men for the purpose of prostitution.
The judge also gave the convicts an option of N20,000 fine each

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ASUU May Call Off Strike Today

President Goodluck Jonathan (left); ASUU Vice President, Mr. Biodun Ogunyemi Onabanjo (2nd right); Vice President Namadi Sambo (2nd left) and ASUU President, Nasir Faggae (right) during the meeting.

Abuja – President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday led a negotiation meeting with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end the protracted strike embarked upon by the union since July 1.

The13-hour meeting started at about 2.30 p.m. on Monday at the Presidential Villa and ended at 3.30 a.m. on Tuesday.
The meeting had in attendance the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) led by their respective Chairmen Abduwaheed Omar and Bobbo Kaigama.
The ASUU team was led by the union’s President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, three former presidents of the union, professors Dipo Fashina, Abdullahi Sule-Kano and Festus Iyayi as well as professors Biodun Osiyemi, Victor Osodeke, Suleiman Abdullahi and Dr. Victor Igbum.

On the government negotiation team were, Vice President Namadi Sambo; Minister of Labour, Chukwuemeka Wogu; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike.
Also on the government side were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Mike Oghiadome, and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie.

Emerging from the meeting, Fagge told State House correspondents that the president had given the delegation a message to its members which would enable the union to call off the strike.

“We have had a lengthy meeting with Mr President, rubbing minds on the ways to address the problems of university education in this country.

“We now have a message from Mr President that we are going to take to our members and we are expecting that our members will respond appropriately to the message of Mr President,” he said
Asked whether union would call off the strike and return to work based on the message from the meeting, Fagge said “that is up to our members.”
Wogu, who spoke for the government, said that the meeting ended positively and the message of the President to ASUU “is full of hope and high expectations.

“The message is full of hope and expectations and our prayer is that they come back with positive response.
“They might not even come back to meet us; they might even take decisions there that will meet your expectations.”
Wogu noted that the offer made by the president was in line with the 2009 agreement reached with the union.

“The offer is within the issues that led to the strike; the issues contained in the 2009 agreement and we did not go beyond the agreement,” he said.
He appealed to Nigerians to be patient with ASUU and gave an assurance that the outcome of the meeting would be positive.

The president appeared to be in high spirits when he entered the venue of the meeting.
While shaking hands with the ASUU president, he exclaimed: “My president! All the problems will be over today; our children must go back to school.”
The president proceeded to shake hands with everyone in attendance at the meeting.
Also, while shaking hands with Omar and Kaigama, Jonathan said: “My presidents, with you here, I am assured everything will go on well, it is signed and sealed.”

The meeting went into a 30-minute break at 6.20 p.m.
During the period, the ASUU delegation went out of the venue of the meeting to the road where the bus that conveyed them was packed and held consultations inside the bus for about 25 minutes.
Prior to the arrival of the ASUU and labour team for the meeting, the president held a closed-door consultation with members of his team.

The discussion, which lasted for about 40 minutes, was attended by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke (SAN).
It will be recalled that ASUU embarked on strike on July 1 over the government failure to implement an agreement reached with the union in 2009 for improved funding for infrastructure development in the universities and payment of lecturers’ Earned Allowances.

Government had set up two committees to address the issues to resolve the crisis but the inability of the committees to reach agreements with ASUU led to the vice-president taking over the negotiation.
On Sept. 19, the vice-president held a special negotiation meeting with the leadership of ASUU and offered an improved government position on the matter but the union rejected the offer.
Many Nigerians have appealed to ASUU to call off the strike. (NAN)

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Borno State: Gunmen Kill Groom, 30 Others in Wedding Convoy

Suspected Islamic militants attacked a wedding convoy in Borno State Nigeria and killed more than 30 people including the groom, a state government spokesman said Sunday.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Muhammed Dole said only five people were killed in Saturday's attack on the highway between Gama and Gwoza towns in Borno state. That road runs alongside forests that are a known hideout of Islamic militants of the Boko Haram terrorist network.

But a minibus taxi driver said he passed many bodies on the road near Firgi village, where the wedding ceremony took place Saturday.

"We saw a lot of dead bodies killed by gunshots and some by the roadside that appeared to have been slaughtered" with their throats slit, the driver, who asked to be identified only as Shaibu, told reporters Sunday in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Shaibu said his terrified passengers wanted to turn back, but "I took the risk ... and said God is in control."

Adamawa state spokesman Ahmad Sajoh said the wedding fatiha, the official Muslim ceremony, had taken place in Firgi village in neighboring Borno state and the groom and guests were driving home to Adamawa when they were attacked.

Last week, suspected extremists attacked a military checkpoint in the same area and witnesses said they killed at least four security force members and made off with army vehicles, weapons and ammunition.

Attacks continue in northeast Nigeria more than five months after the government declared a state of emergency and flooded three states that cover one-sixth of the country with troops and police officers.

They have driven the insurgents from major towns and attacked bush camps aerial bombardments and ground assaults. Hundreds of combatants and civilians, mainly Muslims, have died in recent weeks.

The uprising aimed at installing an Islamic state poses the greatest threat in decades to the cohesion of Nigeria, which is Africa's biggest oil producer and most populous nation of more than 160 million people divided almost equally between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

Source: Associated Press

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How Gov. Rotimi Amaechi Shocked Rivers Indigienes At Patience Jonathan’s mother’s burial

Despite the ongoing political differences between Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the governor took many by surprise when he stormed the dance floor at the Okrika National Field, venue of the well-attended funeral service of President Goodluck Jonathan’s mother-in-law, Madam Charity Fyneface Oba, Friday.

Surprisingly, the outspoken governor who had been at loggerheads with the First Lady danced, sang and clapped happily to a Christian praise and worship song rendered in Igbo language to the admiration of those present at the funeral.

It was gathered that some of the women could not help but join the ecstatic governor on the dance floor.

Some Rivers indigenes attributed Amaechi’s shocking performance to a close-door peace meeting he had with President Jonathan and the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Thursday.
They also prayed that this would mark the beginning of peace between the governor and the first lady.
In her speech, the bereaved First Lady described the late Oba as a loving and caring mother who raised her to be a good woman.

In her elegy, Mrs. Jonathan said, “You raised me from a tender age, until I was able to stand on the world’s stage. You taught me right from wrong, and made me virtuous and strong. You put in my heart God’s own song”.

After her speech was over, the First Lady later stormed the dance floor alongside her guests, among whom were fellow Dame, Abimbola Fashola, First Lady of Lagos State, who represented her husband, wives of all the governors of the South South and the South East.

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