Suspected herdsmen have reportedly kidnapped nine passengers aboard a commercial bus along lsua highway in Akoko South East area of Ondo State.
Consequently, the abductors have demanded N100m ransom from the families of the victims.
The passengers, according to reports were heading from Abuja to Lagos
A family member of one of the victims, who confirmed to newsmen in Akure said that the kidnappers have demanded the ransom before the victims would be released.
The victims were said to be aboard a Toyota Sienna space bus when they were ambushed by the suspected herdsmen.
They were reportedly marched into the forest by their abductors after their vehicle was stopped on the highway.
When Contacted, the state police spokesperson, Tee-Leo Ikoro who confirmed the incident, however, said one of the victims has been rescued.
Ikoro said efforts were on to ensure the release of other victims.
He said that the police detectives in the state were working with hunters, local vigilante and other agencies to effect the release of the victims.
Prince Harry is known for his love of rugby — and relocating to Los Angeles with Meghan Markle and 1-year-old son Archie amid the lockdown seems to have made him appreciate the game even more.
“We all miss rugby,” Harry admits in an Instagram video posted by England Rugby on Wednesday, looking tanned and healthy in an outside area of his new home of L A.
While rugby has been totally suspended in the U.K. since March 20 due to its close-contact, highly-physical nature, the Duke of Sussex added that the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic still “hasn’t taken away our spirit” — a reference to the community ethos the game prides itself on.
Related: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Send Letter to Youth Volunteers amid ‘Scary and Testing Time’
Prince Harry
The Instagram video forms part of England Rugby’s “Pitch In” campaign, which has been launched during the U.K.’s coronavirus lockdown to help English rugby teams support their local communities by hosting charity events at their clubhouses or using them to provide food to key workers and those most in need of help.
“When the game was paused, the rugby family came together as one. Thank you from all of us at England Rugby 🌹,” England Rugby posted alongside the video, which features current England captain Owen Farrell and 2003 World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson, who played extensively alongside Harry’s cousin-in-law Mike Tindall.
A lifelong fan of the game, Harry is the Honorary President of England Rugby and traveled to Yokohama, Japan, in November 2019 to watch the team play in the World Cup Final against South Africa.
Although England didn’t win the match, losing 32-12, Harry gave South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a big hug afterward, in a sweet moment captured on the now-defunct Sussex Royal Instagram account.
“Tonight was not England’s night, but the whole nation is incredibly proud of what @EnglandRugby have achieved over the past few months,” Harry wrote. “Hold your heads high boys, you did an outstanding job and we couldn’t have asked more from you.”
Prince Harry with players
Afterward, the duke also visited with some of the winning South African athletes, as he congratulated the team on becoming world champions.
Away from rugby, Harry and Meghan have been busy helping out Homeboy Industries, a community social justice organization working to improve the lives of formerly incarcerated and previously gang-involved people in L.A.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were just ‘Harry and Meghan’ to the homies,” Father Greg Boyle, the group’s founder said about the visit, which saw the couple prepare food for the #FeedHOPE program alongside the group’s participants (“Homies”) working in the café and bakery.
“They rolled up their sleeves and deeply engaged with our workers in the bakery and café. It was immediate kinship and heartening in its mutuality.”
On Wednesday PEOPLE confirmed that Harry and Meghan have also taken the next big step in their post-royal life, by signing with the New York-based Harry Walker Agency for speaking engagements.
Their new venture, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, will see the couple engage in keynote speeches with trade associations, corporations and community forums. They will also continue to focus on social issues such as racial injustice, gender equality, mental health and environmental concerns.
The Amotekun Corps, a regional security architecture in southwest Nigeria has sent a strong warning to the Fulani herdsmen who have been destroying farmlands and threatening the security of rural communities, including the umbrella organization, the Miyetti Allah, that it is no longer business as usual. The Amotekun Corps that constitutes the Ondo State Security Network Agency, arrested 42 cows which were wrongly guarded to destroy farmlands at Alagbaka extension in Akure.
The Ondo State Commander of the Amotekun Corps, Adetunji Adeleye, said the Corps arrested the cows after receiving five consecutive complaints from owners of the farmlands being invaded by the herdsmen and their flock.
Adeleye stated the herds trampled on eight farmlands and completely destroyed crops which include maize and cassava under the supervision of Fulani herdsmen, who were acknowledged to often graze their cattle within the environment.
The Commander narrated that the herdsmen who were heavily armed pursued the farm owners, who escaped to inform the Amotekun Corps. He said that the heavily armed herdsmen had attempted to kill the farm owners immediately they invaded the farmlands with their cattle. The farmers, however, fled for their safety before alerting the Amotekun who urgently intervened, arresting the cows in the process.
However, the Ondo State Commander did not give details of further actions or how the arrested cattle would be released.
At the time of this report, the leadership of the Miyetti Allah is yet to react to the incident.
Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions without kicking a ball on Thursday as Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Manchester City ended the Reds’ 30-year wait to win the English title.
Jurgen Klopp’s men sealed a 19th league title for the club with a record seven games left to play after second placed City’s defeat left them 23 points adrift.
Liverpool had moved within two points of the title with a 4-0 demolition of Crystal Palace at Anfield on Wednesday.
Their 28th win in 31 league games this season prompted Liverpool star Mohamed Salah to declare “now is our time to win the league” and 24 hours later his wish was granted.
Liverpool got the favour they wanted from Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Willian’s 78th minute penalty, awarded for a handball by Fernandinho, ended City’s two-year reign as champions after Kevin De Bruyne had cancelled out Christian Pulisic’s opener.
Liverpool have clinched the title earlier than any other Premier League champions, breaking the previous record of five games left shared by City and Manchester United.
It has been an agonising wait for Liverpool fans across the world, with the coronavirus hiatus forcing them to put the champagne on ice after the Premier League was suspended in March with Klopp’s team two wins from the title.
The three-month delay was a final obstacle on Liverpool’s long road back to the pinnacle of English football.
Liverpool spent years in the shadow of arch-rivals Manchester United during the Alex Ferguson era before being left behind by the massive spending of Manchester City and Chelsea.
Then managed by Brendan Rodgers, they infamously squandered a golden opportunity to win the title in 2014 when Reds captain Steven Gerrard made his costly slip in a late-season defeat against Chelsea.
But Klopp’s team are deserved champions after an incredible campaign that could end in record-breaking style.
Liverpool, who are now one title behind Manchester United’s English record haul of 20, are on course to beat Manchester City’s record points total of 100 set in 2017/18.
Klopp’s men could smash the record for the biggest winning margin, set by City when they finished 19 points clear at the top in that same season.
They are also within touching distance of the most victories in a Premier League season — 32 by City in 2017/18 and 2018/19.
WE CAN PLAY PRETTY GOOD
Klopp, the first German manager to win the Premier League, has been the architect of Liverpool’s renaissance since the former Borussia Dortmund boss arrived at Anfield in 2015.
Infusing his players with a belief in his “heavy metal” football and high-tempo “gegen-pressing” game-plan, the charismatic Klopp has earned his place alongside Liverpool’s iconic former managers Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish.
When Dalglish led Liverpool to the title in 1990, the prize Shankly once described as the club’s “bread and butter” was almost taken for granted after two decades of dominance.
Following years of underachievement, Klopp has brought his unique style and major trophies back to Liverpool.
They won the Champions League last season, when they beat Tottenham in the final, 12 months after losing to Real Madrid at the same stage of the competition.
Liverpool were pipped to the title by Manchester City on the final day of last season, finishing with a record 97 points for top-flight runners-up.
But with Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino forming a formidable front three, Jordan Henderson a tireless presence in midfield and Virgil van Dijk imperious at the back, Liverpool have left City trailing in their wake this season.
It was fitting that Liverpool saved one of their most eye-catching performances for the week the title was won.
After destroying Palace, Klopp said: “Imagine if the stadium could have been full and people could have experienced that live. It would have been amazing.
“This game will last a while in my mind, this is what we want to be.
“We cannot play like other teams, but we can play pretty good stuff.”
Klopp’s frustration that matches are being played behind closed doors at present will fade in time.
It will be the memories left by his transcendent team that linger longest.
Historians on the Kop will surely rank this Liverpool side, also crowned Club World champions in December, alongside the 1979 and 1988 vintages as one of the greatest to wear the famous red shirt.
The Coalition of Public Interests Lawyers and Advocates, COPA, has called for the arrest of popular Nigerian artiste Mr. Oladapo Oyebanjo, aka D’Banj, following an allegation of rape against him by Miss Seyitan Tayo, NAN reports.
Recall that Tayo had accused the singer of sexual assault which according to her, happened in 2018.
Following the development, the ‘Koko Master’ corona who denied the allegation describing it as “lie from the pit of hell” slammed Tayo with an N100 million defamation suit demanding an apology in four national dailies or risk legal action.
However, on Thursday there were varying reports of Seyitan allegedly arrested and threatened by Dbanj’s camp.
This did not go down well with some Nigerians who accused Dbanj of obstructing justice and intimidation on social media and equally prompted the Inspector general of Police l Mohammed Adamu, to order an investigation into the case.
Reacting, Mr. Patrick Odey, Director, Human Rights and Gender, at COPA in a statement released on Wednesday urged the Nigeria Police to allay the fears of ordinary Nigerians in its handling of rape matters in the country.
According to him, the coalition wondered why Tayo (the victim) should be detained instead of D’Banj, the accused.
He also commended the timely intervention of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, noting that time had come for every Nigerian to rise up to the challenge and bring rapists to justice.
“We welcome the forthright and timely intervention of the Inspector General of Police, who has since ordered a comprehensive investigation into this matter.
“This directive is timely given the individuals involved and the peculiarity of the issues therein, as well as the ugly times we live in as a nation where incidences of rape and other gender-based crimes are rampant.
“The intervention of the IGP is satisfying and assuages risen public fear before now that the instrumentality of the Nigeria Police Force had been hijacked by the bourgeoisie class of the Nigerian polity to protect the musician.
“Speculations of manipulation and partiality in the investigative process especially given the status of the alleged offender in comparison to the victim, but the directive of the IGP is, to say the least, reassuring and highly welcomed,” he said.
Odey further stated that the delay in inviting the alleged offender for the purpose of interrogation in pursuance of the investigation ordered by the Inspector General leaves much to be desired as regards the public perception of the process.
He noted no one should enjoy special treatment over any other especially within the sector of crime detection and justice delivery in the country.
“Justice must not only be done but must also be manifestly seen to be done, and for us at COPA, the manifest path of justice extends to the conduct of investigations and the treatment of the parties.
“It will be a fair play if there will be a transparent and visible investigation to ensure that a proper, dispassionate and comprehensive investigation into the allegations was conducted without considering the personality involved,” he added.
The All Progressives Congress has dissolved its National Working Committee.
The decision was reached at the National Executive Council meeting held on Thursday.
Bashir Ahmad, an aide to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), tweeted, “Following the recommendation of President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been dissolved.”
A 43-year-old father has been arrested for allegedly raping his 3-year-old daughter while his wife was in the hospital to deliver their child.
Mr Ikechukwu Ekenta, from Ikeduru- Ogwah, Mbaitolu Local Government Area of Imo state, is accused of defiling his daughter, Kamsiyochukwu Ekenta on 28th of April 2020, when her mother put to bed.
Narrating her ordeal, little Kamsimyochukwu, who is 3 years and 10 months old, said her daddy put his “komkom” (Penis) inside her private part while she was asleep. She said the pain woke her up.
Speaking at the Professor Dora Akunyili Women Development Center, Awka, the alleged rapist Mr Ikechukwu Ekenta said he was pushed by an evil spirit to commit the act.
He said whenever the spirit possesses him, he starts behaving abnormally. He said that on that fateful day, he used his finger to defile the girl as the urge came.
The wife of the alleged rapist, Mrs Uzoamaka Ekenta, while explaining how she found out, said that on her return from the hospital, she noticed her child was acting like she was in pain while bathing her. She questioned the girl and she accused her dad of penetrating her.
Mrs Ekenta said she asked her husband what transpired and he admitted committing the crime but claimed he used his finger. They took the girl to the hospital where it was noticed that he used his penis, not his hands as he claimed.
She stated that she complained to her husband’s parents but they threatened to deal with her if she tells anyone.
The Commissioner For Women And Children Affairs, Lady Ndidi Mezue reacted to the incident. She said it is an abominable act, condemnable in all ramifications. She added that the child is still in pains.
Lady Ndidi said that on receiving the information from the whistleblower, they rushed to the residence of the rapist at 33 area near Onitsha and apprehended him together with the help of the men of Department of State Services. She said he will face the full weight of the law.
“Even the obstacles on my way, I predict them before those that will bring them will start to think about them. I plan for betrayal, I plan for backstabbing, I also plan for reunion & forgiveness long before they happen.I expect nothing, I expect anything, I expect everything”- Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
My dearest Jagaban,
You know very well that I have always liked and respected you. You will also recall that a few years ago I warned you that everything that is being done to you today would eventually be done to you given the choices you made at the time.
I bear you no malice or ill-will but in view of what is happening in your political party and given the fact that your good friend, co-conspirator and collaborator, President Muhammadu Buhari, has finally thrown you under the bus and dumped you, I am constrained to write the following.
The bitter truth is that you predicted NOTHING and you saw NOTHING. The only thing you saw were your own vain delusions and insatiable greed and the only thing you felt and that moved you was your blind ambition.
You sold your body, spirit and soul to the enemy and betrayed your people even though we warned you over and over again that those you were dining with were far smarter and far more astute than you.
Yet even though all the signs were there you dismissed our concerns, vilified us, treated us with contempt, demonized us and sought to destroy us.
Now the chickens have come home to roost and the writing is on the wall. The signs are there for all to see. You betrayed and sold Lagos. You betrayed and sold the South West. You betrayed and sold the South East. You betrayed and sold the South South. You betrayed and sold the Middle Belt. You betrayed and sold the North East. You betrayed and sold the North West. You betrayed and sold the Muslims and you betrayed and sold the Christians.
Simply put you betrayed and sold EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in Nigeria just to feed and satisfy your psychotic obsession and compulsive ambition.
Like Icarus the Greek, you flew too high and too close to the sun with your wax wings, puffed up and fuelled by your hubris and pride and now you shall meet your nemesis. The spiritual wound that has been inflicted on you is irreversible and terminal and there is no going back.
The dark clouds that lie ahead of you are thick, ugly, frightful, violent and impassable: you cannot make it through them safely or survive them. Your enemies have dug a pit for you and you have already fallen into it.
They have finally stripped you naked, grabbed you by your balls and taken everything from you.
You have lost your mystique, honor, glory, self-respect, following, clout, pride, reputation and so much more. You have also lost control of the political party that you conceived, formed, nurtured and built. The APC was your baby and now they have taken it from you and are set to kill it.
They fooled you, used you, dimped you and humiliated you and now they are going to expose you, rubbish you, malign you, break you, crucify you, investigate you and utterly crush you.
You dreamed of being Vice President in 2015 and you failed. You are dreaming of being President in 2023 and you will fail.
In all your plans what you failed to appreciate is that God alone rules in the affairs of men. You refused to acknowledge or accept the fact that the Presidency of Nigeria can only be given by God and He gives it to whom He deems fit by prophecy and divine decree.
It is not about money and power and if it were Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, who had neither of the two before being respectively elected as President, would never had made it.
It is about God and God alone. It is for Him alone to give. It is about His purpose, His will, His counsel, His plan and His glory.
He OWNS the Presidency and the minute any man or woman attempts to usurp His role and think that he or she can buy it or manoeuvre his or her way into it by the usage of political intrigues, guile, sagacity, wisdom, power, knowledge, money or anything else, the Lord disqualifies and rejects him.
Such a person will fail woefully and may even end up losing everything he or she values and cherishes in his futile quest.
God will never share His glory with anyone and He will never support a man or woman that is prepared to mislead, betray and sell his own people down the river just to satisfy his vaulting and insatiable ambition of becoming President.
Yet the signs were there but you refused to acknowledge or accept them.
They refused to give you a formal position in the National Executive. They ensured that some of your key loyalists in the South West turned against you and opposed you.
They refused to accept even ONE of your Ministerial nominees both in 2015 and 2019. They humiliated your protegee who you nominated as Vice President and turned him into a pliant and pathetic little errand boy with no testicular fortitude or shame.
They drove your nominee at FIRS out of office unceremoniously and have placed him under criminal investigation.
They have divided the ranks of your loyalists and turned even your hitherto most trusted lieutenants against you.
They insulted, undermined, marginalised you openly and worse of all they made it clear to you privately that they would NEVER give you power.
All this meant nothing to you and you shamelessly continued to support their evil ways and toe their satanic and murderous line.
Yet if you did not care about what they subjected you to you ought to have at least cared about what they did to Nigeria.
For the last five years our nation and people have suffered because of the calamitious choices that you made and the inexplicable and unconciable alliances that you forged.
You propped up and supported a ruthless, heartless, corrupt, bloodthirsty and cruel regime and tyrant and a President that is clearly beside himself and whose mental and physical faculties reside in another realm and in another world.
Consequently our nation has been utterly and completely destroyed, our economy ruined and our people decimated.
They have been slaughtered, butchered, pauperised, emasculated, humiliated, marginalised, insulted and impoverished.
Hundreds of thousands of them have been murdered in cold blood in their homes, towns, villages and farms and millions have been displaced.
Millions more have been ruined and economically destroyed whilst our country remains weak, divided and the butt of cruel jokes all over the world.
Because of your choices Nigerians are being subjected to persecution, physically attacked, enslaved, humiliated, lynched, scorned, maimed, killed, disgraced, evicted and declared persona non grata both at home and in distant foreign lands whilst our foreign Embassies are being demolished by miscreants and local criminals even in supposedly friendly countries.
I sincerely hope thet one day you will reflect on all this and consider the damage you have done to your kinsmen and compatriots.
Whether you do or not is left to you but one thing that is clear: for the choices you have made, for all you have done and for the sheer wickedness and greed that resides in your insensitive and dark heart you will pay a heavy price both in this world and in the world to come and the Lord will hand you over to your political enemies.
Permit me to conclude by quoting the instructive words of a tweet that I posted just yesterday after I heard about the latest developments in your party. I wrote,
“First Oshiomole is kicked out by the Court of Appeal. Then his preferred replacement, Ajimobi, falls into a coma. Then his arch rival, Giadom, is recognised by Buhari as National Chairman.
Conclusion: it is over for Tinubu. He has been thrown under the bus and retired from politics!”
I stand by those words. Happy retirement my dearest Jagaban: may you live long to see the glory of our country restored and the damage that you have done to our people repaired. Shalom.
A US court has upheld a verdict that talcum powder sold by Johnson & Johnson caused ovarian cancer and ordered the pharmaceutical giant to pay $2.1 billion in damages, AFP reports.
The decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals cut by more than half the $4.4 billion a jury had awarded 22 people in 2018.
The court agreed that some of the plaintiffs should not have been included in the case as they were from outside the state. But the Tuesday decision upheld the awarding of damages for the company “knowingly selling products that contained asbestos to consumers.”
“Because defendants are large, multi-billion-dollar corporations, we believe a large amount of punitive damages is necessary to affect this case,” the judgement said.
“It is impossible to place a monetary value on the physical, mental and emotional anguish plaintiffs suffered because of their injury caused by defendants.”
A spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson said the company would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of Missouri, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Johnson & Johnson has faced thousands of lawsuits across the United States alleging it failed to warn consumers of the risk of cancer from asbestos in its talc-based products. I
In 2019, a California jury became the latest to award millions in damages to a plaintiff who said the company’s baby powder had given her terminal cancer.
Last month the firm announced it was discontinuing production of its talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada, in part due to the “constant barrage of litigation advertising” over the product. It will continue to sell the product in the rest of the world, it added.
