Metro Nigeriana

The gunmen who abducted a Catholic Priest in Delta on Friday last week have demanded N20m as ransom. Fr. Jude Onyebadi, the Parish Priest of SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Issele-Azagba, was allegedly abducted by three gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen at his pineapple farm located between Ubulu-Uku and Issele-Uku communities. Sources close to the priest told our correspondent on Monday that the captors had established contact with church and made their demands known even as the police command in the state claimed its personnel were closing in on the suspects. Eyewitnesses said the hoodlums stormed the farm command-style and immediately went for the cleric, and dragged him into the bush and whisked him away to unknown destination. One of the sources said, “Father was kidnapped by three armed men who were dressed and looked like Fulani herdsmen. Before help could come he had already been dragged into the bush from where we have not heard from him till today (Monday)....

The debut of the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM) in Kenya and Ghana, approximately 48 hours after its activities in Nigeria were suspended for a month, has caused increased panic among Nigerian MMM participants. Chiamaka Ugorji, the wife of Chuddy Ugorji, a leading MMM Nigeria promoter, attempted to calm nerves by writing an open letter to participants, but this failed to reassure Nigerians that their investments were safe. Some individuals, who spoke to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, shared their thoughts on the issue. A civil servant, Charity Okafor, said “I participated in the scheme twice by investing N500,000 and one million naira respectively and I got my money back with the large interest. “However, I felt I should not participate in the scheme any longer and I am lucky I had people around me who convinced me not to reinvest. “I know I would have turned into a crazy woman if I had money there during this suspension,” Okafor said. Ebube Okoh, a housewife, told pressmen that she...

The sad story of the Enaghagbon family in Benin City, South South of Nigeria, who resides at No. 12 Omoruyi Street, Benin City. It was a tale of blood during the governorship election of 2007 that eventually saw the emergence of Comrade Adams Oshiomole as the governor, who fought very hard at the election tribunal and court of appeal to reclaim his mandate that was subverted by the then Obasanjo –led federal government. Mr. Eric osarodion Enoghayiagbon who was a chieftain of one of the political parties PDP found himself and his household in the middle of political crossfire because of his stands on the election as he confront the political leaders for the attacked by gangs of thugs that was  used for the killing of three people at oba akenzua primary school polling unite, Luckily he managed to escape with his family, when ask how he managed to escape Mr. Enoghayiagbon thanked God and thank some person (whose name is withheld) for promptly giving the information so he could e...

Players and officials of the Super Falcons have been paid various sums of money as approved by the Federal Government after the Nigeria Football Federation received the sums on Friday. “The bank accounts of the players and officials are being credited as we speak. They will all receive credit alerts of the monies due to them, as released by the Government, before the end of the day,” NFF’s Head of Women’s Football, Ruth David, said. The monies were for the Super Falcons’ participation at the 10th Women Africa Cup of Nations finals, which the team won after defeating hosts Cameroon 1-0 in the final in Yaounde on 3rd December. Also released by the Federal Government were monies due to players and officials of the Super Eagles for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Algeria, played in Uyo last month. A breakdown of the Super Falcons’ monies showed that each player got the sum of N5,494,500, less the sum of N600,000 that was earlier paid to each of the players at va...

Sports minister Solomon Dalung has ordered an audit of the finances of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after world football governing body FIFA suspended any grants to the FA until they properly account for $1.1 million that has been paid to them. Dalung was most scathing of the rot at the NFF in his speech during Sunday’s Annual General Assembly in Lagos. “I received a report from the NFF intimating me of FIFA’s audit Report which raised queries on the management of $1.1 Million FIFA’s development grant to the NFF. According to the Report, FIFA has withheld all development funds to Nigeria for lack of proper documentation of $802,000 out of the funds released to NFF,” reported Dalung. “This is a very serious issue that must be given urgent attention to avoid another international embarrassment, more so that the present administration under the leadership of Mr. President, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari has zero tolerance for any act of mis-appropriation, misapplication, emb...

THE EVIL GENIUS -   BEDC BOSS When NEPA/PHCN was privatized, Nigerians thought at last we are going to heave a sigh  of relief but little did Nigerians know that  we are biting more than we can chew. Coming home, because i cant speak for other states but for Edo State I can speak. Since the date when the discos arrived, power became a scarce commodity and since then most people in Edo State never knew what it is to have power. In my area in Benin City (Siluko Road to be precised) we experience 1 hour power a day, some days 30 minutes, other days 3hr 30min in 2 days. I run generator for a minimum of 14-16 hours daily We have embarked on a protest mission twice, the BEDC management will tell us they are going to be scheduling 3 hour on and off for us, yet we agreed but it never came. Recently, there have been pockets of protest in most parts of the states, in Auchi, people protested and because of their protest the whole of that local government and some parts o...

SPECIAL REPORT: Inside Agatu killing field: blood on the streets, charred bodies everywhere March 18, 2016 Emmanuel Mayah RELA Agatu Killings: Senate blames Boko Haram, not Fulani herdsmen March 9, 2016 Across the Nasarawa-Benue borderline, Agatu was still hundreds of miles away but passengers on the motorway were already getting an eyeful of savagery. In a village farm with fresh ridges heralding a new planting season, a young Fulani herder was perched on a cashew tree, his cattle trampling below him. Armed with a machete, he was hacking away at the lush branches, felling them to the ground for the animals to feed. The farm owners stood outside their huts and like the passing motorists could only watch helplessly as the cash crop was stripped bare and their yam seedlings destroyed. The routes to Makurdi and on to Otukpo and Apa were characterized by the same landscape and scenario. Along both sides of the road were hundreds of farmlands with ridges and all dott...