JUST IN: Two Female Suicide Bombers Hit Crowded Maiduguri Market

The relative peace enjoyed by residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital was this morning shattered as two powerful bomb explosion ripped through a popular market in the town, ABUSIDIQU.COM reports.

An eye witness said the explosion was carried out by two female bombers at the crowded Monday market in Maiduguri early this morning at about 11.30 am, killing several people.

However, another source said the explosive was concealed in a pickup tricycle, popularly known as Jega.

"The blast happened at One-Way road that leads to Bulabulin, adjacent the Monday Market," trader Sabiu Aliyu said.

Details of the damage and casualty caused by the blasts is yet to be ascertained, but eye witnesses said many are feared dead, while police and fire fighters have cordoned off
the scene of the blast.

This is the first time in several months that a bomb exploded in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

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Taraba Assembly Confirms Deputy As Acting Governor

confirmed the Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaji Sanni Danladi, as the Acting Governor.

The confirmation came barely 72 hours after Danladi was reinstated by the Supreme Court's ruling which nullified his impeachment two years ago by the House.

The motion for the confirmation was moved by the Majority Leader, Joseph Alkinjo, and seconded by the member representing Jalingo Two constituency, Aminu Jalingo.

Moving the motion, Alkinjo said there was the need to confirm the deputy governor so as to give him the executive powers to govern the state.

http://talkafrica.co/ng/p/6068/taraba-state-house-of-assembly-confirms-deputy-as-acting-gov
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FCT Authorities Have Had 25 ‘Okada’ Riders Jailed In Abuja

Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have secured jail sentences for 25 motorcyclists (okada) who flouted the ban on use of motorcycles in Abuja city centre.

The Special Task Team on City Cleaning and Management prosecuted the offenders who were recently convicted and sentenced to jail without option of fines.

FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, made this disclosure on Monday during the FCT Operations Briefing Session in Abuja, attended by the FCT Police Commissioner; representative of the Commandant of Brigade of Guards;
Mandate Secretaries; Commandants of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

There were also representatives of the
Directorate of State Security Services and Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); FCT Comptroller of Prisons as well as the Directors of the FCT Operational Departments.

The Minister revealed that the Task Team to date has prosecuted 41 offenders at the mobile courts, which culminated in the conviction of the 25 Okada riders with four others
discharged while the cases involving other offenders are on going.

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Is Nigeria Going Broke? National Debt Rises To N10.8 Trillion.

The total debt of the Federal Government, the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory rose from N8.32tn on September 30, 2013 to N10.84tn on September 30, 2014.

This means that the nation's total debt stock rose by N2.52tn or 30.29 per cent within one year period.

Statistics obtained from the website of the Debt Management Office in Abuja on Monday indicated that the N8.32tn did not include the domestic debt of the states in 2013.

Details of the current debt status of the country showed that the external debts of both the federal and state governments stood at $9.52bn or N1.48tn.

As of September 30, the domestic debt stock of ...Read More http://talkafrica.co/ng/p/5994/going-broke-nigeria-national-debt-rises-to-n10-8-trillion
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Invest Your Money: Oando Opens Rights Issue At N22

Oando Plc has commenced a rights issue on the basis of one new share for every four ordinary shares held as of July 25, 2014.

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Oil Slump: Allocation To States, LGs To Drop By N32 Billion

The decline in the price of crude oil in the international market may have led to a reduction in the 2015 allocation to states and local governments from N3.969tn in the 2014 budget to N3.937tn in 2015.

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PDP Moves To Stop President Jonathan's Impeachment

The Peoples Democratic Party may have started offering 're-election tickets' to its members in the National Assembly as a means of dissuading them from supporting the reported   drive by the All Progressives Congress lawmakers to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan.

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President Jonathan Replies Obasanjo: I Am The Best Leader Nigeria Has Ever Produced

President Goodluck Jonathan has described himself as the best leader to be produced by Nigeria.

The President said no leader since the country gained independence in 1960 had done better than himself for the country.

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APC To Sue Department Of State Service Over Lagos Office Raid

he All Progressives Congress has said it will sue the Department of State Service for Saturday's invasion of its Lagos State secretariat by the operatives of the DSS.

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Sunday.

Asked what the APC would do to redress the invasion, he said, "We will definitely go court to seek redress and enforce our fundamental rights. Two days before then, they went to attack the House of Representatives we had information that this was going to happen."

However, the DSS commonly referred to as SSS, justified the raid, arguing that it acted based on information.

The Deputy Director, Public Relations of the DSS, Marilyn Ogar, in a statement issued in Abuja, explained that the department swung into action based on a petition.

She said the petition alleged that the APC data operators planned to corrupt the database of the Independent National Electoral Commission and replace it with the party's.

Ogar said the building was subsequently placed under surveillance by the operatives of the DSS, adding that the service only acted when it was convinced that unwholesome activities were going on in the building.

She maintained that Saturday's raid led to the arrest of some persons while a server, three hard drives and 31 Ghana-must-go bags of hard copy documents were recovered.

The DSS spokesperson said, "A petition was received by this service about some activities at No. 10, Bola Ajibola Street, Ikeja, Lagos. The petition alleged that those behind the activities were cloning INEC permanent voter cards, with the intention of hacking into INEC database, corrupting it and replacing them with their own data.

"Based on this information, the service placed the building under surveillance and having been convinced that some unwholesome activities were going on in the building, it undertook a raid of the premises.

"In the process, some persons were arrested, three hard drives and 31 Ghana-must-go bags of hard copy documents were recovered and taken away for further investigation. It must be noted that the said location had no signpost indicating whether it was a private or government office."

However, Mohammed dismissed Ogar's claims, saying that the DSS was acting out a script which was part of a grand plan to intimidate the APC and its supporters to pave the way for the rigging of the 2015 elections.

Mohammed challenged the DSS to make public any incriminating document found in the building.

According to him, it is laughable for the service to say the party was cloning PVCs when they could not even get the password into the computers they found in the place.

"What did they get when they got there? They ... Read More http://talkafrica.co/ng/p/5854/apc-to-sue-dss-over-lagos-office-raid
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President Jonathan Is Supervising A Highly Corrupt Govt, Says Gov. Amaechi

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has said President Goodluck Jonathan "is supervising a highly corrupt government."

He also claimed that "there is no democracy yet in Nigeria."

The governor, who spoke in Abuja on Saturday, insisted that he had no personal quarrel with President Jonathan, adding that if governance could be separated from the President, he (Jonathan) "remains a good man."

He, however, regretted that the President "is supervising a highly corrupt government."

He described the form of government being practised in Nigeria today as diarchy.

While reacting to the invasion of the National Assembly by the police on Thursday, Amaechi described the action as uncivilised.

He said the actions of the police in recent times had shown that they had been pocketed by the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

He said, "We don't have democracy in Nigeria yet. What we have is diarchy. We don't have a democracy. Diarchy is dictatorship. The Federal Government has appropriated the police as its personal property. The FG has taken over the police. See the way the police took over the National Assembly. By law, the police have no power to invade the National Assembly and they have no power to stop the Speaker from going in or out of the National Assembly complex. But they don't obey law."

He insisted that his party, the All Progressives Congress, would not go to court if the PDP decided to rig the 2015 presidential elections.

Instead of going to court, he said the APC would form a parallel government.

He said, ......Read More http://talkafrica.co/ng/p/5853/president-jonathan-is-supervising-a-highly-corrupt-governmen
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