LaNUBlog™

Mr. Mahmud is to be buried on Saturday. A Kaduna-based lawyer, Yahaya Mahmud, is dead. Mr. Mahmud, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, died on Friday evening in his private office on Bank Road, Kaduna. A family member, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES, said Mr. Mahmud was found dead inside his office. The deceased uncle, Mahmud Mahmud, told PREMIUM TIMES at the deceased’s residence that the corpse has been brought to the house, located at Gobarau Road, U/rimi GRA area of Kaduna. Mr. Mahmud is from Zaria, Kaduna State. He is expected to be buried on Saturday in Kaduna by 9 a.m. according to Islamic rites.

Nigeria has five nominees for the award. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Friday listed five Super Eagles players among the list of the 2013 African Player of the Year. This is contained in a statement issued by CAF on Friday. The statement from CAF listed the players to include, the Super Eagles’ captain and goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama; as well as Ahmed Musa and Emmanuel Emenike; who are forward players. Others are Chelsea’s Mikel Obi and Warri Wolves Sunday Mba, both midfielders. It said that 25 players made the cut for the flagship African Player of the Year category, and 21 made the African Player of the Year, based in Africa. The reigning African Player of the Year, Ivorian Yaya Toure; two of his compatriots, Didier Drogba and Yao Kouassi Gervais ‘Gervinho’; also made the exalted list of African footballers. Two players each from Ghana, Egypt, Cape Verde and Algeria also made the African Player of the Year category. There was one nominee each from Senegal, Ke...

The governor said he personally alerted the president. President Goodluck Jonathan scrambled a swift rebuttal Friday to a shocking allegation by Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, who accused Mr. Jonathan of failing to act on credible information about a government minister receiving $250 million (N37.5 billion) bribe from an oil company. In an interview on the Hausa service of Abuja based Vision (92.1) FM radio on Thursday, Mr. Lamido said he personally drew the attention of the president to the bribery involving an unnamed minister. Mr. Jonathan blatantly refused to act, the governor said. “Do you know that recently a top minister received a $250 million (N39.7 billion) bribe for himself… he (the minister) is in the cabinet; he is in this current regime; he knows and I know, and I told the President,” Mr. Lamido alleged. In a response Friday, Mr. Jonathan said the claim was “grossly irresponsible, false and mischievous”. The president’s spokesperson, Reuben Abati, said in a sta...

Three Ethiopians were killed by Saudi security officials. More than 100 members of Ethiopia’s opposition Semayawi (Blue) party were on Friday arrested for staging a protest at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Addis Ababa. Some were allegedly beaten by the Federal police during the protest. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the party members had matched to the embassy in their hundreds protesting the killing of three Ethiopians by the Saudi security agencies. The Saudi authorities had said that there were more than 40,000 Ethiopian nationals in the country residing illegally in the country. This led to the Nov. 4 crackdown on them. However, the Blue Party Chairman, Yilekal Getachew, who confirmed the incident to journalists, said he was also arrested but later released by the police. Mr. Getachew said that the party was protesting the killing of the Ethiopians who had been molested by security agencies without adequate reason for doing so. But the Ethiopian pol...

Voters in Anambra State will, today, decide their next governor, out of the 23 candidates contesting for the seat. The election is tightly contested. A PREMIUM TIMES crew is in the state to give you live, minute-by-minute updates of the election as it unfolds in the 21 local government areas of the state. Refresh your browser to get latest updates. ——————————- Update 16: Back at Polling Units 12 – 16 at Okpuno Otolo Nnewi. The disenfranchised voters say their problem is yet to be solved. “I closed my market to come here today. I must vote, whether they like it or not,” one of them said. Update 15: At Obi Ilo Okoye polling unit in Awada, Onitsha, there is no INEC and police presence yet, the state-run Anambra Broadcasting Service, ABS, is reporting. Update 14: At INEC office in the presence of Premium Times, Shittu explained that the observers might have been detained by the soldiers because the names of the groups were not on the updated list of the observers. The original ...

All is now set for the commencement of the second retreat for Nigerian governors organised by the secretariat of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF. The retreat is holding at the five-star Giginya Coral Hotel in Sokoto metropolis. Some of the respurce persons billed to present papers were already around and seated. They are Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Bishop Mathew Kukah, and human right lawyer,Ayo Obe. The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will also be making presentation here. A PREMIUM TIMES reporter is attending the event and will provide live updates from the venue. ———————————————————- UPDATE 1: Some of the governors briefly walked into the venue for a live interview on Channel TVs Sunrise programme. First to be interviewed were host governor Aliyu Wamakko and NGF Chair, Rotimi Amaechi. Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and Babatunde Fashola of Lagos were also interviewed. Host governor, Aliyu Wammako, h...

The men would be released after the elections. Soldiers on Saturday arrested 25 young men on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway for violating the no-movement order following the Anambra Governorship Election currently ongoing. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that soldiers stationed at the Abba Junction in Njikoka Local Government Area arrested and detained the men, who are of voting age, around 7.30 a.m. The soldier who led the team at the checkpoint, A.O. Quadri, said that the men were arrested for violating the movement restriction order. “You can see that they are all of voting age and claimed they are coming from Enugu with different stories. “Some of them claimed they are coming from church while the other boys said they are going to Onitsha to vote. “We kept them here because they have not really committed a crime but their two story versions are not only suspicious but do not justify their moving from Enugu to Onitsha on election day,” Mr. Quadri, a Lieutenant, said. He sa...

Mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever are spreading across the US. But outbreaks of the disease are only occurring in some areas, and scientists are trying to find out why?. Marty Baum was watching TV at home with his girlfriend, Robin Pitman, one Saturday night in August when he was struck down by a fever so severe he could barely stand. "I was sweating my brains out and shaking so bad I couldn't control myself," said the 59-year-old man from Jenson Beach, Florida. "If I get the flu, I have a clue a day or so ahead of time - maybe a swollen gland or an achy joint. But the thing that scared me that night was that I had no idea what may have caused this. I went from feeling great to running a fever of 102F (39C)," he said. Within days an acute pain had developed behind his eyes. "It felt like somebody was pushing on my eyeballs," he said. "And then the rash started. I had to scratch myself with a hairbrush to relieve the itch. It was allencom...

As a Channel 4 series takes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of West End musicals, is it a myth that more women than men are in the audience? On an average night in London's West End over 32,000 theatregoers see a show, and the most popular choice is not a play, opera or dance event. Last year over 57% of theatregoers in the area went to see a musical, according to the Society of London theatre. But while some women can happily bring along their other halves, there are some men for whom the thought of performers breaking out into song every few minutes sends a chill down their spine. But as the West End evolves, is this really still the case? It is difficult to find contemporary statistics on the gender balance of West End theatre audiences. Figures published in 2010 in an Ipsos MORI/Society of London Theatre report did show a more female audience bias, with women making up 68% of UK theatregoers. For tourists it was a little more equal - 55% were female- but the report...

The UK government is to give an extra £30m in emergency aid following the devastating Philippines typhoon, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced. He said at the Sri Lanka Commonwealth summit that the scale of the disaster was "becoming clearer every day". The pledge takes British government assistance following Typhoon Haiyan to a total of £50m. Mr Cameron said an RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft would also be sent to help aid workers access hard to reach areas. 'Rapid response' The prime minister said: "Today I can announce we are providing another £30m to support the UN and the Red Cross emergency appeals and we are also supplying an RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft to help ensure aid workers can move between the worst affected areas and get aid to those who need it." He added: "A week after Typhoon Haiyan hit, the scale of the disaster is becoming clearer every day - over 3,600 dead, nearly 12 million affected. "They are going to need sustain...