Jonathan’s Campaign Plans To Hire Anti-Buhari Protesters In London Exposed

The campaign organization for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election has reportedly paid out the sum of $20,000 to hire protesters in London ahead of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari’s speaking engagement at Chatham House, Thursday.

According to an internal memo, a copy of which was seen by our correspondent on PREMIUM TIMES, the said sum would be spent on mobilising the crowd, providing refreshment and defraying other logistics.
The memo, which originated from the campaign’s Assistant Director, Civil Society and Support Groups (Diaspora), Peter Mozie and addressed to Prof. Nick Eze, Director, Civil Society and Support Groups of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organization, with a carbon copy also sent to the President’s Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, stressed why the anti-Buhari protest should hold and the amount needed to successfully pull it off.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that the funds have since been released and wired to London while extensive mobilization of protesters is now in place.
Mr. Mozie’s memo, entitled: “The Chatham House Rally: March Against Dictator”, reads: “Nigerians in the Diaspora will converge at Chatham House, United Kingdom on Thursday, 26th of February, 2015 to show solidarity and support for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and his transformation agenda in Nigeria as a surprise to the august visitor, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
“The solidarity rally will among other things address major progresses of President Goodluck Jonathan and many sins of General Muhammadu Buhari while he was military dictator.
“Talking Points:

1. Buhari is an unrepentant Dictator, who will never change no matter the number of suits he wears.
2. Buhari overthrew the democracy and ruled Nigeria despotically subverting human rights, imprisoning the innocent and jailed Nigeria’s foremost musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti and innocent journalists for no just reason.
3. The rally will remind the international community about Buhari’s dictatorial leaning from 1983-1984 when many innocent Nigerians were killed, our democracy defiled and Nigerian constitution suspended.
4. The rally will also draw the attention of opinion leaders and diplomats in the United Kingdom that Buhari should not be in Chatham House but facing war crimes at the Hague before the International Criminal Court, ICC, for genocide against Christians and innocent Nigerians who were killed by his supporters in 2011 on his instructions when he campaigned in Minna, Niger State and asked his supporters to unleash mayhem if he lost the election.
5. Above all, to draw the attention of the international community to the fact that Nigerians have rejected Buhari thrice before and will still reject him for the 4th time. In essence, to tell the whole world that Nigerians reject Buhari.

Schedule of Event
Arrival at Chatham House – 9 a.m
Drummers playing patriotic Nigerian music – 9a.m. – 9.30 a.m
Start chanting of Anti-Buhari and anti-military songs also
Speakers start speaking about Buhari’s dictatorship at 10 a.m
Diaspora will stay at Chatham and continue to chant Anti-Buhari songs until the event is over.
The world must know a DICTATOR has come to Chatham House. A ruthless killer has come to Chatham House.
However, to defray the cost of the logistics, refreshment, mobilization and necessary permits to stage the rally we shall need the sum of $20,000.00 to cover all the expenses.
Regards
CC: Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali
SA to the President on Political Affairs”

NEMA Donates Relief Materials To Victims Freed By Boko Haram In Yobe

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The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday donated relief materials to the victims and families of women and children, who were unconditionally freed by Boko Haram in Yobe State over a week ago.

You may recall that Yobe State Government last week assisted the victims with cash and relief materials worth over N20 million in Damaturu, at a ceremony, which marked their reunion with their families.
The Zonal Coordinator of NEMA in the Northeast, Mohammed Kanar, said their “intervention is to complement the efforts earlier made by the Yobe State government”.

BUSTED! Wiz Khalifa Caught In Controversial Acts In A Str*p Club

   

After going after his ex for being an ‘unfit mother’ and wanting more custody of their son. The rapper was photographed smoking weed and having a great time at a strip club recently. And yes, Snoop Dogg was also there. See more photos below…

Photos: Adulterous Johannesburg couple stuck together after sleeping together

A Johannesburg man and an adulterous woman found themselves unable to separate from each other after having s*x in the woman’s home last Thursday, this is according to a report by SA’s Daily Sun. When the man and the married woman got stuck together, they screamed for help, attracting the attention of many people in the neighbourhood. Read the full story from Daily Sun below..

The cheater had been warned: “Leave my wife alone! I have put special muthi in her punani.”But the cheaters again ignored the warning and ended up getting stuck together. They found themselves screaming for help, begging to be separated.

The rumour quickly spread that a cheating man had died after he got stuck in his lover’s punani. And a crowd of about 2,000 people gathered at Dena Court in Yeoville, Joburg.

The police had to be called. People were allegedly pepper sprayed and the amaBerethe chased people away with sjamboks. Many people claimed the police fired rubber bullets.

Priscilla Ndlovu (34) who claims to be a resident at the same flats told Daily Sun they heard screams from the room where the woman stays on Thursday night.
“At first we thought it was just the screams of s*xual pleasure, but it turned to be screams for help,” said Priscilla.
She said they called the security who forced the door open and saw the unclad man on top of the unclad woman pleading for help to be separated, but nobody could force them apart.”
She said everyone was shocked and afraid of what they saw.
“We always hear of such things happening but we have never seen it,” she said.
A family member of the husband of the cheating wife said the husband had been complaining about his cheating wife.
“He complained she was going out with his friend,” said the woman.
“I think he locked his wife to catch the man she’s cheating with.”
She said in Zimbabwe, where they come from, it is a common way of catching cheating men and women.
“No one will separate them until the husband comes back from Zimbabwe to unlock them,” she said.
A Zimbabwean who spoke to Daily Sun said locking a woman with muthi was a common way of catching and punishing cheating lovers in their country.
By Friday morning, when the crowd saw the ambulance at the flats they chanted: “We want to see them! Show us the cheaters!”
Cops were kept busy keeping the crowd at bay.
Three streets were blocked off, causing major traffic jams and motorists had to use alternative routes.
The ambulance finally raced off at high speed.
It is not known if the couple were inside. Neither the police nor the paramedics could confirm if the two were taken to hospital or not.
Sangoma Mathabo Mofokeng said husbands put muthi in their wives’ punani to lock their women.
“There is muthi that is used by some men to catch cheating couples,” she said.

Photos from Madonna’s epic fall at the BRIT Awards

The 56 year old singer fell on stage last night at the 2015 BRIT Awards after failing to untie her cape in time for her dancer’s to rip it away. Madonna looked shocked, briefly stopped singing as she fell down a set of stairs, but picked herself back up and continued to the end. See the photos below.

She later tweeted about it.
She got up and continued with her show…

South Korea legalizes adultery

President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye

South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Thursday struck down a controversial adultery law which for more than 60 years had criminalised extra-marital sex and jailed violators for up to two years.
The nine-member bench ruled by seven to two that the 1953 statute aimed at protecting traditional family values was unconstitutional.
“Even if adultery should be condemned as immoral, state power should not intervene in individuals’ private lives,” said presiding justice Park Han-Chul.
The decision saw shares in the South Korean firm Unidus Corp., one of the world’s largest condom manufacturers, soar by the daily limit of 15 percent on the local stock exchange.
It was the fifth time the apex court had considered the constitutional legality of the legislation which had made South Korea one of the few non-Muslim countries to regard marital infidelity as a criminal act.
In the past six years, close to 5,500 people have been formerly arraigned on adultery charges — including nearly 900 in 2014.
But the numbers had been falling, with cases that ended in prison terms increasingly rare.
Whereas 216 people were jailed under the law in 2004, that figure had dropped to 42 by 2008, and since then only 22 have found themselves behind bars, according to figures from the state prosecution office.
The downward trend was partly a reflection of changing societal trends in a country where rapid modernisation has frequently clashed with traditionally conservative norms.
– Public views ‘have changed’ –
“Public conceptions of individuals’ rights in their sexual lives have undergone changes,” Park said, as he delivered the court’s decision.
Reading the dissenting opinion, Justice Ahn Chang-Ho insisted the 1953 statute was a key protector of family morals, and warned that its abolition would “spark a surge in debauchery.”
Under the law, adultery could only be prosecuted on complaint from an injured party, and any case was closed immediately if the plaintiff dropped the charge — a common occurrence that often involved a financial settlement.
The debate over its future had simmered away for years, bubbling over from time to time especially if a public figure fell foul of the statute.
Such was the case in 2008 when one of the country’s best-known actresses, Ok So-Ri, was given an eight-month suspended sentence for having an adulterous affair.
At that time, Ok unsuccessfully petitioned the Constitutional Court, arguing that the law amounted to a violation of her human rights in the name of revenge.
The court had previously deliberated the issue in 1990, 1993 and 2001, but those moves to strike down the law had failed to gain the support of the six judges required.
Ok’s 2008 petition had come close with five judges deeming the statute unconstitutional.
– Improving gender equality –
The law was originally designed to protect the rights of women at a time when marriage afforded them few legal rights, with most having no independent income and divorce carrying enormous social stigma.
But even socially conservative civic groups who had supported the legislation in the past acknowledged that times had changed.
“Adultery must be censured morally and socially, but such a law is inappropriate in a modern society,” said Ko Seon-Ju, an activist with the Seoul-based civic group Healthy Families.
“It used to be an effective legal tool to protect female rights, but equal rights legislation has improved,” Ko said.
“Adultery is an issue that should be dealt with through dialogue between the partners, not by law,” she added.
While the adultery law may have been ruled out of existence, social disapproval of marital infidelity remains potent.
In April last year, South Korea blocked the newly launched Korean version of the global adultery hook-up site Ashley Madison, saying it threatened family values.

Chatham House: Buhari to speak on poll shift, insecurity, future of democracy

General Muhammadu Buhari, APC presidential candidate

General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate is expected to speak on the election postponement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), insecurity in the Northeast and the future of democracy at Chatham House, United Kingdom.
In an overview by Chatham House, it stated that the postponement of Nigeria’s fifth election since its return to civilian rule in 1999, together with fierce political competition, a security crisis and severe economic challenges linked to the drop in oil price, have thrown into sharp relief the challenges of conducting this essential process in such a complex environment.
It noted that, while there is widespread speculation as to the reasons for the delay, there is also widespread acknowledgment of the necessity that national elections do now take place as scheduled on 28 March.
Chatham House said General Muhammadu Buhari, former military ruler (1983-85) and now opposition presidential candidate, will discuss the importance of democracy for Africa’s future, and in particular why delivering dividends of elected government matter both to Nigeria and internationally.
The event will be live streamed at 10:00 GMT today.
Questions can be sent to Buhari, others by using #CHAfrica on Twitter. A selection will be put to him during the event.
To livestream the event follow this link: http://www.chathamhouse.org/event/prospects-democratic-consolidation-africa-nigerias-transition

Pictures: Buhari storms Chatham House Amidst protest

General Muhammadu Buhari arrive Chatham House with Governor Rotimi Amaechi

General Muhammadu Buhari, All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate stormed Chatham House, London to a wide reception but his acclaim was contended by some Nigerians who protested against his candidature.
Here are some pictures from London:

General Muhammadu Buhari arrive Chatham House with Governor Rotimi Amaechi

Nasir El-Rufai also arrives Chatham House

Nigerians in Diaspora protest Buhari’s candidature

Nigerians in Diaspora purportedly sponsored by PDP to protest against Buhari

NEMA Donates Relief Materials To Victims Freed By Boko Haram In Yobe

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday donated relief materials to the victims and families of women and children, who were unconditionally freed by Boko Haram in Yobe State over a week ago.

You may recall that Yobe State Government last week assisted the victims with cash and relief materials worth over N20 million in Damaturu, at a ceremony, which marked their reunion with their families.
The Zonal Coordinator of NEMA in the Northeast, Mohammed Kanar, said their “intervention is to complement the efforts earlier made by the Yobe State government”.

FG approves $403m loans for Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Osun

Vice-President Namadi Sambo

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the request of Lagos, Rivers, Ogun and Osun states to obtain foreign loans totalling about $403m, among other approvals.

It also approved a $1.2bn multi-donor credit for the establishment of the proposed Development Bank of Nigeria.

Other foreign loans totalling $295m were approved for developmental projects across the country.

The different foreign facilities were approved at a meeting of the council presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

President Goodluck Jonathan was absent at the meeting because he travelled to Sokoto where he attended the 90th birthday of former President Shehu Shagari.

The Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka; Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda; Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe; and Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.

Yuguda said the fact that most of the loans guaranteed by the Federal Government were for states being governed by the All Progressives Congress further confirmed Jonathan’s position that he was the President of all Nigerians.

He said the President had made a distinction between governance and politics, and would not trivialise his office for any reason.

According to the minister, the council approved the request for a $100m credit from the French Development Agency in support of the Lagos Integrated Urban Development Project (Eko-UP).

“The facility is meant to improve living conditions of the most vulnerable urban population of metropolitan Lagos, improve the management and treatment of solid waste, strengthen the capacity of Lagos State and implement urban development projects in Lagos State,” he explained.

Yuguda gave the repayment period of the loan as 20 years, including seven years moratorium as well as commitment fee of 0.25 per cent of the total per annum and an appraisal fee of 0.25 per cent.

The project has three major components: slum upgrading in Ifelodun and Bariga Local Council Development Areas by the Lagos State Urban Renewal Authority; construction of solid waste management facilities by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority; and provision of capacity building and technical assistance for LASURA, LAWMA, the Project Management Unit and the two LCDAs.

For Rivers State, Yuguda said the council gave approval for the $200m African Development Bank’s credit facility for the proposed Port Harcourt water supply and sanitation project as well as an African Development Fund credit of $5m to support the Urban Water Sector Reform Project.

Yuguda said the credit facility would be secured from ADB with a repayment period of 15 years and five years moratorium, adding that the interest was enhanced variable spread loan, with lending spread of 0.60 per cent per annum, translating to 1.56 per cent.

For the ADF, he said the principal would be repaid over a period of 22 years, with eight years grace period and interest rate of one per cent per annum.

According to the minister, the council also approved a $33.174m credit from the French Development Agency in support of the Ogun State Water Supply Project.

He said the facility would be secured from the FDA on blend terms, with an interest rate of six months Libor plus margin; repayment period of 20 years, including seven years moratorium; commitment fee of 0.25 per cent per annum and an appraisal fee of 0.25 per cent.

Yuguda explained that the credit would be on-lend to Ogun State on the same terms and conditions offered by the FDA to the Federal Government.

For Osun State, he said the council approved an Islamic Development Bank’s loan of $65m for financing water supply and sanitation projects in the state, adding that the loan would be repaid over 15 years, gestation period of four years and mark-up Libor + 155bps or to 1.5 per cent per annum.

On the $1.280bn for the establishment of the proposed Development Bank of Nigeria, the minister said the loan would come from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Bank, Africa Development Bank as well as the Germany and French Development Agencies in the sums of $500m, $450m, $200m and $130m, respectively.

He said the proposed bank would give credit facilities to micro, small and medium enterprises in the country.

Islamic State: Fears grow for abducted Syrian Christians

 

 It is not clear where the IS militants have taken the abducted Assyrians

Islamic State

There are fears that more members of an Assyrian Christian community in north-eastern Syria were abducted by Islamic State militants than at first thought.

Initial reports had put the number of missing at 90, but one activist said as many as 285 people had been seized on Monday in Hassakeh province.
Efforts to try to negotiate their release are reported to be under way.
Some 1,000 local Assyrian families are believed to have fled their homes in the wake of the abductions.
Kurdish and Christian militia are battling IS in the area, amid reports of churches and homes having been set ablaze.
Thousands of Christians in Syria have been forced from their homes by the threat from IS militants.
In areas under their control, Christians have been ordered to convert to Islam, pay jizya (a religious levy), or face death. IS militants in Libya also recently beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians.
Kurdish offensive The Assyrians were seized by the militants as they swept into 12 villages along the southern bank of the Khabur river near the town of Tal Tamr before dawn on Monday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said at least 90 people had been abducted, most of them women, children and the elderly.
However, the Syriac National Council of Syria put the figure as high as 150, while Afram Yakoub of the Assyrian Federation of Sweden said sources on the ground had told him that up to 285 people were missing, including 156 from the village of Tal Shamran and 90 from Tal al-Jazira.

"These were peaceful villages that had nothing to do with the battles," Nasir Haj Mahmoud, a Kurdish official in the YPG militia in north-eastern Syria, told the Reuters news agency.
There are conflicting reports as to where the families have been taken.
Kino Gabriel, a spokesman for the Syriac Military Council - a Christian militia fighting alongside the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) - told the BBC that it believed the captives had been taken to Abdul Aziz mountain.
Osama Edward of the Sweden-based Assyrian Human Rights Network told the AFP news agency that the captives had been taken to the IS stronghold of Shaddadi, as did Syria's state news agency, Sana.
Another report said they were in Raqqa, 145km (90 miles) to the west, the de facto capital of the "caliphate" declared by IS last June.

Syria's Christians

• Thought to have constituted about 30% of the population as recently as the 1920s
• Long part of Syria's elite - founder of ruling Baath party was a Christian
• Before the war made up some 10% of Syria's 22 million people
• Up to 40,000 of those were Assyrians. They speak Syriac, a form of Aramaic, the language of Christ
• Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the fighting
• Some have taken up arms to defend themselves against Islamists

Syria's beleaguered Christians

The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Beirut says the motive for the seizure of so many Assyrians is not yet clear. Our correspondent says it may be that the captives are to be used as part of a swap with the Kurdish forces.
Hundreds of Assyrians who were living in villages on the north bank of the Khabur river and elsewhere are reported to have fled following the attack to the largely Kurdish-controlled provincial capital of Hassakeh, to the south-east, and Qamishli, another city to the north-east.

Kurdish and Christian fighters are battling IS militants in the area where the Assyrians were abducted

 

IS has forced Christians living in its territory to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death

Mr Edward said two historic churches had been burned down in captured villages - one in Tal Hurmiz and the other in Qaber Shamiya. The Syrian Observatory also reported that a church in Tal Shamran had also been damaged.
Mr Gabriel said IS had moved a big force into the area and were trying to take control of Tal Tamr.
The Syriac Military Council had about 400 fighters in the area and at least four had been killed in clashes with the jihadists, he added. The YPG has deployed between 1,000 and 1,500 fighters.
The YPG is also continuing a major offensive launched on Sunday against IS some 100km (60 miles) to the east, near the border with Iraq - an area of vital importance to the jihadists.

Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone's Augustine Baker dies

Augustine Baker's role in tackling the Ebola virus has been widely admired

Continue reading the main story

Ebola outbreak

• Why Ebola is dangerous
• Year of Ebola
• Mapping the outbreak
• The basics

A Sierra Leonean who worked with children orphaned by Ebola has died of the disease himself.

Augustine Baker had been admitted to an Ebola treatment centre after becoming ill last week.
He had worked for an orphanage run by a UK charity on the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.
Thirty-three children and seven staff at the St George Foundation orphanage have been in quarantine since Mr Baker was diagnosed with the deadly virus.
Ebola has killed more than 9,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea

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The BBC's Tulip Mazumdar reported from St George Foundation orphanage last month

But in recent weeks, the crisis has eased and the governments of the three countries have pledged to achieve zero Ebola infections within the next two months.

Umaru Fofana, BBC Africa, Freetown Augustine Baker was an unsung hero.
At the height of the Ebola crisis he would go into high-risk communities to help children who had been orphaned by the disease.
With his backpack on and his notebook and pen handy, Mr Baker would collect data and go and find the children to take them to the orphanage.
His colleagues, who are locked in quarantine at the orphanage, were grieving as news of his death broke.
Jestina Conteh was sobbing as she spoke to me on the phone. He said Mr Baker was "a dedicated colleague who never said 'No' in search of Ebola orphans".

When Mr Baker was diagnosed with Ebola, orphanage co-founder Philip Dean said he had "worked tirelessly to help children orphaned by the disease".
"He knew that he was at risk but did the job because it needed to be done," Mr Dean added.
The orphanage was set up in 2004 and, until the Ebola outbreak, was mainly concerned with rescuing street children.
In the last year it has helped care for some 200 children orphaned by Ebola.

Ebola deaths

Figures up to 22 February 2015

9,604

Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected

(Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

• 4,037 Liberia
  
• 3,461 Sierra Leone
  
• 2,091 Guinea
  
• 8 Nigeria
  

Source: WHO

Messi casino trip played down

     Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has refused to condemn Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi’s trip to a casino just hours before the squad flew to England for their Champions League clash with Manchester City.

Pique and Messi – part of the Barcelona side that suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Malaga at the weekend – were pictured outside the Casino de Barcelona late on Sunday alongside Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas.

But Enrique had no interest in speaking about ”gossip” at his pre-Manchester City press conference, claiming his squad were fully focused on the challenge ahead of them at the Etihad.

“No gossip. Not interested,” the coach said. “It forms part of his private life. I concentrate on football. I’m not concerned about things outside of it.”

When Pique was asked by Spanish journalists if he had anything to say about his night out with Messi, the former Manchester United defender replied, “No. It is my private life. I just had a nice night.”

Speaking on Revista de la Liga journalist Graham Hunter said he thinks Luis Enrique’s position at Barcelona is now in jeopardy

Barcelona won 11 consecutive games before suffering defeat at the weekend and Enrique – whose relationship with Messi is reported to have been strained at times this term – was once again asked about morale in the camp.

But Pique quashed any talks of problems or in-fighting.

“No, there is no problem between us and the manager,” he said. “We get on fine, the relationship is good. We don’t have to worry about it. It is just one defeat, it is behind us now.

“We have shown how we can play here in the past.”

Police arrest six Kaduna sect’s members, recover arms

The Kaduna State Police Command on Wednesday raided a suspected terrorist hideout at Farakwai Village along the Kaduna-Zaria road, arresting no fewer than six suspected members of the Kalakato sect.
Farakwai Village is about 40km away from the Kaduna metropolis.
Six of the members are now cooling off their feet behind bars at the command’s headquarters.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Zubairu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the six were alleged to be involved in human trafficking, robbery and possession of sophisticated weapons.
He said the case was reported to the command this month, explaining that following a tip-off, operatives of the command stormed the hideout, where six suspects were arrested.
Zubairu said they(suspects) would be charged to court for humam trafficking, robbery and possession of fire arms.
He said, “The case was reported to the police on February 20 and we immediately swung into action, raided the place  and  arrested six but two others escaped.
“We are charging them for human trafficking, robbery, and been in possession of rifles.”
A source said when security operatives combed  the hideout, “we discovered a woman and two other boys, who had been in the custody of the sect for years.”
He said they also discovered that the boy had been chained for several years.
He said the leader of the Kalakato sect was currently at large, adding that while the men of the command ransacked the large compound, weapons, including  AK 47 rifles, several rounds of ammunition, machetes and other dangerous weapons  were found.
The leader of the Farakwai community, Malam Muhammadu Farakwai  who led some journalists to the compound, said the sect members were so discreet and had not been relating with other members of the larger Farakwai community.

Keshi eager to dump Nigeria

Stephen Keshi

Out-of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has confirmed his willingness to relinquish the Nigeria job in favour of Burkina Faso coaching position.

Keshi, who has yet to agree with the Nigeria Football Federation on a new deal, told a Burkina Faso medium, Sidwaya.bf, that he was willing to help the national team, Stallions, qualify for the World Cup and the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

The former Nigeria captain tops a three-man shortlist which includes ex-Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac and ex-Gabon and Niger coach Gernot Rohr. Whoever is eventually selected the Burkina Faso Football Federation will replace Paul Put, who was fired at the end of a disappointing 2015 AFCON campaign in Equatorial Guinea.

When asked why he wanted the Burkina Faso job, he replied, “(The team) is a high potential individual team, technical and combative. The team’s (Stallions) path to the final at the 2013 AFCON attests to (these qualities). They regularly participate in  continental football.

“Burkina Faso is deemed a serious country in terms of project management. The country has a positive image in African football landscape. They are also willing to sit down for a short project, medium and long term.

“I will also help (Burkina Faso) in qualifying for the Olympics. Then I can reveal to the entire continent the potential of Burkinabe football.

“My ambitions remain the same from one national team to another. I don’t want to have the job just to have the job but to bring a real plus.

“If I am chosen, by the grace of God, I first want to qualify Burkina Faso for the 2017 AFCON finals and why not for the next World Cup as I did with Togo.

“And then I want to do what it takes to go as far as possible in those competitions. Everything is possible.”

He added: “There is no success without vision, without hard work and without confidence. If all those things are in place, I insist that the Stallions can compete with the best in Africa.

“If I get the job, my objective is to transmit this desire of giving it all for their country, this winning culture, to follow the local players and instil a healthy competition between them like I did in Nigeria with youngsters like Sunday Mba and other local players who went on to be African champions in 2013.

“As head coach of Nigeria, I played the 2013 AFCON final against these Stallions and I was very pleased with them.”

However, Keshi made it clear Burkina Faso are not the only team he is considering.

NFF cuts Keshi’s pay to N4m

Stephen Keshi

The PUNCH has confirmed that Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi will not receive as much pay as he got during his first tenure as the Super Eagles coach.

Our correspondent learnt on authority on Tuesday that the new contract being offered him by the Nigeria Football Federation has his salary as N4m per month as against the N5m he was paid by the previous administration.

An official of the federation who asked not to be quoted because he was not authorised to speak on the issue said the current economic situation in the country was put into consideration in arriving at the salary for the former Eagles captain.

He said, “What has been done is just a simple adjustment of the pay to fit into the reality of our time. The football system is not different in any way from the general economy of the country.

“We are all aware that the world oil market has tumbled down and this is not peculiar to Nigeria. And so as other countries adjust we too will have to cut budget to reality. Would it make any sense to say N10m and not be able to even pay N1m at the end of the month? We are being realistic and we believe that he understands.”

The other argument put forward by some other members is that the coach will not be as busy as he was during the last tenure with one major tournament already gone during the negotiation as Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations which held in Equatorial Guinea with Keshi in charge.

It was gathered that Keshi’s manager had pressed for N7m which the NFF officials said they could not afford.

Apart from the cut in salary, the coach has also been offered a two-year deal which will terminate in 2017. And as The PUNCH exclusively reported last week, Keshi’s new contract also demands that he gets to at least the semi final stage of the 2017 Africa Nations Cup before any further extension can be discussed.

The NFF president was widely quoted on Tuesday by some online portals as saying that the federation expects to receive the response to the offer from Keshi this week. The coach is also in the running for Burkina Faso job against others.

Keshi’s first term with the NFF ended with the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Since then the issue of contract negotiation has been dragging. The NFF board had asked him to go but had to return him to the Eagles’ bench after pressures from the Presidency to retain him.

Mayhem in Lagos •Four killed, 27 vehicles destroyed in gang war

Scene of the violence

Pandemonium broke out in the Mosafejo, Oshodi-Isale area of Lagos State, after rival groups said to be members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, clashed on Tuesday evening and early Wednesday.

Four people were reportedly killed, while several others were injured in the fracas which was stopped after the intervention of security agencies.

PUNCH Metro gathered that no fewer than 15 commercial buses were set on fire, while 12 others were vandalised.

Makeshift stalls in the Mosafejo Motor Park were also torched, leaving traders in the park mourning their losses.

When PUNCH Metro visited the scene of the incident on Wednesday, the atmosphere was still tense as men of the Nigeria Police Force and some soldiers were observed patrolling the area.

The motor park, usually filled with vehicles, was deserted as the police armoured tanks and patrol vans took over the space.

Broken bottles, shards of glass from shattered windscreens and pebbles, said to have been deployed by some of the hoodlums during the fight, littered the road.

Bloodstains dotted the Oshodi Roundabout, where a man was said to have been shot dead and his corpse taken away by the police.

A vehicle was still burning as of 1pm when our correspondent passed the area.

Around the same time, a police van manned by police officers was observed by our correspondent taking some teenagers away.

A source told PUNCH Metro that the fight involved three groups ─ Big London boys, Railway boys and Under-bridge boys.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fight started after the police ordered that there should be a stop in hemp smoking in the motor park.

The move was said to have been supported by the Big London boys, which brought them in conflict with the Railway and Under-bridge gangs who saw them as an ally of the police.

She said, “That was the beginning of the fight. The Railway boys and the Under-bridge boys usually conspire to wage war against the Big London boys which also had Olu Omo as a leading member.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), the allied gangs struck again and killed four people. One particularly was popular here and we call him Afari. A man was shot in the eye, another in the hand and leg. Several others are in critical conditions in hospitals.”

Another witness, who did not identify herself, said one Idris was cut with machete in the buttocks, leg and hand.

“No one knows if he will survive the attack because his condition is critical,” she said.

When PUNCH Metro crossed over to the area where the Under-bridge and Railway groups had their camp, he met some of the men who alleged that the fight was sponsored by the Big London gang.

“It was around 11pm on Tuesday that they came here. They were many in the Big London group. They had the police backing them and they want to drive us away from here. They descended on our vehicles and set many of them ablaze which you can see for yourself.

“They shot and injured three of our people, who have been rushed to hospital. We don’t know why they are after us and this fight could have been bloodier, but we decided to be calm,” a man in the group, who did not identify himself, said.

[/media-credit] Scene of the violence

Another member of the group, who equally declined identification, showed our correspondent an injury he sustained in his hand.

He said, “They shot at so many of us. This was where I was shot. Those guys were many. They shot at about 100 of us and burnt many buses.”

Some of the traders, whose stalls were burnt, appealed for government’s intervention.

Mrs. Taiwo Olajide, a mother of three and dealer in soft drinks, said she lost all her goods to the violence.

She said, “The hoodlums set fire on all the stalls in this park. They have ruined our business. This is where I feed my children and keep body and soul together.”

Another trader, Mrs. Josephine Eze, said all her provisions were burnt.

Our correspondent also observed a cross-section of traders who were seated in front of their shops, which were not affected by the fracas.

They lamented that they had not been able to operate their business since the area was cordoned off by the police.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, while confirming the incident, said one person was killed, adding that the police recovered some weapons from the hoodlums.

He said, “There was an attempt to breach the peace at Oshodi. The hoodlums, who were rival members of the NURTW, engaged in a fight of supremacy over control of parks.

“In the process, about eight vehicles were burnt and 10 vandalised. One person was killed. Five cutlasses and four expended cartridges were recovered. Normalcy has been restored as adequate security has been made to avert any further breach of the peace.”

Nwosu added that the police arrested nine suspects in connection with the crime.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Lagos State Council of the NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, has said the union will unravel the cause of incessant violent clashes in Oshodi.

Scene of the violence

He spoke on Wednesday while inaugurating a five-man committee to find out immediate and remote causes of the fracas in the area.

Agbede said the leadership of the union in the state would not fold its arms and watch some persons destroy the peace being enjoyed in the state.

He said, “We have been witnessing peace in Lagos State council of our union since my administration came in.

We have restored peace in all our parks, so we shall find out the cause of the present problems in Oshodi, with a view to finding a lasting solution to them.”