Bomb at UN building in Nigerian capital Abuja - source BBC news

The powerful blast shattered all the glass in the building

 

There has been a bomb attack at the UN building in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the United Nations says.

The BBC's Bashir Sa'ad Abdullahi, who is at the site of the explosion, says the ground floor of the building has been badly damaged.
The emergency services are removing dead bodies from the building while a number of wounded are being rushed to hospital, our correspondent says.
Islamist militants have carried out recent attacks on the city.
A car bombing at police headquarters in June was blamed on Islamist sect Boko Haram, a group which wants the establishment of Sharia law in Nigeria.
There has been no claim of responsibility for Friday's attack, but government officials have blamed "terrorists" for the bombing, our correspondent says.
Eyewitnesses and an unnamed security source said a car bomb had exploded, but that detail is unconfirmed.
Friday's attack took place at about 1100 local time (1000 GMT) in the diplomatic zone in the centre of the city, close to the US embassy.

'Scattered bodies'

There have been no claims of responsibility so far

There was a loud explosion and smoke billowed from the building. The powerful blast shattered all the glass in the building, our correspondent says.
"I saw scattered bodies," Michael Ofilaje, a Unicef worker at the building, said according to AP news agency.
"Many people are dead."
He said it felt like "the blast came from the basement and shook the building".
Police have sealed off the area.
"We have deployed our policemen and anti-bomb squad. We can't establish how many casualties [there are]," an Abuja police spokesman said according to Associated Press news agency

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Mikel Obi's father picture after being freed- source AFP

Michael Obi, the kidnapped father of Chelsea footballer John Obi Mikel was freed in a police raid.

KANO, Nigeria — The kidnapped father of Chelsea footballer John Obi Mikel was freed on Monday in a police raid in Nigeria, and he spoke of being beaten by men in military garb during the abduction.

The raid occurred in the city of Kano, the largest city in Nigeria's north and hundreds of kilometres away from where the abduction took place. Police said no ransom was paid.
"Obi was rescued and six suspects were arrested, five men and a woman," Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idris told journalists, speaking of Michael Obi. "Obi is here with us as you can see."
Idris said a suspect led police to the house where Obi was being held.
Police did not comment on whether legitimate soldiers were involved in the kidnapping, and none of the arrested suspects were members of the military. While describing the raid, Idris said that "his abductors were captured."
Obi, appearing worn and with bruises under his nose, described the August 12 kidnapping in the central city of Jos, where he runs a transport company, and said he had been beaten.
A van in military colour overtook him and blocked his way as he was driving home from work, he said at the police headquarters. Two men in military uniform jumped out and asked him to follow them, according to Obi.
"They forcefully pushed me into the van and when I asked them where we were going to, they said I should wait and see," he said.
"They wound up the window so nobody could hear me even if I had screamed. They beat me to pulp and only stopped when I became very weak."
He said they sought a ransom of 10 million naira ($64,000, 45,000 euros) and eventually drove him to Kano, hundreds of kilometres away from Jos.
Two of those arrested who were allowed to speak to journalists said they had not kidnapped Obi.
One man who claimed to be an ex-policeman said he "was brought from Jos, where I was arrested in connection with the kidnapping. I made some contacts and they told me that the man was brought to Kano."
The man, Jacob Krombu, also said he had only heard about the kidnapping on the radio before his arrest.
Another suspect who said he was from the neighbouring country of Niger claimed he had been hired as a driver.
"I was only contracted by soldiers who told me to drive their four colleagues to Kano and I would be compensated later," Sule Ibrahim said.
In the days after the kidnapping, 24-year-old midfielder Mikel had pleaded with the abductors to free his father.
"All I can say is the country I'm from, Nigeria, I've always tried to help the country in every way that I can, playing for the country, serving the country," Mikel had said.
Mikel played the full 90 minutes in Chelsea's opening English Premier League match of the season, a 0-0 draw at Stoke City on August 14, despite being informed a day earlier that his father was missing.

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Mikel Obi's Father Is Found And Freed In Kano - source: sahara reporters

The Nigerian police said it has rescued the father of Chelsea footballer, Mikel Obi. Police sources said they  found Mr. Obi  in the outskirts of Kano today.

Mr. Obi was abducted by kidnappers in the city of Jos on August 12 2011.

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mr and mrs -source: nigeria vanguard

IBB to OBJ: It’s an eye for an eye - source: nigeria vanguard

The last may not have been heard about the feud between former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB,  and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as  the former  insisted that it is now an eye for an eye with the latter.  Babangida  said he would  no longer sit idly and watch Obasanjo throw darts at him.
Prince Kassim Afegbua, IBB  media spokesman,  who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on  behalf of his principal, yesterday, said  that legal redress was one of the options before them. The statement came on the heels of the alleged moves by some elders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to get the warring former  Nigerian leaders to cease fire.
But in the statement that suggested  that Babangida was not in the mood  to ceasefire yet,  Afegbua said whereas “we are actually not fighting Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, it has not got to that level, we might seek legal redress on this issue”.
He went on:  “We think and most Nigerians do, also, that the former leader went beyond his  bounds to use very uncouth language to respond to what IBB said in his interview. I want to refer you to the published interview and, please find out for me, where we castigated Chief Obasanjo.
“General IBB only made allusion to the on-going probes in the National Assembly, several of which have exposed the rotten underbelly of that democratic regime of Obasanjo. He should rather call those who are exposing him through the probes fools and not direct his anger towards IBB.
“Every Nigerian who knows General IBB will attest to the fact that the former leader is highly cerebral and conveys a large dose of humility, tolerance and respect for people. He hardly discusses leaders on the pages of newspapers. But for him to be so described as a “fool at seventy” as a birthday message from a man who has gained more from IBB  was the height of crass irresponsibility.

We are still weighing the options because we might seek legal redress on this issue. Please go and check the dictionary meaning of ‘fool’ and you will know the import of what I am saying.”
‘NO TO CEASEFIRE’
The spokesman added: “Chief Obasanjo has just brought home ant-infested logs, so he must be ready for the visit of the lizards. We will not allow him to denigrate the personality and quintessence of IBB just like that.
People are aware that General IBB is very magnanimous and tolerant of criticism, he does not like joining issues with his subordinates and superiors, but on this issue, we will place history in its true perspectives. A sentence from OBJ will be met with two sentences from us.
A word from him will be met with a sentence from us. Gone were those days when people just ram things down the throat of General IBB and the man will just let things go by. These days, we will return word for word, sentence for sentence and phrase for phrase.
“What did General IBB say that warranted the outburst? Just tell me. IBB respects the young and the old. It is a characteristic in him that you cannot take away. Why then would he be that castigated by a man who has gained from IBB so much in terms of support? As Africans, if our customs and traditions are still flourishing well, it will not be out of place if he comes around every day to pay homage to IBB for rehabilitating his history and humanity. Please tell  Baba to know that he does not possess the monopoly for vitriolic attacks. The fact that we have tolerated him over the years does not confer foolishness on our part”.
Obasanjo has reportedly  stated that he would pass no further comments on the matter.
Babangida had fired the first salvo on Tuesday, the eve of his 70th birthday when, in a media chat, he upbraided Obasanjo, saying his administration spent $16 billion on power without generating electricity. He blamed it on lack of  foresight.
But Obasanjo, who ruled  Nigeria for a second time  for eight years between 1999 and 2007, in a riposte, described Babangida as a fool at 70.

Revd Chris Okotie's Birthday wish poem to former president, IBB - source:Nigerian independent newspaper

Chris Okotie, Pastor of the Household of God, also sent felicitations to Babangida.

Okotie wrote a poem which applauded him thus: “He is gregarious/Yet not boisterous/He is evasive/Yet not reclusive/He could be Machiavelli/Yet  arrayed as a political Armani.

“He is fluid in his aquarian disposition/Yet rock solid in his intrinsic determination/We salute one of the last great senior generals of the great Nigerian host/To IBB , the great Kahuna himself,/We say Happy Birthday Sire at 70/May the Lord grant you prosperity and longevity.”

Okotie said regardless of the divergent opinions people may have about Babangida, he remains one of Nigeria’s great leaders. 

He prayed that God grants him long life and prosperity to continue to play his role as a senior citizen

Nemesis:Law of kamar-OBJ, IBB at war

Culled from Nigerian Vanguard

*You ‘re a fool @ 70 — Obasanjo * You, a failure, witless comedian— IBB

ABEOKUTA –FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo and former military President Ibrahim Babangida yesterday descended from the platform of statesmen into an acrimonious mutual war of words, accusing each other of foolery.

Good old days

Yesterday’s brickbat flowed from an earlier interview by Gen. Babangida on the eve of his 70th birthday on Tuesday where he said “in my eight years in office, I was able to manage poverty and achieved success while somebody for eight years managed affluence and achieved failure.”

Chief Obasanjo who was President for eight years retorted yesterday accusing Babangida of threading the path of foolishness at seventy even as he defended his administration against allegations of ineffectiveness couched in the earlier interview granted the press by Babangida. He said that Babangida should rather be pitied and shown sympathy rather than anger or condemnation.

Babangida responds

Babangida’s response was swift and severe as he tackled Obasanjo on both his performance record while in office and decency in his dealings even with his household and daughter in-law. He accused Obasanjo of being a witless comedian whose eight-year double term was characterized with human rights violations and mishaps including plane crashes.

Obasanjo who spoke with news men in Abeokuta during the visit of an American Team on an inspection of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) said that his initial thought was not to respond but that on second thought he decided to reply Babangida so that he (Babangida) would not consider himself wise.
He said: “Well, normally when I read these things I don’t believe them. Yesterday when somebody phoned me and said this was said, I said I don’t believe it. He said check on all the papers and I said get me all the papers; they got me the papers and I read; it’s a little bit unlike Babangida. But if Babangida had decided on becoming a septuagenarian, that he will be a fool, I think one should probably do what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 26, verse 4. It says, don’t answer a fool because you may also become like him.
“When you go to the same Proverbs chapter 26, verse 5, it says answer a fool so that he will not think he’s a wise man. So, I am now torn between which of the two verses I should follow in this respect. Some of the things he said unfortunately were not well thought-out.
“For instance, he talked about our energy. When I was the military head of state, I built Jebba dam; built Shiroro dam, I prepared the foundation of Egbin plant which President Shagari completed and commissioned. That time the money we were making was not up to the money Babangida made annually for his eight years and yet we built two dams. Because it was important, you know that power is the driving force for development and for any developing country. But since the building of Egbin power plant, until I came back in 1999 there was not any generating plant for almost 20 years and Babangida spent eight years out of that. Now, he has the audacity to talk about anybody; I think that is unfortunate.”
IBB deserves pity, sympathy
“I also read where he said in his time, he gave the dividends of democracy and at the same time he regretted. When I read that, well I said Babangida should be pitied and shown sympathy rather than anger or condemnation because the old saying says a fool at 40 is a fool forever and I would say a regret at 70 is a regret too late. Well a regret at 70 is a regret to the grave.
“Then as elected president, I built Papalanto, Omotosho, others and I started five of what they called Independent Power Stations which were stopped for two and a half years. Now the present administration has started building a new power project at Uyo. As a country, Nigeria should be adding nothing less than 1,500 megawatts annually. South Africa with a population of 50 million generates 50,000 mega watts. Nigeria with a population of about 165 million we are not generating, we as at 1999 met 1,500 mega watts before we took it up to 4,000 mega watts. What we started they are now allowing it to go on. I believe if they continue with the programme that we left, In another two years , we will get to 10,000”.

The IBB statement

Babangida in a riposte through a press statement issued by his spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua said:
“It is certainly not in the tradition of General IBB, such a refined gentleman officer; to join issues with his subordinates’ and superiors, but for the price we owe history, this riposte becomes appropriate and necessary. We expected Chief Obasanjo to react to the substance of General Babangida’s submissions and not deploy this distractive strategy to shy away from the real issues at stake. The statistics of the government they both ran at different times, speak for them.”
“The history of Chief Obasanjo is an open sore that is irredeemably contrived in several incongruities and contradictions. When he pleaded with IBB to be given another chance to extend his tenure, IBB was not a fool then. When he was released from prison and granted state pardon, bathed in cerebral ornaments and clothed in royal beads and later crowned as President of Nigeria, IBB was not a fool then. Now that he is at the extreme of his thoughts and engagements, he can decide to dress IBB in borrowed robes.
But the histories of both of them, when put to public scrutiny comparatively, IBB is far glowing and instructively stands poles apart from Obasanjo. In terms of decency, finesse, class, distinction and general conduct, IBB could be described in the superlatives but for Obasanjo; God bless Nigeria.”
A witless comedian
“For a man who cannot possibly tell his true age, one may excuse his present outburst as the effusions of a witless comedian trying effortlessly to impress his select audience.

The law of Karma is at work, God will deliver us from them o.

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Augustus Aikhomu is dead - source Nigerian vanguard

Erstwhile Chief of General Staff and military Vice-President Augustus Aikhomu is dead.
Associates of the retired military officer and politician confirmed that he died in Lagos, today,  following a prolonged illness. This concides with his erstwhile boss, Ibrahim Babagida's 70th birthday.

Late Augustus Aikhomu

Aikhomu was a retired Admiral in the Nigerian Navy and also served as the `de facto` Vice President  during the Ibrahim Babangida military regime from 1986 to 1993.

He hailed from Esan in Edo State

Two Brides And A Baby - A mercy johnson story?

Two Brides And A Baby - A mercy johnson story?