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Senator Magnus Abe The senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers South-East, Senator Magnus Abe, has won the legislative rerun election in his senatorial District. The Returning Officer, Prof. Gideon Onukwuisi, declared Abe winner on Sunday after announcing the result at the collation centre in Bori, Khana Local Government Area. Abe polled 125,938 votes to beat his opponent from the Peoples Democratic Party, Olaka Wogu, who got 25,394 votes. Onukwuisi explained that out of the 154,703 votes cast, 152,706 votes were valid while 2,627 votes were invalid. Dedicating his victory at the poll to God, Abe, who later addressed journalists, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the election. The senator-elect also expressed gratitude to his party supporters for having confidence in him and pledged to give them a better representation. Also, Mr. Maurice Pronem, a House of Representatives candidate of the APC for Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency was declared w...

The Synagogue Church of All Nations (Inset: T.B Joshua) No fewer than three worshippers at the Synagogue Church of all Nations, Ikotun, Lagos State, have been confirmed dead after a stampede on the church’s premises on Saturday. PUNCH Metro  learnt that the victims were part of a crowd that struggled to see the church’s General Overseer, Prophet Temitope Joshua, during a special healing service. Our correspondent gathered that while two of the victims were identified as Emeka Okonkwo and Emmanuel Oherin, the third victim had yet to be identified. Their corpses were said to have been deposited in a morgue in the state. An eyewitness, who did not want to be identified, said the stampede occurred around 4.30am. He said, “It was the church’s annual deliverance and healing programme. Usually at this time, the church becomes a beehive of activities as people come in their thousands to see the prophet for miracles. “People lodge in different hotels s...

President Muhammadu Buhari to rehabilitate IDPs President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said the 2017 Appropriation Bill that he would present to the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday would take Nigeria out of recession. Buhari said this in his Eid-el Maulud message to Nigerians. In the message which he personally signed, the President said with collective dedication and hard work, Nigerians would in 2017 overcome the economic difficulties, and return the country to the path of prosperity. He urged Nigerians not to allow the reality of the temporary challenges to undermine their hope or reverse the collective will to succeed. Rather, he said the challenges should remind them why they needed to remain united. The President’s message read, “Again, the calendar of life has brought us into another period of celebration, and deep reflection. Celebration, because we are marking the birth of Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him), and deep reflection, because i...

The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a 23-year-old lady, Abosede Omolare, for allegedly stabbing her fiance, Sadiq Dauda, to death during an argument. The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, told a news conference on Friday in Abeokuta that Omolare was engaged to marry Dauda in December. He said that the suspect committed the crime at Onirugba St. in Ijebu-Ode on Tuesday and was arrested on the same day. The PPRO explained that the incident followed minor disagreement over allegation of mismanagement of funds from the gas business which the late Dauda entrusted to the suspect. Oyeyemi said Oyelare claimed that her late fiancé, who she was living with, beat her up and sent her away. He said that Oyelare returned home on the invitation of her fiance’s mother who promised to intervene. He said “She stated that immediately she got home, her fiance descend on her, beat her mercilessly and broke a bottle with which he threatened to st...

Several hundred Muslims staged a protest prayer outside the Colosseum in Rome on Friday over what they see as unfair restrictions on their freedom to practise their faith in Italy. Organisers said they had called the demonstration following the recent closure on administrative grounds of five makeshift mosques. Many Italian Muslims suspect local authorities are responding to a climate of mistrust caused by recent Islamist attacks in Europe by closing down the places of worship on the grounds of easily resolved problems such as the number of toilets on a particular premises. “We feel people are pointing the finger at us,” said Francesco Tieri, a convert to Islam who acts as a coordinator for a number of Islamic groups. “There is no political will to recognise that we are here and that we are a peaceful community. “We are forced to rent places to pray — which for us is like breathing air, if we can’t do it we die.” According to official fi...

The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a 23-year-old lady, Abosede Omolare, for allegedly stabbing her fiance, Sadiq Dauda, to death during an argument. The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, told a news conference on Friday in Abeokuta that Omolare was engaged to marry Dauda in December. He said that the suspect committed the crime at Onirugba St. in Ijebu-Ode on Tuesday and was arrested on the same day. The PPRO explained that the incident followed minor disagreement over allegation of mismanagement of funds from the gas business which the late Dauda entrusted to the suspect. Oyeyemi said Oyelare claimed that her late fiancé, who she was living with, beat her up and sent her away. He said that Oyelare returned home on the invitation of her fiance’s mother who promised to intervene. He said “She stated that immediately she got home, her fiance descend on her, beat her mercilessly and broke a bottle with which he threatened to st...

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Turkey’s flagship carrier Turkish Airlines on Friday said it has banned Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from all of its flights with immediate effect after reports of fire risk. “Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices can no longer be transported on person, in carry-on baggage, in checked bags or as air cargo on all Turkish Airlines flights with immediate effect,” the company said in a warning note to passengers on its website. The airline did not detail the reasons for the ban, but it comes after reports of exploding batteries and fires, which have led to numerous injuries. That prompted the South Korean electronics giant to recall all Note 7 phones, including replacements. Samsung has also stopped producing the flagship handset. German carrier Lufthansa had announced on Tuesday its ban on Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from all of its flights. Japan this month said it barred all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from airplanes, following move...

oscar Chelsea star Oscar misses out but Brazil include the Real Madrid pair of Marcelo and Casemiro for the crunch clash next month with old rivals Argentina in World Cup qualifying. Coach Tite on Friday named a strong 24-man squad for the games at home to Argentina on November 10 and away in Peru five days later. Midfielder Oscar, out of favour at Stamford Bridge, is dropped from the squad but left-back Marcelo and defensive midfielder Casemiro are in following a calf injury and a leg break respectively. The Sao Paulo defender Rodrigo Caio gets a call-up, as Brazil seek to cement their place at the top of South American qualifying for Russia 2018. Argentina, led by fit-again Lionel Messi — he will line up against Barcelona team-mate and Brazilian star Neymar — are fifth. Brazil squad: Goalkeepers: Alisson (AS Roma/ITA), Alex Muralha (Flamengo), Weverton (Atletico Paranaense) Defenders: Gil (Shandong Luneng/CHN), Marquinhos (Paris SG/FRA), Miranda (Atletico Madrid/E...

File: Police officers investigate the site of an attack / AFP PHOTO / THOMAS KIENZLE A man in Southern Germany was beaten to death by four men after he publicly urinated near a church, police said on Thursday. Police are searching for the four men who hurled insults and attacked the 51-year-old man recently after he was seen urinating close to a church in Freiburg, a city in Germany’s traditionally Catholic south. According to police, the man told his son about the attack before succumbing to his injuries later that day. However an autopsy confirmed that he died as a result of the attack. Report says public urination on Church buildings has become an issue of public concern in Germany, corroding the buildings’ sandstone foundations and leading authorities to institute hefty fines.

Adeleke on a hospital bed A bricklayer, Adeleke Oyadara, has been tortured to death in Kujore, Iwelepe, in the Sagamu area of Ogun State, after he was accused of robbery. PUNCH Metro  learnt that a businesswoman, identified only as Bolanle, had claimed that she was robbed by the deceased on September 10. Bolanle, around 8pm of the next day, was alleged to have gone to Adeleke’s house with some hoodlums. They were said to have descended on the 50-year-old and beaten him to a pulp before putting him in a truck they brought. Our correspondent learnt that on the way, the group was intercepted by some vigilance group members, who took the case to the Sagamu Police Division. The victim was said to have been referred to a hospital, and died a few weeks later. The victim’s wife, Toyin, said her husband was taken away from the house around 8pm on September 11. She said, “On that day, a man knocked on our door around 8pm. Suddenly, a woman, who had hid behind him, ...

Dame Patience Jonathan  Wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has urged a Federal High Court in Lagos to restrain a human rights organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, from coercing the Attorney General of the Federation to prosecute her over “unfounded and malicious allegations that she stole $15m.” Patience claimed that the $15m over which SERAP allegedly asked the AGF to prosecute her was a gift she received over the last 15 years from friends and well-wishers. The Executive Director of SERAP, Adetokunbo Mumuni, said in a statement on Thursday that the organisation had been served with court papers in Patience’s suit marked, FHC/L/CS/1349/2016. According to Mumuni, the suit was filed by members of the Union of Niger Delta Youth Organisation for Equity, Justice and Good Governance on behalf of themselves and Patience. The plaintiffs sought a court order of interim injunction restraining SERAP from using any judicial pro...

Habiba Isa. Photo: Olaide Oyelude THE Katsina State branch of ‘Jama’atu Izalatil Bidah wa Iqamatis Sunnah’ (JIBWIS) has clarified that the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumuni Usman, is not the one who married the 14-year-old girl, Habiba Isa, who was allegedly forcefully converted to Islam and forced into marriage. The Islamic group, at a press conference in Katsina on Tuesday, said  Habiba’s husband was “a young man called Jamilu Lawal.” The group, which spoke through its chairman, Sheikh Yakubu Hassan, cautioned against people dragging the name of the royal father into the controversy. The group said, “The allegations recently made by Christian leaders in the state that the Emir of Katsina forcefully converted an underage Christian girl, Habiba Isa, to Islam and then married her is an insult to Muslims and a deliberate attempt to pollute the peaceful atmosphere that the community enjoys in the state. JIBWIS has all the evidence that ...

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday night cleverly avoided to be dragged into the raging controversy over who nominated him to be President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in the 2015 presidential election.  Although he confirmed that “somebody somewhere” must nominate one before occupying a position, Osinbajo refrained from disclosing who nominated him.  Controversy broke out recently when the author of Buhari’s biography, “Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria”, Prof. John Paden, claimed in the book that the President chose Osinbajo as his running mate despite the alleged opposition of a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Despite the general belief that Tinubu was instrumental to the emergence of Osinbajo who served as his Attorney-General when he (Tinubu) was the governor of Lagos State, the author claimed that the names of Tinubu; the then La...

Immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.)   The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday opened its case against a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), and 10 others, who are being tried for an alleged fraud of N22.8bn.   The defendants, who were arraigned before a Federal High Court in Lagos on June 29, 2016, had on July 8, 2016, indicated their intention to enter into a plea bargain with the EFCC.   They had then sought an adjournment to enable them to perfect their bail terms and smoothen their talks with the anti-graft agency.   But at the resumed proceedings in the case on Thursday, the prosecutor opened its case and called its first witness, apparently due to breakdown of plea bargain talks between the parties.   Standing trial alongside Amosu are two other officers of the Nigerian Air Force – Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun and Air Commodore Gbadebo Olugbenga. ...

Donald Trump Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump said Thursday that he would accept a “clear election result” next month, but reserved the right to challenge the outcome if he felt it was “questionable.” Trump stuck firm to his unprecedented defiance of US democratic norms, telling supporters: “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win.” But he went on to say: “I will accept a clear election result, but I will also reserve my right to contest and file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result.”