Benchmark Naija

Self acclaimed secretary General of Boko Haram, Mallam Danladi Ahmadu have said that the group’s cases fire agreement with the Federal Government is very much on course. Ahmadu disclosed that the final meeting between the group and the Federal Government to finally seal the ceasefire agreement has been scheduled for Monday in Ndjamana, Chad and to be supervised by the Chadian leader, Idris Derby. Danladi Ahmadu, who spoke in the Hausa service of the Voice of America VoA on Friday and monitored in Yola affirmed that the Chibok Girls would surely be released on Monday to the Chadian President, Idriss Derby for onward presentation to the Nigerian government. He added that an enlarged meeting of the group has been fixed for the weekend to prepare ground for the Monday meeting with the Federal government, affirming that the final ceasefire and the release of the Chibok girls are promises that will surely be fulfilled by the group. Ahmadu also disclosed to VoA that the group and the ...

Shock and disbelief could best describe the expression on the faces of residents of Omitola street in Agege area of Lagos, when Saturday Vanguard visited Thursday , to ascertain the circumstance that led to the death of a 12-year-old boy. The guardians of the boy allegedly beat him to death just as a man in Oregun, Ikeja, was also alleged to have beaten the son to death for stealing N1,000. The 12-year old boy who was identified as Onyedikachi Mbanozo, was reportedly brought from the village by Mr and Mrs Paul Obiefule, last year, with a promise to send him to school. Ironically , he died on a day children all over the world were being celebrated. He was hungry and sought to eat at about 1pm. It was to be his first meal of the day. His guardians allegedly pounced on him in the process of which he slumped and died. Residents told Saturday Vanguard during the visit that when the couple discovered that Mbanozo was dead, they hid his corpse under the bed. Sens...

A Lecturer at the Taraba College of Education (COE) Zing,named  Alhaji Kassimu Umar was on Friday burnt to death in a mob action after he allegedly hit and killed five primary school pupils with a vehicle he was driving. Mr Joseph Kwaji, the Police Public Relations officer (PPRO), of the Taraba Police Command confirmed the incident in Jalingo. He said that the mob forcefully removed Umar from the Pupule Police Outpost, where he went to report the incident, and the mob burnt him to death. “In the early hours of today, one Kassimu Umar, who is believed to be a lecturer with COE, Zing had knocked down five primary school pupils in Zing, who all died on the spot. “After he reported the incident to the Pupule Police Outstation, irate youths in their hundreds, stormed the station, dragged him out and lynched him. “Our investigation revealed that the lecturer was trying to dodge a trailer, when he ran over the pupils whose ages ranged between eight and 11 years

In less than two months after he accused Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, former governor of Borno State and former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika of being sponsors of the Boko Haram sect. Stephen Davis this time has accused the opposition party of hindering the release of the Chibok schoolgirls. Further to the delayed release of the girls and the reasons for it, he warned that if the girls are set free without the leaders of Boko Haram either reined in or their sponsors stopped, Nigeria should expect an endless orgy of abductions by the same group in future. In an interview Davis granted a UK news network, Channel 4 few days ago, he stated that: “The Nigerian opposition politicians sponsor­ing Boko Haram have to be stopped if hundreds of local girls are to be saved.” The credibility of the plat­form given to Davis was an indication that international support for his allegations is rapidly gaining acceptance. He claimed to have been frus­trated by a number of unsuc­ces...

Nigeria’s senior national team, Super Eagles, dropped five places to 42nd in the latest Fifa world ranking released on Thursday. The African champions were adjudged the 38th best football playing team in the world according to the ranking released earlier in September. The Eagles are now the ninth-ranked African side behind Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Ghana, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Egypt and Senegal following their poor run in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers earlier this month. Their drop comes after losing 1-0 to Sudan in Khartoum after playing out a 0-0 draw in South Africa. Meanwhile Algeria remain at the summit of African football with 989 points which put them in the 15th position in the world while Cote d’Ivoire are second in Africa and ranked 25th in the world. Tunisia stay third on the continent after amassing 780 points which places them in the 31st spot in the world. Germany, Argentina and Colombia hold the first, second and third spots in the world...

The Nigerian government has approved that henceforth National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members will receive N500 as daily feeding allowance. Director General of the NYSC, Johnson Bamidele Olawumi, disclosed this yesterday at a House of Representatives Committee hearing on the N4, 000 online registration fee mandated for corps members, Leadership reports. A civil society group launched a ‘Say No Campaign’ to protest the registration fee. It was during the hearing that Olawumi made the announcement about the new feeding allowance. He disclosed that the federal government approved N500 as feeding allowance for each corp member per day. He also disclosed that over N800 million was required to setup the computer system to be used   the NYSC is presently using for its online registration. While noting that the N4,000 for the online registration is voluntary, he said rather than request for money to install the infrastructure, he would prefer to canvass for increment...

Olayinka, in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti  on Thursday , said; "as against the falsehood being spread by the Speaker and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Speaker's Petrol Station, alongside three others were sealed up for contravening environmental laws." The governor's aide listed the four filling stations affected by the government action to include; INIS Integrated Services located along Iworoko Road, Ado-Ekiti; belonging Hon Churchill Adedipe, NIPCO Petrol Station (Morolu Global Services), Isato-Oke in Ado-Ekiti (belonging to Mr Oloko), T5 Petrol Station, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti (owned by Dr Adewale Omirin) and PHENROSE Limited, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti (owned by Mr Gilbert Igweka). Olayinka, who advised the Speaker to thread softly so as to prevent himself from being pushed into perdition, added that; "Code 2 (b) of the Code of Conduct Act prohibits public office holders like the Speaker from participating in management or running of an...