The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and its FIFA Match Agent, Jairo Pachon of Eurodata Sport yesterday announced an international friendly match for the coming FIFA window on the 5th March, 2014 between the Super Eagles and the Mexican National Team, known as ‘Tricolor.’
Nigeria and the United Kingdom signed an agreement on Thursday on the exchange of prisoners between them.
Under the agreement, high-profile prisoners like former Governor James Ibori of Delta State, and other Nigerians in the UK prisons
will be transferred to Nigeria to complete their jail terms.
Customs and Border Protection officers foiled a smuggling attempt at the U.S.-Mexico border when they discovered a woman contorted and hidden inside a suitcase.
Officials released a photo this week showing the woman tucked into a ball and laying inside the luggage in the back of a vehicle.
The woman, a Thai national named Pornkamol Mongkolsermsak, was charged with re-entry after deportation, CBP spokesman Victor Brabble said.
She was discovered on December 30, when inspectors at the border referred the driver of a Honda SUV for a secondary inspection, CBP said in a statement.
When officers inspected the vehicle, they opened up the suitcase and found the 48-year-old woman hidden underneath some clothing.
Authorities did not release the name of the 56-year-old Phoenix man who was driving the SUV.
The case has been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CBP said.
Reports from Kano State have it
that Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso's father, who also holds the traditional title of
Maji Dadin Kano and District Head of Madubi, Alhaji Musa Kwankwaso, was attacked by a gang of dangerous arms-wielding
gunmen in the outskirts of Kano city over the night.
Sources on the ground say the gunmen allegedly killed several persons after shooting sporadically on their way to the Kwankwasos
residence while the old man narrowly escaped being killed.
The Minister and her associates have spent the last several hours scrambling to clean up her biographies on the Internet, following revelations that she lied about her academic qualifications, Premium Times report.
“[Stella] Oduah-Ogiemwonyi received her Bachelors and Masters Degree (in Accounting and Business Administration respectively) in the United States,” her new edited profile said, without any reference to the particular university Stella Oduah attended.
Already, Stella’s biography on the website of the Ministry of Aviation has been revised, with references to St. Paul’s College now wiped out .
The Wikipedia page of the minister too has been hurriedly edited, and it now has no reference to the university Mrs. Oduah attended.
All links and reference materials on the Wikipedia page capable of linking the minister to the university that has disowned her have also been deleted.
Even the minister’s personal website has been reviewed to remove any reference to St. Paul’s College.
Stella Oduah, Nigeria’s Aviation Minister, faces serious integrity questions as her Masters’ degree has been challenged by the United States.
school which she claimed awarded the degree to her.
Her resume, presented to Senate as a ministerial nominee in 2011, indicated she obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States.
But the School's Provost Vice President of Academic Affairs and Vice President of Institutional Development said in response to inquiries: “ We don’t offer any graduate programs here .”
Similarly, the school’s website states: “Saint Paul’s College is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate [bachelor’s] degrees.” There is no mention of graduate degrees.
The Minister’s documentation shows she received an
undergraduate degree in accounting from the college in 1982, but Dr. Claud Flythe, St. Paul’s current president, could neither confirm nor deny this during a phone conversation with SaharaReporters. Further verification with the Office of Alumni Affairs is also currently impossible, the school said, because the
college has been closed since June 2013 to loss of its
accreditation.
A man stopped for speeding in Ohio was charged with illegally making or possessing an explosive device after nearly 50 bombs and four guns were found in his vehicle.
Andrew Scott Boguslawski, 43, was arrested late New Year's Day on Interstate 70 west of Columbus. Investigators found two pistols, two rifles, 48 explosive devices and tools and materials to make additional
explosives.
Also inside was a remote detonating device.
Investigators are trying to determine why the man had the arsenal. He faces a court hearing Friday in Madison County.
According to the state trooper who stopped him for going 85 mph in a 70-mph zone, Boguslawski said he had no weapons. However, the officer returned with a ticket and saw the handle of a gun between the
man's knees.
"At that point, he drew his service weapon, held the man there and called for backup," said Adkins.
Culled from Yahoo news
After Michael Essien was replaced, John Mikel Obi took the captain’s armband, and, on his 300th appearance in a Chelsea shirt, capped his day with a goal, thumping home Willian’s free-kick with a bullet
header.
Oscar added a second soon after, swerving the ball past Derby’s keeper Lee Grant with a fine strike, and the remaining minutes were played out in relative comfort as we eventually eased into the fourth round,
where a home tie with Stoke City awaits.
Jose Mourinho said he was delighted with his side’s attitude against a side going well in the Championship.
It was a landmark day for John Mikel Obi, in many respects…
‘I never recognise his ability to score goals!’ the Portuguese laughed.
‘I recognise his ability to play as an anchorman, to play that position in a very comfortable way, with no mistakes. He reads the game well, plays in an intelligent and safe way, but I never recognise his
goalscoring appetite.
‘There was a smile on my face [when he scored]. For some reason Essien gave him the armband, normally it should go to Ashley Cole, so maybe it made him believe he was a goalscorer!
‘It was important for us, we were dominating and dominating, creating and creating but the goal was not arriving. It was like the winning
goal.’
Human body parts fell from the sky in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Sunday, with police saying they could be the remains of someone trapped in an aircraft’s undercarriage bay.
“Police received a telephone call at 2:30 am from a witness reporting the fall of human remains at an intersection in Mushrefa neighbourhood” in the Red Sea city, spokesman Nawaf bin Naser al-Bouq said in a statement.
Initial indications were that the remains “fell from a plane’s landing gear,” said Bouq, adding that investigations were ongoing. The report came after a Saudi Arabian Airlines jet made an emergency landing in the city of Medina in the west of the kingdom, injuring 29 people on Sunday.
That aircraft had been travelling from Iran’s second city of Mashhad with 315 people on board.
A spokesman for the General Authority of Civil Aviation said there was no connection between the emergency landing in Medina and the Jeddah incident.
In a desperate attempt to cross borders, some people at poorly monitored airports climb inside the bays housing aircraft landing gear.
Most of them freeze to death once the aircraft reach cruising altitude, but some survive.
Culled from PUNCH
I'm 26 years old and last year after graduating from one of the Polytechnics in Nigeria, I couldn't get a job.I needed to travel out of the country to better my life of that of my family.I planned on going to Turkey but fell into the hands of dupes who gave me fakedocuments and I was thrown out of the Turkish embassy during my interview and almost got arrested.
Standing outside, I met an old acquaintance,a
young guy I met through a mutual friend. I
found myself telling him about my plight
and how I had been duped into paying for fake
documents.I told him how my dad sold his plot
of land to ensure I traveled.How was I going to
tell them their money went down the drain?
He then told me the best thing was to tell them
I got the visa , so when my dad sends money for my flight ticket, I use it to go to Malaysia.He said he had an agent who would help me and also give me a
job once I get there.He said several guys had
gone to Malaysia too.
I told my excited parents that I got the Visa
and would need money for my flight. I raised 600 thousand naira which was sent to the agent
I had never met and was given a 1 month visa .
I got to Malaysia expecting to see the agent but never did. It was 3 weeks, no job,and paying my hotel bill, I had exhausted all my money.The so-called agent
I had been calling suddenly switched off his
phone. It was one week to the expiration of my visa.
So I decided to step-out and find other Nigerians who could help me.I was unsuccessful as the two guys I knew way back in Nigeria were club bouncers and had no connections.I was shocked because they claimed
to be big boys.
I was on my way back from one of my
unsuccessful outings.I was
wondering what to do when a short Indian man
intercepted me."Hello
my friend you looking for a job? I have a job
for you.How will you
like to earn 3 thousand dollars a month ? I was
speechless"" He told
me '"Lets go and have a drink and talk about it"
I was so happy..He took me to a spot not far
from where we met.It
was like a private house and I saw two other
Black boys who the man
introduced me to saying they were also
beneficiaries of the job.I was
just about to ask what the job was when a
waiter brought me a drink
and he told me to give him a minute to bring
papers which would show me my job description.
I don't know what happened next .I found
myself in an uncompleted building.I was confused at first and felt i was dreaming.But the cold was unbearable to be a mere dream and the sharp pain on the side of my belly was too intense to be real .I saw my shoes on the floor .I was
confused. How did I get here? What about the
job? Did I loose my chance by getting too
drunk? Then I recalled I didn't drink alcohol.
I decided to put on my shoes when I noticed
my legs were so swollen my shoes didn't size me anymore..
I left the place with no money in my pocket,
didn't even know where I
was.I tried to ask some Arabs to help but
noone even listened to me.
As I kept walking, I saw 2 security men and
walked up to them.They
were Nigerians and after telling them about my
plight, they took pity
on me and asked me to sleep in the factory
where they worked for the
night .They gave me some pain killers to relieve
me.But advised me to
go for a test the next day. The next day I told
them I had no money to
even go for a checkup and I was probably going
to be deported as I
had just one week for my visa to expire.
The elderly one told me there was a job
opening as a life guard at
some private beach. I couldn't be more
grateful.
I took up the job but the reoccurring belly
ache which I kept
suppressing with pain killers was getting more
intense.
Then after rescuing someone who almost
drowned, the intense stress
which accompanied that made me fall ill.And
after several tests, they
couldn't ascertain what was wrong with me.I
had used up all the little
money I earned from my job as a life guard
and I had no option but
to give myself up to the authorities so I could
be deported since I
couldn't pay for my flight ticket .
I returned to Nigeria seriously ill and my
parents took me from one
hospital to the other and they couldn't detect
what was wrong with
me.We went to several prayer houses even very
popular miracle
pastors who claimed it was evil people from my
village chasing
me.Destiny killers they said.I was ordered to
fast for 21 days and four
days later I collapsed .
Then my father ran into an old classmate who
owned a hospital.He
told him about my plight and he told my dad to
bring me over.
He ordered a full scan to be run on me and
while I was alone, he came
to me and said" Young man, why did you have
one of your kidney's
removed?" I was shocked 'My Kidney? Sir I
don't get". He smiled"At
least if you want to have your kidney removed,
do it well.You must
have earned a few millions from it so what did
you do with the
money ? Why didn't you treat yourself
properly?"""
I was confused and i insisted i knew nothing
and he showed me the
scan.Yes one kidney was missing.He also said
the closure was perfectly
done and skin was used to cover up the
stitch.He said only Indians did
such perfect cover-ups.After insisting there was
a mistake
somewhere ,the doctor said the fact was one of
my kidneys was
removed and he told me the dangers of selling
my kidney which many
Nigerian youths do these days to make quick
cash
I was in tears and I told him I didn't know what
he was talking about
then I recalled the Indian man I met who told
me he had a job for
me .
It hit me that that man had me drugged and
took me to an unknown
place and had my kidney removed and then
dumped me in that
building.
Now I'm a 26 year old man who put my
parents through hell and I'm now living on one kidney and very ill.I keep hoping this one doesn't develop a problem .I want youths to be careful
of where they go to and who they interact with.I just found-out its a cartel and several African jobless youths have been trapped and have their kidneys removed without their knowledge .
