VENGEANCE IS COMING FOR DIRTY POLITICIANS – T.B. JOSHUA

On Sunday 9thFebruary 2014, the controversial Nigerian Prophet T.B. Joshua released yet more alarming prophetic messages to Nigeria, Africa and the international community.
He declared vengeance was nigh for Nigerian politicians playing dirty games, prophesied an impending economic crisis in Ghana and warned Russia of an evil plan in the works to disrupt the Winter Olympics being held in Sochi. The Nigerian cleric spoke in a church service broadcast live via popular Christian television station Emmanuel TV.
Speaking about his homeland Nigeria, Joshua reiterated the prophetic concern he voiced at the beginning of the year about the Nigerian elections to be held in 2015. “What I am seeing is heavy. I am seeing rain – the clouds are dark. Pray for the fulfillment of 2015… Democracy is a sweet system. Pray that the system will not be rubbished… I am seeing disagreement at the end of that day and that disagreement can result to anything.”

ASUU tackles FG over agreement implementation delay

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has condemned the attitude of the Federal Government towards the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding on the NEEDS projects in the universities.

The union expressed concern over what it called foot-dragging in the implementation of the agreement reached with it.

It also criticised the sacking of over 90 employees of the Cocoa Research Institute in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. It called on the Federal Government and the masses to rise against the intimidation of the oppressed in the institution.

The National Treasurer of ASUU, Dr. Ademola Aremu, and Chairman of University of Ibadan Chapter of the union, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, said these during a media briefing at the Postgraduate School of the university on Saturday.

Police arrest woman for niece’s refusal to marry

There was a mild drama at the Ojodu Police Division, Lagos State on Saturday over the arrest of a woman, Mrs. Joy Idenyi, by two policemen from the Bauchi State Police Command.

Idenyi’s arrest was prompted by a warrant from a Bauchi Magistrate’s Court B for the alleged abduction of her niece, Patience Joseph. Patience’s father, Joseph, had reportedly made an application to that effect.

While waiting for the policemen to complete the paper work at Ojodu, Joy told PUNCH Metro that she  received a call around 10am on Saturday from her neighbours that her husband, Shuaibu, had been arrested.

She said, “When I got the call that my husband had been taken to the Ojodu Police Station.  I rushed down there to discover that Patience’s father was there. The policemen had come with a warrant for my arrest – for allegedly abducting Patience.”

Denying the claim, Joy said Patience had fled to Lagos sometime last year.

She said, “Patience came to me because she did not want to marry the man that her parents had arranged for her and I tried to help as best as I could.”

2015: Jonathan moves to woo S’West

President Goodluck Jonathan and his top aides are said to be developing strategies to stop the increasing popularity of the All Progressives Congress in the South-West and parts of the North-East and North-West.

High-ranking Aso Rock officials told The PUNCH in Abuja, on Sunday, that this informed a recent meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and his strategists in the Presidential Villa.

One of the sources said that the meeting reviewed how Nigerians across the six geo-political zones  might vote in 2015 and concluded that the electons, especially the Presidential poll, would be keenly contested.

The source added that Jonathan and the strategists agreed that the APC  had a firm grip on the South-West and therefore resolved  that concrete measures should be adopted to woo the zone.

One of the measures, according to him, is to allocate the position of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria or the Comptroller-General of  the  Nigeria Customs Service, to the  South-West.

It was learnt that those at the meeting were in unison that giving  either of the two positions would go a long way in  countering  the allegation of marginalisation being levelled against the Jonathan administration by the people of the zone.

Aregbesola, Omisore attend vigil over Osun gov poll

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and Senator Iyiola Omisore on Saturday night stormed a popular prayer mountain at Otan Ayegbaju in Boluwaduro Local Government Area of the state to offer prayers to God.

The governor is a devout Muslim while Omisore is a Catholic. But both of them went to the prayer mountain, known as Oke Maria, for the annual pilgrimage and to pray to God to grant their desires.

Omisore attended the vigil after he had declared his governorship ambition at a well-attended ceremony in Osogbo where he levelled allegations of financial impropriety against Aregbesola.

Senator Babajide Omowoarare, who is also a Catholic faithful, was also in attendance at the vigil.

Omoworare, who was the first to arrive at the service, came around 10.45pm on Saturday, while Omisore got there around 1.45am on Sunday. Aregbesola came about an hour later.

Clerics die as jeep, bus plunge into canal

Two Islamic clerics lost their lives on Saturday after  their jeep collided with a bus and plunged into a canal at the Iyana Ipaja end of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the victims, Alhaji Akinsola Al-Ameen and Muyideen Thiamiyu, were coming back from Ikorodu when their vehicle had a tyre burst around 10pm.

According to eyewitnesses, after the tyre burst, Thiamiyu, who was the driver, lost control of the vehicle.

He was said to be attempting to bring the jeep to a halt when a big yellow bus with number plate FKJ 201 SH rammed into them, causing both vehicles to veer off the expressway into the canal.

A relative of Al-Ameen, who preferred to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the family, said the clerics were on their way to the Ifo area of Ogun State when the unfortunate incident occurred.