Carnival Calabar

Former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Sylvia Nduka celebrated her birthday this past weekend at the beach with friends.

The Nigerian military has slammed former President Olusegun Obasanjo as an embarrassment to the force he once served, hours after Mr. Obasanjo on Monday announced his exit from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Mr. Obasanjo dumped the PDP at a dramatic event in Abeokuta, Ogun State, a move that appeared aimed at forestalling an expulsion by the party.

The military did not rebuke Mr. Obasanjo for leaving the party. It lambasted the former president over his criticisms of the force’s role in the postponement of forthcoming general elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had rescheduled elections from February, to March and April, a decision taken at the instigation of the military.

The former president, who has repeatedly criticised President Goodluck Jonathan and his government, said the postponement of the elections was to further the interest of the president.

Cameroon’s army says it has killed 86 Boko Haram militants and detained 1,000 people suspected of links to the Islamist group, as central African leaders held talks on how to combat its bloody insurgency.
Five Cameroonian soldiers were also killed during the clashes in the Waza region near the border with Nigeria, defence ministry spokesman Didier Badjeck said Monday.

Nigeria-based Boko Haram has widened its attacks into neighbouring nations, notably Cameroon and Chad, in a conflict estimated to have claimed a total 13,000 lives since 2009.

Representatives of 10 nations, meeting in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde on Monday under the aegis of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), urged the international community to provide more support in the fightback against the Islamists.

“We have to eradicate Boko Haram,” said Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, as attendees pledged to create a 76-million-euro ($86-million) fund to fight the group.

Biya declared that Boko Haram’s utter disregard for human dignity meant “a total impossibility of compromise”, but added that the fight against terrorism was not a “crusade against Islam”.

The aim of Monday’s discussion was to come up with “an agreed solution” on the fight against the extremists, a source close to the Cameroonian government told AFP.

Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria have formed a military alliance to combat the notoriously brutal militants, who are fighting to create a hardline Islamic state.

The Murtala Muhammed International Airport command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, has apprehended a pastor, Prophet Michael Raji, for drug trafficking.

Correspondent learnt that Pastor Raji of a white garment church at the Ikotun area of Lagos, was arrested at about 12pm on Monday while he was trying to smuggle 174 kilogrammes of narcotic drugs to South Africa.
The agency said three international passports bearing different names were also recovered from the pastor.

Information gathered that an NDLEA team led Raji to the church, where bags containing 91kg of Methamphetamine and 83kg of Ephedrine with an estimated street value of N609m were recovered.

It was also learnt that a jeep was impounded during the operation.

The 60-year-old pastor told investigators that he was tempted to the act by the devil.

He said, “I received the drugs from my friend and I kept them in the church since October 2014. This is a great temptation for me and I pray to God to overcome it.”

The NDLEA Commander at the airport, Mr. Hamza Umar, described the suspect as a “smooth operator.”

Umar said, “The drugs were brought to the airport for export to South Africa. Investigation eventually traced the movement of the drugs to his church premises where he was arrested.

“He had three international passports bearing his photographs with the names Michael Raji and Kadigun Ola.

“It was equally discovered that the church premises, where he ministers, also serves as a warehouse for narcotics.

“The seized drugs, concealed inside large bags of foodstuffs, were found to contain 91kg of Methamphetamine and 83kg of Ephedrine with an estimated street value of N609m.

“We also recovered a Mercedes Benz jeep during the operation.”

The Chairman of the agency, Ahmadu Giade, said the seizure was phenomenal and promised that the suspect and his fleeing accomplices would be brought to book.

The NDLEA boss further called on members of the public to continue to support the agency by providing useful information on drug trafficking syndicates.