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The entire Metuh family has been following the issues regarding our son, Chief Olisa Metuh and his ordeal since his arrest, detention and arraignment by the EFCC since January this year. We are aware that the matter regarding our son is subjudice hence we shall only comment on matters that are already in the public domain. For the avoidance of doubt, we want to make the following clarifications.

'I hope Manchester United get back to being what they were because it's an impressive club but in the last years they lacked an identity a bit.And it hurts me seeing United like that because it's a club I carry in my heart. I wish Mourinho can restore them back to the top.'

'Without any problems I would embrace him. One of my greatest qualities is to not hold grudges at anyone regardless of the damage they may have done to me,' he added.

'I'm not saying he did, I'm saying in general. There were some problems like in life, like you have problems with your wife.'

'Right now, yes, I am happy and I want to stay at this club. I don't see any other club that is better than Real Madrid. If you weigh things up, there is no better club. So all other clubs can forget about me because Real Madrid is the best.'

National Youth Service Corps member, Ifiemi Igali posted to Lagos has been found dead three days after he went missing in Bayelsa State.

The 22-year-old set out to collect his result from his school in Delta State, on Thursday from Yenegoa.

Worry settled upon the family and they suspected foul when they couldn’t reach him. Their fears were confirmed when a policeman called three hours later to say that Ifiemi was found dead, with foaming in his mouth, by the roadside in Berger.

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said, “An Automated Teller Machine card and a mobile phone were found on the deceased. No mark in his body, but he foamed in the mouth. Investigation is ongoing to unravel the cause of the death.”

Militants suspected to be members of the Niger Delta Avengers have blown up an underground Chevron crude oil trunk line.

The trunk line is located along the Seria Creek near Abiteye, a few kilometres away from the company’s multi-billion dollars Tank Farm in Escravos, Warri South West local government area of Delta State.

The PUNCH gathered that the incident, which occurred midnight, was noticed by workers in the production department when they observed drop in production pressure.

A top Chevron management officer and a security source both separately confirmed the incident to our correspondent.

The source said a technical team of experienced engineers had been dispatched to the scene of the spill to ascertain the true cause.

Information available to us reveal that the Seria Creek and all adjoining creeks of Abiteye have now been covered with massive oil spill emanating from the trunk line.

A local source in the area said, “At the moment, the entire creek has been littered with crude oil.”

The violent militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, also announced the attack on their twitter handle.

Achievas Music act, Solidstar is set to release a refix to his much loved single “Wait” tomorrow 27th May. The refix features Patois superstar, Patoranking and Mavins first lady now Roc Nation’s sweetheart, Tiwa Savage.

Enjoy Solidstar Wait snippet and check back for the full track. Hit the LIKE button.

“Despite his electoral promise to reduce petrol pump price from the N87 per litre that he met it, President Muhammadu Buhari increased the price to N145! With this increment, Buhari has further impoverished Nigerians. Nigerians should be reminded that on April 14, 2015, President Buhari’s ally and former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Prof. Tam David-West, told Nigerians that Gen. Mohammed Buhari (who was then President-elect), will reduce the fuel pump price from N87 to N40 per litre. Buhari did not debunk this statement made by his friend and major supporter.

“Also, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan reduced the petrol pump price from N97 to N87 per litre in January 2015, former Lagos State Governor who is now Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola said N10 reduction of the petrol pump price was too low and that Nigerians will get a better deal under Buhari. Fashola tweeted on January 18, 2015; ‘On PMS price reduction by N10. Now they listen. Oil the raw material drop over 50%, N10 is just about 10%. Good try but Nija can get a beta deal.’ In rewarding Nigerians for electing him as president, President Buhari opted to increase petrol pump price by N58.50! The first justification of the increment was removal of subsidy. But Nigerians were later stunned when the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo said pump price of petrol was increased because Nigeria was broke!

“In other words, President Buhari increased petrol pump price because the country was broke and it needed to shore up its revenue base. The N58.50 added to the previous pump price of N86.50 was an Indirect Tax imposed on each litre of petrol purchased by Nigerians.

“Simply put, the Federal Government is indirectly collecting N58.50 naira tax from suffering Nigerians on each litre of petrol they buy. Buhari is no doubt acting like the proverbial Agbalowomeri Baale Jontolo (Aking that exploit his extremely poor subject to further enrich himself). It is on record that on May 2 this year, the federal government, in the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) Template released in Abuja, told Nigerians that it was subsidising petrol at N12.62 per litre. In 2012 when the Dr Jonathan removed fuel subsidy and increased petrol price to N141 per litre, crude oil was selling at $111 per barrel.

“If not wickedness, how can petrol price be increased to N145 per litre when crude oil is now selling at $49 per barrel? Increasing petrol pump price by N58.50 when the federal government claimed it was subsidising the product at N12.62 per litre is clear wickedness on the part of President Buhari. In the history of Nigeria, increase in price of petrol has never been as high as it was done by Buhari, putting Nigerians in severe hardship as the product affects every sector of the economy. Too bad, those who opposed removal of fuel subsidy in 2012 and funded the Occupy Nigeria protest are the ones canvassing support for this Buhari’s wicked one year anniversary gift to Nigerians. The labour unions are now completely cowed, dashing completely hope of the common people of Nigeria. Interestingly, this is not the first election promise by APC/Buhari that have been jettisoned since they got into office. The N5,000 unemployment benefits promised the downtrodden was derisively put down by this President as “largesse” with the president spurning the emotional plea of his own wife to the contrary. To add salt and insult unto injury, he traveled abroad to make the statement.

“Despite the mindless and indefensible hike in fuel price, the commodity is still not available. Minister of state for Petroleum says there is no forex to pay for fuel import; yet there is forex to indulge Buhari’s foreign-trip profligacy. Presidential spin doctors and APC chieftains labouring to hoodwink the people speak glibly of how so-called deregulation will make products available, reduce cost through competition and the interplay of market forces as well as encourage private sector to build more refineries. But thank God who loves Nigerians so much, the lies of these people was by divine arrangement, I suppose, revealed by no less a person than the junior minister Ibe Kachikwu himself when he said importation of fuel continues till 2019. Nigerians should be reminded that the manner of hardship being faced now was also faced during Buhari’s first coming as a military dictator when people had to queue for essential commodities. Now, Nigerians can’t even afford common tomato to prepare soup. So Nigerians you have heard the truth: Under Buhari/APC, it is almost certain that our suffering will continue till 2019. Nigerians, remember I warned you before Buhari was elected; I have been warning you since Buhari became president and I am warning now that if nothing is done urgently, the economy of Nigeria will collapse.”

Osun State Governor 'Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola is 59 today, just a year more to the big 60. Many of his associates have been sending him birthday messages, describing him as a great leader. Happy birthday to the Governor.

There were reports today that Chris Brown was victorious in Court after the mother of his child, Nia Guzman filed a lawsuit to restrict his custody of their daughter Royalty, because of his alleged drug use and affiliation with violent gangs. Nia just took to her Instagram page to deny that her motive was to separate her daughter from her father.

That's one of the advantages of being born in a society where things work. She is not discriminated upon, rather she's allowed to flourish and attain her potentials as much as possible. Very inspiring...

YBNL boss, Olamide was at Kwara state over the weekend for the wedding ceremony of Hon. Moshood Mustapha’s son. He hooked up with popular Yoruba actress in the Nigeria movie industry,

Mojisola Olaiya and Bukky Wright at the event and shared some cool selfies

See more photos below

You can imagine what the reaction of people online would have been if a man had done this to a lady. But now that women did it to an innocent child, all you hear is Eyah, sorry, this is wicked. chai, etc.

2-year-old Musa was allegedly "mangled" by his stepmother and grandmother in Kano. Violence against any one is wrong; either against a woman, a man or a child. May the good Lord heal this boy!

In Bizzle’s words:

“He asked me, if the property belonged to Dasuki. I told them I had neither seen Dasuki nor met him. So, I was asked to report at their office by 3pm. Before I got to their office, I called Air Commodore Yishau, to tell him what has happened. So, he said since he had handed over the project to the original owner and that Alex (Jnr.) was the one coordinating, I should call him and explain to him. I then called him and told him that I wanted him to link me up with his father so that I could explain what was happening. But he told me his father was not around. But he said I should call Air Commodore Yishau back. After I spoke with Alex Badeh Jnr., it took some time for him to get back. When he eventually got back to me, he said they had discussed. But that I should call back Air Commodore Yishau, who would then tell me what to tell EFCC operatives. Yishau called me and told me that since my company was into property development, that I should claim it. He said so because I think he was scared. It was at that point, this same Timothy Muje, a lawyer, called me that we should meet somewhere around Wuse 2. We met there and he handed over those same documents I gave them earlier. He deliberately refused to give me the power of attorney, the deed of assignment, between Right Builders and this other company, whose name I cannot remember, because the whole idea was for me to claim the property as they agreed between them. I want to believe it was the agreement between Yishau, Alex Badeh Jnr, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and the lawyer, Timothy Muje, that I should claim the property. What Barrister Timothy told me was that they had reached an agreement that I should please protect them. But when I got to EFCC, it was a different ball game because I was confronted with some chilling evidence. I was confronted with so many documents such as copies of drawings, statement of accounts and so many other documents relating to that project, including e-mail correspondents. At that point, I had no other choice than to tell EFCC exactly the way things were – just the way I narrated my testimony, everything that transpired. The approximate cost of the shopping mall was about N1.8bn inclusive of the cost of the land. Since the EFCC operatives visited the site, they told us to stay off, since it was under investigation,” Yerima said.

“The payment that came through the third party was as a result of the meeting between myself, Air Commodore Yishau and Alex Badeh Jnr. Prior to this meeting, there was a meeting that held between me and Air Commodore Yishau where he introduced Barrister Timothy Muje to me as the lawyer to Air Chief Marshal Badeh and that since he (Yishau) was retiring, I should transfer all necessary documents to the lawyer in the person of Barrister Timothy Muje, who was representing Air Chief Marshal Badeh. He (Yishau) came with a prepared Deed of Assignment and Power of Attorney, with my company’s name and one other company for the transferring of the title from Right Builders, which is my company, to the other company. He gave me copies to sign and I signed. I remember in that meeting I also met one Barrister Umar, who also came for the transfer of similar documents. I signed those documents and handed over the remaining documents in my possession to Barrister Timothy Muje. I mentioned earlier in my previous testimony, that the day the transaction was concluded, I only handed over the original Certificate of Occupancy to Air Commodore Yishau. This time around, I handed over the deed of assignment, the power of attorney between Ayodele Fayose and Tony to him. I also handed over to him, other documents, including the power of attorney between Cassagro and Right Builders. He gave me the power of attorney and the deed of assignment which he (Barrister Timothy Muje) came with which were already prepared in the name of the company, I cannot remember the name, but which was between that company and Right Builders. I signed it and gave it back to Barrister Timothy and then I left. The total money that I received from the third party was about N108 million. It was paid into my company’s account. Immediately I received an alert from Vetiva Nigeria Limited, I quickly called Alex Badeh (Jnr.) to confirm. He confirmed to me that they (he and his father) gave instruction to Vetiva to make the payment on their behalf. There are two other companies that also made deposits into my company’s account, which Alex Jnr confirmed to me that they made those deposits on behalf of them. Those two companies were Macden Communications Limited and Chimeize Puintes,” Yerima said as he ended his testimony.

A 12-year-old girl, identified only as Favour, has been rescued by the police in the Mafoluku, Oshodi area of Lagos State, where her aunt and the husband allegedly took her to get rid of a pregnancy.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Favour had been allegedly raped several times by her aunt’s husband, identified as Johnbull Dike, before she conceived.It was learnt that while Favour was put in police’s care, a manhunt was launched for Johnbull, a tricycle rider, who fled the area after the police rescued the girl.

It was gathered that Dike’s wife and the nurse who was caught during the abortion had been arrested by the Akinpelu Police Division.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the girl was allegedly taken to the nurse on Sunmola Street, Mafoluku, on Wednesday, May 4.

It was learnt that some residents gave a tip-off to a child rights’ group, Child Protection Network, which involved the police.

Our correspondent learnt from a source that Favour, who was discovered to be four months pregnant, had been allegedly raped on several occasions by the suspect in January 2016.

It was said that Johnbull, a father of three, and Happiness, however, found out that Favour was pregnant in February, after which they bundled her to stay with their trader friend in Mafoluku, to hide the evil deed.

However, the woman was said to have returned Favour to the couple in April, saying she could not afford to take care of her.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Johnbull and Happiness, who lived on Brown Street, subsequently took Favour to the nurse to get rid of the pregnancy.

Our correspondent learnt that the matter was also reported to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team in Alausa.

When our correspondent visited the area, a worker with the Child Protection Network, Ebenezer Omejalile, said Favour did not inform her aunt about the rape, because the suspect had allegedly threatened to kill her if she did.

He said, “The case was brought to my attention by a community development committee secretary in Oshodi, Mr. Mamora. The victim was raped and impregnated by her aunt’s husband.

“I went to see the girl at the place where the aunt had taken her with the connivance of a nurse to abort the pregnancy. The girl underwent a scan before the abortion. It was a failed process because she began to bleed at the nurse’s place. The police were informed on that Wednesday and the two women were arrested, while Johnbull fled.

“The policemen took Favour to a proper hospital to get rid of the remaining foetus. As it is, the suspect is on the run because he knew that the girl is with the police.”

At the police station, Happiness told our correspondent that her husband had fled from the house since the day of her arrest.

A Delta High Court sitting in Asaba has sentenced a 26-year-old, Lucky Anyali to death by hanging for killing a rival, Emeka Ashibuogwu. Anyali, who was convicted on a one-count charge of murder, committed the offence on February 18, 2014 at Ogwashi-Uku within the Ogwashi-Uku Judicial Division.

The offence is punishable under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap C. 21 Volume 1, Laws of Delta State of Nigeria, 2006.
The convict was said to be having an affair with the estranged wife of the deceased. The deceased and his estranged wife had a three-year old daughter before the relationship went sour. On one of the occasions when the deceased reportedly visited his estranged wife and daughter, he had a scuffle with Anyali. Also, on the night of the incident, the deceased had also gone to see his daughter, who was said to be ill when Anyali became furious on sighting him.

Ciara was spotted at Los Angeles airport without make up and she looked incredible. More photos after the cut..

The Federal Government on Tuesday said the pest, Tuta absoluta, popularly known as ‘Tomato Ebola’, which is responsible for the massive destruction of tomato in farmlands, had invaded six states in Nigeria.

It also disclosed that Nigeria spent about N80bn ($400m) annually importing tomato paste, adding that many of the imported products were substandard.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, who said this during a press briefing in Abuja, stated that the report that tomato processing factories had mopped-up tomato fruits in Nigeria was unfounded and untrue.

According to him, the highly reproductive nature of the tomato pest coupled with the favourable environment and lack of management knowledge for containment resulted in its spread like a wild fire without any challenge. This development had led to the destruction of tomato fruits in Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau and Lagos.

Ogbeh, however, stated that the Federal Government had started consulting with states and experts in other to fashion out measures to tackle the pest.

He said, “The pest can also attack even pepper and Irish potato. So we are confronting something quite serious. But the good thing is that we are tackling it right now as experts will commence work immediately. We are bringing the commissioners and governors of states to jointly attack this pest, which, if not dealt with, will create serious problems for food security in our country.”

He stated that the experts had, however, offered some varieties of tomato that grow well in the western part of the country as alternatives.

On the amount spent on importing tomato paste, the minister said, “We have two processing plants for tomato paste in Nigeria, Erisco and Dangote, and their capacities are huge. We welcome their arrival because our annual import bill of tomato paste is about $400m and it is a good sign that we can now produce here and make money for our farmers.”

Proffering measures that could be used to check pests as well as manage pesticides in Nigeria, CropLife International, a group of agro-professionals, advocated the use of hazard-based approach rather than a risk-based methodology.

The group, in a communique issued at the end of a two-day West and Central Africa Hub and Regulatory Workshop in Abuja, also called for the promotion and adoption of relevant biotechnologies in farming activities.

In the communique, it insisted on the need for safe and responsible use of pesticides as well as safe management of empty pesticide containers.

During the workshop, CropLife got the support of the Senate towards enacting of a pesticide legislation to mitigate the problem of misuse and address importation of pesticides including marketing, storage, application and use, among other provisions.

Cc: Punchng

The Enugu State Police Command has commenced a full-scale investigation into an alleged rape of a 15-year old at gun point.

This is contained in a statement signed by the command’s spokesman, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, in Enugu on Tuesday.

The statement alleged that the suspect, a carpenter, Casmir Eze, from Umugoji Orba in Udenu Local Government Area, on Sunday at about2 a.m., gained entrance into the compound of the victim by scaling the fence.

It said that the suspect, thereafter, forced the victim to open the door or risk being killed.

“When the victim, who was warned not to shout, opened the door the suspect who allegedly was covering his face with scarf went into the room and allegedly pointed a gun at the victim.

“The suspect then commanded her to switch off the light and thereafter forcefully pounced on the victim and had carnal knowledge of her.

“Angered by this and unknown to the suspect that he was identified by the victim, the victim reported to her relations who assisted her to report to the police.

“This led to the police arresting the suspect, who is now helping the police operatives in their investigation into the matter,’’ it said.

The statement said that the suspect admitted committing the offence and maintained that it was the devil that pushed him into the act.

“I did not know what came over me, although I have been targeting how to get the girl since and no way, hence I had to come through this way,’’ the suspect said.

PM News