THE TRAILBLAZER

Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram, has reacted to the election of Donald Trump as the United States president. In an audio message published on the group’s YouTube page on Sunday night, November 13, Shekau said they will “not be fooled by people like Donald Trump or anyone in the coalition who is fighting our brothers in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan or anywhere else.” The Boko Haram leader warned that the war has just begun, The Punch reports.

List of courses that have not been accredited in Nigerian universities have been released – A certificate issued for those courses will be considered void The university of Abuja has the highest number of unaccredited courses The National Universities Commission (NUC) has released a list of some courses that have not been accredited. The unaccredited courses pose serious danger to students who study them as the certificates issued by these universities for the courses will not be officially recognised. Premium Times reports that 2016 accreditation status report indicated that these unaccredited courses were taught in 37 out of 143 universities in the country. The Quality Assurance Department of the NUC is in charge of accrediting courses in the universities. The NUC insists that for a course to be accredited, it must meet the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) that has been stipulated by the commission. Some of the requirements include: “qualified faculty membe...

Ex-first lady, Patience Jonathan is in another trouble as anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have traced a whopping $175m to an account linked to Mrs Jonathan But here is another problem; the money has been withdrawn without traces The deposits are different from the $15.5million earlier traced to the ex-First Lady which made the agency place No Debit Order on four accounts Ex-first lady, Patience Jonathan is in another trouble as anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have traced a whopping $175m to an account linked to Mrs Jonathan. EFCC detectives discovered that the account was opened on November 30, 2013 by Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited  with number 2110002238. The company was registered on January 29, 2013 with RC 1092722. The “strange” deposits came within 14 months. The deposits are: 21/2/2014—$46,500,000; 24/2/2014—$31,000,000; 31/3/2015—$49,250,000; 1/4/ 2015...

Blac Chyna is planning to give birth to her daughter with fiancée Robert Kardashian in the same maternity suite that Kim Kardashian used. According to TMZ, Chyna is having a C-section next week at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. where Kim and Kanye paid $4000 a night when she gace birth to her son, Saint. The maternity suite has 3 beds, 2 baths and a lounge area and complimentary robes. Photos of the suite after the cut...

The federal university of technology has release their second batch admission today.... You can check through school website at www.Futminna.edu.ng. Or https://eportal.futminna.edu.ng/adms/login. php

Popular UK-based Nigerian gay and LGBT rights activist, Bisi Alimi and his fiance, Anthony, got married yesterday November 5th. These are photos from their wedding. More when you continue... Photo credit: Bimdizzle/ instagram

The kinsmen of a former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, have alleged that it was Ibori’s clamour for fiscal federalism to enable the people of the Niger Delta region to control their resources that led to his incarceration in a British jail. The allegation is contained in an 11-point communiqué issued at the end of the Oghara 2016 Summit held in Asaba, the state capital, on Thursday. They lauded the former governor for his foresight in developing the state. The communiqué was signed by an elder brother to the former governor and the Unugbrogodo of Ogharefe, Chief Williams Ibori; the Unugbrogodo of Oghareki, Chief Williams Usabor; and the Chairman of the summit, Chief Emmanuel Ighomena. It decried the continued neglect of the Oghara Independent Power Plant. In the communiqué, the people of Oghara Kingdom in the Ethiope West Council Area of the state also lauded Ibori, who was a governor from 1999 to 2007, for laying the foundation for the state development. The com...

A few days ago, CBN issued a warning on online investment scheme tagged: ‘MMM Federal Republic of Nigeria . It warned Nigerians against investing in the ‘scheme’ which lures the investing public to participate in what it called “mutual aid financial network,” with a monthly investment return of 30 per cent. Now, a Nigerian has cried out alleging he has been ripped off ..He wrote in an email I received It started on the 19th June 2016, My Friend introduced me to this MMM of a thing… I obliged and Joined… It was paying well, there was no comma or full stop, not all. Till I opened an account for my cousin who shared the same surname… Fast Forward,,, MMM ADMINISTRATOR placed my account on temporary moratorium of getting help as they provide and get help in the system on 13th September 2016 and told me to verify identity of which I did. After that, I kept on contacting MMM Support of which they assured me they will remove their God forsaken temporary moratorium which they ha...

IVM is at it again, for the first time, Nigeria has "a made in Nigeria" military vehicle

Yesterday afternoon Wizkid shared several photos of himself in the bedroom with bikini clad models. His girlfriend of many weeks, Justin Skye appears to be jealous her man is in the arms of women that aren’t her. She reacted to the photos on social media to let Wizkid know he should be with her and not them. Following her tweet, Wiz took to Instagram to like several of her photos to please her. Good to see Justine and Wizkid in love!

Black Stars of Ghana/Antalyaspor of Turkey defender Samuel Inkoom has been accused by popular Ghanaian controversial prophet Kwaku Mensah Otabil of using black magic aka juju to 'kill the stars' of his fellow Ghanaian teammates who rival for his position. According to prophet Kwaku, Inkoom, 27, is so addicted to negative spiritualism and he has helped the player in the past to cage the destinies of so many Black Stars players. The audio message released on Metro FM, Kumasi, Ghana, on Wednesday from the 'Man of God' was addressed to the Technical director and the president of the Ghana FA, Oti Akenteng and Kwesi Nyantakyi respectively. Prophet Kwaku said: “Hello Good afternoon coach Oti and elder Nyantakyi. Truth is one. The reason why I am saying this is that I want the Ghana FA officials to know something about Inkoom. Inkoom is a player that no one should try calling him back into the Black Stars. He is a player that will cause pandemonium in the Ghana camp...

A group, Ondo Young Leaders in Diaspora, A Pan-African Organisation of Ondo Youths, has sent a warning to the Modu Sheriff’s faction of the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the state, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim over the political crisis rocking the state, saying he should beware of trading the state into the hands of political merchants. The group, in a statement by its President, Tomide Akinribido, warned  Mr Ibrahim to be careful of allowing himself be used as a tool in the hands of the trio, the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, Works minister, Babatunde Fashola, his Solid mineral counterpart Kayode Fayemi whom it accused of conniving with Jimoh to sell some facilities belonging to the state. Akinribido said the press statement is necessary having read the revelation made public by an online newspaper, on how Jimoh Ibrahim cut a deal with the trio to sell Ore power plant, The Dome and other Ondo state’s assets to him. “It is of great importance to issue this press statement at ...

Google published details of the yet-to-be-fixed bug on Monday after giving Microsoft a week to react. Google said the issue was "particularly serious because we know it is being actively exploited". But Microsoft said the alert could do more harm than good at this point because it needs more time to develop a patch. "We believe in co-ordinated vulnerability disclosure, and today's disclosure by Google puts customers at potential risk," a Microsoft spokesperson told the VentureBeat news site . The flaw involves a file called Win32k.sys, which the operating system requires to display graphics. It should not be deleted or otherwise altered by users because doing so can cause system errors that result in the so-called "blue screen of death". However, Google outlines a way hackers can exploit the file to cause a "security sandbox escape", meaning that once it is compromised they can access and alter other unrelated computer functions to caus...

Actress/Politician, Funke Adesiyan, revealed how she made her first million when she was 17 years old and also built her first house at the age of 19. Sharing her story on social media, she wrote "Let me tell you a story. I am a product of God's Grace. I was the Games Prefect at my elementary school, I was the Senior Prefect of the secondary school I attended. I started modelling at 13. I started business at 14. At 17 I made my first million. At 19, I built my first house. At 24, i already have OND, a diploma and a degree. At 25,I ran a presidential campaign for one of the greatest men Nigeria is blessed with, Mallam Shekarau. At 26, I opened a fashion emporium in my home town which cost me over 20 million naira then. But guess what, at 27, I had lost almost all. This was the period I knew people for what they are. God used this period to prepare me for a better tomorrow. Instead of sulking, I looked inward and found a renewed strength within me. I sold my car, started al...

Man, 40, impregnates 15-yr-old step-daughter in Ogun ON November 2, 2016 5:02 AM / IN News / Comments By Daud Olatunji ABEOKUTA—A 40- year-old man, Victor Emafolomi, has been arrested by men of Ogun State Police Command for impregnating his 15-year-old step daughter. The suspect, who lives on Olokosusi Street, Java Agbado in Ifo Local Government Area of the state, was said to have been arrested following a complaint from his wife, who is the mother of the said girl. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement, said: “The mother, Taiwo Emafolomi, who noticed that her daughter is pregnant, pressurised the girl and she eventually opened up to her mother about how her step-father had been making love, which resulted in the pregnancy. “The DPO, Agbado Division, CSP Abioye Shittu, detailed detectives to get the man arrested after a pregnancy test had been conducted on the girl, which came out positive. “The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu,...

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a hotelier, Victor Obano, for allegedly turning a 23-year-old female job seeker into a commercial sex worker in the Ijegun area of the state. The police said Obano, who owned Tisa Hotel, allegedly lured the victim, Elizabeth, from Akwa Ibom, promising her employment in Lagos State. Obano allegedly thereafter turned the job seeker into a sex worker in the hotel. we  learnt that Elizabeth, a mother of two, reportedly got tired of being a commercial sex worker, and on October 5, told her elder sister on the telephone what she was going through. The sister was said to have informed the police at the Anti-Robbery Squad of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, leading to Obano’s arrest. Our correspondent gathered that another accomplice, a commercial sex worker, identified as Grace Edet, who allegedly was Elizabeth’s supervisor, was also picked up by the police. At the command headquarters, Ikeja, Ob...

Silvio Gazzaniga, an  Italian sculptor, who designed and created the current version of the FIFA World Cup trophy has died at the age of 95. Silvio designed the trophy in 1971. He passed away in his sleep on Monday October 31 following series of minor aliment. A released statement from his son, Giorgio, announced his father’s demise. ‘He just didn't wake up this morning. It was a peaceful death

•Dad, two others injured Two siblings have died in a kerosene explosion in Akwa State. Three persons, including their father, were injured. An eyewitness said the incident occurred at Ikono Ibom in Uyo Local Government. The injured victim, Mr. Michael Nsikak, a tricycle operator and father of three, sustained burns. His two children died in the explosion. Nsikak, who also operates a poultry near his home at Ikot Enyingne Ikono, said: “I bought kerosene from a filling station on Idoro Road after closing from my tricycle ( keke ) business. “When I got home, I lit the lantern in my poultry, to keep my chicken warm. Later, when the lantern wanted to go off, following the exhaustion of kerosene, I refilled it with the product. “My children were with me. As I attempted to light the lantern, there was an explosion. The fire made me to become unconscious.” The Nation  learnt that one of the children died a few hours after the incident and the second the following day at th...

There is a $51 billion investment available in Nigeria’s Gas sector, Group Managing Director of Nigeria Nation Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru, said yesterday. Also, Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Ibe Kachikwu, said the Federal Government would give more attention to the development of gas as a major revenue earner. The officials spoke in Abuja at the 10th Nigerian Gas Association International Conference. They said that the country was determined to reverse its over-dependence on oil as benchmark for the economy. The theme of the conference is “Nigerian Gas Roadmap and Its Potential for Regional and Global Influence: Its Implementation, Challenges, Opportunities and New Way Forward”. The minister said: “I must say that over the years there has been a blatant neglect of this sector. We really haven’t focused on gas; all had been on oil production. “With regard to the recession today, it is clear to us that if we develop a two window of economic earnings, a...

– The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused Mark Zuckerberg of removing the radio Biafra Facebook group, London, from the social media platform – IPOB says Facebook has made itself the wiling tool of repressive regimes and psychopathic murderers in power – The group warns that Zuckerberg will face divine retribution for siding with President Buhari The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the chief executive officer of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, of helping President Muhammadu Buhari to continue the mass murder of innocent Biafr

Xiaoli, a woman from the city of Shenzhen in southern China, who is from a  poor home and the oldest child in her family asked each of her 20 boyfriends to buy her a newly launched iPhone 7 . The woman who is the breadwinner of her family, got all 20 iPhone7 phones and then sold all of the phones to a mobile phone recycling site called Hui Shou Bao for 120,000 Chinese yuan (about £14,500), and used the money to put down a deposit on a house in the countryside. Her friend, Qiaoba shared the story online, wrote in her blog post that when Xiaoli showed her new house to their group of friends, they were all very surprised when she revealed how she had managed to obtain the money for the deposit. "Everyone in the office is talking about this now," wrote Proud Qiaoba, "Who knows what her boyfriends think now this news has become public." Proud Qiaoba added that Xiaoli "is not from a wealthy family. Her mum is a housewife and her dad is a migrant worker, and she i...

After unveiling its Generation EQ electric SUV concept at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz announced some ambitious future electric-car plans. Late last week, the luxury carmaker said a production model based on the Generation EQ will be the first of no fewer than 10 electric cars it will sell under a new EQ sub-brand. That would seem to make EQ the equivalent of rival BMW's "i" sub-brand, which currently includes two models, with a third rumored for 2019. The 10 new Mercedes-Benz EQ electric cars will launch by 2025, although Mercedes did not specify when the first model will arrive. It did say that the initial electric SUV will be built at an existing plant in Bremen, Germany. That plant currently builds several different versions of the C-Class and GLC-Class, and will build small numbers of the GLC F-Cell hydrogen fuel-cell variant as well. Previous reports suggested the electric SUV would in fact be based on the GLC-Class, and some of that mod...

Toyota is one of the world's three largest carmakers, along with General Motors and Volkswagen Group. Having placed its bets for the future of zero-emission transport on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, it's by far the most resistant of the three to the notion of battery-electric cars. But a recent news story might possibly indicate a crack in the company's intransigence. It hinted that Toyota may now plan to offer an electric car beyond the low-range "city car" ghetto it's traditionally assigned to battery-only vehicles. An article yesterday from global news service Reuters suggested that Toyota is warming to lithium-ion battery cells—and it explained why. First, though, some context is needed. Back in 2010, Toyota held a technical seminar for journalists at the Detroit Auto Show on its then-new third-generation Prius hybrid. In a lengthy technical presentation by its managing officer Koei Saga, he revealed that the lithium cell that it pl...

The days of typing out your favorite shrugging emoticon are almost gone. Emojipedia has info on the new emoji coming in iOS 10.2, which was included in a developer preview. Although the shrugging emoji is but a single addition in a sea of 72, it’s clearly the most important one. The full list, which includes a black heart (much anticipated), gorilla (ugh), selfie (a true sign of the times), and “person doing cartwheel” (sure, I can find a use for that), was accepted back in June as part of Unicode Version 9.0. The update will also include an avocado emoji for those who want to celebrate this beloved fruit without being shamed for contributing to the California drought. No word yet on when this key update is hitting, but we look forward to further abandoning the written word.

Today, Google’s Threat Analysis group disclosed a critical vulnerability in Windows in a public post on the company’s security blog. The bug itself is very specific — allowing attackers to escape from security sandboxes through a flaw in the win32k system — but it’s serious enough to be categorized as critical, and according to Google, it’s being actively exploited. As a result, Google went public just 10 days after reporting the bug to Microsoft, before a patch could be coded and deployed. The result is that, while Google has already deployed a fix to protect Chrome users, Windows itself is still vulnerable — and now, everybody knows it. Google’s disclosure provides only a general description of the bug, giving users enough information to recognize a possible attack without making it too easy for criminals to replicate. Exploiting the bug also depends on a separate exploit in Adobe Flash, for which the company has also released a patch. Still, simply knowing that the bug exists wil...

The Imo State Police Command on Monday paraded over 40 suspects allegedly involved in various crimes ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, unlawful possession of fire arms and cultism, among others. It also announced the reintroduction of the ‘Operation Mkpochapu’, meant to flush out criminals from the state and ensure a crime-free Christmas period. The state Commissioner of Police, Taiwo Lakanu, stated that on October 10, operatives of the command arrested a four-man gang, who allegedly kidnapped and robbed 52-year old Cordelia Chikere of Umuokanne community in Ohaji/Egbema Council Area of the state. “The victim was kidnapped along the Oburugo-Obiti Road, Ohaji at gun point. The sum of N9,000 was stolen from her,” Lakanu added. The commissioner said that a cordon and search operation by the operatives of the command led to the rescue of the victim inside a hut in the forest without any ransom paid. He listed two of those involved in the kidnap as Onyinechi Ezengwu...

Governor Amosun sacks NUL chairman, sack 14 and suspend 18 teachers The officials of the union were said to have been suspended for their roles in the conduct of the celebration. The recommendations of the panel signed by the Head of Service, Sola Adeyemi, were approved by the state government for immediate implementation. Our correspondent gathered  that the state government set up an administrative panel of inquiry to look into alleged complaints received from some members of the public against the affected officers for their alleged involvement “in various acts of misconduct and contravention of extant regulations during the celebration.” The NLC chairman was until his dismissal a deputy director, Community and Social Development, Sagamu Local Government Area of the state. He was accused of making “inflammable and scandalous remarks” against the state government, which the panel noted,  could cause the breach of peace in the state. Those dismissed from service w...

UNKNOWN gunmen on Sunday night stormed Kong community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State and killed two persons before they were beheaded. The gunmen had shot into the air intermittently, ostensibly to scare people away. It was gathered that the assailants were cult members, who had gone after those perceived to be members of a rival cult group. The incident in the Ogoni community had caused confusion as some residents were said to have run into a nearby bush. Sources told our correspondent that the incident happened at about 11.30pm. It was also learnt that the cultists took the heads of their victims away to an unknown destination. The Caretaker Committee Chairman of Khana LGA, Mr. Baridam Suani, cautioned that his government would no longer tolerate the destruction of lives in the area. Speaking on the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, said it was a clash between two rival cult groups. Omoni explained ...

Soldiers attached to the special team of Operation Delta Safe in the Niger Delta said on Monday they had killed a top militant leader of the Bakassi Strike Force and another during a gun duel in Cross River State. The two suspected militants, including a notorious militant leader in the area popularly known as Okon Iyo, were reportedly shot dead during an operation at Efut Esighi forest in the southern area of the state on Thursday. The chief priest to the Bakassi Strike Force was also reportedly arrested at one of the militants’ shrines at Ekpri Ebutong Estate in Bakassi by troops at Ikang border in Akpabuyo Local Government Area.  A statement issued on Monday by the spokesman and coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre, Lt. Col. Olaolu Daudu, read in part, “On 31st October, 2016, troops foiled vandalism of the NPDC well head at Kokori oilfield, Oil Mining Lease 30, located at Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State. The vandals fled the site on sighting troops...

Plants embedded with carbon nanotubes could detect explosives and wirelessly relay the information to an electronic device. Credit: Juan Pablo Giraldo/UCR Bionic plants that can detect explosives in real time could be the future of environmental monitoring and urban farming, researchers said in a new study. The spinach plants have carbon-nanotube-based nanoparticles in their leaves that give off infred light and are sensitive to the presence of nitroaromatics, key components of several explosives, the scientists said. If these chemicals are present in groundwater, they are absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves, where they cause the infrared emissions of the so-called "nanosensor" to decrease. A detector that is similar in complexity to a smartphone can then register this change in emissions, the researchers said. In tests with the nitroaromatic picric acid, this dip was detected within 10 minutes of the roots taking up the chemical, accord...