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Protesters numbering about 100 stormed the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Monday, demanding the postponement of this month’s general election. The youth gathered at the INEC headquarters in the Maitama District of Abuja asking it to delay the polls because of the difficulty in the distribution of the Permanent Voters Card, PVCs. The protest confirmed PREMIUM TIMES exclusive story of last Thursday revealing the plot by the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] to organize nationwide protest against the electoral body to force it to shift the polls. According to the protesters, only 40 per cent of the poll had been distributed ahead of the February 14 and 28 elections. Continue...

Amb. (Mrs) Rajis Okpara, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Singapore has advised Nigerian women to dress decently so that they can be addressed properly. Okpara, who gave the advice on Tuesday in Abuja in an interview with newsmen stressed the need for women to dress decently. Continue...

The police on Tuesday arraigned a 43-year-old woman, Hajiya Safiya Yakubu at the Gudu Upper Area Court, Abuja, for allegedly receiving stolen wrappers worth N3 million. The accused, a resident of No. 1, Poultry Road, New Layout, Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna, is standing trial on a charge of receiving stolen property. posecutor, Sgt. Mohammed Garba told the court that one Sanusi Mohammed, of Shop 57, Garki Ultra Modern Market, reported a case of theft of wrappers from his shop by one Amina Ali of Masaka, Nasarawa State on Jan.21. Garba said that police investigation in the matter revealed that the accused bought the wrappers from Amina.  According to him, in the course of interrogation, seven pieces of Hollandais wrappers were recovered from the accused person. The Judge, Alhaji Umar Kagarko, granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000 with a reliable surety that must be resident within the court’s jurisdiction. Kagarko then adjourned the case to Feb. 16 for hearing.

Pope Francis on Tuesday approved a decree declaring slain Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero a martyr for the church. The cleric, a defender of the poor and vocal critic of the military in El Salvador, was shot dead in 1980 while celebrating mass. Declaring him a martyr clears the way for him to be beatified, which can lead to sainthood.

Rapper MI established himself as the best rapper in Nigerian again after he dropped his new album. He hasn’t been a very controversial artiste and he recently mended fences with Kelly Hansome; or at least that’s what Kelly Hansome claimed. In a new interview with Saturday Beats, Kelly Hansome said he made MI popular. Saturday Beats reached out to MI to confirm if truly Kelly made him popular, the Africa rapper no 1 said: – “I read the article but I don’t think that is exactly what he was saying. I understand that it is all about publicity but there are some comments that do not need response. Of course, Kelly Hansome and I have met, we have spoken and we have a cordial relationship. If Kelly Hansome said he made MI, I don’t think it is something I need to respond to. I think MI’s success is self-evident and that is the truth.” MI also talked about beef with Olamide, the rapper said: – “I am a huge fan of Olamide; people do not realise how much I appreciate what he is doing right now.

A four-man gang of kidnappers has abducted a major newspaper distribu-tor, Mrs Funlayo Ajayi, in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. According to source the woman, who is in her late 50s, was reportedly travelling in her Nissan salon car to collect the day’s consignment of newspapers at the distribution point along Ejinrin Road, in Ijebu Ode, when the four gunmen blocked her car and abducted her. She operates her business under the name of Joke Agency in Lagos garage area and was popularly known as Mama Joke. It was gathered that the case had been reported to the police at Ijebu Ode Area Headquarters, Igbeba. Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, could not be reached at press time for comments.

Nigerian health workers under the umbrella of Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, have suspended their three-month old strike following a meeting with Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan. The health workers, who have been on strike since November, 2014, are all expected to return back to work on Tuesday, says Ayuba Wabba, JOHESU’s Chairman. The suspension of the strike came immediately after the union was able to secure a meeting with Mr. Jonathan, one of the needs the union termed necessary in a communique released two weeks ago. The union members were aggrieved that promises made by the Nigerian government that within three weeks, positive steps would have been taken to see Mr. Jonathan about the adjustment of CONHESS salary and other issues were not kept. The Minister of Health, Khaliru Alhasssan, who also spoke, said it was important to forget all bickering that have happened in the between the JOHESU members and the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, where some doctors were

Worried by the high rate at which resource-rich African countries lose huge revenues through corruption, illegal transfers of profits and money laundering abroad, the African Union, AU, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan and other African leaders to openly declare their assets and subject their wealth to public scrutiny. A report on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, compiled by an AU panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, said Africa loses an estimated $60billion (about N10.08trillion) annually through such transfers. The report was presented Sunday at a summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Continue...

The first large-scale trials of two experimental vaccines against Ebola have begun in Liberia. The potentially preventative medicines were taken under strict security to a secret location in the West African country. Scientists aim to immunise 30,000 volunteers, including front-line health workers. More than 8,500 people have died in the Ebola outbreak, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The total number of reported cases is more than 22,000. In Liberia alone, more than 3,600 people have died from the disease. But the number of Ebola cases in Liberia has been steadily decreasing, with only four confirmed cases in the week leading up to 25 January. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the epidemic has entered a "second phase" with the focus shifting to ending the epidemic. Continue reading the main story

A female suicide bomber has blown up herself in northern Nigeria's Gombe city, minutes after President Goodluck Jonathan left a campaign rally there. At least one person was killed and 18 others were wounded in the blast, police and hospital sources said. Mr Jonathan is standing for re-election on 14 February against former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in the run-up to the contest. It has not commented on the blast. Explosions have also ripped through court buildings in three towns in oil-rich southern Nigeria in what police described as co-ordinated attacks. Continue...