President Goodluck Jonathan concedes to Buhari's Victory

President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), on his victory in the Saturday’s presidential election.

The president had put a call across to Buhari to congratulate him.

Meanwhile, Jonathan is currently meeting with the leadership of the National Peace Committee for the 2015 general elections, led by a former military leader, Geneneral Abdusalami Abdusalami (rtd.).

Nigeria pays Chadian-Nigerien soldiers N146.25m monthly

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah

Nigeria is bearing the heavy financial burden of the operations by multinational forces against Boko Haram insurgents, findings by journalists have revealed.

The troops from Nigeria’s neighbours – Chad and Niger – it was learnt   in Abuja, receive N146.25m monthly as pocket and feeding allowances from the Federal Government. The sum is however different from that paid by Nigeria for fuelling of the operational vehicles of the foreign troops and other logistics, which our source did not state.

A breakdown of the N146.2m shows that the 2,500 troops contributed by Chad receive N112.5m monthly while the 750 soldiers from Niger get N33.75m. Thus each of the soldiers from the two countries gets N45,000 monthly as pocket and feeding allowances, the same amounts paid their Nigerian counterparts.

The joint war was initiated by the governments of Nigeria, Chad and Niger to flush out the   insurgents from the North-East and to halt their incursion into the two Francophone countries.

Man attempts beheading VIO for seizing his cell phone

The police in Ekiti have arrested a man, Wale Ede, 25, for allegedly beheading a 50-year-old Vehicle Inspection Officer and father of seven, Joshua Fagbola.

Fagbola, a Patrol Assistant with the Directorate of Road Traffic Service, otherwise known as the Vehicle Inspection Officer, in Ado Ekiti, met his untimely death at the wake of a relative on Friday at about 8pm in the Iro quarters of Iyin Ekiti, Ekiti State.

It was learnt that Ede attacked Fagbola when he was about to start the engine of his motorbike and leave the venue of the wake.

An eye witness said Ede, on sighting the VIO at the wake on Thursday, had rushed home to fetch a machete and inflicted cuts on the deceased’s neck and other parts of the body.

The Ekiti Police Public Relations Officer, Alberto Adeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.

He said that the suspect was being held at the Criminal Investigation Department at the police headquarters in Ado Ekiti.

“The suspect attacked the deceased from behind at the wake and almost cut his head off. It was reported that the deceased had on Thursday seized the suspect’s cell phone for failing to provide the blocks he had paid him for.

“The suspect is being held at the state CID and we are still investigating the matter,” Adeyemi said.

Nigeria wins Seventh AYC Title

Nigeria became the first team to win the African Youth Championship for the seventh time after beating host Senegal 1-0 in the final of the 2015 edition at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium, Dakar on Sunday.

It was the second time the two sides would meet in the competition after the Flying Eagles had beaten the Young Lions 3-1 at the group stage where Nigeria topped the group to head into the semi-finals.

Nigeria’s captain Musa Muhammed won the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Highest Goal Scorer’s awards after he scored four goals.

A lone goal from Bernard Bulbwa handed the Nigerians their fifth win of the tournament.

It was a tale of missed chances for the Senegalese, who were searching for their first continental title. They attacked from the first blast of the whistle and almost went ahead in the fifth minute when goalkeeper Joshua Enaholo saved Malick Niang’s header from the first corner kick of the game.

Smiles reigned on the faces of all when in the 19th minute, Bulbwa right footed a shot from outside the penalty area into the top right corner of the Senegalese goal after a long ball from the defence.

Meanwhile, Nigeria will play in Group E of the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand as African champions along with Brazil, North Korea and Hungary, while Senegal will play in Group D along with Mexico, Uruguay and Serbia.

Third placed Ghana, who defeated Mali 3-1 in the losers’ final, will play in Group B along with Argentina, Panama and Austria and Mali will play in Group C.

Planned meeting to contain the Boko Haram Insurgency

*The Central and West African States will hold a summit next month to agree a common strategy to battle the Boko Haram insurgency, their leaders said on Wednesday.

Armies from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have launched an offensive to end the Islamic militant group’s six-year campaign, which has killed thousands in northern Nigeria and spilled over into Cameroon and Niger.

Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby told reporters in Accra that the April 7-8 summit, for which the host country has yet to be chosen, was needed to sustain the regional offensive.

Mahama chairs the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, while Deby heads the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

“Single-handedly, no country can overcome this threat and therefore through pooling our resources together …we are going to overcome this challenge,” Deby told reporters.

INEC is ready for the deliverables...Kayode Fayemi

The Director, Policy Research and Strategy for the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Presidential Campaign, Kayode Fayemi says “if elections are meant to hold today the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is ready.”

Dr. Fayemi, assessing INEC’s preparation’s towards the forth-coming elections, stated that INEC has held strings of meetings with powerful stakeholders and have been told where the loopholes are. He commended the commission on its preparations so far but added that there is still room for more improvement.

He listed out some of the gray areas that the commission has not tackled properly such as the card reader, which is not as perfect as it ought to be and INEC is still working on it.