Daily Digest Online

  His smile is calm, his overall demeanor unassuming. But make no mistake; Akinwunmi Ambode is no push over. He is a man of high intellectual character. Starting his career at a very young age, Ambode rose to the very pinnacle of the Civil Service, by dint of hard work, focus and altruism. Above all, he always has his head clear, his goals and perspectives well conceived from the start. He doesn’t mince words. He neither gives vain flattery nor expects to receive it, as those who have come to know him will attest to. Read more, after the cut...

Ouch! That must have hurt there!  Those were the words of gifted songstress, Waje, while fielding questions from NET recently. when asked: "What kind of a child were you?" The pretty Edo state indigene (whom I admire, by the way) replied: "I was a tom boy, a female child can’t do some of the things I did — I was a big bully." Then she added: "The reason I got to fight always in school because I have always been busty, in school they called me ‘Milk industry’ and that got me into fights a lot. I remember passing the junior secondary school block and I heard somebody whisper ‘Milk Industry’,  I went into every class as a senior to punish everybody....  *wink* Go on, girl!

JOS BLAST VICTIM—D-G, National Emergency Management Agency, Muhammed Sidi  (L) with Igp Mohammed Abubakar, sympathising with a victim of the Jos bomb blast,  at Jos University Teaching Hospital, yesterday. Inset: Another victim at the Plateau  Specialist Hospital. Photos: NAN. According to unconfirmed reports, the University of Jos  may have lost about seven 500 level medical students in the recent bomb blast that claimed scores of lives.  Speaking on the claim, the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Barr. Olivia Dazyem, who had earlier gone round the hospitals where the victims were being treated told  reporters that  she was yet to confirm the report. Sad...Dreams cut short! Source: Vanguard Online

In light of reports from the on-going National Conference, that delegates from the South-West zone have the creation of only Ijebu State from the zone, there has been uproar from a cross section of eminent Yoruba leaders and stakeholders. According to a statement by Chief Wole Akinwande and Mr Jare Ajayi on behalf of the Oyo State stakeholders on states’ creation, yesterday, Oyo State was the most deserving to be split into states, by virtue of various demographic indicator. According to the group, with a landmass of about 28,245.26km2, Oyo State was bigger than about ten states in Nigeria presently and that Ibadan, the Oyo State capital remains the only Regional and Provincial headquarters that has not become a state of its own. “By this, we are referring to such provincial headquarters like Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, etc all of which have assumed the status of states respectively. In the spirit of fairness, equity and justice, it is high time Ibadan too was given the same ...

The United States has deployed a drone and 80 troops to Chad to help with regional efforts to rescue more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in neighboring  Nigeria , according to US officials. In a letter from President Obama, read at the floor of the Congress, the President stated: “These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern  Nigeria  and the surrounding area.”  The Statement further added: “The force will remain in Chad until its support in resolving the kidnapping situation is no longer required.”

As the war of words raging between the Ruling Peoples' Democratic Party and the main opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC), continues, the PDP has fired another salvo, berating the APC for going ahead to hold a political rally in Ekiti just a day after the May 20 twin bomb explosions in Jos that claimed scores of lives. At a media briefing on Wednesday, the National Publicity secratary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, accused the APC for being “hypocritical in the face of loss of lives caused by the insurgents”. Metuh expressed shock that while the nation was still mourning the death of those who died in the Jos and Kano bombings, the APC was engaged in a political rally in Ekiti. Furthermore,  Metuh said that it was ironic that the APC which had lost its voice found it whenever there was a bomb blast in the country.  “This gives us concern and we are bringing it to the consciousness of Nigerians for them to judge,’’ he stressed, cautioning  Nigeria...

 Ahead of Today's planned rally by #BringBackOurGirls campaigners in Abuja, security has been beefed up around the Presidential Villa and environs.  The campaigners had threatened to take their protest to the Presidential Villa where they are expecting President Goodluck Jonathan to address them on efforts being made to rescue the girls. The march is scheduled to start from the Unity Fountain located close to Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Maitama, at 3pm, and proceed to the Presidential Villa through the Federal Secretariat. At the Villa gates, and also around the National Assembly complex, armed policemen, soldiers and SSS operatives were stationed.