NEWS: IN NIGERIA

YOUTHS PROTEST MURDER OF VARSITY STUDENT IN EKITI
Scores of youths, mainly students, yesterday, staged a protest at Ilupeju Ekiti over the killing of 400 level student of Ekiti State University, Mr. Seyi Fasere. Fasere was killed in controversial circumstances in February 28, in Oye Ekiti by the police after some armed bandits struck at a first generation bank in the town.
During the protest, commercial and social activities were paralysed, as the youths sealed off all the public and private schools in the town, and commercial centres for the over eight hours that the protest lasted. The aggrieved youths, who had trooped out as early 7am, were said to have engaged the police in serious battle, while being tear-gassed, which culminated in a stampede that led to the hospitalisation of one Deji Omoniyi.

FOREIGNER ARRESTED FOR N15M FRAUD.
The police, yesterday, arraigned a Canadian, Jim Mansfield, at a Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ Court for allegedly cheating one Hajiya Binta Muktar of N15 million. The prosecutor, Tope Falode, told the court that Muktar reported the matter to the Interpol on May 2012. Falode said in May 2012, Muktar leased her house located at 3, Udi-Hill Close, Aso Drive, to Mansfield with an agreement that he should pay N15 million into her account. However, he said Mansfield fraudulently possessed the said house and refused to credit Muktar’s account.
The prosecutor added that the accused, in July 2012, presented forged documents from Wells Faruo Bank to Muktar, claiming to have deposited the said sum into her account, an offence which contravened sections 312, 321 and 368 of the Penal Code. However, Mansfield, pleaded not guilty to the charges as his counsel, Mr David Ashaolu, prayed the court to grant bail to his client. Ashaolu said his client would not jump bail and would not jeopardise investigation in the case. But the prosecutor objected to the bail of the accused, and said “the accused is not a Nigerian and he is likely to jump bail.”
The prosecutor also alleged that the accused had two different passports bearing two different names. “The accused has a Canadian passport bearing the name Jim Mansfield and a UK passport with the name James Michael Mansfield.”
Mansfield’s counsel, however, urged the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms.
The Senior Magistrate, Mr Tony Ubani, granted the accused bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties in like sum.

COMMUNITY HANDS OVER KIDNAP KINGPIN TO POLICE.
THE leadership of Ekpan community in Uvwie council area of Delta State has apprehended an alleged  kidnap and robbery kingpin, Gift Famous Etagvwene a.k.a Babune and handed him over to the Ekpan Police Headquarters.
The community was said to have arrested him last Wednesday after an alleged escape and gun fire exchange with security personnel in the community. Famous, said to be an ex-convict, was involved in the kidnap of a Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, staff (name withheld) on March 19, 2001.

NGIGE DECLARES GUBERNATORIAL AMBITION.
 Former governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, yesterday, declared his intention to run for the 2014 governorship election in the state. Senator Ngige made the declaration in Awka on the occasion of Rainbow Coalition stakeholders’ meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), and Democratic People’s Party (DPP). Speaking on the occasion, convener of the meeting and coordinator of Rainbow Coalition, Chief Ben Oranusi, explained that after due investigations and understanding of the personalities aspiring for the 2014 gubernatorial election, they found that Ngige was the person good enough and better experienced to take up the task of piloting the affairs of Anambra State.

MULTIPLE KILLED IN BOKO HARAM ATTACK ON BAMA
Suspected members of Islamist sect, Boko Haram, on Tuesday, attacked Bama, Borno State, leaving 55 people  dead, the Joint Military Task Force said on Tuesday. The gunmen, according to Reuters, killed 22 police officers, 14 prison officials, two soldiers and four civilians, while 13 of the sect’s members died in the clash with the task force members.
Spokesman for the JTF, Sagir Musa, confirmed this to Reuters. The suspected terrorists were said to have  freed 105 prison inmates during the attack which reportedly began at around 5am. The JTF, which took journalists to Bama to assess the damage caused by the terrorists, added that three children and one woman, were among those killed during the multiple attacks in the town. Sources in the town claimed that about 300 suspected members of Boko Haram stormed the town, first attacking the  200 Tank Battallion, a military Barracks.

FOURSQUARE GOSPEL BUILDING COLLAPSE IN LAGOS
At least one person died, while several others were trapped in Lagos on Tuesday as a four-storey building under construction belonging to Foursquare Gospel Church, collapsed. The building on Bashiru Street, Berger, collapsed as some artisans were carrying out carpentry work on it .It was gathered that the incident happened around 3.30pm.
The cause of the collapse could not be ascertained, but observers said it might have been caused by the use of substandard materials. A 15-year-old apprentice, Joshua Ayandokun, who was among the artisans that were working on the building, escaped being trapped in the building. Joshua was sent on an errand to buy bread and beans for others, but before he came back, the building had collapsed.

EKITI HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY RATIFIES ADELABU AS DEPUTY GOVERNOR
Ekiti State House of Assembly, yesterday, ratified the appointment of Professor Modupe Adelabu as the new Deputy Governor of the state. The former university don was screened by the 26-member Assembly at 10.15am, yesterday, in Ado-Ekiti. Adelabu, present Chairman of Ekiti State Universal Basic Education, was screened at the Houses’s parliamentary session.
Governor Kayode Fayemi sent the name of Prof. Adelabu to the House for ratification as replacement for late Deputy Governor, Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka, who died of cancer on April 6, last Friday. The former chairman of the Education Board was ushered in to the assembly building by the Speaker of the House, Adewale Omirin, and drilled for about 30 minutes.
Speaking with the newsmen shortly after the exercise, Omirin said: “We conducted the screening at the parliament based on the decision of the lawmakers. “They drilled the nominee for over 30 minutes but she did not let us down. She answered us intelligently and we didn’t expect anything less.”