According to a report by Sahara Reporters, the Nigerian military authorities are moving female soldiers based in various army formations in Maiduguri and other parts of Borno State to Abuja as the army anticipates a massive attack on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, by Boko Haram.

The sources said there was heightened apprehension about an impending attack, hence the decision to reassign female soldiers to Nigeria’s capital. The military action also stemmed from the death of five female soldiers and the abduction of another four by Boko Haram militants when they attacked a military base in Baga a few weeks ago.
Following recent intelligence indicating that Boko Haram militants were strategizing on a fierce offensive to capture Maiduguri before the February 14 elections, the army moved more than 70 female soldiers last week.

One of our sources revealed that 146 more female soldiers had been moved to Maiduguri airport, where they are awaiting airlift to Abuja. The source said that all the female soldiers were supposed to have left by 10 a.m. on Thursday, but added that the military did not have a large enough aircraft to take their entire luggage.

The security sources also told SaharaReporters that Maimalari Barracks, home to the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army, is the only military base left standing in Borno State. Maimalari was described as the only military formation capable of withstanding a major attack from Boko Haram militants. One source said that Nigerian military intelligence had received information that Islamist militants were regrouping in areas around Maiduguri in preparation for a major offensive against the city. 

The Islamist fighters’ attempt to take over the state capital last week was foiled, with Nigerian troops and civilian vigilante members collaborating to kill more than 100 terrorists. However, the militants successfully overran Monguno Barrack, killing and injuring many soldiers.

12:33

Former Nigeria international Friday Ekpo has said the Super Eagles need to play more African teams as they begin build up to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

The reigning African champions who missed out of the 2015 biannual African football showpiece will face Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan in Abu Dhabi.

According to the former player of the defunct Abiola Babes, playing African teams will help the senior national team in its rebuilding process.

"I believe that for us to succeed ahead of the 2017 AFCON, we need to start a very solid rebuilding process for the Eagles in 2015, because from now till then, there isn’t any tangible competition to take part in, Ekpo told Punch.

"The preparation should begin with playing quality friendly matches. The matches aren’t just against any side; I am talking of friendly matches against African countries.

"The Eagles need to play friendlies against African sides because those are the sides we will meet when the qualifiers for the 2017 AFCON begin.

"We need to get these matches to keep the team busy and together to achieve the cohesion needed.”

He also cautioned that the Nigeria Football Federation should ensure the friendlies against African oppositions are not played on European soil.

"Also, the matches should be played on the continent. The NFF should avoid taking matches against African countries to Europe or getting friendly matches against non-African sides,” he continued.

"The Europeans do play themselves more than they play Africans, which they do mainly in the World Cup preparations.

"If they want to play also, they don’t bring their matches here in Africa. They play against themselves in Europe there. So we should organise our friendlies against African countries and play them here in Africa.

"We can play against Gabon and use Tunisia as the venue. It all will help the team in the long run when the qualifiers will eventually begin for the next AFCON,” he concluded

22:52

Small debris, 30 bodies, an oil slick, and then on Saturday, two big pieces of metal debris. Rescuers searching for doomed AirAsia Flight QZ8501 seem to be finding it piece by piece.

Photos of the new debris are likely to follow soon, as Indonesia's rescue agency is sending down a remote-operated vehicle with a camera, Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said on Saturday.

The first object measures 9.2 x 4.6 x 0.5 meters (30 x 15 x 1.6 feet), and the second measures 7.2 x 0.5 meters (24 x 1.6 feet)

Late Friday, searchers found an oil slick, and shortly after, an Indonesian ship using a metal detection system came across the metal parts.

Also on Friday, a piece was found that appeared to belong to a plane's fuselage -- its main body, Singapore officials said

The USS Sampson, deployed by the U.S. Navy to help, recover some bodies. A limited number of them will be autopsied to determine the cause of death to aid the investigation, an Indonesian official said on Saturday.

"According local wisdom and culture, not all families accept autopsies. For the sake of the investigation we agree, and it is accepted by INTERPOL, to perform autopsies on the pilot, co-pilot and some randomly selected passengers," said East Java Police Chief Anas Yusuf.

Four of the plane's victims have been identified. The first, Hayati Lutfiah Hamid, was laid to rest on Thursday.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said he was traveling to Surabaya, Indonesia, to bring home the body of flight attendant Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi

Source:Cnn

22:44

The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea in retribution for a cyber attack on Hollywood studio Sony Pictures blamed on Pyongyang.

In an executive order on Friday, US President Barack Obama authorised the US Treasury to place on its blacklist three top North Korean intelligence and arms operations, as well as 10 government officials, most of them involved in Pyongyang’s arms exports.

Obama said he ordered the sanctions because of “the provocative, destabilising, and repressive actions and policies of the government of North Korea, including its destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December 2014″.

The activities “constitute a continuing threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” he added, in a letter to inform congressional leaders.

“The order is not targeted at the people of North Korea, but rather is aimed at the government of North Korea and its activities that threaten the United States and others,” Obama added.

The sanctions came after hackers penetrated Sony’s computers in late November, stealing and releasing over the internet employee information, unreleased films and an embarrassing trove of emails between top company executives.

The hackers, a group calling itself Guardians of Peace, then began to issue threats against the company over the looming Christmas release of the comedy film “The Interview”, which depicts a fictional CIA plot to kill North Korea’s leader.

The threats led first to worried movie theater owners dropping the film and then Sony cancelling the public debut altogether, before releasing it online.

After the hackers invoked the 9/11 attacks in their threats, the White House branded it a national security threat, and an investigation by the FBI said North Korea was behind the Sony intrusion.

Pyongyang repeatedly denied involvement, but has applauded the actions of the shadowy Guardians of Peace group

22:40

The All Progressives Congress says President Goodluck Jonathan cannot fight corruption even if he is given 60 years to rule Nigeria.

The APC said this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while reacting to a promise by Jonathan that he would institute anti-corruption programmes if re-elected next month.

The APC said Jonathan’s inability to tackle corruption was not surprising as “a corrupt government can never fight corruption.”

It said it was surprising that Jonathan was still initiating a plan to tackle corruption despite the presence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.

The statement read, “Mr. President said he wants to put in place the institutions to tackle corruption before taking on the cankerworm that has almost destroyed the fabric of our society. Pray, whatever happened to the EFCC and the ICPC? Were they not institutions specifically created for the purpose of tackling corruption, but which the Jonathan administration chose to castrate?

‘’There is no better way to say this: President Jonathan lacks the political will to tackle corruption, and he will not tackle it if he spends 60 years in office.”

The party said it was unfortunate that despite spending about five years in office, the Jonathan administration was just beginning to diagnose the problems of Nigeria.

It said, “A President who has spent the last six years trying to diagnose the main problems facing the country will apparently need another four years to plan how to tackle the challenges. By then, all of us would have been buried under the rubble of corruption and our country would have been decimated by insecurity.

“It is therefore time for Nigerians to vote in a President who will hit the ground running, a President who will tackle the problems of corruption and insecurity headlong, without giving excuses for failure.”

On insecurity, the party said Jonathan should have learnt from the APC presidential candidate, Maj.Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) who was responsible for quelling the Maitatsine insurgency in the early 1980s.

The APC said it was unfortunate that rather than devise means to tackle insecurity, Jonathan blamed everybody but his administration.

22:37

For all you rappers out there the ausx platinum beat off the 2015 Xtreme beats mixtape is out. Can you murder this

Download:   platinum

22:32

Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo -- who rose from the Depression-era streets of Queens to serve three times as governor and whose passionate keynote address at the 1984 Democratic political convention vaulted him onto the national political scene -- died Thursday. He was 82.

 

Cuomo had been hospitalized recently to treat a heart condition. His family said he passed away, at home, from "natural causes due to heart failure."

Cuomo was governor for three terms, from 1983 to 1995.

He was married to his wife, Matilda, for more than six decades. They had five children, including current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was sworn in for his second term Thursday, and Chris Cuomo, host of CNN's "New Day."

Asked once how he wanted to be remembered, Mario Cuomo replied: "One of the simple things I wanted to achieve is -- I want to be governor. I want to be the hardest working there ever was. And I want, when it's over -- and I figured on four years at first -- I want people to say, now, there was an honest person."

Democratic standard-bearer

Cuomo burst onto the national political stage with his keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

To say he was a powerful speaker would be an understatement.

A Queens native, Cuomo was born in New York City, in the apartment above his father's grocery store. After a brief shot at a career in minor league baseball, he pursued a law degree and graduated at the top of his class at St. John's University School of Law.

Although the allure of public service was strong, Cuomo's early attempts at seeking political office ended in defeat.

His first electoral success came in 1978 as running mate to former Gov. Hugh Carey. Four years later, Carey stepped aside, and Cuomo entered the race and won.

He held the governorship for three terms, winning two more handily by emphasizing lower taxes, balanced budgets, public education and affirmative action. He was a strong opponent of the death penalty.

In 1993, Cuomo passed up the opportunity to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, choosing instead to run for a fourth term as governor. He lost in 1994.

Having fun in the face of defeat, Cuomo made a popular commercial for Doritos, which also starred Ann Richards, who lost the Texas governorship the same year.

'You can now sleep with the greats'

President Barack Obama praised Cuomo for his faith in God and championing of progressive values in a statement issued by the White House.

"His own story taught him that as Americans, we are bound together as one people, and our country's success rests on the success of all of us, not just a fortunate few," the President said.

Cuomo announced Bill Clinton's nomination for President at the 1992 Democratic Convention.

"It was Mario Cuomo's great gift and our good fortune that he was both a sterling orator and a passionate public servant. His life was a blessing," Clinton said in a statement.

Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, praised Cuomo's 1984 address as one of his all-time favorite speeches.

"Used to read it constantly for inspiration," he tweeted.

Cuomo's death touched people across the political spectrum.

"Our country and our region lost a giant today with the passing of Governor Mario Cuomo," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in a statement. "He was a strong, eloquent leader who loved New York and its people. As an Italian-American, he was also a role model for future generations that anything was possible through hard work and education."

The Rev. Al Sharpton remembered the former governor as "the last liberal giant of New York politics."

"He was a philosopher at heart that always saw the bigger picture. Even when we would engage in debate I felt he was playing chess while I was playing checkers," he said. "Mario, you have earned it and your place in history is secure. You can now sleep with the greats."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered flags flying in the city that were lowered to half staff in honor of slain NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu to remain lowered for 30 days to honor Cuomo's memory.

He commended his humanity in a statement:

"Mario Cuomo was a man of unwavering principle who possessed a compassion for humankind that was without equal."

11:06

UPDATED: 03:42 PM EST 01.02.15

With crews from around the world aiding in the search, 30 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, Indonesian officials said Friday.

What appears to be a piece of the fuselage was found, Singapore's Defense Ministry said. It resembles a window panel.

Finding the fuselage and the plane's "black boxes" are a priority, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said Friday. There are 59 teams of divers involved, the agency's chief Bambang Sulistyo said, according to the state-run Antara news agency.

The USS Sampson, the U.S. Navy ship that is helping with the search, recovered two of the bodies, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said Friday.

Indonesian authorities have identified four of the recovered bodies so far. The first victim they identified, an Indonesian woman named Hayati Lutfiah Hamid, was buried Thursday. Many family members are waiting in Surabaya for news about their loved ones.

But with 162 people on the plane when it took off from Surabaya, Indonesia, crews have a long way to go.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said he was traveling Friday to Surabaya to bring the body of flight attendant Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi home.

"I cannot describe how I feel. There are no words," he said on Twitter.

Search efforts are concentrated in a zone covering 1,575 square nautical miles (5,400 square kilometers) that officials believe is the "most probable area" to find the remains of the aircraft.

But on Friday, waves in the Java Sea as high as four meters (13 feet) were making it hard for divers search underwater.

The weather is "the biggest obstacle," said Bambang Hermanu, chief of police in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, where much of the search operation is based.

Anguish revisited: Relatives of MH370 victims speak

Here's more key information about where things stand on Flight QZ8501:

The flight

What we know: The aircraft took off early Sunday from Surabaya, bound for Singapore. Roughly 35 minutes into the flight, the pilot asked air traffic control for permission to turn left and climb to avoid bad weather. Minutes later, the plane disappeared from air traffic control's radar.

What we don't know: What happened on board after contact with the plane was lost. No distress call was received. Indonesian aviation authorities have suggested that the plane ascended despite permission being denied because of traffic.

Some experts have speculated that the aircraft might have experienced an aerodynamic stall because of a lack of speed or from flying at too sharp an angle to get enough lift. Analysts have also suggested that the pilots might not have been getting information from onboard systems about the plane's position, or that rain or hail from thunderstorms in the area could have damaged the engines.

Until the main wreckage of the plane is found, along with the flight recorders, experts have little evidence to support their theories.

The search

What we know: Search teams found debris and some bodies 100 to 200 kilometers (about 60 to 120 miles) from the aircraft's last known location over the Java Sea, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said.

What we don't know: The exact location of the body of the aircraft. An Indonesian search official told CNN on Wednesday that he thought sonar equipment had detected wreckage from Flight 8501 at the bottom of the Java Sea. But the country's search and rescue chief said the plane hadn't been found yet. Bad weather has hindered the search operation.

The investigation

What we know: The key to understanding what happened may be in the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, commonly known as black boxes. The black boxes, which are actually orange, are in the tail of Airbus 320-200s. If recovered, they will be taken to a lab in Jakarta, Indonesia, to be analyzed, said Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia's National Committee for Transportation Safety. The batteries powering the "pingers" that send acoustic signals have only about 24 days of power left, officials said.

What we don't know: Where the plane's remains might have been taken by the elements. Investigators will need to use information gleaned from the flight recorders and clues from the wreckage.

"The more bits I can put into my mosaic, the better my picture will be," aviation safety expert Michael Barr said. "The better the picture, the better I can come up with an understanding of what happened." But the conditions at sea make that work much more difficult than on land. "In the water, you are working with currents and winds, and so the pieces won't be where they had the initial impact," he said.

The plane and the pilots

What we know: The 6-year-old Airbus A320-200, operated by AirAsia's Indonesian affiliate, had accumulated around 23,000 flight hours in about 13,600 flights, according to Airbus. The plane's last scheduled maintenance was on November 16.

Flight 8501's veteran captain, Iriyanto, 53, had 20,537 flying hours, 6,100 of them with AirAsia on the Airbus A320, the airline said. The first officer, Remi Emmanuel Plesel, 46, had 2,275 flying hours, a reasonable amount for his position.

What we don't know: Whether technical problems, human error or other issues were involved in the crash. According to information from the Aviation Safety Network accident database, there have been 54 incidents involving the A320.

"In the A320 family, accidents and incidents range from fan-cowl detachment, landing gear collapse, bird strikes, right through to hull losses through pilot error," said Kane Ray, an analyst with the International Bureau of Aviation, a global aviation consulting group. "Most aircraft have teething problems, and in most cases, these are eradicated. Very rarely, these issues cause disasters -- largely because of a culmination of factors that lead to the event," Ray said.

11:05

The Nigerian Army has dismissed 203 soldiers after a secret court martial held in the dead of the night, for allegedly disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
One of the sacked soldiers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldiers were dismissed for asking for support equipment, following the army’s plan to convey them in a tipper for an operation in Bama and Gwoza, two strongholds of Boko Haram insurgents.
The soldier, who is originally of the 19th Battalion in Okitipupa in Ondo State, but attached to the 7th division in Maiduguri, said the army detained them for over 90 days before dismissing them after a midnight trial. He said they are owed up to five months in unpaid salaries.
Narrating the event that led to their dismissal, the soldier said his unit reconvened in Maiduguri last August, after they were dislodged by the insurgents in Damboa in an operation where their commanding officer and several other soldiers were killed.
He said they were given two weeks pass and that at the expiration of their pass, they were issued new uniforms, boots and 30 rounds of bullets each as opposed to the statutory 60 rounds. And were going to be conveyed in a tipper lorry to Gwoza and Bama for an operation.
He said having engaged the insurgents in several past battles, majority of the soldiers argued that the operation would be fierce, and therefore requested support equipment.
“So we asked for support weapons. No support weapon was provided. Our CO (Commanding Officer) said he would discuss with the GOC (General Officer Commanding) of the 7 Division at the headquarters. When he came back, he said we should stand down. We thought all was well,” our source said.
But the request made by the soldiers fetched them more than they bargained for.
The next day their new CO, Mohammed A, a lieutenant colonel from 195 battalion, Agenebode, ordered them to submit their weapons and uniforms or be charged with mutiny.
“On the morning of 16 of August, after the GOC briefing, our commander started calling our names and he said anyone whose name is called should submit their uniform and weapon. He added that anyone who failed to do that would be charged for mutiny. We were surprised at what was happening.
“He started from the most senior soldier among us, a warrant officer who had served for almost 30 years. They asked us to go back to the barrack. It is a war zone and our weapons had been taken from us. Staying around was of no use so we left Maiduguri back home.”
The next order from the army hierarchy was for the soldiers to report to the 4th Brigade headquarters in Benin where they were detained for three months.
“They kept us in the fenced field at the officers’ mess in 4th battalion headquarters. When we first arrived at Benin they took statements from us and took it to Maiduguri. The original charge against us was for deserting but after our statements were taken they changed the charge to disobedient to particular order. They said we disobeyed the CO’s order. They seized our phones, we couldn’t communicate with our families for the 90 days we were kept in detention,” our source said.
After they were released on December 24, they were conveyed to their various units. The soldier said on getting to their units, a court martial was set up at about 11.30 p.m. where they were tried and dismissed. He said the next morning, they were evicted from the barrack with their families.
“It was dismissal without benefits. After 17 years in service. Even people that served for 30 years were dismissed without benefits. We had no legal representation.”
Army spokesperson, Olajide Laleye, a Brigadier General, could not be reached for comments on Thursday. Calls and messages to his telephone were not answered or returned.
The dismissal of the 203 soldiers followed a wave of court-martialling of other soldiers for mutiny and other offences.
On December 24, a military court-martial that sat in Abuja sentenced four soldiers to death by firing squad for alleged mutiny.
That judgment came just about a week after another batch of 54 soldiers were condemned to death for refusing to fight the deadly Boko Haram sect.
The 54 soldiers belonged to the 111 Special Forces battalion attached to the 7 division of the army in Maiduguri. They are to die by firing squad, the military court ruled.
The soldiers were accused of disobeying a direct order from superior officers to take part in an operation aimed at dislodging Boko Haram terrorists from Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa in Borno State.
The soldiers said they refused to take part in the operation because the Army did not provide them with the required combat and support equipment needed for such operations.
Earlier, in September, 12 soldiers were sentenced to death for allegedly shooting at a car conveying their commanding officer, Ahmed Mohammed, a Major General.
The attack occurred May 14 at the army’s 7 Division, Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, headed at the time by Mr. Mohammed.
Others were also sentenced to life in jail for criminal conspiracy and attempt to commit murder.
The soldiers revolted after some of their colleagues were ambushed and killed by Boko Haram extremists, an attack they blamed their commander for.
Yet, more soldiers remain on trial for their conducts in the fight against the extremist sect, and face being sentenced to death.
On December 23, another batch of 118 soldiers were transported from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to face charges in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
It is not clear when the troops would be arraigned before the military court, but our sources said unlike their colleagues who were convicted December 17, the 118 soldiers are accused of offences less than mutiny.
Also, 22 top officers, including a brigadier general, are being held at the Ikeja Military Cantonment in Lagos, preparatory to being arraigned for yet unclear offences.
They could not be arraigned on December 22 because the court was not properly constituted.
Their arraignment has now been scheduled for a date in January.
The convicted soldiers, apart from the four that were sentenced  December 24, have been moved to Lagos to await appeal, pardon or execution.

11:02

In the 2015 budget  submitted to the National Assembly as reported by media outlets, Mr. President with penchant for buying executive jets for his own personal leisure, did not disappoint us. He has a 400 million naira budget item as deposit for trade-in for a brand new executive jet. It is no wonder that the Presidential Air Fleet has more modern and functioning airplanes than the whole aircrafts of  Nigerian Air Force (NAF) put together. 

In this time of insecurity, Nigerians deserve to know why this administration has failed to deal with Boko Haram before the elections so that they can decide if they want to continue on this path of failure. One of the reasons is, instead of arming the NAF with modern fighter jets, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) has been building a fleet of brand new presidential executive jets. While Jonathan is busy junketing the globe in his brand new executive jets, the struggling NAF is left with obsolete aircrafts to fight insurgents. The Nigerian citizens especially in the North East have been left in the mercy of marauding insurgents taking over our territory. With this kind of careless defense strategy from the President, how can the country defeat Boko Haram?
According to the well known intelligence and defence information company, IHS Janes  website,http://www.janes.com/article/45858/nigeria-wants-to-procure-scorpion-isr-and-light-attack-jet, “The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) currently fields a very limited offensive counter insurgency (COIN) capability in the guise of 11 Chinese-built CAC Chengdu F-7 fighters; as well as 21 Aero L-39ZA Albatros, 12 Alenia MB-339, and 12 Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet trainer and light strike platforms. It also fields seven russian Mil Mi-24 'Hind' assault helicopters”. Based on this available information on the main assets of the NAF, it is clear that it is handicapped. It may be one of the reasons  why the Jonathan’s  Government could not defeat Boko Haram.
Note that the 12  French built Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets have been  the main fighter Jets in the fight against Boko Haram in the last six years . For those who do not know, Alpha jets are out of production since 1991. They have some of the most obsolete surveillance capability one can think of due to low computing and imaging processing power of the electronics on board. The Jets were designed for the attack of long range fixed targets like Barracks in conventional warfare and not close and highly mobile targets like Boko Haram’s pick up trucks convoys. To summarise the capability of these alpha jets, it is like trying to use the early version of the black and white Nokia 3310 phone for facebook and internet browsing today instead of the smart phones like blackberry Z30, or iPhone 6. For all his promises of defeating boko haram, Jonathan is trying to use these jets as his main fighting air power to defeat them. Imagine GEJ and his military commanders using these to find Shekau!
The Chinese made Chengdu F-7 jet fighters were acquired by Obasanjo in 2005 and delivered up to 2010 as reported by Janes. Obasanjo and “Made in China” goods have one thing in common: Unreliability, and high failure rates when and where it matters most. The Chengdu F-7 were among some of the Jets that have been crashing and burning down during this conflict. I believe any fighter pilot that is asked to go on mission with any  of the unmaintained jets, will definitely make his last prayers before flying one.
I am not going to talk about the Czechoslovakian  made Aero Albatros L39 and the 12 Alenia MB339 military trainer jet aircrafts. Those are so old that they are suppose to be in the museum, and not for training our Jet Fighter Pilots. The old Russian MIG helicopters are among those crashing helicopters we have got, and some did crash recently and were in the news.
Some of these jets were burned down by Boko Haram when they attacked Maiduguri in March 2014 as shown in the pictures released online by the insurgents. This begs for explanation, why were even some of the Jets parked in Maiduguri, the epicenter of Boko Haram, instead of outside the region? Why would Air Marshall Bade allow this? At least we know that for security of defence assets, in most war setting situation, long range Jet Fighters are kept out of conflict regions and are most of the time signaled to come in for attacks. For example, will the US Air force park their most important jet fighters, the Northrop Grumman B2 stealth bombers, in Baghdad waiting for terrorists to come and burn them down? No! Anyway this is a story for another day.
How can rag tagged insurgents be moving in convoys for 100’s of kilometers within Nigerian borders unchallenged with air power and be able to establish a caliphate in Gwoza? In a pathetic show of comedy, instead of the President to acquire real drones like the Raptors from General Atomics, Stalkers from Lockheed Martin or their type from any where to stop the terrorists from moving in large convoys, he had his own drone made for him in Kaduna. This president is unserious! The Kaduna made “Gulma” drone he went to launch some months back, one can buy something better than it for three thousand dollars (600 thousand naira) on Ebay website. The President in his usual characteristic comical display of “C in C” powers praised the toy Gulma drone and said that it will be used to fight Boko Haram. Even on the launch day, the Gulma drone was a sitting duck on display inside a building. It was not flown to demonstrate its capabilities to fight boko haram and only God knows how much was spent in building Gulma. What a fraud and a joke!
As an expert in radar systems and electronics, I can say without mincing words that these out of style aircrafts the NAF uses in this battle against boko haram with not so good night vision capability, magnetometers, vision cameras, gyroscopes, and other must have sensors on board fighter jets, cannot find Shekau and his rag tag army. These military assets are incapable of accurately  tracking highly mobile insurgents targets like Boko Haram that move in large convoys to attack our towns and villages.
Does it bother Jonathan that his Air force is in shambles since he came to power and cannot fight Boko Haram? NO! The reason is his measure of how successful and strong the economy and his country is, is not by the fighting power of his Air force.The President measures the prosperity of his country and its military strength with how many new jet owners we have since he came to power, and how many executive jets he has acquired for himself. O boy, we are in serious trouble.
Do not despair, there is a new strategy and fighter jet for fighting boko haram and it is the PVC. PVC stands for the Permanent Voters Card. Yes, it is a weapon that  Nigerians must acquire to defeat this incompetent government and Boko Haram. No matter what, every citizen must get this fighter jet, the PVC,  since the Government has failed to get fighter jets for its Air force to fight Boko Haram. The way to use the PVC fighter jet is to come out on the election day, line up no matter the heat and inefficiency of INEC on that day, to cast the vote, defend the vote against external aggression of riggers and their collaborators so that we can have a new government that will arm the Air force. The new Government to be headed by Muhammadu Buhari, has better strategy of defeating Boko Haram. It will sell all these unnecessary executive presidential jets acquired by Jonathan and buy the fighter jets and drones needed to send Boko Haram parking. His presidency will need only 2 executive jets: one for use and one as a spare in case of maintenance. GEJ has already bought 4 jets since he came to power in addition to the 9 Jets he met in the fleet.
Finally, we have to ask how many Presidential Jets will be enough for a child that grew up with no shoes? and have you acquired your PVC Fighter Jet from INEC?


 Dr. M.K. Hassan

10:59

The Inspector General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, has called on Muslims in the country to emulate the life style of Prophet Muhammad.

Abba, in a message on Thursday to Muslims on the occasion of the birthday of the Holy Prophet, urged the faithful to be kind to their neighbours and people of other religions.

The IG ordered all commands and formations of the force nationwide to remain alert and ensure that the security measures put in place for the New Year celebration were improved upon.

This, he said, was to ensure adequate protection of lives and property during the Mawlud celebration on Friday.

Abba also directed commanding officers to supervise the control of traffic to ensure the safety of commuters and all road users.

He commended the officers and men for their hard work during the Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year festivities.

The IG urged them to be more professional in the discharge of their duties so that the citizens could have a hitch-free Mawlud celebration.

05:55

The All Progressives Congress has welcomed the statement of President Goodluck Jonathan in his New Year message, restating his commitment to the conduct of free, fair and violence-free elections this year.

The party, however, urged the President to match the commitment with action.

In a statement  in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party expressed satisfaction that the President and his party had come out publicly to join the APC in pledging commitment to successful and violence-free polls next month.

”In a statement on December 28, 2014, we assured Nigerians that we would do everything in our power to make the 2015 elections violence-free.

“Since then, PDP National Chairman Adamu Muazu and the President have joined us in making similar pledges. This is a welcome development that will gladden the hearts of our citizens who are very apprehensive about the forthcoming elections,” it said.

APC however said the best way to make the elections free, fair and devoid of violence was for the Federal Government to ensure a level playing field for all the parties by not tampering with the independence of INEC; not using the security agencies to oppress and intimidate the opposition and not deliberately disenfranchising qualified voters.

”If an election is free, fair and transparent and seen to be so by all, it will be easy for all concerned to accept the outcome, and there will be no violence. Violence only occurs when there is a realisation that the process has been skewed against some and in favour of others,” the party said.

It restated its assurance to Nigerians and the international community that it would do all in its power to make sure that the 2015 election is violence-free

”We also restate our stand that even with the little time left for the election to hold, a meeting of the leadership of the two main political parties, the APC and the PDP, will send a powerful message to our compatriots and indeed the international community and douse the tension that is building up ahead of the elections,” APC said.

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Zuo Zhijian says the heavy crush of bodies around him on the Shanghai waterfront left him unable to move his legs. “I also had someone grabbing my hair from the back, struggling and breathing heavily,” Zuo said. “A girl in front of me held me desperately and said, ‘Help me, help me, please. I can’t make it anymore.’ There was also a girl completely motionless underneath.” Zuo was one among many people caught up in the stampede on the Bund, an area along the Huangpu River in China’s most populous city that draws big crowds for New Year’s Eve festivities. He described his traumatic experience on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform on which he’s a verified user. The stampede, which began roughly 25 minutes before midnight, killed 36 people and injured 47 others, the Shanghai city government said. Many of the victims were female students, state media reported. ‘Girls crying and shouting for help’ “I was surrounded by the sounds of girls crying and shouting for help with their last strain of effort, and of people fighting and throwing curses at each other,” said Zuo, who works in the media sector. Another witness, Xiao Ji, said he was at the side of the mass of people as a night of celebration turned into scenes of horror. “I stared for a while and then started pulling people out of the crowds,” Xiao, who works at a technology company, said on Weibo. Exhausted at the effort of hauling two people out of the crush, he said all he could do was “hold their hands and try to cheer them up a little bit.” In the chaos described by Xiao, some people were trying to revive unconscious victims, others were simply wailing. Police officers were also trying to help. After he regained strength, Xiao says he joined in again. A photo from China’s state-run news agency Xinhua showed people receiving treatment as they lay in the middle of a crowded street. Cause under investigation The terrifying crush left a grisly aftermath. “People lying on the ground were a complete mess,” said Zuo. “Their faces became unrecognizable.” It remains unclear what caused the stampede. Authorities are investigating what happened. Xinhua cited one unidentified witness as saying that people started scrambling after coupons that looked like dollar bills were thrown from the third floor of a building. But Zuo, Xiao and other witnesses made no mention of the coupons in their accounts. And the English-language newspaper Shanghai Daily cited witnesses as saying that the stampede started “when a large number of people trying to move up to the riverfront esplanade were blocked.” CNN reached out to Zuo and Xiao for further comment but Zuo didn’t immediately respond and Xiao declined to talk to the media. Event moved after problems Local officials had this year moved a popular New Year’s Eve light show from an open area of the Bund to a more enclosed area, citing safety concerns, Shanghai Daily reported. “Last year, officials were caught off-guard when nearly 300,000 people turned up for the New Year countdown at the Bund, which led to traffic chaos,” the newspaper said. Officials canceled another New Year’s celebration late Wednesday in front of Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, citing safety concerns. Even with the light show and official countdown called off, many revelers remained at the location and had their own countdown there. Flowers lain at scene The Shanghai stampede prompted scenes of anger and grief. Video from the Reuters news agency showed people sobbing in a hospital waiting room. One woman told state broadcaster CCTV that relatives had been waiting for hours for information about their loved ones. A photo from the news agency Agence France-Presse showed people facing off with security guards at a hospital. Dozens of people gathered at the scene of the stampede Thursday, laying bouquets of flowers on the ground. Police cars lined an intersection near where the deadly chaos took place. Chinese President Xi Jinping requested “an immediate investigation” into what happ

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