Fire Outbreak At St Nicholas Specialist Hospital, Lagos

A fire outbreak is on now at Saint Nicholas Specialist Hospital, Lagos lsland.

An official  from the Lagos State Fire Service disclosed to source

He said,  fire trucks from Sari lganmu are on ground battling with the outbreak.

Details later.

NSC warns federations over competitions

The Director of Sports Federation and Elite Athletes Department (FEAD) of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba has warned sports federations to desist from entering for international competitions without the approval of the NSC.

He stated that the NSC's endorsement  was  required for Sports Federations to enroll for international competitions, describing the action of some federations that enter for such competitions without the knowledge and endorsements of the Commission as ''wrong and a breach of established sporting procedure."

Dr. Ojo-Oba said the Commission frowns at this attitude and would henceforth consider sanctions for erring federations.
Dr. Ojo-Oba spoke in the light of the controversy that has trailed the camping of Nigeria's volleyball team, which is preparing for an international competition. "The Commission is unaware that that they were going for any competition. As at today, we do not have any written request for funds from them.

"These include available funding, sports development goals, rating of the team and others," he said.

"Federations should not just wake up and say they are participating in international competitions. When they enter for such competitions, it is under the banner of Nigeria and so the Commission, which is the premier sports agency in the country, should be fully aware to give  approval. This is essential for proper planning."

Police nab 22-yr-old for cloning Egba monarch’s facebook

A middle-aged man, Gani Akinmade, has been arrested by operatives of the Special Fraud Unit, Milverton, Ikoyi, Lagos, for allegedly   cloning the identity of the  Alake of Egbaland on facebook, with an attempt to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

The Commissioner of Police SFU, Tunde Ogunsakin, in a statement said the unit received a complaint on  July 22, 2013, where it was alleged that between May 3 and 22, 2013, a frausdster with phone number 08096897566 opened a facebook account with the name of HRM Oba Micheal Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland and attempted to swindle one Olubukola Awofeso, a UK resident whom he met on social network facebook, of  N300,000.00.

The suspect was also said to have attempted to lure the victim to partner in a business of supplying 300 transformers valued at more than N1 billion.

The said Gani Akinmade is 22-year-old and a native of Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State.  A drop-out of Tai Solarin College of Education, Ijebu-Ode.

He confessed to the crime but stated that he conspired with one Seyi Lewis and Ifeanyi to perpetrate the fraud.

P&G, Health tips

Everybody want to live healthy,germ free and look cool always...

This is a very big chance for you to know how to be germ and bacteria free, tips on how to live that healthy live,you don't need to be rich before you make that happen.

P&G is a popular brand in Nigeria,makers of Safeguard soap is giving everybody that great chance. Free tips update

get registered on safeguard antibacterial soap awareness campaign by flashing this number 07080612033. Registration is free.

All you have to do is flash this number 07080612033. Registration is free.

Samsung to Produce "Galaxy Glass"

Samsung was early to market with a smartwatch in the Galaxy Gear, and now it looks like it might be one of the first in the mix with a glasses-based computing device. A new report from the Korea Times (via Verge) suggests that Samsung is currently developing a Google Glass competitor, which is in fact provisionally named "Galaxy Glass," set for launch in September at the annual IFA tech conference.

Google has yet to put a firm timeline on the consumer launch of its own Google Glass wearable computer, which is available to developers and early adopters via Google's 'Explorer' program. Some reports had suggested a general launch for late 2013, but then later information from Google revised the release timeline to sometime in 2014. Samsung could conceivably beat Google to the punch, but as we saw with the Galaxy Gear, that's not necessarily a good thing.

The Gear was likewise telegraphed before its actual launch, with Samsung coming right out and admitting the device was on the way at IFA. This time around, there's no named source discussing the device, but the Korea Times does quote a Samsung official as saying that the potential in the market is huge, and that Samsung is very interested in getting a first-mover advantage in the space.

As for what Samsung Glass would do, it sounds like it would essentially provide a basic heads-up display for your smartphone on your face, pushing notifications, music playback information and basic controls to the lens of a head-mounted display.

Samsung getting in among the early crop of device-makers hoping to ride this trend is in keeping with its recent strategy, which seems to be one of putting everything they can out as a shipping product. It's a plan that gets them lots of props as a company eager to pursue innovation and drive new product development, but the first-mover advantage has only questionable use value if these first generation products keep failing to impress.

Both the smartwatch and the eyeware-based computing models are interesting because OEMs seem to be pursuing them fairly aggressively without any evidence that this is a direction consumers necessarily are interested in. We'll apparently see in September if Samsung has managed to build a face computer that moves the tech forward, however.

Culled from TechCrunch

I’m confident Nigeria will win the battle on Wednesday - Hamilton

Former Nigerian manager, Paul Hamilton has said there is nothing to worry over the semifinal clash between Ghana and Nigeria at the ongoing African Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa.

Both West African perennial foes will confront each other on Wednesday at the Free State Stadium, Manguang to decide who progress to the final of the biennial football showpiece.Nigeria stopped Morocco 4-3 in the quarter finals on Saturday while the Ghanaians pipped DR Congo 1-0 to set up the epic clash between familiar opponents on Wednesday.

Hamilton said the semifinal encounter will turn out to be the most unpredictable game of the entire matches played at the championship."The Ghana, Nigeria semifinal tie will be the most exciting game of the championship, both countries are perennial rivals and West African football giants."Both sides play good football, it's an encounter that'll be too difficult to predict its outcome. We'll just keep our fingers crossed hoping for the very best for the Nigerian side. Everybody must expect a. tough contest between both sides.

"But I know the Nigerians are equal to the task and I'm confident Nigeria will win the battle on Wednesday," said the former Nigerian star to supersport.com.Hamilton said the Super Eagles must do everything humanly possible to avoid trailing their Ghanaian opponents, the Black Stars as they did against the Atlas Lions of Morocco."We must not for any reason trail behind the Ghanaians as it may prove too tough to comeback as we did against the Moroccans.

"And once we go up scoring we must not stop scoring and not until the whistle sounds signifying the end of the encounter the Ghanaian side remain a dangerous side. Only goals win the match so we must continue to score goals," said the former Super Falcons manager.Hamilton assured the Eagles coaches will correct the lapses noted in the side's previous matches before the game on Wednesday against Ghana.

"No side is perfect but correction of mistakes is a continuous exercise, we've our shortcomings same as the Ghanaian side but I'm sure the coaches will work on those mistakes before we face Ghana," Hamilton said.

"No side is perfect but correction of mistakes is a continuous exercise, we've our shortcomings same as the Ghanaian side but I'm sure the coaches will work on those mistakes before we face Ghana," Hamilton said.

"No side is perfect but correction of mistakes is a continuous exercise, we've our shortcomings same as the Ghanaian side but I'm sure the coaches will work on those mistakes before we face Ghana," Hamilton said.

Culled from Supersport

SCAM ALERT: HKN'S B-RED IN SHOW OF SHAME AT GQ LOUNGE IBADAN!

Ibadan went agog last night when Rolake a former Ibadan Beat FM presenter organized industry night for Club GQ,and brought Bred, patoranking, classiq, glen, magnito, Pizzy, Kshab. Etc

Before B-red climbed the stage to perform, a certain Ibadan based artiste called ''Pizzy'' performed and thrilled the crowd by his performance. This dampened B-Red's morale as he started to doubt his own stage craft knowing he could not beat Pizzy's performance. In an attempt to win the crowd, immediately he got on stage, he decided to run a little competition with a promise that whoever could dance Skelewu better than him will get One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira from him.

A winner finally emerged but B-Red didn't give the money he promised, when the crowd started murmuring, B-red boasted ''The Money is in my car, you know i am from the richest clique in the industry'' , The statement made the crowd calm as they continued to enjoy the show, until B-Red finished performing and ran off the stage to his car.
                         
Seeing what tricks B-red was playing, the Skelewu dancer moved to follow B-red in anticipation of the money but to his surprise, B-red offered him a cup of drink and asked the dancer to take a picture with him. When the dancer asked for the money again, B-red said he was leaving already but the dancer should meet him in another club.
                
Unfortunately for the dancer, on getting to the club, B-red asked his bouncers not to let the dancer come close to him. B-red eventually left the club in anger saying '' I told the DJ and the hypeman i will send my PA to give them Ten Thousand Naira each, but they refused to hype me nor play my song''. He left the club dashing the skelewu dancer's hope of being A hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira richer, and he also did not fulfill his Twenty Thousand Naira Promise to the Hypeman and the Dj.


Sure HKN CEO, Davido won't be proud of his cousin... GOBE!

Open letter to Basket Mouth by Citizen Evelyn

Dear Bright Okpocha (aka Basket Mouth),

I am a very good fan of your comedy show including my husband and kids, I would rather have spoken to you over the phone or make time to see you face to face, but as it is the season of open letter in Nigeria, I would like to use this medium to express how disappointed I am over your comment or joke as you may call it on "Rape".

First let me try to educate you about the meaning of Rape, maybe you did not check your dictionary for the meaning or you don't have one at home.

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another without any consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or against a person who is incapable of valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, or below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault.

Rape and sexual slavery are recognized as crimes against humanity and war crimes. Rape is also recognized as an element of the crime of genocide when committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a targeted ethnic group.

People who have been raped can be severely traumatized and may suffer from post traumatic stress disorder; in addition to psychological harm resulting from the act, rape may cause physical injury, or have additional effects on the victim, such as acquiring of a sexually transmitted infection or becoming pregnant. Furthermore, following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats thereof from the rapist, and, in some cultures, from the victim's own family and relatives. More about rape and its effect of victims can be obtained for free from the Encyclopaedia.

Bright, let me ask you, have any of your relation been raped before? Have your blood sister or daughter been raped before? If the answer is yes, then how can you possibly make a joke about it. but if the answer is no, then you must be ashamed of yourself ….

Your lack of respect for women has manifested. When you first began to make jokes about Nigerian women we thought that it was to make people laugh, now you can be easily accused of making these jokes because you want to disrespect, humiliate and insult Nigerian women. Why should Nigerian women be painted black by a fellow Nigerian who they pay money to watch his show? These women who come to your shows are the people putting food on your table, the clothes you wear, pay your bills, fuel your car and you have the innuendo to rubbish them?

As a brand ambassador of some companies in Nigeria, you are supposed to be a role model for our children, but what are you teaching them, are you teaching them that rape is fun?

you are telling them that any girl they want to have sex with and who says no should be raped? To the girls you are simply calling them sex toys that can be bought with money. By your joke you have reduced Nigerian women to zero. How will men from other countries see our women?

Finally, I will advise you to always think about the consequence of what you open your mouth to joke about because that mouth that brought you fame and good things of life may still play a part in bringing you down.

Evelyn Ejiogu

Missing Fund: NNPC insists $30bn oil revenue remitted to Federation Account

Following the controversy that trailed the controversial $49.8 billion missing from federation account, the  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has disclosed that the disputed balance of $10.8 billion from the  original amount, which has not been paid into the Federation Account, is not missing but formed part of its operational costs within the period, January 2012 to July 2013, which was referred to by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in his letter to President Goodluck Jonathan on unremitted oil revenues.

In a statement issued by the Corporation's General Manager, Media Relations, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, it insisted that issues surrounding the allegation of the unremitted $49.8 billion against it had since been explained, but it appears that the initial dust raised by Sanusi's letter was yet to settle.
It explained that repairs on Nigeria's 5,000 kilometres of petroleum pipeline network, which is constantly subjected to vandalism, unpaid subsidies on kerosene and petrol, as well as its maintenance of national strategic reserves for petroleum products, were all parts of its operational costs accounted for by the $10.8 billion.

According to Ibrahim, the Corporation considered it necessary to make further clarifications on the burning issue, considering the extant media reports on the same issue, which it considered as misleading.

"We are therefore constrained to respond and clarify the issues once again to help those who do not yet understand the clarification made earlier by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.  Diezani Alison-Madueke, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, at a joint press conference which was widely reported in the media.

"For the avoidance of doubt, there was no where it was stated or admitted by any of the parties in the course of the press conference or anywhere else that the sum of $12 billion or $10.8 billion out of he alleged unremitted $49.8 billion was missing.

"The truth of the matter is that as at the time of the press conference, $30 billion of the alleged unremitted oil revenue had been reconciled by all the parties involved. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala did explain that the reconciliation was an ongoing process and that the balance of $10.8 billion was still being reconciled," said the Corporation's spokesperson.

"At no time did anybody, be it the Coordinating Minister for the Economy or the CBN governor say that the outstanding $10.8 billion was missing. It is simply curious how some sections of the media are not prepared to see the difference between the two positions – reconciliation in progress versus money missing. These two positions are simply not the same thing no matter the angle from which anyone chooses to see them."

Giving a breakdown of NNPC's operational expenses, which make up the $10.8 billion, Ibrahim said, having made that point, it is also pertinent to further clarify that NNPC as a national oil company is saddled with certain onerous responsibilities that other oil companies are free from.

"For instance, as the supplier of last resort, NNPC has the responsibility of ensuring that there is adequate supply of petroleum products whether the market is favourable or not.

"The yet to be reconciled $10.8 billion can be located in the expenses on some of the responsibilities, which the Corporation carries out on behalf of the federal government with respect to the domestic crude oil utilisation.

"One of such issues is the unpaid subsidy on kerosene and premium motor spirit (petrol). It would be recalled that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was earlier in 2013 reported to have stated that she had not paid any subsidy on kerosene since she assumed office.

"The truth of the matter is that since 2007 when the late President Umaru Yar'Adua reviewed the prices of petroleum products, following the general strike in protest against the price hike by his predecessor, the issue of subsidy payment on kerosene was left hanging and NNPC was mandated to continue to sell the product at a subsidised rate of N50 per litre.

Bizzare! Fire Outbreak Roasts Teenager in Lagos

A fire outbreak is on now at 35, Oke Erin Streer, Ekore bus stop, Oworoshonki, Lagos.

The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe  who confirmed the outbreak told Daily Times said, "Yesterday ,(Saturday) January, 11, we responded to an outbreak of fire ,one of them involved a male hostel at Oriwu college, lkorodu. An outbreak of fire is on now at 35, Oke Erin Street, Ekore bus stop, Oworoshoki, Lagos. A teenager was found roasted by fire."

However, Fadipe said fire fighting operation is battling hard to douse the fire.

On Saturday, January 11, Daily Times reported that a fuel tanker fully ladden with 33,000 litres of PMS gutted fire at Ajasa bus-stop, command Ekoro in Lagos.

Man Drowns At Lagos Bar Beach

An adult man in company of friends was on Sunday evening, January 12, drowned at the Lagos bar beach.

The Public Information Officer, National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA), Mr. Farinloye Ibrahim disclosed to Daily Times that, "The man and his friends stayed far from the usual area where fun-seekers converge until one of them raised alarm on the drowning of the man. Immediately, the beach rescuers made frantic efforts at saving the man but they could not rescue him."

Ibrahim said, "This incident has brought the number of those drowned at the bar beach to 5 in 12 days. Four people were drowned on the new year, Wednesday, January 1, and efforts to rescue them proved abortive till two days later when their remains were recovered."

In his words of advise, he said, "It is pertinent that the state government advise people along the coastlines that the climate change effects are fully here; therefore, they need to be safety-conscious as they embark on their various activities in the area."

I’m being attacked because of Jonathan — Kashamu

Prince Kashamu Buruji yesterday explained that the attacks on him by former President Olusegun Obasanjo were because of his unflinching support for President Goodluck Jonathan adding that Obasanjo's letters were spreading his popularity beyond measure.

Buruji who spoke during a media interaction following an Ogun State PDP stakeholders' meeting in his Ijebu Igbo country home vowed not to ever recant his support for Dr. Jonathan.

"Jonathan is a good president, he is loyal to Nigeria, he's a complete gentleman, transparent and a believer in due process. We are ready to go the extra mile in delivering the South West for him," he said.

"You ought to know the strategy of Obasanjo, that Obasanjo wanted to hijack me from Jonathan, that if I don't support Jonathan in South West, the South West would be easier for them. How many times has he called me? How many times Obasanjo has sent people to me that why am I so stubborn?

Many that he had sent, I did not answer them because I am not a betrayer.

"When I love somebody and believe in the leadership of somebody, whatever happens I accept that I will go with the person. I believe in the leadership of Jonathan, I believe in the government of Jonathan and in his transformation agenda
"It's only Jonathan that can open his mouth and say don't support me again. What I'm doing is for the party, for Jonathan and the country. Jonathan is a good president, he is loyal to Nigeria, he's a complete gentleman, transparent and a believer in due process. We are ready to go the extra mile in delivering the South West to him. You know when it comes to mobilizing the people, I'm a grassroots person. I've already opened offices all over the South West.

In Ogun State over two million registered in the last election but only 400,000 voted. In each state, I have registered in my data over 20, 000 supporters. Tell me which grassroots does Obasanjo have? The last election we did, they beat him flat. I have 80 per cent of PDP leaders in Ogun.

PDP Still Needs You, Tukur Tells Obasanjo

The PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on Saturday said former President Olusegun Obasanjo`s fatherly aura and experience in politics were still required by the party.

Tukur said this in reaction to a letter written to him and President Goodluck Jonathan, dated Jan. 7, 2014, by Obasanjo.

Obasanjo had, in the letter, raised some issues related to the PDP in the country's South-West geo-political zone.

The letter had also conveyed Obasanjo's decision to withdraw from participating in the party`s politics at all levels.

'It is an honour that you deemed it fit and proper to intimate me with an issue important to your mind and our party in the south-west zone.

'It is my wish and prayer that such cordial and positive relationship will continue,'' Tukur said.

He stated that Obasanjo's experiences as one of the party`s founding fathers were required in its drive to get stronger and become more formidable.

Tukur said the PDP had more pressing challenges, bordering most importantly on the coming Ekiti and Osun states' governorship elections and the 2015 general elections.

All this, he said, required strong inputs from the former president.
 
The PDP national chairman said continuous dialogue was needed for a stronger partnership among the party's stakeholders.

He maintained that the need for PDP to reclaim lost grounds in the south-west required the full support of party leaders like Obasanjo.

Tukur expressed gratitude to Obasanjo for his manner of approach and for presenting his grievances on issues in the PDP south-west.

''1 thank you for your gesture and I pray that we shall all continue to dialogue and partner, so he can move our party forward.'' he said.
 
Baba also said there was the need for PDP to attain success in the governorship elections coming up in Ekiti and Osun and the subsequent elections in 2015.

This, according to him, was critical to reclaiming lost grounds in the South-West zone of the country.
 
On issues raised by Obasonjo in the letter on the state of PDP in the south-west, Tukur said the crisis within the PDP in the zone preceded his emergence as the party`s national chairman.

He insisted that the party`s National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Working Committee were never part of the problems in the south-west PDP.

"We came in when we were threatened with contempt of court charges for not obeying the court's order to dissolve the south-west zonal executive and remove some officers of the party.

"We complied with the court orders because of our belief in the rule of law and to avoid consequences of disobeying such orders.'' Tukur said.

Rivers crisis: Senator Abe shot, flown to London

The steaming political crisis in Rivers State took a turn for the worse, yesterday, when Senator Magnus Abe was allegedly shot in the chest twice with a rubber bullet at a rally of the Save Rivers Movement, a pro Governor Chibuike Amaechi group at Obio/Akpor Local Council of the state.

There were conflicting accounts, claims and counter-claims over who shot the serving senator, who has been flown to London for better medication after first aid treatment in two hospitals in Nigeria.  While    Governor Amaechi's aides accused the police of shooting Abe, the police distanced themselves from the act, saying that they do not use rubber bullets and did not fire any shot at the event.

Also, there was an allegation that the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, directed the police to disrupt the rally, which the minister denied.

The Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Mr Tony Okocha, who claimed that he was with the Senator when the Police shot him at very close range, said they also fired teargas at them, adding that one of the canisters of the teargas hit him (Chief of Staff) on his leg.

Okocha said he had to escape into somebody's house in the neighbourhood to save his life, adding that the Police kept on firing the teargas to disperse those that were there for the rally.

How we were attacked — Okocha

His words: "This morning was a huge surprise to me. It's the turn of Obio/Akpor Local Government to host the Save Rivers Movement; we had gone to Eleme and also to Asari-Toru. Today (yesterday) is the turn of Obio/Akpor and as law-abiding citizens of Nigeria we wrote to the police, informing them of our programme and there was no negative response. We chose College of Arts and Sciences because it's more expansive, it could accommodate at least 10,000 persons that will come out of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area today (yesterday).

"At about few minutes past 12,  I received a call from somebody; highly placed, informing me that the Commissioner of Police had been reached by the Supervising Minister for Education to dislodge our people today and I couldn't place it. About 4:30am, our men on ground, who were left there to secure the gadgets and facilities, called me to say that the police had taken over the place. For God's sake, we are defenceless free citizens of Nigeria, we don't carry arms. Save Rivers Movement is an organisation that insists that Rivers State must be saved, out to salvage the state from political buccaneers who want to put Rivers State into their pockets. We are in the business of sensitising our people from LGA to LGA. You are aware of a group called GDI, they go through all the LGAs with convoys of police, giving them all kinds of protection, including the commissioner of police, he's always in their convoys, providing security for them and ensuring that what they do in the LGAs are trouble-free.

"When they called me I couldn't place it immediately so I had to go there myself to see things. I was smoked as if I was a rabbit. I ran into someone's house and unfortunately the man has children, they were all suffocating, they were all dying. So we had to improvise, they said we should use coke, some said kerosene would work. We had to use all of that to ensure that the man's children live. That was what I saw; I was quarantined in somebody's house.

"I was wondering whether it is the CP that is the chief security officer of Rivers State or the governor. They said the CP ordered that we should not gather and I said our rights to gather and associate is inalienable, you can't take that away from us.

"As I talk to you, a Senator of the Federal Republic (Senator Abe) is lying critically ill in the hospital. I learnt arrangements are being made to fly him out of the country. We were together, he was even trying to make contacts with the IG when they shot him point blank. Senator Magnus Abe was shot in the chest with this their rubber bullet thing. My own was teargas shells. If they were doing the right thing they wouldn't be shooting teargas and be picking the shells, so they knew they were doing the wrong thing. They brought in seven Armoured Personnel Carriers inside the College of Arts and Sciences. To kill common criminals? Are we criminals? These are defenceless citizens of Rivers state and Nigeria. We have our rights and we are not aware of any court order that has taken these rights away or restricted us from gathering."
Continuing,  Okocha said: "I heard that a young boy in the company of his mother, coming to church, suffocated and died instantly. I also heard that one house at Number 1 Elegbam Road was burnt because of the canister of teargas shot into it. They said it almost burnt down but people came to help put the fire out. A lot of people have been injured, there are people with varying degrees of injuries. Look at Magnus Abe, a senator of the republic, both of us were talking to the police, we were trying to explain to them and somebody was bold enough to shoot  him point blank. Of course, they are working on the orders of the commissioner of police."

Hospitalised Abe can't talk — Aide
Meantime, Media aide to Senator Abe, Mr Honour Sirawoo, told Vanguard that Senator Abe who represents Rivers South East Senatorial district, was first admitted at a hospital in D line area of Port Harcourt but was later transferred to another hospital with better equipment to handle his situation after series of tests.

Sirawoo told newsmen that he was not with the Senator when he was shot but that he rushed to the hospital to see the Senator who was on drip and could not talk.

Senator treated for traumatic shock  – Doctor
Dr  Mackay Anyanwu who administered first aide to Senator Abe at  Krisany Medical services, in  D line where he was  first rushed to,  told newsmen that the Senator was treated for traumatic shock.

He said:  "The patient was brought in a state of  shock, as evidenced by low blood pressure. He was restless and he couldn't communicate or reason coherently. As a first aid, we treated him for traumatic shock because the implication of his state was that there was severe blood trauma and the amount of layers affected could not be detected immediately. This can only be done through  haemorrhoid tests".

….Abe hit by high calibre weapon
"We have administered oxygen treatment on him for resuscitation and primary medication, but we also detected severe internal bleeding and high level haemorrhaging in him. Another bad news is that we also detected that the affected side is showing severe swelling, which led me to the conclusion that he must have been hit by a high calibre weapon and my fears were confirmed when I was told that he was shot with a rubber bullet", he said.

Effort by the Save Rivers Movement to regroup at Rumuigbo Civic Centre for the rally was again aborted by the Police as Policemen came and fired teargas to disperse the gathering.

The   Police later blocked the civic centre part of the ever busy Ikwerre Road to traffic, a situation that caused gridlock on the other sections of the road and the adjourning part of East West Road.

Senator Abe was not shot —Police
However, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, said it was not true that the Police shot at Senator Abe with rubber bullets. According to him, Senator Abe and the Chief of Staff, Mr Okocha "walked peacefully" out of the venue of the proposed rally. While urging the press to give the Police fair hearing on the issue, he challenged media men to try to access Senator Abe to confirm if he was shot.

The Police spokesman confirmed that the Police used teargas to disperse youths who were there, stressing that no bullet was expended during the exercise.  He also said the Police had to disperse the gathering because the organisers did not apply for police approval for the event.

"I want to state categorically that the Police did not fire any shot, no single ammunition was used. We don't shoot rubber bullets. We used minimum force to disperse the gathering at College of Arts and Science, Rumuola. When I say minimum force I mean smoke, teargas.

"Senator Abe along with the Chief of Staff walked peacefully out of that place. I wonder why people now say that he was shot at. I challenge you Journalists, you have a social responsibility to go and see Senator Abe if they will allow you to see him. You know they are very good in telling lies against the Police. I want to remind you that this gathering they planned to do today (yesterday), there was no application for permit to the Police neither was there approval. Based on this reason we had to disperse them.  You will recall that we even provided security for them in Eleme because they applied.

When they gathered at the stadium we provided security for them because they applied and the Commissioner of Police granted approval. You remember Chief Bisi Akande, General Buhari, the governor, etc, all of them were at the programme at the stadium.  Because they did not apply for approval for this programme that was why we dispersed the gathering," he said.

Newsmen gathered that the Police moved into the Arts and Science venue of the rally on Rumoula Road as early as 6am to start dismantling canopies that had been mounted for the event. When they allegedly retreated, the youths came back again to erect the canopies.   Eye witnesses told newsmen that the Police later mobilised to the venue this time heavily armed.  They allegedly fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the gathering.

Some members of the group who spoke to newsmen under condition of anonymity said they had wanted to shift the rally which was originally fixed for 12 noon to about 9am, yesterday, before the Police aborted the exercise.

Chairman of the Save Rivers Movement, Aholu Okechukwu said the Police lied when it said the group did not apply for permit for the rally.  According to him, they wrote to the Police on January 7 over the rally.
Wike's convoy diverted

Meanwhile, at about 10.20 am, the Police mounted barricades on the two portions of the ever-busy Rumoula Road, diverting traffic heading to the two ends of the road to adjourning streets.  At about 10.28 am, the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Wike drove from Aba Road into Rumuola Road in a convoy which included some security vehicles.   He did not alight from the unmarked jeep conveying him. When his convoy got to the Police blockade on the Oroazi end of the Rumoula Road, it made a U-turn back to Aba Road.

I didn't disrupt rally —Wike
Denying allegations that he asked the Police to disrupt the rally, Wike in a telephone chat with Vanguard said it had become the tradition in the state for his opponent to link him with any action of the Police. "So I was the one who told Police to allow them to hold their rally at the stadium. I was also the one who asked the Police to allow them to hold their rally at Eleme. Sometimes you people should not be asking some questions".

Reminded that his convoy was on Rumuola Road at about 10. 28 am yesterday, he said: "' Yes. I was on my way to
Ahoada. I got to the road but the Police blocked it. I had to turn back.  Did you see me come down from my vehicle?  You must have seen that I did not come down from the vehicle."