Aisha Buhari promise to support female medical workers

Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to support the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria in their efforts aimed at enhancing the health and well being of Nigerians.

According to a statement on Saturday by her Director (Media), Zakari Yau Nadabo, the President’s wife spoke when the members of the association’s Executive visited her at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

She noted that members of association were very critical to the desire to ensure good health and well being of every Nigerian because of their diverse backgrounds in the medical profession

The President’s wife noted with interest the activities of the association in humanitarian services and said her Future Assured Programme was open for collaboration with the medical women to address the challenges confronting women and children .

In her remark, the National President of the Association, Dr. Echendu Adinma, was said to have solicited for partnership with the Future Assured initiative in addressing various health challenges of Nigerians in difficult and crisis areas among others .

She also decorated Mrs. Buhari as the association’s Grand Matron.

She appealed for support to ensure the emergence of one of their members contesting the post of President of International Medical Women Association coming this month in Vienna Austria.

Mastermind of deceptive to overthrow Buhari arrested

The Department of State Services has arrested one Jones Abari, aka Gen. Akotebe Darikoro, for the alleged mastermind of a hoaxed plan to overthrow President Muhammad Buhari by the military.

A statement issued by an official of the service, Mr Tony Opuiyo, in Abuja on Saturday said Abari was arrested in Yenagoa on July 21.

Opuiyo described the suspect as the leader of the Joint Revolutionary Council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force.

He said that Abari had confessed to other criminal activities which included a threat to launch missile attacks on selected targets in Abuja and Aso Rock.

Others include writing threat messages to the management of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company and the Shell Petroleum Development Company demanding for N500m and N250m respectively.

He said that the suspect also masterminded the vandalism of NAOC trunk line in Ogboinbiri, Southern Ijaw and bombing of SPDC oil pipeline.

In another development, the DSS said it had arrested a suspected terrorist, Bulama Ramat, at the Jabi Motor Park, FCT, on July 21.

He said that prior to his arrest, Ramat was planning to attack the Federal Capital Territory and its environs in collaboration with other elements of an extremist cell of the Boko Haram group.

Opuiyo said that the service also made other arrests within the month of July in Enugu, Ondo, Jos, Kaduna, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt and Kano states.

The service urged all citizens and residents to remain vigilant and report all suspicious persons, parcels or vehicles to the nearest security formation.

“Members of the public are further called upon to see our societal and individual safety as our collective responsibility,” he said.

He advised the public to support security and law enforcement agencies with critical information that would assist in providing a safe environment for all to carry out their legitimate businesses.

Munich shooting: Buhari offer to help Germany fight terrorism

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday expressed shock and horror at the shootings which recently rocked Munich, Germany.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President sent his condolences on behalf of the Federal Government to the families and friends of the victims.

He assured the German government that his government is ready to assist in anyway possible to defeat planners and executors of such crimes.

The statement read, “On behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Buhari sends his most sincere condolences to the families and friends of victims of the barbaric act.

“The President says it is quite unfortunate and inconceivable that the forces of evil do not relent on their activities, but expresses confidence that with the unanimity of purpose from all forces around the world, the workers and perpetrators of these evil acts will not prevail.

“The President also assures the people of Germany that Nigerians as a people are standing with them at this time and are ready to assist in any way to defeat the planners and executors of such crimes.”

Train crushes lafarge truck,injures two in ogun

A cargo train on Friday crushed a truck belonging to Lafarge Cement and a Toyota Camry.

The accident occurred at a railway crossing at Kila, a border town between Ogun and Oyo States.

The train was said to have ran into the two vehicles at the level- crossing line, causing damage to them and injuring the occupants.

The Lafarge truck with number plate BDG 287 XE was loaded with cement.  Sources said the truck was travelling out of Abeokuta while the Toyota Camry with number plate RSH306KM was on his way to Abekuta.

The drivers of the truck and the Toyota Camry sustained minor injuries. They were said to be recuperating in a hospital in Ibadan.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, Babatunde Akinbiyi, said that the incident was caused by the driver of the train, who failed to hoot while approaching the level-crossing line at Kila.

He said, “We got information that the accident was caused by the driver of the cargo train who failed to give the usual warning signal by hooting while approaching a railway level-crossing line.

“Both the driver of the Lafarge truck and the Toyota Camry were injured and they were said to have taken to an unnamed hospital in Ibadan.”

Akinbiyi said the accident led to a gridlock in this axis.

Killers of Abuja preacher won’t go unpunished – Buhari

The federal government vowed that the killers of the Ekiti-State-born preacher with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Evangelist, Eunice Elisha Olawale, in Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory will not go unpunished.

President Muhamadu Buhari, represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, made the promise during the burial service held in RCCG FCT 2 Provincial Headquarters in Kubwa.

The 42-year-old mother of seven was murdered while preaching in the Gbazango -West area of Kubwa, a satellite town, in the Bwari Area Council on Saturday, July 9 2016.

Meanwhile, tears flowed on Saturday at the Gudu Cemetery in the FCT, where the deceased was buried.

While paying their last respect to their mother, the children of the deceased performed the ‘ash to ash’ ceremony at the cemetery and wept uncontrollably.

Some sympathisers who could not hold back themselves joined them to mourn the deceased who was described as a martyr.

Lawal said, “As a government, we want to inform you that all the perpetrators of this act will not go free and will be brought to book. All Nigerians should be safe and free to practice their religion anywhere. Government’s resolve is to fish out the perpetrators. We pray to God not only to forgive them, but pray that the perpetrators seek for repentance. On behalf of the President and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, may God console you.

BREAKING: Buhari confirms talks with Niger Delta militants

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday confirmed that his administration is currently engaging Niger Delta militants in talks in order to end the spate of violence being experienced in the region.

He said the talks are being done through oil companies and law-enforcement agencies and are meant a to find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke while granting farewell audience to the outgoing Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria, Mr. Michael Zinner, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari also told his guest that the Federal Government is studying the instruments of the Amnesty Programme inherited from the previous administration with a view to carrying out commitments made that were undelivered.

“We understand their feelings. We are studying the instruments. We have to secure the environment, otherwise investment will not come. We will do our best for the country,” the President was quoted as saying.

Buhari thanked the German government for its continuing support to Nigeria in the efforts to tackle insecurity and the ongoing rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced citizens in crisis areas in the North-Eastern parts of the country.

He also thanked Nigeria’s neighbours for their firm and unflinching support in the war against terror.

The outgoing German Ambassador noted that bilateral relations between Nigeria and Germany “had improved very much in the last 12 months of this administration.”

He expressed the readiness of Germany to assist Nigeria in the rehabilitation process in the North East to help displaced persons return to their villages. He also expressed the eagerness of German businesses to invest in the country, now that “conditions for investment have been put in place”.

The German Ambassador reiterated the standing invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel to Buhari to visit Germany.

The politics of university admission in Nigeria

When I applied for admission to the university in the 1960s, I knew nobody. There was no godfather or godmother. Neither my parents nor my older siblings could assist me, because they were all stark illiterates. As the first person in the entire Akinnaso lineage to ever go to school, I was virtually on my own. Without any guidance whatsoever, I applied for direct entry admission to the University of Ibadan and the University of Ife, after passing the required General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) papers at the end of my first year of the Higher School Certificate class. I was admitted by both institutions, each one acting independently and without recourse to a superior authority. Ife, then, was a regional university, while Ibadan was federal. I chose to go to Ife to read English. The rest is history.

I told my admission story to a senior female civil servant, who approached me last year for assistance in getting her daughter admitted to study law at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko. She listened attentively to my story and replied: “That was then, sir. The country has changed. You have to know somebody who knows somebody in order to get things done.” I’m sure she did not like my next statement: “It’s people like you, who beg around, that caused the country to change”. She was not done: “No sir, it’s the system”.

There really is plenty of blame to go round, just as there are many sharers of the blame, including the students and their parents; the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board; the universities; the Federal Government; and the society at large. But my focus today is the government, which is now like that wild elephant, reported in the media recently, which killed an admirer who wanted to take a selfie with it.

The Federal Government has been known to be the enemy of quality tertiary education in this country.  It has earned that status by (1) over-centralising the institutions, procedures and regulations governing the activities of the universities and then starving them of the resources needed to carry out those activities. Even where some resources are available, such as the tertiary education funds, the procedures for accessing them are again over-centralised.

In a distinguished lecture, titled ‘Education sector in crisis’, given by Professor Ladipo Adamolekun at the Joseph Ayo Babaloa University in 2012, over-centralisation was one of the three major causes of the crisis in the education sector, the other two being implementation failure – due largely to inadequate funding – and the de-emphasis of the value of education, including quality decline in the teaching profession.

Adamolekun gave five examples of over-centralisation, namely, the Universal Basic Education programme; the establishment and operations of the unity secondary schools; the centralisation of the labour unions; the establishment of the National Universities Commission with its centralising functions; and the allocation of the lion’s share of the nation’s resources to the Federal Government.

Adamolekun rightly traced these developments to over 30 years of military dictatorship, which began its stranglehold on the nation’s universities by federalising erstwhile regional universities. Today, however, perhaps the most controversial centralising agency is the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, empowered to conduct the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations and oversee university admission.  Enough controversy was generated recently between the Director of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to send significant ripples through the university system.

There are three knotty issues. First, who or which institution should admit students to the university? It normally should be the Senate of the university, which often delegates the authority of processing the necessary papers to the admissions office located within the Academic Affairs Unit in the Vice-Chancellor’s office. That was the case when I was admitted to the university.

Today, however, JAMB has taken over this function, while the admission offices of the various public universities are being used as clearing houses. After weeks of controversy as to how this function should be performed, Ojerinde issued this clarification recently: “The public and all tertiary institutions should note that admission will only be approved by the board after appropriate screening of the candidates by the institutions”.

Yet, the Education minister still believes that this does not “in any way affect the statutory role of the Senate of any university or the academic boards of any tertiary institution conducting its admissions.” It would appear that what the minister understands as the role of the Senate is reduced to shortlisting. According to him, the universities will shortlist the candidates, using the agreed guidelines and return the shortlisted candidates to JAMB for verification of compliance to the guidelines.  JAMB will subsequently issue admission letters to the shortlisted candidates.

The said guidelines appear to be the minister’s main target and it is the second knotty issue. According to him, the admission exercise rests on the tripod of merit, catchment area and educationally disadvantaged states. The last two criteria are intended to trump merit so that low-scoring students from particular localities or states could be admitted. This is not only an affront to the Senate’s ability to control standards in its admission; it also questions the business of the Federal Government in the admission of students to state universities. What should my state government care about admitting low-scoring students from another state because that state is educationally disadvantaged? How is educational disadvantage measured and who measures it? Wasn’t this kind of admission policy the killer of the unity secondary schools, where standards plummeted because many under-performing students were admitted?

The third and final knotty issue is university autonomy. The Federal Government and two of its agencies, namely, JAMB and the National Universities Commission, have killed whatever is left of university autonomy. The truth is that it is JAMB which admits students, while the NUC regulates everything else from the accreditation of courses to curriculum guidelines and the classification of degrees. The Federal Government completes the process by appointing Council members and ratifying the appointment of Vice-Chancellors. Little wonder many a Vice-Chancellor spends substantial time in Abuja these days.

To the extent that Nigerian universities are run like extensions of the ministry of education, to that extent will they continue to rot away like that ministry where there is neither institutional memory nor policy consistency. True, this problem is not peculiar to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Nevertheless, there are genuine concerns that his administration has yet to have a grasp on education.

This university admission is the administration’s second major foray into education. The first, the school feeding programme, has yet to take off. With the lacklustre handling of this year’s admission procedure so far, it is unclear what the future of education holds in the administration. Certainly, the present Minister of Education has yet to begin the bend in his learning curve.

Drunken man stabs sleeping uncle to death

 A launderer, Monday Eze, has stabbed his 55-year-old uncle, Ebere Akpu, to death in the Orile Agege area of Lagos State.

It was gathered that Eze and Akpu had an argument over a minor issue on Sunday around 11pm.

After the disagreement, the suspect was said to have gone to a pub, where he became drunk.

While Akpu slept, the suspect allegedly stabbed him in different parts of his body.

Our correspondent gathered that Akpu died on Omotoye Estate where policemen from the Elere division recovered his corpse around 1am on Monday.

It was learnt that Akpu and Eze, who were married with children, hailed from Ebonyi State.

While the suspect had lived for more than 15 years in Lagos, the uncle, Eze, had lived for a few years.

Both men were said to be putting up with another relative, identified as James, who had a laundry on Omotoye Estate where the incident happened.

In a visit to the estate on Monday, saw bloodstains on the road and in James’ laundry.

A trader, who did not give his name, said Eze was in the habit of making trouble when drunk.

She said, “I have known him for more than 15 years now. He makes trouble with everybody, especially when he is drunk. He would sometime strip and start misbehaving.

“When Ebere (Akpu) newly arrived from the village, I particularly advised him against arguing with Eze. I never knew Eze would kill him.”

A family member, who did not give his name, said Eze and the deceased had had a disagreement on Sunday.

Although he did not reveal the cause of the disagreement, he explained that the suspect felt slighted and decided to revenge.

He said, “Ebere sold bags; he didn’t have anything to do with the laundry where this incident happened, except that he kept his wares there. But Monday (Eze) lived there.

“Ebere was there to pass the night and he had washed the shirt and jean trousers he intended to wear on Monday for his business.

“They had a minor disagreement, which led to an argument. Ebere thought that was the end, but Monday stabbed him while he was asleep.”

The suspect was said to have fled as the victim staggered out, seeking help.

He was reportedly taken in a tricycle to a private hospital in the area by a resident.

However, when he was rejected due to the severity of the injuries, he was dumped on the road.

A resident, who did not want to be identified, said he saw Eze in a pool of blood on the road.

“I fled at the sight of the body on the road. I later called a security man to join me to identify and probably rescue him. When we got there, he was dead. The security guard identified him as one of the launderer’s family members,” he added.

Policemen from the Elere division were said to have removed the corpse and took it to their station.

It was learnt that the suspect later submitted himself to the police.

A relative told everyone

 that the police put the corpse in front of the suspect at the station.

“He was in handcuffs. He looked round and saw a lot of family members and burst into tears. He said he never knew Ebere was dead. But we have decided that the matter is now between him and the government,” he said.

Another family member said the suspect was the third in the family to be held for murder.

“There is a curse on the family; it is not ordinary,” he added.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the case had been transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.

She said, “Around 11pm, one Ebere Akpu was assaulted by one Monday Eze with a machete. The victim died on the way to a hospital.

“His corpse has been deposited at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, Lagos for autopsy. The suspect has been arrested and the case transferred to the SDCI.”

Welder beheads farmer in kwara

A welder, Mr. Segun Bamidele, has been arrested for allegedly beheading a farmer, Mr. Sunday Owolabi.

Our correspondent gathered on Monday that Owolabi was found dead on his farm at Rore village in the Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.

It was learnt that after Bamidele beheaded Owolabi, he attempted to sell the severed head of the victim.

A source said Owolabi went to farm on Saturday, but did not return. He added that Owolabi’s relatives got worried and later organised a search party.

According to him, the search party found Owolabi’s headless body on Sunday on the farm.

“The suspect tried to sell the severed head to one Aliyu, who turned him down. Aliyu thereafter reported the case to a community leader, who in turn informed the village head.

 “Upon interrogation by the community, Bamidele confessed to have acted under influence of alcohol.”

It was gathered that the case was later reported at the Omu-Aran Police Division, which led to the arrest of the suspect.”

The Kwara State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident. He added that the suspect had been arrested and was being interrogated.

Watch out for this suspected ATM fraudster, EFCC warns Nigerians

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has raised the alarm about the activities of identity thieves and automated teller machine fraudsters in the country.

It has also urged Nigerians to be more careful when carrying out transactions via ATMs and to avoid disclosing their Personal Identification Numbers to others.

In a post on its Facebook page, the anti-graft agency drew attention to the activity of one suspected ATM fraudster, who goes by the name Akinade Tofunmi.

The EFCC, which has released images of the suspect, is seeking the cooperation and support of Nigerians to capture her and prevent her from defrauding more people.

The suspected scammer, who is being trailed by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the EFCC, is into identity theft and lurks around the ATMs and Point of Sale machines.

According to the EFFC, Tofunmi, operates late in the night when all bank transactions had closed and preferably over the weekend when her prospective victims may not be able to alert the banks for any unauthorised transaction.

“In her last operation, within twenty four hours; this fraudster who operates with the identity of her victims succeeded to have raked in about three million (N3m) within 24 hours,” the anti-graft agency revealed.

One of the methods employed by the suspected fraudster is to approach people having difficulty using the ATM politely and in a cultured manner and offering to help them, only to dupe them in the end.

For instance, on Friday, June 3, 2016, the EFCC said she had helped a woman known as Alhaja to withdraw money at an ATM in Ibadan. But instead of returning the ATM card to the woman afterwards, she swapped the card with another in her possession.

Equipped with the card and the pin as well as with the knowledge that N3m was in the account she made several ATM withdrawals and carried out PoS transactions.

The EFCC added, “Having exceeded the daily withdrawing limit for that day, she waited for a few minutes to the following day which was a Saturday.

“Shortly after midnight, she made another rounds of withdrawals to the tune of one hundred and fifty thousand naira which was also the daily limit for that day.

“However, Alhaja and her husband had no one to run or call that night to save the situation when the debit alerts start coming in torrent.”

Not satisfied with what she had stolen, the fraudster started transferring funds out of the account to another one.

“In a desperate need of where and how to empty the balance in the account, she went to a night club where she met a motorcycle transporter, popularly known as Okada whom she approached for a help. Her decoy was that she had enough money in her account but could not access it having exceeded her daily withdrawal limit,” the EFCC said.

“She showed the bike man her balance and pleaded with him to give her his ATM card, account details and PIN for a quick teller transfer from her (Alhaja’s) account to the bike man’s account. With that, she has been able to secure some of Alhaja’s money in the bike man’s account thereby stealing the identity of the unsuspecting bike man.”

She continued her scam when she got the motorcyclist to take her to a hotel.

“At the hotel reception while paying for her accommodation which was N10, 000 for one night, she deliberated credited the hotel’s account with N101, 000 feigning a mistake and demanded a refund of ninety-one thousand naira (N91, 000) balance of an overpayment. This was also done with Alhaja’s ATM card through the POS machine at the Hotel.

“To further conceal her identity, she provided fake personal details in the hotel and gave the hotel the bike man’s account detail when the hotel management requested for an account to deposit the refund.
All these happened on Saturday; hence, Alhaja and her husband are still in dilemma with no help in sight to stop the transactions in the account.

“By Sunday, Alhaja’s money had moved to the fraudster both in cash and through transfer to the bike man account domicile in the same bank. All these while, the fraudster was in possession of both Alhaja the first victim and the bike man, the second victim’s ATM cards.”

The bike man was arrested on Monday June 5, when he could no longer reach the fraudster on phone and went to the bank to request for another ATM card.”

The EFCC said the suspect has defrauded others and has been spotted in other parts of the country.

Stop building in forest reserves, Ogun state government warns residents

The Ogun State Government has cautioned farmers and other people residing in its forest reserves to desist from erecting any permanent structure in them, in compliance with the state’s forestry law.

The State Commissioner for Forestry, Chief Kolawole Lawal gave the warning while addressing Baales and representatives of farmers residing within the forest reserves in Abeokuta.

Lawal said the government was aware it had legitimately allocated parcels of land to farmers for agro-forestry purposes in the reserves but was averse to the erection of permanent structures that could be inimical to forestry activities.

The Commissioner said that any enclave, not authorized by the government, would be demolished.

He said, “Ogun state government will not tolerate erection of permanent structures in the state forest reserves as it is against the law of forestry in the state, any permanent structure found in the reserves will be destroyed’’.

Don't patronise street traders, police commissioner tell lagosians

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Fatai Owoseni, has warned Lagosians against patronising street traders.

According to Owoseni, there have been instances where criminals hide among street traders to steal from unsuspecting citizens.

The commissioner, who spoke with journalists after a meeting between Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and security chiefs on Monday, explained that the decision to enforce the ban on street trading was partly to check the activities of such criminals.

He said, “The law has been there even before the present executive governor came into power, so what we are doing as responsible government and responsible security and law enforcement institutions is to further engage like the Governor did last time on television on the evils of street trading.

“It is not just about stopping the street trading; it also has the security elements. The fellows that are on the roads under the guise that they are selling, some of them are also criminals.

“There are criminals hiding within them to commit some havoc and for people that are also patronising them like the Governor has said, everybody is just thinking this is a new law but it is not. We know the mood of the society and we want to balance our enforcement and that is why we are doing a lot of public enlightenment.”

He added that some of the street traders also sell products that were harmful to people.

“Some of these guys also carry weapons under their shirt that they can use to harm people including those beggars,” he said.

“So, these things put together, it is going to be a win-win situation if our people avoid patronising street hawkers and the hawkers can also form a formidable front and meet the government and ask for the creation of corner shops for them.

“They are on the roads and vehicles can also hit them, so there are lots of dangers involved and that is why we are engaging the people via enlightenment on the dangers involved.”

Michelle Obama: Trump defends wife against plagiarism

Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, appeared to take liberal inspiration from a 2008 speech by first lady Michelle Obama for her own address to the US Republican convention.

The move drew fire from critics as the campaign of her husband, the presumptive US Republican Party presidential nominee, came to her defence early on Tuesday.

The US media caught on after it became apparent the speech by Melania Trump shared key phrases with a speech by Obama at the 2008 Democratic Party national convention.

It was when current President Barack Obama was officially nominated as the party’s candidate.

Trump’s speech included the line: “from a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life.

“That your work is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise.

“That you treat people with respect,” Melania said in her speech.

Political blog Talking Points Memo pointed out that this was very close to a part of Obama’s speech eight years earlier.

“And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do.

“That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.”

The Trump campaign was quick to defend Melania Trump.

“In writing her beautiful speech, Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking.

“Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success,” read a statement by communications advisor Jason Miller on the campaign website.

Police inspector rapes 15-year-old in A'Ibom

A police inspector attached to Mkpat Enin Police Division in Akwa Ibom State has allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint.

The victim, a senior secondary pupil of Community Secondary School in the area, on Tuesday said she was returning from church on Thursday, last week, when a police team accosted her.

She explained that the inspector pointed his gun at her, saying if she tried to stop him from touching her he would shoot her.

She said the inspector then led her away from other members of the team to a dark portion of the road.

The policeman then forcefully caressed her breasts, saying “small you possess these types of breasts”, she said.

She added, “After he had forced me to remove my clothes, he ordered me to lie down and open my legs. And what I noticed was that he brought out his penis and inserted it into my vagina.

“As he was romping over me, he forbade me crying as he threatened to shoot me if I should open my mouth.

“But when I could not bear the pains any longer as blood was running out of my private part, he quickly took me into the vehicle and drove to the station, where he detained me from Thursday till Saturday.

“It was my uncle, Dr. Ime Stephen that came from Abuja and bailed me out with N10,000,” she said.

Asked of her mother, she told our correspondent that she did not know her mom, who left her dad when she was a toddler.

Her dad on the other hand became paralysed after he fell from a palm tree, and ended up living with her in her uncle’s house.

Her uncle, Stephen, who said the inspector in question was a prosecutor, explained that he could not believe his eyes when the girl pointed at the policeman as the one who raped her from among those who were on duty on that day.

He said, “The inspector for pointing a gun he was given on trust at a girl of 15 before raping her, lacks the characters of police officers who are meant to protect lives and property of Nigerians.

“He is a fraud by also taking the girl into the police custody for three days and collected N10,000 as bail sum from the girl’s guardian.

“We call for his dismissal from the force so that he can be prosecuted accordingly.”

More than a hundred girls pose naked against Trump in US

More than a hundred women stripped and posed naked with mirrors in Cleveland, answering a photographer’s call to blend art with politics and portray Donald Trump as unfit for the White House.

They gathered on the eve of the Republican National Convention, where the brash New York billionaire will be anointed the party’s nominee for president after winning a raucous primary race despite alarm from the party establishment and the country at large about his divisiveness.

“He is a loser,” photographer Spencer Tunick told AFP after the sunrise shoot in which 130 women took part. One hundred of them will be featured in the picture to be unveiled shortly before the November 8 election.

The installation took place on private property in sight of the arena where the convention kicks off on Monday, the focus of multiple groups of protesters expected to take to the streets this week.

The owner gave permission, said Tunick, and so while public nudity in Cleveland is illegal, it was not possible for police to intervene.

Entitled “Everything She Says Means Everything,” the photo art featured women of all shapes, colors and sizes participated, holding up mirrors toward the arena.

Tunick’s website said the mirrors reflected “the knowledge and wisdom of progressive women and the concept of ‘Mother Nature’… onto the convention center, cityscape and horizon of Cleveland.”

The artist is well known for his sometimes startling images of nude people. But Tunick told AFP he thought it was his most political shoot ever, saying he felt compelled to take action.

Just voting against Trump at the ballot box in November was not enough.

“I have two daughters and a wife,” he said. “I can’t believe the language and rhetoric of hate against women and minorities coming from the Republican Party.”

He said he had to do something to counter “this idiotic thinking.”

MaPo Kinnord, 55, an art professor and artist, said she took part because she loved Tunick’s work and happened to be visiting her niece in the city where she grew up.

Currently living in New Orleans, she said the installation opposed Republicans who were making Americans afraid, by telling them they should fear Muslims and immigrants.

“To be totally naked and out in the open and to be fearless is what we need to be,” Kinnord explained.

Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States and a wall to be built on the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants.

Kinnord said she would “never” vote for Trump and expressed hope that Britain’s recent referendum voting to leave the European Union had been a wake-up call against complacency in the US election.

While she voted for self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the primaries, she said she was happy to back presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Morning Robinson, 18, took part with her mother, saying she wanted “to do something a little different” before going off to college that would enable her to express herself freely.

“I was really nervous at first,” but it felt good being out in the open and not afraid of her body, she said.

“Republicans have this view of how women should be in society and I just don’t agree,” she said. “I don’t know exactly, I just know their views don’t match mine.”

Size-wise, the artwork was a far cry from Tunick’s most recent work.

In Colombia last month, he convinced more than 6,000 women to bare all in Bogota as the war-torn country neared a peace deal with the leftist rebels of FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.