News Updates

• Tributes, tears as Jonathan, others bid Yakowa farewell

• Fire causes pandemonium at Lagos airport

• EFCC declares ex-Gov Audu wanted over N4bn scam
  

• French national kidnapped in northern Nigeria

• Miss USA crowned Miss Universe in eighth American win

  
  
  
  

Tributes, tears as Jonathan, others bid Yakowa farewell

At exactly 4.06pm on Thursday, the remains of the late Governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, were committed to mother earth at his country home in  Fadan Kagomain Jema’a Local Government Area of the state.

Among those present  to  bid him farewell were  President Goodluck Jonathan; Senate President David Mark;  Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Aminu Tambuwal; the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bamanga Tukur;  Catholic Bishop of Sokoto ,    Rev. Fr. Matthew Kukah, and Cardinal John Onaiyekan.

At  Saint Paul Catholic Church where the burial mass was held, his chidren and hundreds of kinsmen and women   wept uncontrollably.

Yakowa  died in a helicopter crash in  Bayelsa State last Saturday. Ex-National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi, and four others were also killed in the accident.

Fire causes pandemonium at Lagos airport

Confusion hit  hundreds of intending  passengers at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on Thursday after a mid-day fire erupted at a section of the building.

The inferno, which caused a thick cloud of smoke to invade the terminal building, forced air travellers and airport officials to scamper to safety around the 33-year-old airport.

Investigation revealed that the fire started from a piece of electric equipment at a section of the airport under reconstruction.

When our correspondent visited the scene,   pallets of foam worth millions of Naira were seen to have been consumed by the fire.

It was learnt that the fire would have burnt a major part of the main terminal building if not for the prompt response of firefighters.

EFCC declares ex-Gov Audu wanted over N4bn scam

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday declared  former Kogi State Governor Abubakar Audu wanted over alleged N4bn scam

The commission implored anyone with information about the ex-governor’s whereabouts to notify its offices in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kano and Enugu or report to the nearest police station.

A statement by the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said the action followed Audu’s failure to report for interrogation by the anti-graft agency.

He said, “Attempts by the EFCC to arrest Audu at his 32, Sulaiman Barau Street, Asokoro, Abuja residence on December 11, 2012 failed as he allegedly evaded arrest. The former governor is alleged to have fraudulently enriched himself to the tune of over N4bn while he held sway as governor of Kogi State between 1999 and 2003.

“The move to arrest the ex-governor followed a Supreme Court ruling of November 23, 2012, which dismissed his appeal to continue to protract his corruption trial by EFCC.”

French national kidnapped in northern Nigeria

(Reuters) - A French energy worker has been kidnapped in northern Nigeria after 30 gunmen attacked a residence and killed a policeman and a security guard protecting the foreign employee, officials said on Thursday.

No group claimed credit for the abduction but Islamist groups linked to Boko Haram, which has killed hundreds in an insurgency this year, have been behind similar kidnappings in the past and have become the biggest security threat to Africa's largest oil exporter.

Local Nigerian police spokesman Aminu Sadiq Abubakar said the attack had taken place on Wednesday in the town of Rimi about 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Katsina, very close to the border with Niger. A police station nearby had also been bombed and some inmates freed from detention, Abubakar said.

The kidnapped worker was employed by French renewable energy firm Vergnet (ALVER.PA), officials said. A Paris-based Vergnet executive confirmed the kidnapping.

Vergnet is a French firm specialising in wind power turbines, with 700 globally. The company is currently building Nigeria's first wind farm based in Katsina state.

The French Foreign Ministry said it could not immediately confirm the kidnapping but was making checks.

Two Frenchmen were killed last year in a failed rescue attempt after being snatched by al Qaeda linked groups from a bar in Niger's capital Niamey and seven people were abducted in the northern city of Arlit a year earlier, including five French nationals. Four of those are still being held.

Miss USA crowned Miss Universe in eighth American win

(Reuters) - A 20-year-old beauty queen who plays the cello and is a breast cancer advocate was crowned Miss Universe on Wednesday, the eighth time an American has won the pageant where the world's most beautiful women parade in bikinis and ball gowns.

Olivia Culpo, 20, a brunette from Rhode Island, was chosen by a 10-judge panel from 89 contestants representing countries ranging from India to Kosovo and Britain.

Culpo, wearing a red, long-sleeved dress for her final look, was the eighth winner from the United States in the contest's 60-year history, and the first Miss USA to take the title since 1997.

Miss Philippines, 23-year-old Janine Tugonon, was the runner-up and Miss Venezuela, Irene Sofia Esser Quintero, came third after the top five answered brief questions posed by the judges.

Culpo takes the place of last year's winner Leila Lopes, who was the first ever Miss Universe from Angola.