The National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) has appealed to the Federal Government to remove legal restrictions on abortion to ensure safe services.

Mrs Gloria Shoda, President of NCWS, made call at a one day sensitisation workshop for women on ‘Unsafe Abortion’ organised in collaboration with IPAS as part of activities to mark the 2018 International Women’s Day in Abuja.

Shoda attributed the failure to reduce the high rate of death from unsafe abortion in Nigeria to lack of access to safe abortion.

She said that there have been an increasing number of abortion cases throughout the world.

The president said the situation had been fuelled by social and economy vices, adding that unsafe abortion accounted for over 70,000 deaths annually worldwide, Nigeria inclusive.

Shoda said that where enabling laws are available, deaths and disabilities from abortion are greatly reduced.

She said most times services are expensive and facilities are often poorly equipped in terms of manpower and materials necessary to handle abortion emergencies.

She urged women to embrace the use of contraceptives to reduce the incidences of unwanted pregnancies, which could lead to unsafe abortion.

“We also encourage our young girls to abstain from sex until marriage,” she said.

NAN

A 29-year-old suspected leader of a vicious robbery gang terrorizing Accra, Ghana, identified as Kess Billions, has been declared wanted.

According to the Ghanaian police, Kess led his gang to rob a bureau de change on the 31st of January, 2018, and carted away a huge sum of money.

His gang again attacked a company on the 16th of February, 2018, and left with a huge sum of money. He is believed to be currently hiding in Aflao, Ghana or Nigeria.

Bayelsa State Police have arrested a 31 year old man, identified as Mike for raping a 9-year-old girl.

According to reports the guy who is their neighbor lured the girl simply identified as Ruth to his room with N20 before defiling her.

Her mother traced her to his room with her voice while she was screaming, While the mom was shouting her name, he then tied the little girl’s mouth with a wrapper.

He has since been arrested and is currently in custody at Akenfa Police Station Yenagoa..

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Aisha Buhari during her speech in Abuja on Thursday said she shares the sorrow and agony of parents of the abducted Chibok and Dapchi school girls.

She expressed the concern in Abuja on Thursday while delivering a speech she titled: “Leave Our Daughters Alone”, to mark the 2018 International Women`s Day.

“As a mother, I share (in) the sorrow and agony which the parents are going through up to this moment. I am aware of the efforts being made for the release of the remaining Chibok girls as well as the recently (abducted) Dapchi girls. It is my sincere hope that the efforts will yield positive results” she said.

The wife of the President said that the abductions had further exposed the long-standing evil perpetrated against women in the society. She, therefore, called on relevant stakeholders, especially the media, to stand against the “disturbing issue. It is a disturbing issue for which we must put heads together, pray, speak out, show concern and ensure that the situation come an end.”

She, therefore, called on Nigerians, especially the media to join the campaign against all forms of abduction and maltreatment of the Nigerian woman. Mrs Buhari said it was unfortunate that celebration of the 2018 International women`s day came with pains and agony following the abduction of the Dapchi School girls. She also expressed concern over the use of young girls by insurgents to carry out suicide bombing.

She, however, congratulated Nigerian women for successfully marking the Day and prayed for greater opportunities for the Nigerian woman. The wife of the president also prayed for Nigerian women to have equal opportunities in governance as their male counterparts.

In her remark, the wife of Vice-President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, said the 2018 event came in a very happy and worst situation considering the progress made by Nigerian team at the winter Olympic as well as the abduction of the Dapchi girls. Mrs Osinbajo also called for equal opportunity to the women.

A 41-year-old randy pastor (name withheld) of a new generation church in Ugbolu Community, near Asaba, Delta State, has allegedly put in family way, two sisters after conducting “Fake Deliverance” for them.

It was gathered that in 1998, the said pastor had, in Enugu State, allegedly committed same act when he was said to have slept with a mother and daughter during an all-night service, and was subsequently banished from the town after he was subjected to severe beating by angry church youths.

Sources said the two sisters, undergraduates of the National Open University, Asaba study centre (names withheld) had been regular visitors to the pastor’s church in the Community, and most times, attended his deliverance service before the bubble burst.

According to our informed sources, trouble started in December 2017 when the two sisters sought the pastor’s spiritual help for an undisclosed spiritual attack, a situation he allegedly respond to and hoodwinked them into doing deliverance during night fall, an offer the unsuspecting sisters willingly accepted without hesitation.

It was further gathered that the pastor allegedly “arranged” a room within the church premises where the two sisters, native of Asaba were ordered Unclad, and in the process, were offered water in a big bucket to bath with.

While the purported deliverance process lasted, the pastor, an insider said, suddenly went into uncontrollable act, leaving his manhood blown out of his white garment dress, and in a twinkle of an eye allegedly buried it into one of the victims vagina.

A member of the church Celestine Okoh, told our reporter that the lid of the pastor’s illicit and purported deliverance act was blown open last Sunday, during church service when the two sisters, in what appeared to be mild drama, stormed the church with some hired thugs and in a fit of fury, allegedly dragged the pastor out before they started beating and stoning him in the process.

In the melee, his church was set ablaze by the angry youths who also ensured that those who supported him were disgraced and beaten to stupor.

A 500-level Computer Engineering Student of the University of Benin, identified only as Adam, on Thursday evening, hanged himself inside his room.

According to reports from his close friend, Adam attended classes as usual that very day, returned home, charged his phone, washed his clothes, then went inside his room where he hanged himself within 20 minutes of locking the door.

His lifeless body was only discovered when his sister, who came from Ekenwa campus, forced the door open. The deceased is said to be a sufferer of Bipolar disorder (once known as manic depression or manic-depressive disorder).

The reason behind this action could be as a result of so many things but as we heard, he’s a first-class student, so academic backwardness isn’t really the reason.

It is difficult, if not out-rightly impossible to read the story of his life and not be eminently inspired. This is for the simple reason that each chapter of that life leaves sundry lessons. It is all about the impact, visionary commitment to courses, transparent honesty in dealings with others, as well as diligent pursuit of purpose, human limitations notwithstanding.

In fact, say it that Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun (CON), the man they call the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians, is a lesson to life, and you would be stating the obvious. From the perspective of entrepreneurship, he is a front-liner, visionary leadership, he is there; manager of men and materials, he has a tall reputation; a philanthropist of note the same way he is an outstanding bridge builder.

For example, it was his great entrepreneurial foresight that saw to the birthing of one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, FCMB, at a time of seeming impossibility. An individual seeking and obtaining a banking license was unheard of at the time, but Balogun did not allow popular sentiments to smoulder his tall ambitions.

He envisioned, he prayed, but he also undertook shuttle diplomacy when it mattered, cried when the need arose and equally appealed where it was necessary. The point really, is that he has learnt to give to life, whatever is genuinely necessary to achieving the desired results.

Born on that auspicious 9th day of March in 1934, Otunba Balogun’s citation is like a scroll out of the hall of fame, gripping and intriguing no matter from which perspective it is told. Yet, it would remain incomplete without a reference to a few number of Nigerians who stood in support of this visionary’s mission to accomplish his ambition. In every interview, comment or discussion the Otunba Tunwase, who is also the Asiwaju Onigbagbo of Ijebuland, Dr Michael Olasubomi Balogun will always appreciate such people, eternally remaining grateful, sheer humility, virtue, rarely found in men of such exceptional worth.

At 84 therefore, Otunba Balogun is a portrait of very many treasured virtues. He epitomises principled living, genuine love, detribalisation, and the eloquent apostolic dictum that one good turn deserves another. His bridge-building antecedents are well known, and has lent tremendously to the quest for inter-ethnic cohesion in the country yet, Otunba Balogun’s life-story shows that nothing could be impossible to anyone who believes and that there is light on the lips of a nine-year toddler.

When frustrations came over obtaining needed resources from then existing banks, it had taken a seemingly innocuous rebuke from his nine year old to awaken his faith. The boy had innocently observed whether his father could not establish his own bank, if the one he had worked for denied him what ordinarily, should be his. That was the kick he needed to jumpstart a bank of his own. Today that modest idea has grown to a mighty oak, sheltering hundreds of thousands of people, covering the interests, needs and care for millions of people, offering direct employment and making available to them, resources to multiply their incomes and keep families running.

Ever so grateful to God for what his life has become, Otunba Balogun is humbled by the realisation that he is neither the biggest nor the smartest, yet, swims in a rich measure of divine grace. This is the reason behind his unwavering philanthropic gestures. He cites his ascendency to the stool of Asiwaju of Ijebu as example, affirming that this was given even when his mother was the Iyasuna of Muslims in Ijebu. According to him, “it is God who has been doing this that I was also made the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians So, it is in appreciation of what God has done for me and so I have thrown myself into the service of the people. I am always joyous to do good and to have people around me. And the good Lord has always been faithful to me”.

Having been accepted across philosophical, political and religious divides, he has thus far operated as a bridge builder of sorts, deploying resources as regularly as required. In fact, in the area of development of the town, he has played a sterling role, falling back on his being picked by the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Ijebu land and requested to rally round others to develop his people and the community.

A few years ago, he transferred the Otunba Tunwase Paediatric centre to the University of Ibadan, a project in which he had sunk billions of naira. That handover was on the auspices of his 80th birthday. On the spiritual plane, he is not just satisfied with the tag of Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians but is thrilled by initiatives that advance the course of Christianity. Part of this are the Annual Christmas Carols in December and Prayer sessions and Thanksgiving Services in January in his country home of which he is a convener. Reflecting on the prayer sessions recently, he observed: “The tradition I met when I took over from the first Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians was that annually Christians and even Muslims would kick-start the new year by going to offer prayers in the house of the Awujale and after that they would come to the house of the Asiwaju. The significance is to give an opportunity for the Asiwaju to join everybody in thanking the Almighty God for what He has done for all of us in the year before and asking him to continue to guard and take care of us for the new year. I think that its significance is not just for Christians but for all people. The Yorubas say if you give thanks for the favour done in the past that you will receive more favours”. These sessions have grown in popularity with attendant extensive positive impact.

In fact, his reference to God is so well known around the town that it has become the tradition of local musicians to start playing the tune “Nipa ife Olugbala ki yo si nkankan”, (which means by the love of the Saviour, there shall be no evil) anytime and anywhere he makes his appearance. For the Baba Oba of Ijebu-Ife, it is the good Lord that has been protecting and guarding His people and it is only natural to sing back in appreciation.

“I genuinely worship my God. In every home of mine, I have a chapel and on my birthday, I go there first to thank God for mercy received and to pray for further mercy. The secret of it is that I throw myself into the hands of God trusting that He will do the best for me”, he says. Otunba Balogun may not be so much swayed by the tag of a politician as he appreciates the appellation of philanthropist. He is a living proof that it is in giving that one secures the channel of receiving. And that for Nigeria to remain, there has to be prayers.

“The first thing I will say to Nigerians is to be conscientious in praying and having faith that having prayed, the good Lord will answer our prayers. There is a lot that Nigerians expect from the country but my prayer is that the good Lord will guard everybody including our government, so that everybody will do the right thing. Between friends, family and universally, we should put God first and seek His face and everything else will be right”, he admonishes.

A holder of the 1959 LLB Honours, of the London School of Economics (LSE), he was called to the English Bar in December 1959. He was trained as a Parliamentary Counsel by the Government of Western Region of Nigeria at Whitehall and the British Parliament in London, and started his Civil Service career in February 1961 in the Ministry of Justice, Ibadan. He was later transferred to the Federal Ministry of Justice as the Assistant Parliamentary Counsel of the Federation, where he remained until July 1966. For nine years, between 1966 and 1975, he was the first Principal Counsel and Company Secretary to the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB). During this period, he received extensive training at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), otherwise known as the World Bank, and its private sector affiliate, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) both in Washington DC. He also received extensive training from leading stockbrokers, investment banks and merchant banks in London and New York.

There were other outstanding moves within, but Otunba Balogun was seconded to Icon Limited (Merchant Bankers), as an Executive Director following its establishment. During this time, he represented Icon on the Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and he distinguished himself in the handling of many capital issues on the Exchange. He resigned in December 1977 to set up his own company, City Securities Limited, which became the first institution in Nigeria to combine Issuing House and Stockbroking businesses under one roof. In less than two years of the establishment of City Securities Limited, he was cited as “a most distinguished and leading Baron of the Nigerian Capital Market”.

The Asalu-Oba of Ijebu-Imushin, Otunba Balogun in 1979, single-handedly set-up the first wholly Nigerian owned merchant bank, known as First City Merchant Bank Limited. Under his leadership as Chairman and Chief Executive, First City Merchant Bank Limited (FCMB) in its first twenty years of existence, experienced unprecedented steady and un-interrupted growth, earned national and international recognition as a market leader in investment banking and capital market services.

Otunba Balogun was the first in Nigeria as at 1987 to endow a Professorial Chair in a University, this at the University of Ibadan. He has equally donated to several altruistic causes in a number of institutions such as the Olabisi Onabanjo University (formerly Ogun State University), Yaba College of Technology, African Leadership Forum, etc.
Otunba Balogun took over, reconstructed, refurbished and perpetually endowed the maintenance of The Children’s Emergency Unit in the University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan which has now been named after him, the “OTUNBA TUNWASE CHILDREN’S EMERGENCY UNIT”. He has donated to the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital a newly built and fully equipped air-conditioned 40-bed Children’s Centre, made provision for the perpetual maintenance of the Children’s Centre, and actively provided financial assistance to various local institutions, individuals and other charitable organisations.

To date, he has awarded over 300 scholarships to many Nigerians at secondary and tertiary levels; established an umbrella organization known as “Otunba Tunwase Foundation” to cater for all his philanthropic endeavours and services to the community. Under this Foundation, and on his 60th birthday, he commenced the construction of a special gift to the nation – the “OTUNBA TUNWASE NATIONAL PAEDIATRIC CENTRE.” Otunba is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management, a holder of the Degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) University of Ibadan and a Merit Award holder of several organisations. In terms of traditional titles, he is the Baba Oba of Ijebu Ife and the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians amongst others.

In November 2000, he was conferred with the National Honour of “Commander of the Order of the Niger” by the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Otunba Balogun as an author, a prolific writer and a distinguished opinion leader was also at one time a member of the National Presidential Advisory Committee on the Recovery of the Nigerian economy.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, the Nigerian Institute of Management, and the Chartered Institute of Bankers, a Former Deputy President now Life Vice President of the Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce, Council Member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chairman, Primrose Investments Limited; Chairman, Bluechip Holdings Limited; Chairman, Swiftdrill (Nigeria) Limited, Chairman, Primrose Properties Investments Limited and Director of a number of other companies.