Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday at the Harvard University, accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of not being interested in the defeat of violent Islamist group, Boko Haram, during his time in government.

Osinbajo who was delivering a lecture titled, “The unraveling of Boko Haram and the rebuilding of the North-East of Nigeria” said it was convenient for the last administration to claim that Boko Haram was sponsored by northern elite to rubbish the administration led by Jonathan, a Christian, the Punch newspapers reports.

In the statement which was released by his media office, Osinbajo said the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party claimed All Progressive Congress (APC) was the political wing of the Boko Haram sect. According to him, this continued until President Muhammadu Buhari was nearly killed in an attack in Kaduna before the narrative began to subside.

He said, “As the government dithered and equivocated, BH proceeded to realise the objective of occupying territory and establishing Islamist states in Nigeria and in the Lake Chad basin.

“In Borno State alone, it occupied and hoisted its flag in 20 of the 27 Local Government Areas that constituted the state. In Adamawa State, BH took Mubi and some villages in Yobe State.”

Osinbajo said what exposed the government’s inept handling of the Boko Haram insurgency to the world was the kidnap of over 200 Chibok school girls by the sect.

He noted that since Buhari took over office, the government has approached the insurgency in the North East with renewed vigor, adding that the strongest reasons for Buhari’s victory in the March 2015 presidential election was the expectation that going by his reputation as a no-nonsense soldier, he would defeat Boko Haram and restore peace to the North-East.

According to him, Buhari was largely elected into office because people believed that he would bring to play his no-nonsense attitude toward dealing with the insurgency.

The police in Lagos State have arrested two suspects, Umaru Babangida and John Samuel, in connection with the stealing of two exotic sports bicycles worth about N3m.

The bicycles belong to a resident of Babatunde Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, identified as Osarenkhme Afe.

It was gathered that the stolen items – a Scott X10 hybrid bicycle and a giant defy advanced carbon fibre road bicycle – were valued at N1.1M and N1.9m respectively.

Twenty-year-old Babangida, was said to have bought the Scott X10 hybrid bicycle from Samuel and other suspects at large for N10,000.

They were apprehended on October 22, after the case was reported to the police at the Maroko Police Division.

Punch Metro gathered that Afe had come back from morning jogging on September 14, when he discovered that the bicycles had been stolen.

It was learnt that the thieves had crept into the building when a security guard manning it had slept off, stealing the guard’s phone and the bicycles.

One of the suspects, Babangida, told the police that he was initially suspicious that the bicycle was stolen, but decided to buy it after assurances that there was no problem.

He said, “I bought the bicycle from a man that was brought to me by John (Samuel). I bought it for N10,000 but he didn’t give me a receipt. The man said it belonged to him and that I should not worry.”

Samuel denied the knowledge of the theft, saying he only facilitated the selling of the bicycle to Babangida.

“I met a man on the road and he said he wanted to sell a bicycle. I told him I didn’t have money and took him to my friend, Babangida. I didn’t know it was stolen,” he added.

A police prosecutor, Inspector Philip Osijale, on Monday arraigned the two suspects before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court on three counts bordering on stealing and receiving stolen property.

The charges read in part,

“That you, John Samuel and others now at large on September 14, 2016, at about 6.30am, at Babatunde Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area, within the Lagos Magisterial District, did steal one giant defy advanced carbon fibre road bicycle valued at N1.935,000, and one Scott X10 hybrid bicycle valued at N1.1m, property of one Osarenkhme Afe, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.”

The defendants pleaded not guilty and were granted bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties each in like sum by a presiding magistrate, Mrs. M.B. Folami.

The case was adjourned till December 21, 2016.

– Punch

Malam Gimba Yau Kumo, a former managing director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and newly minted husband of President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter Hajiya Fatima, is reportedly under EFCC investigation.

Sahara Reporters allege that the 57-year-old is currently investigated by the anti-graft agency due to his involvement in fraud scheme during his rule as MD of FMBN.

FLASH: @NGRPresident newly minted son-in-law, Yau Kumo is under investigation at the @officialefcc over N3b fraud he commited as MD of FMBN pic.twitter.com/tyjcX9cL4i

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) October 31, 2016

Recall that only last week, President Buhari’s second daughter Hajiya Fatima has married Mr Kumo at her father’s home in Daura, Katsina. She has become the 4th wife.

The marriage was contracted in accordance with Islamic injunctions and was attended by top federal and state government officials.

Gimba Ya’u Kumo was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria on December 4, 2010. His tenure ended in August 2014.

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a hotelier, Victor Obano, for allegedly turning a 23-year-old female job seeker into a commercial sex worker in the Ijegun area of the state.

The police said Obano, who owned Tisa Hotel, allegedly lured the victim, Elizabeth, from Akwa Ibom, promising her employment in Lagos State.

Obano allegedly thereafter turned the job seeker into a sex worker in the hotel.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Elizabeth, a mother of two, reportedly got tired of being a commercial sex worker, and on October 5, told her elder sister on the telephone what she was going through.

The sister was said to have informed the police at the Anti-Robbery Squad of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, leading to Obano’s arrest.

Our correspondent gathered that another accomplice, a commercial sex worker, identified as Grace Edet, who allegedly was Elizabeth’s supervisor, was also picked up by the police.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro at the command headquarters, Ikeja, Obano, who admitted to have brought the victim from Akwa Ibom, said he only assisted her to find a means of livelihood.

He said, “I am the manager of Tisa Hotel in the Ijegun waterside. I am not a human trafficker. It was only this lady that I brought from the village. I met with her father and he explained her predicament. She is 23 years old. She has two kids and she was living a miserable life. So, I decided to get a job for her.

“The police arrested me because I seized her phones. They said I did not want her to contact her family members, but I collected her phone because I did not want her to have an affair with several men.

“It was her elder sister who reported the matter to the police. The victim is with her brother presently. The arrangement was that I would be paying her and she would also hustle in the hotel and send the money to take care of her father.

“The police should let this matter be settled amicably. It is a family issue.”

The accomplice, Edet, told our correspondent that Obano had instructed her to train Elizabeth in commercial sex.

She said, “I have worked in the hotel for some years. I am a commercial sex worker. When the manager came back from Akwa Ibom earlier in the year, he returned with the lady. He handed her over to me, saying I should teach her some tricks of the trade.

“I did not know the arrangement between them. When I asked the lady why she was brought, she replied that she was asked to hustle at the hotel. So, I do not have any fault in the matter.”

A police source told our correspondent that Obano allegedly had more girls he used as commercial sex workers in his hotel.

The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspects, said the command would not tolerate any form of crime, urging the public to always avail the police of credible information.

A year after trekking for Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when the former President conceded defeat to President Buhari, Muhammed Isa has embarked on another solidarity trekking and this time he is going to show his support for new PDP chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff.

The 32 year old graduate of Psychology and indigene of Borno State who is planning to finish the solidarity trek within 23 days, departed today at about 9: 12am, from Berger footbridge along Lagos -Ibadan Expressway.

Speaking with newsmen, before his departure Isa said:

“I am on solidarity trek from Lagos to Abuja to show my support and the support of youths to Sheriff as the authentic national Chairman of PDP, I want to make something clear, Ali-Modu Sheriff is someone who is honest and listens to grassroots politicians; he has been working tirelessly to ensure that PDP regains its lost glory.

I have already planned my journey, I will be trekking from morning to evening, wherever dusk meets me, I look for an accommodation there.

After morning prayers, I will resume trekking, “I believe with Allah on my side, no evil will befall me because I am not doing something that is bad or injurious to the country.’