Straight from the Headlines! What Everyone was Talking About This Week

Happy New Month Everyone! It’s been quite an eventful week with Nigeria once again marking its return to Democracy on May 29th 2012. The historic day was marked on a low key, without any elaborate ceremony. However, President Goodluck Jonathan made some announcements that have continued to garner mixed reactions from indivuduals and groups across the country.

The most prominent being the renaming of University of Lagos as Moshood Abiola University in honour of the late Chief M.K.O Abiola. This action was followed by protests by students and staff of the institution who have resisted the name change. On their part, the Federal Government has announced that there would be no going back on renaming the institution.

Aside from that, various events across the country have continued to shape Nigeria’s history. Here is a recap of some of the events that made headlines this week.

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Nigeria on Monday emerged best at the just-concluded third edition of the International Science Olympiad (ISO), winning five of the nine platinum medals in Abuja. The Olympiad was attended by 70 students from 18 countries. The five Nigerians, who won the medals, were Sulieman Shehu, Isineyi Patrick, Iwuchuckwu Uchenna, Kelechi Ojimbao and Awe Oluwasanya. Other countries that also won platinum were South Africa, Turkey and Azerbaijan. The ISO tested students in mathematics, physics, biology, computer science and chemistry. Mr Davut Piraz, Deputy Managing Director, Nigeria Turkish International College (NTIC), Abuja, said “the competition was a gathering of the most formidable young intellects.”

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Sele Eradiri, the Nigeria Television Authority broadcaster who featured on a weekly popular program “Newsline” died this week. Ms. Eradiri died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital on Tuesday, 29th May 2012. A former colleague revealed that Eradiri had been laying sick at LUTH after her condition deteriorated shortly after returning from a successful surgery in India a few months ago. Born on March 13, 1955, Ms. Eradiri attended the Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton from where she graduated in 1983.

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A 54-year-old widow, Mrs. Sekinatu Onitemi Adaba, has allegedly excreted 58 wraps of a substance that tested positive to cocaine following her arrest by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Port Harcourt International Airport. The suspect reportedly told officials of the agency that she was trafficking drugs for the first time. She said she was lured into the illicit business by an unnamed friend at a party in Lagos, following her husband’s death. Mrs Adaba was paraded this week in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, by the airport’s NDLEA Commander, Mr. Olutekunbi Davies. The NDLEA chief alleged that the suspect was arrested on May 23 as she was about to board a Lufthansa Airline to London via Frankfurt, Germany.

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Two females in a bus conveying passengers from Lagos to Abuja were last Tuesday raped by armed robbers who attacked their bus at Sagamu area of Ogun State. The gunmen also robbed all the passengers. PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident occurred around 12noon. It was gathered that the three-man gang armed robbers were among the passengers that boarded the bus at Jibowu area of Lagos. But on getting to Sagamu, they brought out their guns, ordered the driver to stop and then diverted the bus. The Station Manager, Ifesinachi Bus Transit, the operator of the vehicle, who identified himself simply as Nelson, confirmed the incident. He said the victims would be compensated.

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Despite the closure of the University of Lagos for 2 weeks, due to the on-going protests, the remains of the late Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe, were buried in Ikoyi, Lagos State on Thursday amid pomp and ceremony. Sofoluwe, who was the 10th VC of the institution, died on May 12, 2012 after a heart attack. Earlier in the day, dignitaries, students and members of UNILAG staff gathered at the sports centre to pay their last respects to him. Before the burial, there was lying in state at the Unilag Sports Centre, Akoka, where students and dignitaries paid their last respects to the deceased. After the lying-in-state, the casket bearing his body was taken to All Saints Church, Yaba, where a funeral service was held.

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Tragedy struck on Thursday morning in Nsukka, as the students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, woke up to find one of their students  Onyebuchi Okonkwo hanging from a rope in an unfinished Franco building beside the hockey pitch in  their school. Roommates of the dead student said he left the room around 2am  this morning and they thought he had gone to study, only for his corpse to be  found dangling from a rope in the morning. He’s was a 300level student of Physics and Astronomy  in his early 20’s. A purported suicide note which read, “The controversy  is over” was discovered near him.

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A lecturer in the department of Public Administration of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Dr. Gambo Abdul has been arrested for allegedly seducing a male student Abubakar Abdulkareem to be his gay partner. According to LEADERSHIP , the student Abubakar had severally rebuffed the advances of the lecturer who wanted him to be his gay partner but became agitated when the lecturer threatened to fail him if he refused to succumb.  It was gathered that based on the threat from the lecturer who is from Minna, Abubakar reported the case to his parents about the move by the lecturer and the inherent threat to his academic pursuit. Consequently, it was learnt that the family of the student decided to investigate further and found out that their son’s claim was true.
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The Provost of College of Medicine of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus was on Friday kidnapped at his home town, Ogidi in Anambra State. The Provost, who is also a Senior Consultant on Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi was abducted while he was returning from Onitsha to his home town. A source close to the family said the abductors had established contact with the victim’s relations, adding that they were demanding payment of N50 million ransom. Immediate past chairman of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr Gerald Udigwe said that the abduction of the provost had thrown the teaching hospital into confusion.

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The Delta state government has released the sum of N269 million as scholarship grant to 47 first class graduates in the state. The beneficiaries were given N5 million each to engage in any study of their endeavours after being assured of automatic employment with the state government at the end of their studies. The state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan who released the fund to the state’s scholarship board for onward disbursement to the students promised to continue to fund scholarship scheme to encourage excellence in tertiary institutions in the state. In his address, the state’s Commissioner for Higher Education, Professor Hope Eghagha said that the sum of over N296 million approved for the 2011 first class scholarship scheme was for five existing awardees and 47 new ones.
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How do you feel about the news that made headlines in the country this week? What other stuff happened that you would like to share?

Have a great weekend!