Woman strips naked to hug Mandela statue in S.Africa.

A woman stripped naked in Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg and caressed a huge statue of the liberation hero as astonished bystanders looked on, local media reported Wednesday. The young African woman first saluted the statue of the former president, who is revered for his role in defeating the racist apartheid system, before disrobing, witnesses said. A picture posted on Twitter showed her naked and leaning her head against the knee of the statue in an upmarket area of South Africa’s commercial capital. A waitress at a nearby restaurant told The Star newspaper that the woman’s actions, at around 4.00pm on a busy Monday, had caused a frenzy. Male waiters got their orders wrong and a male customer was hit on the head by his wife for getting up to take a closer look, she said. Nelson Mandela Square marketing manager Megan Meas said a security guard had asked the woman to put on her clothes, which she did before leaving the square without answering any questions. “This was an unauthorised incident conducted by a private citizen in her personal capacity on our property,” Meas said.

24 killed in rap concert stampede

A stampede during a rap concert on a Conakry beach Tuesday left at least 24 people dead, Guinean hospital officials said. The government declared a week of national mourning after what it called a “tragic drama” on the beach in the capital city’s northern Ratoma suburb where the popular Guinean rap group Instinct Killers was playing.

2face changes name to ‘Tu-baba’

Pop singer, Innocent Idibia  has finally dropped his stage name, 2face, saying that after ascending with the release of his sixth album, he has decided to change his name to Tu-baba. The legendary singer officially made this known,  while performing songs from his new album,The Ascension at ‘The industry Nite’,on Thursday, at Spice Route Club, Victoria Island, Lagos. According to the former Plantashun Boiz singer, he would no longer be known as 2face Idibia on his next album, but simply as Tubaba. ”2face has been in the industry for 17 years, and still is growing stronger. I am holding a send forth party for 2face, and after tonight’s event, I will now be known as Tubaba, the African Queen crooner said. The industry Nite, sponsored by MTV had a lot of celebrities who thronged the event venue to support one of their own. Among them were, Olisa Adibua, Dr Sid, Timaya,  Dammy Krane, Ill Bliss,  Chidinma, Bizzle, Mode Nine, Bassey, Orezi, Oriste Femi, Solid Star and others.

2face changes name to ‘Tu-baba’

Pop singer, Innocent Idibia  has finally dropped his stage name, 2face, saying that after ascending with the release of his sixth album, he has decided to change his name to Tu-baba. The legendary singer officially made this known,  while performing songs from his new album,The Ascension at ‘The industry Nite’,on Thursday, at Spice Route Club, Victoria Island, Lagos. According to the former Plantashun Boiz singer, he would no longer be known as 2face Idibia on his next album, but simply as Tubaba. ”2face has been in the industry for 17 years, and still is growing stronger. I am holding a send forth party for 2face, and after tonight’s event, I will now be known as Tubaba, the African Queen crooner said. The industry Nite, sponsored by MTV had a lot of celebrities who thronged the event venue to support one of their own. Among them were, Olisa Adibua, Dr Sid, Timaya,  Dammy Krane, Ill Bliss,  Chidinma, Bizzle, Mode Nine, Bassey, Orezi, Oriste Femi, Solid Star and others.

Vigil disaster One dies, 15 in coma

PREGNANT   woman and three others   were crushed to death in Aba, Abia State, while fifteen others sustained   serious injuries   when   an articulated vehicle lost control last Friday   smashing over 10 vehicles, including tricycles, in the process. In another tragic development, 15 persons collapsed   as a result   of suffocation caused by fumes from a generator during an inter-denominational fellowship at the Young Peoples Christian Fellowship located along Eziukwu, by Milverton road Aba, Abia State. The  victims of the fellowship are said to be   all indigenes of Arochukwu Local Government Area in the state. It was gathered that the vehicle with registration number Rivers: BER 27 XA, with the inscription, Kirby Farms, was coming from the Akwa Ibom State end of the ever busy Ikot Ekpene Road when the accident happened around 7pm. The accident occurred when it was descending the Ogbor Hill slope, developed faulty brake system and as the driver lost control, the vehicle which was loaded with stone chippings, smashed over 10 vehicles and tricycles before veering off the other side of the road where it used two commuter buses as wedge. An eye witness who narrated the incident blamed the accident on the presence of police checkpoint on the Aba River Bridge popularly known as waterside. One of the accident victims, the pregnant woman whose husband cried uncontrollably at the scene of the incident, was said to have gone to a nearby market to buy some food items for the weekend when on her way back, she was hit by the trailer and died instantly. It was gathered that immediately the accident occurred, policemen at the checkpoint vamoosed into thin air, leaving only the personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and passersby to battle for over four hours to bring out bodies trapped under the trailer. Emenike Kalu, an Aba-based legal practitioner, had God to thank as eight members of his family including four kids who were involved in the accident, all came out unhurt. When contacted, the Aba unit commander of FRSC, Akachukwu Chika, who led his men to rescue the accident victims, blamed it on the rickety nature of the truck. A report has it that out of the 16 persons inside the hall of the fellowship, 15 who were in various hospitals receiving medical attention as at the time of this report are responding positively to medical attention, while a boy of 6 years, a child to one of the victims, was already dead before police could gain entrance into the scene of the incident. 11 persons were currently receiving medical attention at Austine Grace Hospitals while 4 were also admitted at Goodness and Mercies hospital at Faulks Road, Aba. Dr. Mark Iwuagwu, a medical doctor at one of the hospitals were the victims were rushed to for immediate medical attention (Austine – Grace Hospitals located at Okigwe road) speaking to reporters at the end of the Abia State Deputy Governor’s visit to his hospital, attributed the cause of the incident to suffocation as a result of carbon mono-oxide poison they inhaled from a generator set outside the hall where the tarry night was hosted. According to him, “When I was invited to the place by the police, the generator they used as their source of power supply was still on, but the glasses to the hall were all locked. It was police that came and opened the place with metal equipment. It was one of the victim’s brothers that alerted the police after efforts to reach his sister he said he escorted to the fellowship failed to yield any result.” No member of the fellowship could speak to the press as at the time of the report, but the General- Secretary of pastors from Arochukwu, Dr. Phillip Richard and Senior Pastor Word Alive Assembly, Aba confirmed that the victims were all from Ututu, Arochukwu.

Body of Ebola victim cremated in Lagos

The body of the first victim of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria,   who died in Lagos on Friday, has been cremated. Details of the cremation were not available at press time but Sunday Vanguard gathered that the event was witnessed by officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health and the  Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, led by its Project Director, Professor Abdulsalam Nasidi, among others. The decision to cremate the body of the victim, it was further gathered,   may not be unconnected with the deadly nature of the Ebola Virus which is known to be easily transmissible from human to human during handling of corpses of victims. The World Health Organisation recommends that in communities where there is an outbreak of Ebola, appropriate containment measures including burial of the dead should be properly handled. While stating that people who die from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried, WHO notes that cremation,  which is the application of high temperature to reduce bodies to basic chemical components (ashes), is ideal for safe disposal of bodies of persons who die during outbreaks of highly infectious diseases such as Ebola Virus in order to minimise further transmission. In 2013 the Lagos State Government introduced its Voluntary Cremation Law under which  a person may signify interest to be cremated at death or a deceased’s family members who must attain the age of 18 years, can decide to have the corpse cremated. Under the law  the state government can also cremate unclaimed corpses in its mortuaries after a period of time and the ashes disposed  after a 14-day notice with  approval of the Commissioner for Health.

Don’t run in 2015, APC tells Jonathan

The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to drop his ambition to return to Aso Rock in 2015 for the sake of Nigeria’s democracy. The Publicity Secretary of the state chapter of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, said this during an interview with journalists, on Monday. Igbokwe said it had been established that it was the zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party that led to the insurgency in the North-East. He said the plan was for former President Umaru Yar’adua, a Northerner to rule till 2015 while an indigene of the South-East would be the next in line but Yar’adua’s sudden demise had upset the political equation causing many Northern elements to be disgruntled He therefore, advised the President to step down so that a Northerner could emerge President next year. He said, “Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, from the South, ruled Nigeria for eight years. It was also expected that the late President Yar’adua from the North would rule for eight years, all things being equal. But he died after two years in office. President Jonathan, who was the then Vice President, from the South, took over the mantle of leadership. “It was expected that he would complete the first term of Yar’adua’s tenure and step aside for the North to complete their eight years. Against protests from the North, Jonathan sought another term and got elected. By 2015, he would have ruled for six years. Seeking another term of four years will endanger our politics and create ethnic and religious tension as we are witnessing now. “We are in a democracy and if we are still in one country, there is need for equity and justice. Jonathan’s ambition to rule Nigeria for 10 years may break Nigeria.” Igbokwe said it was unfortunate that the PDP had labelled the APC as a pro-terrorism party and warned the party to stop pointing fingers and tackle terrorism. He said the revelation by the late National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi (retd), that the PDP’s zoning debacle was fuelling insecurity and his later death showed that the PDP could not be absolved of blame in the insurgency.