A bomb thrown into the premises of St. Charles Catholic Church in Sabon gari area of Kano shortly after the church service today has killed five persons.
Nigeria Police public relations officer, Frank Mba, who confirmed the attack said an attacker threw a bomb into the church premises soon after the end of the church service.
The bombing killed five people including a soldier guarding the premises of the church. The bombing of the church today is the third bombing incident in Kano. Two previous attempts on a Mosque and a university were thwarted by the police in the city.
The Nigeria police said a lone female suicide bomber died in an attempt to bomb, Northwest University in Kano around 1PM Nigerian time.
The female estimated to be 16 years of age, was walking suspiciously towards the gate of the university when police guarding the area spotted her, isolated her and called for reinforcement from female police officers adept at handling Muslim females.
The young woman who had a bomb concealed inside her hijab, killed herself by detonating her explosives, five policemen suffered minor injuries
There was confusion on Saturday night over whether the new moon of Shawwal was sighted in Nigeria to mark the end of the Muslim Ramadan fast.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Sa’ad, who is also the President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, had around midnight on Saturday announced the sighting of the new moon and therefore the end of Ramadan.
”The new month of Shawwal was sighted in different places within Nigeria and therefore tomorrow (Sunday) is the first day of Shawwal equivalent to 27 July 2014,” the Sultan said in an announcement aired on the Nigerian Television Authority [NTA].
But when contacted after the Sultan’s announcement, the Secretary-General of the organisation, Is-haq Oloyede, a professor of Islamic Studies, said he was not aware that the moon had been sighted.
“I spoke to the Sultan about four times tonight and he did not tell me that the moon has been sighted,” Mr. Oloyede told PREMIUM TIMES. “In any case, any such claim is ridiculous and unscientific. It cannot be right.
“The National Moon-Sighting Committee has not informed us of any credible sighting of the moon. Rather, they said the moon wasn’t sighted. The new moon was only born at 11:45 P.M. tonight (Saturday) and it will take several hours for it to be sighted.
“Is our own sky different? Is our own moon manufactured in Nigeria?”
Professor Oloyede urged Muslims to continue their fast on Sunday and prepare for Eid-Fitri on Monday in line with the verdict of the National Moon-Sighting Committee, [NMC].
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the chairman of the NMC, Hafiz Wali, from Kano, had on Saturday night forwarded the report of his committee to the Sultan and Mr. Oloyede, indicating that the moon had not been sighted.
“Assalamu Alaikum. As expected, the NMC has not received any credible moonsighting report,” Dr. Wali said in a short message report to the NSCIA leaders. “Our team in Gwandu has reported that the Moon has not been sighted.”
Sultan Sa’ad could not be reached as at the time this report was published at 1:56 a.m on Sunday and it is not clear where he got the report that the moon was sighted.
Prof. Oloyede had issued a statement on Friday asking Muslims to look out for the new moon on Sunday and dismissing any possibility of sighting the crescent (of Shawwal) on Saturday.
Crescent Moon Visibility, Sunday, July 27… Photo Credit: www.moonsighting.com
“… Any information on sighting the crescent (of Shawwal) should be conveyed to the National Moonsighting Committee so that the President-General of the NSCIA, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, may pronounce the end of fasting,” Mr. Oloyede had said.
“It is an indisputable fact that the old (Ramadan) moon will set just before sunset in Nigeria on Saturday, 26 th of July 2014. The new astronomic moon would be born few minutes before midnight of that Saturday.
“Consequently, the search for Shawwal moon is on Sunday 27th of July 2014. It can be sighted in Nigeria on SUNDAY with optical instruments or with some difficulties with naked eyes. Any claim of sighting a moon that is yet to be born is not only false, mistaken or impossible but also ridiculous.”
The sultan is said to have approved that statement.
PREMIUM TIMES also consulted popular moonlighting website, www.moonsighting.com, which compiles reports of moonsighting all over the world.
In a detailed report Sunday morning, the website said: “Moon is not possible to be seen anywhere in the world” on Saturday, July 26.
“Moon is not expected to be seen in almost the whole world except with difficulty in South America, and with ease in Polynesian Islands, where there are not many Muslims reporting moonsighting. There is small possibility in South Africa but only experienced observers may see it.”
It added, “The Astronomical New Moon is on Saturday July 26, 2014 at 22:42 UT. There is no possibility of moonsighting on that day. On July 27, the moon can be seen with difficulty in South America, but can easily be seen in Polynesian Islands. However, there are not many Muslims reporting moonsighting. On July 28, the moon can easily be seen in almost the whole world, except Northern Asia and Europe.”
Also, a Nigerian and member of the Moonsighting Committee Worldwide [MCW], Kareem Isa, from the Kado estate mosque area of Abuja, was quoted as reporting not sighting the moon.
“It is Ramadan 29 today in Nigeria. It was partly clooudy, and I tried from 19:00 to 19:20 local time,” Mr. Isa was quoted as saying.
The same kind of confusion now trailing the end of Ramadan in the country also marked the commencement of the holy month in late June, with miscommunication within the NSCIA itself.
The Council later apologised for the situation and promised Muslims in the country that it would work hard to avoid a repeat.
“It is in this respect that the NSCIA wishes to remind all Muslims who know, and notify those who do not, that there is an established structure for moon-sighting in Nigeria,” Mr. Oloyede had said in a statement.
“Due to its significance and technicalities, the Council has a National Moonsighting Committee under the leadership of an expert. The Committee is equipped with necessary equipment and technological gadgets that are relevant to the discharge of its assignment.”
Sultan Sa’ad has now announced the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Shawwal without recourse to the committee.
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Controversial actress Afrocandy has been in Nigeria for a while now. The mother of two girls is in the country to put finishing touches to her rough movie - Queen of Zamunda. Here's what she told Vanguard:
You look more pretty in real life than on screen despite having had two kids? A lot of people commend my good looks whenever they meet me in person. I don’t know why it’s like that.
What does séx mean to you? It's just a natural thing; it’s something everybody loves to do once in a while. Everybody has séx.
We heard your ex-husband recently came back to beg you. Is it true? This happened after my daughter turned 19, in May. That was also her prom, so I posted her prom pictures, I don’t know if they saw it. So, they started calling, even his sisters called requesting to speak to my daughter. I was like”After how many years?” After much persuasion and being the good Nigerian woman that I am, I allowed them to talk to her.
That was it. My daughter did her graduation and we went together, before then I wasn’t talking with my husband. When he calls, I just give the phone to my daughters. But after the graduation ceremony, he said he wanted to talk to me. I was shocked and from there we started talking. He said, he wants to come back. I’m not going to tell you what’s going to happen, but just watch out. He’s taking care of the kids right now.
I lived here alone for thirteen years before I joined him. He used to visit home once in a while. Something happened between me and somebody that used to come close. But when I joined him in the US, I put all that behind me. I wanted to move forward. Some gossips cropped up, someone called him and told him, then he jumped out of the house. That was how we broke up.
I called him back, begging and he came back. After three months, he disappeared again, expecting me to come begging again. But I told him, “I wouldn’t do that again.” I’m not going to do that again”. Now he’s back, he told me the truth that he actually thought I was going to come back to beg him. That he never left, he was watching me. And instead of me to come back and beg him, I went wild. He doesn’t mind that anyway.
What has been your experience so far in the movie industry? I’ve been on and off. I started acting right here in the country, before I relocated to the United States.
I did a lot of movies and a couple of commercials before I left the shores of the country. When I got to the United States, I wanted to do a lot of things. But it wasn’t easy. My ex-husband wanted me to do all kinds of menial jobs which I did, such as security jobs. At a point, I went back to acting. I registered with some production companies.
Why are you in the country? I’m in the country to produce my next movie and we’re about to start auditioning. The title of the movie is Queen of Zamunda. Some people were commenting negatively on the social network and that’s why I decided to charge people to be part of my movie.
I’m not actually charging any fee for the audition. Rather, it is a kind of registration to be a member of my company. My company is a reputable company registered in the US, Invisible Twins Production LLC. You don’t expect me to come here to produce a movie and I won’t charge for registration.
The fact is, people will pay to be members and that gives you access to most of my productions. You just pay that one time and before you know it, you start getting paid to act in my movies. The movie I’m about to produce is an epic movie and I might need over one thousand cast; the villagers, warriors, slaves and so on. It hasn’t been easy.
Back in the US, when I started, I registered with some production companies, you have to pay these companies to partake in their productions. I did all kinds of extra and background roles, then I got tired of it, couple with the fact that my ex-husband was giving me so much stress.
Why do people describe you as a controversial actress? It depends on what they mean. Everything I do seems controversial to people. Sometimes, I’m just being me, just being real. This is because I don’t care whatever anybody would say about me. I’m just expressing myself and doing my own thing. To people, I’m controversial.
Are you doing por-n movies in order to seek attention? I don’t do por-n movies, though our people call it porn movie, But it’s not porn, it’s just a regular movie and if you watch the movie, you will realise that it also has a storyline.
But what message do you convey to people through your movies? Most times, I don’t really do movies to convey messages to the audience. It’s mainly to entertain the viewers. But if you pay a keen attention, you’ll notice there’s a message’s it’s conveying. It all depends on how you understand the message because we all interpret things differently.
Is it true you had difficulties paying your daughter’s school fees, such that you had to seek financial support online? I posted something like that on the internet and I had a reason for doing it. I don’t know if I should actually talk about it. If I do, my daughter might not take me seriously again. What happened was that my daughter got admission into several universities and these are Ivy League Universities. She turned down the major ones I wanted her to accept.
A university in Connecticut gave her full scholarship and she turned it down because it was four hours drive from home. She’s an Honours student. She had an Honour group and they all agreed to go to Connecticut together, later the others opted out.
And because she doesn’t want to be lonely, and that’s why she wanted to go to another school. But she didn’t have a scholarship for that one. So, I decided to pull a stunt, it wasn’t that I was broke. I can’t be broke. I’m Afrocandy, I’m a star.
When you have an Abraham as a father, you can’t be broke. I only need to make phone calls and I get all the money I need. Am I not Afrocandy, why would I beg? When I posted the request online, my fans were mad at me. I explained to them that I just wanted to pull a stunt.
I wanted to make my daughter accept the scholarship. I wanted to use one stone to kill two birds. I felt that if I did it and raise money, fine. If I don’t, no problem. I could use the money to buy wigs.
Did you relocate to the United States to avoid criticism at home? I’ve been in the United States before the whole controversy started. When I was living in Nigeria, I wasn’t controversial. I was just a regular actress. If you watch my other movies, you’ll even be like”What! Is that Afrocandy?”. Then I was still married, so I was keeping it low.
How do you handle motherhood? When I’m in the house, I’m a strict mother. When I’m with my children, I’m a different person, a mother to the core.
I’m the kind of mother that when I look at you, without saying anything or hitting you, you must behave yourself. When the whole break-up thing happened, my first daughter was in middle school and she had some friends and she wanted to start some funny things. If I wasn’t a strong woman, I would have lost her then.
I went to her school and I beat her up. The whole school was shocked. The principal called me to his office, saying he hasn’t seen anything like that. And I said, “What are you going to do, call the police? You want me to allow my daughter go haywire and then she ends up in a rehab or welfare home?’’ I don’t joke when it comes to raising my children. Afrocandy is a stage thing, when I get home, I’m a different person.
How is Judith Mazagwu different from the Afrocandy we know? There’s not much difference, it’s still the same person. If you watch my movies, you’ll find out that the same way I’m talking to you now is the same way I talk in my movies. The difference is anyone you need. I’ll give it to you. It’s all in me.
I have to exhibit what suits the situation or the moment. If it’s time to be a mother, I’ll be a mother; when it’s time to go crazy, I go crazy. There was a time, people were accusing that I do smoke and drink before hitting the set. But I don’t drink or smoke. One thing about me is that when I take alcohol I begin to add weight.
If you see me in some videos smoking, it’s not real am just puffing. But I don’t need to get high to do anything . I only need to be myself. Two things that makes me high; happiness and anger.
How do you feel being tagged a por-n star? I’m enjoying it. Since they see me as a porn star. Okay! I’m a porn star, the only porn star in Nigeria. I’m fine with it. But I’m only asking anybody who is calling me a porn star, to please show me any porn movie I’ve done before now. This is because I haven’t watched my porn before.
What about your daughters? They know. They read all the comments on the internet and they laugh at our backwardness and ignorance as Nigerians.
Do you mean those séx scenes on screen are not real? I never answer that question. The press have been trying to make me open up. But I never did. Even my sponsors don’t know how it was done. I played those roles perfectly that you can’t tell if it’s real or fake.
Did you enhance your boobs? I’ve always been like this.
Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi is one of the respected Islamic scholars in Nigeria. He is the Deputy Chairman of the Fatwa Committee of the National Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and one of the leaders of the Followers of Tijjaniyya in the World. He is currently performing Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia. In a telephone interview, he spoke on the bomb attack on his life last Wednesday in Kaduna and the failed attempt to broker peace deal between Boko Haram and the government.
There was a bomb attack in Kaduna last Wednesday. Many believe you were the target. How did it happen? We thank God the Almighty. The bomb exploded on our way back home at the end of the annual closing of Ramadan Tafsir. It exploded near our vehicle, but we thank the Almighty Allah for accepting our prayers. We are all safe, except for the glasses of our vehicle that got broken. Allah answered our prayers because when one saw the large number of people that attended the closing session of the Tafsir, he would know that God answered our prayers. I believe only Allah saved us from the attack. And I am appealing to Muslims to continue to pray for peace and stability in Nigeria. Who must be after your life and why? I am not blaming anybody. It is said that this is the third or fourth time that attempts have been made to assassinate you? No this was the first time it had happened to me. Some people are blaming Boko Haram for the attack, though no group has claimed responsibility? The real Boko Haram two years back asked me to negotiate for peace on their behalf with the Federal Government. They believed that if I was leading the negotiation, there would be sincerity; they would not be deceived again, as they were deceived two times previously. They believed in me because they thought government cannot deceive me. I agreed with their request. l approached the government. But there were some persons within the government who didn’t want the peace negotiations. They sabotaged our effort, because at that time the real Boko Haram waw serious about the peace deal. They asked me to tell the government that if the authorities were sincere, they should make their commitments in writing. I told the government, and they gave me a written document, saying they were interested in negotiating with the sect. After we submitted the letter, everything came to a standstill for four months. I approached the sect that we had made so many promises, but with no action. If would agree to it, we should observe a cease fire for three months. I would go and tell government to stop arresting their members, and, they too,would stop attacking people so that there will be ceasefire from both sides, while negotiations continued. But some people within the government did not support the deal. As I told you, when Boko Haram realized that some people were sabotaging the peace deal, they developed cold feet. They demanded that they wanted the ceasefire agreement published in national newspapers. We published it in the newspapers. But people who were against the peace deal sabotaged it and everything collapsed. I stopped discussing the matter with the sect because they were the ones who invited me for the negotiation. Your picture was recently published in the national dailies. You were with President Goodluck Jonathan. What did you discuss with him? Did he ask you about the peace deal negotiations? We did not discuss anything. They have been inviting me through so many prominent people. They’ve persuaded me to attend their functions for more than 10 times now, but I did not honour them, until the last one I attended. At the function, I was asked to offer prayers, which I did. That’s all. They were speaking in English Language, which I did not understand so much. Now, what is the position of the ceasefire deal with Boko Haram? Are you still involved in it? As I told you earlier, everything has collapsed, because of certain interests. I will use this opportunity to appeal to all Nigerians to live in peace with one another. Muslims should continue to pray to Almighty Allah to end the insecurity which has bedevilled the country. Whoever feels aggrieved or disturbed about any incident should, please, be patient and continue to pray for peace and stability in the country.
Fourteen Boko Haram members have been handed down prison sentences of up to 20 years by a military court in Cameroon. The insurgents were arrested in March after the discovery of a weapons cache believed to be part of boko haram in the northern town of Maroua. The defendants had been charged with the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and of plotting an insurrection. “Each of the Boko Haram members (was) sentenced to between 10 and 20 years” in prison, said the report, adding that the sentences cannot be appealed. The trial was reportedly the first of its kind in Cameroon where a large number of members of the radical group have been arrested in the north over the past weeks following attacks on police stations, as well as kidnappings and killings. The armed movement is seeking to install an extremist Islamic state in Nigeria. It started its bloody insurgency in 2009. More than 3,000 Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram attacks have taken refuge in the Cameroon town of Fotokol, according to a municipal official. “We are worried about infiltrations” by the Islamists among the refugees, a police officer in the town said. Meanwhile, Cameroon has also reported the killing of its two soldiers by Boko Haram gunmen, after a crossborder raid Thursday night. The attack occurred late Thursday in the border village of Balgaram in northern Cameroon. Eight soldiers posted there fought back, and “in the clash we lost two men,” the official said. Military reinforcements were sent to the area and several troops “entered Nigerian territory with the aim of finding the assailants,” the official said.
The police in Aba, Abia, has confirmed the death of a four-year old boy after an all night prayer in a church on Saturday morning. The police, who did not give the name of the deceased, also confirmed that 15 other persons were choked during the event. A group called the “Young People’s Christian Fellowship, Ututu, Arochukwu”, were reportedly made unconscious by fumes from a generating set used for the all night prayer meeting. The police Area Commander, Aba, ACP Peter Wabara, made this known to newsmen in Aba. “We got a phone call this morning that some persons were allegedly lying dead in a church at 8...
Eziukwu road by Milverton Avenue, Aba. “So I mobilised my men and called in some doctor friends since the government doctors were on strike and they accompanied us to the scene of the event. “There we looked through the glass door and found them lying unconscious in a scattered manner. Fortunately, some of them were breathing so we moved them to two hospitals,” he said. Wabara said that 11 of the worshipers were evacuated to Austin-Graces hospital on Okigwe road while four of them were moved to Goodness and Mercy hospital on Faulks road, Aba. According to the commander, before leaving the scene, the rescue team searched the church environment and found a generating set that had exhausted its fuel and quenched but was still hot. The commander said that there was a noxious odour in the air of the warehouse-turned-church which gave them the impression that the worshippers may have over-inhaled carbon monoxide. He said that he accompanied the Deputy Governor of the state, Col. Emeka Ananaba (rtd) to the hospitals and found that the persons involved were responding to treatment. Wabara also said that the deputy governor had made a donation of an undisclosed sum of money. The money was donated after a meeting with the Area Commander, the Commissioner for Health and an assistant medical director, at Abia State Teaching Hospital, Aba.
NAN reports that some of the persons brought to Austin-Graces hospital had recovered and could recognise people, but were unable to field reporter’s enquiries during the visit. Dr Philip Richard, Senior Pastor, Word Alife Assembly, Aba, the Secretary of pastors from Arochukwu in Aba, told NAN that the worshippers were all indigenes of Ututu in Arochukwu local government area. “I was not there but I had a phone call telling me this morning that the believers from Ututu in Arochukwu who went to pray in a church in Aba had all died. “I left all that I was doing to get to the scene of the event. We have a fellowship of believers of Ututu origin in Aba and they came to pray for themselves and their community at this venue.
“I was not there. They are from various churches and not from one church. The husband and wife whose child died are from my own church,” he said. Meanwhile, a police source who was among the rescuers, told NAN that the boy died as a result of the weight of his heavily-built father which fell on him when the man became unconscious. The source said the child was seating beside his father and when they became unconscious, the father unknowingly fell to that side of his seat, pressing the boy and making breathing hard for him. Another source from Ututu, told NAN on condition of anonymity that the man and his wife had lost one of their two children last month. She said that they were left with only the boy that died at the prayer meeting on July 26.
