Judge finds Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murder

Judge Masipa has read much of her judgement and she's just found Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murder. The judge said there were not enough facts to prove the most serious charge of pre-meditated murder. She said the case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence and dismissed the witness testimony. She said the witnesses were unreliable as most of what they said weren't accurate. She said even if Oscar was evasive with some facts, it doesn't mean he's guilty of murder. She explained that Oscar's reaction after killing Reeva shows he didn't have criminal intent, hadn't foreseen he'd killed her. She also said evidence did not support the state's claim of second degree murder.

"The state has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder. There are just not enough facts to support such a finding'- she said.

While he's not guilty of premeditated murder, he awaits to find out if he's guilty of culpable homicide (manslaughter) which is the negligent death of another. It means there was no intention to kill but the killing is unlawful. The court has adjourned for early lunch.

Reno Omokri says Doyin Okupe didn't start the #bringbackjonathan hashtag

Reno Omokri took to twitter to defend his colleague, Doyin Okupe, who many have criticized for tweeting the offensive hashtag on August 22nd. Well, if he didn't start it, why join the bandwagon?

 

Boko Haram Allegedly Agree To Swap 30 Chibok Girls For 18 Commanders

Some disagreements appeared last night however as the Nigerian authorities wanted Boko Haram to release all the 219 girls missing for almost 5 months, while the latter agreed to free only 30.
It has been gathered from the sources that the group directed a list of its commanders and the names of students to be swapped to the Civil Rights Congress President, Comrade Shehu Sani.
The emergence of swap possibility is believed to have appeared after there were held secret talks between a government delegation and a Boko Haram commander identified as Umar, who is being detained in Kuje Prison in Abuja.
The source was quoted saying:
“Some top officials met with Umar about two weeks ago in Kuje Prison to discuss issues connected to the fate of the Chibok girls. We heard some inmates sharing this information that the sect might swap the girls with Umar and others. But all the details are still secret because Umar keeps to himself a lot.”

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau

Another source claimed the negotiations had been successful adding that the sides had agreed on the deal.
“The delegation had a fruitful negotiation with Umar, who is one of the highly-rated commanders of Boko Haram. The group assured Umar of a swap and he has been looking forward to it. The sect has given a list of 18 of its members to be swapped with the abducted Chibok girls.”
Some security operatives have allegedly warned the government that the release of 30 girls was a dangerous move when there was “no full assurance that all the girls will be released”.
One of the sources said:
“So, technically, the release of 30 girls was unacceptable to the government based on the advice of some security agents.”
However another source added:
“You can see why Nigerians should stop blaming Boko Haram from continuously keeping these girls in captivity. What is of concern now is to get even these 30 girls out to prove to the whole world that they are alive.”
Sani when contacted refused to provide any comment on the issue last night.
It would be recalled that Sani, who has experience of direct negotiations with Boko Haram, shortly after the abduction predicted that the insurgents might use the girls as means of releasing their comrades-prisoners rather than kill the hostages.
Soon the militants’ leader Abubakar Shekau released the video showing the students and provided the option to swap the girls for Boko Haram prisoners.
Sani was among those who urged the authorities to accept the deal.
The “swap” saga was surrounded by numerous controversies, with some sources saying that the government made a U-turn when the deal was close to being secured and other sources insisted that the deal was stopped by the insurgents.
More than 200 female students were abducted on April 14. Despite the interference on international powers, human rights activists, military forces and social campaigners, the majority of the girls are still missing.

PDP Made Ribadu A Laughing Stock - Kwankwaso

Governor Rabi’u Kwanwaso of Kano State said the former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu has been made a laughing stock by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) who dropped him from the Adamawa gubernatorial race.

Gov. Kwankwaso

The governor stated this yesterday, September 10, at the Government House in Kano while receiving merit awards from two NGOs namely, APC Kwankwasiyya Amana, Bauchi state chapter and Nigeria 774 Kwankwasiyya Merger: Kwankwaso for President, Leadership reports.
Ribadu who recently defected from the APC and seven other governorship aspirants stepped down last week from the race for the gubernatorial ticket, under the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

Nuhu Ribadu

Kwankwaso said: “After he left the APC for the PDP, his new party did not find him worthy of its gubernatorial ticket. I am sure the PDP stakeholders in Adamawa are now laughing at him. We sympathise with him”.
According to him, the Adamawa state PDP chose a candidate whom most of their supporters see as incompetent, while pointing out that APC had come up with a credible candidate in person of Senator Muhammad Jibrila Bindaw who can rule the state.
Read Also: Another PDP Bigwig Joins Adamawa Guber Race
He therefore appealed to the people to think wisely in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state, dump the PDP which caused hardship within the 5-years they’ve been in power and vote for the APC which is ready to bring about positive and realistic changes in the whole country.
The Adamawa governorship election is about a month away and the political parties are gearing up for the competition.
The PDP held its primaries last week and the Adamawa State acting governor Ahmadu Fintiri defeated other aspirants in the party, clinching 624 votes during Saturday election in Yola, thereby becoming PDP candidate for the October 11 governorship election in the state.
Meanwhile, a serving Senator, Bindo Jibrilla won the APC primaries, polling 2,718 votes.
The Independent National Electoral Commission scheduled the Adamawa election for October 11, 2014, after the former governor Murtala Nyako, was removed from his office on July 15, 2014, by the state House of Assembly.

Comedian/artiste Mohammed Jammal popularly known as 'White Nigerian' & his wife Marciel have welcomed their first child together, a girl. They have named her Maya. Congrats to them.

Nigerian Teachers threaten to strike over new resumption date

The Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, have threatened to go on a nationwide strike if the Federal government does not shift the date of resumption as well as put in place measures that would protect their members from contracting the deadly Ebola virus while teaching in schools. 

Speaking in a telephone interview with Punch, the National President of the NUT, Michael Alogba, said the union had taken a decision not to allow any of its members go into any school to teach if the eradication of the deadly virus has not been scientifically and medically proven. Continue...

"In any sane society, decision such as this will not be taken until the government and all stakeholders have met and discussed the issue at stake and are sure that the nation is scientifically and medical free from the scourge. But this is not the case in our country. When they arrived at the early October 13 date, they wrote us and we agreed with their argument but when this new date was given, they did not because of the influence of some powerful school owners who put pressure on them (Federal Government) to announce the September 22 date. Anyway, we have written to tell them that if the   Federal Government does not shift the date and provide all necessary safety measures in schools before Monday next week, all NUT leaders will meet in Abuja by 9am on Tuesday to decide our fate by ourselves. Though I don’t want to preempt the outcome of the meeting but as teachers who have families and who should protect our future, I mean our students, we will shun the classes; we will call for strike. What kind of government is this, don’t they know that children can never be as hygienic as adults? Don’t they know that the immunity level of children is not as high as that of adults? Why do you want to open schools when you have not cleared out the virus; when you still have about 400 people under surveillance in Port Harcourt and Lagos? You are aware of what is happening at the Obafemi Awolowo University. How are we sure that there is no primary or secondary school pupil that has had   contact with an Ebola patient. It’s good that the   NMA (Nigerian Medical Association) has spoken and we have told them too that we would not cooperate with them. That   is why we are going to take a drastic action on Tuesday to protect ourselves and our children. I can tell you that we will shun schools; we won’t cooperate with them. In other words, we will embark on strike.” he said

He warned that if by next Monday, September 15th the Federal Government had not extended the new date, the executive council would meet by Tuesday 16th September where a drastic decision would be taken.

Meanwhile after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja yesterday the Health Minister said there was no going back on the resumption date. According to him, there was no scientific basis for school resumption date to be postponed

"First unlike other countries, there is no community transmission of the disease in Nigeria; not one yet. But we have taken precautions, what we are doing, we may as well have said everybody should just be moving about, but we are taking precautions. There is no scientific basis for school resumption to be postponed. There is no community transmission of the disease in Nigeria. That is what separates Nigeria from other countries. It is what I call irrational fear; we don’t need to be irrational about this.” he said

The Nigerian Medical Association as well as the House of Representative Committee on Education have spoken against the new resumption date.

Oscar Pistorius arrives at court to learn his fate over girlfriend's death

After  a lengthy trial and 30 days of deliberation, Oscar Pistorius is about to find out if he's going to be locked up for a very long time for murder or be set free. Judge Thokozile Masipa is currently delivering her verdict at the High Court in Pretoria. You can tune in to DStv 199 to watch live or stay tuned here.