THE ALLEGED KIDNAPPED ESE ORURU FINALLY SPEAKS

According to Premium Times, Ese Oruru, who was allegedly kidnapped from Bayelsa State to Kano, said she was not interested in reuniting with her family and denied reports that she was abducted from her home in Bayelsa State.

In an exclusive audio recording obtained by the online publication today, the girl also said she eloped with her lover to Kano in order to convert to Islam.

“My name is Aisha Chuwas. I am 17-year-old. I came here to be a Muslim and I will stay here.”

Human rights lawyer, Huwaila Mohammed, who was given access to the girl at the Zonal Police Headquarters in Kano, said upon interrogation, she understood the girl was never forced to convert to Islam. She also had access to Miss Oruru’s lover and established that he is just 18 years old, ‘not anywhere above 20’.

“I was surprised when I saw a very small boy. He is just 18-year old. I was enraged thinking that it was an old man involved in the saga. From the way I see it, they eloped not because of religion but love,” she said.

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PASTOR'S WIFE GAVE BIRTH TO TWINS AFTER 18 YEARS

Pastor Mrs. Akin-Akinsanya pictured with her set of twins after reportedly waiting for a child for 18 years. Congrats to her!

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PHOTOS: CIARA VISITS SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN LAGOS

Us singer Ciara visited Ilado Community Junior High School andAkande Dahunsi Memorial Senior/Junior High School both in Lagos today February 29th. More photos after the cut...

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#FreeEse: Mama Taraba vows to rescue Ese, prosecutes abductor

The Minister of women Affairs and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the April 11 governorship election in Taraba State, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, has condemned the alleged abduction of 14-year-old Ese Oruru by one Yunusa, who hails from Kano. She vowed to ensure the release of Ese and prosecution of the abductor.

She maintained that Ese is a minor and as such cannot consent to marriage, stressing that ‘Child Rights Act says no person under 18 is capable of contracting a valid marriage, and a marriage so contracted is null and void’.

The former senator added that the Act prescribed a fine of N500,000 or 5 years imprisonment or both for anyone who violated it by marrying a minor.
“No culture, religion or personal conviction supersedes the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Ese Oruru must return home,” she vowed

She disclosed this via her Twitter handle, @JummaiAlhassan.

“The case of Ese Oruru was brought to my attention yesterday and I have been looking into it since”.
“Our laws are very clear on the case, Ese Oruru is 14 and as such cannot consent to marriage. Any such union she’s in is illegal”.

“I have been in touch with the police authorities in Kano over Ese’s immediate release to her parents and we are making progess”.
“I can assure you that I will use all my powers and influence as a Minister and woman to secure the release and return of Ese Oruru”.

“Ese is still a child under our laws, and her right to freedom of movement is subject to parental control. She must be returned”.
“Child Rights Act says no person under 18 is capable of contracting a valid marriage, and a marriage so contracted is null and void”.

“The Act also clearly states that anyone who marries a child is liable to to a fine of N500,000 or 5 years imprisonment or both”.
“No culture, religion or personal conviction supersedes the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Ese Oruru must return home”.

“My ministry is on this case and we will ensure full prosecution of anyone who is found to have contravened the law”.
“Ese’s case has brought to the fore the need to protect the rights of children and women in our society and we wont relent”.

Vanguard gathered that Ese, who was 13 as at the time of her alleged abduction, was taken to Kano, by Yunusa, where he converted her to Islam and married her.

Ese’s parents had since last August made trips to Kano, where they unraveled the plights of their daughter. The parents said they have involved the police, but efforts to get the Emir of Kano, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, at whose palace the girl is believed to be held to resolve the matter and ensure the return of the 14-year-old to them have proved futile.

While her mother was told that Ese had converted to Islam and, therefore, was no longer her daughter, her father was told that his daughter was an 18-year-old adult and not 14, hence she was capable of making decisions for herself.

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You Lied In Church That Jonathan Built No Road – Doyin Okupe Blasts Osinbajo

Former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Sunday, described the recent statement credited to vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, that no new road has been built by government in the last ten years as “a lie and an absolute falsehood.”

While expressing regrets that the statement was made in a church, Okupe, who stated this on his Facebook page, said that the church has a role to play in politics and that Osinbajo was wrong in assertion.

The former Presidential aide wrote that: “This is perhaps one of the most difficult posts I have made to date.”

“Prof Yemi Osinbajo and I have a few things in common. He is a professional in politics like me. He is a practising Christian and a revered Pastor. I am a practising christian and an aspiring Evangelist.”

“We both are alumni of Igbobi college, Yaba. Lagos. His younger brother and mine were classmates at Igbobi and are both pastors of the fountain of life church, Ilupeju, where I became grounded in Christianity under the mentorship of the celebrated and revered man of God, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya.”

“It was in this church and before a body of pastors undergoing a spiritual retreat that the Vice President went and said that the federal government in the last 10 years have not constructed a single new road.”

“This statement is a lie and an absolute falsehood. Many people have said so. But this is not why I am writing this. My concern is the erroneous assumption that just because the VP is a Christian therefore every christian is APC.”

“This why the VP’s statement is unfortunate in that it was a wrong statement made in a wrong place(church) and before a wrong audience.”

“The church must also be sensitive and mindful of the danger in bringing politics into the church. For Prof Osinbajo, if only he remembered the Igbobi college motto ” omnes unum in domino” meaning ” all are one in the Lord, he would not have committed such a blunder.”

“Our God is God of APC, PDP, Labour etc. Having said this the VP is someone I hold in very high esteem and he knows this. I am also proud of his role in this administration.”

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Bangladeshi man has tree-like growths removed from his hand after three hours of surgery

26-year-old Abdul Bajandar from southern Bangladesh suffers from epidermodysplasia verruciformis, a condition so rare there are only three known cases in the world. The condition is dubbed 'Tree Man' because sufferers grow bark-like warts on their appendages. He successfully underwent surgery to remove the warts that first started to appear ten years ago from one of his hands.

'I have fought for 10 years and endured the pain,' I want to live like a normal person. I just want to be able to hold my daughter properly and hug her. It would be nice to eat with my own hands as well' Mr Bajandar said before the operation
It took a team of nine doctors at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, to remove the growths from just one of his hands.
Facility director Samanta Lal Sen said:
'It was a successful operation. We removed warts from all five fingers of his right hand. He's now happy and was laughing,'
'We'll now review his condition for the next three weeks before deciding whether to conduct more operations. It's a big challenge.'

Bajandar's condition made him a celebrity of sorts with people travelling from all over to see the 'Tree Man' and many more visiting him in hospital.

 He was given the all-clear for surgery after tests confirmed the warts were not cancerous.

 The Bangladesh government agreed to bear the costs of his treatment and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was given an update on his condition, Sen said.
Bajandar's wife Halima Khatun saw her husband after the operation and said he looked 'relaxed and happy'.
 Mr Bajandar said he initially thought that the warts were harmless but slowly as the growths covered his hands and feet, he was forced to quit working as a bicycle rickshaw puller.

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With $30 oil price, we have to proritize and downsize our promises- Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says with oil prices sliding to as low as $30 per barrel, the APC-led government will have to downsize or prioritize on the promises it made during the election campaigns. Lai said this to Channels TV

"When you campaign, you say you’ll do A, B, C, but when you win elections, you’ll priotize. We were elected for a four-year period, not for one year. Things, we hope, will not be bad all through these four years.
We are still faithful to those promises, but as you have rightly said, when we were campaigning, the price of crude was $100 a barrel. Today, its $30 a barrel, so definitely, we would have to downsize some of the things we intended to do, or prioritize them but this does not mean abandoning those promises”he said

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