ELVIS BLOG

When news broke that suspected notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudubem Onwuamadike (aka Evans) had been arrested in Lagos by the police on June 10, many people celebrated the security agencies that made it happen. But far less known was the celebration it produced in the compound of the Iloenyosi family of Abagana, Anambra State. For this family, the news of Evans arrest was a personal victory. It all began one early morning on November 25, 2013 when the patriarch of the family, Chief James Iloenyosi, was kidnapped on his way back from mass. His son, Chikelue Iloenyosi, former Super Eagles player who played professional football in France and Turkey, has not been able to get over what happened to his father. He narrated the event that quickly became a game of hide and seek between criminals and the law enforcement agents. He told Saturday Punch in an emotion-laden tone that his father, who was 86 at the time, was on his way back from their local Catholic church when three SUVs double-c...

Singer Kcee in a chat with Saturday Beats has explained how they made their money. Kcee revealed, life wasn’t all that rosy from the beginning and they had it really bad before fortune smiled on them. He also rebuked those saying his brother E-Money is into illegal business, saying they are from a Christian home and all they do it LEGAL! “I left Ajegunle because we were unable to pay our house rent and the landlord threw us and our property out of the house. I was wearing only my boxers when the landlord threw us out of the house because we could not pay N70,000 for a three-bedroomed flat. My father started squatting with some people while my mother went to her sister’s house. My brother and I had to hustle. By then, we had won Star Quest so we had a rickety car, so we slept in the car. At the time they stole our car, things were tough because all our property was in the car. We were living from hotel to hotel and all we had was in the car. Sometimes we owed the hotels a lot of money...

The State Security Service  on Friday , said it arrested suspected terrorists planning to launch coordinated attacks in Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri, others, during the Eid-el-Fitr celebration.  Spokesperson for the service, Tony Opuiyo, who made the disclosure in Abuja, said two suspects identified as Yusuf Adamu and Abdulmuminu Haladu were arrested in Sokoto in connection with the plot in the early hours of  Friday . Opuiyo, who was represented by Mr Nnanna Nnochiri, Opuiyo said the service had earlier arrested Bashir Mohammed, the facilitator of the Kano attack on June 20 at Unguwar Barnawa, Kaduna. One Shekarau Madaki was also arrested at Kumbatso Local Government Area of Kano State. Opuiyo said that their plan, together with some currently at large, was to assemble explosives and use them on selected targets during the sallah celebration. The targets of the terrorists were markets, public parks, public processions, recreation centres and Eid grounds. Items reco...

Friends and family have been thrown into mourning following the painful death of a promising fashion designer and 400 level student of the Federal University of Technology. Reports are sketchy, however, according to details gathered fro his siblings and friends, Tochukwu Paschal Njoku was declared missing on Thursday, June 8, after he left with a friend from Ihiagwa to Owerri to pick up something. Later the police found their car (a navy blue Lexus 330) abandoned but no sign of the occupants. Unfortunately, his body was found on Monday, June 12. Three days before he disappeared, precisely on June 5th, Tochukwu, who goes by the Facebook name, TC Shzzy wrote: "Thank you for saving my life today...I appreciate you deeply" When a friend Fortunatus Ibekwe asked what happened, Tochukwu simply replied:  "Ekwe di bad"

Eight princesses from Abu Dhabi's ruling al-Nahyan family were each given a 15-month suspended prison sentence and fined 165,000 euros ($185,000) on Friday after a court in Belgium found them guilty of human trafficking and abusing their servants. The case dates back to July 2008, when Princess Shekha Alnehayan,  and her seven daughters rented an entire floor of Brussels' Conrad Hotel for several months and brought more than 20 servants with them. According to the prosecution, the workers were "treated like slaves" and forced to attend to the princesses' every wish 24 hours a day, while not being given enough food or beds to sleep in. Prosecutors said the princesses had also confiscated their passports and refused to pay their salaries. Authorities were made aware of the degrading conditions after one servant managed to flee the hotel and report the case to the police, who subsequently raided the hotel. Sheikha Hamda al-Nahyan and her seven daught...

Police in Los Angeles accidentally shot and killed a 17-year-old boy after unleashing bullets on a charging pit bull the teenager was trying to protect. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the boy, Armando Garcia-Muro, an incoming high school senior died  on Thursday after being shot in the chest.    The teenager was caught in the gunfire as two sheriff’s deputies opened fire on the attacking animal.  "My nephew was trying to save the dog because the cops started shooting at the dog, he put his life on the line for an animal that wasn't even his"  the teenager’s aunt, Amber Alcantar said. Authorities said Garcia-Muro was likely caught in the crosshairs of ricocheting bullets. The deputies were responding to complaint calls of loud music at about  3:50 a.m. , when they were met at the residence by an aggressive pit bull.    The sheriff’s office said the roughly 65-pound dog charged at the deputies and bi...

Controversial Senator, Dino Melaye, who's presently facing a possible recall from the Senate, shared a photo of the constituency office he built in Kabba, Kogi State.  He wrote: 'While others rent shops as constituency office, I built this constituency office in Kabba, now complete.

Ghanaian defender, Samuel Inkoom who currently plays for Bulgarian club FC Vereya, has been banned by FIFA for one year for failing to settle the total outstanding amount owed to his former agent Andy Evans. Following a contractual dispute between both parties, the 28-year-old was ordered by the Bureau of the Players’ Status Committee on 19 March 2014 to pay an amount owed to Evans. On 15 December 2014, Inkoom was fined CHF 20,000 ($20,594) by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for failing to comply with the decision of the Bureau of the Players’ Status Committee. The Ghanaian appealed the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s decision at CAS but the appeal was dismissed and the decision of the Disciplinary Committee confirmed in full. Evans requested that the one-year ban is imposed on Inkoom in accordance with the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee after the final deadline granted to the player expired. In a statement, part of the ruling from FIFA read: "In ...

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has placed a ban restricting school girls who get impregnated from going back to school. The President made this known while addressing Bagamoyo District residents during his three-day-tour of Coast Region  on Thursday . Magufuli accused some of the nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), which have been urging the Tanzanian government to allow teen mothers back to school, of being used by foreign agents. “There are many things that girls, who are impregnated can do after delivery; they can join VETA (Vocational Education Training Authority centres), they can learn sewing but they can’t go back to school,” said President Magufuli. According to him,  if such girls were to be allowed back to school, then they would encourage other girls to engage in sex. “If we were to allow them back to school, one day we will find all girls who are in Standard One have babies,” said President Magufuli. It's understood that for some months now Maguf...

Nigeria's minister of health, Isaac Adewole, has written to the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Nigeria Police Force over the enforcement of the 2015 National Tobacco Control Act.  In the letter, Mr. Adewole requested for their collaboration in the enforcement of the law saying: 'It has become imperative to strengthen our collaborative efforts and to urgently start implementing and enforcing the provisions of the NTC Act 2015 in order to protect and promote the health of the citizens'. The National Tobacco Control Act that was signed into law in 2015 by former President Goodluck Jonathan stipulates the following; 1. Prohibition of the sale of tobacco products to and by anyone below age 18.  2. Ban of sale of cigarettes in single sticks; cigarettes must be sold in packs of 20 sticks only.  3. Smokeless tobacco shall be sold in a minimum of a pack of 30 grammes.  4. Ban of sale or offer for sale or distribution of tobacco or tobacc...