Churchill Choken

A pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF), has lauded the federal government and the NNPC for the availability of fuel in the south-east during the yuletide - The group commended the NNPC for making sure that the nation does not experience fuel shortage at petrol stations nationwide, especially in the south-east, as it used to be in the past - The NUF, however, decried the increase in fare prices, by 100 percent, by transporters in some routes in the country Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF), a pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, has lauded the federal government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the availability of fuel in the south-east during the yuletide. The president of NUF, Augustine Chukwudum, gave the commendation while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, December 27, in Enugu. “NUF wishes to commend the federal government, especially President Muhammadu Buhari, for ensuring that Nigerians do not face hardship and d...

Update:: Russia's new hypersonic missile system, which President Vladimir Putin claims is "invulnerable" to US defenses, will enter service in 2019, the Russian leader said after a test of the missile Wednesday. "Russia is the first in the world to receive a new type of strategic weapon and this will reliably ensure the security of our state and of our people for decades to come," Putin said, according to the state-run Tass news service. "This is a wonderful, excellent gift for the country for the New Year," Tass quotes Putin as saying. The Avangard hypersonic system was tested from the Dombarovsky military airbase in southwest Russia, according to Tass. Earlier reports say the Avangard has intercontinental range and the ability to fly as fast as Mach 20, more than 15,000 miles per hour. As it closes in on its target, the missile with a maneuverable gliding warhead can adjust both altitude and direction to avoid defenses and fly low enough to avoid mo...

A UN-led team tasked with monitoring a ceasefire in Yemen's flashpoint city of Hodeida was set to meet Wednesday, as sporadic clashes underscored the fragility of the truce which began last week. The ceasefire in the rebel-held city, whose Red Sea port is vital for millions at risk of starvation, is part of a peace push seen as the best chance yet of ending four years of devastating conflict. Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert is heading a joint committee including government officials and Huthi rebels to oversee the truce, and will chair its first face-to-face meeting on Wednesday, according to the UN. The meeting "is taking place as planned with all members attending", a UN official who did not want to be named told AFP, without disclosing the exact location. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric has described the meeting as "one of the priorities" of Cammaert's mission. A truce in Hodeida and its surroundings went into effect on December 18 but has remaine...

Update:: A heartbroken Nigerian man identified as ToniJohnson100 on Twitter has taken to the platform to narrate how he lost the most important person in his life to the cold hands of death. Toni took to his twitter handle some hours ago to mourn the death of his wife Darasinmi, who died on December 24th, after a long battle with cancer. His thread shows he really loved her and is beyond broken following her demise to the extent that he questioned God for leaving his wife who trusted so much in him. In his tweets, Toni noted that his wife was the strongest person he known and that she fought hard before giving up the ghost. Read his tweets below: Meanwhile, a hit and run driver on Tuesday, December 25, killed a final year Urban and Regional planning of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun state identified as Boluwatife Oyeleye. According to reports, Boluwatife who is the only child of her parents had gone out for a Christmas outing and was returning home around 6:30pm, ...

Update:: President Muhammadu Buhari has received a letter of endorsement from the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), a rival party of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun state. Governor Ibikunle Amosu who the delegation adopted APM to fight the governorship position after his preferred candidate lost the primary to APC in the state. In the letter, APM adopted President Buhari as its presidential candidate for the 2019 general elections but fielded different candidates to fight APC in the state. Amos who was accompanied by the APM Chairman, Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle, said after a closed door meeting with the president, that the endorsement letter was given to him by the party for onward presentation to the president. He expressed optimism that with the endorsement, President Buhari, whom he described as a man with good heart, would garner massive votes in the 2019 presidential elections. He said: “You will recall that just last week we made public that APM has adopted P...

Update:: From Churchill Choken Churchill ... The Director And CEO of Www.churchillchoken.blogspot.com May the joy and peace of Christmas be with you all through the Year. Wishing you a season of blessings from heaven above. Merry Christmas..and prosperous new year ahead Thanks for your love  We wish to serve you better in 2019

Update:: Another tsunami could strike Indonesia, experts have warned, two days after more than 200 people were killed by a wave triggered by a volcanic eruption. The tsunami “appears to have been caused by an underwater collapse” of part of the Anak (or “child of”) Krakatau volcano, said David Rothery of The Open University in Britain. Anak Krakatau is a new island that emerged around 1928 in the crater left by Krakatau, whose massive 1883 eruption killed at least 36,000 people. The volcano has been particularly active since June, noted Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff at the University of Paris-South. The tsunami that struck on Saturday was the second to hit Indonesia in six months. Indonesia has 127 active volcanoes and lies on the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire” where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent. Anak Krakatau, located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, is close to densely populated zones. And while the tsunami was relatively small, R...

- PDP says any plan to extend the tenure of IGP Idris will be seen as a plot to carrying out rigging in the 2019 elections - Kola Ologbondiyan, the national publicity secretary of the PDP, alleges that the police boss has surrounded all the state commissioners of police with his own men who would be following them to any strategic meeting and spying for him - Ologbondiyan raises doubts about President Buhari’s intentions to conduct a free and fair election in 2019 The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to drop the alleged plan to extend the tenure of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, by another six months. Kola Ologbondiyan, the national publicity secretary of PDP told journalists on Sunday, December 23, that any plan to extend the tenure of Idris will be seen as a plot to perpetrate rigging in the 2019 election, The Tribune reports. The party’s spokesperson alleged that the police boss had surrounded all the state com...

Update:: With the increasing adoption of electronic payment platforms, fraudsters are still managing to bypass security systems of financial institutions to steal customers’ savings. IFE OGUNFUWA examines the tactics being used by the cybercriminals I wanted to use the remaining money in my account to make part payment of the third term school fees of my two children in secondary school. I am also looking for another furniture project so I can make more money to offset the rest of the fees but none is forthcoming,” a sad-looking Lagos-based furniture maker, Mr Sunday Mogbonjubola, told our correspondent. He added, “But now there is no money left to pay these debts.” He said two weeks earlier, he was in the house when he received five text messages on his mobile device in quick succession. When he viewed them, he discovered they were debit alerts from his bank. Not fully recovered from the shock, he said he received a sixth debit alert. According to him, “The alerts showed t...

Update:: A man and a woman arrested over the drone disruption that brought Christmas getaway flights to a standstill at London’s Gatwick Airport were released without charge on Sunday, police said. Paul Gait and Elaine, the 47-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman from the town of Crawley, near Britain’s second-busiest airport, were arrested on Saturday. The police swooped after three days of disruption from Wednesday to Friday, affecting 140,000 passengers. “Both people have fully co-operated with our enquiries and I am satisfied that they are no longer suspects in the drone incidents at Gatwick,” Sussex Police detective chief superintendent Jason Tingley said in a statement. Drones were sighted buzzing around the airfield more than 50 times, forcing the government to bring in specialist military resources to help counter the threat. The dangers posed by drones include the possibility of a device smashing into a passenger plane or being sucked up into an engine where its ...

Update:: The Civil Society Legislative Centre (CISLAC) and other anti-graft groups have said that the low knowledge on African Union Convention for Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC) has limited the anti-corruption fight in Nigeria. They made the observation at the preliminary launch and findings of the country report on the implementation of AUCPCC. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the African Union adopted the AUCPCC on July 1, 2003 and it became effective on Aug. 5, 2006. Ms Chinwe Ndubeze, one of the Directors in the Legal Department of the EFCC said while Nigeria signed on Dec. 16, 2003 and ratified the 12 article convention on Sept. 26, 2006, the implementation and awareness had, however, been low. “Concerned about the negative effects of corruption and impunity on the political, economic, social and cultural stability and its devastating effects on the economic and social development the African States adopted AUCPCC. “In spite of this, many ...

Update:: At his 80th birthday, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has warned that the future of Nigeria “is not in naira and Kobo’’, but in the legacies left for generations of Nigerians. The octogenarian advised Nigerians, especially the young ones, to do everything possible to leave good legacy behind for future generation. The former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria held the anniversary at his farm at Basaa, Zaria in Kaduna State which was attended by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. He said the ceremony was an opportunity for “members of the Abdullahi Kwasau dynasty to come together, “to know one other, speak with one another and strengthen the relationship with one other”. Obasanjo, who was at the ceremony organised by Abdullahi Kwasau Dynasty, advised Nigerians to forge a collective force against the current insecurity. He called on Nigerians not to plant the seed of destruction for the country. Obasanjo said: “We have to work together to make our country...

Update:: Cuba will soon be legalising gay marriage if the updated country’s constitution adopted by the country’s National Assembly on Saturday is anything to go by. The approval of the constitution is the final step before a national referendum expected to approve the new charter in February. The new constitution contains more continuity than change, although it recognises the de-facto modernisation of Cuban society over the last decade. The constitution maintains Cuba as a centrally planned economy ruled by a single Communist Party, but recognises private property for the first time and paves the way for a separate referendum on legalising gay marriage. It also creates the role of prime minister alongside the current president, as well as provincial governors. Legalising private property is a formal recognition of significant change in Cuban society since former President Raul Castro permitted home and auto sales, creating a booming real-estate market, and allowed more ...