Trained as a nurse, trafficked for prostitution

Unlike others who would refuse to discuss their experience, 27-year-old victim of forced prostitution provides insights into how she and one other relation were coerced into taking a trip to hell, as told to SOLAADE AYO-ADERELE

Her financial disposition seemed to be the qualification that the cross-border pimps who recruited her into prostitution were looking for.

Frail-looking but generally affable, Sadiat (as we shall call her in order to protect her identity) was recruited into international prostitution by family friends who promised to get her a transnational job through which she could earn foreign currency and liberate her family from poverty.

Continue at The Punch...

Rot reigns in railway town despite billions spent on revival

Assaults by rapists and snakes worsen tales of neglect at the sprawling railway compound in Lagos, GEOFF IYATSEreports

Away from the buzz and noises of Lagos, welcome to the Railway Compound in Ebute-Meta, in the heart of the highly commercial city. Although the world outside is largely corrupt and polluted, residents of this popular facility of the Nigeria Railway Corporation still enjoy a good measure of serenity.

But while they still, for instance, enjoy songs from birds, they are also grappling with decadence. Those familiar with the place note that it has become a shadow of itself – what with assaults from rapists and snakes that occasionally put the residents on the edge.

Continue at The Punch

2015: Atiku declares, says corruption worse under Jonathan

A former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has formally declared his intention to contest the 2015 Presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.

The Punch reports that Abubakar, at a ceremony held at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Wednesday, explained that   his desire to become President was born out of the need to give back to the nation.

Military kills Abubakar Shekau ‘again’

The Defence authorities have confirmed the killing of the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, during one of the four encounters with insurgents in Kodunga, Borno State between September 12 and 17, 2014.

The Punch reports that the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, said during a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, that the corpse of the insurgents’ leader was identified by the people of Kodunga.

Shittu: Crippled by polio, rescued by sports

Poliomyelitis has long been ravaging millions of children in Nigeria, turning many of them to street beggars.

The infectious disease has rendered many hopeless, making them hardly unable to make any meaningful impact in the society.

The rest at The Punch

PDP plots Amosun’s defeat, seals deal with Daniel

Senate President David Mark is expected to lead a three-man delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party to Ogun State on Thursday to cement the working agreement between the state PDP and the Labour Party for the 2015 general elections.
The Punch reports that also expected to be on the PDP team are the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Uche Secondus, and the Special Assistant to the President on Political Affairs, Prof. Rufa’i Alkali.

Suspects abandon Italy, China to lead robbery gang

The Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday paraded seven suspected members of an armed robbery gang, two of whom confessed to have travelled from Italy and China to lead the gang in Lagos.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the gang members were arrested on Saturday, September 20, in the Ebute Meta, Lagos while they were preparing for an operation.

Shekau is well, alive –Boko Haram negotiator

Borno-born journalist said to be a close ally of Boko Haram, Ahmad Salkida, has dismissed the reported killing of a top leader of the outlawed Islamist sect.

Salkida, who is on self-exile in the United Arab Emirates over alleged threats to his life, said he has it on “authority” that Abubakar Shekau was hale and hearty.

The Punch reports...

Quadri targets World Cup glory

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has said the Portuguese Super Cup he won with his club GD Toledos over the weekend will motivate him to win a title at the International Table Tennis Federation World Cup.

He told Punch

Evans Square: A neglected Sportsmine

My first very effort at investigative writing. I hope it's worth reading...

http://www.punchng.com/sports/evans-square-neglected-sports-mine/