"We are still trying to compute the actual number of those rescued. But tentatively there are about 60 women of various ages and around 100 children," Army spokesman Sani Usman told AFP.He also said one woman was killed in the fighting and eight other rescued hostages were injured. A soldier was also killed and four others wounded.
"One realizes that this is becoming almost commonplace and acceptable in Lagos as reports reaching us indicate that it happens daily. That may very well be an axiom but I share this with you to bring attention to what threatens to become endemic. A great contretemps I must confess."
42 year old Lindwela Uche who serves as the chairwoman of the group told AFP that they saw the xenophobic attacks coming and alerted their husbands but they did not take their warning seriously "We saw this thing coming and that’s why we formed this association. If only they (the authorities) had listened to us… they would have known that there’s a fire burning slowly and they would have seen how to tackle it.”she saidOne of the members of the association,“Lufunu Orji who is married to a Nigerian resource consultant, Ogbonnaya Orji, says being married to a foreigner is very challenging
"Being married to a foreigner is very challenging. You often spend your time defending yourself and then you defend your foreign husband for being himself. Just before I got wed to my husband, I lost two very best friends of mine. They thought I was out of my mind" she saidAnother member of the group who gave her name as Uche, said her 13-year-old daughter returned from school a while ago, complaining that her teacher had told her “not to bring that Nigerian mentality here” after she and classmates were noisy in class.
“We need to be protected, we need our children to be protected… and our husbands to be treated with dignity,” Uche said37 year old Thelma Okoro, says the attitude towards them “are negative everywhere we go,”. According to her, wearing traditional Nigerian dress on the street can attract bad comments. She spoke of how her eight-year-old daughter gets mocked by schoolmates over her name “Ngozi” which means “blessing” in Igbo but literally translates to “danger” in Zulu.
Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described the exit of the former President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a good omen to the party, saying; "Obasanjo's exit is good riddance to bad rubbish. His departure is inglorious, we will never miss him.
Governor Fayose, who said Obasanjo's tearing of his PDP membership card was a vindication of his stand that the former president should have been shown a red card by the PDP a long time ago, noted that; "Now the PDP can sleep with two eyes closed because the lion among our brethren, the tormentor of Nigeria just departed from our party to join the All Progressives Congress (APC)."
A member of SNH staff went to Oshodi area last week Thursday in search of Owolabi's family. After a long and difficult search, he was able to locate a relative of Mrs Akindujoye. Ms Adeola contacted Owolabi's mum and informed her of his recent accident and confirmed that he's being treated at St Nicholas Hospital, Lagos. Mrs Akindujoye also heard about her son on the radio after her relative's contact.
Owolabi Akindujoye whose mum lives in Ibadan, left home on the 4th of January, 2015 to go to Ilesha in search of work to pay for his WAEC exams. Unknown to his mum, he came to Lagos and ended up at Oshodi where he was working as a bus conductor.
The mother visited the hospital this morning accompanied by Ms Adeola. The family has reunited with Owolabi.
The hospital will not be asking for his family to pay any medical bills.
The Defence Headquarters has noted the remarks of a former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as reported in the media stating his views on perceived state of the armed forces and the roles being allegedly played by the military in the nation's political process in recent times. The leadership and cross section of the military believes that the former President and retired General has every right to be interested in the actions and fate of the military. Hence, his views like many others will continue to be accorded the well-deserved attention. It is however noteworthy that most of his utterances lately indicate an attitude of playing to the gallery or indulging in politicization of serious national security or military affairs.
