Militants hijack ship in push for Kanu’s freedom

A merchant ship has been seized by some militants who are demanding freedom for the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, within 31 days or they will blow up the ship.

Kanu, the promoter of Biafra radio, who was arrested on October 17,  last year, is standing trial for treasonable felony before a court in Abuja. The judge has denied him bail.

There have been protests in the Southeast states for the revival of the defunct Biafra.

The hijacking of the ship is the latest attempt to compel the government to release the IPOB leader.

The ultimatum to the government was reportedly given at the weekend by a militant identified by the General Ben. Ben. “Some Niger Delta militants have shown interest in working with us,” said Uchena Madu, a leader of the Movement for the Actualization of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

The hijacking indicates the Biafran agitators could be working with some Niger Delta militants who recently bombed oil pipelines in the Niger Delta.

The Defence Headquarters yesterday confirmed the hijack of a merchant ship in the Niger Delta by some “criminals”.

Although it did not give the name of the ship, it said the ship is now in about 7.4 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria.

It said Benin Republic Navy is guarding it.

The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, said yesterday: “We can confirm the hijack of a merchant ship but we don’t know who really hijacked it.

“We are suspecting that the ship was hijacked by some criminals and not militants.

“There is nothing like militants in the Niger Delta again since the Amnesty Programme was launched.

“The ship is not even within the waters of Nigeria. It is in about 7.4 nautical miles off the coast of this country.

“The Navy personnel in Benin Republic have been guarding the ship. We are collaborating with all our neighbours.”

With The Nation

French-Swiss chef dies from apparent suicide one month after restaurant is named the world’s greatest

A French-Swiss chef whose tiny restaurant was named the best in the world just one month ago was found dead Sunday from an apparent suicide, police said.

Friends of culinary master Benoît Violier speculated that he may have cracked after his sudden rise to global fame.

“I hope that the stress of this number-one ranking is not the cause,” Paris restaurateur Pierre Gagnaire told the Swiss newspaper 24 Heueres.

Pierre Keller, a wine merchant who saw Violier just days ago, told the paper: “I am appalled, absolutely destroyed.”

Referring to Violier’s esteemed restaurant, he added: “It takes a lot of pressure to do that.”

Violier, 44, died in his home in Crissier, Switzerland, from a self-inflicted shotgun wound, according to police.


The young culinary star quietly earned top honors for his low-profile Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville, which he ran with his wife, Brigitte. It was one of about 100 restaurants in the world to earn the maximum three stars from the Michelin Guide. In December, La Liste — a restaurant ranking by the French Foreign Ministry — deemed it the greatest eating establishment in the world, ahead of bigger names like New York’s Per Se and Paris’ Guy Savoy.

Violier openly discussed the pressures of meeting such high expectations.

“It’s my life,” he told the Swiss TV station RTS in 2014.

“I go to sleep with cooking, I wake up cooking.”

Violier last year lost his father, as well as fellow chef Philippe Rochat, whom he considered a “mentor” and “second father,” according to The Guardian

iolier’s death came just hours before he was due in Paris for the release of the new French Michelin guide. 

French reports said Violier was haunted after his rating in the Gault & Millau guide went down, and he feared a similar slip in the next Michelin book.

In 2003, French chef Bernard Loiseau killed himself with a shotgun amid rumors that the three-star rating for his restaurant, La Côte d’Or, was about to fall.

Helicopter crashes in Lagos

A Bristow helicopter with registration No. 5NBJQ has crashed in Lagos. The helicopter was on its way from Port Harcourt before it crashed around Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

Eleven people were believed to have survived the crash as they floated on the water with help of their life jacket. They have since been rescued.

However, the identities of the affected passengers were unknown at the time of this report.

With The Guardian

Nigeria to implement UNEP report on Wetlands – Minister

The Federal Ministry of Environment said there were plans to implement the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the designation of Niger-Delta as Wetlands.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed in Abuja on Tuesday, on the occasion of the 2016 Wetlands Day.

A wetland is an area of land where water covers the soil – even for only part of the year.

Wetlands can be natural or artificial. The water in them can be still or flowing, fresh, salty or in-between (brackish).

World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on Feb. 2 which marks the date on which the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar.

The minister said that some the efforts being made to manage wetlands in the country included preparation of National Wetlands Management Policy.

She also said that there were plans to designate more wetland sites of international importance for conservation and sustainable use as well as sensitising the public to sustainable use of wetlands.

Others, she said are promotion of international cooperation on wetland management and development of wetlands poverty reduction initiatives towards improving the livelihoods of wetland communities.

The minister said this was in line with government’s development agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Ramsar Convention had designated 11 wetlands of international importance for Nigeria

They are Apoi Creek Forests, Bayelsa, Baturiya Wetland, Kano, Dagona Sanctuary Lake, Yobe, Foge Islands, Kebbi, Lake Chad Wetlands, Borno and Lower Kaduna-Middle, Niger Floodplain, Kwara, Niger.

Others are Maladumba Lake, Bauchi, Nguru Lake (and Marma Channel) complex, Jigawa, Yobe, Oguta Lake, Imo, Pandam and Wase Lakes, Plateau and Upper Orashi Forests, Rivers.

The theme of the 2016 World Wetlands Day celebration, which is selected to demonstrate the vital role of wetlands to humanity and the new sustainable development goals, is “Wetlands for our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods.’’

With The Guardian

'Rambo' the Elephant gores Scottish tourist to death during Thailand island vacation

An elephant dubbed “Rambo” may have been startled or overwhelmed by the heat when it gored a Scottish tourist to death, Thai authorities said.

The pachyderm launched its attack Monday on the resort island of Ko Samui, throwing Gareth Crowe, 36, and his daughter, Eilidh Hughes, to the ground. Rambo then gored Crowe with his tusk and stomped on him.

The animal — who's also known as Golf — became enraged after its trainer, or mahout, climbed off to take a picture of the tourists.

Crowe had a prosthetic leg and was unable to run away from the elephant, officials say.

Hughes and the trainer, Zaw Win Tun, were injured in the deadly attack.

There was speculation that the elephant might have been in a state of musth, when it becomes more aggressive during its mating cycle, but authorities said that was not the case.

"We suspect that the hot weather made the elephant angry and that he was not accustomed to his mahout," Paiboon Omark, Samui district chief, told AFP.

The elephant has been chained to a tree since Monday so officials can monitor its behavior, the Bangkok Post reports. Officials say Rambo will take a 15-day break from work and then be moved to another branch of the trekking company.

Elephants are Thailand's de facto national animal and were once featured on the country's flag. Their numbers have declined in recent decades as expanding human settlements have reduced their natural habitats. Thailand now has fewer than 3,000 wild elephants and about 4,000 domesticated elephants, according to the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department.

The animals once were used for logging, but deforestation and a subsequent ban on most logging has led to many elephants now being used as tourist attractions.

With daily news