Twin blasts in Somalia capital

Hundreds of Somali soldiers erected new security checkpoints across the capital, a day after attacks by Islamic extremists killed at least nine civilians and wounded several others, according to AP.

Government security forces patrolled the streets of Mogadishu Saturday following the attacks Friday night on a hotel and a nearby public garden.

Police said at least five militants from the group al-Shabab were also killed in the attacks on SYL Hotel and the Peace Garden, which each involved suicide car bombers.

The first blast, at the hotel, sent a loud booming sound across the city, shattering windows and ripping the roofs off many nearby buildings. The truck packed with 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of explosives bomb may have been the most powerful bomb used by al-Shabab in recent years, said Somali security minister Abdirizak Omar, told AP.

At the scene of the hotel blast Saturday, an elderly Somali woman raised her hands in grief, shouting "God have mercy on him" as she looked at the wreckage of her son's car which was near the truck bomb.

Somali resident Barre Ali said the explosion at the hotel "felt like there was an earthquake." In his bedroom, Ali pointed to cracks in the wall of his house, which is located 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the scene of the blast.

More than 20 of the wounded are being treated at local hospitals, said Mohamed Abbas, the director of Daru Shifa hospital. Inside one hospital on Saturday, some victims of the attacks lay bleeding on the ground, screaming in pain, in the report.

Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke condemned the bombings.

"Such acts were perpetrated to terrorize (the) public and wreck the stability and development of the country," he said in the statement.

Despite being pushed out of Somalia's major cities, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa nation.

Land Scam:EFCC Docks AMATA Chiefs for N3.5m fake deals

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 arraigned the quartet of Abdulaziz Dalha Musa, Abbah Muhammad Bello, Bala Mohammed Zakari and Salisu Yusuf Juji before Justice Faruk Lawan of Kano State High Court on a two count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence.

The accused persons are all executive members of the Amalgamated Traders/Artisans Welfare Development Association, AMATA, Kano State Chapter.

The complainant, Alhaji Yusuf Yakubu Mika’il, a trader in Singa Market Kano alleged that, sometimes in February and September 2013 he was approached by the executives of the AMATA, Kano Chapter over some plots of land which they had for sale.

According to Mika’il, after series of negotiations, a sum of N3.5million (Three Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) was paid to the accused persons and he was subsequently issued with receipts.

However, the accused persons could not deliver on their promise as agreed and efforts of the victim to recover his money yielded no result.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to charges when they were read to them.

EFCC:A Man Arraigns for N1.3m Visa Scam

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 arraigned one Abdulaziz Abdullahi Eleyeye before Justice J. K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court sitting in Kano on one count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence.

Eleyeye, a graduate of Bayero University Kano was arrested on June 17, 2014 in Lagos following a complaint by one Khalid Ahmad Umar who alleged that the accused person defrauded him to the tune of N1.3m (one million, three hundred thousand naira).

The said amount was to be used for procuring America Visa for the victim.

According to Umar, having no doubt of Eleyeye who claimed to be a travel agent, he paid the said sum into the accused person’s account domiciled in three new generation banks.

Umar claimed that, when he presented himself for the visa interview at U.S.A Embassy he was turned down. Consequently, the accused advised him to re-apply, this time in Kuwait.

It was discovered to be a phony deal when the complainant was deported from Kuwait International Airport back to Nigeria on the grounds that, the travel documents he presented were forged.

Efforts of the victim to get service for his money or recover same were unsuccessful.

The charge reads:

“That you, Abdulaziz Abdullahi sometimes between June and December, 2013 within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, Kano knowingly retained the sum of Seven Hundred and Sixty Thousand Naira (N763,000.00) in your Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Account with account number 0020927933 being proceeds of your illegal act to wit: obtaining  the said sum from one Khalid Ahmed under the false pretence that you will secure a visa for him to United States of America, Qatar, South Africa or Kuwait and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 17 (a) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004 and punishable under Section 17 (b) of the same Act.”

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge when it read to him.

In view of his plea, counsel to EFCC, Salihu Sani asked the court for a date for trial.

Justice Omotosho adjourned the case to March 7, 2016 for hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial

The accused person is to be remanded in prison custody.

Human Rights Commission Vows To Prosecute Perpetrators Of Hate Speeches, Electoral Violence In 2015

Prof. Bem Angwe, Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission

The National Human Rights Commission says it will not hesitate to prosecute all those responsible for hate speeches and electoral violence during the 2015 elections.

The Executive Secretary, Prof. Bem Angwe, stated this in Abuja on when he inaugurated a special committee to investigate hate speeches and violence around the 2015 general elections.

He said the commission is taking this step to ensure that each and every person who took part in electoral violence or hate speech is held accountable.

Prof. Angwe said this done in fulfillment of its promise to Nigerians to investigate these electoral crimes. He added that gone are the days when people committed electoral violence and go free.

Angwe noted that in the realm of human rights, there was no immunity for impunity, adding that no one will be spared, no matter how highly placed.

The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Human Rights, Rep. Mahjud Alabi, expressed concerns that election, which was the most civilised way of choosing representative sometimes took the toga of acrimony and rancour.

Alabi, who was the chairman of the occasion, noted that hate speeches violated the right to decency and dignity of the human person.

According to him, using foul language to gain support or votes is criminal and punishable under the law.

The Rep recalled that a report released by NHRC prior to the 2015 elections showed that 58 people had lost their lives due to hate speeches.

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, appealed to the panel to also explore ways to putting a stop to cyber hate speeches.

Yakubu, who was represented by Mr Oluwale Uzi, Director Voter Education and Publicity, said it was more effective to monitor hate speeches and nip them in the bud before they escalated.

The Chairman pledged INEC’s support to the commission to help rid the country of hate speeches, particularly during elections.

The Committee’s Chairperson, Mrs Oti Ovrawah, while Responding on behalf of members, pledged that the committee would give fair hearing to all parties involved.

The Committee, which has two months to presents its findings, is expected to investigate all petitions received on hate speeches and violence during the 2015 general election and also identify all persons or organisations responsible for such electoral crimes and make recommendations.

The Internet is buzzing with a new conspiracy theory:The child beauty queen who was murdered in 1996. Is Katy Perry actually JonBenét Ramsey?

                                                                AP/BOULDER POLICE DEPT/AP/EVAN AGOSTINI

Conspiracy theorists claim, JonBenet Ramsey (L) - who was found dead in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colo. in 1996 - actually grew up to be pop star Katy Perry(R).

Ramsey, a 6-year-old girl from Boulder, Colo. was found strangled in the basement of her family home in 1996, but to this day, the case remains unsolved. For some reason, this has fueled speculation that the pre-teen beauty queen’s death was actually faked, and she instead grew up to be famed pop star Katy Perry.

A YouTube video of the conspiracy was posted back in December 2014 by Dave Johnson, but recently started getting attention.

“JonBenét Ramsey did not die, nobody died, nobody got hurt,” Johnson says in the video. "But she was sacrificed: That sacrifice was in name only, and that sacrifice was to get something, and that something was to become a star.”

“JonBenét Ramsey became Katy Perry. That's a fact," he added. “So if any of you continue to lie about this person dying, you are in fact a false witness to murder and death.”

Throughout the video, Johnson provides pieces of evidences he believes will back his theory. For one, he states that Perry's parents, pastors Keith Hudson and Mary Perry, look eerily similar to Ramsey's parents, Patsy and John Bennett Ramsey.

Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in 2006.

Another YouTube user, Jungle Surfer, posted their own take on the parents' looks, even pointing out their eyebrow shape, in a seperate conspiracy video.

“You're born with your eyebrows,” Jungle Surfer said. “They're very close, very close indeed, aren't they? … As you know, this whole entertainment industry is just a charade — you really don't know the truth.”

Johnson claims that Perry, 31, had been in hiding since the news of the murder case broke in 1996 until she rose to fame for her single “I Kissed a Girl” in 2008.

The singer was born on Oct. 25, 1984 as Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California, while Ramsey was born on Dec. 25, 1990.

Twitter user Ryan Witalison was quick to point that the math doesn’t add up.

“Apparently some believe Katy Perry is really JonBenét Ramsey, despite being born 6 years before Ramsey. Too many crazy people in this world,” he tweeted on Friday.

In the YouTube video posted by Johnson, a photo of young Ramsey slowly transitions into a recent photo of Perry, pointing out their strikingly similar facial features.

The video has more than 180,000 views with a follow-up garnering more than 12,000 hits.

The theory comes on the heels of the Internet buzzing over whether or not presidential candidate Ted Cruz is in fact the Zodiac Killer.

“Ted Cruz is the Zodiac killer. Katy Perry is actually JonBenet Ramsey,” Twitter user Justin Prochaska wrote. “The Internet is teaching me so much.”