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The Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayodele Oke, has declared that “before March 28, no territory of Nigeria will be under control of Boko Haram.” He gave the assurance Wednesday in the United States of America while attending an event at the Atlantic Council, Washington. Oke, in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine, deflected criticisms that the on-going offensive against Boko Haram launched since the postponement of the presidential ballot from Feb. 14 to March 28 indicates the delay was a political move by incumbent Goodluck Jonathan. “It is above partisan politics when we are discussing national security,” he said. “Nigerians need this democracy more than the international community does,” he further said. Oke did take more seriously was Boko Haram’s recent claim they are now aligned to the Islamic State, which they announced in a video posted online on Saturday. That connection, if proven real, would be especial

‎President Jonathan earlier today paid a visit to the Lord's Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministry in Ijesha, Lagos. Continue to see more photos  at the crusade

By Stephen Brown and Noah Barkin MUNICH (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel said on Saturday that sending arms to help Ukraine fight pro-Russian separatists would not solve the crisis there, drawing sharp rebukes from U.S. politicians who accused Berlin of turning its back on an ally in distress. The heated exchanges at a security conference in Munich pointed to cracks in the transatlantic consensus on how to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over a deepening conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 5,000. Ukraine's military said on Saturday that pro- Russian separatists had stepped up shelling of government forces and appeared to be amassing troops for new offensives on the key railway town of Debaltseve and the coastal city of Mariupol. The rebel offensive has triggered a flurry of shuttle diplomacy, with Merkel and French President Francois Hollande jetting to Moscow on Friday to try to convince Putin to do a peace deal. But Euro

By Saif Hameed and Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Five blasts across Baghdad on Saturday tempered Iraqis' anticipation of a more relaxed and accessible capital as the government prepared to lift a night-time curfew that has kept the city on a war-time footing for more than a decade. At least 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the explosions, security and medical sources said, and dozens of others were wounded. The attacks included a suicide bombing at a restaurant in a Shi'ite neighborhood and improvised explosives devices planted in a bustling central market district, underscoring the peril ordinary people still face from militant violence in Baghdad. Bombings have waned and waxed for nearly 12 years, but they have not ceased since the U.S.- led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. Ending the curfew and "demilitarizing" several neighborhoods is part of a campaign to normalize life in Iraq's war-blighted capital. Officials

By Alistair Bell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The young American hostage who Islamic State says was killed in a Jordanian air strike was condemned to death by the militant group last year, according to an American Muslim activist. Islamic State seized aid worker Kayla Mueller in 2013 in northern Syria and initially gave her a "life sentence" in retaliation for the jailing in Texas of a Pakistani woman whose case is a well-known cause among Islamist militants, said activist Mauri Saalakhan, who leads a U.S. campaign to free the Pakistani. The militant group said on Friday that Mueller, a 26-year-old from Prescott, Arizona, was killed when Jordanian fighter jets bombed a building where she was being held. Jordan expressed doubt about the claim and U.S. authorities said they could not confirm it. Mueller's family had long asked U.S. officials, aid groups and media outlets, including Reuters, not to use her name for fear the publicity could induce Islamic St

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan carried out a third straight day of air strikes on Islamic State targets on Saturday, it said, in response to the group's killing of a captive Jordanian pilot. “Sorties of air force fighters today bombed bases of the Daesh terror gang,” state television said in a bulletin, using a derogatory Arabic name for the militants. It said some of the targets were in the Syrian city of Raqqa but gave no other details. Jordan began on Thursday what it called an "earthshaking" response to the death of the pilot. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Whitehead, a former senior partner and co-chairman of Goldman Sachs who helped make it a top-tier Wall Street firm and led its international expansion, has died, the investment bank said on Saturday. He was 92. Whitehead joined Goldman Sachs in 1947 and worked his way to the highest rung of its corporate ladder before leaving after 38 years to become a deputy secretary of state under U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He was a chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a member of the board of the New York Stock Exchange. Active in political and philanthropic circles, he also served as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp after the World Trade Center was destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. "We grieve the loss of John Whitehead and honor his achievements and contributions in service to his country and Goldman Sachs," Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement. &q

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said that there were `new developments’ that needed to be addressed before the conduct of the 2015 general elections. Jega made the remark on Saturday in Abuja when he and other officials of the commission met with representatives of the registered political parties at the commission’s headquarters. He said that the inputs of the leaders of the political parties were important in addressing the new developments. Meanwhile there are strong indications that the presidential and National Assembly elections originally scheduled for 14 February may have been rescheduled to March 28 while the governorship and state houses of assembly elections earlier fixed for 28 February may now hold on 11 April, all of these subject to final ratification of the meeting between INEC National Commissioners and State Resident Electoral Commissioners currently ongoing. The decision to reschedul

Abuja - The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on Nigerians not to vote for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, for refusing to participate in the live radio and television debates organised for presidential candidates, reports Tribune. The party described Buhari’s contempt for debates and their organisers as despicable Femi Fani-Kayode, the Director of Publicity of the party’s Presidential Campaign Organization, said Buhari;s refusal to participate in the debates clearly shows that he is incapable of engaging in rigorous live television debates on the issues of governance. He said Buhari’s refusal speaks of his intellectual laziness and loss of touch with contemporary issues of development and statecraft. He urged the electorates to vote against Buhari as a recompense for his action.

Abuja - The federal government has directed that all schools from the primary to the tertiary level should remain open during the general elections, The decision was reached at a meeting between the federal government and the 36 states Commissioners for Education, including the F.C.T. Education Secretary. The meeting presided over by the Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, agreed that no holiday should be declared for the elections considering the fact that schools have lost much ground following their closure to prevent the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Shekarau promised write the state governments to ensure that adequate security are provided for boarding institutions marked as polling units for the elections.