Fails (5)

ABUJA-AN ambassadorial designate, Mrs. Ijioma Bristol, yesterday failed to recite both the national anthem and pledge before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs.

 
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Mrs. Bristol, wife of Nigerian Ambassador to France, who was screened yesterday as one of the 25 career ambassadorial nominees by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs could not recite the first stanza of the national anthem.
Mrs. Bristol, who hails from Anambra State, was asked three times to recite the first stanza of the national anthem, but she failed on all occasions. She also failed to name the capital of Jigawa State when asked by the committee.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Jibril Aminu, in reaction to her failure recommended that she be sent to do a crash programme on national anthem....
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The Nigerian's sample contained the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of banned substances for the first time this year.

The 24-year-old's suspension was extended after a hearing on Monday and she will keep her gold medal until after her B sample is tested.

"(The) B Sample result is expected within 48 hours from the time of the request so further details are not expected until Wednesday morning," said a Games Federation statement..

Oludamola took gold after Australian Sally Pearson, who crossed the line first in Thursday's race, was disqualified for a false start three hours after the finish.

Natasha Mayers, who crossed the line third in the blue riband sprint to take St Vincent and the Grenadines' first athletics medal, will be elevated to gold medallist if Oludamola is stripped of the title.

Mayers herself served a two-year doping ban after testing positive for testosterone in 2005.

The online edition of Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper (www.vanguardngr.com) quoted the president of Athletics Federation of Nigeria as saying that they would back the athlete as they believed she took the substance inadvertently.

"She took medication for her toothache and we strongly suspect that it was that which led to her failed drug test," Solomon Ogba told the paper.

'Shocked and disappointed'

Elias Usman Gora, chef de mission of the Nigeria team, told Reuters he was "shocked and disappointed."

"We brought our athletes here to compete and in the right spirit," he said. "It is very unfortunate if the second test also comes out positive.

"We had done out of competition testing on most of our athletes before coming here, except a few who joined us directly from the United States and Canada. Osayemi happens to be one who joined us from the United States.

"She has been a good athlete and had no problems with doping ever. I just don't know what happened."

A world championship 100 metres finalist in 2007, Oludamola reached the semi-finals of the sprint at the Beijing Olympics a year later."Any positive test, whether it is in a high-profile event or not, is something that is very much regretted because we all are striving for clean Games, clean sports and clean competitions," said Fennell.

Organisers have conducted over 950 tests since the start of the Games, Fennell said, with Oludamola's the first positive in more than 700 results.

"We just want to let everyone know that we are very vigilant," Fennell added. "This is something we have to work with and do a part in monitoring and eliminating doping in sports."

-REUTERS

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The Super Eagles fell by a lone goal to Argentina in their opening match of the World Cup. The victory margin would have been much wider had it not been for the goalkeeping heroics of Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama..

The Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israel goal stopper was the standout player of the Nigerian side and he was justifiably voted the Budweiser Man of the Match after a commanding performance against the former world champions.

Enyeama all through the game dived, punched and parried as he kept the Argentine forward line of Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez at bay.

The game began with Nigeria getting the first chance of the game when Chinedu Obasi found room on the left side of the attack but his shot was way off target. That appeared to be the wake-up call for the Argentines as they soon went on the offensive.

And in the fifth minute, an error by Chidi Odiah resulted in Messi running at the Nigerian defence before curling a shot that Enyeama was well placed to parry for a corner. From the resultant corner kick, Obinna Nsofor failed to pick out Gabriel Heinze and the Marseille defender headed the ball into the back of the net to put the Albiceleste one-nil up.

In the 18th minute, Enyeama was up to the task yet again stopping a goal bound curling effort from Messi. Three minutes later, it was Gonzalo Higuain's turn to try the Nigerian goalkeeper but he was unable to place his shot past the onrushing Enyeama. And eight minutes from the end of the half, a well-planned free kick by the Argentines started and ended with Messi, but Enyeama saved yet again, and spectacularly, with his left hand to keep the score line respectable at the break.

Super Enyeama

After the break, Lars Lagerback brought on Obafemi Martins for Nsofor and Osaze Odemwingie for Obasi, but it was still one way traffic in favour of the Argentines who were however unable to get the better of Enyeama, with his first save of the half arriving in the 66th minute when he blocked Higuain's shot from up-close after an exchange of passes with Messi.

Four minutes later, the Super Eagles came close to pulling back on level terms when Taye Taiwo's shot from the edge of the area only missed the Argentine goal by whiskers with Sergio Romero clearly beaten. The effort however came at a cost for the Marseille defender as he was subsequently taken off the pitch clutching his left knee.

In the 78th minute, Romero was once again tested, this time by Martins whose effort from outside the area was punched out of the danger area. But three minutes afterwards, Messi was denied yet again by Enyeama. A lovely interchange of passes by the Barcelona forward and Diego Milito, who took the place of Higuain two minutes earlier, ended with Messi unable to curl his shot past the advancing Enyeama.

Seconds later, a cross into the Argentine area ended at the feet of Kalu Uche, who took the place of the injured Taiwo, but the Spain based forward scooped his shot over the crossbar when he ought to have hit the back of the net.

That served as a sign for Diego Maradona to fortify his defence and he did that by introducing Nicolas Burdisso for Angel Di Maria. The Super Eagles however still had one more chance to draw level but Aiyegbeni Yakubu's dipping shot sailed over Romero's crossbar.

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NEW YORK – Police found an "amateurish" but potentially powerful bomb that apparently began to detonate but did not explode in a smoking sport utility vehicle in Times Square, authorities said Sunday.

Thousands of tourists were cleared from the streets for 10 hours after a T-shirt vendor alerted police to the suspicious vehicle, which contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

"We avoided what we could have been a very deadly event," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."

The bomb appeared to be starting to detonate but malfunctioned, top police spokesman Paul Browne said Sunday.

Firefighters who arrived shortly after the first call heard a popping sound, said Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano, who described the sound as not quite an explosion.

"I think the intent was to cause a significant ball of fire," Kelly said.

No suspects were in custody, though Kelly said a surveillance video showed the car driving west on 45th Street before it parked between Seventh and Eighth avenues. Police were looking for more video from office buildings that weren't open at the time.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that officials are treating the incident as a potential terrorist attack. The mayor said earlier Sunday, "We have no idea who did this or why" but said it's not surprising the city is a frequent target of terrorism.

"These things invariably ... come back to New York," Bloomberg said.

The SUV was towed early Sunday to a forensic lab in Queens, where it was being "thoroughly checked for prints, hairs and fibers," Browne said Sunday. Napolitano said fingerprints had been recovered from the vehicle.

The T-shirt vendor alerted police at about 6:30 p.m, the height of dinner hour before theatergoers head to Saturday night shows..

Smoke was coming from the back of the dark-colored Pathfinder, its hazard lights were on and "it was just sitting there," said Rallis Gialaboukis, 37, another vendor who has hawked his wares for 20 years across the street.

A white robotic police arm broke windows of the SUV to remove any explosive materials. A Connecticut license plate on the vehicle did not match up, Bloomberg said. Police interviewed the Connecticut car owner, who told them he had sent the plates to a nearby junkyard, Bloomberg said.

Heavily armed police and emergency vehicles shut down the city's busiest streets, choked with taxis and people on one of the first summer-like days of the year. Times Square lies about four traffic-choked miles north of where terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, then laid waste to it on Sept. 11, 2001.

The car was parked on one of the prime blocks for Broadway shows, with seven theaters housing such big shows as "The Lion King" and "Billy Elliot."

The curtain at "God of Carnage" and "Red" opened a half-hour later than usual, but the shows were not canceled, said spokesman Adrian Bryan-Brown.

Katy Neubauer, 46, and Becca Saunders, 39, of Milwaukee, were shopping for souvenirs two blocks south of the SUV when they saw panicked crowds.

"It was a mass of people running away from the scene," Neubauer said.

Said Saunders: "There were too many people, too many cops. I've never seen anything like it."

Bloomberg left early from the White House correspondent's dinner Saturday night. President Barack Obama, who attended the annual gala, praised the quick response by the New York Police Department, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

He has also directed his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to advise New York officials that the federal government is prepared to provide support.

Brennan and others will keep Obama up to date on the investigation, Shapiro said.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York responded along with the NYPD, said agent Richard Kolko.

The latest terror threat in New York came last fall when air shuttle driver Najibullah Zazi admitted to a foiled homemade bomb plot aimed at the city subway system.

The theater district in London was the target of a propane bomb attack in 2007. No one was injured when police discovered two Mercedes loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline.

Officials said the device found Saturday was crudely constructed, but Islamic militants have used propane and compressed gas for years to enhance the force of explosives. Those instances include the 1983 suicide attack on the U.S. Marines barracks at the Beirut airport that killed 241 U.S. service members, and the 2007 attack on the international airport in Glasgow, Scotland.

In 2007, the U.S. military announced that an al-Qaida front group was using propane to rig car bombs in Iraq.

Times Square has been a frequent target, if not for potential terrorists, then for rabble-rousers.

In December, a parked van without license plates led police to block off part of the area for about two hours. A police robot examined the vehicle, and clothes, racks and scarves were found inside.

In March 2008, a hooded bicyclist hurled an explosive device at a military recruiting center, producing a flash, smoke and full-scale emergency response. No suspect was ever identified.

Police have spent years trying to crack down on street hustlers and peddlers preying on tourists. But there have been two major gunfights in recent months. A street hustler armed with a machine pistol exchanged shots in December, shattering a Broadway theater ticket window, before police fatally shot him.

Four shootings and more than 50 arrests on a mile-long stretch of Manhattan last month around Times Square prompted the mayor to call the mayhem "wilding."

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We used to think Abacha and IBB both evil intheir own way but now whoever is in charge of Yaradua's movements has revealed a wickedness unprecedented.

Article:


Ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua failed to appear at the Friday Jumat service in Abuja today, dousing tension in the political and security quarters of the federal capital that he will be ending his four months absence from public space by praying at the National Mosque.

Wide claims that Mr. Yar’Adua will be at the Jumat service caused anxiety among Politicians of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) last night who heard that loyalists of the President planned to bring him to the Friday service today.

A presidency source who wanted to remain anonymous said the plan triggered an urgent security meeting that went into deep hours of the night, the resolution of which was a stern warning to elements of the Yar’Adua inner circle to tread carefully and restrain from plunging the nation into a crisis.

“Ï think a riot act was basically read out to the Yar’Adua team with a cautionary note that they will be held responsible for any security breach in the city and in the country” said the source who refused to read any meaning to the sudden news that the president and his inner team had prepared to appear in public today.

Last night party officials described it as disturbing that the president’s planned re-entry into public life was coming three days before the Senate begins the screening of ministerial nominees on Monday, and a day after the 2010 budget was passed. They also questioned the choice of a religious occasion for Mr. Yar’Adua’s re-emergence in public.

One source said, “if the President would be coming out four months after his absence, it ought not to be at a religious event because that will send the wrong signal.” Mr. Yar’Adua, a Muslim from Kastina State participated in the weekly Jumat service at the National Mosque located at the Central business district in Abuja until his illness kept him from public view.

The ailing President was flown out of the country on the 23rd of November 2009 to Saudi Arabia for a heart condition and has since been out of public view. The issue of Mr. Ya Adua’s appearance became subject of interest last week when two national dailies claimed that plans were afoot for the ailing president to make a public outing this week.

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