More graphic photos from the Yola bomb blast this evening

At least 10 people died this evening after a bomb exploded in ftont of the Jimeta modern market in Yola, Adamawa.

I have some photos from the scene and it's quite horrific. See them after the cut. *warning - graphic photos*

Story by Linda Ikeji

Death toll in Ghana disasters now 150, 3 days mourning declared

The death toll in the flood disaster and gas station explosion that rocked Accra the Ghanaian capital on Tuesday night has risen to 150.

Ghanaian president has declared 3-days of mourning for victims of the disasters.

source Linda Ikeji

More photos from Dangote Cement commissioning in Ethiopia

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote today June 4th took a lot of Nigerian businessman and captains of industries to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the commissioning of his Dangote Cement Plant.

CBN governor, NSE CEO, former Calabar governor, Donald Duke, billionaire business men Femi Otedola, Jim Ovia and MDs of Access Bank, Zenith Bank and First Bank and the Prime Minsiter of Ethiopia were all at the event.

See the photos after the cut...

Cecil Hammond with CBN governor

Dangote and his guests

Former MD of Access Bank Aig with other guests admiring the plant

MDs of First Bank and Access Bank

Cecil Hammond with ex-governors Donald Duke and Niyi Adebayo

Dangote with NSE CEO

Aliko Dangote giving a speech

Prime Minister of Ethiopia giving a speech

source Linda Ikeji

Photo of Nigerian lady shot dead by her ex-boyfriend in the US two days ago

What a beauty! And she was a college graduate.

This is the 24 year old graduate of University of Maryland who was shot dead on Monday June 1st by her ex-boyfriend, 27 year old Donald Bricker.

Mariam Folashade Adebayo broke up with Donald a few months ago but he refused to leave her alone.

On the night of the murder, he'd told her to meet him so they could talk, saying he would harm himself if she didn't come.

She went to see him and they began arguing in his car in a parking lot at Target.

When Mariam decided she'd had enough, she got out of the car and that was when Donald followed with a gun in his hand and fired at her...twice.

See photo of the murderer after the cut...

Source Linda Ikeji

Four soldiers killed in blast in Maiduguri

At least four soldiers were killed in a blast that occurred at a checkpoint in Maiduguri, Borno state today June 4th. Eyewitnesses say a truck carrying firewood exploded near the gates of the Maimalari Barracks, killing the soldiers and injuring many others.

"At least four soldiers were killed and several injured," one resident told AFP

Story by Linda Ikeji

Graphic photos: Bomb blast in Yola

A bomb explosion occurred in front of the Jimeta main market in Yola Adamawa state at about 7:45pm today June 4th.

Eyewitnesses say the residents of the area had just finished observing their evening prayers at a nearby praying ground when the bomb detonated.

It is believed the explosion was carried out by a male suicide bomber.

Unconfirmed reports say as much as ten persons have been certified dead from the blast. Some survivors pictured above. More photos after the cut...

Source Linda Ikeji

Photos from Kaymu & Kinabuti Children's Day with Change a Life Foundation

It was a fun filled day as leading online shopping community, Kaymu.com.ng in partnership with Kinabuti Fashion Initiative celebrated Children’s day with kids of Change of Life Foundation .

The children were trained on how to brand clothing items by Kinabuti trainers and thereafter taken through the whole process of selling on Kaymu.

Items branded by the kids will be put up for sale on Kaymu and proceeds will be given to the Change A Life Foundation. See the photos after the cut...

Story by Linda Ikeji

House of Rep pass Petroleum Industry Bill

House of Reps members today passed the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill.

The House members had on Tuesday June 2nd suspended its deliberation on the bill due to some unresolved clauses and a committee was set up with the view of settling all the issues in the bill.

The members on resumption today chorused "Ayee" as the Deputy House Speaker Emeka Ihedioha called for a vote on the bill.

The Petroleum Industry bill will among other things help create a more conducive business environment for petroleum operations and enhance exploration of petroleum resources in Nigeria.

source Linda Ikeji

At least 55 killed in Boko Haram raids on two Nigerian villages

At least 55 people were killed in two Boko Haram raids this week near Maiduguri, capital of restive northeastern Nigeria Borno state, a vigilante and two residents said on Friday.

“Boko Haram fighters raided Bale and Kayamla villages where they killed at least 55 people and burnt several homes after looting them before proceeding to the outskirts of Maiduguri where they were crushed by troops,” a vigilante official, Abacha Zinnari, said. “They killed 30 people in Kayamla and another 25 in Bale,” he said.

A resident of Bale, Husseini Ari, said the village on Thursday buried 25 people killed in the previous day’s raid while several others who were injured were taken to hospital.

“The village is mourning the death of 25 people killed in the Boko Haram attack who were buried yesterday,” Ari said.

A group of heavily armed Boko Haram fighters late Wednesday launched an offensive on Maiduguri city which was repelled by troops from a military base on the outskirts of the city, according to the military and residents.

The insurgents had raided the villages before the foiled assault on the city but the story was slow to emerge following a round-the-clock curfew imposed on the city by the military on Thurday which restricted movement.

“The gunmen burnt around 50 houses and looted food stores and livestock,” said Ari, adding that the insurgents targeted homes they identified as belonging to vigilantes in the village Musa Kumbo, a resident of Kayamla, said at least 30 people were killed in the Boko Haram raid on the village and surrounding settlements.

“The attackers were heard shouting they would come back and finish their operation once they were done with Maiduguri,” Kumbo said.

At least three soldiers, six vigilantes and dozens of Boko Haram insurgents were killed during clashes in Maiduguri on Wednesday evening, sources have said.

The assault was the first on Maiduguri for three months and came after sweeping offensives against Boko Haram strongholds by a regional military coalition of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

UN condmens Boko Haram abuse of children in Cameroon

Nigeria-based Boko Haram jihadists are behind horrendous violence in neighbouring Cameroon, where they have kidnapped more than 1,000 children and used some youngsters as human shields, a top UN official said.

“The system they use is just inhuman,” Najat Rochdi, UN humanitarian coordinator for Cameroon, told AFP in an interview in Geneva this week.

The north of the west African country borders the area in northeastern Nigeria where a violent Boko Haram insurrection has killed more than 15,000 people since 2009.

Starting last July, the jihadists began launching cross-border attacks, initially just hit-and-run strikes to grab food, Rochdi said.

But the attacks soon escalated with the militants burning villages and killing people, and, by the end of the year, kidnapping children.

“The information I have is around 1,500″ have been taken since then, she said, adding that they were mainly used as servants, to help carry tents and fetch water. – Children on the frontline – At the height of the attacks in northern Cameroon in February, Boko Haram deployed children on the frontline, Rochdi said.

“To my knowledge, the children were used as human shields … (and) were aged between eight and 12,” she said.

In those attacks, which are no longer taking place, the children were backed by locally recruited youths, with hundreds of heavily- armed militants taking up the rear, she added.

“The worst was the children… Obviously this created a horrible situation,” she said, adding that many Cameroonian soldiers had been deeply traumatised by having to face children on the battlefield.

Rochdi said it remained unclear if the children were from Cameroon, Nigeria or elsewhere.

A four-nation fightback by Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon halted the attacks for a while, but Rochdi said the jihadists had resumed weekly cross-border hit-and-run style attacks.

“We don’t feel in Cameroon that it is over at all,” she said.

While hailing new Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to eradicating the group, she voiced concern that the onslaught might push more jihadists into Cameroon.

That would be disastrous for the country, which is already struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees from Nigeria and conflict-ravaged Central African Republic, in addition to nearly 100,000 Cameroonians displaced since the Boko Haram attacks began, she said.

Some 240,000 Central Africans have taken refuge in Cameroon since the conflict in their country escalated in 2013, joining nearly 100,000 already there, and around 70,000 Nigerians have flooded in since last year.

This has put huge pressure on resources in a country already hit by recurring natural disasters like floods and droughts, which have left more than a million Cameroonians wondering where their next meal will come from.

More than 200,000 children in the country were malnourished, Rochdi said.

She warned that the UN had received just 31 percent of the $264 million it had appealed for to help Cameroon this year, resulting in cuts to food rations and to education programmes.

She appealed to donors to step up their efforts, warning the multiple humanitarian crises in Cameroon were creating “fertile ground for recruitment for Boko Haram.”

Rochdi cautioned that without more help, Cameroon risked “becoming a real threat to the stability of the whole region.”

US airline apologises over anti-Muslim discrimination

United Airlines has apologised to a Muslim chaplain who said she was denied an unopened can of soft drink on an affiliated US domestic flight by an attendant who said it could be used as a weapon.

The US airline also said in a statement on Wednesday that the flight attendant had been banned from serving its customers.

United launched an investigation after Tahera Ahmad, Northwestern University associate chaplain, complained about the incident last week in social media posts that went viral.

Ahmad, who wore a headscarf aboard a flight from Chicago to Washington that was operated by Shuttle America for United, said in a Facebook post the flight attendant had discriminated against her when she was denied an unopened can of Diet Coke.

Ahmad’s description of the incident touched off a social media storm, including a Twitter campaign at #UnitedforTahera, which garnered global support and a call by many to boycott the airline.

Ahmad did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The attendant cited “security reasons,” saying the beverage could be used as a weapon, yet gave the man sitting next to Ahmad an unopened can of beer.

Toll rises in Ghana petrol station blast

A huge explosion at a petrol station in Ghana’s capital Accra has killed at least 90 people and set alight neighbouring buildings after floods swept stored fuel into a nearby fire, according to authorities.

The blast happened on Thursday as dozens of people sought shelter at the petrol station and in nearby shops in central Accra to escape the torrential rains.

The disaster raised anew concerns over the city’s inadequate infrastructure.

Al Jazeera’s Ama Boateng, reporting from Accra, said the city and the rest of Ghana have been experiencing torrential rains.

“This is a very busy area of Accra. Lots of people.

Lots of car traffic.

And because of the heavy rains people gathered at this gas station to seek shelter and this explosion happened,” she said.

TV footage showed corpses being piled into the back of a pickup vehicle and other charred bodies trapped amid the debris.

Floodwaters around the site hampered rescue and recovery efforts.

Officials at the nearby 37 Military Hospital said its morgue had reached capacity.