Female suicide bomber kills 10 in Yobe

                             A police station set ablaze by Boko Haram in Kwadam, Gombe State... on Saturday

A   female suicide bomber believed to be 10 years old on Sunday struck at the Damaturu Central Motor Park, killing herself and nine other people.

The state Police Command Public Relations Officer,   Toyin Gbadegesin, said 31 others   were critically injured in the blast which occurred at about 12.20pm.

Gbadegesin explained that the   bomber had targeted security personnel on patrol at the park who suspected her movement and turned her away.

He said, “At about 12.10pm, a Hijab-wearing female suicide bomber came into the park and went to the security vehicle there. She was turned back   by our men. She then went to a commercial Volkswagen   vehicle that was half-loaded and suddenly, the bomb exploded

“Ten   people died and 31 were critically injured. The wounded people are   at the Gen. Sani Abatcha Hospital in Damaturu. We have condoned off the area and investigation is currently ongoing.”

When journalists visited the scene of the blast at about 3.30pm on Monday, operatives and men of the state fire service were still battling to put out the fire from the bus.

An eyewitness, Ibrahim Mohammed, said he was the only person close to   the scene of the explosion   that was not wounded.

“The sound of the explosion was deafening. I was shaken by it and as I talk to you,   I am still hearing strange sounds. I suspect the bomber could not have been more than 10 years.”

Sunday’s blast is the second targeting a densely populated area in Damaturu.   The first was last June   when nine football fans watching   the Brazil 2014 world cup tournament at a viewing centre were   killed by a bomber.

Jonathan, Buhari may hold fence-mending meeting

All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in a warm embrace with his Peoples Democratic Party opponent, President Goodluck Jonathan, at the general elections sensitisation workshop on non-violence in Abuja.

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) may meet before the March 28 presidential elections.

The PUNCH gathered on Sunday that the meeting which might hold outside the country   was to establish rapport between the two contenders before the election.

A source close to the Presidency said, “We are trying to broker a meeting between the two leaders.

“The way the presidential electioneering is going may create serious divisions among Nigerians. We need to stop this.

“Apart from this, I think there is serious apprehension in the camp of the President that if Buhari wins, he’s going to jail a lot of President Jonathan’s supporters for alleged corruption.

Still on the states and governors

                                                                                       TOLU OGUNLESI

I have decided to stay on the matter of Nigeria’s state governments for a second week, to surmount the temptation to write, at this time, about the election postponement and the accompanying mêlée.

Let me start with the clamour for more states, evinced by the recent proposal, following the 2014 National Conference, for the creation of an additional 18 states. It seems to be that new states are merely one of those compromise-arrangements that Nigerians are forever working out to temporarily assuage the ethnic aspects of the feelings of marginalisation embedded within our collective unconscious. States are in a way the snacks we hand out to keep various groups of Nigerians less unhappy as they wait for their turn to eat a proper meal at the kitchen table (Abuja).

Dasuki: Redefining NSA’s role in terror war

                                                                   National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki

BENT on deflecting the backlash from our feeble war against Boko Haram, the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has launched a campaign to douse the fire. In a tirade delivered last week, Dasuki blamed Nigeria’s failure to defeat the Islamists on the mass media and the international community. This is a red herring, a totally misplaced call from the NSA.

Pillorying the media and the international community for allowing “anything (videos) from Boko Haram to easily get online,” Dasuki, a retired Army colonel who replaced Owoye Azazi in June 2012, said Nigeria’s “soft approach” strategy against Boko Haram “is not being effective because we don’t have the media. The media is one of our major problems. Why the double standard from the international community? Nobody is talking of human rights violation in Syria and other places.” But this is just an excuse.

Osborne residents, FG tackle Fashola over jetty operation

                                                                               Governor Babatunde Fashola

Residents of Osborne Foreshore Residential Estate II, Ikoyi, Lagos are currently in court seeking to stop the construction and operation of a commercial jetty and ferry services in the area.

The Lagos State Government said it embarked on the project to deliver on its electoral promises to the general masses “to procure, maintain and sustain facilities to make water transportation workable in the state.”

The state government said the commercial jetty, when fully operational, would cater to the needs of a percentage of the estimated 1.8 million or more Lagosians who ride on the existing jetties monthly.

It is also part of the grand plan of the project awarded in March 2008 that shopping facilities and a major bus stop for BRT would be built.