Ghana Sacks Minister, Victoria Hammah, Over $1m Claim

While Nigeria is going in circles about Minister Stella Oduah who is entangled in an embarrassing corruption maze, reports from Ghana say that Victoria Hammah, the country’s Deputy Communications Minister, has been fired allegedly for saying on audio tape she would not quit politics until she has made $1m.
On the tape, which is suspected to have been made by her driver, she is quoted as saying, "If you have money then you can control people."
Ms. Hannah has been in controversy before, after saying last August there was pressure on her to steal public money because people believed that, being a Minister, she was rich.
According to the Ghanaweb news site, she further said, “Corrupt politicians are the reflection of [a] corrupt society!"
Ms. Hannah was fired just one day after the tape which contains her $1m-making ambition went viral on social media.  It was also played on a local radio station.
In Nigeria, as reported by SaharaReporters on Thursday night, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Aviation which probed the allegations of fraud against Ms. Oduah refuted every single one of her claim, describing them as false or unsupported by the evidence.
Still, the Minister, a personal friend and major 2011 campaign supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan, remains in office.
Before his departure for Israel on October 23, Mr. Jonathan set up a three-man panel to probe the allegations against Ms. Oduah, giving it two weeks to report.
But for the first week he then travelled with a member of the panel, as well as the Minister whom he was supposed to have been investigating.
The panel is now illegally several days behind its deadline without an extension, and Mrs. Oduah remains in office.

Passengers On Aero Flight Abandoned For Hours On Tarmac In Abuja As Aircraft Breaks Down

Passengers aboard an Aero Contractor Boeing 737 plane scheduled for a trip to from Abuja to Lagos were left stranded inside the aircraft for several hours, with airline officials nowhere in sight to offer any explanation, SaharaReporters has learnt from a source who was one of the abandoned passengers.
“It was as if the Aero Contractors turned us into prisoners of war,” said the passenger, adding that many passengers were terrified as the plane sat on the tarmac of Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja for several hours, with passengers locked up inside.
Our source disclosed that Flight AJ132 from Abuja to Lagos was supposed to take off at 8 p.m., but was delayed until midnight. Then, once passengers boarded, they were left inside the aircraft until 3 a.m. on Saturday. He added that the pilots and the crew left the aircraft with the passengers without giving any explanation. A source at the airline said it was a case of “Aircraft On Ground”, a term used to depict seriousness of engine trouble that causes an aircraft to be grounded.
“I think this kind of thing can only happen in Nigeria where customers are treated by an airline as if they were just rats trapped inside a plane, and the pilots and crew members disappear just like that.”
SaharaReporters could not reach a line for Aero Contractors to obtain an official response to the incident. Several passengers booked on other Aero’s flights suffered similar delays at airports around Nigeria.

Man Sleeps With Best Friend's Skeleton For 13 Years

A 47 year old man from Brazil has been found living with the skeleton of his best friend who died 13 years ago.

Fabio Beraldo Rigol moved in to the cemetry after going broke and being abandoned by his family over his drug addiction.
The former broker only leaves to go into Santa Isabel, Brazil, to ask for food. He claims he found himself penniless and homeless after his business folded and he started using drugs .

He said: “I’m more afraid of the living than the dead. I’ve never seen a ghost. It gets a bit quiet here sometimes, but I’m not a big talker, so it suits me. I’m not very good around living people.
“I had to leave the house, and I ended up wandering the streets. One night it was raining hard. I don’t remember how, but when I woke up I was here in the graveyard.”
On most days he leaves the graveyard to ask for food in the town centre.
He said: “When it’s raining I stay inside. I never want for anything. When I need people there is always someone who gives it to me. God never lets me go hungry.”
But Mr Rigol said he doesn’t intend to stay in the cemetery until his own time comes.

UK Remove £3,000 Cash Bond On Nigeria

Great news people of Nigeria! The UK government has announced plans to cancel the £3,000 cash bond that visitors from 'high risk' countries, including Nigeria, were to put up to enter Britain. Below is the latest update from The Sunday Times UK..

The government is to abandon a controversial plan to impose £3,000 immigration bonds on visitors from “high-risk” countries in Africa and Asia after Nick Clegg threatened to block the policy.

The move will be seen by Labour as a humiliating U-turn for Theresa May, the home secretary. It came after David Cameron backed off from a full-scale confrontation with the Liberal Democrat leader, who was blocking the scheme’s progress through cabinet.

A pilot project to target visitors from seven countries — including India, Pakistan and Nigeria — who would have had to pay a cash guarantee or deposit to deter immigration abuse was to have been introduced this month.

The plan was to make visitors forfeit £3,000 if they failed to return home by the time their visas had expired. But in an announcement this weekend the government said it was canceling the plans