The Sokoto State committees set up to plan for the swearing-in of the governor-elect, Mallam Aminu Tambuwal come May 29, said that they had completed their assignments . This is s contained in a statement signed by Alhaji Danladi Bako, the chairman of the publicity sub-committee and made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Sokoto.

“For him to succeed in tackling these knotty problems, he will need to behave like a dictator in spite of the constitution, ignore criticisms and keep abay sycophants,” said one former army officer who took part in Nigeria’s first military coup in 1966. “This is the time for him to bear his fangs against graft,” added social commentator Tokede Williams. “A man called upon to be a hawk must catch chickens.”

FIFA spokesman, Walter De- Gregorio, said at a news conference in Zurich on Wednesday that the body planned to go ahead with its congress and the presidential election in spite of the arrests and the World Cup probe. De-Gregorio said Blatter was not affected by the probes and remains relaxed. “He is not dancing in his office. But he knows it is the consequence of what we initiated”, he said.

“I gave the state a clear direction and so when voting started, there was no surprise that even in the three senatorial zones the people massively voted for us. Therefore, at the collation centres where the results were changed, everybody is in a state of mourning. Nobody has raised a flag that they won an election, in fact, they were adviced to stay indoors, because of the contrary results,” he said.

Ms Zainab Bangura, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, on Wednesday decried reported rape and forced marriages of female captives of Boko Haram. Bangura lamented in a statement signed by her Office’s Advocacy and Women’s Rights Specialist, Ms Letitia Anderson, that one year after the Chibok Girls abduction many were still in captivity.