Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) — Former President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from a hospital and will continue receiving treatment at his home in Houghton, a spokesman for South African President Jacob Zuma told CNN on Wednesday.

Mandela, 94, was treated for an acute respiratory infection in 2011. He was hospitalized for a lung infection on December 8; and on December 15, he underwent surgery for removal of gallstones.

Mandela has not appeared in public since the 2010 World Cup hosted in his country.

During the time of apartheid in South Africa, Mandela was convicted of sabotage and was imprisoned for 27 years until 1990.

He and former President F.W. de Klerk, who dismantled apartheid, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. A year later, Mandela became the nation’s first black president.

South Africa last month issued banknotes bearing the picture of Mandela.

Despite his rare public appearances in recent years, Mandela retains his popularity and is considered a hero of democracy in the nation.

South Africans celebrated his 94th birthday in July by participating in good deeds nationwide to honor the legacy of the famous statesman.

Citizens performed at least 67 minutes of public service on his birthday, a reference to the number of years he devoted to helping others.

A day before his birthday, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea, had lunch with Mandela in the small southeastern village where he grew up and spends most of his time.

Clinton, whose presidential term coincided with Mandela’s, hailed him as a “wonderful friend” and planted a tree in his honor during the visit.

“He didn’t call me a single time, not once, when he didn’t ask about Hillary (Clinton) and Chelsea,” Clinton said of their conversations during their time in office. “If it wasn’t too late, he’d ask me to go get Chelsea, bring her to the phone, ask about her homework.”

Clinton said the anti-apartheid icon has never lost touch with his humanity.

“I saw in him something that I try not to lose in myself, which is no matter how much responsibility you have, he remembered you were a person first,” he said.

Mandela’s impact has extended far beyond the borders of his own country. After he left office in 1999, he was involved in international situations ranging from conflicts in Africa to the Mideast.

In January 2000, he addressed the United Nations Security Council, appealing for help in ending the brutal civil war between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis in Burundi. In December 2003, he participated in the signing of the Geneva Accords for peace in the Middle East.

A bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled in Parliament Square in London in 2007, and in 2009 the United Nations designated July 18 as Mandela Day in 2009.

- CNN

No fewer than 94 persons have lost their lives to different road mishaps that occoured across the country within 5 days of this year’s Christmas celebration, the Federal Road Safety Commission has said.

According to Corps Marshall and Chief Executive of Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Mr. Osita Chidoka, the crashes claimed the innocent lives in about 191 accidents.
Chidoka made this known in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, where he went to monitor the traffic situation on the ever-busy Lokoja-Abuja highway.

The FRSC boss blamed the sad occurrences on high speed.

Expressing his worry over the rampant road accidents, Mr. Chidoka condemned the attitude of motorists who often violate traffic sign.

He said, “It is an attitudinal issue as this year witnessed rehabilitation of major corridors of the highways, people tend to disregard traffic laws bordering on speed limits and accelerate beyond recommended speed thus resulting to the figures we have witnessed the last 5 days. We have devised measures to address this unpleasant development”.

Chidoka however urged road users to minimise their speed rate and obey traffic regulations to avoid more road disasters.

While expressing his gladness over the free flow of traffic on Abuja-Lokoja-Okene highways this festive period, he lauded his men and other security agencies for bringing traffic situation under control.
He also warned drivers against over-speeding, overloading and the use of seat belt. He also asserted that offenders would not go unpunished.

The Corps Marshall however applauded the Federal Government for its quick intervention on rehabilitation of bad roads across the country, noting that the road audit, which was presented to the Federal Ministry of Works and the Federal Road Management Agency was urgently attended to.

His words, “In my five years as Corps Marshal, I have never seen such a concentrated effort to rehabilitate the roads by FERMA and the Ministry of Works”.

Chidoka who extended his traffic monitoring to Niger Bridge in Onitsha and its environs observed that sanity has been restored in the areas.

He noted that Anambra State Sector Commander, Hyginus Omeje, had to temporarily relocate to Onitsha on Sunday from Awka to control the traffic.

President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday explained why most Nigerians believed that his administration was slow in implementing and responding to some of the people-oriented policies and projects of the government.

Accoring to him, this was because of his resolve to avoid taking hasty decisions that may be fraught with mistakes and which might be more difficult to correct.

The president who stated this during the Christmas Day service at the Diocese of Abuja Anglican Communion, the Cathedral Church of the Advent Life Camp, Gwarinpa, Abuja added that the foundation being laid for infrastructural development would stand the test of time.

According to the president, “By human thinking, our administration is slow, I won’t say we are slow but we need to think through things properly if we are to make lasting impact. If we rush we will make mistakes and sometimes it is more difficult to correct those mistakes.

File photo: President Goodluck Jonathan addressing the Nation at The State House in Abuja
“I want to assure Nigerians that any step we take whether little or giant, we won’t go back. And where we need to act fast we will do so, that we demonstrated with the flood disaster because it required immediate response.

“Democracy must be dictated by ballot papers and I think we have achieved that with electoral reform. We will not go back but will continue to improve.

“For our transformation to be sustained we Nigerians must be reformed. We must not see our country as where we make money only and build walls and live as prisoners because of the criminal activities of few” he said.

The president who was accompanied to the church service by his family members reiterated that his administration is committed and will keep faith with its promises.

“At least what we are doing in agriculture, transportation and power has been noted by the Primate. We have laid solid foundation for power, agriculture and transport sectors and I can assure you we will not go back again.

The President also underscored the need for re-orientation in the country, noting that a situation where some criminal minded Nigerians vandalise government properties to sabotage government’s effort must be condemned as such actions are tantamount to the transformation plan of the government.

“People play politics with things that affect even their own lives. You wonder why a person that carries saw to go and cut down a conductor carrying cables that produce electricity, because you want a government to fail. This happened somewhere in Enugu. You begin to wonder if they are humans. That is why we need to reform if we must transform” he said.

While emphasising the crucial role of the church in mobilising support for government, the president said; “The church has a great role to play if the transformation must succeed because you can’t transform without reformation and is the role of the church to do so.

“I urge the church to come up with various programmes to talk about how we Nigerians can be reform.”

In the spirit of Christmas, Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha declared two-week holiday for civil servants in the state.

He also disclosed that each worker would receive N10, 000 as Christmas bonus.

Governor Rochas, again, extended the gesture to security agencies in the state.

He has reportedly pumped N500 million into uplifting the spirits of the servicemen for the holidays.

He said officers and men of the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Civil Defence and Security Corps (NCDSC), State Security Services (SSS), Nigerian Immigration, Federal Road Safety corps (FRSC), Nigerian Prisons, National drug Law enforcement agency (NDLEA) and Nigerian customs Service, will get N10, 000 each from the largess.

And in Abia State, Governor Theodore Orji has granted pardon to eight prisoners in commemoration of the Christmas celebration.

Orji’s gesture was announced in a statement issued in Umuahia by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Ugochukwu Emezue.

The beneficiaries included Ngozi Simon, Ngozi Esina, Okwuonu Eme, Lawrence Egbu and Sunday Amala who were serving various jail terms for murder.

The rest were Chidiebere Jacob and Pius Anizo who were convicted of manslaughter, and Chibuzo Azuonwe who was convicted of robbery.

In a Christmas message also made available to newsmen, Orji urged Christians in the state to ‘’continue to exhibit those virtues Jesus Christ symbolises’.

He charged them ‘’to use this period to pray for the peace and unity of Nigeria’’ in view of the current security challenges in the country.

The statement quoted the governor as saying that ‘’prayers can change situations for good.

‘’The governor said he is optimistic that the country will soon become the envy of other nations.’’

The statement assured the people of adequate security of lives and property during and after the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Meanwhile, Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State has lifted the three-month suspension on three commissioners in the state for improper dressing to a state banquet.

The Commissioners are: Chief Hycinth Ikpo, Culture and Tourism; Mr Chukwuma Nwandugo, Works and Transport and Dr Ben Igwenyi, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.

The commissioners were suspended on 24 November and were barred from attending any state function during the suspension.

In a statement made available to newsmen and signed by Dr Onyekachi Eni, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, the suspension was lifted 22 December.

“The suspension was lifted in the spirit of Christmas and New Year Festivities and the goodwill that traditionally accompany the periods.

“The lifting is in the expectation that appropriate lessons have been learnt from the incidence,” the statement stated.

Alert: Report of xplosion @ a fireworks store in Idumagbo/Jankara market,Lagos causing pandemonium; confirmatn in progress.

Drama ensued in Onitsha, Anambra State yesterday as a middle-aged man, Obinna Adimora, a trader at the Onitsha main market was hospitalised for being seriously injured after being attacked by an angry cow.

Obinna’s journey to the hospital bed started when occupants of a commercial building at Ben Aghaeze Street contributed and purchased a cow for the Christmas.

It was gathered that the Christmas cow was bought at the popular Ugwuoba cattle market near Awka, Anambra State capital at the rate of N120, 000.
Unfortunately, when the butcher was making preparations to slaughter the animal, the angry cow had sensed what was about to befall it, thus it made a loud noise, escaped from the rope where it was tied and descended on the people waiting to share its meat.

The angry cow further went berserk, jumping all over the place. It broke the table placed in front of the building, used the horns to break the windscreen of a car parked around the place, as the people took to their heels.

But unluckily for Obinna, he fell while running and the animal descended on him.

The intervention of some Hausa (Suya sellers) and security officers in the neighbourhood prevented the ‘mad’ cow from sending Obinna to his early grave.

Meanwhile, the madness could not stop the cow from being killed as it was later bundled and slaughtered by the Hausa boys.

Expressing shock over the reaction of the cow, some residents of Ben Aghaeze Street claimed that the cow might have been possessed.

But Ikechukwu, one of the contributors asserted that the cow’s display of madness was just a mere drama as that did not stop them from devouring its meat.

He also regretted the attack on Obinna and prayed for his quick recovery.

Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Command of the Nigerian Customs Service yesterday arrested  a passenger, identified as Mr Ikebude  Akoma, with$456,000, at the airport.

THISDAY gathered that Akoma could not convince the officials of the command of the source of the aforementioned amount and the details of procurement as foreign exchange.

Akoma was stopped on his trip to Chiba en route Doha with Qatar Airways during the outward clearance of the flight.

The Public Relations Officer of the command, Mrs Thelma Williams, said the passenger with passport number A04073478, was arrested at the E wing section of the Lagos Airport screening hall, from where he was interrogated by officials on duty before being handed over the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which later released him.

She explained that the passenger ran foul of the law for his inability to convince relevant authorities on the source of the money as well as his defiance of rules concerning the movement of huge foreign currency abroad.

“During the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight to China via Doha, our officials reported that one passenger identified as Ikebude Akoma with passport number A04073478 declared $456,000 at E wing screening hall of the Lagos Airport. On further investigation, it was discovered that the passenger had no proper document like the bureau de change or bank slip,” William explained.

Operatives of the State Security Service, SSS, have arrested six of the abductors of Prof. Keneme Okonjo.
Last week, 63 of the suspects earlier arrested by the Army were released unconditionally when their culpability could not be established. 

A competent source at the SSS told National Mirror yesterday that six of the real suspects had eventually been arrested in Asaba, Delta State, and might be flown to Abuja today.

The source also confirmed that a N40m ransom was actually paid for the release of the 82-year- old retired professor of Sociology.