The videos below are definitely a bit old and I surely know that so do not try to tell me. Watching these videos again sadden my heart and some aspect of me feels disgraced as an African, especially a Nigerian.
With all the goodies including Oil we are blessed with in our country, a brother would go through all thick and thin just to enter a western country with a delusional concept of “going to be rich” in few months.
It is time to educate some of these people throwing out disgrace and dirty names to Nigerians in pursuit of happiness in Oyibo-land to bring them to the realization that, the grass might seem greener at the far end, but immediately you get there, the other side would look greener too….
The daughter of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, Hajiya Maryam Yar’Adua, and three others, were on Monday inaugurated as special advisers to Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State.
Maryam was inaugurated as Special Adviser on Inter-Governmental Affairs, while Halilu Yahaya, Aminu Ibrahim and Rabi’u Ruma were inaugurated as Special Advisers, Special Duties, Environment and Resources Development respectively.
Also inaugurated were the new Commissioner for Works, Mr Musa Na-shuni, and the Chairman of Bakori Local Government Council, Alhaji Aminu Magaji.
Speaking while inaugurating the appointees in Katsina, Shema advised them to take their appointments as a challenge to move the state forward.
He said their appointments were based on merit and they should protect the confidence reposed in them by the administration by contributing to the development of the state.
``Fear Allah and be fair and just in whatever you do in discharging your responsibilities,‘‘ Shema advised.
The governor prayed to God to guide the new appointees in their duties.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the appointment of Mr Musa Na-shuni as Works and Housing Commissioner followed the appointment of the former Commissioner, Mr Musa Sada, as the Minister of Mines and Steel Development.
Nigerian born Olawale Oladimeji Oladipo was a kind hearted and vivacious 25 year-old student of the University of Missouri in Kansas City, majoring in Economics. He had only two more semesters to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. Friends and relatives said that he was a faithful born again Christian, who followed the teachings of the Bible with a passion. He was already engaged in Nigeria to his family approved sweetheart, and had planned to marry her right after graduation on his return to the motherland. But fate would frustrate a well coordinated projection of events. (Photo: the late Olawale Oladimeji Oladipo)
On that fateful early Tuesday morning, between midnight and 3.30 am, workers at McDonald fast food restaurant discovered the body of a man found dead in the parking lot. The corpse was later identified by police to be the body of Oladipo. Police have not yet revealed how he was killed, but they are investigating the occurrence as homicide. According to the family, he left home a few blocks away. But they don’t know how he ended up at the destination where he was found dead. He was employed as Correction Officer in Jackson County. His goal was to save enough money and return to Nigeria in December, where his fiancée was waiting for him to get married. The police are appealing for information and anyone who has any should call the TIPS hotline.
His family has opened a memorial fund in his honor: After he was killed about a fortnight ago in Grandview, Missouri, his remains were interred at the Dwayne Harvey funeral home cemetery in Grandview. His tragic death brought together the perceived polarized Nigerian community, pouring out their hearts during the funeral service and prayer session held on his behalf. There were 25 eulogies, each one representing each year of his life as fitting commemoration of the rising star. His life was prematurely ruined by an unknown gunman or gunmen. The editor of Sharpedgenews.com Oladimeji Abitogun spoke emotionally of the deceased short-lived life that was well spent. One of his professors at the University of Missouri described him as extremely cultured and respectful. Even though he was in the US, he followed and extended the courtesy of the typical Yoruba culture by prostrating to greet his elders, regardless of the occasion and the diversity of people present. He was a passionate sportsman and ardent football lover. His favorite scripture displayed on a plaque on his wall was: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son.”
Kansas police are meticulously trying to piece together whether the death was a gang related mafia or one masterminded by recalcitrant prisoners at the prison correctional facility where he was employed: responsible for Oladipo’s mysterious death. But there are more questions than answers at this point in the progress of the investigations. The deceased is survived by a colony of grieving and destabilized extended family and a host of friends.
A Nigerian man and a French woman have been sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment by a London court after pleading guilty to immigration offences through sham marriage. This brings to six the number of Nigerians that have been convicted since Operation Sandford, which prescribes a clampdown on illegal immigrants, started in the United Kingdom in March this year.
A statement signed by the Regional Press officer, East, of the UK Border Agency, Toby Allanson, which was made available to THISDAY by the British High Commission in Abuja yesterday, said the duo were arrested while their marriage ceremony was under way in St Michael’s Church, Perry Street, Northampton.
The statement added that the Nigerian man, Moshood Sanusi, and his French bride, Landry Tra, would be deported at the end of their jail terms. Tra had admitted to agreeing to marry Sanusi, who had overstayed his visa, after he had paid her 3,500 pounds. He had hoped his marriage to a French citizen would help his application to remain in the country.
According to the statement, Operation Sandford has uncovered a series of sham marriages taking place at Holy Sepulchre and St Michaels’ churches mainly between West Africans and European Union nationals from countries including France , Portugal and Holland . 12 convictions have been secured so far.
The UK Border Agency reiterated its commitment to creating a hostile environment for illegal immigrants to the UK. It disclosed that it was working with registers and churches to identify sham marriages. “People should be under no illusion that marriage is enough to get permission to stay in the UK . Their relationship has to be genuine. If it's not, they will face prosecution or deportation.”
A retired Army General, Josesph Okoloagu has shot dead a member of a kidnap gang that attempted to abduct him in Aba, Abia State on Monday.
Okoloagu, a former Nigerian Military attaché to Pakistan, was attacked by suspected kidnappers Monday night while travelling to Port-Harcourt in his 604 Peugoet car at Alaoji-Ugwunagbo axis of Aba – Port-Harcourt expressway.
The Action Congress chieftain was in company of his private driver and a security detail when the heavily armed kidnappers surfaced from a bush and opened fire on his vehicle, forcing it to a halt.
According to eyewitnesses, policemen on duty at a checkpoint 50 yards away from the scene, escaped on hearing sounds of gunshots, leaving Okoloagu and the two other persons in his car at the mercy of the hoodlums.
The young men immediately surrounded the car and one of them moved to grab the already wounded ex- Army General who sat on the car owner’s side of the back seat.
Surprisingly, as soon as he drew near, Okoloagu pulled out his revolver and emptied all the bullets on the kidnapper who screamed in pain and slumped thereafter.
According to motorists who watched the scene from a distance and nearby bushes, the other kidnappers immediately retreated and took cover from where they exchanged fire with the retired General, whom one of them said, “just refused to give up.”
The gunfire attracted an army patrol team and the kidnappers reportedly fled on sighting the soldiers.
The ex-army General and the two other occupants of his car who also sustained bullet injuries were rushed to Riverine Hospital, Umungazi, Aba, where they are receiving medical attention under heavy security provided by a platoon of soldiers from Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
Speaking on phone from his sick bed Tuesday, General Okoloagu said that his driver was still in coma as a result of the wound on his head, stating that his security detail who was shot in the hand was responding to treatment.
“Yes, kidnappers attacked us in Aba on my way to Port-Harcourt yesterday evening. They shot me on the chest, shot my security detail on the hand and shot my driver on the head. I was able to kill one of the kidnappers who came to take me with my revolver before I made my escape,” Okoloagu said.
He said, “My driver is still in coma but we are praying that the bullet did not touch his brain. I am only alive today because of my personal gun. What of the people who don’t have guns?
“I think everybody in the country should a own gun since the government can no longer protect us. There is no government in Abia State.”
He added that he had earlier spoken with the Police Area Commander in the area on the incident.
When contacted on phone, Police Public Relations Officer, Abia State Command, Ali Okechukwu, said he was yet to be briefed on any of such incident.
He said on phone, “I will make contacts to know the police station it was reported and possibly get details. You can call me back for more information when I must have made my enquiries.”
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos South-West Nigeria, has adjourned till 27 September, 2010, a 21-count criminal charge of advanced fee fraud preferred against Folio Communications Limited and two of their directors, Fidelis Anosike and Nuel Anosike.
Folio Communications Limited, Mr. Fidelis Anosike and Nuel Anosike were further alleged to have stolen various sums of money from the sales of other properties belonging to Daily Times. For example, it was alleged that they stole N240 million obtained by the Daily Times Nigeria Plc from Afrinvest West Africa Limited out of which the sum of N135 million was used to pay for their personal loans to the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) on behalf of Hallmark Bank in liquidation and the balance of N105 million was converted to their personal use. The accused directors of Folio Communications were also alleged to have obtained 19 vehicles valued at N28 million from Ineh Mic Auto Co Limited under false pretences of supplying same to the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc for operational use but never paid for them since 2004. The vehicles were diverted to their own personal use. They were also accused of conspiring to obtain the total sum of N100 million from Corporate Properties Limited and Senator Ikechukwu Obiora by falsely representing that they have printing factory at Lugbe, Abuja when in fact they do not have such thing to sell to Daily Times Plc, Abuja, thereby inducing the said company and Senator Ikechukwu Obiora to pay the said sum in lieu of the non-existence a factory being traded for the Daily Times.
TONGUES are wagging in Bayelsa State as regards the carting away of over N300 million from the home of an aide to Governor Timipre Sylva by hoodlums.
The development has created palpable tension as it came on the heels of similar invasion of residences of prominent politicians in the state in the last three weeks.
The state command of the Nigeria Police is yet to uncover those who masterminded the bombing of the Aleibiri home of former deputy governor, Mr Peremobowei Ebebi, three weeks ago.
Similarly, the security guard of the governor's Senior Special Assistant on Youths and Conflicts Resolution, Michael Wenibowei, was only last week killed in an attack on his residence.
It could not be immediately confirmed if there was any casualty in the latest raid, but the money, said to be in local and hard currencies, was kept in a septic tank at the residence of the governor's aide.
Findings by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that the incident happened two weeks ago at Akassa, Brass Local Government Area, as armed youths invaded the residence of the official (name withheld) in the night and made straight for the septic tank where the money was kept as they shot sporadically into the air.
Efforts to get confirmation from the state police command was unsuccessful as its spokesman, Eguavoen Edokpae, said he could not comment.
"I cannot say anything right now; I am in Abuja on official assignment," he said.
However, the state government said the matter was a private affair of the person concerned.
"The matter is an entirely private affair of an individual; it has nothing to do with the state or the government of the state. You can approach him to get whatever information you need on the matter," Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Nathan Egba, told the Nigerian Tribune on the telephone.
But the opposition Action Congress (AC) in the state has called for an investigation into the matter, just as it challenged Governor Sylva to exonerate himself.
Acting state chairman of the AC in Bayelsa State, Ebikibina Miriki, in a statement, condemned the high rate of alleged corruption in the state.
"Bayelsa AC dares Governor Sylva and the state lawmakers to exonerate themselves that they are not part of the alleged N300 million and hard currencies concealed in the home of the official when armed youths stormed his home and carted away the money kept in a septic tank.
"The governor should invite the EFCC to probe the incident and know how the man got the money.
This challenge is necessary because of the attitude of the governor in treating the issue of corruption among his aides; it is callous and wicked that the man would hide so much in a septic tank when there are a series of protests over unpaid salaries of civil servants in the state," Miriki said in the statement.
Efforts to get the said official to react were futile as his mobile numbers were not going.
In another development, unknown gunmen at the weekend reportedly attacked Ekpoma, the home town of Governor Sylva, in Brass Local Government Area of the state. Even though no life was lost, valuable properties were destroyed, while an 83-year-old retired military officer was beaten to a pulp.
Suspected gunmen, numbering over 18, arrived at the coastal community in two speedboats and unleashed terror. People of the community have paid solidarity visit to the governor, assuring him of their support.
However, Governor Sylva has reiterated his commitment to the social and economic development of the state. He also informed the members of the visiting community of the release of N5 billion for the commencement of work on Nembe/Brass road project.
Reacting to the invasion of governor's home town, the Commissioner for Information, Honourable Nath Egba said the series of attacks and violent actions in the state might be a coordinated effort by some people to disrupt the existing peace in the state and embarrass the governor.
Though the security agencies have redoubled their efforts at bringing the culprits to book, he assured the people of their safety. He said: "It is obvious that it may be part of a coordinated attack to make Bayelsa environment unsafe. The state government has enjoyed peace because the state governor has invested much in sustenance of peace and development."
Nigeria earned N31tn from the oil sector and N3tn from the non-oil sector between 1999 and 2009, a report by Economic Confidential said on Monday.
The report said while N7tn was realised in 2008 alone, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration generated over N26bn from oil and non-oil revenue.
It added that the oil sector accounted for 89.28 per cent of the total revenue while the non-oil sector, including solid minerals, generated 10.72 per cent of the total sum.
According to the report, “In the 10 years of elected government in Nigeria, the sum of N31tn was generated from the oil sector while N3tn was from the non-oil sector of the economy.
“The table of the revenue which Economic Confidential provides shows that oil sector accounted for 89.28 per cent, while the non-oil sector, including solid minerals, generated 10.72 per cent of the gross revenue.”
Analysing annual crude production, the online journal said Nigeria produced 8.1 billion barrels of crude oil in the 10 years under review, with over 900 million barrels generated between 2004 and 2005 respectively.
But the report noted that the figures indicated that there was a shortfall between the estimated annual crude oil production and the actual production in eight years.
It also said that production was largely hampered by the activities of Niger Delta militants and oil thieves.
It added that the country only exceeded the budget estimates in 2003 and 2004 by producing 846 million and 910 million barrels as against the budgeted 766 million and 817 million respectively.
It attributed improved revenues over the years to increased production quota and high prices of crude oil in the international market.
The Federal Government had through the Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, allayed fears that the non-release of funds to implement certain projects in the country was an indication of the nation’s poor financial standing.
Aganga, who made the clarification at an interactive session organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Millennium Development Goals, also said Nigerians should not interpret the non-release of funds to ministries, departments and agencies as and when due as an indication of financial difficulty.
According to him, Nigeria’s revenue profile went up by 76 per cent recently.
The committee chairman, Mrs. Saudatu Sani, had lamented that most of the MDGs projects across the 36 states could not commence because of non-release of funds by relevant ministries and agencies.
She also decried the non-implementation of the “Quick Win” projects of the MDGs geared towards improving the lives of Nigerians at the grass roots due to zero cash backing.
Nigeria is expected to make history on October 1, when its caterers build and unveil the world’s largest cake. The 65,000kg cake, will be unveiled at the National Stadium, Abuja, is expected to beat the current Guinness World Records.
By midnight, October 1, a select group of Nigerian caterers and bakers will begin work on a 65ton cake. By noon, the fruit cake, decorated in green and white colours will be unveiled by President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Jonathan will cut the 6ft high cake and Nigerians will have the opportunity to have a share of the ‘national cake’ literally.
The cake, which will be 100ft long and 6ft high, will require the services of at least 2000 persons, and is expected to beat the records of the current world’s largest cake, a 58ton cake which was baked in 1989.
One meal one nation
The organiser of the World’s largest cake project, Victor Oluwafemi, says he has tagged the project, ‘one meal one nation’, in line with the philosophy behind the project.
“The project is a private endeavour which myself and my team thought of. We wanted to do something significant for the 50th anniversary project. We wanted something that would give every Nigerian an opportunity to partake in the celebrations. We knew that the average Nigerian would not have the opportunity to eat the cake that will be presented in the villa,” Mr. Oluwafemi said to NEXT in Abuja.
Mr. Oluwafemi’s team of three spoke enthusiastically of the measures that they are taking to ensure that the cake gets to as many Nigerians as possible. First, every state in the country will receive one ton of the cake and the small team also expects that every tribe in the country will be represented in the Abuja Stadium on October 1, and will have the opportunity to have a bite of the cake.
“This project is supposed to turn the national cake that we always talk about to reality. It will give Nigerians an actual cake to feed on,” Paul Sambo, the team’s head of Strategic business said.
Likening the project to the national pride that comes from winning a football match, the team says that the project was designed to boost the emotions of Nigerians despite the current national challenges.
“This project does not gainsay the fact that the nation has problems up till today. But we need inspiration in order to move forward as a nation. This project was designed with a leadership bias, a leader inspires his people no matter what and that is what we hope to do,” Joseph Yakwo, the third member and the operations officer of the project said.
Making the records book
If the team’s cake must to enter the Guinness World Records, Mr. Oluwafemi and his team will have to start and finish the cake within 24 hours; the team plans to do so in 8.
“We are going to bake the cake in about 8 hours. The cake is going to be baked, cooled and iced on the same day,” Mr. Yakwo said.
The team says that it has been in touch with the officials of the Guinness World Records and that a Guinness adjudicator will arrive from New York to inspect the project from start to finish.
Am so surprised at this, because not even the USA have reached the stage of taking eye and finger biometric data (and will this really assure a free and fair election?), have they thought of privacy issues. The whole thing is just shambles I would have personally expected something better from Jonathan and his people (jega and co)
According to the Daily Mail of London, Adelasoye, an immigration lawyer and pastor of the Ark of Hope church in St Leonards, East Sussex, along with his accomplices contrived to marry 360 illegal immigrants, many of them Nigerians, to complete strangers. Armed with a marriage certificate, the immigrants were then able to hoodwink the Home Office into giving them a visa to stay in Britain as a ‘spouse’, with access to education, healthcare and benefits. The sham marriages were carried out at the Victorian parish church, where Reverend Brown married up to eight couples a day between 2005 and 2009.
Brown conducted the ceremonies at The Church of St Peter and St Paul between July 2005 and July 2009. Ninety couples were registered as living in one road and 52 in another. There were several brides and grooms from the same house, and one husband-to-be went under the name of ‘Felix Spaceman’.
A bride changed into her borrowed wedding gown in the vestry before the ceremony, then stuffed it back into a plastic bag afterwards, while a groom produced a ring that was far too small for his wife’s finger.
Nevertheless Brown, 61, protested his innocence, but he was convicted with the Nigerian immigration solicitor – whose clients paid up to £15,000 for a dodgy wedding – and a Ukrainian who supplied hard-up Eastern Europeans willing to marry for £3,000 cash. Michael Adelasoye, 50, a qualified immigration lawyer, found Africans who were desperate to stay in the UK after outstaying their visas. The court heard that 90 couples were registered as living in the same street. The Ukrainian, recruited the stooge brides and grooms from Hastings’s Eastern European community. Some wed several times.
Ten of the brides and grooms received police cautions, but the majority were never traced and are presumably still living in Britain. The three defendants denied conspiracy to breach immigration laws, but they were found guilty by a jury at Lewes Crown Court after a seven week trial. Brown, who is openly gay, also became the only vicar in 800 years to be convicted of failing to read out the banns – asking the congregation if they knew of ‘any just cause or impediment’ why two people may not marry.
Judge Richard Hayward adjourned sentencing to September 6 but warned the three, who all live in St Leonards, he was considering jail. He told them: ‘You have been convicted on very clear evidence of a serious offence.’ Adelasoye and Brown were released on conditional bail, and Buchak was remanded in custody.
The vicar walked from court without a word, but Adelasoye, who is a pastor of the Ark of Hope church in St Leonards, protested: ‘I don’t think it’s a fair verdict. God looks after the righteous.’ Later, the Archdeacon of Lewes and Hastings, the Venerable Philip Jones, said he was ‘shocked and saddened’ by Brown’s betrayal.
He said: ‘We are particularly sorry for those who have been deceived and hurt by his actions. The church and the community are faced with a betrayal of trust on the part of Father Brown, who was a very trusted figure.’
He promised that churches would be more vigilant to fraud in the future, and said the Church of St Peter and St Paul was unlikely to be used for worship again after Brown’s tarnished tenure. Brown’s motivation remains unclear. Police believe the once respected priest threw away his career, his reputation and potentially his freedom to feather a nest for his retirement. But although they found £5,000 in cash at his home, this was not nearly as much as they would have expected if Brown’s sole desire was to make money, rather than to help immigrants.
The case, which police believe was part of an international multi-million pound scam, has once again exposed the lax regulations that have led to a booming racket in sham marriages over recent years.
Numerous attempts to curb the thousands of fake unions every year have been stymied by EU and human rights laws.
A total of 529 suspect marriages were reported to the Home Office in the 11 months to December last year – a rise of 54 per cent on 2008 levels.
Detective Inspector Andy Cummins, of the UK Border Agency, said: ‘This was the biggest operation of its kind we have come across, and the only one we know about where the vicar was entirely complicit.
‘As we investigated, we were all shocked as the scale of it emerged. The nearer he got to his retirement date, the more weddings he was doing.’ Immigration minister Damian Green said: ‘Britain is no longer a soft touch. We now have specialist teams of immigration and police officers working day in, day out, to tackle and prosecute people who commit this form of organised criminality.
‘We are determined to create a hostile environment which makes it harder than ever for illegal immigrants to come to the UK and put untold pressures on our public services.’
Nothing about Ijeoma Akobundu's demeanour suggests her profession. The 26-year-old indigene of Imo State is a gentle soft-spoken lady, and was recently elected as the secretary of the tenants' association of her Surulere residence. She is a commercial sex worker.
Every evening, she leaves for her current place of business; a seedy unnamed hotel near the densely populated Ikotun Bus Stop. There, she changes into her work clothes, pays for a room which she normally shares with a colleague, and settles down to wait for customers. She makes an average of N5,000 daily.
On why she took to the trade, Ms Akobundu, as well as her close friend and colleague, who gave her name as Mercy, proffered the usual reasons of coming from impoverished backgrounds, and having no options than to survive by selling their bodies. However, Mercy's story has a catch.
"After four years (of working as a prostitute), I became tired, and started cooking food near Pako (Aguda, Surulere)," she said. "It was then that my boyfriend impregnated me, and we agreed to marry, but after, he just disappeared. Then after my baby, I started struggling with everything, and my business was affected. That was why I went back to ‘ashewo' work (prostitution). But I will soon start another business by next year, I just want to make my money complete."
A perilous trade?
Health concerns and persecution from law enforcement officials, are top on the list of dangers commonly associated with Nigerian commercial sex workers, but Ms Akobundu offers a startling divergent view. Their greatest danger, according to her, is themselves.
A substantial per cent of her clients are touts and shady individuals who are considered high risk targets for segxwally transmitted diseases, but Ms Akobundu says the risk of contacting such diseases as the dreaded AIDS is the least of their worry. "Since 2004, I have never done it with a customer without a condom, so I am not afraid of that," she said. "Some of us go and see a doctor every month, and he will check us. Even the police is not a problem; we always settle them. It is some of the girls who are out to fight you for taking their customers that we avoid because they can kill."
The path to rehabilitation
The Lagos State government, and most importantly, a slew of nongovernmental organisations, have made efforts to establish structures that will make it easy for the rehabilitation of commercial sex workers who voluntarily desire to turn-around their lives.
Genesis House serves as a shelter for the reformation and rehabilitation of prostitutes. The shelter, an arm of Freedom Foundation, an non governmental organisation, offers the women counselling, skills acquisition training, and informal education. Candidates are either admitted into the shelter where they live for the duration of the programme, or they are considered as out patients "The rehab time frame is between six and nine months," said Zara Mahdi, Programme Coordinator of the shelter. "We identify areas considered as high prostitute population areas and talk to the girls into accepting to reform their lives. We basically work with people whose literacy levels are low. Our greatest challenge is that a lot of women are unsure. Most of them earned between N30,000 and N50,000 weekly, and you ask them to leave that life for something they are unsure of. We build their trust through being their friend and start the reformation process. After the training, we monitor their progress for two years." Lagos State, last year, trained 250 former commercial sex workers in various skills acquisition programmes. Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Joke Orelope-Adefulire, stated this while presenting her ministry's stewardship in the year 2008. "We are planning to train them before sending them back to their home states," she said. "By the time we inaugurate the acquisition home at Ayobo, we are likely to have more commercial sex workers doing away with the trade and having a new lease of life. You know this is a voluntary thing, as we cannot force them to do so. So those who came forward to stop the trade had been assisted by the state government.
It's not easy, but it can be done
Omowale Ogunrinde, founder of Lagos-based Foundation for Skills Development, and an advocate for empowering women in business, while highlighting the steps necessary for rehabilitating commercial sex workers, accepts that it is a hard road to travel, but doable.
"Quitting Prostitution cannot be an easy experience except a suitable alternative is available through much counselling, enlightenment and empowerment," she said. "Young and even older women (I know one who just got into it at 52 years), mostly go into prostitution to meet a need - either financial, social or emotional. Thus when they are being pulled out, we need to ask, has the need been met and will it be met through another means?
"Financial; will there be a source of secure income, guaranteed to meet the financial needs of the person? Social; has he/she now solved their inferiority complex or are they now accepted by the ones who rejected them? Do they now ‘belong?' Emotional; use the case study of the 52-year old woman I know who is now sleeping around. She is married, but feels unloved. Some silly men are showing her some affection and their wallets. If she quits, is there now a solution?" And that, precisely, is the dilemma that Ms Akobundu has found herself in. "I know I have to think about my future, and plan for stopping this work, but for now I don't think anything will bring me this kind of money to solve problems," she said.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd), met in Abuja on Thursday over the 2011 presidential election.
The meeting, which took place at the Wuse 11 residence of Babangida, was held behind closed doors.
Sources close to the meeting, however, told our correspondent on Friday that Obasanjo asked Babangida to drop his presidential ambition in the interest of the nation and to prevail on some northern governors who on Tuesday voted to support zoning at their meeting held in Kaduna to change their stance.
Although Babangida was said to have been non-committal on Obasanjo’s request that he should drop his presidential ambition, he was said to have told his guest that it would be difficult for him to convince all the states in the north to jettison zoning.
It was also learnt that as a follow up to the meeting, Obasanjo agreed to meet with key northern traditional rulers on the need to prevail on their subjects to forget zoning for now ”in the interest of the nation.”
A source, who did not want to be named because the discussions at the meeting were not meant for public knowledge, said, ”The meeting was held at Wuse 11, and it was between the two former presidents, Obasanjo and IBB (as Babangida is popularly called).
”The aim of the meeting was to ask IBB to drop his presidential ambition as Obasanjo was said to have explained that the ambition was not in the interest of the nation.
”Not only that, the two statesmen, especially Obasanjo, were said to have opined that the resolutions of the northern governors were not in the interest of the nation, and that the two of them must find a remarkable solution to the logjam.”
Our correspondent also learnt that before the meeting, Obasanjo had met with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa where the two leaders appraised the impact of the resolutions of the northern governors on the President‘s ambition.
It was at this meeting that the idea of Obasanjo meeting with Babangida was said to have been muted.
Although details of Jonathan’s and Obasanjo’s analyses of the northern governors‘ resolutions when the two met were sketchy at press time, the President was said to have agreed that there was a need for what the source called ”extensive consultation with stakeholders from the north.”
This, it was gathered, might delay until a later date in August Jonathan’s public declaration of his decision to contest for the presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The 19 northern states on Tuesday openly disagreed over the adoption of the zoning formula of the PDP for the 2011 presidential election.
At the meeting of the governors held in Kaduna, 10 states voted for zoning while seven states voted against it.
The states that declared support for zoning were Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Gombe, Jigawa, Niger, Kwara, Borno and Kano. Two of these states, namely Borno and Kano, are being governed by the All Nigerian Peoples Party.
The governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shakarau, had before now campaigned against zoning, just as he is campaigning to be the ANPP presidential candidate.
However, seven of the northern states voted against zoning, stressing that merit was the only way to move the country forward.
The states are Benue, Kogi, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Taraba and Nasarawa.
Yobe State reportedly abstained from voting, while Bauchi was not represented because of the death of the Emir of Bauchi.
Nevertheless, the position of the Bauchi governor, Alhaji Isa Yuguda, is well known as he has been canvassing for the dumping of zoning openly.
I got married two years ago when I hadn’t completely fallen out of love with my ex-girlfriend. I met my wife on the rebound after my ex left me for another man. But the relationship didn’t work out and she’s started e-mailing me. My wife is kind, gentle and good company but I now realize that my ex is the love of my life. My marriage is currently childless. What should I do?
The legal battle field is being set. Barr. Valentine Emeka Utulu of the Johnson Brant Chambers, counsel to KORA Awards winning Sammie Okposo, has filed a petition to the Scotland First Minister, Alex Salmond for the ‘unlawful arrest’ and unjust treatment reportedly meted out to their client in the Scottish territory. The petition, according to Sammie’s publicists, MME, was duly copied the president of Nigeria, Britain’s Prime Minister, Secretary General to the United Nations, the Nigerian Ambassador to the UK, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman Federal House of Representatives Committee on Nigerians in the Diaspora, Solicitor to the Advocate General of Scotland, the Queen of England and many other influential individuals.
Okposo
Sammie was on honeymoon with his newly-wedded bride, Ozioma, in Aberdeen when a lunch date with another Nigerian couple at Jimmy Chung restaurant ended in an arrest and overnight detention at a Scottish police station.
According to the statement provided by MME, the 19 page petition highlighted among other things a pending racist case involving the restaurant manager, Ronny Hung Yung and filed at the same police station accusing another customer of making racial statements against him. Barr. Valentine equally reminded the copied of two serving officers of the same police command who were recently convicted for perversion of justice.
It read in part, “the internet is awash with cesspool of corruption in the Grampian Police and the cases of Holie Grieg and David Emslie are but to name a few. Only recently two serving officers of the same command were convicted for the perversion of justice. It is unfortunate that the police force employed with the tax_payers money to maintain peace, law and order should then turn around to harass the very citizens it was employed to protect with spurious charges, arbitrary procedures, callous harassment and dispossession of private property”.
The petitions reportedly left the chambers of Johnson Brant on Monday July 26, 2010 to be delivered to the recipients.
A 27-year old pregnant woman, Ndidiamaka Okoli has collapsed and died a few minutes after a fight with her husband, Emmanuel Okoli.
•The late Ndidiamaka. The incident happened at their 53, Otitokoro Street, Egbe, Lagos, Nigeria.
P.M.NEWS gathered this morning that the relation of the deceased went to the police station at Ikotun and reported the matter. Emmanuel was subsequently arrested and detained at the Ikotun division of the Nigerian police. P.M.NEWS investigation revealed that the late Ndidi Amaka was a nurse before she married Emmanuel about three years ago and the relationship was blessed with a daughter. On Tuesday when the incident happened, it was learnt the couple had a disagreement which later resulted in a scuffle. Shortly after the fight, the woman was reported to have slumped and died. After the incident, the husband was alleged to have deposited her body at Isolo General Hospital before informing her relations. The death of the woman has thrown her neighbours into mourning. Some of them who spoke with P.M.NEWS described the late Amaka as a peaceful and humble woman. At the Ikotun Police Station, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, was not available to comment on the incident. However, a source at the station confirmed the incident and told P.M.NEWS that the police have commenced investigation into the matter while awaiting the autopsy report. The brother of the deceased woman, Osondu Ezekule, expressed shock over the death of his sister, adding that the tragedy was like a dream.
Aggrieved former militant leaders have threatened to return to the creeks should the Federal Government continue to exclude them from the ongoing rehabilitation programme. More than 200 ex-militant leaders and their boys on Wednesday in Warri, Delta, State South-South, Nigeria, carried out a protest march at the Marine Quarters area to drive home their point. They disrupted free flow of traffic as they barricaded some of the major routes on Okumagba Avenue and other parts of Warri The group, whose protest was led by one “General” Augustine Oges and Kingsley Muturu, took over Gbiaye street at about 4.30p.m., and stopped at the NUJ Press Centre at Third Marine Gate. At the centre, the ex-militants manhandled a staff of the NUJ Secretariat, Mr Christopher Odamah, who tried to stop them from entering the premises. They told journalists at the Press centre that they would make the Niger Delta region ungovernable if the government continued to refuse the initiation process to document their members and include them in the ongoing rehabilitation programme. They said the protest was a follow-up to the one they staged in Abuja in early July which, they said, government seemed to have ignored. The leaders also denied media report that they apologised to the special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Timi Alaibe, over the said Abuja protest. The ex-militant leaders said that they could no longer guarantee holding back their ‘foot soldiers’, and that they were unhappy with the way the amnesty programme was being handled. “We dropped our arms since October last year, but nothing has happened to us since then, hence we stormed Abuja on 7 July to demand for proper documentation of our members. “Time is running out and we do not want Timi to handle the second phase of the amnesty. “The President should allow another competent Nigerian to handle this crucial phase of the amnesty. “Timi has paid some boys to come and apologise to him over the protest in Abuja. “We do not want him again and we are appealing to the President to be wary in order for him not to rock the boat of his administration. “We are giving the President from now till 5 August to address our issue otherwise, we will go back to the creeks and make this country ungovernable,’’ they said.
Psquare is simply the best artist out of Africa at the moment, Simple! No Contest.
No African musician sings live in their performance, all they do is to mime and lip sync, Psquare is leading the park with this amazing LIVELY, energetic performance:
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