Ashala's Posts
Nairaland Forum › Ashala's Profile › Ashala's Posts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (of 25 pages)
oilPUSSY:Am really impressed. The best write up ever on Naira land. |
Things soon began to fall apart for the Nigerian community in the country. Every one that crossed the part of the rebels was killed, including two Nigerian journalists who were covering the war. “At this point, the Nigerian Ambassador to Nigeria ran to me, and we put our heads together and then decided that we should involve our government so they can evacuate our people out of the country,” said Chukwu who was a rallying point for the Nigerian community in Liberia. But surprisingly, the Nigerian government did not act on the demand; leading daily to the killing of Nigerians by Taylor and his men. As the fight became intense, Taylor’s men were increasingly becoming more powerful, while Nigerians were suffering the most attacks, and Doe’s government was gradually falling apart. Evacuation This was the point Chukwu ordered for two ships so he could take most of his assets out of the country, including the remaining cements and other commodities. Even though each ship was a giant one, what he had in the country would require a minimum of two giant ships to evacuate back to Nigeria, except for the factories and buildings which were not transportable. In no time, his vessels arrived and were ready to take all he had, including his family to Nigeria, but there was a problem. The ambassador begged him not to abandon the Nigerians there. Chukwu was then torn between evacuating his multi-million dollar investments or evacuating over 1000 stranded Nigerians out of the country. “I had no choice other than to agree because these are my country men and women. So the ambassador gave all Nigerians in Liberia four options; run to the United Nations building, run to churches, run to Nigeria Embassy or move straight to my two vessels already at the port of the country. “Over 1000 went along with their belongings to the ships, many ran to the UN building and the other two places. Unfortunately, all those who ran to the other places were killed. The rebel group struck these three places and beheaded many of those captured,” explained Chukwu. Left Behind But as a kind hearted man that he is, he first allowed everyone to find their way to the vessels. By the time he was ready to access the vessels as well, it was already late. The rebels had taken over streets and strategic locations in the city. The man who brought in the ships could not even access his own ships. At this point, the ambassador and other Nigerians were already at the ship, and he was told to find a way to get to Nigeria since if he attempts to move towards the ships the rebels might take him and his family out. “That was how the ships left without me, because the ambassador had given me his word that the Nigerian government will not take my sacrifice for granted,” the one time business mogul explained. Stroke of Luck At this point, Chukwu and his family were living at the mercy of soldiers. They were only wishing that their worst fear do not come to reality. The only option they had was to risk their lives and move to the airport, but flights had been banned from either coming into the country or leaving. Besides, the roads leading to the airport were manned by the rebels, who, at this point, were going to oust Doe any moment obviously. “I didn’t have a choice than to tell my wife and four children to brace up for the unknown. We packed our bags, and headed for the airport. I had with me sums of money with which I bribed my way through the road blocks until I got to the airport,” Chukwu said. While he wasn’t sure if they will ever get a flight to Nigeria since flights had been banned and insurance firms had placed a 300 per cent risk on any ship or flight to Liberia, he believed pushing his luck was the only option. They got to the airport and realised soldiers were placed in strategic positions, just waiting for orders until they level the public institution. “I was scared for my family. So I kept on praying for a miracle. Within two hours of helplessness, we saw a flight from Cote’ D Voire, landing at the airport. It was a test run flight which was just repaired. The owners only tested it to that airport with no knowledge of the situation of things in the country. I earnestly yearned that that same flight would take us out of Liberia. Considering that all workers at the airport including their managers knew me, they gave my family priority and we entered the plane so it could bring us to Lagos.” While these negotiations were going on, the soldiers were looking at them. They had no order yet to stop anyone. But 10 minutes after the plane had taken off, the order came and the airport was leveled down. By the time they reached Muritala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, the city had fallen to the hands of Charles Taylor, and Samuel Doe was subsequently killed. A Futile Attempt to Recoup Loss When we got to Lagos, it dawned on me I didn’t enter the country with a dime. Then the journey to recover my investments through the federal government started. “I located the ambassador at the foreign affairs office here in Lagos, and he took me to see General Ibrahim Babangida, who thanked me for saving the lives of Nigerians. He immediately referred me to the Secretary to the Federal Government who then asked me to write down all I needed to settle down in Nigeria. “I told them I would need a house, a school for my children, some money, and then my goods in Liberia should be allowed free duty. I presented these because they told me they won’t be able to pay in cash what I had lost.” These were the beginning of another journey for Chukwu. He started chasing all the things the Nigerian government had approved for him, all without success. He was broke, without a car, his children dropped out of school, and he started to live the kind of life even his former cooks would not live. He pursued all these from Babangida’s time all through to Obasanjo’s and now President Muhammadu Buhari. The more he tries, the more things remained the same. The one time business mogul said: “I approached Okonji Iweala, the then minister of finance who told me the government will not give me duty waiver for the importation of rice, which was one of the things government approved for me. She advised me to take oil, as that was what they had in record for settling debts like mine. I didn’t have a choice, I accepted even if I didn’t have market for crude oil.” Since then, nothing concrete has happened. He approached Senator Ike Ekweremadu who is the lawmaker representing his constituency. He then approached Hon. KGB Ogakwa of the House of Representatives, who took it up in the House. The House deliberated on it and requested he go renew the paper with the president of the day. But as typical with the Nigerian system, the people around the president made it absolutely impossible for Chukwu to see him. “After all the frustrations, I went back to the House and they wrote the then Information Minister, Dora Akunyili to take me to the president so that he can hear me out and renew it. But as we speak now, nothing has been done. This is three decades since then and I am still pursing this.” Loss of Sight While he was pursing all these in penury, his wife who had diabetes began to fail in health. She managed her diabetic condition well in Liberia but began to lose her sight as she was no longer able to afford treatment and the food regimen needed to put her sugar level in check. As at today, Mrs. Tobi Chukwu is a blind woman. “We noticed she was gradually going blind. At some point her left eye could only see shadows. So I managed to raise money through my children and few friends and we took her to Dubai for surgery. After which we went to India for another one, from where they told us to come back in four months time so they could perfect everything. But we didn’t have money to go back. At this point she had lost the left eye completely and the right one was just starting to deteriorate. “Through divine providence, Senator Hope Uzodinma heard about our plight and sponsored her treatment in Mayo Clinic in Minessota in the United States. It cost $35, 000. Prior to then, we never met Uzodinma. He is not even the law maker from my constituency, but he helped. Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful and my wife went totally blind. I hear there is retina transplant available, and I am hoping one day I will take her up for treatment so she can regain her sight back,” he said. Tobi, who interjected her husband’s conversation with THISDAY, said the lack of money was what took her eyesight as she would have been able to prevent it if there was money. “I can’t wait to regain my sight back. Every day I keep asking people if research has shown a damaged retina can be replaced. Some people say outright eye transplant can give me my sight back. I am looking forward to this,” she said. The loss of his wife’s eyesights isn’t the only thing he lost. The cerebral business man lost his younger brother who was killed while rebels were looking for him. He lost $89, 405 million, which in today’s money is about N2.8 trillion, an amount that easily could place him as Nigeria’s richest man. He lost 30 years of not doing business. He lost a good life and today, he is a shadow of his former self. Chukwu believes now that he is still alive, government should do the needful and give him all that he is entitled to. He is of the view that when the presidency, politicians, the business community, and kind hearted Nigerians read about his journey, they may be touched to either prevail on the government to settle him what he is entitled to, or be given a philanthropic gesture to be back on his feet. In saner climes, Chukwu would not have only been given all that has been approved for him by the federal government; he would have been given a national honor for saving the lives of over 1000 Nigerians at the expense of all that mattered most to him. He should have been regarded as a special citizen, especially now that he is in his old age, where he can no longer work as usual, as was the case when all Liberian presidents were all over him. Homelessness Looms When THISDAY visited him in his three bedroom apartment at Jakande Estate, Oke Afa, Isolo, he presented a quit notice he has been given by his landlord for failing to pay his house rent over the years. He is currently living from hand to mouth and by next month may become homeless, along with his blind wife. If such an act of sacrifice for ones country cannot be rewarded in Nigeria, how then can other Nigerians show patriotism to this country? Chukwu, one of the greatest business moguls Nigeria never had, can be reached on 2348083840570 and +234805549455. His account details are: Account number – 2009273674; Account name – Emmanuel Chukwu, Bank name – Zenith. THIS DAY NEWSPAPER |
Emmanuel Chukwu, one time Liberia’s richest foreign businessman worth $89.405 million at the time, singlehandedly saved over 1000 Nigerians during the 1989 war in Liberia by sacrificing his two ships for their evacuation into Nigeria at the expense of his investments. That humane decision cost him his wealth, businesses, health of his wife, and three decades later, he is currently at the verge of becoming homeless in Lagos. No thanks to Nigerian government who promised to repay his gesture but defaulted. Martins Ifijeh chronicles his journey If there is one man that has sacrificed everything he has to protect the lives and properties of fellow Nigerians in a far away country, it is the unsung hero; 75 years old Emmanuel Chukwu Collins, who against all odds, gave up all the things that mattered most to him so his countrymen do not get beheaded or burnt alive during the 1989 civil war in Liberia, as Nigerians were major targets. Chukwu was a middle aged man when he left Nigeria for Liberia at the instance of the then President of Liberia, William Tolbert, who saw him as vast and knowledgeable in business. He soon became a dependable ally of the government and doors of opportunities were thrown open to him. Within a few years, he had become a big importer of rice and other commodities to Liberia. And with each move, his reach, network, bank accounts and investments began to swell. Soon, Chukwu became a household name in Monrovia and other cities in Liberia. It was in the heat of this that late President Tolbert was overthrown and subsequently killed in a coup d’etat by the then new President, Samuel Doe. But because Chukwu had become a huge asset to the country, Doe drew him even closer. Every government cherished having him around because the business world in the country revolved around him. In no time, he was appointed by Doe as the Top Priority Agent to the only cement company in Liberia. By 1989, his investments in Liberia were already worth $89.405 million; that is N2.8 trillion in today’s money. Things Fall Apart But that was the best of the dreams he lived in Liberia. War soon broke out and Samuel Doe’s presidency was under threat by a rebel group led by Charles Taylor. Unfortunately for Nigerians in the country, Taylor’s men intercepted a truck load of ammunitions which the Nigerian government had secretly sent to the president to defend his government. Angered by this, Taylor then declared the Nigerian government and President Doe’s government as his enemies. A move that made him hunt for Nigerians for execution. To him, for every Liberia killed by Doe’s government, five Nigerians will be beheaded or burnt alive.
|
Buhari blamed PDP through out his first tenure. I am waiting to see who he will blame this time. |
What of Rivers State? |
atikuobi2019nig:Werin Mbaise people do you? Una sabi dey tribalistic and tomorrow now you will be shouting one Nigeria. |
Reminds me of the old movie, sweet hostage |
BuhariAdvocate:Come, Mr Buhari Advocate, what will be the penalty of vote buying and rewriting of election results?. Because that is where you guys specialise in as noted in Osun and Ekiti Elections. |
LordCenturion:How?, do you know that Ihedioha nearly won Okorocha in the last gubernatorial election in Imo despite all the support Okorocha got from Ararume. It took a rerun for Okorocha to win. If you do not know, better know now that Ihedioha is a serious contender in Imo and might come out the winner. |
Shibaraba:More blessings on you sir |
The only option Ambode has now is to incite Lagosians to revolt. Let them hold massive protests before the day of impeachment. But eh, this is the first governor ever not to have even a single house member on his side. It clearly exhibits his feather weight status in politics. A tactical and smart Governor starts from his first day at work to lobby house members in a bid to win majority to his side. I can't simply understand what happened in Ambode's case. Did he just relax? During Rochas first tenure, majority of the house members were from the opposing party and people thought this would be his weak point but the man smartly made overtures to them and got majority to move to his party. The same thing helped Amaechi when Jonathan was hell bent in getting him impeached. Despite all the resources Jonathan sunk in to achieve his aim, Amechi still had a good no of the house members loyal to him. This saved him |
pocohantas:By every means marry. If you marry a good wife/husband, you will be happy; if you marry a bad wife/husband, you will become a philosopher. |
modath:Pls always crosscheck before you write. Was Onoghen the CJN during Rivers state supreme court judgement which was given on the 27th Jan 2016? Remember he was nominated as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and confirmed by the Senate on 1 March 2017, and sworn in on the 7th of March, 2017. It is also a known fact that Buhari clearly did not want to nominate him which has been interpreted to be because he is not from the north. The simple truth is that the man played into Buhari's hands who obviously has been looking for a way to remove him by having undeclared accounts. Is the APC led government actually fighting corruption by removing the CJN?......NO. If the CJN was doing Bubu's wish he would have still been enjoying himself despite whatever amount is in his undeclared accounts. When coming to equity come with clean hands. |
So this man finally turned a snitch, ratting on his former associate. Well he is lucky this is Nigeria. If it was Sicily, by now he would have been under the sea feeding them fishes. |
Thank God. At least this is God's own way of saving several lives that would have been lost had PDP thugs clashed with APC thugs during the election |
netpro:Another brain washed Almajiri |
Nigeria will remain the same as long as these hard core politicians keep on ruling us. The only way this country will see positive changes is when technocrats like Moghalu and his likes takes the mantle of leadership. They would not want to compromise and dent their hard earned reputation which took them years to build. As for these old politicians, they have absolutely nothing to loose. They will tell you good afternoon in the morning and if you are not careful, convince you that red is black. Unfortunately, young people like Moghalu and others like him may not be able to win elections in Nigeria no matter how good they are. Nigerians would rather vote an incompetent fool so long as he shares the same tribe and religion with them. Also, the enlightened ones amongst us do our own voting on social media while those we regard as Alimajiris and touts all have their PVCs and are ever ready to vote under the rain and sun as long as their palms are greased. |
khingTony:Insha Allah |
The body of Pablo Escobar after being killed in a rooftop shootout.
|
There are some troubling signs. When Gonzalo Rojas, whose father died on Avianca flight 203, was not so forgiving, John Jairo Velasquez turned on him. He said he paid for what he did and even said he had helped in the case, calling Rojas a “bad man with an evil heart.” Velasquez seems to demand forgiveness from victims, and the relatives of people he has killed. But if something similar happened to his family it is a different matter. “If anyone, out of revenge, kills my son, I won’t forgive the murderer. I’ll find him and kill him.” In fact, John Jairo Velasquez is yet to leave his previous life behind. Currently, he is busy cashing in on his past as Escobar’s top hitman. But if public interest and support wane will he revert completely back to his old life? It’s certainly a possibility. |
Velasquez got wise and by the time he arrived at his third prison in Combita, 100 miles north of Bogota, he had learned how to make the right friends to stay alive. In prison, Velasquez heard that Escobar had been shot dead. “I was frozen. My soul cried…[but ] I didn’t cry,” he recalled. “The war hardens you, and so does prison life. So you don’t really cry…For me it’s just been war and prison.” Since being released in 2014, Velasquez has been open about his time as Escobar’s top hitman. He has met with some victims and apologized for the impact he had on their lives. But is he really sincere? Is he really a reformed man?
|
Life In Prison And Life After Escobar From the beginning, Escobar had control. The prison, called La Catedral, was built to his specifications by his engineers. From inside it was business as usual. He carried on trafficking but, then, after he had men killed within La Catedral, the Colombian government decided it was time he was incarcerated inside a real prison. But what the authorities did not realize is that Escobar had the breaker switch to turn off the 10,000-volt perimeter fence hidden in the wall of his cell. After only thirteen months in La Catedral, Escobar and some of his men escaped. Valesquez recalls how they left after 11 p.m., walking past the Army on the hills below. “…[W]e were listening at the Army’s radio transmissions…And we walked right by them. We had our own rifles. And they didn’t hear us. And the guard-tower spotlights were moving back and forth. But we got away.” In October of 1992, after just two months on the run, John Jairo Velasquez handed himself into police. He never saw Escobar again. And while it was assumed Velasquez would be safer in prison than on the run with Escobar, there were a few close calls for Velasquez. “They tried to kill me seven times with poison, bullets and knives, poisoned knives. In jail, they have special tricks, smuggling pipes in their rectums, plastic pipes, with daggers in them. Before stabbing someone they’d wipe the knife in feces. And then they stab! The victims die of terrible infection.”
|
The Bombing Of Avianca 203 Cesar Gaviria became Galan’s successor and immediately became a target of Escobar’s hitmen. On November 27, 1989, a bomb was planted onto Avianca flight 203, which Gaviria was meant to be on. But he wasn’t, and 107 passengers died when the plane exploded in mid-air. Some believe John Jairo Velasquez organized the attack but he denies it. Instead, he blames Carlos Mario Urquijo, another of Escobar’s ruthless hitmen, and the DAS (the now-defunct Colombian Secret Police). Velasquez followed Escobar’s orders without question, even killing Escobar’s ex-girlfriend Wendy Chavarriaga Gil for becoming an informant. At the time, she was also Velasquez’s girlfriend, whom he calls the “love of my life.” “…[O]ne day the boss calls me in and plays a tape for me. It was senorita Wendy, chatting with a police captain.” Velasquez could not bring himself to kill her personally, so he arranged to meet her at a restaurant and sent in his crew. He recalls phoning the restaurant to talk to his girlfriend and ordering his men to shoot her as soon as she answered, which they did. When he heard the two shots he felt a “rush of love and anger” inside him. No one was off-limits. However, John Jairo Velasquez said there was one exception. Escobar never condoned killing someone in front of their child. Despite this, Escobar saw the death of children from car bombs as collateral damage. Police bore the brunt of the Medellin cartel’s brutality. Escobar ordered his hitmen to kill police indiscriminately. According to Velasquez, they killed 540 police and wounded 800 more. “No other criminal organization in the world has ever confronted the police that way,” he said. In turn, police issued a 2,700,000,000 peso bounty for Escobar and 100,000,000 pesos for each of his four key hitmen, which included Velasquez. In 1991, a truce of sorts was called when Escobar agreed to go to prison for five years in return for the abolishment of a planned extradition treaty with the United States. Velasquez joined him along with some of Escobar’s other lieutenants.
|
Though he admits he did wrong, he believes he’s done his time, even stating he paid for Escobar’s crimes too. He says he is now a reformed man who gets more thrills from writing books than killing. Surprisingly, some of his victims agree he has paid his dues. Others, however, believe he shows no real remorse and should be back in prison. How John Jairo Velasquez Got Into The Medellin Cartel John Jairo Velasquez was born 70 miles north of Medellin in the Colombian town of Yarumai. At age 12, his family moved to Itagui, a suburb of Medellin, where he almost immediately started in a life of banditry. His fascination with firearms led him to become a local policeman and to take a course at the officer candidate school for Marines. “I had a wide jaw and was quite strong,” he said. “One day, I was back in my neighborhood, wearing my uniform, when a neighbor said, ‘It’s Popeye!’” The nickname stuck, but life in the Marines didn’t, and soon he joined the Mafia full-time. At first, he worked for a childhood friend. Before long, he was operating under Pablo Escobar directly. He was 18 when he killed his first person, a bus dispatcher in Medellin: “When he was the driver, the mother of a friend of Pablo Escobar’s got off the bus and had a fall, and he didn’t help her. He left her there and she died. So, when this guy got some money, he asked Pablo Escobar to help him get revenge on this driver. I made some inquiries, found the guy and killed him.” Velasquez said he felt nothing at all after killing him. “It was then that I realized I had a stomach for crime.” In the early 1980s, Escobar helped form Los Extraditables to wage war against the Colombian state to prevent the extradition of drug traffickers to the United States. By then, Velasquez had become Escobar’s most loyal hitman and was heading operations that included contract killings, car bombings, and kidnappings. According to Velasquez, Escobar “armed all the comunas in Medellin. The sicarios [or hitmen]. They were his base people. “ Velasquez and his hitmen would each “kill 5, 6, even 12 people a day…” which included policemen, judges, presidential candidates, rivals, and civilians. “We started planting bombs to kill government ministers, journalists, and judges. We’d kidnap politicians, so they’d amend the constitution and stop the Colombians being extradited.” He organized the kidnapping of Attorney General Carlos Mauro Hoyos and Mayor Andres Pastrana Arango, who would later became the Colombian president in 1998. Despite the terror, presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan proved unwavering in his support of extradition, and in 1989 he was assassinated. “I felt satisfaction [after killing Galan],” Velasquez told Mexican reporter Adela Micha in an exclusive two-hour interview in 2015. “Today I realize it was a horrible mistake.”
|
John Jairo Velasquez killed over 250 people and masterminded the deaths of 3,000 more while serving as the top hitman for drug kingpin Pablo Escobar during the 1980s. “I’m a professional killer, I kill for money. I also killed out of love and respect for Pablo Escobar,” he said in the Russia Today documentary Escobar’s Hitman. Velasquez, better known as “Popeye,” has become a controversial figure in Colombia since his release from prison in 2014 after serving 22 years for his crimes. Far from being an outcast, he is seen by some as a hero. On the street, people shake his hand in the street and rush to have photographs taken with him. He has certainly profited from his newfound celebrity status by writing two books, starring in an action film, and being involved in the production of Alias J.J., a Netflix show based on his life in prison. He’s also become an unlikely political activist with his hit YouTube channel where he routinely criticizes the Colombian government and preaches anti-corruption.
|
post=74841345:Nna, your daddy is exhibiting strong signs of dementia. Sincerely its not fair pushing him to run for another term when its quite obvious that age and sickness has caught up with him. The stress you guys are putting him through is doing him more harm than good. He is human first of all,remember. |
she she she.......................shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
imagine, hmmm. Dem wan comot this man oooooooo |
Rextizzle:lol.......................Broke Arse fool like you |
thunder74:Its simply a grand plan to render him irrelevant in the oncoming elections. They want to useless him politically in Kogi. |
Officialpdpnig:Mocking the mindset of Nigerians and he was telling the listeners not to publish it |
Abfinest007:True. That's the type that will poison the man and herself |

