n-guage:

u can't make such statements without having your facts. We all know Nigerian politics is F.ucked up but rumours don't help the situation.

If I say its true, so be it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rumour is Obasanjo was not able to reign in Adedibu because of his complicity in the murder of Bola Ige.
Adedibu was the architect, the hachet man who planned and financed the murder of Bola Ige. For this great service done for Obasanjo, the payment was Oyo State, the revenue and all the mayhem he could cause.

This is why Adedibu was knighted by Obasanjo as the "Ibadan garrison comander"
Murderers who had done Obasanjo's evil deeds like Adedibu, are scattered all over Nigeria, only GOD can reveal their identities!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recently at the commissioning of the renovated Mapo hall in Ibadan, the civilized Ibadan indegens snubbed Obasanjo. Even the Olubadan did not show up. There were however the forty thieves and the agberos. Arisekola Alao, Addibu, Alao-Akala(magbo), the attendant PDP riggers.
This proves that Obasanjo is the original 'Ali Baba' [i][/i]the biggest magician thief of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

toshmann:

imagine if nigeria has liberal gun laws and then there is a religious riot somewhere. imagine the carnage that would follow. and the military wont be able to stop it easily o. b/c all man dey loaded. think

The word 'detente' literally means stalemate, where one party is afraid of the repercussions on himself if he dares the other to react to aggression.

This is why owning guns in America has helped to protect homeowners from home invaders.
The "make my day law" allows the homeowner to use deadly force to protect his home from intruders. I am yet to hear of the one homwowner using his guns to settle disputes with his neighbours. This is not to say it cannot happen. The maturity, training and realities of owning a weapon convey a high responsibility on the gun owner that he knows when to use it.
Even the law enforcement officers in America will only pull out their weapons when confronted with a present threat to life. They have to write a report on use of force, every time a gun is drawn.

This level of maturity in gun ownership makes it easy to own a weapon in the US. As Jakumo has staed earlier, the illegal usage and reckless discharge of a weapon, carries a very high penalty and cost to defend.
The high usage among teen thugs and gangsters is high because thay have not attained the maturity. They connected gun ownership with bravado and might!. They also turn their weapons on adversarries (other gangsters) only. Older gangsters on the other hand, do not carry weapons as they realy on their underlings doing all the dirty work for them. they concentrate on making money.
Even gansters know there are lots of citizens who carry concealed weapons legaly, and if challeged as in car jerkings, they are liable to get killed!
Also, the current police statistics in my city, has it that crime is actullay declining.
More people are killed by the drunk driver than by guns!

This brings us to Nigeria, where our streets are so dangerous that you can get killed by an 'okada'. The traffick laws are so disobeyed that evn the public officials will flout the laws.
I responsible home owners and professionals are allowed to carry weapons, there will be less cases of home invasions, when the thieves knows they could be repeled with deadly force. even a brazen thief realy has no intentions of dieing.
Even the police are conversant with gun usage in Nigeria. You see police officers recklessly pointing guns at motorist. This is 'no no' in America, as this will land you in internal investigation. (which all law enforcement officers are afraid of)

Even in London, police officers are becoming increasingly armed, as the realities of world and home grown terrorism are present a cear danger. Though not very prevalent, gun ownership in Britain especially in the surbuban areas are very high. Even the street gansters are finding easy access to guns!

It is not that a country has a high rate of ownership which determines its usage, but the economy, training and maturity of its citizens!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some like to close their eyes and pretend everything is alright. Soome on the other hand believe because they are doing well, then everyone should be doing well.

The truth is Nigeria has not enable a conducive environment for the collective of the people to be ding well. That is leaving above the poverty level!
The majority of Nigerians wallow in abject poverty. It does not take a trained eye to see the eyesore tha Nigeria has become.
Our streets are not only dirty and ill-maitained, they are littered with beggars of all walks of life and deformities!
Pretend that all is well if you want, it does not negate the fact that the nation has been mis-managed, looted, raped and neglected.
The only upbeat thing in Nigeria is the resilience of the common people who continue to trudge on in spite of the relentless burden of poverty placed on them by the kleptocratic riggers in masquerade!

We have all seen what the schools have become. Unless you have money to send your children to a private school, they are marely warehoused in glorified day cares. With weary unpaid and most times unpaid teachers to supervised overcrowed classes, how can any meaningful learning take place?

The secondary schools have now become a place to groom hoodloms. The tertiary institutions, glorified LovePeddler-houses.
open your eyes and you will see. The past glories of our educational system is a thing of the past. Our road are death traps, while our public hospitals are places to go if you want to die.

We don't need the UN or any other body to tell us what is apparent. As long as we pretend it is unpatriotic to see, speak and hear what behooves us, then we beg for others to come and not only analyse our ills, but to do house cleaning for us as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spending N328 million (enough to build a new house) on renovations alone, is price padding in the extreme.
what are they putting in the house, Gold or Platinium fixtures?
We have seen this time and again. These people attain a position of authority and they go crazy spending our money.
The house is the property of the government and should be renovated by the works department without any imput from the speaker. If she wants anything extra, she should spend her own money.

Ths case of the Toyota Land Cruisers is so glaringly exhorbitant. A 2007 Land Cruiser with all the bells and wistles, sell for $49,000. At the price she claimed of N17.26, each SUV will cost $139,199!  Where on earth is she buying them from? and what are they made of?

The EFCC has to look into these and I will forward a price quote to them.
These crooks have been getting away with so much corruption at the expense of the people.
If Yar'Adua is serious with his transparent utterances, he has to question this new graft which is so glaring.
Why on earth would a sane person need to leave the shores of Nigeria just to celebrate a meaningless birthday in America, if she wasn't power drunk. It is only in Nigeria the you see public officials, spend mony recklessly.
She should be impeached and thrown out of office. This is no longer the corrupt era of Obasanjo!!!!!!!!!!!!

TayoD:

@Easyy,

In order to be crystal clear, maybe you need to list the identities you really think Nigeirans abroad have betrayed. What stands you out as a Nigerian compared to other Nationalities? Your mentioning crack smoking seems way unfounded to me as I am yet to meet any Nigerian here that is that irresponsible. Maybe it is your neck of the woods. I will advice you introduce our local snuff to these our people so they can maintain our national heritage in diaspora.

All dis tok about Nigerians abroad na so so jelosi jelosi. Hao pesin wey be dokter or lawyer go begin smoke crack.

Nigerians at home are worse let me tell you. I have seen families with children unable to speak their native language. The family pretend to be like Americans or other and speak only Enlglish to their children.
We end up with little brats who don't listen to their parents and parents afraid to discipline their wards.

Now tell me who is the maradona, eroding their heritage!!!!!!!!

ABUJA — A FRESH allegation of account transfer has been levelled at the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh, with some members also insinuating that her birthday celebration in Maryland, USA, was a well-orchestrated affair.

www.Vanguard.com

At a time when Yar'Adua has promised a transparent government, it is amazing to see the new speaker of the House award #628million for nenovations of two houses and the purchase of 10 SUVs.

Each house will be renovated for an astounding 232 ans 238 million Naira, while the 10 SUVs (Toyota Land Cruisers) will be purchased for N172.6 million. That translates to $139,000 each!!!

I own a big SUV which cost $39,000!!!! The new Speaker is overcharging to the tune of $100,000 on each SUV!!!

The more things appear to change, the more PDP loots the nation. Man or Woman, they are all crooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xkape:

Good Topic. Good post by Jibitoye

Awolowo is just human like everybody else. Extraordinary human but human all the same. Had his faults and weaknesses and made his mistakes. I think he was very tribalistic like most (if not all ) yorubas but i wonder where people got the idea that that was necessarily a bad thing. Anyway that is another topic for another day.

This is classic Igbo ignorance of the Yoruba. Yoruba people were liberated by Awo. In thinking and inter-relations with others. The Yoruba are generally detribalised and see no reason to travel outside of the bases and they see what they need in their immediate vicinities. The Yoruba have always been accomodating and see no need to form groups or kingdoms in any land of sojorns. (Unlike Igbo).
This is not intended to serve as ctiticism of Igbo, but a correction of xkape!

BABEELOVE:

Good talk Banky---the problem is how, when we have collectively gone "comatose"?

A no sabi o!! a bi NID wey jus dey siddon look. de "pekelemesi" (peculiar mess) in Nigeria is a creation of 'government'. The last adminstration of Obasanjo, more so than at any time in the anals of NIgeria's mis-rulers.
With so many billions of dollars accrued to Nigeria in tha last eight years, we still have almost no improvement in the lives of the 'people'. What then do the people have to commend the 'government on

@Afam:

Old buddy its been some time that we had a good and meaningful discuss.
Us old timers just dey tanda watchall de small pikin dem dey fight small boy and gal fight. (NINs and NIDs)

True the government is made up of ordinarily foible people like us. In Nigeria however the government had taken on a uniquely supernatural garb.
The cronyism and sycophancy endemic in goverment has turned it to a 'good old boys' club where the people have been completely forgotten in the scheme of things. This is why we have the 'government' and the 'people' divide!

The people (citizens) have come to think of government in third party sense. with a life all its own and alien to the asperations of the people, the 'goverment can no longer have any correlation to the 'people'

This however is not uniquely a trait seen in Nigeria only. It is very common in underdevelped and corrupt nations, where the elitist attitude of the leaders has done a lot to alienate the governed.
In a nation top heavy and over-regulated, what do you expected the over-burdened adn oppressed populace to feel of their oppressors? It is true that common people have turned to become oppressors of their brothers and sisters.
you cannot go anywhere in Lagos now, without some misguided person in uniform trying to extort money out of you.
The police don't even know what their duties are besides collecting money at the illegal barricades. From local councils to wards, every worker is now garbed in some form of ill-fitting uniforms, anf the primary purpose in to extort the man on the street.

These redundancy was broght about by the 'government' abdicating its duties and relegating to the uninformed., unelected riggers in 'government'. Their quest being more aquisition of wealth at the detriment of the 'people'

The only avenue now left for the poeple to vent, is through criticism. Sometimes unreasonable, it still remains their only form of getting back at the hydra headed monster called 'goverment'
As optimistic as we are or want to be, the monster (government) has become a vampire that sucks the very life out of the people they were sworn to serve!!!!

Yes I concur it will take eternity for nigeria to move forward unless the 'people' dicides to have balls and take the reign of 'goverment' back "to the people and for the people".

SOLUDO’s BIG BANG ON THE NAIRA
Economic team, CBN to finetune new monetary policy
By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja
Thursday, August 16, 2007

,
"When it becomes operational, the redenomination of the naira, according to the CBN will restore the value of the naira close to what it was before the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986 as it will as from August 1, 2008, exchange at N1.25k to $1 with N20 as the highest denomination",

WWW.Sunnews.com

I have heard and read a lot of ill-thought out agenda and plans, this brainwave of Soludo's has to be the worst arrant nonsense anyone will ever think of.
Coming from the governor of Nigeria's apex bank (Central Bank) and from a seasoned banker, it becomes embarrasing!

No nation no matter how powerful or rich can peg its own exchange rate. I am talking about industrialised nations here. Nations with exports and vibrant economy. The nations economy and exports determines the rate at which the nations curency is traded on the open market .
For Soludo to now come annd decide that the Naira is now almost as strong as the dollar is the height of lunacy. Those days are long gone and will take a miracle and better fiscal management and better political leaders and stable economy to see a return.

What does Nigeria have to back up such a strong currency?
A near zero export and manufacturing!
Epileptic power generation which results in high cost of production!
Crumbling infrastructure!
Poor and largely illeterate citizenry!
Corrupt and desportic leaders!
Unsatble and restless polity!
The list of ills are endless, with the only plus being the oil reserves. Even this is threatened in the the restless Niger Delta!

Soludo must be really dumb and reckless if he thinks the rest of the world will simply fold their arms and go along with his stupid idea. He has been rubbing shoulders too long with Obasanjo, he has become dictatoral and autocratic!

Nigeria is getting better but it will take a lot to get it to the point where the Naira will be able to compete with the dollar!

@paw-paw:

Yoruba people will say, "owo igbe ki'run" means money earned carrying shit no dey smell.

The money sent to Nigeria by the diasporans, is the second largest earner for Nigeria after oil money.
At last count, it was put at $8 billion/yr.

I rest my case.

@Babeelove:
you dey make me laf taya. a tink say a go mari you.

The trend in the Worldover is towards electing a good diplomatic and technocrat lady politician. America is not left out of this as the congress just elected Nancy Pelosi as the speaker of the house. This to the joy of many of us Democrats who made sure the Republicans lost the Senate and the House. (Also thanks to the ineptitude of Bush and his criminal Vice)

Hilary Clinton apart from being a female, comes highly desirable and qualified. She is just as smart as Bil and was a quiet adviser in his cabinet. Her biggest contribution to America will be starting a universal health program like in the U.K.
She tried to sponsor the idea during Bill Clinton's adminstration but was shot down by the greedy Republican supporters in the Insurance and Pharmacitical industries, who make a huge profit from over priced products to the populace.

This time around, there is ample support from the majority of Americans even among the Republican block voters.

Mitt Romney has no prayer to win the Republican nomination, that is a shoo in for Guilaini. He will loose the general election to Hilary Clinton.

Obama is a good money earner but can never become president of the the still very racist America. The core South will never vote for a black man.

Hilary Clinton is my politician of choise and she will be a good president for America. With Bill Clinton on her side, America will be getting two for the price of one. What a bargain!

It turned out that most of the women if not all were real prostitutes.

Tales out of Lagos brothels
By Evelyn Usman
Posted to the Web: Saturday, August 11, 2007

Ladies of the red light zone, arrested in blistering raids by men of the Lagos Police Command tell tales of how they got   into the world’s oldest profession

They all looked ruffled, though some of them unperturbed at their present states, following the expression on their faces   which spelt nothing but calm and an apparent expectation of freedom. They were of different ages and sizes; some of them   tall, some
short, some fat and some, well, trim. Some looked beautiful while others fit into into any description. They were   alleged commercial sex workers who were picked by the monitoring unit of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohamed   Abubakar from different brothels in the state last week. They were 99 in number.

The arrest, as gathered by Saturday Vanguard, was amongst other things occasioned by confessional statements of some arrested   robbery suspects who revealed that their female friends who are mostly commercial sex workers were their armour bearers.   Investigations also showed that over the years, these girls have been planted in many local brothels and big hotels as easy   access to get some victims either assassinated or robbed.

But what kept every one spellbound were the involvement of five women with children in what is regarded as the oldest   profession on earth. More shocking was the realization that two of the women were housewives whose husbands were apparently   oblivious of their vocation. Two teenagers who claimed to be 18 years even when it was glaring that they had not reached that   age were also paraded. Most of them were reportedly lured from their respective villages on the pretext that they were being   brought to big cities like Lagos in search of greener pastures, only to realize they were brought as sex machines to satisfy   the sexual urge of more than three men per night.

Some of them claimed they lost their virginities to those they regarded as strangers while others were brutalized in the   process. About 18 of the suspects who spoke claimed they were students from different tertiary institutions in the federation   and were into the business following the incredible hike in school fees. One of them who identified herself as Scarlet  Onogie  and a final year student of accounting in one of the universities revealed that she reluctantly started the trade  after she  lost her father at the age of 18.  On the part of the married women, they claimed they had to do it because of the  harsh  conditions in the their families. One of them who sobbed uncontrollably, revealed how she was introduced into it by a  friend  two years ago, claiming that it had at least helped in putting food on her family’s table. Excerpts of conversation  with some  of them:

Favour Victor: My name is Favour Victor, I am 18 years old. I was arrested in Molite hotel in Dopemu area of Lagos. I’m from   Akwa-Ibom State. After my primary and secondary school in the village, I was sent to one of my relations in Port Harcourt to   look for job to so I can assist my family. I had barely spent two years in Port Harcourt when my sister and her family   relocated to the USA, and asked me to go back to the village. That was last year.

After spending some months in the village, I was taken to another relative in Uyo where I was sold to a woman I never knew   for N50,000. She brought me to Lagos and put me in a hotel. The first night was like a dream to me because I never expected I   would ever go into prostitution in life, even though I needed money to take care of my siblings back at home. Reluctantly, I   joined and was hoping to quit one day until I was arrested”.

Endurance Francis: “My name is Endurance Francis and I’m 18 years old. I was arrested at Liberty hotel by Cement bus-stop but   I do not know the area because I am new there. A relation, Hope by name brought me from the village to come and help her  sell  in a restaurant. As I was leaving the village, my mother cautioned me against doing anything that would get my guardian  angry  and lead to her sending me back to the village. But I never knew what I was going into until we arrived Lagos and I  got to  know the next day that where my aunt called home was a brothel. Initially I thought it was a public compound because  I have  heard so much about face-me-I face-you buildings in Lagos. But two days after my arrival, a man came into the room I  share  with my aunt and she left both of us inside. To my surprise, the man started handling me and I screamed.

My aunt came in and asked me not to scream that I would enjoy it at the end. That was how I lost my virginity to a total   stranger. That night he paid me N500 but my aunt collected it from me, saying she would be saving it for me. But she never   gave me a kobo till date. After that first encounter, I cried and begged my aunt to take me back to the village. But she   would not, on the grounds that she had no money for transport. She said I needed to raise money for my transport fare if I   wanted to go. That was how I began trading myself for money. I am yet to know how much I’ve so far made. At times I would get   N500 each from three men. At other times when there won’t be business, I would realize N300 a day”
Asked if she if she uses condom to avoid sexual transmitted diseases, she answered in the affirmitive.

On the contrary, Favour’s relative, who simply identified herself as Hope claimed she was not in possession of the teenager’s   money. Rather the 25-year-old lady who said she’d been in the profession for two years stated that “ I actually brought her   from the village and she has been living in the hotel with me. When she came the first time, I was deducting some of her   money as payment for house rent because we pay N2,000 every month. But after she moved into her room I stopped collecting   money from her”.
Asked if she disclosed the type of work she was bringing the teen to do in Lagos to her parents, she kept mute.

In what looked like an arrant display of non-challant attitude towards her involvement, another suspect who refused to   disclose her identity said: “So what if am arrested? Did I kill or steal? Abi no bi my body I dey use?” But after a while she   betrayed her emotions, as tears trickled down her cheeks saying, “ all these would not have happened if my father were  alive.

After his death two years ago, my mother and four of her children were thrown out of the house my father built because my   mother never had a male child. They even said we were all bastards. From that day I vowed never to set my foot in my village   again. I do not even want to mention the name. It is in Estsako local government area of Edo State. The money I realize each   night even though not too much, is in the bank and pending when it’s enough to take me to school I may not stop this   business, I’m sorry to say.”

The lady’s confession was interrupted by a woman who from all indication looked like someone that needed to pour her mind   out. The woman who gave her name as Mrs Esasonye blamed her present state in the harsh economy.

“If things were okay economically I would not have been into this mess. I lost my husband about five years ago and that left   me with a responsibility too much to shoulder. After the death of my husband, I relocated to the village where I ventured   into clothes business with the money I realized from my late husband’s friends. I later left my five children in Benin with   my mother for Lagos when business was not making headway. I started hawking second hand clothes and was patronized by some of   these girls in a brothel in Dopemu. From there, I never knew what got over me and in order to meet up with the financial   challenges, especially my children’s school fees, I joined the girls.”

Asked how much she had realized so far, she said, “ I only joined about four months ago and so far, I have used what I   realized in paying their school fees. But I promise to go back to Benin immediately I leave here because the shame and   disgrace in this prostitution business is more than what one has to bear while struggling to make ends meet.”

Her partner, Mrs Daniels who looked astonishingly pretty, bent her head down after disclosing her name, saying she would not   want her face to be shown either on television or on the pages of any newspaper.

On why she decided to toe such path, she said: “Life, my sister, always spring up surprises. My story is not what should be   told to any responsible woman. Ordinarily I am not promiscuous. I went into this because of circumstances. When I got married   to my husband eight years ago, things seemed okay. We were comfortable as it were and my husband forbade me from working,   insisting that I bring forth the number of children we both agreed on before working, though I initially kicked against it   because I felt I should be contributing my own quota to the upkeep of the home but he stood his ground.

“Unfortunately, his bank was among those that did not meet up with the N25 billion target and most of them were retrenched.   That marked the beginning of  the turning point in our marriage. The money he was paid at the end of the day including what   he had in the bank was invested in a business that was later realized to be fake. He was duped of over N17 million. Our world   literally came to an end. Our children were withdrawn from school because we could no longer pay their school fees. Our   personal house was sold because he used it as collateral to borrow some money he put into the business.

“As time went on, our once bubbling home became a shadow of itself as people stopped coming to visit, all our friends   deserted us and worse still was that my husband was so shattered that he could not bring himself to look for another job. At   a point, he turned against me, saying I was the cause of his woes. He started raising his hands on me out of frustration, a   habit he never exhibited even when I wronged him. He called me all sorts of names, saying I was a no good. I was so confused   about the whole situation and could not give my children adequate reasons why they had to leave school for a while.

“Then I met a friend who introduced me into this. I don’t live in hotels as others do; my friend would invite me over   whenever there were customers. At first it was so disgusting that I almost threw up. But as time went on, I had to close my   eyes since what was realized could put food on our table. In four months I realized some money that I used to open a shop and   started a petty trade. My children went back to school even though it’s public school. On one of the occasions my husband   asked where I got the money from and I told him a friend borrowed me.

“I had proposed in my heart to stop it before September this year because I know it’s not only a taboo in our tradition, God   also frowns at it. I know people will blame me after hearing my side of the story, on the grounds that my situation was not a   justifiable reason for venturing into such unholy act. But I beg to be forgiven by my husband who is presently out of town   and my three children,” she stated passionately and broke down in tears.

Comment: The above stories and more is why the governor and the police are seen to be legislating morality in Lagos.
The menace of prostitution enables other crimes and breed criminals. This has to be addressed.

Sometimes, to combat or arrest a more serious situation, one has to start by fighting what appears to be mundane and unrelated.  You cannot perform surgery on a sick man. You have to first cure his hicups before you can operate on him for cancer!

@ seun: I hope this little piece don't make you mad enough to censor it like you did my last write in this thread. Enjoy your power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It turned out that most of the women if not all were real prostitutes.

Tales out of Lagos brothels
By Evelyn Usman
Posted to the Web: Saturday, August 11, 2007

Ladies of the red light zone, arrested in blistering raids by men of the Lagos Police Command tell tales of how they got into the world’s oldest profession

They all looked ruffled, though some of them unperturbed at their present states, following the expression on their faces which spelt nothing but calm and an apparent expectation of freedom. They were of different ages and sizes; some of them tall, some
short, some fat and some, well, trim. Some looked beautiful while others fit into into any description. They were alleged commercial sex workers who were picked by the monitoring unit of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohamed Abubakar from different brothels in the state last week. They were 99 in number.

The arrest, as gathered by Saturday Vanguard, was amongst other things occasioned by confessional statements of some arrested robbery suspects who revealed that their female friends who are mostly commercial sex workers were their armour bearers. Investigations also showed that over the years, these girls have been planted in many local brothels and big hotels as easy access to get some victims either assassinated or robbed.

But what kept every one spellbound were the involvement of five women with children in what is regarded as the oldest profession on earth. More shocking was the realization that two of the women were housewives whose husbands were apparently oblivious of their vocation. Two teenagers who claimed to be 18 years even when it was glaring that they had not reached that age were also paraded. Most of them were reportedly lured from their respective villages on the pretext that they were being brought to big cities like Lagos in search of greener pastures, only to realize they were brought as sex machines to satisfy the sexual urge of more than three men per night.

Some of them claimed they lost their virginities to those they regarded as strangers while others were brutalized in the process. About 18 of the suspects who spoke claimed they were students from different tertiary institutions in the federation and were into the business following the incredible hike in school fees. One of them who identified herself as Scarlet Onogie and a final year student of accounting in one of the universities revealed that she reluctantly started the trade after she lost her father at the age of 18. On the part of the married women, they claimed they had to do it because of the harsh conditions in the their families. One of them who sobbed uncontrollably, revealed how she was introduced into it by a friend two years ago, claiming that it had at least helped in putting food on her family’s table. Excerpts of conversation with some of them:
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COVER STORIES

Tales out of Lagos brothels
By Evelyn Usman
Posted to the Web: Saturday, August 11, 2007



* Ladies of the red light zone, arrested in blistering raids by men of the Lagos Police Command tell tales of how they got into the world’s oldest profession

They all looked ruffled, though some of them unperturbed at their present states, following the expression on their faces which spelt nothing but calm and an apparent expectation of freedom. They were of different ages and sizes; some of them tall, some short, some fat and some, well, trim. Some looked beautiful while others fit into into any description. They were alleged commercial sex workers who were picked by the monitoring unit of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohamed Abubakar from different brothels in the state last week. They were 99 in number.

The arrest, as gathered by Saturday Vanguard, was amongst other things occasioned by confessional statements of some arrested robbery suspects who revealed that their female friends who are mostly commercial sex workers were their armour bearers. Investigations also showed that over the years, these girls have been planted in many local brothels and big hotels as easy access to get some victims either assassinated or robbed.

But what kept every one spellbound were the involvement of five women with children in what is regarded as the oldest profession on earth. More shocking was the realization that two of the women were housewives whose husbands were apparently oblivious of their vocation. Two teenagers who claimed to be 18 years even when it was glaring that they had not reached that age were also paraded. Most of them were reportedly lured from their respective villages on the pretext that they were being brought to big cities like Lagos in search of greener pastures, only to realize they were brought as sex machines to satisfy the sexual urge of more than three men per night.

Some of them claimed they lost their virginities to those they regarded as strangers while others were brutalized in the process. About 18 of the suspects who spoke claimed they were students from different tertiary institutions in the federation and were into the business following the incredible hike in school fees. One of them who identified herself as Scarlet Onogie and a final year student of accounting in one of the universities revealed that she reluctantly started the trade after she lost her father at the age of 18. On the part of the married women, they claimed they had to do it because of the harsh conditions in the their families. One of them who sobbed uncontrollably, revealed how she was introduced into it by a friend two years ago, claiming that it had at least helped in putting food on her family’s table. Excerpts of conversation with some of them:

Favour Victor: My name is Favour Victor, I am 18 years old. I was arrested in Molite hotel in Dopemu area of Lagos. I’m from Akwa-Ibom State. After my primary and secondary school in the village, I was sent to one of my relations in Port Harcourt to look for job to so I can assist my family. I had barely spent two years in Port Harcourt when my sister and her family relocated to the USA, and asked me to go back to the village. That was last year.

After spending some months in the village, I was taken to another relative in Uyo where I was sold to a woman I never knew for N50,000. She brought me to Lagos and put me in a hotel. The first night was like a dream to me because I never expected I would ever go into prostitution in life, even though I needed money to take care of my siblings back at home. Reluctantly, I joined and was hoping to quit one day until I was arrested”.

Endurance Francis: “My name is Endurance Francis and I’m 18 years old. I was arrested at Liberty hotel by Cement bus-stop but I do not know the area because I am new there. A relation, Hope by name brought me from the village to come and help her sell in a restaurant. As I was leaving the village, my mother cautioned me against doing anything that would get my guardian angry and lead to her sending me back to the village. But I never knew what I was going into until we arrived Lagos and I got to know the next day that where my aunt called home was a brothel. Initially I thought it was a public compound because I have heard so much about face-me-I face-you buildings in Lagos. But two days after my arrival, a man came into the room I share with my aunt and she left both of us inside. To my surprise, the man started handling me and I screamed.

My aunt came in and asked me not to scream that I would enjoy it at the end. That was how I lost my virginity to a total stranger. That night he paid me N500 but my aunt collected it from me, saying she would be saving it for me. But she never gave me a kobo till date. After that first encounter, I cried and begged my aunt to take me back to the village. But she would not, on the grounds that she had no money for transport. She said I needed to raise money for my transport fare if I wanted to go. That was how I began trading myself for money. I am yet to know how much I’ve so far made. At times I would get N500 each from three men. At other times when there won’t be business, I would realize N300 a day”
Asked if she if she uses condom to avoid sexual transmitted diseases, she answered in the affirmitive.

On the contrary, Favour’s relative, who simply identified herself as Hope claimed she was not in possession of the teenager’s money. Rather the 25-year-old lady who said she’d been in the profession for two years stated that “ I actually brought her from the village and she has been living in the hotel with me. When she came the first time, I was deducting some of her money as payment for house rent because we pay N2,000 every month. But after she moved into her room I stopped collecting money from her”.
Asked if she disclosed the type of work she was bringing the teen to do in Lagos to her parents, she kept mute.

In what looked like an arrant display of non-challant attitude towards her involvement, another suspect who refused to disclose her identity said: “So what if am arrested? Did I kill or steal? Abi no bi my body I dey use?” But after a while she betrayed her emotions, as tears trickled down her cheeks saying, “ all these would not have happened if my father were alive.

After his death two years ago, my mother and four of her children were thrown out of the house my father built because my mother never had a male child. They even said we were all bastards. From that day I vowed never to set my foot in my village again. I do not even want to mention the name. It is in Estsako local government area of Edo State. The money I realize each night even though not too much, is in the bank and pending when it’s enough to take me to school I may not stop this business, I’m sorry to say.”

The lady’s confession was interrupted by a woman who from all indication looked like someone that needed to pour her mind out. The woman who gave her name as Mrs Esasonye blamed her present state in the harsh economy.

“If things were okay economically I would not have been into this mess. I lost my husband about five years ago and that left me with a responsibility too much to shoulder. After the death of my husband, I relocated to the village where I ventured into clothes business with the money I realized from my late husband’s friends. I later left my five children in Benin with my mother for Lagos when business was not making headway. I started hawking second hand clothes and was patronized by some of these girls in a brothel in Dopemu. From there, I never knew what got over me and in order to meet up with the financial challenges, especially my children’s school fees, I joined the girls.”

Asked how much she had realized so far, she said, “ I only joined about four months ago and so far, I have used what I realized in paying their school fees. But I promise to go back to Benin immediately I leave here because the shame and disgrace in this prostitution business is more than what one has to bear while struggling to make ends meet.”

Her partner, Mrs Daniels who looked astonishingly pretty, bent her head down after disclosing her name, saying she would not want her face to be shown either on television or on the pages of any newspaper.

On why she decided to toe such path, she said: “Life, my sister, always spring up surprises. My story is not what should be told to any responsible woman. Ordinarily I am not promiscuous. I went into this because of circumstances. When I got married to my husband eight years ago, things seemed okay. We were comfortable as it were and my husband forbade me from working, insisting that I bring forth the number of children we both agreed on before working, though I initially kicked against it because I felt I should be contributing my own quota to the upkeep of the home but he stood his ground.

“Unfortunately, his bank was among those that did not meet up with the N25 billion target and most of them were retrenched. That marked the beginning of the turning point in our marriage. The money he was paid at the end of the day including what he had in the bank was invested in a business that was later realized to be fake. He was duped of over N17 million. Our world literally came to an end. Our children were withdrawn from school because we could no longer pay their school fees. Our personal house was sold because he used it as collateral to borrow some money he put into the business.

“As time went on, our once bubbling home became a shadow of itself as people stopped coming to visit, all our friends deserted us and worse still was that my husband was so shattered that he could not bring himself to look for another job. At a point, he turned against me, saying I was the cause of his woes. He started raising his hands on me out of frustration, a habit he never exhibited even when I wronged him. He called me all sorts of names, saying I was a no good. I was so confused about the whole situation and could not give my children adequate reasons why they had to leave school for a while.

“Then I met a friend who introduced me into this. I don’t live in hotels as others do; my friend would invite me over whenever there were customers. At first it was so disgusting that I almost threw up. But as time went on, I had to close my eyes since what was realized could put food on our table. In four months I realized some money that I used to open a shop and started a petty trade. My children went back to school even though it’s public school. On one of the occasions my husband asked where I got the money from and I told him a friend borrowed me.

“I had proposed in my heart to stop it before September this year because I know it’s not only a taboo in our tradition, God also frowns at it. I know people will blame me after hearing my side of the story, on the grounds that my situation was not a justifiable reason for venturing into such unholy act. But I beg to be forgiven by my husband who is presently out of town and my three children,” she stated passionately and broke down in tears.

Comment: The above stories and more is why the governor and the police are seen to be legislating morality in Lagos.
The menace of prostitution enables other crimes and breed criminals. This has to be addressed.

Sometimes, to combat or arrest a more serious situation, one has to start by fighting what appears to be mundane and unrelated. You cannot perform surgery on a sick man. You have to first cure his hicups before you can operate on him for cancer!

@ seun: I hope this little piece don't make you mad enough to censor it like you did my last write in this thread. Enjoy your power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hausa gays is a very open secret covered up by their religion (call it hypocricy)
Orikinla was right when he said it is prevalent in Saudi Arabia. It is practiced in all Islamic countries. The lack of open association with females and close proximity with males is what brought this aberration about.
Rape is also very prevalent in the North, grown men like especialy to rape very young girls.
These are facts and a big problem in the North which authorities are now starting to address.

Razorr:

@Bankole01

As much as I agree with you on the Morality issue. I'll have to say that it's not the government's job to enforce this. We are in a democracy for pete's sake. Let the churches and Mosques do their work.

Not a task for the faint at heart I admit. It is not a job for government bodies. But when execesses are the order of the day, who is going to set limits and say enough already?
Parents seem unable to control their children all in the name of modernity. Our culture is being eroded to the extent many children in Nigeria are unable to speak their language.
Our heritage and cultures are being lost and someone has to stand up and rescue our eroding values.
The mosques will turn us to little black Arabs with their sharia dressing. The churches are a little better at instilling morals in members.

@Jakumo
Slow down a little.

As much as we cannot legislate morality or the way people dress, our girls are carrying it a little too far. A decent girl should dress appropriately and not like hooker. It is far sexier to dress conservatively rather than dress in cheap revealing clothes.
In our zest to be like foreigners, our girls have become little sluts and our insttutions of higher learning have become glorified brothels. Some semblance of sanity have to be instilled in these girls and boys.

When we were growing up, it was unheard for a boy to braids his hair. We are Africans, not Americans and we need to adhere to our tradition.

On the other hand, the Nigerian police cannot be let loose to determine what is appropriate or not. They will simply turn it into another avenue for 'egunje'. A set guideline should be made available. Not restrictive or conforming for religious purposes, but for the sake of decency.

Mariory:

Buhari enjoys support in the South West? That is news to me. Buhari's support is in the North.

Yes, Buhari enjoys support in the South West due to his pricipled stance.

Afam:

For sure, elections were rigged for and against PDP in some states.

But the bottom line is that Yar'adua would still win any of the candidates that contested the last presidential election anyday, anytime.

There are definitely no garantees that Yar'Adua would win in a free and fair election. If so why did Obasanjo massively rig the elections in his favour.

My candidate was Buhari and is still Buhari. I believe he would have won the elections. He had more support in the North and SouthWest, maybe even in the Middle Belt region. He was by far the best the candidate.
He is honest candid and very desciplined. This is what Nigeria needs. A strong arm that will not condone all the inconsistencies and rascality in the polity.

Yar'Adua although a gentleman, prudent and careful, will be an underperformer. He could not have won in his own neighborhood!!!!!!!!!!!

Empty barrels also sound loud. Its all gragra and no substance. I for one don't respect titles. I refuse to use any even when I can legaly use a title confered by nature of my duties in America.

McKren:

This is not a laughing matter, immagine someone giving you a dirty slap and telling you he has no grudge and has forgiven you as if it is him who should be angry and not you.

The slap dey pain me 2 much. Walahi I go kill am if i see dat yeye man. Make dem take all the money from him like Alams own.

angel101:

The hard feelings would have been for who now?

I wonder o, like he got our permission before he started robbing us blind. God solder him yansh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thief needs to go to jail.
Who gives a hoot if he has ill feelings. I have enough ill feelings towards him and the rest of the thiefing elite.
(nonsense, hisssss, shio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

MILITIA:

Definitely not from "Punch" Newspaper!!! If people watched the show with Tommy Hilfilger and the Nigerian scam nonsense on Oprah---and felt they were "humiliated" why did they not go on an "Oprah" rampage then

Now appearing on some "rogue" newspaper from Nigeria, most are making noise for nothing here!!! Why are we not surprised Super-Cyber-Amebos and Tatafos on Nairaland!!!![b][/b]

Kai, den no be Amebos, dem be bora 'gbe fila' and siata 'gbe geles'
you dis gal you 2 dey sabi cos peple 2 mush.

Mamajama:

you people should go back to sleep.  What has Oprah done for Nigerians?  her school in South African would have helped millions in Nigeria, until she come and help us she is just one of them, I have respect for her and her organization, but she need to spread her generosity to Nigeria not just south Africa.

AS a Nigerian, I would not easily give money to any governmental agency to do anything in Nigeria. We all know full well the money will not tricle down to the needed point. so why should any foreigner be chatised for not giving their hard earned money to Nigeria, knowing full well our corrupt governments and people.

Lets stop playing the blame game and clean up our acts. those of us who complain when people label us ascorrupt, aid and abett the criminals among us. When you see a person flagrantly flaunt or break the laws and you keep silent. you have become an accomplise. even when you do not turn that person to the authorities, you must make sure you let this person know the act is wrong and you do not condone such behavior.

When we become pro-active and self policing, others will notice and give the respect we so much demand. We are our own worst enemies.

@ denex.
lol kiddo, there is no convincing you. You made me laugh. Have a nice day.

Seun:

(1) What's your source? (2) Is this related to the Second Thisday Music Festival?

Who cares about source. Thisday is supposed to be a mega media outfit. If they cannot organise an event, too bad. Our stupid leaders went there to showcase their ignorance, wanting to take pictures with the foreign artists. They put on a big show of shame

@Denex. I see you are still displaying your ignorance of the British system.
Oranges and apples kid, it has nothing in common with the American system, not to talk of the corrupt PDP!

Quit trying to explain the unexpanable!

I will dare to posit that the book might have been damaging to the then militicians. Obasanjo being the egotistic and pretensious person that he is could not let that happen.

Judging from the book's title ( The Combatant in Government), it could have been too revealing.

It is not too late to publish now though. I think it will get more readership. From the recent publicity to the larger than life image of Obasanjo, it will be a best seller.