₦airaland Forum

A U.S. soldier who lost all four limbs in a roadside bombing in Iraq says he's looking forward to driving and swimming with new arms after undergoing a double-arm transplant.
"I just want to get the most out of these arms, and just as goals come up, knock them down and take it absolutely as far as I can," Brendan Marrocco said Tuesday.
The 26-year-old New Yorker spoke at a news conference at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was joined by surgeons who performed the operation.

Brendan Marrocco speaks to the press, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013.
After he was wounded, Marrocco said, he felt fine using prosthetic legs, but he hated not having arms.
"You talk with your hands, you do everything with your hands, basically, and when you don't have that, you're kind of lost for a while," he said.
Marrocco said his chief desire is to drive the black Dodge Charger that's been sitting in his garage for three years.
"I used to love to drive," he said. "I'm really looking forward to just getting back to that, and just becoming an athlete again."
Although he doesn't expect to excel at soccer, his favourite sport, Marrocco said he'd like to swim and compete in a marathon using a handcycle.
Marrocco joked that military service members sometimes regard themselves as poorly paid professional athletes. His good humour and optimism are among the qualities doctors cited as signs he will recover much of his arm and hand use in two to three years.
"He's a young man with a tremendous amount of hope, and he's stubborn -- stubborn in a good way," said Dr. Jaimie Shores, the hospital's clinical director of hand transplantation. "I think the sky's the limit."
Shores said Marrocco has already been trying to use his hands, although he lacks feeling in the fingers, and he's eager to do more as the slow-growing nerves and muscles mend.
"I suspect that he will be using his hands for just about everything as we let him start trying to do more and more. Right now, we're the ones really kind of holding him back at this point," Shores said.
The procedure was only the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant ever done in the United States.
The infantryman was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009. He is the first soldier to survive losing all four limbs in the Iraq War.
Marrocco also received bone marrow from the same donor to minimize the medicine needed to prevent rejection. He said he didn't know much about the donor but "I'm humbled by their gift."
The 13-hour operation on Dec. 18 was led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Hopkins.
Marrocco was being released from the hospital Tuesday but will receive intensive therapy for two years at Hopkins and then at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.
After a major surgery, human nerves regenerate at a rate of an inch per month, Lee said.
"The progress will be slow, but the outcome will be rewarding," he added.


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/u-s-soldier-who-got-new-arms-in-rare-double-transplant-wants-to-swim-dive-1.1134188#ixzz2Jd315N00

There were strong indications yesterday, that the masquerade that allegedly shot dead an Islamic cleric, Lateef Amusa, in Ijaye area of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital during Egungun festival had vanished into thin air.
State Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, told newsmen at the Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, that contrary to media report that the masquerade was part of those arrested, the Command did not have the masquerade, known as ‘Leyin Aponle,’ in its custody.
It would be recalled that Amusa was reportedly killed by a masquerade during Egungun festival, which led to the burning down of the masquerade’s family house.
The Police Command had said it had arrested four suspects, including a masquerade over the death of Amusa .
However, while parading 16 suspects for various offences, the Commissioner said only three persons had been arrested.
He said: “As an African, no one can arrest Egungun, only human beings that commit offences that are arrested. We don’t have masquerade in our custody. We have arrested human beings and they would be charged to court after investigation.”
But, when Vanguard interviewed Ajani Olabimtan, one of the suspects paraded by the police for the alleged murder, he claimed the masquerade was a Lagos based bus conductor and had run away after the incident.
According to him, “the masquerade was my boy. I am a transporter in Lagos and I followed Kazeem to Abeokuta to celebrate the festival. He has run away.
In fact, I came to tell the police about the incident before I was arrested. It was not the masquerade that killed the man. It was done by some cultists who rammed into our procession.”
”Meanwhile, the police paraded six alleged kidnappers, three armed robbers, five suspected murders and two burglars.

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=91538

hrmkz: Who should we believe?

Boko Haram!

A 15-year-old girl who performed at President Obama's inauguration last week was shot dead Tuesday while hanging out with friends after school in bullet-scarred Chicago.
Hadiya Pendleton -- described by family as a “walking angel” -- was standing under a canopy in Vivian Gordon Harsh Park when a gunman ran down an alley, opened fire and fled in a white car, police said.
Pendleton was shot in the back but managed to run about a block before she collapsed, officer Laura Kubiak said. She died at the hospital.
A 16-year-old boy was wounded in the 2:20 p.m. incident. Police said Pendleton, who had no criminal record, was probably not the intended target.

“Never in a million years did I think I would get a call that my own baby had been gunned down,” Pendleton’s mother, Cleo Cowley, said through tears from her Chicago home.

She said she was at work Tuesday afternoon when she got an unexpected call from one of her daughter’s friends.
“She was screaming on the phone that Hadiya’s been shot, she’s been shot, and I just didn’t understand,” said Cowley.

She and other relatives described the teen as a honor student, an insatiable reader who still found time to play volleyball and a twirl a baton in the school marching band.
“As usual, the bad guy aims, but he never hits the other bad guy . . . He hits the one that hurts the most to lose,” the victim’s godfather, Damon Stewart, 36, who is a police officer, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“I changed her diapers, I played with her growing up. My heart is broken.”
A sophomore at selective King College Prep High School, Pendleton had traveled to Washington to perform with the band at inaugural events.
“It was the highlight of her young 15-year-old life,” Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said Wednesday at a Senate hearing on gun violence.
“Just a matter of days after the happiest day of her life, she’s gone.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney called the shooting a “terrible tragedy” and said the Obamas were praying for Pendleton’s family.
Cousin Shatira Wilks said the inauguration trip was the talk of a family gathering around New Year’s, but the young majorette was even more excited about something else: plans to travel to Europe this spring with the band.
“She was an honor student all her life,” Wilks said. “Honestly, she was a walking angel. She never once gave her mom any problems ever.”
Wilks said the teen doted on her 10-year-old brother, Junior, who is devastated.
“At Christmas this year, she was designated the elf and she handed out all the gifts,” she recalled.


“She loved rock music. She was always listening and playing to music,” Wilks said,. “What you would usually catching her doing is texting on her phone, like all the teenagers.”

Pendleton last tweeted just before 1 a.m. on Tuesday. “I’m tired,” she wrote.
Many of her classmates changed their Twitter handles to honor her and decried the violence that had claimed an innocent life.
“You are more than loved and missed,” one wrote. “Your laugh smile and silly happy personality has made my day more times than I can remember. Nobody deserves this, especially not you.”
Friends of the young majorette described her as a bubbly, well-liked student.
“She was always smiling and laughing,” said Tyler Genovesi, 14. “She was just a really nice person. … There’s a lot of people crying in school today. It’s very sad. The band is playing for her right now.”
Pendleton's murder was one of three shooting deaths in the city on Tuesday. More than 40 people have been shot dead in Chicago since the beginning of the year. There were 506 homicides in the city last year, a 16 percent increase even as other large cities, like New York, saw murders drop.
“We are awash in guns,” Durbin said, noting that six times as many guns as confiscated in Chicago as in New York each year. We have guns everywhere and some believe the solution to this is more guns. I disagree.”
Cowley broke down sobbing when she was told that her daughter’s death had been mentioned in the Senate.
“Something does need to change,” she said. “Where are the guns coming from? I don’t own a gun. My daughter was not violent. I never would have thought she would die like this.”

**govt claim they don’t know us, it is false, we have met their representatives many times.
**we met with some top Northerners, including Governor Sule Lamido, former Minister of Defence Bello Halliru, and Sheik Dahiru Bauchi. Because of their greed & wickedness, they kept denying us.
**We have no dialogue with Govt, as they keep killing our members.

The Islamic Terror Group, Boko Haram has rejected the earlier release announcing that they have decided to stop all there terror acts against Nigerians.

In their new audio release, Mujhahedeen Muhammad Marwana, who claims to be the second-in-command to Boko Haram leader Imam Abubakar Shekau, conducted in Hausa by phone in Bauchi State, by a foreign journalist.

Marwana speaks authoritatively about meetings between members of his group and some top Northerners, including Gov Sule Lamido, former Defence Minister, Bello Halliru, and Sheik Dahiru Bauchi. The translation, into English, did not provide any context to those meetings.

According to the source which made the tape available, the interview was broadcast yesterday, January 28, but it is unclear when it was conducted and where it was broadcast. Translated into English, the interview shows Marwana dispelling any possible dialogue with the militants because the government has allegedly killed 47 Boko Haram emissaries in dialogue efforts that have never seen the light of day.

In the interview, Marwanna also explained Boko Haram’s predicament in Kano, stating that four principal members of their group are being “unjustly” held there and must first be released as a pre-condition for any future developments. He indicated that there are others also being held in Abuja, Maiduguri and other locations in the North.

He told his interviewer: “Many people have called us for dialogue many times but the government is fooling itself, thinking they are clever but [are] deceiving themselves. They are insisting they don’t know us, it is false, we have met their representatives many times but because of their evil plan they kept denying [us] because of their greed and wickedness.”

Marwana also reiterated that Boko Haram is following Allah’s instruction to serve him and that his group is not attacking anyone unjustly.
He asked: “Before they attack us, have you ever see us attacking them and their cronies from the beginning? Even pressmen we have no problem with them except where there were some plots,” he said.

Apparently on the subject of treachery on the part of the government, he recalled “the first meeting” following the execution of former Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf in Maiduguri.

“We were six in Shehu’s Palace,” he recalled. “From there we were 40 that met in Damaturu and only three of us survived. We went to Kaduna and met in Arewa House; of 11 of us, 10 were killed by special squad of security agencies around Tafa on Abuja way, with all these, who is a cheat and want trouble? We sat with Governor Sule Lamido, former minister of defence, Bello Halliru and Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, this is what we want our Muslim Ummah to know.”

www.hopefornigeriaonline.com
www.facebook.com/hopefornigeria

What can this man ever do without forming a committee?

I used to be very open! But each time I tell my plans to anyone, it won't work out. So, I noticed this after several occurrences and stopped. Now, I always keep my plans to myself and things are working in the right direction!

......and Moses sealed it up, up Chelsea!

Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Mine was in Sao Tome, I ate a fish with some leaves. Immediately I got to my room I started feeling bad; body weakness, headache and runny stomach. I was very afraid cos I thought the food was poisoned but I eventually regain my stability after some hours

maxwello.yg:
hmmmmm. some parents ehh. using their children as if say dem be market wares for sales. Oh ! this should be a warning to parents with similar interests.

It happens mostly in the North, even their movies portray this!

maxwello.yg:
now they are working, no longer talking like sheep. We need more of this. This is not enough. And make it accessible to all and sundry. International medical consultants should be hitting in and out of that hospital everyday.We dnt want any quacks

Do we really need to wait for international government or body to do this? Why can't Federal government build such hospital in every state of the federation?

In an effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goal target, 2015, the Chinese government yesterday handed over a newly-built $12.5million Federal Staff Hospital to its Nigerian counterpart.

The 150-bed hospital, which covers 8,000 square metres, is a product of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
Commissioning the hospital in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan said the facility would serve useful purposes in improving the health status of millions of Nigerians.
Jonathan, who was represented by Vice President, Namadi Sambo, noted: “The health sector is very critical to the attainment of United Nations Millennium Development Goals 2015 target.
“This administration is committed to the provision of quality and affordable health care for all Nigerians.”
According to him, China has a very reliable ally in Nigeria not just in health sector but in other aspects of human lives.
The President said the relationship between China and Nigeria dated back to 1970 when formal diplomatic relations were established between both countries.
He said: “Since then, the relationship between the two countries has waxed strong with the signing of many cooperation agreements.
“China and Nigeria shares so much in common. There is therefore so much that we can gain from each other by strengthening and broadening our established partnership. China has become a significant destination for Nigeria’s trade including crude oil.
The conception of the hospital, according to Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Deng Boqing, dates back to 2006 when at the Beijing Summit of China-Africa Cooperation Forum, the Chinese government declared eight measures to help African countries raise their people’s livelihood and further promote friendly relations between China and African countries.
One of the measures, he said, was that China would build 30 hospitals in Africa, adding that “Nigeria was chosen to be one of the recipient countries.
“With a total investment of over $12 million, the hospital has been built and completed within twenty-two months, and is now going to be handed over to the Nigerian government,” Boqing said.
In his speech, Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, noted that the gesture had upgraded the hospital, which was formerly a colonial hospital with very few prospects for survival to its present 150-bed state.

http://news.naij.com/21561.html

A Nigerian court based in the capital Abuja has ordered a 16-year-old girl, Maryam Suleiman, and her parents to refund N570,000(about $4,000) to her husband, Mukailu Naibi, over a fraudulent marriage.

The judge in the Area Court sitting in Lugbe, Haruna Masanawa, ruled that Suleiman and her parents must refund the money to Naibi within 30 days. Masanawa also ordered that Naibi’s estranged wife, who had filed for divorce, must remain married to him pending the full refund of the amount.
"Based on the evidence before me, the court is convinced that the plaintiff’s parents are dubious people that no child should be proud of. They collected money from different suitors, all with the fraudulent intention of marrying their daughter out to them, all of which turned out to be fake promises. This honourable court hereby orders the plaintiff to pay the defendant the sum of N570,000 before divorce is granted to her,’" Masanawa said.
Naibi of Keke village, Kaduna, whose wife allegedly starved him of sex for two years of their marriage, had demanded N1. 2 million as compensation from the wife’s parents before he would agree to his wife’s request for divorce. Naibi, 37, while testifying in the case, said the amount covered the bride price he paid before marrying Suleiman. He told the court that the amount also covered the cost of damage done to his house after Suleiman set it on fire before filing for divorce. Naibi tendered written documents with records of all expenses made on his estranged wife and her parents, in addition to presenting a witness who testified in his favour. He told the court that his wife had refused to make love to him since they got married two years ago.
"Your worship, since we got married two years ago, my wife never allowed me to make love to her for once and all my attempts to do it always led to fighting. I married her out of love and I still love her, but with this development, I have no choice, but to ask the court to grant her divorce wish for the sake of peace," Naibi said.
In her testimony, Suleiman said her husband had made love to her once but she was not impressed and so wanted divorce. "I don’t love him. I don’t love anybody who bears his name and I hate anybody who loves him," she told the court. Naibi’s in-laws denied most of his claims.

http://news.naij.com/21545.html

There was confusion in the ancient town of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Monday morning, as Muslim youths set ablaze a building allegedly belonging to a masquerade, following the killing of a 30 year-old Islamic cleric, identified as Alfa Lateef Sabiu.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that Sabiu met his untimely death when followers of the masquerade known as “Lehin aponle,” allegedly opened fire on him for daring to ride on a motorcycle through their procession during the on-going “Egungun festival” in the town, on Sunday evening.

The deceased who was said to be on the motorcycle (okada) along with two others, was shot dead by the masquerade’s followers who were said to be fully armed with dangerous weapons.

This development did not go down well with some Muslim youths who attacked the private residence of the masquerade owner at Anigbio’s compound in Oja-Ale area of Ijaye.

The Balogun of Ijaye and Aare of Egbaland, High Chief Ganiyu Babayeju-Alemo, while speaking with newsmen said the development had forced the Egba Traditional Council, in consultation with the Alake of Egbaland, Oba (Dr.) Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo to suspend other activities for the 2013 Egungun festival in the community.

Balogun Babayeju-Alemo bemoaned the unwholesome attitude of the masquerade, saying that it had penchant for violence.

The community head further said that the masquerade’s followers were shooting sporadically into the air before they eventually attacked the deceased.

Babayeju- Alemo said the attitude of the masquerade and its followers on the fateful day made the community to invite the police to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order.

Meanwhile, the Ogun State Police Command has suspended further activities on the 2013 edition of masquerade festival, not only in Abeokuta, but in the entire state.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abeokuta yesterday also said that the command had arrested three persons along with the masquerade over the murder of the late cleric.

Adejobi gave the names of those arrested as Ajayi Olabintan (40), Shittu Adeyemi, Waheed Babalola as well as the masquerader whose identity was yet to be unveiled.

In a reaction to the murder of late Sabiu, the Ogun State Chapter of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) described the incident as “disheartening and callous,” adding that “the state government has over the years, turned deaf ears to letters and call from the association over what it called terrorist acts of traditionalists in the state.

“It is totally disheartening and callous that the current state government in Ogun has allowed emissaries of doom to invade the state and kill innocent citizens.”

A press statement issued and signed by MURIC’s Chairman, Soliu Luqman in Abeokuta, on Monday, called on the state government to, as a matter of urgency, prosecute those arrested to prevent a reprisal attack from the aggrieved youths.

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/4128-masquerade%E2%80%99s-followers-kill-islamic-cleric

LAGOS State Government has embarked on measures to eradicate defaecation in public places by adopting the Community Led Total Sanitation, CLTS, model.

CLTS model seeks to eradicate open defaecation and promote household latrine construction.

The CLTS approach is used globally for scaling up sanitation and has been piloted in Nigeria and found to be appropriate in scaling up sanitation with contributions of all stakeholders.

Commissioner for Rural Development, Cornelius Ojelabi, said yesterday, at a six-day Train the Trainers’ Workshop on CLTS held in Lekki, Lagos, saying government was adopting the model to eradicate open defaecation in the state, while government would concentrate on providing sanitation facilities in public places.

“The adoption of this model is sequel to the global and national successes recorded by the approach and our quest for excellence,” adding that the adoption would help to improve sanitary condition of communities in Lagos.

“Lagos State aims to be one of the top ten megacities in the world in terms of living indices.

“To achieve this noble desire, there is need to intensify efforts to scale up sanitation, most especially as a proactive measure to the report of WHO/UNICEF joint monitoring programme for water and sanitation which states that about 1.1 billion people in the world still defecate openly and that 81 per cent of the reported data is accounted for by just 10 countries in the world, of which Nigeria is inclusive,” he stated

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/lagos-to-eradicate-public-defaecation/

The town was previously a stronghold of Islamist fighters after it was seized by an alliance of Tuareg rebels and Islamists last April.

French-led troops moved into Gao itself after earlier securing the airport and a strategic bridge to the south.

French officials said troops from neighbouring Niger and Chad would now move into the town to help secure it.

They also suggested that government control was already being restored, with the mayor of Gao returning on Saturday after being ousted by the Islamist takeover.

There was no official death toll from the offensive, but the French army said about a "dozen" Islamist fighters were killed in the overnight operations, without any casualties on the French and Malian side.

After a punishing series of air strikes on jihadist positions in Gao, Malian and French forces took first the airport and then the bridge over the river Niger, before being able to confirm they had taken control of the whole of the town.

Malian officials spoke of scenes of joy on the streets of Gao, but also of some looting.

Gao's mayor, who has been in the capital Bamako since the town fell to the Islamists early last year, has been flown back in.

Chadian and Nigerian forces, meanwhile, are poised to push up from the Nigerien border - about 200km to the south - in order to reinforce the French and Malians.

French-led troops are also reported to be advancing on the town of Lere to the west.

It all appears to confirm a picture of rolling successes for the French and Malians, as they retake the main population centres of the north, says the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris.

Air-strikes
The fall of Gao, northern Mali's most populous city, marks a significant advance for French and Malian troops.




Mali's humiliated army will be itching to march into Timbuktu - on Saturday if possible.

But the French will be anxious to slow them down, waiting for West African troop reinforcements to arrive in central Mali in the next week or so.

There is no sense in advancing if your rear is exposed, and so, when they finally get the logistics sorted out, the Nigerians and others will be given the job of patrolling newly recaptured towns, and trying to prevent the Islamist militants from returning.

There are other reasons for slowing the pace.

Mali's ill-disciplined army is already being accused of summary executions and rapes - justifying fears of reprisals against Tuaregs.

The original international plan had always called for a long military build-up to give European soldiers a chance to retrain the Malians and hopefully minimise human rights abuses by them against civilians.

That plan is in tatters now, but a training programme is being accelerated.


Islamists seized a vast area of northern Mali last year and have imposed strict Sharia, or Islamic law, on its inhabitants.

France intervened militarily on 11 January to stop them advancing further south.

It has already deployed 2,500 soldiers on the ground in Mali as well as launching air strikes.

With the capture of Gao, the French are increasingly confident of pushing the Islamists out of all the major population centres in the north, says our correspondent.

The other major northern towns of Kidal and Timbuktu remain in Islamist hands. But, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the historic town of Timbuktu - an important symbol which has also been under Islamist control for most of the last year - should also soon be retaken.

The French are confident that this phase of the campaign will soon be over, adds our correspondent, though of course the vast desert hinterland offers the Islamists endless opportunities to retreat and regroup.

The UN refugee agency says more than 7,000 civilians have fled to neighbouring countries since 10 January to escape the fighting.

In a statement earlier, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that 3,700 French troops were engaged in Operation Serval, 2,500 of them on Malian soil.

Gao was one of the first rebel-held areas to be targeted by air-strikes after France decided to intervene in its former colony, a decision which took many by surprise.

Aid pledged
A UN-backed international force had not been expected in the west African state until the autumn.

Several African countries have pledged military aid to help the Malian government win back control of the north.

On Friday the African Union asked the UN Security Council to authorise immediate logistical help to allow the 6,000-strong force to deploy quickly.

It also recommended civilian observers to monitor the human rights situation in the areas which have come back under the control of the Malian government. Human rights groups have accused the Malian army of committing serious abuses.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21210496?SThisFB

[Shafay Thobani, 8, youngest IT prodigy]

https://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01549/computer-whizz-kid_1549394a.jpg
https://pkonweb.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/shafay-thobani-youngest-mcts.jpg

KARACHI: Shafay Thobani, an eight-year-old child has won the honour of being the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist, Geo News reported.

Born on March 13, 2004, Shafay grew interested in computers ever since he was a baby.

On April 9, 2012, Shafay appeared in the Prometric test and secured 91 per cent marks, thus making him the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Training Specialist (MCTS) at the age of eight years and 24 days.

The young man is certified professional in Microsoft Windows 7 Configuration and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2. Before appearing in the exam, he remained under training of Microsoft certified trainers for 13 months.

His trainer Faisal Durrani said it was a challenge for him to teach complicated concepts such as Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet Protocol (IP) address to a child as young as Shafay. “So we split the 40-hour course designed for grown-up IT specialists into 13 months for the child. We taught him by giving him easy examples in order to grasp the concepts. Teaching him for three to four hours everyday, we would also allow him breaks to let him be the normal kid that he is, swimming, playing football or rollerblading,” said Mr Durrani.

Speaking of the boy’s main areas of interest, Shafay’s father Dr. Shah Thobani said he liked network and communication programming. “He has already completed 65 per cent of Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization, too,” he added.

“Shafay was born in 2004, the same year Arfa was declared the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional at the age of nine. Arfa was an inspiration for us and I hope that Shafay, too, would be a role model for more children to show their tremendous achievements,” Dr Thobani said.

Shafay said, “I am proud of myself and I will work for Pakistan in any

In 2008, a 9-year-old girl from India achieved certification and reports surfaced that she was the youngest. Another girl who was from Pakistan -- and sadly passed away in January at the age of 16 -- had been certified in 2005 when she was 9 years old.

New record or not, Shafay notes on his website that his life dreams include helping the poor people of his country, and meeting Bill Gates. He is also open to being hired as a consultant.

Shafay said, “I am proud of myself and I will work for Pakistan in any way possible.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-58305-Shafay-Thobani-IT-prodigy

415volt: Fellow Nigerian,I can now conclude that the Lagos teacher recruitment exercise that took place around September last year is nothing but a ruse.All effort to obtain the true state of the exercise at the various educational district prove abortive .But from a reliable source we discover that some people were actually given appointment letter,that is those on the special list(candidates from the Governor,commisioners and perm.sec.).I don't see any difference between PDP and CAN they are both birds of a feather.I don't advice anybody to apply for this job next time except you have a letter from a top government official.


Check this thread to see how the innocent candidates are patiently waiting for the result to be pasted,they are even palning to organise a peaceful protest.

www.nairaland.com/944746/lagos-state-teachers-recruitment-2012/23

ONE DAY BUSH MEAT GO HUNT THE HUNTER

Hey, that's not true! My colleague's sister got her employment letter but she didnt get letter from any top government official. In fact, she is from OYO state!

Fashola has worked hard to improve IGR in Lagos State with good ideas, and now PDP are plotting to come and reap where they did not sow. If we have people with good ideas like Fashola at the realm of affairs at the Federal level, Nigeria would have been better for it! SMH for Poverty Development Party

The crisis brewing within the Christian Association of Nigeria does not seem to be abating with the association giving the Catholic Church the go-ahead to pull out of the religious group.

The Catholic Church recently decided to pull out of CAN noting that it no longer stood for what it was initially set up to do.

In a letter signed by the Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Christopher Ajala, on Tuesday, the Catholic Church alleged that CAN had become an arm of government.

“The Catholic Church took their stand before the purchase or the aircraft was donated to him. But what the Catholic Bishops Conference is complaining about is about the way they are running the national CAN now that is not meeting the objectives and the goals of CAN and the forefathers of CAN.

“CAN is now being run as part of the government and we said no.

“Because they (government) will dictate to us what to do and they will not take our advice seriously. The Catholic Church decided to withdraw from the activities of CAN at national level; we are still part of the state. We made our stand clear in November, last year, and by December, the man bought a jet. I don’t know how he got it but the president was there on that day the jet was delivered to him.

“So, what we are saying is that our religious leaders should be honest, upright and they should also be the conscience of this nation.

“If you are bought, the masses of this country are finished. If you can use money to buy our religious leaders, then there is no hope for the common man. That is the Catholic Church’s stand. We are supposed to speak for the people to correct the wrongs in the society and assist every government to know the will of God for them and we still stand by that.”

But in its reaction to the allegations made against it by the Catholic Church, the leadership of CAN attributed the problem to the inability of a Catholic Church candidate to wrest power from the current CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the 19 Northern States of CAN and Abuja, Sunny Oibe, “There are some certain elements in the leadership of CAN led by Cardinal John Onaiyekan because he lost CAN Presidency to Oritsejafor who has a lot of achievements.”

Oibe whio spoke with reporters in Abuja on Wednesday continued saying, “There is no need for anybody to lose sleep over the threat by Catholics to pull out of CAN because without them CAN will still continue. The constitution of CAN makes provision that membership can be terminated by any group that is misbehaving or any group can also terminate their membership.

“Why is it that when Catholics were in the leadership of CAN, every bloc supported them, but now because power has changed hands, they are threatening to pull out and causing confusion?

“They have been agitating that the Presidency of CAN must come from the South. They are an appendage of PDP and PDP themselves. They are known for double standards. A man of God should not be double speaking.”

Oibe reportedly continued saying, “The Catholics are claiming that the current CAN leadership has deviated from the vision of the founding fathers when they don’t even know how CAN came about.

“Catholics have accused the present CAN leadership, led by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of being pro-government. But if you look at the whole scenario, you will be able to find out who between Oritsejafor and Onaiyekan is closer to government.”

“The problem of Catholics is that they always display arrogance in knowledge. They don’t want to be under anybody but they want everybody to be under them. It doesn’t work like that because there is no seniority in CAN,” Oibe said.

There are speculations that due to lack of adequate training and discipline, the over 1,200 Nigeria troops would not be directly involved in combat operations to oust the militiamen from the northern region of Mali.

A United Kingdom (UK)-based newspaper, The Guardian,on its website yesterday alleged that men of the Nigerian Army deployed in Mali lacked the capacity to fight on the front line.

The paper quoted a senior source in Mali that the military contingent from Nigeria lacks the needed training and discipline to be relied upon to oust the Islamists from northern Mali prompting suggestions that the role of the men would be limited to security and logistics.

“The Nigerian Army is in a shocking state,” said the source, “in reality there is no way they are capable of forward operations in Mali – their role is more likely to be limited to manning checkpoints and loading trucks.

“The Nigerian forces lack training and kit, so they simply don’t have the capability to carry out even basic military manoeuvres. They have poor discipline and support. They are more likely to play a behind-the-scenes role in logistics and providing security.”

The source added that under plans for the enforcement of a United Nations (UN) Security Council-backed military intervention in Mali, Nigeria, alongside troops belonging to member states of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) are expected to lead forward operations.

The reality on ground as reported by the paper may have forced the governments of France, Germany, the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) to consider the idea of further providing the Malian army with the necessary training, equipment and logistics support.

http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/45501/2013/01/20/nigerian_troops_illequipped_war_mali.html

AN Islamic group, Ansaru, on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack that killed two soldiers due to be deployed in Mali, and injured five others.

The Agence France Presse (AFP) said that in a statement in poor English, Ansaru said Saturday’s explosion at Okene city in the central Kogi State, was to hit back at Nigeria over its deployment of troops in Mali.

“... with the aid and guidance of Allah, we have successfully execute our first attempt in griping the Nigerian army troops that were aim to demolish the Islamic empire of Mali,” it said.

The first 80 of a contingent of Nigerian troops departed for Mali on Thursday as part of a United Nations mandated African force to help the country retake its Islamic-controlled north.

Ansaru had also claimed last month’s kidnapping of a French citizen in northern Nigeria.

“We are equipped and waiting for any slightest attempt of Nigerian army, moving towards the Islamic empire of Mali,” said yesterday’s statement.

Ansaru is less well known than Islamic group Boko Haram, which is waging a deadly insurgency across northern Nigeria that has killed hundreds since 2009. Boko Haram has said it wants to create an Islamic state in the North.

The two groups are known to have ties but are seen as independent from one another.

In November, Britain’s interior ministry identified Ansaru as a “Nigeria-based terrorist organisation” and declared membership of or support for it illegal.

The group’s full name, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan, is roughly translated as “Vanguards for the aid of Muslims in black Africa.”

Britain has said the group likely has ties with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and may have been responsible for the 2011 kidnapping of a Briton and an Italian in northern Nigeria. Both hostages were killed last March.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111049:islamic-group-claims-attack-on-mali-bound-nigerian-troops-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

otokx: They should increase the price if so

Why the price and not the number of coaches? Increase in the price brings people back to the road!

By Jide Ajani

Apparently embarrassed by what he saw at Nigeria’s Police College, on last Friday, President Goodluck Jonathan could not but lament openly, asking why people were being subjected to a treatment fit for chickens in the poultry.

The unscheduled visit by Jonathan was a rare one and it afforded the nation’s number one citizen the opportunity to see first hand, the very sorry state of the institution built some 73 years ago. A very dependable source privy to the visit quoted the exact words of Mr. President.

An obviously miffed Jonathan could not but ask:

“Why are you treating people like poultry chicken”?

The visit, which was as a result of a promotional documentary being aired on Channels TV and which the president had seen, lasted less than one hour.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that when the documentary first aired and Jonathan saw it, “he could not believe what he was seeing”.

It was gathered that the Presidency could not understand why the television network could be allowed to publicise the rot that had gone on in the institution for so long.


Jonathan in a Police college hostel
In fact, Sunday Vanguard learnt that some mischief was already being woven around the documentary until it was made clear to the president that the network was in partnership with the police authorities.

Jonathan was made to understand that the reason for the publicity, bad as it may appear, “is to sensitise corporate bodies to the massive needs of the institution, such that when the Channels’ Forum is held on Tuesday as scheduled, there would have been enough sensitization exercise.

Also, information suggests that, contrary to the impression that some people had tried to create, which was that the documentary was meant to embarrass the Jonathan administration, “it was actually meant to be a supportive engagement”.

In fact, according to the process of engagement being instituted for the partnership, corporate bodies would not be expected to make financial donations.

Rather, interested partners would pick a project (either rehabilitation of the hostels or construction of buildings) and fund it directly for the benefit of the institution.

Sunday Vanguard was told that “it was after the president was made aware of the modus operadi of the Channels/Police partnership that he decided to pay the surprise visit.”

Already, there are strong indications that the Presidency would buy into the partnership.

“The president would be very supportive of any activity or sets of activities that would ensure a worthy restoration of the institution”, a Presidency source said yesterday.

Asked about the initial feeling of embarrassment, the Presidency source quipped: “I do not think that is the attitude of Mr. President.

“Mind you, that institution has been there for some 73 years. President Jonathan just got to office some two and a half years ago; the incumbent Inspector General of Police is just about a year and a half in office too. Would it be wise to blame these two individuals for something that had gone on for that long. Mr. President is the first in recent history to visit the place; the incumbent IG has deemed it fit to accept to partner with the television network and, but for that, the massive interest it has generated may not have happened”.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that while Jonathan was airborne en route Abidjan, the Cote D’Ivoire capital, for the ECOWAS meeting on the Mali crisis, he was said to have caught the sight of an obviously worried man.

Passengers have overwhelmed the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) on the Lagos-Kano intercity transit thereby creating a fresh challenge for the outfit, which is being transformed by the federal government.

LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that passengers at mid-stations are usually stranded and experience frustration as the only train that runs on the Lagos-Kano route is always filled to capacity before reaching their stations.

“The passenger turnout has been too much and we are finding it difficult to cope. It is more than encouraging. The train is usually full from the point of departure. We really need to step up our capacity in terms of having more coaches.

“We are even afraid to do further publicity of the service because we are overwhelmed by passengers. What happens is that right from the origin, say two stations away from the Iddo Terminal, the train is full to capacity. People find it difficult to join at the intermediate stations. So that is a challenge we are addressing,” NRC’s managing director, Engr. Adeseyi Sijuwade, told our correspondent in an exclusive interview yesterday.

The NRC runs a weekly schedule with its train leaving Lagos for Kano at 9am on Friday and leaves Kano for Lagos Monday at the same time. It was gathered that the fare for Lagos to Kano is N1,900, while a passenger going for executive class pays N2,900 in the journey that lasts for about 30 hours.

When our correspondent visited the Iddo and Alagomeji, Yaba terminals on Friday morning, passengers going to Ilorin, Minna, Zaria and Kano, had turned into a mild crowd, waiting patiently for the train.Passengers have overwhelmed the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) on the Lagos-Kano intercity transit thereby creating a fresh challenge for the outfit, which is being transformed by the federal government.

LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that passengers at mid-stations are usually stranded and experience frustration as the only train that runs on the Lagos-Kano route is always filled to capacity before reaching their stations.

“The passenger turnout has been too much and we are finding it difficult to cope. It is more than encouraging. The train is usually full from the point of departure. We really need to step up our capacity in terms of having more coaches.

“We are even afraid to do further publicity of the service because we are overwhelmed by passengers. What happens is that right from the origin, say two stations away from the Iddo Terminal, the train is full to capacity. People find it difficult to join at the intermediate stations. So that is a challenge we are addressing,” NRC’s managing director, Engr. Adeseyi Sijuwade, told our correspondent in an exclusive interview yesterday.

The NRC runs a weekly schedule with its train leaving Lagos for Kano at 9am on Friday and leaves Kano for Lagos Monday at the same time. It was gathered that the fare for Lagos to Kano is N1,900, while a passenger going for executive class pays N2,900 in the journey that lasts for about 30 hours.

When our correspondent visited the Iddo and Alagomeji, Yaba terminals on Friday morning, passengers going to Ilorin, Minna, Zaria and Kano, had turned into a mild crowd, waiting patiently for the train.

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/45540/2013/01/20/passengers_overwhelm_nrc_lagoskano_route.html

doctokwus: Our things always dfferent& always we appear not to know what to do.Why disembark frm d transport aircraft wt guns @combat positions;d rebels were dfinitely not @ d airport.More organised settings disembark wt guns far off sight& begin to prepare demselves @ d camp

Na you wan teach them their work?

babyosisi: What is he waiting for?
He should set a good example and stop collecting oil money for his state
Walk the walk not just talk the talk

Easier said than done!

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State says Lagos is the only state that can survive if crude oil supply – the mainstay of Nigeria economy- is shut down.

Fashola explained that this was possible because the government in the state had made it a policy to implement the laws on taxation to the letter, which allows it to have funds for capital project.

He spoke on Thursday during the state’s sixth Taxation Stakeholders Conference in Ikeja.

The governor said, “A life without tax is a lie. If they shut down on oil, this is the only state that can survive. Everything that we have done in the past six years was funded by our taxes.

“Since I became governor, I have not made any tax law; only implementing the existing laws on taxation.”

Fashola, however, observed that majority of the state residents had not been paying their taxes, saying the government had started prosecution to achieve higher percentage in tax compliance by residents of the state.

He said, “While our population continues to grow, one cannot see appreciable growth in tax. Our record shows that only three million people are currently paying their taxes against eight million that should pay tax.

“Since we have a population of 20 million people in this state, it means that three million people are carrying the burden of 20 million, instead of eight that should be doing so. In the last four years, we have been doing enlightenment on the need to pay tax; but now, we will prosecute.”

The governor also explained that the government had made a list of the tax regime of the local governments which had been signed into law. He advised residents to acquaint themselves with the law so there would be no confusion.

He said his administration had judiciously managed revenue generated to turn the state into a place where everything works.

http://www.punchng.com/news/only-lagos-can-survive-without-oil-fashola/

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has finally arraigned Chairman, Bi-Courtney Highway Services, Dr. Wale Babalakin, for allegedly laundering N4.7bn for convicted former Delta State Governor James Ibori.

The EFCC late on Wednesday declared Babalakin wanted as he was said to have failed to report at its office, preparatory to his arraignment on Thursday.

Arraigned along with Babalakin at a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on Thursday were Alex Okoh, Stabilini Visioni Limited, Bi-Courtney Limited and Renix Nigeria Limited.

Part of the 27 counts slammed on the accused included using the money to purchase a Challenger Jet aircraft from Erin Aviation in Mauritius on behalf of Ibori between May and December 2006.

Thursday’s proceedings were devoid of accusations and counter-accusations between Babalakin’s lawyers and the EFCC’s counsel, a feature of two previous court sessions, when the Bi-Courtney boss arraignment failed on the account of his absence from court.

The prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), alleged that Babalakin and his two firms, Stabilini Visioni Limited and Bi-Courtney Ltd, “did corruptly confer benefit on former Governor James Onanefe Ibori.”

The prosecution also accused Babalakin and the four other accused of “retention of proceeds of a criminal conduct” on behalf of Ibori.

Among the firms fingered in the charge to have been used for the transfers of the money to Erin Aviation are Interactive Technologies/TN Focus and Supetrol Oil and Gas Ltd.

According to the prosecution, the alleged offence of “corruptly conferring benefit on account of public action” contravenes Section 516 of the Criminal Code Law, CAP C17, Laws of Lagos State, 2003.

It also said the accused’s retention of proceeds of a criminal conduct is contrary to Section 17 (a) of the EFCC (Establishment Act 2004)

Babalakin and Okoh, who both pleaded not guilty to the counts for themselves and for the three accused firms, were, after taking their plea, released on bail “on self-recognition”.

The presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, in granting the prayer as canvassed by the counsel for the duo, however, said they must deposit their travel passport with the EFCC as “a precautionary measure”.

Though Jacobs did not oppose the separate bail applications, he objected granting it on the basis of “self reognition”.

Babalakin’s counsel, Mr. Wale Akoni (SAN), urged Onigbanjo to consider his client’s status as member, Body of Benchers, the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri and the Chairman, Forum of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities.

Granting Babalakin’s prayer, Onigbanjo said, “The court is aware of all the considerations cited and it is aware of the status of the defendants in the country. The defendant is hereby granted bail on the basis of self-recognition.”

The judge adjourned till February 25 for the hearing of the applications by all the accused seeking the quashing of the charges as they alleged that same were incompetent.

http://www.punchng.com/news/efcc-finally-arraigns-babalakin-over-n4-7bn-iboris-loot/