30% of Northern youths are almajiris - NGO
Hassan Ibrahim, Kaduna - 09.04.2009

The[b] Arewa Youth Mobilisation, a non-governmental organisation has presented statistics showing that 30 per cent of Northern youths are street beggars.


The NGO also called on the Kaduna State government to abolish the act of street begging in the state. In an interview in Kaduna on Tuesday, the Secretary General of the NGO, Yusuf A. Barau, lamented that begging had become a tradition and a way of life in the North.


He alleged that parents now saw it as a source of income to earn a living. “We have conducted a research and our statistics have shown that over 30 per cent of Northern youths between the ages of four to 13 are street beggars. These youths are children who do not know anything or think for themselves. “


He said the NGO was creating awareness and enlightening parents of almajiris to bring back their children.
[/b]

http://www.tribune.com.ng/09042009/news/news16.html

Woman, 31, conceals 450g hemp under fufu meal
Dapo Falade, Ado-Ekiti - 09.04.2009

MRS. Adeola Odusote, a 31- year-old mother of one, was alleged to have been caught with 450 grammes of substance suspected to be Indian hemp which she was said to have concealed inside a food flask containing some wraps of fufu.


Parading the suspect before newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Wednesday alongside four others, the state Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr. Ben Ikani, said the woman was caught with the drug concealed under the food.


Others paraded before newsmen were Alakasim Buhari, 25 and Suleiman Sa’adu, 27, both from Zamfara State, who were caught by the police with 650 grammes; Kolawole Matthew, who had gone to the police to seek for their release and Anietie Effiong, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State, who was arrested with 750 grammes of the substance at Sabo Quarters in Ado-Ekiti.
According to him, Adeola was taking the food to her brother (name not disclosed), who was standing trial for alleged robbery and was remanded at the Ado-Ekiti prisons when she was arrested by some of the prisons officials who were suspicious of her movement and thus transferred her to the state NDLEA office on March 30.


When interrogated by newsmen, Adeola, an Ado-Ekiti-based foodstuff seller with an 11-year-old daughter, said the robbery suspect was her younger cousin whom she had gone to visit at the prisons.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/09042009/news/news8.html

Thugs attack monarch’s palace    9/4/2009
     

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

[b]An attack by thugs on the palace of the Elesure of Esure-Ekiti in Irepodun/Ifelodun Council Area, Oba Adebanji Ajibola, has triggered recriminations between the Ekiti State chapters of the Action Congress (AC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The AC yesterday accused the PDP of sponsoring the attack on the palace because of suspicion that Oba Ajibola is an AC sympathiser.

But the PDP denied the allegation, saying it was false.

The AC, in a statement, said Oba Ajibola escaped from the hoodlums.

According to the statement by the Director of Communications, AC Governorship Campaign, Mr. Yemi Adaramodu, the thugs attacked non-PDP members, burning down their property.

The party identified one of the victims as Mrs. Caroline Egunlusi, a member of the state executive of the party whose shop was razed.

The statement alleged that the thugs conducted a house-to-house search for former PDP members who had just defected to the AC.

"It is the style of the PDP to attack non-PDP members any where it took its campaign to while its thugs would sack the town thereafter. The PDP had carried out attacks on AC members in Okemesi, Ido-Ekiti, Igbole, Osi, Ifishin, Aaaye, Ifaki, Odo-Oro, Ikole and Igede.

"We have it on good authorities that the thugs are housed at a popular hotel on Ilawe Road, Ado -Ekiti.

"The thugs, who are about 25 operate with three buses. Leaders of the thugs are two jailbirds just released from prison last week," the AC said.

But the PDP Director of Communications and Strategy, Mr. Jackson Adebayo said: "The allegation by the AC is just another display of perfidy through misinformation and turning the truth upside down.

"It is a shameful exercise for the AC to always accuse the PDP whenever its members unleash mayhem on the people of Ekiti like what they did at Esure and other places when the AC thugs armed with guns and cutlasses attacked us.

"The latest allegation is an attempt to blackmail the PDP."

[/b]

http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=81512

a thief as a minister.many of his members are nigeria corrupt politicians.

may God punish those that hate his holy son.

:-x

THE SCOURGE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

[b]Looking terrified and over burdened by worries of everyday existence in an increasingly impoverished neighborhood of an outskirt of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, Chinedu, who is in his early twenties, walked straight to me as I disembarked from my weather beaten car which I bought from my salaries as a reporter with the Guardian Newspaper some years back. He battled to put up a smile but from the abundance of existential evidence, Chinedu’s smiles appeared artificial and made up.



As I equally battled to reciprocate Chinedu’s compulsive smiles and greetings, I quickly covered my nostrils in a reflective action to wade off the putrefying stench that was unleashed or rather oozed out from a nearby, heavily, dilapidated drainage system, and he quickly offered me a white handkerchief that looked like the snuff ridden rag of my Octogenarian grand father in my remote, heavily impoverished and grossly underdeveloped village of Ndiuche Etiti in Arondizuogu, Onu Imo Local Government Area of Imo State. Chinedu was a bosom friend of one of my close relations who strayed away to one of those Asian countries and is said to be hovering between the devil and the deep blue sea, because of the fact that he is a victim of some rogues who promised to hook him up to a University of his choice for his post-graduate studies, even as they promised him good placement in an upwardly mobile firm where he could be making handsome ends-meet, while undertaking his studies. This relation of mine had sweet-mouthed me into parting with a little over a hundred thousand Naira to make up for his school fees in this “God Knows” Asian country, from where he has persistently called home for assistance to repatriate himself back.

Chinedu asked me profusely about this his classmate and how he is faring in his country of abode, and I replied that he is not doing so well, and that in fact, he had sent word home that he is in desperate need of some financial bail-out to enable him purchase a flight ticket back to Nigeria where at least he is assured of a square meal per day. Chinedu wept. Wiping his face of the stream of tears that rolled down generously from his red eye-balls, Chinedu could barely speak out audibly, but still managed to say something like, “that is the same issue I want to table before you as a Human Rights Activist”. I almost gave up cheaply to the strong passion and temptation to shed out tears, but I fought it gloriously. We both managed to find a big mango tree under which we sat and shared the pathetic story of Miss. Patience, an eighteen year old girlfriend of Chinedu who hails from Kaduna State and was deceived by a friend to travel to Europe, through Libya, in search of the proverbial “greener pastures”. So what about that? I retorted. Chinedu then began to reel out the story of the systematic enslavement and minefield of labour camp that Miss. Patience is currently trapped, in a distant location, far away from the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Please how can the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria help to draw the attention of the Government to the plight of Miss. Patience and several hundreds of others who cannot be freed until they pay ransoms to their captors? Chinedu stated huskily with a tinge of emphasis and in a voice laced with passion he narrated how Patience called him to demand that he wire her the sum of Ten Thousand United Kingdom pounds Sterling so as to enable her buy her freedom from the kingpins who in the first place had smuggled her into Libya with the diabolical mandate of subjecting her to commit petty crimes of prostitution and pick-pocket. It was precisely because she refused to carry out her “god-fathers mandate” that they resorted in confining her in a prison-like and fortified building and she was permitted to make a long distance call home to blackmail her impoverished relations into parting with the huge ransom. Unfortunately for her, the parents are too poor to raise even a hundred Pounds.

Chinedu who doubles as a barber at a saloon somewhere in the suburbs of Karimo, a settlement not too far away from the city center, confessed to me that he made several attempts to gather the said Ten Thousand United Kingdom’s Pound Sterling but that even when he sold his landed property, which he inherited from his late father, he could not still raise the scandalous amount. Promising him that our Human Rights Platform will wage a big advocacy campaign against human trafficking in the coming days, I headed back to my car and drove off to town. But as tradition demands, I often play one of the many radio stations while driving, and from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio service came a mind shattering breaking news on March 31 st, 2009 that hundreds of immigrants perished on their way from Libya into Europe.

The British Broadcasting Corporation had told her audience that hundreds of suspected illegal migrants headed for Europe are feared dead in Libya. These migrants’ pass through Libya to Enter Europe by sea, in search of greener pastures every year, using vehicles which are often not sea-worthy. The Libya officials, that the BBC spoke to said that at least 21 people died and 20 others rescued, after a boat carrying 250 people sank.

The BBC says that The International Organization of Migrants fear that about 500 migrants from 3 other boats may also be missing. They say that the chances of rescuing some of these people are very slim and if they succeed at all, they would be faced with lots of casualties.

The bad news continues that, the boat carrying 250 people was said to have sunk about 30km (99 miles) off the Libyan coast, near Libya’s capital, Tripoli. The migrants on the boat included, some Tunisians, Palestinians, and Egyptians who are said to be constantly migrating from their country to find ‘greener pastures’ in Europe, and others whose Nationalities are yet to be discovered. Among the migrants found, was a dead African woman, clutching her dead infant to her bosom.

The BBC also stated that there is an unconfirmed report, that another boat boarding 342 migrants also sunk after leaving Libya, a Libyan official told the BBC that these two boats sank within two days, and that rescue operations were still on.

Worried by the monumental and devastating consequences of trafficking in persons or what in French my office Secretary, Phyllis Idara Godswill, told me is called, “la traffique humaine”, the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, recently organized a public lecture in Abuja, and invited Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, who delivered a lecture titled; “HUMAN TRAFFICKING AS A THREAT TO THE ACTUALIZATION OF GOOD GOVERNANCE AND DURABLE DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA: WAYS, MEANS AND STRATEGIES FOR CHECKING THE TREND.” To underscore the importance of the lecture, the hall was packed full with Nigerians and foreign dignitaries who turned out to hear from the speakers.

Imoke told his audience, including the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, that; “it is obvious that Human Trafficking is a clear and blatant violation of the Human Rights of its victims. However, what are the implications of this on the course of democracy and good governance in Nigeria and what can be done to mitigate its effects?”

He said that; “it is important to remind ourselves that Human Trafficking is an abhorrent act of modern day slavery. Human trafficking by definition denotes that people are forced, tricked or threatened into situations in which they are exploited either sexually, financially, or through forced labor. Human beings, who are reduced to commodities for sale by traffickers, are not only deprived of their free-will but equally denied the opportunity to develop the life-skills and competencies that enable them to make meaningful contributions to society.”

advertisement
   
According to the Governor; “Nigeria is a signatory to many Human Rights conventions including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was proclaimed in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. Although the implementation of these agreements and the protection of these rights have been less than perfect, the Nigerian Constitution has incorporated some of the Human Rights which are considered inalienable in the general provisions. It is perhaps pertinent to briefly mention some of the Articles in the declaration of Human Rights which are relevant to this discussion. They include the following:

ARTICLE 1, which states that; “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity of rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood;”
ARTICLE 3, which provides that; “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person;”
ARTICLE 4, which emphasized that; “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all forms;” and
ARTICLE 5, which clearly stressed that; “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment.”
Imoke, who is a Lawyer of many years standing, emphasized that, “Human trafficking must be recognized as an abominable act which constitutes a hindrance to the nation’s progress. It is an insult to our collective psyche and above all, an affront on civilized society…” he said.

As a politician, daily involved in the affairs of governance, Imoke suggested some strategies to check the trend, even as he reminded the audience that; “We have to confront the problem head-on with all at our disposal. However, we must also not neglect to address the root of this morally reprehensible act. Our approach has to be communal, driven by the people but supported by a firm government’s commitment to eradicate this social ill. We all have to play our part. Human traffickers live with us and can be identified, if we are more alert and determined to put an end to this attack on the development of our society.”

Imoke challenged Nigerians thus; “we have to embark on a substantive re-calibration of the value set of the members of our society, both old and young. The prevailing and unique difficulties of our economic climate as well as the rising tide of desire for material wealth at all cost have caused vast swathes of people to abandon moral rectitude in favor of short-term financial gain at great cost to society.” [/b] “It is widely acknowledged that the challenges of life are becoming increasingly more burdensome but that is no justification. We must all work hard to reengineer our collective psyche. The less we value our fellow human beings, the more we erode our social capital which is the very foundation of civilized society.”

We must collectively fight the scourge of trafficking in persons before more damages are unleashed on our polity. We cannot rebrand Nigeria if the political leadership cannot address issues of poverty and unemployment, which are the main reasons for the increasing wave of Human Trafficking in Nigeria of the Twenty First Century.

Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.


 
 

http://pointblanknews.com/artopn1192.html

Robbers kill two policemen, civilian in Aba   
Written by Anayo Okoli     
Thursday, 09 April 2009

ABA—TWO Mobile policemen and a civilian said to be a member of a vigilante group were killed Tuesday, at Ogbor Hill area of Aba,  the commercial city of Abia state, by gunmen believed to be armed robber. The incident which took place between 6am and 6.30am, has jolted the residents of the area on the busy Ikot Ekpene road.

Accounts of the incidence pieced together,  indicates that the armed robbers operated from a bus and robbed traders  who were going to the market early in the money and in a bid to escape, ran into  policemen and opened fire on them, killing  two in the process.

When Vanguard contacted, the spokesman of Abia state Police Command, Mr. Ali Okechukwu, an ASP, he confirmed the incident,  but added that he does not have full details of the attack yet, 

But surprisingly,  the area Commander in Aba, James Ogbonna, an Assistant Commissioner of police could not volunteer any information, saying he heard of the attack just as the reporter did.

Meanwhile, the extortion by policemen on the old Aba-Umuahia road has continued unabated, as the policemen now openly collect money from motorists, without any fear.

Commercial motorists, according to Vanguard investigation,  pay at every checkpoint on the road, which has no less than 15 police checkpoints. Although the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Edgar Nanakumo had at a recent press briefing said that he had warned his officers and men against extortion from motorists, from all indications,  that warning seems to had no impact, as the policemen brazenly extort money from motorists on the road.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/33126/45/

onye_ngbu:

this is very very very very funnnny.

So my people de buy, ndi ofe mmanu go keep and then aboki go use.

Does it say anything about who is more intelligent in this country.

Some efulefu Yoruba people will come to this thread to tell me that igbo is bad and this and that whereas they are as guilty.

Are the trafficker and the keeper not guilty of the same offence?

Na only aboki I de pity in all these things

lol.

okay,

Leilah:

What states in Nigeria is FGM still practised?

igboland.

Gunmen abduct Italian worker in Ebonyi   
Written by DENNIS AGBO     
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 

[b]ABAKALIKI—AN  Italian expatriate engineer, simply identified as Joseph, working with Marlum Construction, a company that executes projects at the new Abakaliki capital development city was on Monday kidnapped to yet unknown destination.
Though the Ebonyi state Commissioner for Police, Kachi Udorji confirmed the incident, yesterday, he could not give further details, but the state Governor, Martin Elechi met the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria yesterday in Abuja, even though details of their discussion was not made know at press time.

Meanwhile, Vanguard gathered that a ransom of N150million had been demanded by the suspected kidnappers.

According to reports from the scene of the incident, the expatriate, Joseph was being conveyed to the construction site when the vehicle conveying him was intercepted along the pathway leading to the company’s yard, and was forced into the boot of the vehicle brought by the gunmen.

Almost immediately after forcing him into the boot, another vehicle conveying another staff of the firm with armed police escort arrived at the scene, at which point the vehicle commandeered by  the kidnapers zoomed off, but the occupants of the other vehicle did not know that their man, Joseph was in the boot of the car that just left.[/b]There has been an upsurge of kidnapping in the state, though this is first time an expatriate is kidnapped. It would be recalled that a pregnant female broadcaster was last year abducted and released after a ransom was paid.

The incident is coming barely one week after Governor Elechi laid the foundation stone of a new state secretariat complex at the new capital Ochoudo-city, a project estimated to cost over N11.5 billion.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/33099/45/

Elechi raises alarm over influx of militants into South-East     8/4/2009
     

From Ogbonnaya Obinna Abakaliki

[b]Ebonyi State Governor Chief Martin Elechi yesterday raised the alarm over the influx of militants and kidnappers from the Niger Delta into the South-East, and urged the security agencies to arrest the trend.

Receiving members of the Senior Executive Course 31 of the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos at the Government House, Abakaliki, Elechi said the situation had continued to threaten the security of lives and property.

Elechi, who was represented by his deputy, Prof. Chigozie Ogbu, said the trend had led to the kidnapping of innocent citizens.

He said the state government was collaborating with security agencies to curb the trend.

The state chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), he said, donated 24 Hilux vehicles to security agencies as part of its contribution to curbing crime.

Elechi said if the Federal Government failed to tackle kidnapping, the Seven-Point Agenda of President Umaru Yar’Adua and the Vision 2020 of the Federal Government would become a mirage.

He said the major function of government is the provision of adequate security for its citizens, adding that the rule of law, education, agriculture and power can only be achieved through aggressive re- branding of the nation’s image.

Elechi urged the President to ensure that his Seven-Point Agenda is not derailed.

He regretted that the South-East has suffered poor power supply, adding that unless the Federal Government ensures the resuscitation of all the energy plants in the zone, the situation would not improve.

The leader of the team, Mr. Kola Opadirin, said the visit was meant to interact with the people on how best to actualise the President’s Seven-Point Agenda and Vision 2020.

He noted that good governance was all that the Federal Government needs to achieve its goals.
[/b] http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=81460

ok.

hummmmmmmmmm.

BREAKING NEWS: Gunmen attack Ogun LG boss, kill brother
By Emeka Madunagu
Published: Tuesday, 7 Apr 2009
Unknown gunmen have shot the Chairman of Ifo Local Government in Ogun State, Mr Sikirulai Ogundele a.k.a Iyeru, killing his younger brother, Mukaila Olatunji, in the process.


Photo file
Governor Gbenga Daniel

Postings on an online forum, naija politics, by some members indicated that both men were returning from a visit to their ailing mother in University College Hospital, Ibadan on Sunday night when they were attacked by the gangsters in front of the chairman‘s residence in the Ogun State capital, Abeokuta.

[b]Two shots fired at the council chairman were said to have failed to hurt him, which made the gunmen hit him on the head with the butt of a gun. The forumite said Ogundele immediately fell into a coma and was rushed to hospital while his younger brother, who was said to be on a visit from the United States, was killed.

The posting said the attack was politically-motivated and similar to an unsuccessful attempt by some gangsters to kill Mr. Wale Adedayo, a former aide of the state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, in January this year.A forumite, who described himself as the cousin of both men, Dapo Ayoola, said in a posting that Mukaila was buried on Tuesday (today) while Ogundele was in good health and not in a hospital.In an emotional posting, on behalf of the Ogundele and Ayoola families, he wrote, ”While acknowledging that Sikirulai is currently a public figure, the family would wish that we be allowed to grieve appropriately. Tunji has just been buried and his biological parents are yet to be informed of his death. Let all parents on this forum, please, bear with us and leave us out of the political and administrative wrongs in Ogun State at this challenging and trying times.”

More details later.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl[/b].aspx?theartic=Art2009040718295039

The story of Nigeria's 'untouchables' 

By Andrew Walker
BBC News, Enugu, Nigeria 



Cosmos Aneke Chiedozie wants to break the stigma of being 'Osu' 

[b]Pastor Cosmos Aneke Chiedozie is about to make an admission that virtually no Nigerian like him would be prepared to make.

"My grandfather was an Osu," he says.

He is standing outside his church in Enugu, south-eastern Nigeria, clutching his Bible which he believes has saved him from being a marked man.

Among the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria the Osu are outcasts, the equivalent of being an "untouchable".

Years ago he and his family would be shunned by society, banished from communal land, banned from village life and refused the right to marry anyone not from an Osu family.

Marriage

The vehemence of the tradition has weakened over the last 50 years.

 
I remember when I was a child, seeing the Osu and running away

Prof Ben Obumselu

Nowadays the only trouble the Osu encounter is when they try and get married.

But the fear of social stigma is still strong - to the point that most would never admit to being an Osu.

They fear the consequences for their families in generations to come or at the hands of people who still believe in the old ways.

It took the BBC a long time track down an Osu willing to talk, Igbo journalists, human rights advocates, academics and politicians could suggest no-one.

It was only by chance that Cosmos admitted his family were Osu after an interview with the Pentecostal church - known to oppose the tradition.

Now a born-again Christian, he has had a hard fight to escape the stigma of the Osu.

Sacrifice

People say the Osu are the descendants of people sacrificed to the gods, hundreds of years ago.

  The village said the reason I was ill was I was being possessed by the spirit of my grandfather, and he was angry that we had rejected the old ways

Cosmos Aneke Chiedozie

But an academic who has researched Igbo traditions says he believes the Osu were actually a kind of "living sacrifice" to the gods from the community.

"I remember when I was a child, seeing the Osu and running away," says Professor Ben Obumselu, former vice-president of the influential Igbo organisation Ohaneze Ndi Igbo.

"They were banned from all forms of civil society; they had no land, lived in the shrine of the gods, and if they could, would farm the land next to the road."

"It was believed that they had been dedicated to the gods, that they belonged to them, rather then the world of the human," he said.

Nigeria's growing cities began to break down such traditions of village life, he says.

"If someone lives in Lagos these days, the only time a person may come into contact with it is when they are planning to get married. They go home to tell their families, their parents turn around and say, 'No you can't marry because they're Osu.'"

Initiated

Cosmos' father had denounced the traditional beliefs that made him an outcast from society.


The Osu are considered to be 'living sacrifices" to spirits

He raised Cosmos to be a Christian too, hoping the bloodline of the Osu would be broken.

But when Cosmos was a child his grandfather died and at around the same time Cosmos fell sick.

"The village said the reason I was ill was I was being possessed by the spirit of my grandfather, and he was angry that we had rejected the old ways," he said.

The village elders put pressure on his father to initiate Cosmos into the old traditions and culture.

It was either that, or he would die, they said.

So he left church, learnt about the spirits and his status in the village.

Outlaw

But this ostracism, he now believes, left him without "moral direction".

He became an itinerant smuggler and outlaw, bringing in goods illegally over Nigeria's northern border from Niger.

  The continued belief in ritual avoidance has caused great harm to society

Prof Ben Obumselu

Eventually he was arrested and thrown in jail.

"It was in the prison yard that I was born again," he said.

"When I believed in the old ways, I could not marry or be part of my community," he said.

"Now I've been born again, I have rejected all that, and my wife, she is born again too, and doesn't care about it either."

His wife's family had also rejected the traditions of the Osu and did not object to their daughter's choice of husband.

Education advantage

Other Osu have been able to use the ostracism to their advantage, says Mr Obumselu.

Unable to make a way in village life, some Osu embraced "Western" education and became Nigeria's first doctors and lawyers, he says.

Consequently many of modern Igboland's prominent families are Osu.

So why does the stigma remain?

Mr Obumselu says the traditions have a lingering hold on people because they are not sure how much power the "old ways" still have.

Traditionally the Osu are treated as a people apart, but were never the victims of violence.

But today some community conflicts have erupted between people each accusing the other of being Osu, Mr Obumselu says.

"The continued belief in ritual avoidance has caused great harm to society, especially in Enugu."

Pentecostal churches, like Mr Chiedozie's, are having an effect and a growing population may also drown out the stigma of being Osu, says Mr Obumselu.

"After all, if in 1800 there might only be a handful of Osu in any place, in 2000 it may be a third of the village!" [/b]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7977734.stm

The story of Nigeria's 'untouchables'
By Andrew Walker
BBC News, Enugu, Nigeria

Pastor Cosmos Aneke Chiedozie is about to make an admission that virtually no Nigerian like him would be prepared to make.

"My grandfather was an Osu," he says.

He is standing outside his church in Enugu, south-eastern Nigeria, clutching his Bible which he believes has saved him from being a marked man.

Among the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria the Osu are outcasts, the equivalent of being an "untouchable".

Years ago he and his family would be shunned by society, banished from communal land, banned from village life and refused the right to marry anyone not from an Osu family.

Marriage

The vehemence of the tradition has weakened over the last 50 years.

“ I remember when I was a child, seeing the Osu and running away ”
Prof Ben Obumselu
Nowadays the only trouble the Osu encounter is when they try and get married.

But the fear of social stigma is still strong - to the point that most would never admit to being an Osu.

They fear the consequences for their families in generations to come or at the hands of people who still believe in the old ways.

It took the BBC a long time track down an Osu willing to talk, Igbo journalists, human rights advocates, academics and politicians could suggest no-one.

[b]It was only by chance that Cosmos admitted his family were Osu after an interview with the Pentecostal church - known to oppose the tradition.

Now a born-again Christian, he has had a hard fight to escape the stigma of the Osu.

Sacrifice

People say the Osu are the descendants of people sacrificed to the gods, hundreds of years ago.

“ The village said the reason I was ill was I was being possessed by the spirit of my grandfather, and he was angry that we had rejected the old ways ”
Cosmos Aneke Chiedozie
But an academic who has researched Igbo traditions says he believes the Osu were actually a kind of "living sacrifice" to the gods from the community.

"I remember when I was a child, seeing the Osu and running away," says Professor Ben Obumselu, former vice-president of the influential Igbo organisation Ohaneze Ndi Igbo.

"They were banned from all forms of civil society; they had no land, lived in the shrine of the gods, and if they could, would farm the land next to the road."

"It was believed that they had been dedicated to the gods, that they belonged to them, rather then the world of the human," he said.

Nigeria's growing cities began to break down such traditions of village life, he says.

"If someone lives in Lagos these days, the only time a person may come into contact with it is when they are planning to get married. They go home to tell their families, their parents turn around and say, 'No you can't marry because they're Osu.'"

Initiated

Cosmos' father had denounced the traditional beliefs that made him an outcast from society.

He raised Cosmos to be a Christian too, hoping the bloodline of the Osu would be broken.

But when Cosmos was a child his grandfather died and at around the same time Cosmos fell sick.

"The village said the reason I was ill was I was being possessed by the spirit of my grandfather, and he was angry that we had rejected the old ways," he said.

The village elders put pressure on his father to initiate Cosmos into the old traditions and culture.

It was either that, or he would die, they said.

So he left church, learnt about the spirits and his status in the village.

Outlaw

But this ostracism, he now believes, left him without "moral direction".

He became an itinerant smuggler and outlaw, bringing in goods illegally over Nigeria's northern border from Niger.

“ The continued belief in ritual avoidance has caused great harm to society ”
Prof Ben Obumselu
Eventually he was arrested and thrown in jail.

"It was in the prison yard that I was born again," he said.

"When I believed in the old ways, I could not marry or be part of my community," he said.

"Now I've been born again, I have rejected all that, and my wife, she is born again too, and doesn't care about it either."

His wife's family had also rejected the traditions of the Osu and did not object to their daughter's choice of husband.

Education advantage

Other Osu have been able to use the ostracism to their advantage, says Mr Obumselu. [/b] Unable to make a way in village life, some Osu embraced "Western" education and became Nigeria's first doctors and lawyers, he says.

Consequently many of modern Igboland's prominent families are Osu.

So why does the stigma remain?

Mr Obumselu says the traditions have a lingering hold on people because they are not sure how much power the "old ways" still have.

Traditionally the Osu are treated as a people apart, but were never the victims of violence.

But today some community conflicts have erupted between people each accusing the other of being Osu, Mr Obumselu says.

"The continued belief in ritual avoidance has caused great harm to society, especially in Enugu."

Pentecostal churches, like Mr Chiedozie's, are having an effect and a growing population may also drown out the stigma of being Osu, says Mr Obumselu.

"After all, if in 1800 there might only be a handful of Osu in any place, in 2000 it may be a third of the village!"


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/a ,  977734.stm

Published: 2009/04/07 09:30:05 GMT

© BBC MMIX

140 Nigerian deportees arrive from Libya

THE arrival of a large number of Nigerian deportees from Libya yesterday caused a stir at the Murtala Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja.


The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deportees, numbering about 140, arrived a few days after some illegal immigrants, including Nigerians, allegedly drowned off the Libyan coast enroute Europe.

The deportees, mostly young females, were conveyed to the MMIA aboard a chartered aircraft.

Shortly after they were screened and released, many airport workers and motorists swarmed them, asking questions about their fate in Libya.

As they trooped out of the Hajj and Cargo terminal, many of the deportees who were cash-strapped, sought assistance to get to their various destinations.

There was also a traffic snarl around the airport as motorists slowed down to watch the deportees.

Seven ladies among the deportees, who spoke in Yoruba, claimed that they were deported after spending five months in detention camps in Libya.

"Just thank God we are back to this country. Help us out," one of the ladies told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Some others, who loitered around the airport for hours, said that they were trying to connect those who would help them out of their travail. The deportees were allegedly sent packing for immigration offences.

The House of Representatives recently expressed concern at the large number of Nigerians in deportation camps in Libya, urging that steps be taken to ensure that they returned home.

http://nigeriaworld.com/cgi-bin/axs/ax.pl?http://odili.net/news/source/2009/apr/7/17.html

Ritual killers, kidnappers on the prowl in Ibadan — Police
By Sunday Aborisade, Ibadan
Published: Tuesday, 7 Apr 2009
The Oyo State Police Command on Monday raised the alarm over the influx of some strangers suspected to be ritual killers into Ibadan and other cities in the state.


Governor Alao Akala

A statement by the Public Relations Officer in charge of the command, Miss Olabisi Okuwobi, explained that syndicates of fraudsters who paraded themselves as hired assassins were also on the prowl in the state.

Okuwobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the kidnappers and ritual killers had started going about major streets in Ibadan and other towns in the state requesting for where they could buy human parts.

She explained that corpses of children and adults who had fallen victim to the devilish activities of kidnappers had been recovered by the police in many parts of the city.

Her statement reads in part, “The Oyo State Police Command wishes to alert members of the public of the activities and presence of kidnappers and ritualists in Oyo State.

“[b]On April 3, 2009, the corpses of two children both aged four, were found with their eyes plucked at Sanyo area of Ibadan.

“Equally, members of the public raised the alarm that suspected kidnappers were sighted at Felele area also in Ibadan while information from Jobele area of the city indicated that some ritualists requested for where they could buy human heads.”

Okuwobi said the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Baba Bolanta, had advised parents and guardians as well as managements of educational institutions in the state to keep watch over the children in their care.

She also called on both the parents and their children to be more vigilant and security conscious as the evil men could disguise in many forms.

The PPRO listed in the statement, mobile telephone numbers which some fraudsters who paraded themselves as hired assassins were using to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

She gave the numbers as: 07062651309, 08067319425, 08027398191 and 009447045753234.

Meanwhile, armed robbers are back on the Onitsha-Enugu expressway, with two separate attacks reported in the last 12 hours, the News Agency of Nigeria has reported.

The attacks occurred within 12 hours on Sunday night.

Eye witnesses told NAN that the two incidents took place at Umunya, where the robbers numbering about six, capitalised on a bad portion of the road to block vehicles heading for Onitsha from Awka.

The robbers, who wore fake police uniforms, forced passengers off the buses and compelled them to part with their valuables such as telephone handsets, money, jewellery as well as bags.[/b]


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200904072315382