₦airaland Forum

;d

;d

:-x

2011: North plots to retain presidency
Written by Emmanuel Aziken
Monday, 16 February 2009


ABUJA—NORTHERN Senators are canvassing the position that the North’s quest to sustain power beyond 2011 is beyond the health or other personal considerations of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
Senators from the region who conveyed the message to President Yar’Adua through the Northern Union penultimate week told Vanguard at the weekend that they are now determined to put the administration’s failing policies on track.

The advisory body to be inaugurated today, Vanguard gathered, is to help articulate the views of the North for the President’s attention and possible reversal.

“Apart from his slogan on the seven point agenda, we seem to be getting nothing from the government and we feel that it is time for us to intervene, because his success or otherwise rubs on the North,” a Senator present at the meeting which held in the Senate new building told Vanguard last night.

“The north has something at stake and it goes beyond him, because the North must have its full two terms in the leadership of the country,” another Northern senator present at the meeting said, “and this goes beyond him whether he is interested or not (in second term).

The North is determined to ensure that the power stays in the region beyond 2011; afterall the South took its full two terms,’’ the Senator who spoke on the basis of confidentiality because he was not authorized to speak on the issue said.

In that regard, Vanguard learnt that Northern senators in conjunction with the Northern Union are determined to ensure that the image of the administration is polished to enable the North satisfactorily sell the prospect of a second term.

The Northern senators, Vanguard gathered are especially bothered by the administration’s failures in the power sector and in the economy.

The committee to be inaugurated today, it was further learnt, would also review the policies of the Central Bank which one Senator said last night said were not working.

Also of concern to the northern legislators, Vanguard learnt, was the President’s seeming lack of touch with the Northern lawmakers.

“He has to know it that all of us have a base and he cannot afford to ignore us,’’ one source present at the meeting said.

The source was confident that the President would be receptive to the initiative spearheaded by the Senator Olusola Saraki-led Northern Union.

“Don’t forget that it was the Northern Union that spearheaded power shift and told Obasanjo to the face that power must go to the North, so I believe the President is conscious of the fact and would heed the views of the Union.”

Among the members of the advisory committee to be inaugurated today are Senators Jibril Aminu, Abubakar Sodangi, Joseph Akaagerger, Bala Mohammed and Umaru Dahiru, the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum.

S-East can't afford workers' pay rise — Govs
Written by Tony Edike
Monday, 16 February 2009


ENUGU—GOVERNORS of the South East rose from an emergency meeting in Enugu yesterday with a resolution rejecting the proposed salary increase for civil servants, saying states in the zone cannot afford any wage increase in the face of the current economic meltdown.
They also endorsed the Federal Government’s decision to review downwards the remuneration of political office holders on account of the economic situation.

Last December, organised labour demanded a comprehensive wage review including a new national minimum wage of N52,200 per month. To this end, the labour body called on the Federal Government to set up “as a matter of urgency a tripartite committee to negotiate and agree on this”.

However, last month, the Federal Government and the representatives of the Nigerian Labour Congress began talks in Abuja on the proposal by the union for N52,000 as the minimum wage for the country.
Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, who read the three-paragraph communiqué at the end of the meeting that lasted for about four hours, said states in the zone were already facing the realities of the economic crisis and as such were not in a position to bear additional wage bill for their workers.

“The governments of the States in the Zone cannot afford any increase in salaries of workers for now, considering the current economic situation. The Governors pledged to strive to ensure that there will be no retrenchments and also to maintain existing salary structure for civil and public servants,” the communiqué read.

Obi said that states in the zone recorded a shortfall of over 30 per cent in their statutory allocations for the month of January, pointing out that Anambra and Enugu particularly recorded a shortfall of N700 million and N800 million respectively, a situation he said, has given a clear indication of the dangers ahead.

Asked how the state governments intend to cope with industrial actions that might erupt as a result of the decision, Obi said the “workers are human beings and they are aware of the current global financial crisis,” adding that they were expected to show understanding of the present situation.

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in the South East has already threatened to direct teachers in the zone to proceed on industrial action over the non-implementation of the Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) and with the governors’ decision rejecting the proposed nationwide wage increase; states in the zone may witness a major industrial crisis.

NLC spokesman, Owei Lakemfa had hinted that the position of labour on the matter would be flexible, saying “we are making a demand, but we are open to negotiation.

Our belief is that if political office holders can enjoy so much wages and perks, there is no reason why a worker should not deserve an appreciable wage that can motivate further productivity for the nation‘s economy.”

On the proposed downward review of the public office holders’ remuneration, the governors said the decision was in the right direction and gave their full endorsement with a decision to implement it in their various states.

The forum also appealed to the Federal Government to urgently address the issue of ports congestion “because of its adverse effect on businesses and the economy.”

It also appealed to Ports operators and the other relevant authorities to reduce demurrage charges and harmonize the other charges payable at the ports and provide further incentives to ensure that all ports, especially Port Harcourt and Calabar Ports were put into full use as a way of resolving the perennial problems of congestion in the ports.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/28871/42/

;d

Indian beats Nigerian prostitute to a pulp
By Idowu Adelusi
Sunday, February 15, 2009
AN attempt by a 41- year-old woman to pose as a “sweet sixteen” for any fun-seeking Romeo has landed her in hospital.


The woman (names withheld), who is a prostitute was rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan after she was battered by her Romeo, an Indian national over the failure of the man to pay her the amount agreed on.


Sunday Tribune gathered that the woman, a native of Ondo State divorced her husband a few years ago, after what she referred to as failure of the man to take proper care of her and due to the constant nagging between them. On Sunday 25 January, 2009, the woman was at a popular hotel in Ring Road, Ibadan, wearing a pair of trousers and a skimpy top. Sunday Tribune gathered that her appearance gave her a sixteen year-old look.


An Indian in his early fifties, who came to the hotel seeking fun, invited her to join him for a drink. Sunday Tribune also gathered that thereafter, the Indian decided to take her to his house at Oni and Sons area in Ring Road, Ibadan for the night. This was at 3.00 a.m. Before they left the hotel, the man reportedly promised to pay her N3,000.


When the love birds got home, the man, Sunday Tribune gathered detected that the woman was not a “sweet sixteen” afterall. He reportedly became enraged and told the woman that he was no longer interested in her. The man said he refused to have sex with her and when it was 6a.m., he gave her N1,500 and told her to leave his house.


However, the woman got annoyed and insisted that the man must pay her N3,000 as arranged before she could leave his house. The man alleged that the woman gripped his genital and this stampeded him to pounce on her. When Sunday Tribune contacted the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Olabisi Okuwobi, she confirmed the story, saying that the woman was still at the hospital recuperating.


It was gathered that the woman sustained injury and had to be rushed to the UCH for urgent medical attention. The woman also reported the matter at the Oluyole Police Station and the Indian was immediately arrested. When the woman was taking to the hospital, the doctor who examined her revealed that she had internal injury.


Therefore the woman had to undergo surgical operation. The hospital bill amounting to N250,000, was paid by the Indian. The woman, in her statement to the police, said that the man actually sex her, adding that they had three rounds. She said that when the man asked her to suck his penis, she refused and the man got annoyed.


She said that the man threw N1,500 at her which she refused to accept and in annoyance the man beat her up. She said that when the man saw that she could no longer breath properly, he became afraid and stopped beating her.

vagina and breast costs N50,000 each,

Britain to Deport 400 Nigerian Prisoners
02.15.2009


Hundreds of Nigerian prisoners are to be sent home to serve out their sentences in their own country to ease the pressure on British jails.
About 400 foreign prisoners are to be repatriated after British ministers reached a deal with Nigeria after months of negotiating.
The move paves the way for hundreds of convicted criminals to be deported from Britain. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has vowed that thousands of foreign prisoners from Nigeria, Vietnam and China will be sent home as "expeditiously as possible".
An agreement has already been signed with Jamaica, which tops the list of foreign nationals in jails in England and Wales, although only a limited number of the 1,400 Jamaicans in British prisons will be returned home.
The scale of the problem facing the British government on prison decongestion was disclosed shortly after Mr Brown took over in 2007. Figures were released showing that only 136 foreign national prisoners were repatriated in 2005, while 9,610 foreign nationals started jail terms in England and Wales.
It also emerged that prisoners from two jails reserved exclusively for foreign nationals were released early to ease prison overcrowding. Some 21 foreign nationals held in Bullwood Hall and Canterbury jails were released 18 days early under the Ministry of Justice's emergency early release scheme.
Deals on repatriation are being sought with Nigeria, Vietnam and China which account for a further 1,700 inmates. Until recently prisoners had to consent to repatriation, but ministers have scrapped the rule and hope to increase substantially the number being sent home to serve their jail term.
Jamaica has 1,400 foreign prisoners in British cells, Nigeria has more than 1,000, while Vietnam and China have 400 and 300 prisoners in British jails.
However, before any deals can be concluded, ministers need assurances that sentences imposed by the British courts will be enforced fully in the home states. It is also likely to be difficult to reach a deal with China, which already refuses to take back failed asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants.

Yar’Adua plots 2nd term
•It’s immoral – Musa, David-West, Ikedife, Adebayo
•Atiku, Kalu as alternatives
By Funke Egbemode, Willy Eya & Olusola Balogun
Sunday, February 15, 2009


While most Nigerians are wrapped up in their confusing bottom lines and balance sheets that simply won’t add up, political speculators and juggernauts are already holding nocturnal meetings to facilitate the return of President Umar Yar’Adua to Aso Rock in 2011. High-tech permutations and manipulations are in top gear to ensure the sitting President sails smoothly back into the saddle.

The NPA, Anenih angle
According to highly placed sources, one of such smart moves is the appointment of Chief Tony Anenih as the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). NPA is arguably the richest government agency in Nigeria. It is believed to be an octopus money machine, with intractable accounting system.
The NPA, in time past, had been used by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to oil its electioneering process. The cash cow operates in a maze that has confounded even the finest of auditing agencies.
Its immediate past chairman, Chief Olabode George, is standing trial for a cocktail of charges that has opened a can of worms. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the PDP chieftain, whose members on every court day turn the Lagos High Court premises into carnival ground.

It is believed that the chair of NPA is strictly for high-ranking party members who can deliver the goods.
“The NPA chairman has an unwritten mandate to source and provide funds for the PDP and that is why Chief Tony Anenih got the job. The way the parastatal works, it is difficult to prove a case of corrupt enrichment against the chairman, but we all know that the NPA is the party’s cash cow. It is the unofficial fund raising body,” our source confirmed.

Sunday Sun also learnt that between now an August, all kinds of groups will spring up to call on Yar’Adua to run for another four years. Funding will come from NPA’s voodoo accounting maze.
The choice of Anenih, a former PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman, is not also unconnected with the disconnect between him and immediate President Olusegun Obasanjo, for whom he was Mr Fix-It for eight years. The current battle for the soul and spirit of the acclaimed biggest party in Africa has pitted the two powerful men against each other and split the party.

A house divided against itself
Party members loyal to the former president are hatching plans to unseat the PDP chairman, Sir Vincent Ogbulafor, using a weapon called ‘internal democracy’ in the running of the party.
But the Yar’Adua men are not sitting on their hands. They are also burning their candles at both ends to ensure that the new bond between the former president and his erstwhile deputy, Atiku Abubakar, comes to nothing.

The game plan is to drive a wedge between the two once most powerful Nigerians, recruit Atiku and leave Obasanjo in the cold.
“The Ota meeting has actually exposed the split in the party. Baba is not as powerless as a lot of people think and that is why Yar’Adua’s men are not taking anything for granted. They are moving from zone to zone to recruit support for this second term bid. They are especially looking at the stronghold of the former President. They are also looking outside the party and considering getting stalwarts of opposition parties to join the PDP, anything to shore up the political base of the President.”
One of the politicians Yar’Adua’s men have actively courted is former Zamfara governor, Ahmed Sani Yerima.

Governors for second term
Furthermore, a list of nine amendments to the PDP constitution ratified and submitted by the Governors’ Forum is angling for automatic second term tickets for the President and all first-term governors.
The amendment to Article 9.2 (iv) reads: “ The party shall issue automatic tickets to any first term serving president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all first term serving governors who have expressed interest to re-contest for a second term without going through the party.”
The current chairman of PDP did not emerge through a democratic process and pro-Obasanjo elements are planning to start an advocacy that would weaken the base of Yar’Adua. From the outside, the PDP looks like a monolithic party that can actually bulldoze its way into realizing its dream of ruling Nigeria for another 60 years but insiders confirmed that there are in fact five factions in the ruling party.

“There are five factions in the PDP - Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Adamu Ciroma, Atiku and IBB groups. Though IBB claims he is not in PDP, he is a member of G-21, and G-21 is in PDP. And IBB is not a fan of Ogbulafor, the sitting party chairman The Ciroma group is made up of the old conservatives and (the defunct) NPN (National Party of Nigeria) elements. So PDP is not a one-house affair. It is a divided house and all that an adversary needs is the ability to locate an opportunistic chink in the armour of the party,” revealed our source.

Atiku, Kalu as strong alternatives to Yar’Adua
The two strongest contenders are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Orji Uzor Kalu, chairman Board of Trustees of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and former Abia State governor.
If the new elements in PDP will not listen to Anenih, if Atiku returns to PDP and IBB and Obasanjo’s elements succeed in ousting Ogbulafor, the former VP becomes an issue. And Sunday Sun findings reveal that the North sees Atiku as a veritable replacement in case Yar’Adua decides not to seek a second term.

In addition, in the face of a public uproar against the president seeking re-election and general perception that he has not given a good account of himself in his first term, an Atiku Presidency becomes an issue.
Orji Uzor Kalu was the first to blow the whistle on Obasanjo’s third term bid, a bid he fought courageously to a standstill. He is believed to have lost more to that fight than any Nigerian: an oil block, N4.5bn worth of shares in Hallmark Bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) licence for a new bank for which he had acquired property and recruited staff.


Kalu is believed to have tremendous international connection, uncommon courage and his party, PPA, has two states, Abia and Imo. PPA is seeking to merge with APGA, a factionalised one-party state with a shaky hold on Anambra. Plans are also under way to play for former Anambra State Governor, Chris Ngige, in the event that the alliance does not work.
In all, the intrigues, tricks and horse-trading that will shape who gets the nation’s number one seat in 2011 will cut across party lines and spring unusual surprises. Neither the PDP old war horses nor the new voices are ready to give an inch, a situation that may provide the chink in the ruling party’s armour that the opposition has been waiting for.

Immoral plot
Some prominent Nigerians have, however, reacted angrily to attempts by a segment of the political class to hand Yar’Adua a second term in office. In one words, they described the plot as immoral.
Speaking exclusively to Sunday Sun, the former governor of the old Western Region, General Adeyinka Adebayo; National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh; former Petroleum Minister, Prof Tam David-West; immediate past president of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife; erstwhile Oyo State governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina; and Second Republic governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa as well as former Deputy Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Niyi Akintola (SAN), all said the move was also ill-timed and unmeritorious.

Adebayo, who said he would not want to be drawn into the propriety or otherwise of the president preparing for a second term, however pointed out that any failure ascribed to Yar’Adua should be shared by his party.
According to him, “it depends on his party, but the country belongs to everybody and he is free to aspire to any position he wants. I think he has done his best. His best might not be enough but that is debatable. It will be difficult for me to say that he does not deserve a second term because I am a statesman and won’t be expected to say things like that. But I think his party carries a lot of the blame for all this criticism. They picked him and they have a manifesto, which I believe he is trying to implement. If people say he doesn’t deserve a second term, then it means his party does not also deserve a second term presidency.”

David-West, on his part, knocks proponents of such a proposal as enemies of the president.
His words: “Anybody who is telling Yar’Adua to go for a second term is his enemy. He has a terrible health condition and has been limping throughout his first tenure. So far he has no credential for a second term. He should rather pray that he completes his first term in office.

“I will advise him never, never to think of a second term. He has not performed well. He has practically failed and that is why the country is in a state of suspended animation. He too should analyze that based on his health condition and how he came to power. He was imposed on Nigerians by (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo. But if anybody thinks that 2011 will be like 2007, such person will be joking.”
Balarabe Musa, who is chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), urged Nigerians to be alert to the antics of the PDP.

“The PDP is a desperate party; there is nothing it cannot do. Nigerians should think of removing the PDP and Yar’Adua for us to make progress as a country. The talk of Yar’Adua going for another term should not arise because it is obvious it is not the wish of Nigerians for him to continue beyond 2011.
‘‘Yar’Adua is worse than the PDP because he was not elected but imposed on us by the court and not through the votes of the people. He is like a military man that shot his way to power. We are all praying for his reign to end after the first term,” he said.

Lam Adesina spoke in similar vein. According to him, those pushing the idea are insulting the sensibility of Nigerians, who he said are unhappy with Yar’Adua’s performance as president.
“I really don’t know what parameters they will use in telling us that he deserves a second term. We are anxiously waiting for them to tell us what he has done that they are asking him to continue.
“This is a man they should ordinarily advise to go and look after his health but all they are scheming is another term for him. We will wait and see what they will tell us qualified him for another term,” the Action Congress chieftain noted.

Dozie Ikedife was also not convinced that Yar’Adua deserves a second term. He noted that until recently, the president was battling to legitimize his election.
“He had a lot of distractions because of that. Now that he has settled down, let us see what he will be able to do. I need to say it is his performance that will determine whether he is qualified for a second term, but he has not been convincing.”

For legal luminary, Niyi Akintola, the PDP could scheme all they want but he believes the choice ultimately lies with Nigerians to decide whether they want Yar’Adua or not.
Like other respondents, the APGA leader, Victor Umeh, pooh-poohed the proposal, saying the president was yet to make a success of the task before him.
He said those planning for a new term for Yar’Adua were simply mischievous because the country was yet to record any significant achievement since he came to power.

Umeh added that the problems on the desk of the president have enveloped him and Nigerians should be allowed to wait till 2011 to determine whether he deserves a second term or not.
“I don’t understand where those asking for new term got their facts from,” he said.
According to Umeh, the president was yet to touch the electoral reform, which he said was very critical to Nigeria’s democracy, while the National Assembly was yet to review the 1999 Constitution.

Inside human parts market in Lagos.
Sunday, February 15, 2009

More Stories on This Section
Jankara market is self- effacing and deceptively ordinary. Located close to Idumagbo area of Lagos Island, the market is just a stretch of an old street.

Ears on the ground
Like other streets and markets, canvassers and touts hang around the place pitching for customers and mugus (gullible people). Though low in reputation,touts are an essential segment of this time – honoured market. Over the years, the place has come to be known as a place where any thing goes. And so, the touts come handy here.
They have their ears on the ground, and therefore know all the goings-on.

Book and wait
A week ago, our reporter posed as a juju priest who was in dire need of human body parts for urgent rituals. After about four hours of waiting and being passed from one “contact” to another, and played around like ping-pong, the reporter got a dealer who “booked” him. The rule here is, if you want a fresh human body part, you book and wait. If your order is for dry parts you get instant delivery.
But you must be an expert in human anatomy to decipher the parts you want from man’s closest animal relations – gorilla, chimpanzee and monkey.

Dark secret
But don’t jump to a hasty conclusion, there are genuine traders and honest businessmen and women at Jankara.They perhaps don’t even know that the place also habour a dark secret. A police post even looks over the place. A signpost calls it Oko Awo Police Post. An office on the counter there stared at our reporter angrily when he asked him if the police know about the wheeling and dealing in human body parts in the area: “What kind of question be this? I beg go, no be for here—o” the police officer retorted angrily.

Menumo
This expression when translated literally means “seal your lips” in Yoruba. The term is said in whisper and hushed tone — menu…mo .When you say the first syllable, you pause, look around to be sure there’s no third party or curiosity cat eaves dropping. When a deal is struck, you will be taken to some dank shanties and courtyard for your consignment.

The business is all about raw cash. A fresh human head has a street value of N250, 000. Fresh internal organs like heart, lung, kidney, and so on go for 500,000 a piece.
Other vital parts like penis, vagina and breast costs N50,000 each.Fresh tongue is sold at N100,000.
Sunday Sun learnt when a tongue is “ritualized and jujufied” that it “works well” for traders and people who apply for visa to go abroad “when well prepared, no one go question you for embassy and even your working place”, a dealer whose alias is Baba Ibeji revealed.
Toe and finger, Sunday Sun further learnt are good for travelers and business people. “ The toe is for traveling without falling.
The finger is to make money. Any thing you touch turns to money”, Baba Ibeji said.
Fresh toe and finger goes for N50,000 each.

Ritual animals
Even animals considered endangered species are not spared in Jankara. Herbalist beside the area’s butcher shop openly sell a wide range of animals. Imprisoned in wire-mesh cages are live animals like eagles, tortoise, chamellion, alligator and so on. A live eagle goes for N10,000.
Dead and dry one costsN500,000. Live Tortois costN5,000 while ordinary empty one is sold for N2,500.
Live chamelion costs N2,500. Dead and dry one goes for N2,000. The lizard-like creature, Sunday Sun learnt, is in demand by Advance Fee Fraudster —419. “When the thing is worked”, it means the more you look, the less you see, you will never caught,” one of the dealers who declined to give his name said.

Tough-skinned
The dealers know their terrain and the world they inhabit.They smell and sense danger in the air all the time. They are inclined to do business with you if you mention and have a prove of a regular Juju priest and customer. Even at this, they will still carry out a check on you. There’s no physical search. Under the pretex of “bringing your thing”, they will call your guarrantor and run a check on you. Any discovery of falsehood, they will cancel the deal and melt out of sight, leaving you to wait forever

Where missing people go
Jankara might be the possible place where missing persons in Lagos resurface but reduced to faceless, liveless body parts. As though to corroborate this, the managing director of Lagos State waste Management Authority (LAWMAN), Mr Ola Oresanya told Sunday Sun in an interview that hardly a day passes in the city without street sweepers and refuse collectors picking dismembered corpses and body parts.

“The corpses and body parts may be the handwork of ritualist and hit-and-run drivers”, he said.
Meanwhile Sunday Sun learnt that the morgues in the city are brimming with unclaimed dcorpses.There’s no more land for mass burial. So cremnation is the only option,” the source said.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/feb/15/national-15-02-2009-01.htm

;d ;d

Nigerian Ambassador to US, Oluwole Rotimi, Sacked
•Calls Foreign Minister a tribalist •Boasts that he defeated Maduekwe’s “ragtag” Biafran Army
By Yemi Adebowale in Lagos and Constance Ikoku in Washington DC, 02.14.2009


President Umaru Yar’Adua has appro-ved the immediate recall of Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, retired Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi, for “gross insubordination.”
Sources at the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC said the decision to recall Rotimi followed his running disagreement with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, over issues bordering on activities of the mission, policy, protocol and hierarchy.
The disagreement that was said to have started last year resulted in a series of correspondence between Maduekwe and Rotimi, culminating in a letter written by the latter in which he called the minister a tribalist and boasted, “I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army.”
Maduekwe who was piqued by the contents of the letter, particularly the reference to the Biafran war, formally complained to the President in a memo, attaching Rotimi’s letter.
Maduekwe in his letter to the President stated: “This man (Rotimi) has no temperament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission.
“This is a strategic assessment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington, which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
“The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal.”
It was on this basis that the President immediately approved his recall from the mission. In the interim, Ambassador Wakil, the Deputy Ambassador has been asked to oversee the mission pending the appointment of a replacement.
All efforts to reach the Ambassador last night on his mobile phone proved unsuccessful as it kept entering voice mail. Voice messages were not returned as at press time either.
A Nigerian embassy official in Washington disclosed that the root cause of the friction between both officials started sometime last year when Maduekwe wrote two letters inviting the Ambassador and his deputy, Ambassador Wakil to a meeting in Abuja to discuss the emergence of Barack Obama as the 44th US President and what it would mean for Nigeria-US relations.
Rotimi was said to have felt slighted that the minister wrote a separate letter to his deputy whom he regarded as his subordinate.
He subsequently wrote two protest letters - one to Maduekwe and a second one to the Secretary to the Govern-ment of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed. He also asked that the trip be rescheduled to enable him sort out one or two things.
Not satisfied, Rotimi further wrote to Senator Jubril Aminu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the same issue.
Rotimi then proceeded to Abuja when he did not receive an official reply from the minister. Maduekwe on the other hand was reportedly irked that the Ambassador proceeded on the trip without the necessary approval.
Rotimi’s action, an embassy official divulged, was seen as an infringement of an important regulation regarding the movement of public officers.
Insiders familiar with the Nigerian civil service set up said his trip was arbitrary given his protest letter and request for a postponement of the meeting, and that since he had not received feedback, it was seen as gross insubordination within foreign service regulations.
According to an official: “when you write, you wait for a reply. Movement must be sanctioned by your boss.”
Similarly, Maduekwe’s effort to streamline the operations of the foreign affairs ministry, particularly the embassies, was said to have been resisted by Rotimi in Washington.
The minister’s brusque style of leadership has reportedly ruffled feathers in the foreign service where most officials are used to “business as usual” bosses.
As such, the little or lack of cordial relations between both men compounded matters, making it almost impossible to mend fences.
In addition, other occurrences pointed to strained relations between the public officers. The usual practice is that an Ambassador receives the foreign minister at the airport when he arrives a country, and sees him off at the end of his official trip.
This was not the case when the minister visited Washington sometime last year to give a talk at a think-tank in the capital city.
However, by January this year, Rotimi tried to seek a rapprochement when he led a delegation to receive Maduekwe who flew into Washington as the head of the Nigerian delegation to President Obama’s inauguration.
But the short-lived détente came under strain again when Rotimi, during the swearing-in ceremony, introduced Emeka Anyaoku, the president’s special envoy, as the leader of delegation in the presence of the minister.
THISDAY learnt that there was actually a disagreement before the trip as to who should lead the delegation to the event.
Eventually, Anyaoku was mandated to head the Federal Government team, while Maduekwe led the foreign ministry team.
But this presented an image problem for Nigeria, because it gave the impression that the home base was in disarray.
Another official of the Nigerian embassy in Washington alleged that Rotimi only appeared for work at the embassy thrice a week and retired to Florida where he has a home, for the rest of the week. “How can he effectively run a key embassy like this,” the official queried.
Before the latest incident that led to Rotimi’s recall, Anyaoku it was gathered, tried to reconcile the two men shortly after Obama’s inauguration, but failed.
Rotimi was a former military governor of the old Western State from 1971 to 1975. He arrived Washington DC on 31st March 2008, and presented his Letters of Credence to the then President, George Bush at the White House, on April 9, 2008.
His sudden recall means that Nigeria will have to deal with the signals the incident would send to the international community, explained a diplomatic source.
One way to save face is to show that Nigeria is ready to revamp its foreign relations machinery and sharpen is focus on improving the effectiveness of the country’s foreign missions overseas, he said.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=135607

;d

South East in the grip of kidnappers
Written by Uduma Kalu
Saturday, 14 February 2009

When the federal government, in its wisdom, thought that the best solution to the Niger Delta militancy was to meet force with force, little did it know the distance and mutations the violence could take.
And that is the problem now.


kidnappers or militantsIt seems the seeds of the Niger Delta militancy have grown far beyond the creeks as one of its fallouts, kidnapping for ransom, has been exported to neighbouring states of the South East. It is not just that ordinary people now live in fear in that region, investors are not comfortable doing business in an area infested with kidnapping as well.

Though kidnapping in the South East is alien, the trade as some are wont to call it, is bourgeoning there like bees on their hive. But the root of all this is oil, confirming, in a way, what the Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer, wrote in The New York Time of May 25, 1997 that “In Nigeria, the price of oil is blood”.

When Gordimer made that remark in a conference in the USA against the dictatorial regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, kidnapping for ransom had not spread to the South East. Ken Saro-Wiwa and Wole Soyinka were the issues then.

One of the reasons for the spread of the monster, Saturday Vanguard can reveal is poverty, joblessness, campus cultism, and political thuggery.

There are also government policies which have cut the ordinary people off from their means of livelihood so much that the only way to respond to the state is to seek revenge on the affluent, be they government officials, politicians and business persons.

Some of the people complained that the state governments, in their way to clean up the areas have rendered them penniless. Yet, they are those who use the trade as a form of settling family disputes or just to settle political scores.

But the trade is not being usually done by just anybody. Most times, it seems to be executed by university graduates who could not get employment. But then, they are also usually moulded by different cults they belong in the institutions. Some of them are even in the evil trade as undergraduates.

They are mainly youths in their twenties. They may not be happy with what they are doing, as confessions from some of them show, but they seem rather frustrated by society.

The result is that fear pervades the land. Neigbours are suspicious of each other. Citizens are being seized and ransoms demanded before they are releases. The effect of the long neglect of the Niger Delta and the use of force as well as the frustration of the youth is behind the high incident of crime and its new entrant, kidnapping in the South.

The First Kidnap in the Niger Delta

Kidnapping as “weapon of the weak pretending to be strong,” was first heard on Saturday, February 18, 2006. This was when Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the abduction of nine foreign workers during its attack on an oil facility. Along with three Americans and a Briton, the group said it kidnapped two Thais, two Egyptians and a Filipino. In an e_mail.

Kidnapping as Business in Igboland

But kidnapping also became a big business idea. And so, it did not take long for those impoverished, the poor and jobless graduates to enter into the trade. More so, their ilk in the neighbouring states followed suit. And like cancer, kidnapping as big business and alternative employment spread to the neighboring states of Imo, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu, all in the South East.

In Enugu, a monarch, Igwe Uche Nwachime, in Nkanu West Local Government, was abducted and killed. The proprietor of Grand Riveri Hotel, Enugu, was kidnapped but was released after the ransom N5m was said to have been paid. The younger brother of the former NAFDAC DG, Prof. Dora Akunyili, was captured. His captors reportedly asked for N30m.

In Abia, as the snatching of the Enyimba Club chairman, Anyasi Agwu; heralded the uncomfortable phenomena and erstwhile ASUBEB chairman, Comrade Iruke, a lawyer, Ngozi Ukweni, Justice Awa U. Kalu who was shot in a failed kidnapping bid, a magistrate, a an electrical dealer, and a host of Abia State top functionaries also became victims.

In Anambra, a couple were kidnapped immediately after their wedding.they were later released after three days in captivity Last December 17, a bank manager in Oba was kidnapped. A month earlier, an assembly man representing Anaocha I Constituency, Chief Joseph Dimobi, was kidnapped.

Dimobi was picked in his country home in Aguluzigbo about 10.30 p.m. by kidnappers who demanded a N30 million ransom.Dimobi was concluding arrangements to perform the funeral rites of his late father when he was kidnapped.

Other lawmakers in the state ran away, switching off their phones because “one never can tell who would be the next target,” the speaker said.

Before then, the state Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) was kidnapped. He was later released after allegedly paying a ransom of N3 million.

The spate of kidnapping has forced state governments in the region into thinking of making kidnapping a capital offence. Governor Sullivan Chime’s government has declared that it would make kidnapping a capital punishment in Enugu State, the same thing Imo and Anamabra states one thinking along that line too. Abia has already signed that into law.

The Abia State government, through its commissioner for Information, Chief Ralph Egbu, told Saturday Vanguard that it has been fighting the scourge.

The deputy governor, Comrade Chris Akomas said the government constituted a Joint Task Force made of the military and Police, with appropriate logistical back up of 47 brand new vehicles. It beefed up security around the notorious Enugu_Port Harcourt expressway with crack anti_insurgent troops as well as providing dedicated hotlines, all the time for the people to call.

The government said it provides confidentiality to informants and to date Governor Theodore Orji is said to continue to pay a reward of N1m whose information has resulted in successfully dislodging and arresting the criminals.

Kidnapping, as a capital punishment in the state, comes with it a forfeiture of the accused’s property to the state upon conviction. The state said it increased a number of Mobile Police Anti_crime formations to three in the state, provided 65 Operational vehicles and logistics to its security agencies, drafted in detachments of Army and Navy.

It has also created a bye-law for effective Vigilance Groups to collaborate with the Security Agencies. It combs villages, houses and plantations in the state, threatening also to depose any traditional ruler, in whose domain kidnapping and armed robbery occur.

Kidnapping in the East: Our findings

Indeed, when kidnapping began in the East, especially, Abia in 2007, it was touted that the opposition could be behind the menace. But Saturday Vanguard investigations showed that this may not really be so in all cases.

Perhaps, the first inroad into the burgeoning trade in Igbo heartland was made by Saturday Vanguard last weekend when it did not only meet with those who could be kidnappers or have knowledge of those in the trade, it also met with victims of kidnap in the region.

In its survey of the nascent kidnapping and its effect in the region, it visited Imo, Abia and Anambra and these are some of its findings.

Imo State: The Youth are angry

The first port of call on the survey of kidnapping in the South East was Imo state. By June last year, kidnappers in Imo had abducted 10 persons.

The targets were the wealthy and they included Mrs. Ngozi Nneji, wife of the proprietor of ABC Transport Plc; 85-year-old Pa Christopher Chukwu, the father of a prominent politician and oil magnate, Chief


Gov. Ikedi Ohakim of Abia State.Tony Chukwu; the father of the proprietor of Disney Hotel on Onitsha Road, the son of a member of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Simeon Iwunji; a member of the Imo State House of Assembly, Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu; two sons of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Goodluck Opiah (who were abducted in Aba, Abia State). There were also pupils of a private school at Works Layout, Owerri.

But the case of Chief Sylvanus Udenkwo, father of an Owerri based millionaires , Joel, is an eye opener on the mode of kidnapping in that part of the country. Udenkwo, the only victim in the state bold enough to narrate his experience in the hands of a five_man gang who held him for 12 days. He was freed by the state police on June 13 without any ransom paid.

Udenkwo was kidnapped as he tried to help some young men who visited him at Isiala Umudi, seeking land to buy for an MTN mast.

The man did not have such land but decided to take them to his relation who might have. He drove the two to the land for the construction of the purported mast.

They tricked his kinsman away and made away with the old man. He was gagged, blindfolded and taken to a bungalow, where he spent 12 days. His abductors extracted the mobile telephone number of his rich son from him for negotiation. But it gave the police the opportunity to organise his release.

His captors, Udenkwo said, could pass for his grand children. The men had told him kidnapping had now become their business.

The kidnappers were not rude to him, he said. Neither did they humiliate him, though they threatened him with their guns to scare him.

His son, Joel, said the kidnappers had earlier asked for N70m ransom for his father. He had contacted the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Innocent Ilozuoke, who monitored the discussions as the sum moved down to N40m, N20m, N10m, and N5m until the police moved to quash the crime. It cost him only N6,000 MTN cards in N1,500 denomination to free his father from his abductors.

“I told them I don’t have money. If I have N70m at hand, I’ll use it to build another industrial concern and employ people,” he said. “I also let them know that most of the businesses I do is with bank money and I also trade with foreigners, who give me credit. At the end of the day, I fought them with the help of the police commissioner.

“In fact, the commissioner worked like a wounded lion; he didn’t sleep from 7.30pm when the operation started that day till 4am.

The commissioner, the assistant commissioner of police in charge of operations, Mr. Goddy Okereke, and all the men were in the bush.
“In fact, two of them (the kidnappers) were shot and they escaped, leaving behind their motorcycle, which the police took away.

The next day, they now noticed that the business happened not to be as usual and noticed that the aim of the kidnapping was over.

They called me and started pleading that they were sorry.

Pressure on Yar’Adua to appoint new IG from the North
By Olusola Fabiyi
Published: Saturday, 14 Feb 2009
The Presidency has started perusing the credentials of the likely successors to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, as he prepares for his terminal leave.

President Umar Yar’Adua

However, it was gathered in Abuja on Friday that some interest groups are gearing up to mount pressure on President Umaru Yar’Adua to appointment a Northerner to succeed Okiro.

At least, about four senior police officers are in the running to replace Okiro whose tenure will expire on July 24.

By that time, Okiro will be 60 years old, but would only have served for 32 years in the Police.

Though the IGP is expected to start his terminal leave on April 24, three months before his expected departure from office, our correspondent however learnt that he might not proceed like his predecessor, Sunday Ehindero.

By law, public officers in Nigeria are expected to retire after 35 years in service, or after attaining 60 years of age, whichever comes first.

Okiro succeeded Chief Sunday Ehindero in June 2007.

He was born on July 24, 1949 and joined the Nigeria Police Force on August 1, 1977.

Among the top contenders for the job is DIG Ogbonna Onovo, who is the most senior of all the DIGs. He even became DIG before Okiro who was given double promotion from the rank of Commissioner of Police to the rank of DIG. Onovo acted for one day after Ehindero’s retirement before President Yar’Adua appointed Okiro.

Contrary to the earlier report, Onovo will not be due for retirement until August 1, 2012 when he would have served the police for 35 years having enlisted in the Force on August 1, 1977.

Onovo, who hails from Nkanu Local Government Area of Enugu State, has a degree in Political Science and was one time Director-General of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Those said to also be on the list of the Presidency are Ringim, a former Force Secretary, who is expected to retire from the Force on August 1, 2014 and John Ahmadu, the DIG in charge of Research, who reportedly is to remain in the Force up till November 11, 2015.

While Ringim also has a degree in Education, Ahmadu has a first degree in Sociology.

Others in the race include the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar, and AIG in-charge of Police College unit, Hafiz Ringim.

In pushing for the candidacy of these officers from the North, some influential political forces believe that it is now the turn of the region as the IGP position has been in the South since the return to civilian government in 1999. Southern officers who have held the position since are Messrs Musiliu Smith, Tafa Balogun, Ehindero and Okiro.

While Ringim hails from Ringim, Jigawa State, Ahamadu is from Takum, Taraba State and Abubakar, from Zamfara State.

But a source at the FHQ said that the Force would be losing a lot if the appointment of who becomes the IGP would be determined by geographical location.

One of the sources said, “It is unfortunate that we can be debating on who leads the Force when the roll call of senior officers are there? Naturally, the next officer in rank and seniority ought to take over, but because the military came and messed up the institution, we believe that was the right thing.

“In the military, it is not so. Though it is the prerogative of the President to determine who becomes IGP, yet he has to look at the credentials of the options he has.”

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, did not pick his telephone when our correspondent sought his reaction on Friday, while an aide to the Minister of Police Affairs who pleaded anonymity said he would get a briefing from the minister before responding to our enquiry.

But the spokesperson of the Police Service Commission, Ms. Comfort Obi, said that the only input that the commission could make was through the chairman of the PSC, who she said is also a member of the Police Council that is saddled with the responsibility of appointing the IGP.

Nigeria Is Largest Importer Of Rice - US
John Akpodovhan, Makurdi - 14.02.2009

The United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, Robes Renes Sandars, has said that in spite of Nigeria ’s abundance in natural resources and agricultural potential, Nigeria remains the largest importer of rice in Africa and second largest importer globally.


Ambassador Sandars who made the remark during her official visit to Olam Rice Mill, Makurdi, on Thursday, disclosed that the United States of America would be willing to assist Nigeria reach its full potential in the agricultural sector, adding that USAID/Olam partnership had shown how a strong committed private sector coul be a proactive and innovative partner to help farmers increase their income in the country.


“Right now, Nigeria is the largest importer of rice on the African continent and the second largest importer in the world. Programs like this provide an opportunity to change Nigeria ’s agricultural landscape. Nigeria can be self-sufficient in food and we want to help you get there, “ Sandars posited.


She explained that her country was built on the kind of entrepreneurial spirit where the private sector was committed and worked proactively and innovative to partner and help farmers increase their income pointing out that the Olam partnership with farmers is the type of entrepreneurial spirit needed in the country.

Delta spends N50.4m on hygiene facilities
By Mike Odiegwu
Published: Saturday, 14 Feb 2009
The Delta State Government has spent over N50million on hygiene facilities to ensure proper sanitation in the state.

Skip to next paragraph

Photo file
Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan

The government also said that it was committed to meeting the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by 50 per cent the population of people without access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation by 2015.

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan disclosed this through his commissioners in-charge of Water Resources Development and Education, Mr. George Timinimi, and Mrs. Elizabeth Uvoh-Gardner, respectively on Tuesday, during the International Year of Sanitation and Hand Washing Campaign in Asaba.

Gardner said the state government had over the years made appreciable impact in the provision of portable water both in the urban and rural areas of the state.

“With a view to meeting the Millennium Development Goal, the state government in 2008 approved the construction of 54 sanitation facilities across the state. This is in addition to numerous water schemes that dot the rural areas of the state. My administration will partner with UNICEF to ensure that the Millennium Development Goal is met,” Uduaghan said.

Timinimi explained that the 54 sanitation facilities included 19 latrine blocks of two units each, 21 urinal blocks of two units each and “fourteen-hand washing facilities in schools, health centres, public places, markets and motor parts across the state at a cots of N22.4 million.”

“The construction of these projects has since commenced and will be completed by the end of February 2009. At the moment plans are on to sensitize households without such facilities to build their own latrines,” he said.

He urged the local government councils to complement the roles of the state government in that regard, adding that “under the UNICEF 2008 water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects implementation, a total of 10 water supply schemes, powered by 240 watt from solar modules are being built in schools and some communities.

“Also, the rehabilitation of five broken down water schemes at Ugbuwangwe and Ekurede-Itsekiri in Warri South LGA, Uvwiama in Ughelli North LGA, Emue-Ebendo in Ndokwa West LGA and Ovu-Inland in Ethiope East LGA is ongoing. The local cost for the WASH programme is estimated at N25.8 million. All these projects are expected to be completed by the end of February 2009.”

Virgy Etiaba’s son set to contest Anambra guber election
Written by Dapo Akinrefon
Saturday, 14 February 2009


Emeka Etiaba is the son of the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dame Virgy Etiaba.
As the run up of gubernatorial polls in the state gathers momentum, Etiaba has indicated interest in the plum


Emeka Etiabajob. His aspiration, he believes, will be actualised on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

In an interaction with select journalists, Etiaba says he understands the problem of the state and has idea of how it will be solved.
He also talks about his relationship with the incumbent governor and other burning issues. Excerpts:

What do you think is the problem with Anambra State?

The problem with Anambra is the problem of the elites, a problem you find in a state where you have quite a lot of educated and wealthy people. In Anambra, there are a lot of educated and wealthy people and everybody will want to assert his/her present.

That is the problem in Anambra. On the other hand, the strength that you find in Anambra is greater than the weakness, but the people always focus on the weakness. Judging Anambra from its weakness is the greatest mistake anybody will make.

What is the strength of Anambra?

The strength is that we have a lot of intelligent people. Intelligence in terms of academics, intelligent in terms of utilization of what is available to create what is needed, intelligent in terms of hard work and commercial ability.

The strength is that we have a lot of people who have made money, and they are helping in the development of the state not minding whether there is a good. In Anambra, we are known to care and show love to one another.

For example, my father was a lawyer, but he was trained by a distant uncle. That is predominantly what you find in Anambra. We are our brother keepers; we are ready to work selflessly for others. So, the people in Anambra get disenchanted when they see that government or the leadership of the state is not as serious as it should be, and when they are not getting the dividend of the democracy.

So, if all these strength of Anambra is harness, it is the power of development, it overrides any weakness that anybody may hold on to against the state.

How will you reconcile the strength of Anambra as you enumerated to the political upheavals it has been experiencing since 1999. Why has it been very difficult for the elites and wealthy people of Anambra to give democracy a chance?

I am not one of those that believe that democracy has not been given a chance in Anambra. The problem you find in Anambra in terms of whether democracy is given a chance or not, is actually the problem of the entire Nigeria. It is not particular to the state and it cannot be localized in Anambra State.

The truth is that, the problem of Anambra is just a microcosm of the problem with Nigeria. Nigeria has a problem where the citizen’s right of electing her leaders has been muzzled. The way the country is structured, we don’t have the right to elect our leaders. In this situation, you find out that a group of people conspire and give the impression that the votes have spoken, but we know that it is not true in most cases. But that does not mean that democracy is not working.

What is your assessment of the government in Anambra from 1999 till date?

My assessment is that things are getting better. In Anambra, we used to say that there is no government presence in the state, but that is not the same today. I also do not believe that our past leaders or governors have failed us, but I believe that each governor has come and play his role in the state and gone.

It behooves on whoever finds himself on the seat to do the best he can in the circumstances he finds himself. But rating the governors since 1999 is a difficult thing for me, but the rating of the people of Anambra will be best and accurate.

My rating now will be very subjective because I am in the governorship race for 2010, and many of the past governors you are asking me to rate their performances are in the race with me, it will be unfair for me to rate or judge them.

The people of Anambra are the greatest judge in the instance, and I assure you that if you come to Anambra, you feel the pulse of the people and you will know the governor that has done well and the one that failed. But I am convinced that things are getting better in Anambra State.

How much of the Anambra problems do you know and how do you hope to address them if you become governor?

I know quite a lot of the problems of Ndi Anambra. The major problem we have is the problem of everybody wanting to be noticed and you find out that the difference between the governor of the state and any other person is that when the governor comes in a function, you hear the national anthem and as everybody is goes, you discover that the convoy of every other person is longer than that of the governor.

We have people who want to assert their present in the state. anambra’s problem is the elites and I can handle them. That is Anambra for you.

On the other hand, what you call problems, I will not say they problems, rather I will say they are general needs of the people. The people of Anambra have quite a lot of needs. The first of those needs, as I know is the need of road network. Anambra State needs more roads. Roads, roads, and roads!

Apart from roads, we also need to look into our education system. We need to take that sector more seriously we don’t need to continue in the paying of lips service to education because you find out now that in Anambra, most of our younger ones are not in school they are out there trying to make money. So you find out that we are degenerating into a society where money determines success.

Beyond education, we will look into the health sector. That sector needs to be revamped, the system is down and we need seasoned medical personal for the hospital to thrive. These things are not things that we will play politics with they are things that one has to face head-on.

Outside the health, agriculture is another important area that we must also face head-on. We are one of the most favored states in the country in terms of agriculture, we have greenbelt in the Orumba Aguata area, we have a lot fertile land in the Adani and Anyamelum area. I will revamp agriculture into the mechanized system in the state if I become the governor.

In the issue of unemployment, I have noticed that there are no companies that can employ graduates are shying away from doing that properly because their resource is not enough for them to pay graduates.

So I will create an economic environment that will, on its own, attract local and foreign investors to the state once that is done, there will be work for our graduates and the unemployed in the state. Another important thing I will do is to work on the psyche of our people. We will let them know that doing good is very good and that everybody must do good to himself, his community and his state.

Another major problem that I call embarrassment is the issue of security. Something must be done here. We can’t continue to allow our people suffer in an insecure state as it is now. The issue of kidnap, the issue of broad day robbery and the general protection of lives and property must be confronted. I have an idea of how I hope to tackle the problem of security. It is not something I will say in the newspaper but if I am elected, Anambra will see that plans I have for their security.

You speak with a lot of confidence, what gives you the assurance that you can be governor of Anambra in the face of the intellectuals and wealthy people that you said wants recognition?

Have you ever wondered, when you get to a junction, you see one man controlling the traffic and motorists queue so, waiting for them to be asked to go some of the motorists are more educated, richer and influential than the traffic officer? That explains the issue we have in Anambra.

The issue in Anambra is an issue of leadership. Once the people see that you are on the right part, everybody will fall in line for you. I want to tell you that Anambra is the easiest state to run and I believe that by God’s grace I will make it.

What makes you think you can make it?

Because I have looked at the indices and discovered that the indices are right, and I will also tell you that I know what to do if I become the governor of Anambra State.

You have carefully refused to mention the issue of godfatherism in Anambra. How do you get down with them?

I don’t believe in godfatherism. And if anybody wants one, the person will definitely get it and when you get a godfather, you do everything that goes with godfatherism. I don’t need a godfather to win election in Anambra, what I need is the people. Today in Nigeria, I can mention governors who did win election through the help of any godfather and they are doing very well in their states and nobody is on their neck.

Above that, I like to tell you that the issue of godfatherism is becoming a thing of the past in Anambra State and I do not intent to get into that mucky waters because if I do, coming out will be very difficult.

On what platform will you be contesting the race?

Everybody knows that I am a member of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and I intend to run for the election on APGA platform.

Which of the factions, because APGA has the Chief Chekwas Okorie and Chief Victor Umeh factions?

I sincerely believe that the faction you are talking about is the creation of the press because APGA is one and has one national chairman and Chief Victor Umeh is the chairman I know. Meanwhile, there has been a problem in the leadership of the party and that has been settled long ago. Umeh is the chairman of the party.

The present Governor, Mr. Peter Obi is a member of APGA and your mother is his deputy and there is the insinuation that they want to contest for a second term. Why have you decided to contest against your mum and her boss? How do hope to wrestle the party ticket from them?

For your information, Her Excellency, Dame Virgy Etiaba is not going back with Mr. Peter Obi as deputy governor and she is not contesting the governorship. And it was recently that I got to know that Obi wants to go for a second term. I have said it to whoever cares to listen, that when we were in contact with each other, he told me in the presence of many people that he is not interested in a second term.

But that does not remove his right to come out for second term. So if he is really coming for second term, the party will determine who will get the ticket for governorship.

You said when both of you were in contact, what happened to the contact?

You see, when someone is in power, a lot of pressure must come and when that happens, it is possible for the person in power to be in contact with everybody. I have been in contact with him but once in a while I see him in public functions and we greet ourselves. I am the type that don’t like going to the government house.

Now, you have lost contact with the governor, and the governor is controlling the party structure in the state and Umeh, the chairman you know, is always with the governor. How do you think you will get the ticket now that you have lost contact with him?

I have not said that I have lost contact. I have not lost contact of the governor, when you say that someone has lost something, it means that person is missing that. I have not lost contact with Obi, but I am not in contact with him. Being in contact with the governor will not make my desire to become governor easier.

Yes, Umeh is always with the governor, they are good friends and belong to the same party, so I don’t see anything in their being together. Their being together will not prevent me from getting a level playing field in the election. They are good friends but when it comes to party matter neutrality will be the language.

South East in the grip of kidnappers
Written by Uduma Kalu
Saturday, 14 February 2009

When the federal government, in its wisdom, thought that the best solution to the Niger Delta militancy was to meet force with force, little did it know the distance and mutations the violence could take.
And that is the problem now.

kidnappers or militantsIt seems the seeds of the Niger Delta militancy have grown far beyond the creeks as one of its fallouts, kidnapping for ransom, has been exported to neighbouring states of the South East. It is not just that ordinary people now live in fear in that region, investors are not comfortable doing business in an area infested with kidnapping as well.

Though kidnapping in the South East is alien, the trade as some are wont to call it, is bourgeoning there like bees on their hive. But the root of all this is oil, confirming, in a way, what the Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer, wrote in The New York Time of May 25, 1997 that “In Nigeria, the price of oil is blood”.

When Gordimer made that remark in a conference in the USA against the dictatorial regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, kidnapping for ransom had not spread to the South East. Ken Saro-Wiwa and Wole Soyinka were the issues then.

One of the reasons for the spread of the monster, Saturday Vanguard can reveal is poverty, joblessness, campus cultism, and political thuggery.

There are also government policies which have cut the ordinary people off from their means of livelihood so much that the only way to respond to the state is to seek revenge on the affluent, be they government officials, politicians and business persons.

Some of the people complained that the state governments, in their way to clean up the areas have rendered them penniless. Yet, they are those who use the trade as a form of settling family disputes or just to settle political scores.

But the trade is not being usually done by just anybody. Most times, it seems to be executed by university graduates who could not get employment. But then, they are also usually moulded by different cults they belong in the institutions. Some of them are even in the evil trade as undergraduates.

They are mainly youths in their twenties. They may not be happy with what they are doing, as confessions from some of them show, but they seem rather frustrated by society.

The result is that fear pervades the land. Neigbours are suspicious of each other. Citizens are being seized and ransoms demanded before they are releases. The effect of the long neglect of the Niger Delta and the use of force as well as the frustration of the youth is behind the high incident of crime and its new entrant, kidnapping in the South.

The First Kidnap in the Niger Delta

Kidnapping as “weapon of the weak pretending to be strong,” was first heard on Saturday, February 18, 2006. This was when Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the abduction of nine foreign workers during its attack on an oil facility. Along with three Americans and a Briton, the group said it kidnapped two Thais, two Egyptians and a Filipino. In an e_mail.

Kidnapping as Business in Igboland

But kidnapping also became a big business idea. And so, it did not take long for those impoverished, the poor and jobless graduates to enter into the trade. More so, their ilk in the neighbouring states followed suit. And like cancer, kidnapping as big business and alternative employment spread to the neighboring states of Imo, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu, all in the South East.

In Enugu, a monarch, Igwe Uche Nwachime, in Nkanu West Local Government, was abducted and killed. The proprietor of Grand Riveri Hotel, Enugu, was kidnapped but was released after the ransom N5m was said to have been paid. The younger brother of the former NAFDAC DG, Prof. Dora Akunyili, was captured. His captors reportedly asked for N30m.

In Abia, as the snatching of the Enyimba Club chairman, Anyasi Agwu; heralded the uncomfortable phenomena and erstwhile ASUBEB chairman, Comrade Iruke, a lawyer, Ngozi Ukweni, Justice Awa U. Kalu who was shot in a failed kidnapping bid, a magistrate, a an electrical dealer, and a host of Abia State top functionaries also became victims.

In Anambra, a couple were kidnapped immediately after their wedding.they were later released after three days in captivity Last December 17, a bank manager in Oba was kidnapped. A month earlier, an assembly man representing Anaocha I Constituency, Chief Joseph Dimobi, was kidnapped.

Dimobi was picked in his country home in Aguluzigbo about 10.30 p.m. by kidnappers who demanded a N30 million ransom.Dimobi was concluding arrangements to perform the funeral rites of his late father when he was kidnapped.

Other lawmakers in the state ran away, switching off their phones because “one never can tell who would be the next target,” the speaker said.

Before then, the state Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) was kidnapped. He was later released after allegedly paying a ransom of N3 million.

The spate of kidnapping has forced state governments in the region into thinking of making kidnapping a capital offence. Governor Sullivan Chime’s government has declared that it would make kidnapping a capital punishment in Enugu State, the same thing Imo and Anamabra states one thinking along that line too. Abia has already signed that into law.

The Abia State government, through its commissioner for Information, Chief Ralph Egbu, told Saturday Vanguard that it has been fighting the scourge.

The deputy governor, Comrade Chris Akomas said the government constituted a Joint Task Force made of the military and Police, with appropriate logistical back up of 47 brand new vehicles. It beefed up security around the notorious Enugu_Port Harcourt expressway with crack anti_insurgent troops as well as providing dedicated hotlines, all the time for the people to call.

The government said it provides confidentiality to informants and to date Governor Theodore Orji is said to continue to pay a reward of N1m whose information has resulted in successfully dislodging and arresting the criminals.

Kidnapping, as a capital punishment in the state, comes with it a forfeiture of the accused’s property to the state upon conviction. The state said it increased a number of Mobile Police Anti_crime formations to three in the state, provided 65 Operational vehicles and logistics to its security agencies, drafted in detachments of Army and Navy.

It has also created a bye-law for effective Vigilance Groups to collaborate with the Security Agencies. It combs villages, houses and plantations in the state, threatening also to depose any traditional ruler, in whose domain kidnapping and armed robbery occur.

Kidnapping in the East: Our findings

Indeed, when kidnapping began in the East, especially, Abia in 2007, it was touted that the opposition could be behind the menace. But Saturday Vanguard investigations showed that this may not really be so in all cases.

Perhaps, the first inroad into the burgeoning trade in Igbo heartland was made by Saturday Vanguard last weekend when it did not only meet with those who could be kidnappers or have knowledge of those in the trade, it also met with victims of kidnap in the region.

In its survey of the nascent kidnapping and its effect in the region, it visited Imo, Abia and Anambra and these are some of its findings.

Imo State: The Youth are angry

The first port of call on the survey of kidnapping in the South East was Imo state. By June last year, kidnappers in Imo had abducted 10 persons.

The targets were the wealthy and they included Mrs. Ngozi Nneji, wife of the proprietor of ABC Transport Plc; 85-year-old Pa Christopher Chukwu, the father of a prominent politician and oil magnate, Chief


Gov. Ikedi Ohakim of Abia State.Tony Chukwu; the father of the proprietor of Disney Hotel on Onitsha Road, the son of a member of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Simeon Iwunji; a member of the Imo State House of Assembly, Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu; two sons of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Goodluck Opiah (who were abducted in Aba, Abia State). There were also pupils of a private school at Works Layout, Owerri.

But the case of Chief Sylvanus Udenkwo, father of an Owerri based millionaires , Joel, is an eye opener on the mode of kidnapping in that part of the country. Udenkwo, the only victim in the state bold enough to narrate his experience in the hands of a five_man gang who held him for 12 days. He was freed by the state police on June 13 without any ransom paid.

Udenkwo was kidnapped as he tried to help some young men who visited him at Isiala Umudi, seeking land to buy for an MTN mast.

The man did not have such land but decided to take them to his relation who might have. He drove the two to the land for the construction of the purported mast.

They tricked his kinsman away and made away with the old man. He was gagged, blindfolded and taken to a bungalow, where he spent 12 days. His abductors extracted the mobile telephone number of his rich son from him for negotiation. But it gave the police the opportunity to organise his release.

His captors, Udenkwo said, could pass for his grand children. The men had told him kidnapping had now become their business.

The kidnappers were not rude to him, he said. Neither did they humiliate him, though they threatened him with their guns to scare him.

His son, Joel, said the kidnappers had earlier asked for N70m ransom for his father. He had contacted the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Innocent Ilozuoke, who monitored the discussions as the sum moved down to N40m, N20m, N10m, and N5m until the police moved to quash the crime. It cost him only N6,000 MTN cards in N1,500 denomination to free his father from his abductors.

“I told them I don’t have money. If I have N70m at hand, I’ll use it to build another industrial concern and employ people,” he said. “I also let them know that most of the businesses I do is with bank money and I also trade with foreigners, who give me credit. At the end of the day, I fought them with the help of the police commissioner.

“In fact, the commissioner worked like a wounded lion; he didn’t sleep from 7.30pm when the operation started that day till 4am.

The commissioner, the assistant commissioner of police in charge of operations, Mr. Goddy Okereke, and all the men were in the bush.
“In fact, two of them (the kidnappers) were shot and they escaped, leaving behind their motorcycle, which the police took away.

The next day, they now noticed that the business happened not to be as usual and noticed that the aim of the kidnapping was over.

They called me and started pleading that they were sorry.”



http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/28730/48/

Omotola Ekeinde,
WARTS & ALL
Confesses: I dated other men while dating my hubby
By Nike Bakare
Friday, February 13, 2009


•Omotala
Photo: Sun News Publishing

More Stories on This Section
In this interview Hollywood actress and mother of four Omotala Jolade Ekeinde aka Omosexy talks about how she got into acting, her husband and what has kept her marriage going. Omotola Jolade Ekeinde in her own words.

Background
I am the first child of three children and the only daughter. I was born in Lagos. My father is from Ondo State My mother is from Abeokuta in Ogun State. My father’s name is Sola Jolade he used to be the manager for Lagos Country Club Ikeja. My mum was a business woman. My father died in 1991, I was in secondary school when he died. My mum died 10 years after in 2001. I attended Chrisland Primary School Opebi, Command Secondary School Kaduna and did one year in Oxford School Santos Layout. I had a stint at Obafemi Awolowo University ile-Ife, I later got admission into Yaba College Of Technology to read Estate Management. My acting career had already taken off before I got into Yaba Tech just to fufill all righteousness.

I was a troublesome child. I was the only child of my parents for a long time so I was a bit over-pampered. So when I act a bit spoilt it’s not because I am an actor. I actually grew up like that. I was my daddy’s pet because I was the only girl. I went to a military school and I was really rough-handled because I was a little thwart. I was very popular in school. I was not a sporty person. I was very lazy. I loved to dance and mime. While in secondary school my friends and I formed a group. We were three in the group and after school you will find us singing and dancing on the road. I could mime to any popular song back then and singing on the road got me a lot of lifts. We used to demonstrate on the road as if we were on stage taking turns to mime to songs. It was really fun. We just assumed we were superstars and everybody on the road came to watch us perform on stage

My mum had a lot of influence on me. She was very strict on me. And I was spoiled rotten by my dad. I was virtually living in Lagos Country Club. From school I went straight to the club. I stayed with my father in the club. I never liked going back home after school because of my mum. My mum used to beat me. My father had no qualms about me staying with him at the Club. But then I was not even with him. I was always on my own having fun, swimming, meeting people. It was at the club that I met movers and shakers. As little as I was I already had a mind of my own. I wanted to do things my own way. My mother used to beat me, punch me out, sit on me just to break me. She did a lot of things to me that she wouldn’t think of doing to a child. That kind of thing terrified me. We never got along I used to question if she really was my mum. We were like cat and dog. I did everything I could do to avoid her problems.

On acting
I started acting as soon as I left secondary school while awaiting my JAMB results. Even while I was in Ife reading Economics my acting career had started. I left Ife in my first year because I was getting married and my husband felt it was too far. So I had to get a school in Lagos. I got in to Yaba Tech in 1996 and I got married that same year. I decided to read Estate Management, because I realized that I didn’t like Economics while I was in Ife,

My modeling career started before my acting career. I started when I left secondary school. I had modeled for two years before my acting career. I did mostly calendar jobs. One day while waiting for the casting for a modeling job to start. One of the girls that came for the casting asked if I would like to come with her to an audition she was going for. The casting was taking too long to start so I decided to go with her. She didn’t get the role she auditioned for but she encouraged me to audition for a role I did and I got the part.

The audition was for Nneka. The part was a lead mermaid role. When I told my mum about it, she said the part was not right for me. Because she believed if I played the role I would be disturbed by evil spirit. My mother was very superstitious. So I didn’t play the role. But that already aroused my interest in acting. So the next audition I heard about I went for it. It was for a movie titled “The Testament” It was a Swift Studio production. I got the lead role Tunde Obe was supposed to be my lead man. I was 16 years old then it was in 1995. And my mum refused to let me act in the movie because she said there was too much kissing and romancing. She said I would be ostrized from church if I played a role like that. My mother was a member of the Christ Apostolic Church. This is a church I didn’t actually used to go to. Which was weird, my mum was a very strict Egba woman.

So I had to say bye to that role too. The first movie I did in 1995 ‘Venom Of justice’ the director Reginald Ebere had to go talk to my mum. In those days for you to get me to play a role in your movie my mum had to approve of the role and you. From Kingsley Ogoro to Zeb Ejiiro. Zeb even suffered the most because he became like my godfather. Zeb always had to talk to my mum on behalf of other producers and directors that I had to work with. In those days unlike now you can’t do one movie and become a star, Back then people were not paying attention. Your name must have gone round the industry before you will now probably be known in the outside world. I was popular with producers before I could be showcased for the outside world. A lot of protocol then unlike now.
Initially when I started acting there was no pressure. Unlike now, when I am called for a job producers and directors have so much expectations because I have done a lot of work for other people.

On sex for role
There were no challenges back then for me. I try not to do more than I can. I wasn’t really desperate to be an actor. I never got sexualy harassed or anything like that. Most of the roles I got then were lead roles and it wasn’t like I struggled to get them. I have never had a sex for role offer. First and foremost I think I deserve all I got. I think that happen most of the time when u don’t deserve it. And they tell you they want to give it to you. When I hear that I just walk away. I won’t let any one dampen my spirit by telling me I am not good enough for something, A lot of actresses reek of desperation that is why they fall a victim. Somebody dirty is going to take advantage of you.

On her mariage
I got married at 18. I don’t know why some people find that strange. For him it has nothing to do with age. In fact he waited for me to be 18, age of consent to marry me. I was 16 when he met me and he was 26. He was working with Harry Akande then and was stationed in Bahamas. My mum felt I was getting married too early he wanted us to wait. We did the court wedding in 1996 and the traditional in 2001 after we had had three kids. My mum was at the registry, She was a signatory. I met him in 1994 I had not started acting then but I was already a model. I have always been a very mature person. When I was 14 I looked 18 when I was 15 a lot of people thought I was in my 20’s. I lost my father early so I had to grow up fast. I am not so sure I think I was 12 or `13 years old when I lost my dad.

On dating other men
Yes I had dated other men before I met my husband. And I still dated other men while with him and he never stopped me from dating them. We had a very comfortable relationship and no pressure from anywhere.

On her husband
My husband had no problem about my career and would never. Is whatever makes me happy. He supports me a lot. I went back to set after my first child was just one month old, I was on the set of “Day Break”. He goes to the market. I don’t and he doesn’t mind doing that. He is my number one fan. He watches my movies like a critic. The only scene he is not enthusiastic about is the romantic scenes. But I got to do what I have to do.

On what keeps her marriage going
It’s God. For me when I met him it wasn’t love at first sight. But he said it was love for him. But even then before we got married he told me he prayed about it. According to him he had to submit the names of the girls he was dating then to pastors so they could pray about it to know who is the right girl for him. We are not interested in friends We don’t have friends that influence our lives. We don’t make it a must to hang out with friends. I don’t discus him with friends and the same applies to him. He does not discuss me with anybody even his parent to the best of my knowledge.

On bad publicity
First and foremost my husband does not read junk. He is a pilot he is like a bird always flying. I don’t think anybody will be so dumb to show my husband a bad publication about me. We don’t dwell on such things. When the pictures of the role that I played in the movie ‘The Prostitutes’ was published. It was one of those make or break times in my career. We talked about it. The talk was actually for me because I was upset and depressed about it. And he was the one that did the consoling. The pictures were splashed in the papers as if I did that scene in the movie. The scandal did not affect us.
There are so many things I had told him about me. Any body writing about it is like behind schedule. And you don’t even have a clue.

On love advances
I have never dated anybody in the industry. I do get love advances and I just enjoy it, I am a girl. I don’t have to be people’s enemies because I am married. Most of these men end up being friends with me. People will always say whatever they want to say If you know that a guy wanted to date me and suddenly we are friends and that means we are going out. That is your problem. If you think we are dating Yes we are, eat your heart out. Yes I do flirt for a while, every girl flirts. I let you know you are just a toy just an amusing thing. I might just enjoy taking your calls but the minute I am irritated I just stop taking your calls.

On dreams
Oh yes totally I am living my dreams. I am a very happy person. I get shocked when people say I am a snub. I understand that I could be a bitch. But then I could be the most lovely person you ever met. I am a very complex person. I have multiple personalities and I don’t know when any of those personalities will raise it’s head. It depends on what is thrown at me. So anybody who says I was nice to her and she was bitch right back at me, that person is a liar and will rut in hell.

Her defifinition of love
Love is deeper than a feeling. If I had that feeling I wouldn’t probably be married to the person I am married to. All those feelings that gets your adrenalin pumping is not love. It is lust. That comes with the rush and goes with the rush. And when you go and marry with that kind of adrenalin it is risky. Love is tolerant, friendly, caring, devoted and most of all selfless.

There is no way you can love and be selfish. Being in love is different from love. You can be in love and don’t love the person. And when you love genuinely if you both go your separate ways there would be no fight you stil be friends And don’t be afraid to be kinky with your wife. And don’t be holy holy if you are your husband is gone. Be kinky holy. Keep it exciting and romantic.

;d ;d

Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara ??