₦airaland Forum

Obama help us.Yes. That mess was dumped there by people from Sokoto, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Ibadan, Ilorin, Lokoja, Ado-Ekiti and Benin.Every Nigerian knows that Ndigbo are the cleanest people in Nigeria. Is there a particular reason why Abia is the odd man out?.

20 years jail term for kidnappers
Written by Jimitota Onoyume
Monday, 09 February 2009
PORT HARCOURT—ADHOC committee of the Rivers State House of Assembly on the Kidnap Prohibition Bill 2008 yesterday urged the House to ensure a maximum sentence of 20 years without an option of fine for attempted kidnap cases.
Chairman of the committee and Deputy Leader of the House, Mr Hope Ikiriko, who presented the recommendations of the committee on the floor of the House, said that the committee also resolved that anyone caught fronting for kidnappers with an intention to secure ransom or any thing of value for the release of any hostage should be liable on conviction to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine.

Ikiriko explained that this portion should not apply to those who, in good faith, believe they could secure release of hostages without benefitting from the crime.

Stressing that the bill when passed into law should be enforced to the letter, the legislator described the bill as very timely, particularly when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that the penalty of 10 years prescribed in section 364 of the criminal code for the crime of kidnapping was not weighty enough

He said the prescription of the same punishment for the main offence of kidnapping as is found in section one and the offence of attempt as it is under section two of the bill was improper.

Continuing, he said it was also the position of his committee that the bill, when passed into law, should treat any one who provides information for the purpose of kidnapping as the same offence as abduction.

Debate on the bill was deferred to the next sitting of the house, even as the speaker, Mr Tonye Harry, enjoined members to study the bill thoroughly and come up with valuable ideas when the House reconvenes.

Also slated for second reading at the next session of the House is a bill intended to legislate into existence a new city in the state capital to be known as Greater Port Harcourt city.

The bill, among other things, is to regulate development in this new city and also define offences relating to illegal development

http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/ubochi/011509.html

Mayhem in Ijan-Ekiti over royal stool
From Toba Suleiman in Ado-Ekiti, 02.09.2009
Monday, February 9, 2009

Barely a week after the Ikere crisis, another violent crisis has again erupted at the sleepy community of Ijan-Ekiti, in Gboyin Local Council area of Ekiti State.


The crisis was caused by a chieftaincy tussle, which had been on for a very long time.

Recognition by an Ado-Ekiti High Court of the present Onijan of Ijan, Oba Samuel Oyewole Fadahunsi, as the rightful owner of the throne, did little to restore peace.

No fewer than five houses were razed by the irate mob, while several people were injured, neccessitating intervention of anti-riot policemen.

Among victims receiving treatment at some private hospitals in Ado-Ekiti, were a traditional chief and the Oniyare of Ijan, Chief Sesan Fabamise, and son of the immediate past Onijan of Ijan, Prince Adegbite Obarinde.

Oba Fadahunsi had recently got a court judgment, confirming him as the rightful owner of the throne, which many thought would have ended hostilities by the other three ruling houses.

However, last Saturday's crisis was further compounded by the attempt of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), to resist the campaign train of ex-governor Ayodele Fayose from entering the council area.

Oba Fadahunsi is one of the patrons of the OPC in the area, coupled with the fact that there was no love lost between him and Fayose when he was governor.

Angry youths hold Adedoja hostage over defection to PDP
Written by Ola Ajayi
Monday, 09 February 2009
SOME angry youths who felt betrayed by the defection of the former Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate in the 2007 election, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) held him hostage at the residence of his political mentor, Alhaji Lam Adesina. This happened just as the State Publicity Secretary of the AC, Wasiu Olatunbosun raised alarm that some people believed to be supporters of the ex-AC chieftain had been threatening him on his phone over the comments he made on the defection of Adedoja.

Olatunbosun, while speaking with newsmen on phone at the weekend, said he had been receiving calls threatening to deal with him on the issue.

The youths were said to have questioned the former chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board why he took the decision despite the odds they encountered while campaigning for him. Vanguard gathered that the decamped AC chieftain had gone to the former Governor's residence to explain to him why he took the decision.

But on seeing him, the youths demanded explanation. And when he told them that he took a unilateral decision to cross to the PDP, the youths were said to have told him not to come to Lam's house again so that the public would not be misled that the principled politician had a hand in his defection.

Adedoja, after going through screening before the 32 member legislative arm was sworn in as a new Commissioner for Education by the state governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala,

Based on the cordial relationship between him and Lam Adesina, tongues have been wagging that the ex-governor knew about the issue. But this had been refuted by Alhaji Adesina and the leadership of AC in the state.

When the enraged youths numbering about 100 heard Adedoja's story, a source at the scene, told Vanguard that they were not pleased and held him hostage for sometime before he had his way to leave them.

One of the youths had reportedly said, "he has inflicted enough injuries on our psyche and he should leave us to lick our wounds and stop rubbing salt on it by giving the impression that our great leader was in the know of his selfish agenda".

The Ohakim Scam goes Full Circle in Imo State
The Ohakim Scam goes Full Circle in Imo State
Thursday, 05 February 2009 13:59 By Stephen Nwahiri
Article Index
The Ohakim Scam goes Full Circle in Imo State
By Stephen Nwahiri
All Pages

Page 1 of 2
Some days back, I received an email forwarded to me by a friend. Titled, “AS TYRANNY TAKES OFF IN IMO STATE”, the mail highlighted the state of evil that is evolving in Imo State since Ikedi Ohakim decided to run a huge scam complex in the name of governance in Imo State. Before this and at the wake of the ill-advised closure of the Imo State University, someone, ostensibly a student I don’t know forwarded a text message to my phone to the effect that the arbitrary closure of Imo State University, which is running into several months now, shows that Imo is really in the hands of the gods. How prophetic that sounded as Imo citizens warm up to the emerging scenario of a state that is undergoing the bitterest experience in the hands of a rapist who treats and manages the state treasury as if it belongs to Ikedi Ohakim, Achike Udenwa, Maurice Iwu and no one else.


In the forwarded mail, which was meant for circulation in the media, the writer, highlighted what he saw as the dawn of naked tyranny in Imo State, with the hounding of dissent voices and opinions that are not recruited to the huge propaganda complex in Owerri presently. He captured the experience of one Maximus Uba, a critic of Ohakim’s government who was allegedly arrested and detained by the state police command for questioning the rationale of the obviously stupid and unrealistic budget of over N130 billion Ohakim proposed and got approved for 2009 fiscal year. He went further to state that several individuals have been marked for elimination by the Ohakim regime and with what I observe going on in Imo State at present, this is not a hoax. The other day, I heard Ohakim has approved the demolition of Optimum Hotel, just besides the Assumpta Cathedral Owerri owned by the former speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, one Kelechi Nwagwu who recently dismissed Ohakim for what he really is, a big scammer that is taking Imo State to the cleaners under dubious guises. The dressing down came at the wake of the quarrel between Ohakim and his godfather and former governor, Achike Udenwa who is now Yar’Adua’s Minster of Industries and Commerce for which Ohakim reportedly hurried off to Abuja to beg Udenwa who, with the discredited chairman of INEC, Maurice Iwu, stole Ohakim in as governor in April 2007.

In the mail, written by one Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha, most of the sordid happenings Ohakim has been perpetrating in the Owerri government house were highlighted and these included the intimidation of contrary voices to the revelry in Owerri, the uncensored looting of the Imo treasury under very phony and fake programmes and the collaboration of both the hen-pecked Imo House of Assembly (Imo house of parody) and the state police command in this rape of the state treasury. Any one who has been observing the unfolding scenario in Imo State since April 2007 cannot but agree totally with Samuelson on these and various other unstated issues,

The fact is that Ohakim, still overwhelmed by the magic that brought him to the Owerri Government house, is having an extended party. When he came newly, there were several allegations making the rounds that he was a practicing 419er before he came to his unexpected lift. This was confirmed when he made the notorious 419er, Dominic Egbukwu, alias Damaco of the Otokoto fame, the head of his scam project, Clean and Green. Tremendous public protest and outcry was to force him to replace him with one William Amadi. The project has excelled in voracious propaganda and inhuman demolition of people’s sources of living while Ohakim and his fawners hold an unending party in the name of governance.

Three days ago, angry students of the Imo State University, who have been rusticated for several months as Ohakim furthers his dirty tricks on the school stormed the government in their thousands denouncing the evil regime in Imo State and calling for the immediate opening of the state. They defied the barricade mounted by Ohakim’s allied forces, which has become a sad feature of the Imo government since April 2007 to scale the barricade gates and were only dispersed through live bullets fired by Ohakim’s overzealous security forces.

Today, Ohakim carried a minor reshuffle in his cabinet. When people expected he would free himself from the dire clutches of Udenwa and Maurice Iwu, he rather deepened it through his so-called cabinet reshuffle, which trails Yar’Adua’s own reshuffle in confusion and tardiness. He had sold out the news that he was to dissolve his cabinet and this remained in the news for weeks before he summoned the courage to that. First, he announced a cabinet sack and quickly reversed himself by freeing out just five commissioners and few special assistants. He then brought in Amanze Obi, the chairman of The Sun editorial board, who landed a juicy contract with the INEC leadership for his paper immediately after the record-breaking fraud that attended the April 2007 elections. He had been in the dirty but dead-on-arrival project to launder the horrible image of Iwu and his INEC since after that scam and in furtherance of the priceless debt he owed Iwu for rigging him in as Imo governor in April 2007, Ohakim made his man-Friday his Commissioner for Information. He eased out the amiable and lovable Steve Osuji, his Chief Press Secretary, who never appealed to Ohakim because he was not thug and in his place, he recruited Bright Nwelue, a practicing sycophant who ran Udenwa’s failed propaganda machine as his chief press secretary.

To demonstrate that he is hardly his own man, he fortified his cabinet with the men that ran the failed Udenwa government and those forced on him by Iwu whose brother holds the position of Secretary to the State Government and his daughter, Special Adviser in a move aimed to sharing the booties of the state between the troika of Ohakim, whose only brother presides as his chief of staff, Udenwa whose men hold all the juicy appointments in Ohakim’s cabinet and Iwu who wrote the fictitious result that brought Ohakim to power. The resources of the state go in this same troikal arrangement and this has ensured that while Ohakim runs a big propaganda complex, Imo State remains the least state among the 36 states of Nigeria that is recording any meaningful progress apart from the noisome and empty chorus of ‘clean and green’. Imo is a state where one cannot point to any meaningful project going on or completed. The few roads Ohakim has done are some village roads in his Anara, Mbano axis that have no known economic value but suits his parochial interests, just like the man in whose image he is mimicking, Achike Udenwa. Like in the eight years of Udenwa, Owerri Zone has been bardly treated as demonstrated in the protest from the zonal leaders after Ohakim presented his phantom budget to the state assembly and no viable project was located in the nine local councils that make up Owerri zone. Mbaise where his tea-serving deputy comes from remains perhaps the worst hit in Ohakim’s governance of Imo State.

Spain arrests Nigerian over Al-Qaeda link
By Agency Reporter
Published: Saturday, 7 Feb 2009
Spanish police have arrested 13 people, including a Nigerian, on suspicion of links to the global terror network, Al-Qaeda, and organised crime. Several Spanish newspapers named the Nigerian as Babatunde Abunbiade.

The arrests were made on Tuesday in a small town located between Barcelona and Valencia.

A police statement quoted by AP said the detainees - 11 Pakistanis, a Nigerian and an Indian - were part of an international cartel involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking and forgery.

According to the statement, the gang stole passports in Spain, sent them to Thailand to be altered and then provided the passports to Al Qaeda and criminal groups around the world. During the raid, codenamed Operation Fish, Spanish police seized dozens of passports, some of them blank and others fake, as well as other materials used for forging documents along with several mobile telephones and computer equipment.

Times of India reports that Indian consular officials have made efforts to speak to the Indian suspects. It adds that they were told that the suspects would be arraigned in court. The police were also said to be investigating if the suspects acted more than suppliers.

The group is believed to have an extensive network with cells in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Thailand.

Only last month, the Spanish police arrested six Pakistanis in Barcelona on suspicion of tax fraud and diverting funds to Islamic terror networks.

Bank loses N28m to 58-year-old fraudster
By Sesan Olufowobi
Published: Saturday, 7 Feb 2009
The police in the Special Fraud Unit has arrested a 58-year-old man for allegedly using clone cheques of the Union Bank Plc to defraud the bank of about N28 million.

Also a man, the police declared as an illegal alien from Niger Republic, Muhammed Nurudeen, was arrested for fraudulently selling a landed property in Lagos and hijacking the phone number of a retired army general.

The Commissioner in-charge of the SFU, Mr, Mike Ehidiamen, who paraded the suspects on Friday, said Taiwo Adeyemo Quadri successfully defrauded the bank, using its different branches across the country.

“For instance last year between 09-04-2008 and 22-04-2008, when it all started, he went to one of their Lagos branches and withdrew N6, 282. 000.00 using six cheques which were later discovered to be cloned,” he said, adding that since then Quadri had moved round the country withdrawing money from the bank, using different names.

It was learnt that he went to such towns as Kebbi, Gusau, Gbagi, Ijebu-Ode, Jos and Funtua. Some of the names he allegedly used were, Segun Bankole, Ajiboye Adeyemi, Charles Obi and Olusegun Badmus.

“He ran out of luck on January 22, 2009, when he went again to their branch at Allen Avenue, Lagos, posing as Yusuf Hassan and presented a cheque of N4 million. Unknown to him his antics had been discovered and he was being monitored. He was promptly arrested and handed over to the unit,” Ehindiamen said.

He said that the illegal alien, Muhammed Nurudeen had been on the wanted list of the unit for a long time. ”The man is not a Nigerian, but he had turned the antics of our land speculators to a science,” he said.

The commissioner said Nurudeen sold a land located at Park View Estate extension for the sum of N80 million.

Both suspects pleaded innocent. Quadri said that a man he named as Akpan Ekpo usually sent him to cash the cheques, while Nurudeen, who insisted that he hails from Sokoto State, said he did not dupe anybody.

Soldiers, policemen invade Abia community, burn down 400 houses, including that of a blind old man
By Ibanga Isine
Published: Saturday, 7 Feb 2009
For the people of Abala kingdom in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, January 20 and 21 are days they would not forget in their lifetime. These were the days on which rampaging soldiers and policemen invaded the 10 villages that make up the kingdom. At the end of what could be described as a form of apocalypse, hundreds of houses were destroyed and more than 20,000 persons were rendered homeless.

A burnt house belonging to a building materials trader in Ariara Market, Aba

Trained and armed to kill and to destroy, the security operatives marched from house to house in a vindictive campaign of attrition. All the paraphernalia of warfare were deployed in the operation in which children, men, women and the aged were chased into the bush before their houses were set ablaze.

It was not a case of selective vendetta. The rich, the powerful, the poor and even the infirm got a share of the inexplicable cruelty.

While residents of the distraught villages have different versions of what led to the crisis, a common strand runs through their accounts. They all pointed accusing fingers at the Joint Task Force and policemen from the Abia State command. All the residents who spoke said the events that led to the tearing apart of the community started on Tuesday, January 20. It was in the evening.

Chidima Okorie, a 23-year-old resident of Azuahia village, said she was in the farm when a big bus filled with men drove pass the dusty community road at neck breaking speed. Not long after, she said three police patrol vehicles and three other patrol vehicles belonging to Abia State Vigilante Services also known as “Bakassi Boys,” raced into the community.

She said, “When they (police and Bakassi Boys) came to our market square, they stopped and stole petrol from the boys who hawk the products there and moved on. Within a few minutes, we started hearing heavy gunshots from our boundary farmland. The whole community was terrified and people started running into the bush. A lot of people slept in the bush that night.”

Emeka Ndubisi, a fuel hawker at the Orie Abala Market square, corroborated Okorie’s account. He said police and vigilante patrol teams came to the village as he was selling petrol to his customers. “We were in our shades when six security patrol vehicles came to the market square that Tuesday evening,” he began. “Before the vans came to a standstill, we saw police and “Bakassi Boys” jumping down with corked guns and charging towards us. We begged them not to shoot us and fled into the bush, leaving several jerry cans of petrol and diesel behind. When we came out of the bush, we did not see a single jerry can in our shades. We learnt that the police and vigilante people had loaded them into their vehicles and drove towards Akrika, where we learnt they were trailing armed robbers.”

But the Police Public Relations Officer in the Abia State command, Mr. Ali Okechukwu, explained why security operatives went to Abala. Okechukwu said a bullion van conveying money from one of the first generation banks in Aba had been waylaid while conveying huge sums of money to Owerri on that fateful day. Heavily armed bandits, numbering over 50, he said, attacked the van at Orungwa Junction along Aba/Port Harcourt Expressway. With the sophisticated arms at their disposal, the police spokesman said the robbers overpowered the security team that escorted the bullion van. He painted a sad picture of how the bandits killed one of the armed escorts and the bullion van driver. He said, “When the command got the report, we sent a reinforcement including an armoured personnel carrier, but surprisingly, the robbers attacked the APC with dynamite and demobilised it. They succeeded in carting away unspecified sums of money and barely an hour after, we heard the hoodlums were sharing the loot somewhere in Abala.”

Okechukwu confirmed that six patrol teams consisting of the JTF and members of the state vigilante services were mobilised to pursue the robbers to Abala, but the operation again failed as the robbers again sprung a surprise on the security operatives. They hit them so hard that only one patrol vehicle went back to base. “It was very disappointing that the robbers ambushed the security operatives, dislodged them and with the help of some youths from the community, burnt five of the six security vans deployed for the operation,” he said.

In the past, he said, the command had traced some armed robbers to the area. Besides, he said, when robbers succeed in their operations, they sometimes go to Abala to share their loot.

However, whether the people of the area knew about the bullion van robbery or took part in the sharing of the loot is yet to be established. The reality, however, is that the entire community paid dearly for the actions of a few of its members. The police and vigilante men, who escaped from the scene of the gruesome battle and fled back to Abala villages were not chased away. Rather, some members of the community said they took the tired security operatives in, fed them and dropped them off the next day at Opobo Road, to go back to Aba. Barely 10 hours after they bade their hosts farewell, more than 300 soldiers and policemen invaded the community and started shooting and burning down houses.

A retired senior security operative from the area, who witnessed the horrendous campaign, expressed anger at the action of his former colleagues. He was angry not only because those who took in the wounded policemen and vigilante men were not spared when the community was attacked but also because the innocent were made to suffer for doing nothing. Having served at critical positions during major operations while in service, he said that the invasion of Abala villages was akin to declaring war on helpless citizens. Recounting how the soldiers and policemen ravaged the community, he said, “It was on Wednesday evening. I was returning home after I got somebody to repair my brother’s house. As I rode close to my house, I saw my late brother’s wife running towards me. I asked her what the problem was and she said the police were coming. I told her to run to safety because I didn’t know what had happened. As I rode further, I saw heavily armed policemen and soldiers approaching. They were all rushing towards me with guns pointed in my direction. I stopped the motorcycle and raised my hands up and told them I am a superior police officer. I told them not to point the guns at me.”

He said just as the soldiers and policemen passed him, they started shooting as if another civil war had broken out. He continued, “I went inside my house, took my bath, dressed up very well and thought that the kind of shooting I was hearing could result in death. I had to prepare myself very well before death would come. After dressing up, I brought out a mat and a pillow to my palour. I also brought out a bible and read from the book of Proverbs 18: 10. After I had prayed, I opened the louvres and looked outside, and the shooting was still going on. The village became empty as people fled in all directions. I saw one old man, Mr. Samuel, who has a bad leg limping towards my house, and I shouted from inside, ‘You have heard shooting near my house and you are still coming here, do you want them to come and kill me?’ I told him to take the bush path and run to the mission where others were taking refuge but the man insisted that I am a police officer and that I would be spared. I told him that the shooting was beyond the ordinary and that anybody could become a victim. I begged him to run to the Salvation Church pastor, and the man left my house. I saw the soldiers with petrol and they started burning everywhere. They hit at houses and destroyed the louvres and roofs.”

He said the soldiers and policemen shot at the goats, sheep, hens and dogs that the people left behind. “It was like a warfront, but as a trained security operative, I couldn’t run into the bush like others. I rather waited and monitored the situation.

“A woman who operates a bar near the market was holed up in her shop when the soldiers arrived. She was there with two children when it was set on fire. They shouted for help but nobody responded. The fire was burning close to where they were taking refuge. I could not go out to help them because if I was shot, nobody would tell the story. I restrained myself from going out to help her but inside the house, I prayed to God to lay it in the heart of the commander to order his men to suspend the action and move away from the location so that I could go out and rescue the woman and her children before fire would get to them. God answered my prayers as I heard the commandeer shouting and calling them to move to another part of the community. While shooting was still going on in other places, I sneaked out to the burning shop and assisted the woman and her two children to escape to safety. The flame was high into the sky.”

An aged blind man, Mr. Nna Nta, could not hold back tears from his blank eyes as he recounted his ordeal. Speaking through an interpreter, he said, “I am blind, my son. The burnt thatched house belonged to me. I was sitting inside when I heard people walking with heavy footfalls towards my house. I heard them hitting the house of my neighbour and I was surprised at what happened. Suddenly, they came to my son’s house which is located near my own and started hitting it. I shouted and begged them not to destroy the house and that my son does not live in the village, but they would hear any of that. I heard them pull down my son’s house and moved to my own. I shouted that I am a blind man and not a troublemaker. I asked them to tell me what crime I had committed, but they said they didn’t have the time to talk to me. I was dragged out of the house by a very strong hand, and as I was being taken away, I heard and smelt fire burning down my house. I fell down as they pushed me out of the house. They tried to beat up my wife for trying to remove a few clothes as the house started burning. They sent us away without allowing us to remove anything. Now, I sleep outside like an animal. I don’t have clothes to cover my unclothedness. Everything I had went with the house. I am not aware of any incident that could have warranted them to burn down my house. You see, I am blind and I don’t go out. It is my wife who goes out to bring food for me to eat. I have not committed any crime and they did not tell me why they destroyed my house.”

The Chief Press Secretary to the Abia State Governor, Mr. Sam Hart, said he was not aware that Abala community had been razed down. He said the government never ordered security operatives to invade the community. Hart said reports received from the police indicated that some members of the community connived with the bullion van robbers and attacked security operatives, who went on a recovery operation. Hart said, “That was the last we heard of the matter. But as I am talking to you, the government has taken concerted steps to reach out to the Federal Government to see how these security problems could be resolved once and for all. We have written a letter to the President, asking for an intervention of some sorts. We understand that the criminals were sharing part of their loot with some of the villagers. And when the security operatives came to dislodge the criminals, the villagers supported them to vandalise the security vans. We have not heard about the burning down of the villages or what transpired after the attack on Tuesday. I can only speak on the point of view of the government. The governor could not have ordered the burning down of Abala. He has no such powers. The security agencies would explain what happened.”

When confronted with the allegation that the security vehicles used for the operation were burnt with the aid of the jerry cans of petrol and diesel stolen from hawkers in Orie Abala Market square, the PPRO dismissed it. “Our men could not have collected petrol when they were going for such an operation. It is unbelievable. I don’t see how people going for an operation, already knowing the nature of the operation, would go with jerry cans of fuels in their cars. The vehicles were already filled before they started going there. I am telling you that they were ambushed. What was the rationale behind carrying fuel? There was nothing like that. The security operatives were ambushed while the loot was being shared in the open. Each time, they go there to share their loot, they throw the money to the community people. The people have been hailing the criminals and when security operatives went there, it was the people who alerted the robbers and the team was ambushed. What is the rationale behind the allegation of policemen carrying cans of petrol. It is unattainable.”

A member of the community, who pleaded anonymity, said the community never supported armed robbers. He said it was in the course of fighting crime in the kingdom that its Eze, Chief Wilson Wogu Nnah, and his wife were killed and his house torched by criminals. Worried by the growing activities of hoodlums, the source said the traditional council had summoned all the indigenes and other residents of Abala in 2008 and threatened to banish those who were giving the area a bad reputation through their involvement in crime. Based on the advice of the state government for the community to sanitise itself, he said the monarch and his council ordered certain persons to leave Abala soil. He recounted, “Shortly after the council took the decision, some gunmen in November last year, invaded the home of our eze and killed him and the wife and set the palace on fire. Instead of looking for the troublemakers, the police came and arrested our chiefs, including the traditional prime minister, and detained them for months. They were granted bail not long ago after so much money was extorted from the old men. Nobody has told us what the outcome of police investigation into the matter was.”

The traditional prime minister of the community is said to have been afflicted by stroke shortly after he was released from police cell, following the death of the Eze. He was taken away from his home before the soldiers arrived and set his house ablaze. Today, Umuibe, Umuokorokpo, Nkpukpu Okoro, Umulelu and Umuachilefa, Umu Ogbuji, Azu Ahia, Umu Oparaoku, Umu Chuewunna and Umughoria are lying in ruins. Over 400 houses were burnt down. More than 50 of the houses belonged to serving and retired security men from the area. They included the homes of late Mr. Samuel Ekwenye, a former Deputy Commissioner of Police; his late brother, Mr. Onyike Ekwenye, a former Superintendent of Police; and Mr. Chidi Nwulu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in Awka, Anambra State.
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200902077585675

Another igbo man.

;d ;d

lol.

;d ;d

Babatunde Abunbiade.

:-x ;d

Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

Ikere-Ekiti, the second largest town in Ekiti State, was on fire for several hours yesterday during which one person was shot dead in a protest by residents against the decision of the state government to relocate the College of Education from the community to Ifaki, the ancestral home of the state governor, Engr Segun Oni.

What began as a peaceful protest later snowballed into a bloody encounter when a mobile policeman allegedly fired a shot which hit an innocent passer-by, Ola Alonge, who is a son to one of the high chiefs of the town, Chief Alonge Ologotun.

Condemning the incident, Oni said it was "the last card played by the Action Congress in the state by plunging that town into unwarranted confusion and chaos".

He said in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications, Mr. Moses Jolayemi that the culprits will be made to face the wrath of the law "without any shadow of doubt".

The protesters who defied the government order to observe the environmental sanitation for the month of January, trooped out in their thousands and massed at the Odo-Oja Roundabout adjacent the Town Hall to express their grievance over the relocation.

The corpse was later taken to the palace of the Ogoga of Ikere-Ekiti, Oba Samuel Adegoke Adegboye Akayejo II who had relocated from the palace when the news of the protest spread.

The State Police Command confirmed the death of Alonge and the arrest of at least twenty persons in connection with the riot.

All the chiefs of the town had also fled to unknown destinations with the palace besieged by the angry mob who confronted the riot policemen as the remains of the victim which was wrapped in blue loin cloth lay on a bench by the palace gate.

The Oba’s Market which is adjacent the palace was sacked as there was no buying and selling. Market men and women who would have displayed their wares at the market also joined the protesters to show their grievances over the relocation of the college.

As at press time the community was a ghost town as the main road


leading to Akure, the Ondo State capital, was bare of traffic. The irate youths of the town made bonfires on key junctions and barricaded the road with rickety vehicles, drums, iron rods, wooden objects and other missiles.

Vehicles coming from Ado-Ekiti, the state capital heading for Akure, Ise-Ekiti, Emure-Ekiti, Igbara-Odo and other towns were turned back by the rioters while some shops and business centres belonging to some indigenes of the town believed to support the state government were vandalized.

The town was still under the hail of teargas at the time of filing this report with more riot policemen drafted to the town to prevent a complete breakdown of law and order. Intermittent shots of guns and teargas were heard with residents scampering for safety.

Oni had during his State of the State address in which he gave account of his stewardship two weeks ago confirmed the that college had moved to Ifaki with the take-off of The University of Education, Ikere-Ekiti (TUNEDIK).

The placard-carrying protesters demanded that the college, which had been in the town since 1978 be restored by the state government claiming that the relocation of the college would deprive the town and its inhabitants of income and development.

The Nation gathered that letters had been circulated on Friday to tenants and students living in the houses of the prominent indigenes of the town believed to have supported the relocation of the college threatening to burn down the houses during the protest and asking the occupants of such buildings to "leave in their own interest".

According to a leaflet given to reporters by the organizers of the protest, the Concerned Citizens of Ikere-Ekiti, they pointed out that they are resisting the relocation of the college because "it has made the town more popular and has brought development to the community". They also cite the inconvenience on students and the community that the sudden relocation may bring in its wake.

The group argued in the leaflet that the college has 14,000 students including preliminary students, 1,500 staff members, 42 departments and 23 courses which are accredited by the relevant government agencies unlike TUNEDIK which has capacity for 500 students and only boasts of 6 courses and 200 staff.

The protesters who described the college as the "pride of Ikere" were of the view that the relocation of the college would depopulate the town with the college having more population than the education university warning that "there will be no peace in the community unless the college is returned to the original location. "

"The College of Education, Ikere is the pride of the Ikere community; it has promoted the community far and wide because since its establishment in 1978, it has brought changes to the lives of citizens both at home and in the Diaspora.

"The community has experienced developmental changes in every ramification of social life in the community since the establishment of the school.

"The relocation will make the Ikere community go back to their past era. The youths in the community will leave their community to search for greener pastures as the relocation will reduce the revenue accruing to our local government council due to low population.

"The school which has 46 fully-accredited departments and another affiliated faculty will promote the community both at home and abroad because the school had been in existence for over thirty years ago and it will continue to grow and there is going to be stability in their programmes and purpose", the leaflet read in part.

One of the protesters, Sola Ojo, told The Nation that the protest was peaceful despite the presence of a handful of policemen whom he claimed sympathized with their cause but turned violent when a mobile policeman detachment joined the fray and fired a shot which hit Ola in the chest.

Ola’s killing at about 10.20 am angered the rioters who carried and dumped the corpse at the Ogoga’s palace. They latter laid siege for several hours before they were dislodged by riot policemen reinforced to the community.

The demonstrators shortly after bringing the corpse to the palace forced open the gate which had been hitherto locked. They chanted war songs against some of the leaders of the community whom they accused of a sell-out.

The killing of the victim infuriated the protesters the more as they went around the town attacking vehicles in sight and blocking the highways leading to Akure and Igbara-Odo with iron objects to make the roads impassable.

A team of policemen who arrived from the nearby Ikere Divisional Headquarters were attacked and repelled by the rioters who hurled missiles at the policemen who later came back with full force and dislodged the rioters with several canisters of tear gas.

A policeman who was riding a motorcycle around the palace area had his motorcycle seized which was set ablaze by the angry mob who also vandalized a building housing the law chamber and the cyber café of a member of the TUNEDIK Governing Council and an indigene of the town, Mr Gani Faniyi.

The riot policemen later went from house to house in the palace area to fish out suspected arrowheads of the protest many of whom were dragged out and hurled into waiting police vehicles.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Ola, confirmed the death of one person and arrests of twenty others saying more armed policemen were drafted to the palace and the entire town saying "the situation is now under control."

Describing the incident as despicable and condemnable, Oni said; "I was thoroughly embarrassed that some black sheep of Ekiti suddenly elected to throw up an issue that had been resolved and settled several months ago, this time in such violent and destructive manner.

"The protest which was said to have been hinged on the location of The University of Education, Ikere (TUNEDIK) the governor said was uncalled for. Having resolved the issue following due consultations with the leaders and stake holders who all gave their unalloyed support for the siting of the University in their town, I have no doubt that the recent crisis was the handiwork of some failed politicians who did nothing to improve the lives of Ikere people when they had the opportunity to do so. We are not unaware that our achievements in less than two years are a source of embarrassment for them. What they said was impossible to achieve in 22 months they were in office, was achieved by us in less than 12 months. This appears the source of their sorrow but we shall not relent.

"It is obvious that the AC leadership in Ekiti and some political and social outcasts have now formed an alliance to truncate the much treasured peace of the state, but we will not allow them.

"We will not allow these illegitimate characters of sullied background and upbringing take this state back to those dark, horrible days when terror reigned over our land.

"I want to assure everybody in the state that the law enforcement agents are up to the task and will do everything possible to hunt down all the unscrupulous elements who have vowed to unleash terror and hardship on innocent Ekiti people."

According to Oni, the state Police Command has already made some arrests and will not rest on its oars untill they are all tracked down. The day of the reckoning is here.

"There must be peace in Ekiti, whether the war mongers like it or not," Oni declared, adding that as early as possible, a firm position will be taken on the matter.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Dare Bejide also described the incident as uncalled for and unfortunate. Bejide who spoke on the state-owned Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State (BSES) said the state government had taken a final decision on the college issue noting that the college and the University of Education cannot exist side-by-side.

He maintained that the decision to relocate the college since the university was sited in the town was taken in consultation with the leaders of the community.

http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=76162

Violence claims lives, property in Enugu community
By Adelani Adepegba, Enugu
Published: Saturday, 31 Jan 2009
No fewer than 10 people were feared killed and many properties destroyed in Oruku town in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State on Thursday night in a clash between the Oruku and Umuode clans.

The violence which reportedly started in the night was the result of the state government‘s decision to implement the recommendations of a panel of enquiry which investigated the frequent communal clashes in the town.

At the end of the state executive council meeting in Enugu on Wednesday, the Commissioner of Information, Chucks Ugwuoke, had announced that the SEC had approved the recommendations of the committee set up by Governor Sullivan Chime in 2008.

He added that the council approved the draft white paper on the report on the delimitation of boundaries and enumeration of houses within the two communities, adding that a committee was also set up to implement the recommendation of the report with a view to ending the crisis in the two communities.

The panel among other things had recommended that the land being occupied by the Oruku people be given to the Umuode clan. It further recommended that all Oruku people living in Aguechi should vacate their homes for the Umuode people.

But this decision generated another orgy of violence as Oruku people and Umuode clan engaged themselves in a shootout leading to the deployment of a detachment of policemen to maintain peace in the community.

The Enugu State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, said that more men and armoured personnel carriers had been deployed to quell the disturbances in the area, stressing that the police was in full control of the situation.

Amaraizu said, ”We have moved in more men and armoured carriers to take care of the situation and I want to tell you that we are doing everything possible to quell the disturbances. But I cannot confirm if there were casualties until I get a situation report from the men there.”

In an interview with Saturday Punch on Friday, the President-General of Oruku Town Union, Mr. Okey Adeyi, said that Umuode youths had procured arms and ammunitions ”in preparations for war against Oruku clan.”

He stated that over 20 people had lost their lives in the clashes, adding that the youth had also threatened to use the police to deal with the Oruku clan if they refused to vacate their homes as recommended by the panel.

The Umuode youth leader, Mr. Clement Nyaba, countered that Oruku youths attacked some Umuode farmers on their way to the farm, adding that the attackers also exchanged gunfire with policemen.

igbo style.

;d ;d

lagos na wa.

Nigerians abroad can vote - Court
Lanre Adewole, Abuja - 28.01.2009

A federal high court sitting in Abuja has held that Nigerians living abroad can vote in elections taking place in the country. It ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to put machinery in motion to effect their participation in future elections.


Justice Adamu Bello, in a judgment, delivered on December 18, 2008, held that since Nigerians living abroad had convinced the court that they were entitled to vote and be voted for, it was the responsibility of INEC to put in place the “relevant machinery to assist the plaintiffs to vote from abroad.”


On May 25, 2007, Nigerians living abroad, led by Professor Bolaji Aluko, Mr. Hakeem Bello and Mr. Uzoma Onyemaechi, instituted a suit no: FHC/ABJ/370/2007, asking the court for orders to enable them participate in future elections.


While agreeing with INEC that there was no provision for external voting in the law, the judge held that “the time is ripe for Nigeria to give its citizens living abroad the opportunity to register and vote from abroad in any election in Nigeria without having to travel for that purpose.”

Police chief dies in lover’s bedroom
From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
Wednesday, January 28, 2009


Photo: Sun News Publishing


More Stories on This Section
Residents of Ogbaru in Ogbaru Local Government of Anambra State, were on Monday thrown into confusion when a Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) (names withheld) was found dead ‘in action’ in his female lover’s bedroom.

Though some colleagues said he was poisoned where he went to drink, Daily Sun gathered that a post-mortem conducted on his corpse revealed that the officer died of cardiac arrest, apparently while consummating his love with the woman.
But the state police command which confirmed the officer’s death, denied that he died in a woman’s house.

Declining to give further details of the senior officer’s death, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Fidelis Agbo (CSP), only told newsmen that, “yes, I know of the officer’s death, but I am not aware that he died in the house of a woman.”
Meanwhile, the state police command said it has gone underground to unravel the killer of Dr. Philis Ifeoma Okoli, a lecturer with Nnamdi Azikiwe University and her seven-year-old daughter, Jewel Okoli.

Okoli, who is a lecturer in the Department of Corporate Economics and daughter were murdered by unknown assailants last Sunday at their Udoka Housing Estate residence. Agbo said: "The police have gone underground to unravel the culprits that committed this heinous crime."

In the same vein, we are appealing to members of the public to give useful information that will lead to the apprehension of the alleged perpetrators. We assure that such information will be treated with utmost confidentiality."

Union queries Yuguda's N300m wedding
Written by Emeka Mamah

Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Kaduna—The National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria has queried the “N300 million public fund” allegedly spent on the wedding between the Bauchi state Goevrnor, Malam Isa Yuguda and the President’s daughter, Nasifat in Katsina last weekend, saying that such vulgar wastage of money was not only scandalous but shameful.
The union said it was even more shameful because Governor Yuguda was neither marrying a first or second wife but a third wife who should be younger than his daughter.

“The whole country was grounded last weekend for an executive/state marriage, not for industrial or economic revival or reconstruction of school.

“All this does not show sense of urgency to fix the economy and does not demonstrate the mood of the moment which is poverty and hunger”, the union said at a conference in Kaduna yesterday.

The conference was jointly addressed by the President of the Union, Comrade Reginald Agulana and the General Secretary, Comrade Issa Aremu.

The also noted the reduction of the pump price of petrol from N70 to N65 saying that it was a paradigm shift from the regime of consistent increase of the Obasanjo’s administration, even as it condemn the increase in the price of diesel and black oil from N25.40 to N44.70 and from N95 to over N100.

According to the union, the increase in diesel had effectively increased the cost of production as all industries relied on generators for their electricity supply.

Agulana and Aremu also said that while legislators of the two houses of the National Assembly were earning an average of N80 million per annual per person as allowances, Nigeria were dying of hunger stressing that the government was insensitive to the plight of the ordinary people.

Appraising the performance of both the Federal and state governments in the country in the last 12 months also, the union said that the huge oil revenue which accrued to the three tiers of government has not translated into any sustainable wealth generation for the people.

The union however singled out the Lagos and Edo state governors, Babatunde Fashola and Adams Oshiomhole respectively for commendation for their drive for jobs creation as well as rebuilding of infrastructure for the benefit of the citizenry.

Michelle Obama under fire for not wearing black designer

The usually celebrated sartorial splendor of First Lady Michelle Obama is coming under fire by a former runway model upset that Obama didn’t wear an inaugural design by a black fashion designer.

Amnau Eele, co-founder of the Black Artists Association, told fashion industry publication Women’s Wear Daily she plans to “file a formal appeal” with Michelle Obama’s office about the lack of a black designer.

“It’s fine and good if you want to be all ‘Kumbaya’ and ‘We are the World’ by representing all different countries,” Eele is quoted as saying at wwd.com, the magazine’s Web site. “But if you are going to have Isabel Toledo do the inauguration dress, and Jason Wu do the evening gown, why not have Kevan Hall, B Michael, Stephen Burrows or any of the other black designers do something, too?”

In an interview with the Sun-Times, Eele said that she wants the First Lady to know there are other, lesser-known designers that the First Lady should take a look at.

“You know, I have an issue that every day I meet young black designers that are facing homelessness, they can't buy fabric, they can't get the things they need,” she said. “We have qualified designers in the community. A young man like Michael Knight (of Project Runway) -- surely you could have worn a scarf by him, a Tshirt, a handbag.”

Michelle Obama wore an outfit designed by Cuba-born Isabel Toledo for the daytime inaugural events. She paired it with Jimmy Choo pumps, purchased at Chicago’s Ikram boutique, and leather gloves by mainstream retailer J. Crew.

For the inaugural balls, she wore a one-shoulder, white gown designed by Taiwan-born designer Jason Wu, whose studio is in Manhattan. Wu once interned for Narciso Rodriguez, a designer with Cuban roots who dressed the first lady in a red-and-black dress with a small floral pattern for the election-night victory party in Grant Park.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1397745,michelle-obama-fashion-black-designer-012609.article