₦airaland Forum

Overwhelmed with emotions, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday rained curses on the perpetrators of the October 1 bombings which claimed 12 lives, saying those behind it “will never find peace”.

He spoke after listening to Donatus Aruah, an indigene of Obukpa in Enugu State whose two children, a nephew and driver were killed in the blasts.

Narrating the tragedy, Aruah identified his deceased wards as John Chidera Aruah (12-year-old son), Paul Onyekachi Aruah (7-year-old son), Ozioko Ambrose Onyema (nephew) and Alfred Onah (his driver).

The four left their house at the Berger yard on the way to Papeh district of Abuja around 11am for the Eagle Square, venue of the independence anniversary fanfare.

According to him, because of the security arrangements around the Three Arms Zone, his children had to park far away from Eagle Square and walk to the venue.

“Indeed, the driver had parked and the children were holding one another in a string and walking happily towards the place when suddenly a fire erupted around and everybody was consumed. They did not know where the fire came from. And that was how I lost my children. I have five children, my two sons are gone and I’m left with my three daughters.

I brought up my nephew this year to come and stay with me here in Abuja and see now, I am going to return to my sister a corpse (sobbing).

“When I was told of the incident, I ran to National Hospital where I was told many of the victims were taken. We searched everywhere but we did not see any of them. When we got to the mortuary, I looked at the bodies and I did not see them from the heap until I went round the whole place and I could only recognize my seven-year-old son through the religious medal he was wearing. My 12-year-old son… I was able to recognise him through the remains of his Chelsea football club T-shirt he was wearing. I have come to Abuja and I’m going back empty handed,” he said.

Ekweremadu led Enugu Federal Legislators' Forum on a condolence visit to the Abuja home of Aruah who is on the staff of Julius Berger Construction company.

According to the Deputy Senate President, “even if the perpetrators are not found by men, they will certainly be discovered by God and punished. Enugu has had more than its fair share of this disaster. Five out of the lot. This is two much.”
He called on the government and the security institutions to rise up to the occasion by tracking down the brains behind it and prosecute them.

Condoling the father of the children, Ekweremadu urged him to “take heart and rely on God who knows all things,” saying “these children did not die in vain. It was a glorious period for our nation but the enemies of our nation have done their worst”.

Surrounded by his relatives and members of Obukpa Youth Association in Abuja, Aruah thanked the legislators for the visit.
Among those on Ekweremadu’s team were Senate Committee Chairman on Information and Media, Senator Ayogu Eze, and House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Marine Transport, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

On the streets of Lagos, it is not the police who wield power but gangs of fight-hardened young men known as Area Boys. Louis spends time with several outfits, joining them as they patrol their turf, clash with local rivals and keep the peace in a brutal and haphazard fashion.


The main income for the Area Boys is an arbitrary and unofficial form of taxation, extracted from local businesses and commercial drivers. Louis gets to know the rich and glamorous Area Boy leader MC, a former street youth himself, who has now become a friend of the most powerful men in the city. Taken under MC's wing, Louis experiences the top levels of the Area Boys' world from the inside, complete with a tour of MC's grand residence and extensive shoe collection, and ending in a chaotic mini-riot with gunshots, blood and mayhem.

On the side of the law, Louis rides with KAI, the government's Kick Against Indiscipline paramilitary task force, as they storm different city districts. With bulldozers and arrest warrants, KAI use their own strong-arm tactics, and are in their way as feared as the Area Boys.

In Law and Disorder in Lagos, Louis wrestles with life in a world in which the forces of law and the forces of disorder are not always readily distinguishable and nothing is quite what it seems.

Law and Disorder in Lagos : Sun, 10 Oct 2010, 21:00 BBC2

Their last documentary on Lagos wasn't flattering, wonder what they are up to again.

It's good it should be allowed some tym let us see what nigerians will become.

What if your girl friend call you a bastard what will you do?

WHILE the Federal Government is busy borrowing money from multilateral organisations such as the World Bank to finance much-needed infrastructure, the $480 million (about N74.4billion) recovered from the Africa Finance Corporation, AFC, still lies idle in JP Morgan Bank in New York, United States of America.

The money was recovered by the Federal Government Administrative Panel of Inquiry on the African Finance Corporation, AFC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Vanguard learnt that the Administrative Panel, which had Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin, as Chairman traced the money to the U S following the scandal that broke out over the integrity of AFC’s operations.

The money was paid into the Federal Government Account at JP Morgan Bank, one of the financial institutions used as a warehouse for Nigeria’s foreign reserves in New York in 2008.

It was further learnt that the money was already yielding interest in the said account.
The Ogunsakin Panel of Inquiry reportedly left a standing instruction with the bank that only the President of the country should be allowed to withdraw the money.

Vanguard was told: “The total principal invested by the CBN in the AFC in the sum of US$462,923,000.00 has been recovered from the AFC by the CBN and deposited in Account No. 000000400130300 with JP Morgan Chase Bank in London under the CBN’s signatories.

“The Committee considered the possibility of repatriating the investment immediately, but decided that in view of the fact that the funds are now effectively back under the control of the CBN and the fact that JP Morgan Bank holds 28 other FGN accounts, the funds can remain in its custody pending a final decision by the Federal Government on the continuation of its investment in the AFC.”

That instruction, it was understood, followed findings that some top government officials, particularly, a minister and some of the Yar’Adua inner circle members were desperate to access the fund.

It was further learnt that but for the instruction of the panel led by former Director of Operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the money would have been literally stolen in the days preceding the death of the immediate past president.

AFC is an international organization established by treaty between sovereign states. It was established by twin legal instruments, with all the rights, privileges and immunities conferred upon international entities.

Current member nations are Nigeria (host country), Guinea_Bissau, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia and Guinea. In addition, various prospective new member countries are now at different stages of due diligence.

AFC shareholders include the various African financial institutions (47.6 percent), the Central Bank of Nigeria (42.5 percent), and several industrial and corporate shareholders (9.8 percent).

The African financial institutions promote synergy between African banks, strengthening local support and partnership, and ensuring proximity to projects and transactions flows.

As a single institution, the Central Bank of Nigeria provided the anchor capital for the corporation’s start_up in 2007 and has helped solidify partnership with AFC’s host government. It holds considerable shareholding in trust for other African investors.

African industrials and corporations integrate local corporate experience and strengthen support from leading local sponsors.

If the authorities of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Orumba North Council Area of Anambra State can sustain the tempo of the on-going war against campus cultism, then in no distant time cultism would be flushed out of the system completely.

And with about 51 students of the institution who were members of various cult groups stepping out pemultimate Tuesday at the matriculation arena of the poly campus to denounce their membership of the cults publicly, there is no doubt that a great landmark has been achieved in the war against campus cultism.
As if they were not satisfied with the public renunciation alone, the students who constituted the membership of the five major cult groups on campus, including the Eiye Confraternity, Buccaneers, Black Berets (22), Supreme Vikings and also destroyed their supreme temples publicly, after brief prayers.

The renunciation and destruction ceremony was witnessed by the Rector of the Polytechnic, Professor Godwin Onu, while the Chaplain of St. Augustine’s Catholic Chaplaincy, Rev. Fr. Anthony Ezeoke; the Vicar- in-charge of the Anglican Chapel of the Light, Venerable Chukwudi Osondu, and Rev. Paul Ede of the Chapel of Transfiguration Pentecostal church offered prayers at the ceremony.

The Director of Anti-Cult Squad on campus, Abdullahi Khaki, in his brief speech, disclosed that his squad was constituted in 2001, under the then Rectorship of Professor Uba Nwuba, adding that the squad was responsible for fishing out cult members during their initiations and other cult activities on campus.
In their separate speeches, Rev. Fr. Ezeoke, Venerable Osondu and Rev. Ede praised the cultists for their courage in renouncing the cultism activities, adding that other students who are still members of the various cult groups should toe the footsteps of the repentant students, particularly now that the school authorities have agreed to forgive them.

The clergymen described cultism as a devilish act which usually ends up in jeopardizing the lives and careers of the cultists and their victims, adding that once anybody shed blood in the act of cultism, the blood must continue to hunt such person until he or she renounced membership and repented.
In his remarks, the Rector of the institution, Professor Onu noted that all the students have been forgiven by the school authorities, adding the now that they have confessed their sins and renounced their cultism, God will equally forgive them, provided they do not go back to cultism.

Onu observed that there are two deadly female cult groups operating on campus, adding that it is better for them to also renounce their own membership, face their studies squarely, graduate in flying colours, secure a gainful employment, get married and settle down in a happy family or they will be exposed and punished at the appropriate time, since the school authority is keeping a tab on their activities.

The Rector who restated the institution’s zero tolerance to cultism and other forms of corrupt practices on campus, both on the part of students and the lecturers, warned that once this opportunity given to all the cultists to renounce their membership elapsed, those found would be flushed out of the system.
Highlight of the activities included the exposure of all the materials being used by the cultist, including four guns, unexpended ammunitions, cutlasses, coloured candles, cult regalia of different colours, charms and amulets.

All the candles and regalia were set ablaze in public glare, while the arms, ammunitions and the cutlasses were recovered by the anti-cult squad.
In another development, the management of the institution has promoted no fewer than 147 staff in its 2009 annual promotion exercise. The breakdown of the promotion contained in a statement signed by the institution’s Registrar, Mr Olih Nwaokolobia and made available to newsmen showed that 11 principal lecturers were promoted to Chief Lecturers while 9 senior lecturers were elevated to the status of principal lecturers.

According to the statement, six lecturer II staffers were promoted to lecturer 1, just as two lecturer III rose to the rank of Lecturer II.
Other categories of staffers that benefitted from the promotion exercise, according to the statement, included Chief Instructors, Assistant Chief Instructors, Principal Instructors, Chief Technologists, Principal Technologists, amongst others.

About 111 junior staff were equally affected in the exercise which came into force with immediate effect and which attracted wide jubilations.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) and Non- Academic Staff Unions of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) welcomed the development with the suspension on Monday of their week-long sit-down industrial action embarked upon to agitate the release of the promotion list.
In his reaction, the Chairman of NASU, Comrade Luke Nweke expressed his profound gratitude to the incumbent administration of Professor Godwin Onu, the Rector of the institution for his friendly policy to better the lots of workers.

According to Nweke, “Workers are happy with the development and we are convinced that it will encourage productivity. We are not here to fight the management but we were not happy over the delay in communicating to us the outcome of council meetings where some issues were ratified”.
“We don’t want to have friction with the management because it pays to work cordially because we are in control of over 60 percent of the staff population and as such we can give them maximum support. We have all learnt our lessons and we are happy with the management,” he stated.

Also reacting to the development, ASUP Chairman, Dr. Onyeka Uwakwe commended efforts of the management over the welfare of staff and expressed the hope that the current administration would leave no stone unturned in its quest to turn around the institution.
Earlier in his remarks, the Rector of the institute, Onu told newsmen that his administration was sensitive to the plight of workers and had no reason to delay their welfare packages.

“I have the welfare of workers in mind and that explains why I paid them government approved new salary structure from our internally generated revenue (IGR) to keep their spirit on”.
“This is the first time an administration is doing about eight projects at a time and at the same time carrying along welfare of workers. The slight delay in the release of their promotion emanated from Heads of Departments that delayed submission of their appraisal forms”, Onu further explained.
The Rector disclosed that the management had already distributed to all the departments fresh appraisal forms ahead of next year’s 2010 promotional exercise, to avoid another round of delay, adding that they are also making efforts to liquidate seven percent allowance owed academic staff to encourage productivity.
He however noted that they are very strict on their disciplinary measures to ensure that quality education is delivered to the students, adding that the staff already have the message that corrupt officers on campus would not be spared for any reason now that the institution cherishes its staff and wants to make the best out of them.

The Oke-Ijebu area of Akure metropolis was, yesterday, thrown into mayhem as a 10-year-old pupil of All Saints Anglican Primary School allegedly pulled the trigger of a single barrel gun found behind the toilet of the school and killed his friend.

Unknown people had dropped two single barrel guns at the back of the toilet of the Primary School, in Oke-Ijebu. The students, who were playing during the break time, discovered the guns and started playing with them, thinking they were toys. In the process, one of the boys mistakenly pulled the trigger and killed his playmate in the process. The shooter also sustained injuries in the process.

The agitated residents of the area trooped to the school premises to confirm the incident, with parents expressing their worries about the condition of pupils in the school. Some of the parents hurriedly took their children home. The name of the two students involved in the incident was not confirmed as at press time. The school authorities declined to speak with journalists. The school was closed down, and the corpse of the dead student was deposited at a mortuary, while the injured one was receiving treatment at the state specialist hospital.

Aremu Adeniran, the spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command, confirmed the incident, adding that the police suspect that the two guns were hid there by armed robbers. He also said that a sledge hammer, cutlass and other instrument were recovered, were unearthed during a routine search after the incident. According to him, investigations are ongoing to unravel those behind the cache.

it's a true story!

The Cameroonian government has blacklisted Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, saying that he is an agent of Satan hoodwinking unsuspecting members of the public with “diabolical miracles”.

Cameroon Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Henri Eyebe Ayissi, in an official communiqué he issued this week titled “The Devil Is In the House”, described T.B. Joshua as a “son of the devil” pretending to be “a man of God”.

The Minister warned hundreds of Cameroonians trooping to Lagos, South West Nigeria, for miracles in Joshua’s church, to desist from taking the trip or face the consequences as the country will not stand by them.

The communiqué written in French reads in part “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns those who by naivety or deception of Emmanuel TV’s captivating images, or even those who by hopelessness, envisage taking the pilgrimage to Pastor T.B. Joshua’s Synagogue Church Of All Nations in Lagos, that they will do so at their own risk.

“The Cameroonian Government warns these pilgrims that they will face the consequences alone. This is motivated by the painful and shameful fact that Cameroonian men and women, in search of deliverance and blessings, once in that church, find themselves in bestial and pitiable conditions.

“Women are raped; pilgrims dispossessed of their belongings by armed robbers and left to sleep in the streets at the mercy of gangs. Many cases of assassinations have even been recorded. And this is without other cases that are not recorded at the Cameroonian Embassy in Lagos with the victims too ashamed to narrate their infernal odysseys once they are out of Hell,” the Minister said.

The Minister said that while the bible asks us to be discreet with gifts and donations to the poor, T.B. Joshua is seen daily dolling out bags of rice to indigent people.

Cameroonian newspapers which published the communiqué this week tell tales of hundreds of Cameroonians who sold their properties or borrowed money in the hope of getting miracles in T.B. Joshua’s Church, only to be disappointed in Lagos.

The newspapers report that Joshua’s TV station has gained popularity in Cameroon and many people are tempted to take the trip and receive healings and sudden blessings.

It says that Joshua is now in many households in Cameroon and many people believe the flashy images they watch on television.

One newspaper writes in French “witnesses who come back from that pandemonium reveal that to secure an appointment with this Jesus-Christ-reincarnate, they had to spend 150, 000 FCFA (about N50, 000) and the amount keeps going up, depending on the treatment and the case.

“This has led to confusion and disillusionment from Cameroonians, who on their way to Damascus, now find themselves refugees at the Cameroonian Embassy in Lagos.”

The newspaper report says further: “There are many here in Cameroon, convinced of the power and the blessings of this “man of God”. However, they forget that Jesus Christ is in our hearts through faith and with our practice of the Ten Commandments and our relationship with one another. Before the publication of the communiqué by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the bible said over 2000 years ago, ‘And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many’.”

When contacted this morning, T.B. Joshua denied that he has been blacklisted in Cameroon.

He said that Cameroonians who come to his church only heard about him in Cameroon and started trooping to the church in Ikotun, with most of them without accommodation.

He said that had he been aware of their presence around his church, he would have provided accommodation for them. He invited P.M.NEWS to visit his church for detailed information over the matter.

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When is the next match coming up?

oau, ui, abu, fut minna, unilag, unn, uniben

i'm new here. i hope nairaland is cool?