₦airaland Forum

Wonderful post!!! I never liked suits, but these days I have turned a fan, thanks to my wife, and I have learnt quite a lot here. Thanks OP!

A 30-year-old man, Ejike is lying in critical condition in a private hospital in Nkpor near Onitsha after cutting off his manhood with a knife.

According to sources, Ejike, from Nkwelle Uke community in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state, was a luxurious bus conductor based in Onitsha until he returned to the village recently.

He allegedly visited the village shrine and invoked the spirit of the diety before taking away kolanuts offered to the gods and from that moment, began to manifest strange signs.

It was gathered that last weekend, Ejike took a knife, cut off his penis and scrotum, and a strange dog suddenly appeared and ran away with the severed genitals. Family members were said to have rushed him to the hospital immediately.

When Daily Sun visited the hospital yesterday, Ejike’s private parts were completely bandaged while a catheter was fixed from the region where he passes urine.

Though he refused to talk to the reporter, he was furious when her sister arrived with his aged father. He blurted out, saying he took the action in protest so that the family would know that he was not joking when he said he would cut his penis. Scores of visitors in the hospital also said he had threatened to cut off his manhood in the past because his penis had disappointed him several times.

But the elder sister who was attending to him in the hospital told Daily Sun that he acted under the influence of evil forces. She said that no man in his right senses would slice his manhood, adding that the family wass shattered by his action.

The Chief Medical Director, Crown Hospital Nkpor, Dr. Eddy Emegoaku confirmed that Ejike’s case was critical but declined further comments on his medical condition.



http://peacebenwilliams.com/30-year-old-man-cuts-off-his-penis-and-gives-it-to-a-dog-warning-graphic-photos/

The National Front in France has suspended a politician who called Christiane Taubira, the country’s Black justice minister, a “monkey” who she would “rather see in the trees than in the government.”

According to a report in the National Post, the racist outburst by Anne-Sophie Leclere, a mayoral candidate in Rethel, in the Ardennes, north-eastern France, is an embarrassing blow to Marine Le Pen, the leader of the party, who has threatened to sue anyone who describes them as “extreme right.”

On her Facebook page,Leclere, 33, who runs a fishing shop, posted a montage of photographs placing a picture of a baby monkey, with the caption: “At 18 months” next to one of Taubira, with the caption: “Now.”

Quizzed by Envoye Special, an investigative television program that unearthed the pictures, she said that it had “nothing to do with racism.” But she went on to say: “To be honest, I’d rather see her in the branches of a tree than in the government. Quite frankly, she’s a savage when she arrives with a devilish grin. But it’s not racist.”

According to IBT: “The treatment of Taubira in France follows a similar campaign of racial hatred that has been directed at Italy’s first Black cabinet minister, Congolese-born Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge. Kyenge has been called an ‘orangutan’ by far-right Italian lawmakers and even had a banana thrown at her during a public appearance.

“Kyenge was named to the government ministry by Prime Minister Enrico Letta in April, making her the first Black Cabinet member in the country’s history. The 49-year-old doctor has endured a steady stream of abuse from extreme right-wing Italians, and even anonymous death threats, underlying the country’s deep divisions over race and immigration.”

http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/10/19/french-politician-suspended-calling-nations-first-black-minister-monkey/

A young Chinese couple are facing criminal punishment for "selling" their infant daughter and using the proceeds to buy an Apple iPhone, state media said Friday.

Shanghai prosecutors have brought a case against them for human trafficking after they illegally put their third child up for adoption online and accepted money for the baby.

Investigators found the mother, whose full name was not given, used the money to buy an iPhone, high-end sports shoes and other goods, it said.

Apple's products are wildly popular in China, where a teenager sold his kidney and used the funds to buy an iPhone and iPad in an incident widely reported last year.

But the couple told police that they wanted the girl to have a better upbringing than they could afford, since they already had two children.

"Giving away the child was not for obtaining benefits, but giving the child better guarantees," one said.

Some Chinese, especially in rural areas, have a traditional preference for sons though reports did not say if the child's gender was also a factor in the case.

Online commentary condemned the couple, though some used black humour to describe modern Chinese society and the quest for wealth.

"So cold-blooded! These people do not deserve the right to be parents!" said Wangzhan1969 in a microblog posting.

"This is good business -- no capital, huge profit and no need to sell kidneys," said another posting.

An official of the prosecutor's office handling the case expressed worry over "sensationalism" surrounding the affair but declined to comment further to AFP.

Shanghai police could not be reached for comment.

Reports did not give the amount the couple received for the child, but their online postings asked for 30,000 yuan and 50,000 yuan ($4,900 and $8,200).


http://news.naij.com/50005.html

Nigerians will experience a partial or rather penumbra lunar eclipse around midnight today, and a total solar eclipse on Sunday.

According to The Guardian, the 2013 penumbral lunar eclipse will be visible as well throughout the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia. A report from Discovery.com says: “For observers in Africa, Europe and western Asia, the eclipse will occur in the middle of the night when the moon is high overhead. The partial shading will be visible as the slight reddish dimming of the normally bright full moon".

The partial eclipse would be visible in most parts of Nigeria between 10.53 p.m. today and 2.48 a.m. October 19, 2013. During the lunar eclipse today, part of the moon will skirt through only the outer edge of the earth’s shadow in what scientists call a penumbra lunar eclipse.

While on Sunday, most parts of northern Nigeria, including Kaduna, are expected to experience total solar eclipse unlike other parts of the country like Lagos, which will experience only partial solar eclipse.

The last time Nigeria experienced a total solar eclipse was on March 29, 2006.


http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/nigeria-to-experience-2-eclipses.12640/#.UmEaBRD1GSp

Anambra State Ministry of Education hereby invites applications from suitably qualified candidates for appointments into the State teaching services as Primary School Teachers (NCE holders only), Secondary Schools Teachers and Vocational Teachers.

The Under-listed areas of specialization are needed:



Humanities



1.) Nigerian Language (lgbo)

2.) Literature-In- English

3.) Geography

4.) Government

5.) Christian Religious Studies

6.) English Language

7.) History

8.) Visual Arts

9.) Music

10.) French

11.) Economics



Science & Health

12.) Biology

13.) Chemistry

14.) Physics

15.) Further Math

16.) Agriculture

17.) Physical Educatton

18.) Health Education



Technology

19.) Technical Drawing

20.) General Metal Work

21.) Basic Electricity

22.) Electronics

23.) Auto Mechanics

24.) Building Construction

25.) Wood Work

26.) Home Management

27.) Foods & Nutrition

28.) Clothing & Textiles

29.) Computer Studies



Business Studies

30.) Accounting

31.) Store Management

32.) Office Practice

33.) Insurance

34.) Commerce

Trade Subjects

Machine Wood Working
Auto body repair and spray painting
Auto mechanical work
Air conditioning/Refrigeration
Welding & Fabrication Eng. Craft Practice
Block laying, Bricklaying & Concrete work
Plumbing and Pipe Fitting
Carpentry and joinery
Furniture making
Upholstery
Printing Craft Practice
Auto Electrical work
Radio, TV and Electrical work
Data-Processing
Mining
Painting and Decorating
Leather Goods Manufacturing and Repair
Dyeing and Bleaching
Photography
Tourism
Elect. Installation & Maintenance work
GSM Phone Maintenance & Repair
Cosmetology
Animal Husbandry
Fisheries
Catering Craft Practices
Garment Making
Salesmanship
Auto Parts Merchandising
Textile Trade
Stenography
Store Keeping
Book Keeping
Marketing

Requirements

Anambra State Universal Basic Eductaion Board (ASUBEB) for primary and junior secondary school teachers (NCE holders only)
Post-Primary School Service Commission (PPSSC) for Secondary School teachers (NCE, HND and Degree holders)
Candidates for these positions must possess NCE, BSc (Ed), B.A (Ed), B.Ed, B.A, BSc, HND with PGDE in relevant areas of needs and must have attended regular school programmes
Candidates with degree in Engineering, Science Courses and Environmental Sciences may be considered.
Some subjects areas like Physics, Geography, Mathematics, French, Special Education, Technical and Trade Entrepreneurship Subjects will be given priority consideration. Application Closing Date

30th October, 2013

Method Of Application

Eligible candidates of Anambra State origin should collect applications forms free of charge from the Area Education Offices, Ministry of Education in their Local Government Areas of origin. The form should be completed, signed and returned at the same place where it is collected. Any candidate who may be unwilling to serve in his or her community /LGA of origin need not apply.

Submitted Application forms must be with photocopies of credentials viz:

Application form with passport attached
Photocopies of academic certificates, NYSC discharge certificate, including primary school leaving certificate
Letter of identification from lgwe/Regent or town union (with official phone number(s)
LGA identification letter
Notes: Candidates are advised to photocopy their application forms and retain them for use during examination for the recruitment.

Candidates are advised to apply either to teach in the primary or secondary schools and not both, as the competitive selection examinations will be taken the same time and date.

Date for Exam

The date for the competitive selection examination(s) has been fixed for Saturday, 2nd November, 2013. Candidates are advised to check in the LGA where application forms are obtained for their Exam Numbers/venues/locations for their examinations,

Oral Interview

Oral interview for all Candidates will take place from 11th November to 13th November, 2013 at designated zonal offices of the Ministry/PPSSC.

Publication of Results

Results of selected qualified candidates will be published on 14th November, 2013.

Infomizer: One man's eew is another man's wow!
They didn't mention Nigerian roaches, those with a sophisticated communication system!

P.S. Waiting for that bumbo claat who'll start quoting the op's post!

You wont be disappointed, someone will certainly quote it

Kabieosi: @OP

As scambaiters, we try to convince the scammers to send trophy pictures
http://www.419eater.com/html/hall_of_shame.htm

419 Scam Gone Wrong - Backfired
Desperation - money by whatever means necessary is a curse
Who is the mugu or maga now?

Sir, whats the point you are trying to make?

Farmers are pinning their future on the often-dreaded insect, which when dried goes for as much as $20 a pound — for use in Asian medicine and in cosmetics.

This squat concrete building was once a chicken coop, but now it's part of a farm with an entirely different kind of livestock — millions of cockroaches.

Inside, squirming masses of the reddish-brown insects dart between sheets of corrugated metal and egg cartons that have been tied together to provide the kind of dark hiding places they favor.
Advertisement

Wang Fuming kneels down and pulls out one of the nests. Unaccustomed to the light, the roaches scurry about, a few heading straight up his arm toward his short-sleeve shirt.

"Nothing to be afraid of," Wang counsels visitors who are shrinking back into the hallway, where stray cockroaches cling to a ceiling that's perilously close overhead.

Although cockroaches evoke a visceral dread for most people, Wang looks at them fondly as his fortune — and his future.

People laughed at me when I started, but I always thought that cockroaches would bring me wealth."

— Zou Hui, cockroach farmer

The 43-year-old businessman is the largest cockroach producer in China (and thus probably in the world), with six farms populated by an estimated 10 million cockroaches. He sells them to producers of Asian medicine and to cosmetic companies that value the insects as a cheap source of protein as well as for the cellulose-like substance on their wings.

The favored breed for this purpose is the Periplaneta americana, or American cockroach, a reddish-brown insect that grows to about 1.6 inches long and, when mature, can fly, as opposed to the smaller, darker, wingless German cockroach.

Since Wang got into the business in 2010, the price of dried cockroaches has increased tenfold, from about $2 a pound to as much as $20, as manufacturers of traditional medicine stockpile pulverized cockroach powder.

"I thought about raising pigs, but with traditional farming, the profit margins are very low," Wang said. "With cockroaches, you can invest 20 yuan and get back 150 yuan," or $3.25 for a return of $11.

China has about 100 cockroach farms, and new ones are opening almost as fast as the prolific critters breed. But even among Chinese, the industry was little known until August, when a million cockroaches got out of a farm in neighboring Jiangsu province. The Great Escape made headlines around China and beyond, evoking biblical images of swarming locusts.
Big moneymaker

Business is booming at the Shandong Xin Da Ground Beetle Farm.

Only the prospect of all those lost earnings would faze Wang, a compact man with a wisp of a mustache and wire-rim glasses who looks like a scientist, but has no more than a high school education. After graduating, he went to work in a tire factory.

"I felt I would never get anywhere in life at the factory and I wanted to start a business," he said.

As a boy he had liked collecting insects, so he started with scorpions and beetles, both used in traditional medicine and served as a delicacy. One batch of his beetle eggs turned out to be contaminated with cockroach eggs.

"I was accidentally raising cockroaches and then I realized they were the easiest and most profitable," he said.

The start-up costs are minimal — Wang bought only eggs, a run-down abandoned chicken coop and the roofing tile. Notoriously hearty, roaches aren't susceptible to the same diseases as farm animals. As for feeding them, cockroaches are omnivores, though they favor rotten vegetables. Wang feeds his brood with potato and pumpkin peelings discarded from nearby restaurants.

Cockroaches are survivors. We want to know what makes them so strong."

— Li Shunan, professor of traditional medicine


Killing them is easy too: Just scoop or vacuum them out of their nests and dunk them in a big vat of boiling water. Then they're dried in the sun like chile peppers.

Perhaps understandably, the cockroach business ("special farming," as it is euphemistically called) is a fairly secretive industry. Wang's farm, for instance, operates in an agribusiness industrial park under an elevated highway. The sign at the front gate simply reads Jinan Hualu Feed Co.

Some companies that use cockroaches don't like to advertise their "secret ingredient." And the farmers themselves are wary of neighbors who might not like a cockroach farm in their backyard.

"We try to keep a low profile," said Liu Yusheng, head of the Shandong Insect Industry Assn., the closest thing there is to a trade organization. "The government is tacitly allowing us to do what we do, but if there is too much attention, or if cockroach farms are going into residential areas, there could be trouble."

Liu worries about the rapid growth of an industry with too many inexperienced players and too little oversight. In 2007, a million Chinese lost $1.2 billion when a firm promoting ant farming turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and went bankrupt.

"This is not like raising regular farm animals or vegetables where the Agricultural Ministry knows who is supposed to regulate it. Nobody knows who is in charge here," he said.

The low start-up costs make raising cockroaches an appealing business for wannabe entrepreneurs, who can buy cockroach eggs and complete how-to kits from promoters.

"People laughed at me when I started, but I always thought that cockroaches would bring me wealth," said Zou Hui, 40, who quit her job at a knitting factory in 2008 after seeing a television program about raising cockroaches.

Wang Fuming, at his farm in Jinan, is the largest cockroach producer in China (and thus probably in the world), with six farms populated by an estimated 10 million cockroaches.

It's not exactly a fortune, but the $10,000 she brings in annually selling cockroaches is decent money for her hometown in rural Sichuan province, and won her an award last year from local government as an "Expert in Getting Wealthy."

"Now I'm teaching four other families," Zou said. "They want to get rich like me."

But inexperienced farmers can get into trouble, as Wang Pengsheng (no relation to fellow roach farmer Wang) found out after his cockroaches staged the Great Escape.

He had opened his farm just six months earlier in a newly constructed building that municipal code officials complained was too close to protected watershed land. At noon on Aug. 20, while workers were out for lunch, a demolition crew knocked down the building. The roaches made a run for it.

"They didn't know I had cockroaches in there. They wouldn't have demolished the building like that if there were cockroaches that would get out," Wang Pengsheng said in a telephone interview.

After discovering the flattened building and homeless roaches scurrying among the rubble, he tried to corral the escapees but was unsuccessful. He called in local health officials, who helped him exterminate the roaches. Wang said he has received about $8,000 in compensation from local government and hopes to use the money to rebuild his farm elsewhere.

At least five pharmaceutical companies are using cockroaches for traditional Chinese medicine. Research is underway in China (and South Korea) on the use of pulverized cockroaches for treating baldness, AIDS and cancer and as a vitamin supplement. South Korea's Jeonnam Province Agricultural Research Institute and China's Dali University College of Pharmacy have published papers on the anti-carcinogenic properties of the cockroach.

Li Shunan, a 78-year-old professor of traditional medicine from the southwestern province of Yunnan who is considered the godfather of cockroach research, said he discovered in the 1960s that ethnic minorities near the Vietnamese border were using a cockroach paste to treat bone tuberculosis.

"Cockroaches are survivors," Li said. "We want to know what makes them so strong — why they can even resist nuclear effects."

Liu Yusheng, head of the Shandong Insect Industry Assn. eats fried cockroaches. Liu worries about the rapid growth of an industry with too many inexperienced players and too little oversight.

Li reels off an impressive, if implausible, list of health claims: "I lost my hair years ago. I made a spray of cockroaches, applied it on my scalp and it grew back. I've used it as a facial mask and people say I haven't changed at all over the years.

"Cockroaches are very tasty too."

Many farmers are hoping to boost demand by promoting cockroaches in fish and animal feed and as a delicacy for humans.

Chinese aren't quite as squeamish as most Westerners about insects — after all, people here still keep crickets as pets.

In Jinan, Wang Fuming and his wife, who run the farm together, seem genuinely fond of their cockroaches and a little hurt that others don't feel affection.

"What is disgusting about them?" Li Wanrong, Wang's wife, asked as a roach scurried around her black leather pumps. "Look how beautiful they are. So shiny!"

Over lunch at a restaurant down the block from his farm, Wang placed a plate of fried cockroaches seasoned with salt on the table along with more conventional cuisine, and proceeded to nibble a few with his chopsticks. He expressed disapproval that visiting journalists refused to sample the roaches.

On saying goodbye at the end of the day, he added a final rejoinder.

"You will regret your whole life not trying them."

A young Nigerian man whose identity is unknown, posed stark naked for a picture smiling with a kid (young goat) on his shoulder…holding a book which looks like a Bible in his left hand and holding a placard in his right hand which read:

“I am 100% gay like Jesus. So being gay is O.K.”

In another photo below, the same man posed with a different placard which read:

“I rape goats like Jesus in the gay bible.”

In Nigeria, homosexual activities are banned and punishable by a jail term.




http://peacebenwilliams.com/nigerian-gay-man-poses-naked-says-jesus-christ-was-gay-and-raped-goats/

Read the bereaved family’s full letter below.

[b]11 Patrick Ehime Street,

Off Ugbor Road,

Benin City,

Edo State.

October 14

PRESS STATEMENT

Family of murdered Nigerian Student in Cyprus cry out for Justice

The family of a Nigerian student, Mr. Gabriel Soriwei, who was killed in the North Cyprus city of Nicosia, has cried out to the Federal Government, relevant authorities and indeed all well meaning Nigerians for intervention.

Gabriel Soriwei, (20), was a first year student of Electrical/Electronic/Engineering at the Cyprus International University, Nicosia, in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus when he was knocked down by a female driver on July 13, 2013.

As a result of the impact of the accident, Gabriel fell into a coma and eventually died on September, 7 2013. On September 12, the authorities of the Cyprus International University flew his remains via the same Turkish Airline he flew in February to us as cargo for us to clear.

While the family has accepted the reality of the painful loss of our child, his death has raised some issues about the value placed on the life of the Nigerian outside the shores of this country.

First, neither the Cyprus International University nor the family of the woman who drove the car that killed Gabriel has found it necessary to at least write to the family to condole with us on the death of this young man who until his death was contributing to the economy of Cyprus by paying school fees as a foreign student.

It is also unjust that the authorities of Cyprus are hiding the identity of the woman who killed our child from the family. The police authorities in Cyprus insisted that it was the practice in their country to ensure that such a person was shielded from the family of the victim.

The police told the father of the deceased, Mr. Patrick Soriwei, during a visit to Nicosia that the Turkish woman lost control of the vehicle which knocked down Gabriel. It was however gathered that the woman was drunk even though we have no proof of it. The police said that the woman was detained for three days and released.

Painfully, our investigations revealed that the university which was said to be pursuing the case and which is host to about 700 Nigerian students, has shown lack of interest in the issue. Several entreaties made by the family to the school authorities to send the belongings of the late Gabriel to Nigeria have been ignored.

We have informed the Nigerian Embassy in Cyprus and the mission there does not seem to see this screaming demand to defend of the rights of Nigerians in a foreign country as a priority.

The best the Nigerian Mission in Ankara has done was to send one Uche to the university to find out the cause of the death. The Mission has not rendered the necessary assistance in getting the police to write a report on his death. This delay in writing this report, we believe, is inspired by a plot to subvert the process of justice in this matter.

Consequently, we have written to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the leadership of the National Assembly, with copies of the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Turkish Embassy in Nigeria, and others.

While the Soriwei family intends to pursue this matter to the best of our abilities, we urge the Federal Government and all Nigerians of good conscience to come our aid in the search for justice over the killing of this innocent Nigerian child.

The life of a Nigerian child should be treated more decently than that of a stray animal. The situation doesn’t seem to be different in this case.

Signed
Mr. Patrick Soriwei
Father of the deceased[/b]

A housewife has been arrested by the Enugu State Police for planning & staging her own kidnap, then demanding the sum of N200, 000 from her husband Marcus Chukwu as ransom.


Her partner, a commercial motorcyclist who was also connected in the staging her kidnap Chikwe Tochukwu has also been arrested.


It was gathered that the husband Marcus, a native of Agbogugu in Awgu local Government Area of Enugu State, had received a call from his wife, Nancy Chukwu, claiming that she had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen and that her kidnappers were demanding the sum of two hundred thousand naira.

Marcus was thereby given an account number where the said ransom is to be paid, rather than pay the ransom he reported the matter to the anti-kidnap unit of the police.

The Enugu State DSP, Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed stated that investigations conducted revealed that Tochukwu of Amakwe Okeremiri Aboh Mbaise in Imo state, residing at Agbogugu was the brain behind the stage managed kidnap, which was aimed at extorting the woman’s husband.

Tochukwu who confessed to the police said he is an okada rider that usually carries the woman, Nancy home anytime she is returning from market, adding that Nancy lured her into the crime.

He went on to confess that while he was together with Nancy, sounded like a kidnapper on phone who was already holding Nancy under captivity, and demanded that the sum of two hundred thousand naira be paid as a ransom to the account number provided, which he also claimed belonged to his friend Chikwado.

Nancy also confessed to the crime, saying she never knew what came over her to have acted in such manner.

“A full scale investigations into the alleged incident has intensified”, Amaraizu further stated.



http://www.nigerianeye.com/2013/10/housewife-fakes-her-own-kidnapping.html

US Army researchers are working on building hi-tech body armor that would give soldiers “superhuman strength” in a real-life version of the suit featured in “Iron Man” films.


The blueprint for the “revolutionary” Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS) would include an exoskeleton to allow a soldier to carry heavy equipment, built-in computing power, beefed up protection to stop bullets and a system to monitor vital signs, officials said.

“Some of the potential technologies planned for TALOS research and development include advanced armor, situational awareness, command and control computers, power management systems, and enhanced mobility exoskeletons,” according to a US Army statement issued last month.

US Special Operations Command, which oversees elite Navy SEAL and Army Ranger commandos, put out the call last month for research papers on potential technologies that a “smart” combat suit could incorporate.

The request for “white papers” will extend through September 2014, and then commanders and defense officials will weigh how to proceed while taking into account growing pressures on the Pentagon budget, said spokesman Roger Teel of the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command, or RDECOM.

The new combat armor might also employ “liquid armor,” reminiscent of the “Terminator” films, though the technology is still in an early stage of development, Teel told AFP.

The liquid would transform into a solid if a magnetic or electrical charge was applied.

“There is a liquid armor that they are looking at developing,” said Teel, adding that scientists at MIT were studying the idea. “It could possibly be turned on with a battery switch” to deflect gunfire, he said.

TALOS “is an advanced infantry uniform that promises to provide superhuman strength with greater ballistic protection,” according to an earlier statement from RDECOM.

In a crude animated demonstration video released by the army on how the combat suit might operate, a soldier in science fiction-inspired gear stands in a doorway as bullets bounce off at close range from an unidentified enemy.

While ominous music plays in the background, the words “to be continued…” flash upon the screen.

The project’s acronym, TALOS, refers to the automaton of Greek mythology made of bronze that Zeus deploys to safeguard his lover Europa.

Despite previous weapons programs that came to little, officials say the technologies for the ambitious project are not out of reach, even if they sound more like the stuff of myth or movie.

The concept of providing virtual displays of battlefield forces in a soldier’s helmet screen resembles similar efforts already underway for a sophisticated helmet for pilots flying the new F-35 fighter jet.

Reflecting advances in robotics and computing power, the TALOS suit is part of a trend in current research focusing on what defense industry experts call “man-machine interface,” aiming to dramatically increase the capabilities of a single soldier.

Officials said the TALOS project is the brainchild of Admiral William McRaven, head of special operations command, who rose to prominence presiding over the Navy SEAL raid that killed Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.

“I’m very committed to this,” McRaven told an industry conference in July. “I’d like that last operator that we lost to be the last operator we lose in this fight or the fight of the future, and I think we can get there.”

As the proposed suit would draw on a range of technical disciplines, the military expects the project to be developed jointly by academia, government scientists and technology firms, officials said.

Special Operations command is “interested in receiving white papers from a wide variety of sources, not just traditional military industry but also from academia, entrepreneurs and laboratories capable of providing the design, construction and testing of TALOS related technologies,” said James Geurts, acquisition executive for the command.

And officials said it was too early to offer any cost estimate.

Although defense officials acknowledge the project evokes comparisons to Tony Stark’s superhero suit from the “Iron Man” movies, they note that no one is claiming the smart armor will enable soldiers to soar like a plane over cities.

“It’s not going to fly. It’s not going to be all that,” Teel said. “But it’s going to be special.”


http://www.nigerianeye.com/2013/10/us-army-plans-iron-man-armor-for.html

Does a blue mood lead to a bigger belly? People who feel anxious or depressed are more likely to pack on pounds than happy folks, finds a study in the International Journal of Obesity.

And weight gain isn’t limited to a clinical diagnosis: In the study, participants who simply showed symptoms like feeling tense, unsettled, or despondent gained weight and were more likely to become obese over an 11-year period.

Why? When you’re in a funk, your motivation gets hit the hardest. “Depression is like constantly being pressed down, so being motivated to do almost anything is out of the question,” says Rob Dobrenski, Ph.D., author of Crazy: Notes on and off the couch. So, while not everyone with mood disorders gains weight, physical activity requires more motivation than you have — and comfort food can provide temporary relief.

If you think you have depression or anxiety, tell your doctor. But in the meantime, fake it ’til you feel it. “People with depression often say ‘When I feel better, I’ll do it.’ But it’s the opposite —you have to act happy to feel happy,” says Dobrensky.

Spend the day playing the role of someone who isn’t depressed — seriously. Emulating someone without a mood disorder isn’t a cure-all, Dobrensky says, but it can help break through the feelings of being stuck.

Lift your mood

Remember the good ol’ days. Thinking back to specific times in your life could help ease depressive symptoms, says a new study in Clinical Psychological Science.

Don’t read us wrong: Beating depression isn’t that easy. Gather 10 of your buddies together and, statistically, one of them is suffering from depression. And since the condition is linked to health problems galore in men — anxiety, erectile dysfunction, and coronary heart disease, to name a few — if you’re down in the dumps, you’d be wise to get checked.

But the fear of being medicated is the number one worry people with depressive symptoms have, and it’s a big reason why they keep their issues to themselves, says a 2011 study in the Annals of Family Medicine.

The good news: Beyond seeing your doctor for medical treatment, small things that make you happy — like reminiscing on an awesome road trip you took with the guys, or that killer concert you saw last year — can make a big difference in helping you feel better, too.

Here are four more to try.

Listen to your feet

Heading out on a run? Focus on the nitty-gritty details, like the sound of your feet hitting the pavement, the number of stop signs you pass, and the faces of the people you breeze by. That technique is called mindful engagement, and it’s been scientifically proven to alleviate depression, says Michael Addis, Ph.D., author of the book Invisible Men: Men’s Inner Lives and the Consequences of Silence.

“If you enjoy exercise, don’t do it while ruminating or worrying about whatever is troubling you — that only reinforces your negative mood,” he says.

Show random act of kindness

If you’re depressed, you’re missing positive emotion in your life. The good news? Adding it back in could be as easy as making someone else happy. In a recent study that asked people to engage in three good things a day — helping with groceries, picking up coffee for a friend, or paying a compliment — 94 percent of participants showed decreases in depressive symptoms. Why? Random acts of kindness evoke positive thoughts, and are an easy solution to quash negative feelings, researchers say.

No angry birds before bed

You’ve heard it before: Play with your iPad for an hour before bed or leave the TV on, and your sleep suffers. But did you know that artificial light can also sink your spirits? A study in Molecular Psychology found that when hamsters were exposed to a dim light at night — similar to the glow of a TV screen — instead of a standard light/dark cycle, they showed signs of depression after just a month. What gives? Your brain can’t produce melatonin — the sleep hormone — if it detects light. Thus, the rodents exposed to light at night had less complex neurons in brain areas that control mood.

Flash a half-smile

“I’m not talking about a big fake crap-eating grin,” Addis says. “Just simply raise the corners of your mouth ever so slightly on a regular basis,” he advises. How come? Your brain is wired to receive feedback from your body that indicates how you’re feeling.

Studies have shown that people who form their mouths into a slight smile report elevations in their mood — even when they don’t realise they’re doing it. In contrast, people who were instructed to try to make their eyebrows touch — making a frown — reported a worse mood, Addis says.

Vitamin D to the rescue

Could the sunshine vitamin cure the blues? Perhaps: Short-term mega-doses of vitamin D may reduce symptoms of depression, according to Sonal Pathak, M.D., an endocrinologist in Dover, Delaware, USA, who recently presented the findings of her small case study at The Endocrine Society’s Annual Meeting in Houston.

A handful of previous studies have found a link between low vitamin D levels and depression.

How might D defeat depression? “The vitamin is prevalent in areas of the brain associated with behaviour and emotion, such as the amygdala and hippocampus; so when levels are low, they can’t function like they’re supposed to,” she says.

“Vitamin D is also involved in the release of certain neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and epinephrine — the same ones many antidepressants are designed to target.”



http://www.punchng.com/healthwise/why-depression-leads-to-weight-gain/

When Odunlade Adekola first hit the industry few years ago, experts thought he was just a flash in the pan. But one thing became obvious in the Yoruba sector of Nollywood, the young chap is now out to make a statement that he is no more a naïve kid.

And that is the fact that Odunlade Adekola is the most sought-after actor in the industry. No cast seems to be complete without the Abeokuta bred actor. The tall and good looking entertainer who recently added a bundle of joy to his fast growing family is surely an actor with depth and thoroughness and that seems to have been the cutting edge for him so far. Read the full interview with the actor below:

Q: At what point in your life did you realize that acting would be your career?

R: Acting for me started from my childhood days. It started from my church, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in Lafenwa, Abeokuta here. Then, whenever they wanted to do society anniversary at the church and they needed side attraction for the anniversary, we used to disturb them, a friend called Tunde and I, would tell them that we could perform as jesters at the anniversary, and they would say no problem. And I would just pick up my pen and would start writing scene 1, scene 2, and scene 3. And funnily enough, I didn't know what scene means then, I was just doing my thing. And whenever they called upon us to perform, we would perform and everyone would laugh. As at then, I was seeing the likes of Ogogo and co, I'm talking about '92,'93,'94, I was seeing them as if I could do better than what they were doing then. When I now came into the industry, and they thought me how to move, turn, do this and that, I said: emi o mope ole to yio! (I never knew it's this difficult). By and large, I can say acting for me started from my childhood days, especially from church.

Q: In the course of your growing up in the industry, what are some of the challenges that came your way?

R: There were a lot of challenges, but the greatest of them all has been the challenge of being at my best at all times. I mean the challenge of going through a script and fashioning a way to interpret the role I'm expected to play in the best possible way. I always think about how best I can deliver any role that is given to me. Let me give you an instance in this regard. Ishola Durojaye, (Alasari) in the production of one of his films then, 'Asiri Gomina Wa', there a lot of criticisms filters that Odun cannot act the role that was given to him properly as the governor in the movie, but he (Alasari) called me aside and said no matter what they say, Odun, you are going to do it. This is your script, go through it and master it. And I was thrown into confusion and a challenge as to how I would not disappoint someone that has placed such enormous confidence in me. But I thank God today, though I have been acting before Asiri Gomina Wa, it was Asiri Gomina Wa that brought me to the spotlight. And there are a lot of other productions that have also added to my relevance in the industry such as Ara Lamo which was produced by Yinka Quadri and my own productions too. I see every production as a new challenge because that might be the production some people would be seeing me in for the first time and that is what would give them the idea of the kind of actor that I am.

Q: How many productions of your own do you have in the market now?

R: I have five or six. I have Farapamo, Emi Ni Ire Kan, Baba Super, Ila Owo, Eje Fun Eje and Fayebora.

Q: And how did you become the hottest actor in the Yoruba sector of Nollywood today?

R: I can't really answer that. You know I only get invitations to come and act in movies and I would go there and do my job. I don't run after anybody and I want to believe nobody is running after me. Although, a lot people would call me and say if we don't see your face in a movie, we won't buy it and all that. And I would thank them and would also thank God for making me appealing to them. Another thing I always tell them is that; please continue to pray for me because there have been a number of actors before me that are nowhere to be found today and they are still alive. They are just no more marketable. So, I don't know anything about being the hottest actor. What I know is that my God is always there for me.

Q: But there must have been something special about your acting that almost every producer wants you in their productions…

R: Like I told you, I see every movie that I'm partaking in as a challenge. And that is the only thing I know. And two, if you are invited as an actor to any production, you shouldn't see your audience as fools. Deliver your role as if everything is real. You have to convince them as if what they are watching is happening in real life. As if it is reality. And they would be watching and enthralled with your acting. They shouldn't see lapses and that is the secret. If I'm to play a good boy in a movie, I'll play that good boy to the core. And if it's to be a bad boy, I'll do it to the best of my ability. That is all.

Q: So, what are the things acting has done for Odunlade Adekola?

R: I have rest of mind. I am personally okay. I can eat three square meal conveniently. I am comfort. Those are the things acting has done for me.

Q: How do you relate with you female colleagues in the industry?

R: Just as you have seen, Sikiratu Sindodo just came in to greet me by hugging me. And I told her I'm busy, I'll see you later. And that is all.

Q: Are you saying you don't have a personal relationship with any of them?

R: No, no, no. We are all friends. My relationship with them is purely professional.

Q: How about your female fans outside, I mean the overzealous ones that would insist on a date?

R: I love all my female fans. Do you know why? They are the ones that really watch films and make their boyfriends, their husbands, their fathers brothers and other people around them to watch our films by telling the about us. They there is one good actor now called so, so, so, you have to see his new movie. And there and then, they help build our fan base. So, I always appreciate my female fans when they call me to say Odunlade, we are enjoying your movies. And I would also make myself available to those that have business deal for me or want to join acting. There is nothing beyond that.

Q: Are you saying you have never dated a female fan?

R: No. Never!

Q: If you were not an actor, what would you have been?

R: I would have been a business administrator or a lawyer. That is if my educational background had been very solid. But, to now start pursuing all that now, I think it's too late for me. I have to be realistic because it would take much of my time. At least, as I am now, I can take care of myself and my family.

Q: Can you let us into our background?

R: I attended Saint John RCM primary school in Abeokuta here. Then, to Saint Peter's College, Olomore, Abeokuta. And I am still schooling in one of the University that I don't want to talk about.

Q: Which movie should your fans be expecting from your stable soon?

R: I just finished with is Fayebora and another one is in the pipe.



http://news.naij.com/49537.html

Gunmen in the wee hours of Friday kidnapped the octogenarian father of the deputy governor of Cross River State, Chief Essien Cobham, from his home in Creek Town, Odukpani Local Government Area of the state.

An uncle of the deputy governor, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was equally said to have been abducted by the kidnappers.

The kidnappers were said to have entered and left the town through the Calabar waterways on speedboats at about 2am and operated for over an hour.

Our correspondent, who visited Creek Town on Friday, learnt that the kidnapers had initially burst into the residence of the brother of the Director-General of the Directorate of Security Service, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong, but only succeeded in vandalising the building as the brother, identified as Chief Asuquo Aka, was not at home.

A source, who preferred anonymity, said the heavily armed men accompanied by Alsatian dogs came in from the Bakassi area of the waterways with two flying boats.

He said, “They broke the wall of the deputy governor’s father’s house to gain access to the building. They also vandalised the building where the younger brother of the director-general of SSS is staying. The house is believed to be a family compound. But they faced stiff resistance from security agents.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Hogan Bassey, confirmed the incidence but refused to give details for security reasons.

http://www.punchng.com/news/gunmen-kidnap-c-river-deputy-govs-father-uncle/

Actor Olukayode Odumosu, popularly known as Pa Kasumu, is in dire need of treatment abroad for a disease that has kept him bedridden for awhile, writes JAYNE AUGOYE

Seasoned actor, Olukayode Odumosu, popularly known as Pa Kasumu, is currently down with Biventricular Heart Failure, an ailment that has seriously affected his heart and lungs, and he needs the sum of N12m to undergo treatment in a hospital abroad.

The actor, who turned 60 in March and celebrated the 45th anniversary of his acting career, fell ill after suffering partial stroke in 2009. So far, he has undergone several tests and forced to take several expensive medications, which he claims have set him back financially.

Odumosu, whose first appearance in a play titled Iyawo Orun actually kick-started his career, says, “I have spent so much on this disease. When I was initially diagnosed with the ailment, the doctors said it was severe and they would need to control the progression so that it doesn’t affect my kidneys. They warned that it could affect my kidneys in the absence of urgent medical intervention. This I’m happy that they did it and succeeded. But, at present other serious ailments have set in and necessitated this battle of survival. I am not tired yet. I still want to continue to make people laugh, but my failing health is an obstacle.”

In a telephone interview with our correspondent, Odumosu’s son, Tunde, raised the alarm over his deteriorating health.

“We just noticed that my father’s condition suddenly got bad, though he had been placed on medication since 2009 when he survived a stroke. For now his memory is failing and his speech is very inaudible. We don’t want the disease to affect his brain. So we need all the help we can get to save his life.

“He needs the sum of N12m urgently to enable him travel to the United Kingdom, Germany or Israel, as recommended by his doctors, for further treatment. They are trying their best to prevent a secondary stroke from occurring and have succeeded in preventing the ailment from affecting his kidneys for now.

“His condition has deteriorated so much that the ailment has affected his knees and his vision, which is blurred,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners has pledged to stand by Odumose, who is one of its members. One of the association’s national leaders and prominent actor, Jide Kosoko, says he paid a visit to the ailing actor in the latter’s residence in the Mushin area of Lagos on Tuesday alongside other members of the body.

Kosoko expressed his displeasure over Odumosu’s deteriorating health condition.

“He has kept the knowledge of his condition to himself all this while because he did not want to burden anyone else with it. But this has got to the point where he cannot continue to do it all by himself. So we have no choice other than to help him and see that he gets help fast,” he said.

On how the association intends to help the actor, Kosoko added, “The association is currently in a crisis. It has gone to court to seek redress and so there is no way we can help as a body. But the good thing is that Odumosu has many friends amongst us.

“We plan to set up a committee to help him. We are going to appeal for help from our patrons and good spirited individuals. You are aware that the industry is involved many crises and we are not making enough money any longer. Nevertheless, we will stand by him by God’s grace.”

Tunde Odumosu said that while some of the friends and relations of his father, who currently lives in a rented apartment in Mushin, Lagos, have made some effort to ensure that he stays alive, they still require additional assistance from the public, He says, “We need every penny and help from good-spirited individuals to keep my father alive. His account details are, Olukayode Olugbenga Odumosu, Diamond Bank, 0036059543.”



http://www.punchng.com/entertainment/arts-life/ailing-pa-kasumu-needs-n12m-to-stay-alive/

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Thursday, arrested a 29-year-old plumber, Mr. Ogu Okechukwu, for unlawful importation of 945 grammes of cocaine at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos.



The suspect was apprehended during the inward screening of passengers on an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi on arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport with 57 wraps of cocaine he allegedly brought in from Brazil.

Speaking on the arrest, NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar, said the suspect ingested a total of 57 wraps of cocaine hidden in male condoms.


He said "The suspect, Ogu Okechukwu, excreted 57 wraps of powdery cocaine packed inside male condoms and sealed with cello-tape. It is a dangerous practice because many drug traffickers have died as a result of leakage in such wraps of narcotics."

He further noted that the case was under investigation.


Okechukwu, an indigene of ImoState, said that he was lured into drug trafficking because of his inability to pay his rent of 150,000 naira.

Okechukwu told investigators: "I am a plumber. I am married with two children and my wife just delivered our second baby. My problem was how to pay my rent of 150,000 naira.


"While looking for money, I was introduced to drug trafficking. They promised me 300,000 naira if only I will bring the drug from Brazil. My travel expenses were sponsored.


"While in Brazil, I was given 100 wraps of drugs to swallow but I could only take 57 because it was my first time and it was not easy to ingest. I feel very bad."


http://www.nigerianeye.com/2013/10/plumber-excretes-57-wraps-of-cocaine-at.html

A mother-of-two whose quest for the perfect bottom led to a quadruple limb and buttock amputation has warned other women against black market silicone injections.

Hair stylist Apryl Michelle Brown, from LA, spent five years in excruciating pain when an unlicensed practitioner injected her buttocks with bathroom sealant, telling her it was silicone, in order to enhance them.

Doctors had no idea how to treat the botched implants and told her she might have to live with the agony, but when they finally operated the injections became so badly infected she was induced into a coma.

It was only when she awoke two months later that Apryl, now 46, discovered the lengths medical staff had gone to to keep her alive.

Speaking on to Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langford ITV's This Morning via satellite link, Apryl explained that as a child she had been teased for having a 'flat butt' and developed a complex, so when a woman came into her salon in 2004 saying she had had silicone injections, Apryl thought she had been 'sent from God'.

She said: 'I thought she was a blessing. I hadn't done any other research so I didn't know all the horror stories. I went to someone's private home - she wasn't licensed, but I didn't know that then - and lay on her daughter's bed, wearing special panties with the butt removed.

'She told me I'd need four sets of injections, and when she started to do them it was very painful. I could feel it going into my nerves and muscles.'

The pain did subside, and Apryl returned for a second lot of injections. It was as she left the house the second time that she had 'an epiphany'.

'I thought, what are you doing? And that was a sign from God to stop.'

Soon after, things began to go dramatically wrong.

First the area around the injections began to discolour, then become itchy, then incredibly painful, described by Apryl as 'like a toothache, labour pain and a migraine'.
Doctors induced Apryl into a coma and carried out 27 operations, including a buttock amputation and a quadruple lower arm and lower leg amputation

She sought medical advice and the general consensus was that doctors had no idea what to do. Most told her the chemical could not be removed and that she would have to live with the pain.

'Eventually they went in and removed the silicone, along with the butt cheeks,' said Apryl. 'It was then it became infected and they gave me 24 hours to live. I remember feeling relieved when I heard that.'

Doctors induced Apryl into a coma and carried out 27 operations, including a buttock amputation and a quadruple lower arm and lower leg amputation. 'I didn't know this until I came around,' she said. 'When I woke up I had no butt and I wasn't in pain anymore.'

Apryl, who recently completed a three-mile walk, 10-mile cycle and 150m swim for charity, said she wishes to use the experience to teach other women about the dangers of vanity.

She said: 'I don't think God gives you opportunity to live again without using it to stop others. I want to teach that we mustn't ever look for something outside ourselves to validate ourselves.

'We're already born whole and perfect and complete, and nothing we do on the outside will make us change on the inside.

'When I got the injections I already had great self esteem. I thought I was just enhancing myself. But looking back, I see there must have been an extreme issue.'

NOTE: You can read more, including the story of a Nigerian lady that died, using the link below:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2333224/Apryl-Michelle-Brown-My-quest-perfect-left-NO-LIMBS.html

Find more pix on Apryl Brown: https://www.google.com.ng/search?q=apryl+michelle+brown&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_fZWUu-kBYKshQfK54GgDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCsQ

The massive looting of Lagos state by the Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has reached monumental proportion. Tinubu whose companies recently conered a multi billion road construction job in Ogun State, has in his pocket all the juicy contract in all the Action Congress’ states.

In retrospect, it might be difficult to come to terms with the fact that an individual could hold the entire south west to ransom. There is no doubt that Tinubu has succeeded in buying the Lagos State government, and he has done this using government funds.
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Whenever someone in Lagos begins to wonder where their 4th mainland bridge went, or what was the fate of the pipe-borne water project, or even where the schools and hospitals had vanished to, there is a silence that contains it all. The largest landlord in Lagos has done as he has pleased, and the rest of the state just has to deal with it. For instance: Number 4, Oyinkan Abayomi (formerly Queens) Drive, Ikoyi: A 5-bedroom detached house on one acre of land which was originally the Lagos State Governor’s guest house since 1979, but which now belongs to Tinubu. The certificate of occupancy of the property valued at N450 million was signed and released to him by Fashola in 2007 shortly after he assumed office.

Tinubu’s residence at 26 Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi was initially falsely presented as Oando Plc Guest House. Later, he purportedly bought it from Oando, and used public funds to rebuild and renovate it. The Lagos State Government bought the property and paid an undisclosed sum to him and thereafter gave the property back to him under the bogus Pension Bill he signed to law shortly before he left office in 2007. The property is worth over N600 million.

The annex of the Lagos State Guest House in Asokoro, Abuja was bought by the State Government in 2006 for N450 million, purportedly to protect the main house from security breach. Shortly after Tinubu left office, the property was transferred to him under the pension plan he signed into law before leaving office.

The 250-hectare land valued at about N35billion and strategically located at the Ajah junction on Lekki Road was initially meant for a General Hospital for the people of Eti-Osa Local Government but was stolen by Tinubu and handed over to Trojan Estate Ltd – a company owned by Deji and Wale Tinubu – to develop as Royal Garden Housing Estate at the expense of the taxpayers of Lagos.

The 1,000 hectares of land valued at about N75billion located at Lakowe near Abijo at Ibeju-Lekki Local Government and given to Lekki Concession Company (LCC) which is partly- owned by Tinubu and Fashola and being developed as golf course and housing estate by Assets and Resource Management Ltd (ARM) as ADIVA project.

The prime land of 157 hectares with 2.5km of Atlantic beachfront valued at about N10billion and stolen by Tinubu from the communities of Siriwon, Igbekodo, Apakin, etc in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government and given to Ibukun Fakeye – his crony to build a golf course and luxury villa with little or no compensation to the villagers. In addition, Tinubu paid $20million (N3billion) out of public treasury to Ibukun Fakeye to commence the project in late 2006. Fashola has since released additional funding for this project, which is not owned by the state government.

The 14-hectare Parkview Ikoyi Estate foreshore land reclaimed by Lagos State Government is now owned by Bola Tinubu.

While in office, he allocated to himself the former Strabag yard beside the Lagos State Secretariat at Alausa, Ikeja. The property is now being developed into a shopping mall as big as the Palms in Lekki. This is public property brazenly stolen and now owned by Tinubu, aided by Fashola.

The choice property at Lekki-Epe road on which he built and owns the multi-billion Naira Oriental Hotel and the extension of multi-storey car park beside it. Also, the multi-level recreation centre by Mobil in Oniru Estate on Lekki-Epe road jointly owned with ARM and Tunji Olowolafe. All these assets valued at over N25billion were obtained without paying a kobo to the Lagos State Government.

Tinubu and Fashola sold the following prime Lagos properties to their personal friend and front – Prince Dipo Eludoyin at very ridiculous prices:

• The 3.8-hectare of land of Lagos State Fisheries office in VI (beside the Institute of Oceanography) valued at N3billion.

• The fishery landing jetty at Badore (where the Ilubirin fishermen were to be relocated) valued at N500million

• The entire Ogudu foreshore scheme initially earmarked for a low-cost housing scheme valued at N5billion

• The Ilubinrin housing estate (which used to house Lagos state civil servants and judges up till 2007) valued at N2.5billion.

• The former Julius Berger yard at Oko Orisan, Epe valued at N450million.
Tinubu raised a loan of N4.7billion on Eko Akete project for which nothing was achieved before he turned around to sell the property to his Chagouri friends of Chagouri & Chagouri and Hitech Construction Ltd at a ridiculously low price at the expense of the taxpayers of Lagos.

Tinubu applied to personally purchase the Federal Secretariat building while in office. When he couldn’t get to buy it, he directed Fashola to stop the eventual owner of the complex to develop it. The complex is presently wasting away courtesy of the Lagos State Government.

It took several months of horse trading and underhand payments before Fashola could allow the new owners of 1004 flats to redevelop the complex. Several other buyers of Federal Government properties and developers of properties in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Government Reservation Area Ikeja were forced to succumb to the outrageous demands of Tinubu, Fashola, Commissioner Abosede and other officials of the Lagos State Physical Planning Ministry and were made to pay ridiculous amounts to private accounts before their redevelopments were approved. Those who refused or were unable to pay could not develop their properties. This is a major economic strangulation of property developers and has contributed largely to the skyrocketing rent in Ikoyi, VI and Lekki axis.

Tinubu converted all the plots of land where Lagos Polytechnic was located at Ikosi near the old toll gate. He chased away the Polytechnic in 2006 and went ahead to locate the choice plots to himself, his cronies and political associates. The headquarters of Television Continental (TVC), which is owned by him, is located there. He deprived the youths of Lagos of decent education because of his greed.

Tinubu solely sold the prime land on Aboyade Cole, Victoria Island which was recovered from some allotees, to UACN Properties Plc. The amount of proceeds was shrouded in secrecy.

Eludoyin, fronting for Tinubu, built the estate directly opposite Goshen Beach Estate in Lekki area.

Tinubu’s wife, Remi Tinubu, built the massive New Era Foundation youth camp at the junction of Eleko, off the Lekki-Epe express road, with Lagos State funds and has now converted it to personal use.

Tinubu owns the Fara Park Estate and the Beach Wood Estate both in Lekki.

The Critical Care unit at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja, built and equipped with state funds, is now owned personally by Tinubu. He has put one Dr. Sikiru Tinubu, (a supposed cousin of his) to run the outfit. It is run as a private unit and the proceeds are pocketed by the duo. The unit charges its users exorbitantly and most Lagosians can hardly afford to pay its high charges. Much of the revenue is derived from fees paid by the State Government for patients referred there by its General Hospitals.

Several prominent Nigerians in the judiciary, police, INEC, and other sensitive agencies have obtained prime land from former Governor Tinubu and incumbent Governor Fashola over the years without paying a kobo. Many of them had turned around to sell the land to third parties at substantial profit. Many top officials in the police, INEC and the judiciary who participated in the 2003 and 2007 elections and tribunals in states where Tinubu has interest were compromised with parcels of free prime Lagos land and cash. If the Lagos State Land’s Bureau could publish the names and identities of beneficiaries of land allotees from 2000 to date, the scandal that will result is better imagined. Gbenga Ashafa, now a Senator, and Mrs. Awofisayo were the conduits through which these acts were being perpetrated. Both were also personally involved in various dubious land transactions on their own.

Prime land and properties have been used to pay off public officials who are personally close to Tinubu and Fashola for “jobs well done” or for being privy to sensitive information, notably:

(a) Dele Alake, former Commissioner for Information and Strategy, was sold a whole house on Alexander Road, Ikoyi where he lived as official quarters at a give-away price.

(b) Rauf Aregbesola, Osun State Governor, who was a former Commissioner in Lagos as well as Muiz Banire, also a former commissioner, got detached houses at Ladoke Akintola Street, GRA Ikeja for their “good job” while serving under Tinubu.

(c) Yemi Cardoso and Wale Edun, both former commissioners, were sold houses on Iru Close, and another location in old Ikoyi at give-away prices by Tinubu.


http://247latestnewsupdate.com/2013/06/30/nigerian-corruption-a-higher-level-tinubus-massive-looting-of-lagos-uncovered/

The Lagos State Police Command has apprehended a 37-year-old man, Ajibola Idowu, for allegedly kidnapping the daughter of his landlord for three years. The suspect was also said to have forcefully impregnated the victim, Modupe Brown, during captivity.


The police told a source that after Brown had given birth to the child, Ajibola refused to allow the child access to immunisation.

As a result, the child was said to have contracted polio disease and subsequently became crippled.

Lagos Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Damasus Ozoani, told sources that Ajibola, was arrested along with his mother, Ebun, who allegedly conspired with him to commit the act.

He said, “Brown, a 400 level student of Business Administration at the Lagos State University, was kidnapped by Ajibola who kept her in captivity with his family for “three years between 2010 and 2013.

“On September 19, 2013, policemen from Area E Command, went to the Sagamu area of Ogun State to rescue the victim and also arrested the mother of the abductor, who watched over the victim. Ajibola was later arrested in the Idumota area of Lagos Island.

“During the three years, Ajibola kept Brown in three locations -Oshogbo, Osun State, where she spent six months; Bariga, Lagos, where she spent six months; and Sagamu, Ogun State, where she spent about two years.

“Ajibola forcefully impregnated Brown while in captivity. She delivered a baby girl, who later became deformed as a result of Ajibola’s refusal to have the baby immunised against the Polio virus.”

While speaking with our correspondent, Brown described her ordeal in the hands of her abductor as a journey through the valley of the shadow of death. She said she was abducted at her father’s house in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos State.

She said, “I can’t even remember how he kidnapped me. All I know is that he held me captive for three years. It’s as if I was under a spell. Even when I was going to give birth, he did not allow me to go to a hospital. The baby was delivered at home and he was the one giving me medication.

“Even one day, when state officials came to the area to immunise children, he said he would not allow the child to be immunised, saying the drugs had been poisoned. Once, when I tried to leave, he threatened to kill me.”

PUNCH Metro learnt that during her time in captivity, the victim’s parents, who are retired civil servants, searched hospitals, mortuaries, police stations and churches for her all to no avail.

The victim’s father, Idowu Brown, said he had no clue that Ajibola was the abductor. He said, “I never knew it was Ajibola that kidnapped my daughter. He was my tenant for six years and greeted me every day. We even used to share jokes. He was aware that I had been looking “for my daughter for three years but he never said anything.

“When we could not find her, I reported the matter at FESTAC Police Division. It was in September this year that we heard from our daughter for the first time. She told us that she was in Sagamu and my wife went there.

“There we met Ajibola’s mother. That was how we found out that he (tenant) was the one behind the whole thing.”

The suspects however denied abducting the landlord’s daughter. Ajibola’s mother claimed her son and Brown were lovers, who decided to elope, maintaining that the case was not an abduction.

She said, “They were lovers. I never got involved in their matter until the child was born. I went to stay with them for about seven months to take care of the child, who was very ill. A few months after I left, they moved in with me at my three-bedroom house at Sagamu because they had been evicted.

“Ajibola was not staying with us because his business was in Lagos but I was with Brown “most of the time. Many times, I would ask her about her parents and when I could meet them but she kept on giving silly excuses until the day her mother came to my house with policemen.”

Ajibola, who is into satellite dish installation, said the plan to elope was hatched by Brown who paid N200, 000 into his bank account. The money was said to have been meant for her school project.

He said he could not understand why she would make such allegations against him.

“I did not kidnap her; we were lovers and decided to elope. Even when she was at my house, she used to make calls to her relatives telling them that she was alright,” he said.


http://www.nigerianeye.com/2013/10/landlords-daughter-abducted-impregnated.html

President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo on Wednesday took some time off the weekly meeting of Federal Executive to undergo series of checks conducted on them from a mobile clinic by Consultants from the National Hospital, Abuja to flag off Nigeria National Stroke Prevention Programme.

Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, the Minister of Health told reporters that the President and his deputy’s Body Mass Index, height, weight, blood pressure etc were measured and checked during the exercise as a demonstration of the two leaders’ commitment to encourage Nigerians to undergo periodic checkups as way of reducing incidence of sudden deaths.


He added that the two veins that supply blood to the brain were also tested to ensure that there is no any form of disruption.

According to the Minister, President Jonathan is concerned by the rising incidents of sudden deaths resulting from ailments like diabetes, heart disease, stroke which can be prevented if discovered on time.

Under the National Stroke Prevention Programme, government will not only encourage regular medical checkups, but will also initiate series of activities aimed at creating awareness about healthy lifestyles among Nigerians.

Onyebuchi said the President has already directed that all members of the Federal Executive Council must also undergo medical checkup like he did today and must also be involved in sporting activities to keep fit. He added that the campaign will also be taken to the National Assembly, especially since lawmakers had once called upon government to do something to reduce sudden deaths following the death of some of their members in the past.

Onyebuchi said though it will cost N50, 000.00 to undergo checks similar to one undertaken by the President today, the Federal Government has put a subsidy arrangement in place that will reduce the cost to N10, 000.00 for indigent Nigerians.

The Minister who added that it is not necessary for an individual to undergo all the checks at once, said the subsidy will only be enjoyed by those recommended by Doctors to take all the tests.

Onyebuchi said the subsidy will take effect immediately. He also added that some of the basic tests can be performed at primary healthcare centers while the teaching hospitals can handle the complex ones.

Meanwhile, Onyebuchi has asked the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD to ask its members to return to work. According to him, most of the demands of the Doctors who are presently on strike have been met by the government.

The Minister listed the demands of medical personnel to include lack of training for resident doctors, removal of the Medical Director of Owerri Federal Medical Centre and nonpayment of salaries of House Officers said the National Association of Medical Doctors is not in support of the strike.

He however said it is ironic that the Doctors were complaining about lack of training when President Jonathan was the one who reactivated foreign component of training for Resident Doctors after many years of lack of such opportunity. He said 50 Doctors benefitted from the foreign training in 2012 and the funds for the training for 2013 have been included in the budget of teaching hospitals to decentralize the process.

In the same vein, Onyebuchi said government has asked the doctors to formally write for the removal of the Owerri Medical Centre Medical Director through the Board of the hospital.

He also attributed the delay in the payment of salaries of House Officers to teething problems of the Integrated Payroll System being implemented across the civil service.

But he said the problem is already being tackled and some of the affected House Officers are already receiving their salaries. “We believe that being reasonable people, they should go back to work,” said the Minister.



http://www.nigerianeye.com/2013/10/pictures-jonathan-sambo-undergo-medical.html

Four years after its conception by some members of an Abuja parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a housing scheme for members of the church has taken the appearance of a fraud in the hands of three pastors and two sidekicks

Just as doctors occasionally need doctors when ill, pastors sometimes need deliverance when in the grip of an affliction. Deliverance–from the clutches of the law–is what Peter Imonhiosen, Adeola Oluwafemi Johnson and Cosmas Mbanu, all pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, currently need. Quickly. In the same boat with the pastors are Mr. Sunday Adeagbo, a lawyer, and Mr. Femi Shobola. The five men were arrested last month by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, following a petition that accused them of diversion of funds paid by church members for a housing scheme.

Back in 2009, members of the Resurrection Chapel, a parish of the Redeemed Church of God in Lugbe, Abuja, were presented with the prospect of owning property in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The project was initiated by a group, which calls itself Excellent Men Fellowship. The group kicked off the process of acquiring plots of land from the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority, FCDA, which has a series of mass housing development schemes as a response to the acute accommodation shortage in the country’s capital.

The Excellent Men Fellowship, EMF, which is made up of adult male members of the Resurrection Chapel and led by one Pastor Bisi Akande, urged the entire congregation to support the scheme. Like prospectors at a gold rush, members jumped at the opportunity. Financial contributions followed.

But before the process was completed, Pastor Akande was transferred from the parish during the routine transfer exercise of the RCCG. His successor was Pastor Imonhiosen. Before Akande left the parish, he turned over the bank statements for the contributions for the scheme to Imonhiosen. Shortly after Akande’s departure, the FCDA granted approval for and allocated parcel of land for an estate at Pyakassa in the Abuja Metropolitan Area Council, AMAC.

Things were looking skywards.

The progress being made attracted members of other RCCG parishes in Abuja. A bigger rush to benefit from the initiative followed. Intending beneficiaries speedily made requisite payments into the account opened by EMF for the purpose. Then came a hitch. The church was unable to take possession of the land because of the demand of the original land owners, the Gwari people in Pyakassa, for compensation for their farm crops. This, though, was quickly resolved. By early 2010, the acquisition was completed and the church called a meeting to give members who had paid an update.

At the meeting, which held in March, 2010, subscribers were told that each of them was entitled to a plot measuring 600 square metres. They were also told that no member, whatever his position in the church, would own more than one plot. This was to ensure that the plots, to be allocated on first-come-first-served basis, went round.

Each subscriber was to pay N250,000 net of all taxes. Subscribers were directed to pay into an account at the defunct Oceanic Bank (which has since been swallowed by EcoBank). The account name was RCCG-RC-EMHS (Project), the acronym of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Resurrection Chapel, Excellent Men Housing Scheme. The account number was 0421701200113.

Within a short time, the account started bulging with money. Other meetings on the scheme were held at the Resurrection House along 21(F) Road, A Close, Federal Housing Authority Estate, Lugbe, Abuja, where the project was conceived and initiated.

That was as good as it got, as crisis began to brew shortly after. Imonhiosen, under whose tenure the land was handed over to the church, was transferred from Resurrection Chapel to another parish. He was replaced by one Pastor Adeleye. Imonhiosen was said to have been piqued by his transfer. Sources within the church told this medium that Imonhiosen, abetted by Shobola, EMF President, and Johnson, the chapel’s assistant pastor, who doubles as the Chairman of the Resurrection Chapel’s Land Board, launched a plot to wrest the control of the scheme from the church.

Church sources said the handing over notes Adeleye got from Imonhiosen were devoid of information on the scheme. Adeleye’s efforts to take over the leadership of the scheme, as it is customary, were thwarted by Shobola and Johnson.

Adeleye was angered by Johnson’s involvement in the plot to take the scheme from the church and responded by sending him on transfer to a “small” RCCG parish in the Kuje Area Council of the FCT. It did not achieve Adeleye’s aim, as Johnson, Shobola, who still remained at the parish, and Imonhiosen hung on to the scheme. Shobola proceeded to register the scheme as Redeemer Excellent Men Housing Foundation, an entity with trustees, at the Corporate Affairs Commission. It was issued a Certificate of Incorporation No. CAC/IT/ NO. 0502. Shobola and his cohorts, naturally, emerged as members of the Board of Trustees. This was done with neither the knowledge nor consent of subscribers, whose contributions were used to procure the land. With this move, the pastors and church leaders removed the project from the control of the church.

Their whims began to dictate the direction the project would take. The first sign of this came via the alteration in the previously announced size of the plots. From the 600 square metres initially promised, the size was reviewed to 500 square metres.

Initial offer letters given to those who had paid the N250,000 were withdrawn. Subscribers were told to return the letters to the EMF executive council, which announced an upward cost review to N500,000.

Subscribers were also directed to pay another N200,000, which was said to be 30 per cent of estimated infrastructure levy. These directives left very little wriggle room because it gave a deadline of 30 June, 2010, barely one month after the changes were announced. Acceptance of the new terms, subscribers were told, was to be sent to Johnson, Chairman of the Land Board. This inevitably ensured that the control of the process was effectively taken from the Resurrection Chapel, initiator of the scheme. Despite not being a member of the parish any longer, he curiously still retained his position as head of the project.

The fresh terms and conditions notwithstanding, members hurriedly completed payment and collected new offer letters dated 30 June 2010. Last year, Augustine Eigbe, subscriber with File No. 0451, who left the RCCG in anger over the matter, told TheNEWS that subscribers, who had completed their payment and had been issued new offer letters, were taken to the land for the first time towards the end of 2010. According to Eigbe, they were informed that their plot numbers would be sent to them via sms on completion of clearing, demarcation and identification of plots.

Eigbe claimed that he expected the text message till sometime in April 2011, when he was informed that some subscribers had received their plot numbers through that medium and had even moved to site to commence development. “I was shocked to hear from one of us that some people had already moved to site and had started construction, while I was yet to receive the sms for my plot number though I had completed my payment of N1,030,000 and had been issued with all the receipts,” he said.

It was the same with Mr. Oluyemi Ojudu, subscriber with File No. 0744. Both subscribers as well as many others were excluded from the allocation process. A worker in the church, who was neither given a plot number nor allotted any plot despite completing payment, said: “My brother, what can I do? As a worker in RCCG, I cannot take them to court or even involve the police. It won’t speak well of us as members of the church. I leave them to God and surely, God will expose them.”

His wish appears to have been granted.

In 2011, the pastors invited subscribers to another meeting, where it was announced that the cost of the plot allotted had risen to N1.5 million. The steep rise was attributed to what the pastors claimed was the high cost of infrastructure facilities planned for the estate. All the former allocation letters were again withdrawn, with a promise of reallocation upon payment of the new rate.

Despite having been tossed up and down in the past, subscribers retained hope and went to look for money to meet the new terms to avoid losing out.

That turned out to be the last time they would acquiesce to the demands of the pastors. Upon full payment of the new rate–for the plots already reduced by 100 square metres–many subscribers were denied allocation of plots on the excuse that the plots on the estate had been exhausted. It did not escape subscribers’ attention that non-members of their parish and persons not involved at the beginning were allocated plots after paying N4 million per plot. At that time, the pastors had decided to sell the land at a commercial rate. Those willing to pay N4 million were said to have been allocated more than a plot each, with payments going into an entirely new account opened by the pastors.

The pastors and their cohorts justified this with the claim that they had to sell some of the plots at the commercial rate to enable them fund infrastructural development on the estate. They explained that members whose plots were not reallocated to them would be considered first in another scheme that was in the pipeline.

At one of the meetings between subscribers and the management committee, Pastor Johnson informed them that his committee had spent N162 million on the estate. He claimed that N80 million went into the acquisition of the land, while N82 million was expended on perfecting the title. These claims were not accompanied by any proof.

On the sale to non-RCCG members at the commercial rate–at the expense of fully paid up original subscribers–Johnson told his audience that his committee spent N300 million on the provision of roads, boreholes and erosion control. Evidence on the site declined to support these claims.

He then pushed his luck too far when he told allottees that they entered into a contract with the management committee upon the acceptance of their allocation papers and warned them against speaking to the press on matters relating to the estate. He then told those who believe they have better ideas in the management of such a scheme to go and set up theirs.

With that, subscribers flew into rage, yelling and violently demanding evidence in support of the claims made, especially that of infrastructural development.

The matter spilled into public domain via the press.

Following media reports, the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, dispatched a team led by one Pastor Pitan Adeboye from the church’s headquarters to investigate the matter and audit the accounts of the project.

To the subscribers’ chagrin, the investigative panel did not invite them. They were also not issued audited reports of the scheme’s accounts or copies of the panel’s investigation report.

The panel was said to have met with only the pastors and worked with their narration of events. Upon the presentation of the report of the panel to Adeboye, the General Overseer recommended, among others things, the suspension of the “management committee” or “Board of Trustees” of the scheme and the borrowing of money from a financial institution to make refund to those who paid but got no plots.

Adeboye also directed that a caretaker committee be set up to take over the management of the scheme.

The leadership of the church in the North implemented Adeboye’s directives and set up a caretaker committee under the leadership of Pastor Amos Dele Babade, Provincial Pastor of FCT Province 4, with Mr. Sule Paul, a legal practitioner and church leader, as secretary.

With the sacking of Imonhiosen, Johnson and their gang members, the caretaker committee recovered some of the scheme’s properties. These include a brand new Toyota Hilux truck, certificate of incorporation used to severe the scheme from the church as well as documents relating to the project land and bank statements.

However, the caretaker committee displeased subscribers when it announced that funds had been sourced to pay off those who missed out on plots, as directed by Adeboye. Subscribers angrily asked how the borrowed funds would be repaid and by whom since the church had washed its hands off the scheme. They also wanted to know how money realised thus far was spent by the sacked board before real progress could be made. They feared that successful subscribers at the housing scheme would later be asked to contribute more money for the repayment of the loan and as such, demanded to know how and where the funds were sourced and at what terms such would be repaid.

This necessitated another meeting, which was attended by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police from the Force Headquarters, who was invited by the caretaker committee to forestall the outbreak of violence.

At the meeting, the caretaker committee explained how members of the ousted management committee frustrated its efforts to resolve the crisis by their introduction of an outstanding bill of N75 million, which they claimed were owed to contractors for work done on the estate. The new bill was submitted by Imonhiosen’s team after the caretaker committee said it had secured N40million for the reimbursement of those who completed payment, but were not given plots.

The caretaker committee accused the sacked board members of deliberately frustrating the church’s genuine efforts to take over and resolve the issues at the scheme and suggested the arrest of Imonhiosen and his gang.

The police duly obliged. But upon their arrest by policemen from the Lugbe Police Station, the caretaker committee handed back all the recovered items, including bank documents, to the sacked board without any explanation.

This irked the subscribers, who accused the church leadership of abetting the pastors. Thereafter, the subscribers set up a committee to fight their corner. The subscribers’ committee challenged the caretaker committee’s handling of the issues and demanded a copy of the investigation report as well as the audited report sent from the church’s headquarters.

Threats of legal action followed, prompting a disclaimer from the church.

On 15 May 2013, the disclaimer published in THE PUNCH warned the general public that RCCG Region 10 has no hand in the Redeemer Excellent Men Housing Foundation (the new name the project was given) and warned that the church has no liability for the activities of the operators of the scheme. The disclaimer, signed by Sule Paul’s law firm, also warned that the use of the name of RCCG on the letterhead and receipt of the scheme as well as on the signboards of the scheme’s various sites, was done by the operators in their bid to misinform the public. The church, however, kept the Toyota Hilux truck it recovered from the ousted committee.

It was on account of the dissatisfaction with the way the church leadership has handled the matter that some subscribers petitioned the EFCC. The petition, signed on behalf of over 200 subscribers by their lawyer, Rotimi Adalumo, accused the ousted board of embezzling about N600 million through series of accounts opened and managed by Pastor Johnson and his friends.

It called on the EFCC to compel them to render full and detailed account of their stewardship from 2009, when the scheme came into being, and retrieve the original land documents of the housing scheme from the church officials.

Acting spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed receipt of the petition, but declined further comments because the allegations are still being investigated.

An investigation or even prosecution of the accused may not deliver the reprieve that subscribers desperately seek. This is because the Federal Capital Development Authority deems the estate an illegal development and has marked it for demolition. This development has provoked further questions on the N82 million the pastors claimed was spent on regularising the title to the land.

As at press time, Pastor Johnson, who had earlier been fingered in an N8 million scam at his former post in Calabar, has been released on administrative bail. So have Imonhiosen, Adeagbo, Shobola and Mbanu. They have been directed to report daily at the EFCC pending conclusion of investigations.

When TheNEWS met Johnson last year, he made light of the brewing disenchantment over the project. He said there was no way a project of that magnitude would not feature dissensions, which he attributed to disgruntled elements.

On the refusal to refund money to subscribers that demanded such, Johnson said he and his team were working on giving them their money back. He pleaded that those concerned should give him and his colleagues more time to enable them sell off some of the remaining plots at commercial rates to raise more money to refund.

Adeagbo, who functioned as the scheme’s legal officer, also told this magazine last year that they received letters from some subscribers asking for refund, but maintained that their inability to refund just yet was not enough for some of the “disgruntled elements” to want to tarnish the name of the church by rushing to the press. He warned that as a lawyer, he would not hesitate to go to court if he felt maligned in the press. He is likely to be in court–not to fight defamation, but to answer charges of corruption.



http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/10/09/exlusive-redeemed-pastors-in-n600m-scam/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbI09ouhRxc

Another dead man on a bike during his wake keep

The man pictured below is dead, he was a lover of bikes during his lifetime, so his family decided to hour him while dead by placing him on a bike during his wake keep!!!

Wonder shall never end. What would the family had done if he had been a lover of women or beer? hmmmmm.........

Officials of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos Division, were jolted by the 7,158-page suit which was on September 30 filed by human rights lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, on behalf of 1,678 former employees of Enterprise Bank Limited.

No suit in the history of the court was said to have been that voluminous.

Five copies of the 7,252-page documents, making a total of 35,790 pages, were filed on behalf of the plaintiffs.

The court officials initially refused to accept the massive documents, which were taken to the court registry by some members of Aturu’s staff.

When the court officials refused to accept the massive court papers, the handlers were said to have immediately put a call to Aturu, who asked them to report the case to a senior registrar of the court.

The senior official, who had yet to see the bulky documents, immediately dismissed the excuse his juniors might have possibly given for rejecting the processes. However, he opted to go to the registry, apparently to scold the workers for being “lazy”.

His countenance however changed when he saw the sprawling mass of documents. His bottled fury was said to have immediately metamorphosed to shock. He was said to have redirected the rage which he had wanted to unleash on his subordinates for being lazy, at Aturu’s staff, querying the basis for the enormity of the court processes.

He reluctantly directed his juniors to accept the documents since the rules of the National Industrial Court, unlike that of the Court of Appeal, did not put limit on the number of pages court processes must have.

Similar scenario was said to have played out when the court processes were served on Enterprise Bank Limited, which is the second defendant in the suit.

At the Head Office of the Enterprise Bank Ltd in Victoria Island, Lagos, legal officers of the bank were said to be pushing the responsibility of accepting the court process to one another.

The suit was filed by Aturu on behalf 1,678 sacked workers of the Enterprise Bank Limited who were seeking about N2.75bn entitlements from the bank.

Our correspondent who saw a copy of the 7,158-page court documents observed that the plaintiffs’ statement of facts alone took 1,820 pages. The narration of facts took 45 pages; the computation of the claimant’s claims took 1,790 and the reliefs took 43 pages.

The documents also comprise separate bundle of 42 pages of document; 142 pages of general complaints; 1668 pages of the claimants’ letters of appointment and 1,701 pages of statements on oath. Two pages of list of witnesses and another two pages of list of documents were also part of the documents.

When contacted, Aturu explained that the number of the claimants involved and the complexity of the issues raised in the suit were largely responsible for the size of the processes.


http://www.punchng.com/feature/the-law-you/aturus-7000-page-suit-scares-court-officials-defendants-staff/

CBN and other regulatory bodies, including the Civil Rights organizations, NLC etc, should look into this. It's absurd!!!!!

PHOTOS: EXCLUSIVE PICTURES OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND MOST SOPHISTICATED HOUSE EVER BUILT IN NIGERIA. WHAT DO YOU THINK?




http://aythecomedian..com/2013/10/photos-exclusive-pictures-of-most_3.html?spref=fb

Facts emerged yesterday on the probable reasons the chartered Embraer 120 aircraft carrying the corpse of former Ondo State governor, Chief Olusegun Agagu, crashed on Thursday minutes after it took off from the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos.

The ill-fated plane reportedly had 20 passengers, 13 of which died while the seven others were left in critical conditions. Among the casualties was the Ondo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr. Deji Falae, who was said to be the eldest son of elder statesman and candidate of the AD/APP alliance in the 1999 presidential election, Chief Olu Falae.

Also dead in the crash were Mr. Tunji Okusanya, the proprietor of Nigeria’s most popular casket making/marketing outfit, MIC Funeral Company, his son Tunji Okusanya Jnr, no fewer than four of his staff, the pilot of the plane, Captain Yakubu and five others.

While the ill-fated 30-passenger aircraft was said to have only 20 people on board, a reliable aviation source insisted yesterday that the plane might have crashed because it was overloaded in some other ways.

The source, who pleaded not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, told our correspondent that at the time it crashed, the aircraft had five-hour endurance fuel, which constituted unnecessary burden on the plane because it only needed just about a third of that quantity of fuel for a return trip from Lagos to Akure.

“The aviation expert said: “It is true that the plane is designed for 30 passengers and there were only 20 passengers on board, but it was loaded with too much fuel, and that is professionally wrong.

“The aircraft had five-hour endurance fuel for a return journey that would not take more than one hour.

“Remember that the aircraft was also carrying a corpse, and you know that the weight of a corpse is more than that of a living person. This combined with the weight of the casket and the volume of fuel in the aircraft probably weighed it down as it approached the air.”

The foregoing, the source said, was compounded by the fact that the two engines of the aircraft might not have been in perfect conditions. Hence, when one of the engines packed up, the weight of the aircraft became too much for the other.

“As it taxied for take-off, the pilot probably realised that the plane had lost an engine, but he believed that he was already at a point that we in the aviation sector call the “critical point of no return.” If he had aborted the flight at that point, the impact would have been much more.

“The pilot probably had to continue to go up or ‘ pull off ‘ in the hope that the other engine could take the aircraft to a level where it could return to land and abort the flight. But whereas it is possible to stabilise with one engine when an aircraft is in the air, it is very dangerous to take off or land with one engine.”

By the account of the airliners, the ill-fated aircraft’s last flight was in August while it underwent a A-check in June, meaning that it did not fly in the whole of September. The expert said this was probably so because the aircraft , usually used for chartered services, was not hired during the period, which underscores the need for vigorous check by ground officers who certified it fit to be airborne.

The aviation expert also said communication between the pilot and the traffic controllers at the airport could not have been possible because the aircraft had not gained altitude for it to come under aerial radar control

Explaining the various stages of control before an aircraft is airborne, the source said: “There are four stages of control. The first stage is on the ground when the necessary checks are made to certify the aircraft fit. The second is the tower stage where the control tower declares the captain free to take off.

“The third is the approach stage where the control tower monitors the aircraft to see that it stabilises. The fourth is the radar stage when the plane is airborne and communication between the pilot and air traffic controllers is possible.

“The aircraft was at the third stage which is ‘approach’ when it crashed on Thursday.”

The propeller aircraft belonging to Associated Airlines crashed into the disused compound of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the premises of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport around 9.32 am on Thursday minutes after it took off from the local wing of the airport.

The chartered plane had hit the wall demarcation and broke into two before it went up in flames after about 25 minutes.


http://thenationonlineng.net/new/agagu-why-plane-crashed/?fb_action_ids=10202036162564663&fb_action_types=og.likes