₦airaland Forum

ijigbamigb: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/us-election-tears-pdp-acn-others-apart/

[size=15pt]US election tears PDP, ACN, others apart[/size]

A husband and wife are getting all snugly in bed. The passion is heating up as it sometimes does.

But then the wife suddenly stops and says "I don’t feel like it, I just want you to hold me." "WHAT!?" says her husband. The wife explains that he must be in tune with her emotional needs as a Woman. He realizes that nothing is going to happen tonight and he might as well deal with it.

The next day the husband takes her shopping at a big department store. He walks around and has her try on three very expensive outfits. She can’t decide. He tells his wife to take all three of them. They head to the shoe department and pick up matching shoes worth $200 each.

The pair go to the jewelry department where she finds a set of diamond earrings that her husband agrees to buy for her. The wife is so excited. She thinks her husband has flipped out - but she doesn't care. She goes for the matching tennis bracelet. The husband says "You don’t even play tennis, but if you like it then let’s get it."

The wife is jumping up and down so excited she cannot even believe what is going on. She says to her husband, "I’m ready to go, let’s go to the cashier."

The husband stops and says, "No, honey I don’t feel like buying all this stuff now." The wife’s face goes blank. "Honey - I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while."

The look on her face is indescribable and she is about to explode as her husband says, "You must be in tune with my financial needs as a Man."

The Federal Government may have commenced considering the criteria for compensating members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, particularly those who had suffered one form of injustice or the other.

Also there were indications on Sunday that the government might be willing to pay compensation to the sect's members "who were seen to have been killed unjustly."

A very dependable source in the Presidency told The PUNCH on Sunday that the Federal Government was not willing to miss the opportunity for dialogue as offered by a man believed to be the sect's second-in-command, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz.

For this reason, he said, the government was willing to pay compensation, otherwise known as Diyya, to halt attacks by the sect.

He said, "I can confirm to you that it is true that the group is currently dialoguing with the government. The good news is that they are talking and they have promised to cease fire once some of their demands are met.

"For conditions that are not difficult to meet such as the demand for Diyya for their 24 identified members that were killed, the government may meet such demands.

"Government can also give critical thought to those found to be innocent, but are being detained or prosecuted, particularly women and children as demanded by the group since they do not have any objection to the trial of those genuinely involved in crime."

It was, however, learnt that the government might not reach out to former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to head the team that would dialogue with Boko Haram, as requested by the sect.

The sect had on Thursday expressed its desire to ceasefire and enter into dialogue with the government but demanded that Buhari should lead the discussion that must be held in Saudi Arabia.

But the Congress for Progressive Change had already said that Buhari, who is the national leader of the party, had nothing to do with members of the sect.

Our source said, "He (Buhari) is a former Head of State and he has people who speak for him. It has been widely reported that he would not take the offer, so why will government reach out to him?"

The same source had in August told one of our correspondents that government might accede to the sect's demand for the payment of compensation or Diyya to Boko Haram members considered "killed unjustly" by security forces.

This formed an August 19, 2012 exclusive report published by SUNDAY PUNCH.

In the report, the sect was said to have identified about 24 of such members whom it claimed were killed unjustly.

One of them was the leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2010 in Maiduguri, after he had been reportedly captured alive by soldiers.

Yusuf was then handed over to the police, under whose custody, he died mysteriously.

The PUNCH learnt that the sect had put the compensation to the family of the 24 deceased members at N2m each.

Consequently, for the 24 families, the Diyya to be paid is N48m.

Apart from compensation, the sect is also pressing for the release of those unjustly detained.

Shortly after the sect rolled out its conditions for ceasefire on Thursday, the Presidency described it as a welcome development, "if it was intended to achieve the objectives of peace and security."

Meanwhile, one of the people named by Boko Haram as mediators, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, said on Sunday that neither the Federal Government nor the sect had reached out to him over the proposed peace talks between the two parties.

The senator, however, refused to answer the question on whether he would be willing to play a mediatory role if invited by any of the parties or not.

The former governor said, "I have not been contacted by anybody, either from the Federal Government side or Boko Haram.

"What you have been hearing on radio or on televisions is false, thank you."

Ibrahim is among the six mediators named by the sect on Thursday that would represent it in the proposed negotiation with the Federal Government

Others are a former Yobe State Governor, Shettima Ali Monguno; Ambassador Gaji Galtimari , Hajia Aisha Wakili and her husband, Alkali Wakili.

The group also gave a condition that the discussion with the government must take place in Saudi Arabia .

Ibrahim, who represents Yobe Central in the Senate, had been outspoken on issues of marginalisation of the North-East, saying that the situation had resulted in the heightened insecurity problem in the region.

Only last week, he denied predicting a situation "bigger than Boko Haram" after newspapers quoted him as justifying the sect's insurgency as a result of long period of neglect of the North-East.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram on Sunday denied allegations that it was behind the killing of Maj-Gen. Mamman Shuwa and other politicians in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Shuwa was gunned down on Friday in his house at Gwange in Maiduguri along with his guests shortly before the Juma'at prayer, and the Joint Task Force in a statement said the killers were members of the sect.

Forty other people were reportedly killed in a bloodbath in another part of Maiduguri on Thursday night.

*Ileke-IdI:
Nah, God is an imagination.

What do I tell my black child if Barack Obama, America's first black president, loses his bid for re-election? This is a question many parents are asking themselves — especially those who would blame the loss on racism.

Jubilant black parents on the front pages of newspapers, the day after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, said things like, "for the first time" they could "sincerely" say to their children that a black person could realistically aspire to become president of the United States.

The New York Times wrote: "That a new day had dawned was immediately apparent at breakfast on Wednesday at Eagle Academy, a young public school in the spot where the often hard-edged Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville and Ocean Hill intersect: The sixth-grade boys sat in silence over their eggs, biscuits and apple juice.

"They were too busy poring over the transcripts of President-elect Barack Obama's speech that teachers had handed them as they walked in. Too tired, perhaps, from having been awoken at midnight to hear the news from their tearful mothers. ...
"The 30-year-old principal, Rashad Meade, pushed his proteges, asking why they thought ... this moment was so important ... why their parents had woken them the night before.

"Isaiah Purcell, who is 11, started to say something about the issues, then trailed off. He picked up again, asserting that Mr. Obama's ascendancy to the White House 'makes us think that we could accomplish anything when you put your mind to it (emphasis added).'"

Goodness! Pre-Obama, what were these parents and teachers telling these kids about their future? What would the teary-eyed parents have said had Obama lost? Would they have told their children that racism remains a major force in America and Obama's defeat proves the point? And assuming he loses his bid for re-election, what will this defeat say about "race" in America?

My father, a former Marine, World War II vet, was born to an illiterate single mother in Athens, Ga. An only child, he never met his biological father. He was a 14-year-old teenager in that Jim Crow South when the Great Depression began. Hard, hard knocks.

But as I write in my new book, "Dear Father, Dear Son," my father taught my brothers and me that the only barrier to success is lack of effort. My Huntsville, Alabama-born mother also taught us that, through education and steady application, goals could be achieved — no matter how lofty.
Yes, even the presidency of the United States.

I write: "Mom made me feel like I could spit lightening and make bullets bounce off my chest. She sat me down on the front porch when I was about 6 years old. She had an illustrated book of all the presidents from George Washington to Dwight Eisenhower. We talked about their achievements and disappointments.
"'Larry,' she said, tapping the book, 'if you work hard enough and want it bad enough, someday you can be in this book.'"
My parents told us that no one can make you feel inferior without your permission. In high school, we read a sad, bitter poem about racism in a black literature course:

"While riding through old Baltimore, so small and full of glee,
"I saw a young Baltimorean keep a-lookin' straight at me.
"Now, he was young and very small, and I was not much bigger
"And so I smiled, but he put out his tongue and called me 'nigger.'
"I saw the whole of Baltimore from May until September,
"Of all the things that happened there, that's all that I remember."

The teacher angrily talked about the permanent damage done to this little boy's psyche. The permanent stain of racism. The assault on the little boy's dignity. The boy, said the teacher, will never be the same. By the time the bell sounded, everyone was angry.

When I got home, I read the poem to my mother. She was in the kitchen, cooking a pot of greens. When I finished the last line, she turned, big spoon in hand, and looked me in the eye.
"Too bad," she said, "that boy let something so trivial spoil his vacation."

If Obama loses, how many parents will tell their children that his race did him in? Already, The Associated Press published a poll supposedly showing that the negative "racial attitudes" people hold against blacks could likely cost Obama 2 points in the election.
Really?

Not only does Obama benefit from a near-unanimous black vote, but also from the many whites who voted for Obama because of his race. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, explained in 2008: "This is (their) chance to demonstrate that we have been able to get this boogeyman called race behind us. And so they are going to vote for him, whether he has credentials or not, whether he has any experience."

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson became the first black manager in the modern major leagues. There have been many since. Robinson's hiring made a statement about the irrelevance of race. Years later, when his team underperformed, Robinson was fired.

Obama can be fired, as well.

USAMarshal: Your own brain needs more upgrade. You clearly see a smoothly fabricated story and you can't tell.

A woman who was dragged into an alleyway and raped after a night out was subjected to a second horrifying ordeal by another man as she lay recovering from the attack.

Mustafa Yussuf was the first to prey on the woman as she walked through Manchester city centre on New year’s Eve, marching her into Church Street car park and raping her in a nearby lane.

After the assault the then 20-year-old fled the scene, leaving the woman helpless.
It was then that, instead of assisting her, another man pounced on the woman and raped her.

The distressing details of the double rape emerged as Yussuf, now 21, from Manchester, was jailed for seven years for the attack.
He claimed to have had a consensual encounter with the woman but denied rape.

But a jury at Manchester Crown Court trial rejected his account and found him guilty.
Judge Martin Steiger QC, sentencing, said he ‘hadn’t the slightest doubt’ that Yussuf was ‘perfectly aware’ the woman was too drunk to consent to any activity.

The court heard that the ‘mature’ woman had drunk to excess because of relationship problems, with CCTV showing she was unable to stand.
She was refused re-entry to the nightclub when she asked to be allowed in to search for her lost handbag.

In the aftermath of the double-rape attack she needed strangers’ help to get home and she was unable to remember what had happened to her for two hours.
Zoe Nield, defending, said: ‘This offence does appear to be an isolated incident – it was out of character for this defendant.’

The victim told court that her life had been shattered by the attack and had been isolated by a fear of going out.
Judge Steiger said: ‘At some point in the course of her ordeal she was raped by another individual.

‘There was never any charge laid against this defendant [Yussuf] for being party to that incident, which the complainant found in many ways the most traumatic feature of her ordeal.’
Another man was arrested for the second rape but released without charge

What could have prompted a 21-year-old man to send a gang armed robbers, to which he belongs, after his own sister? The reason was revealed by a suspected armed robber, Amuda Lawal Najim, who was recently nabbed by the police in Osun State. OLUWATOYIN MALIK reports.


Just like the blood of Abel cried from the ground when his brother, Cain, killed him, according to a biblical story, so did the the bond between a notorious armed robber, Amuda Lawal Najim and his sister, Mrs Sade Sonibare, cried out in protest early this month when the former led his six-man gang of armed robbers to the sister's resident, but was caught few hours after the robbery operation.


Information gathered by Crime Features had it that Najim (21), in company of Adewale Wasiu (28), Lawal Abiodun (27), Abiodun Emmanuel (25), Wale Osunleye (30) and another gang member popularly called KB, who is currently at large, invaded Igbo-Ile area in Ikirun, Osun State, on Wednesday, October 10 at about 12 midnight and attacked the residents while armed with a dane gun, a cut-to-size double-barrel gun and iron rods.


About seven residents, among whom were Najim's sister, Mrs Sonibare, her husband, Akeem, and an 80-year-old woman, Mrs Olasunkanmi Morufu, were reportedly robbed of a huge sum of money, jewellery and other valuables. Not only that, Najim reportedly instructed his gang members to beat his sister who had just been delivered of a baby, an instruction they carried out, inflicting her with serious injuries. They were said to have also put a knife to her baby's neck, threatening to kill him.


Madam Olasunkanmi was also not spared, as the elderly woman was also thoroughly beaten, after which the armed robbers escaped with their loot. Or so they thought.


Crime Features learnt that immediately the police were alerted to the gang's activities, they went after them. This led to an exchange of fire between the police and the gang, with some of the gang members sustaining gunshot injuries. They, however, escaped into the bush.


After sharing their loot, the gang members were said to have divided themselves into two groups and two of them had walked through hills in the town to link Iree, a nearby town, while others hid in the bush till dawn.


Crime Features gathered that the okada man, who noticed the blood stains on the bodies of the two suspected armed robbers he picked at Iree, became suspicious of their personality . After dropping them at the motor park, the okada man was said to have alerted some people who in turn alerted the police.


The policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer at Ikirun, immediately swung into action and went ahead of the vehicle to block the road. After stopping the bus, they asked all the passengers to disembark for searching. They noticed the two men who had injuries on their bodies, as well as cash and some jewelry. When questioned, they were said to have lied that they had an accident.


Meanwhile, the other three who also hid in a bush in Ikirun were suspected by the people when they came out from the bush and the Divisional Police Officer at Ila was also alerted. When questioned by the DPO and his men after they were handed over to them, they also lied that they went somewhere and had an accident while on okada.


The five armed robbers, however, opened up when they were transferred to the anti-robbery section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Osogbo. It was there that Najim confessed to the police that he was the one who led his gang members to his sister's house. He revealed further that he stole N75,000 from his sister in February and ran away. The sum of N1, 144,000, jewellery valued at N120,000, charms and other valuables were also recovered from the suspects.


Narrating how he became a notorious armed robber to Crime Features, Najim said: "When I stole N75,000 from my sister and her husband, I ran away. When I had no where to stay, I left for Ibadan where I met the gang. I joined them for robbery operation and we robbed at Challenge and Ago Taylor areas of Ibadan.


"After following the gang to some operations, they asked me to suggest a 'business' they could do because I had been benefitting from the operations which other people suggested. That was how I remembered that my brother-in-law is a cocoa merchant and he used to handle a lot of cash at home.


"I knew there was no way he would not have money, so I decided to lead my gang to my sister's house. When we got there, I stood outside with a gun while others went in. I also heard that my sister just delivered and held the naming ceremony of the new-born baby before our arrival. I then thought that it was an opportunity to get my pound of flesh back if someone who was not ready to take care of me could be celebrating.


"I asked my gang member to deal with my sister very well. That was why they beat her. They even put a knife on the baby's neck, threatening to kill him. I heard her and her husband begging my gang members not to kill the baby.


"In the Ibadan operations, we usually invaded buildings in the dead of the night to inflict injuries on our victims and rob them of their valuables. We had four guns that we were using for our operations. All the guns were dane guns that we forcibly took from night guards. We usually targetted the night guards so that we could increase the number of weapons in our armoury.


"Immediately we left Ikirun after the operation in my sister's house, we went to Iree town. In Iree town, we mounted an okada and went to the motor park to board a vehicle to Ibadan. We were stopped by the police on the way and searched. When they found a lot of money on me and I could not give them a satisfactory explanation, I was arrested ."


Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State, Mrs Folasade Odoro, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said that the case was still being investigated by the anti-robbery section, adding that efforts were still on to apprehend the sixth suspect who is on the run.