₦airaland Forum

UYCO: GARRI, it is obvious that you don't even know what you are talking about . I am taking the issues you raised one after the other and you are here ranting like an animal. What do you know about Delta State? You have not answerd my question on the administrative building , you are jumping to another issue. Learn to exhibit maturity in a public domain like this before you make mockery of yourself in a bid to satisfy your DPP pay master

ogusbaba1: @Garri ehen na....

Trachea: It is obvious from comments that MFM members are desperately trying to defend the action of the church workers.SR was detailed in their write up, with names of people it talked to and dates, while MFM's statement just attempt to explain away the incident. I believe we should detach our emotions enough to decipher what is right or wrong especially in religious matters. One other thing... There is a video of the molestation.Its dificult to argue with video evidence. Don't you think?

ogusbaba1: @garri na monkeyleg jst dey do dat one oo, na because i dey like cry na e cos am oo

5columnist: Sowore is a two faced bleeper! He is milking the international world that supports free speech through his rogue media outfit. An agent of Tinubu, Acn and possibly boko haram as he is known to work closely with el-ruffia.

The question is, why come to the house of God to cause confusion if you are not an agent of the devil?

Sowore has history of being rude to established authority. Definition of human rights is relative. You can come to my house and want to enter my bedroom without permission. That in itself is a criminal offense to cross boundaries set up to maintain orderliness. Stupid boy with no training. A disgrace to Yoruba tribe. A tribe known for their respect for establishments and institutions as well as regards for elders.

“Sahara crew never applied and was never accredited as one of the media organizations to cover the event, nevertheless, they were allowed inside the prayer city to film the event

ballabriggs: This is the only war I will happily supply all parties weeapons of mass destruction to destroy themselves.

PDP the den of killers.

In other stories, Jona done carry another N2 trillion run O. N2 trillion plus N5 trillion wey miss before is equals to N7 trillion. Ovoko!!!

samuelorija218: am not in support of any brutality or man- handling of anybody but there are some laid down principles you need to follow to carry out some actions. The church will definitely apologise if the maltreatment story is true.

comr.odio-odio:
Priest, can you tell any meaningful development that is going on on Anambra state right now, in Delta State we have numerous capital projects and all sector has been affected in this present administration and the government wants to consolidate on that to better the livelihood of Deltans.

Macaulay reported later that when he arrived for the interview at the church premises in Lagos, he met young church members on Facebook and the SaharaReporters website writing anonymous comments to condemn the Saharareporters crew.

blink182: Somebody shout haleluya...it is a miracle...pastor, pastor...talk to me...there is a country here, they finally decided to generate 5000mw....woohooo...dancing azonto...give the moro ns a big hand...its a miracle!

ogusbaba1: Hahahah Garri God forbit no mind our brother Monkeyleg oo

UYCO: GARRY, YOU ARE A BIG FOOL. IS IT ECONOMICAL FOR MOST MINISTRIES AND GOVERNMENT PARASTATALS TO BE ACCOMMODATED IN RENTED APARTMENT? THE ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING IS LONG OVERDUE. GOD BLESS UDUAGHAN FOR HIS FORESIGHT.

free13: I speak like a street urchin. First class hoodrat
No wonder my hopeless and useless life depends on my gang of criminal paymasters. I'm a lost soul.

Jonathan And Obasanjo Feud - Implications For 2015 By Theophilus Ilevbare

January 13, 2013 - 02:30 — siteadmin

The latest round of bickering and mudslinging between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and incumbent Goodluck Jonathan took a new twist when the former chose the auspicious occasion of a CNN interview to criticise Jonathan’s approach to the Boko Haram insurgency, he said “To deal with a group like that, you need a carrot and stick. The carrot is finding out how to reach out to them. When you try to reach out to them and they are not amenable to being reached out to, you have to use the stick”.

Prior to Obasanjo’s recent comment, he had stunned his audience, at a gathering to review the unemployment in the west African sub-region tagged the West African Regional Conference on Youth Employment held in Dakar, Senegal, as he fired salvos at his protégé. The ex-President as a guest speaker predicted a revolution was looming in Nigeria if the high rate of youth unemployment which he put at 72 percent remains unchecked and should the Jonathan government fail to create employment, the attendant catastrophe would consume the elite, himself included.

Still smarting from his Dakar outburst, he continued his barrage at Jonathan, this time around in Warri, at an event marking the fortieth year calling to ministry in the vineyard of God of CAN President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, where he described the president as a weak leader pointing to the government’s lukewarm approach to the Boko Haram crisis and the pervading insecurity in the country that could have been effectively tackled if decisive action had been taken by the Jonathan administration.

November last year, President Jonathan broke his silence in a televised media chat as he responded to Obasanjo’s prescription, describing the military invasion (to fish out militants who killed some security men) and brute use of force on the people of Odi as futile as it only resulted in bloodshed and lose of innocent lives. .

Not long ago, Obasanjo also took a swipe at Jonathan’s administration for waste of the country’s foreign reserve, put at about $35 billion in 2007.  Obasanjo said, “We left what we call excess crude, let’s build it for rainy day, up to $35 billion; within three years, the $35 billion disappeared. Whether the money disappeared or it was shared, the fact remains that $35 billion disappeared from the foreign reserve I left behind in office. When we left that money, we thought we were leaving it for the rainy day...”

Meanwhile as a strategy to checkmate Obasanjo’s overbearing influence on the ruling Peoples Democratic Pary (PDP), loyalist to the incumbent Jonathan have been mounting pressure on government to petition Obasanjo to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague on the invasion of Odi by the military which left civilians dead, by any standard this equates to crimes against humanity. Another ploy to tame the rampaging former president are plans to expose some of his misdeeds during his 8-year unimpressive tenure.

The postponement of the BoT chairman (s)election can easily be linked to the face-off between President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as loyalists of both men came to a stand-off in their bid to elect a new chairman, which interestingly was the only agenda of the meeting.

Delegates where thorn in two minds as to whom to pick amid intense lobbying for the former president's candidate Ahmadu Alli, a former chairman of the party, and President Jonathan's prefered choice - the newly appointed chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority - Tony Anenih, with the sobriquet, 'Mr Fix It’.

As events unfolded, it became crystal clear that the battle for the BoT chairmanship had a direct bearing with the tussle for the Presidential ticket of the PDP in 2015 and whoever emerges as chairman is crucial to that agenda. Jonathan’s group opposed the election of Obasanjo's anointed candidate, Alli. His group convinced other members that it won't augur well for Anenih to be the chairman of NPA and BoT, as others should be given the opportunity to serve the party. Apparently, the Jonathan camp opposed Pro-Obasanjo’s choice of Alli, arguing that such would be detrimental to Jonathan's second term ambition. On the other hand, Anenih's emergence as chairman might hinder the choice of Obasanjo's candidate for the presidential race in 2015. Therein lies the stand-off.

The ex-President is getting tacit support from northern political figures of PDP extraction especially those eyeing the 2015 presidential ticket. They consider his feud with Jonathan as capable of withering his prowess and ultimately truncate Jonathan’s ambition to contest the 2015 elections. These northerners still feel shortchanged that the two terms of Yar’adua’s administration which began in 2007 was not completed before Jonathan came onboard shoving aside the zoning arrangement of the PDP. They reason power should return to the north in 2015 and any role Mr Obasanjo can play to rejig would be welcomed. This much Mr Obasanjo displayed when he invited politicians from the north to the launch of a ‘political’ mosque project. A good number of northern governors and politicians were present at the fund-raiser at Abeokuta. They made generous donation to the project.

Chief Obasanjo in the past was instrumental to Mr Jonathan’s meteoric rise from a deputy governor in Bayelsa state to governor, then vice president, acting president, substantive president and later elected as President in the aftermath of Yar’adua’s death in 2010. The Ota farmer was peeved by his exclusion from Jonathan’s administration as the President now prefer his kinsmen and sycophants as members of his inner caucus rather than seeking his benefactor’s opinion on key national issues. More so, his disaffection with Jonathan can easily be traced to the elections in the South-West states of Ondo, Osun and Ekiti where PDP lost to the ACN and LP. The ex-president, famous for his ability to spin election results is irritated by the failure of President Jonathan to flex his presidential muscle to influence court judgments in favour of PDP, a suggestion Jonathan turned down. Against these backdrop, if Chief Olusegun Obasanjo now finds everything wrong with the man he installed as president then it must be nothing more than an agitation for the 2015 polls.

That the former president is building bridges across the country ahead the 2015 elections and picking holes at Jonathan's government is a strong indication that Mr Obasanjo has pitched tent with those opposed to Jonathan running the 2015 election. Awkwardly, the President is up against his benefactor. President. Jonathan is fighting the battle of his political soul as he now seem to have reneged on the promise he made to Nigerians that he won’t seek a second term in office and Obasanjo is at the front of the queue to stop his re-election.

In the event of Chief Obasanjo’s inability to clinch the PDP ticket for whoever becomes his anointed candidate, his ties with the members of the PDP who have defected, and now part of the planned merger between the ANPP, CPC and the ACN will prove invaluable as his anti-Jonathan rhetoric has already won him support from the north, majority of whom are still angry at the PDP’s zoning arrangement that was breached by Jonathan.

As the incumbent, Jonathan can swing major decisions in his favour, he has enough resources, as some recent appointments and contracts awarded has shown, at his disposal to deploy in a desperate bid to ensure he returns, but he must first slug it out with a strong northern candidate from the PDP in the primaries and another from the possible merger of some opposition parties in the election proper.

It is not happenstance that Obasanjo has come out unscathed from tough political battles, ask the likes of Atiku Abubakar his former vice President; former governor of Ogun state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim; former Speaker of House of Representative, Umar Gha’li Na’Abbah and a host of others, the ex-President has always had his way in the end. He sure wields a lot of influence politically inspite of his resignation as the chairman of the BoT of the ruling PDP sometime ago. It has been a herculean task replacing him as I write and now it seems incumbent President Jonathan might be stretching his goodluck rather too far should he decide to contest in 2015.

theophilus@ilevbare.com
http://ilevbare.com
twitter: @tilevbare

Mountain of Fire Church In Desperate Measures To Justify Harassment of SaharaReporters Crew At New Year’s Eve Service

By SaharaReporters, New York

After several days of subtle threats and manoeuvres, the authorities of the Mountain of Fire Church has released a public statement in which it tried to justify the abuse and detention of a SaharaReporters team during its recent New Year’s eve service.

In the event, previously reported by SaharaReporters, the church task force, police and the State Security Service molested and illegally detained Saharareporters’ crew during a “cross-over” night service on December 31, 2012.

In a statement signed by Pastor Oladele Bank –Olemoh, the chairman of the church’s Publicity Committee, MFM said that it has an open door policy as regards the media, and that many journalists were accredited to cover the
cross over night.

“Sahara crew never applied and was never accredited as one of the media organizations to cover the event, nevertheless, they were allowed inside the prayer city to film the event, and the crew was only stopped when they went beyond the parameters allowed for media men.”

The statement said nothing about the harassment meted out to the reporters, the illegal detention, or the degrading treatment.

Nor did it say anything about previous contacts between SaharaReporters and MFM PR teams following the publication of our story.  

MFM’s statement followed days of covert pranks by the church staff and a former journalist of The Guardian newspaper, Idowu Ajanaku, who we learnt was hurriedly assigned the role to end the bad publicity against the church.

On January 8, Mr. Ajanaku called the publisher of Saharareporters, Omoyele Sowore, to express the “shock and disappointment” of the MFM General Overseer, Daniel Olukoya regarding the conduct of the church “Prayer City Task Force” in the molestation, false arrest and detention of his team by MFM Church’s security teams.

Mr. Ajanaku promised that the General Overseer was unaware of the cruel and degrading treatment and wanted to apologize to the SR crew.

Curiously, the same Ajanaku then said he would send to SaharaReporters Dr. Olukoya’s telephone numbers so that the reporters could call him and accept his apologies on behalf of MFM, and shortly after, delivered by text message two special telephone lines for Dr. Olukoya.

But Mr. Sowore replied that he was not interested in calling the overseer when it was his people that had abused and violated the rights of the reporters on church premises.  Ajanaku’s response by text was that there were many versions of the incident and that the GO would like to hear directly from Mr. Sowore and his crew.

Mr. Sowore declined the invitation, insisting that the GO carry out independent findings on his own.

While that angle was in progress, it turned out that the GO had called Lagos blogger Seyi Macaulay and threatened “no one fights MFM and survives.”  

Dr. Olukoya told Macaulay that he felt SaharaReporters had taken him for granted, but Macaulay said he told the pastor that it was necessary that the church make amends as the video published by SaharaReporters clearly shows that the crew was maltreated.  Dr. Olukoya would later reveal to Macaulay that he saw things playing out while he was preaching that night and asked Macaulay to let Sowore know that he would be calling to apologize.

Macaulay then called Sowore to intimate him of the developments, including a statement that the GO gave him an appointment   for an interview with the blogger.

Macaulay reported later that when he arrived for the interview at the church premises in Lagos, he met young church members on Facebook and the SaharaReporters website writing anonymous comments to condemn the Saharareporters crew.

The underhanded method had been in effect on the website for several days by church members who posed as different people to post comments on the website vilifying SaharaReporters.  From members of a church that professes love and tolerance, the anonymous comments delivered various threats, insults and condemnations.

But the church’s statement by Pastor Bank –Olemoh attributed MFM’s “open door” media policy to its conviction that it is in the ‘interest of the public.’

The church then sought to justify its action of harassing and molesting the journalists on security challenges in the country, presumably in the North.

“In view of the security challenges facing the nation and the body of Christ in particular, MFM has the right to monitor the movement of people in and around our church premises”, the statement said.

Trying to prove that SaharaReporters was wrong and further needlessly demonizing northern Nigerian Muslims, the statement asked: “Can Sahara barge into a Mosque to cover an event without permission?”

Answer: Our crew in the North once covered for two years covered "great treks" by Muslim sects of the Shiites denomination walking long distance from Kogi, Niger, Lagos, Nassarawa, Abuja and Lokoja to Zaria. SaharaReporters crew in the North has attended breakfast meeting with Muslims several times without molestation. Our crewmembers have attended several events at the Sultan Bello mosque in Kaduna to cover sermons given by Sheikh Gumi and reported several of them on this page.
 
When in Zaria we attended event by Shiites, led by El Zazzaky, inside the sect’s Mosque without molestation or harassment--without prior accreditation.

Members of the sect even offered us water and food, but the same cannot be said for out detention at MFM, where we were denied water even when we offered to buy.  

At the cross-over event, the MFM members were hostile, bestial and intolerant, not only to us but petty ware sellers that converged on the church to make a living. We repeat that some of those poor traders were being openly whipped and that one man was chained to a door close to the dirty toilets at the church’s security post.

Members of MFM may also like to hear that two days after our nightmarish experience at their church, we “barged” into a Masquerade festival in Erekiti, Ondo State.  As a forthcoming footage on Youtube will show, the masquerades and their handlers were nice and warm to us in broad daylight, in complete contrast to our experience in the church.  

MFM asked: “Is Sahara which is based in The United State of America saying it does not know the normal procedure for covering an event?”
Answer:  In the United States we can “barge” into churches and shoot videotape as long as the church invites the public to their crusade or service.  Television stations routinely enter churches uninvited to carry out their journalistic duties.

But above all,  it is important to state that these contradictory and childish questions has already been answered by the MFM church by stating in its release that we duly asked permission and was granted permission by church officials after declaring our intention to film the “Cross Over” service, in fact, three times during our sojourn in the church auditorium we had our identity cards checked by church officials after fully disclosing that we wanted to get to film Dr. Olukoya up close.

SaharaReporters would like to state that there was no way its crew could have gone beyond the spot allowed them by the church who showed them the way to their location in the massive auditorium because Dr. Olukoya operated exclusively from a heavily guarded fenced perimeter where his podium was located. At no time did our crew go beyond the perimeter before the church task force attacked us.

MFM asked: “Can Sahara barge into an event in USA to cover without an accreditation?”

Answer: Yes. The US maintains an open society, as restated recently by President Barack Obama when a public petition drive targeted a British national, Piers Morgan of CNN, because he “barged” into internal American politics by asking for gun control.

It should be noted that most Nigerian journalists who apply for accreditation to cover events do so to collect honorarium, otherwise known as ‘brown envelopes,’ at events. The practice of accreditation has imposed strong limitations on the ability of most Nigerian journalists to perform their duties independently, conduct investigations, and work without fear or favor.  It is the reason that over 25 Nigerian journalists accredited by MFM for the cross-over missed one of the most important events of that night or failed to report it even though they saw it: the arrest and abuse of the SaharaReporters crew.

Finally, the church deliberately left out from its statement, two key questions.  The first is the illegal imprisonment and roughening -up of the reporters for four hours.  

The second is that SaharaReporters also wrote about the brutal treatment, seizure of equipment, and illegal detention of some teenagers within the church premises for selling Christian literature, praise and worship song notes, handkerchiefs and petty items.
MFM, self-absorbed, also ignored this.

The Statement by Pastor Oladele Bank-Olemoh:
The attention of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries has  been drawn to a story on SaharaReporters, alleging how Mr. Omowole Sowore and his crew were mishandled at the cross over night at prayer city on January 1st 2o13.
In as much as we don’t want to join issues with the media organization, we hereby state our position as regards the issue for the benefit of the public.
MFM has an open door policy as regards the media, as many journalists were accredited to cover the cross over night.
Besides, the event was live on social media. Sahara crew never applied and was never accredited as one of the media organizations to cover the event, nevertheless, they were allowed inside the prayer city to film the event, and the crew was only stopped when they went beyond the parameters allowed for media men.
In view of the security challenges facing the nation and the body of Christ in particular, MFM has the right to monitor the movement of people in and around our church premises.

Can Sahara barge into a Mosque to cover an event without permission?
Is Sahara which is based in The United State of America saying it does not know the normal procedure for covering an event?
Can Sahara barge into an event in USA to cover without an accreditation? Therefore, we appeal to the media to respect  the authority of the church just as our doors are open to media organizations in the discharge of duties.
God bless you all.
Singed
Pastor Oladele Bank - Olemoh.
Chair Mfm Publicity committee


http://mobile.saharareporters.com/news-page/mountain-fire-church-desperate-measures-justify-harassment-saharareporters-crew-new-year’s

tnktosin: Hmmm, and they waited for d supreme court ruling b4 acting

Oshiomhole’s Supreme Court victory: PDP under pressure to sanction Airhiviare



January 13, 2013 | 12:56 am

News

By SIMON EBEGBULEM

AS celebration over the Supreme Court victory of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State continued in Benin City yesterday,  some stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) want the leadership of the party in the state to sanction  the governorship candidate of the party, Gen.Charles Airhiavbere,  for alleged disobedience to the PDP  decision not to contest the result of last year’s  election in Edo State.

The PDP in the state had withdrawn its petition against Oshiomhole but Airhiavbere refused to heed to the directive of party and decided to contest the result of the election alone before the election petition  tribunal.

But his seeming doggedness was punctured on  Friday after the Supreme Court declared that the issue of Oshiomhole’s educational qualification was a pre-election matter, and therefore upturned the ruling of the Appeal Court in Benin, which directed the lower tribunal to hear the matter.



*Oshiomhole and Airhiavbere

Following what the PDP stakeholders described as the embarrassment caused to the party by Airiavbere, they called for his immediate expulsion from the party.

A statement by their spokesman, Chief Aisulimhen Ighodaro, stressed the need to commence total overhaul of the party in Edo “by starting from disciplining Airhiavbere who disobeyed the position of our great party”.

According to the statement, “the ill-advised decision of our candidate in the July 14 election, Maj-Gen Charles Airhiavbere, to go to court against the party advice has done untold damage to our reputation as a party.

“His unilateral decision, which was at variance with that of the party at the national and the state levels, is not only curious, but also shows that Airhiavbere is not a party man, he holds the PDP in contempt and is on a personal voyage to fulfill his inordinate ambition.

“The decision by his running mate, Hon Johnson Abolagba,  is not only commendable,  it also shows that he is a proper, well-tutored and real politician who regards the party as supreme. We call for a committee to be set up so as to begin the process of expelling him from the party so that we can move on as a party”

monkeyleg: @Garri,

Ogusbaba like Woman cloth.

klax: I dont just know what to say its quiet disturing why would CAF did such to Nigeria

fkaz: I don't know how our leader arrive at their budget.
Is it what the people are yearning for or what they the leader think is good for the citizen. How can somebody budgeted 1.6billion on leisure and destination park and leave housing with just 783million.
Somebody need to touch his forehead

monkeyleg: @Ogusbaba,

We know blame una. Infact, I am rather impressed with your humility in accepting your education was not unto scratch, for what ever reason. the point here being that we must not let Delta state rot so much that even your own children and your childrens children suffer the horrible education system that failed you so miserably.

When you see some of us fiercely criticize Uduaghan, it is for the benefit of everyone, but most importantly for our people who have been disadvantaged for years. We must all have a selfless spirit

ogusbaba1: den make d suggestion bro, we need more deltans to debate here, Eweta must see dis thread as one of angryly said deltans. We need other ethnics states to also giv a thought.. What do u think @monkeyleg and garri?

monkeyleg: @Garri,

Ogusbaba has said that his education is extremely limited, please lets not yab him with that. Honestly I appreciate his honesty. if only his Oga had set up proper schools maybe Ogus would have been able to have a decent education

ogusbaba1: @Garri
if i may ask what re ur little absortion calling uduaghan a thief
Yes which am sure know of you dont have any reason to backup ur little absortion

First of all, INTRODUCTION:
Total Budget: 398.3 Billion
Recurrent Expenditure: 145.94 Billion
Capital Expenditure: 252.37 Billion

1. HOUSING: Its a shame to note that in 2013, Uduaghan plans to spend the Paltry sum of 783 million only on housing while he will spend 9 Billion on Administrative building. What do we call that?

2. SEWERAGE: Uduaghan plans to spend 11.785 Billion on sewerage. This is a state where everyone takes care of their sewer system. I wonder who will benefit from Uduaghan's SEWERS??

3. A Phantom ICT Park will be established at the cost of 1 Billion Naira

4. Warri Industrial Business Park will gulp 2 Billion Naira. This is a Park which after gulping Billions of Naira in previous years is nothing but a thick bush which has become hunting ground.

5. Development of Export processing & free trade Zone will gulp a total of 7 billion. Can someone remind me of the goods Delta State exports and countries to which they're exported??

6. Asaba Airport 4 Billion.

7. Delta leisure and Destination Park 1.6 Billion. At a time when Deltans don't have Good roads and hospitals, a silly Leisure park is the priority of our Governor.

8. Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS): 2 Billion Naira for Equipment. This is a service that offers nothing to Deltans. Year in year out billions go into the service with nothing to show..

I'll give you more details, but for now I want to go to a BUKA to have dinner before the woman closes for the day.. I'll ßξ back

ogusbaba1: @Garri you ve to knw no one is prfect.. Even u.. I neva fore mention uduaghan is dan best 36 states 36 Governoors, uduaghan is nt d worst he is nt d best