₦airaland Forum

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said he would defeat the Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Tony Anenih, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s governorship election.

Oshiomhole said next year’s election would not be decided on the basis of rhetorics or propaganda, but on visible achievements.

The governor spoke at Apana-Uzairue, Etsako West Local Government, at the weekend, during a thanksgiving reception in honour of the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Lucky James.

Anenih had, during the PDP State Congress, vowed to reclaim Edo for the PDP in next year’s elections.

Oshiomhole said: “Anenih will be defeated again, even in his local community. I will show him the number of roads leading to his house that I have tarred.

“I’m not afraid of the general in Edo State politics. I’m not a military man, but when the time comes, we will see that the era of promise and fail politics is over.”

James thanked the governor for repairing and building roads in 12 communities in Auchi, including Apana-Uzairue and Afowa-Iyowa-Ayoguri roads.



http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/22600-i%E2%80%99ll-defeat-anenih-again,-says-oshiomhole.html

The police arrested four senior editors with the Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation over a petition allegedly written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim.

The editors were said to have been arrested on the strength of a petition by Obasanjo, who was offended by the October 4 cover story of The Nation, entitled “Obasanjo’s ‘secret’ letter to Jonathan stirs anger. Ex-President seeks sack of PTDF chief, four others.”

Obasanjo told aviation reporters the following day that he did not write such a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, and threatened a legal action against the newspaper.

The editors arrested are the Managing Editor in charge of Northern Operations, Yusuf Alli; the Abuja Bureau Chief, Mr. Yomi Odunuga; The Deputy Editor, Mr. Lawal Ogienagbon, and the News Editor of the newspaper’s weekend titles, Mr. Dapo Olufade.

Alli was picked up around 12noon from The Nation’s office at Zone 3, Abuja and taken to the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Area 8 before he was later transferred to the Force Headquarters at Area II, Garki. Odunuga was arrested later.

It was learnt that Hafiz Ringim ordered the Force Criminal Investigation Department to arrest the editors.

A statement by the newspaper’s General Editor, Kunle Fagbemi, said nine detectives – led by one Mr. Emma Ogolo – came to the company’s headquarters in Lagos in two vehicles, a white Rover Sport Utility Vehicle, marked PFN 357 B and a blue Peugeot 504 Salon car, marked 2413 B.

He said, “The Nigeria Police Force, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit was inscribed on the sides of the SUV.”

According to Fagbemi, three of the detectives entered the premises of the company on 27B, Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Mushin, Lagos, while the two vehicles parked outside the gate and had three men waiting in them.

“In each of the waiting vehicles were an armed policeman, a plainclothes security operative and the driver.

He said, “They asked to see the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Victor Ifijeh, and the Editor, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso. They were not in the office when the officers called at about 2pm.

“The Deputy Editor, Mr. Lawal Ogienagbon, who attended to them, was arrested along with the News Editor of the newspaper’s weekend titles, Mr. Dapo Olufade. Ogienagbon has been flown to Abuja.”

He said Olufade was taken, “after the officers could not find any of the other four senior editors they were looking for, among whom were the General Editor, Mr. Kunle Fagbemi, Managing Editor, Waheed Odusile, the Deputy Editor, News, Mr. Adesina Adeniyi, and Group Political Editor, Bolade Omonijo.

“The company’s lawyer, Mr. John Unachukwu, the Chief Security Officer, Mr. Jide Adegbenjo, and the Labour Correspondent, Mrs. Dupe Olaoye Oshinkolu also went with them. At press time, Olufade and Oshinkolu were still being detained in Lagos.”

The Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Yemi Ajayi, said he was not aware of the development. “I’m not aware of the arrest or detention of any editor; I have not been briefed about it,” he said on the telephone.

Alli and Odunuga’s lawyer, Mr. Ugochukwu Osuagwu, described the arrest as strange and political.

He said, “My clients were quizzed by Dorothy Gimba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, who showed keen interest in knowing the source of the secret letter.

“My clients insisted that the ethics of journalism prevents him from disclosing the source. He told them that he had been practising journalism for over 22 years and understood the ethics of the profession.

“While being quizzed, the DCP received a call supposedly from a Commissioner of Police in Force Headquarters that she should transfer the matter and the journalists to the CP’s office.

“When we got to the Force Headquarters, we were taken to the 7th floor, the CP’s office. I was chased out. The CP asked if they were sure that I was not a Boko Haram member. The police seized the journalists’ phones. While Yusuf was taken inside to interact with the CP, Yomi was told to wait in the office of the Secretary to the CP.

“The arrest is strange and political. Obasanjo did not write any petition but only complained on the pages of newspapers. Who is the complainant? Is it the government that is complaining over a supposedly private letter? Let the police take them to court, I will produce the letter in court.”

Lagos Lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, said no reasonable suspicion had been established to warrant the arrest and detention of the journalists as required by section 35 of the Constitution of Nigeria.

“Since forgery is a bailable offence under the law, we demand the immediate release of the detained journalists. In the alternative, they should be charged to court where our clients will prove beyond any shadow of doubt that the controversial letter was not forged,” he said.



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201110121104395

Thanks I can receive the mails alert now. Gracias

Pls, I have not been receiving email alerts of new posts on any thread am following. Pls you guys should try and resolve this. I have complained so many times and nobody seems to be doing anything.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Please I do not receive email alerts again in my email. After posting a comment, I am no longer alerted of any other replies that come on the thread. Please is this problem perculiar or its Nairaland Admin problem. Thanks

^^^Not bad at all.

@OP----It depends on your gal and what excites her, but am sure you can get a few ideas from the posts here

In what appeared to be a well thought out and perfectly executed operation, 22-year-old Kehinde Akintunde hanged himself, claiming a sixth-sense knowledge of the future.

“If anyone asked what could have been done to prevent me from hanging myself, the only answer I can give is that there is nothing that can stop it from happening. If it does not happen now, it will still happen one day. It could be three months, six, or a year, ” formed part of a seven-page note found in a hotel room in Ibadan, the Oyo State and supposedly left by Kehinde Akintunde, a suspected suicide. Kehinde as the name suggests was a twin. And twins in the South West of Nigerian are cherished. They are regarded as special beings and practically venerated.

A lot of myth is also spun around them, particularly among the Yoruba the main race of the region. Hence, many at this side of the globe see them as odd. Such were the Akintunde twins both male and aged 22 years. While Kehinde was a 400 level student of engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, in Ondo State, Taiwo, his twin brother was observing the one year compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in Lagos.

He had graduated before Kehinde, the younger but regarded as the elder of the two in Yoruba tradition. Save for this, the twin brothers were very close and inseparable. To be up-to-date with what they were taught in school and probably to be close to Taiwo, his twin brother, Kehinde Akintunde attached himself to a private firm in Yaba area of Lagos where he was complementing his studies with some practical aspect.

But on Friday, 19 August, 2011, the music changed. One of the twins embarked on a journey of no return in circumstances which still remain mysterious and confounding especially to the family. In the morning of that fateful day, Kehinde reportedly told his twin brother that he was going to the workshop and bade neighbours farewell. But he never got to the workshop. Unknown to any of them, he went straight to the motor park and boarded a bus going to Ibadan, Oyo State.

Arriving at Ibadan, Akintunde reportedly went to the Apata area of the city. He then reportedly looked for a decent hotel where he booked for the night. It was not on record that he received any visitor in his room after he lodged in there, though. He was reportedly not to have been seen to have come out of his room since the time he moved into the hotel. The following day, as usual for hotel lodgers, everyone that booked for the night came out to drop their keys, but Akintunde did not. The lady on shift at the time reportedly wondered what was keeping the young man behind when he did not come out to drop his key at 12 noon.

When it was well past noon, the lady reportedly informed the hotel manager about the guest who did not return his key after the expiration of his lodging agreement. The hotel manager reportedly calmed her down believing that the guest was still resting or that he had gone out and would come and pay for the extended time. But that was not to be after all. Towards evening, everyone in the hotel became troubled over the whereabouts of the occupier of the room. At that time, the hotel manager took the spare keys to the room Akintunde lodged and went to open it.

But when he reportedly insert the key, the door could not be opened from outside. That was when the manager sensed trouble. He thus called for a carpenter to come and force the door open. When the carpenter eventual broke the door open, lo Kehinde Akintunde’s body was dangling from the ceiling of the hotel room. The hotel manager, on seeing Akintunde’s corpse, fled the scene and immediately invited the police. The policemen were saved the trouble of trying to identify the suspected suicide. They only looked at the suicide note he left on the table.

There, he gave a precise instruction on how to locate his people. “You that first saw this incident, search my [phone and check for my brother’s number there and call him,” the suicide note read. And that exactly was what they did. The policemen picked Akintunde’s mobile phone and retrieved his elder brother’ number from there and demanded that he come over to the hotel immediately. When the brother arrived and saw his younger brother hanging from the ceiling, he reportedly broke down in tears. Thereafter, the brother called their parents lying to them that Akintunde was in police custody for an undisclosed crime he committed.

Not knowing how to break the sad news to their parents, Akintunde’s elder brother reportedly went to the opposite streets in search of some church leaders to help do the dirty job. The church leaders obliged to break the news to the young man’s parents. Eventually, the older Akintundes arrived and no sooner had they arrived than the pastors started preaching to the woman particularly.

The restless woman demanded from them what the whole sermon was all about and eventual she was told that her son was dead. She reportedly fainted at the scene, while the father held his head and wept sorrowfully. But the mother doubted the real cause of her son’s death, but for the suicide note he left by the bedside. The seven-page note contained messages to virtually all his extended family members.

The list of persons inside suicide note was what convinced the hapless mother that her son actually took his own life. In the note he also begged them profusely to forgive him. “It is now 9:52pm. My brothers and sisters would be looking for me by now. I urge you all to go to bed. I thank you all. Please forgive me all, I beg for your forgiveness,” he also wrote. Confirming the story, Femi Okanlawon ASP, public relations officer of the Oyo State Police Command, said that the policemen at Apata Police Station where the case was initially lodged took his remains to the Ade Oyo Hospital mortuary for autopsy.

But the question on the lips of his parents, siblings, friends and sympathizers is,” what could have driven this young man to take his own life. What was it that he claimed he knew that others did not that eventually made him end his own life? One of the mysteries of twins?



http://www.gbooza.com/group/crime/forum/topics/undergraduate-hangs-self-in-hotel-room#axzz1a1MDmQCa

How Daniel Allocated Choice Lands To Judge, Aides’

MEMBERS of the Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Land Matters heard yesterday how choice landed property in the highbrow Ibara, Abeokuta, the state capital, were allocated to a Federal High Court Judge and aides to the former Governor Gbenga Daniel.

The plots, allocated between 2008 and May this year, were given out at give-away prices.

The committee may invite the former governor to appear before it over the matter.

General Manager of the Housing Corporation, Mr. Anthony Ladega, who appeared before the Committee, which began a probe into the sales of landed properties under the guise of Ibara Urban Renewal Scheme, said no fewer than 160 plot of lands were allocated to cronies of Daniel.

Ladega also alleged that the Housing Corporation  allocated 108 hectares at Ogere, valued at N450 million to a private university almost at no cost to the institution.

Addressing reporters, Committee Chairman Remmy Hassan, who read  the document by Ladega alleged that former controversial Speaker, Soyemi Coker,  the deputy Governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) during the last election, Mrs Jokotade Odebunmi had a hand in the deals.

Others mentioned in the controversial land deals included Daniel’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Isiaq Salako, the  Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Otemolu Adepegba, former Chairman, Ewekoro Local Government, Iskilu Makinde, former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Ayo Von and former Chairman Abeokuta South Local Government, Yanju Lipede.

Hassan hinted that the former governor might be invited to defend his alleged action. 

Hassan said:  “The former governor does not have any immunity. When he had immunity, maybe there were constitutional constraints, but as at today, he does not have.

“If he has questions to answer, he will be called. And if he is not ready to come, the relevant sections of the Constitution would be invoked and he will be brought here.

“The foundation was faulty and it cannot stand, because of the irregularities in the deal. Imagine somebody gets allocation of land worth  N12.7 million for N1.2 million, two days after the controversial judgment was delivered.”



http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/22010-ndlea-dg-advises-officers.html

Businessman and media owner Raymond Dokpesi has denied claims by one of his bankers, Fidelity Bank Plc, that he owes the bank about N7.524 billion.

He said he only owes Fidelity Bank about N3 billion.

The chairman of Daar Communications also challenged four suits brought against him at the Federal High Court, Lagos, by the bank, as part of measures to recover the purported debt.

Dokpesi, in his preliminary objections, said the bank abused the legal process by going to the Federal High Court in Lagos when the matter was already in an Abuja High Court.

Dokpesi was sued with two of his companies – Daar Communications Plc and Baldok Shipping Lines Limited. He also challenged the competence of the suits and the court’s jurisdiction to hear them.

Dokpesi argued that since the facts and figures in the case were in dispute, the case ought not to have begun by means of originating summons.

He further argued that the court cannot hear the case because the disputed debt, which formed the cause of action, arose in the course of a banker-customer relationship.

He urged the court to dismiss the suits, describing the plaintiff as a contemnor who could not be heard by the court, having allegedly disobeyed a valid and subsisting order made by the Abuja court.

Daar Communications’ Company Secretary Ayo Ogundele averred in a supporting affidavit that the court in Abuja had, on December 22, last year, ordered the bank to defreeze accounts belonging to the companies and Dokpesi which were earlier frozen on its order.

He added that the court also restrained the bank from selling or appointing a receiver manager over the companies’ floating and fixed assets pending the determination of the motions before it.

Ogundele said rather than obey the orders, the bank came to Lagos to commence the new set of cases which include a bankruptcy proceedings against Dokpesi and another seeking to wind up Daar Communications.

Yesterday, lawyers to Dokpesi, Chris Uche (SAN), Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Okechukwu Opara, informed the court about the preliminary objections they filed, which sought to dismiss the suits. They said though the plaintiff has responded by filing counter affidavits, they needed time to reply on points of law.

Dokpesi counsel opposed a suggestion by lawyer to Fidelity Bank Joseph Nwobike (SAN) that the substantive suits be consolidated with the objections and heard together.

Ozekhome stated that it was improper to hear the suit with the objections because the disputes over the facts in the case could not be resolved solely by documentary evidence.


http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/21954-dokpesi-denies-owing-fidelity-bank-n7-5b.html

Allegations of sponsoring killings and communal clashes in the Niger Delta levelled against the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) attracted the attention of the House of Representatives yesterday. The Lower House has summoned the SPDC management to appear before its Committee on Petroleum Resources on Upstream.
The oil giant was alleged to be involved in the series of killings and clashes in the Niger Delta during the late General Sani Abacha regime, especially in Rumuekpe Village, Rivers State.

The summon was sequel to a motion raised by Andrew Uchendu from Rivers State under matter of urgent national importance that the House should investigate the allegations with a view to coming out with the truth.

Uchendu drew the attention of the lawmakers to publications in some newspapers which reported that investigations had revealed that the company sponsored and fuelled crises in the region.

While introducing the motion, he said Shell had been accused of doing too little to develop the communities it has operated including Rumuekpe Village.

The lawmaker maintained that the company has often times been accused of directly funding rival groups in its areas of operation, an allegation for which Shell has always denied.

He informed his colleagues that “despite the glaring fact that a non-governmental organisation and a London-based oil and gas group have, in their recent publications, fingered Shell of directly funding rival groups in the Niger Delta over the years leading to the death of 60 persons and destruction of communities, nothing official has been done to investigate the allegations”.

He, however, urged the House to invite Shell to explain its position as regards the allegation which he described as “very serious”.

Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, after the motion was unanimously adopted by members, directed the Petroleum Committee to carry out investigations on the matter and submit its report very soon.


http://www.nigeriancompass.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5936:reps-summon-shell-over-killings-in-niger-delta&catid=54:nigeria-today&Itemid=594

The State Security Service on Monday said there was no evidence linking the Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, General Muhammad Buhari, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to the spate of bombings and other terrorist attacks in the country.

The Bayelsa State Director of SSS, Mr. Andrew Iorkyar, said this in Yenagoa, the state capital while delivering a lecture to mark the 2011 Press Week organised by the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists.

He said pressure was mounted on security agencies in the country to arrest Atiku and Buhari following comments credited to them during and after the April general elections.

But he said security agencies failed to bow to such public outcries because there evidence to prove they were involving in the attacks.

He said, “For anybody to be considered a suspect, evidence of such person’s involvement in the alleged criminal matter must be proved beyond every reasonable doubt.

“The security agencies cannot touch Buhari because he has not done anything. I am not defending anyone but these are legal issues. We should ask ourselves what the law says. Security must act in line with the law.”

He added that tackling terrorism and ensuring a secured nation was not beyond the nation’s security system.

Iorkyar said, “The security personnel are up and doing. It is not beyond us. There has not been a plane crash in years and no one is talking about that. It happens almost on a weekly basis in developed world. We are doing rather better than the developed world. It depends on how you rate us vis-à-vis developed world.”

He also blamed the political class for the insecurity in the country, saying politicians had refused to adequately fund security agencies.

He explained that the motive behind most terrorist attacks was to create panic among citizens, cause weakness in government and destabilise national security.

He submitted that for Nigeria to effectively tackle insecurity caused by terrorist attacks, it must elevate its economic, energy and environmental security.

He also called on the media to exercise caution in their reportage of incidents of bombings and related terrorist attacks, pointing out that some reports tended to mystify the terrorists and their dastardly acts.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/05/national-05-10-2011-009.html

@OP, You really made some good points. Your next beer is on me

OP seems to be another virgin boy. Very funny thread

At least they will be paying tax. Fashola will be very happy with this move

Def not the real efulefu

Even some of the gals that had abortion not long ago are here commendin the OP, Hypocrites

@OP------You did the right thing, let him carry his cross

***Dedicating my 2500 post to all the babies lost in abortion by those heartless gals***

^^^ ;d ;d ;d ;d

harakiri:
A friend of mine once said :

"Any man who doesn't get killed by a woman will live long"

Before a man will type such on facebook,he has tried his best to settle amicably with the wife but women will always want to push you and see how much bull$hit you can put up with. All the poster is concerned about is the man's comment on facebook. She doesn't care about the hell he's going through in that bondage called marriage and neither does she care about the man. All she's interested in is smearing his name all over the place which is typical of women. She is either the useless wife or a useless friend of the useless wife. Useless women. Before marriage, they'll act as if they will die if you aren't ready to walk down the aisle. After you decide to toss your freedom and imprison yourself with marriage, they do things to accelerate your death. From what I see, it seems a woman's primary objective in life is to shorten a man's life.

If I am stoopid enough to get married and my wife leaves my house like the married man in question, then the marriage has ended. I don't care if kids are involved. Women always remember to use religion,family members and kids to either blackmail or manipulate men. I would rather eat $hit and die than let any woman get away with such nonsense!

Useless creatures

Classic

This a good development. Another feather added to Gov Chime's cap

^^^And you are the wife?

^^^Your last paragraph messed up your post

Barely one month after a United Nations Environ-ment Programme (UNEP) report on oil spills in Ogoniland, Rivers State, accused Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of being responsible for environmental damage in the area, a new report by a London-based oil and gas industry watchdog, Platform, has revealed that the oil giant was fuelling armed conflicts that resulted in the killing of about 60 persons in the Niger Delta region.

The report released last night by Platform, a non-government organisation, revealed that the oil major paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to feuding militant groups as well as government forces that attacked, tortured and killed Nigerians living in the creeks and swamplands in the region.

A UK-based newspaper, The Guardian, reported last night that the industry watchdog, in a 75-page report implicated the Anglo-Dutch oil company in a decade of human rights abuses in the Niger Delta, adding that Shell’s “routine payments exacerbated local violence, in one case leading to the deaths of 60 people and the destruction of an entire town”.

Platform’s investigation, which includes testimony from Shell’s own managers, also alleges that government forces hired by Shell perpetrated atrocities against local civilians, including unlawful killings and systematic torture.

Shell, according to the report, disputed the allegation, defending its human rights record and questioning the accuracy of the evidence, but has pledged to study the recommendations.

But the London-based oil and gas watchdog maintained that it had seen testimony and contracts that implicated Shell in the regular awarding of lucrative contracts to militants. In one case last year, Shell was alleged to have transferred more than $159,000 (£102,000) to a group credibly linked to militia violence.

Platform quoted one gang member, Chukwu Azikwe, to have revealed that the gangs use the money they were paid to purchase their weapons.
“We were given money and that is the money we were using to buy ammunition, to buy this bullet, and every other thing to eat and to sustain the war,” Azikwe said. He said his gang and its leader, SK Agala, had vandalised Shell pipelines.

“They will pay ransom. Some of them in the management will bring out money; dole out money into this place, in cash,” he added.

The report further alleged that the payments made the gang become locked in competition with rival groups over access to oil money, with payments to one faction provoking a violent reaction from the other.

“The (rival gang) will come and fight, some will die, just to enable them to also get [a] share. So the place now becomes a contest ground for warring factions. Who takes over the community has the attention of the company,” it said.

It also alleged that it was highly likely that Shell knew that thousands of dollars paid per month to militants in the town of Rumuekpe were used to sustain a bitter conflict.
“Armed gangs waged pitched battles over access to oil money, which Shell distributed to whichever gang controlled access to its infrastructure,” the report added.

Rumuekpe is “the main artery of Shell’s eastern operations in Rivers state”, with around about 100,000 barrels of oil flowing per day, approximately10 per cent of Shell’s daily production in the country.

Shell distributed “community development” funds and contracts via Friday Edu, a youth leader and Shell community liaison officer, the report said, an exclusive arrangement that magnified the risk of communal tension and conflict.

The report added: “By 2005, Edu’s monopoly over the resources of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) had sparked a leadership tussle with Agala’s group. The latter was reportedly forced out of the community and a number of people killed. Dozens of gang members and residents reportedly died in counter raids by Agala.

“The inter-communal violence killed an estimated 60 people, including women and children, from 2005-08. Thousands more were displaced by fighting that left homes, schools and churches in ruins. Many still suffer severe malnutrition, poverty and homelessness.”

According to the organisation, “the local conflicts created regional instability. Displaced villagers were hunted down in the regional capital, Port Harcourt, and killed in their homes, schools and workplaces. Gangs active in Rumuekpe collaborated with prominent criminal networks in Rivers State and doubled as Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militants.”

“MEND’s activity in Rumuekpe seriously disrupted Shell’s operations and sent shockwaves through world markets,” the report noted, yet Shell paid little heed. One of the corporation’s managers was alarmingly candid: “One good thing about their crisis was that they never, for one day, stopped us from production.”

In 2006, Shell was alleged to have awarded maintenance contracts relating to its oil wells, the Trans-Niger pipeline, its booster station and flow station to Edu’s gang. But after Agala’s counter-raid left Rumuekpe “littered” with corpses, Shell apparently switched sides and started paying Agala. It paid whoever controlled access, even if they were known criminal gangs, Platform claimed.

The allegations of ex-gang members were largely substantiated by the testimony of a Shell official, it claimed. A manager confirmed that in 2006, one of the most violent years, Shell awarded six types of contracts in Rumuekpe. Thousands of dollars flowed from Shell to the armed gangs each month.

The company eventually terminated some, though not all of the contracts. But by then, the violence had reached the Shell flow station.

A Shell manager, whose name has been withheld, was quoted as saying: “Somebody came in [to the flow station] and cut off somebody’s hand. We had to vacate the place. We stopped the contract entirely.”

Other contracts to “maintain the pipeline right of way” continued throughout the entire conflict, as did one-off contracts created in response to specific threats, the report said.

A local youth leader said: “(Shell) were going to their job, doing their operation, servicing their manifold. They never cared that people were dying. They never did anything to call the crisis to order. Rather they were using military to intimidate the community.”

Platform’s report offers a damning assessment: “Shell was highly likely to be aware that it was helping to fuel the conflict in Rumuekpe, since company workers visited the community on a regular basis. Even if Shell was somehow unaware of the violence, media reports were publicly available.

“Members of the community reportedly wrote to Shell to request that the company stop awarding contracts to gang leaders such as Friday Edu. Through Shell’s routine practices and responses to threats, the company became complicit in the cycle of violence.”

It adds: “The Rumuekpe crisis was entirely avoidable… Shell operated for decades without an MoU, polluted the community and distributed ‘community development’ funds through an individual who had lost the confidence of the community. Once conflict erupted, Shell paid the perpetrators of gross human rights abuses as long as they controlled access to oil infrastructure. The cumulative impact of Shell’s mistakes was devastating.”

Rumuekpe is just one of several case studies examined by the report which alleged that in 2009 and 2010, security personnel guarding Shell facilities were responsible for extra-judicial killings and torture in Ogoniland. The organisation calls on the corporation to break ties with government forces and other armed groups responsible for abuses, and to clean up environmental damage.

In a response last night, Manager, Media and Communi-cation, Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company Limited, Mr. Tony Okonedo, said: “Shell respects human rights wherever in the world we have operations. Our code of conduct describes the high ethical standards that all our staff are expected to uphold, and we support the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, which help extractive companies ensure their security operations are consistent with upholding human rights.

“We are committed to working with the people and government of Nigeria to ensure that everyone benefits from the country’s natural resources. But working in the Niger Delta presents significant challenges.
“We have long acknowledged that the legitimate payments we make to assist many communities cause friction with others who don’t receive help, and we are working to improve this situation through a number of initiatives.

“The presence of the Nigerian military in the Delta is essential to protect people and assets; after all, the Nigerian government owns a 55 per cent share in SPDC. However, suggestions in the report that SPDC has any control over military activities are completely untrue.

“It is unfortunate that Platform has repeated several old cases, some of which are unsubstantiated and some proven inaccurate, because doing so obscures the good work which has been going on for many years. However, we will examine its recommendations carefully and we look forward to continuing a constructive dialogue with the Nigerian government and others on these issues.”


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/03/shell-accused-of-fuelling-nigeria-conflict?newsfeed=true

Obasanjo’s ‘secret’ Letter To Jonathan Stirs Anger !


There is anxiety among some key strategists of President Goodluck Jonathan over a “curious secret” letter written to their boss by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), recommended candidates for the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and four other key agencies.

He advised the President to remove the heads of the agencies to avoid what he called unnecessary lobbying and distractions.

But some of the President’s strategists are querying the motive of Obasanjo’s letter because, in their view, he is seeking to replace some Northerners who are heading the agencies with his candidates.

Some Emirs, who worked for Jonathan’s victory in the April election, are said to be unhappy with Obasanjo’s plans to remove Northerners in the agencies.

The Emirs’ suspicion of Obasanjo’s agenda followed a call at a meeting of the National Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the former President that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, should step down for a Southwest candidate in 2013.

Obasanjo made his five demands in a September 16 letter to the President.

In the letter, which The Nation stumbled on at the weekend, Obasanjo said he had observed with deep concern what he called the continued public outcry over the grossly poor performance of some Federal Government interventionist agencies, which he named.

“Some of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of these agencies are currently being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of corruption and their integrity in office has been tremendously eroded,” he said, adding:

“These mentioned agencies are critical to the realisation of the transformation agenda of your administration and their poor performances and low public ratings has (sic) the capacity to undermine the transformation agenda, hence the need to effect leadership changes in these agencies in order to achieve their target goals.

“In this connection, I am to strongly advise Mr. President to consider and approve the names of individuals earlier nominated for appointment as CEOs of these parastatals to take over from the existing CEOs.

“These new CEOs will be tasked to reform and reposition these agencies to fall in line with the transformation programme of the government.”

Obasanjo listed those who should replace the CEOs. He said they were chosen according to their experiences and “carefully selected by the PDP leadership and given to me as Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BOT)”.

Apparently to appease the President, a candidate has been recommended from Bayelsa State.

Obasanjo’s move has caused some disquiet in the North. Four of the agencies are headed by Northerners. Some Emirs are not happy with the “curious” proposals of the ex-President, sources told The Nation.

One said: “Why will Obasanjo try to cause disaffection between the President and the North at this critical period that Jonathan is trying to reconcile all groups? He is trying to shortchange the North by making it to lose four slots and gaining only two offices back.

“Nobody is happy with the plans of the ex-President that have leaked to Northern leaders. The President should ignore Obasanjo’s recommendations. These CEOs are midway into their tenure. The President should not be used to cause any conflict.

“We want Obasanjo to be more open by telling the nation who among the PDP leadership he consulted on the recommended candidates.”

Obasanjo’s plan for the PTDF has caused anxiety among some presidential strategists.

A source said: “Officially, it is strange for a former President to make observations and at the same time recommend candidates to replace officials heading some agencies.

“Besides, Obasanjo got his ‘facts’ wrong because only one among the heads of the five agencies, was recently quizzed by the EFCC. The letter is misleading because of its blanket conclusion on the heads of parastatals.

“More importantly, all heads of agencies are always subjected to quarterly assessments by security agencies, especially the State Security Services (SSS). So far, the records with the government have shown that they are performing well.

“We are also worried that Obasanjo has taken more than a passing interest in PTDF, which caused a crisis of confidence between him and ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. What is his business with PTDF again?”

The Fifth Senate’s probe of the PTDF led to the mudslinging between Obasanjo and his ex-deputy Atiku.

The Senate Review Committee on the PTDF later submitted a report, which was dated March 20, 2007, referring Obasanjo to the Code of Conduct Bureau for what it called “further action”.

The committee said: “In respect of some projects commenced by the PTDF in 2006—Incorporation of Galaxy Backbone, purchase of computers and Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria’s rehabilitation – for which Mr. President gave approval and later got them ratified retroactively, the committee views the action of the President as illegal and therefore refers Mr. President to the Code of Conduct Bureau for further action.”

The presidential approvals were in respect of payment of N250m to a law firm for the incorporation of Galaxy Backbone; $10m for the purchase of computers for civil servants outside the scope of PTDF and N1billion for DICON.

Based on the committee’s report, two Abuja lawyers- Mr. Ugochukwu Osuagwu and Opara Ifeanyi - in 2008, asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to order the Code of Conduct Bureau to prosecute Obasanjo for alleged mismanagement.

But Obasanjo made a counter-claim, in a 38-page written address submitted to the court through his counsel, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN).

Citing a list of 48 authorities, including past judgments, Obasanjo explained why he could not be prosecuted.

He said: “That after the Review Committee finished its work, it was taken back to the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for ratification.

“That the Senate in plenary on the 10th of May 2007 overruled the decision of the Review Committee as far as the 1st Defendant (Obasanjo) was concerned, holding that the 1st Defendant acted in good faith to the benefit of the country.

“That a copy of the proceedings of the Senate in plenary on the 10th of May 2007 is hereby attached. That the Senate in plenary has the final say on issues referred to Committees.

“That the Plaintiffs are mischievously suppressing the fact that the Report of Senate Review Committee dated the 20th of March, 2007, which they relied on and the recommendation of the Committee that the 1st Defendant should be referred to the 2nd Defendant(Code of Conduct Bureau) for prosecution, was rejected and/ or refused by the Senate in plenary.”



http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/21772-obasanjo%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98secret%E2%80%99-letter-to-jonathan-stirs-anger.html

^^^ ROTFLMAO

The story is incomplete, I wouldnt blame anybody that wants financial security. But the guy having shown he is ready to spend when he has, I really dont think the gal should have asked such question. Some gals sef

This is heartbreaking. The animal called Tinubu should be thrown to the gallos immediately. Am still to confirm between Atiku and Tinubu which is the most corrupt politician

^^^Yeah Anambra has Igalas, I really dont about the Ijaws

The Chairman must be up to something. I commend the youths

If truely Fashola did that, then its a credit to him and a step towards the rite direction. Expect his apologists to come here and start spewing rubbish and tell you how Tinubu's detractors are the one behind everything.

I saw this coming