Brutality: Envoy Confronts S’African Police
05.15.2009


Nigeria’s Consul General (C-G) in Johannesburg, Kalu Ukwu, has challenged police authorities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, over incessant reports of brutalisation, intimidation, extortion and harassment of Nigerians.
Ukwu, who visited the Province's Police Commissioner, Hamilton Ngidi, in his office in Durban, on Wednesday, said this was rather sad, especially at a time when relations between Nigeria and South Africa had reached a strategic level.
“'Nigerians still suffer series of police brutalisation, harassment, extortion and undue intimidation here in South Africa. I must say that we are not happy with the reported cases of undue harassment Nigerians are subjected to.
“While we are not against your government fighting criminality, we take exception to the situation where every Nigerian is targeted and tagged a criminal.
"You must be aware that many Nigerians are hard working, honest and respect the law, while contributing meaningfully to the economic growth of your economy. We will appreciate it if these issues are looked into, so that the existing cordial relations between both nations would continue to thrive, as both countries prepare to celebrate the 10 years Bi-National anniversary in October.’’
Ukwu said. Nigerian government was committed to protecting interest, welfare and well-being of its citizens anywhere in the world and would not fold its arms while Nigerians were unfairly treated by agents of government of their host community.
Responding, Ngidi assured Ukwu that the police would endeavour to look into all issues raised, with a view to fishing out some of the bad elements within the force.
He, however, said, "we do not deliberately go after any particular people or Nigerians during our policing operations, but I agree that there are some bad officers among us who take the laws into their hands.”
"There is a unit currently dealing with tens of tons of such complaints even from South Africans,’’ he said.
Earlier, at a meeting with leaders of the Nigerian community in Durban, Ukwu urged them to live by example and remain patriotic and good ambassadors of Nigeria in their host community.He advised the leadership to always liaise with officials of the Consulate if they confront any difficulty.

My brother, you go kill person with grammar! ''Kidnapping Took Over  Anambra  State''. I doubt if you are really an Ijaw. We are usually very intelligent people.

BEWARE: ‘Area boys now target farms, cassava processing factories’

By Seye Adeniyi - Updated: Tuesday 12-05-2009


Mr. Gabriel AdejareNOW that it is evident that miscreants commonly referred to as the area boys, cannot freely carry out their nefarious activities of extorting money from members of the public as they used to do in the past. The area boys have now shifted their attention to rural farmers.

The miscreants have also perfected their strategies and one of their new methods and targets of getting money is to invade farms.

Farms or farmers you may say? Yes, recent happenings in some farms in Oyo State are enough to give farmers sleepless nights and those that are actually sleeping are doing so with one eye open.

Going by the testimony of Mr. Gabriel Adejare, a retired deputy director of Nigeria Plant Quarantine Services (NAQS), Ibadan office, the recent invasion of his cassava farms by people suspected to be area boys was enough to discourage him from continuing with cassava farming. However, he said with his years of experience in cassava business, the number of years he has invested into farming, as well as the ongoing assistance and support he is presently receiving and enjoying from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (ITTA), Ibadan, Oyo State, nothing he said, can make him step aside from cassava farming, not even this recent experience from the men of the underworld.

Explaining to Tribune Agriculture the loss he suffered from the hands of midnight robbers whom he suspected to be area boys, the IITA cassava contract farmer stated that what actually pained him most was that the cassava tubers harvested and stolen by the yet-to-be apprehended area boys were not due for harvest, adding that the new variety was given to him by the (IITA) for field trial.

“The area boys came to the farm in the midnight, harvested the immature tubers and inserted the cassava sticks back into the ground to create an impression that nothing had happened. In fact, you can hardly know that the tubers had been removed from the cassava sticks if not for the rain storm that fell the sticks,” he explained.

Adejare also said the same thing happened to one of his friends who is also a cassava farmer. He, however, advised cassava farmers in the country to beef up securities on their farms, stressing that the new methods hoodlums area boys are now using, invade farms to steal cassava tubers may not be unconnected with the recent high prices of cassava tubers and other cassava by-products such as flour, chips, fufu, starch and most especially garri.

SapeleGuy:

Ibime, we support the ijaw and the riverine communities that will suffer from the greed of a few.

First of all, the ibos are being decieved this not a port but a dock. It will need significant investment to make it a port. Check it out:
http://wikimapia.org/1472715/Onitsha-River-Port

The big question is who will pay, the federal government through the private development of the lagos domestic airport have shown they no longer have the stomach for such capital projects.
You can't make a viable business case for the port apart from a tribalistic one.

To build this port some one has to answer these question:

What is wrong with the ports in Calabar and PH?
Why haven't successive governments in Anambra built it since 1983?
Why is it not even on the Nigerian Ports Authority List of assets?

Remember, the same noise was made about an airport in Anambra. Today, the site is still bush.

If you want this port perhaps you need to build it yourself, funded privately, instead of relying on oil money.

Sentiments aside, I think creating a river port in Onitsha is a worthy idea given the level of commercial activity there. Whether it will be completed is a different story. Anambra is an oil-bearing state (will be producing soon), beside Imo and Abia that also produce oil. So using oil money to develop an oil-producing (or bearing) area should not be an issue. I agree completely that the EIA report, if any, should be released.

Police raid shrine in C/River, arrest 47 suspects, cart away six human skulls E-mail
Written by John Ighodaro
Friday, 10 April 2009

The Cross River State police command has arrested 47 suspects, while carting away six human skulls, guns and charms, a fall out of the police raid of a titled traditional priest’s shrine in Nko in Yakurr Local Government Area of the state.

The Police had invaded the shrine as part of efforts to investigate the communal clash that erupted penultimate week in Nko and Onyeodama in Yakurr and Obubra local government areas respectively.

Briefing newsmen in his office, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Emmanuel Ezeozue said, “for quite some time n now, we have been having problems in the central part of Cross River. Issues bordering on struggle for land. Human lives have been lost in the process.

I am speaking specifically about the Nko/Onyeodama communites. These problems seem to have defied every effort to bring peace to the community and we have continued getting reports of people missing. So yesterday, we decided to go into that community to bring sanity by cordoning off the place, carrying out raids and seizing weapons that are likely to be used in the conflict.”

The police boss said it was not only the police that was involved but also the SSS and the Army.

His words: “The raid was a combined operation involving the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police and the SSS. It is not an easy thing to cordon off two villages but it was done and it yielded results. We arrested a total of 47 people. We succeeded in getting six shotguns, three pistols, six machetes and six human skulls.

We don’t know what those skulls are doing there but you will agree with me that human skulls are not objects of decoration in a house. We are trying to find out who are behind the skulls. Are they people reported missing in the two communities because so far, we have gotten report of about six missing people, but we don’t know who is represented by these skulls.

Investigation is still going on,” he added.

One of the suspects, Mr. Ujong Omini who claimed to be a recently retired DSP in the Police after 35 years in service denied that the skulls were found in his house.

He said it was not true that the skulls were found in his house, declaring that he was innocent of the allegations against him. According to him, “those things were not found in my house,because I only have a room in my father’s compound. I am yet to pack into my house. That is why after I had I retired, I am still in Calabar. I retired in December, I picked a job with Pamol and they have quartered me. The double barrel gun belongs to me.

I bought it in 1977 when I was serving in Ogbomoso, that is my boot; When I retired, I retired with my uniform. That belt is where I used to put my official pistol. Those human skulls you are seeing there, my late father had been the custodian and they had been there for the past five hundred years. It has always been transferred to the succeeding traditional titled priest. You can see no new skull is there. I don’t belong to any society.

I am of the Christian faith. My father kept those things. He died last year and we have to wait one year before a successor is picked who will take over the skulls and other artifacts.

The police broke into my father’s house which I have not been opening. I have not touched those things because I know the implications since I am not a member. That is the impression that I want to correct before you the press, because after 35 years of meritorious service, nobody should rubbish my name after working 35 years for this country.

Tell the Commissioner of Police to use his good offices not to allow sentiments to damage the reputation I have builtfor myself. That is what I have to say to you,” he added.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/33283/42/

Halliburton: $150m traced to AVM Bello's acct    E-mail
Written by Ise-Oluwa Ige & Ikechukwu Nnochiri   
Tuesday, 12 May 2009

ABUJA — IT has come to light that over $150 million of the $180 million Halliburton bribe money was allegedly disbursed through the account of former Chief of Air Staff, AVM A.D. Bello (rtd), while the sum of $11.5 million of the bribe money was found in Ibrahim Aliyu’s foreign account, according to sources at the Special Investigation Panel headed by Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro.

However, investigators are shocked that AVM Bello is sticking to his defence that though the account through which the $180 million was disbursed was his,  he had no knowledge of when or how the huge sum of money was disbursed and who the beneficiaries were.

AVM Bello (rtd) was also a former Managing Director of defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, while Ibrahim Aliyu is a brother to the governor of Niger State, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu.

Both men have been in detention for some time after their arrest by the investigation panel.

Vanguard gathered that the federal government also at the weekend requested the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to extradite one Mr. Jeffery Tessler, a Briton and lawyer of both AVM Bello and Ibrahim Aliyu who allegedly disbursed the $180 million bribe money through their accounts to help reveal the names of the beneficiaries.

Consequently, the investigating team, led by CP Amodu Ali of the Special Investigation Unit of the Police Force headquarters has no iota of doubt that Air Vice Marshal Bello (rtd) was in a position to disclose the beneficiaries of the Halliburton bribery money and the amount each of them got.

According to Vanguard sources, one of the accounts in question is an off-shore account opened in London for Bello by Jeffery Tessler. He (Bello) said that the account was opened in 2001 and that towards the end of that year (2001), he closed that account to any transaction whatsoever, and was therefore at a loss to how the account was used.
Having tried to reach the lawyer (Tessler) and failed, the Police investigating team asked AVM Bello to furnish it with documents of the offshore account showing that he closed down the account in 2001 and that he was not aware of any transaction with it.

This, our sources said, he has failed to do for almost two weeks now.
Asked how such account could be in operation over a period of time and the documents of transaction carried out with it could not be traced, the source said such offshore accounts don’t need to have directors to be opened, rather what they have is a nominee director and Mr. Tessler is the only nominee director.

“That is why we have requested our American counterparts to intervene on our behalf over the arrest of Mr. Tessler and we are aware that motions have been put in place for the extradition of Mr Tessler to America to answer questions.

Ibrahim Aliyu’s role

On the role of the brother of the governor of Niger State, the source said the same Mr. Tessler who is based in the UK, is both a business partner and lawyer to Ibrahim Aliyu and that he was the one Aliyu used to open an offshore account through which he (Aliyu) was to concretise his ownership of an oil block in Nigeria.

The source noted that when the account was opened in a Swiss bank, a huge amount of money from the Halliburton bribery money was found to have been moved through it while the sum of $11.5million was found in the account. He added that about $5million was also frozen from the same Aliyu’s account by the foreign investigators.

Asked how long it would take before the names of those already made known by foreign investigators of having taken part in the sharing of the $180million was made public, the source said: “That is why we are going the extra mile to get Mr. Tessler because he disbursed the money.”

It will be recalled that following public outcry over the $180million Halliburton bribery scandal, the Federal Government set up a five-man inter-agency investigation panel headed by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro.

Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, inaugurated the panel on April 21, 2009, and charged it to, among others, examine the circumstances surrounding the Halliburton bribery scandal in the Bonny Liquefied Natural Gas Project

A senior officer involved in the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity told Vanguard that by the time names are being mentioned in the coming days or we see the calibre of persons that are arrested, Nigerians would be shocked. He added that time has come for Nigerians to be told the truth about what is happening to their country.

Indications are also rife that more important personalities, including very senior citizens of the country both in and outside government are among those indicted. Past ministers, and top government officials would soon be picked up as investigations progresses because of information available to the investigating team, the source said.

Last week, it was reported that Akwa Ibom State took charge of over 100 oil wells which had been wrongly ceded to Cross River State (CRS). That, and the loss of oil-rich Bakassi to Cameroon, rendered CRS an oil-less state.

Ita-Giwa appeals to FG on delisting of C-River    E-mail
Written by Adekunle Aliyu   
Tuesday, 12 May 2009


CALABAR-The Chairman, New Bakassi Resettlement Committee, Senator (Princess) Florence Ita-Giwa, has made a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to rescind its decision to remove Cross River State from the list of the nation’s oil-producing states.

In an interview, she said government’s decision to delist Cross River State, an aftermath of the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon, would have serious negative implications on the state’s economy.

"Since the ceding of Bakassi, the state had been grappling with problems associated with the resettlement of the indigenes who proudly had insisted that they were Nigerians.

"The initial promise by government was that the ceding would be painless but so early, it has become pernicious owing to the removal of the state from the list of oil-producing states, she said.

She added that there were a lot of projects already being embarked upon by the state towards the resettlement of indigenes, which have not yet been completed and wondered how the state would be able to cater for the teeming refugees, with the intended cut in its revenue.

"So far, half of the refugees have been relocated and settled, so what do we do with the remaining half? If the state’s revenue dips, it would cause untold hardship on the people on whose initial settlements, the nation reaped gross earnings."

"We appeal to the government at the centre, to revisit the issue, with the aim of enlisting the state among the oil-producing states, as a humanitarian gesture the government owes its citizenry", she added.

Four arrested with human skulls
By Yemi Dalemo, Ijebu-Ode
Published: Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Four suspected ritualists who specialise in cutting and selling human skulls were on Friday night arrested by security operatives of the Muslim community in Ijebu Igbo, Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Two of them, Shina Sulaiman (25) and Yomi Aregbe (20) were arrested at Oke Agbo Muslim Cemetery at about 8pm.

According to a community leader in Ijebu Igbo, Alhaji Daodu Sulaiman, and Alhaji Shittu Muritala, the skulls of over 73 per cent of the corpses buried at the cemetery have been lost to the suspects.

Sulaiman said the act which had been going on for over 10 years, became a source of concern to the people as the act was also extended to the Christian cemetry beside theirs at Oke Agbo and this forced the Muslims to engage a security man to guard the place.

He said even with this, the suspects still found their way in and engaged in the illict trade until two youths, Alfa Shittu Muritala and a colleague volunteered to assist the guard in nabbing the perpetrators.

Muritala told our correspondent that on Friday night, they met the two young men at the cemetry and allowed them to finish their job before challenging them.

He noted that two skulls were found on them at the graveside of a deceased.

One fresh head of a woman buried on Thursday and another dry head.

They were later handed over to the police in Ijebu Igbo.

The suspects named two herbalists who they claimed usually bought the heads from them at the rate of between N2500 and N3000.

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, and the Ijebu Area Commander, Mr. Oyedokun Omolodun, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on Tuesday.

Adejobi said the suspects would be transferred to the state command from where they would be charged to court after an investigation.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200905123243296

Ifeleke is the tribalist here who seeks to protect his own unnecessarily. No one can accuse me of tribalism because Ekiti is not a tribe and I have not even condemned the entire Ekitis, but only the house-burning malus.

IFELEKE:

Ijawman(or whatever you call your name)
The attack was obviously motivated/masterminded by the criminals who call themselves The  PDP, I believe you are not alien to this kind of attacks as you must have witnessed one in your state.
Face and tackle the ones battling your state and stop displaying your stupidity here;mind you,It's on record that Ekitis stood up to them like never before.
Learn from that.
Nitwit

Dont be a dumb eeediot IFELEKE (whatever that means). If the house was burnt by PDP people as you claim, they are nonetheless PDP people of Ekiti origin. Burning a house becauseof MERE election makes them malu, and the FACT that they are from Ekiti makes them Ekiti malus. If you are one of those who burnt the house, then I am afraid you belong to the malu group. QED.

vigasimple:

This is one of OBJ success story. without OBJ appointing SOLUDO, there can be no SOLUDO.  OBJ want reform and banking consolidation to give our financial system credibility. he got SOLUDO and give him free hand, the rest is history.

we must appreciate the good things people do, including their appointment of good people to do things in this country. kudos to OBJ on SOLUDO and to SOLUDO forr doing his best. there are some silly mistakes(or deliberate for chop chop)- reprinting of naira's and trying to 'revalue' naira by removing the zeros.

ONE major failure of OBJ is  YAR A'NOTHING,  YAR A'FAILURE. a man who only read out 7 point agenda for 2 years out of 4 years term and has done nothing just waiting for re-election. VISIONLESS 2020, DIVERSION 2011. DOWN REBRANDING


OBJ successor plan is  not a success but utter failure, this and OBJ inability to fix electricity is OBJ main failure, and as such it is a failed administration  extend to his friend's brother. (NEPOTISIM)

For now Obasanjo, warts and all, remains the best Nigerian president. He is like a one-eyed king in the land of the blind, since we have not had any great ruler; of the lot Obj is the best, so far.

*jona:

thunder fire you,you are an igboman on under a fake name.you are not an ijawman you bloody liar.this how igbos used other people ethnicity to commit crime.

God punish you ignoramus. I doubt you are an Ijaw because we Ijaws at large have opinion unlike you who latch onto other people's opinions and act more or less like a robocop. For your info, I am from Okrika in Rivers State.

February 20, 2002
A Nigerian man who confessed to killing his boss and making pepper soup with her body parts was arrested Wednesday (2/20/02). Salifu Ojo, a 23-year-old farm laborer in southwest Ondo state, killed Christiana Elijah, a 40-year-old mother of four, after a dispute over his pay. He chopped off her head, hands and legs, then removed her internal organs which he used as ingredients for his soup. "Ojo macheted the woman after they disagreed over payment," Paul Ochonu, Ondo state commissioner of police said. "He severed her parts, made pepper soup and ate it -- all on the farm." Ojo confessed to other laborers after the soup made him vomit. "We recovered the trunk of the woman's body and some uncooked parts on the farm," Ochonu said. He said the man would be charged to court as soon as police completed investigations. In Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of more than 110 million people, many believe witchcraft involving the use of human genitals, eyes, tongues and skulls can make them instant millionaires. Although Ojo did not kill his boss for ritual purposes, police said they suspected he might have wanted to sell some body parts to ritualists. (Reuters, donated by: Jason Thomson)
http://www.asylumeclectica.com/asylum/morbid/archives/morb0202.htm

sjeezy8:

thats crazy ive  ALWAYS said a poor igbo can  SELL his or hers own child lol AND YES IM OK,  AND RUBBISH LIKE DIS HAPPENS MAINLY IN IGBO LAND NO DOUBT INFACT I CAN HONESTLY SAY THE ONLY CIVILIZED ONES ARE THE IGBOS WITH MONEY ( GOD FORBID IGBO MAN GO BROKE HE CAN CUT HIS OWN LEG OFF AND USE IT FOR JU JU). I LOVE IGBOS THOUGH THE RICH ONES ATLEAST

February 20, 2002
A Nigerian man who confessed to killing his boss and making pepper soup with her body parts was arrested Wednesday (2/20/02). Salifu Ojo, a 23-year-old farm laborer in southwest Ondo state, killed Christiana Elijah, a 40-year-old mother of four, after a dispute over his pay. He chopped off her head, hands and legs, then removed her internal organs which he used as ingredients for his soup. "Ojo macheted the woman after they disagreed over payment," Paul Ochonu, Ondo state commissioner of police said. "He severed her parts, made pepper soup and ate it -- all on the farm." Ojo confessed to other laborers after the soup made him vomit. "We recovered the trunk of the woman's body and some uncooked parts on the farm," Ochonu said. He said the man would be charged to court as soon as police completed investigations. In Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of more than 110 million people, many believe witchcraft involving the use of human genitals, eyes, tongues and skulls can make them instant millionaires. Although Ojo did not kill his boss for ritual purposes, police said they suspected he might have wanted to sell some body parts to ritualists. (Reuters, donated by: Jason Thomson)
http://www.asylumeclectica.com/asylum/morbid/archives/morb0202.htm

sjeezy8:

thats crazy ive  ALWAYS said a poor igbo can  SELL his or hers own child lol AND YES IM OK,  AND RUBBISH LIKE DIS HAPPENS MAINLY IN IGBO LAND NO DOUBT INFACT I CAN HONESTLY SAY THE ONLY CIVILIZED ONES ARE THE IGBOS WITH MONEY ( GOD FORBID IGBO MAN GO BROKE HE CAN CUT HIS OWN LEG OFF AND USE IT FOR JU JU). I LOVE IGBOS THOUGH THE RICH ONES ATLEAST

Herbalist, others in police net for murder
By Agency Reporter
Published: Wednesday, 8 Apr 2009

The police in Kwara State have arrested three men, including a herbalist, for allegedly beheading an eight-year-old boy, Amidu Sanda, in Irepodun Local Government area of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Alao AbdulAzeez, who disclosed this on Tuesday to the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin, said the suspects were arrested on Ajase-Ipo-Offa road at Ajase-Ipo, in Irepodun Local Government area.

He said they were arrested following a tip-off and while they were attempting to take the head to Lagos.

The police spokesman, who said the victim was beheaded for ritual purpose, added that the suspects had all made confessional statements to the police and that a man-hunt hadbeen launched for another suspect who escaped arrest.

He said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.

In an interview with journalists, the herbalist admitted involvement in the crime, saying that he asked the other suspects to get a human head for him.

According to him, he rejected the head because it was a fresh one which could not be used for wealth creation and protection.

The herbalist, who lives in Offa, Kwara State, also confessed that somebody in Lagos hired him to procure the human head.

Another suspect said he lured the boy, who was an orphan, into the bush, where he and his accomplices cut off his head and took it to Offa.

I believe putting marks on 50 million worth of naira notes was no mean task. Kudos to all those involved. Criminals in Nigeria must be smoked out, and if necesary KILLED, yes, KILLED.

Kidnapping: Police, Army swoop on Onitsha traders

•Arrest 30

ALPHONSUS NWEZE, Onitsha

There was commotion and stampede at the multi-billion naira Onitsha Main Market as the combined team of police and soldiers last Friday stormed the market, where they arrested no fewer than 30 persons suspected to be criminals.

Eye witness account told Sunday Champion that the security operatives stormed the market in the afternoon to arrest the suspects following a tip-off.

The source said that the armed team which came with Hilux vans went to different lines where the suspects were doing business to pick them up.

Our source said that there was stampede and commotion in the market as the stern-looking armed security men stormed the market and moved to the shops of the suspects.

The Anambra State Police Commissioner, Amusa Bello, who confirmed the arrests, said that his men went to the Onitsha Main Market to arrest some people both males and females based on a tip-off to the police by people.

Although he could not confirm the number, Bello said that a reasonable number of people were arrested during the operation, and they were undergoing interrogation.

He said that he would not confirm that they are robbers or kidnappers until after their interrogation, stating that the State Police Command under his leadership would smoke out criminals in the state wherever they are.

A source however said that the suspects were said to have been those involved in the kidnapping of an Onitsha oil magnet, popularly called ‘Tonimas’, who was said to have paid the kidnappers N50 million but was marked.

Consequently, as they went to deposit the money in the bank, the bank staff alerted the police, who now came, arrested the culprits, who revealed other suspects, resulting in the arrests.

The people of the state have heaved a sigh of relief since Bello took over from Mohammed Abbas weeks ago. He led his men to foil an attempt to rob Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) bullion van between Enugu Agidi and Awka, on the Onitsha-Enugu expressway, just few days after he took over.

The man is already there for a second term, I predict

As Soludo’s tenure ends E-mail
Written by Ochereome Nnanna
Monday, 11 May 2009
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I ALWAYS like to start the story of Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a Professor of Economics and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by referring to the time he ran for Secretary of the Students Union of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the 1982/1983 session. He was a tall, lanky, plucky and extremely articulate youth.

He did not win. He was beaten to it by another young candidate, Tony Ezebuiro. But Soludo’s campaign has lasted longer in my mind than
Image
Charles Chukwuma Soludo
Ezebuiro’s because of his highly imaginative sound-bite of a slogan: Soludo is the solution.

This has turned out to be the declaration of a vision. Those were the days when young men still saw visions and old men dreamt dreams. Today, I am discussing Soludo, a wholly home-grown intellectual who bagged all his three university degrees at Nsukka before he proceeded to Brookings Institute in Washington (a hive of America’s young policymakers) on a research quest that opened him up to the world of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the United Nations, for which he, at one time or the other, worked as a consultant.
When former President Olusegun Obasanjo won his second term in office, he responded to accusations of non-performance by opting to engage technocrats.

He cast his net far and wide, and one of the objects caught was Soludo, who had returned to Nigeria after his international scholarly peregrinations in 2000. At first, he was placed at the National Planning Commission as its Chairman and named as a member of Obasanjo’s intensely pro-reform Economic Team headed by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Vice President of the World Bank.

It was during Soludo’s tenure at the National Planning that he created the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) document, a definite pathway for the delivery of the economic vision packaged for Obasanjo by the Economic Team. Obasanjo was so impressed with this effort that he asked Soludo to walk across the street and assume the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This appointment provoked a storm of protests and media furore, which were orchestrated by establishmentarians of the Nigerian banking (and Central Banking) caucuses. He was said by them not to be a banker and thus was a square peg in the CBN round hole. But then, if there is any guarantee that Obasanjo would never reverse his position once taken, it is to provoke a media war. Whenever Obasanjo is seriously opposed, it is a sure sign to him that he must have taken the right decision! He asked Soludo to put into practice what he preached in the NEEDS document.

Implementing the NEEDS document meant igniting a revolution in the banking industry, in which some unwieldy 89 financial cowsheds which called themselves banks had to meet new capital bases in order to be allowed to carry on in the business. By the time consolidation had gone through two stages, the banks themselves started a race to produce industry leaders with enough capital bases to compete with the biggest banks in Africa and the world at large.

Today, 10 Nigerian banks have breasted the tape as among the first 1,000 in the world, compared with a situation in 2004 when making this grade was a pipedream. Soludo wanted to proceed to other stages of the NEEDS roadmap, but ran into the political clouds of a new administration seeking to stamp its identity. Ethnic hawks that surrounded the Yar’ Adua regime were making a push to get Soludo out and recapture the CBN with a view to de-consolidating the banks.

They alleged that consolidation did not allow their region to produce a single bank in which they had commanding stakes. And yet, where were these sectional hawks when the parameters of merit were set by the CBN? Is it true that once it comes to merit, count them out?

There was even a time that Soludo was being roped into a bogus scandal over Nigeria’s investment in the African Finance Corporation (AFC), which he had pioneered. The Federal Government had to set up a probe panel led by the Director of Operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Tunde Ogunshakin. The panel has since completed its job. What was the result? The Federal Government has not told the world - yet.

All we hear now are totally different tunes. Tune number one: President Yar’ Adua and President of the Senate, General David Mark, last week heaped eulogies on the CBN on its 50th birthday, and particularly on Soludo for achieving the consolidation, without which the Nigerian financial system would have been swept away in the gale of the current worldwide economic meltdown. Soludo’s personal protective attitude helped save the 25 consolidated banks from distress despite the haemorrhages they suffered as a result of the Stock Exchange crash.

Tune number two: Ogunshakin is reported in the press to have been sacked by the EFCC and reposted to the Police for alleged inappropriate conducts. The hunter is now the hunted.

The President, the Senate President and well-meaning Nigerians have said it: Soludo is the solution. A young man’s vision of 26 years ago has been translated by him into a robust national reality. In his five-year sojourn at the CBN, he made mistakes, like any human. But his exploits, which include re-professionalisation of the CBN, will stand, waiting for successors to equal or surpass. Eighteen days from today, Soludo’s era will expire. He will be leaving in a blaze of glory. A great Lion, home to a hero’s welcome.

Fresh Crisis in Ekiti as Assailants Raze Oba’s Palace
From Toba Suleiman in Ado-Ekiti, 05.10.2009

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The palace of Onisan of Isan, Oba Sunday Ajibaye was yesterday razed by suspected arsonists and properties including antiquities and other personal effects worth over N100 million were destroyed.
Apart from the main palace building burnt down by the hoodlums, they also set ablaze a Toyota Camry and Mercedes Benz E-Class cars belonging to the royal father on fire. Crowns and other palace antiquities were also burnt in the attack.
According to the monarch, who spoke on phone yesterday night, the assailants were three, two of them wore masks.
At press time, it is not clear what was the reason behind the attack, but sources linked the development to the fact that Isan-Ekiti is the hometown of the Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate in the state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and that the Onisan was solidly behind his “son” during the struggle.
THISDAY further gathered that the monarch was being victimised for the support he offered his subject in his bid to become governor.
Following the attack on the traditional ruler and members of his immediate family, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. John Ahmadu, had ordered the deployment of riot policemen to the community to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
The youths in the town had staged a protest against the declaration of Governor Segun Oni as the winner of the rerun governorship election as they claimed that Fayemi, their townsman, was robbed of victory in the last governorship rerun election conducted in 63 wards in the state.

In his reaction, the AC governorship candidate, Fayemi, who condemned the act described it as the height of PDP desperation.

While appealing to the people of the town, especially the youths, Fayemi called on security operatives to ensure that lives and properties of Ekiti residents are saved.

sjeezy8:

thats crazy ive  ALWAYS said a poor igbo can  SELL his or hers own child lol AND YES IM OK,  AND RUBBISH LIKE DIS HAPPENS MAINLY IN IGBO LAND NO DOUBT INFACT I CAN HONESTLY SAY THE ONLY CIVILIZED ONES ARE THE IGBOS WITH MONEY ( GOD FORBID IGBO MAN GO BROKE HE CAN CUT HIS OWN LEG OFF AND USE IT FOR JU JU). I LOVE IGBOS THOUGH THE RICH ONES ATLEAST

I hope you find answer to your gibberish above in the ensuing post below

Two Held For Beheading Teenager
March 18, 2009 18:07, 369 views

By Jamiu Yisa

Homicide detectives investigating the death of a 13-year old boy, who was beheaded in Idogo area of Idiroko, Ogun State, have arrested two men, Lawale Ilo and Aina Alabi, in connection with the crime.

P.M.News learnt that on 20 February, the teenager was killed and beheaded while he was on an errand for his mother. The deceased’s mother had sent him to buy okra when he met his untimely death.

The police alleged that the murder suspects, Ilo and Alabi, were arrested after detectives recovered some incriminating objects in their home. Ilo was arrested after the policemen discovered two freshly dug holes and some herbs meant for rituals.

The police said the suspects could not give a satisfactory answers concerning the discoveries during interrogation.

The prime suspect, Ilo, left his house a few minutes before the boy’s corpse was found with his head missing.

Ilo, however, denied the allegation concerning his involvement in the beheading of the teenager. He said he was at his aunt’s farm the night the incident happened.

He claimed that: “I went to my aunty’s farm that night. It was when I returned the next day that I was apprehended by the vigilante.”

The Ogun State Police Command, however, said the suspects are assisting them in their investigation.

Fashola is demolition shops and stores to make Lagos great. In the processes, Igbo businesses are amongst those affected. Other govs should be allowed to develop their own states, even if Yoruba and Hausa shops are also affected. My Gov in Rivers is doing the same.

Groups protest revocation of Onitsha Bridge head land
• Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008

The Anambra branches of the Union of Oduduwa Descendants and Arewa Brothers Association have asked the state government to hands off the controversial Bridge Head Market land in Onitsha.

The Anambra State Government has been in a battle to revoke the piece of land earlier allocated to the Federal Urban Mass Transit, near the Onitsha bridge head.

In separate letters sent to Governor Peter Obi, the groups protested the way and manner their kinsmen, trading and operating motor parks in the area were ejected.

The letters, signed by the groups’ scribes, Dr Aremu Fagbemi and Alhaji Mohammed Kano, alleged that the piece of land was leased out to them by the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

They claimed that the Federal Government (FG) provided them the plot of land because Anambra government refused to allocate a piece of land to the traders.

The groups said the state government had no power to eject them without authority from the Federal Government since the said land still belonged to the Federal Government.

Besides, the groups said they still paid rents to the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

They also said that the alternative site provided by the state government is another Federal Government-owned land.

The groups vowed to pursue their legal right of occupancy as lawful tenants on the said plot of land, arguing that the decision to relocate them to another Federal Government owned land is ultra vires.

In his comment, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Mike Udah, denied tribal sentiment in the action.

Udah said the revocation became necessary to properly open up the Bridge Head area of the commercial city as the gateway to Anambra and the whole of the South East.

He described Anambra Governor Peter Obi as a detribalised Nigerian who has done everything possible to carry everybody along irrespective of tribal or religious inclinations.

The governor’s aide gave an assurance that the face-off between the government and the traders would be amicably resolved.

http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=01/30/2008&qrTitle=Groups%20protest%20revocation%20of%20Onitsha%20Bridge%20head%20land&qrColumn=BUSINESS

Enugu Orders Traders To Vacate Livestock Market
By Emmanuel Nzomiwu, Reporter Enugu

Enugu State Government has ordered Hausa-Fulani traders to vacate the New Artisan Livestock Market with immediate effect, an order that has left the affected livestock dealers confused.

Commissioner for Lands, Festus Uzor, gave the vacation order less than two months after the Ministry of Environment demolished no fewer than 600 lock-up shops at the same market without paying compensation to the owners.

Daily Independent gathered that Governor Sullivan Chime's government has proposed a housing estate on the land, which was allocated to the traders in 2005 by the immediate past administration of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, now a senator.

But the traders have appealed to Chime to rescind the proposed plan to eject them from the market without providing alternative for them, stressing that the action would bring hardship to them and their families.

Patron of the market, Alhaji Sani Muhammed, said they received the order from the Commissioner for Lands with shock, adding that the development was giving them sleepless nights.

According to him, "the massage actually baffled the entire members of this market and nobody is happy because not up to four years now we were relocated to this present market from the old artisan market by the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, and all the business transaction as it relates to allocation of shops were duly gazetted by that regime."

He appealed to the state government to reconsider its plan because it would bring about perpetual hardship on the traders whom he said, were yet to complete payment of the loans they took from banks to develop their shops at the market.

"We are appealing to Governor Sullivan Chime, who we know is a listening governor, to reconsider us and help us and our families by allowing us to settle here because we don't have money to start building new structures in another place," Sani stated.

Also, secretary of the livestock dealers, Umar Sadiq, wondered why government should sack them from the place, even when the shops were duly allocated to them by the past administration.

Sadiq, however, appealed to the state government to have a rethink over the plan unless they were indirectly being asked to go back to their various states. Also, leader of the Northern community in the market, Mohammed Lawan, said he was yet to believe the information.

"I still see it as a rumour until we hear from the governor himself who is a lawyer and knows the implications of quitting some one from a land where the person has legal documents," Lawan said.

Also, leader of Arewa Youth Association, Enugu State chapter, Alhaji Danladi Abubakar, declared that the order has demoralised traders at the market, urging the governor to use his good office to address the issue.

My opinion: Igbo should wait for the North to complete its second term. Then they (Igbo) will naturally occupy in 2015. This is the safest thing for them to do.

2011: Kalu vows Igbo man ’ll be president
•PPA to take over Anambra
From DAVID ONWUCHEKWA, Nnewi
Friday, May 8, 2009

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The Presidential candidate of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in 2007 and former Governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, has declared that an Igbo man must be the next president of Nigeria in 2011 just as he has vowed that a PPA governor will occupy Anambra State Government House, Awka in year 2010.

Dr Kalu made the declaration during a sensitization and mobilization programme of PPA in Nnewi.
He said the Hausas and Yorubas have taken a fair share in the leadership of this nation, adding that it is the turn of the Igbos to produce the next president of Nigeria for the interest of equity, justice and fair play.
Hausas have ruled, Yorubas have ruled and it remains the Igbos. If one requests for equal treatment, is it bad? Ndigbo should not be relegated to the background because we are not second class citizens.

“I bet you, apart from Rt. Hon. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe of blessed memory, non of the leaders of this country so far is more intelligent than I. It is wrong to give the impression that Igbos cannot produce a good leader,” the former presidential candidate said.

He urged Igbos not to be afraid in demanding for their right. He said he thwarted the third term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo because, according to him, the former president was more than Oliver Twist.
Said he: “When Obasanjo made a move to go for third term, you saw what I did to him. The project was a flop. He ruled for eight years without achieving anything. He only achieved hunger for the nation.”

Kalu said he is a man of peace but is not afraid of trouble, adding that he is proud to be an Igbo man and would like to be that ten times if there is re-incarnation. He said the Igbos are known for enterprise and that anybody who said that Ndigbo have no leader is far from the truth.
He regretted that a lot of injustice had been done to Igbo nation but gave the assurance that it must stop as he assumes leadership of the nation.

“They use our money and seize our goods. After seizing our goods, instead of releasing them to us, they will burn them,” he said.
On Anambra 2010, the former governor vowed that PPA must produce the next governor of Anambra State. To achieve this, Kalu said he would relocate to Anambra in November 2009 and be in the state till March 2010 when PPA governor democratically takes over Government House, Awka.
“We have inspected the Government House, Awka to know where we can repaint, the curtains and airconditioners we should change when the PPA governor takes over,” Kalu said.

He noted that change has been effected in Zimbabwe, Ghana, South Africa and America, adding that a great change is coming to Nigeria. Mmanu akara di uto, onye ratu ibeya aratu (bean cake oil is sweet and you should lick and allow others to lick), the former governor concluded.
In his comment, the South East leader of PPA, Mr Austin Ndigwe, said Kalu is God-sent to redeem Igbos and other tribes of the nation.

He said PPA should be strengthened to be a strong platform to produce a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction and equally assured that PPA will democratically capture Anambra come 2010 to be a signal to Enugu and Ebonyi states.

The BoT chairman later donated approximately one container load of crash helmets to Okada (commercial motorcycle) riders in Anambra. He promised them that more things are coming.
Reacting to the donation, the Chairman of Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria (MUTN), Nnewi unit, Mr Jude Udegbe, said his unit will not use the helmet as a protest until the ban on Okada riding in Imo State is lifted.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/may/08/national-08-05-2009-17.htm

Lagos is the most indebted state � DMO
Written by Idris Ahmed
Friday, 08 May 2009
Lagos is the most indebted state in Nigeria with about $270.7 million foreign debt stock, a document from the Debt Management Office (DMO) has shown.

Director General of DMO, Abraham Nwankwo presented the document to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts when they visited his office yesterday.

The document showed that Oyo and Kaduna States followed Lagos in terms of debt profile with $110.47 million and $109.10 respectively.

Nigeria’s foreign debt profile as at December 2008 totalled $3.7 billion, out of which $2 billion is owed by the Federal Government. States accounted for the remaining $1.7 billion.

According to the document, the least indebted states are Borno, Jigawa and Zamfara states with $15 million, $ 16.7 million and $17.2 million respectively. There is no state in the country that is not indebted.

Nwankwo told the Committee that the country’s public debt was used to provide services such as electricity, road and water resources to the citizens.

He put the country’s domestic debt at N2.32 trillion, which he said represents 9.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nigeria can borrow up to 25 percent of its GDP, he said.

According him, the domestic debt stock is made up of N1.45 trillion from the FGN Bonds, N472 billion from NTBs, N402.2 billion from Treasury Bonds and N520 billion Development Stocks.

Daily Trust exclusively reported two weeks ago that Federal Government spent $1.486 billion to service her foreign debt in 2007 and 2008. About $1.022 was spent in 2007 while $464.63 million was expended in 2008. Nwankwo said that in 2008, the DMO through the FGN Bond issuance programme successfully raised N515 billion from domestic capital market to fund the Federal Government’s budget deficit of N155.47 billion.

“The 2009 Securities Issuance programme is for the purposes of funding the FGN budget deficit to the tune of 75 percent (i.e. N627.12 billion of the overall deficit of N836.6 billion), refinancing the FGN Bonds and funding of Special National Strategic initiatives”, he said.

http://www.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9448&Itemid=19

Northern elites, be warned


By Sani Aliyu, Unguwar Rimi, Kaduna, 07058453009., on 08-05-2009 00:50

Views : 50

Favoured : 2

Published in : Daily Trust, Letters

Nigerian elites are certainly some of the meanest and insensitive class around. Among the lots, Northern elites are in a class of their own. Having ruled Nigeria the most since independence, all they have to show for it is that the North produces almost all the street beggars, illiterates and poor people in this country.

In North West where eight out of Nigeria’s 11 rulers came from, for instance, out of every 10 people you see, seven or more are leaving on less than 150 Naira per day!

History tells us that when insensitivity and wickedness reached this proportion – when the people are pushed to the wall – even in the most conservative society like ours, the poor will react in the way they best can. So, Northern elites should be forewarned in order to be forearmed.

Sani Aliyu, Unguwar Rimi, Kaduna, 07058453009.


Comments (1)add comment

Sadiq Rijiyar Zaki, Kano: Allah Ya Isa
we have nothing to say but "Allah ya isa". It is very pathetic to see what is happening in the north. I can't say that 7 out of 10 are living on less than 150 naira per day, if the figure reaches this level Wallahi we will be happy. These 7 you are talking about are all beggars, the 2 are the one living on or under 150 naira per day. While the remaining one are those who claimed to be elites or wealthy.
I did my service in South West, Ekiti state, during my service time I used to see beggars who were all Hausa, from north. They travel all the way from the north to that far just for the sake of begging. What an embarassment!
Abubakar Abubakar usman
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
http://www.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9419&Itemid=13

Plateau defends expelling Fulanis
Written by Andrew Agbese, Jos
Friday, 08 May 2009
Image
Governor Jonah Jang
The Plateau State government yesterday explained the circumstances that led to the expulsion of hundreds of migrant Fulanis from Wase Local Government Area, saying it was done because of the suspicious nature of the migrants and also to forestall crisis.

Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong told a news conference in Jos that the Fulanis in question arrived in Jos after the sectarian crisis of November 2008. He said they came in trucks instead of on foot as Fulani nomads do, causing residents of the villages to raise an alarm.

Yenlong said the state government only assisted the Fulanis to return to where they came from since their arrival in Wase became a cause for concern for the people of the area.

“The facts available to government on the matter is that the migrant Fulanis came into Bashar axis of Wase LGA shortly after the November 28 crisis that affected some parts of Jos metropolis,” the commissioner said.

“Their arrival, which was in over 14 trucks, immediately attracted apprehension by the local residents who are predominantly Fulanis. Their fears were informed by the ugly experiences of 1984 where similar migrants were accommodated and turned out to engage in armed robbery and banditry. Other negative activities of the migrants led to disputation over farmlands with local farmers.

“You will agree that the arrival of these migrants shortly after the November 2008 crisis in some parts of Jos with suspicious intentions at a time the state was awash with rumour of people being hired to undertake violent attack in the state became even more worrisome.

“Given the volatility of Wase LGA, that has witnessed communal unrest and remaining a flash point, the arrival of the migrants in their hundreds became a matter of security concern to the immediate communities, traditional rulers and the local government council.

“On the strength of the above concerns, and to douse the emerging tension as well as avert any breakdown of law and order, the Plateau State Security Council in consultation with the traditional institution and the local government council, consented to the cry of the host communities for the migrant Fulanis to migrate to relocate back to where they came from.”

Chairman of Wase LGA Abubakar Mohammed Badu, who was at the news conference, said the deportation was not done on religious, ethnic or political basis but for the security of the local government.


http://www.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9452&Itemid=87

I do not know more than 2 or 3 Nigerians who are more qualified to lead Nigeria than Emeka Anyaoku

Where did anyone read that it is the same guy who was arrested with tons of marijuana that was executed? Some Nigerians and fabu sef