₦airaland Forum

IMO STATE TRADITIONAL PARLIAMENT was inaugurated today. At the first sitting, three crucial bills were presented:

1. A bill seeking to slash down the cost of marriage & uniform the marriage rite in every community in Imo State. The bill among other things recommends that bride price shall henceforth be #10,000.

2. A bill seeking to unify the kola nut ceremonial all over Imo State. this bill was sent to Committee stage.

3. A bill for an Act to make Igbo Language compulsory in all schools in Imo State.

It was thrilling to watch. Offor was used as the mace while the traditional odu served as the Speaker's gavel. English was totally forbidden while Igbo reigned.

The rule of this parliament (first of its kind in the whole of Nigeria) is that any law passed by it will still be sent to the state assembly for affirmation or otherwise.

It will be recalled that Governor Rochas Okorocha as part of his ROCHANOMICS has forwarded a bill to the State Assembly seeking to repeal the town unions and enthrone the Community Development Council to serve as the 4TH TIER OF GOVERNMENT. The bill was eventually passed & the Governor, Speaker & who is who in Imo were there today for the Inauguration.

Two of France’s biggest international football stars are to face trial for allegedly soliciting an underaged prostitute, in one of the most high-profile sex scandals to hit French sport.

Franck Ribéry, who plays for the German club Bayern Munich, and Karim Benzema, a striker at Real Madrid in Spain, have been ordered to stand trial over allegations of paid sexual encounters with Zahia Dehar, who was under 18 at the time. They will appear with six other defendants, some of whom will be prosecuted for “aggravated pimping”.

The long-running case, which began as a police investigation into allegations of prostitution at an expensive nightclub near the Champs Elysées, tarnished the image of French football, upset the French team during its fraught 2010 World Cup campaign in South Africa and has since become an extraordinary celebrity saga in France.

Dehar told investigators that Benzema had paid for sex with her in 2008, when she was 16. She further claimed that Ribéry had paid sex with her the following year. He allegedly flew her to Munich as a 26th “birthday present” to himself. Ribéry, a convert to Islam who is married with three children and had been hugely popular in France for his image as a wholesome family man, told police he had not known Dehar was underage.

Asked by Paris Match magazine whether she had been Ribéry’s birthday gift, Dehar replied: “I’m a pretty present, aren’t I?” She told investigators that neither footballer had known her real age.

In November last year, the Paris state prosecutor requested that the case against the footballers be dropped on the grounds that they did not know that Dehar was under 18. But the investigating judge in charge of the case decided differently and this week sent it to trial.
Both players face a possible three years in prison or a €45,000 (£35,000) fine if found guilty.

When the footballers were first placed under formal investigation in July 2010, Ribery’s lawyer said a legal case would have to prove that the player had known Dehar’s age “which isn’t the case”. Benzema’s lawyer said on Tuesday he was “innocent” and would explain himself in court.

The case, which began in 2009 when police were investigating an alleged pimping network in a central Paris bar called the Zaman Cafe, has in recent months moved from the crime and sports pages to the fashion sections. Following the exposure of the high-profile investigation, the fashion designer Karl Lagerfield has taken the Algerian-born Dehar, who is now 20 and a designer, under his wing and her own lingerie collections have shown at Paris fashion week. Artists Pierre et Gilles have painted her and she has graced the covers of glossy magazines.

But the three-year legal investigation into alleged pimping and illegal underage sex pointed to a harsher reality behind the glamour of Paris’s top bars, where Dehar said she once met clients. Born in Algeria, Dehar moved to the Paris suburbs after her parents’ divorce and began going to VIP bars in central Paris in her teens.

Didier Deschamps, the new French football coach, said he did not want to comment on the case. “It’s in the hands of the justice system,” he said. “It won’t change my demands as to their behaviour on and off the pitch as part of the French team.”


source: http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/news/french-stars-ribery-benzema-in-soup-for-soliciting-underaged-prostitute/

people where is Beaf.

have not seen him online recently. lets be our brothers keeper.

beaf where are u

FOLLOWING the confrontation between the Federal Government and workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) over severance pay, the Federal Government, on Monday, described the workers as outlaws who were bent on getting what did not belong to them.
This is coming as it was revealed that the lowest cadre staff of the company could get as much as N8 million severance pay while the highest cadre staff could take home about N38 million upon disengagment from the company.

This is according to the Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, who was at the State House, Abuja, on Monday in continuation of the ministerial briefing of President Goodluck Jonathan on the performance of the 2012 budget and the outlook for 2013.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the meeting with the president, Professor Nnaji disclosed that the ministry had so far received about N21.5 billion of its capital budget of N75.4 billion out of which it had used N11.4 billion, representing 52.9 per cent.

Professor Nnaji, while dismissing claims that government was planning to pay outgoing PHCN staff the sum of N85,000 across board, noted that too much falsehood had been peddled about government's position on the matter.

He accused the workers' union of deliberately distorting facts over their entitlements, promising to make all the facts available to the public by next week.

His words: "That has to do with how much they are going to take. They say it is N85,000. I cannot understand how they could say that. Many of the people who are junior officers, some of them with WASC qualification are going to go home with N8 million.

"We just do not want to publish tally sheet. Somebody who is in the position of an Assistant General Manager, could go home with N28 million. What we are saying is that there is a range.

"The highest officer could go home with N38 mllion. So, anybody who is telling you N85,000 has a different mission."

The minister explained the area of disagreement with the workers, saying it was an attempt to bring about violation of existing laws.

He blamed the union for deducting money from workers' salaries on the pretext of paying it into their retirement account but which it never did.

According to him, "the area of difference is the following: the union wants to be paid 25 per cent of the benefit at the point of severance. That was an old policy before the 2004 Pension Reform Act. After the Act, they carried on with the 25 per cent. They collected this money without remitting the money into the account. It was just written on paper.

"So, the workers had nothing in their account. That is something we have now set up a panel to investigate and we have set up a panel headed by a former Auditor-General of the Federation.

"It amounts to fraud to have that kind of thing going on.

"What government has decided to do is that since no money was paid into the account from 2004 to June this year, government will pay what is in the law. Government will pay its own component, that is the PHCN component of it.

"Workers were supposed to contribute 7.5 per cent and PHCN 7.5 per cent but since PHCN did not pay, government will pay it. This makes 15 per cent. But the union is saying that they would like government to pay 25 per cent.

"Every worker out there, be it private or public, follows the Pension Act and how on earth would you say you do not want to obey the law of this nation? That is the threat.

"We have said let us give you the tally sheet. They said no. Meanwhile, they go and talk about N85,000. This is a country of rules but they went and attacked an official of PHCN, dragged her out and stripped her because the woman holds the position of Acting General Manager (Human Resources).

"Unions do not act this way. PHCN unions are constituting themselves into outlaws. It is not right," he declared.

On the 2012 budget, the minister recalled that the sum of N75.5 billion was initially budgeted while the National Assembly raised it to N78 billion to accommodate constituency projects.

He explained that out of the N75.4 billion budgeted for capital project, N21.5 billion had been released and N11.4 billion had so far been expended, representing 52.9 per cent.


source http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/45869-p-r-i-v-a-t-i-s-a-t-i-o-n-phcn-workers-to-get-jumbo-severance-pay-general-managers-n38m-assistant-general-managers-n28m-junior-staff-wasc-holders-n8m-and-above-their-unions-are-outlaws-fg-

God save Nigeria

[quote author=Ki-Katanga]American's don't always mean "God Bless America", often they literally mean "God has Blessed America" as in Thanks Giving.

The phrase is used by Atheists and religious alike, but isn't a real prayer or expectation of divine intervention.

Nigeria should be self-critical until it has achievements to be proud of.[/quote]i disagree with you. we don't have to wait for Nigeria to be blessed before we start saying it. Americans say GOD BLESS AMERICA, never heard God has blessed America

photoshop

Nigeria went there to just see the queen or her capital city. Unfortunately most of them might not have been at the opening ceremony venue where the Queen appeared. So, at last they could not even see the queen in London. So, they went to London for jamboree and to play tom-tom drums. I know you saw the picture of Ms. Evelyn Oputu, the Bank of Industry CEO playing talking drum in the Nigerian camp.

I am sure Chief Edem Duke, Tourism Minister and the Tourism Board CEO, Segun Runsewe are all there to ‘showcase’ Nigeria’s shamelessness. It was scandalous
reading in the papers that despite not winning any medal, Nigeria’s camp bubbles with party marketing Nigeria’s tourism potentials. And they advertised it as something very special.

I love dis country no be small

Lordave: None of the above. Use Newspaper.

U wan wound urself?

Hello house.
I want to which one is more hygenic as I see some educated people using water after toilet. There is dis man in lagos with all his education n money u can not see tissue in his house.

So house I need answer

am playing it but yet to get the 3rd medal

kind of keeping me company

WITH the release of the preliminary report on the cause of the Dana Air crash at Iju/Ishaga, Lagos, National President, Concerned Aviation Professionals (CAP), Captain Tito Omaghomi, on Tuesday, said that the pilot of the ill-fated aircraft acted unprofessionally.

Omaghomi, a former pilot with the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL), made this assertion while speaking to newsmen on issues in the aviation sector. He said the profile of the pilot of the crashed plane should be traced to know how he got 120 hours of flight time between the time he was employed and when the plane crashed on May 3, 2012.

“He was employed by Dana Air on March 14, 2012. He began flying line operations for the company in late May 2012 and had since accrued over 120 hours of flight time,” Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) had said.

Comparing it with the pilot hour of what obtained in NAL, Omaghomi said that for a pilot to become a captain in NAL, he must have flown 6,000 hours.

He argued that from the little released by the AIB, it was clear that both the captain and the first officer acted unprofessionally by not using the normal check list and not telling Nigerians when they lost the first engine.

He said, “the pilot did not use the check list. They acted unprofessionally. It was like a cowboy operation.”

While noting that the greatest emergency that could happen was the loss of cabin pressure, the former NAL pilot said the handling of the Dana Air plane crash was the most unprofessional that he had ever known, adding however, that if the rescue operation was handled properly, there was every tendency that lives would have been saved.

AIB, he said, had nothing to hide as far as the Dana Air plane crash was concerned, stating that some of the facts at the site of the crash were tampered with by the crowd that rushed to the site after the accident, attributing the development to ignorance.

According to him, “emergency does not kill. It is the action or inaction that kills.”

On the report released by the Group Captain John Obakpolor-led nine-man committee, the former NAL captain said that there was credibility issue with some of the members.

According to him, when he heard about the committee and some of the members, he advised Group Captain Obakpolor and Captain Mfon Udom to resign because they did not have the moral justification to be in the committee but they did not listen.

He explained that Obakpolor was a contract staff with the NCAA while Udom was a management staff of the Airline Development Company (ADC), an airline that could not pay compensation when its aircraft crashed in 2006.

Meanwhile, a witness in the ongoing coroner inquest into the cause of the Dana Air crash, Mr Kayode Ajiboye, on Tuesday, while giving testimony stated that it was another aircraft belonging to Dana Airline that once had hydraulic pressure problem.

Ajiboye, who is the General Manager of Air Worthiness, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), gave this information while testifying before Magistrate Alexander Oyetade Komolafe at the resumed hearing of the inquest at the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja.

While answering questions from lawyers at the inquest, he explained that the incident happened before the June 3, 2012 crash of Dana aircraft involving the plane with registration number 5N-RAM, explaining that it was the aircraft with registration number 5N-SRI that had hydraulic problem.

According to him, contrary to the views in some quarters, the aircraft that crashed was not the one that lost hydraulic pressure while air-borne, explaining that the aircraft with registration number 5N-SRI was on return trip to Lagos from Uyo when it lost hydraulic pressure in the air on May 10, 2012.

It was his testimony that due to this problem, the plane had to be quickly cleared ahead of others, to make emergency landing on arrival in Lagos, adding that some of the passengers in the plane later called the Consumer Protection Department of NCAA to complain about the state of the aircraft, including the failed air conditioner.

Ajiboye explained further that the plane was, however, taken for repairs at My-Technic Company Limited, Turkey, an aircraft maintenance and servicing company. He added that the Dana Air plane that crashed on June 3, 2012 was serviced and that a flight check was carried out on it on June 2, 2012.

It was also his testimony that the plane did not show any sign of problems during the flightcheck, adding that this was why it was scheduled for flights for the following day.

According to him, on the day of the crash, the plane still made three take-offs and two landings and that it was on the return trip to make the third landing that it crashed at Iju/Ishaga, Lagos.

Another witness, Mr Alistair Morrison, who is the Managing Director of SO Aviation Fuel Limited, a subsidiary of Sahara Group of Companies, informed the coroner that his company supplied 4,000 litres of aviation fuel to Dana Airline between 5.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. on June 2, 2012 in Abuja.

Morrison, who also confirmed that his company supplies aviation fuel to both local and international airlines, stated that, “on the average, we fuel about eight airlines per day, all receiving fuel from the same tankage. SO Aviation does about 50 fueling daily nationwide and all the airlines receive fuel from the same batch of fuel.”



SOURCE http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/45503-dana-air-pilot-acted-unprofessionally-captain-tito

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, have arrested a suspected drug trafficker, Obivuko Ifeanyi, with 210grams of substances that tested positive for cocaine.

Obivuko, who inserted the drugs into his anus, was detected with the aid of a body scanner during the inward clearance of passengers for Turkish airline flight No.TK0625 from Brazil.

The NDLEA airport commander, Hamza Umar, said drug traffickers were currently on the run from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport as a result of a renewed onslaught by his men, coupled with the new body scanner donated by the United States of America (USA) government, which had greatly improved the NDLEA’s efficiency, Obivuko, according to him had decided to take the risk and was apprehended.

Hamza noted that anal insertion by men was a rare and dangerous mode of drug concealment, but said his men were ever ready to beat drug traffickers in their own game.

The suspect, who hails from Orumba North Local Government Area in Anambra State, said he ventured into the drug business in order to give his in-law who died in Brazil, a befitting burial ceremony here in Nigeria.

Obivuko, who, until his arrest, was a dealer in ladies’ hair extension and had lived in Brazil for eight years, said he regrets ever


source http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/45285-ndlea-nabs-man-with-cocaine-in-anus-at-lagos-airport

may God save us

ABUJA— Elder statesman and prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, yesterday, declared that some highly placed individuals from the Northern part of the country were behind the increasing spate of violence in Nigeria to actualize their vow of “making the nation ungovernable for President Jonathan.”

Speaking as a guest lecturer at the “2nd State of the Federation Lecture” organized by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS, Clark therefore challenged two former heads of state, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari, to establish their innocence by publicly condemning activities of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

The lecture was chaired by former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana.
His word: “Our type of terrorism is home grown, unlike in Israel and the US, where terrorism was imported from the Middle-East. Here our Nigerians are the Boko Harams. Boko Haram which was religious has now become a political tool. Those who said they would make Nigeria ungovernable are those behind Boko Haram. It is our proverb that if in the night a mother sleeps with the child and owl cries, if in the morning that child dies, it is the owl that killed the baby. Federal Government should pick up courage and the political will to take up these people, if that is done I believe the problem of Boko Haram will be solved.

“If the Federal Government should dialogue with them, the government of those states should be able to galvanize their people. What are their grievances? Like in the Niger Delta, our own agitation was for the implementation of the 50% derivation formula, today, what is their grievance?

“They are killing everybody, security forces, burning churches, burning human beings. I appeal to governors, instead of devoting themselves to holding governorship meetings in Abuja every month; they should go home and work. They should be made to know that if they don’t perform, state of emergency will be declared in their states for six months.

“Two former heads of state recently made this kind of appeal against the growing level of insecurity in the country, as if they were not part of the system when Boko Haram was formed.

“Boko Haram preceded Jonathan. It started in 2002 when Obasanjo was President. It was there when Yar’Adua was also ruling. It is not synonymous with Jonathan. I had expected that somebody like Babangida should have spoken since. I thought he would have spoken with his friend Buhari. Two of them have been meeting. So why is he now with Obasanjo?

“At 72, Babangida said he will wear uniform and fight for the unity of Nigeria, he should therefore stand up now and condemn Boko Haram from the bottom of his heart, not with Obasanjo.

“Obasanjo has gone to Maiduguri to meet the people, why has Babangida not gone?” he asked.

Besides arguing that President Jonathan has the legal right to seek re-election in 2015, Clark, yesterday, condemned the height of corruption in the judiciary, calling for the immediate prosecution of past political office holders, some of whom he said were granted frivolous ex-parte injunctions.

Recalling that he earlier wrote a petition to the erstwhile Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, on the role and failure of the Judiciary to eradicate corruption in Nigeria, Clark lamented that “some very high profile cases of corruption against some former governors and ministers have been lying fallow in various courts for five years and above.”

Those that must be prosecuted

Those he said should be prosecuted immediately were, Senator Saminu Turaki for allegedly embezzling over N36billion from the Jigawa State treasury, Ayo Fayose for alleged money laundering and misappropriation of about N1.2 billion, Senator Joshua Dariye, whose female associate he said was also arrested and sentenced in London for money laundering; Chimaroke Nnamani, for alleged N5.5billion theft, Dr Peter Odili, for money laundering and looting of about N100billion from Rivers State only to subsequently secure a perpetual injunction stopping his trial.

“Today Dr Peter Odili is one of the freest and recognized political leaders to the extent of his being honoured by the Nigerian Army to decorate their officers at a ceremony; what a shame! In other words, the former Governor has secured a permanent injunction against his arrest and prosecution.”

Others he said should be expeditiously tried were former governor of Adamawa, Boni Haruna, ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State, Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo State, Reverend Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, James Onanefe Ibori of Delta State, former Acting Governor of Plateau State, Michael Botmang, Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State, Adamu Abdullahi of Nasarawa State, former Ministers of Aviation, Prof. Babalola Borishade and Femi Fani-Kayode who he said “is parading himself today as a moral icon in the society.”

Regretting that President Jonathan “has been abused, called all sorts of names such as drunken fisherman and a weakling unfit to govern,” by those he said were bereft of good family upbringing, Clark said, “for instance, Pastor Tunde Bakare has turned his pulpit to a political theatre where he preaches against President Jonathan and his administration to the extent of saying that the President will not last up to 2015, adding that Nigerians should be ready for fresh elections any time before 2015.

Chief Clark also implored President Goodluck Jonathan to promptly convoke a national conference with a view to creating a veritable platform for the discussion of contemporary issues threatening the continued existence of Nigeria as a federation.

The Minister of Information in the First Republic, who condemned the over centralization of the nation’s revenue in the hands of the Federal Government decried what he termed “unfair execution of the 1999 constitution,” saying the country was far from practising either true federalism or fiscal federation and emphasized the need for an urgent amendment of the 1999 constitution.

Lamenting the near absence of transparency and equity in the way the nation’s resources were being managed, the Ijaw leader, urged Federal Government to start appointing two Accountants General, “one to take charge of the finances of the Federal Government, while the other will take charge of the finances of the federating units.”

He said: “The Federal Government does not own the resources. It belongs to the Nigerian Federation and the owner communities. The assignment of the responsibility to collect revenue should not be taken as making the collecting agent the exclusive owner of such resources. It is for this reason that I am recommending that the Federal Government should start appointing two Accountants General.

“By collecting the revenue into the national coffers, the resource producing communities are denied the wherewithal to carry out the development of their communities which are devastated as a result of the exploration of these resources. The revenue allocation formula in the country shows a fiscal dominance of the Federal Government. This is not in line with best global practices in federalism. It therefore poses a major challenge in our political evolution,” he added.

Need for National confab

Highlighting need for the national conference, Clark, warned members of the National Assembly to stop arrogating to themselves the powers to speak for Nigerians on every occasion, saying, “the National Assembly itself is also an aspect to be discussed at the conference.

“Some of them are facing investigation and trial in court. Most of them emerged through corruption, name any panel of inquiry that they successfully concluded, especially the House of Representatives, without element of corruption, is there any? My answer is no. Why then should they arrogate the powers of amending the constitution to themselves alone,” he queried.

Concluding his lecture, Chief Clark appealed to the National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives to take it easy on their impeachment threats on the President, if he fails to implement the budget 100%.

According to him, “I do not think it is really possible anywhere in the world to implement a nation’s budget fully and completely between July and September, except there are other motives or reasons which have not been made known to the public. I agree with them that they have every right to impeach the President if he violates any section of the Nigerian Constitution.

This of course is not the first time such attempts are being made to impeach the President. The threat by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives and other members of the House in which the scandal of “Ghana must go” bags were found on the floor of the House has not been forgotten.”


source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/condemn-boko-haram-clark-dares-ibb-buhari/

Boko Haram today warned women who it alleges are sent to spy on the group, to desist or be slaughtered like rams.

In a statement, its spokesman, Abu Qaqa, said ” We are also aware of the activities of some women who have been recruited to spy on us. This is a final warning to all of them. By God, whenever we catch any woman spying on us, we would slaughter her like ram. “

The deadly islamic sect said they dont kill muslims but government officials, security agents christians and all those who pretend to be christians.

The terrorist organization which praised Allah for the successful blast in Sokoto maintained it would do everything to islamize Nigeria and protect genuine muslims from those it tagged infidels

Full Text of the Statement sent by e-mail

All praises goes to Almighty Allah. This is a very important message from the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad.

We wish to extend our profound gratitude to Almighty Allah for giving us the opportunity to fulfill the promise we made on launching spontaneous attacks in Sokoto.

We have reasons for all our activities and we only kill those who wronged us. We attacked Sokoto because many of our brethren have been incarcerated there. We are gladdened by the successes we recorded at the office of the AIG in Marina and the police divisional office at Unguwan Rogo as well as the police station at Arkila.

We wish to reiterate that our crusade is not for personal gain; it is meant to ensure the establishment of an Islamic state by liberating all Muslims from the excesses of the infidels. We strongly believe that Almighty Allah will reward us with his famous paradise in the hereafter as he rightly said in chapter 9 verse 111 of the Holy Qur’an

We want to stress that in our struggle, we only kill government functionaries, security agents, Christians and anyone who pretends to be a Muslim but engage in assisting security agents to arrest us.

We wish to strongly warn people to desist from collaborating with security agents. The fact is that we are the warriors of the Almighty and even the security forces are finding it difficult to contain our activities.

We are responsible for the attacks in Bauchi and at the residence of Namadi Sambo in Zaria as well as the one in Damaturu where we bombed a patrol vehicle.

We equally dealt a big blow on JTF operatives in Maiduguri who, out of frustration went back and killed innocent and defenseless citizens.

It is erroneous to say that we are killing Muslims. We don’t kill innocent Muslims. The fact is the bottom line of our struggle is to set the Muslims free from enslavement. We only kill the unbelievers.


source: http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/spy-on-us-we-slaughter-you-like-rams-boko-haram-warns-women/

(BASKING4ME and Hindsight) what is happening? you are keeping us in the dark. i want to start the business by sept

kutchs: You fit prove say 36 no be him real age?

prove ur own age first. from there we can confirm kanu age

Nigeria is blessed in all ramification

but the press should not have allowed it to make the headlines. the Government has failed us.

Plying the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at night is like walking through the valley of the shadow of death. A lot of people have been attacked on the long bridge along the expressway by hoodlums many people believed to be herdsmen residing in Kara area, at the Ogun State end of the bridge.

On July 6, Brig. Gen. Sylvester Iruh (retd.) was stabbed to death by some hoodlums who swooped on him and others when they attempted to change a flat tyre on the bridge around 6:30pm.

Penultimate Sunday in the same area, some passengers travelling in a 14-seater bus from Ile-Ife, Osun State, were attacked when their bus broke down on the bridge around 7:30pm.

One of the victims is a pharmacist with one of the Federal Medical Centres in the northern part of the country. The pharmacist, who was on official duty at FMC, Lagos, did not want his identity to be revealed for security reasons.

He said as soon as the passengers alighted from the bus, some men numbering about 10 emerged from the bush near the bridge and swooped on them.

The victim said, “Immediately, all passengers took to their heels and ran in different directions. But unfortunately I could not run because I have a health challenge. They concentrated on me and beat me thoroughly.

“They robbed me of all my belongings, including valuable documents. Thereafter, they stabbed me and I was bleeding profusely. After they left me, I walked to a filling station on the expressway where I met some riot policemen guarding the station.

“I told them about my ordeal but they said they could not leave the station because they were asked to guard the place. They directed me to Ibafo Police Division. At the station, the policemen on duty said there was nothing they could do either.

“They said they had killed quite a number of the hoodlums but they kept regrouping and unleashing mayhem on those plying the road. The policemen took me to a private hospital in the area where I was treated.

“I was not having any money on me but the doctor agreed to save my life after I had identified myself as a pharmacist. He charged me N10,000 and also lent me N1,000 from which I took a bus to Lagos. He then gave me his account number.”

The victim, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone, said the next day, he went to a branch of his bank in Lagos and after explaining his ordeal to the bank manager, he was allowed to use withdrawal slip to withdraw from his account and paid N11, 000 into the doctor’s account.

He said as soon as he got to his base, he blocked his three telephone lines and was reconnected on Wednesday.

He said as soon as one of the lines became active, a man called him from Kano State on Friday claiming that his brother had been calling him with the line for about three days.

The pharmacist said the man, who spoke in Hausa, called him with 08020511*** and insisted that his brother owned the line.

He said he later told the man that he was attacked on his way to Lagos by some hoodlums and suspected that the caller’s brother was among his attackers.

The pharmacist said, “Immediately I told him what happened, he dropped the line. After a while, he beeped me with the same number and I called him back. I told him that his brother was among those who attacked me. But he said ‘the boys are not as bad as I painted them.’”

The victim said since he had the caller’s number and was willing to release it to security agents, it should not be difficult to apprehend him since all lines were registered by service providers.

He said once the caller from Kano is apprehended, it would not be difficult to arrest those who attacked him on the bridge, adding that the documents he lost were too vital to let go.

Besides, he said he was now worried because since the man called him, he had been “receiving strange calls.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Command, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, advised the victim to report back at the police station and gave the number of the caller from Kano to the Divisional Police Officer.

“There is a way the police can get the call log so that the caller can be located and arrested,” he said.



SOURCE: http://www.punchng.com/metro/robbers-brother-called-me-lagos-ibadan-expressway-robbery-victim/