₦airaland Forum

Former NACCIMA boss arraigned for forgery
By Tobi Soniyi, Abuja
Published: Friday, 6 Jul 2007
Former President of Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Nze Clement Maduako was on Thursday arraigned before an Abuja High Court on a three-count charge of forgery.

He was accused of using a forged letterhead paper of the National Hospital, Abuja to write a letter to a senior magistrate court in Nyanya, excusing himself from attending court.

Maduako, however pleaded not guilty to the charges after they were read to him.

According to the charges, he allegedly committed the offence on February 12, 2004 and was declared wanted.

After a while a bench warrant was issued against him.

The accused was brought to the court on Thursday by his lawyer, Chief Awa Kalu (SAN) to face his charges.

Kalu apologised to the court for the absence of his client in court during the last two proceedings in the case.

He also asked the court to vacate its warrant of arrest on him.

Kalu said, ”Now that the accused person has pleaded not guilty, I ask that the bench warrant issued on him be vacated. He came voluntarily. I apologise for his absence on the day the bench warrant was issued and similarly at the last adjourned date, June 19.

He then applied that the accused person be admitted to bail but the application was opposed by the counsel to the Federal Government, Mallam C. Barkum.

The trial judge, Justice Ishaq Bello however vacated the bench warrant and also granted him bail.

Barkum had told the court to dismiss the requests by Maduako, saying ”we are opposing his bail application because of the nature of the offence which attracts seven years imprisonment upon conviction.

Replying, Kalu said, “He has just been arraigned. He is an eminent citizen of this country. ”Where is he running to? If he does not come, the court can issue another bench warrant on him. He is a former President of NACCIMA. No useful purpose would be served sending him to prison.

The judge consequently vacated the bench warrant issued on Maduako and released him on bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Ruling, Justice Bello said, ”He is released in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum and not on self recognition.”

The criminal case stemmed from a civil matter between the Chairman of Omeire Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industries, Dr. M. O. Kanu and the Chairman of NIGERCEM, Maduako touching on money matters.

The matter came to court and during one of the proceedings in the case before the Senior Magistrate Court, Nyanya, Abuja, Maduako was absent in court.

Akunyili’s alleged attackers must be tried again — Appeal Court
By Tobi Soniyi, Abuja
Published: Friday, 6 Jul 2007
The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Thursday ordered a re-trial of seven Onitsha drug market traders alleged to have masterminded an attempt to kill the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Professor Dora Akunyili.


The accused were discharged early last year by an Abuja High Court on the grounds that the bulk of the offence was committed in Anambra State and that only a high court in Anambra had the jurisdiction to try the suspects.

Justice Ishaq Bello had held that the attempted murder took place in Agulu, Anambra State and the appropriate court to entertain the trial was the state high court.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the prosecution had filed an appeal contending that the trial judge erred in law to have taken the position and to have discharged the accused person.

But a panel of the court of appeal, with Justice Olufunmilola Adekeye presiding, held that the Abuja High Court has jurisdiction to try the accused.

In the lead judgment delivered by Adekeye, the panel held that although it was trite law that an accused should be charged in a court within the jurisdiction of the crime, it was not always the case.

The court held that there was avalanche of cases where accused persons were charged in a court outside the jurisdiction of alleged crime for various reasons.

The panel said that it was wrong for the lower court to have discharged the accused base on territorial jurisdiction.

The appeal court however struck out two out of the four charges preferred against the accused persons on the grounds that prima facie case had not been established against them on the charges.

It ordered that the accused be tried by the lower court on the two other charges.

The accused includes Marcel Nnakwe and his son, Nnamdi, Francis Okoye, Jude Ugwu, Christopher Okwara-Mba, Emeka Orjiakor and Olisaemeka Igbokwe.

They were alleged to be behind the importation of fake and adulterated drugs into the Nigerian market through the Onitsha drug market.

The Ijaw speak nine closely-related Niger-Congo languages, all of which belong to the Ijoid branch of the Niger-Congo tree. The primary division between the Ijo languages is that between Eastern Ijo and Western Ijo, the most important of the former group of languages being Izon, which is spoken by about four million people. There are two prominent groupings of this language. The first group is nominally termed "Western" or "Central" Ijaw or Izon, and consists of "Western" Ijaw speakers (Mein, Bassan, Apoi, Arogbo, Bumo, Kabuowei, Ogboin, Tarakiri, etc variety) as well Kolokuma-Opokuma (Yenagoa and the vicinity). Nembe-Brass and Akassa (Akaha) dialects are referred to as "Ijo South-East". These groups, since 1996, mainly constitutes Bayelsa State, but spills over to Delta, Edo and Ondo States. Biseni and Okodia dialect are termded "Inland" Ijo The other major group is Kalabari. Kalabari is an "Eastern" Ijaw language but the term "Eastern Ijaw" is not the normal nomenclature. Kalabari is the name one of the clans of the Ijaws that reside on the eastern side of the Niger-Delta (Abonnema, Buguma, Bakana, Degema etc who form a major group in Rivers State, hence their involvement in the fight for greater oil control. Other "Eastern" Ijaw clans are the Okrika, Ibani (the natives of Bonny, Finima and Opobo) and Nkoroo. They are neighbours to the Kalabari in present day Rivers State of Nigeria.

Other related Ijo sub-groups which have distinct linguistic relations but very close blood (i.e genetic), cultural and territorial homogenity with the rest of the Ijaw are Epie-Atisa clan, Engenni people and Udekama (which speak Delta Edoid Languages). Others are Ogbia clan, Bukuma, Abuloma (Obulom) and Andoni (which speak Delta Cross languages).

It was discovered in the 1980s that a nearly-extinct Berbice Creole Dutch, spoken in Guyana, is based on Ijo lexicon and grammar. Its nearest relative seems to be Eastern Ijo, most likely Kalabari (Kouwenberg 1994).

The Ijaw were one of the first of Nigeria's peoples to have contact with Westerners, and were active as go-betweens in trade between visiting Europeans and the peoples of the interior, particularly in the era before the discovery of quinine, when West Africa was still known as the White Man's Graveyard because of the endemic presence of malaria. Some of the kin-based trading lineages that arose among the Ijaw developed into substantial corporations which were known as "Houses"; each house had an
Being a maritime people, many Ijaw people were employed in the merchant shipping sector in the early and mid-20th century (pre-Nigerian independence). With the advent of oil and gas exploration in their territory, some are employed in that sector. Other main occupation are mainly in the civil service of the Nigerian States of Bayelsa and Rivers were they are predominant.

Extensive state-government sponsored overseas scholarship programs in the 1970s and 1980s have also led to a significant presence of Ijaw professionals in Europe and North America (so-called Ijaw Diaspora). Another contributing factor to this human capital flight is the abject poverty in their homeland of the Niger Delta resulting from decades of neglect by the Nigerian government in spite of continuous petroleum prospecting in this region.


The Ijaw people foods items ( paddy-rice, plantains, yams, cocoyams, bananas and other vegetables as well as tropcal fruits such as guava, mangoes and pineapple), supplemented by fishing and trading. Smoke-dried fish, timber, palm oil and palm kernels are processed for export. While some clans (those to the east- Akassa, Nembe, Kalabari, Bonny, Okrika and Opobo) had powerful chiefs and a stratified society, other clans had no centralized leader until the arrival of the British. However, owing to influence of the neighbouring Kingdom of Benin individual communities even in the western Niger Delta also had chiefs and governments at the village level.

Marriages are completed by the payment of a bridal dowry, which increases in size if the bride is from another village (so as to make up for that village's loss of her children). Funeral ceremonies, particularly for those who have accumulated wealth and respect, are often very dramatic

Although the Ijaw are now primarily Christians ( 95% profess to be), with Catholicism and Anglicanism being the varieties of Christianity most prevalent among them, the Ijaw have elaborate traditional religious practices of their own. Veneration of ancestors plays a central role in Ijaw traditional religion, while water spirits, known as Owuamapu figure prominently in the Ijaw pantheon. In addition, the Ijaw practice a form of divination called Igbadai, in which recently deceased individuals are interrogated on the causes of their death.
Food customs
Like many ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Ijaws have many local foods that are not widespread in Nigeria. Many of these foods involve fish and other seafoods such as clams, oysters and periwinkles; yams and plantains. Some of these foods are:

Polofiyai — A very rich soup made with yams and palm oil
Kekefiyai— A pottage made with chopped unripened (green) plantains, fish, other seafood or game meat ("bushmeat" and palm oil
Fried fish and plantain — Fish fried in palm oil and served with fried plantains
Gbe — The grub of the raffia-palm tree beetle that is eaten raw, dried or pickled in palm oil
Kalabari "sea-harvest" fulo— A rich mixed seafood soup or stew that is eaten with foofoo, rice or yams
Ethnic identity
Formerly organized into several loose clusters of villages which cooperated to defend themselves against outsiders, the Ijaw increasingly view themselves as belonging to a single coherent nation, bound together by ties of language and culture. This tendency has been encouraged in large part by what are considered to be environmental depredations that have accompanied the discovery of oil in the Niger delta region which the Ijaw call home, as well as by a revenue sharing formula with the Nigerian Federal government that is viewed by the Ijaw as manifestly unfair.

those Aba boys try so hard to be gangsters,many of them in queens N.Y get locked up for selling cracks.

Bodies of drowned Rev. King’s faithful found
Adelowo Oladipo, Lagos - 06.07.2007

Three bodies of some members of the Christian Praying Assembly, Ajao Estate, Lagos State, who drowned in a boat accident last Saturday around Isolo Local Government Area of the state have been found.


Nigerian Tribune gathered that the corpses were found last Monday during a search of the waterways between Isolo and Festac town.

Further investigation revealed that two of the bodies which had decomposed were identified as those of Ndidi Amaka Ani, aged 27, and Ijeoma Okechukwu while the third body was still unidentified as at press time.


The victims drowned last Saturday morning on their way from a vigil held at the C P A, owned by Rev. King, who had been sentenced to death, during a heavy and stormy rainfall.


The families of the deceased persons quickly organised a search party to look for their bodies last Saturday as soon as the news got to them.


Family sources told the Nigerian Tribune that the bodies were probably recouped by fishermen at the bank of the canal.

Edo, Ondo state govts receive Niger Delta master plan

SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

GOVERNMENTS of Ondo and Edo states in the Western Niger Delta have endorsed the Niger Delta Development Master Plan, pledging their full support in realization of the projects objectives.

Head of Corporate Affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr CON Atako, stated this in a statement that governors of the two states have expressed full commitment to work with all stakeholders in the implementation of the master plan.

According to him, the Edo State Governor, Prof Oserhiemen Osunbor, said at the presentation of the master plan in Benin that the development blueprint must be accepted by stakeholders as an article of faith.

The presentation of the master plan to the state government was led by NDDC’s Executive Director in charge of projects, Mr Benia Ojum.

Appraising the document, Osunbor said the NDDC’s ability to come up with a comprehensive master plan represents a new phase in its endeavour in redressing the problems of the region.

He said the implementation of the master plan has become more pertinent now as the people of the region want to see more development projects now that the plan is in place.

"It is a question of translating these ideas into reality, by seeing to the prompt and efficient implementation of the Master Plan, particularly in the areas of physical and tangible actions being taken on the ground," he said.

While noting that the Master Plan poses a great challenge to all stakeholders, Gov. Osunbor hinged its success on good governance and leadership, which he said have been lacking.

"That is really what it takes, and that is what has been lacking over the decades. Once we recognize that, and commit ourselves with diligence and sincerity to implementing this master plan in all the various sectors and ramifications, and with all hands on deck, I believe sooner, rather than later, we will begin to see positive results."

Call for Biafra to leave Nigeria

Emeka Ojukwu said he regretted the Biafran war
The Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria have more reason than ever to seek independence, the leader of the region's 1960s separatist group says.
On the 40th anniversary of the start of the Biafran war, in which more than 1m died, Emeka Ojukwu told the BBC that Igbos were still marginalised.

He also said that 14m people in the region had been denied the right to vote in April's elections.

"The only alternative is a separate existence," Mr Ojukwu said.

But he said it would be possible for Nigeria to remain united.

What upsets the Igbo population is we are not equally Nigerian as the others

Emeka Ojukwu


Reopening Biafran war wounds
"Give us a free and fair election - allow us to be fully part of Nigeria," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Mr Ojukwu was a presidential candidate in the polls, coming sixth, with 155,000 votes, according to official results.

The elections, won by ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua, were condemned by international observers as "not credible".

Cases of rigging were recorded in the south-east, as well as other parts of the country.

"What upsets the Igbo population is we are not equally Nigerian as the others," he said.

Such feelings led to Mr Ojukwu's declaration of independence on 30 May 1967.

Five weeks later the first shots were fired in the three-year war, in which more than 1m people died, mostly from hunger.

Mr Ojukwu said he regretted the war and the deaths but said he was proud that his people had fought back.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6276820.stm

SSS Detains 4 Ohanaeze Leaders, Others
From Francis Ugwoke in Enugu, 07.06.2007
Enugu

State Security Service (SSS), yesterday arrested four top officials of Ohaneze Ndigbo and two human rights activists in Enugu, where they had gone to address a press conference on their grievances against some policies of the Federal Government.
Those arrested at Sunshine Hotel, Independent Layout, Enugu, were Co-ordinator of Igbo National Council (INC), an affiliate of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Meshack Umeike, Mr Ndubuisi Ofondu, Mr Peter Claver Opara and Nath Eze. Others were Barrister Sam Mbah and Mr Nana Ogbodo, who may have been involved in the organisation of the press conference.
After the arrest, SSS operatives drove the suspects to Nza Street, Independent Layout, Enugu office, where they were asked to make statements.
The SSS operatives also threatened to arrest c cameraman of the Minaj Broadcasting Group (MBI), for refusing to surrender the tape used in recording the press conference.
However, Bureau Chief of Champion Newspapers, Enugu, Barrister Chukwudi Achife, said it was wrong to demand for the tape, since the SSS had the paper presented at the conference.
Although one of the SSS operatives said he was under instruction to get the tape, explaining that he had 2000 methods of effecting arrest, but he later allowed the cameraman to go.
However, Ohaneze officials at the press conference in a written speech titled, "Watering the Ground for Ethnic Cleansing in Nigeria," said the conference was called to address "the issue of the continued persecution of the Igbo nation in the Nigerian state."
In his opening speech, Umeike said, "we wish to state here that our concern in calling all of you here today is to alert you that a project is being desperately prosecuted to ensure that Igbo are completely disorganised, in a move we see as a precursor for an impending ethnic cleansing for a race that still strives to give its best for a nation that operates on bare-faced lies and predatory cannibalism. "The signs of what happened in Nazi Germany and more recently in Rwanda is there for discerning observers to see in Nigeria today," he said.
The group accused Chief Olusegun Obasanjo's regime of pursuing a policy of annihilation against Ndigbo.

;d ;d ;d

lol.