₦airaland Forum

^^^

Saw that on Vanguard comments page on the kidnapping of journalists. I started thinking about it, and I came to the realization that the REAL problem is lack of jobs. Those youths don't have jobs, yet someone blew $18 billion without anyone asking serious questions.

TOKUMBO AWODE says:
July 19, 2010 at 7:39 pm

South Africa spent $5b for the World Cup. Outcomes: 30 hotels, 10 stadia, power stations, housing estates, cutting edge railways, 160,000 jobs, and many new roads. Obasanjo spent $18b on JUST ELECTRICITY and here we are.

[size=16pt]‘We Were in Chains’[/size]

The four journalists kidnapped last week in Abia State returned to the warm embrace of their colleagues yesterday at exactly 7.50pm at the Lagos State secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Alausa, Ikeja.

After what seemed like a whole day’s wait, Lagos State NUJ Chairman, Alhaji Wahab Oba, Zone G Secretary, Mr. Adolphus Okonkwo, Assistant State Secretary, Mr. Sylva Okereke, Lagos-based journalist, Mr. Sola Oyeyipo, and their driver, Mr. Yekinni Azeez, walked into the hall at the secretariat amid shouts and cries of joy.

They were flown into Lagos from Port Harcourt in a chartered aircraft provided by the Rivers State government.
Also speaking at the brief reunion with colleagues at the secretariat, Oba, apparently overjoyed coming out of the valley of death, praised the efforts of the Nigeria Police.

He said that but for the constant chase of the kidnappers by men of the Nigeria Police, the entire frightful experience would not have ended by now.

“Until 2.00am today (yesterday), it appeared as if the next minute would be the last. We were being moved from one part of the bush to the other because the police was closing in on them. The Nigeria police deserve to be commended for their dexterity while the whole saga lasted.

“They were also very disturbed about how the media was on top of the situation and that made them to complain to us openly that it is money they wanted. At a point they tied something round my neck and I had written my will because it was me, Chairman, chairman, they were mentioning. I told Sola that he should tell my wife that God will take care of her.  We slept in chains and they never allowed us to rest especially when they heard the police were coming.

“The journey started last Sunday, but thank God today because we returned hale and healthy. We were released at about 2am. We thought we could not live again because we were stranded in the bush in agony, frustration and hopelessness.

“We must appreciate the Nigeria police again. They tried to rescue us, but the kidnappers confronted the police with sophisticated weapons. When the police officers heard the sound of their guns, they retreated. When the bush became hot for them, the kidnappers had to let us go. At a time, the kidnappers started saying these people are powerful people with the manner the police are pursuing us and the way the media are airing the incident. The police mounted pressure, but they had some informants in the community. This made it difficult for the police to capture them.

“We declared fasting and prayers last Friday. At a point, Adolphus who appeared bold, started weeping profusely while Sola confessed that he would start going to Church if ever he regained his freedom. We were tied in chains and rarely slept all the nights. When we want to sleep, the kidnappers would ask us to move because police were coming. The police constantly kept them on their toes.

“We must thank God for the effort they made to secure our release. But they were handicapped considering the weapon of our captors. Let us agitate for the Nigeria Police for the government to equip them appropriately. Please let us give three Gbosas to the Nigeria police for what they have done in this instance,” Oba said amid loud ovation, before they were spirited into the vehicle for the long awaited reunion with their families.

Before he left, Oba said the kidnappers handed over a sheet of paper to them containing a litany of complaints regarding unemployment, non-payment of workers salaries for months by the Abia State government, lukewarm attitude of the Federal Government to the amnesty programme and bad governance, which has subjugated the Ngwa people.
He added that they had no control over all these complaints, adding that the kidnappers vowed to continue until the government addressed all their concerns.

Speaking shortly after their return, National President of NUJ, Mallam Mohammed Garba, commended the unity with which journalists across the country handled the saga.
Garba also commended the hierarchy of the police for the single-minded pursuit of the matter despite the inadequacies in equipment.

He called on the Federal Government to look into the issue of welfare for the police urgently.
Garba also said, as the chief negotiator with the kidnappers, he knew they were desperate because they were jobless, adding that the Federal Government should look into the issue of provision of employment opportunities for the teeming army of the youth.

He said now that kidnapping was no longer restricted to one part of the country, the government should look into the entire security apparatchik in the country and make amends quickly.
Also speaking in a chat with journalists outside the press hall, Police Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Command, Mr. Frank Mba, said everyone of them was happy that “our compatriots are back hale and hearty.”

Mba said the event was not an occasion for much talk since everybody was in celebration mood. He, however, assured Lagosians that they would do everything within their power to keep kidnappers away from Lagos.
“We will ensure that they never bring their nefarious activities to Lagos,” he added.

Waiting Game
Before the journalists arrived Lagos yesterday, a long wait for the arrival of the “hostages” began at the Lagos State Secretariat of the NUJ.

At the secretariat, journalists from the various media houses in Lagos started arriving as early as 8.00am to be reunited once again in flesh and blood with their colleagues. As the reporters arrived one after the other, chants of “up chair” rent the air. They would walk up to the Vice-Chairman of the state council, Mr. Deji Elumoye, and congratulate him with backslappings and with thanks to God. Former leaders of NUJ in the state were not left out of the welcome party as they turned out in their large number.

Incidentally, the state Exco of the NUJ had scheduled a stakeholders’ meeting for 2.00 pm yesterday to brainstorm on the way forward due to the recalcitrance of the kidnappers in the previous week. The vice-chairman later announced that the meeting had been cancelled in the light of the  release of the hostages.

Elumoye gave bits of information that emanated from Umuahia, Abia State capital, where a police vehicle took them to after the abductors dumped them in the bush in the early hours of the morning. He said the journalists were in high spirits and had been released without a dime paid as ransom. He thanked Nigerians for their prayers that eventually led to the release of the leaders of the union and called for comments from among the hordes of journalists waiting for their arrival, especially from the rank of senior members of the body, who had come for the cancelled stakeholders’ meeting.

Former Vice Chairman of Lagos State council of NUJ and Director General of Lagos State Films Agency, Alhaji Bolaji Othman, said every Nigerian was happy with the release of the journalists in good health and unconditionally. He said the Lagos State government welcomed the news of their release with great relief.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the Ondo State Council of the NUJ, Mr. Dele Atumbi, who was on a solidarity visit, thanked God for the release. He commended the leadership of the NUJ both in Lagos and at the national level for the way they handled the crisis and kept it in the front burner of public discourse.

In his own perspective, former Chairman of Lagos NUJ, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said he had no kind words for the kidnappers even though they did not get their ransom before they let go the journalists. He said they have kept the abducted journalists’ wives, families and colleagues in trauma in the last one week.

“Even as they continue to say they were well treated inside the forest, there is no good treatment anywhere outside your home. What this saga has brought out clearly, is the failure of the state. The kidnappers took to their dastardly trade because of joblessness. The communities in which the kidnappers operate have no water, road and electricity and it has brought the failure of the state,” Arogundade said.

He challenged journalists to hold those in government accountable to provide these social amenities, adding that they should never be praised when they provide them because that is what they are there to do.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=178641

Ileke-IdI:


Still wondering why the cops are taking the glory.

The Nigerian cops lie all the time. Since they laid six innocent people face down and shot them in Abuja, and after accused them of armed robbery, I completely lost trust in the Nigerian police.

sjeezy8:
Abeggi o

make deez people no bleep up our own oil operation in onland and offshore Coastal SW states - oooo

Federalism in Jesus name- deez people are bad influence

Ain't nothing that side slowpoke. 

Ileke-IdI:
Whats a whole Journalist doing with all these stuff? N3m?

I strongly suspect they paid that money as ransom.

As I was saying, if the Governor of Abia state is holding up any monies released by the federal govt for amnesty, he should release that money pronto and bring these boys in, else they seem more heavily armed than the police and can subdue the police and continue their crime.
Where is their money?

Their peers in the rest of N delta got theirs.

These journalists should open up and speak the truth.

Abagworo:
They collected all our personal effects, including laptops, wrist watches and the sum of N3 million and even shared the money in our presence.”
He said they were fed on bread once a day but that at a time they declared a fast “and they asked us if we were fasting against them.”
Wahab noted: “We explained to them that we were journalists, at the vanguard of enthroning good governance, and even told them that we were at the forefront in the campaign for the release of Chief  Ralph Uwazuruike. We even requested them to give our phones to us to contact our families for them to bring the money they requested but they said that they were not after our money but that of the government.
Every passing minute  was harrowing, hopeless— Oba

“We were not beaten except that they blindfolded us on some occasions. The kidnappers told us that they resorted to protests as a result of bad governance in Abia and accused the state government of diverting the money the Federal Government released for amnesty.
“They told us that they were giving the state government one month to either complete the amnesty programme or face their wrath, stressing that they would come out openly to shoot at people.”


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/07/19/freed-journalists-arrive-lagos-recount-experiences/

I hope they don't shoot at innocent people.

They seem to have some philosophy behind them. The journalists may be giving out disjointed information for security reasons (as directed by security operatives).
These boys seem determined to press something home. That may be why the journalists offered information about their efforts toward releasing Uwazurike. That was a give away.

Meanwhile the drama continues. . We wait with bated breath. Nothing gets addressed in Nigeria except through violence. Why not bring these boys into the amnesty deals.

Also speaking, Abia State NUJ Chairman, Mr Hyacinth Okoli commended the police and government for their efforts in ensuring the release of the journalists. He disagreed that the kidnappers were in crime because they were angry with the government. “This is a case of people who have resolved to commit crime since they failed to key into the state government’s amnesty programme,” Okoli said.

I've heard this before. Now a journalist confirms it. Interesting.

The Lagos NUJ boss narrated further, “the youths told us that they were only agitated by the affairs of the state, but not interested in the N250 million ransom they requested for.” They called on the Federal Government to adequately equip the police, to make them battle ready for the kidnappers, considering the sophisticated weapons they had. “All the guns I am seeing with the police here are the least we saw with these boys, who were just in their twenties. Only one of them looked like a 30 year old.”

Hmmm . .

[size=16pt]Our ordeal, by freed journalists[/size]

The four kidnapped journalists and their driver, who were abducted eight days ago, were released in the early hours of Sunday in Ukpakiri in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

However, before their release, the journalists were robbed of their belongings, including slippers and shoes and the sum of N3 million found on them. They also lost the Toyota Sienna bus in which they travelled, to the kidnappers.

Looking unkempt, the victims expressed happiness that they came out alive to meet their colleagues and reunite with their families.
The Lagos state Chairman of the NUJ, Mr Wahab Oba, who narrated their ordeal said they stayed in the kidnappers den with their hopes rising and falling. Shortly after, they were brought to the Police headquarters in Umuahia by a team of policemen.

According to him, the victims were called up at about 1.30 am on Sunday and informed that they were to be released. “We were dropped in a bush in the area. But we came out of the bush around 6.a.m. and walked into the community. Oba, said “we had to lie down inside the bush untill 6 am when we called the attention of some people in the area who took us to the community leader who later handed us over to the police when we told them that we were the journalists that were kidnapped. He said the abductors collected all they had on shared among themselves there and then.

Even though they were not maltreated by the men who seized them, the Lagos Council Chairman said they were completely blindfolded and kept under trees where they were either drenched by the rain or beaten by the sun, including their abductors. “They kept moving us every two hours due to the pressure from police and security operatives and we were blindfolded each time. So, we did not know where they were taking us to at any point in time.”

The Lagos NUJ boss narrated further, “the youths told us that they were only agitated by the affairs of the state, but not interested in the N250 million ransom they requested for.” They called on the Federal Government to adequately equip the police, to make them battle ready for the kidnappers, considering the sophisticated weapons they had. “All the guns I am seeing with the police here are the least we saw with these boys, who were just in their twenties. Only one of them looked like a 30 year old.”

Also speaking, Abia State NUJ Chairman, Mr Hyacinth Okoli commended the police and government for their efforts in ensuring the release of the journalists. He disagreed that the kidnappers were in crime because they were angry with the government. “This is a case of people who have resolved to commit crime since they failed to key into the state government’s amnesty programme,” Okoli said.

Oba said that no ransom was paid to the kidnappers, but disclosed the hoodlums collected about N3 million they had on them. He said, they also lost wristwatches, laptops and other valuables, which the abductors shared among themselves.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/july/19/national-19-07-2010-001.htm

udezue:
UGH!!!! Useless jobless youths. What concerns them with the death and burial of a woman that is not even their relative? OMG it seems like death and burial always brings out the worst in our people. However way the sisters or brother or even children of the late person want to conduct themselves and the burial should be their business. Only a jobless man will leave his house to fight another man's battle. Nde nzuzu.

lol! same sentiment here.

Water transportation system in the canals. .

Presenting Lagos AS IS. . .

Damn! is this thread still here?

Where are the moderators?

It should be moved to the International Politics section.

There is no Kenyan enclave inside Nigerian sovereign territory.

Please move urgently.

A really long but interesting read.

My take:  He is both right and wrong

He is right in stating that the INEC chairman is somewhat powerless in ensuring a free and fair election because he does not control the financing of elections. He is also right to some extent that if people come out more to vote, that it could help move the fairness index forward.
However, he is wrong on all the other points.

He did not see that the problem is the over centralization of everything from INEC to Police, and the funding. How can one boss oversee elections in 120,000 booths, 6 zones, and 36 states plus Abuja? Just one man!
Anyway, let's move.

Again he failed (and I am disappointed that he never made this point) to emphasize the role of impunity in the whole rigging process. Even a small measure like jailing presiding officer (sending them to jail for say 10 -20 years) if convicted, could help them envision the true magnitude of the offense they are committing by disenfranchising Nigerians. Just make an example of some presiding officers and the rest would reject graft.

The other thing is that the Resident Electoral Commissioners are probably the point of corruption in the entire process. Therefore, why not ensure that the system is designed in such a way that he/she lacks the "privacy" in dealing with the state governor (or anybody interested in the elections ). There are similar laws in the US. When dealing with public matters, all meetings and deliberations must be in public, else they would be committing a crime. Or, any meeting between the REC must be in the presence of party reps from all participating parties in the coming elections.

The simplest and immediately applicable solution is to openly count and announce election results at the polling centers right at the end of each polling day in the presence of party representatives. That is how the last election in Anambra state was conducted and the peoples choice won.

I don't believe Donald Duke was completely honest in this interview. He should, and I believe does, know better to skim things off the top. Let's go to the bases and solve this thing.

It is very doable, and not rocket science.

Signed

Onlytruth

Wao! There are still bad roads in Lagos! I thought Fashola fixed them all. Fucking morons.

Ibime:
^^^Onovo wey just start work yesterday. Im sure hes only been in charge for ~ 9 months. He cant be responsible for something thats been happening long before his time.

Yes I know, but he is a fuul, and a fuul cannot solve a complex problem. He decided to sacrifice the integrity of his people just to retain his position. If he was a wise honest man, he would have resigned if he cannot think of any revolutionary changes to the Nigerian police force. His answer to the problem is a public rant against the same people who secured him the job in the first place. I don't hold out any hopes for reforms under him. So Jonathan should fire him and find someone with the ideas.

mikeansy:
I did not want IBB to run for President because I thought it was very dangerous for our future.

But the honest truth is that other candidates are making him look thick because he seems to be the only person discussing policies and vissions for Nigeria.

Exactly my observation too. Other candidates are not even saying what they plan to do to improve things. As of today, if IBB is contesting, I will have no choice than to vote for him. Only him is addressing true federalism, state police and other urgent needs of the country.
Other candidates are hiding under IBB's notoriety with a certain geopolitical zone of the country to keep mute about their own policies for the country. I will not follow such candidates. I don't care. If only IBB keeps addressing these issues until the election day, he gets my vote. Simple. 

The man should be fired immediately. He FAILED.

We need state police because that is the institutional change that will guarantee a permanent solution to the problem.
We need our towns and villages back. Only state police can deliver that. I want to be free to walk and drive in the night again. Current system can never deliver that even if the best brain in the world heads it.

For now Onovo should be FIRED for GROSS INCOMPETENCE. 

naijaking1:
^^^^
I agree Onovo has not been successful at steming the tides of crime and corruption in his own force. When I was in Nigeria last year, I drove from Abuja to Enugu. The first thing that struck me was that as soon as you arrive Igboland, the Nigerian police set up money collection toll check points every mile or so, until your destination. Onovo and his people knew and tolerated this crime for more than one year. These toll gates have been suspected to be the police informational unit, giving out information about potential kidnap victims as they pass through the check points. The incident in Abia seems to verify this claim, because the journalists were picked up as soon as they passed another illegal check points.

Having said that Onovo could do better as IGP, let's not forget that the policing system in Nigeria was almost designed for failure at best and corruption at worst. Despite numerous previous complaints for the review of the system, the calls have largely fallen on deaf ears, because there is no political will to let different localities run their own basic policing efforts. How do we expect an Hausa DPO to effectively run the police affairs in my small town in Enugu state when the man, with all the best intentions can't even speak the language. The new DPO doesn't even know how to get from point A-to-B in his new posting, and he doesn't know the people of the area to start with. The same situation applies to Igbo and Yoruba officers posted to other parts of the country where they are 'visitors'

Compared to the situation in the US, for example. The police knows the names, the car make and model, and even the occupation of most members of their precint. The people also know their police. Crime is typically solved from information and tips from the people who are comfortable interacting the their local police. Above the local police, we have FBI, Federal marshall and other unknown policing agents. Why can't some one take a leaf from the US arrangement? It's bound to work better in Nigeria than what we have at the moment.

Another issue confronting our local police is Nigeria is funding for basic 2010 policing devices, such as phone tracking machines, emergency services and communications. While the police affairs minister has been blamed for underfunding and underequipping the force, the facts remain that politically our police force is not the only institution that is broken.

The Nigerian police force is like a molue bus without wheels, and we're asking it to go fast, fast and faster. Now, put a bad driver at the steering wheels, and we have Onovo. In summary, firing the driver maybe a very short term political remedy, but refitting the bus with wheels would be the ideal solution. Buying a brand new 2010 model of the bus would be even better solution.

My brother, thank you for a very incisive post. You captured all the important points. I have always advocated for an overhaul of the policing system in Nigeria, and I know it is bound to happen soon. There are no other ways. This system stinks to high heavens.
My grouse with Onovo on this issue is that instead of him putting forward an idea for an effective police reform, he is busy throwing his own people under the bus. He singled the Igbo out for a crime that exists in all parts of Nigeria. That makes him a very stooopid man, because he failed to see that it was the same Igbo worked tirelessly to make him the I.G. We really believed he could transform the Nigerian police system. He failed. Instead now he is blaming the Igbo for his problems. When Balogun and Okiro were there, did they blame Ijaw groups for the kidnappings in their time?
The man just ridiculed himself before the whole nation, and Igbos will now work to help remove him from his failed position.

Bros, I share the same sentiment on this. I am particularly embarrassed because I remember canvassing for his ascendancy to the I.G position right here on nairaland. The guy rewarded us with a big slap in the face. I should have known that no product of the Nigerian police force is capable of rational thought or clean dealings. Anyone who rose through the rank of the Nigerian police force up to IG level is a typical corrupt and morally bankrupt individual. Clean officers never make it that high in the ranks. You have to be a hidden criminal and a murderer to rise. If he is a clean person, he would have resigned for failing to do his job, but no. He had to throw his own people under the bus to save his stinking hide.

Onovo should just shut up. He will soon lose his job anyway because the president has beamed his searchlight on the leadership of the police to find out why they have failed to arrest the crime in Nigeria.

Onovo should get ready to head to Siberia soon because no sane Igbo man would touch him with a 100 feet pole. He is ALONE now.

lol! The result of his opinion poll research across Nigeria came back. He is thoroughly convinced he would lose. Poor IBB.

So my message to Igbo folks remain this:

[size=16pt]Never listen to anyone talking about any revolution or mass action in Nigeria. Never ever try it.
[/size]
Let's all enjoy Nigeria's cesspit status.