₦airaland Forum

coolkris: This is What happens where billions of naira are spent on political office holders instead of in providing industries for the fast growing nigerian youths

Two suspects, Ugochukwu Nwafor and Chidozie Okonkwo were recently arrested by law enforcement agents at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos for attempting to smuggle 2.880 kg of a substance believed to be cocaine out of the country.

During the outward screening of the passengers on a British Airways flight to London, Nwafor and Okonkwo were found to have ingested 175 wraps of the hard drug.  

Confirming the arrest, the commander of the National Drug Law Emnforcement Agency at the MMI airport, Mr. Hamza Umar, said the suspects were caught after a positive signal was triggered by the scanning machines.

“The suspects tested positive to drug ingestion and were placed under observation. Nwafor ingested 73 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.395kg while Okonkwo ingested 102 wraps weighing 1.485kg. They were detected on the same flight,” Hamza said.

A dealer in phones at the Computer Village, in Ikeja, Nwafor,37, resides at Igando while Okonkwo  lives in East London. Having confessed their involvement, both of them are said to be cooperating with narcotic investigators.

“I used to be a successful businessman until I made a wrong investment three years ago in which I lost over N3.5m in China. As a result of the loss, I became indebted and was lured into drug trafficking by a friend,” Nwafor told CRIME DIGEST.

Okonkwo claimed to have obtained a Master’s degree in Innovative Management from the British Institute of Technology and E-Commerce in London. He said, “I was only trying to make ends meet. I live in East London where I had my post-graduate studies but joblessness turned me into another man. It was a tough decision for me to smuggle drugs but I really needed the £5000 I was offered. I feel bad that things have turned this way for me. It is like a dream.”

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade attributed the involvement of a master’s degree holder in drug trafficking to moral decadence. “Parents should inculcate good morals in their children; I urge members of the public to eschew drug trafficking by joining the anti-drug abuse and trafficking crusade. Arrangements are in place for the suspects to be charged in line with the NDLEA Act,” he said. 

Had they successfully smuggled the drug into Britain, Nwafor and Okonkwo would have been paid £4,000 and £5,000, respectively.

dayokanu: There are several ways to the sea. You can pass through Niger Republic, and Libya to get to the Mediterranean Sea

According to former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, it will be at least 20 years before the North clears the mess created by the security crisis.

The ongoing Boko Haram insurgency has held the North down, killing thousands of people, crippling businesses and reversing the gains of education.
Also yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan called upon North-Eastern political leaders to explore a long-lasting solution to the menace of the sect. He made this statement at the opening of the North-East Summit hosted by Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda at the Yankari Games Reserve.

General Abdulsalami, who was speaking at the Arewa House conference on strategies for sustainable development in Kaduna, bemoaned the lack of unity among Northerners. He said insecurity has done so much damage to the social and economic livelihood of the region.
The former Head of State said, “Certainly, if there is unity, we wouldn’t be here at this conference and since there is no unity, that is why Arewa House is trying to galvanize it at this conference.

“It will take 20 years to revive the North. A lot of socio-economic damage has been done. If you go round the areas; that is when you will appreciate the extent of damage to the region. We have to work together to revive it.
“All of us should join hands; we cannot leave security to the government alone; every Nigerian is a security officer. Let’s try to join hands and report what we see, so that the government will be able to take action. We should be the government’s watchdogs and also watch our communities.”

The Senate Minority Leader, George Akume, on his own part, expressed sadness that the North was no longer safe for both its people and visitors. He implored the people to imbibe hard work, integrity, honesty, respect and determination to restore the lost glory of the region.

According to him, an atmosphere without peace will make it impossible to achieve development, no matter how determined the actors were.
“The theme of this conference bears direct relevance to what is happening in the North. The topic for today is value and leadership. I do not intend to go into the conceptual definition of values and leadership.

“In every society, there are norms and values. These are highly respected; respect for sanctity of human life, and where this is not respected, there is no way you can have peace. This is a very big challenge, particularly in the North.

“I am very sad things are happening in the way they are happening now. I was in Borno about six months ago when my friend and brother, Governor Kashim Shettima, gave out his sister in marriage.
“We were about 30 that were supposed to go to Borno, but in the end, only 8 of us went.

The others gave different reasons for not making it. We must imbibe the values of honour, respect, integrity, hard work and determination because they have a direct bearing on the development of the North.”
Former Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed posited that the next two years would act as a test case for the country and the North’s case to bounce back to reckoning.

“The next two years will test the resilience of the Nigerian State and the capacity of Northerners to bounce back. Right now, the Boko Haram insurgency is eating up like a cancer, and it will require bold initiatives by Northerners to find a solution, by influencing both the insurgency and the government.
“Not all Nigerians are comfortable with a united and strong North. Its current position is therefore a welcome development to its rivals and detractors. They will not lift a finger to heal the wound. This will have to be done by people in this hall who feel the pain the most.

Meanwhile, at the two-day Northeast Alliance for
Transformation which commenced yesterday, the President, who was represented by the Minister for National Planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, asked the six governors in the zone to come up with a framework for addressing insecurity. He also expressed happiness that the governors were waking up to deal with the security crisis.

“I hope this summit will not just be a talk show; I hope you will identify at least four to five ways in tackling these problems in the next one year. Governors of Northeast region should work collectively to solve this problem in order to have peace in the region because insecurity is a reality in the region,” he said.

The host governor Isa Yuguda, in describing the summit as historic, said, “For quite a long time, the sub region has remained one of the least developed, if not the least developed of the six geo-political zones in the country in all spheres of human endeavour.” The Governor, while lamenting that the underdevelopment in the Northeast had been compounded by the security challenges which have adversely affected the socio-economic activities in the region, said that the problem of the region was not a lack of resources but failure to harness the abundant resources for its development socially and economically.

“It is expected that at the end of this summit, recommendations for setting in motion the machinery for the Northeast sub region to use its comparative advantages in agriculture, solid minerals and tourism to fast track the development of the region will be made.”

Mike Okiro, a former Inspector-General of Police, noting that insecurity had dampened the economic livelihood of Nigeria in general and North-East in particular, also called upon the summit to look critically at the security challenges and suggest practical solutions.

Chairman of the Summit, Gen T.Y. Danjuma, represented by Maj-Gen Tanko Nuhu Abdullahi, urged the participants to tackle security and its facets such as education, food, health, technology and a solid industrial base.
The 2-day summit has in its attendance the governors of Bauchi, Borno and Gombe. The acting governor of Yobe State and the representative of the Adamawa State Governor, in addition to the Senate Leader Abdul Ningi, Senator Babayo Gamawa and some royal fathers are also in attendance.

The Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Tuesday took on the Federal Government over its “seeming refusal to properly equip federal security agencies”, a development he said now places the burden on states, with Lagos expending N8.7 billion in this regard in the last five years.

Umar Manko, Lagos State commissioner of police, said no fewer than 32 policemen have been killed in Lagos State by armed robbers during gun battle within the space of 11 months. He explained that the figure represents an increase over the number of policemen killed in gun battle with robbers last year which stood at 19. But the police in turn killed not less than 140 robbers in the process.

Fashola said with the huge financial burden, Lagos was already running ‘state police’ and all the Federal Government needed to do was to cause amendments to the constitution to allow the state do so constitutionally.

Speaking on Tuesday at the 6th Annual Town Hall meeting on security with theme ‘Growing Our Investment in Security’, Fashola disclosed that the sum of N8.7 billion has so far been expended through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) to keep the police and other security agencies functional in Lagos. The LSSTF was launched in November 2007 with appeal to the public and corporate bodies to contribute towards empowering the police to fight crime. Some states of the federation have emulated the concept.

Fashola said in the last five years of the existence of LSSTF, a total number of 600 patrol vehicles had been purchased and distributed to various security agencies with the police as major beneficiary. These according to him, are in addition to several Amoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), daily fuelling of patrol vehicles, purchase of arms and ammunition, communication equipment, payment of N25,000 monthly allowances to members of Rapid Response Squad (RRS), among others.

He lamented that during this period, the Lagos police command had received only 30 patrol vehicles from the Federal Government, a situation he said has left 85 percent burden of funding the police in Lagos on the state government and contributors to the LSSTF.

“The Federal Government has not helped matters by its seeming refusal to properly equip its agencies to wit: the police and other security agencies. In spite of the talk of the police reform over the past decade, nothing substantial appears to have been done beyond rhetoric.”

Noting that security is everybody’s business, Fashola called on corporate donors and individuals to continue to support the LSSTF, saying the establishment of the funds has helped in no small measure to keep Lagos safe for living and doing business.

Night images of the earth gives a new dimension review of Africa’s poverty.
Africa, the second largest continent by land mass is still the least illuminated at night, an unprecedented new look at our planet at night, released by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, on Wednesday shows.
A global composite image, constructed using cloud-free night images from a new NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, satellite, shows the glow of natural and human-built phenomena across the planet in greater detail than ever before.
NASA used a new sensor, the day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, VIIRS, sensitive enough to detect the nocturnal glow produced by Earth’s atmosphere and the light from a single ship in the sea to make its observations.

Nasa new composite world view at night Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC
The new, higher resolution composite image of Earth at night was released at a news conference at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
NASA said its VIIRS, unlike a camera that captures a picture in one exposure, produces an image by repeatedly scanning a scene and resolving it as millions of individual pixels. Then, the VIIRS reviews the amount of light in each pixel. If it is very bright, a low-gain mode prevents the pixel from over saturating.
If the pixel is very dark, the signal is amplified.
The image shows Europe, America, Middle East, Asia and Australia as the most illuminated part of earth at night. South America and Africa are the least Illuminated.

Aigbofa: Yorubaland has been separated into different countries, and further into different regions within Nigeria. I think that is enough. Besides, what will be the rationale behind making Lagos a separate region from the rest of the SW?

dayokanu: To buttress your beer parlour gist, they would release a sexxxtappe of Fashola and Remi Tinubu which would cause the disagreement and gbege go start from there

2/12/2012

A bench warrant was issues for his arrest on Thursday.
A fugitive whose arrest was ordered by a Kaduna Court has won the Soba Local Government Area Chairmanship election.

The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) on Sunday declared Kawu Ibrahim-Yakasai of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of Saturday’s election for the Chairmanship of Soba.

Earlier on Thursday, a Chief Magistrate Court sitting along Daura Road, Kaduna, issued a Bench Warrant for the arrest of Mr. Ibrahim-Yakasai.

The magistrate, Hamza Mohammed, issued the order after three adjournments to allow Mr. Ibrahim-Yakasai, appear in court. The latter was charged to court for certificate forgery by Musa Mustapha and Ubale Matasa, who filed the case through their counsel, Garba Shehu.

The Returning Officer for the election, Aliyu Haruna, said Mr. Ibrahim-Yakasai of the PDP polled 62, 170 votes to defeat Hassan Abdullahi of the Congress of Progressive Change, who got 20, 143 votes
Mr. Haruna, who announced the result at Maigana, the headquarters of Soba Local Government Area, said that the PDP also won eight councillorship seats, while the CPC won one seat.

He, however, said that the councillorship result for Gimba Ward had been cancelled.

berem: ...Corruption has come to stay in nigeria as long as our leaders are not ready to fight it!

Former and present leaders of PDP attended the BOT meeting.
An ex-convict, and several politicians indicted and being prosecuted for corruption attended the Board of Trustees meeting of Nigeria’s ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The Board of Trustees is one of the largest organs of the ruling party.
The meeting was held on Friday night at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

[b]Top among the attendees are Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the party. Mr. George was convicted for contract splitting and corruption while he was chairman of the board of the Nigeria Ports
Authority. He was sentenced to jail and served his time.

Another major attendee of the meeting was Vincent Ogbulafor, a former national chairman of the party. Mr. Ogbulafor, while he was Minister of Special Duties, forged documents to dupe Nigeria of N107 million, the
Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, said.
The commission is already prosecuting him at the Abuja High Court.

Former governor of Nassarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, was also at the meeting. The former governor is believed to have mismanaged N15 billion of state funds while he was governor from 1999 to 2007. He is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a 149-count charge at the Federal High Court in the state.

Former Governor, Danjuma Goje of Gombe was also at the meeting. The EFCC believes Mr. Goje misappropriated N52 billion of the state funds while he was governor. He is being prosecuted on an 18-count charge at a Federal High Court in Gombe.

Others who attended the meeting, not being prosecuted, but whose names have been mentioned in various corruption scandals are Tony Anenih and Haliru Bello.

Mr. Anenih, a former Chairman of the BOT, has been severally mentioned in the mismanagement of over N300 billion meant for road constructions while he was Works Minister. Mr. Bello, a former chairman of the Party, is alleged to be one of the beneficiaries of the Siemens bribe. Siemens a German firm was indicted in Germany for bribing Nigerian officials in order to secure a government contract. Mr. Bello is believed to be one of the beneficiaries, although no Nigerian has been prosecuted for the crime.

Some others like the party’s national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, and one of his predecessors, Ahmadu Ali, have their wards directly linked to corruption scandals. The sons of Mr. Tukur and Mr. Ali are being prosecuted for defrauding the Federal Government in a fuel subsidy scheme.

The EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, had lamented the inability of the commission to convict top government functionaries, including the PDP leaders, indicted for corruption. Mr. Lamorde said the indicted officials are frustrating the corruption cases through the use of frivolous court processes.[/b]
PDP not in a hurry

At the end of the BOT meeting on Friday evening, the party said it is not in a hurry to elect a new chairman for its Board of Trustees, BOT, a position considered one of the most powerful and influential within Nigerians ruling party.

The Secretary of the BOT, Walid Jibrin, said this at the end of the meeting.
“We are not in a hurry to elect a new chairman; we want a chairman that is sound, accepted, credible and with proven integrity; a chairman who has a clear vision for the party’s mission,” Mr. Jibrin said.

A new date, January 8, was fixed as the day of the election of the BOT chairman, a position last held by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who resigned from the position earlier in the year.

The party had been expected to elect a new person, on Friday night, to fill the vacant position, with top contenders being Mr. Anenih, also a former Works Minister and previous holder of the position; and Mr. Ali, a former National Chairman of the Party.

Mr. Jibrin said contrary to reports that the election would hold on Friday night, the meeting only discussed the modalities that would be adopted for the election of the chairman and secretary of the board.
“We came to discuss the modalities that will lead to electing the new chairman. The election will be a pride to Nigerians. The issue of the new chairman of the BOT will come up on January 8 next year but before then, we must have intent from members.

“Up till the time we held the meeting, there was no intent from anybody to contest. The discussion was held on the best way to elect the chairman. However, anyone interested should submit his intent to the secretary of the party,” he said.

The board secretary stressed that contenders for the position must come from members of the BOT, adding that the aspirants have only one week to submit their intent. He said that the restriction placed on party members who are eligible to contest is in accordance with the Section 9 of the PDP Constitution, which states that the chairman and secretary of the party’s BOT should be elected from members of the BOT.
Apart from the earlier mentioned, others who attended the meeting include Senate President, David Mark; and former Vice-President, Alex Ekwueme.

Others include PDP National Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim; a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba; and former National Chairman, Barnabas Gemade.

Others that attended the meeting include Mariam Amodu-Ali, Sunny Odogwu, Kema Chikwe, Ibrahim Mantu, Bode Olajumoke, Maina Waziri, Don Etiebet, and Ebenezer Babatope.