₦airaland Forum

SLIDE waxie: If he can no more function as a normal person, turn him into a robot.

I need an exact replica of robo cop III, make we throway am for north make he go join JTF.

At least, he go dey useful

Will you do the same to your Father,mother, brother or sister?

Abandoned patients

| credits:

BUKOLA ADEBAYO narrates the stories of abandoned patients who now live at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

After the school hours every day, most pupils of the University of Lagos Staff School, Akoka,Yaba, rush into the warm embrace of their parents. From there, they are driven to their various homes where various kinds of delicacies are waiting for them.

But for 16-year-old Chinenye Ogbonna, this kind of experience exists only in his dream. He has no parent waiting for him, nor any other relative to take him home. Rather, he returns to his ‘lonely’ room at the Paediatric Ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Idi-Araba, Lagos. This is not because his dad and mom live there. But the parents, who ought to be his guardian angels, abandoned him at the hospital six years ago.

The motherless boy has, therefore, become a permanent resident of LUTH since he was 10 years old. Ogbonna, who spoke to our correspondent when he returned from school on Monday, said none of his relations had shown up since they left him at the ward in 2007.

Relating the circumstances that led to his becoming a permanent resident of D3 Ward of LUTH, Ogbonna said his maternal grandparents brought him to the children’s clinic after he suffered a fall six years ago.

According to him, he lost his mother when he was four years old and has never met his father. But after his mom’s demise, Ogbonna went to live with his grandparents at a place he says he cannot remember.

Ogbonna, who is fondly called the Captain of the ward by nurses, members of staff and other patients, since he knows every nook and cranny of the clinic better than some of them, said it was the last time he saw his grandfather.

“I lived with my mother before she died and I never knew my father. I was told he never accepted me. So, I lived with my mum’s parents after her death. I remember that I fell down and I could not walk for months. My grandma was trying to care for me at home, but they decided that we should come to LUTH.

“ I came with my grandfather that day. I was admitted into the children’s ward, and he left a bag full of clothes and provisions by my bedside and promised that he would be back the next day, saying he could not sleep over since he was old .

“He held onto me for a long time, cried and left. I waited for him the next day. I did not see him. I expected him or my grandma or my cousin, Austin, who was living with us. But they never came back to check me. The doctors started treating me and feeding me till I was strong enough to walk again. But I could not leave and nobody has come for me till today.”

Why they abandoned me

One of the nurses at the ward told our correspondent that Ogbonna’s grandparents had left a message in the bag of clothing they left beside his sick bed.

She said, “We found a letter in the food and clothes they left behind, written by his grandparents, saying they were tired of bearing the burden alone. They said they had tried for Ogbonna but they could not afford to go on and pleaded with government to take over.”

Ogbonna interrupted at this point, saying he knew why his grandparents might have taken that decision.

“I have a hunchback. This, he added, had caused a lot of agony and shame for his late mother’s family and his estranged father’s.

He noted, “I remember that they did not allow me to play with other children in the area. I hardly came out of the compound because they did not want people to see me. It could have been the reason why they did that.”

After all efforts by social workers to trace his family yielded no result, the management of the hospital, nurses, medical students, patients in the ward and philanthropic Nigerians started taking care of him.

He said,” After I started walking. I had a lesson teacher and a nurse who used to come and teach me. Gradually, I began to read and write. Then I started primary school and I will soon be through. Since I have been living here, the hospital, nurses and patients have showed me love. They feed and clothe me. They are even the ones responsible for my schooling.”

But Ogbonna, who wants to be an engineer in future, still has not given up on the hope that he can be reconciled with his family.

He said, “I will like to have a family, so, I can say this is my father or uncle. I am okay here, but I would want to live in a proper home, not in a hospital ward. Wherever my relatives are, they should please come for me.”

Ogbonna is, however, not the only child in such a situation. There are others who are abandoned in the hospital by poor parents. Chindinma Sunday is one of them. His parents left him at the children emergency ward of the hospital 20 years ago, when he was just three years old.

The young man, who moves around with the aid of a wheelchair, is also very popular among the doctors, nurses and members of staff of LUTH. Sunday, who took our correspondent to his corner at the B Ward, said his life had been full of pains and joy since his parents left him at the hospital.

He said, “I was told I was left here in 1993. I had an injury on my leg and I could not walk and that is all I remember. I have not seen anybody since I came in here. This is the only home I have known in the last 20 years.”

One of the matrons in the ward, who tried to narrate how he was dumped in the hospital, said Sunday’s mother also left a note with the food items she left with him.

She said, “His mother had brought him to the children’s ward for treatment for his leg. That day, we saw a child, all alone, crying and a note beside him, saying we should take care of him. They left a paper bearing his name on him. They said they did not have the money to pay for his upkeep, so we should assist them.”

Waiting for admission

He has since completed his primary education at the UNILAG Staff School and the Atunda-Olu School for the Physically Challenged, Lagos. He has also completed his secondary education at the Friends of the Disabled Educational Vocational Centre, Lagos Island.

But his present challenge is how to scale the admission hurdle to the university.

“Honestly, it has not been easy. I have written the UTME twice, but I’m yet to gain admission. I’m looking at YABATECH this year, but I need sponsorship. I learnt shoe making while I was in school and that is what I do now to survive.

“It has been God, the nurses, my school mates and the medical students that have been there for me. The hospital has been feeding me and has provided accommodation for me since I was three. If not for that, I would be out on the streets. Kind Nigerians also donate to my welfare from time to time,” he said.

Sunday noted that everyday he prays and waits for the opportunity to meet his biological parents for them to answer some of his questions.

He added that though he had nursed some bitterness towards his family while growing up, he was ready to leave the past behind and move on if they would accept him.

“I want a better life, I want to know so many things I do not know about myself, like my state, my origin, and if I have siblings. I have no clue as to who I am, really; all I know is my name. Most importantly, I want to know why they abandoned me.

“I’m ready to forgive them so I can have a family again. I’m praying that one day, a miracle will happen, they will come,” Sunday said.

He also called on government to provide educational and infrastructural support for physically challenged persons so that they could lead normal lives and not constitute a burden to the society.

He said, “I had to leave my first school in primary three for another because the classrooms were on a two-storey building, which I found difficult to climb. It has not been easy moving around when I’m outside the hospital.

“By providing structures that support our livelihood, government and other stakeholders would be saying we are all equal. But when you don’t, then there is going to be discrimination. We should be able to learn, live and work with others in the society. They should also provide welfare facilities for the physically challenged who desire education.”

Abodunrin: Born in a festive season

However, two other abandoned children at LUTH, Samuel and Abodunrin, would need a miracle for them to live normally. They are paraplegic.

The paediatric ward of the hospital has been their home in the last seven years.

They are living with cerebral palsy, which means they cannot walk or talk. They require assistance to eat, bathe and walk for the better part of their lives.

The Chief Medical Social Worker at the hospital, Mrs. Kehinde Aikomo, who has been supervising the welfare of these mentally-challenged children, told our correspondent that if not for the hospital and efforts of well meaning Nigerians, Samuel and Abodunrin would have died.

Aikomo said the two were abandoned at the hospital in 2007 with no letter after they were treated.

“Samuel was abandoned at the children’s clinic in 2006 by his mother. She left him with another mother, saying she was going to buy drugs and begged the patient to help her watch over him. She never came back.

“We also found Abodunrin at the emergency ward with clothes beside her and no note. Her parents brought her as an emergency and said they were going to the bank. They did not come back. We named her Abodunrin because she came during the festive period. Sometimes, when parents do not leave a note, we name the child after the season, such as Valentine or something else.”

Aikomo said it was often difficult to trace the roots of abandoned children with neurological disorders like Samuel and Abodunrin, as most families do not want to associate with disabled children.

She said, “We find many of these abandoned patients in labour wards. The mothers, after delivery, quietly walked out of the hospital, leaving their babies behind. They do this because they cannot afford the bills or because the babies have severe disabilities.

“They leave them, believing it’s a public hospital, government will take care of them. We treat the children, take charge of their welfare and also try to reconcile them with their families, but it is difficult in cases of children, as many were left here at a very young age. So, it’s almost impossible for them to remember where they came from.”

It is not just children that are abandoned in the hospital; some accidents victims also suffer similar fate. Tunrayo Adedokun is one of them. She was rushed in by good Samaritans after she was involved in a road accident to the A&E unit of the hospital last year.

Adedokun, who lives at the female ward of the hospital, generally keeps to herself.

When our correspondent visited her on Wednesday morning, the nurses were cajoling her to have her breakfast. One of the nurses said she also suffered severe injuries to the head, which may have affected her memory.

Aikomo said, “After she got better, we tried to trace her background. We found a passbook on her with a name different from the one she gave us. We went to her bank, they gave us addresses she left as referees and we even saw her picture. It stated that she’s a nurse.

“We visited the addresses but nobody knows her. She’s always shouting ‘Adewale, my husband’, but how do we trace that? It seems she did not exist except for the information in the bank account.”

Aikomo said the hospital had also tried to place these abandoned patients in homes, but they were often turned down.

“ We have written to the state government to help us place them in orphanages, old people’s homes and rehabilitation centres, but they keep saying they do not have space; but we will keep trying or their relatives can come for them.”

Their parents should come for them – LUTH CMD

Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Akin Oshibogun, said LUTH usually made provisions for these abandoned patients’ welfare through an indigent fund.

Oshibogun said, “Good Samaritans rush patients involved in accidents here and we must not reject them or abandon them. We treat them, hoping the relatives will come for them; but when they don’t, we provide relief through the Friends of the Needy Fund. Wealthy Nigerians also donate to this fund from time to time. That is what we use to care for them till they find their families.

“I remember Azeez. He came in as a renal patient. He was also abandoned. He was taken to Germany for surgery. He stayed here for almost 10 years before his parents later showed up for him. He is living well now. We have them from time to time.”

Oshibogun, however, said the hospitals management could not afford to keep these patients for life. He, therefore, called on well meaning Nigerians to come and adopt the children especially.

He noted that in order to encourage families not to abandon their loved ones in hospitals when they had health challenges, Nigerians must embrace the health insurance policy.

“Very few people can afford to pay the full cost of care for handicap or some complex surgeries. On the long run, Nigerians must take health insurance more seriously; that is the way they can be secured in any case of unforeseen health challenges.

“We are also calling on the relations to come forward and claim them. We have stabilised them. They cannot even pay the bill of a patient we have been taking care of for 10 years. They should come and claim them or adopt them to give them a chance at life,” Oshibogun addedhttp://www.punchng.com/feature/moving-stories-of-luths-abandoned-patients/

Nigeria’s military banned the use of Thuraya satellite phones on Wednesday in Borno State; a step it said was designed to stop communication by Islamist militants.

President Goodluck Jonathan had declared a state of emergency in Borno and two other states on May 14, ordering extra troops in to crush the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, whose insurgency against the state has killed thousands of people in the past three years.

Authorities had cut the mobile network in Borno State in the same week to disrupt Boko Haram’s operations.

Borno State military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, was quoted by Reuters as saying that the ban was imposed after evidence emerged that Boko Haram used satellite phones to coordinate attacks on civilians, including attack on two schools in the past week.

Suspected Islamist militants fired into a school in Maiduguri on Tuesday, killing nine students. The attack followed one in the city of Damaturu, Yobe State, also under a state of emergency, in which seven pupils and two teachers were killed.

“Effective from June 19, 2013, the Joint Task Force imposes a ban on the use and sale of Thuraya phones and accessories,” Musa said in a statement, adding, “Anyone seen with Thuraya phones, recharge cards and accessories will be arrested.”

The move will make it even more difficult for journalists to report from the conflict zone, something press freedom groups say Nigeria’s military has been trying to do anyway.

Nigerian forces say their offensive has enabled them to wrest back control of the remote northeast from Boko Haram. They say they have destroyed important bases and arrested more than 150 suspected insurgents.

But critics take the latest attacks as evidence that Boko Haram will prove almost impossible to stamp out using pure military means, since they inhabit a vast, semi-desert area with porous borders with Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Stakeholders in the telecoms industry, however, say the ban on telephones and telecoms accessories as well as recharge cards, threatens the projected revenue of telecoms firms in the country.

The development, it is believed, may cut the North off from the planned investments by the operators on their networks across the country.http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/bharam-jtf-bans-thuraya-phones-in-borno/

Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu

Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu
| credits:

The Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police has declared a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu, wanted for allegedly defrauding a land buyer of N130m.

The SFU alleged in a statement on Wednesday that the suspect and her son, Samson, obtained money from the victim by false representation.

The Commissioner of Police for the command, Tunde Ogunsakin, said, “The victim alleged that in September 2011, the suspects conspired and sold a parcel of land at Plot 24 Block 4 situated at Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos for N130m which he paid into the first suspect’s account with the Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.

“He further stated that after payment, he requested title document and Alhaja Ojikutu procured an affidavit of support to back her fraudulent claim, a police crime extract and a publication in a newspaper all purporting to loss of the original documents of title to the land. The victim believed her because of her personality as the former Deputy Governor of Lagos State.

“The bubble burst when the victim commenced development of the land and was on the verge of completion when the bona fide owner of the land surfaced and indeed it was discovered that the land the suspect sold did not belong to her. She actually sold Plot 23 Block 4 while Plot 24 Block 4 already has a property on it.”

According to police investigation, the land Ojikutu sold, did not belong to her, but to one Mr. Afolabi. It was also discovered that the Plot 24 Block 4, which actually belonged to Alhaja Ojikutu’s late husband, Samson Ojikutu (senior), was sold by him in 1995 and the suspect was a life witness and appended her signature to the sale of the land.

Ogunsakin said the suspect further perpetrated the crime by alleging that the original Certificate of Occupancy to the property was missing and swore an affidavit which enabled her to obtain a police report and memorandum of loss. She also put up an advert in newspapers that the original C of O was lost, whereas the original C of O was with the Hallmark Homes, the buyer of the property.

He said, “The suspect, who is a 67-year-old retiree from Lagos Island, allegedly connived with her son, Samson, who is currently in the United States to commit the fraud. The suspect and her son were parties to the sale of the land and both signed the agreement given to the complainant and obtained the sum of N130m from him.

“She admitted committing the crime but confessed that it was a genuine mistake of plot identification. She refunded the sum of N50m to the complainant and promised to refund the balance as soon as she disposed of her two properties she put up for sale. She also confessed that she had invested the victim’s money in her business.

“She equally made an undertaking and payment plan which was drawn from September, 2012 and was to terminate by November 2012, but she defaulted.”

Ogunsakin stated that the suspect was not willing to abide by the terms of payment and had jumped bail. He added that all attempts to contact her had proved abortive.

“The SFU declares Alhaja Ojikutu wanted. Anybody with useful information regarding her whereabouts should report to the Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, 13 Milverton Road, Ikoyi,” he saidhttp://www.punchng.com/news/police-declare-ex-deputy-gov-wanted-for-fraud/

Neurological doctors
treating Governor Danbaba
Suntai of Taraba State in
the United States have told
his family and the state
government footing his
medical bills the governor
cannot return to normal
state of mental health that
would enable him to
function as a governor.
Mr. Suntai first received
treatment at the famous
John Hopkins University
Hospital in Baltimore,
Maryland, before moving to
a rehabilitation center in
upstate New York, both of
which have reportedly given
up on the chances of full
recovery of Mr. Suntai. In
October 2012, he survived
an aircrash near Yola
Airport and was flown to
Germany for treatment for
brain injuries.
A medical source told
SaharaReporters that when
Mr. Suntai was brought in
from Germany, he had
swelling in his brain and
had lost significant control
of his ability to recognize
people or speak coherently.
The source also described
the governor as drooling
like a baby.
After several months of
treatment in the US the
doctors have now told Mr.
Suntai's family and the
deputy governor of Taraba
State who came visiting two
weeks ago that Mr. Suntai
be sent home to manage
his condition as there is
nothing more that can be
done to heal him.
The State government has
spent close to $3.5 million
on Mr. Suntai’s treatment
in the US alone.
At a meeting with his
Deputy two weeks ago, Mr.
Suntai was seen in
photographs laughing out
loud, but our medical
sources said he repeats
anything told to him
several times until he is
told to stop.
A clip of Mr. Suntai
meeting with his deputy
was shown on the Nigerian
Television Authority
network, with the sound
curiously muted.
Mr. Suntai's wife and a few
political office holders,
including the Commissioner
of Information, Emmanuel
Bello, are reportedly
manipulating the media by
claiming that Suntai has
fully recovered and is on
his way to resuming power
as governor. He has been
seen in photos that appear
to be stage-managed for
brief moments to show the
ailing governor as though
fully healed, but nobody
has heard him speak or
answer any questions.
Mr. Suntai, a trained pilot,
was personally flying the
aircraft in which he was
injured.http://mobile.saharareporters.com/news-page/us-doctors-tell-gov-suntais-family-he-cant-function-normal-person

PDP To Fire Chairman Tukur And NWC Members

On a day in which he ate his words and recalled a governor he suspended only days ago, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Bamanga Tukur may learn he is himself to be consumed by the rampaging beast.

A source told SaharaRreporters that a high-powered committee, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Anyim Pius Anyim, set up to look into the crisis in the party, has recommended that Alhaji Tukur and all National Working Committee (NWC) members should resign their positions on Thursday.

The NWC consists of Tukur, spokesman Olisa Metuh, others handpicked by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Anyim committee comprises of Special Adviser on Political Matters to the President, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, Governor of Akwa Ibom State Goodwill Akpabio, Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema , Benue State Governor, Abia State Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji and other Jonathan loyalists.

Earlier today, Mr. Tukur announced a meeting of the NWC for that day.

SaharaReporters learned that the Anyim committee met for six hours at the Legacy House headquarters of the party and resolved that members of the NWC, including Mr. Tukur, should resign in order to save face, having reached the conclusion that Tukur has run the PDP into the ground.

As of the time of this report all the members have moved to the Aso Rock villa to meet with President Jonathan to determine whether their removals will be finalized.

The source also said that Chairman Tukur might be replaced with former governor of Bauchi state, Alhaji Muazu, or Shehu Babayo, a politician also from Bauchi State.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/pdp-fire-chairman-tukur-and-nwc-members

Thank you faithful father.

A teenage girl chopped her father’s
head clean off with a bush knife
after he raped her in their home in
the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Now residents of the village have
formed a protective ring around the
18-year-old, refusing to hand her
over to the police because they
agreed her ‘evil’ father deserved to
die.
A local church leader, Pastor Lucas
Kumi from the village of Rang in the
Western Highlands, said the entire
community would refuse to allow the
girl to be subjected to any official
investigation.
Protective ring: Villagers in the
remote western highlands of Papua
New Guinea say they will not let
police talk to the 18 year old rape
victim
‘The people and leaders in our area
went and saw the headless body of
the father after the girl reported the
incident to them and explained why
she had killed her father,’ said
Pastor Kumi.
He told the Post Courier newspaper
that the father, in his mid-40s,
raped his daughter when they were
alone in their house after the
mother and two other children from
the family went to visit relatives for
the night.
‘The father went to his daughter’s
room in the night and raped her
repeatedly.
‘The father wanted to rape his
daughter again in the morning and
that was when the young girl picked
up the bush knife and chopped her
father’s head off,’ said Pastor Kumi.
‘We’ve all agreed that she is free to
stay in the community because the
father deserved to die.
‘The daughter did what she did
because of the trauma and the evil
actions of her father, so that is why
we have all agreed that she remains
in the community.’
He said a ring of protection had
been placed around the girl, who
will be kept away from any official
investigation.
Death penalty: the government of
Papua New Guinea has brought back
the death penalty in order to combat
serious crimes
‘The community have also agreed not
to conduct any formal burial service
for the father.’
Crimes of rape, murder, suspected
witch killings and prostitution are
rife throughout Papua New Guinea
and as a desperate attempt to stop
the lawlessness the government
recently re-introduced the death
penalty for serious offences.
But at the weekend the Post Courier
reported the results of an
investigation into child prostitution,
a report, it said, that will ‘make you
cringe.’
Children aged between 13 and 16,
said the paper, were selling sex in
the nightclubs of the capital, Port
Moresby, five premises being
reported to be engaged in the
under-age prostitution trade.
Three non-government organisations
have produced a report based on
interviews with no less than 175
child sex workers.
‘It’s true – our girls, and especial
school girls, are being bought and
sold for sex,’ said one of the
investigators.http://www.ynaija.com/poetic-justice-daughter-18-cuts-off-her-fathers-head-for-allegedly-raping-her/

Nigeria and Pakistan are two of the
planet’s most anti-gay countries, so
why are residents of both nations
searching for so much gay porn?
As eagle-eyed Alex Park pointed out
in a recent Mother Jones post
, Pakistan is, according to Google
Trends , “by volume the world leader
for Google searches of the terms
‘transgendered sex,’ ‘teen anal sex,’ and
‘man f-cking man.’”
Both Pakistan and Nigeria rank in
the top five for Google searches of
the term “gay sex pics” and “anal
sex pics.” Kenya, another vehemently
anti-gay nation, ranked first for both
searches.
When the results of a recent Pew
Research Center poll on LGBT
acceptance around the globe was
published last week, Nigeria and
Pakistan emerged as two of the
world’s most brutally LGBT intolerant
societies.
In Nigeria, where lawmakers recently
passed a draconian anti-gay bill that
seeks to not only criminalize
homosexuality but gay rights as well,
only 1 percent of the population said
homosexuality should be accepted
by society; while in Pakistan, where
gay sex continues to be illegal, it
was 2 percent. (It was 8 percent in
Kenya.)
So why, despite this overwhelming
bias against gays, do people in these
two nations seem to be strangely —
and unduly — fascinated with gay
porn?
Farahnaz Ispahani, a Pakistani
politician, told Park that due to
societal pressure, most gays in
Pakistan are still in the closet and
turn to pornography “because they
can’t live their lives openly.” She
added that, as a result of a lack of
an open conversation about gay
identity in Pakistan, some men may
have physical relationships with
others of the same sex without
considering themselves gay.
“The gay scene here is very hush-
hush ,” Ali, a member of an LGBT
support group in Lahore, Pakistan,
told the New York Times last year. “I
wish it was a bit more open, but you
make do with what you have.”http://www.ynaija.com/pakistan-and-nigeria-are-world-leaders-for-gay-porn-google-searches/

Sa

Thank you Lord, for you have done for me, for even in my unfaithfulness, you remain faithful

available

gbanikiti: what's the difference between a panel and committee?

in this context no difference

call

Nigerians being brutally murdered in South Africa, Nigerians being unlawfully deported from Kenya. Which way my beloved Country? Why are your citizens so hated around the world even by their African brothers. Are we not supposedly the gaint of Africa.

Bumb

Thank you LORD for uprooting, shame, repoach and dishonor in my life. Thank you Lord for uprooting my adversaries.

The Presidency on Friday said the
clause in the proposed constitution
amendment, which seeks to exclude
President Goodluck Jonathan and
some governors from participating in
the 2015 elections, would fail.
Special Adviser to the President on
Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak,
said this in an exclusive interview
with one of our correspondents in
Abuja.
Gulak said it would be unfair for the
National Assembly to make an
amendment that would short-change
those elected under a constitution
that allows them to contest two
terms of four years each.
He said, “It is not a fair amendment
to target a particular group of
people. That proposal will not scale
through because Nigerians are wiser.
“You can’t short-change some
people in the name of amending the
constitution. I am sure there will be
some considerations and the
proposal will fail.
“The President and some governors
were elected under a constitution
that allows them to contest two
terms of four years each. You can’t
change the rule midway.”
Similarly, the Arewa Consultative
Forum opposed the six year-single
tenure for the president and
governors as proposed by the Senate
Committee on the Review of the
Constitution.
The apex northern socio-political
body cautioned members of the
National Assembly against adopting
it.
It argued that adopting such a
provision would be
counterproductive because it was
capable of impeding good
governance in the country.
National Publicity Secretary of the
ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani, told SUNDAY
PUNCH, in Kaduna, that apart from
good governance, the proposal
lacked the basic elements of
motivation and incentives needed in
the management of human affairs.
He said, “ACF’s position on single
tenure for president and governors
is that it is counter productive,
because it has no incentives to
motivate for excellence.
“This is because the good, the not-
so-good and the feckless are
grouped together without any
exception.
“All management of human affairs
which has no way of rewarding
excellent performance cannot
reasonably be expected to be
effective.
“In multiple tenure, reelection is
often a form of reward for good
performance. And if the president
and governors know that they are all
entitled to only six years whether
they perform or not, they will
concentrate on the pillage of public
treasury, which is
counterproductive.”
Opposition political parties shared
similar views.
In separate interviews, the Action
Congress of Nigeria and the
Congress for Progressive Change,
said two terms of four years each as
was currently being practised, was
better.
National Publicity Secretary of the
ACN, Lai Mohammed, said, “The
position of our party has been
consistent, two terms of four years
each.
“There is nothing wrong with the
system. What does the preclusion of
Jonathan and governors from
participating from the 2015 elections
got to do with anything?
“Six years is a long time in politics.
The beauty of democracy is not only
in the ability of the people to
participate in voting in a people to
govern them but also in their power
to vote out non-performing
governments.
“What prevents somebody who
comes in on the six-year single term
bait from seeking to make it three
terms of six years each? What stops
another National Assembly coming in
to change the constitution again?
“Without prejudice to what they are
proposing, we are of the view that
the clause dealing with the issue of
tenure is fine as it is.”
Speaking in a similar vein, his
counterpart in the CPC, Mr. Rotimi
Fahakin, said, “You know the
President who started this tenure
thing probably thought he would
benefit from it. He has been told
bluntly by the Senate, that this is
not going to be.
“For us, I wouldn’t really know the
problem this amendment to the
constitution hopes to solve in our
political system.
“What we have always known is that
the people should always be the
fulcrum of any political decision we
want to take.
“The current two terms of four years
each if properly used like it is done
in advanced democracies like the
United States, is good enough for
our own environment; in that it
keeps the people as the focus of the
democratic value of our political
system.”
Also speaking on the issue, the
Convener of the Coalition of
Northern Politicians, Academics,
Professionals and Businessmen, Dr.
Junaid Mohammed, said there was
“absolutely nothing wrong with the
constitutional provision of two terms
of four years each as is currently the
case.”
He accused the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party of nursing a
sinister agenda by trying to push
through a single six-year term.
He said, “If the PDP has its way, it
will not allow elections for any
serious position. Democrats, true
democrats should cherish and
welcome elections because PDP is
not democratic; you see the party
finding a way to trigger a national
crisis to avoid elections.”
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council
has said President Jonathan must
contest the 2015 election
irrespective of the recommendations
of the committee.
The IYC insisted that the President’s
aspiration for a second term in office
must not be scuttled by the Senate.
“We are saying that Jonathan must
run in 2015 because he is a saleable
candidate for us. The National
Assembly should not do anything
that will affect the second term
ambition of President Jonathan and
others who wish to contest in 2015.
“Though we cannot compel Nigerians
to vote for him (Jonathan), we are
appealing to Nigerians to vote for
him in the next dispensation. He
must contest no matter the
recommendations from that
committee.”
In a related development, Second
Republic presidential candidate, Dr.
Tunji Braithwaite, has called on the
National Assembly to stop the
ongoing constitution amendment. He
said it would not address the
current “imbalance, inequality,
injustice and many other problems
in the country.”
In a statement in Lagos on Saturday,
the lawyer said the Federal
Government should rather call a
sovereign national conference to
fashion out a new constitution that
would meet the yearnings of the
people.
The Senate Committee on Review of
the Constitution, had recommended
a non-renewable single six-year
tenure for the office of President,
Vice-President, governors and their
deputies.
The committee’s recommendation
also disqualifies President Jonathan
and incumbent governors from
benefiting from the new
arrangement if the recommendation
becomes law.
While shedding light on the
recommendation, the Chairman of
the committee, Senator Ike
Ekweremadu, had on Thursday in
Abuja said if the recommendation on
single tenure succeeded, the
President and some governors would
sacrifice their ambitions in 2015.
“We don’t want Nigerians to say that
we have colluded with the executive
to give tenure elongation to the
President and certain governors.
That means somebody instead of
staying for eight years; he will now
be staying for 10 years.
“I think it will be easier for someone
to deal with the issue of making a
sacrifice than for someone to have
the period for 10 years; I am not
sure what our colleagues will say. If
they say that those who are there
now should benefit, that is fine.
Those who are currently serving
should be able to excuse themselves
and say we make this sacrifice on
behalf of the system,” he said.http://www.osundefender.org/?p=103813

President Goodluck Jonathan has given a fresh mandate to the military to end the insurgent Boko Haram sect within the next three months to enable the federal government execute projects meant for the Northeast geo-political zone which are allegedly stalled by the violence in the region.

Until last month’s declaration of a state of emergency by President Jonathan on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, insurgents had made life difficult to residents of some states in the north.

The new presidential directive, military sources disclosed was part of efforts of the federal government to ensure that the six months emergency regime in the affected states was not extended.

Already, the president has formally proscribed Boko Haram and Ansaru with heavy sanctions on their collaborators and members. An informed source in the security circle told our correspondent that the policy was part of the outcome of the last Security Council meeting held in the State House.

At the meeting on Tuesday were the National Security Adviser, all service chiefs, led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, the Inspector-General of Police, the security chiefs, the ministers of state for defence, police and interior. It was presided by President Jonathan who reportedly told the Security Council that he wanted the Boko Haram menace to become a thing of the past within the shortest time possible.

“After listening to the briefs from the military chiefs about the situation in the three states where the state of emergency is in force, President Jonathan expressed his satisfaction with them and told them that he had promised the whole world that the state of emergency declared in those states would be lifted before the six months allowed by the constitution. He then told them, ‘I want an end to the Boko Haram (sect) within the next three months’ and they all promised to do so,” the source disclosed.

According to the source, Admiral Ibrahim assured the president that the rules of engagement were strictly obeyed and that civilian casualties were being avoided by the troops. It was then the idea of the proscription was mooted and adopted in order to discourage people from identifying with the sect.

The minister of state for defence, Erelu Olusola Obada, allegedly lamented how the insurgency had prevented the government from implementing the transformation agenda in the affected states and argued that if the presidential directive was enforced, the government would be able to make impact in the area before the 2015 general election.

.http://leadership.ng/news/090613/crush-insurgents-within-3-months-jonathan-orders-military

Tragic! to be murdered while fending. for your family.may God grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss.

available

NGF Crisis: Northern Governors
Forum Endorses Amaechi As Elected
Chairman
A meeting of the governors from the
northern part of the country on
Thursday after a meeting of the
Northern Governors Forum, declared
that the Rivers state Governor,
Chibuike Amaechi is the elected
chairman of the Nigerian Governors
Forum.
Speaking at the end of a meeting of
the Northern Governors in Kaduna,
the Governor of Nassarawa state, Mr
Tanko Mr Al-Makura on behalf of the
governors explained that members of
the forum (Northern Governors
Forum) stand by the result of the
election which produced Mr Amaechi
as chairman of NGF.
Mr Al-Makura, however revealed that
the crisis rocking the NGF will be
resolved internally.
The chairman of the Northern
Governors Forum, Mr Babangida
Aliyu of Niger state added that the
forum is making ‘informal efforts’ to
reconcile aggrieved members of the
Northern Governors Forum.
Governor Aliyu observed that the
nation is going through a challenge
and politicians must show their
sense of patriotism and political
maturity.
Five state governors from the region
were present at Thursday’s meeting
while seven other governors were
represented at this meeting.
Those in attendance included Niger
State Governor Dr. Babangia Aliyu,
Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido,
Governor Dankwambo of Gombe
State and Nasarawa State Governor,
Al-makura.
States that were represented by the
deputy governors are Kano, Kwara,
Kogi, Borno, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto
while other states like Benue and
Plateau sent their Secretaries to
State Governments.
Adamawa, Katsina, Yobe and Bauchi
shunned the meeting, neither did
they sent representatives nor
apologies.
Dr Aliyu had in his opening remarks
explained that governors of Adamawa
and Taraba states sent their
apologies for their inability to attend
the meeting.
The forum also explained that efforts
are being made to reach out to
Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state,
who was said to have withdrawn
from the forum.
The NGF was divided into two
factions following the outcome of the
recent election of the chairman of
the forum.
This is the first meeting of the
northern governors’ forum since the
controversial election.
The northern governors also resolved
to raise a committee on the recent
killing of security operatives in Alakio
community in Nasarawa state.
They also resolved to commence
implementation of the
recommendations of the committee
on reconciliation, healing and
security.
Source: ChannelsTV

Two contentious political issues,
state creation and rotational
presidency, have been rejected by
the Senate.
In its report on the review of the
1999 constitution submitted
Wednesday, the Senate Committee
on the Review of the Constitution
disclosed that none of the 61
requests for state creation satisfied
the provision for the creation of a
new state in the constitution.
According to the committee, more of
those requests coupled with the
entire provision of section 8(1) which
states: “An act of the National
Assembly for the purpose of creating
a new state shall only be passed if:
(a) a request, supported by at least
two-third majority of members
(representing the area demanding
the creation of the new state) in
each of the following namely, (i) the
Senate and the House of
Representatives (ii) the House of
Assembly in respect of the area and
(iii) the local government councils in
respect of the area, is received by
the National Assembly; (b) a
proposal for the creation of the state
is thereafter approved in a
referendum by at least two-third
majority of the people of the area
where the demand for the creation
of the state originated; (c) the result
of the referendum is then approved
by a simple majority of all the states
of the federation supported by a
simple majority of members of the
Houses of Assembly; and (d) the
proposal is approved by a resolution
passed by two-thirds majority of
members of each House of the
National Assembly.”
The committee also rejected rotation
of executive offices on the grounds
that the constitution should not
make Nigerian leadership subject to
ethnic or regional considerations.
It added that the matter should be
a matter of consideration among the
various political parties.
On foreign accounts, the senate
committee recommended that the
prohibition of foreign accounts as
contained in section 3 of Part 1 of
the fifth schedule of the constitution
should be maintained. “Making any
alteration is most likely to be
received with misgivings and outrage
by Nigerians as it may portray the
National Assembly as self serving,” it
added.
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/06/06/senate-rejects-state-creation-rotational-presidency/

Adamawa state government is said to be government of friends and family. Hence the Governor doesn't give a damn about the flood victims, cos in his book they are niether family nor friends.

Reason why Nigerians don't trust their Governments

Thank You Lord, for the gift of onother day, thank You for Your innumerable. blessings in time past, thank You for uprooting my enemies.

By Global Information
Network (GIN)
Caught On Tape! Egyptian
Lawmakers Plot Nile Dam
Sabotage :Jun 4 (GIN) –
Egypt’s leading politicians,
at a meeting with the
President Monday, shocked
a news-watching public as
they openly proposed using
dirty tricks to stop neighbor
Ethiopia from finishing a
hydroelectric project that
would dam up the ancient
waters of the Blue Nile
and reduce river flow to
water-starved Egypt and
Sudan.
Someone forgot to warn
them that cameras were
rolling and their meeting
with President Mohammed
Morsi was carried live on
TV.
Thinking they were alone
with the President, the
political and religious
leaders openly suggested
bribing local tribes in
Ethiopia or, as a last resort,
blowing up the dam.
Leader of the
ultraconservative Nour
party, Younis Makhyoun,
suggested giving support to
Ethiopia’s rebels “as a
bargaining chip against the
(Addis) government,”
adding: “If all this fails,
there is no choice left for
Egypt but to play the final
card, which is using the
intelligence service to
destroy the dam."
Liberal Ayman Nour
proposed spreading rumors
about Egypt obtaining
refueling aircraft to create
the impression that it plans
an airstrike to destroy the
dam, while Abu al-Ila Madi,
leader of the pro-Morsi
Islamist Wasat party,
suggested that a rumor
that Egypt planned to
destroy the dam could
scare the Ethiopians into
cooperating with Egypt on
the project.
Egypt is already suffering
“water poverty” with access
per person well below the
world average. The Nile is
the sole water source in the
mainly desert country.
Dubbed the Grand
Renaissance Ethiopian Dam
– Africa’s largest – the
hydro project has been
years in the planning but
it hit headlines in Egypt
last week after part of the
Blue Nile was diverted in
preparation for the dam’s
construction.
Confronted with public
furor over their on-air
statements, some of the
red-faced lawmakers said
they were told that edited
excerpts would be aired
later during official news
coverage.
A senior government official
said regretfully that the
meeting had caused “a
huge harm to our case –
both politically and
legally… “Up until that
meeting we were in a very
strong position as a country
that suffers from serious
water poverty and is being
faced with a unilateral
decision of an upstream
state to cut at its legally
stipulated share of water.
Today we are the country
that is openly
masterminding political
unrest and maybe even a
military offensive against
neighboring states; this
could have some serious
legal and political
ramifications.” w/pix of
Younis Makhyounhttp://mobile.saharareporters.com/news-page/egyptian-lawmakers-plot-nile-sabotage-japan-new-bid-african-resources-us-offers-top-dollar

located at Graceland Hanwa Zaria