₦airaland Forum

Why Did This Story Thrive For So Long? Most people like to pass off this story as true with the fact that no one has ever seen India in an International Football Match. Since no one actually saw India participate in most international soccer games, this gave a little credence to the story. India Another reason this lie could thrive for long was the fact that credible information was not readily available at our finger tips. It not like every Emeka, Audu and Ojo could visit Google in a matter of minutes and tell our ominous fabricators that they should stop spreading toxic lies. And to be honest we have a tingling feeling that this lie was concocted by an elder of a community because, let’s be honest who questions the words of the elders in Nigeria. Remember, what an adult sees sitting down a child will never see even if he consults Google, Siri or Cortana. The Element of Truth In This Story On the 12th of August 1989, Nigeria lost Sam Okwaraji. Sam Okwaraji was the player rumored to have lost his life in that game when in truth he died during a FIFA World Cup qualifying game against Angola in the 77th minute. He collapsed and died of cognitive heart failure. May his soul rest in Perfect Peace. AMEN So that is the only truthful thing about that story, the fact that a Nigerian player died during a football match. That’s it. The match was not against India, we did not lose the match and as you must have guessed, and there were no lions either. What Is The Deal With India Anyway? India qualified for the 1950 FIFA world cup as a result of the withdrawal of their scheduled opponents. But the Indian football governing body, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) decided against going to the world cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that time. Some of the Reasons shown by the AIFF included the cost of travel, lack of practice time, team selection issued and valuing the Olympics over the FIFA World cup. It should be noted that FIFA agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses, but it did not really help their decision making. Was India Banned For Refusing To Play Barefoot? No. The 1948 London Olympics was India’s first major international tournament, where a predominantly barefoot Indian team lost 2 -1 to France. Following the 1948 Olympics FIFA imposed a rule banning barefoot play. The belief that the Indian team refused to play because they were not allowed to play barefoot is not entirely true according to the then team captain who said it was just a story to cover the disastrous decision of the AFIF. After the 1950 fiasco, India has never come close to qualifying for the World Cup. The reason you do not see India in World Cup competitions is because they do not qualify So Does The Indian Team Wear Soccer Boots? Yes. In the 1952 Olympics, the Indian team lost 10 – 1 to Yugoslavia (talking about taking a beating). As a result of this magnanimous defeat the AIFF made it compulsory for its team members to wear boots Is it Possible to win a match with a 99 – 1 match margin? Yes. It is absolutely possible to rake 99 – 1 from a single football match. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and see how this is even possible. Now allow us to digress. The highest scoring soccer game was 149-0! You’re probably wondering how a soccer team could be so bad that they let 149 goals be scored, but the truth is it was a form of protest. The event occurred in 2002 after a 2-2 draw between rival teams Stade Olympique de L’emyrne, or SOE, and AS Adema of Madagascar, which resulted in the referees awarding a penalty causing SOE to lose the game. During a match fixing debacle in Nigeria, the Feeders scored 72 of their 79-0 victory in 45 minutes of play. Police Machine scored 61 of their 67-0 victory in the second half. At one point, they scored four goals in a minute. Arbroath won Bon Accord 36 – 0 in 1885. It held the largest margin of victory in professional football where both sides wanted to win. So, yes, given the “right circumstances”, a team could actually receive 99 – 1 beating without any black magic whatsoever. Did we miss something? Please be sure to let us know in the comment section below 1 2

Everything You Need To Know About The
Nigeria Vs India Match
Virtually everybody born before the invention
of the internet must have heard the tale of a
nonexistent football match between Nigeria
and India that obviously took place in a
parallel universe and somehow we got to hear
the gory stories of that match.
Though there are many variations of the story,
every prevaricator seems to agree on a couple
of facts about this fictional football match.
Each storyteller agrees that;
1. This match ended with India scoring 99
goals and Nigeria scoring just one goal.
2. Nigerians where unable to kick the ball
because the football kept turning to a lion (or
something scary) to prevent them from playing
the soccer ball.
3. The Indians later agreed that if Nigeria
could score a goal, they would concede defeat
4. Samuel Okwaraji scored the winning goal
and lost his life in the process.
5. FIFA banned India from soccer because
they used black magic in that very game
With the help of common sense (not that it
was absent back then), quick access to
information and the internet, every right
thinking Nigerian has come to realize that
such a story should be filled under “Blatant
Lies”.

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It is not a book club, a yoga club or a theatre
club, but about 100 South African wives rely
on their own social group to meet and share
their experience of prejudice for being married
to foreigners.
They say that having Nigerian husbands
exposes them to daily discrimination, and that
they had long predicted the wave of deadly
xenophobic violence that has shaken South
Africa in recent weeks.
The United Nigerian Wives in South Africa
(UNWISA) club was set up two years ago to
support wives who tell of being shunned by
family and friends for falling in love with
Africans from outside South Africa.
The group’s existence underscores the deep-
rooted tensions that erupted anew in
Johannesburg and Durban this month when
mobs of South African men hunted down
immigrants, attacking them and destroying
their homes and businesses.
At least seven people have been killed in the
unrest, and thousands of immigrants — mainly
from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique and
elsewhere in Africa — were forced to flee their
homes and seek safety in makeshift camps.
“We saw this thing coming and that’s why we
formed this association,” UNWISA chairwoman
Lindwela Uche, 42, told AFP.
“If only they (the authorities) had listened to
us… they would have known that there’s a fire
burning slowly and they would have seen how
to tackle it.”
The group has 100 members on its Facebook
forum and also organises picnics, family
soccer tournaments and demonstrations
against the stigma they endure.
“Being married to a foreigner is very
challenging,” Lufuno Orji, a Johannesburg
resources consultant whose husband is a
Nigerian medical doctor, told AFP.
“You often spend your time defending yourself
and then you defend your foreign husband for
being himself.”
Attitudes “are negative everywhere we go,”
said Thelma Okoro, 37, adding that even
wearing traditional Nigerian dress on the
street can attract barbed comments.
– Paying a high price –
Daily life for the wives, their husbands and
their children includes battling criticism from
neighbours, schools, government officials,
health workers, taxi drivers and even the
police.
Last year Uche’s 13-year-old daughter
returned from school complaining that her
teacher had told her “not to bring that
Nigerian mentality here” after she and
classmates were noisy in class.
“We need to be protected, we need our
children to be protected… and our husbands to
be treated with dignity,” said Uche, who has
been married to her husband Cajethan Dennis
for 17 years.
Okoro’s eight-year-old daughter gets mocked
by schoolmates over her name “Ngozi” which
means “blessing” in Igbo but literally
translates to “danger” in Zulu.
For Orji, her decision to marry Ogbonnaya has
cost her dearly.
“Just before I got wed to my husband, I lost
two very best friends of mine. They thought I
was out of my mind,” said Orji, who adds that
her own family though were “ecstatic” at her
choice of husband.
Some of UNWISA members have kept their
maiden names because their husbands’ name
attract galling remarks.
Okoro, who has been married to Kenneth for
13 years, says she was told off by an official
when she tried to apply for free government-
issued houses in 2011.
“They told me that I was not entitled because
I am married to a foreigner, and that if I
wanted a house I must divorce the man first,”
she said.
She also cited taking her sick children to
hospital, where “the nurses ask ‘why are you
giving these people residence papers’ —
degrading and discrediting our choices”.
The wives’ club is now looking to widen its
reach to South African women married to other
foreign nationals after the recent anti-
immigrant attacks highlighted many other
women going through similar experiences.
One victim, Nokuthula Mabaso, last week told
local media she was threatened with rape for
dating her Zimbabwean boyfriend Elias
Chauke.
“A group of Zulu-speaking men arrived and
kicked down the door,” she said.
“They asked me why I dated a foreigner when
there were many South African men in the
squatter camp and I replied that I love Elias.
They then assaulted and robbed me.
“One of them threatened to rape us and was
stopped by others.”
The South African government has vowed to
tackle xenophobic attacks, while human rights
lawyers say women who are unfairly
discriminated against should consider legal
action.
“Marriage does not infringe your citizenship as
a South African,” said Trish Erasmus, of the
Pretoria-based Lawyers for Human Rights.
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thanks.I will keep that in mind

UNTIL 1999, the Presidential fleet was under
the control and supervision of the Secretary to
the Government of the Federation.
Before 1999, senior air force officers in their
grey upon blue well ironed uniforms were seen
on the eleventh floor of Federal Secretariat
which was then the office of the Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, hanging
around.
But in June 1999, President Olusegun
Obasanjo transferred the fleet to be part of the
schedule of the Chief of Staff to the President.
The argument was that since the Chief of Staff
was the head of the staff attached to the
President and since he was aware of the
hourly movement of the President, he was in a
better position to control the fleet adequately.
I understand that the fleet is now under Col.
Sabo Dasuki (rtd.) the National security
adviser whose loyalty and patriotism are never
in doubt. Before 1999 the fleet was almost
dormant for lack of use.
General Ibrahim Babangida (72) hardly travels
outside the country except to visit some states
and Chief Earnest Oladeinde Adegunle
Shonekan (79) whose tenure lasted less than
100days made use of the fleet only once when
he attended the Commonwealth conference
outside Nigeria. The second time he used the
fleet was when he was overthrown and brought
down to Lagos in company of Chief Dapo
Sarumi.
General Sani Abacha hardly travelled outside
Abuja. In fact, during his era, Pilots attached
to the Presidential Fleet complained of under
utilisation, raising fears that they might lose
their licenses for not flying enough. In 1997,
he made only five trips outside Abuja, in 1998,
he made three trips, the fourth would have
taken him to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso on
June 8, 1998 for the African Union Conference,
the very day he died.
General Abdusalam Abubakar who spent less
than eleven months in office was too busy
with his transition programme that he hardly
travelled. He made four trips during his era,
two to Niger Delta to inspect the oil spillage in
that area.
As for President Olusegun Obasanjo, the
Jagunmolu of Egbaland, he was a flying
President. Even till date, when the Presidential
fleet is outside his control, he is still flying
around the world. He loves to fly. That is the
way he is. And the Pilots attached to the
Presidential Fleet loved him for that.
The Presidential fleet still remains today the
most important posting in the Nigerian Air
force. For example, the present Chief of
Defence Staff, Marshall Alex Sabundu Badeh
was a product of the Presidential fleet, as he
flew former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar
between 1999 and 2007 severally.
Even the present Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal
Adesola Nunayun Amosu was a product of the
Nigeria Presidential Air fleet too. The Fleet
has one of the largest Aircrafts in the world in
comparison to other countries.
The British Prime Minister has no Presidential
Aircraft. Members of the British Government
charters either British Airways or Virgin
Atlantic most times.
The government of Tunisia operates a Boeing
737 BBJ. An Airbus A340-500 has also been
purchased and VIP configured, but was never
used for travel and has been stored since
2011 revolution that ousted former dictator
Ben Ali. The Tunisian government is reportedly
trying to sell both aircraft.
The government of Algeria operates an Airbus
A340-500.
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong travels on
commercial aircraft, usually operated by
Cathay Pacific. He travels on helicopters
operated by the Government Flying Service.
The Ivorian government uses a Gulf IV as a
VIP aircraft. Further they also use a
government Boeing 727-200WGL.
The State of Israel does not currently possess
a specific jet for use of its Head of State.
Wherever the current Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu flies long distances (out of the
country), the Government leases an airliner
from the state airline El Al. Meanwhile, the
President Reuvin Rivlin and other high ranking
dignitaries are relegated to El Al first class
commercial service. As of 2014, the Knesset is
considering the purchase of such an airplane,
dubbed “Israeli Air Force One”
Kenya’s President has a Fokker 70 for use as
the presidential jet. Fokker executive plane
was purchased at a cost of $50 million. The
70-seater jet was reconfigured into
telecommunication facilities. Prior to the
purchase of the Fokker, the Kenya President
primarily used Airways for his international
travel.
The Saudi Arabian Royal Flight operates a
Boeing 747-300 and a Boeing 747-400 for use
by the King of Saudi Arabia.
The President, Prime Minister of Singapore
and government officials typically travel on
regular scheduled commercial flights run by
Singapore Airlines.
However, on rare occasions or short trips,
government officials may travel on one of the
few passenger-configured Fokker-50 operated
by the Republic of Singapore Air Force.
The President of South Africa travels in a
Boeing 737 (BBJ) operated by the South
African Air Force’s 21 Squadron, which is
based at AFB Waterkloof near Pretoria; the
executive capital, i.e. the seat of the executive
branch of the South African government.
21 Squadron also operates a fleet of two
Falcon 50 and a Falcon 900B Fleet,550/1
Citation 2, and a Global Express XRS is hired
to escort the President on long flights as a
back-up aircraft. The Falcon 900 is normally
used by the Deputy President and high-
ranking cabinet ministers.
The President of Zimbabwe travels in a
charted Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200ER
aircraft, which is part of the national airline’s
fleet. Occasionally, the President will share the
plane with commercial passengers on
scheduled flights.
The Tanzania Government Flight Agency
operates a Gulfstream G550 for VIP transports.
There are other two other VIP aircraft a Fokker
F-50 and F-28 for internal and regional
destinations as well.
The President of Ghana flies on a Falcon EX
900 jet.
The Botswana Defence Force operated a
Gulfstream IV transport but has since been
sold and the Botswana Defence Force now
operates a Global Express OK1.
The government of Burkina uses a special
Boeing 727. A Falcon 900 has been added,
and is the type frequently in use now.
The Egyptian government operates an Airbus
A340-200 as a VIP transport. The first
presidential airplane was given as a gift from
Saudi Arabia to Egypt.
The Pope is one of the richest and famous
men on earth. He is the Head of the Catholic
Church that has followership all over the
world.
Typically, the Pope flies on a chartered Alitalia
fixed-wing aircraft when travelling to or from
more distant destinations. Traditional protocol
dictates that a Pope flies to a country he is
visiting o a chartered Alitalia jet and to return
on a jet belonging to a flag carrier from the
visited nation; this may vary when he is
touring multiple nations.
The Nigerian’s Presidential Air fleet is being
maintained by over 10 billion naira budget
annually.
Poor states like Osun,Gombe, Ebonyi, Ekiti
gets less than 2 billion naira every month
from the Federal Mobilisation Fiscal
Commission as allocation. The Presidential
Fleet of Nigeria has the third largest Air fleet
in the country coming behind Arik which has
twenty-two and Aero Contractors which has
fourteen. The Presidential Air fleet has ten
Aircraft. They include,two falcon 7X jet, two
Falcon 900jets, Gulfstream 550,one Boeing
737 BBJ (Nigerian Air Force 001 or Eagle One)
, Gulfstream IVSP.
Others are one Gulfstream V, Cessna Citation
2 aircraft and Hawk Siddley 125-800 jet.
Each of the two Falcon 7X Jets purchased in
2010 cost $51.1m, while the Gulfstream 550
costs $53.3m. However, airline CEOs put the
average price of Falcon 900 at $35m,
Gulfstream IVSP at $40m, Gulfstream V at $
45m,Boeing 737 BBJ at $58m,Cessna Citation
is $7m and Hawker Siddley 125-800 at $
125-800 at $15m.
In addition,the Federal government last year
submitted several new items to be purchased
by the Presidential Air Fleet to the National
Assembly for approval. The items listed as
new in the PAF budget are- the completion of
hanger project ( N405,500,000.00), tyre bay
tools and equipment (N 106,000,000.00),
Towberless tow tractor for aircraft towing (N
58,740,000.00), hanger sweeper (N
31,870,000.00), luggage conveyor belt truck
(N28,898,000.00) and Harlan tow aircraft
equipment towing ( N27,590,000.00).
Other news items are- CCTV and surveillance
equipment (N18,000,000.00), aircraft tools
and equipment (N11,480,000.00), battery
workshop equipment (N5,050,000.00),
complete tool box for general works and
vehicles ( N 360,000.00), heavy duty crocodile
jacks ( N 300,000.00), aluminium ladder
( N285,000.00), safety boots (N52,500.00)
and foldable ladder (N50,000.00).
The question before us is can we maintain the
Presidential Airfleet in the face of our
dwindling economy? The answer is no.
The alternative is to sell some of the aircraft
so as to reduce cost.
It is even cheaper to charter planes for some
of our top officials than to maintain the
Presidential Airfleet as it is now.
The other angle is to let the Nigerian Air force
face other challenges, instead of the present
rivalry among senior officers over posting to
the presidential air fleet.
I think we have many projects to tackle.
Instead of the temporary comfort of our
leaders. All these are for the consideration of
the incoming government of Major General
(rtd.) MuhammaduBuhari.
In his Essays of Innovation, Francis Bacon
wrote” And he that will not apply New
Remedies, must expect New evil; for time is
the greatest innovator.”
Mr.Eric Teniola , a former director at the
presidency, wrote from Lagos.

him Toto no go sweet like original one

(1). "People exaggerate Corruption in Nigeria.
It is not even our first or second problem,
maybe the third"- President Jonathan (2014)
(2). "You must be very stupid for saying I
bleach my skin. Tell your Editors I said you're
stupid."- Alao Akala to Punch Reporter
(3). "How will you tell me I don't have right to
treasury of Oyo State Government. The Govt I
installed?"- Pa Lamidi Adedibu (2010)
(4). "We want to thank the President for
bringing Facebook to Nigeria.” – Information
Minister, Labaran Maku. (2009)
(5). “I will rather kill myself than commit
suicide.” – Dame Patience Jonathan (2010)
(6). "If I don't contest, Nigerians will feel wan
kine" - President Goodluck Jonathan to
Christiana Amanpour on CNN
(7). "God is a Democrat, does not support
rigging but if you rig and succeed, that means
God approves of it.” - Gov. Jonah Jang
(. "President Yar'Adua can rule from
anywhere in the World"- AGF Michael
Aandoaka SAN, AGF to Yar'Adua
(9). "Most of what Nigerians call corruption is
not corruption. It is mere stealing" - President
Goodluck Jonathan (2014)
(10). “I can see camera people. Are they going
to televise us alive?” -Dame Patience
Jonathan (2012)
(11). "Na only you waka come? Diaris God o!"
- Dame Patience Jonathan (2014)
(12). “Nigerians, don’t panic. Terrorist attacks
are everywhere … maybe it is our turn.” – GEJ
(13). "Those that died at the Immigration
stampede died as a result of impatience"- Min
of Interior, Abba Moro. (2014)
(14). "Boko Haram has restricted my
movements within Nigeria. Why are you
asking me to go Chibok? Will that #
BringBackOurGirls? - President Goodluck
Jonathan (2014)
(15). "No girls were abducted from Chibok. It
is a hoax to make President Jonathan look
bad." - Unofficial Presidential Spokesman,
Asari 'Obese Thug' Dokubo (2014).
(16). "I did not say Boko Haram was in my
cabinet. What I said was they were everywhere
in my government." - President Goodluck
Jonathan (2014)..Pls add yours

Bruce Jenner: After transgender operation
US Olympic champion turned reality TV star
Bruce Jenner came out as transgender on
Friday, saying: “For all intents and purposes,
I’m a woman.”
In a highly anticipated, two-hour TV interview
— hailed by transgender rights’ campaigners
and his own Kardashian-linked family — the
65-year-old said he had wrestled with his
sexual identity since he was a kid.
“I’ve always been confused about my gender
identity since I was this big,” he told ABC’s
celebrity interviewer Diane Sawyer.
“Here I am, stuck — and I hate the word — (a)
girl stuck in a guy’s body … As of now I have
all the male parts and all that kind of stuff,”
he said.
But asked point blank if he was a woman,
Jenner said: “Yes. For all intents and
purposes, I’m a woman.”
Bruce Jenner
Photo: radaronline.com
Speculation that the actor, race-car enthusiast
and 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics
decathlon gold medalist was undergoing a sex
change has been rich fodder for supermarket
tabloids for months.
Supposed telltale signs, based on paparazzi
photos from the streets of Los Angeles,
include shaved limbs, long hair worn in a
ponytail and what appears to be a sports bra
under a T-shirt.
Jenner said he identifies himself as “her,” but
not by a specific name. The ABC interviewer
used “he” and “him” throughout, which the
former Olympian was comfortable with.
He stressed the difference between gender
identity and sexuality. “I am not gay,” Jenner
said, adding: “I am, as far as I know,
heterosexual. I’ve always been with a woman,
raising kids.”
Just before making the long-expected
announcement, Jenner symbolically let his
hair down, physically.
Bruce Jenner: has he always looked like a
woman?
“Let’s take the damn ponytail out,” he told
Sawyer, smiling.
Born outside New York in October 1949,
thrice-married Jenner became an American
sports hero when he set a world record with
his Montreal decathlon victory.
Leveraging his fame, he appeared on boxes of
Wheaties, a popular American cereal known as
“the breakfast of champions,” then tried his
hand as a movie actor, with less than stellar
results.
But it was through his marriage to the former
Kris Kardashian that he once again became a
household name in “Keeping Up with the
Kardashians” in which he appeared as the
sometimes bemused stepfather of her
flamboyant daughters Kourtney, Kim and
Khloe.
He and Kris Kardashian have two daughters of
their own, but they obtained a divorce in
December, 14 months after separating —
although he has been seen still wearing a
wedding ring.
After the interview aired, Kim Kardashian
tweeted: “Love is the courage to live the
truest, best version of yourself. Bruce is love. I
love you Bruce. #ProudDaughter”
Jenner’s 89-year-old mother hailed her son’s
announcement, comparing her pride to that
when he won at the Olympics.
“I never thought I could be more proud of you.
But I’m learning I can be.”
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
rights group GLAAD welcomed Jenner’s
announcement.
“Today, millions of people learned that
someone they know is transgender,” GLAAD
head Sarah Kate Ellis said.
“By sharing this story, Bruce Jenner has
shined a light on what it means to be
transgender and live authentically in the face
of unimaginable public scrutiny.
“Though Jenner’s journey is one that is deeply
personal, it is also one that will impact and
inspire countless people around the world,”
she added.
Jenner’s son Brandon tweeted simply: “Proud
son,” along with an Instagram picture of
himself as a young boy perched on his smiling
father’s shoulders.
Step-daughter Khloe Kardashian trumpeted:
“Just finished watching the #
BruceJennerInterview with the family. Bruzer,
I’m soooo proud of you! Dads really are
heros.”
Jenner, clearly relieved to have finally come
clean, said: “I’m saying goodbye to people’s
perceptions of me and who I am.
“I’m not saying goodbye to me because this
has always been me.”

By Muyiwa Adetiba
About 12, 15 years ago, when the issue of who
is really a Lagosian was nothing more than a
stimulating debate among friends, I had asked
a friend to write an article on it for me. His
was one of the more passionate voices when
the issue was discussed at Ikoyi Club amidst
banter and drinks then. He had every reason
to be passionate. He was born and bred in
Isale Eko, the ‘cradle’ of Lagos of Edo father
and Yoruba mother.
He bears his Yoruba name and his spoken
Yoruba is rich and often laced with proverbs
and idioms. He is also now a Chief in one of
the suburbs in Lagos. Surely he qualifies to be
called a Lagosian. Unfortunately, his surname
gives him away. Another friend who was also
born and bred in Isale Eko goes to the
Campos area every fortnight to ‘feel the earth’
and identify with his roots.
He proudly bears his Yoruba name but there is
nothing he can do about his surname. Does
that make him less of a Lagosian? Another, a
colleague in my days at the Vanguard is an
Ijaw from Bayelsa, but was born and bred in
Lagos, and attended one of the popular
secondary schools in Lagos. Even when he
ventured out, it was to the University of Ife
and it was to Lagos he came during breaks
and holidays. He says proudly ‘omo Eko
l’awa’. (We are Lagosians) despite his names
which scream Ijaw. Is he in denial?
Now, let me come home. My brother’s wife is
from Akwa Ibom but was born and bred in
Lagos and has a Yoruba middle name. Her
Yoruba is more fluent than her Efik. My wife is
Edo but born in Lafiaji in the heart of Lagos
Island. She even has a Yoruba ‘oriki’ which
she uses from time to time when she wants to
praise herself. She has lived in Lagos all her
life. Yet anybody who comes from a Yoruba
hinterland in say 20 years ago, would feel
more entitled and demand more ‘ownership’
than these people.
When I, an ‘ara oke’, (upland country man)
came to Lagos some 50 years ago, it was to a
small city. Surulere, the middle class suburb,
was walkable. The Island was also walkable
and the only bridge that linked the two was
Carter Bridge.
I have since watched this city develop in leaps
and bounds into a mega city. I feel I am part
of the growth; I feel that I, with people like me,
have contributed to the growth and therefore
entitled to the dividends of that growth. But
having said this, I have also watched people
come in from different parts of the country to
make a life and a living. A popular adage then
was ‘Eko gba ole o gba ole’. (Lagos
accommodates all shades of people).
If it was true then, it is even truer now. Lagos
State is easily the most accommodating State
in the country and whatever contribution we
have made therefore, is due to the
accommodating system in Lagos. Many
settlers have risen to top positions in Lagos
and we treat it as of right. Many have become
landowners and we treat it as of right. We are
probably right under the constitution.
But why is Lagos the only state where this
happens? For example, my parents had lived
virtually all their adult lives in Ilesha which
makes the place the only other place I know
outside Lagos. But If I attempt to go there for
an elective post, somebody will tell me the full
story of my father.
Sometime ago, a couple of states from the
Northern part of the country purged
themselves of people from the civil service
because they were not indigenes of the states
despite being of the same tribe. The same
thing happened in a state in the South East
which purged itself of non-indigenes in
government including Igbos. So if we feel
Lagos State is not doing enough for those of
us who believe we have contributed to its
development, we should look around and we
will see that no state has done half as much
as Lagos to make its residents feel welcome.
Now to my original question; who is a
Lagosian? As a layman, I believe your length
of stay or your financial contribution to a
state confers some rights on you as a
resident. But it does not necessarily make you
a citizen. Citizenship must include spiritual as
well as physical attachment along other
prerequisites like ancestry and birth. Lagos for
many is a place to make as much money as
they can; a place to be exploited before they
retire to their ancestral homes. A prospective
citizen must integrate himself into the
community. You cannot make yourself
superior to the place or disdainful of the
culture of the people you want to make your
own. You must believe in the future of the
place and be prepared to do anything
necessary for the attainment of that future.
For as long as you are repatriating the
proceeds of your business endeavours to
another place, then you are in the market and
not at home. For as long as you are not
providing schools, scholarships, hospitals in
your place of residence or doing things that
will improve the lot of the less privileged
there, then you are not in your final home. For
as long as the interests of another city is more
important to you than the interests of the
place you claim to belong, then your claim is
shallow and exploitative.
So a prospective Lagosian must be prepared
to burn his bridge and adopt Lagos in its
entirety- warps and all. He must declare like
Ruth in the Bible, “Where you go I shall go.
Where you live I shall live. Your people shall
be my people and your God my God”. In other
words, if your interests conflict with the
interests of Lagos, then you cannot be called a
Lagosian and Lagos must defend herself
against such interests. Simple.
Finally, why do people want to identify with
Lagos? It is because Lagos is successful as a
land of opportunities and possibilities. And
Lagos is successful because it is
cosmopolitan and inclusive. Those charged
with the administration of Lagos must never
forget that. The strength of Lagos lies in
providing opportunities to all who come in
contact with her. But the true Lagosians,
those who have no other home to run to
should there be famine or civil unrest, must be
protected. They must not be squeezed out.

When I wrote about the failures of the English
Premier League teams in Europe, I was not
thinking of writing or investigating why
Nigerian clubs are failing on the African
continent. But with the ouster of our two
teams in the Caf Champions League this past
weekend, I am obliged to look into this
consistent failure of our clubs on the
continent.
A little background will help us understand
our football plight in Africa; for a competition
that started in 1964, Nigerian teams have
been to the finals seven times. Two wins by
Enyimba Football Club (2003 and 2004),
runners up by Shooting Stars (1984 & 1996),
Heartland (1988 & 2009) and Rangers (1975),
the last final appearance was by Heartland in
2009. Since 2009, we have under achieved, six
years of failure in African football.
But this is not our only failure on the African
continent, we failed to win the Africa Cup of
Nations for 19 years, prior to winning in 2013,
we failed to qualify in 2012 and now in 2015.
We have missed two of the last three editions.
We did not qualify for the CHAN (cup of
nations for domestic players) in the first two
editions, qualified for the third edition and lost
in the semi-final. So African football is not
good for us, for we have fared better getting to
the World Cup; making appearances in 1994,
1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 only missing out
in Germany 2006.
So why are we not competitive in local African
football? Many questions are being asked in
the wake of our two teams crashing out of the
Champions League. Who is to blame? Is it the
league (LMC), is it the federation (NFF), is it
the clubs, is it the players, is it the coaching
or is it the football culture?
I am going to try my very best to apportion
blame in answering all the questions.
The LMC – Is the league structured and
scheduled in a way to benefit the clubs that
participate on the continent? In the last few
years, our league has started at a time that it
does not give our clubs enough time to get
into match playing rhythm. Presumably, in
other countries their clubs are already in mid-
season form; maybe the LMC should try to
align our league schedule with the African
football season.
The NFF – Is the NFF in a position to
financially support our clubs on the continent?
There is ample evidence to show that our
failures are mainly due to the fact that many
clubs are not in good financial positions to
pursue successfully international games. If
part of the football federation mission is the
development of football, one might be inclined
to say that the NFF should help the clubs, but
is the NFF itself in a sound financial position?
This option is not viable.
The Clubs – The clubs have full responsibility
for their success or failure. When pursuing the
local league, the goal is to play
internationally; so clubs are fully aware that
playing well in the league will place them in a
position to play in the Champions League.
They are also very aware that this will cost a
lot of money, they also know that we have a
league that is not aligned to the African
calendar, so why do they continue to have
administrative and financial problems?
Everything is known well in advance, club
management must plan ahead for
international participation; I remember our
early losses in these tournaments, we planned
badly; teams got to the countries late, did not
know that North African countries liked to play
on Friday, did not have the proper shoes for
carpet field and did not consider the cold
weather. The problems we have had on the
continent are not of today, we have just
changed to a different kind of problem.
The Players - Good football is made up of
good players. How you treat your players or
how you groom your players will definitely
affect output. From what we read, many clubs
are in financial trouble with their players, it is
tough to get out and play when you have
money issues lingering. But Kano Pillars, the
most successful club and the most financially
stable has been the biggest let down on the
continent; so money for players might not be
the only issues. Are these players exposed
enough to carry out football tactics to win
these games outside the country?
The Coaching – Above, I asked the question,
are our players equipped to carry out tactical
instructions under very tense atmosphere? I
will re-phrase the question; are the coaches
capable of designing tactics that can keep a
game alive in a foreign land? This might be
the biggest reason for our failures on the
continent; the kind of football we play at home
is undisciplined for success outside our
shores. We commit to many fouls, we take too
many long shots that have no chance at a
goal, and we cannot hold the ball for minutes
at a time. When you play football with these
many flaws, you cannot succeed
internationally and that is where the bulk of
the blame should go.
Football Culture – Nigerians expect to win
every game we play. Is this unnecessary
pressure on our players? We live today in a
football culture that says we are better than
everyone else; while our results don’t show it
we still demand victory. It is not a bad thing
to want favourable results but there must be a
plan to win, and until all the bodies I put out
above as having some blame for our failures
come together to address the issues, we will
continue to be passengers in African club
competitions.

(continued)
"At this moment [Wenger] has a dream job
that we would all love to have," Mourinho told
Sky Sports in February. "He has the stability
and has the time to buy and sell and wait for
success... and wait, and wait... I think he has
the dream job."
Mourinho has spoken this season of his desire
to stay at Chelsea for the next 10 years ever
since his return to the club and seems to
crave the support and stability that Wenger
receives at the Emirates without the demand
for trophies.
In an interview with Gary Neville last October,
Mourinho spoke of his approach to
management and insisted he is not one of the
"fundamentalist" coaches who will not adapt
his philosophy.
COMMENT ARE IN-FORM ARSENAL FINALLY
READY TO CHALLENGE CHELSEA?
Wenger is quite the opposite, stubbornly loyal
to his ways. It is the pragmatist against the
professor.
While Wenger has built technically skilful
teams on a budget, Mourinho constructs sides
based on power, strength and their ability to
pick up points. Long after the end of his first
spell in charge, his original Chelsea team
continued to torment Arsenal, particularly
through Didier Drogba and his ability to rip
apart the Gunners' defence.
"I wouldn't be so sure that the two managers
would be jealous of each other in terms of
what they’ve achieved," former Arsenal star
Nigel Winterburn tells Goal .
"Maybe it's a case of Mourinho saying 'you
know what, I know I have to be successful or
maybe the clubs are not going to let me stay
too long'.
"I think Sunday's game is a chance for Arsenal
to put down more belief within their squad
that they can beat the big teams and reaffirm
their position in the league as well."
Whatever the basis of the rivalry, Mourinho
gets under Wenger's skin.
In the first game between the teams this
season, Wenger confronted his opposite
number on the touchline at Stamford Bridge
and shoved him in the chest. It was an event
that might have been given more attention -
with possible repercussions from the Football
Association - had it been the other way
around.
Mourinho is Wenger's nemesis and that is why
there is something extra at stake this
weekend.

The 'Special One' looks to stay unbeaten
against the 'specialist in failure' when Chelsea
travel to Arsenal on Sunday as this managerial
grudge match takes in its latest chapter
Apr 24, 2015 10:00:00
COMMENT By Greg Stobart Follow on Twitter
The 'Special One' versus the 'specialist in
failure': part 13. Maybe it will finally be
unlucky for Jose Mourinho as he looks to
extend his unbeaten record against Arsene
Wenger, but this rivalry will never be boring.
They are two of the most respected managers
in the game with decorated CVs but that is
about all the Chelsea and Arsenal managers
hold in common as they prepare for Sunday's
clash at the Emirates Stadium.
They have been clashing with each other ever
since Mourinho was appointed for his first
spell as Chelsea manager in 2004 with the
target of knocking Arsenal off their perch
following the Invincibles season.
While Mourinho snuggled up to Sir Alex
Ferguson, he started a feud with Wenger that
remains hostile to this day.
There is no doubt as to who has the upper
hand. Mourinho's record against Wenger reads
won seven, drawn five, scored 21 and
conceded six. The Portuguese takes his side
across London on Sunday as champions elect
to face an Arsenal team that were out of the
title race long before Christmas.
Even more pertinently, that title in 2004 was
Wenger's last Premier League triumph (and
his third overall). Since then, the Frenchman
has won just two FA Cups, separated by a
nine-year gap that was the basis for
Mourinho's "specialist in failure" jibe.
Mourinho, meanwhile, is a serial winner. He
has won two Champions Leagues, seven
league titles in four countries and 10 other
cup competitions. The 52-year-old scratched
a three-year itch when Chelsea won the
League Cup in March and will follow it up with
the Premier League title in the next few weeks.
When a club hires Mourinho, trophies are a
guarantee. He is the anti-Wenger, jumping
from club to club implementing short-term
projects with spectacular results.
Mourinho riles at Wenger's criticism of his
managerial methods and past complaints
about Chelsea's money. It was in that context
that Mourinho crossed the line in 2007 with a
distasteful verbal attack in which he labelled
the Arsenal manager a "Viewer".
Maybe, though, at the heart of his feud with
Wenger, there is a sense of resentment. That
despite his success he has never had the same
unwavering support of his board.

witzerland is famous for its chocolates,
luxury watches, private banks and ski resorts
The land of clocks and chocolates is the
world's happiest country, according to a new
survey.
Switzerland topped the third annual World
Happiness index produced by the Sustainable
Development Solutions Network (SDSN), an
initiative under the United Nations.
It was closely followed by Iceland, Denmark,
Norway and Canada.
Togo, Burundi, Benin and Rwanda, with civil-
war wracked Syria, were least happy.
The World Happiness Report examined 158
countries and is aimed at influencing
government policy.
World's Happiest Countries
World's Least Happy Countries
1. Switzerland
1. Togo
2. Iceland
2. Burundi
3. Denmark
3. Syria
4. Norway
4. Benin
5. Canada
5. Rwanda
The study bases its rankings on data from the
Gallup World Poll and takes into account
variables such as real GDP per capita, healthy
life expectancy, corruption levels and social
freedoms.
"Increasingly happiness is considered a proper
measure of social progress and goal of public
policy," the report said.
"A rapidly increasing number of national and
local governments are using happiness data
and research in their search for policies that
could enable people to live better lives".
The SDSN is comprised of people from
academia, government and the private sector
and was first launched in 2012.

1. Leaders of the All Progressives Congress
were unable to conclude during their Thursday
meeting the zoning of political offices. The
leaders who met at the Rivers State Governors’
Lodge, Asokoro in Abuja adjourned the
meeting, saying that more consultations were
needed before a final decision could be taken
on allocation of offices.
2. The Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation has given clarification on why the
Federal Government should stop forthwith
subsidy on Petrol. The corporation through its
Group Executive Director, Corporate Strategy
and Planning, Dr. Timothy Okon, said that the
government cannot guarantee the price of
crude oil that is not under its control.
3. A 27-man committee has been set up by
the Federal Government to anchor the
inauguration of the President-elect, General
Muhammadu Buhari. Among the committee
were Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim
and former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre
Sylvia, who have been named as chairman
and co-chairman respectively.
4.Report says the Chief Judge of Ekiti State,
Justice Ayodeji Daramola, has after two weeks
of receiving a letter from 19 APC lawmakers
over the impeachment allegation levelled
against the State governor, Ayodele Fayose,
refused to constitute a panel to investigate the
governor.
5. President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday
ordered the immediate removal of campaign
posters, billboards, banners, signs and other
materials the Peoples Democratic Party
Presidential Campaign Organisation and other
bodies used for his re-election campaign. This
was contained in a statement by his Special
Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben
Abati.
6. APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,
has assured Nigerians that the incoming
administration of President-elect,
Muhammadu Buhari, will surely address the
problem of insecurity, unemployment and
other issues confronting the nation. Tinubu
said this at the 12th convocation of the
university on Thursday where he was
represented.
7. The ongoing leadership crisis in the Nigeria
Labour Congress, NLC, took a new dimension
on Thursday as the state chapters held
factional congresses in Kaduna, Kwara, Edo
and Osun states.
8. The Enugu State House of Assembly on
Thursday requested the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to
investigate alleged fraudulent activities of the
Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board,
ENSUBEB. The lawmakers equally directed that
the account of the board be freezed pending
the outcome of its investigations.
9. The Peoples Democratic Party governorship
candidate in Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu,
has denied having anything to do with the
coffins allegedly dropped at some strategic
points in Aba. He alleged that the coffins with
the inscriptions that anyone who does not
vote for Ikpeazu on Saturday would die
was sponsored by his detractors to discredit
him.
Courts halts Fayose’s impeachment, sets
aside APC lawmakers’ actions
10. A seven-man panel was on Thursday set
up in Akure, the Ondo state capital to
investigate the allegation of gross misconduct
levelled against the State Deputy Governor,
Alhaji Alli Olanusi by the State House of
Assembly. The panel is chaired by Olatunji
Stanley Adeniyan. It was set up by the state’s
Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Olasehinde Kumuyi.
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Xi Jinping wants to work with Russia
Next month, Western leaders will be
conspicuously absent from President Vladimir
Putin's military parade to mark the 70th
anniversary of the Allied victory in the Second
World War.
President Barack Obama and EU leaders are
staying away from the Red Square
commemoration to express their outrage at
Russia's role in Ukraine.
Alongside a selection of autocrats including
Kim Jong-un of North Korea and Islam
Karimov of Uzbekistan, President Xi Jinping of
China will be the guest of honour.
Until recently, President Putin was promoting
a Eurasian vision, a union which would run
"from Dublin to Vladivostok".
But as the Ukraine crisis has deepened and
the year-old US-led sanctions against Russia
bite, China is now the only major economy
outside the sanctions regime and Russia and
China are closer than at any time in half a
century.
Russia's ambassador to China, Andrey
Denisov, said: "President Putin and President
Xi met five times last year. They will meet at
least as many times this year. This shows the
importance of the political dialogue."
President Xi and President Putin describe
themselves as "good friends".
Both like to present themselves as strong
national leaders who will rebuild past glory.
Long-standing enemies
But the ambassador and I were talking in the
same embassy greeting room where Chairman
Mao met the leader of the Soviet Union Nikita
Khruschev in 1959, and the ambassador
acknowledged that despite the smiles and
warm language on that occasion, a
precipitous decline in relations was just round
the corner, one which left Moscow and Beijing
mortal enemies for the best part of two
decades.
Chairman Mao oversaw a decline in relations
with the Soviet Union
Nikita Khruschev viewed China as an enemy
Chairman Mao even ordered the residents of
the Chinese capital to dig air raid shelters and
an underground city in preparation for attack.
But nowadays Beijing's foreign policy puts
pragmatism above ideology.
Its diplomats are well practised at exploiting
differences between Moscow and Washington
to China's advantage, and the Ukraine crisis
has offered a valuable opportunity.
This is not to say that Ukraine hasn't
presented Beijing with challenges.
China claims its central foreign policy
principles are sovereignty, territorial integrity
and non-interference.
If these principles were driving Chinese policy,
it might have been expected to condemn
Russian actions in Ukraine.
But a more important tenet still is an
unspoken one, not to criticise friends in
public.
Between Ukraine and Russia, Beijing refused to
take sides.
This month, Russian media reported the
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying
sanctions make the Ukraine situation worse:
"China has stuck to an objective and unbiased
position on the Ukrainian crisis.
"From the beginning we have insisted that
settlement should be carried out exclusively by
political means."
Chinese advantages
In fact, the Ukraine crisis has substantially
advanced Chinese national interest.
As it lost friends in European capitals,
Moscow has urgently needed markets and
friends in the East, and last May it signed a
30-year gas deal worth $400bn (£266bn) with
fuel-hungry China.
The Power of Siberia project, the largest in the
world, had been stuck in negotiation for 10
years due to arguments over price.
Russia's diplomatic isolation made the
difference and most analysts concluded that
China had got a good bargain.
China has not criticised Russia over the
unrest in Ukraine
Again in November last year, the two sides
signed a framework agreement on a second
gas pipeline, this time from western Siberia to
north-west China.
As important, the Ukraine crisis advances
China's strategic agenda.
Along with the multiple unfolding emergencies
in the Middle East, it helps distract the US
from a coherent focus on East Asia, and by
driving Moscow into a firmer Chinese embrace,
it secures Beijing's back so that it can give its
full attention to frustrating US leadership in
the Asia Pacific.
Put simply, China needs Russia to provide
natural resources and a stable strategic
hinterland, and Russia is now signed up to
that project.
Dimitri Trenin, of the Carnegie Moscow Centre,
says this is a triangle in which Beijing rather
than Washington is in the commanding
position: "The US needs to realise that it's
most serious competitor in the 21st century
can now rely more than ever on the resources
and support of its 20th century adversary.
"We're talking about a new Eurasia emerging
with China very much the centre of it - and
Chinese-led projects are changing the face of
Eurasia more than anything since the days of
Genghis Khan."
Banking initiative
One of those projects is the Chinese-led Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The AIIB is still on the drawing board and
hasn't issued a single loan, but it has already
delivered a sharp diplomatic blow to the
United States.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
agreement was signed in October by 21
countries, including China
Ignoring Washington's opposition, many US
friends applied to become founder members .
The shock was almost as great in Beijing as it
was in Washington.
Chinese negotiators had never imagined old
US allies like the UK and Australia falling into
their arms.
As that was so easy, China's strategic
planners will now be thinking of other ways to
test American leadership in the region.
They don't have to look far. In January's State
of the Union address, President Obama urged
Congress to help him secure a trade
agreement for Asia:
"China wants to write the rules for the world's
fastest-growing region. That would put our
workers and our businesses at a
disadvantage. Why would we let that happen?
We should write those rules."
Indeed President Obama is trying to write
those rules as part of his strategic foreign
policy initiative, the "pivot to Asia".
President Obama made closer relations with
Asia a key priority of his first term
His administration is promoting the Trans-
Pacific Partnership (TPP) which would cover a
dozen countries.
China is not included and Beijing sees the
TPP as an attempt at economic containment.
Unsurprisingly, it is working on a rival trade
deal and to prepare the ground, it has
carefully toned down some of the
confrontational tactics and rhetoric which
alarmed neighbours around the East and
South China Sea this time last year.
President Xi has moved from strategic military
initiatives to strategic economic ones, rolling
out a vision for a Silk Road Economic Belt
which promises multi-billion dollar loans to
build energy and transport infrastructure for
Central Asia, and a parallel Maritime Silk
Route which will do the same for South East
Asia.
This week the Chinese president has been out
on a charm offensive, in Pakistan promoting
the first vision and in Indonesia pushing the
second.
Meanwhile President Obama's TPP project is
bogged down in Washington's congressional
politics.
As time runs out for the Obama
administration and the focus shifts towards a
presidential election, regional allies worry that
the US is distracted, disengaged and even
dysfunctional in face of the challenge from
China.
But the US seems relaxed about the evolving
China-Russia relationship, viewing the
marriage of Russian bear and Chinese dragon
as a marriage of convenience where claws will
soon be unsheathed by one side or the other.
President Obama said ( to the Economist) last
August: "Russia I think has always had a
Janus-like quality, both looking east and west,
and I think President Putin represents a deep
strain in Russia that is probably harmful to
Russia over the long term….But I do think it's
important to keep perspective."
Dynamic ambition
The difference is dynamic Chinese ambition in
the region.
Chinese leaders believe the US will never
willingly surrender its status as the pre-
eminent power in Asia.
Their own long-term policy is to squeeze the
US out.
Regional initiatives on development and trade
are as much a part of that game plan as
military modernisation.
A "strategic partnership" with Russia is a big
piece of this puzzle, securing more than 4,300
kilometres of shared border, delivering Central
Asia to the Sino-centric economic blueprint
and stalling Japanese attempts to find
partners to counteract Chinese territorial
claims.
When President Obama came to office in 2009,
his stated foreign policy objectives were to
reset the relationship with Russia and to
"pivot to Asia" .
But as he nears the end of his second term, it
is China which has reset the relationship with
Russia, and Russia which has pivoted to Asia.
Hear Carrie Gracie's special report on the
future of Chinese Russian relations, on Friday
24 April on the World Tonight , on BBC Radio
4.

The All Progressives Congress has
admonished the Peoples Democratic Party to
stop being “a crying baby” and come to terms
with the “cold, hard reality that its fortunes
have since plummeted” and that it is now in
opposition.
This was contained in a statement in Abuja on
Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
APC argued that the fact that the PDP devoted
a substantial part of the communique, issued
after the inaugural meeting of the its National
Working Committee and Governors/Senators-
elect, complaining about alleged harassment
and intimidation by the APC, “when it should
be strategising about the daunting task ahead
of it,” showed that the erstwhile ruling party
still did not understand the enormity of the
challenges awaiting it as an opposition party.
It said the PDP was scared stiff of being in
opposition, adding, “We don’t blame them as
they have neither the capacity nor the
commitment to be in opposition. A party that
stood for nothing but looting and rent
collection will naturally be afraid of being in
opposition, where there is nothing to loot or
rent to collect.”
APC advised the PDP to understand that it
was not by repeating obvious lies that an
opposition party could be effective, but “by
being creative, knowledgeable, resourceful and
above all credible.”
The party added, “It is not by cheap blackmail,
but by being resilient.
“This is why we wish to extend to the National
Working Committee of the PDP a free
orientation, just as we have offered the party’s
spokesman a free crash course on how to be
an opposition party spokesman. The theme of
the orientation for the PDP NWC members will
be ‘transitting from the ruling party to an
opposition party’.
“In the first instance, there is no substitute for
experience. Also, we believe that democracy
will be deepened only when there is
cooperation between the governing party and
the opposition, hence the offer,” the party
said.
APC slammed the PDP for daring to complain
of harassment and intimidation by the APC,
saying if any party was guilty of harassment,
intimidation and impunity before, during and
after the 2015 general elections, it was the
PDP.
It stated, “Have they so soon forgotten the
reckless show of shame by their OPC lackeys
with the full support of the Nigeria Police
Force in Lagos or the mindless bombings and
killings of APC members in Rivers and Gombe
states, among others? Only on Monday, APC
supporters were again reportedly killed in
Rivers and Kaduna states.
“Haven’t the folks in the PDP seen the
pictures being circulated of their (PDP)
supporters brandishing machetes in broad
daylight during the party’s campaign in Aba
on Tuesday (April 21)?.”
APC also described as laughable the
allegation by the PDP that the APC was trying
to turn the country into a one-party state by
luring and making irresistible offers to the
leadership of the PDP.

A Japanese magnetic levitation train has
broken its own world speed record, hitting
603km/h (374mph) in a test run near Mount
Fuji.
The train beat the 590km/h speed it had set
last week in another test.
Maglev trains use electrically charged magnets
to lift and move carriages above the rail
tracks.
Central Japan Railway (JR Central), which
owns the trains, wants to introduce the service
between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya
by 2027.
The 280km journey would take only about 40
minutes, less than half the current time.
However, passengers will not get to experience
the maglev's record-breaking speeds because
the company said its trains will operate at a
maximum of 505km/h.
Construction is estimated at nearly $100bn
(£67bn) just for the stretch to Nagoya, with
more than 80% of the route expected to go
through costly tunnels, reported AFP news
agency.
The government is also hoping to sell the
maglev train technology overseas.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is
visiting the US on Sunday where he is
expected to pitch for a role in building a new
high-speed rail line between New York and Washington

After years of toxic pollution and devastating
effects from corruption, Nigeria – Africa's
most populous country – has become a
wasteland. It's not a coincidence that Nigeria
is a center for different kinds of corruption
parasites.
Bayo Oluwasanmi
There are corruption parasites of all kinds in
Nigeria. One variety is when officials pocket
budget funds for their departments. Another is
when bankers embezzle depositors money and
when the bankers collude with ministers to
defraud the state. Yet another is couched in
ambiguous terms such as “security vote” for
governors, “stomach infrastructure,”
“mobilization fee,” “constituency allowance,”
and so many corruption laden bogus aliases.
The Nigerian poor is caged in all avenues, in
every direction, are blocked and booby trapped
by corruption. The experience of poor
Nigerians is that their living is confined and
shaped by forces and barriers which are not
accidental or occasional hence avoidable, but
initiated and entrenched by their own
government.
Look around you, you'll find government anti-
graft agencies with different alphabetical soup
names that serve no purpose in fighting
corruption. The anti-graft agencies are a
classic case of the therapeutic treatment
applied to treat disorders created by the
government itself.
Corruption is both a major cause and a result
of poverty in Nigeria. It occurs at all levels of
our society – local, state, and national
governments, civil society, judiciary functions,
large and small businesses, military and other
services and so on.
The poverty foisted upon our people is
exclusively a creature of the government in
consensual economic dealings anchored on
corruption. Conditions of concentrated poverty
are visible and prevalent in our
neighborhoods. Nigerians bleed from
corruption and like the President-elect rightly
said “If we do not kill corruption in this
country, corruption will kill Nigerians.” There is
no better way to say this.
One of the pillars of democracy is
transparency. Citizens have right to know
what goes on in the government. Citizens
should be given the chance to contribute their
input before decisions are made on their
behalf. People should have the right to probe
unaccountability in government.
It is obvious that the poor are the most hard
hit by corruption. Corruption undermines our
political development, democracy, economic
development, our people's health and much
more. At all levels corruption makes it difficult
for our people to effectively participate in our
democracy: the people's interests are not
represented. Corruption has made our lives
more painful and unbearable.
For years and especially the Jonathan years,
newspaper headlines compete for stories on
ministers and other top government officials
embroiled in scams that involve millions and
billions. Despite the huge uproar and
campaigns and deeper highlight on corruption
by various organizations, little has been done
to stem the tide of corruption. No one is
surprised why the fight on corruption is so
hard and seems impossible to fight. Indeed,
our government in collusion with powerful
interests have always made corruption difficult
to fight.
Come May 29, President Muhammadu Buhari
should make it harder for any Nigerian to
embezzle millions and billions. Buhari can
learn another strategy for tackling corruption
from the Chinese and the Vietnamese. In
Vietnam, they don't just send unscrupulous
financiers to jail, they send them to death row.
In China, corruption is punishable with the
death penalty if the sums acquired illegally go
beyond a certain threshold.
According to Vietnam's Tuoi news outlet, last
year Vietnam sentenced three corrupt bankers
to death by firing squad. Two of the bankers
on death row embezzled $25 million from the
state owned Vietnam Agribank. A 57-year old
former regional boss from Vietnam
Development Bank, another government-run
bank, was sentenced to death over a $93
million swindling job. Several of his colleagues
were sentenced to life imprisonment after they
confessed to securing bogus loans with a
diamond ring and a BMW coupe. But for most
part, Nigerian bankers whose greed nearly
caused financial collapse of our banking and
financial institutions and economic melt down
didn't get indicted. They got bonuses.
The Chinese people viscerally hate corruption
and are reluctant to see the death penalty
dropped. They do not see why corrupt officials
should benefit from foreign standards on
human rights. “Corrupt officials who deserve
the death sentence should all be executed by
shooting. Otherwise, they will find a way to
save their lives with the money they have
embezzled,” says Zou Xingyu, a Chinese
commentator on Tencent Weibo, a popular
micro-blogging site.
Chinese criminal law states that anyone who
embezzles more than 100,00 yuan ($16,340)
can be sentenced to death. In 1980s 103
Chinese officials at the level of ministers or
above were tried in court and 80 per cent were
found guilty of bribery and embezzlement. Six
were sentenced to death, 27 were given
suspended to life imprisonment, and 44 were
given sentences of varying lengths. In 2011,
two corrupt deputy mayors of Suzhou and
Hangzhou in China were sentenced to death
while the head of the State Food and Drug
Administration was executed for corruption.
The current level of corruption in Nigeria is
systemic and widespread and calls for drastic
solution. It is so entrenched that it is the rule
rather than the exception. It is no
exaggeration to say that few honest officials
are victims in a country that lacks democracy,
supervision, and a weak judicial system
manned by corrupt judges. I believe the only
drastic and effective deterrence to kill
corruption before it wipes out Nigeria and
Nigerians is to make corruption punishable by
death – execution by firing squad.
By the decisive electoral victory of Buhari in
the presidential elections, Nigerians seem to
be saying “We're behind you in your crusade
against corruption. Do whatever it takes to kill
corruption including the use of death penalty.”
In our determined march toward a new Nigeria
under Buhari, how about making examples of
three rotten corrupt officials with high
visibility – Femi Fani-Kayode, Ayo Fayose,
and Doyin Okupe – known for their insane
combativeness and statements loaded with
expletive epithets – as the first causalities of
corruption by execution?
Fani-Kayode is the director of media and
publicity of the Jonathan Campaign
Organization. Indicted by EFCC since 2008,
he's been in court on and off, off and on, in a
N100 million money laundering case preferred
against him. Fayose who became governor of
Ekiti State for the second time via Ekitigate
election rigging scam is also indicted by EFCC
for $1.2 billion poultry scam. Okupe, senior
special assistant to Jonathan on public affairs
and the erstwhile chairman of Romix Solifix
International (Nigeria) Limited, is on EFCC
caseload for N800 million road construction
contract that he failed to execute. He got the
money and just disappeared to Aso Rock
under the protective umbrella of Jonathan. All
other felons indicted by EFCC should face the
same punishment.
A crime buried with justice is never laid to
rest. Destroyers of our economy and lives of
our people should be given swift and severe
punishment. Death penalty for corruption
should be our favorite method of fighting
corruption and will serve as a sweet revenge
for poor Nigerians – victims of corruption.
byolu@aol.com

just for fun

teeowl:
did Telsim Balogun really kill a goalkeeper with his thunder shot? i use to hear of that story when i was a kid.

na OYO u dey ooooo

Kashamu Buruji
This was revealed by his lawyer, Mr. Ajibola
Oluyede, in a petition to the National Human
Rights Commission, NHRC.
In the petition, Oluyede also accused former
president, Olusegun Obasanjo, of being behind
the plot to extradite Kashamu.
According to Oluyede, “Kashamu’s enquiry
revealed that indeed there had been moves by
US officials within the region to secure the
assistance of the head of the INTERPOL
division in Nigeria, Mr. Solomon Arase, a
Deputy Inspector General of Police, for the
arrest and delivery to the US officials of
Kashamu for transportation to the US without
following the due process required by the
Nigeria Extradition Act.
“Mr. Kashamu’s informant revealed that Arase
has confirmed that Donna Chabot approached
him in January 2015. The said Ms Chabot is
an attaché with the Department of Homeland
Security, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement at the American Embassy route
Des Almedies BP, 49, Dakar, Senegal and
requested that INTERPOL Nigeria assist in the
abduction of Kashamu for the purpose of his
forcible transportation to the U.S. to face trial
before Judge Norgel.”
According to Saharareporters, the name of the
self-acclaimed philanthropist and a stalwart
of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, came
up in a Court ruling dated September 25, 2009
by Judge Charles R. Norgle of the United
States District Court in Chicago, Illinois in
which the Judge upheld Kashamu’s
indictment by the U.S government on drug
trafficking charges and conspiracy to smuggle
heroin into the country. Kashamu was
described by the U.S government as the
kingpin of the drug cartel.
In his response, Kashamu published several
rebuttals in the newspapers and alleged that
he was not the one being sought after by the
United States Government, but that the
alleged crime was committed by one of his
brothers who is now dead. Kashamu, in his
defence, also claims that he had been cleared
by a British Court and produced what purports
to be the decision of a Magistrates’ Court in
England. Kashamu also referred to his
issuance of German visa sequel to his
clearance by international security agencies as
a further proof that he is not a fugitive and
that the U.S. may have been looking for a
wrong person.
However, the matter is far from over as the
United States government insists that the man
the U.S government is looking for is no other
person than Buruji Kashamu, not his brother
and that the government of the U.S. still
regards Buruji Kashamu as a drug kingpin and
a fugitive from the United States law.
The U.S. further states that it has never
withdrawn its warrant of arrest against
Kashamu, maintaining further that the charges
against Kashamu remain pending and will
request for his extradition from Nigeria in due
course.
The United States Government has also
accused Buruji Kashamu of using fraudulent
means to obtain a German Visa in 2009. The
U.S government notes in its brief that
Kashamu communicated with German officials
using the name “Buruji Kashamu Shodipe”
instead of Buruji Kashamu. According to the
U.S. government, Kashamu was indicted in the
United States under the name “Buruji
Kashamu” and the warrant of arrest against
him was issued in that same name. It is the
position of the U.S. that any confusion by
German officials that led to the issuance of a
Schengen visa to Kashamu may have been
caused by Kashamu’s use of the surname
“Shodipe” in his application and
communications with the German consulate.
Saharareporters investigation has revealed
that there is indeed, a pending criminal action
against Mr. Buruji before the United States
District Court, Northern District of Illinois
involving fifteen people. The Case 1:94-
cr-00172 is before Hon. Judge Charles R.
Norgle. While Kashamu’s other coconspirators
had been jailed, Kashamu’s case is being held
under the fugitive Calendar.
In February, 2009, Kashamu hired a team of
lawyers to appear for him in the case for the
purpose of filing a Motion requesting the
Court to quash the arrest warrant which his
lawyers led by Pravin B. Rao did.
In the Motion to quash the arrest warrant, Mr.
Pravin Rao made copious reference to the
United Kingdom’s extradition proceedings in
which Kashamu was freed after spending five
years in British jail. His lawyers also pleaded
res judicata and argued that the U.K.
decisions are final and should therefore, be
binding on the U.S.
In its response, the United States government
disagreed with Kashamu on all four grounds
and argued that Kashamu’s Motion to quash
arrest warrant should be denied by the Court.
On September, 25, 2009, the District Court
Judge upheld the U.S. position and denied
Kashamu’s Motion to quash his arrest
warrant. The judge also declared Buruji
Kashamu a fugitive.
However, Kahamu’s lawyers filed another
Motion praying the Court to reconsider its
decision of September 25, 2009.
Trouble started for Kashamu when in March
1994, defendant Kary Hayes, a passenger
arriving at O’Hare International Airport
(“O’Hare”) on a flight from Zurich, Switzerland,
was arrested after he tried to smuggle into the
United States a suitcase containing
approximately 14.16 pounds of heroin. Hayes
was one of a long line of couriers in a heroin
smuggling operation allegedly led by
Kashamu. The government charged Hayes and
other couriers after this initial arrest. Many of
these couriers cooperated and provided
information about their contacts with
Kashamu.
On May 21, 1998, a grand jury charged
Kashamu and others in a Second Superseding
Indictment with conspiracy to import heroin
into the United States in violation of Title 21,
United States Code, Section 963. Between July
7, 1998 and January 27, 1999, nine of the
fourteen defendants named in the Second
Superseding Indictment pleaded guilty. These
nine defendants admitted their participation in
the heroin smuggling organization and all
acknowledged that Kashamu, the man they
called “Alaji” or “God,” was the person
ultimately in charge of the heroin smuggling
organization. Some of these couriers, including
defendants Catherine Cleary Wolters and
Nicholas Fillmore, Jr., had visited with
Kashamu at his residence in Benin in
connection with the heroin smuggling
organization.
One of the couriers, defendant Ellen Wolters,
had a romantic relationship with Kashamu.
The smuggling trips and trips to visit
Kashamu in Benin were documented by,
among other things, money transfer orders
from Western Union and American Express,
flight records, credit card charges, hotel
records, and telephone call detail records. The
telephone records, for example, reflected calls
from the couriers to Kashamu’s residence in
Benin.
Kashamu was ordered detained following his
December 1998 arrest and he was incarcerated
in London’s Brixton Prison during the
pendency of extradition proceedings based on
the government’s warrant in the instant case.
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SOURCE:
PM NEWS, LAGOS
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5

Africa most popular show-biz
magician, was born in 1941 at
Iseyin, present day Oyo state and
was named Moshood
Folorunsho Abiola. However, ha
later pick on the stage name
Professor Peller.
He was described as a very
romantic man. His most prominent
wife, Alhaja Silifat, fell in love with
him while she was still in the
secondary school. She confessed
that she had always admired him
and his performances even before
then and each time she watched
him perform, her heart fluttered
with affection for the fine magician
with tribal marks.
In 1967, Iseyin Grammar School in
Oyo State became the place where
Peller planted the seed of love
even if he was there to perform
but was carried away by the
ravishing young beauty in the
crowd called Silifat. Hear her: “I
am sure he musthave been
attracted to me because of my
beauty. So, he just whispered to
me: ‘Baby, you are beautiful.’ And
I said, ‘Thank you.’ He didn’t ask
me out that day. For quite a long
time, we were friends.” For a
couple of years more, they
continued dating and Lady Peller
said after two years, she said yes
to his advances. They got married
in 1971 and they already had a
child by then.
For a man who was a showstopper
at any events, it is no surprise that
not a few women fell for the
enchanting spell of Nigeria’s most
famous magician. He was a man
of many women and married many
of them. However, the best known
of these ladies, with whom he
performed his magic tricks is
Alhaja Silifat Adeboyin Peller
The whole of Nigeria knew her as
Lady Peller and she is most
famous for the act in which she
was ‘sliced’ into pieces by Peller
and had a hard time putting her
back. Now 66 years of age with
her husband gone and not
remarrying, she is tending to her
grandchildren while reminiscing
over the glittering wonders of an
empire of magic that once held
sway. Lady Peller was born in
Kishi, Oyo State where her father
was the Chief Imam and had five
children for him, while also raising
many other step-children.
However, unknown to many, their
rosy marriage later had a deep
crack to the extent that they were
not staying together anymore.
When Peller was killed at his
Onipanu residence, he was in
Lagos State for a function while
Lady Peller was living at the GRA,
Ikeja. Although they were not
officially separated as they still
saw regularly, Peller checked on
her in Ikeja but met her absence.
As at that time, they had already
reconciled and were even
planning on coming back together
before Peller was prematurely
silenced by the assassin’s bullets.
Peller left a message for her to
check on him as he was not
feeling well and was rushed to
Ibadan for treatment. Lady Peller
was furious as to why he was
taken to Ibadan since they had
family doctors at the Ajayi
Memorial Hospital and the EKO
Hospital in Lagos but upon getting
to Ibadan, she was simply told that
Peller was dead. She fainted
immediately only to wake up to a
bucket of water and intense
fanning by family members. She
said: “It was a great shock and I
had never seen that kind of
things. I don’t ever wish to go
through that land of thing again.”
While he was alive, he also taught
her some magic and ensured she
got some training in Michigan,
USA. Little wonder they always
performed together and as far as
she is concerned, her religion is
not against the brand of magic
she performed with her late
husband because according to
her, ‘it was not fetish’. She still
remembers the very good old days
and says she will not remarry and
will still marry him over and over
again, rounding off: They only
want to enjoy what Professor
Peller was enjoying for several
years. But they can’t have it.”
Source: .com

Ishilove:
What happened to Professor Peller?

Prof peller was a great magician back in the days

Nnamdi Azikiwe at the Nigerian High
Commission Office in London, Aug. 28, 1969,
as he urged Biafra to abandon its fight
against the Nigeria government.

5th August 1968: Biafran protestors at a
peace rally in Hyde Park, London.

MAJOR TAFFY WILLIAMS IN BIAFRAN
SERVICE

Wole Soyinka As A Kid With His Parents &
Siblings In The 1930s

KEY SOAP BAR

PLANTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

PROF PELLER AND LADY PELLER

NIGERIA ’S MAP IN 1960