₦airaland Forum

The gruesome murder of one Mr Eugene Enwerem, a casual staff of an Owerri, Imo State-based construction firm-RHAS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, belonging to a Lebanese national, may pitch the company in a legal battle with the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO).
The company staff are said to be subjected to slavish conditions of service such as working between the hours of 6am to 6pm, for a batch while another batch of the workers serve between 6pm. and 6am, producing asphalt on a paltry sum of N12,OOO per month, without any health or accident insurance cover. The workers who work from Monday to Saturday and again on Sundays are paid a paltryN500 for working on Sunday. The said N500 overtime, according to some of the workers is often diverted by their immediate supervisor, another Lebanese...CONTINUE:http://crimefacts.org/imo-lebanese-firm-fingered-in-gruesome-deaths-of-nigerian-workers-clo-flays-dehumanizing-work-condition-considers-legal-action/

Justice Chukwuemeka Ohakwe of Owerri High court Tuesday sentenced seven persons to death for murder of one Okechukwu Osuji on May 11, 2001.

The offence is contrary to section 319 (1) of the criminal code cap 30 volume 11 laws of the Eastern Nigeria 1963 applicable to Imo state.

The condemned persons include Ejike Okoro, Cajetan Okoro, Rapheal Ike, Paul Njoku, Eric Igbo, Chidiebere Njoku and Anyanwuchukwu Unamba...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/cult-killing-seven-to-die-by-hanging-in-imo-court-exonerates-three/

It is no longer a secret that there will be a re-run election into the Imo State Assembly seat of Oguta Local Government Area(LGA) on Saturday, June 29th,2013.The re-run poll is caused by the sacking of the former legislator by the Court of Appeal, Owerri on 20th,April,2013.What happened was that the State Assembly and Governorship elections which were held in Oguta LGA on the 26th April,2011 were declared inconclusive by Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).Other LGAs which were equally affected include Ngor-Okpala,Mbaitoli LGAs and Orji ward in Owerri North LGA.The INEC directed that ...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/oguta-state-assembly-re-run-poll-a-dress-rehearsal-for-imo-2015-governorship-by-john-mgbe/

Pensioners in Imo state who retired from the Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) are presently passing through life-threatening misery owing to the apparent inability of the state government to pay their pensions for upwards of 31 months now.

Ironically, few months into the tenure of the present administration, this same broadcast station reported that the present administration has settled 12 years backlog of pension arrears in Imo state...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/insensitivity-imo-pensioners-groan-under-31-month-unpaid-pension-arrears/

After winning a free trip to France, Senegalese consultant Bousso Drame is saying “No, thank you.” Drame recently penned an open letter to the French consulate in Senegal claiming she was subjected to humiliating remarks and treated with suspicion when she applied for a visa. Her trip was sponsored by the French Institute of Senegal, a government-operated cultural center, as the top prize for a French language competition. In her letter, Drame claims that her experience at the consulate is representative of the treatment received by many Senegalese people when dealing with French authorities...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/the-new-face-of-africa-senegalese-prize-winner-rejects-french-visa-over-disrespectful-treatment-by-authorities-writes-french-consulate/

Proprietors of filling stations in Imo state under the aegis of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday shut down their filling stations in protest of alleged extortion and arbitrary taxations by the state government.

The dealers locked up their business premises as early as 5:30 am which caught motorists unawares, leaving many stranded for the day.http://crimefacts.org/filling-stations-shut-down-in-owerri-over-n1million-government-taxation-commuters-face-fare-hike/

Barely one week after Governor Rochas Okorocha threatened to revoke the N1.3bn contract and was brazenly dared to do so by the contractor of the project, the government of Imo state has terminated the contract for the construction of a 7-floor ultra modern state judiciary headquarters awarded to Nnutouch Global Ventures Limited, for breaching the terms of the contract...CONTINUE:http://crimefacts.org/finally-okorocha-terminates-n1-3-billion-judiciary-complex-contract-contractor-forgive-me-but-this-governor-is-criminally-minded/

Of all the headlines competing for space and attention on the popular Vanguard online edition of June 12, 2013, the above caption attributed to Professor Francis Oluyemi Fagbohun, literally jumped at me. Really, it did! It had to considering that Nigeria remains a place where truth is a scarce commodity even among the intellectual class.

At the second edition of the National Public Discourse organised by CMC Connect in association with O’Ken ventures held at Muson Centre, Lagos the previous day, Professor Fagbohun who chaired the event was reported by Vanguard to have courageously said that “Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was right when he called and fought for confederacy in 1966 but people misunderstood him and branded him a rebel.” That’s forthrightness at its best!...CONTINUE:http://crimefacts.org/ojukwu-was-right-on-confederacy-in-1966-1967-by-nkem-ekeopara/

On behalf of honorable Nigerians in Finland and Scandinavian at large, we call on the Nigerian Government to close down the Embassy of Nigeria in Sweden and use the money for other efficient service.

An Embassy that cannot provide a simple passport re-issuance service to its citizens abroad is simply worthless and should be shutdown.
It started in January when the embassy visited Finland for a passport exercise they claimed will be within a month. After a 100euros payment of passport fee which was more than the normal official fee ,We are yet to receive any information from the embassy regarding our new passports...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/outcry-close-down-nigerian-embassy-in-sweden-and-stop-wasting-our-resources/

The ripples of the disputed Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) election continued yesterday at the ninth Triennial Delegates Conference of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Abuja.

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), held the delegates spell-bound on what transpired at the NGF election.

He spoke of his shock at the attitude of some of his colleagues who are disputing the result of an election of only 35 electors. Oshiomhole urged Labour leaders to speak out on the matter, saying they should advise Jang to stop parading himself as the NGF chairman...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/ngf-jonah-jang-should-stop-jangling-about-he-lost-says-oshiomhole/

Faced with opposition from several quarters, inclusive of: 1) anarchist elements posturing as opposition politicians who directly encouraged terrorist activities, 2) hired brains and lobbyists in capital cities across Europe and North America, and 3) a most vociferous clique of partisans who claim to be ‘activists’, the Nigerian central government appeared curiously deficient in articulating and implementing appropriate response to address terrorist activities which challenged the very essence of the Nigerian federation and was practically and surely bleeding the country to a certain pathetic end.


Perhaps buoyed by a series of lethal attacks in May 2013, which recorded high fatalities of both civilians and security personnel or a sudden awakening or dawning of reality or whatsoever, Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, to the chagrin of those who sought to make political and perhaps pecuniary capital of the blood of innocents, rightly ordered military operations to restore sanity and humanity in our beleaguered northeastern region...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/nigerias-war-on-terror-so-far-so-good-by-eze-eluchie/

There seems to be no let-up in the fight to unseat the embattled National Chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, with two strongly worded petitions fired to the NEC of the PDP by a group advocating for the removal of the party Chairman.
Coming less than 24 hours after Tukur got a moment of respite following an intervention meeting at the Presidential Villa, from which he emerged thumping his chest that he would not be forced to resign, this fresh onslaught and the content of the said letters may present on a platter, the instrument needed by the already polarized National Executive Council of the PDP to sack Bamanga Tukur...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/pdp-more-troubles-for-tukur-as-group-petitions-nec-alleging-forgery-of-party-constitution-questionable-membership-against-chairman/

The face-off between the convoy of Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and that of Hon. Eugene Dibiagwu on Saturday, June 15, 2013, at Awa Community, Oguta Local Government Area was the third of such traffic rows the governor has had in the last seven months. The first occurred on December 26, 2012 along the Azaraegbelu section of the every-busy Owerri-Umuahia Expressway between the governor’s convoy and that of Senator Chris Anyanwu.
The governor’s camp declared that incident as an assassination attempt on the governor’s life in spite of the fact..CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/okorochas-many-convoy-rows-by-gele-agbai/

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bamanga Tukur, on Tuesday said he would not resign on Thursday as published by a local newspaper. Addressing journalists after a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Mr Tukur said elections would be held for the positions, not contested for, during the last national executive council meeting. He dismissed as untrue and complete falsehood stories that President Jonathan had directed the leadership of the party to resign or be prepared to be booted out by Thursday...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/i-will-not-resign-tukur/

Chief Osita Okereke has expressed concerns over the recent comment credited to the Imo state Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha over the Judicial Commission building contract awarded to his company Nnutouch Global Ventures.

The Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha had on Saturday visited the construction site of the Judicial Commission Headquarters located along Umuguma General Hospital, in Owerri, where he expressed displeasure over the slow pace of work on the site. He said the contract which was awarded to Nnutouch Global Ventures with a contract sum of N1.3 billion in April 2012 was due for delivery by April 2013 and to his surprise, the project has not even started even when the contractor has been mobilised with some funds by the state government...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/okorocha-contractor-in-fresh-controversy-over-n1-3bn-contract-as-contractor-accuses-governor-of-n24m-kickback/

The Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, yesterday condemned the increase in the incidence of violence against women and rape of young children in the country.

This is as the council called on relevant authorities in the criminal justice sector, including the Attorney General of the Federation, state Attorneys General, Inspector General of Police and heads of the various courts to take immediate steps at ensuring that victims of domestic and sexual violence enjoy prompt remedies, including fast-tracking of trials of offenders and appropriate sentencing...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/rights-commission-decries-high-rate-of-rape-against-minors-wants-courts-to-protect-children/

Not too long after Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state was engaged in a road clash with Senator Chris Anyanwu, he had another road shave with one Hon. Nnewuihe. The governor on Saturday evening got tangled in yet another road rage in Oguta council area of Imo state after his convoy knocked down a motorcyclist.

The incident which happened in Awa community of the council left Okorocha ruffled and thoroughly humiliated with angry youths of the community mobbing and vandalizing the governor’s pilot and staff vehicles.

Trouble started when the Governor’s convoy, which was said to be on an inspection tour allegedly...http://crimefacts.org/okorocha-in-another-road-rage-as-oguta-youths-mob-governors-convoy-vandalize-governors-staff-vehicle/

Driving through the dusty road that led to Sambisa forest where the infamous Boko Haram terrorist group pitched some of their camps was one hell of a bumpy ride into a thickset of arid forests that characterize the savannah region.

Bumpy, jarring and dangerous as the bush paths were, the tour of the sacked camps provided anyone with the trained eye of a reporter, a great deal of insight on the true colour and character of the so-called Islamic Jihadists...http://crimefacts.org/what-we-saw-in-boko-haram-camps-by-chidi-omeje/

I have been on Nigerian websites for a few days. In all these times, there seems to be a competition to identify what is wrong with the only country we have. The competition also calls for the identity of who is responsible: the tribe and the individual. One would think that as we evaluate the country, that the evaluators would say what

is wrong and give a nod to what is right and ipso facto give a little complement to those who have made the right decisions...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/there-must-be-some-goodness-in-nigeria-by-benjamin-aduba/

The battle for the 'APC' acronym took a dramatic turn today with one of the rival APC (African People’s Congress) flooding Abuja streets with their pro APC acronym posters. The posters which is coming few hours after another rival APC (All Progressive Congress of Nigeria) announced its intention to commence legal action next week Monday to stop INEC from considering the registration request submitted by the merger parties (All Progressives Congress) has all signaled that the road to the registration of the merger parties is already getting narrow...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/apc-acronym-war-shifts-to-the-streets-of-abuja-as-rival-apc-flood-streets-with-posters-may-stage-protest-march/

On Monday,10th of June,2013,on a day when his new political party called APC battled unsuccessfully to produce a new set of leadership, the National leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was at an event in London speaking on a topic he called LEADERSHIP,NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE PEOPLE. We have noted several inconsistencies, political razzmatazz and utter falsehoods contained in the address.

We begin by responding to his assertions, which were not only wide off the mark but betray the deep-seated hypocrisy for which the national leader of ACN...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/senator-ahmed-bola-tinubus-london-fairy-tales-by-doyin-okupe/

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that companies cannot patent human genes, a decision that patient advocates said would increase competition and lower the cost of screenings for cancer risk and other genetic tests.

DNA is “a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated,” the court said. In something of a compromise, it ruled that genetic material created in laboratories is eligible for patent protection.

The case centered on a Salt Lake City company called Myriad Genetics that was granted patents for isolating two human genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, that indicate a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer. The company now markets tests for those genes.

BRCA1 is the gene carried by actress Angelina Jolie, who determined...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/us-supreme-court-says-human-genes-cant-be-patented-as-anti-patent-advocates-cheer/

In what appears to be a determined effort to smoke out the remaining Boko Haram elements from their hideouts in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, some youths in the town have organised themselves into vigilante groups to begin a house-to-house search for the insurgents and hand them over to security operatives.
Operating under the aegis of Civilian JTF, the youth vigilante groups who now act as whistle blowers and informants to the security operatives go from street to street and house to house with machetes, iron bars and wooden batons in their bid to smoke out the remnants of the insurgents from their hiding places...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/civilian-jtf-smoke-out-boko-haram-members-from-hideouts-in-maiduguri-says-its-better-to-die-fighting-evil-than-committing-evil/

Barely six days after the All Progressive Congress (APC) approached the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for registration as political party, another rival group, All Progressive Congress of Nigeria(APCN) has threatened to drag the commission to court to secure an order restraining it from registering any group with such acronym.

The group APCN in a move that suggests more trouble for the merger group threatened to drag the INEC to court over alleged attempt to register another group with similar APC acronym...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/apc-registration-faces-more-hurdles-as-another-group-threaten-to-drag-inec-to-court/

The report filed recently by the Senate Joint Committee on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence, which charged itself with the task of investigating the discovery of the “strange dead bodies” on the Ezu River is a hopeless failure and an act of cover up. Rather than shedding

light on the mystery surrounding one of the most heinous crimes in this country, the Report places the Nigerian people further in the dark over what really happened. Also, this is a disappointment for the entire people of the Eastern Nigerian, particularly the people of Anambra and Enugu States, who, more than other Nigerians, would like to know what truly happened...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/ezu-river-killing-activist-lawyer-ugwuonye-faults-senate-committee-report-says-its-a-cover-up-to-derail-justice/

Warri, Nigeria – After two days trapped in freezing cold water and breathing from an air bubble in an upturned tugboat under the ocean, Harrison Okene was sure he was going to die. Then a torch light pierced the darkness.

Ship’s cook Okene, 29, was on board the Jascon-4 tugboat when it capsized on May 26 due to heavy Atlantic ocean swells around 30 km (20 miles) off the coast of Nigeria, while stabilizing an oil tanker filling up at a Chevron platform.

Of the 12 people on board, divers recovered 10 dead bodies while a remaining crew member has not been found...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/nigerian-cook-survives-two-days-under-sea-in-shipwreck-says-its-a-miracle/

A Lagos High Court has remanded Fred Ajudua in prison pending the determination of a suit against him.
Mr. Ajudua, who is being prosecuted by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission for Advanced Free Fraud, was ordered to be remanded by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole on Tuesday.

Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Lagos State High Court had ruled on Monday, May 20, 2013, that fraud suspect, Fred Ajudua, must face the trial he has evaded since 2006...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/court-remands-fred-ajudua-in-prison-after-seven-years-of-evading-trial/

The Presidency has lashed out at former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, describing him as “an ethically-challenged hypocrite” for describing the President Goodluck Jonathan administration as a sinking ship.

Describing Ribadu’s methodology while serving as the EFCC chairman as tyrannical, the Presidency in a statement signed by Presidential Spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the former EFCC chair is purely driven by his selfish ambition to peddle falsehood against the President...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/ribadu-is-a-lawless-ethically-challenged-hypocrite-presidency/

The deposed Deputy Governor of Imo state, Sir. Jude Agbaso has described as utter falsehood, comments credited to Governor Rochas Okorocha purporting that 200 road contracts were handed over to him to award to his people in Owerri zone.

According to Agbaso, the governor averred that he empowered him with 200 road contracts to use and empower his people.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Owerri, the former Deputy Governor explained that all the road contracts in the state were awarded by the Governor Rochas Okorocha himself and the Speaker of the State Assembly, Chief Benjamin Uwajumogu, while he merely appended his signature to the approved contracts in his capacity as the Commissioner for Works...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/200-road-contracts-you-are-a-liar-agbaso-tells-okorocha-says-governor-and-speaker-awarded-every-contract/

Some Nigerians who had been under the illusion that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) represented anything good for our contraption will remain eternally grateful to Mr. Lai Mohammed, the loquacious spokesperson of the ACN for giving us a clear insight into the mindset and mentality of the characters who populate the ACN, and by extension, its hybrid, the yet to be registered All Progressive Congress (APC)

The ACN which has never been on record as condemning any of the numerous murderous terrorist attacks perpetuated by terrorist organizations against innocent Nigerians suddenly finds its voice and has the temerity to declare as unconstitutional the recent proscription of terror groups by the Goodluck Jonathan Federal Government...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/political-support-for-terrorists-by-eze-eluchie/

Lots of people think that their home town has the worst traffic, the most aggressive drivers, the craziest cabbies. Sometimes they have strong anecdotal evidence. Russian drivers often employ dashboard cameras to record seemingly inevitable collisions with reckless motorists. In the United Arab Emirates city of Abu Dhabi, a three-day Blackberry phone outage coincided with a 40 percent drop in traffic accidents. When I visited Cairo, where just crossing the street is a sort of art form in itself, I presumed no roads could be more dangerous until a friend who had just returned from Indonesia assured me that Jakarta’s are far worse.

So who has the world’s most dangerous roads? It turns out, based on a comprehensive World Health Organization report that measures road safety by the number of motor vehicle-related deaths per 100,000 people, the answer is the Dominican Republic...CONTINUE: http://crimefacts.org/who-lists-nigeria-among-ten-countries-with-the-most-dangerous-roads-in-the-world/

Many eyewitnesses expressed their shock at watching lawyers ‘fight’ openly over legal representation of 15 accused persons on Friday at the magistrate court sitting on the case of violent protest in Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo local government area of Ondo State.

For over 40 minutes, legal practitioners, Azeez Agbaje and Yemi Salawu ‘fought’ over who should represent some of the accused persons during the sitting.

While some counsel who appeared on the first date of arraignment also turned up in court on Friday, others announced their appearance for the same persons at the resumed hearing of the case, insisting that they have been briefed and paid by their families...CONTINUE:http://crimefacts.org/lawyers-exchange-blows-in-court-over-legal-representation/