₦airaland Forum

Hundreds of beggars on Monday staged a peaceful protest to the Lagos State House Assembly over their removal from the streets in the state.

The President of the Association of Physically Challenged, Alhaji Jubril Hassan, said the government was wrong to have asked beggars off the streets where they were enjoying their social rights, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
Hassan also said it was illegal to deny them their fundamental freedom of movement.
“We adopted this medium to express our displeasure and unhappiness with the actions taken and the one to be taken by the Lagos State Government.

“Our movement within Lagos metropolis has been restricted such that anyone caught roaming the street is taken to Majidun prison (rehabilitation centre),” he said.

Hassan explained that in most cases, all their belongings had been seized, while they were also maltreated by the management of the camp.

“The condition of the camp is appalling and devastating, it causes more harm to our health.
“It has come to our notice that very soon anybody found giving us alms will be apprehended and imprisoned for two years,” he said.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to rescind its decision of denying the beggars the right to move freely within the state.

According to him, the policy will further aggravate their suffering, instead of alleviating it.
He called on the media, the NGOs and human rights activists to come to their aid.

The secretary of the association, Zakariwai Hassan, claimed that over 600 beggars had been arrested by the government without providing adequate alternative for them.
Hassan urged the state government to look into their plight and allow them to continue with their daily activities in the state.

The protesters were received by Mr Babatunde Panox, Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Security as the assemblymen were on recess.

He advised them not to take the law into their hands, promising that the government would find solutions to their problems.

“Your issue has been noted and I am assuring you that the government will find a solution to it urgently,” he said.

http://www.punchng.com/business/beggars-storm-lagos-assembly-over-removal-from-roads/

kawkab: Source: http://saharareporters.com/news-page/pastor-bakare-lampoons-mrs-patience-jonathan

Bakare seems desperate to be 'Martyred' . . . . Memories of Dele Giwa come to mind.

To hush this man up 'legally' the statement should be forwarded to a competent lawyer - as it seems the statement is both slanderous and inflammatory.

This may be a sign that GEJ is becoming wise?

(I said may . . . . )

At the same time, this could be the beggining of the 'split' of Nigeria.

At least 50 operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) from the Northern part of the country are being transferred from the presidential guard in Aso Rock Villa and are being replaced by those from the South-South, Sunday Trust learnt last night.

Our reporter learnt that the transfer list will be released and the affected operatives will proceed to their new locations as soon as President Goodluck Jonathan returns from his trip to Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.

In this drastic move, the reason for which was not clear to this newspaper as at press time, 10 operatives from the South-West and seven from the South-East are affected. An unofficial source told our reporter that the changes are being spear-headed by two new contract security staff of South-South origin brought in by the president's Chief Security Officer (CSO), Mr Gordon Ogbua.

The source said, "With the engagement of these two men, who had earlier retired from the SSS, a new layer was created in the structure of the president's security. An Officer-in-Charge of Body Guard unit was created and one of the contract staff has been put in charge of this unit. Previously, the president's body guard was under the office of the Chief Detail to the President."

Sunday Trust learnt that the rule which is being invoked to justify the transfers is that, they would affect operatives who have spent more than five years in Aso Rock Villa as State Security operatives.

Our source argued, however, that "This was not the case previously. In the past, SSS operatives spent 13 years in the Villa. You cannot be removed unless you have committed an offence. Even if you committed an offence, you would be tried and found guilty before you are pushed out. This is because those who guard the president undergo a special training, which is very expensive."

Under the transfer being carried out new team leaders for the various security units are being appointed from the South-South stock, with few experienced team members being retained. Funds are being sourced to train the new operatives being posted to the Presidential Villa.

It was not clear as at last night if the National Security Adviser, retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, has approved the transfers, but when Sunday Trust contacted the spokeswoman of the SSS, Merilyn Ogar, she claimed she was not aware on the transfers.

The Deputy Director (Public Relations) of the SSS said there is no plan for mass transfer of personnel from Abuja to anywhere. When asked that the transfers are not being done from Abuja to other states, she replied thus: "I am not aware of any decision on mass transfer of our personnel. Our personnel are not transferred in that way. We transfer our personnel when the need arises."


http://allafrica.com/stories/201208060798.html

omicron: Now, I think the dialougue has begun.......discussion continues

Your spelling leaves a lot to be desired - please spell check the threads title and the post above.

Cheers,

He shouldn't have even responded to thier cra.p . . .

GEJ - if you have any balls you need to come down hard on these people.

Nigerians wont even mind a little collateral damage (a few dead innocent herdsmen/Fulani's) if you put an end to this sh.it quickly.

No more Mr Retardeen Nice Guy!

This 'Panda' wasn't happy with his bill . . .

https://i.imgur.com/kGpPp.gif

ogbeche77: You be mumu, where is your sense of humor? Even a slowpoke knows sun of god is just catching his fun with those pics

No mind the fool . . . . . if he cant take the sarcasism he should buzz off.

Everyone's free to come to their own conclusions with what they see.

Buhari needs to call of his boys?

Sore looser . . .

Rossikk: Honestly this sun of god dude is just a complete id.iot and brainless fool.

I must take after your mutha then (silly cu.nt)

Enlightened1: Congrats NOI..... You're truly Naija's finest at the moment. More grease to your elbows ma'am!!

Laptops full this thread . . .

Enlightened1


Time registered: July 10, 2012

Time spent online: 2 days & 17 hours

Last seen: 4:48pm

zakkyboy: All over the world, people are singing the praise of this great daughter of Nigeria. God bless Iweala.

Another laptop plugs into the matrix .. .

zakkyboy

Time registered: August 01, 2012

Time spent online: 42 minutes & 22 seconds

Last seen: 8:47pm


www.nairaland.com/attachments/774003_gggggggggg_jpg7d3166b50c2c60e0500920e68fd76a94

Fashanu who introduced 'match fixing' into English football?

The dude is crazy -

LAGOS — Rights group Amnesty International said Friday investigations into Shell oil spills in Nigeria were a “fiasco,” alleging the company repeatedly blamed sabotage in an effort to avoid responsibility.

“No matter what evidence is presented to Shell about oil spills, they constantly hide behind the ‘sabotage’ excuse and dodge their responsibility for massive pollution that is due to their failure to properly maintain their infrastructure,” Audrey Gaughran, director of global issues at Amnesty, said in a statement.

She said that “the investigation process into oil spills in the Niger Delta is a fiasco,” referring to the oil-producing region that is home to Africa’s largest crude industry.


The London-based rights group accused the Anglo-Dutch oil major of ignoring evidence that the latest spill in the Delta’s Bodo Creek area, discovered in June, was caused by pipeline corrosion.

Bodo Creek saw two major oil spills in 2008 over which the Anglo-Dutch petroleum giant is being sued in a London court by 11,000 Bodo residents.

An official from Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary told AFP the company was not ready to comment on the latest allegations.

In the statement, Amnesty said it hired the US company Accufacts to examine pictures of the Bodo Creek pipeline over the June spill.

According to Amnesty, the company said it noticed a “layered loss of metal on the outside of the pipe,” which is “a very familiar pattern” consistent with corrosion.

“Shell have said locally that the spill looks like sabotage, and they completely ignore the evidence of corrosion,” said Stevyn Obodoekwe of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, which co-authored the Amnesty statement.


“This has generated a lot of confusion and some anger in the community,” he added.

Sabotage is a worsening problem in the Delta, where oil thieves often blast into pipelines and siphon off crude for sale on the black market.

Some estimates suggest Nigeria loses 150,000 barrels of crude per day to oil theft, known locally as bunkering.

Shell has admitted liability in the 2008 disaster in Bodo, although there remain significant disagreements over the amount of oil that poured into the creeks.

Claims of the amount spilled have ranged from 1,640 barrels to more than 60 times that amount.

Nigeria last month hit Shell with a $5.0 billion (four billion euro) fine over a December leak at the Bonga oilfield that spilled roughly 40,000 barrels of crude into the Gulf of Guinea.

The company is contesting the fine and has insisted there was no basis for it since it had acted quickly to contain the spill.

A landmark UN report last year set out scientific evidence for the first time of devastating pollution in Ogoniland, part of the Niger Delta and where Bodo is also located.

It said years of pollution may require the world’s biggest ever clean-up, while detailing urgent health risks, especially badly contaminated drinking water.

Shell faced criticism in the report, which said “control and maintenance of oil field infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate …”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/02/investigations-of-shells-nigeria-spills-a-fiasco-amnesty/

LAGOS (AFP) - Gunmen attacked a barge belonging to an oil services company off the coast of Nigeria on Saturday, killing two Nigerian sailors and kidnapping four foreigners, officials said.

The suspected sea pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Guinea, an area that has seen a sharp spike in the number of reported marine attacks over the last six months.

A spokeswoman for Sea Trucks Group, which provides support vessels to oil companies operating in Nigeria, told AFP that one of the company's ships came under fire and that the firm's employees were taken in the raid.

"At this time Sea Trucks Group is making every effort to ascertain the whereabouts of its personnel," the spokeswoman, Corrie van Kessel, told AFP.

Nigeria's navy spokesman Commodore Kabir Aliyu said during the attack "four expatriates are reported to have been kidnapped from the vessel; two sailors were killed."

He said those kidnapped were from Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Thailand.

The attack, which also left two other seamen injured, took place at roughly 0100 on Saturday, 35 nautical miles off Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta coastal area, the navy and company said.

Aliyu told AFP that the motive of the attack had not yet been established and that so far there has not been any communication with the gunmen.

The volatile area was for years crippled by armed insurgency, largely made up of militants from the Delta who claimed that the region's people were not benefiting from its vast oil wealth, while crude production devastated the environment.

Armed groups in the Delta were notorious for kidnapping oil workers. A 2009 amnesty deal greatly reduced the unrest, but sporadic incidents have continued to occur including robberies and, most prominently, piracy.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in a report released last month that there had been 32 piracy incidents recorded in the Gulf of Guinea in the first half of 2012, up from the 25 attacks in 2011.

Many of the raids have involved "high levels of violence," kidnappings, and were increasingly occurring further offshore, the report added.

An IMB official said attacks in the area have been under-reported for several years.

On July 27, suspected sea pirates attacked a vessel transporting workers for Italian firm Agip in the Delta's Bayelsa state, leaving at least one person dead.

Aliyu told AFP that six naval personnel were stationed on board the Sea Trucks Group vessel following a security request from the company.

Van Kessel explained that Sea Trucks Group is heavily involved in the oil and gas sector in the Delta, but declined to comment on the specific activities of the fired-on ship.

She further said that two of the company's vessels came under attack, although the navy insisted only one ship was involved.

Sea Trucks Group, which also operates in Australia and East Asia, was founded as a Nigerian firm in 1977 before expanding and currently has a "corporate support office" in the Netherlands, according to its website.

Years of unrest in the Delta had curbed oil production in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer and the world's eighth largest, but output has recovered since the amnesty.

On Friday, Nigeria said oil production had hit its highest level ever, reaching 2.7 million barrels per day.

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/14462308/gunmen-kidnap-four-foreigners-off-nigeria/

GEJ addressing the Jamaican Parliament . . . . .I had no shoes?


https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120803/lead/images/JonathanO20120802NG.jpg

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan addresses Parliament yesterday as Governor General Sir Patrick Allen looks on. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Madam looking miserable . . . Looking like a woman scorned - seems she's been sidelined in Jamaica?


https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120803/news/images/JonathanB20120802NG.jpg

Nigeria's First Lady Patience Jonathan (left), and Lady Allen, wife of Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, listen to proceedings at yesterday's joint sitting of Parliament in celebration of Jamaica's 50th anniversary of Independence. -

ogbeche77: @ Sun of God... Kudos to you, never knew u were a professional photographer,did u travel with the 70 man crew?

No comment . . .

[quote author=Akanbi_edu]Uneasy lies the head......

See madam dey fresh[/quote]https://www.nanngronline.com/media/BAhbB1sHOgZmSSIpZmM5NDg1MmRlMjA2YjdkMzIxZDdlNjM5ZDEyNjI0MGEuanBnBjoGRVRbCDoGcDoKdGh1bWJJIgk3MjB4BjsGVA/fc94852de206b7d321d7e639d126240a.jpg

GEJ trying to make 'eye contact' with that fine minister - discretely. But 'Madam Patience' dey block the move.

Even the 'Fine Arss.sss Minister' dey try make 'eye contact' with GEJ but see as Madam Patience dey watch am!!

Chai - this picture kill me ohhh . . . .(GEJ, I feel your frustration at this particular moment)

GEJ will be back in Jamaica within the next 6 months to 'Hammer' that minister? - this time without Madam?

And if he suceeds in making the 'minister in red' our first lady - he'll become immune to criticism.

My advice - 'Black Africans' need to be wary of all other nations!

The chinese, caucasians, arabs, indians, mulato's, etc are only out to further exploit our labour and resources.

TrueNaijaguy: So every youth in Nigeria looks like this while all young kids in Jamaica looks like that? Tell me something else.What a comparison? How on earth will you compare children with Adults? The bias is in your comparison have rubbished any argument you may bring up against GEJ on this thread. Always say the truth so you"ll be free.

Laptop 34 - Go fcu.k yourself!

How dare you address me?



TrueNaijaguy

Time registered: June 27, 2012

Time spent online: 1 day & 17 hours

Last seen: 12:07pm

I don try ohh . . . . .off to do some 'saturday' chores.

More to follow later. . . .

At last - a change of 'clothing'

https://www.nycaribnews.com/files/image/article/full_2374.jpg

GEJ has found some new 'Fans'

See as Jamaican children look well fed and cute - unlike our kids?

https://www.nycaribnews.com/files/image/article/thumb_2374.jpg



Compare for yourselves - See the 'Bast.ards' we produce:

[img]http://seeker401.files./2011/04/52231708_52230955.jpg?w=497&h=279[/img]

(GEJ 'Addressing the Crowds' - Will he start to engage in public like this in Nigeria?)

Think he's rapping here - notice the 'foot steps'

I'm impressed with this 'shot' - makes the man look popular.

https://pointblanknews.com/pbn/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PIC-6-EMANCIPATION-VILLAGE-505x355.jpg?1344071315609

'Jammo' dey out dress Madam!

https://pointblanknews.com/pbn/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PIC-7B-AWARD-505x355.jpg

(The 'Body Guards' in the background need to learn how to smile like GEJ)

https://pointblanknews.com/pbn/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PIC-9-505x355.jpg

Trinidad and Tobago:

https://pointblanknews.com/pbn/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PIC-1-EMANCIPATION-STREET-PROCESSION-505x355.jpg

Madam Patience being taught how to use a mobile phone?

https://pointblanknews.com/pbn/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PIC-2-COURTESY-VISIT-ON-PRESIDENT-RICHARDS-505x355.jpg

Trinidad and Tobago

https://pointblanknews.com/pbn/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PIC-3.-NIGERIAN-DELEGATION-TO-TRINIDAD-AND-TOBAGO-505x355.jpg

(Is that a 'Dancer' or 'Protester' heading for GEJ?)

https://pointblanknews.com/pbn/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PIC-4.-KINGSTON-505x355.jpg