₦airaland Forum

Tension has continued to rise between the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party over Saturday’s governorship poll in Osun State. On Sunday the APC, through its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan reportedly instructed security agencies to ensure victory for his party by all means. The APC had in a statement in which it claimed that the PDP was planning to massively rig the governorship election in 10 Local Governments Areas in the state, made veiled reference to Jonathan’s alleged instruction to the security agencies. When The PUNCH asked him to expatiate on the “reported instruction” by the President, he simply replied, “This is based on credible information we received.” The APC listed Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North, Ife South, Olurunda Iwo, Ifelodun, Osogbo, Odo Otin and Aiyedade as the LGAs the PDP wanted to win at all costs.

It also claimed that the PDP was seeking a pliable person as a returning officer for the poll. The APC claimed that three vice-chancellors had been penciled in for the job which would fetch whoever was chosen among them a N1bn compensation. The party added that President Goodluck Jonathan had reportedly told the security agencies that he wanted victory for the PDp at all costs. It said, ‘’Nigerians from all walks of life, desirous of a free and fair election on Saturday, are reaching out to us with useful information on the plan by the desperate PDP to rig the forthcoming election. We are taking the information very seriously. ‘‘For example, we learnt that the PDP has identified Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North, Ife South, Olurunda, Iwo, Ifelodun, Osogbo, Odo Otin and Aiyedade as places where they plan to perpetrate massive rigging.”

The party also claimed that two different results have allegedly been written ahead of the elections. It said, “Three Vice-Chancellors; one from the North Central and two from the South-West have been pencilled in to serve as a returning officer. The incentive for the returning officer who can announce the doctored results is N1bn.’’ The party said when these plans are put together with the massive deployment of security agencies in the state to harass and intimidate the opposition, “the huge amounts of cash being moved into the state via Armoured Personnel Carriers and the electoral malfeasance specialist-ministers who have landed in Osun, it is clear that the PDP is working hard to ensure that the forthcoming election is anything but free, fair and credible.

It therefore called on INEC not to allow any unscrupulous person to serve as a returning officer for the election. The electoral umpire, according to the APC, should pay a special attention to voting in the 10 identified LGAs. The APC warned, ‘’No one will accept the result of an election in which the returning officer is compromised with filthy lucre. This is why we are calling on INEC to ensure that only a person of integrity can serve in that important post,’’ It said that its agents would not sign any false results of the August 9 election. The party also called on the international community to pay attention to the issues that could affect the outcome of the election, instead of waiting until the deed had been done.

‘’The biggest danger to Saturday’s election in Osun is the unbridled desperation of the PDP to win at all costs. This explains why the party’s candidate, Mr. Iyiola Omisore, has lied so shamelessly about a purported USAID survey that puts him ahead of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola. But for USAID which quickly put a lie to the peddled story, Mr. Omisore would have continued to use it as a campaign tool,’’ it said. Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati could not be reached for comment on the allegation against his boss. Abati is said to be out of the country.

The police however denied that Jonathan had instructed security agencies to ensure the PDP’s victory at all costs. Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba said, “The burden of proof is always on the person making an allegation. Therefore, if APC actually made such an allegation, they owe Nigerians a sacred duty to prove the allegation. “For us, our performances in previous elections (Edo, Ondo, Anambra and Ekiti) stand as evidence of our unparalleled professionalism, political neutrality and uncommon commitment to the protection of the democratic rights of Nigerians.

“We remain committed to these ideals and will not be distracted by wild allegations.” The PDP however dismissed the allegation against it by the APC, saying it did not need to rig to win an election in the state. Metuh told one of our correspondents that PDP’s attention was on winning the election while APC was focusing on propaganda. He also dismissed the claim by the APC that it was shopping for a pliable returning officer for the election. It said, “We are focusing on winning this election. The APC is focusing on propaganda. Twice our candidate(Omisore) stepped down for others, saying that he would wait for God’s time.We know that this is God’s time for him.

“Nigerians are witness to the fact that based on his popularity, Omisore would have become governor in 1999 and 2003 respectively but sacrificed his personal ambition to accept the position of deputy governor out of humility and commitment to the stability of the state.’’


Credit:http://www.punchng.com/news/osun-poll-tension-rises/

The Lagos State Government and some federal delegates on Sunday paid a visit to the General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua. The visit was said to be aimed at sensitising the church and its membership on the menace of the deadly Ebola virus. The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who led the delegation, said it was also to make sure that no victim of the virus came into the church from any of the affected countries. Idris said, “We have our strategies that we intend to share with you. Again, we need to know the resources you have here because whether it is one or two cases, if they are allowed to get out, it is a major problem. We are here to work together on how to contain this disease.”

Idris said the delegation decided to pay the visit to the SCOAN because of the recognition that it was an international Christian centre whose congregation comprised people from all over the world, including the countries of the West African sub-Region which had already been infected by the Ebola disease. The Director, Centre for Disease Control, Professor Abdulsalami Nasidi, added that the visit was also to inform the Synagogue leader of the deadliness of the Ebola Virus, and ensure that it did not escape into the country.

Prophet Joshua, in his reaction, promised to work with government. One of such measures, he said, was to visit any of the countries, rather than allow their residents come into Nigeria. He also promised to suspend some of his major Church healing programmes for a few weeks adding, “I am ready to work with you. I love my country and I will be ready to work with you. Even if it is a rumour, there is need to secure our environment to ensure that it is safe.”

Credit:http://www.punchng.com/news/ebola-lasg-visits-synagogue-church/

The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof Dibu Ojerinde, in this interview sheds light on controversies surrounding university admissions in the country

What informed the Computer-Based Test?

We believed it’s one of the ways we can reduce examination malpractices. The global trend now is the use of technology and we felt we should not be left behind in Nigeria. On the other hand, the issue of problems being encountered by the candidates in terms of missing results, malpractices and things like that will be eliminated totally. These are some of the reasons and in any case, we think also that it would improve the technological know-how of our kids in this country.

Did the board take into account the literacy level in the country before adopting the CBT?

Our design is such that if you can use a mobile handset, you can do our exams; you can do the CBT if you can read ABCD. When the answers come up for you, and you know that the answer is A or B or C or D, you punch and that is it. You don’t even need to use the mouse except you know how to use it. If you don’t know how to use it, you don’t need to. The cursor goes up to your right then, to your left, that is all and we give them maximum of 15 minutes orientation and before you know it, they are coping. So, that is our experience so far and it’s been very wonderful.

What are the measures and arrangements you have in place to make the CBT succeed?

Last year, we had 55 centres all over the country but now, we have about 159. That is about three times what we had last year which is a very wonderful development. The tertiary institutions that we didn’t use last year have now come up; even private establishments, institutions and individuals have established computer-based test centres. We had about 300 applicants, willing centres, but when we screened them, we discovered that we could use only about 159 for this country. I think we are lucky that a lot of people are now anxious about the use of CBT and we discovered that last year, they performed relatively better.

There were no examination malpractices or missing results; no hues and cries. So, I think we should continue. On our part, we have constructed about 10 centres, at least in nine offices outside Bwari. In our own centre in Bwari here, we can take about 250 candidates. In other offices across the country like in Jigawa, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ekiti, Delta, Abia, Taraba and Benue, those places can take about 120 candidates each and we hope with time, we will be able to expand our horizon to other parts of the country. But our centre in Abuja here can take 250 candidates at a go and that is our plan for other places too, if God helps us.

With the epileptic supply, how is the board addressing the issue of power supply at CBT centres?

When I said 300 establishments applied (for the CBT centres), they did not all qualify because they didn’t have back-up electricity like inverters or generators. In fact, we have told them we will consider generators rather than public power supply because it can fail us. But if they have inverters that can last for the next 20-30 minutes before they change to generators, so be it. If you don’t have all these facilities, we won’t accredit you. And that is what has led to a sharp reduction from over 300 applicants to 159 acceptable applicants.

So, what would happen to candidates in the rural areas who have no access to computers?

Well, I have said it, if you can use a handset, then you should be able to do our exams. It has been designed. I think seeing is believing, when we are conducting exams, just come along or go to a rural place where the examination is taking place and see the reaction of these young kids in the various centres. It is not a sophisticated design; it’s a very simple one. Of course, in future, there will be what we call multimedia approach. In terms of the things in place, do you know that prison inmates are now ready to take our CBT? We have about 150 or so in Kaduna prisons and another 25 or so in Ikoyi, Lagos. We are going to give them opportunity to take the exams using the computer-based approach.

Is it true that JAMB deliberately reduced the number of candidates that took the pencil test this year?

We didn’t reduce the number; we just told them these were the available spaces. Look, we have about 1 million who sat for the paper pencil test and if they say we reduced it, I won’t say we reduced it because we told them these were the available spaces and some of these spaces are not even full. Of course, it depends on where you are; some of the places were not filled up, to the extent that a place that would normally take 540, we had 400, in some places, 295. I know, particularly in my town, we had only about 442 candidates instead of 540. In fact, multiplied by about five centres that were available, so it was not deliberate; that was what happened this time around. It seems to me people are getting more conscious, more aware and are appreciating the use of the computer than paper and pencil.

Why does the board ask candidates to pay for admission letters by asking them to buy cards to print out letters, isn’t that extortion?

Pay for admission letter? They are not paying for admission letter. We are only saying, go and print your admission letters. Instead of mailing the letters which may never get to them because of unknown addresses or instead of telling them, “come and collect your letter here,” we say “don’t worry, go to the internet and print your letter of admission.” That is all. You see, we do five things online; you register online; two, you check your result online; three, you change your course or whatever you want to do or your name; four, you print your letter of admission and you don’t pay for it. That has reduced the crowd in our office here and other state offices. If you see anyone coming here, trying to cram into this place, they are not coming to say they don’t have their letters of admission, they may have other things to say or to worry about; this is the truth.

There are allegations that JAMB did not set questions on the literature books it asked candidates to buy. Why?

Who said that? This year, and even last year, 15 questions were set on the recommended literature texts. You see now, they give you wrong information; That is the point. If I bring a typical question for you, whether you are a science student, social student, engineering, agric, education, name it, they are supposed to answer those questions. Why are we doing it? To increase the reading culture of Nigerians and that’s it. And you now discover that they are not reading and that is why most of them are failing. They are not even reading their text books.

How true is it that the authors of some of the books are close to JAMB?

They should be close to us; we are using their books or should we use our enemies’ books? (Laughter). Obviously, they will be close…let me tell you the procedure. We said we wanted books that Nigerians can read; we approached the National Library of Nigeria. We also approached the Association of Nigerian Authors. So the two bodies worked together to say these books are good for the Nigerian child, we therefore went ahead and they recommended the books. And the books went through the normal procedure of acceptance. In fact, the Nigerian Education Research Development Council was also involved before we accepted it, but we don’t necessarily have to go to the NERDC. But in any case, that is the situation. I don’t even know Chukwuemeka Ike, I don’t know whether the author is still alive. They chose his book for us and we accepted it. Sincerely, that is the truth.

How many examination cheats has JAMB prosecuted since inception?

They are many. The only thing is that we are not supposed to be the prosecutor; we are supposed to be witnesses. What we do is to send them to the police and when the police take them to court, we become witnesses. But unfortunately, it’s not very easy, going by the penal code. It’s very difficult to prosecute them, but a lot of them have taken us to court before for all manner of reasons such as ‘they didn’t release my result,’ ‘they cancelled my result for no reason,’ but they have never won because we tell them, we know what we are doing, they have never won. There was a case of somebody who dragged the suit until he got his Master’s degree.

Do you know that last year, his result was finally cancelled, even though he appealed, the Court of Appeal said JAMB was right. He joined the University of Ibadan and JAMB. He got Bachelor’s degree wrongly from UI and UI protested. He went to court and the court said, ‘let him continue his education’ and the case was going on. He finished his Bachelor’s degree, went for Master’s degree and now the case has been decided and all the Bachelor and Master’s degrees are null and void. Just last year, so things are happening.

Is it the intricacy of the penal code that is hindering the prosecution of exam cheats?

I am not a lawyer, but they know their tricks here and there, but we have a law, the 1999 Examination Malpractices Law, Act no 33. But it has been very difficult to implement it. I think now, the National Assembly is working on a new law for WAEC which we think would apply to us also. As soon as that law is passed, we are going to implement it.

Some parents are complaining of extortion on forms and scratch cards. What’s your reaction to this?

Well, they will always complain. If you want something good, you must be ready to pay for it. Service is being delivered, but what is the extortion? Let me tell you: if you came around here around 2006/2007, you would see the crowd by the gate. They came all the way from Port Harcourt, from Lagos, from Maiduguri asking for their results, their letters and so on and we are saying no, forget it. Don’t come here again, stay where you are and you get it online. The money you’d spend to come from Lagos to Abuja, to Bwari here and back is about 10 times of what we are asking you to pay for services rendered in the comfort of your room. Well, if they don’t want it, let them leave it. We are not forcing them to check their results. When we are ready, we will send their result to the institution of their choice, so they can go and check it over there. It’s not extortion. As far as I am concerned, it’s more of paying for the services that are being rendered.

Documents are on the internet and we have a bandwidth which the documents are occupying; the Internet Service Providers will not give it to us free. Are we going to pay for the bandwidth from the little money candidates pay for registration which is not even sufficient? Government is still subsidising. I am sorry, that allegation of extortion is a new dimension. Nobody said that last year, nobody said it two or three years ago when they were getting it easily. Now because they don’t read their books and they are failing, they are now saying we are extorting them. I don’t believe that is the way it should be. Let us learn how to pay for services being rendered. You can’t give me a copy of your newspaper free of charge because you are not a welfare organisation; you should make money from your enterprise. Of course, I am not saying we are making money from this exercise, but let people pay for the services. The Yoruba say, “ogun ti a ko ba fi owo ra, ehin aaro lo ngbe” meaning, if there is a medicine that you did not buy with money, the tendency is for you to keep it behind the oven where it would get burnt. That is what is happening.

How will the board tackle the problem of hackers and slow internet during the CBT?

Slow internet? The bandwidth must be increased. When we started, we used six units. Then, when we increased it to 12 units, we discovered that it was getting faster and now we are using between 18-24 units and it’s now quite fast. And that is what has happened. Now when we send a piece of information from the office here, within three minutes, it has landed anywhere in the world. So, that is one achievement, but of course, because of one reason or the other, it may last up to six to seven minutes. If I tell you what we are doing, I hope the hackers won’t go and counter it. But we are making efforts to ensure everything goes on smoothly.

In your own opinion, why do we still record mass failure in the UTME?

In my own opinion, there is nothing like mass failure. You see, there is no fail-pass dichotomy system in JAMB exams. Have you seen or heard about a candidate who scored 270 and could not gain admission into any tertiary institution, whereas, somebody scored 220 and he is admitted? Such things do happen, depending on your choice. A prospective medical student who scored 270 could not gain admission two years ago; it will still happen this year. But if you are applying for agric, education, environmental sciences, with 250 or 230, you will be admitted into a university. You will think that because 270 is greater, that the student should gain admission, but the fact is that the students did not sit for the same subjects, or apply to the same school. These are the things causing the discrepancy in the system in terms of who will gain university admission and who would not be admitted.

The only thing we can argue about is that if somebody scores 280, and another person scores 240 or 260 and we are now giving admission to the candidate that scored 240, then we can query it. But of course, the caveat of post-UTME is there. You have to undergo further screening from the various institutions to prove that you are the rightful owner of that score. One of the things that would help us in this exercise is the Computer-Based Test so that when you get your CBT score, you know it’s your result. Nobody helped you, you didn’t spy, it’s your ability and therefore, if they confront you with another Computer-Based Test at Post-UTME, you will be able to say it is your result and you will prove it. We have seen that and it correlates more with the Post-UTME than paper and pencil. People don’t fail UTME, only they are not admitted. For example, if you have two million spaces in our tertiary institutions and only 1.6 million candidates took the examinations, and they have the prerequisite of SSCE, we will take all of them, you don’t even need to take JAMB again, but there is competition now, it is the survival of the fittest. That is what is happening.

Why do you think some candidates who did well in UTME could not repeat the same feat in the Post-UTME screening?

Passing exams takes many things into consideration: What are the types of questions they are giving the candidates? How prepared are they for the exams? What is the reliability of the child himself? In other words, you as a child or candidate, how consistent are you? Reliability is talking of consistency; that is, you as a child, how consistent are you in your ability? Let me give you an example, somebody wanted to study medicine in a typical university. You know the questions we gave them are based on physics, chemistry, biology as well as English. You now go for post-UTME where they are now asking about Tsunami and who was the president of Ukraine. This is irrelevant. It’s so irrelevant to what he wants to study. Yes, you may say they are doing general studies, but the concentration must be on the profession he wants to study. What is the correlation between who is the president of Ukraine and medicine?

The subjects that are related to medicine are biology, physics, chemistry, even English, go straight to that. So how can they say they passed well in UTME and they did not pass well in Post-UTME? Even if they give them biology, physics, chemistry, let us look at the standards of the questions they give. How did they come about the questions? How professionally were they developed? These are some of the things that go into examinations. With due respect to my colleagues in the university, they are good teachers, good examiners, but they are not trained to be item developers, not all of them were trained for that purpose. They are trained to teach science and to examine science the way they want to examine it, but a professional will do it in a different way and I can bet it, if I take typical objective test items used by our institutions to assess these children, by the time we tear the items into pieces for you, you will be surprised. There are roles for such a thing. I am not saying they are not doing the right thing, but if you are a nurse, you are not a doctor; the doctor is supposed to know more than you in terms of diagnostic approach. When you look at it holistically, the nurse is to dispense, in Nigeria, anyway. In some other parts of the world, it may be a different case.

Have you raised this observation with the university authorities?

Well, we say it, we tell them every time. How can you be asking a medical student, who is the president of Ukraine, the Russian president and things like that? Ask them things related to their courses. We have been raising it and now, this is another way of raising it.

Why is the validity of UTME result limited to one year? Some believe JAMB limited its validity in order to make money.

If they say we want to use it to make money, so be it. If they want, let us now use it for four, five years and then see who will complain again. But let me tell you, what we are doing now is more of achievement test, rather than aptitudinal test. If we do aptitudinal test, it’s different from achievement. Aptitude is a thing that goes with you from time to time, whereas achievement test is based on syllabus. If we say this is apptitudinal test, everybody come and do it, Nigerians will still complain. Of course, that is the way it is.

Credit:http://www.punchng.com/news/varsities-set-irrelevant-post-utme-questions-and-blame-candidates-for-failing-prof-dibu-ojerinde-jamb-boss/

There are indications that the Peoples Democratic Party has begun moves to lobby the Nasarawa State Chief Judge, Justice Sulaiman Dikko, with a view to influencing and persuading him to disband the seven-man impeachment panel set up to probe Governor Tanko Al-Makura for alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office. A source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Saturday PUNCH that the PDP during the week dispatched a two-man lobby team to influence the Chief Judge to set up a new panel to probe the governor with promises that he would be elevated to the Appeal Court among other juicy offers.

But the source said the Chief Judge rejected the offer, quoting him as saying that his actions were in tandem with the provisions of the nation’s constitution. The source said, “Justice Suleiman Dikko has told the PDP’s emissary that he could not set up another panel because he instituted the initial panel according to the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution as stipulated in Section 188. “The CJ said that if there was any help he could render to anybody or group in Nasarawa State, he had done it by adhering to the provisions of the constitution via setting up a seven-man panel of Nasarawa State indigenes of impeccable character who are also non-partisan.”

This came on the heels of the call by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly on Dikko to dissolve the panel on the grounds that it was made of loyalists of the All Progressives Congress of which Al-Makura is the leader in the state. The Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Security, Baba Ibaku, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Lafia, during the week, had explained that the lawmakers resolved to demand for the dissolution of the panel during their emergency sitting at the Assembly complex at 10am on Monday. He claimed that the fact that the panel members held political positions in the state was against the provision of Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The lawmaker said, “We had an emergency sitting to deliberate on the seven-man panel that was set up by the Chief Judge on Friday last week. We asked him to dissolve the seven-man panel because the members of the panel are APC members that hold various political positions.” But with Dikko insisting on maintaining the seven-man panel, a serious showdown is expected between the CJ and the anti-Al-Makura lawmakers. Saturday PUNCH also learnt that APC chieftains, including Al-Makura met in Abuja on Thursday to further strategise on how to ensure that the impeachment plot does not consume the embattled governor like it did to the former Adamawa Governor Murtala Nyako. One of the APC chieftains, who asked not to be named, in a text message to Saturday PUNCH, said, “I am in a meeting with Governor Tanko Al-Makura; trying to save his job!”

The Nasarawa State House of Assembly had levelled 16 charges bordering on official misconduct against Al-Makura. The lawmakers had ordered that the governor should be served an impeachment notice signed by 20 of its 24 members. One of the charges raised against Al-Makura was the missing Local Government Joint Account Funds between June 2011 and April 2012 and from January to July 2013. The lawmakers also alleged that the governor misappropriated and misapplied funds in the joint account and Local Government Sure-P Fund. He was also accused of transferring local government SURE-P fund to a fixed deposit account.

According to the lawmakers, the offences violated Section 162 (7 and of the 1999 Constitution. The APC, however, slammed the PDP members of the Nasarawa House of Assembly for demanding the dissolution of the panel set up by the state CJ to probe the impeachment charges against Al-Makura, describing the call as unreasonable and unconstitutional. In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the demand by the lawmakers showed they either had a very poor understanding of the Constitution or they were blinded by their desperation to impeach Al-Makura.

He said, “Either way, they have boxed themselves into a tight corner. Holding an illegal sitting in Abuja with a fake mace is as ridiculous as the demand by the lawmakers for the dissolution of the panel set up by the Chief Judge. “Section 188 (5) of the Constitution is clear: ‘Within seven days of the passing of a motion under the foregoing provisions of this section, the Chief Judge of the state shall, at the request of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative house or political party, to investigate the allegation as provided in this section’.

“It is important to point out to the desperate lawmakers that the key words in that section is that the Chief Judge must appoint persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity. At this juncture, it is neither the opinion of the Speaker nor that of the legislators that counts, it is the opinion of the Chief Judge. ‘’Therefore, neither the Speaker, the lawmakers nor the Chief Judge can dissolve the panel at this stage, and none of them can stop the impeachment process. Once the Chief Judge has appointed the panel under section 188 (5), he becomes ‘functus officio’, that is, he has no further powers on the matter. This is the situation of things at present and the lawmakers can only await the report of the panel.’’

But the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party had denied its involvement in the plan by the lawmakers to impeach the governor. It insisted that the party had never interfered in the impeachment plot. The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, said it would be wrong to link the party at the national level with the crisis rocking the state. He said, “The party at the national level is oblivious of what is happening in Nasarawa State. What is happening in Nasarawa State is not known to us and we are not part of it.“It is therefore wrong to say we are inducing anyone to impeach the governor. We have no hand in it. However, we want to tell our members to thread with caution.

“The party at the national level remains focused in projecting our party and making it the joy of all Nigerians.” Metuh asked the PDP supporters to remain calm and not to be distracted by any “propaganda that maybe thrown at them by the opposition.” A lawyer and social commentator, Jiti Ogunye, said the House of Assembly could sue the Chief Judge of Nassarawa State if it was not satisfied with his composition of the panel set up to probe the governor. Ogunye said, “The impeachment plot in Nassarawa State has become very interesting and everyone is aware at this point that the Chief Judge has exercised his power under Section 180 of the Constitution to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations bothering on gross misconduct levelled against the governor.

“We are also aware that the House of Assembly has kicked against the composition of the panel, alleging that the panel comprises of people who could be biased. Now what we think should be done at this point is that the CJ should, in the absence of cogent and verifiable reasons, stand his ground and should ensure that the panel he constituted do their job. “Now if the House of Assembly has a disagreement with the decision of the CJ, they cannot resolve that by mounting up pressure on the CJ by virtue of being a PDP-dominated House of Assembly. Ogunye said if it were true that the PDP was enticing the CJ with favours, it was an unacceptable action in a democratic era.

He added, “This report of the PDP inducing, if it is true, is not acceptable, it is condemnable and we urge the CJ of the state to stand firm. Before exercising his power, he must have weighed the implication. If he is now pressurised to reconstitute the panel, he would not only be destroying his own integrity, but the integrity of the judiciary.Another lawyer and political commentator, Fred Agbaje, said the interference of the PDP in the decision of the Chief Judge would lead to a corrupt judicial system.

Agbaje said, “The implication of this, if it is true, is that it would amount to an alteration of justice. In other words, it would lead to a frustration of justice by the manipulative powers that be, and that would lead to a fundamental deviation from the set objective provided by Section 33 of the 1999 constitution which demands fair hearing. “Justice must be rooted in confidence and that confidence is destroyed when the ordinary man on the street feels that those who are being called upon to carry out justice have been morally and financially polluted.“If it is true, it is a bad omen for our judicial system, which has come a long way. It is one of the best in Africa, and no one should be allowed to corrupt it.”

Credit: http://www.punchng.com/news/al-makura-pdp-lobbies-nasarawa-cj/

Yomade Balogun; a graduate of Sociology and Anthropology from Obafemi Awolowo University has been diagnosed with kidney failure and she is lying critically ill at the moment. Doctors say she needs a whooping #8.5 million to undergo a kidney transplant to save her life, and this needs to be done as soon as possible. We will therefore be very grateful if you could join us in saving this young woman from dying with your little donations.

The family will also be grateful if you got no financial means to contribute but you could link them up with Philanthropists, Politicians, Entertainment Celebrities, etc. who may be well-disposed to using their token to redeem Yomade from death roll. This will be highly appreciated. If you feel touched by her story, kindly make your contribution (s) through her banking details:

Account Name: Balogun Yomade Yewande.

Bank: Diamond bank: 0051136447
Guaranty Trust Bank: 0130520176,
Zenith Bank: 2084974783.

Anything, no matter how little can still make a difference. May this never be the portion of any of us (amen). We would also like to enjoin you to remember her in your prayers as well, even with money; she still needs prayers for a successful surgery. Yomade is hoping and banking on our support to live. You are welcome to contact the following persons should you know individuals who could be of help.

Bimpe: 08052562404, Adeolu: 07036345534, or Kemi: 0816 170 4065. May God bless & reward us all abundantly as you write your name in the sands of time.

A 35-year-old man, Yinka Offehin, is battling for his life at a private hospital in Lagos State after his scrotum was cut by the children of his landlady. The Edo State indigene, who resides on Popoola Street, off Abaranje Road in the Ikotun area of Lagos, was said to have been attacked while sleeping in his room with his family members. His wife, Bisi, who was with him when the incident happened, identified the assailants as Solomon and Damilola, the children of the landlady. She said, “On Thursday morning, around 3am, while we were sleeping, we heard loud bangs on our door. We initially thought they were armed robbers because the house beside ours had recently been robbed. “When they entered, we saw they were children of our landlady.

They began destroying our electronics and other property. “There were two of them. One held a knife in his hand. They took N800, 000. They descended on my husband and he also fought back. In that confusion, my husband shouted and we saw that one of the attackers had cut Yinka’s scrotum. I can’t say what they used to cut off my husband’s scrotum.” She added that her husband, though in pain, was able to hold on to one of his attackers till dawn, while the other fled the scene. Bisi said her husband could not be admitted at a general hospital because of the ongoing doctors’ strike, but was eventually taken to a private hospital in the area. When our correspondent visited the victim at the hospital, he told PUNCH Metro the genesis of his problem was when he had a misunderstanding with his landlady and was asked to vacate his apartment.

“I was asked to leave the house immediately, but after the intervention of the traditional ruler of the community, I was asked to leave by the end of August. “But that decision did not go down well with the children of my landlady and they continued to make trouble with me. “I was already planning to leave their house and had even contacted an agent when they attacked me without any provocation. I want the government to fight for me,” he said. A doctor in the hospital, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that his patient would need up to three months to recover. He said, “We have stitched the area where the scrotum was torn. It may take up to three months before it will heal. He needs time to fully recover from the injury.”

A relative said the doctor told the family if the condition did not improve, a surgery may not be ruled out. It was learnt that about N60, 000 had already been spent by the family. The father of the suspects, a pastor, when contacted, declined comment. He said, “I am sorry; I can’t speak with you on this matter. You know the matter is already with the police and those they accused of committing the offence are in the police cell. So, what do you want me to say? I was told they are taking the matter to court. Let’s leave everything to God.” Our correspondent learnt that the case was reported at the Ikotun Police Division.

A source told our correspondent that a member of the suspects’ family had on the morning of the incident reported a case of armed attack on them by a tenant. The wife of the victim, who met the relative at the station, reportedly expressed surprise, telling the officers the reverse was the case. It was learnt that the relative was put behind the counter after the police saw the victim’s injuries. The Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident. She said, “It was around 3am, while the victim was sleeping in his room, that one Solomon Olowogbemi and Damilola Olayeye, the children of his landlady, came in and started fighting with him. “In the process, they inflicted injury on him with an unknown object. The skin of his scrotum was partly cut off, thereby exposing one of his testicles. The two suspects have been arrested and detained and the victim taken to a hospital.”

Credit: http://www.punchng.com/news/landladys-children-cut-tenants-private-parts/

Contrary to claims by the Presidency, President Goodluck Jonathan offered money to the parents of abducted Chibok girls as well as those whose daughters escaped from the grips of their Boko Haram captors. After three months of mounting criticism of his handling of the abduction crisis, Mr. Jonathan finally hosted the relatives of the still missing schoolgirls at the Presidential Villa, Abuja last week Tuesday. President Goodluck
Dauda Ilya, a spokesman for the Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), which organized the parents’ trip to Abuja, stated yesterday at a media briefing in Abuja that the Nigerian president had given N22.4 million to the distraught parents.

Mr. Ilya’s statement contradicted a claim by Reuben Abati, the special adviser to the President on media, that Mr. Jonathan did not give money to the grieving parents when they visited.“On the night of the 22nd July, 2014 at about midnight, the senior special assistant to the President on special duties, who had been coordinating the visit on the side of the Presidency, visited the hotel and told the 51 escaped girls who came that the Presidency sent them a token of N100, 000 each and accordingly gave them the said sum without prior discussion with any KADA official or any other person in the community,” Mr. Ilya said.

According to him, Mr. Jonathan’s aide also “gave the sum of N200, 000 each to 61 parents out of the 122 parents that came on the visit. 51 parents were given N100, 000 each on the basis that the money given to him was not enough to go round at N200, 000. The remaining 10 parents were not given any amount of money."He added that a member of the House of Representatives representing the Chibok constituency also gave the parents the sum of one million naira.

“As for the money given to some parents back home in Chibok, it was the sum of N1, 000,000 given to them by the Hon. Member of the House of Reps representing Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza Federal Constituency which is the source of the alleged N7, 000 given to parents in Chibok that were not part of the visit.”

Credit: http://saharareporters.com/2014/07/30/president-jonathan-gave-us-n224-million-say-parents-abducted-chibok-girls

A growing apprehension has gripped key campaigners of the #BringBackOurGirls coalition over the increasing use of teenage girls as suicide bombers by the Boko Haram insurgent group.On Monday alone two female suicide bombers struck in different parts of Kano, killing and injuring many on a day Muslim faithful thronged the prayer grounds to observe the Eid-el-Fitri.Members of the #BringBackOurGirls group, including one of its coordinators, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, raised the alarm that the continued incarceration of the abducted girls in Boko Haram’s custody could spell doom.

The former education minister stated that the Federal Government must not “move on,” as the Chibok girls may well be indoctrinated or coerced into being used as suicide bombers. “It feels like eternity since April 14 when our girls lost their freedom. How can we move on like that? This new trend and serial pattern of female suicide bombers surely should particularly worry us. “Female suicide bombers are again and again becoming the trend and our Chibok girls are still in the enemy’s den. It worries me stiff. Are we thinking? Our Chibok girlsreally need to be rescued from the clutches of evil.

“We must all not stop praying and demanding that the FG acts for results. We have no apology for being agitated. We have nothing to defend for crying out for their rescue,” she wrote on her Twitter page. Another key member of the coalition, Bukky Shonibare, stated that the number of days the abducted girls had spent in Boko Haram’s custody was enough for them to have been indoctrinated. According to Shonibare, it is now increasingly dangerous for the Federal Government that boasted of knowing the location of the girls to leave them with their captors.

“Seems abducted women that were undergoing indoctrination and brainwashing while in hostage for years are now being sent out as suicide bombers. However, 100 days is long enough for anyone’s ideologies or principles to be distorted, especially teenagers whose values are still being shaped.

“To know the possible impact of 100+ days on one’s ideologies, psychologists say it takes only 30 days! It is now increasingly dangerous to leave those girls there. Whatever is it they are doing may be counterproductive.

“They (Chibok girls) can be indoctrinated, brainwashed, or put under duress to do this. In the face of death, no sensible human will be a ‘willing participant.’ There’ll definitely be an element of coercion,” Shonibare tweeted. Political blogger, Japheth Omojuwa, said the resort by the Boko Haram to the use of teenage female suicide bombers might be a technical way by the insurgents to save their men for combat. He lamented that it was unthinkable that the terrorist group would make use of innocent girls as couriers of death.

Echoing the sentiments of the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners, he added, “You don’t need 105 days to indoctrinate an innocent girl. Some of those Chibok girls may never be ‘innocent’ again. Chibok girls or not, these insurgents are destroying young girls. Again, the girl child suffers for what she knows not about.”

On Facebook, an online commentator based in Abuja, Ugochukwu Osuagwu, expressed concern over the use of young girls in the age group of the Chibok girls as bombers.He urged the Federal Government to subject the dead female suicide bombers to a DNA test and cross match it with those of the parents of the Chibok schoolgirls. “How come they (Boko Haram) now have a steady supply of female bombers that are the same age grade as the Chibok girls? It could be that those girls have now been brainwashed to become bombers too. “Lord Jesus Christ, is this country not finished already? What would a 15-year-old girl be doing with a bomb? Let all the Chibok parents undergo DNA test and compare with the female bomber,” Osuagwu wrote in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters has said that the crash of a Nigerian Air Force Mi-35 Helicopter in Borno State, on July 21, would not affect the ongoing land and air operations against the insurgents. In a message on its official Twitter page, the DHQ urged the citizenry to show a committed solidarity to the members of the Armed Forces and other security agencies, adding that the insurgents would henceforth be engaged in what it described as fire power.

“We salute late Flight Lieutenant Nwakile, pilot of the Crashed NAF Mi-35 helicopter. He was a gallant officer. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Jonathan) has accordingly ordered the immediate replacement of the crashed Mi-35 helicopter and more platforms for fire power. “Fire power is the military capability to direct force at the enemy. It involves the whole range of potential weapons. The Nigerian Air Force will sustain current synergy with the Nigerian Army in the campaign against terror,” the DHQ stated.

Credit:http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/female-suicide-bombers-may-be-chibok-girls-ezekwesili-others/

Minister of state for education, Chief Ezebuwo Nyesom Wike, has said that if not for his efforts, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have died in the state immediately Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi left the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC). This is as he said he is currently making wide consultations with his friends, associates and family members on whether or not to run in the 2015 governorship election on the platform of the PDP, insisting that none of those clamouring to be governor is more qualified than him. Wike, who spoke on Monday night during an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said none of those clamouring that it is the turn of their zones to produce the next governor of the state has contributed to the growth of the party in their various wards and local government areas.

The minister said; “I am happy that people are talking about running election in PDP today. When Amaechi left, which of them would say they would have run election in PDP if we did not come up to see that the party is strong? Amaechi gave us quit notice in the PDP secretariat that we should quit. We fought him to the last; we said we couldn’t quit, that it is our property. We have had not less than 45 cases in court. “How many of them brought a dime to sustain the battle? We have had House of Assembly men, who are not participating in Government House Assembly; they are not earning salaries; they are not paying them. How many of them have asked; what is happening to you? How many of them have gone to their wards to say, how do we mobilise our people?

“I read a lot of things where people say, it is our turn to produce a governor. Assuming what they are saying is correct, does is stop another person from running? What it means is that you should face the person in an election. That is the important thing. Most of them who said it is zoned to them, can they win in their local government areas? “I can tell you that if I declare to run today, nobody, of all those that are clamouring that it is their turn, will defeat me in their wards. So, if you can’t defeat me in your ward, which person’s zone do you want to use to win the election? For example, in Ogoni where we have Tai, Khana, Gokana and Eleme, those who want to run under PDP, which of them can defeat me? Come to the riverine area, those who want to run there, I hear of one Major Anyanya (rtd). He won’t defeat me in his ward if I want to run. Come to Opobo, who wants to run? Come to Bonny, who wants to run?”

He accused those aspiring to pick the governorship ticket of the PDP of depending on getting endorsements from Abuja, rather than building themselves from their various wards to get the confidence of the grassroots and win the election there.

Credit: http://leadership.ng/news/379401/pdp-almost-died-amaechi-left-wike

Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho has declared that Nigerian midfielder, John Obi Mikel, could be on his way out of the club. Mikel has been consistently linked with a move away from Chelsea but it seems the arrival of Ivorian marksman, Didier Drogba, has finally sounded the death knell on the time of the Nigerian at the club. The return of Drogba means Chelsea’s anticipated first-team squad has one too many foreign players under Premier League and Champions League rules relating to the home-grown quota.

Clubs can only name 17 foreign players over the age of 21 in their official 25-man squads and Chelsea have 18 overseas stars who are realistically vying for those places. British newspaper, Telegraph, reports that Mourinho has decided that one of Fernando Torres, Peter Cech or Mikel will be asked to leave the club this summer. “From the group you are expecting us to have as a squad, I have to send one away because we have one extra foreign player.

“So from all these players, if you think all of them have to stay, you are wrong. One of them has to go,” Mourinho said. Mikel has made over 200 league appearances since joining Chelsea in 2006.

Credit: http://www.punchng.com/sports/i-will-sell-mikel-torres-or-cech-mourinho/

A former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has predicted that the end of the Peoples Democratic Party will be disgraceful. He alleged that the impeachment of some All Progressive Congress governors was an attempt to turn Nigeria into a one-party state but vowed that the PDP’s joy over the impeachment would be short-lived. Tinubu’s media aide, Sunday Dare, said this on his Facebook page in a note titled, “PDP, Jonathan are building on quicksand,” on Monday.

He said it was unfortunate that the PDP-led Federal Government had trivialised the attempt on the life of a former military Head of State, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). He berated the Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, for politicising the incident and expressed dissatisfaction in the manner with which investigation was being conducted. He said, “Olisah Metuh’s recent reaction to the attack on General Buhari and the APC in which he strongly insinuated unreasonably that the APC must have arranged the attack on Buhari is a clear case of dementia.

To disrespect General Buhari’s life and dishonour the innocent lives lost in order to score cheap political points is both offensive and unconscionable. “The sun sets soon for the PDP and the party’s end will be ugly. Under the PDP, Nigeria suffers violence. The PDP takes Nigeria by force. “The PDP plays with the tiger’s tail by pillaging the economy, brazenly stealing from public funds, subverting the Nigerian constitution, corruption of the police force, military and SSS in a desperate and near-criminal desire to win all elections.

“The truth is out about the culpability of the Presidency and a select few in the military and the President’s cabinet in the ongoing rapacious employment of state apparatus, resources and electoral institutions to impose a one party rule on Nigeria.” He said President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was worse than the dictatorship of both General Sani Abacha and General Ibrahim Babangida. “The military leadership now serves the interest of Jonathan and the ruling party rather than defend the people and the constitution. Once the military is politicised, there goes our democracy,” he added.

Credit: http://www.punchng.com/news/pdps-end-will-be-ugly-tinubu/

The Police have arrested a 52-year-old woman with four AK-74 rifles around the Emohua end of the East-West Road in Rivers State. The aged woman, who was traveling from Ogbakiri community, concealed the rifles in a bunch of vegetables, which she claimed she was going to sell at the Choba market in Port Harcourt. DailyPost reports that luck ran out on the woman at the newly mounted police checkpoint on the East-West Road, between Emohua and Choba.

Policemen using metal detector were able to uncover the four AK-47 rifles hidden inside the bunch of vegetables, after a thorough search of the vehicle and its passengers. Upon inquiry, the woman denied knowledge of the firearm concealed inside her bag of vegetables. Meanwhile, the matter is still under investigation.

Credit:http://dailypost.ng/2014/07/27/52-year-old-grandmother-caught-ak-47-rifles-port-harcourt/?utm_source=&utm_medium=facebook

Nigerian athletes started on a good note on Sunday as they booked semi-final tickets at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.Reigning Nigeria champion Mark Jelks in Heat 3 in 10.28 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals which hold on Monday. Jelks went into the competition with a personal best of 9.99 seconds and a season best of 10.13 seconds.Warren Fraser of the Bahamas picked the second qualifying ticket from Heat 3 in 10.31 seconds. In Heat 6, Mozavous Edwards qualified for the semi-finals after finishing second in 10.40 seconds behind England’s Adam Gemili who won in 10.15 seconds.

Former Nigeria champion, Ogho-Oghene Egwero, got his semi-finals ticket following a photo-finish with third-placed Aaron Brown of Canada. Egwero beat Brown to the second place with a hundredth of a second (10.38 seconds) behind South Africa ’s Akani Simbine who won the race in 10.32 seconds.Stephen Mozia failed to advance from the group stage in the men’s shot put after recording 17.76 metres to finish 14th overall.

In the women’s 100 metres events, Gloria Asumnu finished second in 11.43 seconds behind Jamaica ’s Veronica Campbell-Brown, who won Heat 1 in 11.29 seconds. Jade Bailey of Barbados finished third in 11.64 seconds to also qualify for the semi-finals.Justina Sule crashed in Heat 4 after finishing sixth in 12.00 seconds.Africa’s fastest woman, Blessing Okagbare, expectedly won Heat 5 in 11.50 seconds ahead of England’s Asha Philip (11.47) and Cyprus’ Anna Papaioannou (11.67).

Regina George took things easy on her way to picking her ticket for the women’s 400 metres semi-finals, finishing second in 53.92 seconds behind Sri Lanka ’s Chandrika Mudiyans, who won in 53.75 seconds. In Heat 5, Folashade Abugan also finished second in 52.84 seconds behind Botswana ’s Amantle Montsho (51.88) to qualify for the semi-finals.Omolara Omotosho made her way into the semi-finals with her 53.02 seconds effort, finishing second behind Jamaica ’s Stephanie McPherson (52.25).

Credit: http://www.punchng.com/sports/jelks-okagbare-shine-for-nigeria/

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday admitted that Nigeria would have erupted in turmoil, if a former Head of State, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, had died during separate attacks on them in Kaduna on Wednesday. He said Nigerians would not have celebrated the Eid-el-Fitri because a major calamity would have befallen the country if they had died. The President said these just as the opposition All Progressives Congress called for an international inquiry into the attack on Buhari by a lone bomber. Jonathan spoke when Vice-President Namadi Sambo led members of the Muslim community in the Federal Capital Territory to pay the traditional sallah homage to him at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The President described those responsible for the attacks as sons of the devil. He said, “Not too long ago, we had these dastardly attacks in Kano and Kaduna. We stand to condemn these acts of terror on our people and we extend our condolence and sympathy to the bereaved and those who were injured. “Look at the recent attacks in Kaduna, especially where Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi was a target and Gen. Buhari was also a target. You can imagine if these two people had died in those attacks. “Sheikh Bauchi is one of our top Islamic preachers. He has millions of followers, Buhari, a former Head of State and a leading political figure, has massive supporters.

“On the same day, people wanted to kill them. Those who planned the attacks are clearly sons of the devil because if they had killed these two people, we wouldn’t have been here today. “This country would have been in turmoil. We couldn’t have gathered here to celebrate. We thank Allah for saving their lives and preventing a major calamity that would have befallen our country.” Jonathan also pleaded with clerics across the country to shun the gospel of hate and preach messages of peace and unity. He reminded them that the country could not be developed in an atmosphere devoid of peace.

The President said, “Let me plead with my brothers, especially the clerics, when they are sending their messages out to their followers to preach peace and unity, not the gospel of hate. “This is because without peace and unity, we cannot develop this country. In a conflict situation people move away from such zones and we cannot develop our communities, our local governments, states and our country in a conflict situation.” Jonathan also called on all Nigerians to work with the Federal Government to ensure that they collectively brought the excesses of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups to an end.

He reiterated that his administration would do everything humanly possible to end the insurgency. Jonathan added that government was also looking at ways of raising funds to help those widowed or orphaned by insurgency as well as those whose business premises or places of worship were vandalised. He said the Victims Support Fund through which money would be raised from the private sector and others would be launched on Thursday. He said government alone could not do it because a huge sum of money was needed for the task. Jonathan expressed the hope that a substantial amount of money would be raised during the launching.

The President said the fund raising would be a continuous exercise until the government was able to cushion the effect of the insurgency. Besides, Jonathan said the government was strengthening its security services so that they would be able to confront the menace. Sambo had earlier congratulated the President for participating actively in the Ramadan fast despite the fact that he is not a Muslim. The Vice-President prayed to God to continue to guide the President and give him good health and wisdom to lead the country. He also prayed that God grants the nation peace and end the evil activities of Boko Haram.

Sambo said, “We pray that Allah will continue to guide you, to give you good health and wisdom to lead this country.“We pray for peace and pray that all the evils including Boko Haram, the security challenge and other vices, that Allah will grant us the fortitude to remove these evils in this country and to make Nigerians, all of us our brothers’ keepers and to allow peace, tranquility and progress in Nigeria and for the achievement of our transformation agenda.”Sambo later led the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Muhammed, and the Minister of State, FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide, to present giant greeting cards to the President.

Dignitaries who were part of the delegation were the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Muhammed Adoke; the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Nureni Muhammed; a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore; and a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ahmadu Ali. Some members of the National Assembly, Chief Imam of the National Mosque, Ustaz Isa Muhammed; and some former ministers were also in the delegation. The APC, which called for an international inquiry into the attack on Buhari, said such would unravel the perpetrators and motive of the dastardly act.

The party, in a statement in Benin, Edo State by its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, also said the country would have been plunged into turmoil if Buhari had been killed. The APC said that it did not have the confidence that the Nigerian security agencies would carry out an impartial investigation. According to the opposition party, security agencies work for the government, instead of the nation. It also commented on the arrest of an alleged mastermind of the assassination attempt Buhari. According the APC, the agents of the Federal Government had started muddling the waters with their “sickening” statements and actions on the attack.

It asked, ‘’How does one explain a situation in which a man who is nothing but a pervert is now being paraded as the suspected ‘mastermind’ of the attack on Gen. Buhari? “At what point was this man, who perhaps is nothing but a transvestite plying his trade, arrested? Is it not clear, from the statement released by Gen. Buhari himself after the attack, that it was clearly the handiwork of a suicide bomber? “Could the person, who drove the vehicle that was rammed into the general’s convoy, have survived the explosion that was triggered by that action? Could the innocent passers-by who died in the blast not have been arrested and paraded as the ‘suspected masterminds’ if they had survived the blast? Clearly, the arrest of the pervert and his sickening description as a ‘suspected mastermind’ have kick-started the process of muddling the waters, as is usually the case with such high-profile cases.

“This is why an urgent international inquiry into the attack is desirable and imperative, and anyone who is committed to an impartial probe of the attack on the opposition leader should embrace our call. The party added that the insurgency in the country and its spin-offs were now clearly beyond the capability of the Federal Government. The party also said its call for an international inquiry had been further justified by the statements and insinuations emanating from the Peoples Democratic Party and the Presidency.

Credit:http://www.punchng.com/news/there-wouldve-been-crisis-if-buhari-was-killed-jonathan/

Four graduates and two undergraduates of the Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State have been arrested for alleged fraud by the police.The suspects are Falade Oluwapelumi Ayotunde (25), Asaolu Victor (25), Awote Temitope Emax (27), Fajobi Olalekan (27) Bolatiri Emmanuel Onaopemipo (25) and Adebomi Oluwatosin (26). They were arrested by operatives of Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) for alleged internet fraud.

The suspects were also accused of being specialist in the unauthorized design of organisation’s websites and using them to defraud unsuspecting members of the public. Police alleged that the suspects have defrauded their victims of up to over N5million .The suspects were arrested following a petition which PSFU received on August 22, 2013,from OPEC FUND for International Development.Police said the petitioner had alleged that a website designed as “OFID Scholarship Website” with OFID name and logo has been used to defraud innocent Nigerian applicants.

On the website, applicants were required to pay N2,500.00 as application fee and over 2,000 applicants responded and paid the fees through the First Bank Account Number 2020874607 and Access Bank Account Number 0056941009 with the name OFID WSAS NG.
The petitioner stated further that it was one of the victims that contacted OFID via facebook, accusing OFID of being complicit in the fraud.
PSFU spokesperson, Ngozi Isintume- Agu, a Deputy Superintendent told The Nation that immediately the petition was received, operatives of the Cybercrime Section of the Unit swung into action and the mastermind of the fraud, one Falade Oluwapelumi Ayotunde was arrested.

She said: “His arrest led to the arrest of five other syndicate members. Police investigation so far revealed that over 2,000 applicants paid the sum of N2,500.00 each into the two banks provided by the suspects and the principal suspect is the only signatory to both accounts”.
Ayotunde is a from Akure, Ondo State and a 500Level Estate Management undergraduate student of FUTA. Police said the suspect has made a confessional statement. According to his statement, Ayotunde confessed that he designed the website of OFID WSAS (OPEC Fund for International Development for World Student Aid Scholarship) in June, 2012.

Credit: http://thenationonlineng.net/new/futa-students-arrested-for-opec-scholarship-scam/

YAOUNDE — The wife of Cameroon's vice prime minister was kidnapped and at least three people were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants on in the northern town of Kolofata on Sunday, Cameroon officials said.

A local religious leader, or lamido, named Seini Boukar Lamine, who is also the town's mayor, was kidnapped as well, in a separate attack on his home.

Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist militant group, has stepped up cross-border attacks into Cameroon in recent weeks as Cameroon has deployed troops to the region, joining international efforts to combat the militants.

"I can confirm that the home of Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali in Kolofata came under a savage attack from Boko Haram militants," Issa Tchiroma told Reuters by telephone.

"They unfortunately took away his wife. They also attacked the lamido's residence and he was also kidnapped," he said, and at least three people were killed in the attack.

A Cameroon military commander in the region told Reuters that the vice prime minister, who was at home to celebrate the Muslim feast of Ramadan with his family, was taken to a neighbouring town by security officials.

"The situation is very critical here now, and as I am talking to you the Boko Haram elements are still in Kolofata town in a clash with our soldiers," said Colonel Felix Nji Formekong, the second commander of Cameroon's third inter-army military region, based in the regional headquarters Maroua.

The Sunday attack is the third Boko Haram attack into Cameroon since Friday. At least four soldiers were killed in the previous attacks. Meanwhile, some 22 suspected Boko Haram militants, who have been held in Maroua since March, were on Friday sentenced to prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years. It was unclear whether the events are related.

Credit:http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/07/27/world/africa/27reuters-cameroon-violence-boko-haram.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes

A Liberian man walked into the country's health ministry offices Wednesday and set (link is external) the second floor wing on fire after reportedly losing a family member to the Ebola virus.

According to reports (link is external), the man held the government responsible for the death of his relative, claiming they were not equipped to handle the disease. Government officials in Monrovia say (link is external) they are still investigating what happened.

Liberia's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare posted this picture of the building to its website and Facebook page. According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola virus has claimed the lives of more than 600 people in West Africa since the start of the outbreak in February. More than 120 of the deaths have been in Liberia. It is reportedly the largest outbreak in Ebola history.

Credit: http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201407241431-0023965

Some people say that passion often flows when a man and a woman are left in a room long enough. This seems to be true of some service jobs that pitch both sexes together as service providers and clients.

Dalliance between male hairstylists and female clients

Kunle Olutayo, a male hair stylist, gets an average of ten female customers a day. Although not bad in terms of good looks, Olutayo grew up as a shy little boy, particularly around girls until his painful fortune changed about seven years ago when he became a hairstylist. Shortly after starting the job following a six months’ training, Olutayo could not believe his luck. With an endless string of female customers, he no longer had to worry about his failing nerves since some of his female customers were woman enough to take the initiative.

Olutayo was busy fixing the hair of one of his numerous female customers when our correspondent visited the salon he shares with four other stylists around the famous Ikeja Under-bridge in Lagos. As he attached a weave-on to the customer’s hair, the two joked about the lady’s receding hairline. Some of the customer’s hair was falling off at the front and Olutayo teased her about it being one of the signs of old age. Olutayo is close to many of his customers and has dated a few, even though he repeatedly described it as bad for business. When he was still new on the job, he was overwhelmed by the surplus number of women he encountered daily and so indulged himself when he could.

However, Olutayo has since learnt a few lessons.

“This job is not for womanisers. If you’re a womaniser, stay away from this job because you will continue to lose money. When I first started the job, it exposed me to so many women for the first time. I used to be very shy but on this job, I met women who seduced me. Some of the women would seduce their stylists to avoid paying for the service, which also means not paying on subsequent visits. “So a womaniser has a lot to lose as a hairstylist. Now, I’ve learnt my lesson, I no longer sleep with my clients anyhow. I only date one lady customer now and that limits my loss. Before now, I used to forgo a lot of money to female customers that I had affairs with,” he said. Explaining how his seducers perform their act, Olutayo demonstrated with his eyes, feigning sexual interest and willingness and hands, rubbing on our correspondent, who had briefly assumed the role of a stylist.

“The women won’t open their mouths to say they want any hairstylist, but once they are seated and you’re about to start fixing their hair, they can say they don’t have money and need to fix their hair for an important occasion, or say they can only afford an amount not up to half the price of the materials to be used and the service. “While they are appealing, they are caressing you with their hands and looking at you with funny eyes (seductively). Some may call ahead to say they don’t have money. In such cases, negotiations can be done over the phone. “If I’m interested, I only have to tell the customer that I’ve always liked her and ask for her affection in return. Almost 100 per cent of the time, they are open to an arrangement or rendezvous that could later lead to a hotel room,” he said sheepishly. Special hotel booking called ‘short time,’ which is for an hour or two, is usually used for such rendezvous.

Saturday PUNCH findings reveal that many of the male hairstylists who actively womanise often fall under two categories- those who are new on the job and those who could not complete their apprenticeship for some reason. A source explained that the newcomers are too inexperienced to deal with the temptations associated with their new job, while those in the other category are too grateful for their fortune in spite of their inability to complete their training that they over-indulge themselves in their good fortune.

“I look at some of them (hairstylist womanisers) and I shake my head. They lose in so many ways because if the customer cannot pay for the weave-on, the stylists may have to use their own weave-on as well, fix the hair free of charge, pay N1,500 or N2,000 for the ‘short time’ they will spend at the hotel with the customer, possibly buy drinks there and even miss one or two other customers that will call at their shops while they are away,” said Segun, a male hairstylist with eight years’ experience. Although, the category of women who visit male hairstylists range from students to workers in practically all fields, from Olutayo’s experience, the women who are open to such dalliances are usually those referred to as club girls.

A cross section of male hairstylists said the next category of women usually open to having romance with them are single mothers. But with the single mothers, male hairstylists need not worry about not getting paid. For instance, a male hairstylist, who identified himself as Johnson, narrated his experience with a female customer he once had a sexual affair with. According to Johnson’s account, his romance with the woman started after his third visit to her Lekki residence for home service. Johnson does home service for customers who are willing to pay extra which has been factored in due to the distance, transportation cost and so on. “The woman never negotiated any amount I charged and she always paid me.

“It started innocently when she asked me to come and fix her hair at home, before it later graduated to sex. She was a single mother with one daughter, so she usually asked me to come in the morning when her daughter would be in school,” Johnson said. Johnson added that he had noticed that a lot of his older female customers like to date young boys judging by their discussions at the salon, jokingly, describing salons as homes of gossips and rumours. Most women confirmed that they prefer male hairstylists to their female counterparts in a poll conducted by our correspondent.

‘I’m in love with male hairstylists’

One of the respondents who identified herself as Nkem, admitted to having fantasised about dating her “handsome male hairstylists” countless times but couldn’t bring herself to initiate a move. “I actually go to the salon that I use because of the male hairstylists. They are very handsome and sometimes I wish that one of them would ask me out but it has not happened yet. I think male hairstylists are better than the female ones because a man would know what fits you better than a woman,” she said. Another place that promises an abundance of passion is a massage parlour because it usually pitches both sexes together alone.

Visiting massage parlours for the wonders of the experienced hands of masseurs and masseuses is not yet a popular pastime in the country, however, the trend is growing by the day. The idea of having a massage is therapeutic. It also helps the client to relax and be released of stress and body pains, but investigation shows that often times in Nigeria, clients wish for more than stress and pain relief. Our findings show that many male clients get sexually aroused and get an erection within a few minutes of body massage.

Happy hour

A cross section of masseuses said many of the clients who visit their parlours ask for ‘happy hours’ or ‘happy ending massages.’ These are erotic massages that end with hand jobs, blow jobs or sex. “When some of the clients come in, they ask, ‘do you do happy hour or happy ending’ and we say no. The best thing is not to start what you won’t be able to finish; so we tell them that we don’t do such things here, but I know that some massage parlours do it abroad,” said Franca Oriakhi, the Managing Director of World Beauty Salon and Spa, Surulere, Lagos. Another beauty therapist, Ruth Zobeashia of Rutiana Perfection Parlour, Ikeja in Lagos, also shared similar experiences on the job.

Zobeashia, who has had over 10 years’ experience as a masseuse, said, “Most of the Nigerian men who come here, once they see that it’s a beautiful lady that will attend to them, what goes to their head is sex after five minutes of massage. “Some of them will say, ‘Can you suck me? Can you make me come? I will pay you extra for doing it.’ I tell them that we don’t offer anything beyond massage here. When I explain to them that I can’t do it, then they stop visiting. What most of them want is sex and not massage, really. It’s the whites (foreigners) who really understand the essence of massage and some blacks too that come here,” she said. Zobeashia recalled how she had to escape through a bathroom window about seven years ago while giving a man a massage. The client had wanted sex also.

Recounting the incident, she said, “We get all kinds of harassment and embarrassment on the job. I was giving a man a massage one day when he insisted that he wanted to have sex with me. I told him that I needed to use the bathroom. It was through the window that I managed to get out. “Some of the men will say that they have girls who tended to their needs where they used to have massage and so I tell them to go back there. One day, I asked a client demanding for sex if he would be happy if his wife was sleeping with her clients. I was shocked when he replied that he didn’t care, ‘after all, that’s her job.’” Interestingly, some of the harassments are not limited to male clients, according to Zobeashia, who has received sexual invitations from female clients too. Some female clients who are lesbians also ask to be caressed and erotically fingered in their private regions during massages.

“Lesbians come here and want the same thing the men want. A man having trouble with his marriage once told me that he was advised by a friend to visit a massage parlour to get the sexual satisfaction his wife denied him at home,” she continued with a surprise look on her face. Investigation indeed shows that some massage parlours offer sexual pleasures in Ikeja, Ikoyi and Lekki areas of Lagos. Many of such parlours keep the information within a circle, largely made up of foreigners. A Briton who had a chat with our correspondent online named a few spas and massage parlours in Lagos that offer ‘happy hours’ or ‘happy ending’ massages. He also said there were masseurs and masseuses who service clients at home, with massage and sex.

“Some of us in the Nigerian white community patronise these places. Some Nigerians also know about them as well. There is a spa in Lagos with Asian women as masseuses, where clients can pay for what they want. Massage parlours that have happy endings are common in Asia, so maybe that’s why some Nigerians ask for such services here after experiencing it elsewhere,” he commented. But that is not all; tattooists also deal with temptations from customers of the opposite sex. In Lagos, tattooists are predominantly males and are often required to tattoo on female erotic parts like the breasts, buttocks, thighs and the vagina (the female reproductive part).

Tattooists are seduced by clients too

A tattooist, Abisola Ojikutu of Bizzysaki Tattoo Studio, Ikeja, told our correspondent that he sometimes gets seduced by female clients, but quickly added that in spite of it, he still strives to maintain professionalism on the job. “I tattoo almost all parts of the body, including body parts of members of the opposite sex because it’s my job. I tattoo their private parts and do breast enlargement and other stuff. Yes, seduction happens because we are humans but I act professionally. And I have to also consider my money, so I act like I’m not moved. Even if a lady seduces me as a tattoo celebrity, we suspend all till after work,” he said.

Credit: http://www.punchng.com/news/lagos-massage-parlours-where-sex-is-after-service-bonus/

Mrs. Fatima Bankole, 34, was battered by her husband, Alhaji Kamoru Bankole, for taking piece of fish from the pot to break her fast. The victim is first of three wives of Alhaji Kamoru, at residing at Hasan Close, Alasia, Ijanikin in Lagos State. The bruising attack happened on the 16th of July, when the third wife reported to their husband that their senior wife took fish from the soup to break her fast. The husband, according to witnesses, did not listen to her excuse before attacking her.

According to the victim, Mrs. Fatima Bankole, their husband had always physically abused her, but the incidence of July 16th was more brutal. She narrated that they had made a roster between two wives, due to the absence of the third wife who was away at the period, to cook for 15 days each. The victim said she had completed her period, and it was turn of the last wife. She said they would normally serve the husband first, followed by the children before the wives would serve themselves.

On the day she was to be attacked, Mrs. Fatima said the last wife had finished her cooking and served their husband and the children. She then went for her own meal. But soon after, the last wife complained to her husband that Fatima took a larger chunk of the fish in the pot. Their husband, Alhaji Kamoru Bankole, queried her, but she said that she only took a little out of it, stating that the fish was in pieces and mixed in the stew. Her explanations, however, got her in trouble with their husband. Alhaji Kamoru, she details, delivered several punches to her face. She said she bled for hours and was further locked up in a room for three days before she escaped.

She said neighbors then took her to the hospital for treatment. That was the cruelest from her history of experience of assault by their husband, Mrs. Fatima said. From experiences she recounted, she recalled how her hair was pulled out of her head, which resulted in grievous head injuries. Saharareporters learned that police have now arrested the husband, following outcry and petitions by the Women Arise civil group in Lagos. He will be arraigned in court next week.

Credit:http://saharareporters.com/2014/07/25/womans-face-gets-26-stitches-after-husband-battered-her-over-piece-fish

Pope Francis meets Meriam Ibrahim, who had been sentenced to death over charges of apostasy. The Sudanese woman who was spared a death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity, and then barred from leaving Sudan, arrived in Italy on Thursday, an Italian government official said, according to a story published by the Voice of America.

Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, was on a plane accompanied by Italy's vice minister of foreign affairs, Lapo Pistelli, according to the official who asked not to be named."Meriam, the young Christian woman held in Khartoum after being condemned to death for apostasy, should be arriving in Italy on a government flight," the official said in a text message, without specifying when the flight had left.

In late June, Ibrahim was arrested as she tried to board a plane for the United States. Sudanese police accused her of traveling with a forged passport. Three days after that arrest, she was released and immediately sought refuge in the U.S. embassy with her husband - a South Sudanese-born U.S. citizen - and their two children. The family had stayed there nearly a month.

Credit:http://saharareporters.com/2014/07/24/condemned-sudanese-christian-woman-and-her-family-arrive-rome
In Washington, Marie Harf, the U.S. State Department Deputy Spokeswoman acknowledged the family’s arrival, and said they are safe. “Italian officials worked with both American and Sudanese officials in her departure,” Harf said in the department’s press briefing on Thursday monitored by a SaharaReporters correspondent.

A few hours after landing in Rome, Ibrahim and her family met with Pope Francis, who blessed her. A U.S.A Today article reports that Ibrahim's family will leave for the United States after a few days in Rome. Ibrahim's mother was a Christian and her father a Muslim. Under Sudanese law, she is a Muslim even though she was brought up as a Christian after her father abandoned the family.

The All Progressives Congress has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over an alleged plot to assassinate Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

Also, the party alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party was planning to arrest its notable leaders ahead of the August 9 governorship electionThe Chairman of the APC in Osun State, Mr. Adelowo Adebiyi, said this in Osogbo on Wednesday at a press conference. The news conference also had in attendance the state secretary of the APC, Mr. Adegboyega Famodun; Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi; and a leader of the party, Alhaji Fatai Oyedele. Adebiyi, who read the allegations to journalists, said the letter was written to Jonathan in order to officially inform him of the situation.

The party alleged that the PDP was working to fraudulently hijack power in the state by using fake soldiers and collaborate with the Independent National Electoral Commission to capture the state through dubious means. According to the APC chairman, the refusal of INEC to use electronic card readers for the Osun governorship poll was a plan to allow the PDP to manipulate the process of the election.

The letter read in part, “The President should order his party (PDP) to halt any plan to violently rig the August 9 governorship election through the undemocratic process of militarising the state and terrorising its citizens with thugs dressed in military camouflage shortly before, during and after the election.“It perhaps may interest Mr. President that top on the PDP hit list of party elders for assassination is Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the incumbent governor of Osun.” But the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Mr. Bola Ajao, described the allegations as unfounded.

Ajao said that the APC was already preparing an alibi for its impending defeat at the poll.He said, “This allegation is too pedestrian, it is fake and it is obvious that they are fabrications which they intend to put forward to justify their impending disgrace. “This is another ploy in their sinking ship diplomacy. The Presidency of Nigeria for Jonathan and the governorship of Osun State for (Senator Iyiola) Omisore is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.”

Credit:http://www.punchng.com/politics/apc-petitions-jonathan-alleges-plot-to-kill-aregbesola/

Two explosions have ripped through the northern Nigeria city of Kaduna, killing at least 40 people, police say.

The first explosion targeted moderate Islamic cleric Dahiru Bauchi while the second one targeted senior opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, a BBC reporter in the city says.

Both escaped unhurt.

It often targets Muslim leaders opposed to its militant ideology.
Curfew imposed

There are body parts and damaged cars on the busy Alkali Road in the city centre where the bomb targeting Mr Bauchi exploded, reports the BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar from the scene.

Kaduna police chief Shehu Umar said at least 25 people were killed in that blast, apparently caused by a suicide bomber.

Another 15 were killed in the second blast, he said.

Mr Bauchi had completed a preaching session in the nearby Murtala Muhammed square, and was driving through the area in an open-roofed vehicle, greeting well-wishers when he was targeted.

Followers of the renowned cleric have reacted angrily, throwing stones at the security forces and accusing them of failing to protect Nigerians, our reporter says.

The security forces retaliated by firing tear gas.

About 90 minutes after the first attack, a second explosion ripped through the crowded Kawo area, targeting the motorcade of Gen Buhari, a former military ruler of Nigeria and a senior member of the All Progressive Congress opposition party.

Gunmen rammed a vehicle into his convoy, firing shots at it, our reporter says, adding that two of Gen Buhari's bodyguards were slightly wounded in the attack.

The state government has now imposed a 24-hour curfew and people in the city are making their way to their homes.

In May, the emir of the northern area of Gwoza, Shehu Mustapha Idris Timta, was shot dead in an attack blamed on Boko Haram.

In January 2013, the then-emir of Kano, Al Haji Ado Bayero, survived an assassination attempt.

Credit:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28447204?ocid=socialflow_twitter

Dear Nairalanders, today marks exactly 100 days since the unfortunate abduction at least 270 girls by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State. This watershed has since drawn a lot ire from both within and outside Nigeria, leading to the birth of the famous BringBackOurGirls movement and its subsequent hast tags on social media. We have also seen a lot of promised cooperation and actual deployment of technical support to the Nigerian Military from the US, UK, Israel and France,etc. but none of these have been able to produce a meaningful result so far.

Till date, 51 girls are reported to have escaped on their own intuition. It is based on this development that I consider this platform suffice enough to advise the Nigerian government on what still needs to be done to secure the release of the remaining 219 girls, and how best we can, as a nation, end this unfortunate issue of Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria. The floor is open now....

“APC has no solid foundation; a party cannot be built around an individual.”A former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, on Monday in Maiduguri, the state capital, said he was in the state to initiate the process of defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Mr. Sheriff arrived in Maiduguri alongside several members of the National Assembly and was received at the airport at about 2 p.m. by a mammoth crowd: supporters of both of the PDP and the state’s ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. A convoy of hundreds of cars, put at about 500, that snaked into several kilometres accompanied the ex-governor from the Maiduguri airport to his Giwa Barracks Road home.

Some Nigerians have criticised Mr. Sheriff for not doing enough when the seed of Boko Haram was sowed in his state while he was governor.
A few people have suggested the Boko Haram sect comprised disgruntled political thugs who worked for the Borno administration during his reign.
His arrest and prosecution has always been cited as a major demand of the Boko Haram sect in earlier efforts at negotiation with the sect, who partly blame him for the killing of their founder, Mohammed Yusuf; while various government panels had without mentioning him also always sought the prosecution of former and serving public officials who financed the sect at inception.

Mr. Sheriff has consistently denied the allegations against him. On Monday, various posters of the PDP with the pictures of the former governor as well as some of his political cronies were hurriedly printed by supporters who brandished them along the highways. Mr. Sheriff later confirmed his exit from the APC to journalists who interviewed him in his house. He said he also came to pull his “people” out of the APC. “There is nothing to hide as you can see, I have come to consult with my people on our resolve to pull out of the APC and join the PDP. But this is just a private visit which turned out to be some kind of rally because our supporters wanted it that way,” the former governor said.

“We are still consulting with the national officers of the PDP on how to go about it, because the pull out is going to be big, and we hope to organise it after fasting. Presently, as you can see, majority of our people are fasting and praying for peace to return to our dear state. But after the Ramadan we will come back and pull our people out of the APC”. Asked why he was dumping a party he helped built, Mr. Sheriff, who was involved in a near-fisticuff with another APC leader, Bola Tinubu, at a party leadership meeting recently, said the APC was not inclusive. “The game has changed both in Borno and at the national level. APC has no solid foundation; a party cannot be built around an individual,” Mr. Sheriff said.

“I have taken time to study the package called APC and came to realise that it won’t work. And any serious politician, who knows his onions would not want to be in a ship that is bound to crash”. “For now we are in high-level consultation with our people and also with the PDP national officers. It is sad that our people here are in serious want; I came and saw many of them in serious difficulties, and we feel pained that we have to do something fast to assist them. We have no option now than to come and tell them that we are sorry, that we brought them a wrong party, but now we have come to correct our mistakes.”Mr. Sheriff did not say if he would be exiting the APC alongside his erstwhile political godson, Governor Kashim Shettima; although it appears the latter would remain in the APC where he remains its leader.

“Kashim Shettima was my commissioner for four years before God gave us the opportunity of assisting him become the governor of Borno state in 2011. It cannot be doubted that I took him round the 27 local government councils of Borno and sold his candidature to the people before he was accepted and voted as governor,” the ex-governor said. “But now the game has changed, and we have no choice than to do what the people of Borno State want; we know there was too much sufferings but we call on the people to be patient. We all pray that God should bring us peace so that Borno state can regain its name once again as the home of peace.”

Mr. Sheriff’s visit to Maiduguri comes barely 24 hours after Governor Kashim Shettima left the state capital for Abuja by road, as the military insisted the airport was closed for security reasons. The military had also barred intending pilgrims from access to the airport for the lesser hajj. They had to travel to the airport in Kano to commence their journey. Governor Shettima’s adviser on media, Umar Gusau, said his boss was being politically witchhunted by the closure of the airport causing the governor and his family members to travel by road, even though they are at the highest risk of being attacked by the Boko Haram sect.
Mr. Gusau said this in a statement emailed to journalists on Monday.

Read excerpts of the statement below.
“Following the closure of the Maiduguri International airport by the Federal Government on June 27, 2014 for a period of three months, intending pilgrims for this year’s lesser hajj were forced to travel by road to Kano amidst fear over their safety. “One of such intending pilgrims, Shettima Mohammed Shettima, the immediate elder brother of both parents, to Governor Kashim Shettima was on Friday involved in a ghastly motor accident resulting in the death of a policeman travelling with him while he had multiple fractures on both legs.
“A policeman was attached to him following threats to his life by Boko Haram elements in addition to being a high risk person due to his relationship with the Governor.

“The accident occurred 20 kilometres away from Damban in Bauchi State while the Governor’s brother was travelling to board a max airline to depart Kano for Saudi Arabia. The accident occurred at about 2pm. “A max airline chartered flight had arrived Maiduguri airport on Friday, June 27, 2014 to airlift 276 intending pilgrims from Borno and Yobe States who had been screened and were awaiting airlift. Despite intervention by Governor Shettima, soldiers from the army however took over the airport and ordered the plane to take-off without a single pilgrim while the pilgrims were forced to travel by road, departing Maiduguri in the evening and arrived Kano at about midnight before they were airlifted to Saudi Arabia. “Skynet International Limited which chartered the flight said it followed all processes and had gotten clearance from the army, air force and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria before it began preparations for the airlift.

The airport was thereafter closed till September 29, 2014 by the time hajj airlift would have been concluded. “As the airport closure was still in force, Governor Kashim Shettima yesterday embarked on a trip by road to Kano to see his immediate elder brother and most senior member of his family since the Governor has since lost both parents. The Governor’s convoy was without soldiers. “While the Governor went about travelling by road, Ex-Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff was permitted by the Federal Government to fly into the closed Maiduguri International Airport. Sheriff arrived the airport at about 1:32 PM, on board his private jet with registration number 5NBMH to the waiting hands of dozens of soldiers led by the Garrison commander, seven division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Colonel D.R. Hassan who led troops to give cover to the Ex-Governor.

“The plane departed the airport at 2:22pm and is expected to return on Tuesday to airlift the former Governor. Sheriff is expected to defect to the PDP and lead the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in Borno State. “Dismembered youth political groups called ECOMOG that was associated with rival violence during the Sheriff administration were re-mobilised by Sheriff’s men as they stormed the airport. Governor Shettima had in the last three years introduced a policy of suspending political thuggery to have youths provided with vocational skills tobecome self employed. Some of ECOMOG thugs were last year trained on poultry agriculture.“A campaign office belonging to Sheriff was painted in white while it is expected to wear PDP colours in coming days. Some key associates of Sheriff including a serving member of House of Representatives, Kangar, had in an interview published last week in some Newspapers said Sheriff had made up his mind to defect to the PDP.”

Credit: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/164894-blamed-by-opponents-for-boko-haram-insurgency-ali-sheriff-dumps-apc-joins-pdp.html

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a couple, Mr. Danladi Wushishi, and Mrs. Ojuolape Wushishi, for allegedly duping unsuspecting victims to the tune of N20m in fake auction sales in Lagos. PUNCH Metro learnt that while Ojuolape was arrested on Wednesday, June 18, at Odeogbolu Street, Ijegun, Danladi, was apprehended at Allen Avenue on Friday, June 25. Our correspondent gathered that the couple were arrested after a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, from one of the victims, Mrs. Chinyere Uzorchukwu, who was allegedly duped by the couple to the tune of N5m. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad operatives had subsequently gone on the trail of the couple and arrested them.

The Wushishis had allegedly collected money from their victims under the false pretext that they had a container load of goods meant for customs auction sales at one of the customs terminals in Lagos. It was further learnt that prior to the incident, the couple normally took their victims to a fake customs’ warehouse in Ikorodu, Lagos, and showed them containers which were sealed. However, after payments had been made, the victims would wait endlessly expecting their goods, which never came. Apart from Uzorchukwu, the police said the couple had also duped one Nkechi Anokwuru of about N3.5m and one Mr. Livinus of about N19m in the fake auction deals. Danladi, 46, who hails from Niger State, confessed that he collected the money from the victims without having any goods anywhere.

He said, “I am a businessman and I am also a freight forwarder at the Tin Can Island, Lagos. I have been doing this business for about eight years. The cargo in question has an allocation paper that read clothes, but when I got there, I saw that it only contained books. “Then, I called one Alhaji Issa, a clearing agent in Abuja, and he said the clothes could be in another container. But he added that I would pay N3.5m to get it. I then lied to my wife that I needed someone dealing in Okrika clothes as I had clothes to sell. That was how we met Chinyere. We first collected N1.35m from her, and then N800,000, and then N700,000.“I also collected N14m from Livinus in same transaction. But I never received any container since I started collecting money from this people. My wife is not aware that I was duping them.”

Ojuolape, 48, said her husband dragged her into the fraud mess as she never knew that the container they had in Ikorodu was empty.She said, “I was a trader at Ikotun. I usually bought goods (clothes) from Dubai and London. I have been doing this business for about seven years. I usually do it with my husband. “About two months ago, my husband told me that there is an auction paper for second-hand Okrika clothes. So, I spoke with some people, who began to pay. But when we got to Ikorodu, we discovered that no container had Okrika clothes. Ojuolape, mother of four, added that when she discovered that there were no clothes, she warned her

Credit:http://www.punchng.com/news/couple-dupe-victims-n20m-in-fake-auction-sales/

A Florida jury has awarded the widow of a chain-smoker who died of lung cancer punitive damages of more than $23bn in her case against the RJ Reynolds Tobacco, the nation's second-largest cigarette maker. The judgment, returned on Friday night in a Pensacola court, was the largest in Florida history in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by an individual, according to the woman's legal team. Cynthia Robinson, of Pensacola, sued the cigarette maker, whose brands include Camel, in 2008 over the death of her husband, Michael Johnson. Johnson smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day for more 20 years and died of lung cancer in 1996 aged 36

"He couldn't quit. He was smoking the day he died," lawyer Chris Chestnut told the Reuters news agency on Saturday. After four weeks of hearings and 15 hours of jury deliberations, the jury said that the tobacco company was negligent in informing Robinson's husband, that smoking causes lung cancer and that nicotine is highly addictive.Compensatory damages of $7.3 million were awarded to the widow and the couple's child, and $9.6 million to Johnson's son from a previous relationship. The jury also awarded Robinson $23.6bn in punitive damages, according to the verdict forms. This wasn't a runaway jury, it was a courageous one-Chris Chestnut, plaintiff's lawyer

'Runaway verdict'

Jeffery Raborn, the vice-president and assistant general counsel for RJ Reynolds, said in a statement quoted by the New York Times that the company planned to challenge "this runaway verdict". "This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness and is completely inconsistent with the evidence presented," he said. Such industry appeals are often successful. A $28bn ruling against the tobacco firm Philip Morris in 2002 was reduced on appeal to $28m. Robinson's lawsuit originally was part of a large class-action litigation known as the "Engle case" filed in 1994 against tobacco companies.

A jury in that case returned a verdict in 2000 in favour of the plaintiffs, awarding $145bn in punitive damages, which at the time was the largest such judgment in US history. That award, however, was overruled in 2006 by the Florida supreme court, saying that the group was too disparate and each smoker smoked for different reasons. However, the court said individual cases could be filed. The Florida high court also let stand the jury's findings that cigarettes are defective, dangerous and cause disease, and that tobacco firms were negligent, meaning those issues did not have to be re-examined in future cases.

Credit: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/07/us-widow-wins-236bn-tobacco-payout-201472004712110239.html

Following the impeachment plot on Governor Tanko Al-makura by Nasarawa state assembly dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over sundry allegations, analysts are of the opinion that the issues are politically motivated. It is hardly believable that the pomp and hysterical jubilation of Nasarawa people following the emergence of Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura’s victory at the 2011 poll would come to a crashing end at the hands of the very PDP that was massively voted out of office for inertia by the electorates. This is the eighth time the state assembly has threatened Governor Al-makura with impeachment but only now has reached the point of serving a notice on him to that effect. Many questions come to mind as to the timing and motive behind this move.

From conspiracy theorists to informed political sources, diverse reasons are being adduced, most of which point to the fact that the PDP is more concerned with maintaining grip on power at any cost than governance and the collective prosperity of Nigerians. The public court in Nasarawa state is of the judgment that Al-makura is a victim of Goodluck Jonathan and PDP’s new strategy for self-perpetuation at the helm of affairs. This is for the simple reason that if the principles of good governance are measured by the delivery of democracy dividends, then the outrage that greeted this move by the assembly is justified.

From inception of his administration in 2011, Al-makura made it clear that plundering public purse for personal gains would not be tolerated and that disposition sets the tone for his running battle with the assembly over the issue of financial patronage as had been the tradition. Although the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Musa Ahmed Mohammed had on many occasions testified that Al-makura has ensured fiscal autonomy for the state assembly, the lawmakers are disenchanted with the governor’s consistent refusal to oblige them any fiscal privilege other than what is statutorily theirs. It is believed that the previous occasions they threatened him with impeachment, the primary motive was bargaining for some financial patronage.

On several occasions, the public rose spontaneously to the governor’s defence who is widely viewed as the messiah saving the state from the twelve wasteful years of PDP’s misrule. Two shades of opinion that have now come to the fore however are that the presidency perfected the defection of the deputy governor to the PDP as a way of easing the governor out for fear of facing him at the polls due to his soaring popularity coming on the heel of his achievements. Persuaded to carry out this onerous task to reclaim the state for the PDP so as to ensure Jonathan’s re-election did not come without a prize as the lawmakers were said to have been given N30 million each with a promise of automatic return ticket if they pull it off.

Although Al-makura was said to have given them N10million each two days before their resolution to impeach him, it was not enough to sway them. The lawmakers are reaping bountifully from both sides with each trying to save or perpetuate themselves in office. It noteworthy that all the 16 charges leveled against Governor Al-makura border on financial misappropriation. For example, he is accused of misappropriating over N2 billion from the Joint Account Fund, over N3billion from Local Government Joint Account and diversion and misappropriation of Sure-P funds. Other allegations include falsification of financial report for the year 2012 and diversion of over N350 million funds meant for flood.

Laudable and morally upright as this may sound if proven to be true, what bothers the Nasarawa electorates is the veiled insincerity behind this glossy display of pious grandstanding by the assembly. An informed source who spoke to LEADERSHIP Sunday was of the belief that the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, is taking advantage of his closeness to the president to mastermind the removal of Al-makura to pave way for him to realize his long desired ambition of becoming the governor of the state. The source who pleaded anonymity also disclosed that part of the grand plan is to force the Deputy Governor, Hon. Dameshi Barau, to resign so that the speaker acts for a period of three months during which the presidency is expected to perfect the election of either Maku or Senator Solomon Ewuga as governor.

Investigations also reveal that in the event that Maku and Ewuga proof difficult to sell, the former governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma would be brought into the race to fly the party’s flag. This is more so due the stigma which an Eggon man is associated with after visiting mayhem on several ethnic communities in the state. Senator Ewuga is said to be disposed to this option because it would serve as a form of extending a hand of fellowship to the Alagos after the brutal massacre of their kinsmen by the Ombatse militia. With the impeachment notice having claimed three lives already in a standoff between Gwandara and Eggon youths who are both rooting for one of theirs, more is still expected as a backlash to this move which many in the state consider hypocritical and ignoble.In the interim, however, four constituencies have indicated readiness to initiate moves towards recalling their members from the assembly, Francis Orogu, PDP-Keana, Anthony Obande, PDP-Doma South, Mohammed Okpede, Doma Central are on danger list.

One peculiar and disturbing dimension is the refusal of the lawmakers to heed to the counsel of royal fathers in the state. Hon. Orogu, who is unarguably the face of the impeachment was said to have turned down all pleas by the Osana of Keana HRH, Sen Emmanuel Elayo. Even the emir of Lafia appealed to him in the same vein but the former labour leader refused to reconsider his position. Many in the state, however, are of the belief that the lawmakers would eventually reconsider their moves in the interest of peace. Some are also of the opinion that since Al-makura has given the impression of an impeccable manager of resources as demanded by the APC code of conduct, he should rather avail himself for scrutiny rather than buying time on the matter giving the impression of his culpability on the issues raised.

Credit:http://leadership.ng/news/politics/378379/underlying-motives-behind-al-makuras-impeachment

The leadership of the All Progressives Congress on Friday in Abuja held a secret meeting in Abuja to strategise on how to stop the alleged plot to impeach the Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura. A source said that the APC leadership stressed the need to build a robust support for the embattled governor.The source, who did not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak to the media said, “The meeting did not last very long. It was a secret meeting. Its major purpose was to build robust support for Al-Makura, who is being hounded for no just cause.

“It was agreed that we bring together a team of lawyers to help explore our legal options to stop the planned impeachment.”In a related development, a former interim Publicity Secretary of the Ondo State chapter of the APC, Rotimi Fashakin, said “the Peoples Democratic Party-inspired onslaught against the party’s governors was an attack on democracy.”He told Saturday PUNCH in a telephone interview that what APC governors were being hounded for was nothing compared to what the President Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP was doing to the country.Fashakin said “What this administration is doing is simply an abuse of power. The administration is drunk with power.”

Credits: http://www.punchng.com/news/apc-leaders-meet-to-save-al-makura/

Edwin Igbokwe opens up on his grief and denial following the death of his wife, Christy Essien Igbokwe, three years ago and how he’s been coping with life

Thirty five years ago, I married my soul mate and lifetime partner. She was Nigeria’s lady of songs, the late Christy Essien Igbokwe. I was a 26-year-old executive at The Punch while she was a 19-year-old songstress and actress that mesmerised Nigeria’s entertainment and theatre scenes with her young, affable innocence. Through those years, we celebrated togetherness and profound love, a love I felt the first time I blessed my eyes on her; a love that grew stronger each sunrise, until 9a.m, June 30, 2011. With each day’s sunset, our love blossomed, like flowers bloomed in spring. We stayed as one through the challenges of life. There were years of aches and pains, tears of joy and electrifying laughter. We stayed together and survived the rough and tumbles of life. We shared everything until it was time for her to go. She lived half a century.

“As I walked down Jebose Boulevard, I tried to accept and appreciate all that life privileged after her eternal transition. It is over three years since Christy died. The denials, the depressions, forward from her death are paths to healing. I missed and mourned her tenderly. Time and support from friends and family were therapies to a second chance at life, living and loving. No one understands the discomfort and trauma of losing a dear family member such as your siblings, your parents or wife, a dearest lifetime partner; (the cherished one you swore before God and the people to love till death do us part), until it happened to them: We are never the same when we lose those that we loved and admired. A part of us leaves with them. Every one of us would come to that place in our lifetime; what matters is how we handled our different circumstances and who would be there to comfort us as we grieved. The mourning season may never end. I can imagine days of guilt, days of tear drops on the pillows and silent wails for losing my dearest wife. The pain is part of passionate memories, of a privileged, shared moment in our lives. These walks with you, Jebose, ignited emotional past pains of losing my late wife and a closure of tragic and traumatic chapters of my life.

Christy was special and spectacular. She was a prophet. She revealed when she would die to the children and by extension, to me: she revealed to us that she had only half a century in this ‘wicked world;’ she told me that when death came, it would be middle of the year. She shared with close friends and members of the family, her end time. I always dismissed her because I was not ready to lose her. She told our children that she would live for 50 years and that any single day thereafter, they should be thanking God. She died June 30, 2011 at age 50.

During one of our affectionate conversations, she told me she would be sick for three days before her death. She said she would exit without burden to anyone or herself. I didn’t believe, until it happened: four days before her death, she complained of stomach ache. We went to the hospital for scanning and treatment: the hospital placed her on overnight admission and began treatment, but she wanted to go home. Her desire to go home was bolstered by hospital’s electric power interruption. The hospital’s generator was also broken down. She said rather weakly, that she wanted to go home since the hospital had no electricity. I honoured her request. We left the hospital for our home. Halfway into our street, the doctor called and informed me that the generator suddenly activated, surprisingly nothing was wrong with it, we could return to continue treatment; we were almost home, my wife said she didn’t want to go back to the hospital.

“The next day, the illness continued at home. She refused to go back to the hospital: the doctor came to the house and placed her on a drip. Even though she was weak, she was active and independent; she refused any assistance; not even a support on the staircase and into the car, as we set out for hospital again, having encouraged her to return to a different hospital for re-examination. I drove her into the waiting arms of doctors who further examined my late wife in a specialist hospital (Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja). She was placed on admission. She was seeing things and in her own world, as she lay ill, she was concerned about the staff and other patients in the hospital. She was kept overnight because of the diagnosis. The second night, she requested prayer warriors to begin intense prayers, not for her but for us, the living, and for her peaceful transition.

She encouraged nurses in the hospital to pray: she would whisper prayer points and choruses. She muttered some messages to our God-son, George, who was with me in the hospital. We went into frenzy shouting for joy when she mentioned that ‘we were victorious and it was all over.’ By 5.30am June 30, 2011, we witnessed deteriorating changes in her health. I phoned Obi, our first son, and he quickly arrived at the hospital to assist. I dashed out to seek a transfer for her to another (the intensive care) room in the hospital. I left Obi and George with pastors and prayer warriors who arrived to pray with us. Something happened while I was gone. The mood changed when I returned. I smelt sadness from the travelling breeze within. The mood was solemn. I saw the sad faces of hospital staff and my son: I felt strange. Everyone from the doctors tried to find a way to tell me she had died… One of the midwives called me to the side and said I should brace up because my wife died few minutes then.

That morning of her death, pastors and other prayer warriors ended morning prayer in her room; she whispered amen, and then slept off. It was exactly 9a.m. I felt dazed, shocked and awed when I was told I lost my ‘everything,’ my companion and the love of my life. Jebose, I caved into denial zone. We immediately moved her body to a room in our home, unknown to many. My late wife warned that her body must not be deposited in the mortuary. I had to respect her wishes. So we decorated a room in our house and laid her down. She was beautiful, peaceful in her sleep. The media and the enlarged burial committee members didn’t know where she was after her death. She lay in that room for almost three months. I was going crazy. I didn’t want to believe she would not wake up. She was smiling peacefully. I couldn’t believe it. I made sure I looked at her every day. I was confused, depressed, dejected and hopeless. The children began to monitor me. I was still in denial, hoping she was asleep… she would wake up. I kept reassuring myself. She never did.

“I finally accepted her death when the pallbearers came into that room and placed her in a coffin for the Commendation Service at Arch Bishop Vining Memorial Cathedral, Ikeja on September 9, 2011 and from there later through the Muritala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja to Akanu Ibiam, Enugu airport en route Awka, Anambra State for funeral service and burial the next day. I knew then, that my best friend, my partner, my soul mate, the mother of my beautiful children, was truly gone.“ After the burial, I was alone and lonely, I felt guilty for her death. I never expected to bury my wife. I always prayed that when my time was up, she, our children and grandchildren would bury me. I began to question God in these transitional periods: I was near complete depression because life was no longer interesting to me: I was lonely and mourning my wife. I was empty. I told everyone that I would never remarry because no woman could replace my late wife. I was suicidal.

After her burial, the pain continued as life began to settle into normalcy, I began to see her in my dreams, encouraging me to live my life. She said she knew if I had the privilege of spending more time with her, I would have corrected certain things in our lives. She said I must move on with my life. Throughout our 32 years, we shared everything: we never separated from the same bedroom. The only time we separated was when we kept her body in a separate room while planning her funeral. Counselling from well-wishers helped me to begin to accept a life without her.

“Her appearances in my dreams encouraged me to move on. In one of such appearances, she told me: “I came and I have fulfilled my destiny on earth. I wished I stayed longer but that was my destiny and God’s words must surely come to pass in our lives. I am not coming again. I am happy where I am. It is well with all of you! Please I want to be remembered always in happiness. Stop getting worried any longer because you do most times. You cry often for missing me and wished that I lived so that you make some amends. It is too late now. You should move on. Your focus should be how to live long for our kids. Advise them properly and correct them positively whenever they go wrong, for their own good. Take good care of them and their offsprings as long as you witness and always bless and not curse any of them. (She smiled…..) I never cursed any of them. I only tried to make them look forward to being independent as my last days on earth approached. Because you need to live long for the kids, you can remarry instead of running into some temptations that are building up. Pray hard. God will show you the right person.

The person should not be very young. She must be older than our first kid. She must be able to stand in for the sake of the kids but she must not participate directly as one of the owners in any of our already established companies unless with express permission of all the kids. She will obey you. I must be respected. You know other things that would make the relationship to be soothing to me in death and useful to you in life unless if you want to continue to deceive yourself. You must not allow her do anything you know would not be pleasing. You are an intelligent man, I did say this often and I leave you to your conscience (she smiled…) till we meet to part no more. My love to all still existing and I want all to know this.”

“If she didn’t appear to me in my dreams, I wouldn’t have remarried. I remarried after three years of her death. Time reversed everything. I didn’t want a situation where I would be bringing different women to our home: After the dreams, I began to consider marriage again. Being alone may not be the problem, the problem is the temptations that loneliness and being alone ferment. That would be very disrespectful to her memory and our children. I remarried, with her blessings. I am no longer mourning but her memories are indelible.”

Credit: http://www.punchng.com/news/i-kept-my-wifes-corpse-in-a-room-for-three-months-hoping-she-would-wake-up-edwin-christy-essien-igbokwes-husband/

The race for the Governor's office in Alausa, Ikeja just got hotter with prominent Lawyer, Mr Jimi Agbaje defecting to the People's Democratic party. Mr Agbaje who was the Lagos State governorship candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in the 2007 elections, where he came third in the 2007 race. He has several times been reported to be romancing with the PDP and that arrangement have been concluded by the party to field him as its governorship candidate come 2015.

It was learnt that Agbaje formally registered as PDP member at his ward in Anthony and that his arrival to the party will be made formal next week. Publicity secretary of PDP in Lagos, Taofic Gani however said he is not aware of the defection as he said there is no concrete evidence to show hat Agbaje has finally defected to the party. He however said the party is keeping its fingers crossed and that it will update the public on any development within the party in the state. Agbaje came into limelight in 2007 when during a television debate, he floored major aspirants contesting against him in the election.

Credits: http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/politics/29502-2015-agbaje-defects-to-pdp

A National Conference delegate, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has asked the National Assembly to reject the request made by President Goodluck Jonathan, asking for the Assembly’s approval for a $1bn loan to aid the war against the Islamic sects, Boko Haram. Falana said the President must explain what he had been doing with the budgets made for defence in the past few years. He said, “The request made by President Jonathan for approval of the Senate for a loan of $1 bn to fight the menace of the Boko Haram sect should be rejected in its entirety. Between 2010 and 2013 over N3tn was budgeted for defence. “Under the Appropriation Bill signed into law on May 23 this year, 20 per cent of the entire federal budget i.e. the sum of N968.127bn out of N4.962tn was earmarked for defence. The Senate should find out what happened to the defence budget in the middle of the year to warrant a supplementary budget of N160bn.”

Similarly, another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Yusuf Alli, said the request by the President had created a state of uncertainty as he had yet to be fully aware of all the parameters for the request. He urged the National Assembly to be sure there was a need for it before approving it. He said, “I am sure they should be sure that there is a need for it before they will approve it. One does not possess all the parameters for asking for the loan, so one is a bit in a quandary. One does not have all the factors that have been considered. “But one wants to believe that the National Assembly will be given all the facts to do the correct thing.” A security consultant, Ben Okezia, faulted the request by Jonathan, saying the Army already had a budget which was being used to fund its counter-terrorism campaign in the North-East.

According to him, the government should not attempt to hoodwink Nigerians. He said the number of Boko Haram insurgents were not up to 2000 and that not all of them were armed. He therefore cautioned the National Assembly against approving the loan request, saying the government was not sending everyone in the Army to fight against Boko Haram and as such there was no need for the loan. Okezie said, “What does he (Jonathan) want to buy with $1bn? Are they saying all the soldiers in the Army are going to fight against Boko Haram? The money is for 2015 elections.” They know that APC will match them money for money.

But the Coordinator of National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, said the Federal Government would not spare resources to bring back the schoolgirls abducted from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 14. Omeri was responding to a question from a journalist on whether the resources of the Federal Government had depleted in the fight against terrorism such that it now needed to borrow $1bn to prosecute the war. The NUC coordinator said, “Even the United States goes for this kind of facility. For any country involved in such military expedition, not just the Boko Haram issue, but engaged in a number of military exercises, its stock will deplete. Every country must restock to reinforce its capability.

“That is not to say that the resource of Nigeria has finished and therefore we needed to go for loan. It is not cash that will be given to Nigeria. It is a long term facility.“It is country-to-country kind of process because what the government is looking for is the approval of the National Assembly so that the President can negotiate for arms to consolidate, to reinforce the stock the armed forces have and to guarantee that we will win the war against insurgency and we have an effective and capable assets to prosecute any unforeseen issue. This happens to all countries. It is not exclusive to Nigeria.”

He added, “Once the country is engaged in any kind of activity of this nature, it sure will lead to depletion of resources. So, I don’t think the loan is because the resources are depleted. For the amount so far spent, I am not in a position to say so. 1“We are still prosecuting the war. So, it will be preposterous to begin to calculate cost. Don’t forget, our citizens have been abducted. And so whatever we need to do that we must do to get our citizens back, we will do it. The country will do it.” Jonathan had on Wednesday forwarded a letter to the National Assembly, asking the lawmakers to urgently approve a $1bn external loan for the Federal Government to confront the Boko Haram insurgency.

Credit:http://www.punchng.com/news/reject-jonathans-1bn-loan-request-falana-tells-nassembly/