₦airaland Forum

Enough to start α war

Naija. Smh

Airtel all the way. Though they take ♍Ɣ credit even when on active bb subscription.

The Chadian soldiers have really killed lots of militants cos they know desert warfare so well. News are not coming from the Nigerian soldiers.

Top News

Chad says it killed Algeria hostage mastermind in Mali

Sat, Mar 02 21:00 PM EST



By Madjiasra Nako

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al Qaeda commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Chad's military said on Saturday.

The death of one of the world's most wanted jihadists would be a major blow to al Qaeda in the region and to Islamist rebels already forced to flee towns they had seized in northern Mali by an offensive by French and African troops.

"On Saturday, March 2, at noon, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base. ... The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar," Chad's armed forces said in a statement read on national television.

On Friday, Chad's president, Idriss Deby, said his soldiers had killed another al Qaeda commander, Adelhamid Abou Zeid, among 40 militants who died in an operation in the same area as Saturday's assault - Mali's Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the Algerian border.

France - which has used jet strikes against the militants' mountain hideouts - has declined to confirm the killing of either Abou Zeid or Belmokhtar.

In Washington, an Obama administration said the White House could not confirm the killing of Belmokhtar.

Analysts said the death of two of al Qaeda's most feared commanders in the Sahara desert would mark a significant blow to Mali's Islamist rebellion.

"Both men have extensive knowledge of northern Mali and parts of the broader Sahel and deep social and other connections in northern Mali, and the death of both in such a short amount of time will likely have an impact on militant operations," said Andrew Lebovich, a Dakar-based analyst who follows al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Anne Giudicelli, managing director of security consultancy Terrorisc, said the al Qaeda commanders' deaths - if confirmed - would temporarily disrupt the Islamist rebel network but would also raise concern over the fate of seven French hostages believed to be held by Islamists in northern Mali.

Chad is one of several African nations that have contributed forces to a French-led military intervention in Mali aimed at ridding its vast northern desert of Islamist rebels who seized the area nearly a year ago following a coup in the capital.

Western and African countries are worried that al Qaeda could use the zone to launch international attacks and strengthen ties with African Islamist groups like al Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria.

'MARLBORO MAN'

Belmokhtar, 40, who lost an eye while fighting in Afghanistan in the 1990s, claimed responsibility for the seizure of dozens of foreign hostages at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in January in which more than 60 people were killed.

That attack put Algeria back on the map of global jihad, 20 years after its civil war, a bloody Islamist struggle for power. It also burnished Belmokhtar's jihadi credentials by showing that al Qaeda remained a potent threat to Western interests despite U.S. forces killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

Before In Amenas, some intelligence experts had assumed Algerian-born Belmokhtar had drifted away from jihad in favor of kidnapping and smuggling weapons and cigarettes in the Sahara where he earned the nickname "Marlboro Man".

In a rare interview with a Mauritanian news service in late 2011, Belmokhtar paid homage to bin Laden and his successor, Ayman al-Zawahri. He cited al Qaeda's traditional global preoccupations, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the fate of the Palestinians, and stressed the need to "attack Western and Jewish economic and military interests".

He shared command of field operations for AQIM - al Qaeda's North African franchise - with Abou Zeid, although there was talk the two did not get along and were competing for power.

A former smuggler turned jihadi, Algerian-born Abou Zeid imposed a violent form of sharia, Islamic law, in the ancient desert town of Timbuktu, including amputations and the destruction of ancient Sufi shrines.

Robert Fowler, a former Canadian diplomat held hostage by Belmokhtar from 2008 to 2009, told Reuters, "While I cannot consider reports of the death of both Abou Zeid and Mokhtar Belmokhtar as anything but good news ... I must temper my enthusiasm by the fact that this is by no means the first time Belmokhtar's death has been reported."

President Francois Hollande said on Friday that the assault to retake Mali's vast desert north from AQIM and other Islamist rebels that began on January 11 was in its final stage and so could not confirm Abou Zeid's death.

A U.S. official and a Western diplomat said, however, the reports about Abou Zeid's death appeared to be credible.

U.S. Representative Ed Royce, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the killing of Belmokhtar "would be a hard blow to the collection of jihadists operating across the region that are targeting American diplomats and energy workers."

Washington has said it believes Islamists operating in Mali were involved in the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi in September.

After its success in dislodging al Qaeda fighters from northern Mali's towns, France and its African allies have faced a mounting wave of suicide bombings and guerrilla-style raids by Islamists in northern Malian towns.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace French troops in Mali should be discussed as soon as possible.

Chad was among the quickest to respond to Mali's appeals for help alongside the French, rushing in hundreds of troops experienced in desert warfare, led by Deby's son, General Mahamat Deby.

The country's president may be hoping to polish his regional and international credentials by assisting in this war, while bolstering his own position in power in Chad, which has been threatened in the past by eastern neighbor Sudan.

http://mobile.reuters.com/regional/article/idCABRE9210B920130303?edition=ca

An attempt to rescue abducted seven expatriates working with SETRACO Construction Company in Jama’are local government area of Bauchi State might be under way. Five British jet bombers yesterday arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

LEADERSHIP WEEKEND exclusively sighted the bombers which were parked at the international wing of the airport.

The foreign workers, who included five Lebanese, a Briton and an Italian, were abducted last Saturday by unknown gunmen in Bauchi.

LEADERSHIP WEEKEND further gathered that the bombers might be on their way to prepare ground for the eventual rescue of the foreigners.

The jet bombers were said to have arrived in the early hours of yesterday while their colours comprised three ash and two army green. The army green jets were marked “Royal Army”.

LEADERSHIP WEEKEND further observed some foreign soldiers putting on brown camouflage uniforms were entering one of the army green jets in preparation for departure.

It was further gathered that some of the jets had started leaving the airport for certain locations to assist in the rescue of the kidnapped foreigners.

The four grey-coloured jets departed the Abuja airport at about 5.55pm, leaving only the army-green jet at the airport as at press time.

The entry of the jets, the military source said, was to prevent the recent failed rescue operation in Sokoto where the terrorists killed the foreigners before they could be rescued by the security agencies, including foreign officers.

When contacted over the unusual sighting of the jets, the British high commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Rob Fitzpatrick, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, “This is routine military-to-military engagement.”

Two hostages, Chris McManus (Britain) and Franco Lamolinara (Italy), were found dead in Sokoto on March 9, 2012, during a failed joint rescue mission by the British special forces and the Nigerian military. A group that claimed ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, which happened in May 2011.

The rescue attempt began in the morning in Sokoto’s Mabera neighbourhood, a sprawling maze of sandy roads and single-storey cement homes on what used to be fertile farmland surrounding the city of 500,000 people. Residents said a seemingly unending barrage of gunfire followed, as did an attack led by a military armoured personnel carrier.

Once inside in the compound, soldiers found the two men had been killed. But details of how and when they died remained unclear

Information from the raid came from individuals arrested by Nigeria’s security agencies before the operation, a senior official in Nigeria said. However, British officials worried the kidnappers would realise “the net was closing” on their location.

The rescue effort ended months of uncertainty about what happened to McManus and Lamolinara. McManus was working for construction company B.Stabilini when he was kidnapped on May 12, 2011, by gunmen who stormed his apartment in the city of Birnin-Kebbi, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) away from Sokoto. Lamolinara was also abducted.

A German colleague managed to escape by scaling a wall, but a Nigerian engineer was shot and wounded.

A video later released showed the kidnappers claiming they belonged to al-Qaida and threatening to kill McManus and Lamolinara if their demands were not met.

Britain’s Foreign Office had said two men were held by terrorists associated with Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect in Nigeria blamed for more than 300 killings this year alone. A senior British government official said the kidnappers appeared to be from an al-Qaida-linked cell within Boko Haram, but not within the group’s main faction.

Source: (http:///VVRAeq)

Another version is that they were targeting Israeli and US govt.
Which one e come Be Ω̴̩̩̩̥αн
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/nigeria-arrests-iranian-terror-cell-planning-attacks-on-israeli-u-s-targets.premium-1.504799

In a new dimension in the war against begging, the Special Offences Court in Alausa area of Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria has sent 30 beggars to Kirikiri and Badagry Prisons for soliciting for alms and other offences.

The Lagos State Government had charged them to court for constituting nuisance in public by begging for alms.

The government says it is no longer going to be business as usual as it has vowed to prosecute erring beggars on the streets of Lagos.

The Attorney General of Lagos State was the prosecutor in the case. Some of the count charges against the beggars included conducting themselves as disorderly persons without visible means of livelihood and thus committed an offence under the criminal law of Lagos State.

They were also charged with conducting themselves in a manner likely to cause breach of peace and for receiving, demanding and or collecting dues or unauthorised levy from persons and thus committed offence punishable under the law on illegal collection of dues in public places.

The beggars, 39 in number pleaded guilty to the offences and were consequently sent to Kirikiri and Badagry Prisons for one month pending when the final judgment would be delivered by the judge. Nine of them, as a result of their disabilities were rejected by prison officials and were then taken to the Lagos State Rehabilitation Home, Majidun, Ikorodu on the outskirts of Lagos.

Some of the beggars prosecuted, P.M.NEWS gathered, were said to have attacked government officials during a rampage at the Lagos State Rehabilitation Home, Majidun, the place where they were being rehabilitated.

Thirteen other beggars were also arraigned on Friday by the government at the same Special Offences Court. Three of the beggars were sentenced to 72 hours community service or pay a fine of N5,000, while 10 others were sentenced to three months imprisonment or pay fine of N10,000 each. Three others were sentenced directly to 72 hours community service without an option of fine.

Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Youth and Social Development, Dr. Dolapo Badru said government decided to begin prosecution of beggars because it had exhausted its patience with the beggars.

“We still rehabilitate some of them, but most of them don’t want to be rehabilitated and they don’t want to work. They feel more comfortable preying on people with superstitious beliefs.

“Some people believe that if they are unlucky in certain cases or looking for certain ways to make it in life, what they need to do is to give alms to beggars so that their fortune can change. Some believe that if someone debars their progress in life, what they need to do is to give money to beggars to change their fortune.

“Lots of beggars now prey on these people’s superstitious beliefs to get money from them. Many of them pretend to be blind, crippled, among others. They make more money than many people gainfully employed,” he explained.

Badru added that the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos had made it possible for barons to ship beggars to the metropolis to beg for alms, making lots of money, stressing that many of them felt so comfortable begging for alms on roads.

“We have tried a lot to rehabilitate them by making some of them to learn trade, but they don’t want to work. Some of them don’t want to use the skill we taught them to work, but they prefer to be on the road because they make more money at a go than using their skills.

“What we do now is that when we have overcrowding at the rehabilitation homes, we re-unite some of them with their families. However, some people rescued from the street more than once are prosecuted. We have sent 30 of them to Kirikiri and Badagry Prisons,” he stated.

Some of the beggars prosecuted are Fatima Jubril, Sanusi Muhammed, Lado Amadu, Badayani Garuba, Denyaya Isali, Beto Manu, Garuba Ibrahim, Aruna Yau, Dauda Amadu and Magada Salisu.

Source: (http:///TzC5WY)

Ω̴̩̩̩̥α spirit nah

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reversed itself on earlier policy cancelling payment for electricity meters by customers.

Following the commencement of the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) 2 in June 2012, the commission had announced that electricity consumers would no longer pay for pre-paid meters as the MYTO 2 was structured to allow for adequate funding of the sector, including the provision of meters to customers.

Meters, it said, were now the property of the distribution companies (Discos) who now have the responsibility to install them for customers as the cost had been factored in the MYTO 2 tariff.

But speaking at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, NERC chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, admitted that the agency faces a challenge with the planned rapid deployment of meters nationwide, saying that, after seven months, “records show that there are an unacceptable number of customers who are without meters. Compounding the issue is the menace of unrealistic estimated bills.”

The commission had given 18 timeframes for the various Discos to deploy pre-paid meters to electricity consumers nationwide in a bid to ensure that consumers paid only for what they consumed as against the practice of arbitrary estimated billing.

To this end, Amadi said alternative ways, including customers paying for meters to ensure quicker deployment, had now been decided on by the commission, a departure from its earlier policy.

He said customers can now pay for meters and get electricity credit covering the cost in the form of not paying for monthly fixed charge until the meter cost is defrayed to avoid “unrealistic estimated bills.”

According to him, reports from the field showed that “there is significant abuse of estimated billing methodology,” a situation which prompted the commission to adopt this alternative.

He noted that the slow deployment of meters was as a result of negotiation between government and PHCN workers, which had increased operational cost of the Discos in terms of increase in workers’ salary and regularisation of casual staff, among others, thereby making it difficult to utilise revenue from tariff to deploy meters.

NERC, he said, has also resolved that meters must be installed for customers within 45 days of payment, and that punitive action will be taken against the Disco for failing to do so.

To ensure standardisation and efficiency in line with the metering code, Amadi said a public notice would soon be issued for meter vendors to apply for certification after which NERC would write a ‘no objection’ to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to fast-track a ‘no objection’ certification for pre-qualified vendors from whom the Discos could purchase meters.

He also said customers who paid for meters prior to MYTO 2 would be supplied meters within 45 days of a notice to be served the Discos by NERC, adding, however, that these initiatives did not negate all other plans for meter deployment which the commission outlined following the commencement of MYTO 2.

Source: (http:///UmzS0l)

Flying car, already here http://www.terrafugia.com/

Amazing pics. check out http://9wows.com

Thank God for you life bro.

Cute baby

Oil money

Very Interesting. Nice one my brother.

Nigeria’s former military cum civilian President for 11 years, General Olusegun Obasanjo is at it again. The self acclaimed fearless General who touts his tigritude as a weapon of oppression and intimidation has added another red feather to his red cap.

In a recent forum on West African Regional Conference on Youth Employment held in Dakar, Senegal, the Former President shocked his audience by openly calling for a revolution in Nigeria as a result of the high rate of youth unemployment which he puts at 72 percent.

If the audience in Dakar was shocked, then the audience in Warri, Delta State, was flabbergasted when Obasanjo dropped another bombshell about the weak leadership style of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, especially in his handling of the Boko Haram saga.

It would be recalled that the former President called Nigerians to come out enmass for a Nigerian “Arab Spring” during a workshop on economic diversication and revenue generation in December 2011 at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Most Nigerians are at crossroads and are unable to decipher why and how a former Nigerian Head of State could incite the citizenry to the path of revolution to reverse an unemployment portfolio.

Nigerians become more jittery when such comments are from a retired Army General of the calibre and stature of General Obasanjo. Is the vociferous retired Army General planning a military coup de’tat or is he aware of one in the making. His regular insistence on an “Arab spring” and outright revolution to topple the “weak leadership” of President Goodluck Jonathan has become an unpalatable cliché Nigerians must decipher.

The General’s statements are more unsettling because he has the greatest and most unrestrained access to Aso Rock to advise and even brief the President on such issues that bother on National Security. Of all Nigeria’s former leaders, Olusegun Obasanjo “was” the closest confidant to the present regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. His goings and comings into and out of Aso Rock are unrestrained and without notice.

He also has the opportunity to meet the President one-on-one during their monthly National Council of State meetings in Aso Rock. And so why does the former President rage and attempt to pull down what he has helped in building, because his instrumentality in Jonathan’s becoming Nigeria’s first South South President can never be controverted.

General Obasanjo like all human beings has his own frailties. The most prominent of these is his brutal pay back mentality for any request scorned or denied. Obasanjo has such a peacockish personality that responds to such situations with a fiery rebuttal. And so when you see Obasanjo lambasting an incumbent President openly on National Television, know that the incumbent President has not heeded his advice or has pruned down his incessant long lists for Federal appointees from the South West, especially from Ogun State.

Obasanjo believes so much in his superhero mythology and as Nigeria’s patron saint he believes that he is the best President Nigeria ever had and this qualifies him for a third and probably a fourth tenure as Nigeria’s President.

Today, Obasanjo’s call for a Nigerian Arab Spring has revealed unimaginable shallowness and an irredeemable myopia.

The Arab Spring or Arab Uprising started in Tunisia on December 18, 2010 when a Tunisian unemployed graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze to protest police corruption and brutality.

The ensuing protest became unmanageable and it spread throughout Tunisia with increased violence. The Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011.

The protests spread through North Africa and the Gulf States engulfing Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. Echoes of the Arab Spring resounded in Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Djibouti etc.

And today the dregs of the Arab Spring are yet to sediment. President Hosni Mubarak was forced to flee on February 11, 2011. And till date Egypt does not have a stable government as Tahrir Square has become a symbol of the peoples’ solidarity. Even with the democratic election of President Mohammed Morsy of the Moslem Brotherhood, Egypt is as unstable as an ancient blackboard standing on three legs, with the hind leg broken off.

Libya’s Moummar Gaddafi was gunned down like his proverbial RAT metaphor on October 20, 2011 in his home town of Sirte. Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh abdicated his “throne” on February 27, 2012.

All the above is to demonstrate the inappropriateness of the Arab Spring “solution” to the Nigerian situation. If the Arab Spring gets to Nigeria, people like Obasanjo will be the first to flee without looking back.

This is because a Nigerian Spring will not turn the guns only at Aso Rock, it will snowball into a tribal war due to the depth of our ethnic chauvinism and sentimentalities.

General Obasanjo’s call for a revolution because of youth unemployment is as misplaced as his call for a Nigerian version of the Arab Spring. People like Obasanjo in such lofty heights should not pray for a revolution, not even for their children because revolutions are cataclysmic, destructive and unpredictable. The no-nonsense General needs some tutorials on revolutions. The French revolution of July 14, 1789 will just be instructive.

Some experts argue that age has not diminished Obasanjo’s blood thirstiness hence his incessant reference to Arab Spring, Revolution, Zakibiam Massacre, Odi Genocide etc. after all, once a General, always a General.

Obasanjo in his recent role as the moderator for “Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor’s 40th anniversary on the pulpit “mercilessly lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan’s weak response to the Boko Haram crisis.

Hear Obasanjo: “I attended to a problem that I saw. I sent soldiers, they were killed, 19 of them were decapitated. If I had allowed that to continue, I would not have the authority to send security forces anywhere again. I attended to it…. If you say you do not want a strong leader, who can have all the characteristics of a leader, including the fear of God, then you have a weak leader and the rest of the problem is yours.”

Obasanjo gloats and flaunts his genocidal and criminal demolition of Odi in Bayelsa State where unidentified militants killed 19 soldiers. But when Obasanjo’s troops invaded Odi with bulldozers and caterpillars, the militants had fled leaving hapless citizens in their thousands to feel the pangs of pain and death. Even the lame, the blind, the old and sucklings were not spared. Some day Obasanjo will appear at the War Crime Tribunal at the Hague to answer these heinous crimes against mankind. If these 19 soldiers were killed in Abeokuta, would Obasanjo have sent the Nigerian Army to reduce it to rubbles.

Obasanjo’s criticism of governments in power is not peculiar to President Jonathan’s regime. Early in 2010 while late President Yar’Adua was in a Saudi hospital, Obasanjo accused his political protégé of corruption and an inability to control corruption.

Obasanjo who characteristically wears the hood to shield the monk is one of the most corrupt leaders that Nigeria has ever had. Obasanjo’s regimes spanning 11 years, both as military and civilian dictator, were the most corrupt in Nigeria’s recorded history profile. Obasanjo built a state of the art university (Bells University) as an incumbent. Obasanjo also established a mega business conglomerate called TRANSCORP with N200m shares to his credit as a serving President. Even his Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar built ABTI American University as a serving Vice President under Obasanjo’s watch.

Obasanjo speaks of unemployment but he has forgotten that he laid a solid foundation for this unemployment by wasting $16b on electricity generation without any impact on Nigeria’s electricity generation and distribution. At the time Obasanjo was forced out of power after the failure of the 3rd term bid, Nigeria’s electricity megawatts was a paltry 2000 megawatts for a population of 140 million people while South Africa boasts of 50,0000 megawatts for its 45m population. Industries started folding up and relocating to Ghana during Obasanjo’s watch with hundreds of thousands of workers thrown into the unemployment market.

Obasanjo built a personal library in Abeokuta worth N7b and coerced Nigeria’s richest businessmen some of who are his business partners to bank-roll the project which he cunningly called Presidential Library Project instead of Obasanjo personal library.

If not for President Jonathan, Nigerians would not have discovered the deep corruption in the oil sector. And of course, whose interests are the subsidy barons representing. Nigerians will be shocked when these former leaders are unmasked. Obasanjo’s sins are too many to serialise. In fact, they are beyond count and pardon.

Which shall we mention now? Is it the pauperization of Nigerians due to the increase in the price of commodity items like rice, sugar, cement, flour, indomie, which were farmed out to only one man to import or the quarterly increase in the price of petroleum products. Suddenly, a bag of rice which sold for N1,300 and N1,500 during General Sani Abacha’s era became N8,000 during Obasanjo’s era. And of course, this favoured merchant became Africa’s richest man and one of the world’s wealthiest too. Who would not be, given the circumstances. Just give me one commodity and I will be the wealthiest man in Lagos State.

Obasanjo’s privatization exercise was motivated by personal profit and greed. This is true in the sale of NICON and for all Federal Government parastatals that were sold during Obasanjo’s era. And this was the beginning of the rift that created a great chasm between Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar who cried foul over Obasanjo’s high handedness.

And of course, the Halliburton and Siemens corruption cases during Obasanjo’s era cannot be well nailed and buried now because the legs are still protruding out from the coffin.

Obasanjo’s eight years in office was an unending fiesta of corruption. And yet the General is calling for an Arab Spring and revolution all in one breath. God save Nigeria.

•NANAGHAN writes from Lagos.


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/11/29/obasanjos-call-for-a-revolution/
:oNigeria’s former military cum civilian President for 11 years, General Olusegun Obasanjo is at it again. The self acclaimed fearless General who touts his tigritude as a weapon of oppression and intimidation has added another red feather to his red cap.

In a recent forum on West African Regional Conference on Youth Employment held in Dakar, Senegal, the Former President shocked his audience by openly calling for a revolution in Nigeria as a result of the high rate of youth unemployment which he puts at 72 percent.

If the audience in Dakar was shocked, then the audience in Warri, Delta State, was flabbergasted when Obasanjo dropped another bombshell about the weak leadership style of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, especially in his handling of the Boko Haram saga.

It would be recalled that the former President called Nigerians to come out enmass for a Nigerian “Arab Spring” during a workshop on economic diversication and revenue generation in December 2011 at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Most Nigerians are at crossroads and are unable to decipher why and how a former Nigerian Head of State could incite the citizenry to the path of revolution to reverse an unemployment portfolio.

Nigerians become more jittery when such comments are from a retired Army General of the calibre and stature of General Obasanjo. Is the vociferous retired Army General planning a military coup de’tat or is he aware of one in the making. His regular insistence on an “Arab spring” and outright revolution to topple the “weak leadership” of President Goodluck Jonathan has become an unpalatable cliché Nigerians must decipher.

The General’s statements are more unsettling because he has the greatest and most unrestrained access to Aso Rock to advise and even brief the President on such issues that bother on National Security. Of all Nigeria’s former leaders, Olusegun Obasanjo “was” the closest confidant to the present regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. His goings and comings into and out of Aso Rock are unrestrained and without notice.

He also has the opportunity to meet the President one-on-one during their monthly National Council of State meetings in Aso Rock. And so why does the former President rage and attempt to pull down what he has helped in building, because his instrumentality in Jonathan’s becoming Nigeria’s first South South President can never be controverted.

General Obasanjo like all human beings has his own frailties. The most prominent of these is his brutal pay back mentality for any request scorned or denied. Obasanjo has such a peacockish personality that responds to such situations with a fiery rebuttal. And so when you see Obasanjo lambasting an incumbent President openly on National Television, know that the incumbent President has not heeded his advice or has pruned down his incessant long lists for Federal appointees from the South West, especially from Ogun State.

Obasanjo believes so much in his superhero mythology and as Nigeria’s patron saint he believes that he is the best President Nigeria ever had and this qualifies him for a third and probably a fourth tenure as Nigeria’s President.

Today, Obasanjo’s call for a Nigerian Arab Spring has revealed unimaginable shallowness and an irredeemable myopia.

The Arab Spring or Arab Uprising started in Tunisia on December 18, 2010 when a Tunisian unemployed graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze to protest police corruption and brutality.

The ensuing protest became unmanageable and it spread throughout Tunisia with increased violence. The Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011.

The protests spread through North Africa and the Gulf States engulfing Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. Echoes of the Arab Spring resounded in Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Djibouti etc.

And today the dregs of the Arab Spring are yet to sediment. President Hosni Mubarak was forced to flee on February 11, 2011. And till date Egypt does not have a stable government as Tahrir Square has become a symbol of the peoples’ solidarity. Even with the democratic election of President Mohammed Morsy of the Moslem Brotherhood, Egypt is as unstable as an ancient blackboard standing on three legs, with the hind leg broken off.

Libya’s Moummar Gaddafi was gunned down like his proverbial RAT metaphor on October 20, 2011 in his home town of Sirte. Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh abdicated his “throne” on February 27, 2012.

All the above is to demonstrate the inappropriateness of the Arab Spring “solution” to the Nigerian situation. If the Arab Spring gets to Nigeria, people like Obasanjo will be the first to flee without looking back.

This is because a Nigerian Spring will not turn the guns only at Aso Rock, it will snowball into a tribal war due to the depth of our ethnic chauvinism and sentimentalities.

General Obasanjo’s call for a revolution because of youth unemployment is as misplaced as his call for a Nigerian version of the Arab Spring. People like Obasanjo in such lofty heights should not pray for a revolution, not even for their children because revolutions are cataclysmic, destructive and unpredictable. The no-nonsense General needs some tutorials on revolutions. The French revolution of July 14, 1789 will just be instructive.

Some experts argue that age has not diminished Obasanjo’s blood thirstiness hence his incessant reference to Arab Spring, Revolution, Zakibiam Massacre, Odi Genocide etc. after all, once a General, always a General.

Obasanjo in his recent role as the moderator for “Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor’s 40th anniversary on the pulpit “mercilessly lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan’s weak response to the Boko Haram crisis.

Hear Obasanjo: “I attended to a problem that I saw. I sent soldiers, they were killed, 19 of them were decapitated. If I had allowed that to continue, I would not have the authority to send security forces anywhere again. I attended to it…. If you say you do not want a strong leader, who can have all the characteristics of a leader, including the fear of God, then you have a weak leader and the rest of the problem is yours.”

Obasanjo gloats and flaunts his genocidal and criminal demolition of Odi in Bayelsa State where unidentified militants killed 19 soldiers. But when Obasanjo’s troops invaded Odi with bulldozers and caterpillars, the militants had fled leaving hapless citizens in their thousands to feel the pangs of pain and death. Even the lame, the blind, the old and sucklings were not spared. Some day Obasanjo will appear at the War Crime Tribunal at the Hague to answer these heinous crimes against mankind. If these 19 soldiers were killed in Abeokuta, would Obasanjo have sent the Nigerian Army to reduce it to rubbles.

Obasanjo’s criticism of governments in power is not peculiar to President Jonathan’s regime. Early in 2010 while late President Yar’Adua was in a Saudi hospital, Obasanjo accused his political protégé of corruption and an inability to control corruption.

Obasanjo who characteristically wears the hood to shield the monk is one of the most corrupt leaders that Nigeria has ever had. Obasanjo’s regimes spanning 11 years, both as military and civilian dictator, were the most corrupt in Nigeria’s recorded history profile. Obasanjo built a state of the art university (Bells University) as an incumbent. Obasanjo also established a mega business conglomerate called TRANSCORP with N200m shares to his credit as a serving President. Even his Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar built ABTI American University as a serving Vice President under Obasanjo’s watch.

Obasanjo speaks of unemployment but he has forgotten that he laid a solid foundation for this unemployment by wasting $16b on electricity generation without any impact on Nigeria’s electricity generation and distribution. At the time Obasanjo was forced out of power after the failure of the 3rd term bid, Nigeria’s electricity megawatts was a paltry 2000 megawatts for a population of 140 million people while South Africa boasts of 50,0000 megawatts for its 45m population. Industries started folding up and relocating to Ghana during Obasanjo’s watch with hundreds of thousands of workers thrown into the unemployment market.

Obasanjo built a personal library in Abeokuta worth N7b and coerced Nigeria’s richest businessmen some of who are his business partners to bank-roll the project which he cunningly called Presidential Library Project instead of Obasanjo personal library.

If not for President Jonathan, Nigerians would not have discovered the deep corruption in the oil sector. And of course, whose interests are the subsidy barons representing. Nigerians will be shocked when these former leaders are unmasked. Obasanjo’s sins are too many to serialise. In fact, they are beyond count and pardon.

Which shall we mention now? Is it the pauperization of Nigerians due to the increase in the price of commodity items like rice, sugar, cement, flour, indomie, which were farmed out to only one man to import or the quarterly increase in the price of petroleum products. Suddenly, a bag of rice which sold for N1,300 and N1,500 during General Sani Abacha’s era became N8,000 during Obasanjo’s era. And of course, this favoured merchant became Africa’s richest man and one of the world’s wealthiest too. Who would not be, given the circumstances. Just give me one commodity and I will be the wealthiest man in Lagos State.

Obasanjo’s privatization exercise was motivated by personal profit and greed. This is true in the sale of NICON and for all Federal Government parastatals that were sold during Obasanjo’s era. And this was the beginning of the rift that created a great chasm between Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar who cried foul over Obasanjo’s high handedness.

And of course, the Halliburton and Siemens corruption cases during Obasanjo’s era cannot be well nailed and buried now because the legs are still protruding out from the coffin.

Obasanjo’s eight years in office was an unending fiesta of corruption. And yet the General is calling for an Arab Spring and revolution all in one breath. God save Nigeria.

•NANAGHAN writes from Lagos.


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/11/29/obasanjos-call-for-a-revolution/

Not α good thing, but that place Iڪ still α dry land when compared with Anamabra

BY TADAFERUA UJORHA, 29 SEPTEMBER 2012
OPINION
When Cameroon built the Lagdo dam in the 80s,
Nigeria was advised to build a buffer dam
downstream. She never did. The great floods in Kogi
and other states, may be an outcome of a system
that went to sleep when it needed to be awake.
Asleep for 30 years
The recent floods in Kogi State and several other
parts of Nigeria, is really the story of how oil-rich
refused to act when given good advice, and simply
went to sleep for 30 years. The story is a vivid one: In
1982, Nigeria was still awash with petro dollars, and
building the dam then would have been easy. On the
Lagdo dam, environews Nigeria states that "the
annual large scale flooding experienced in Nigeria
following the release of water from the Lagdo dam in
Cameroon could have been curbed some 30 years
ago had the authorities been proactive... Following an
agreement involving both nations in 1980, the
Nigerian government was supposed to embark on a
similar venture along the course of the river."
In 1981, a dam was designed, and it was named the
'Dasin Hausa dam. The website adds that "but alas,
the idea was taken by the government of the day
with a pinch of salt. And, like several other viable
proposals, was ignored," Dr. Emmanuel Adanu,
Director of Dams, Ministry of Water Resources said
recently. His words: "it is now imperative for the
Federal Government to build a buffer dam to cushion
the effect of water released by Lagdo dam...The size
of the dam we are looking at will take us 36 months
to finish, but right now we know that the original
feasibility study that was done in 1982 is a bit
outdated.'
"The proposed dam when built will be 1.4 kilometres
long, 40mm deep and containing 16 cubic litres of
water," Dr. Aminu Raji, immediate past head of the
National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research
New Bussa, told Weekly Trust, adding that "there is
supposed to be a buffer dam at Dasin Hausa in
Adamawa State, but the project is still pending.
There is supposed to be the River Chochi
development project started by the defunct PTF. That
could have reduced and/or helped in flood control.
There is need for government to revisit the project."
He said the "existence of dams is supposed to be a
positive development in flood control. A series of
dams are necessary along the river course to control
flood. Where rivers like the Niger and the Benue
cross international boundaries, there are
international agreements relating to the harnessing
and use of such rivers. Examples are the Niger Basin
Authority in the case of the River Niger, and the Lake
Chad Basin Commission in the case of the Lake
Chad."
In Kogi State alone 10,000 persons have been
displaced by the floods, and property worth
N40billion have been destroyed, so says the state
government. Today, the emergency services are
overstretched, and a source close to one of them
confirms this much to Weekly Trust. There are many
who still feel that all this agony would have been
avoided if 30 years ago the Nigerian government had
heeded the advice from Cameroon and built the
buffer dam downstream. One respondent adds that
this neglect is "a vivid example of misgovernance,
and an illustration of the anti- people policies of
numerous Nigerian governments over time."
Below victims of the flood in Kogi State tell their
stories. Their pain was created by a deep seated
system of official neglect and forgetfulness.
River Ganaja
The flood affected large portions of Ganaja, a 250-
year-old community in the state. Here, flood waters
have taken over about 300 metres of the main road
leading into the community, and left and right of this
main road are clear signs of flooding with many
houses submerged. This is a new river, and it is a big
shock to anyone who might have passed through
Ganaja in the past. No driver, for instance, was
prepared to find a river at that point in Ganaja. Now
anyone who wishes to travel to Idah has to drive
through the 500 Unit estate, along a winding, bumpy
road until he reconnects with the main road. Last
Tuesday, there was a traffic gridlock within the 500
Unit estate. The flood has buried houses, shops,
petrol stations, restaurants and even resting spots
for the people. In some places, just the roof tops of
houses are all that are left.
A thriving transport business which uses canoes has
sprung up, practically overnight. There are hand
paddled, as well as engine powered boats available
at Ganaja, and a huge crowd gathers by the new
waterfront to look at the unfolding developments. A
trailer tries to brave its way through the river and
gets stuck. The people laugh, also because the waves
created by the trailer almost capsized a passing
canoe.
Young men saw a need and rose to the occasion.
Israel Brialade has suddenly become a big player in
the canoe business at Ganaja. He conveys people
from the 500 Units estate to the Ganaja Primary
School. It is N50 per person, and he makes some
5,000 Naira every day. He says that he has lost his
house which is now somewhere in the middle of the
rising river. Mohammed Abubakar has a flying boat.
He too began the business last week as soon as the
community became flooded. He said he makes some
3,000 to 4,000 Naira every day. Isyaka Musa is the
Vice Chairman Maritime, Lokoja Zone. He anticipates
a food crisis because of the great loss of farmlands.
On the affected persons, he says "when the water
recedes, the people won't have money to rebuild
their houses, and they have also lost many farmlands
and countless livestock," adding that the last time he
saw a flood like this was in 1969, and this was when
he was at Lokoja.
Alhaji Yahaya Umaru is the Chief of Ganaja. He says
that his people have suffered greatly on account of
the flood. His words: "The people are looking for
shelter. They have lost their farms, and their means
of livelihood as well. Fishing is not possible because
of the water level. Their rice and cassava farms are all
gone, and their houses have collapsed because of the
vast water. Equally, the network of roads from the
north to the east has been cut, and the economy is at
a standstill."
He said already the cost of foodstuff has started to
rise. "Formerly, it cost 8,000 Naira for a bag of rice,
but now it is 12,000 Naira. Related to this is the cost
of transport. It used to cost 70 Naira as fare from
here to Lokoja. Now it costs 140 Naira," Alhaji Umaru
said, adding that he and his people have never
experienced this kind of flood before, and that floods
occurred in 1969 as well as in 1945,but not to the
degree or extent of the present flood.
According to him, the roads around Ganaja have
weakened on account of the flooding, and he opines
that the absence of drainages at the side of the roads
in Ganaja directly resulted in the great flood. .In
Ajaokuta Local Government Area, eight communities
were affected by the flood, and Ganaja, easily the
most developed of all the communities, was the
worst hit.
Lokoja: the great gridlock
Last Sunday, it was impossible to enter Lokoja using
the normal road. This is because flood waters have
seized parts of the road, effectively halting
movement into the town. A few kilometres to Lokoja,
movement became impossible. It was a 2,000 Naira
motorcycle trip that made entry to Lokoja possible.
People made their way along a bush path which
passed close to a hill, and finally reconnected with
the flooded road. Here, there was brisk commercial
activity. Men with canoes were conveying passengers
from one end of the flooded road to the next, and
making brisk money. Some would lift a person across
the water for a fee. The ever present commercial
motorcyclists or Okada were there too, trying to
make some quick money. Here buses tried to make
their way through the flooded road, and some had to
be pushed. Of course, this was done for a fee. There
was pure bedlam there. Everybody became a traffic
warden, guiding the traffic in ways he alone saw fit.
Then people passed all of this and began to see miles
and miles of silent trucks and trailers. One whole
section of Lokoja's main street was completely taken
over by these unmoving vehicles. If you wish to leave
Lokoja, and this refers to conditions as at last
Tuesday, it would be necessary to make a 40-minute
journey by ferry at 500 Naira per person across the
River Niger. You board the ferry at Mpata. A car is
charged 10,000 to 13,000 Naira to be conveyed by
ferry. All of a sudden the ferry boarded by this
reporter stopped on the Niger. The engine went
silent. No explanation was given. Very soon the
engine came to life again.
There are several camps in Lokoja for the use of flood
victims in Kogi State. One of these is the St Luke's
Primary School, Adankolo. Destiny Sule is one of the
victims. His words: "the flood came at a time we did
not expect, and it is not easy for us who are civil
servants. We were evacuated from the waterside,
and brought to this school. The water was coming
gradually, and at first we thought it was a joke."
Ibrahim Momoh Adankolo tells Weekly Trust: "I was
in my house when water began trickling in. I lost my
building which has 16 rooms. It is completely
immersed in water and it is only the zinc roof you can
see peeping from the water."
Idah's many, many refugees
Gabriel Oyibo is a farmer and fisherman and lost his
farming products and fishing nets to the flood at
Ibaji. He told Weekly Trust at the Qua Iboe Church
Idah, which is one of several refugee camps in the
town, that in the past he used to make 2,500 Naira
from the fish trade every day. He also made 200,000
Naira annually from his rice business. "Now all this is
no more, as the fishing spots have been swallowed
by the water, while choice rice growing areas have
been flooded," he said, adding that he used to earn
240,000 Naira annually from the sale of Yams.
Ocheje John is another fisherman from Ibaji. He
experienced many losses too. His words: "I lost eight
bundles of fishing nets, and these cost 3,000 Naira
per bundle. I also lost two canoes." In the past he
used to realise 20,000 Naira from the sale of fish
every day."
He said Ibaji is a fertile part of the state, and is
famous for the cultivation of crops such as yams and
rice. It is also famous for fish. On his farm, he says
"water buried my farm. I also lost 320 yam seedlings.
I have lost this year's harvest." Cecilia Gabriel, also
from Ibaji, speaks of deplorable conditions in the
camp. She says that there is no light and water, and
that there are many mosquitoes. She shows this
reporter an average sized class room and says that
ten families live there. At the time of the visit the
refugees didn't have mattresses to sleep on.
Mrs. Mary James is a widow and a grain farmer. She
says that she lost everything to the flood. This
includes her house, and she has three children to
look after. Jonathan Ebiloma, a contractor at Idah and
a former journalist, also visited the camp to
distribute foodstuff to the refugees. His words: "I
came because I saw the refugee situation caused by
the flood. When I arrived on Friday, I saw the
situation and I became touched by it. I saw how
people tried to evacuate from the ravaged area,
unassisted by the government or anyone. I saw how
a lot of them had difficulty in getting shelter and
food, and they have no money. I had to get some
sacks of garri to distribute among the refugees. I and
my family are trying to raise funds to provide
additional support for the refuges here in Idah."
He complains that government has not given
publicity to the great losses suffered by the people of
Ibaji, who are the largest producers of food in the
state. In this vein, he anticipates a famine next year,
because of the agricultural losses. He compares the
losses at Lokoja with that at Ibaji. His words: "the
crisis in Lokoja does not involve serious economic
losses. In Ibaji we lost farm products. We also used to
provide food for neighbouring states. All the farm
products lost cannot be compared to the floods that
washed away roads in Lokoja." Arome Honourius a
businessman and youth leader at Ibaji, also
accompanied Mr. Ebiloma to the camp to distribute
sacks of garri to the refugees there. He says that
some refugees from Ibaji also fled to Edo State.
Meanwhile, a huge crowd made up of women
gathered with their bowls and containers to receive
the donation of garri. At Idah, Adejo Ojone Nelly and
her sister Ajanigo Adeogun, owners of Graceland
Schools, have made special effort to assist the
refugees. Last Wednesday, the school began giving
lessons to the children at the camp who are between
the ages of four and ten. About 102 children at the
camp were enrolled same day. There are many
volunteers among students and staff of the school
who have been assigned to teach during lunch break,
except on Saturdays.
Graceland Schools also distributed foodstuff,
insecticides, bathing and washing soap, as well as
foodstuff to the refugees. Their effort which is made
with a special focus on women and children, was
joyfully received by the refugees.
Daniel Degel, a fisherman from Ibaji, told Weekly
Trust that when the flood came, his canoe simply
vanished. His words: "all of a sudden I saw my canoe
floating away with speed. I then swam to safety,"
Alhassan Onuche complains that food distributed at
the camp does not go round. "The food brought does
not go round. I am an old man, and cannot fight and
struggle for food," he said. Close to Ibaji this reporter
came across Salihu Obaje who has lost everything he
possessed, and is looking for money to travel up to
Idah.
According to him, "my house collapsed. I lost my
foodstuff and everything else I had. I have nothing
left, and how to reach Idah is now a problem. I just
need 1,200 Naira to transport my family and
remaining property to Idah, but I don't have this
money." Alami Ogah and her mother Mrs. Ogah,
carried their mattresses on their heads for three days
through swollen streams. According to Alami, "we
carried our mattresses on our heads passing through
flooded streams and rivers. We did this for three
days." Mrs. Ogah said "we have three houses and the
last house collapsed this morning (last Monday). The
journey from Ajegu to Ogenegu took three days.
Sometimes, we slept along the way." Another farmer
adds that a food crisis is imminent. "It is impossible
that food supply will be okay next year. We have
never experienced anything like this," the farmer
said.
As we drew closer to Ibaji, countless people came
onto the main road. They all carried sticks which they
had used to wade through streams. Some of them
had been walking for six kilometres from very remote
communities. They each had a few belongings on
their heads.
NEMA opens up
Ishaya Chonoko, Zonal Coordinator, Abuja Operations
Office, NEMA told Weekly Trust that in the light of the
flood, the agency had to mobilize boats from NIWA to
assist in search and rescue operations, some of which
took place in the Ibaji area.
"The worst case of flooding occurs in the Ibaji area,
and not here in Lokoja. In the whole of Ibaji local
government area, there is no place for a person to
stand. It's just water everywhere. NIWA initially
released two boats to us. When we got to Ibaji, we
saw that the whole community had been submerged
by water. We realised that the equipment was
inadequate, and so, we mobilised private boat
owners who rendered valuable assistance in
evacuating people. Five more boats were released
yesterday(Monday)," Chonoko said.
He says that there are four camps in Idah, and three
in Lokoja to accommodate refugees, adding that the
number of refugees in the camps increases every
day.
According to him, the role of NEMA in the state is
two-fold. It is to coordinate, search and rescue, and it
is to manage the camps as well. He says that NEMA
has a relief and rehabilitation department which can
assist the affected communities. His words: "After
the disaster, the relief and rehabilitation unit will
play a role in rehabilitating the affected
communities. The rehabilitation unit will make an
assessment of the situation and advice the agency
on the type of assistance that would be rendered.
This could be in building materials, cement, zinc,
nails, wood etc.
The release of water from both the Jebba dam, as
well as the Lagdo dam in Cameroon, can explain the
recent devastating flood at Lokoja

htt://allafrica.com/stories/201209290298.html

Or that †ђξ river not properly dredged. Shoddy job

The op made aπ error by saying that the pic is main mark. Dat pic is actually the entrance to main mrk directly opposite nwa-ngene at †ђξ bank of the niger, towards sokoto road. I just passed there. The water is yet to reach the main market but it is close.

The areas affected by the flood in Anambra are communities close to the niger or that have stream/s or drainage that empties to the niger. Cos as the niger swells, it pushes these streams and drainage backwards and they iŋ turn floods the communities. The situation is very serious as lots of places have been submerged and flooded.

Our govt is so irresponsible as this would have been averted or reduced. No plan was made towards τђis despite being aware that it might happen. I heard the Ladgo dam ĭŋ Cameron is old and weak and may break up any time.

Amazing

No be them start law suit?
Its just getting started.

Nothing special. So much noise. Just same old tin

Email to teeceexx@yahoo.com

Shee they want money

Seems this is turning to regional thing.


A Japanese court on Friday rejected Apple's claim that Samsung stole its technology, dealing a blow to the iPhone maker after last week winning $1.05-billion in damages in the US from its bitter rival.

The ruling by the Tokyo District Court is the latest chapter in a long-running global patent war between the smartphone giants who have accused each other of stealing intellectual property for their own products.

The Japanese court found that Samsung did not infringe on Apple's iPhone and iPad patents for some of its own Galaxy smartphones and tablet computer. The three-judge panel also awarded legal costs to Samsung.

"The defendant's products do not seem like they used the same technology as the plaintiff's products so we turn down the complaints made by (Apple)," Judge Tamotsu Shoji told the court.

Apple had sought damages and the block of sales of its some of Samsung's products in the lucrative Japanese market.

But as well as dealing a blow to the US firm, the ruling will help Samsung pick itself up after the defeat in the United States, analysts said.

Samsung shares closed 1.48 percent higher in Seoul on Friday.

"Investors were encouraged by the ruling in Tokyo… it eased concern over Samsung's future which had been raised by the defeat in the US court battle," said Seo Won-Seok, analyst at Korea Investment Securities.

Samsung, which has steadfastly denied its rival's claims in a string of similar cases filed across the globe, hailed the Tokyo court's ruling.

"We welcome the court's decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," it said in a statement.

A Japan-based spokesperson for Apple, which can appeal the verdict, declined to comment.

Last week the iPhone maker won $1.05 billion in a massive US court victory over Samsung with jurors finding that the South Korean firm had "willfully" infringed on Apple's patents.

The Japanese case, which focused on Apple's claim that Samsung stole technology used to transfer music and video files, sought a comparatively small amount – 100 million yen ($1.27-million) – in damages.

Both firms' gadgets are increasingly popular in the the Japanese market which was previously monopolised by domestic giants such as Sony and Sharp.

"It was a ruling on just one technology so it is difficult to draw any conclusion on its overall impact," said Michiru Takahashi, a patent lawyer at Jones Day in Tokyo.

"But… if Samsung had lost again it would have considerably hurt its image."

The high-profile verdict in the United States last week regarded patents on a range of Samsung products including some of its popular smartphones and its Galaxy 10.1 tablet.

Jurors rejected the South Korean electronics firm's patent theft counterclaims against Apple.

Also last week, a court in Seoul ruled the pair had swiped each other's technology and awarded damages to both sides.

The Seoul Central District Court said Apple breached two of Samsung's technology patents, and ordered it to pay 40 million won ($35 000) in damages.

It also ordered Samsung to pay 25 million won for violating one of Apple's patents. Each company had sought damages of 100 million won from the other.

The South Korean court said there was "no possibility" that consumers would confuse Samsung and Apple smartphones – a key issue in the US trial – and that Samsung's smartphone icons do not infringe Apple's patents.

But it said Samsung infringed Apple's patent for bounce-back technology, a widely copied spring-back action when users reach the edge of a document.

The court imposed a partial ban on both firms' product sales.

The patent cases come as Apple loses ground to rivals including Samsung that use the Android operating system developed by Google.

Samsung shipped 50.2 million smartphones globally between April and June, while Apple sold 26 million iPhones, according to research firm IDC.

The Asian firm held 32.6 percent of the market compared to 16.9 percent for Apple, while the US company holds about a 70 percent market share for tablets.

http://mobi.iafrica.com/cooltech-news/samsung-prevails-in-japan/

While everyone keeps talking about Apple (AAPL)’s billion-dollar patent victory over Samsung, Reuters reports that the South Korean-based firm has just made a surprise announcement at an electronics show in downtown Berlin. According to the report, Samsung has launched  the ATIV S – the world’s first smartphone using Microsoft (MSFT)’s latest mobile software.

The surprise announcement comes a week before Nokia (NOK), which is in a broad strategic partnership with Microsoft as it desperately tries to regain market share from the iPhone and Android-based devices, is due to unveil its new Lumia Windows Phone-powered smartphones in New York.

“This is just the first in a big lineup of new hardware that’s coming with Windows Phone 8, but it’s a seriously impressive opening salvo,” wrote Microsoft executive Ben Rudolph on a company blog showing off the new phone.

Samsung, who built the ATIV S with the latest technology, did not have the phone on display at the large media event in Berlin, where it showed off tablets using Windows 8 software and also unveiled the second generation of its popular Galaxy Note phone-cum-tablet, setting high hopes for its success, the report says.

“I am pretty confident it will even outsell its predecessor,” said JK Shin, Samsung’s chief of mobile business.

Samsung hopes the launch of the new device, which according to windowsteamblog’s Ben Rudolph has a 4.8” display, which “makes the ATIV S one of the bigger phones on the market”, will take some attention away from its loss of the court case.

Apple is seeking from a U.S. judge eight Samsung smartphones pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market.

The move, if successful, will rapidly turn Apple’s $1.05 billion court victory into a tangible business gain over a key rival.

http://wallstreetpit.com/96027-samsung-strikes-apple-aapl-back-with-new-phone/

Their supplies just arrived

montero4relo: swimming in the dream Depict Initiation into the mammy spirit
Masquerade chasing you in the dream Depict Enemies planning against you
Snake Depict Offspring
Dog chasing you Depict demonic attack
Having sex in the dream Depict Initiation or spiritual husbands or wife
Eating in the dream also Depict Initiation
more,coming soon.............

The above is not how the dream dictionary link above interpreted it.
I believe dream might mean differnt things.

Is it really made in Nigeria?