₦airaland Forum

The world's biggest pharmaceutical company hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption against the Nigerian attorney general in order to persuade him to drop legal action over a controversial drug trial involving children with meningitis, according to a leaked US embassy cable.

Pfizer was sued by the Nigerian state and federal authorities, who claimed that children were harmed by a new antibiotic, Trovan, during the trial, which took place in the middle of a meningitis epidemic of unprecedented scale in Kano in the north of Nigeria in 1996.

Last year, the company came to a tentative settlement with the Kano state government which was to cost it $75m.

But the cable suggests that the US drug giant did not want to pay out to settle the two cases – one civil and one criminal – brought by the Nigerian federal government.

The cable reports a meeting between Pfizer's country manager, Enrico Liggeri, and US officials at the Abuja embassy on 9 April 2009. It states: "According to Liggeri, Pfizer had hired investigators to uncover corruption links to federal attorney general Michael Aondoakaa to expose him and put pressure on him to drop the federal cases. He said Pfizer's investigators were passing this information to local media."

The cable, classified confidential by economic counsellor Robert Tansey, continues: "A series of damaging articles detailing Aondoakaa's 'alleged' corruption ties were published in February and March. Liggeri contended that Pfizer had much more damaging information on Aondoakaa and that Aondoakaa's cronies were pressuring him to drop the suit for fear of further negative articles."


http://africanquarters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1152:pfizer-used-dirty-tricks-to-avoid-clinical-trial-payout-wikileaks&catid=52:nigeria&Itemid=70

All of a sudden some guys now feel Sahara Reporters are not credible.
Remember that the stature of justice is blind folded. So whoever is
involved must be picked out; OBJ, IBB, GEJ, Atiku, Buhari or Ribadu, just name them

I had been reading this story with great care now I can affirm that it is true ooo!
At least I've seen it in more than one websites

http://africanquarters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1104:court-delares-aregbesola-winner-of-osun-guber-poll-2007-&catid=52:nigeria&Itemid=70

responses quite interesting but wait a minute; have you considered
that such behavior either from man or woman is sinful? Food 4 thot.

MrPrsdent:
the cheating game is fun

U think you are smart but the other person is even smarter

I'll rather say it is sinful, Man stick to ya wife, Woman stick to your husband. That's what God want!

You may likely buy this too like I used to as well until I saw something someday!

Back in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, I’ve got a taxi driver friend who sometimes lends me his cab whenever I wish to get around town in search of story ideas.

One Saturday evening, as I cruised down the boulevard hunting for passengers, a young light-skinned lady in her late twenties hailed me. Standing to her right was her husband, I could guess from their intimate glances and the identical rings on their ring fingers. My guess was confirmed when he said:

“Driver, safely take my wife to the bus station. She’s travelling to the village, okay?”

“No problems sir, it’s my job,” I said and alighted to throw her luggage in the boot while they clung to each other kissing goodbye.

Halfway towards the bus station, my passenger surprisingly warned from behind, “Driver, please change your route, I’ve got somebody to check at Miezan Motel.”

I complied; after all I was just a taxi driver.

When we pulled up in the parking area of Mieza Motel, a tall, dark-skinned and brawny man in his early thirties emerged from the lobby and strode across to us, his face wearing a chirpy smile.

He walked round to my side and asked, “How much is the fare driver?”

I swallowed hard before I could answer. He paid me, unloaded the boot and opened for my passenger to step down.

As I reversed, I sighted them locked in each other’s arms kissing ravenously. A first-time kiss or a long-time one? I couldn’t guess!

Driving away, two ideas warred in my soul. The first wanted me going back to where I’d picked her and reporting to her husband. The other warned me not to put asunder what I didn’t put together. The former dominated.

As I swung my cab to a halt at the kerb where the original couple was standing, another taxi pulled up so closely in front, from which an olive-skinned and freshly looking teenage girl stepped out. She was wearing a kneel-length silk blouse, tight around her sultry shape. As she stood by the cab holding a tiny silver-plated purse that matched with her high-heeled sandals, I could smell her erotic perfume from my end.

The husband to my earlier passenger burst out of the house and scurried to meet her. They hugged, kissed lightly before he proceeded to pay the taxi fare. He took the hand of his visitor, kissed her lips again and led her inside the house and closed the door.

All this while, I sat behind my steering wheel, watching and fidgeting. Coming to tell a man his wife was somewhere about to cheat him, he himself was about doing same. What a world!

I kicked and zoomed off shaking my head lamentably and trying to choose the right words with which to tell my friends how I witnessed firsthand a 1:1 draw in the game of infidelity.

And you, have you witnessed anything to add to mine? Kindly leave a comment.

Your source please?

The worst thing that can happen to a nation is or her citizens to become subjects of mistrust on all fronts among the committee of Nations.

U.S. authorities had another Nigerian-born man with an engineering background on their radar when Northwest Airlines Flight 253 prepared to land in Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day.

Emmanuel Chukwu shared the same travel itinerary with Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the suspect in the unsuccessful attempt to blow up the Amsterdam, Netherlands-to-Detroit flight. Both men were originally from Nigeria and had studied as engineers.

But while the 23-year-old AbdulMutallab was a loner and a global nomad whose family tried to warn U.S. authorities about his turn toward Islamic extremism, Chukwu -- a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen and father of four American children -- also caught the attention of government officials.

Federal agents pulled Chukwu aside for several hours of intense screening when Northwest 253 landed in Detroit, shortly after authorities say AbdulMutallab tried to set off an explosive device concealed in his underwear. Chukwu said agents told him his similar background prompted the additional scrutiny.

"The FBI came back and said, 'You know what, it's a very unfortunate coincidence, right, that the suspect is a Nigerian,' " he told CNN. "And that was the first time I got to know that the suspect is a Nigerian and happened to be an engineer like myself."

But unbeknownst to Chukwu, CNN has learned, he was being tracked in TECS -- a massive government database accessed daily by law enforcement agencies. The database, dating back to the 1970s, allows government agencies to compare watch lists with flight manifests and to look for red flags that could prompt a secondary screening.

"TECS really is the backbone or the mainframe, the real operating system for Customs and Border Protection that has the information from other law enforcement agencies," said Kathy Kraninger, a former Homeland Security official and now a security consultant. Kraninger said that while some of the information housed on TECS is benign, most of it is "derogatory," ranging from immigration and customs violations to warrants and criminal records.

On December 25, Chukwu was seated about five rows behind AbdulMutallab when the bombing attempt took place.

"People started screaming, 'Oh, there's smoke, there's smoke,' " Chukwu said. Once the plane landed, he said, "I just said, 'God, thank you, I'm alive.' "

Chukwu said he has flown between Nigeria and the United States "about 20 times or more" since 1995. But in addition to being patted down and searched during his secondary screening, Chukwu said, he was questioned well beyond his frequent travels to his homeland.

Some of the questioning involved an incident from September 26, 2008, when he was caught in Amsterdam carrying an unloaded shotgun in his checked luggage on his way from the United States to Nigeria.

He said Dutch authorities told him, " 'Oh, you have a gun in your bag.' I said, 'Yes, I know, I have a gun in my bag,' It's an unloaded gun, brand new, never been used,' " Chukwu said.

But both the Netherlands and Nigeria forbid civilians to carry a gun without permission. Dutch authorities confirmed the 2008 incident and said Chukwu was released and given a two-year probation.

It's unclear whether a record of the gun incident or other risk factors -- Chukwu's travel patterns and personal profile -- triggered his secondary screening in Detroit. The Department of Homeland Security will not comment on the matter.

But for Chukwu's pregnant wife, Janefrances, the additional screening meant six hours of waiting on Christmas Day -- not knowing if her husband was coming home.

"On the 25th, four children would have lost their dad," she said. "What I know is that my husband is not going to harm anybody, has never harmed anybody. I hope that they will put the right people in the database so that they will be able to catch the people who will cause harm to the United States."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/01/22/terror.plot.passenger/index.html

Going thru the post I'm yet to find one man that supported PDP to suggest that they have people that can vote them in.

puskin:
The problem is not 2make the debtors names public.
What steps are they going 2take 2actually recover those monies.
Lets watch and see whether this is not another political motivated stunt 2score cheap political points or they actually mean to recover those monies on behalf of the failed banks

Bros making it public is equally as good, who would have believed that all these
guys are the one that caused pain and sorrow to many depositors who cannot
get their money out of these banks. Sad some are well rspected by some of us
making their names public is quite ok

I will also tell him to consider what Lamido told him about vision without action
I think that was a good point to be honest.

Reading through all the questions from fellow landers I can not but wish He were on Nairaland
to see how frustrated Nigerians have become. Someone said we should show sympathy to be
honest I don't wish him any evil but I think this job is taking a toll on him, it is like bringing a
small child into a big living room filled with all kind of toys, the child might not know which one
to pick he might end up scattering them all.

My GREATEST PAIN IS OUR ELECTORAL PROCESS. Please fellow landers don't despair let's tell
him some more things. May be his aid or somebody somewhere will stumble on it and pass it on.

Some people are actually saying I should tell him to resign also, I would have
but the last time I checked we are in Nigeria not Europe or America. Here leaders
don't resign they are either voted or butted out.

Ibime:
Wetin do Achike Udenwa?

Achike was gonna run for President, then sold his support base for a ministerial seat. Many people do it.

Sir you can only forward comments made to presido don't answer for him.
He is a good man only that we want answers to these issues

Igwe.:
Just ask him how far he's gone with his 7 point agenda

Igwe do you know the seven point agenda? I would rather tell him to focus on one point!

iniguy:
Run
couple
run

I beg to defer

Fhemmmy:
I will tell him to do Nigeria a favour and vacate office of presidency.

This has set me thinking on how to present that point to him, I must confess two more years
is too long or did I hear six years from somebody?

I will also ask him what has happened to the Halliburton issue?

I will congratulate him on his 2nd year anniversary as President, I will tell him that we
were happy when he came to power, because he was the first president of Nigeria to come
from the academic. I will tell him that though we were aware that he never intended to be
President, we still felt he should have overcome all lethargic feeling and settled down for
real governance.

I will tell him that Nigeria is on stand still ooo!, that virtually everything has halted.
I will also tell him that PZ have left Nigeria for Ghana, that Cadbury is about to follow.
I tell him that PZ, Cadbury and other multinationals believe that it is cheaper to run their
businesses from our West African neighbours than in Nigeria, though we are the largest consumer
of their products in Africa.

I will tell him that life for the ordinary man on the street is getting tougher everyday.
I will tell him that money could not have been the reason for our under development because Lagos
is doing well even amidst global melt down. I will tell him that if Lagos with her little
resources can achieve such progress that the Nation can do better if resources are properly
channeled.

I will tell him that though he constantly talks about Seven point agenda, that many Nigerians
cannot name three things on the agenda. That I would have preferred he shutdown his long list
of agenda and pick one and follow that one to a logical end.

I will tell him that he raised our hope when he announced that he was going to embark on electoral
reform. But two years after we are no longer as optimistic as we were at the beginning. I will tell
him that what we need the reform for is, for our vote to count, so that elected representatives
will have a feeling that power belongs to people, that way they will no longer serve their pockets.

I will tell him that his key strength areas are under threat, one of them is the rule of law. I will
tell him that, though he did not start what is happening at the Niger Delta but his latest approach
is scary and worrisome, as the region is still under developed. I will tell him that it is natural for
people to show resentment particularly when people from other places come and impose themselves
on them use them and their resources without any regard for the goose that lay the golden egg.

TOYOSI20:
What sorta careless bank error is this?? , sounds like an inside job if u ask me though

Strong point for the police but I can tell you it does happen once in awhile but such mistake is
not detected early enough is the issue. The other I was in one of the popular market here to
shop when one guy that had just returned from the bank suddenly realised he was overpaid
by 100k, we encouraged him to return the money he did and the lady at the counter was short
of words. It does happen I mistake do happen but when it happens it is now left for the receiver
to either return it or take flight as in this case.

I have read this discussion from the first post to the last with these observations.
Tayo-D I have to congratulate you for your dogged stand even as a lone voice.
Conscience is an open wound and only the truth can heal it. I'm not supprised
by the oppositions you have here. As I have grown to learn that there are words
people would want wipped out of dictionary, as long as it hurts their conscience,
they will argue and fight. RESPONSIBILITY is the key word, let's take responsibility
for our action. Just immagine for a moment if Obama's mother had aborted him for
lack of money. Poverty is never an excuse but convinience, social status and such like.

JJYOU:
not really. nigerians would have just reported the error and walk away

Hope we are on the same page?
As it is difficult for me to tell the why of your response.
If it is what I think then you have got me wrong.
Never said all Nigerians will return the money.
Did not even mention Nigeria in my post but Black race

Police hunting for a New Zealand couple who allegedly fled the country after a bank mistakenly paid them $NZ10 million ($6 million) believe they traveled to Hong Kong.

New Zealand authorities have sought help from Interpol in locating the couple who disappeared May 7, two days after an employee error at Westpac bank paid them 100 times the amount they asked for.

TVNZ, a CNN television affiliate, named the couple as Leo Gao and his girlfriend Cara Young. Gao owned a gas station in Rotorua, a lakeside tourist town famous for its hot water springs and bubbling mud pools.

Police said Friday that the couple were believed to have traveled to Hong Kong.

"Enquiries to locate those individuals are continuing through Interpol in Hong Kong and official channels in Beijing," said Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey. Watch as 'millionaires' go on the run »

Police were not confirming the identities of those involved but they were working with the family of one of the individuals named in the media, Harvey said.

The family were shocked at their name being associated with the case, he added.

TVNZ said the couple applied for an overdraft from Westpac worth up to NZ$100,000 ($61,000).

However, on or about May 5, the bank erroneously put NZ$10 million ($6.1 million) into their bank account. What would you do in this situation?

The next day, the gas station closed its doors. And the day after, the couple went missing.

TVNZ said Westpac had confirmed that a customer had attempted to unlawfully transfer amounts totaling around NZ$6.7 million ($4.1 million).
Nearly NZ$3 million ($1.85 million) had been recovered and the bank was continuing to vigorously pursue the outstanding amount, Westpac Media relations manager Craig Dowling told the station

http://www.edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/22/new.zealand.millionaires.hunt/index.html

This goes to show that the colour of crime is not black rather it is in the depraved human nature.

Great thread I'm enjoying every bit of it. Your comment on what make men feel good is absolute!
But I think he has developed so much love for you and your work etiques that he don't want a
rival in the form of a bentley.

[center]Everything You Need To Know About “The Swine Flu”
By Lisa Forgione, MD[/center]

The recent outbreak of swine flu is causing widespread panic and concern among many people, but by all indications, it is no worse than the seasonal flu that usually strikes every winter.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has determined that the current strain of swine flu is caused by a new type of influenza A virus. There are four viral sub-types, one found in humans, one in birds and two in swine. The swine sub-type is causing the flu in humans in the United States. It is spread from pigs to humans and then from humans to humans.

The CDC believes that the current outbreak of swine flu (officially called the H1N1 flu) started in March 2009 in certain areas of Mexico. Mexico is currently reporting the largest number of cases at 727, with 26 deaths confirmed at this time. There is one confirmed death in the United States and 403 total cases. These cases are spread among 38 states in the continental US.

People do not normally get the swine flu. The CDC has determined that this swine sub-type is contagious and is spreading from human to human, through large airborne droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets contain the virus and spread the illness fairly easily.

Have you been exposed to swine flu? New York, Texas, California, Delaware and Arizona are the states reporting the most number of cases. Recent travel to Mexico and contact with an infected person there are also risk factors.

Signs and Symptoms of Swine Flu
The signs and symptoms of swine flu are:

* Fever
* Cough
* Sore throat
* Runny nose
* Headache
* Muscle pains
* Occasionally, vomiting and diarrhea

In most people, the symptoms are mild and self-limited. Persons with other chronic medical conditions and the very young and very old are at risk for complications, such as severe respiratory problems and bacterial pneumonia. The incubation period is one to seven days after exposure.

If you think you may have been exposed to the swine flu and are developing any of the signs and symptoms, you should see your doctor immediately. He or she can test you easily with a nasal swab. Many hospitals have a rapid test for influenza A. Any positive result is sent to the state lab for further testing.

Conventional Treatment and Prevention
The good news is that the swine flu is easy to treat with anti-viral medications. The treatment works best when started within two days of symptom onset. The two medications that are being used to treat swine flu are Tamiflu and Relenza. Tamiflu is a pill that is taken twice per day for 5 days and Relenza is an inhaled medication.

If your doctor determines you have the swine flu and need treatment, he or she will likely give you one of these medications depending on your symptoms and the severity of your illness. Both medications are generally well tolerated and have minimal side effects. You can also use over-the-counter pain medications and cough suppressants, drink lots of fluids and rest to feel better.

As for any illness or medical issue, prevention is the best course of therapy. You can prevent the swine flu by minimizing your exposure. This includes avoiding travel to areas where the highest numbers of cases are being reported. If you need to be around someone with the swine flu or who possibly has it, wear a surgical mask and wash your hands well after your interaction with them. If you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose and then wash your hands.

Alternative Treatments for the Flu
Eating an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables and plenty of high-quality protein will boost your immune system by providing the nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that fight infections such as the swine flu. Regular aerobic exercise increases the number of circulating white blood cells in your system which will help stop any developing infections.

Many people prefer to use herbal remedies when treating viral infections. There are several therapies that are specific to treating viruses. Here are just a few:

Lomatium. Native Americans use this anti-viral herb to treat upper respiratory infections. It also appeared to help them combat the 1917 Spanish Flu outbreak. Lomatium is available in capsule or liquid form.

Reishi Mushrooms. These medicinal mushrooms are used in Chinese medicine to fight all types of viral and bacterial infections. They are high in antioxidants and soothe the respiratory tract. Reishi mushrooms are available raw or as a supplement or tea.

Garlic. Garlic stimulates the immune system and helps stop the spread of viruses, bacteria and fungi in the body. It works best when crushed and eaten raw. For individuals that cannot tolerate raw garlic, an odorless aged garlic extract (Kyolic garlic) is also effective.

Pau d’Arco. This herb grows in the Brazilian rainforest and has been shown to kill both viruses and bacteria. It is also an effective expectorant. Pau d’arco is available in capsules, tea or tincture.

Beta glucan. This cultured extract derived from yeast and mushrooms is a powerful immune-stimulant. Hundreds of studies have shown that it stimulates the production and activity of immune cells. Beta glucan is available as a nutritional supplement.

Colloidal Silver. This liquid solution of microscopic silver particles has been shown to kill all types of viruses without any resistant strains. Colloidal silver is very strong and should not be used every day. You can use it occasionally when you feel you may be developing a viral infection. It is available as both a nasal spray and oral supplement.

Finally…
As a physician, I feel there is no need for public alarm or fear about the swine flu. I consider it to be a late seasonal outbreak of influenza A. I actually did not see many cases of influenza A or B this winter in the Emergency Room, so perhaps “flu season” was just delayed this year compared to previous years.

The best news is that swine flu is self-limited, easily treated and can be prevented with simple precautions, a healthy diet, regular exercise and a variety of natural therapies.

[Ed. Note: Lisa Forgione, MD, is an Emergency Medicine Physician practicing in Wadesboro, North Carolina. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Forgione participated in the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine and has received several Physicians Recognition Awards for teaching from the AMA and AAFP.]

Sad! Sad!! Sad!!!,
What is History meant for please?
Don' our leaders read History?
If they do, why have they learnt nothing?
Khaki boys are watching ooo!
But God forbid that they truncate this democracy sorry civil rule.

ndu_chucks:
Even a blind man can see that Arsenal did not play well at all and deserved to lose the match. They were lucky in that the Russian guy was hot - no one can be that hot consistently.

Who scored a late equaliser in the game?
Options: (a) liverpool (b) Arsenal.
Luck and mistakes are also part of the game

Write Gonners off at your own peril.
i have had a good Laugh reading thru earlier posts.
I'm not a crazy follower of either teams or any euro team.

Picking up those skills is really what caught my fancy, I can't imagine what would have been the case if all that were left on board are novices like me.

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- It's a nightmarish scenario straight out of the movies: A passenger is forced to land a plane after its pilot becomes incapacitated.

Passanger Doug White landed this Super King two-engine turboprop after the pilot fell unconscious.

"Descend and maintain 5,000. Just take your time, we'll set you up for the airport," an air traffic controller says.

In a calm voice, a passenger responds: "I need to get my throttle set for this descent. I don't know where to set it at."

The reality was playing aboard a plane over Florida on Sunday in what the National Air Traffic Controllers Association called "an Easter miracle."

The incident began about 1:30 p.m. The plane, a Super King Air two-engine turboprop with four passengers on board, was headed to Jackson, Mississippi, from Marco Island, Florida, about 18 miles south of Naples.

The plane entered the jurisdiction of air traffic control at Miami Center, the facility responsible for high-altitude air traffic in southern Florida and the Caribbean, according to a statement issued by the air traffic controllers association.

The pilot notified controllers that the plane was at 9,000 feet and climbing, said Steve Wallace, Miami Center spokesman for the association. However, a controller at the center tried twice to raise the pilot after that and received no response, Wallace said. Hear audiotape of emergency landing »

After a few moments, a different voice came over the radio: Passenger Doug White told air traffic controllers the pilot was unconscious and they needed help. His wife and two teenage daughters were flying home to Louisiana with him, he said.

He reported the plane's autopilot was on and the plane was continuing to climb from 10,000 feet.

"I told my girls to pray hard," White later told CNN television affiliate WINK.

White later told the Naples Daily News he has a pilot's license and about 130 hours experience flying a single engine Cessna, but had never flown the larger, faster King Air.

The difference, experts said, is not as simple as driving a different model of car. A turboprop multi-engine, Wallace told CNN, "probably lands at a faster speed than he's ever flown a single-engine plane before."

White told air traffic controllers it appeared the pilot had died, according to the statement, and he reported that the plane's autopilot was on and the plane was continuing to climb from 10,000 feet.

Two air traffic controllers worked to help him disengage the autopilot, as other controllers stepped in to lighten their workload. "Keep it coming around when you can , the turn looks good, very good sir," a controller said.

The controllers then turned the plane over to air traffic controllers at the airport. One of them had called a friend who was certified in the King Air planes for advice.

"They walked him through flipping the switches, turning the knobs," Wallace said.

White, who was composed for the most part, seemed doubtful for a brief moment. "When I touch down , If I ever touch down, do I just kill the throttle or what?" he asks. The landing was successful.

"I knew we had to do something , I knew that much," White told WINK.

The Federal Aviation Administration has not given any of the involved air traffic controllers permission to speak about the incident, Wallace said. However, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association lauded all of those involved in landing the plane.

"If you were to ask any one of the controllers who worked this even about what happened over the skies of south Florida, they would tell you that it was just a typical day at the office and that it was merely their job," association President Patrick Forrey said in the statement. "However, the actions they all took to save the passengers aboard the flight were beyond heroic."

Victoria Moreland, spokeswoman for Southwest Florida International Airport, said the pilot's death was confirmed after the plane landed. The cause of death was unclear, Moreland said.

It's rare for a pilot to suffer a medical emergency during flight, said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the Frederick, Maryland-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The organization issues a yearly summary of accident trends and factors based on National Transportation Safety Board reports involving aircraft of less than 12,500 pounds -- smaller than the King Air involved in Sunday's incident.
According to the most recent report, which covers the year 2007, out of 22 million general aviation flight hours, an estimated 15 million to 20 million flights, only six instances of a pilot's medical incapacitation were reported, he said. In four of those instances, the pilot died

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/04/13/florida.plane.emergency/index.html?iref=mpstoryview


Learning or even reading up how to do some of this things wont be a bad idea incase of emergency like this one.

It is two weeks since the Oti family lost one of their members, but they are far from recovering from the shock of his tragic death. The family was the envy of many in the morning of March 21, as friends and well wishers gathered to rejoice with them on the wedding of their son, 35-year-old Gbenga Oti, to his longtime girlfriend, Ololade.

In less than 10 hours after the ceremony, however, the family found themselves mourning the death of their beloved son whose wedding they had just celebrated. They were saddled with the unfortunate task of informing guests and well wishers, some of whom were still hanging around the family house in Isheri, Lagos that the newlywed had been shot dead by a security guard at the hotel he had chosen for his honeymoon.

The development left Lolade with the unenviable record of the woman with one of the shortest marital life. She got married at about 10:30am, and by 8: 30pm the same day, she had become a widow, no thanks to the dane gun of the security guard named Nurudeen.

Rather than leave her father and mother and cling to her husband as instructed by the scriptures, Lolade is now back in her parents’ house, wondering if the wedding she had was a dream. Numerous calls made by our correspondent to her telephone went unanswered. And when it was eventually picked, the person who refused to confirm or deny that it was Lolade said, “What else can you do? Can you bring him back? We don’t want this publicity.”

However, while the bereaved wife may have resigned herself to fate, her late husband’s family has not. Sekola, Gbenga’s younger brother, said, “I am speaking on behalf of the family. We are demanding justice,” he said.

Saturday Punch investigation revealed that Gbenga, a two-star (DSI) officer with the Nigerian Immigration Service, began his journey to the world beyond upon his arrival at Hotel Royale, an upscale inn located at Isheri, a suburb of Lagos State, for his honeymoon. The marriage had been consecrated at the branch of Christ Embassy in Oregun, Lagos after which a one-in-town reception was held in Maryland.

Sekola told our correspondent that his elder brother arrived at the hotel in company with some of his colleagues at the Nigerian/Benin Republic border in Idi Iroko, Ogun State where he was serving at the time he got married.

Sekola recalled that Gbenga’s colleagues had enjoyed themselves at the bar of the hotel. “They went into the bar and had a nice time before they left. The best man, Jide, who is also an immigration officer, then handed him a ceremonial sword they had used for his wedding.”

Before settling down at the hotel, Gbenga had put a call through to Sekola at the family house on Owolaalu Street, a stone throw from the hotel. By the time Sekola arrived at the hotel, Lolade was having her bath, preparatory to the couple’s first night together.

“I arrived at the hotel around 7 pm,” he recalled. “We went into the restaurant and discussed for a few minutes. I later urged him to go up and meet his wife, promising to come back the following day to chat with them.”

If he had had an inkling of the ill fate that awaited his brother, he would probably have followed him to his hotel room. But Sekola is not a prophet, so it was Gbenga that had to see him off before returning to his room.

Sekola said, “I was about to open my door when my phone rang. I picked it and one of my friends screamed that I should come back to the hotel. I asked what the matter was and he said my brother was seriously injured.”

He ran back to the hotel like a possessed man. “I saw my brother lying on the ground in a pool of blood. I didn’t need a doctor to tell me that he was dead. I saw the crowd there descending on a man and beating the hell out of him. I was later told that the man was the one that shot my brother. But I was too numb to do anything to him,” Sekola said.

Saturday Punch gathered that as soon as Gbenga left his younger brother and returned to the hotel with the ceremonial sword in his hands, he met Nurudeen at the entrance. The guard asked him what his business was at the hotel. He refused Gbenga entry apparently because of the sword. Some witnesses who spoke with our correspondent at the hotel said that Nurudeen told Gbenga that he would have to confirm from the hotel management that he was a guest before he could be allowed to go in. Gbenga allegedly got angry because he thought that Nurudeen had set out to embarrass him, because he felt that the guard must have seen him when his friends brought him into the hotel.

It was learnt that the argument turned violent and Gbenga allegedly hit Nurudeen twice on the head with the ceremonial sword, causing blood to come out. A furious Nurudeen then rushed into the small room meant for guards, brought out a dane gun and shot at Gbenga who died immediately.

But Sekola denied that his brother hit Nurudeen with the sword. He said, “Yes he was with the sword. But from what I was able to gather, he did not use it on the security guard. I was told that after the argument, my brother got angry and pushed him away from the entrance and he fell. It was the feeling of embarrassment that made him to bring out his gun and shoot my brother.

“You must have found out that the man is one of the leaders of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress in this area. And I believe that he was unstable. He was fired from a job before he got the one at Royale. And what he does every night here is that for no reason at all, he would just shoot into the air and scare everybody. The injury he got was inflicted on him by the mob.”

But the management of the hotel said it was concerned more with finding a way out of the logjam than talking to our correspondent. A senior manager in the hotel who pleaded anonymity said, “This is like a bad dream. What can we say? A life was lost here. We are doing what we can to cushion the effect of the death on the family. Not only that, the security man has been arrested by the police. We won’t stand in the way of justice. But we know that little patience could have saved the day. We blame the incident on the festivities because ordinarily, common sense would have prevented this tragedy.”

Sekola alleged that the management of the hotel thought they could sweep the case under the carpet before they realised that the immigration service was involved. “I know that they supply the Isheri Police station with electricity. But we will go for justice and we will get it,” he said.