By Emeka MadunaguPublished: Saturday, 4 Apr 2009A United States federal court in Brooklyn, New York has sentenced three Nigerians to varying jail terms totaling about 17 years for defrauding American victims of over $1.2 million (N177m) in an advance-fee fraud scam.An email statement sent to our correspondent by the US Department of Justice on Friday quoted Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and US Attorney Benton J. Campbell of the Eastern District of New York as saying that the Nigerians, Nnamdi Chizuba Anisiobi, Anthony Friday Ehis and Kesandu Egwuonwu, pleaded guilty in January 2008 to one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.The statement said the suspects were extradited to the US from Holland on February 21, 2006 after they had been arrested for defrauding their victims of various amounts. They had sent spam mails to their victims, claiming that they controlled millions of dollars. Also, the joint investigation by the US Postal Service and Dutch authorities found that they used various aliases, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.In one instance, they sent e-mails purporting to be from an individual suffering from terminal throat cancer who needed assistance distributing approximately $55m to charity. In exchange for a victim‘s help, the defendants offered to give a 20 per cent commission to the victim or a charity of his or her choice but the American victims ended up with substantial losses.The statement said that in delivering judgment on Thursday, US District Judge Dora L. Irizarry sentenced Anisiobi to 87 months in prison, while Ehis and Egwuonwu received 57 months apiece.
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For the RecordWe, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, met in London on 2 April 2009.•We face the greatest challenge (see huge smiles showing how they want to conquer this challenge) to the world economy in modern times; acrisis which has deepened since we last met, which affects the lives ofwomen, men, and children in every country, and which all countries mustjoin together to resolve. A global crisis requires a global solution.•We start from the belief that prosperity is indivisible; that growth,to be sustained, has to be shared; and that our global plan forrecovery must have at its heart the needs and jobs of hard-workingfamilies, not just in developed countries but in emerging markets andthe poorest countries of the world too; and must reflect the interests,not just of today's population, but of future generations too. Webelieve that the only sure foundation for sustainable globalisation andrising prosperity for all is an open world economy based on marketprinciples, effective regulation, and strong global institutions.• We have today therefore pledged to do whatever is necessary to:* restore confidence, growth, and jobs;* repair the financial system to restore lending;* strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust;* fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones;* promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity; and* build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery.Byacting together to fulfill these pledges we will bring the worldeconomy out of recession and prevent a crisis like this from recurringin the future.• The agreements we have reached today, to trebleresources available to the IMF to $750 billion, to support a new SDR[IMF special drawing rights] allocation of $250 billion, to support atleast $100 billion of additional lending by the MDBs [MultilateralDevelopment Banks], to ensure $250 billion of support for tradefinance, and to use the additional resources from agreed IMF gold salesfor concessional finance for the poorest countries, constitute anadditional $1.1 trillion programme of support to restore credit, growthand jobs in the world economy. Together with the measures we have eachtaken nationally, this constitutes a global plan for recovery on anunprecedented scale.Restoring growth and jobs• Weare undertaking an unprecedented and concerted fiscal expansion, whichwill save or create millions of jobs which would otherwise have beendestroyed, and that will, by the end of next year, amount to $5trillion, raise output by 4 per cent, and accelerate the transition toa green economy. We are committed to deliver the scale of sustainedfiscal effort necessary to restore growth.• Our central banks havealso taken exceptional action. Interest rates have been cutaggressively in most countries, and our central banks have pledged tomaintain expansionary policies for as long as needed and to use thefull range of monetary policy instruments, including unconventionalinstruments, consistent with price stability.• Our actions torestore growth cannot be effective until we restore domestic lendingand international capital flows. We have provided significant andcomprehensive support to our banking systems to provide liquidity,recapitalise financial institutions, and address decisively the problemof impaired assets. We are committed to take all necessary actions torestore the normal flow of credit through the financial system andensure the soundness of systemically important institutions,implementing our policies in line with the agreed G20 framework forrestoring lending and repairing the financial sector.• Takentogether, these actions will constitute the largest fiscal and monetarystimulus and the most comprehensive support programme for the financialsector in modern times. Acting together strengthens the impact and theexceptional policy actions announced so far must be implemented withoutdelay. Today, we have further agreed over $1 trillion of additionalresources for the world economy through our international financialinstitutions and trade finance.• Last month the IMF estimated thatworld growth in real terms would resume and rise to over 2 percent bythe end of 2010. We are confident that the actions we have agreedtoday, and our unshakeable commitment to work together to restoregrowth and jobs, while preserving long-term fiscal sustainability, willaccelerate the return to trend growth. We commit today to takingwhatever action is necessary to secure that outcome, and we call on theIMF to assess regularly the actions taken and the global actionsrequired.• We are resolved to ensure long-term fiscalsustainability and price stability and will put in place credible exitstrategies from the measures that need to be taken now to support thefinancial sector and restore global demand. We are convinced that byimplementing our agreed policies we will limit the longer-term costs toour economies, thereby reducing the scale of the fiscal consolidationnecessary over the longer term.• We will conduct all our economicpolicies cooperatively and responsibly with regard to the impact onother countries and will refrain from competitive devaluation of ourcurrencies and promote a stable and well-functioning internationalmonetary system. We will support, now and in the future, to candid,even-handed, and independent IMF surveillance of our economies andfinancial sectors, of the impact of our policies on others, and ofrisks facing the global economy.Strengthening financial supervision and regulation•Major failures in the financial sector and in financial regulation andsupervision were fundamental causes of the crisis. Confidence will notbe restored until we rebuild trust in our financial system. We willtake action to build a stronger, more globally consistent, supervisoryand regulatory framework for the future financial sector, which willsupport sustainable global growth and serve the needs of business andcitizens.• We each agree to ensure our domestic regulatory systemsare strong. But we also agree to establish the much greater consistencyand systematic cooperation between countries, and the framework ofinternationally agreed high standards, that a global financial systemrequires. Strengthened regulation and supervision must promotepropriety, integrity and transparency; guard against risk across thefinancial system; dampen rather than amplify the financial and economiccycle; reduce reliance on inappropriately risky sources of financing;and discourage excessive risk-taking. Regulators and supervisors mustprotect consumers and investors, support market discipline, avoidadverse impacts on other countries, reduce the scope for regulatoryarbitrage, support competition and dynamism, and keep pace withinnovation in the marketplace.• To this end we are implementing theAction Plan agreed at our last meeting, as set out in the attachedprogress report. We have today also issued a Declaration, Strengtheningthe Financial System. In particular we agree:* to establish a newFinancial Stability Board (FSB) with a strengthened mandate, as asuccessor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), including all G20countries, FSF members, Spain, and the European Commission;* thatthe FSB should collaborate with the IMF to provide early warning ofmacroeconomic and financial risks and the actions needed to addressthem;* to reshape our regulatory systems so that our authorities are able to identify and take account of macro-prudential risks;*to extend regulation and oversight to all systemically importantfinancial institutions, instruments and markets. This will include, forthe first time, systemically important hedge funds;* to endorse andimplement the FSF's tough new principles on pay and compensation and tosupport sustainable compensation schemes and the corporate socialresponsibility of all firms;* to take action, once recovery isassured, to improve the quality, quantity, and internationalconsistency of capital in the banking system. In future, regulationmust prevent excessive leverage and require buffers of resources to bebuilt up in good times;* to take action against non-cooperativejurisdictions, including tax havens. We stand ready to deploy sanctionsto protect our public finances and financial systems. The era ofbanking secrecy is over. We note that the OECD has today published alist of countries assessed by the Global Forum against theinternational standard for exchange of tax information;* to call onthe accounting standard setters to work urgently with supervisors andregulators to improve standards on valuation and provisioning andachieve a single set of high-quality global accounting standards; and*to extend regulatory oversight and registration to Credit RatingAgencies to ensure they meet the international code of good practice,particularly to prevent unacceptable conflicts of interest.• Weinstruct our Finance Ministers to complete the implementation of thesedecisions in line with the timetable set out in the Action Plan. Wehave asked the FSB and the IMF to monitor progress, working with theFinancial Action Taskforce and other relevant bodies, and to provide areport to the next meeting of our Finance Ministers in Scotland inNovember.Strengthening our global financial institutions•Emerging markets and developing countries, which have been the engineof recent world growth, are also now facing challenges which are addingto the current downturn in the global economy. It is imperative forglobal confidence and economic recovery that capital continues to flowto them. This will require a substantial strengthening of theinternational financial institutions, particularly the IMF. We havetherefore agreed today to make available an additional $850 billion ofresources through the global financial institutions to support growthin emerging market and developing countries by helping to financecounter-cyclical spending, bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, tradefinance, balance of payments support, debt rollover, and socialsupport. To this end:* we have agreed to increase the resourcesavailable to the IMF through immediate financing from members of $250billion, subsequently incorporated into an expanded and more flexibleNew Arrangements to Borrow, increased by up to $500 billion, and toconsider market borrowing if necessary; and* we support asubstantial increase in lending of at least $100 billion by theMultilateral Development Banks (MDBs), including to low incomecountries, and ensure that all MDBs, including have the appropriatecapital.• It is essential that these resources can be usedeffectively and flexibly to support growth. We welcome in this respectthe progress made by the IMF with its new Flexible Credit Line (FCL)and its reformed lending and conditionality framework which will enablethe IMF to ensure that its facilities address effectively theunderlying causes of countries' balance of payments financing needs,particularly the withdrawal of external capital flows to the bankingand corporate sectors. We support Mexico 's decision to seek an FCLarrangement.
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A South African judge has sentenced three men to life in prison for killing reggae star Lucky Dube in 2007.The 43-year-old was shot as the three stole his car in a Johannesburg suburb in a case which shocked the nation.Family members broke down in tears, cheered and applauded in response, the South Africa Press Association reports."The sentence won't heal me, but we are happy they were arrested and that the law took its course," his wife Zanele Dube said afterwards.The BBC's Mpho Lakaje outside the South Gauteng High Court says musicians and fans gathered outside to show their support.I don't think we will ever recover from this. But we are happy that justice has been doneBacking singer Tonique ThalaSouth Africa's singing peacemakerThe court had heard that the three men thought their victim was Nigerian and did not realise his identity until they read about it in the newspapers the following day.Our reporter says one of the banners outside court read: "Lucky Dube did not look like a Nigerian; he's an African."According to Sapa, the court also sentenced Sifiso Mhlanga, Julius Gxowa, and Mbuti Mabe to 15 years each for the attempted robbery of Dube's car.Murder alarmOne of Dube's backing vocalists said there was a sense of relief that the trial was over."I don't think we will ever recover from this. But we are happy that justice has been done," Tonique Thala said.South Africa's best-selling reggae artist, Dube recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans during his 25-year career.The killing had led to renewed domestic calls for the restoration of the death penalty in a bid to stem one of the world's highest murder rates.Our reporter says South Africa's international image has been tarnished by its alarming crime levels.Nearly 19,000 people were murdered last year, according to official statistics.Millions of visitors are expected for next year's football World Cup.
UMUAHIA—THE Abia State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, has arrested a 29-year-old man, Domunachi Osu, for allegedly raping and infecting an 8-year-old girl, (names withheld) with HIV.The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Soji Alabi who briefed newsmen on behalf of the Commandant, Alhaji Dauda Mungadi, said the suspect, said to have been on the run since last year was arrested following a tip-off from the victim’s mother.Alabi said the suspect, a married man and trader from Delta State, was living in the same area with victim, who was staying with her grandmother in Ikwuano Local Government Area of the state.Osu was said to have committed the offence when everybody in the compound had gone to the farm and threatened to kill the girl if she told anyone of the heinous act.Alabi said that the suspect would be taken to court immediately investigations were concluded.In her account, the victim’s mother, Mrs. Amarachi Uche, said she had gone back to school in Abuja when her daughter’s series of illnesses were reported to her and that it took the intervention of a family friend before her daughter could open up on what happened.The victim who narrated her ordeal in Igbo language said she was raped. The suspect also admitted that he was guilty of the offence, saying he had been living with HIV for over three years.
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Flogged, tied up and locked up for 72 hours
The 2008 Christmas week would for a long time, remain fresh in the memory of Miss Ngozi Eneremadu . The 27th day of December , 2008 to be precise, has been burnt into her mind with blood and pain.
Ngozi Eneremadu's woes started on the 24th day of December, 2008 when she was invited to the house of one Mr. Chimeremeze Chigaemezu, the proprietor of Chinbest Guest House in Umuguma Housing Estate in Owerri West LGA, by one Miss Vivian, a relative of the said Chimeremeze who was supposed to be Miss Eneremadu’s friend.
On getting to the place, Ngozi Eneremadu was told that they needed her to assist them in the Christmas sales at the Chinbest Guest House.
Eneremdu, being a young, unemployed school leaver, accepted the offer and started work immediately. As contained in a petition to the Imo state police commissioner, three days after commencement of work at Chinbest Guest House, on the 27th day of December, after the Christmas and Boxing day celebration , the proprietor of Chinbest Guest House, at about 11:30 pm on the fateful day, cornered Miss Ngozi Eneremadu and forced her to drink excessive quantity of alcohol.
When she became tipsy with alcohol and posed minimal resistance, Chimeremeze and Vivian allegedly dragged her to the car, forced her in and drove her to the proprietor’s residence.
On getting to Chimeremeze’s house, she was taken into the bedroom where she was ordered to undress at gun point.
Being a premeditated act, when Ngozi Eneremadu refused to undress, a cable wire was instantly brandished by Chimeremeze with which he started beating and flogging the helpless girl. The attack on Miss Eneremadu was viciously maniacal as Chimeremeze was alleged to have torn her cloths from her body, to bits and pieces. Naked , he shoved her to the floor and brutally lashed and excoriated her back, buttocks and legs.
Miss Ngozi Eneremadu’s shout for help was drowned by the compact disc audio player which was turned up to the highest volume by Chimeremeze to cover his savage action.
When Miss Eneremadu, mustered up a little energy and attempted to escape, she was pushed back into the room by Vivian, the friend who invited her to the Guest House.
As the flogging resumed with more intense brutality, her body convulsed severally and was freely dripping blood from over 32 bleeding stripes. Having lost so much blood, Ngozi Eneremadu drifted in and out of unconsciousness until she eventually passed out .
Regaining consciousness, Ngozi Eneremadu noticed three men hovering around , inspecting her body. In a petition to the Imo State Commissioner of police, Barrister D.U Enwere of the Equity Chambers , stated that the ritualists, “owing to the bruises and scars, on Ngozi Eneremadu’s body were overheard telling Chigaemezu that “ the girl would no longer be fit for the ceremony”
Huhuonline also gathered that when Chigaemezu tried to convince the trio, one of them firmly stated in a tone of finality, “she would be rejected”.
Disappointed, Chimeremeze dashed into the room and resumed the flogging, beating and torture. His depravity reached a height when he poured a portion of diluted acid on the girl’s leg which dripped down her thigh narrowly missing her private part.
At this juncture Ngozi Eneremadu was totally exhausted she told Huhuonline that , she was certain, she would die. She was then tied up and kept under lock and key for over three days, according to her petition
Her condition was progressively deteriorating . When Chimeremeze realized that her state has become dangerously critical, he untied and gave Ngozi Eneremadu the sum of N5,000 for medical treatment and released her to go.
Huhuonline Further gathered that Miss Eneremadu was admitted in hospital for over a week. The doctor was alarmed as he could not imagine how a girl as young as Miss Eneremadu could have been so callously brutalized.
Following the petition to the police commissioner , a team of detectives was dispatched to Chinbest Guest House where they were said to have arrested Mr. Chimeremeze.
Ironically, Chimeremeze was said not to have been detained as the petitioners are alleging that the woman in-charge of the Monitoring Unit of the Imo state police command who are handling the case have according to their assessment, been clearly compromised as the woman is more interested in finding a way out for the culprit.
At this juncture, it is however clear that the petitioners are clearly at a loss as to how to prosecute their case, since as at the time of this report, they were still unable to confirm the real name of the culprit they petitioned and want to prosecute.
When Huhuonline spoke with Chimeremeze on the phone, he was all brags threatening to take the case beyond the state to the Police headquarters, Abuja . He however alleged that the victim was a criminal. Hear him, “If you want to know anything about the case now, go to the Police because the matter is with the police. All I can tell you now is that the girl in question is a armed robber.”
Ironically, Huhuonline gathered from sources close to the victim that Chimeremeze has already offered the sum of N50,000 to the girl for compensation and medical expenses. This money was rejected by the girl as it amounted to nothing compared to the torture and pain she has undergone.
When Huhuonline sought the view of the Imo state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Linus Nwaiwu, he stated that the Imo State Police command would not tolerate any form of barbarism from any quarters, stressing that the command would get to the root of the vicious attack on Miss Ngozi Eneremadu.
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Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 10:00pm
Thursday, 26 March 2009 00:00
Nigerian Compass
•Court orders her release •Community cries out for help
Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
WHAT could a woman be doing in her house with 42 pregnant teenagers? . This is the question operatives of the anti-human trafficking unit of the... Force Headquarters, Abuja, are trying to find an answer to, as they arrested the suspect (names withheld).
The victims, aged between 13 and 18, were allegedly found in the woman’s house in Abia State.
The suspect, the Nigerian Compass learnt, had earlier been arrested and paraded by the Abia State Police Command for allegedly trafficking in children, only to be released based on intervention from “high quarters”.
It was gathered that her latest arrest followed a tip-off from the people of Umunkpeyi Nvosi village in Isiala-Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State, where she resides.
It was further learnt that the policemen stormed the village and raided the home of the woman during which the 42 pregnant teenagers and some able- bodied men were reportedly arrested. The woman was alleged to have recruited the men for the purpose of kidnapping the teenagers and having immoral relationship with them, which resulted into the pregnancy.
It was, however, not clear what she uses the babies from the pregnant girls for.
“These young men were recruited to abduct the young girls, put them in family way and kidnap any member of the community who voices opposition to her nefarious activities”, the people of Umunkpeyi Nvosi community said in a letter signed on their behalf by Iheanyi Achoromadu and Pastor Charles Ukoh.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Nigerian Compass in Abuja, was addressed to the Chairman of the Civil Liberties Organisation. The community noted with regrets that the police in Abia State were very complacent on the issue.
“It is quite regrettable that notwithstanding the gravity of the said atrocities, the police in Abia State are still very complacent on the issue”, the community declared in the letter.
The people expressed happiness that the Force Headquarters have “renewed investigations on the subject-matter and in the process, arrested some pregnant girls from the said camp.”
The community further implored the CLO to “come into the matter fully so that appropriate government agencies and all other parties that should be involved in this matter are made to live up to expectations to save us from this ugly situation”.
The Nigerian Compass, however, gathered that before the suspect could be brought from Abia State to Abuja, a court injunction restraining the police from arresting her was already waiting, following which she was released.
When contacted on his mobile phone yesterday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, who neither confirmed nor denied the story, merely said: “I don’t have the details now”.
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The rivalry between Nigeria`s richest duo, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola has taken a turn for the worse with pressure mounting on Dangote to resign his post as vice chairman of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) over perceived conflict of interests in the unfolding financial saga that has seen the SEC suspend and fined Nova Finances Securities owned by Eugene Anenih, a Dangote proxy.
The SEC suspended Nova Finance Securities last Thursday March 26, 2009 after investigations uncovered unethical practices. The SEC investigation, Huhuonline learnt, triggered off another investigation into Afribank Registrars; accused of aiding and abetting the unethical practices by Nova Finance Securities. Sources within Afribank Registrars - who are registrar to AP plc - told Huhuonline that the SEC'S complaint rests on the failure of Afribank Registrars' internal control mechanism to detect or prevent the dubious transactions by Nova Finance Securities and that its records were falsified to cover up the illegal transactions.
Aliko Dangote
The suspension and fine of Nova Finances & Securities may not be evidence of the guilt of Afribank Registrars but it provides the clearest evidence of the complicity of the group of Dangote consortium partners in masterminding the fraud. After several months of denial, the suspension of Nova Finances is a very sad illustration of the way business is done in Nigeria and the mindless audacity of some people in authority like Dangote who remains vice-president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. (NSE) As pressure continues to mount, the race to succeed the embattled Dangote by those who believe-or perhaps know-that he be will axed, should he fail to resign, may have begun in earnest. And a few names have been touted. But, curiously, Dangote is yet to sever all his ties to Nova.
CSCS document made available to Huhuonline revealed that during the period under review, Dangote and Nova with the assistance of Afribank Registrars fraudulently swapped a total volume of five hundred thousand units of irredeemable non-cumulative convertible preference shares in ten different transactions, which were admitted to the daily official lost of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The ensuing panic and loss of share value created a scary scenario for AP investors. The resultant effect was shareholders lost of confidence in AP shares, leading to a massive exodus of existing shareholders, who hurriedly offloaded their AP shares and precipitating a sharp decline in its price. Some of the former AP investors, who spoke to Huhuonline, said “they just wanted to get out of the investment, and had no regard for the price at which they sold”.
Despite the fine and suspension of Nova Finance Securities, and the SEC’s threat to sanction operators caught on unethical practices especially, on insider and cross-share trading, it appears the warning is not being taken seriously as practitioners are engaged in premium price war in an attempt to edge out competitors. “Nova and Aliko were just crossing shares between themselves, there were no money exchanged; rather they were even loosing money by paying commissions for the swaps”, the chief executive of an investment firm told Huhuonline, adding: “the practice of cross-share trading is a common tactic within the industry. The SEC should not merely issue threats and small fines; it has the facts and profiles of all operators to ban or impose huge sanctions on those companies that are involved in these unorthodox practices but it has failed to do so.”
The growing calls for his resignation from the NSE came hard on the heels of another unsavory development in the unfolding saga. The latest salvo involves a text message, currently making the rounds, and said to have been originated by Otedola. The text message, featuring the names of some married women who had allegedly engaged in extra-marital affairs with Dangote, was described by one source as Dangote’s “black box”. It contains information whose potential impact might cause considerable embarrassment to Dangote and some of his political allies, a source told Huhuonline. Dangote’s proxies have accused Otedola of employing blackmail and other crude underhand tactics to punch below the belt. But Otedola’s supporters have denied any involvement.
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Two Nigerian Men indicted in marriage fraud in Houston
A federal grand jury indicted Ibraheem Adegoke Buraimoh, a citizen of Nig.eria, and Ibraheem Adeneye, a naturalized U.S. citizen and Houston resident, Tuesday for conspiring to commit marriage fraud, according to a U.S. Attorney?s Office release..The prosecution of these two men began with the filing of a criminal complaint that alleged that agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement began an investigation earlier this year into the possibility that an alien was attempting to arrange a fraudulent marriage with an American citizen in order to obtain a favorable change of immigration status from Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Adeneye, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Nigeri.a, allegedly acted as a broker to arrange a fraudulent marriage between Buraimoh and an undercover ICE agent posing as a U.S. citizen willing to enter into the fraudulent marriage with Buraimoh. In January, meetings were held with and phone calls were made by the agent with Adeneye and Buraimoh, during which the arrangement of the fraudulent marriage allegedly was discussed, including a total of $3,500 to be paid in installments to the agent (?wife?) for her role in the conspiracy and to Adeneye for arranging the marriage. In addition, the process for obtaining a change in immigration status as a result of the ?marriage? allegedly was discussed.
On Feb. 2, according to the complaint, after ICE took steps to notify the Harris County Clerk?s Office of the impending fraudulent marriage, the agent and Buraimoh were married in a state court in downtown Houston by a judge. Thereafter, Buraimoh allegedly made a partial payment to the agent for going through with the marriage. Both men were arrested Feb. 17.
If convicted of conspiring to commit marriage fraud, Adeneye and Buraimoh face a maximum of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Buraimoh has been ordered held in federal custody without bond pending trial. Adeneye has been ordered released on bond.
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CEO fixes unbroken social network
Here’s your scenario: You’re the CEO of an immensely popular social network with 175 million registered users, or just shy of the population of Brazil. Your users are passionate and tend to protest over the slightest changes. Just recently they got really mad about a terms of service change—so mad it was on the evening news and you had to change them back.
Despite those numbers, despite rabid user loyalty, you’re losing money, so much money you got delisted from Forbes’ Masters of the Universe Billionaires list. At the same time another social network, much smaller than yours with less functionality and more questionable future, is gaining a lot of buzz and membership.
What do you do?
Do you:
Old Facebook Now A. Don’t fix something that’s not broken. And by not broken, it means that meteoric growth over the past year led your site to trounce MySpace and every sensitive person on the site is relatively happy in their social networking habitat.
B. Ignore that a growing number of people seem to like an incomprehensible platform much like a feature you already offer. Remember that you have 175 million and growing members, and that Twitter does not, and show that you have plenty of confidence in your product. After all Google didn’t just become a portal because some people didn’t get the spare interface.
C. A and B, and focus on Job 1, which is figure out a way to monetize so that you can rejoin the Masters of the Universe at Davos next year.
D. None of the above. Instead, hold a press conference. Announce you’re making the website more democratic if that’s what everybody wants and call for a vote. While everybody’s busy voting on that, change everything.
If you picked D, congratulations, you’re thinking like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
At the end of last month, Zuckerberg laid down what resembled the Magna Carta for Facebook, noting that future changes would be made via a more democratic process in “virtual town halls.” Voting on that set of new principles and user rights and responsibilities would be in effect until March 29, and only required 52 million votes to ensure they took effect. Over that month, said Zuckerberg, Facebook would be making “hundreds of changes.”
Presumably before anybody could stop him. Maybe we’re seeing the grooming of a future politician.
On March 13, Facebook radically redesigned the site to make it more Twitter-esque and less traditionally Facebook-y.
How did the Facebook masses respond? Hard to gauge really.
Yesterday, an update on the Facebook blog about the new Town Hall voting on the new governance plan was met with a barrage of comments about how much they hated new Facebook and wanted the old one back. But comment threads get ugly sometimes, right? You can't let a minority of protestors beat you back. Just how many protestors are there, anyway?
The number against the changes are even harder to gauge because there are too many separate factions of new Facebook haters. A couple of groups appear to have around 400,000 members, one has 2.7 million, another around 50,000, and several others just have hundreds. We’ll round up and call it a cool 4 million, well shy of the 30 percent of Facebook needed to vote down changes under the new governance that has yet to take effect.
Groups rallying to keep or save the new Facebook exist as well. One of them even has 76 members.
Chris William at the HuffingtonPost does a pretty good job of summing up what appear to be the most unpopular changes. They include:
--No more automatically updating “live feed” with updates on everything. One critic called the live feed a “TV alternative.”
--Data is fully integrated into the new status updates. Users used to be able to separate out by category: wall posts, status updates, links, photos, etc.
--The feed no longer tells you when friends add new friends. This was a popular way of expanding one’s own friends list.
--Now users get updated with every photo posted in a separate post. 30 new pictures posted. 30 new posts in the feed.
--Gone is the ability to just see less of an individual’s posts. Now it’s all posts or no posts from a person.
The complaints go on for a while at different sources. The least that can be said is there are a lot of people out there wondering why unbroken Facebook needed to be fixed, and why anyone with a user base so change-averse to begin with would think hundreds of changes over a short period of time—no testing, no asking—would go over well.
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Justice Deborah Oluwayemi of the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, yesterday ordered for the immediate arrest of Nollywood actress and ex-beauty queen, Ibinabo Fiberesima.
The order of the court was sequel to the absence of the ex-beauty queen in court yesterday when the matter was mentioned in court. Her lawyer, Kemasuode Wodu, told the court that he had filed a stay of execution of the judgement of the court. Following this, Justice Oluwayemi asked, "Where is the convict?" Mr. Wodu answered that she was sick and currently recuperating at the BMH Hospital in Port Harcourt,
The lawyer tendered a medical certificate which read: "To Whom It May Concern". But this was rejected on the grounds that it was not addressed to the court. Justice Oluwayemi frowned at the absence of the convict, adding that the application for the stay of execution of the judgement would not be heard until she was produced in court.
The judge cited the cases of some convicts who are currently in prison, like Rev. King, to buttress her point. The former beauty queen was last month sentenced to five years imprisonment for dangerous and reckless driving which led to the death of one Dr. Giwa Suraj.
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A double strike
Mar 12th 2009 | LAGOS
From The Economist print edition
Africa’s second-largest economy has home-grown problems, too
STAND on the beachfront of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, and a puzzling scene emerges from the tropical haze: a stately line of container ships, each at anchor, queuing to enter the harbour. Despite the global slump, congestion is not letting up, says the director of the company that runs the privatised port. The number of inbound containers has doubled in the past three years; so far in 2009 there has been no decline. Such is the crush in Lagos that getting cargo from ship to port to lorry still takes an average of six weeks.
Such blockages are nothing to celebrate. But they indicate how 140m-odd Nigerians, despite being battered by a sharp fall in oil revenues and by an equally painful 20% devaluation of their currency, the naira, remain hungry for imports. Retailers tell a similar story. Coca-Cola plans to serve Nigerians over 2 billion bottles of sugary drinks this year, as it did last year. Procter & Gamble, which sells nappies, washing powder and so on, reports some slackening growth but still expects the young and fast-growing population to push up consumer demand in the next few years. Mobile-phone companies, notably MTN, which dominates the local market, are even more gung-ho. They continue to brag about healthy sales of handsets and new armies of subscribers, though the rising costs of imported equipment cut into profits; Nigeria now has some 64m lines, up from a handful a decade ago.
Anecdotally, at least, businessmen’s bullishness seems so far to be borne out. Good hotels in Lagos still charge astronomical rates, building sites are crowded and vendors throng the city streets as ever; bootleg DVDs of Barack Obama’s inauguration are particularly popular.
But like many poor countries (see article), Nigeria has not escaped the global storm. It relies heavily on oil and gas exports, which provide more than 95% of all foreign-exchange earnings and most of the government’s revenue. Both have been thumped by the tumbling price of crude, now at about $40 a barrel, more than $100 less than at last year’s peak. With nothing else to export—all those containers leave empty—Nigeria is especially vulnerable to volatile oil prices.
Capital which washed merrily into the economy a year or two ago is flowing the other way. Most of it had served the hydrocarbon industry but some foreign investors, notably Americans, had started to see Nigeria as an emerging market; braver ones were tempted by its stockmarket. No longer. A property bubble has popped; the Nigerian Stock Exchange has tumbled by around 40% from its peak. Speculators and local banks are painfully out of pocket.
No wonder the federal government is starting to sound worried. On March 10th President Umaru Yar’Adua at last signed into law a much-delayed expansionary budget, with spending for 2009 at $21.2 billion, a lot more than in early drafts. The newish finance minister, Mansur Muhtar, recently admitted to a meeting of businessmen in Lagos that he saw a “very gloomy picture in the short and medium term”.
Nigeria, along with Africa as a whole, should be spared outright recession. Chukwuma Soludo, the central bank’s governor, says he still expects sub-Saharan Africa’s economies to grow by roughly 3% this year. Nigeria, he reckons, should muster more than that, though not the 6%-plus of recent years. That would barely match the rate of population growth, but if those figures are right Nigeria will be doing better than most and should avoid the acute pain of previous commodity-price busts, as in the 1980s, when the government could not pay civil servants and political instability ensued.
Nigeria is also in better shape to deal with a slowdown because of some decent macro-economic reforms. Inflation, food aside, is quite low. The government has paid off sizeable debts or been relieved of them. It also has ample foreign-exchange reserves and has ferreted away $20 billion in a fund called the Excess Crude Account, which will help cushion public finances from the downturn. On the other hand, raising cash is getting harder: Mr Muhtar has just postponed plans to sell $500m of bonds on the international market.
Trouble at home
Yet even if the global crisis has not hit Nigeria as hard as elsewhere, it is exposing some unresolved problems at home. Take the banking system, which Mr Soludo says would have collapsed months ago but for an early round of government-driven consolidation. He calls the banks “shock absorbers” for the economy. But they look increasingly wobbly. Despite claims that they are well capitalised, with generous capital ratios of 22% said to be typical, they have all but stopped lending to each other or to local firms, especially smaller ones.
Critics say the banks are frozen because many are dangerously exposed to the stockmarket slump, after rashly securing a large portion of their loans with now almost worthless equities. Without government support, some banks would almost certainly fail. None trusts the others.
Oil and gas production, the economy’s mainstay, is also in bad shape. Long Africa’s biggest producer, Nigeria last year ceded the top spot to Angola. Production is dropping, in part, because militants in and off the Niger Delta kidnap workers and scare away oil firms. A new pipeline built to export gas to Ghana, Togo and Benin should have opened in January but lies empty. Talk of spending $12 billion to build another pipeline running 4,400km north across the Sahara to send gas via Algeria to Europe sounds fanciful. A sizeable share of local gas is simply flared off at source.
Meanwhile, Nigeria still cannot keep its own lights on. Manufacturers, who account for a feeble 3-4% of GDP but at least create some jobs, grumble that they must rely entirely on costly diesel generators. Power cuts are common. It has long been obvious what should be done: existing turbines lack supplies of gas, transmission cables should be rolled out, more power stations must be built. Successive governments have let power generation dwindle, yet none has let private contractors act instead. Shortly before leaving office the previous president, Olusegun Obasanjo, passed a law ordering the privatisation of some power stations. But Mr Yar’Adua quickly reversed this, saying he was worried about corruption.
A rare bright spot is agriculture. Nigeria’s lands are fertile; water, at least in the south, is plentiful. A fertiliser plant has been privatised and is supposed to start supplying farmers. Local food and tobacco prices remain high compared with world prices, which should give farmers good incentives. One day—who knows?—goods may once again flow out of Lagos harbour as well as into it.
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A British physicist has revealed his plan to launch a new internet search engine so powerful that one expert has suggested it "could be as important as Google".
London-born scientist Stephen Wolfram says that his company, Wolfram Research, is preparing to unveil the system in two months' time.
Known as Wolfram Alpha, the site is an attempt to address some of the deficiencies of current web search by understanding people's questions and answering them directly.
"Fifty years ago, when computers were young, people assumed that they'd quickly be able to handle all these kinds of things … and that one would be able to ask a computer any factual question and have it compute the answer," he wrote on the Wolfram Research website.
"But it didn't work out that way … I'd always thought, though, that eventually it should be possible. And a few years ago, I realised that I was finally in a position to try and do it."
According to its creator, the system understands questions that users input and then calculates the answers based on its extensive mathematical and scientific engine.
Natural language processing – the ability to determine – has long been a holy grail for computer scientists, who believe for interacting with machines in an instinctive way. And that, says Wolfram, is part of the code that Alpha has cracked.
"The way humans normally communicate is through natural language – and when one's dealing with the whole spectrum of knowledge, I think that's the only realistic option for communicating with computers too," he wrote.
"Of course, getting computers to deal with natural language has turned out to be incredibly difficult. And, for example, we're still very far away from having computers systematically understand large volumes of natural language text on the web."
Other search engines, such as Google, compare search terms against billions of documents stored on its servers, before pointing to the pages on which the correct answer is probably kept.
Although this method has proved phenomenally successful, many computer scientists have continued trying to create a system that can understand human language.
One of the most recent to claim a breakthrough was Powerset, which raised $12.5m (£8.9m) in funding and was under development for several years – but only released a limited search engine for Wikipedia before being bought by Microsoft for $100m last year.
According to Nova Spivack, the founder of another intelligent web service, Twine, Alpha is far more impressive than what has gone before.
"Wolfram Alpha is like plugging into a vast electronic brain," he wrote. "It provides extremely impressive and thorough questions asked in many different ways, and it computes answers – it doesn't merely look them up in a big database."
The plan is already gaining media attention, but the 49-year-old is used to getting noticed for his exploits. After studying at Eton and Oxford, Wolfram went on to receive his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology at the age of 20 .
As a result he was awarded a Macarthur genius grant in 1981, and later generated a mixture of applause and opprobrium with his famous book, A New Kind of Science. In it, he suggested that simple algorithms, rather than complex rules and structures, could be at the root of all science.
Reaction to the idea – which Wolfram said could boil down to a computer program consisting of just "three or four lines of code" – was mixed.
Some critics felt that Wolfram unfairly refused to submit his theories to peer review in the decade that he worked on the book, while others claimed he courted publicity by building up the image of a reclusive genius.
Whatever the outcome of Wolfram's audacious claims, however, his track record is strong. One of his previous creations, the computer program Mathematica, is now used by many scientists to help them with their work.
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It might seem that to figure out how to catch a cheating husband one would need the equipment and [man]power of the team on the creepy TV series called Cheaters. Or, one might overestimate the cost or amount of expertise (and preceding study) of a private eye to learn how to catch a cheating husband. But as everyone from the writers of Cosmo articles to individuals who have done the dirty job themselves will tell you, there are relatively manageable strategies to use to discern the truth about your mate.Evidently, cheaters are "easy" to catch, for they leave clues. Your job of determining how to catch a cheating husband, then, is a fairly easy one, provided you1) STAY CALM, and2) GATHER ALL "PROOF" FIRST...BEFORE YOU ACCUSE or IMPUGN. Here are a list of sample clues/pieces of evidence:Phone bills/cell phone bills (even more so if your husband HIDES the bills, or snatches them from the mailbox before you get to see them).New purchases (especially underwear, cologne, or even jewelry or items for gifts for a woman that is not you). That is, if he is a slob and has been for twenty years, and all of a sudden is wearing new undies, is shaving regularly, etc., take note. He might be hinting to you for ways on how to catch a cheating husband (whether he intends for you to catch him or not).Passwords, keys, and other private entry items that used to be shared between the two of you. If you suddenly cannot access his internet activities or email, or if he takes away keys to strong boxes, sheds, cars, or other places you always were privy to, something’s up. A major strategy for how to catch a cheating husband? Try this if it involves passwords on your community pc:[He may THINK he can delete evidence by erasing history and all that. You can go into the bowels of the pc and find his snail trail. But you can also get his passwords—IF he is not as computer-savvy as he thinks he is.]Go online.At the top of the page is what is called the MENU BAR.Click on TOOLS.Then click on OPTIONS.Then click on PASSWORDS.Finally, click on VIEW SAVED PASSWORDS.There you will find a list of both the urls (the www. Or http sites he visits) and the passwords, which are automatically saved unless someone really up on this stuff has fixed the pc to NOT save passwords.In addition, many experts or specialists give advice on how to catch a cheating husband which include1) keeping a written record/diary of his behavior/activities, to see if there is a pattern; 2) checking for receipts; 3) making note of times the phone rings and the calls are hang-ups; 4) checking the mileage on the car; 5) showing up at his workplace; and 6) being unpredictable yourself (returning hime when he thinks you are gone for the weekend, etc.).Remember, though, to keep your wits about you until you have ample proof, and try not turn into a stalker yourself!Thanks 4 reading!! NAME is DON B..............B
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Little David comes home from first grade and tells his father that they learned about the history of Valentine's Day."Since Valentine's Day is for a Christian saint and we're Jewish," he asks, "will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?"David's father thinks a bit, then says, "No, I don't think God would get mad. Who do you want to give a valentine to?""Osama bin Laden," David says."Why Osama bin Laden," his father asks in shock."Well," David says, "I thought that if a little American Jewish boy could have enough love to give Osama a valentine, he might start to think that maybe we're not all bad, and maybe start loving people a little bit. And if other kids saw what I did and sent valentines to Osama, he'd love everyone a lot. And then he'd start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he loved them and how he didn't hate anyone anymore."His father's heart swells and he looks at his boy with newfound pride. "David, that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard.""I know," David says, "and once that gets him out in the open, the Marines could blow the shit out of him
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Posted by 9jabook.com on January 30, 2009 at 9:30am
These tips are for everyone be it moslem,christian or atheist etc .. it is because i am christian I am using my own beliefs to write this .So no haters wanted ! thanks you can make your comments at the bottom of the article .
Hi guys,
How many know about WISDOM and the peculiar persons you will interact with daily ?.You need this wisdom !
The principal thing is Wisdom so get it ! Get IT and get it Again !
`
Read on and be blessed of God as He increases His wisdom in you. Never complain to God about what you permit. - Seek his Grace,
get his strength. His grace is sufficient. GOD HATES COMPLAINERS !always come to the throne of GRACE in time of need. The problem that infuriates you the most is the problem that God has assigned you to solve. - Learn to choose what you will call your problems then rename them CHALLENGES. Then surmount them!
Those that unlock your compassion are those to whom you have been assigned. I LOVE YOU AND I LIKE YOU ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. So get I LOVE YOU and know it. See 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
What you are willing to walk away from
determines what God will bring to you. - Never do a Craig David and walk away from troubles. Those that be for you are more than those that are against you. Ask God to let you know this. Open your EYES
The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. - Work smart, become a SPIRITUALHOLIC! Walk in the SPIRIT!
Your rewards in life are determined by the problems you solve for others. - Help out your enemies not just your Friends! TRY IT OUT AND SEE. BE GOD LIKE! When you want something you have never had, you have got to do something you have never done. - SOW SOW SOW YOUR FRUITS!! SOW SOW SOW YOUR FIRST FRUITS!!
All men fall. The great ones get back up. - There is no crime in getting UP. The crime is in STAYING DOWN. SO GET UP. See Peter and Judas Phenomena. Intolerance of your present creates your future. - HATE YOUR PRESENT IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT .CREATE A FUTURE YOU LOVE. THEN COVET IT.
Those who cannot increase you will inevitably decrease you. � Don�t even doubt this! INEVITABLY THEY WILL. The keyword here is �inevitably�.
You will never leave where you are, until you decide where you would rather be. You will only have significant success with something that is an obsession. - Get OBSESSED with the HOLY SPIRIT.
Give another what he cannot find anywhere else and he will keep returning. - ANOTHER can mean your Job, your Boss, your Spouse, or even your dog. MOST OF ALL GIVE GOD! And He will keep coming back to bless you even though there are countless more qualified folks around you. Yet YOU WILL GET ALL THE INCREASES AND THE PROMOTIONS! Your assignment is not your decision, but your discovery.
When fatigue walks in, faith walks out. - BELIEVE THIS, FAITH IS NEVER POWER, NEVER STRENGTH! Just Believe. Simple!
If what you hold in your hand is not enough to be your harvest, make it your seed. You will never change what you believe until your belief system cannot produce something you want. - IN JESUS NAME CANCER GO! Even if a die hard ATHIEST hears this and he gets healed, that same day his belief will change, AMEN!
You will only be pursued for the problems you solve. - Always look at �Solutions, Solutions, SOLUTIONS!� Never problems! SEE THE SOLUTION! I can do ALL things. Champions are willing to do things they hate so create something they love and you will become a champion compliant guy or gurl !.
You will never possess what you are unwilling to pursue.It reminds me of the Old Wild West POSSE, so get the bad guys JOIN THE POSSE, THE VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE
!
The only reason men fail is broken focus. - Sorry! BROKEN FOCUS CAN NEVER BE FOCUS! Stop looking at where you have been and start looking at where you can be. This is why man has Stereo Vision so always be forward looking.
You will only be remembered for 2 things: the problems you solve or the ones you create. - And problems you create have a longer memory SPAN!
Those who transfer knowledge are also capable of transferring error. - Be Sure of your Mentors. Be clear on them. Mine are God the Father, God the son JESUS, God the Holy Spirit. Next one is me ! then the rest of the them Pastors, preachers etc The bible says we are gods; we have the mind of Christ. So choose all !
Your seed is the only influence you have over your future. - Financial Seed, Intellectual seed, Spiritual Seed. GET SEEDS NOW.
Loneliness is not the absence of affection, but the absence of direction. - Being alone does not mean you are lonely. Become a magnet; let the word be a LIGHT ONTO YOUR FEET and lo! loneliness will flee.
You will never outgrow Spiritual warfare. You must simply learn to fight. - For we BATTLE not Against FLESH AND BLOOD but against principalities etc! Put on your WHOLE armour NOW AND FIGHT FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY WON!
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Posted by 9jabook.com on January 20, 2009 at 7:31am
This is the full text of President Obama's speech:
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.
Watch Barack Obama's inauguration live
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the fire-fighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 6, 2008 at 1:11am
fellow 9jabookers,
I hereby declare the official launching of my humble aspiration to become the next president of Nigeria.
This will take place online on various websites .Starting with Facebook and then 9jabook.com and then coming soon to a site near your browser.
the following please take note for bad belus reasons:
Former Presidents
open teethmakaveli 2pac i go chop your dollar n give u change
Gen oloose gun OBJectives not met in 8yrs gimme gimme more time .
Aspired presidents
Prof Kris Kotierus speech master so so talk n no aktion
Dr Patrickus Atomi tito do gooder all round general nice guy.Change requires turning yr gang into real gangleaders.nice guys finish last in 9ja.we love u but you will neva be president of nigeria.
Present Presidents
musa sicko yay! nuclear power yadua (i love iran !)
secret police:
Top copper chop i chop balogun , my namesake (i disown u o !) naija FBIs BPE EFFCC NASS NNPC na God go save una all
9ICE, 2face,Dbanj, Ice block , pure water and all d other numeral stars .being a start comes with great responsibilty ask spiderman a fictitious cartoon xter.u guys can give the youths a real message ! A REAL MESSAGE of CHANGE !
Owners of:
Linkserve ltd for wasting my time thinking dis was 9ja answer to microsoft
Standard Chartered Bank for wasting my time X2 for making me do a three year olds job for three bloomin years n getting paid 3000years salary of some people i know !
SPDC na mend go settle una
Now for enjoyment and pleasure reasons:
all JB 4 presido members,Former girlfriends ,former churches and pastors , former niteclubs and beer parlours , Ocean view pls take note ! 9jabook and its friends.big south alleluia to ma homie brian zuckerberg Fbook owner .i love ya .Massive shout to ma main man Barrack Osama saddam hussein(na 4 only yankee e fit happen ! blk man with dat name !) .borrow me yr wife 4 campaign.
peace am out !
Jb4presido the 9ja obama !
aka Sanni fellow nigerians Abacha aka johnbull bakassi ahunna PA to lawrence d law anini plus all d plenti enemies number one for 9ja.
ps all dis demo na make una join 9jabook.com !lol.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on January 6, 2009 at 4:43am
September 17, 2008
The Area Manager,
NEPA,
Lagos
Dear Sir,
COMPLAINT ABOUT YOUR SERVICES
I am writing to you with a deep sense of humility and gentleness. I consider this a great opportunity to communicate with an entity as awe-inspiring as you. Firstly, I bring greetings to you from residents of my area in Lagos.
As a dutiful citizen, I consider this letter as part of my civic responsibilities. Great countries comprise of citizens who are alive to their responsibilities. As a famous musician once said, "Ask not what your country can eat from you but what you can eat from your country.” I have benefited immensely from this country; therefore I have decided to give back.
I want to bring to your notice some strange occurrences which have been happening in my area. I want to sadly inform you that in the last 2 weeks, electricity has been stable. In other words, we sleep and wake up with electricity, we go to work and come back and electricity is still running. This is terribly new and It has added DANGEROUS development in the lives of residents of my area. This is something we are not used to. There is too much electricity for us to handle. In the first week of constant electricity, I started acting strangely. I ironed all my clothes because I didn't know when 'light' will be impounded on your orders. After 2 days, the 'light' was still there. Therefore, I proceeded to re-iron the ironed clothes. My fridge which had not seen '4 hours' of constant light for months suddenly started freezing. In order to enjoy the maximum effects of refrigeration, I have decided to be drinking 20 cups of cold water before I go to sleep. Once I finish a cup, I put the bottle back into the fridge. After 10 minutes, the water cools and I drink. I just don't know what to do. All the Ceiling fans in my house have been switched on alongside my AC. My deck is playing at a high level. My life is now in state of chaos because of constant 'light'. My TV and VCD player are complaining of high blood pressure, as they have been terribly overworked in the last few weeks. Half of my light bulbs have gone on strike to protest their resurrection from blissful death. All the customers in the beer parlour beside my house are complaining that the beer is too cold and wants to destroy their teeth. Even the rats and cockroaches are complaining that human assailants find it easier to track and exterminate them under electric light than under candlelight.
All the witches and wizards that regularly visited me in my sleep have suddenly taken flight in the presence of "light". Now I have to review my membership of MFM (Mountain of Fire and Miracles) since their work has been done. Can you imagine what will happen to the membership of churches if constant 'light' persists? No more demons, meaning No more offerings!! Kai!!!!!!!!!
With the above situation not abating, I decided to seek the reason behind this strange situation. This task was made easy for me when I realized that it was the work of saboteurs. Sabotage is the main reason for anything going wrong or right in our country. Our elections were sabotaged, our president's health is being sabotaged, and Obama's chances of becoming the American President are being sabotaged by Nigerians. Therefore this constant 'light' is the handiwork of saboteurs within your work system. These disgruntled individuals are enemies of progress who want you to miss your set targets. These enemies want you to score very low on your KPI assessment. I realised this fact when I stumbled on a document showing your Key Performance Indicators for every month. These
are:
1. Explosive growth in the amount of Candle-lit dinners and balcony-bedrooms
2. Massive boom in the sales of Candles, torchlights, generators, inverters and lanterns
3. Increased work place productivity due to Employees spending at least 16 hours at work because there is no light at home
4. Massive growth of Rock music fan clubs being aided by the endless sound of generators that are switched on overnight.
5. Volume of human blood being sucked by mosquitoes unchallenged by ceiling/standing fans
6. Incidence of heat rashes
7. Large Increase in naming ceremonies: When people have no light at home, what else do they do with their time other than *******?
Sir, I strongly feel that the above achievements will not be possible if we keep on having 'light'. The saboteurs in your workplace will make you look stupid and incapable in front of your bosses. The repercussions of this charade would be unbearable. This is why I am writing to you now. As a responsible citizen, if I do not volunteer this information, I know that I will be the one to suffer. The day you realise that I have been enjoying endless light for 2 weeks, you will pay me back with 10 black months. The end will be worse than the beginning, thereof. I am at a crossroad. This is a major dilemma. Should I keep quiet? No I won't. This is because Evil triumphs when Good Men keep silent. Your incompetent staffs have left the light switch on and gone to sleep. I know you will take back all that we have stolen from you but Please remember my house in the day of recompense.
posted by exschoolnerdRead more…
Posted by 9jabook.com on December 30, 2008 at 11:30am
Emotional Inteligence
Team,
We are up against the clock now so lets pull out the stops and close the
deals. Here are a couple more closes to try before the close of play.
These 3 work on the emotions of a sale.
Please Note: None of the close techniques I have shown you today are
trying to sell something that a customer does not want or need,
they are aimed at supporting you at getting the customer to buy your one
clear recommendation.
We offer World Class Service and Support, and it is imperative that the
customer buys from The naijabay as we are the best place in
the world to support our customers buy what they want. None of our
competitors come close!
Handshake Close
Technique
As you make a closing offer, extend your hand for a handshake. Smile and
nod as if the deal is done. Look expectantly. If necessary, raise your
eyebrows slightly.
Examples
(Extending hand) So, are you ready now to do the deal today?
(Extending hand) We have a deal?
(Grasp their hand) Well done. You've got a good deal today.
How it works
When you offer your hand to somebody in greeting they will automatically
feels obliged to shake your hand in return, often doing this without
really thinking. When they do shake your hand, they may realize that
they are also agreeing to the close. Most people will not then feel able
to retract their agreement.
IQ Close
Technique
Imply that intelligent people make this purchase.
This is particularly useful in selling technology where people may shy
away from the complexity.
The intelligence can also be associated just with doing a good deal.
You can also imply that it is stupid not to buy.
Examples
I sold one of these to a doctor yesterday.
This is a really clever solution.
It's a bit complex, but you look like you can handle that sort of thing.
It would be stupid not to buy it at this price.
How it works
The IQ Close works by associating intelligence with closure. Thus, if
people think they are intelligent (and we all do) they will be attracted
towards purchasing the product and hence feeling that they are
intelligent. If the person has an avoidance preference, then implying
they would be stupid not to buy makes them aim to avoid the stupidity.
Companion Close
Technique
Rather than sell directly to the person you are targeting, sell to a
person they are with.
This can be a husband, wife, child, friend, grandparent, etc.
Start by being friendly with them (the target person won't mind this)
then gradually increase the selling to them.
Cast them as an authority (particularly as they buy into your idea).
When they are making approving noises or say they would like one, start
selling to the real target of the sale.
Rope in the companion as a sales assistant.
If you are lucky, you might make two sales!
Examples
Hello sir, I can see you have been brought along as the expert, which
phone do you have?
You seem to like this too, madam...Which colour would best suit him?...
How it works
The Companion Close works because the companion to whom you are selling
the idea does not have to make a financial or other commitment and so
will be more ready to agree with you. When the real target of the sale
sees that the other person has agreed, they are more likely to also
agree, in order to maintain consistency with their thoughts of their
companion being intelligent and to maintain harmony in their
relationship with them.
Happy Selling!
nairabook.com sales tips !
Read more…
