Uchendu, wife and babies

He was convinced that the parcel he picked was well loaded and among the best and, therefore, had no need to worry about.

But wishes, they say, are not horses. For 16 tortuous years, Uchedu lived with her wife, Judith, but without a single child to show for the marriage. Chief Uchendu did his traditional marriage on June 6, 1992 and church wedding on November 28 of the same year.

As the problem lingers, Uchendu who hails from Ibeme Ugiri in Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State set out in search for a solution.

This took the husband and wife from one place to another; from one medical prescription to another, yet there was no headway.

In a chat with Daily Sun, Uchendu said: “I did everything humanly possible for 16 years to see if I could get a child, but there was no way. I spent more than N10 million in the search for just a child, in fact, all the money I made within that period was all spent, and still there was no solution.”

But one thing that the couple had going for them was their absolute faith in what God can do.

“After sometime, we took a decision that we would not go to any where again in search of a child; if God would not give us one, we will accept His wish after all we’ve tried as human beings. After that decision, we stopped all medications towards this direction and hoped wholly on God”, Uchendu said.

Uchendu, a Christian of the Catholic fold, decided to put his faith in God in practice as he went into knighthood and was conferred with the Knight of Saint John International (KSJ).

Two spectacular things happened during the period that preceded his initiation into knighthood in September 2007.

First, his wife who although may have disagreed with him on some issues, but definitely not on the issue of child bearing, vehemently opposed his idea of going into knighthood.

Her reason, according to Uchendu, was that, “when one is initiated into knighthood, he would not marry two wives. She was afraid my family would accuse her of luring me into knighthood in order to stop me from marrying another woman who would bear me children. I told her to relax because all the while, she never knew there was no pressure from my family to marry another woman because we are a Christian family”.

The second and more spectacular thing which happened within the period was that as Uchendu was attending programmes preparatory to his knighthood initiation, his wife became pregnant and they never knew.

His words: “As I was attending programmes preceding my initiation into the knighthood, I never knew my wife had taken in. When it became evident, I asked her to go for scanning tests and the results showed he had only one child in her womb and we prepared for her delivery based on the result of the scanning.

“But God in His infinite way of doing things, my wife in February 2008, delivered twins (a boy and a girl). One came out at exactly 5.00p.m. on that fateful day and the second followed 30 minutes later,” he said.

As the twins, Prince Udochukwu and Princeness Adaeze were delivered, Uchendu said that at first he was confused, but later felt relieved.

He said everything around him changed as his house on School Road, Aba became a tourist site of sorts. People from far and near came to see for themselves if actually his wife given birth. Even some American doctors who attended to them in Nigeria when they were in search of the fruit of the womb, joined in the ecstasy of that moment. They went further to send gift items from America for the upkeep of the kids.

In the 16 years of waiting, wherever the couple went for medical tests, they were always said to be okay. But this never stopped people from cajoling them until it got to the point where they were in turn praised..

“Although within the 16 years of waiting, people said all sorts of things against us, but we were not bothered because we knew that one day, God will answer our prayers. After sometime, those who were cajoling and calling us all sorts of names, then turned around to praise and call us the best couple around,” he said.

Recently, the twins clocked two years and their father who had at their delivery presented a cow in fulfillment of the vow he made to God, treated them to a lavish birthday ceremony.

But like Oliver Twist, Chief Uchendu who asked for just a child, but God gave him two at once, is asking for more children, even as he said “at the same time, I will be contented with the twins if that’s all God has for me.”

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan yesterday made history when he ordered that henceforth, females interested in becoming combatant officers for the Nigerian armed forces should be admitted into the Nigeria Defence Academy.

Minister of Defence, Adetokumbo Kayode who made the disclosure at a media briefing in Abuja, said, though the issue had been under consideration by the military high command for sometime, President Jonathan took the decision to start it immediately because it is the right thing adding that "Other countries in Africa are already doing it and they are not better than us".
Photos: Are of US Female Soldier Lavena Johnson who was Raped/Murdered in the barracks in strange circumstances.Will The "Men" who beat their wives in the 9ja Army allow this to become a norm instead of a "killing" ground of our women ? 

We remember the allegation that the 9ja Army fathered upto a whopping 250,000 kids during the Liberian conflict !

Main Story:
"Presently, we have female armoured tank drivers, female Para-troopers, Jumpers, and so on. We will follow international best practices in this regards. We want to have strong, virile armed forces devoid of discrimination".

Expatiating on the new directive, the minister said, "As you are all aware, the Nigerian Armed forces had always had opening for female officers. However, these have always been limited to non combat duties thereby limiting their career path irrespective of their competence or skill".

"To redress this obvious anomaly and in line with conviction of the President that every Nigerian irrespective of Gender or any affiliation should be given equal opportunity to excel in his or her chosen field of life, Mr. President has directed the immediate enlistment and training of female regular combatant commission officers into the Nigerian armed forces".

"The training of the female regular combatant cadets along with their male counterparts will be at the NDA, Kaduna where they will pass out with a degree in a chosen academic field and a regular combatant commission into the Nigerian Armed forces".

The minister continued, "As you might already know, we have various types of commission in the armed forces namely; Regular Combatant Commission, Short Service Combatant Commission, Direct Regular Commission, Direct Short Service and Executive Commission. Of all these types of commissions, it is only the Regular Combatant Commission that can give an officer the opportunity to aspire to head any of the services or rise to become the Chief of Defence staff".

"It is in this consideration that the Presidential directive was given in other to provide the female officers the same opportunity of rising to the pinnacle of their profession. This directive is also aimed at providing women, career opportunities that would allow them to compete with their male counterparts for the highest offices in the military".

"The female regular combatant officers will therefore have the opportunity, as their male counterparts, to command major units of the army, fly fighter jets of the Airforce and to be seamen officers who could command a combat going vessel of the Nigerian Navy", the minister said..

Reacting to a question, he said, “there will be no discrimination with regard to training. The same standard will be applied to both male and female intakes. There will no gender issues involved as it will be strictly be in compliance with NDA statutes”.

LaVena Johnson (July 27, 1985 - July 19, 2005) was a Private First Class in the United States Army whose death, officially ruled a suicide, has attracted international attention amid claims she was raped and murdered. She was the first female soldier from Missouri to die in Iraq.


Johnson's death was officially ruled a suicide by the Department of Defense. However, her father became suspicious when he saw her body in the funeral home and decided to investigate. The Army initially refused to release information, but did so under the Freedom of Information Act after Representative William Lacy Clay, Jr. raised questions about it at the congressional hearings over Pat Tillman's death.[3]
The autopsy report and photographs revealed Johnson had a broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, burns from a corrosive chemical on her genitals, and a gunshot wound that seemed inconsistent with suicide. Several reporters have suspected that the chemical burns were to destroy DNA evidence of a rape

Previously:

Amnesty International Report on 9gerian (sic) Soldiers

"Disturbing trends of despoil and sexual violence against women and girls at the hands of police and security forces" have been revealed in Nigeria. Some security forces act as if they were entitled to despoil local women, and they are sure never to face justice.

"There were three men. I have pain even today… they used my daughter too. She is 12 years old… They also despoiled my sister. Another man despoiled a woman who was 4 months pregnant and she lost the child…they were military men. Everyone in the village saw them, they didn't hide, they didn't care. I didn't tell the police because I fear them."

This is one of the testimonies presented at a press conference in Lagos, Nigeria, today by the human rights group Amnesty International. The testimony is part of a report on sexual abuse of women by Nigerian security forces, which according to Amnesty could almost be termed systematic.

despoil by police and security forces is endemic in Nigeria as is the abject failure of the Nigerian authorities to bring perpetrators to justice, the human rights group said at the press conference. They called on Nigeria's federal and State authorities to urgently overhaul the legal and social systems that tolerate widespread despoil and sexual violence against women and girls across the country.

Amnesty launched the report "Nigeria: despoil - the silent weapon", which draws upon the testimony of survivors and "identifies disturbing trends of despoil and sexual violence against women and girls at the hands of police and security forces." The report argues that these acts are compounded and encouraged by failures at every level of the judicial system and persist because of consistent failure by the state to tackle the abuse of women and girls by the police and security forces.

Whether abused by police, security forces or in their homes and community, the report outlines the enormous difficulties faced by women and girls who are despoiled or sexually abused in Nigeria.

"The harsh reality is that if you are a woman or a girl in Nigeria who has suffered the terrible experience of being despoiled, your suffering is likely to be met with intimidation by the police, indifference from the state and the knowledge that the perpetrator is unlikely to ever face justice," said Kolawole Olaniyan of Amnesty.

At the press conference, there was further presented evidence of the use of despoil and sexual slavery by the Nigerian security forces "to intimidate communities in the Niger Delta." The oil-rich but impoverished Delta has fallen into violence as local rebels fight for a greater part of oil revenues to be channelled to the region.

The group further outlined how despoil is used by the police as a means of torture to extract confessions from suspects in custody and how women and girls rarely seek prosecution for fear of intimidation by the police and rejection by their families and community. When they do, widespread failures throughout the judicial system result in only an estimated 10 percent of cases ever being successfully prosecuted.

The report outlines serious obstacles to the reporting and prosecution of despoil in Nigeria, including inadequate training of police that results in the humiliation and intimidation of the victims and police investigations hampered by corruption and incompetence. On the legislative level, differences between federal, state, Shari'a and customary law lead to uneven standards of justice and arbitrary decisions concerning the seriousness of the crime.

"Our report depicts the near total failure of the Nigerian state to protect women and girls from these terrible crimes. The Nigerian government has taken no meaningful action to translate its international legal obligations towards woman and girls into national law, policy and practice. It is now time that the state and federal authorities meet those obligations and offer real security and justice to women and girls in Nigeria," Ms Olaniyan said.

By Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano

Local prostitutes are fleeing Kano, North-West Nigeria, in their numbers following a recent clampdown on their activities within the ancient city by operatives of the Hisbah Command, a Sharia’ah enforcement agency.

No fewer than 1,362 women of easy virtues were apprehended by the Sharia’ah enforcement agency in recent times in line with the state government’s policy to keep faith with the Islamic injunction.

Most of these females were arrested at different times in different locations within and outside Kano metropolis, in most cases, with their patrons.

Records from the Sahrada headquarters of Hisbah indicate that about 152 males were arrested by the agency in the last quarter, bringing the total number to 1,514. “These suspects, mostly youths were apprehended while engaging in social vices, including prostitution and drug abuse,” Alhaji Saidu Dukawa, Director-General of Hisbah Board told P.M.NEWS this morning.

According to him, out of the number of suspects arrested, 33 were handed over to National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters, NAPTIP, while 27 of them identified as drug addicts and peddlers were transferred to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

He revealed further that the agency charged about 364 of the suspects to Shari’ah Court, “360 were repatriated, including those taken to Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, because we identified them as Christians and we believe the best to do is to hand them over to CAN.

“Moreso, about 750 youths were warned and released unconditionally, after undergoing intensive counseling. We are also working with the state Directorate of Societal Re-Orientation to rehabilitate some of the youths who turned a new leaf as a result of counseling,” Dukawa added.

InvestigationS by by P.M.News, however, indicate that some of these local prostitutes who came from Borno, Adamawa, Plateau and Kaduna states have started fleeing Kano for the fear of the Hisbah.

This development has also given rise to unprecedented influx of Hausa prostitutes into Sabon Gari, an enclave in the ancient city predominantly inhabited by non-Muslims.

Some community leaders and sellers of alcoholic drinks and spirits had engaged Hisbah in a running battle over its operation within Sabon Gari, known as a “free zone.” The remnants of these local prostitutes who could not leave the state have taken refuge in the Sabon Gari axis where they believe the Hisbah sledge hammer will not reach them. P.M.NEWS checks revealed that they have increased the tempo of night-life in some cheap brothels within Sabon Gari, including the notorious Abedi Street, known as an abode for local prostitutes.

The glamorous lovers’ day celebration on Monday turned bloody at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) when gunmen killed two students. Daily Sun gathered that the clash was between two rival cult groups, namely, Black Axe and the Buccaneers,’ over a female student allegedly snatched by the Capone of the Black Axe for Valentine celebration.

The action of the Capone , the source said did not go down well with the other group leading to the clash.
A student who witnessed the shooting said besides the two cult members who were shot dead, about four others sustained injuries and were ferried out of the campus by their leaders to shield their identity.

The sources said the cult members who carried out the attack were not UNILAG students but members from another campus, adding that the attack was carried out in a commando style with sporadic shooting.
An undergraduate student of English Department told Daily Sun that the Buccaneers’ group attacked the Black Axe members while another student returning from the Mosque said those who carried out the killing were not from UNILAG because they did not cover their faces.

It was learnt that as soon the shooting started, students scampered for safety while others took cover behind the wall and under cars packed around, while others ran into the halls to avoid being hit by stray bullets. 
A senior lecturer who confirmed the killings said the university management had met to curtail any reprisal attack while security personnel had taken over the investigation of the deadly cult clash.
When Daily Sun visited the troubled institution yesterday, there was uneasy calm, as most staff and students rebuffed efforts made by the reporters to get their comments.

However, one of the students who resides at Sodeinde Hall, said there was sporadic gunshots outside the premises which caused panic everywhere. 
It was gathered that the crisis, which erupted when the students were at the peak of lovers’ day celebration, created stampede on the campus as people ran for safety.

One of the victims of the attack reportedly ran into Sodeinde Hall for help, from where he was taken to the hospital.
Although the Hall Master of Sodeinde Hall declined comments on the issue, one of the officials, who wouldn’t want his name published, said the attack could not be linked to any cult group. He said there was increasing speculation that the perpetrators of the attack could be fighting for love. Efforts made by Daily Sun our reporter to ascertain the identities of the victims were unsuccessful.
The news bulletin of the university, Information Flash (ISSN 08195540) also captured the incident, while assuring the staff and students of the university of adequate security.

“The attention of the universities authorities has been drawn to the incident which occurred in one of the Halls of Residence in the late hours of Monday, February 14, 2011 where two persons were reportedly injured in fracas. The university management has commenced investigation into the unusual incident, in particular at a time when preparation for the first semester examinations due to commence on February 21, 2011 are in top gear. Security has been intensified to ensure safety of life and property on campus. Law enforcement agents have been involved to assist the university in this respect,” it said. 
Daily Sun learnt that students are leaving the campus because of the fear of reprisal attack while some parents called their wards on phone to return home until the situation is brought under control. 

The Deputy Registrar Information of UNILAG, Mr. Dare Adebisi refused to pick his calls or replied to text message sent to his phone.
When the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Samuel Jinadu (DSP) was called thrice, he promised to contact the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area and did not call back as at the press time....

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Libya Wednesday in the first sign that the unrest which toppled governments in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt has spread to the North African nation.

Witnesses said protesters in the eastern port city of Benghazi chanted slogans demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.

The Associated Press said that the crowds did not appear to direct their anger at Moammar Gadhafi, who is Africa's longest-serving leader. He has ruled for 41 years.

However, Dubai-based television news service Al-Jazeera reported that sources said the demonstrators chanted slogans against the "corrupt rulers of the country."

Al-Jazeera said the protesters had called on citizens to observe Thursday as a "Day of Rage," hoping to emulate the popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and end Gadhafi's regime.

As in the previous uprisings, Libyan activists were using social networking websites including Facebook.

Libya's state-run Juna news agency did not carry any word of Wednesday's anti-government protests.

It reported only that supporters of Gadhafi were holding pro-government demonstrations in  Tripoli, Benghazi and other cities.

It said people taking part held up portraits of Gadhafi and chanted: "We sacrifice our blood and souls for you our leader!" and "We are a generation built by Moammar and anyone who opposes it will be destroyed!"

However, the online edition of Libya's privately-owned Quryna newspaper, which is based in Benghazi, said a crowd armed with Molotov cocktails threw stones.

'A bad night'
It said they protested outside a local government office to demand the release of the human rights activist, and then went to the city's Shajara square where they clashed with police and government supporters.

The paper that government supporters had taken over the square. Fourteen people were injured including 10 police officers, but none of the injuries were serious, the newspaper added.

A video clip posted online by someone who said it was recorded in Benghazi on Tuesday night showed a crowd of people outside what looked like a government building chanting: "No God but God!" and "Corruption is the enemy of God."

A Benghazi resident contacted by Reuters said the people involved in the clashes were relatives of inmates in Tripoli's Abu Salim jail, where militant Islamists and government opponents have traditionally been held.

Some were relatives of inmates killed at the prison in June 1996, when more than 1,000 prisoners were shot dead.

"Last night was a bad night," said the witness, who did not want to be identified.

"There were about 500 or 600 people involved. They went to the revolutionary committee (local government headquarters) in Sabri district, and they tried to go to the central revolutionary committee ,  They threw stones," he said. "It is calm now."

Following the rioting, a local human rights activist, Mohamed Ternish, told Reuters that the government was to release 110 prisoners jailed for membership of the banned Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

The prisoners are the last members of the group still being held, he added.

On Monday, several opposition groups in exile called for the overthrow of Gadhafi and for a peaceful transition of power in Libya.

"Col. Gadhafi and all his family members should relinquish powers," the groups said in a statement.

Idris Al-Mesmari, a Libyan novelist, told Al-Jazeera by telephone that security officials dressed as civilians used tear gas, batons and hot water to disperse the protesters.

The news service added there were unconfirmed reports that Al-Mesmari was arrested hours after the interview.

Another musical boobshell is coming our way very soon,  actress Cossy Orjiakor (some say she is the "sexiest" Nollywood Actress) is doing a music video, she is the self styled queen of Nigerian boobs -

Ladies and Gentlemen

the one and only Cossy Orjiakor a nigerian  icon of mammarian female exhibition lol ! 

yes she is an exhibitionist 

A London woman who sent her teenage son to their native Nigeria because she disapproved of his lifestyle has been jailed for eight months, the BBC reported.

Edirin Onogeta-Idogun, 17, from Newham, flew from the UK to Nigeria last July.

His parents Lydia Erhire and John Idogun were issued with a court order to return the boy, who is believed to be with his father in Lagos.

When they failed to do so, Mrs Erhire was convicted at the Old Bailey of being in contempt of court.

Edirin was born in Nigeria but moved to London with his mother seven years ago.

He had been studying for his GCSEs and had been due to transfer to a college in Hackney to study business and media.

Last year he feared he may be taken to Nigeria and forced to marry against his will, his solicitors said, and a Forced Marriage Protection Order was issued on 8 July.

He attended school for the final time on 12 July and it is thought he flew to the African country about four days later.

The High Court ruled Edirin was a resident of England and was entitled to continue to live there.

Photo:Missing: Edirin Onogeta-Idogun, 17, claims he was beaten and forced to undergo exorcisms because his mother disapproved of his lifestyle

His removal from England was contrary to the protection order and he was at “significant risk” while in Nigeria, it decided.

The Boys Story:

The mother of a teenager who claims he was forced to undergo exorcism to purge him of his disobedience has been jailed.

Lydia Erhire has become the first person in the UK to be jailed under forced marriage laws after Edirin Onogeta-Idogun, 17, was sent to Nigeria on holiday and is still there.

He claims he has been subjected to beatings and religious-style ceremonies in the African country to get rid of his behaviour which his mother did not approve of.

Erhire is a devout Christian who had tried to instil a strong sense of discipline in her child and does not approve of his lifestyle, the court heard.

The 17-year-old is still being held against his will – and it is unclear exactly where he is, the High Court in London was told.

His mother was ordered to have her son brought back to Britain but she obstructed efforts and was jailed for eight months yesterday.

Edirin had flown out to Nigeria, where his father John Idogun is a special adviser to the governor of the Delta State, in July.

The teenager, from Newham, east London, was expected back in August to start a college course in Hackney.

He had been given a protection order under forced marriage laws by a judge last year and provided with emergency accommodation before he disappeared.

Mrs Justice Macur said: 'Edirin told his litigation team he had been forced or subjected to procedures which were meant to exorcise him from his disobedience to the will of his parents and to remove him from what they regarded as unsatisfactory friendships.'

In November, after a hearing before another judge, Mrs Erhire signed a letter instructing her sister to facilitate the return of Edirin from his Nigerian boarding school.

But it later emerged that she had immediately sent another letter countermanding the demand.

In February, Edirin attempted to leave Nigeria but was intercepted by immigration officials and taken off his British Airways flight from Lagos.

Mrs Justice Macur ruled Mrs Erhire was not responsible for the February incident but had found she was complicit in November in ‘thwarting’ the court's efforts to have Edirin returned.

Members of the Urhobo tribe appeared before the court and said that his mother was concerned he would become involved in gangs.

The teenager was issued with a Forced Marriage Protection Order last July because he feared he was going to be sent to Nigeria for an arranged wedding.

Jailing the mother for contempt of court, the judge said: ‘I am not satisfied that she is truly remorseful for the imperilment of Edirin's welfare..

‘I am not satisfied that she has shown any indication of a willingness to co-operate on anything but her own terms.

‘The chronology has shown beyond peradventure that this woman only co-operates in the face of a prison sentence and then begrudgingly.’

She ordered that Mrs Erhire should be committed to Holloway Prison immediately for eight months, but said she would have the opportunity to apply to purge her contempt.

The student, who was due to study business and media after finishing his A-levels, came to Britain with his mother in 2004 and had settled in Newham.

Hope you're doing great. There's only 8 hours left in this worldwide competition to send a writer with an expedition to the North Pole and I'm currently in the Top 5 (where I need to be, but the competition is heating up).

I sincerely need you to please spread the word to fellow Nigerians through 9jabook - http://www.lolagoesnorth.com/

Every single vote counts and I sincerely need fellow Nigerians supporting me.

Thanks again and hope to hear from you! Only 8 Hours Left till the competition ends.
Sincerely,

Quark Contest - Entries Show

www.lolagoesnorth.com

I remember sitting in Mr. Kayode’s geography class in secondary school, an atlas in hand looking at political boundaries; countries beyond my sphere. “I will reach the North Pole,” I often said to friends and family, oblivious to the fact that I was sitting in tropical sub-Saharan Africa and had nev

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Jega’s Voters’ Register: World’s Most Expensive?

Posted: February 13, 2011 - 05:04

Posted by siteadmin

 

Attahiru Jega And Goodluck Jonathan

By SaharaReporters, New York

At $585million, Nigeria’s voter registration exercise is being considered the world’s most expensive.  For a register of about 60 million voters, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is spending about $10.00 to register each voter.

  That would be about N1,500 per person in a country where over 70 per cent of the population, according to the United Nations, lives on less than one dollar per day, and the income per capita is $2,400.

Reports from parts of the country indicate all kinds of problems, including registration of children.  On Thursday, Lai Mohammed of the CAN said his party had been informed that some INEC operatives were being paid by certain politicians to compromise the exercise in their favour. 

In an article dated February 10, 2011, the West African correspondent of the Financial Times, Tom Burgis, considered the costs of preparing and cleaning up the electoral database:

Nigeria battles to clean up electoral roll
By Tom Burgis in Lagos

Published: February 10 2011 17:18 | Last updated: February 10 2011 17:18
If Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s president, is to keep his pledge to end a tradition of rigged elections, one test will be whether Nelson Mandela has been successfully stripped of the right to vote come April’s polls.

The name of the former South African president – along with those of former boxing heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali – appeared on the discredited voters’ roll used in the three deeply flawed general elections held since the 1999 beginning of civilian rule in Africa’s most populous nation.
An army of young Nigerians armed with laptops, fingerprint scanners, and digital cameras has for three weeks been logging the personal data of about 60m voters in an ambitious, high-tech effort to draw up a credible register.

The $585m effort – thought to be the most expensive per capita voter registration ever undertaken – has not come without problems. One former official involved in blocking similar proposals before the 2007 polls describes the price tag alone as “an outrage”, especially as worries mount over the country’s heavy drawing down of its oil savings.

Opposition and pro-democracy groups have noted hitches, many of which stem from the difficulty of using sophisticated technology in a country with a crumbling infrastructure where 35 people share the same amount of electricity as the average German. Laptop batteries have run out owing to power shortages, indelible ink meant to make sure voters do not register twice has run out, voter cards have not been laminated or taken days to issue.

Activists have generally welcomed the electoral commission’s efforts to overcome the logistical difficulties.

Reclaim Naija, a coalition that includes everything from vulcanisers’ unions to motorcycle taxi drivers, has logged hundreds of incidents of missing materials or attempted foul play at registration booths submitted via text message, e-mail and “tweet”. But the fact that attention is paid to the process “shows that there’s a consciousness that’s building”, says Francis Onahor, a Reclaim Naija organiser. “It will go a long way to making sure that people can ensure that their votes count this time.”

In a patronage system run on oil revenues, the need to assuage many Nigerians’ sense that they are disenfranchised has been sharpened by the uprisings across the Sahara in Tunisia and Egypt. As political violence grows, the US and Europe, big buyers of Nigerian crude and gas, are watching closely.

There are those who believe that the voter registration exercise will make little difference unless the respected new head of the electoral commission, Attahiru Jega, is able to clamp down on polling day abuses, including intimidation and fraud at collation centres.

In Maroko, a Lagos slum of cratered roads buried in rubbish where the drive stopped recently, there are also those who question whether clean voter rolls will do much to address their real problems.

From their crumbling tenements, tens of thousands of residents can see the mall and hotels served by well-paved highways that stand on their former settlement. They were brutally evicted by the then military government in 1990.
But even getting their own candidates into office has not helped the 21-year fight for compensation that Maroko’s people have waged, says Samuel Aiyeyemi, the 74-year-old leader of the residents. “As soon as they get into government they forget, they cannot resist the temptation of money,” Mr Aiyeyemi says, sitting near a ditch full of stagnant greenish water. “They betray the community; we don’t even see them.”

Few expect anything other than victory in April’s election for Mr Jonathan, incumbent since his predecessor’s death in May saw him elevated from the vice-presidency. But the ruling People’s Democratic party, dominant for a decade, is braced for losses at state and local government level.

But for Jibrin Ibrahim, a political commentator writing in Next newspaper, a rush to register that forced a one-week extension of the process is an indication that long-suffering Nigerians are determined to exert more control over their rulers.
“The registration process is agonising but we have hope for a greater political future,” he writes. “Political parties should take note; their success depends on citizens and not money, violence and electoral fraud.”

Investigation revealed that the lack of financial strength on the part of these candidates and their political parties is causing a lot confusion among the party faithfuls.Apart from President Goodluck Jonathan, who they are now accusing of spending public funds on his campaign, it is believed that most of the other candidates only wanted to use the elections to keep themselves relevant in the scheme of things in the country during the next four years.

For example, the candidate of the of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Nuhu Ribadu, is said not to be happy with the way his campaign is being handled by the party.It was learnt that governors on the platform of the ACN have been mandated to contribute to the funding of his campaign.

But Ribadu wants to be given a free hand to operate. "This is one of the issues between him and the leader of the party, Bola Tinubu," a source within the party secretariat told Huhuonline.com.

According to the source, Ribadu wants to campaign with funds sourced from the citizens of the country as it is done in some of the Western world.

 ..

"This is because as a former chairman of an anti-corruption agency, he knows what it means to trample on public funds," they claimed.

Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change, who recently picked Pastor Tunde Bakare as his running mate weeks ago said he had no funds of his own to pursue his ambition.

According to him, after buying the form from his party, he was left with N1million. However, Huhuonline.com is aware that despite this financial challenge, he has the backings of some northerners who are funding his campaign.He is also said to be have chosen Bakare seen as a issue-based individual.For Ibrahim Shekarau of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the major issue is that the major financier of the party, Harry Akande, has left the party.Akande left the ANPP immediately after the party's primaries few weeks ago.Prof. Pat Utomi who is contesting under the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP) has just scaled through a legal tussle which was aimed to force INEC not to recognise his party.

The major challenge now has to do with funding his campaign as his party is not known to have any financial heavyweight.Before now, the National Conscience Party (NCP), never fielded candidates for the presidency. But this year, it picked Dele Momodu after the latter's controversial exit from the Labour Party.

Sources at the NCP secretariat told Huhuonline.com this afternoon that one of the conditions given to Momodu for his acceptance by the party was that he would fund his campaign by himself.

"This is because the NCP does mot have the money. So Femi Falana, the Chairman of the party, told us when we came in that the party would not demand from us but that we must be ready to fund our campaign," an aide to Momodu told Huhuonline.com.Rev. Chris Okotie who is contesting on the platform of the  Fresh Democratic Party (FDP) is taking his time according to John Chukwuma, a member of his church.It was however learnt that Okotie is being disturbed by funds as he remains the sole sponsor of his party with donations from his church members.

Speaking on the issue, a PDP member in Lagos, Taiwo Oluwdare, explained to Huhuonline.com that most of the candidates knew they had no sources of funds before they decided to vie for elections.

"You know most of them are not known. How many of the candidates do you know and how many do you think can sincerely win President Jonathan?

"The political parties do not have credible people to withstand the PDP flagbearer. Even if they have, where will the money come from? Do you think the money they get from INEC is even enough to sustain them and still help the campaign of their candidates?

"We understand that some of the candidates are trying to use the situation for negotiation with some of the bigger parties. Don't be surprised to hear later that some of them would step down for others later," he said.

Also a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Sanai Agunbiade, in his reaction, said it was disheartening that the "so-called progressives could not come together to wrestle power with the PDP, because of personal interests."He explained that as long as the opposition parties remained divided, they would not head anywhere.

When Huhuonline.com visited the Lagos office of the Labour Party, leaders of the party were not seen around. A party member, who did not want his name mentioned explained that the exit of Dele Momodu was a big blow to the party.He said the party is just trying to restrategise, "not to win the elections, but to make ourselves relevant for future elections in the country."

Twelve top Nigerian businessmen, including billionaires Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola and Mike Adenuga, were selected yesterday in Abuja by the People’s Democratic Party to join a committee that will raise funds to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign. Others in the Donor Committee are Tony Elumelu, former chairman of the United Bank for Africa; Jimoh Ibrahim, chairman of NICON Insurance; Emeka Offor, Kashim Bukar, Sayyu Dantata, Jim Ovia, Dahiru Manga, Abdulsamad Rabiu and Kola Salako.

The ruling party also named a nine-member finance and fundraising committee headed by former chairman of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, Oba Otudeko. The members of the committee are Atedo Peterside, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Funsho Lawal, Bola Shagaya, Tukur Mani, Tony Onoh, Funsho Awoyemi and the party’s director of finance.

A list, which was obtained at the party secretariat in Abuja, also has former president, Olusegun Obasanjo and former chairman of the board of trustees of the PDP, Tony Anenih, and former director-general of the Jonathan-Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dalhatu Tafida, appointed into the 28-member Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) that will coordinate the presidential campaign. Others members of the 28-member include Mr Jonathan; his deputy, Namadi Sambo; Senate President, David Mark; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; former national chairman of the PDP, Ahmadu Ali; acting national chairman of the party, Bello Mohammed; deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweramadu; minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Orubebe; and Senator Grace Bent.

However, Mr. Jonathan will head the nine-member monitoring and strategy committee, which has Messrs Sambo, Mohammed and Mark as members. Other members of the committee are former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, former foreign affairs minister, Ojo Maduekwe, Anenih, Suleman Shuiabu Oyedokun and Abubakar Baraje, PDP national secretary.

The list revealed that members of the Atiku Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida campaign organisations were also appointed into the presidential campaign organisation. Senator Ben Obi, DG of the Atiku Campaign Organisation is a member of the resource committee while Raymond Dokpesi of the Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation will serve in both the resource and publicity committees. Also, Ken Nanamai, a former Senate president and a strong supporter of Mr. Abubakar was named as a member of the resource and reconciliation committees. Sarah Jubril, who ran against Mr. Jonathan in the primaries, was appointed into the resource persons committee. It was gathered that the committee members will be inaugurated at the party’s Presidential Campaign Office in Maitama District of Abuja later this week.

According to our source, they were billed to be inaugurated last Saturday evening but the event was put off out of respect to the Nigerians who died during Mr. Jonathan’s campaign rally in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Edo PDP deputy chairman quits, 

 IT is not the best of time for the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State.

While the ACN is grappling with the mass defection of aggrieved members, the PDP Deputy Chairman, Mr. John Jesuorobo, has resigned over alleged irreconcilable differences with his boss, Chief Dan Orbih.

He also accused Orbih of refusing to call a meeting of members of the State Executive Council (SEC) of the party on how to move it forward.

But in a swift reaction, the PDP Director of Mobilisation, Paschal Ugbome, described the allegations as unfounded. "His lies about why he is leaving the party are very embarrassing to us and he should not mislead Edo people. What happened was that he came into the party with one Isaiah Osifo, who was a product of settlement and harmonisation of the party after the crisis. So, most of them in that group left with Osifo, it is no longer news.

"When his mentor, Isaiah Osifo, failed to clinch the senatorial ticket, he went to Labour Party. So, instead of telling Edo people why he left, he is trying to mislead them. It is very logical that he has to go with his mentor and stop making allegations against the chairman".

But in a statement yesterday, Jesuorobo described the former Chief of Staff, Osifo as the best candidate for the senatorial seat in Edo-South in the forthcoming elections.

"The failure of the PDP in the state to organise free and fair primaries further reduced the confidence of the public in the ability of the PDP to provide a responsible democratic government. Osifo left the PDP to pick the Edo-South Senatorial ticket of the Labour Party.

"It is on this point that I resigned. My desire in the pursuit of sustainable democracy cannot be frustrated by my resignation from that office and membership of the PDP", he said.

Meanwhile, ACN members, who are still not satisfied with the recent conduct of the party's primaries, are to dump it for the PDP.

This came on the heels of efforts by the leadership of the ACN to reconcile the aggrieved members at a peace meeting on Monday in Igarra, Akoko-Edo Local Council, which Governor Adams Oshiomhole attended.

He urged members of the party to always use internal mechanism to resolve all intra-party crises to ensure peace in the party. "Whatever are our frustrations, we have to move forward. We are going to institutionalise this forum and from time to time, we will sit together to discuss what affects us", Oshiomhole said.

Those who attended the meeting were the senatorial candidate of the party in Edo-North, Dr. Domingo Obende, Peter Akpatasson, House of Representatives candidate and Commissioner for Arts and Culture, Abdul Oroh, among others..

But hundreds of PDP supporters led by Orbih on Wednesday received former Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Tunde Lakoju and Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police, Mike Okuo, who left ACN for the PDP.

At the well-attended ceremony in Igarra, Orbih, while receiving the new comers, said the party was ready to reclaim power from the ACN, which he said, has made the state a debtor.  But he called on members of the party to intensify their campaign to achieve that aim.

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

BENIN - THE Esama of Benin Kingdom, Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion has been dragged before a Benin High Court by his son in-law, Prince Avan Akenzua 11 over an alleged illegal breaking and entry into his house and removed property worth millions of Naira.

Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion and Son-in-Law  advertisement

Also sued along with Chief Igbinedion is one Collins Igbinudu.

The plaintiff in a 5-paragraph statement of claim is urging the court to order the defendants, their servants, and agents, privies to return his safe, jewelries of inestimable value (coral beads, diamond, gold of classical orient) and artifacts.

Prince Avan who is also the son to the Enogie of Uyiekpen Akenzua, junior bother to Omo N' Oba Erediauwa, also prayed the court to order the defendants to refund the sum of 200,000 pounds sterling, the sum of N9,672,000.00, WAEC certificate, University Degree Certificate, NYSC Certificate, original copies of Certificates of Occupancy of land as well as N500,000,000.00 as general damages, grave embarrassment, trauma and humiliation.

When the case up for mentioning weekend, Counsel to Chief Igbinedion, Mr. Dan Okoh informed the court that he had filed notice of extension of time as he was recently briefed on the case.

He also prayed the court to give him within seven days to file his statement of defence.

However, counsel to the plaintiff, Mr. Pedro Egharevba while not opposing his application, said that the defence counsel must conform to the time frame and demanded for cost.

The trial Judge, Justice Alero Eruaga while urging the defendants' counsel to file his statement of defence within seven days. Awarded a N1000.00 cost against the defendants.

In a related development, Prince Avan Akenzua 11, is also seeking the dissolution of the marriage contracted between himself and the daughter of Chief Gabriel Igbinedion,Omosede Gabriella Igbinedion- Akenzua on 13rd September, 2008 in Benin- City.

The plaintiff in a petition filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja by his counsel, Alexander Oketa Esq. of Festus Keyamo Chambers, is seeking the dissolution of the marriage on ground of cruelty on part of the respondent, Omosede Gabriella Igbinedion- Akenzua, that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, as the desertion for at least one year.

Plaintiff is also sought the court's order to take possession of the only single male chic of the marriage , Prince Avan Amafidon Akenzua 11 at the age of nine, so as to bring him up in a godly way even as he pleaded to take responsibility of the child before the said age.

Written by Clement Idoko 
Sunday, February 13, 2011

Clement Idoko writes about a seven year-old girl who is multi-talented but had to stop school due to lack of fund in primary 3, and how her jingles on President Goodluck Jonalthan were hijacked by Goodluck Jonalthan 2011 Support GroupTHIS seven-year-old whizkid, Mimiemiracle Emmanuel is an incredible multi-talented young girl; very hyper-active and outspoken. She is a gifted child with uncommon talents and abilities well beyond her years. One's interaction with her will reveal this or when one sees her on stage.

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Calm and gentle, as she heralded her mum into the newsroom of Tribune's Abuja office, nothing about her suggested precociousness. But the word would be a disservice to what nature has deposited in this seven-year old. Mimiemiracle is simply a genius, though a primary three drop-out, who is left with a single mum after her father, a military officer reportedly eloped with another woman in Jos, where mother and child were living. The unending crises in the city had however turned them into refugees living in an uncompleted building in Abuja.

Unfortunately, Mimiemiracle is one among the millions of disadvantaged children in the Nigerian society today. Driven away from Jos by the crisis that had enveloped the city in recent times, the young girl has been turned to a beggar on the streets of Abuja with her mother, Princess Momoh.

Last week, she was in Abuja office of the Nigerian Tribune newspapers, in company with her mother. The girl dazzled the Tribune staff, when she clutched the newspaper on a table and screamed the headline "Jos Boils Again!" and read the news story effortlessly. After reading through, she mused, saying "All these killings, yet government can't do anything to stop it".

The young girl, brought up by her single mother, stopped school in Primary 3 because her mother could not raise money to support her education further. She told Sunday Tribune: "I was a pupil of Local Education Authority School. I am not in school because my mum has no money to pay my school fees. My mum was making efforts to get some money to put me in school so that I won't be left out. There was a day that I asked my mum, 'won't I go to school again? Look at other children going to school'. But she still encouraged me and said 'don't worry, you will soon be in school'. I was in primary 3 when I stopped school".

Interestingly, aside being a gifted child and a genius, little Mimiemiracle is an incredible back-up singer, a budding poet, actress, and a voice-over expert. When asked of her innate abilities, she said: "I can sing, I can do movies, I can do jingles, I can produce films and a lot more".

In schools, such gifted children like Mimiemiracle have been tagged as 'possessed', derided as oddballs, and ridiculed as nerds. The parents of such young people are often criticized for pushing their children rather than allowing them a normal, well-balanced childhood. These children are so different from others that schools usually do not know how to educate them. But understanding them would help teachers to effectively handle them in classes.

In Mimiemiracle's case, she seems to take after her mother, who herself is an artiste and a script writer. The vicissitudes of life, no doubt, has been overwhelming. She was married to an Army Officer but unfortunately, a supposedly married woman came in between them and snatched her husband from her. She was then left as a single mother to fend for her little baby she so much cherishes and would do anything to protect.

As if that was not enough, all her toil in the cold weather of Jos, over the years, to eke out a living, went with the lingering crises that had enveloped the state in recent times. According to Princess Momoh, who hails from Owan Local Government Area of Edo State, she came to Abuja with her kid early 2011 as refugees. They had to put up in an uncompleted building for a long time in one of the Abuja suburbs because she could not afford the rent for a room.

Her travails were made worse when she met one of the coordinators of Jonathan 2011 Support Group on June 29, 2010. Princess Momoh said she met the Coordinator with two scripted jingles titled "Jonathan 2011 and "A New Dawn" and was made to borrow money from people for the production of the jingles, only for them to be hijacked.

She stated that ''the coordinator took an interest in my script. After the production was done, he disappeared and I never saw him again. I was usually told he was busy, he would not want to see anybody or that he was not around. Meanwhile, he was always around".

She added: "This continued until we ran into armed robbers in the process. The robbers took away copies of jingles we laboured over and took loans in producing at the studio. They took my ID card, my demo-production, tape recorder, handbag, and all that I was given and managing with my baby. In the process, they almost harmed me and my baby but God intervened. They pushed us into the bush''.

Princess Momoh, speaking with tears rolling down her face, while describing the pains and agony she had gone through producing those jingles, further revealed that she suffered the same fate in the hands of a former Deputy Governor.

She said: "Again, I had to start all over again when the women wing came in, still on Jonathan Support Group. I had to do a similar scripting and presented them to a one-time Deputy Governor. I started afresh with her, I presented the demo production of my jingle titled "A New Dawn," which was on my cell phone, to her and she took an interest in it and handed me over to one man in her media unit that we should work together.

"We did the work and after everything nothing came out of it. It was 'come today, come tomorrow' and I discovered finally that she was not really being sincere with me. I had thought that she was working with me as a mother would do to a daughter. At the end of the day, she pushed me again and referred me to people that I might not be able to see in the next one year.

"Eventually, all that I have laboured on with my baby for close to seven months now, since June 29, 2010, just went like that. We are on the streets, I sell baby's clothes every Friday market at Mpape, and on Mondays in Garki Village Market, just to make ends meet. Yet, I have things I can do, my baby can do beautifully well, take some lines, do jingles, do poems and some other beautiful things to add value to her life and to the society," she stated.

Also, it was the little Mimiemiracle that thrilled the audience during the 2010 celebration of the Day of African Child with her poem recitation. The poem titled 'The Child' was also scripted by the mother.

The young girl's last hope was when she came in contact with the First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan at the end -of -the- year children's party she organized. To her, meeting one-on-one with the wife of the President had provided a golden opportunity to present the beautiful projects they did for President Jonathan but were hijacked by the politicians.

At the occasion, Mimiemiracle said she summoned courage to personally hand over the two copies of the jingle one audio and one visual jingles she helped the mother to produce on President Goodluck Jonathan to the wife. The seven-year-old girl said she was surprised that nothing has been heard from the First Lady or the President till date even when her mother did a follow up with letters to remind her and copied the President.

Mimiemiracle appealed to President Jonathan and other public -spirited individuals to help her go back to school to continue with her education. "I want to tell Mr. President that I will be grateful if he can raise some money for me to be able to start school again, not that today I will be in school, tomorrow I will stay at home."

Sex in the church ?

I know there was an announcement that all the Singles in the Church should wait after service, how come you didn't wait?

 
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"Because the Singles fellowship in my Church have no understanding of what Singles really need. Moreover, if I had gone for the meeting, it will be full of children than my mates. Challenges I am confronted with are not addressed, and I am tired of wasting my time. I would rather go for a show or watch a movie with my friends".
She is actually 37years. She's involved with her boss in the office. Has a nice apartment that is used for cell meetings of her Church. Lost the virginity she has kept for 33 years to her Pastor, and can't have him totally to herself because of Pastor's wife, neither can she have her boss completely too because of his wife. Her boss actually told her never to call him on phone because of his wife and promise to make all the calls. So she has to wait for his calls, and when he doesn't, you may never imagine the pain she has to go through not hearing from him as he may not come to the office for some days because of business appointments he has to make all around and outside the country. After all she is in love, only that she loves the wrong person.

When they first started the relationship, he made sure she was always on his Team, and so they travelled together. But now, rumors has it that he is seeing some new girl in the office, and will do everything to make sure that the two ladies don't meet and get heartbroken in the process. He is a born again Christian and will not want to hurt any of his Mistresses. So if our lady in question doesn't see him most of the time at work, she is sure to meet him at Church which is where they actually met and started the affair. He actually facilitated her employment in his office.

What do you make out of this? Lost her virginity to her Pastor at 33, and now is dating a married prominent member of her Church. In my counseling sessions, I hear a lot, I see a lot, and eventually discover a lot that is happening in secret places [realizing that my Clients don't keep much back from me. They are ready to tell everything, and all the names involved, knowing they have been looking for an opportunity to talk and unburden their consciences of guilt, so much guilt all this while], and I can tell you that there is so much sex amongst Singles in the Church, and this is not about sticking to one partner I discovered, but with so called brothers and pastors having a swell time of their lives moving around so many gullible sisters in the Church. It is a pity.

Why are these singles sleeping around? So many reasons I believe, but to make it worse when we preach don't, don't don't, and people don't do don'ts, then they will be left with not knowing the Do, Do, Do, and how to do what we are meant to do. People need to do something. Tell them or show them more of what they have to do, and give them all the assistants they need to do them. Loose them and let them go. If nothing is done about the sex scrouge that has hit the Church, she shouldn't expect so much respect from outsiders, and blessings that maketh rich from a Holy God either. It's amazing how many of our Brides are actually giving birth 7 months after the wedding and the children given birth to are not prematures.

What are the real needs of mature singles? What can be done to start having sincere relationships amongst Church members and not a situation where the brothers in the Church continue to tell lies to their own sisters, duping many of them financially with the sex trip bonuses added to that, because they believe they cannot be caught. How can the Church stop believing that she's making progress by having 18 people get married in 6 months, when there are 1 800 who are equally ready, but are not married within the same period of time because they haven't found their life partners yet?

I believe if we don't sit and talk about this sex scourge that has overtaken the Church while we were sleeping, we will remain as powerless as we are becoming already right now, full of so much talk, but less to show for it. I believe we need to promote true friendship again. Friendship that is not out to use people, but add value to their lives. Friendships that is out to make sacrifices, and watch others truly happy.
A friendship maintained over time is costly. Not only does it take effort just to keep up with someone when both of you are moving around in your first few years of your careers but it also requires even more to deal with personality quirks, misunderstandings, and slights. Lacking the willingness to pay attention and to invest emotional energy, friends become mere acquaintances – and eventually become strangers all over again.
Ever wonder why Scripture represents the church as the family of God? Why it pictures its members as sisters and brothers to one another? The deeper truth is that we belong to one another in a significant way and are expected to look out for one another in a pinch, to take up for one another when the neighborhood bully (i.e., Satan) comes calling with the sinister intent of doing real harm to one of us. Don’t forsake your highest ideals.
The most intimate of human relationships is the one between husbands and wives in our marital covenants. With sociologists telling us that about half of all first marriages are failing, something must be wrong with our thinking. Where is the “excellence” we are building into our roles as mates and parents?
Research tells us that “till death do us part” has been laid aside as an archaic convention in wedding ceremonies of late. In its place are things like “for as long as our love shall last” or “until our time together is over.” How’s that for being open-ended? For leaving a way out? For some people, what they call “love” doesn’t last into the third month. Their “time together is hardly enough to unpack."Make it easy on yourself” seems to be the rule of thumb for too many of us. So we are shallow in our Faith, careless about our Character, and weak in our

A member of a notorious robbery syndicate terrorising the people of Oyo town and its neighbourhood in Oyo State, has paid the supreme price with his life in an encounter with the men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, Oyo Zone.

The cars with stolen goats

CRIME DIGEST learnt that the gang, which specialised in stealing goats, ran into trouble in the ancient town in the wee hours of February 1, 2011.

According to the police, the gang had a network of members within Oyo town and outside. The officer-in-charge of the Oyo SARS, Mr. Olusola Aremu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, explained that the suspects moved from house to house to lure local goats with corn and beans that had been soaked in salt and water solution.

The corn with salt solution, CRIME DIGEST was told, weaken the goats and prevent them from bleating while they were being taken away.

But things turned awry for the gang when they ran into a police patrol team in Oyo town around 2 am.

Aremu said, "The police saw three men in the vehicle all appearing very rough. The police followed their vehicle to track them down. At first, when the police waved them down, the robbers did not obey but tried to escape by increasing their speed. They were, however, given a chase.

"They bumped into a deep pothole and lost one of their tyres. But before the police got to the vehicle, the syndicate abandoned their vehicle and fled into a nearby bush."

CRIME DIGEST gathered that some goats were recovered from the grey Nissan Primera marked BG 372 RSH. The patrol team was said to have taken the vehicle to the station, while some of the detectives laid in an ambush...

"The patrol team came back to the scene in an unmarked vehicle. Shortly after they returned, they noticed another Nissan Primera saloon car (blue colour) with three occupants also looking very rough in it. Immediately the suspects noticed that the police were approaching, they sped off. The police gave them a chase up to Sasa area of Ibadan, Oyo State capital. Unfortunately, the robbers also bumped into a ditch and lost one of their tyres," a police source said.

In the encounter, they reportedly opened fire on the police patrol team. In the shoot-out between the suspects and the police, one of the robbers fell to police bullets, while the other gang members fled before the police got to the vehicle.

Aremu said items recovered from the vehicle included 40 goats (all of them were she-goats) with six of them dead, while 34 goats were still alive.

He added that the goats, most of which were pregnant, had their mouths tied with masking tape.

Also recovered from the vehicle, with registration number Lagos DL 135 GGE, were a locally-made pistol, live cartridges and some Indian hemp.

The police said they noticed that the bandits on board the vehicle were strangers because it appeared that they were not conversant with the terrain.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Commend, Mr. Olatunji Ajimuda, who confirmed the incident, said some of the owners of the goats had started coming forward with evidence to claim them.