Hoodlums rape 5 secondary school students in Owerri

By Chidi Nkwopara

OWERRI-Dare devil hoodlums numbering about 10, reportedly broke into the premises of Owerri Girls Secondary School last Sunday and raped five senior secondary school students.

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Confirming the ugly incident to newsmen in Owerri, the Principal, Senior Section, Mrs. Pat Uche Obasi, said the hoodlums stormed the SS3 dormitory between 1:00am and 2:00am but escaped when men of Imo State Police Command intervened.

Lamenting that the hoodlums succeeded in raping five girls, the principal also recalled that the bandits equally escaped through the hole they created in the school fence.

"These boys came from the back of the school premises. They came through a hole they created in the fence, armed with cutlasses, rods and what looked like a gun and went into SS3 dormitory. They succeeded in raping about five students in the process," the principal said.

The Divisional Police Officer, DPO, at the New Owerri Police Division, Mr. Okezie Okoroafor, confirmed the incident and explained that when he got a distress call from the former principal of the school, he quickly mobilized his men and intervened.

He said his men were able to rescue the school security officers, whose hands were tied to their legs by the rampaging rapists and assured the students and their parents that security had been beefed up in the school.

Despite brutal questioning by a Senate select committee, Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday stood by his comments that the National Assembly’s budget for overhead is 25.4% of the nation’s total..

Mr Sanusi withstood strong attempts to browbeat him into admitting that the figures were at least lower than that, or that he was misquoted by the media.

The public hearing convened by the Senate followed newspaper publications quoting the Central Bank governor as saying that the nation spends one-quarter of its funds on running the National Assembly, and a subsequent publication quoting the finance minster as saying he would cut the budgetary allocation to the assembly.

Mr Sanusi had at a lecture delivered at the eighth convocation of the Igbinedion University , Okada, Edo State, said 25% of the nation’s resources are spent on the lawmakers. This annoyed the Senators who ordered him to appear before them and defend his statement.

The Central Bank governor appeared on Wednesday before the Senate committee alongside the finance minister, Olusegun Aganga. However, unlike the finance minister who quickly dissociated himself from the statement that he intended cutting allocation to the assembly, Mr. Sanusi admitted saying that 25.4% of the nation’s overhead cost is spent on the National Assembly...

He held his grounds, backing his statements with records from other national dailies which quoted him correctly, and with statistics from the budget office.

Mr. Aganga who later assumed the role of an umpire told the Senators that the CBN governor’s figures were correct although they may appear wrong in another context.

The minister argued that overhead cost figures which include Service Wide Votes (money spent on maintenance of government facilities), are as legitimate those which do not include the votes.

Rage

Evidently angry, Iyiola Omisore (PDP Osun State) who led the Senate panel alleged that the CBN governor had chosen to deliberately incite Nigerians against the Assembly. He asked Mr. Aganga to state categorically whether Mr. Sanusi’s statement was right or wrong. The minister again said the statement depends on context or the way one chooses to use statistics.

Members of the Senate panel made up of four different committees could not hold back their rage against the unyielding CBN governor and frequently compared him to the more amenable finance minister, trying to coax him into some form of apology.

The Senators made no effort to hide their bias and blatantly refused to give any room to the Central Bank governor, to defend his figures and the context in which they were used.

Mr. Omisore pointedly told the harassed CBN governor at one point that the committee was not prepared to listen to him and that he must direct his responses through the finance minister. Mr Sanusi, however, occasionally barged in to make the point that his figures were right and that he got them from the director of budget’s office.

No apology

He said he would only apologise if the figures from the budget office were wrong. He insisted that, “Total Federal Government Overhead is over N500 billion and the Overhead of the National Assembly is N136.2 billion. This is exactly 25.1 per cent of total government overhead. I am quoting from the figure I got from the Budget Office. If you like, you can invite the Director-General of the Budget Office.’’ When told by Mr. Omisore, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, that the figure was wrong following a clarification by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Sanusi replied: “I don’t know where the minister got his figures.” To the calls on him to apologise, he said, “By my nature, if I do not believe that I am wrong, I do not apologise.” He urged the Senators to examine the context under which he made his statement which was actually in a lecture about factors that fuel inflationary trends.

Staking his job

After hours of fruitless attempts to get the CBN governor to admit wrongdoing and apologise to the Senators, the lawmakers seemed to deviate from the matter and begin to question the character of the governor and the annual budget of the CBN.

“We really need to be sure that the CBN governor has the character to stay in that office,” Heineken Lokpobiri (PDP Bayelsa State) said.

Other Senators took turns to tongue lash the CBN governor. They accused him of speaking too much and asked him questions like “do you enjoy your job? Do you feel like quitting?’’ And if he thinks democracy is too expensive.

“My name is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (my name is) not Central Bank Governor. I enjoy my job but if you want me to quit, I will honourably quit,” Mr Sanusi replied before a cheering crowd of spectators.

The unwavering Central Bank governor told the Senators that the survival of democracy is dependent on allowing people the freedom to speak. He added that he had always been involved in the fight for democracy way back to the time of June 12 and that even if the military takes over now, he will still fight them off.

The issue remained unresolved as both sides disagreed with each other’s figures. However, Mr. Omisore gave the CBN governor a stern warning not to use such figures in comments about the National Assembly anymore.

Mr. Sanusi is also expected to appear before the entire House of Representatives today to defend his statement.

Residents of Otto-Ilogbo Community, in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos are alarmed by the murder of a pregnant woman in their area.

This follows the revelation by a 23-year-old lady, identified as Grace Orobo, that she connived with her boyfriend, one Okechukwu Eze, 28, to bury a pregnant woman in a swamp in the community. The victim, Glory Goodnews, from Oron in Akwa Ibom State, was living with her boyfriend, Mr Eze, a loader with one of the transportation companies at Ejigbo, a suburb of the city, for close to three years at Otto Ilogbo slum, when she suddenly disappeared in January. According to one of Ms Goodnew’s relatives, David Sambo Udoh, the victim confided in him that she was pregnant but her boyfriend, Mr Eze, told her to abort the pregnancy.

And the news came

According to residents, the victim disappeared from sight around January this year. News that she was allegedly murdered came out when Mr Eze’s new girlfriend, Ms Orobo, on Sunday, revealed to the victim’s relatives that she connived with Mr Eze to murder Ms Goodnews and later buried her in a swamp in the community, following her refusal to abort the pregnancy.

“Glory is from Akwa Ibom and I am from Akwa Ibom,” said Mr Udoh. “She comes from the same village my wife came from, Oron; so she is well known to us. She was living in an hotel at Orile, but Okechukwu brought her from the hotel to come and live with him at Otto Ilogbo. They have been living together for like three years now. Around January this year, Glory came to tell us that she was pregnant but her boyfriend, Okechukwu, said she will not use pregnancy to trap him to marry her because Okechukwu was also dating another girl called, Orobo. After a while, we did not see Glory again and I personally went to ask Okechukwu where Glory is, but he said he had sent her to his village in Anambra State to go and give birth there. Every time I see Okechukwu, I will ask him to give me Glory’s number so I can call her but he will give me fake numbers that will never reach her.

“When it was like nine months, and I knew she would have given birth, I asked Okechukwu again, but he told me that Glory gave birth to a boy and she will be coming to Lagos soon. But on Sunday, Orobo, Okechukwu’s other girlfriend came to our room and she was holding Glory’s picture. She told us that she want to reveal the secret; that Okechukwu has buried Glory with her pregnancy in the canal at Otto because Glory refused to abort the pregnancy. I went to meet Okechukwu but he was not around. Later in the night, around 10pm that Sunday, 28th of November, I saw Okechukwu coming back home and I held his shirt that he had killed Glory and buried her in the swamp. Okechukwu just keep saying ‘Please, I will tell you everything; I will tell you everything’. He said Glory was sick and she died in his hands so he did not want to alert anybody, that was why himself and his girlfriend, Orobo, went to bury Glory in the swamp at Otto Canal in the midnight. I was angry and I raised alarm and that was how the people in the community helped me to drag Okechukwu to the Denton Police Station.”...

Police take over case

The case was later transferred to the Iponri Police Division, where police officers have began investigation into the case. The Community Development Officer of Otto Ilogbo, Agbodemu Ishola Musbau, described the incident as unfortunate. “Glory is a very peace-loving person and she is very gentle,” he said. “I remember that I last saw her in January and later asked after her and they told me that she travelled to the east. Since then I have not heard anything from her until now that I got information that her boyfriend allegedly connived with a lady called Orobo to kill her and they threw her body into the swampy canal here in Otto. This community is peaceful and we will get to the root of the matter, and we will not condole murderers living with us and that is why we are raising the alarm about the death so that police can investigate it.”

“If Okechukwu is found guilty of the allegation then he will be made to face the penalty of his crime. His girlfriend, Orobo, who allegedly committed this crime with him, is at large but the police will arrest her and with our cooperation, she will be arrested soon. So that this will serve as a deterrent to criminally minded people not to take the laws into their hands.”

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THE UK has agreed to tighten its cap on migration from outside the UK, but committed not to limit intra-company transfer of qualified employees...

From 2011 onwards the number of skilled and highly skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area allowed to move to the UK will be capped at 21,700 – that is 22.5% fewer than the equivalent figure in 2009.

However, in a victory to multinational companies who had been lobbying hard against limits on their ability to transfer staff between global offices, there will be no limit on intra-company transfer of staff earning £40,000/y or more.

The limit is the highest of a range of options recommended to the government by independent migration advisors. Advisors had recommended curbing immigration at 43,700. That is 6300 less than the 50,000 skilled immigrants from outside the EU who arrived in the UK in 2009. However, the 50,000 arrivals also included 22,000 who were transferred between company offices, hence these 22,000 were subtracted from the maximum.

Tuition fees to triple in the UK

Following David Cameron’s pledge to dramatically reduce immigration the number of foreign student visas will be cut to 120,000.

Home Secretary, Theresa May, unveiled plans yesterday to limit that number of skilled non-European workers allowed to enter Britain to 21,700. Staff with transfer jobs under the same employer in England will be excluded. This allows for a total of between 35,000 and 40,000 skilled workers to enter Britain.

Foreign students make up 60 per cent of migrants to Britain. Therefore, May stated that in the future only those applying for degree courses will be issued a visa...
No place for people enroling into fake schools to run away and hussle


May explained to Parliament that a quarter of those issued visas to study below degree level were unaccounted for. She believes students at these lower levels of education have been abandoning school in favor of living and working. May stated that this must be stopped.
At last measures being taken to stop the fake applications

It is estimated that 40 per cent of the 300,000 current student visas are for education below the degree level. May announced that under this new scheme visas would only be issued for universities, further education colleges and a few specially selected institutions.

Also student fees will rise which will make paying difficult.
Universities in England will be able to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year from 2012, as the government transfers much of the cost of courses from the state to students.

Fees will rise to £6,000, with an upper tier of £9,000 That is N2,139,890

Fees should be payed up front for full tuition which is not refundable to prevent husslers leaving after first term to work.

Rafael Nadal refused to use fatigue as an excuse on Sunday after his incredible year ended in defeat by Roger Federer at the ATP World Tour Finals.

The 24-year-old world number one played one of the matches of the year to battle past Andy Murray in a three-hour semi-final but he found Federer in sensational form as he went down 6-3 3-6 6-1 in one hour 37 minutes.

"I think is not the right moment to talk about that," Nadal told reporters when asked if he was suffering physically against the 16-times grand slam champion.

"The thing is everybody saw the match yesterday, so everybody's free to think his own opinion..

"But I'm not gonna say I lost the match because I was tired. What I'm gonna say and what I feel is I lost the match because I played against a very good Roger Federer on one of his favorite surfaces. When he's playing like this, it's very difficult to stop him. I had chances, but not enough."

Rather than dwell on his defeat, Nadal preferred to look back on a year he described as the most "emotional" of his career.

After going 11 months without a title he returned to form in Monte Carlo in the Spring, winning on the Riviera clay for a sixth consecutive year, and the confidence flooded back.

From then on he was virtually unstoppable, winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back for a second time and completing his career grand slam by winning the U.S. Open.

It was all a stark contrast to 12 months ago at the London finale when he failed to win a set in three matches.

"This was a fantastic week for me," Nadal said. "Beating four top-eight players in the same week on a difficult surface for me. I think that's never happened in the past.

"There have been a lot important moments for me during the season. I think it was a very emotional season.

"There were difficult moments in the beginning, but after a tough time, I was able to play with ambition all the season and I managed to have chances to win and keep winning.

"Once I won the first tournament in Monte Carlo, everything was easier, all the pressure and anxiety left and I started to play really well."

REUTERS

The Can of worms has been reopened and this brings to mind the shortcomings of another Top Aspirant who still has cases of Wash Wash as the yahoo yahoo boys like to call money laundry .Patience Jonathan's Can of Worms should be reopened as well thank you

V. ABUBAKAR CASE STUDY: USING OFFSHORE COMPANIES

TO BRING SUSPECT FUNDS INTO THE UNITED STATES

Jennifer Douglas Abubakar, a U.S. citizen, is the fourth wife of Atiku Abubakar, the

former Vice President of Nigeria and a former candidate for the Presidency of Nigeria. This case

history examines how, from 2000 to 2008, Ms. Douglas helped her husband bring over $40

million in suspect funds into the United States, including at least $1.7 million in bribe payments

from Siemens AG, a German corporation, and over $38 million from little known offshore

corporations, primarily LetsGo Ltd. Inc., Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Ltd., and Sima

Holding Ltd.

Over half of the suspect funds, nearly $25 million, were wire transferred by the offshore

corporations into U.S. bank accounts opened by Ms. Douglas. For most of the time period

examined, the U.S. banks with those accounts were unaware of Ms. Douglas’ PEP status, and

allowed multiple large wire transfers into her accounts from the offshore corporations. As, over

time, each of the banks began to question the wire transfers into her accounts, Ms. Douglas

indicated that all of the funds came from her husband and professed little familiarity with the

offshore corporations actually sending her money.

Bank records indicate that Ms. Douglas used most of the funds placed into her accounts

to support a lavish lifestyle in the United States, paying credit card bills and household expenses

in the range of $10,000 to $90,000 per month, including substantial legal and accounting bills.

She also transferred funds to accounts she opened for the Gede Foundation, a nonprofit

corporation she established in 2002, and the American University of Nigeria (AUN), a university

that Mr. Abubakar founded in 2003, and whose name reflects its association with American

University in the United States.

An additional $14 million of the suspect funds were wire transferred by two of the

offshore corporations, LetsGo and the Guernsey Trust Company, to American University to pay

for consulting fees related to AUN. American University officials told the Subcommittee that

they understood the funds came from Mr. Abubakar and never inquired why the wire transfers

were sent by unfamiliar offshore corporations. At least another $2.1 million was wire transferred

by the Guernsey Trust Corporation to accounts controlled by Edward Weidenfeld, a U.S. lawyer

who provided legal services to Ms. Douglas, Mr. Abubakar, and AUN. Mr. Weidenfeld

explained that the funds paid for the Abubakars’ legal expenses and an account set up for AUN,

and that he had assumed the funds came from Mr. Abubakar.

Over the years, questions have been raised about the source of Mr. Abubakar’s wealth.

He spent twenty years in the Nigerian Customs Service, and then worked in the private sector for

ten years, before serving as Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. While Vice President,

Mr. Abubakar was the subject of corruption allegations relating to the Nigerian Petroleum

Technology Development Fund. In December 2008, the U.S. Securities and Exchange

Commission alleged in a formal complaint against Siemens AG, a German company, that,

among other actions, in 2001 and 2002, Siemens wire transferred $2.8 million in bribe payments..

to a U.S. bank account belonging to Ms. Douglas as part of a scheme to bribe Nigerian officials.

In response to this and other legal actions, Siemens admitted to engaging in widespread bribery the committee that he surmised the Gede Foundation account was closed due to its

association with Ms. Douglas.1172

Chevy Chase told the Subcommittee that it tendered its resignation from the JDA Family

Trust in January 2006, and intended to close the account soon after, but Mr. Weidenfeld had

informed Chevy Chase that he was having a difficult time finding a replacement trustee.1173

Mr. Weidenfeld told the Subcommittee that he contacted the following institutions which

declined to take the trust: PNC Bank, Ashbridge Investments, J.P. Morgan Private Bank,

Samson Capital in New York, Neville Rody and Shaw, and Papamarkou Asset Management in

New York City, before finding a company that would take the trust.1174 An internal Chevy Chase

email noted: “At least five foreign financial institutions with no presence in the United States

have refused to take this business.”1175 Chevy Chase told the Subcommittee: “Under principles

of trust law, Chevy Chase Trust had a duty to continue as the corporate trustee until a

replacement trustee was found or Jennifer Douglas Abubakar and Francis Iwenjiora exercised

their powers under the trust to remove Chevy Chase Trust.”1176

$500,000 Wire Transfer to Faibros Investments. More than a year and a half after

Chevy Chase tendered its resignation from the JDA Family Trust and while the search for a new

trustee continued, a JDA Family Trust request for a $500,000 wire transfer raised new concerns

at the bank. In September 2007, the JDA Family Trust requested a wire transfer of $500,000 to

Faibros Investments FZ-LLC in Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates.1177 In a September 17,

2007 letter to Ms. Douglas’ legal counsel, the Chevy Chase Trust Company declined to complete

the wire transfer. The Trust Company wrote:

“[O]ur primary business is the investment management of individual’s wealth. We do have

trust powers and serve as a fiduciary primarily for our clients for whom we manage their

investments. In a few limited circumstances we serve as directed trustee where another

entity, well known to us, is the investment manager.”1178

1172 11/13/09 letter from Mr. Weidenfeld’s legal counsel, London & Mead, to the Subcommittee, PSIAbubakar_&_

Weidenfeld-01-0030

1173 9/5/08 letter from Chevy Chase’s legal counsel to the Subcommittee, PSI-Chevy_Chase-06-0001-07, at 05.

Mr. Weidenfeld’s legal counsel also told the Subcommittee: “With the Citibank account closing, a replacement

facility was urgently required. At approximately the same time, Chevy Chase Bank gave notice it would no longer

serve as trustee for the Jennifer Douglas Family Trust (‘the JDA trust’), and the money manager for the JDA trust

announced their intention to resign. The Abubakars requested that Mr. Weidenfeld find a new money manager, as

well as a new trustee to replace Chevy Chase.” 11/13/09 letter from Mr. Weidenfeld’s legal counsel, London &

Mead, to the Subcommittee, PSI-Abubakar_&_Weidenfeld-01-0023.

1174 11/13/09 letter from Mr. Weidenfeld’s legal counsel, London & Mead, to the Subcommittee, PSIAbubakar_&_

Weidenfeld-01-0024.

1175 11/29/07 email among Chevy Chase officials, JD_005785-86.

1176 9/5/08 letter from Chevy Chase’s legal counsel to the Subcommittee, PSI-Chevy_Chase-06-0005; see also

5/8/07 letter from Chevy Chase’s legal counsel to the Subcommittee, PSI-Chevy_Chase-CL000004; 10/10/00 JDA

Family Trust instrument, JD_000012.

1177 See JD_005474-75 for letter from Francis Iwonjora and Jennifer Ms. Douglas Abubakar requesting that

$500,000 be transferred from the trust to Fabros Investments FZ LLC in Dubai UAE. Iwonjora is Douglas’ brother.

11/13/09 letter from Mr. Weidenfeld’s legal counsel, London & Mead, to the Subcommittee, PSIAbubakar_&_

Weidenfeld -01-0019.

1178 9/14/07 letter from Chevy Chase Bank to Mr. Weidenfeld, JD_005476-77.

Well known for DEFAMING his former pal ALiko Dangote during the Dangote Otedola Wars He even sponsored a Website dedicated to this purpose former www.factsnigeria.com and provided funded adverts on websites round nigeria .Now he has through our law courts detainded two persons for defamation ! READ ON AND BLOGGERS BEWARE YOUI COULD BE NEXT !

An Abuja Chief Magistrate Court on Tuesday remanded two suspects to Kuje Maximum Prison for allegedly defaming the character of Femi Otedola, the executive chairman of African Petroleum (AP).

The suspects, Clement Aviomoh, suspended Executive Director of the company in charge of finance, information and technology, and Sunday Esan, were jointly accused of defamation of character after they published several reports in newspapers across the country in July and August accusing Mr. Otedola of milking AP for the past two years.

Police First Information Report (FIR) said Mr. Otedola had on October 19 2010, through a direct criminal complaint to the Chief Magistrate, Abuja, which was referred to the Inspector-General of Police for investigation, reported that the suspects had in July and August, cause to be published in many national newspapers, a defamatory publication which maligned his reputation and integrity.

"That in July and August 2010, you Aviomoh Clement (m) and Sunday Esan (m), while acting in concert and in furtherance of a common intention to defame, embarrass, and maliciously cause serious harm to the reputation of the Executive Chairman of African Petroleum, Mr. Femi Otedola, published in News Star of Monday 2 - Tuesday 3 August 2010 on page 10-13; Compass Newspaper of August 1 2010 on page 47; News of the People of August 16-23, 2010 edition on page 13-16; First Weekly Newspaper of August 15, 2010 on page 29-32; and on page 2-6 of a book with the caption: "How Otedola is killing AP".

"You published that Mr. Femi Otedola has been using his companies, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Company Limited, Platinum Fleet Limited, and Fineshade Energy Limited to sell products to African Petroleum at inflated prices," read a police report.

"[In] the said publication, which you know or had reasons to believe to be false, you portrayed Mr. Femi Otedola as a corrupt and fraudulent person. You thereby committed the above mentioned offences," the statement read...

Although the suspects, who were arraigned before Chief Magistrate, Hasfat Sadiq Toso, pleaded not guilty, they were, however, remanded in prison after their oral application for bail was refused.

Mkerewen Akpan, lawyer to the suspects, had moved an oral application asking the court to grant his clients bail. But in opposing the application for bail, the prosecution lawyer, Simon Lough, urged the court to refuse the application on the ground that no sufficient materials have been placed before the court by the suspects to enable the court exercise its discretion.

Delivering her ruling, Justice Toso agreed with Mr. Lough and adjourned the case until December 21 for hearing.